Chapter 857 Crazed One
"Now!"
Another man's voice boomed from somewhere, and the man behind Layla raised his hand, and a long staff materialized before him. As soon as he grabbed the staff, several half-meter diameter magic arrays surrounded Layla, who had turned to black mist using a Body-Dispersion Spell.
As if in reverse, Layla's black mist body started to converge against her will.
'What is happening...?' She cursed inwardly and cautiously looked up at the magic arrays surrounding her. Only then did she realize that the magic arrays and even the Array formation above seemed familiar, yet strangely not, at the same time.
Layla might not be well-versed in Array, but she knew that the ones in Somuli, whom they referred to as Lost Technology, were located in fixed areas. There were lost technologies that could be moved around, but those were magic items like tokens, magic orbs, and such.
Moreover, as far as Layla knew, there was no Lost Technology in this part of Armakea. Even if there was, the formation should appear on the ground, not in mid-air. As a matter of fact, when a Lost Technology was activated, the array formation would not appear as distinct as the one above, where the array formulas were visible. A semi-translucent barrier or veil covering the formation's area of effect would only seem to indicate that it was active.
Finally, Layla understood why her Body-Dispersion Spell seemed to have been canceled. To be precise, it was not canceled, but the man's magic managed to counter the dispersing effect of the spell.
'That's right. His earlier attack possessed wind attribute!' Layla thought through gritted teeth. She tried to decipher the runes on the magic array and understand what exactly the man was doing, but unfortunately, she was not well-versed in Wind magic. Thus, she was not familiar with Wind runes.
Nahir and the others had already pulled back the moment the golden array appeared above. Initially, they were confused at the sudden interference of a third party. But since the latter did not seem to be hostile and was only interested in the woman, they decided to steer clear of his attacks. When the golden array appeared, all of them heard Achim's voice in their heads telling them to pull back.
At first, they thought his instruction was so they could avoid being affected by the negative effects of the array above. However, they soon realized the array above did not have any negative effects. Rather, it seemed to have stimulated the magic energies in the surroundings, making them denser. Nevertheless, that was all they could sense. They were unable to absorb the magic energies because they only possessed one element— Air.
Looking at the man with the staff summoned several magic arrays, Nahir and the others realized that the golden array was meant to assist him.
"You! Who are you?" Layla demanded as she realized that the man intended to capture her.
The man gave her a crazed-like smile, sending goosebumps up her arms.
"You don't need to know."
Most of the complete beings below believed that the man might be someone from the Kingdom of Cretea. After all, he seemed to possess a powerful offensive magic. Moreover, his appearance was a typical look of a Somulian— shoulder-length blonde hair and green eyes. He was also good-looking for a middle-aged man, though he was on the skinny side.
Nevertheless, Nahir knew better. After all, the man spoke a different language earlier. A language that sounded suspiciously like the one Cyneah and Kyran used.
This meant that the man was an outsider.
The woman, too. Nahir initially thought the woman possessed illusion-type magic and played on his emotions by appearing like Cyneah. But it seemed that might not be the case. He had an inkling that Kyran withheld some things about Cyneah. Recalling how Cyneah came to see Kyran after their meeting, Nahir was even more convinced of this.
But those things were unimportant at the moment. Nahir could only push those thoughts at the back of his head as he observed the two outsiders above.
[It is okay.]
Seemingly sensing Nahir's cautiousness, Achim's voice sounded in his head again. Seeing that none of the others reacted to the voice, Nahir guessed Achim chose to talk only to him telepathically.
'Who is that man?'
[He is not hostile to us, at least.]
'An ally of Nar?'
[...]
Nahir frowned when he sensed Achim's hesitation.
After a short pause, Achim finally responded.
[I could not say for sure. Nar and he, at least, acted civil around each other.]
'Who is he then?'
[A man with a loose screw at times.]
'What does that even mean?'
Unfortunately, Nahir's question did not receive any answer. Apparently, Achim was also at a loss for words on how to explain.
"You may think you have the upper hand because of your special status, but unlike you, we have been here for more than seven years and know more about this plane's magic law," the man with the crazed-like smile continued, looking at the black mist that had more or less converged back together, revealing Layla's silhouette.
"'Your special status?'" Layla repeated with narrowed eyes. Although her expression could not be discerned because she had yet to return to her complete human state, the contours of her face showed a disdainful expression. "It seems you knew who I am."
"Of course I do! And it's not just me. All of us do... You are Milord's enemy, after all."
Layla let out a soft laugh as she guessed who the man referred to as 'milord.'
"So you are one of his underlings. I did not expect him to have gained a useful ally."
"'His'? Him'? Ahahahahaha!"
Layla scowled at the man's sudden laughter.
Sensing her displeasure, the man abruptly stopped and said, "Oh, sorry. That is quite rude of me. I did not mean to laugh. Of course, you would think that way... calling someone Milord when referring to someone... ah... of course."
By this time, Layla's silhouette was more distinct but remained in a black mist state. Since she remained in that state, she realized that the man did not use a reversal attack but only prevented her form from scattering and escaping. In any case, she did not plan to release the Body-Dispersion Spell completely. The man loved to talk, so she would take that opportunity to find a way to escape.
'Hm?' Layla raised her brow as she sensed something. She smiled, looked at the man before her and said, "So if you are not his underling, then whose underling are you?"
"Oh? I see. Do you want to buy time now? Tsk. Tsk."
Layla's expression turned grim at the man's words. She had only thought of doing that, but this man sounded so sure about her action. Could he not take her question as probing for information rather than buying time?
"You looked confused," the man continued with an understanding expression. He leaned toward his staff, nodded his head in understanding, and said, "I can understand. But you don't really have to... I mean... You want to buy time because those people will arrive in a few minutes."
He looked toward the direction of the fort's main entrance, craning his neck as if looking at something from afar.
"Oh, wait. I believe there will be slight delays... no, no. Actually, the future has changed a little because of our interference."
"You—!"
Layla's eyes widened. The man might have said those things nonchalantly, but those things were something one should not spout recklessly.
Just who was this man?
Layla wracked her brain on the information she had of all known mages from the Human plane. However, she could not remember anyone possessing the power of foresight.
'No, wait, if it was foresight... could this man be her people?'
Layla's eyes widened further at the sudden realization.
Foresight could be considered an ability having an association with Time. Apart from this, the Tower Family used to have the ability to predict futures.
"You are Stella's man."
The man's eyes widened before a creepy smile appeared on his face while looking at Layla.
"Ah... that sounded really nice... to be Milord's man..."
Layla felt her whole body shiver from the man's creepy smile. She was fond of people following her beck and call. But that did not mean she loved seeing a crazed look on their faces. The smile on this man's face might not be directed at her, but the possibility of her minion acting the same way creeped her out.
While Layla had these thoughts, the man's expression suddenly turned serious as he waved and raised his staff horizontally before him.
"I can't let you kill these people."
FOOOM! CRACKLE!
Suddenly, the air around Layla thinned as the space around her crackled.
"Ngh...!"
The sudden change in the man's attitude, as well as the air, caught her off guard, making it hard to breathe.
Two three-meter-wide magic arrays appeared above and below where she stood and forced her to kneel. Because of the pressure, she also failed to retain her mist state. The moment she returned to a solid form, a crushing force invaded her body, making her spat out a mouthful of blood.
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