239 Its mine! (2/2)

In his excitement, Ozul forgot to examine the platform.

Because just when he was a few meters away from it, an invisible weight descended on him all of a sudden.

'What is this?!' he instantly stopped at the spot and cautiously looked around him.

Ozul was still confused when a voice followed the pressure,

”Who are you boy?”

Ozul widened his eyes in alarm and jumped back to take a defensive stance. He didn't expect another person to be in this giant hall because it was so empty and quiet. Moreover, the voice came from above the platform.

He didn't have the time to think that the voice sounded croaky and almost ancient. Since the giant hall was empty, the voice echoed throughout.

”Ho? Didn't you hear me? Hah, forget about it. It doesn't matter who you are. Tell me what you are doing here, boy!”

The old voice changed his question, but Ozul remained on guard. Until the enemy was in sight, he didn't dare to relax.

When he spread his senses above the platform, he only felt a single presence there. What made him take another few steps back was how strong that individual felt!

Because that person wasn't using his Mana, he could not accurately determine that person's rank, but one thing Ozul could confirm was the fact that the individual was above Rank-8.

Countless questions popped in his head like why there was another Rank-9 Mage inside the Royal Palace of the Silverbird Kingdom, but he put them aside for now.

Ozul didn't know who the person was, but he slowly started to siphon away small parts of the Ball of Purity and spread them as far as he could from himself to prepare for the inevitable fight.

”... It seems like he won't answer. Hmm... I wouldn't have let him get away anyway,” the individual on the platform muttered to himself. But his murmurs were clear enough for Ozul to hear in the silent hall.

”I am looking for the arm,” Ozul eventually decided to speak up.

But he was surprised at the reaction of the other person at his words because that individual suddenly released an even greater pressure!

Following that, the figure of an old man with a long white beard appeared at the edge of the platform. The beard was so long that it almost reached his feet.

The old man wore white robes without any fancy symbols or embroidery.

What Ozul found odd in the old man was his reddened eyes. He could clearly see the blood-red veins popping on the eyeballs.

The otherwise gentle appearance of the old man was instantly destroyed because of those unusually red eyes and his overly wrinkled face.

Like a madman addicted to alcohol, the old man began to shout, ”That arm is mine! Who are you to take it from me?!”

Ozul's mind omitted the part of the old man acting insane, and instead focused on the fact that he did know about the arm!

”Where is my arm!?” Ozul asked, raising his own voice.

”... Your arm?” the half-insane old man paused at his words and looked at him with a tilted head. His eyes examined Ozul's figure and noticed the two metallic prosthetics in place of real arms.

”They are yours? Hahaha! So you are that Devil's Spawn!” Suddenly, the old man started to laugh and continued,

”That damn brat could not bring you to me earlier, and now you decided to come here yourself? Hahaha! Good! No one can stop me from becoming a real Rank-10 now!”

His words caused an uneasy feeling to wash over Ozul. He didn't completely understand what the old man was saying, but the bits he understood made him a little apprehensive.

What cleared his doubts was the thing that happened next.

The old man released all of his Mana and the whole hall began to tremble. Pieces of small rocks started to float from the ground and concentrated at a single point.

'This...' Ozul was speechless at the sheer pressure from that Mana. But he had felt something similar like this before!

'It is almost like that time...' the time when the monster he had fought before was rapidly increasing its strength and advancing to Rank-10!

Ozul started to examine the old man's strength, '...Rank-10? No... but he is above Rank-9. Did he... somehow get stuck in between?'

It turned out that the old man was half-step in Rank-10!

But what made Ozul hold his breath was the transparent box of glass that floated behind the old man...