Unsealing Emptiness

He had been able to get his leg back previously from the monster who had gotten even stronger than the old man, but it was just a mindless monster.

The person in front of him though was the ancestor of the Silverbird family that ruled the Silverbird Kingdom for decades!

Unlike the unintelligent monster, this ancestor of the Silverbird family was very much able to think for himself and didn’t attack whatever was in his sight.

Even when he was able to outsmart the half-step Rank-10 ancestor, it wasn’t enough to completely overwhelm him.

‘Ha...’ he sighed inside his mind, ‘Who would have thought that their ancestor lived as well...’

Although the old man hadn’t told him that he was the Silverbird family’s ancestor, Ozul didn’t need a confirmation to conclude such to be the case.

.....

He merely found it surprising that even the Ashin family wasn’t aware of this. Because if they were, Alver and Raymond would have undoubtedly warned him before he had set off towards the Silverbird Kingdom.

However, thinking about all of this was useless. He was down on the ground without the strength to even stand up. Maybe he could have tried to use the Ball of Purity to again sneak attack the crazy ancestor of the Silverbird family, but he doubted it would work again on him.

But just when he had thought the crazy ancestor was about to cast his Spell, a familiar voice rang out near them,

“Hoho~ a senior bullying a junior? Can’t say it’s the first time I see this.”

Following the voice, a barefoot old man, wearing loosely hanging grey robes approached the two.

Although the ancestor of the Silverbird family was confused, Ozul instantly recognized this old man. He was the same person who he had encountered in that town where he stopped to take a nap.

He found the old man pretty unusual because of the fact that he couldn’t even make a guess of his cultivation level.

‘What is he doing here?’ Ozul asked inside his mind. He didn’t know anything about this strange old man.

However, Ozul could make a guess from his earlier words that the old man wasn’t together with the old ancestor who was about to cast his spell.

“Get out of the way, you bag of bones!” the ancestor was about to throw his Spell towards the old man instead.

Even in the face of a spell aimed at him by a half-step Rank-10 Mage, the old man didn’t show a change in his facial expressions.

Quite the opposite, he completely ignored the enraged ancestor’s existence and squinted his eyes at Ozul instead.

“Hoho~ What a coincidence, young man. Where is that little kitty? Oh there she is!” the old man said like he had just recognized Ozul.

‘Why do I feel as if it wasn’t so much of a coincidence?’ Ozul contemplated inside his mind. With the emotions he felt from the old man, he couldn’t make out his thoughts at all.

But one thing was confirmed now, the old man wasn’t an ordinary person. Even a crazy old drunkard would sober up when someone so strong pointed their Spell at them.

“Oh? You see, I don’t like bullying juniors unlike you. It would be pleasant for both of us that you drop the idea of attacking-” the old man had just turned towards the ancestor and talked in a totally different way, but his words were interrupted when the latter casted his spell at him.

Two giant mud walls rose around the old man and rapidly closed in, threatening to crush the old man in the middle.

“Hais... Don’t complain that this old man didn’t warn you earlier,” the old man muttered with an exaggerated sigh and before the suspicious gaze of Ozul, the giant walls instantly stopped at their place!

Unlike the Mages, the old man didn’t chant or circulated the Mana inside his body at all! There was not a speck of Mana used in the process either!

Instead, it was just as if the old man had willed it, and the walls simply obeyed his wishes to stop at their place.

Not to mention the ancestor who had his eyes bulging out, even Ozul was surprised. However, his reason for astonishment was different from the ancestor’s.

‘He didn’t use Mana either!’ Only this thought remained in his mind as he began to wonder if the old man was someone like him!

And if he really was someone like him, he might be able to get his answers without searching all over the world!

Immediately, a new hope lit up inside his mind.

The curiosity to find out about his own existence had become a force that drove Ozul to change his mind.

Regardless of his previous sentiments of just accepting his death, he wanted to live now! The old man might have his answers. This single thought reverberated inside him.

He didn’t even try before because he had run out of tricks and there was nothing he could do to take that furious ancestor by surprise.

However, the appearance of the old man changed everything.

Looking at the mud walls frozen at their place, the ancestor almost stumbled back with his eyes widened to the extreme.

“Y-you... are you a Rank-10?!” the ancestor stuttered out his question.

There was just no way that someone under Rank-10 would be able to stop his Spell without even blinking an eye.

The Spell he had cast was relatively weaker because those giant walls could even crush a small mountain between them, provided that he supplied enough Mana to increase their size!

And that crushing force was stopped by the old man without even batting an eye, so the ancestor could only come to the conclusion that he was a Rank-10 Mage.

Before the old man could even say a word, the ancestor immediately bowed his head a little and shouted, “S-senior. I request of you that you do not interfere in this matter...”

Although the ancestor instantly switched to a respectful tone, his thoughts were completely different, ‘Just let me get this brat. The next time we meet, I would also be a Rank-10 Mage, you geezer!’

He had relied on such tactics all his life to reach where he was right now.

Ozul wasn’t sure if the old man had realized the ancestor’s intentions or not, but casually answered the latter,

“Oh~? But I have already gotten involved.”

The ancestor gritted his teeth in frustration, but maintained a fawning smile on his face which worsened his appearance because of the bloodshot eyes and all the blood on his figure.

It would have been best if this Rank-10 Mage who had popped out of nowhere all of a sudden let go of this matter, because now he didn’t know what to do anymore.

“You see, I don’t want you to kill this talented young man~” the old man stated, with his same old frisky tone.

But hearing his words caused even more questions to rise inside Ozul’s brain. He didn’t know why this old man would ever try to protect him.

‘Surely it wasn’t because he wanted to pet Jinx, right?’ though he doubted that would be the case, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case either.

Considering the old man’s nature by far, he seemed eccentric enough that it was quite possible for him to have such reasons.

“But senior... this kid infiltrated my family’s estate! The Silverbird family would lose face if we let the culprit go just like that!” the ancestor tried to persuade the old man.

However, all his words fell on deaf ears as the old man wouldn’t take no for an answer, “You are not killing him. And that is final. Look at the poor kid, he cannot even stand properly.”

The old man shook his head like a disappointed parent while pointing towards Ozul on the ground.

The ancestor ground his teeth with an even greater force as the expressions on his face were twisted into a scowl. From appearance alone, he looked to be the person who was bullied instead!

Ozul was only lying there on the ground, but it was still him who had blood all over his body with tens of holes inside of him because of Ozul’s last attempt to defeat him.

But he didn’t dare to voice out these thoughts either.

As he began to think of ways to convince the old man, he didn’t notice the black snake-like liquid slithering towards him from the back!

Although the old man noticed that slight movement, he pretended not to see anything either,

‘Haha, I knew it. He is really interesting!’

“The half-dead kid over there is a candidate, you see. I can’t let you kill h-” the old man stated and before the ancestor could even ask what he meant by candidate,

“Arrckkhh...”

A single sharp but thick needle pierced the ancestor’s throat in an instant!

The ancestor moved his eyes towards Ozul on the ground and glared at him hatefully while gurgling on his own blood before life left his body.

That concluded the death of a half-step Rank-10 Mage!

“Still not a Rank-10...” Ozul muttered as he watched the ancestor’s lifeless body fall to the ground. Even when the ancestor had crossed the boundaries of Rank-9, he was still nowhere near to an actual Rank-10 Mage.

Because of the sudden thrust, all the blood was splashed on the old man who was standing in front of the ancestor. However, he just waved his hand before the blood stains simply disappeared.

“Mm? I was still talking with him, you know~”