Chapter 1038: Change
One of the Blade Dancer Clan representatives that entered the left side of the intersection widened his eyes in surprise as he sensed his preemptive attack get sliced in half.
Attacks that did not have any form should have been hard to evade, especially when they also possessed a large area of effect. Besides that, destroying or splitting it in half was practically impossible because of its formless nature.
For this reason, the Blade Dancer Clan representative felt apprehensive at what kind of magic the one approaching them in front possessed.
"Apart from a powerful concealment ability, it also possessed an unknown magic that could slice through my Sound attack," he said out loud. "Be careful, you two."
"Understood."
"Got it."
The two other representatives on each side of him replied respectively. Based on the voices that responded, one of them was a female.
These three were as Kyran predicted, part of the undercover mages of the Blade Dancer Clan. Apart from that, the male mage in the middle who used a Sound-based magic attack just then was actually Alta\'s younger brother, Shiloh. The name of the other male was Uilleam, and the female was Britta.
They summoned magic arrays that hovered around them as they glided forward. More weapons emerged from the magic arrays and flew straight ahead to the approaching enemy.
Similar to what happened the first time, their attacks were rendered useless.
Uilleam and Britta sensed that some of their weapon attacks were destroyed, while others were simply evaded and struck the ceiling, floor, and even the walls.
On the other hand, Shiloh, being the only one among the three who could detect the approaching enemy, witnessed the latter\'s deft movements as it evaded the approaching weapons or used its weapons to destroy those that he could not evade in time.
Shiloh could not help but frown at what he was sensing. He did not think that the approaching enemy\'s weapon was a manifested weapon of its magic core. Based on how the enemy swung its weapons around, it wielded two swords that were likely imbued with his innate magic.
Magic-imbued weapons were not uncommon in the Higher Realm. However, it was also not that common. It sounded a little contradictory, but the reason behind this was because of the abundance of magic weapons available in the market or as a family heirloom. No one would bother using a regular weapon and imbuing their magic into it if the magic weapon they had already possessed had one.
While Shiloh\'s thoughts drifted slightly because of the strangeness of the approaching enemy\'s weapon, he was taken by surprise at how the latter suddenly closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
\'A high-tier movement skill!\' he thought with narrowed eyes.
\'The enemy is a combat mage-type. It may be the person we are looking for, so stay on your guard,\' Shiloh warned them through telepathy. \'It\'s near!\' he told them as he stopped in his tracks.
Given Shiloh\'s innate magic, he would be more useful in supporting Uilleam and Britta from the rear. Besides, once Uilleam and Britta got serious, Shiloh would only be in the way.
Uilleam and Britta only nodded in response this time. Since the enemy was near, talking would only inform it of their approach.
Shiloh, understanding the situation, immediately cast an area-of-effect status spell, Light Obscurity, to ensure that the remaining light that filled the surroundings would be removed around the enemy.
Using this spell would also ensure that whenever Uilleam and Britta used their magic, the enemy would not see the glow of their magic arrays. Besides that, it would prevent the enemy from seeing what type of attack the former two would use, in case it was familiar with different types of runes and could read and identify a magic array in a short time.
In addition to the Light Obscurity spell, Shiloh also used Sound Concealment and Scent Masking spells so that their movements and scent would not be easily perceived.
To be honest, Shiloh could have just cast one single spell that could allow him to have all three effects in one go: Stealth. However, Stealth was a target-specific spell that could only be used for a duration of time, unlike the three spells that he cast, which had a large area of effect.
With the spells in place, Uillea sped up and went in front of Britta.
\'Cover me,\' he told her and summoned a vertical two-meter-wide gold magic array. It appeared before him in the blink of an eye, and he passed through without hesitation. As he did, the air around him crackled, and a golden armor appeared and covered his whole body.
Meanwhile, Britta spread her arms, and five vertical twelve-inch-wide gold magic arrays spread out behind her. Five types of weapons emerged from each array as follows: a dagger, a short blade, a javelin, a scimetar, and a knife.
These five weapons only stuck out of the magic arrays half way, as if waiting to be pulled out by Britta at any moment.
In the meantime, Kyran sensed the magic fluctuations up ahead and immediately stopped in his tracks.
Shaiha also sensed these and frowned.
[These... all of them seemed to possess a decent concealment ability, and yet they still cast more spells that would make it impossible for anyone to see their movements.]
\'Three area-of-effect spells... and... two of them seem ready to engage me at any time.\'
[These guys are from the Blade Dancer Clan. There is a possibility that their main objective is to look for you.]
Shaiha told Kyran, reminding him of his encounter with Alta in the unnamed plane.
[They did have a day\'s worth to gather enough members strong enough to be sent to the seventh floor before the portal closed. It\'s not wrong to say that they managed to send more of their elites here.]
Kyran did not comment on that. He did not even bother to remind her that the tower did not care about the group\'s overall strength but instead looked at their individual potential to determine which floor of the tower to send them.
Nonetheless, this fact was what actually shocked Kyran more. He was convinced that the reason the Dragon Clan group and his group were sent to the seventh floor was because of him and Cyneah. But then, the Solis Clan also sent them or at least one of their secret members. Then now, there was the Blade Dancer Clan.
The more Kyran looked at it, the more he felt that the reason they were transported there was not because of their potential.
Shaiha raised her brows the moment she sensed Kyran\'s doubts. Only then did she consider another possibility that could have resulted in this situation.
[Remember before the tower sent you here? The mechanical voice paused for a moment, right?]
\'?\'
[I can\'t help but think... what if you kind of destroyed or voided their condition?]
Shaiha asked, her mind racing with thoughts of the possible \'new condition\' that Kyran gave the tower.
[I mean, you are the Realm Scion. Technically, this tower should belong to you. While it is true that the tower will have to recognize you before you can be granted full authority over it, you can still affect its rules and conditions...]
The more Shaiha stated her thoughts, the more she was convinced that she was onto something.
[If the tower bases a group\'s potential to determine which floor they had to go to, then your group shouldn\'t have been sent to the seventh floor. You... changed that.]
Kyran did not respond. He somewhat knew where Shaiha was coming from. In fact, before getting transported, he only had one thought in mind: to be sent to the same floor as Cyneah. Could he have really changed his condition because of that?
Come to think of it, the Solis Clan\'s objectives were the Dragon Clan and the Lacus Clan. While there was another \'Lacus\' Clan that was sent to a lower floor, they were not really the Lacus Clan. Instead, Kyran had the real ones. At least, he should be able to access the space where he hid them at any time.
Although he could not do that while they were inside the tower, that space was still connected to them. Then, there was the Dragon Clan, which was also on the seventh floor.
Could Kyran have truly changed the condition to send the groups to their ideal floor or the targets in their mind without him knowing?
In the end, Kyran forcefully pushed all his thoughts aside. There was no point thinking about those things at the moment. First, he had to deal with the enemies in front.