244 Hopeless. (1/2)

He was unaware of the extent of his own abilities, so he didn't know if he was just lacking or the old man might actually be different from other Mages.

When the old man said that he had something to discuss with him, Ozul wasn't so keen on following him.

After thinking for a while, he nodded his head and decided to follow along since he was the only lead to his questions as of now.

He also wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible because he had created quite a commotion earlier while fighting with the ancestor of the Silverbird family.

Rufus, along with all of his subordinates maintained a distance from Ozul and the old man.

”D-don't approach them at any cost!” Rufus even shouted to his soldiers. He, as a peak Rank-8 Mage still had his legs shaking as he had witnessed the previous events.

'I... thought he was strong, but...' Rufus pursed his lips as he thought about his earlier evaluation of Ozul.

Times and times again, this strange kid had exceeded his expectations but the events in front of him had just blown his mind.

He didn't know who that crazy-looking old person was who fought with Ozul, but from the corner of his eyes, he had noticed the Empress' expressions who also witnessed these events from above the Palace.

Her terrified expressions showed that whoever that old man was, his death brought negative consequences to the Silverbird family.

Even then, his shaking legs wouldn't take a step forward to approach those 'monsters'.

Meanwhile, Ozul ignored whoever observed them from afar. Finally, he was strong enough that he need not care about the consequences of his action.

Those who had witnessed this event could spread it everywhere they wanted to because now he had enough strength to even contend against Rank-10 Mages!

Ozul had also noticed the woman and a group of people hidden in the shadows behind her, all of peak Rank-8 radiating negative emotions directed at him. But he also ignored them as he could understand that their ancestor was killed right before them, so they would inevitably be furious at him.

He still had to test all of his improvements, but it wasn't a place for that so began to follow behind the old man who had already started to leisurely walk away, occasionally chuckling to himself.

Ozul had only taken a few steps when both he and the old man stopped to look in a certain direction.

The old man chuckled again and looked back at Ozul, ”I have a feeling you have business with him?”

Ozul calmly nodded his head and said, ”I do.”

”Heh heh,” the old man tittered and decided to calmly watch the show, ”Don't take too much time though.”

If he couldn't sense his cultivation base, there could very well be methods that the old man might have been able to use to hide his emotions as well.

Shaking those thoughts outside his mind, Ozul stared at the small dot far in the sky gradually becoming clearer and increasing in size.

He noticed that Emperor Luthien was actually a lot faster than any Rank-9 Mage could have gotten on their own. Even he wasn't as fast as him before obtaining his left arm back.

'These are the advantages of using artifacts?' Ozul contemplated without any change in his facial expression.

If the ancestor had gotten serious from the start or also used such artifacts, he guessed that he wouldn't have had any chance against him at all.

A few moments later, Emperor Luthien appeared on the site and glared at Ozul from above.

His eyes constantly moved between Ozul, the half-destroyed Royal Palace in the background, and his wife's worried expressions.

Luthien could already make out what had happened here as he unconsciously clenched his fists.

”You! How dare you!” Emperor Luthien shouted while pointing his finger at Ozul.

As of yet, he hadn't noticed the corpse of an old man between all the debris. So he didn't know exactly what had happened here.

Hearing his words, Ozul remained silent but squinted his eyes at the blonde-haired man wearing lofty clothes and looking down at him.

On one hand, the old man again chuckled but the Empress witnessing this scene from afar got even more worried.

Unlike Emperor Luthien, she was well aware of what had happened just now!

Before she could warn her husband, Ozul spoke first, ”Why shouldn't I dare?”