Advent of the Archmage

Lord of Ferde’s residence, in the lord’s bedroom

Gretel’s face was like the pure moon, but today, the moon had two circles of red. Her eyes were like clear water as she gently helped Link with his clothes.

“Be careful when going to Aragu this time,” she reminded softly.

“I will.” Link nodded and looked down, away from the gentleness in Gretel’s eyes that he could drown in. She’d turned into this after they’d shared a night.

Of course, they couldn’t only sleep since they were in the same bedroom. Basically, they’d become much closer.

A few seconds of silence later, Link said, “I checked your body carefully. The Heart of the Dragon has stabilized and grew. If you don’t get outside help, you’ll be able to have power again after 100 years.”

The dragon royal bloodline’s Heart of the Dragon was more miraculous and stronger than one could imagine. Even after a destructive attack, it could still recover bit by bit with enough time.

Link couldn’t check Gretel’s body so closely before. He also didn’t know enough about the Heart of the Dragon, so he didn’t discover this. Last night was different though. Now at mid-Level-16, his vision was many times better than before. He could instantly see this.

“Oh, that’s good.” Gretel was happy, but the feeling wasn’t very strong. The recovery time was too slow. She couldn’t help Link at all. Further, she didn’t desire power as much anymore.

She was sometimes frustrated in Ferde, but after shedding her responsibilities as queen, her life had become much more relaxed. But this freedom of the soul made her see Link’s situation more clearly. Before, she only had to be responsible for the dragons. Now, Link had to support the entire human race.

In the past, Gretel had been terrified of making mistakes. Link wasn’t any better now. Thinking of this, Gretel felt pity. Her anger towards Link vanished too.

After fixing Link’s clothes, she rested in his arms. “I just want you alive,” she murmured. “No matter what happens, even if you fall into darkness, I’ll follow you.”

She was no longer the dragon queen, and her restraints were gone. She didn’t care about the responsibilities, the difference between light and dark, the debates between justice and evil anymore. She could ignore them all.

Link didn’t think Gretel would say these things. People all said that women were more emotional. Rather than using logic, one should just make them happy. He’d thought that the Red Dragon Queen was different, but it seemed that her emotional side was just hidden deeper.

Grasping Gretel’s waist—thin yet still with feeling—Link felt a bit hot. He smiled. “I’ll live well. Alright, let me adjust your Heart of the Dragon before leaving.”

He’d just checked it last night, and then Link thought about it the entire night. He’d already figured out the basic method to support the Heart of the Dragon… Those were only excuses.

Gretel’s cheeks reddened deeper, and she nodded.

Link used some power and scooped Gretel up. He walked to the bed in the chamber. After all, they needed a good environment to adjust the Heart of the Dragon.

“Ah,” Gretel gasped. “Your clothes will get messy again.”

“Then you can tidy it again.” It was rare for Link’s voice to be so gentle.

After a flurry and a storm, Gretel’s eyes brightened greatly. Her eyes were always pretty, but they’d darkened after she lost her power. Now, one could make out a dancing flame inside. It couldn’t be compared to the past, but the flame was still growing.

“I feel power again.” Her voice was lazy.

“I’ve recovered your Heart of the Dragon’s main structure. After this, you’ll only need to perfect the details. It should be fine within three years.” Link rubbed the Red Dragon Queen’s chest. That was where the Heart of the Dragon was.

He was very serious when speaking, making Gretel giggle. It was instantly like hundreds of flowers blooming. She was indescribably beautiful. Without saying anything, Link flipped her over and began picking the flowers again.

These things had to end at some point. Link stayed for another day before finally climbing out of Gretel’s gentleness. When he left the lord’s residence, he composed himself and sighed inwardly.

It was rumored quietly throughout the dragon race that the Red Dragon Queen was a natural charmer. All the dukes died early. After experiencing it personally, Link believed it. If not for his strong determination to leave, he would have been trapped by the beauty forever.

And the queen is wounded. If she’s at her full strength, I’ll be done for. Cold sweat beaded on Link’s forehead.

Returning to the core Mage Tower, he saw Hellfire Razer. Razer had already prepared the map and record of all important events from the Aragu Realm. Link took the scroll and checked it. When he had questions, he would ask on the spot. He asked quickly and urged Razer to answer without giving him time to think.

Razer was a Warrior. His mind couldn’t match a Legendary Magician. At first, he wanted to hold things back, but the interrogation made his head hurt. He just answered instinctively.

“What use does Milda’s wand have?” Link suddenly asked.

“Her wand is prophetic… Ah, you’re tricking me to talk!” Razer suddenly realized.

Link smiled. “This isn’t in the contract, and I’m not forcing you to answer. You answered yourself. Okay, thank you for your information.”

Razer was speechless. It was his fault that he reacted too slowly. Sighing, he asked, “When will you let me go?”

“Now.” Link smiled and undid Razer’s shackles. He returned Razer’s armor and sword too, putting the equipment on him.

Razer had wanted to attack, but he knew Link’s power. Nana was also behind Link. He hadn’t recovered fully either. If he attacked now, he would be dead, so he acted obediently.

When Razer finished putting the armor on, Link asked, “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Razer nodded.

Link pressed a rune on the cell’s wall. The cell lit up blindingly, and Mana poured out, spinning quickly. Razer instinctively wanted to block it. He’d been repelling the foreign power these days and healing his wounded heart. About half of his power was back. As soon as he started using force, Link hurriedly called, “I’m opening a portal door. Don’t fight it or else it’ll collapse!”

Razer was shocked. Now, he felt that the wild power wasn’t hurting him. Instead, the space inside the cell started rippling. It was indeed the signs of a portal door.

He could only restrict his urge and let the energy within the cell go wild. The energy spun and spun, faster and faster. Finally, the speed made Razer’s heart pound. It was so powerful that it could crush him.

Boom. Suddenly, there was a soft boom. Razer felt an attractive force come from the vortex, sucking him in.

He wanted to fight back again, but then Link said, “Razer, I’m only responsible for sending you away, but we’re enemies. Do you really think that I’ll send you away nicely?”

Razer froze. Indeed, the contract was still effective, so Link couldn’t hurt him. But they were still enemies. It was understandable to send an enemy away roughly. While he was dazed, he was sucked into the vortex. Under the force, he started spinning.

If he wasn’t a Level-16 Warrior with a strong body, he would’ve fallen apart from the spinning. Even still, Razer felt dizzy and wanted to throw up.

Poof, poof, poof, pop! The vortex was still spinning quickly. Then there was a sound like a bottle opening, and then Razer was gone from inside the vortex.

He wasn’t dead, of course. After a great amount of power from the vortex entered his body, he shot out the Firuman Realm at a horrifying speed.

Right then, a dazzling beam shot through the Sea of Void. It was going in a foreign direction rather than the Aragu Realm.

The speed was too fast. All Razer could do was protect himself. With his shallow knowledge of the Sea of Void’s principles, he didn’t know how to slow down. He could only wait for the Sea of Void’s resistance to slow him down.

But the resistance was so weak. It would take forever for him to stop.

By now, Razer obviously knew what Link had done. Indeed, Link didn’t harm him, but if he couldn’t go back to the Aragu Realm, he obviously wouldn’t be an enemy anymore.

Dammit…ahhh, meteorite! Razer turned quickly and brushed past a meteorite the size of his head. A dent appeared in his armor.

With his extreme speed, he would die no matter what he touched. Razer was pissed, but he couldn’t get distracted. He had to focus on speeding through the Sea of Void.

On the other side, Link smiled at Nana. “Ferde’s safety is up to you.”

“Master, don’t worry.”

With that, Link was reassured. He opened the realm portal and disappeared.

He didn’t have to worry about getting stopped halfway through. The Sea of Void was boundless while Aragu was close to Firuman. He was also experienced in crossing the Sea of Void. He quickly found a small path and reached the outer layer of the Aragu Realm.

His plan was simple. He would find the coordinates of the Aragu Empire from the outside and teleport in. He should be safe inside the empire. Then he could easily find the Snow Mountain Archmage.

However, he’d underestimated the Inferno Archmage. While looking for the coordinates, a fiery-red figure flashed in the corner of vision. He turned and saw a six-winged angel with burning fire rush over from a distance. Judging from his force, he obviously wasn’t a friend.

Something from Razer’s scroll popped up in Link’s mind. Six-winged Burning Angel? This is a high-level magic puppet Warrior of the Inferno Archmage. Each one is at Level-15. The principles were copied from Nana. They were made from divine power and were consumables with shocking combat ability. There were more than 20, and they liked operating in teams of three.

Teams of three? Link looked and instantly saw the other two Burning Angels. The three were coming from three directions and were about to surround Link.

F*ck. Link didn’t dare fight in the Sea of Void. It would be troublesome if the Inferno Archmage was notified. Giving up on determining the coordinates, he found the general direction and dove into the Aragu Realm.