Dark Magus Returns

Lifting up one hand, Barlan sent one of the beasts soaring into the air with a tidal wave of water. They shot up like a volcano had exploded, and then with the other hand, he formed a column of water, pushing the beast and crashing them into the wall.

He continued to do this one after the other, eventually jumping down into the middle of the mess of beasts. Seeing them come toward him, he made a series of motions, and then with both hands pushed forward.

"Surf!" Barlan called out.

A literal wave of water rose from the ground and swept the beasts away. It pushed them back down the street they had come from, into more hallways.

Those in their buildings were unsure of where all of this water was coming from and quickly made sure to keep their doors shut. Some had water seep in for a short while, but managed to close their doors in time as beasts struggled and were unable to find their footing.

Some had been swept into other buildings, but the water and struggle of the beasts gave them a chance to use their weapons to finish them. The water also helped as it diluted the juices that would come from their bodies, leaving them to have less effect.

Even those that were hit by the juices and felt a burning sensation could quickly place it in the water to wash most of it off.

'This power,' Barlan thought, looking at his own hands. 'My mana, it completely restored back to what it was. I felt like I was about to lose everything, and now I have all of my strength back.'

'And those other pills, it gave me a boost. My cast time was faster, even my thinking time allowing me to cast spells faster as well. These pills… I never knew they could have such effects.'

As Barlan thought about it more, he realized something. He had heard similar effects of certain pills. The effects that he had heard about were those related to Pagna warriors though.

The Alchemist that called himself the Dark Magus. He had created pills with such effects that they were sought all over the Demonic Faction, and that's when he remembered the marking on the pill as well.

'I am a fool, I didn't even notice that the DM marking on them meant that they are pills belonging to that person. It is interesting though, that these work on mages as well. I wonder how that young mage happened to get such pills, and how he knew they would work.'

'From what I heard they are expensive, but then again, he does somehow have the means to pay for these things.'

Since the situation was cleared up, and from the look of things, they had mostly cleared up in the shop as well, Barlan decided to enter again, as he had noticed something while he was above.

When entering through the door, immediately a number of people turned, but the fearful look on their faces had disappeared when they saw it was a human, and he could tell why.

A couple of warriors had ended up killed along with a few citizens who were unable to get away. Clothes were all over the floor, racks bent and knocked over, and bodies of dead beasts on the ground as well.

"I didn't go looking for Raze," Barlan commented. "There were a large number of beasts outside. I've managed to deal with them, and I noticed something else as well. You should avoid using your weapons that make loud noises."

"These beasts, it doesn't just look like they have no eyes, I'm pretty sure they don't. They're attracted to loud noises, which is why we were drawing more attention compared to other places."

When explaining this, Barlan made sure to say it close to Marcus. He didn't want the regular people inside to hear; otherwise, they might fully blame them for using such weapons and try to turn on them.

"I see, I should have figured it out, the tool I used to save my life was just ending it quicker. As for you, Barlan, you did a good job; I saw how many were out there. It appears as if you have gotten stronger," Marcus said, giving Barlan a pat on the back.

He didn't want to tell the truth that it was due to the items, so he kept it to himself for now.

Just then, another beast had come from around the corner from the outside. It turned its head to look at the others, and Marcus had immediately by reaction pointed his gun out and aimed right for its head.

"Wait!" Barlan called out. "I've made a silent barrier; it won't be able to hear us, but if you fire that thing and it goes outside, it will just attract attention. Let's just let it pass."

They looked at the beast for a while, and soon it moved its head in a particular direction. It had noticed something and started to run through the streets. It climbed the building, and it was off and out of sight.

"It looks like you were right," Marcus smiled.

"Let's go look for the young one; who knows, he could be in trouble, and then Himmy and him could owe us a few favors. I have a feeling he might have gone in the direction of where that beast headed off as well," Marcus said as he walked ahead.

Barlan was willing to follow them as normal, but when he went to take another step, he suddenly felt all of the energy drain from his body. His legs were weak, his sense of mana had almost disappeared completely, and he fell to his knees, covered in sweat.

"What's wrong!" Tanya asked.

She touched him and noticed his skin was slightly cold.

"It's okay, I think I'll be alright; this is just a small setback," Barlan answered, thinking that this could only be because of the pills he had taken.

'These pills, if they have something like this… are they cursed pills? Like a cursed potion, but if that's the case, these things, they can only have been created with Dark Magic.'

A dreaded fear had set in, Barlan at that moment. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence. This Dark Magus that was an Alchemist and created these pills, a mage that used Dark Magic and carried the same name; it was starting to link up more and more.