“A-a-a-a-a-a.”
Ian stuttered. He couldn’t even form a sentence after hearing that. The man who claimed to be Arkhaar stroked his chin.
“Hmm, even though I said you weren’t ready, you still managed to get in. Is the spell weakening?”
He began to walk towards Ian, but Ian was almost about to faint.
“Hey, hey, calm down? Why are you like this?”
“Y-y-you are A-Arkhaar?!”
Ian shouted.
“Yes, I just said that.”
Arkhaar nodded and patiently waited for Ian to calm down. It took around 5 minutes for Ian to come to his senses.
“Are you really Arkhaar?”
“For the third time, yes. I’m Arkhaar.”
That short-circuited Ian’s brain for another 5 minutes.
“The legendary Arkhaar!”
Ian shouted with his eyes sparkling.
“But why are you here? What is happening?”
He asked excitedly.
“Hmm. Once, I had a friend who was obsessed with leaving a better tomorrow for future generations. That guy forced me to pass on my techniques for the next generations and set up this spell, a spell that will attract people from my bloodline.”
Ian’s eyes widened after hearing that.
“Then that means?! Am I the one who will inherit your powers?”
He yelled again unintentionally. Arkhaar squinted his eyes and gave him a weird look.
“We will see, but first, let’s properly know each other, shall we.”
He sat on the ground and signed Ian to do the same. Ian’s heart was about to stop.
* * *
“They keep coming!”
Eldron shouted while slashing the shadows.
“My arrows do nothing to them.”
Ruvyn was sullen since his arrows were just going through the shadows without causing any harm.
“Hahaha, burn, you damned creatures.”
Elius was setting on fire the shadows with a bright smile. At first, he was concerned about Ian, but he was relieved after hearing what Elly said. According to Elly, this spell was activated by Ian a while ago. And unless Ian died or met the condition to stop the spell, they were trapped here. So, since they were still here, that meant Ian was fine. Getting rid of the shadows was nothing. They were mindless puppets, but they kept coming no matter how many times the group killed them.
‘By the way, Elly, how do you know that?’
“I don’t know. On the outside, I couldn’t sense anything, but as soon as we entered this area, I felt a sense of familiarity and was able to grasp the structure of this spell. This spell…”
She paused for a moment.
“This spell is strongly connected with Julius. Probably, he is the one that set this spell.”
‘Hmm…’
Elius stopped burning the shadows and gave himself some time to think. Then his eyes widened.
‘If Ian is the one that activated it. Is it about that Arkhaar guy? His appearance was similar to Ian’s. Ooh, this is getting exciting.’
After that, he turned back to what he was doing before. The only ones who were enjoying the current situation were Liam and Elius. Both attacked the shadows crazily with a smile.
“Tsk. There is no end to this.”
Jay clicked his tongue.
“Neil, can you do it?”
“Hmph, of course.”
Neil said with a proud smile because it was the second time now. After the fight with the monkeys, Neil was the most useful one here again.
“Okay, then do it and give us some time to think. Gather around everyone!”
With Jay’s shout, they got closer to each other, and above their head, something began to glow. Then it extended to every direction and formed a barrier around the group. That was Neil’s light barrier. Shadows who touched the barrier were disappearing instantly.
“Ahh, the fun ends.”
Liam said while sitting. Eldron got close to the barrier and touched it with his fingertip.
“Ouch, hot! Hot!”
“What will we do now, Mr Jay?”
Ruvyn wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
“We wait for Ian.”
Elius intervened before Jay could say anything. Everyone turned towards him with a curious expression.
“What do you mean?”
Jay asked.
“Since I’m a wizard, I analyzed the situation. We are currently trapped in a spell, and Ian is the one who activated it…”
Then he began to explain the situation like how Elly did to him.
* * *
“Oooh, I see.”
Ian was listening to Arkhaar while nodding. They’ve been talking for a while now. Well, rather, Arkhaar was talking, and Ian was listening. He kept telling him stories about when he was an adventurer but never said anything about his blade techniques or inheritance. Arkhaar slowly got up.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Time is running out.”
Ian’s happy expression immediately replaced with panic.
“What is that mean?”
“That means I’ll be gone soon.”
“No!”
“Why not? I’ve already died around 250 years ago. As I said, I’m just a fragment right now and only can talk to you because of my friend’s spell.”
Ian knew that, but hearing again made him sad nevertheless.
“S-so what now? Will you teach me your techniques?”
He asked shyly. Even just the thought of it was enough to make him drunk with joy.
“No, I won’t.”
And just like that, Arkhaar crumbled his world.
“W-what? Why?! You said I was your direct descendant.”
“Yes, I did, but why do you want to learn my techniques?”
“Because you are strong. I admire you. Everyone does!”
“So instead of becoming strong by yourself, like how I did, you want to copy someone and change your whole style and construct your personality based on that? What if my style won’t suit you.”
“B-but.”
Ian couldn’t answer that. Arkhaar took out a scroll and threw it to Ian.
“Open it.”
Ian hoped that it was a strong spell or a technique and carefully opened the scroll, but it was empty. Ian’s expression became sullen once again.
“E-empty.”
“I told you already. You are not ready.”
Ian refused to lose this opportunity.
“At least!”
He raised his head and shouted.
“Tell me what is wrong. I’m a shadow assassin just like you, but…”
His voice cracked.
“But I can’t create spells easily, and my shadow step range is only around 2 meters.”
His voice gradually became lower. After seeing that, Arkhaar felt sad about the kid and slowly approached him with a soft smile.
“Close your eyes.”
After Ian closed his eyes, Arkhaar replaced his hand on Ian’s head and waited for a while. A few seconds later, he smiled with the corner of his mouth and withdrew his hand.
“W-what is wrong with me?”
While Ian was opening his eyes again, the smile on Arkhaar’s face disappeared.
“I don’t know, sorry.”
Ian bit his lower lip, his eyes became teary, and he was about to cry. Arkhaar realized that.
“Ian. Do you know why I’m keeping my powers to myself?”
“Why?”
Ian’s voice was barely hearable.
“Because I don’t want people to live in the past. For years, people wasted their lives searching for the things their ancestors left behind instead of moving forward. You can become anything you want. The past is in the past. I don’t want people to shackle and limit themselves with the past. Of course, you might think that I’m wrong. That is just my opinion.”
Ian silently listened to him.
“But at least I’ll give you these.”
Two long blades appeared on Arkhaar’s hands.
“These are the blades that I used.”
The blades had a bend. They were black and longer than usual, almost as long as a shortsword. The mat black color of the blades reminded Elius’ staff to Ian.
“I’m only giving these to you, just because they are produced from a material that is almost impossible to destroy. So don’t think that they had anything special.”
Ian slowly took the blades with a nod.
“Haha, I sucked at using both at the same time. Use only one blade or try dual-wielding. It is up to you.”
Ian smiled.
“T-thank you.”
“Did you know you aren’t the only one who activated this spell?”
Ian was surprised after hearing that, but then he remembered the mission’s description. There was a little kid who managed to enter here years ago.
“A little kid…”
Ian murmured himself.
“Oh, I’m surprised, so you knew.”
Arkhaar sighed.
“But that little kid was more mature than any adult I’ve ever met. He refused to take my blades, so that is why I’m still here. He talked about things like breaking the taboo and turning the world upside down. Even though how mature he acted, those things he said sounded childish at first, but I felt something just for a brief moment before he left. That kid had the potential to become a complete monster. I don’t know how many years had passed, what he achieved, or whether he is still alive. But I strongly believe he surpassed me.”
Then he put his hand on Ian’s shoulder.
“Ian, I know how disappointed you are right now, but when you can completely break the walls around you that you build with the past, you’ll understand what I’m trying to say.”
Arkhaar’s image slowly began to disappear.
“Instead of admiring me and wanting to become someone like me. Become someone that others will admire.”
Those were Arkhaar’s last words. Before Ian could say anything, he disappeared with a smile on his face, and the darkness dispersed. Ian was standing where the black hole was with two blades in his hands.
‘Another descendant...’
He didn’t know how to feel about the things that happened.
‘A kid younger than me refused Arkhaar and had potential to become better than him.’
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
* * *
‘Damn, I can’t hold the barrier any longer.’
“Heh, I can keep this up forever.”
Neil said while sitting in the middle, but inside, he was panicking.
‘Please just end!’
And at that moment, his prayers were answered. The darkness dispersed, and they were back.
“Ian!”
Elius ran towards him.
“What happened?!”
He asked excitedly.
“I’m not sure, but look!”
He showed his newly acquired blades to Elius.
“Wooah.”
“What exactly happened in there?”
“Not much, surprisingly. I found myself in the middle of the darkness. So I kept walking and walking until I found these.”
He didn’t want to say anything about Arkhaar. Jay closely examined the blades with curious eyes. He seemed intrigued.
“Hmm, was the spell was exclusive for assassins? But if so, how come any other assassin who came here didn’t manage to activate it?’
“So what? Is that it? A mission that has been open for almost a century just ended like that?”
Liam said. After hearing that, Jay paused for a while.
“Hmm, I guess so.”
“Hahaha, free four golds! Since one gold is equal to 1000 silvers. Hmm.”
Liam quickly calculated something in mind.
“Around 650 silver per person. Nice!”
“Eh, never mind the silvers. It ended earlier than expected. So what do we do now?”
Ruvyn asked. Idarin set a time limit for every mission, and they still had two more days.
“Is that even a question?”
Elius pointed towards somewhere while looking at his map.
“New mission! I repeat, new mission! It is time to explore the Lazor Kingdom!”
Then he began to run without waiting for the others.
* * *
It took fifteen seconds for Aaron and Chase to reach where the explosion occurred. Where the academy was before, there was now a huge crater. It was difficult to see because there was dust everywhere. The only thing they could see was a man’s silhouette in the center of the crater. Both Aaron and Chase didn’t make any move until it became clear. Then, the silhouette began to float in the air. Aaron took out his glaive and prepared to attack at any time. After rising slowly, someone emerged from the dust.
“Thank god…”
Aaron breathed a sigh of relief. Idarin slowly began to fly towards them, but his appearance seemed different. His hair was white and long, almost reaching his waist. A white sphere was rotating around him, and he was holding something in his left hand. When he got closer, Aaron realized what he was holding.
“A demon?”
Idarin was holding someone from his neck. He threw it under Aaron’s feet, and the dead body rolled on the ground like an empty sack.
“Hey, look. A rat dared to attack me.”
Idarin’s voice was deeper now. The dead body he threw had a pale gray skin tone, and there were little horns on both sides of his forehead. He was Ozran, one of the five demons behind all of this mess.
“I guess it has begun.”
Aaron nodded.
“Don’t worry. I deployed my soldiers to every corner. They won’t let any civilians get harmed. Did you get any information from him?”
Idarin shook his head.
“No, but since this one was not mindless like Sean, I can use one of my special spells. But, unfortunately, it will take a little while since he is dead.”
“Okay, come to the palace as soon as you have done.”
“Gotcha."
Idarin grinned like a madman.