End of the Magic Era

“Fuck, what did you do, Fran!” Suyass was overwhelmed by the rain of magic rays and couldn’t even lift his head. If this spread, it would make people laugh.

The problem was that Suyass was truly afraid of getting hit. Each of the rays was only 2nd Tier or 3rd Tier, but when dozens to a hundred of them were firing at the same time, it wouldn’t be any different from a 6th or 7th Tier spell. Suyass was a newly advanced Archmage, and he couldn’t deal with such a concentrated rain of magic rays, so he could only helplessly lower his head and hide within the dense thickets.

At the same time, he vented his anger on Fran.

“I… I didn’t do anything!” Fran felt that he had been wrongly accused. ‘I didn’t do anything, so why did this happen?’

“You…” Suyass was green from anger. He didn’t want to bicker with Fran at such a critical time, so he had no other choice but to reign in his anger while giving a “we will deal with that later” look to Fran.

“…” Fran saw that glance and knew that it wouldn’t turn out well for him. He withdrew his neck and tried to make himself invisible.

“I read somewhere that Vaughn always had some assistant puppets in his laboratory…” At this time, Lin Yun, who was also hiding in the thickets, suddenly inserted a comment.

“Ah?” Suyass was stunned at a first, before holding his breath…

Indeed, it was rumored that Vaughn didn’t trust anyone and that his only helpers were puppets…

But those who truly understood Vaughn knew that it wasn’t just because he was paranoid. It was more because Vaughn had inherited a huge legacy.

Back then, Vaughn came out of a small mountain village and became a Master Alchemist in a mere ten years. Twenty years later, he stepped into the Artisan realm and became the Chief Alchemist of the empire. This kind of meteoric rise was rarely seen in history, not to mention that Vaughn’s talent had only been known as being average. An Apprentice Alchemist with no background and no talent managed to obtain the seat of Chief Alchemist all because of that huge legacy.

It was because of the legacy of Dark Sage Igor.

Who was the Dark Sage?

The teacher of Emperor Charles, the gravedigger of the Silver Era, the dark hand behind the scene that schemed against the throne of the Elves and Dragons, the greatest Puppeteer Alchemist in history…

Given the long list of names of significant figures, he actually had a rather short life. Dark Sage Igor became a Saint Alchemist in the Silver Era and fell in the battle that led to the shattering of the throne of all things. He only lived for a hundred years, which was horrifyingly short for a Saint Alchemist.

During his life, the Dark Sage Igor only had Charles the Emperor as a disciple.

What Vaughn had obtained was only a portion of his legacy, and it was said to be the three puppets personally made by the Dark Sage. In the entire 3rd Dynasty, few people managed to see these three puppets, but everyone knew that they represented the peak of alchemy.

This could be guessed from Vaughn’s status.

Vaughn didn’t come into contact with the Extraordinary realm during his life, but his status at the end of the 3rd Dynasty was above that of numerous Heaven Rank Mages. From this, it could be seen how frightening the three puppets were…

It was even rumored that Vaughn didn’t actually understand the puppets, yet those three puppets helped him establish a formidable puppet legion.

In any case, there were many legends and rumors…

But it was certain that Vaughn had a group of amazing puppets in his hands, and they were probably the reason behind the crazy storm of magic rays shooting at them.

Thinking about this made Suyass sweat. The puppets under Vaughn were well known in the 3rd Dynasty. This was a troublesome fight, a lot harder than he would have expected for this place.

Suyass tightened the grip on his staff as he cast Mage Eyes, one, two, three, and soon, dozens of Mages Eyes were released. Under the rain of magic rays, the survival rate of these Mage Eyes was incredibly low. Of the several dozens of Mage Eyes, only one survived long enough.

Moreover, that Mage Eye was swept away by a Frost Ray just as it flew out of the bush…

But this was more than enough for Suyass.

A total of three puppets, Shadow Wolf models, with abnormal speed even surpassing actual Shadow Wolves. At least two magic rays were enchanted on their bodies, and under the powerful system of arrays, each of their volleys could reach the level of a 6th Tier Spell. Moreover, the frequency of such attacks was extremely high, far exceeding that of the High Mage rank.

“Three Shadow Wolf puppets, very fast,” Suyass said to Lin Yun and Solomon while thinking of a means of counterattack.

This was by no means an easy fight…

Each puppet was enchanted with the ability to use two spells, and they were using a very powerful array system with a high activation frequency. There was nearly no interruption, so even if he used an Elemental Shield, he would at most block these attacks for ten seconds. After that, he would have no choice but to withstand the magic rays directly with his body…

The might of those attacks were comparable to 6th Tier Spells…

Besides those powerhouses standing at the peak Heaven realm, who could withstand such powerful magic with just their bodies?

But not doing anything wasn’t good either.

If they kept hiding, they would sooner or later be surrounded by the three puppets. At that time, let alone ten seconds, they wouldn’t necessarily survive even a couple of seconds.

The only way forward now was to take advantage of the fact that the puppets had yet to surround them to use cover and launch an attack. As long as they could paralyze one puppet, they could change the situation.

But, who would be the attacker?

The cover could only protect them for some time. Once the attacks of the puppets were drawn, they might survive the first volley, but afterward…

Suyass looked at the other three.

Although Solomon was a 9th Rank High Mage, he couldn’t display his full power due to his injury. As for Fran, there was no need to mention him. He was only a 5th Rank High Mage. If it weren’t for the fact that he had luckily mastered the Time Hand, his fighting strength would be inferior to that of a 3rd Rank High Mage.

As for Merlin…

Suyass hesitated a bit before shaking his head.

Forget it… Although Merlin indeed had fighting strength that far surpassed his rank, he was only a 9th Rank Great Mage. The flaw of only being able to use spells of up to the 4th Tier greatly restricted Merlin’s combat capabilities.

After thinking about it, he came to the conclusion that he was the only one that could attempt an attack.

“Cover me,” Suyass Solomon and Merlin, his teeth clenched.

“I got this…” Lin Yun shook his head and didn’t wait for Suyass to speak any further before casting Haste and rushing out at a lightning speed.

“Merlin!” Suyass was startled. He wanted to stop him, but he hadn’t reacted in time, so he could only stare blankly as Lin Yun’s silhouette disappeared.

Fortunately, Suyass’ reactions were still very good, so he only froze for an instant before immediately helping. He couldn’t care about following his original plan at this time, so he hurriedly cast an Elemental Shield and then started casting spells towards the mass of magic rays.

Solomon followed suit, his Runic Shield only half a second slower than Suyass’ spell, because he had prepared his spell in advance.

It was because Solomon had more experience than him.

He had gone through similar experiences in the past by following Lin Yun.

One 9th Rank High Mage and one Archmage opened fire nearly at the same time. A Blizzard and a Thunderstorm instantly covered several hundred meters. The two spells of ice and lightning instantly attracted the attention of the three puppets.

After all, puppets were only puppets.

Although they were given incredible power through alchemy, they were far from being considered truly sentient lifeforms. Their conduct was based on very simple judgements.

Certainly, a 9th Rank High Mage and an Archmage firing off spells were clearly more threatening than an advancing 9th Rank Great Mage.

Suyass also understood this.

Since he didn’t have the time to stop Merlin, he could only hope that their spells would be able to paralyze one of the puppets.

To this end, Suyass roused his mana to its limit. The Thunderstorm under Suyass’ control displayed a power that could only be described as terrifying. The black, earth-shattering mass of thunder and lightning filled the area with deafening roars.

It was to the point that no one saw how that monstrous silhouette appeared behind a puppet, and no one saw what kind of spell he used, but he only softly moved his hand twice and the puppet stiffened and collapsed on the spot, falling apart into a pile of components.

“Merlin, careful, care…” At first, Suyass only noticed Lin Yun appearing within the range of the Thunderstorm and wanted to remind him to avoid being injured by the spell.

But he hadn’t expected this scene to appear a blink of an eye later.

Thus, he didn’t say anything after initially warning him to be careful.

What did he have to be careful of?

A pile of components?

“He was quite slow this time…” Solomon was smirking, thinking to himself, ‘And you call yourself an Archmage? Are you a sheltered mage who has never experienced the world?’