Advent of the Archmage

Link simply stared at Romeon the Protector, not in any rush to make the first move.

Romeon's throat felt dry. He too simply stood there facing Link.

The Magician Franklan and the other summoners had returned to their base camp, with Glyn and the other two demons trailing behind him. Once they were back in their camp, Franklan quickly sought out the army's marshal.

"Marshal, we need to do something!" said Franklan immediately as soon as he found him.

The marshal was a middle-aged Level-6 Pinnacle Warrior. He was surprised to see Franklin in such a state. He then saw the demons behind him and could not help but shudder at the sight of them.

He did not recognize any of them, but these three demons were giving off incredibly dark auras mingled with a thick bloodlust. As someone who had seen countless bloodshed during his tenure as marshal, he was extremely sensitive to auras like theirs. He had a bad feeling about this.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he asked Franklan, "Master, are these three the ones you summoned from the Void?"

Slightly caught off guard by the question, Franklan nodded. "Yes. They are under my control. Protector Romeon knows of their presence here. He needs their power as well."

This sounded reassuring. The marshal pondered this for a few seconds. Finally, he nodded and then, turning to his messenger, he said, "Mobilize every ballista and catapult in camp to launch an attack against the black dragon."

"Yes, Marshal!" said the messenger, who then turned around and left.

"Franklan, I will require your magical assistance!"

"Understood, Marshal. We will head off to the Mage Tower presently," said Franklan. There was indeed a Mage Tower in this realm, which architecturally resembled the one in Firuman.

He then said to Glyn, "Master, follow me."

Glynn did not object to this. Suddenly, as if a thought had just occurred to him, he turned to the marshal and said, "These two are my subordinates. I think you will need these two in your upcoming battle."

The marshal looked at the Bladed Demon, then at the Succubus. He nodded. "You two should be on the frontline then!"

The two demons seemed unsure about this. Being on the frontline essentially meant being first in line to face Link.

At that moment, Glyn's voice rang out in their minds. "Go! Make yourselves useful. We need all the support we can get from these people!"

Left with no other choice, the two demons went off to take their positions on the forefront of the upcoming battle.

With everything settled, all that was left for everyone to do now was fight to the bitter end against the black dragon.

At that moment, Romeon the Protector was still looking warily at Link. He then said in a low voice, "Dragon, you possess extraordinary power. These people are no more than ants before you. What do you hope to gain from their deaths? "

Obviously, he was trying to buy himself time.

Link could see the artillery weapons being lined out one by one in the base camp behind Romeon. Considering my current position and the fact that my scales have been enhanced to resist any magical attacks, these weapons probably won't come close to hurting me, thought Link.

Since that was the case, Link might as well take advantage of Romeon's attempts to stall in order to understand this new world and establish dominance at the same time.

Link remained motionless for a while. He then let out a terrible laugh and gazed coldly at Romeon. "Magician, the opinions of ants do not concern me in the least."

Romeon was speechless. He shot a few panicked glances behind him. He then continued, "Dragon, you must also possess an extraordinary intellect to go with that extraordinary power of yours. Can't you see that I'm just the first person the realm has sent out to stop you? If you continue on this path, you'll soon have to face enemies more powerful than me. The mortals of this realm will also resort to underhanded tactics like poison and assassination in order to rid their world of you. Even if they can't destroy you completely, you will lose all that you cherish along the way. You will lose."

"I suppose you're right," said Link, nodding.

Romeon was pleased by this. The beast did not seem like the unreasonable sort. If it could be reasoned with, there might be a peaceful way to settle things with it without shedding a drop of blood after all.

In one of the mountains behind him, the king of the Blacklan Kingdom began to panic as he listened to their conversation. "What's with the Protector? Is he thinking about backing out now? Dadara, why isn't he doing anything? Troym's army is about to attack at any moment!"

Dadara did not know what was going on as well. He simply shrugged and shook his head. "Your Highness, the Protector's wisdom greatly surpasses my understanding. Even I don't know what he's thinking."

The people of Blacklan Kingdom could only stare helplessly at what was happening at this point.

At that moment, Romeon sensed an opportunity. "Dragon, please step down..." he said.

"No," interrupted Link, shaking his dragon head. "I can't violate my summoning contract. If I fulfill the terms of my contract, I will be rewarded with a huge amount of power. In return, I will simply need to perform a task for the Blacklan Kingdom. I am a dragon of my word, after all."

Romeon was at a loss for words again. He could not seem to persuade the dragon out of this.

However, he did not need to exchange words with Link any longer. The army of Troym was now ready to launch an attack against him.

Before opening fire on him, Romeon said, "Dragon, if that's how you want to do this, then expect no mercy from us!"

At that moment, Link was still sitting on his haunches. He then rose up and spread his wings out majestically. "Mortals, are you ready to take me on?"

There was a hint of glee in Link's voice. Romeon's blood froze. He's already seen through everything. Still, he didn't even make a move. Is he really that arrogant as to think that he can take on all of us by himself?

Romeon had a bad feeling about this. However, all the artillery weapons had been primed and was ready to mount an attack on the dragon. There was no backing out of this now.

"Fire!" shouted the marshal of the Troym army.

Whoo! A battle horn was sounded.

Boom! Boom! Boom! went the catapults.

Arrows whizzed out from the rows of ballistas behind Romeon.

All kinds of spells soared out from the Mage Tower, the most potent of them all being Level-9. From balls of electricity to beams of darkness, all of them hurtled relentlessly towards Link.

Romeon had also joined in the attack. The light radiating from his body was now blinding. He then pointed his wand at the sky. "Heavenly Sword!"

A 100-foot-wide golden cloud began to form and spin rapidly in the sky. A 30-foot-wide crack then opened up in the center of it, unleashing countless blades of light upon Link.

It was an elegant and potent Level-10 spell that Romeon prided himself in.

All these attacks were now coming at Link like an avalanche, threatening to swallow him up.

"We're dead! Dead, I say!" cried the king of the Blacklan Kingdom, Morahan. Even a dragon like Link would be reduced to a pile of ash by such a fierce combination of attacks.

Glyn had his eyes glued on Link from the Mage Tower. He ignored everyone else's spells and simply focused on Romeon's, as he was sure that it would deliver the final killing blow to Link.

In the face of such an attack, Link simply spread out his wings and whipped up a gust of wind.

The catapults' rocks, the ballistas' arrows and any spell below Level-7 were blown off course by the sudden wind. All that remained within the volley of spells were those above Level-7, especially the golden blades that were still streaking down from the heavens towards him, unhindered by the wind whatsoever.

Strangely enough, Link stood his ground. He did not even bother setting up any defensive measures against the rest of the incoming spells.

"What's going on?" Romeon, Glyn and everyone else was all perplexed by this.

"Is he trying to kill himself?"

"Has he gone mad?"

At that moment, all kinds of thoughts were running through everyone's mind. Finally, the golden blades reached Link's body. Then, the inexplicable happened.

Composed of highly-concentrated magical energy, these golden blades looked just like any other blade forged by human hands and might even be sturdier than the latter to an extent. However, as soon as they hit the black dragon's scales, they simply went limp.

These 500-foot-long blades went soft like jelly before melting into pools of golden liquid.

The golden liquid then slid off Link's scales and evaporated into a golden mist.

Not one blade was able to pierce through the black dragon's scales.

Romeon's spell was completely ineffective. So were the other spells that had accompanied it.

Looking at the golden mist wafting off of him, the black dragon shook his head. "That all you've got?"

A resounding silence was all that answered him.

"Arghhh!!!" Someone screamed. Then, the whole army of Troym descended into chaos. They were completely outclassed by the black dragon.

Glyn's eyes widened at what he saw. The lord of Ferde was able to shrug off a Level-10 Legendary spell like it was nothing. There was nothing he could do against an opponent like that.

All the Magicians around him were running for their lives. Taking advantage of the ensuing chaos, Glyn managed to knock out Franklan. Hoisting him up on his shoulder, he then turned around to leave.

In the air, Romeon was now panicking as well. He turned around to look at the Troym army, which had scattered like ants beneath him. He then pulled on the reins of his unicorn and bolted like an arrow from the battlefield.

His opponent was just too powerful. Lingering on any longer would just result in his demise. He needed to become even more powerful in order to deal with a threat like Link. Yes, that's right. He was not running away out of fear. He was simply making a tactical retreat. He could not afford to die here now!

"I need to run! I can't die here!" Romeon began picking up speed as he fled for his life.

Back in the base camp, the two demons looked at each other for a moment. Then, they too turned around and fled the place with the others.

However, as they were about to leave, the air began to distort around them and became viscous. Soon, their feet were all trapped in the thick, ropy air.

The two demons looked at each other, then turned around and saw that the black dragon was glaring at them.

The Bladed Demon immediately fell to his knees. "Master, you are my one and only master. Your will is my command!"

The succubus Gamiwa stared at him, her eyes as wide as saucers. "Have you lost your mind? The master will kill us!"

"If we don't surrender now, we'll die too! I still have a lot to live for, you know," said Gaulle from the corner of his mouth. He was now lying prostrate on the ground before Link.

The succubus' knees gave way, and she too knelt down. "Almighty dragon, let me be your humble servant as well!"

Gaulle was right. Survival was the only thing that mattered now.

Glyn had already put a bit of distance between him and the battlefield. From afar, he could see that his two subordinates had surrendered themselves to their enemy. He felt nauseous just watching the two of them grovel before the dragon. However, he could not do a thing about it. He could still feel the dragon's eyes searching for him. If he revealed himself now, he would also be as good as dead!

Link was now looking at the state of the Troym army with an air of satisfaction. He began walking briskly towards the Warriors of Troym, who were now crying and cursing their parents for bringing them into this world with only a pair of legs.

The entire army of Troym had collapsed entirely. After squishing a few Warriors beneath his feet, he then turned around and headed back into the mountains.

The people of the Blacklan Kingdom prostrated themselves before Link when they saw him striding back towards them. King Morahan shouted, "Almighty Protector, you truly are a god!"

The Magician Dadara was left speechless. At that moment, he too thought that he had actually summoned a god into their realm. How else could anyone explain what had just happened?

Link continued walking into the deeper regions of the mountains. Then he thundered, "Only my attendants can stay. The rest of you can go now. From now on, these mountains will be my domain. Trespassers will be killed!"

Silence fell upon the mountains once more when he said those words.

Link then returned to the valley back in the mountains. After a while, the two demons that he had intimidated into submission finally caught up to him. Looking down on the two trembling figures, Link asked, "I want to know everything about Nozama. I'll be asking you two a few questions, one by one."