Seeing the figure approaching him, the man walked over as well, to inquire on directions.
However, the moment the bloodline mage get a certain distance close, the man's eyes went wide-open, almost popping out of their sockets, as he stared hard at the mage's left wrist.
"H-H-H-He… he… he actually have an artifact…!!!!"
The man was so shocked that he forgot to breathe. His body shuddered, for a moment, before snapping awake from his trance. Next, his eyes gleamed with unspeakable greed, as he licked his lips like a snake, while his eyes glued at the bracelet.
'This, this, this… I'm actually lucky enough to bump into an artifact holder, a weakling more ever! If I obtain this treasure, my life, my future… even my very fate would change…!'
Soon, the man imagination went wild, as he salivated.
To him, the matter of defeating the bloodline mage was a foregone conclusion. He already considered the artifact to be his. This wasn't a baseless arrogance, but only a natural conclusion to him. The sight of this magician proved that his bloodline progression should be much higher than the standard 5%, which meant that his morphing spell was of a very low grade, which naturally meant that this man had come from some weak, declining clan or a family.
However, in the end, the cautious nature was his strongest feature, and the reason why had survived thus far in that accursed world. Hence, even though the aura exuded from this bloodline mage was weaker than his, meaning that this guy had less magic energy than he has, but in the end, he didn't want to engage in a frontal confrontation.
Making up his mind, his expression soon morphed into a friendly and harmless smile, in an abnormal speed. The look of greed had only flashed across his face for a second, before changing, smoothly, without any obvious stark difference. The entire thought process had taken place in almost no time, showing how adept at this he was. So, unless the one across him was an expert, he'd definitely miss reading his expression.
Walking closer to the bloodline mage, he prepared his offensive summon path spell – two-handed flaming sword, which is the spell that had allowed him to reach where he is in this savage world.
The artifacts are magical tools known to grant the holder many spells. Hence, he had to act quickly, catching this mage off guard, without allowing him to cast anything.
Walking several meters closer to the clueless bloodline mage, he extended his right arm, in a greeting gesture. Inside his sleeve, was a concealed weapon that shoots small darts loaded with a powerful sedative solution.
The moment the solution is injected, even a beast would instantly fall where he stands, not to mention magicians with their weak physic.
His plan was to release the dart and cast the spell at the same time.
"Greetings, fellow magician! I wonder if you could tell me…" opening his mouth, and exuding a warm friendly smile, he said.
However, the moment he pointed his open sleeve at the bloodline mage, wanting to launch his sneak attack, a sudden yellow glow of light covered his vision, then he simply lost all of his senses.
Whoosh!
A slithering vine whipped violently at his chest with an immense force, sending him crushing miserably several meters away.
Thump!
The motionless figure collided with a tree trunk, before falling to the ground.
…
Regaining his consciousness, Cyril felt his mind being assaulted with a massive headache. For a while, he had no idea who, or where he was, and his entire though process was in complete disarray.
Opening his eyes, he saw the looming shape of the ground swaying in his field of vision.
As he struggled to make out the blurry scene, Cyril was completely stupefied.
'This…!'
He was hanging from a tree more than 14 meters above the ground!
Trying to move his arms and legs, his face fell. To his horror, he discovered that his arms and legs were tied up, and he was unable to move them in the slightest. Currently, he was facing downward.
Struggling to turn his head above, to see to what he was being tied to… his heart skipped a beat.
He saw the figure of the bloodline magician sitting on the branch he was being tied to, while looking at him with indifferent shining yellow eyes.
"Sir, what is the meaning of this? I was just trying to ask for directions!" gritting his teeth, he forced out these words.
Remembering things, he had been attacked even before he initiates his attack. Hence, he played the dumb card, acting ignorant.
The indifferent eyes just stared down at him, unresponsively.
"Sir, I'm poor! So if you want to robe me, just go ahead and take my belongings, I won't resist. More ever, there is no hatred or feud between us, so why go this far!"
Seeing the man still looking at him without bothering to respond, he decided to play the victim card.
He wasn't stupid. Being taken down so easily, without even knowing how… he realized that this man was definitely not some nobody bloodline magician from a weak family, who had the luck of obtaining an artifact. In all likelihood, this man was a powerful rogue magician who lives in the wilderness.
In this era, there are probably no more than a thousand artifacts left in the entire world. Every one of these artifacts is possessed by the strongest organizations, clans, and families. The few weak magicians who still have them are practically chased by everyone. Hence, most of them escape to the wilderness, and stays there.
Definitely, this mage was one of those individuals.
At first, he thought that this magician was only a rank-1 magician, an individual who got the artifact due to luck; hence, he didn't fear him at all. But now, it seems that this magician was of higher rank, and is using some method to mask his aura.
This meant that this mage was strong enough to protect his artifact.
However, even if this is the case… if news gets out that an artifact holder is living in this area, then, countless powerful organizations would flood this zone, to seize the artifact.
The most common solution for this dilemma was to silence him forever, to bury the news.
This was the reason why Cyril was so frightened right now.
'Why didn't he just conceal the artifact? By then, there wouldn't be the need to silence me?' Cyril felt grieve and indignation.
Had this magician just hidden the artifact, there wouldn't be any need for him to lose his life. However, and now that he saw it, he realized that this was the end road for him. This mage would definitely not let him off.
The mage's indifferent gaze meant that he had already decided to finish him off. Probably, the man was just considering how to kill him.
Shifting his gaze toward the swaying ground, the shocking realization soon downed in his mind, as a moment of a rare clarity pushed away all the unnecessary thoughts.
'I'm actually going to die here, just like that…'
A slight billow of breeze blew at the area, making his lonely figure sway in the wind. The gust kicked up the dried leaves, as they twirled in the air, creating a rustling sound as they collided with each other. Afterward, the entire area turned silent, as an overwhelming sense of desolateness flooded Cyril's emotions.
The scene was peaceful, however, to him, it was horrifying.
The spine chilling silence crept back to the place, causing Cyril's skin to goose pump all over. The sight, along with the bloodline mage's terrifying silence, caused a primal fear to crawl like snake all over Cyril's heart.
'Is this the epiphany that dawn on those at the gates of death…?'
With quivering lips, Cyril started subconsciously mumbling in an inaudible voice.
'I-I… I'm actually going to die here… NO, it can't be!'
His mind descended into a state of shock
"You have tried to take my life; hence, your life now belongs to me."
As the cold words fell on his ears like a chilly wind, the vine pulled him up, above the branch, leaving him hanging one meter next to the sitting figure of the mage. Now, he could look eye to eye at this magician.
Cyril's heart started bounding like a war drum, as he gazed at the mage's face.
The yellow eyes were giving off a ghostly, evil spirit-like air. Their yellow, eerie glow was shining in a stark contrast to the dark-green face and the pitch black background of the tree canopies behind, making it look as though these eyes were two shiny yellow circles hanging in the air.
The scene made Cyril almost lose himself.
'He's going to kill me…'
'What have I done wrong…? I've spent my entire life struggling for every opportunity, for every resource. No one has ever given me anything. Everything I have, I earned it with my blood and sweat. Unlike those dogs who were born with golden spoon up their *&^%$, I had to start from scratch. I've backstabbed, betrayed, schemed, and killed for anything and everything. All for the hope that one day in the future, I can have the chance to live like humans do, to enjoy wealth.'
'I've been always careful, and even now, I was.'
'Even though he's only at the first rank, and looks like a weakling, I still didn't go for it, but planed an ambush, to avoid any mishap. And before I can even attack, I had lost consciousness, so, he shouldn't have an inkling of my intents. So, how in the world did I end up like this, hanged like an animal, and waiting to be slaughtered?'
'If he was strong, then he should have had all the time he needed to avoid me, or at least hide his artifact. I had no reason at all to suspect that he should be this powerful, as what is the point of him pretending to be weak, or letting me see his artifact?'
'I have spent my life acting all cautious and alert… but now, I'm going to lose it all, just because of shit luck, just because this guy was careless!? NO, NOT POSSIBLE, I CAN'T ACCEPT IT!'
Cyril gritted his teeth, as he made a decision in his heart.
"Sir, WAIT! Don't kill me; I can be useful to you! My pant's left leg, you can find a flat pouch that is sewed to the pants lining. There, you can find a rare treasure that will definitely be to your liking, it will definitely solve the current dilemma."
With extreme anxiety, Cyril cried out.
…