My Beast Evolution System-Chapter 73. The Dark Mage.

The humanoid creatures looked like shadowy beings, but they moved with inhuman speed and their attacks were erratic but powerful.

Glimmer’s flames illuminated the chamber and drove the monsters back, Blizzard froze the ground beneath them, and Thunder unleashed a bolt of lightning that struck down a couple of the beasts.

Aurora focused on destroying the artifact while Thunder remained close to protect her.

She cast a light magic spell and a huge beam of light shattered the artifact into pieces.

Meanwhile, at the front gate of the citadel, Diana and Kain’s team faced overwhelming odds. Waves upon waves of demonic beasts poured from the citadel, and their ever-increasing numbers overwhelmed the knights.

Kain parried a clawed strike and his blade moved swiftly as he counterattacked. "More beasts are on their way!!!" He warned his men as he tightened his grip on his sword.

"Good, let them come," Diana gritted her teeth as she cut through a pair of beasts in a single swing.

She glanced towards the Citadel and her thoughts briefly went to Aaron and Aurora, hoping that they would be able to make progress soon, and that was when she heard a sudden roar echoing from the citadel’s gates.

Everyone turned around and noticed the massive, grotesque beast emerging from a distance.

Its body was covered in writhing tendrils and glowing runes, but after looking at it closely, it had the appearance of an ugly, mutated lion.

The beast roared and charged towards Diana’s, each of its steps making the ground tremble.

"What is that thing?!" Kain shouted in fear.

"Something I’m about to kill," Diana replied with a smirk while tightening her grip on her sword.

She dashed forward to meet the beast’s approach head-on, but Kain and his men didn’t want her to face the beast alone, so they joined her, as their battle cry echoed in the air.

Meanwhile, inside the citadel, Aaron and his team had successfully destroyed the artifact, the demonic beasts, and all the shadowy creatures in the room.

They ventured deeper into the citadel, and before they knew it, they had reached its inner sanctum, which happened to be a vast, circular chamber with another dark, magical artifact.

It was just like the previous one, and it filled the room with miasma. However, the huge artifact, unlike the last one, was protected by a shield made out of dark magic and a cloaked figure stood close to the artifact.

The cloaked figure stepped forward with his arms spread wide as he welcomed them. "Welcome, uninvited guests. You’ve come far, but this is where your journey ends."

"We’ll see about that,’ Aaron drew his sword and his beasts growled from behind him.

The cloaked figure smiled before raising both of his hands and the air around him grew thicker with miasma. He manipulated the corrupted mana into a small but sharp-looking blade and tried to launch it straight at Aaron, but Aurora cast a magic spell in time to launch a beam of light straight at the dark mage’s arm.

He groaned in pain as he applied pressure to his injured arm, but then he slowly began to chuckle before it became full-blown laughter.

"You fools, do you really think I wouldn’t know why you’re here? You want to purify the kingdom and return it back to its former glory, huh?"

"Why are you doing all this?" Aaron asked.

"Fools, do you really believe this is my doing? I am but a humble servant to a greater power, one you cannot comprehend."

"Then you’re nothing more than a pawn," Aurora stepped closer to Aaron as her hands glowed with a yellow hue, but the mage’s eyes gleamed with rage and he unleashed a massive amount of miasma that affected their surroundings so much, that the ground began to form cracks and more humanoid creatures emerged from the cracks before they tried to attack Aaron and his team. But Aaron swiftly created a small frozen domain beneath the dark mage’s feet and an ice spike was created from the frozen ground as he tried to pierce the mage’s feet.

The dark mage screamed in pain before leaping backward with his uninjured leg to create a distance between him and Aaron.

Now, his senses were sharp as he faced Aaron, and the dark mage wouldn’t be fooled twice.

He never expected Aaron to be capable of creating such an attack.

The dark mage had initially underestimated him, but he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

The dark mage raised his hands up once again and a large amount of miasma coiled above his head to form a massive ball of corrupted mana. Then the massive sphere slowly began to morph into several arrows created purely from miasma.

He brought his hand forward and the arrows pierced through the air as they headed straight for Aaron, but Aaron had already released a lightning bolt as well.

Luckily for the mage, he had spotted the attack and while he barely managed to dodge it, a second bolt headed straight towards his legs.

Aaron released even more lightning bolts, but the dark mage swiftly created a shield that was made completely from dark magic. Meanwhile, Aurora and the beasts were preoccupied with the humanoid creatures. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The battle raged on, and Aaron continued to press forward, forcing the dark mage into a corner.

"Why are you doing this? What will you gain from doing all this?" He asked again while parrying the dark arrows that were launched straight at him. "There’s no point in trying to destroy the kingdom."

"Destroy it? " The dark mage sneered before slowly removing his cloak to reveal a middle-aged man with dark skin and pointy ears. "I simply sought to save it!! The miasma you see around us cannot be stopped, but only controlled. All I did was try to harness it, to use its power to defend myself and this land."

"By turning it into a wasteland? By unleashing beasts on your own people?"

"Those were necessary sacrifices I had to live with!!!" The dark mage shouted in reply. "They were sacrifices I made to keep the true threat at bay. You know nothing about the forces I serve. They’re the kind that would devour this world if left unchecked."

Hearing what the dark elf in front of him said, Aaron’s gaze hardened as he asked. "Then why serve them?"

The mage laughed bitterly before responding. "Because defiance is death and obedience is survival. You’ll understand soon enough."

"What do you mean by that?"

The dark mage grinned once again before unleashing a huge amount of dark mana from his body, but Aurora, Aaron, and his beasts combined their attacks, the moment they noticed what he was doing, to destroy the mage’s shield and the huge dark artifact, causing the dark mage to yell out with rage!

"No!!!! You fools, what have you done? You don’t understand!! You’ve doomed us all!!" He yelled, but no one cared and the dark mage could only watch as the huge dark artifact turned into tiny dust particles.

The mage fell to his knees, he could already feel his powers being drained away.

The mage slowly lifted his gaze to take a look at Aaron as he slowly approached him. "You think you’ve won, haven’t you? This... This is only the beginning. The one I serve... they will come for you. For all of you!!!"

"Let them come. We’ll be ready for them."

The mage let out a final bitter laugh before collapsing to the ground and his body slowly began to turn into ashes.

The sanctum became silent, and the knights who had been fighting slumped to the ground before cheering loudly with happiness.

The knights had been preoccupied with the smaller demonic beasts the dark mage had summoned, and after seeing that the source of all their worries had been taken care of, the knights couldn’t be happier to know that they would never have to worry about demonic beasts for a while.

They knew the dark mage had spoken of foes even more fearsome than him, but none of them cared about that right now.

They were simply glad to see that all the demonic beasts in the kingdom had successfully been removed.

Aaron and Aurora stepped out of the citadel, and to their surprise, they noticed a massive beast slowly turning into ashes.

The demonic beast wasn’t really as big as the basilisk, but Diana and Kain had successfully defeated it, thanks to the Rockbear, who appeared in time to save them.

The knights celebrated that night while feeling excited about returning to the barony the next morning, but before he returned home with them, Aaron decided to pay Rockbear one last visit.

He wanted to thank the huge bear for helping him and his men, and he also wanted to see the two cute little cubs once more before he returned home.

Right after Rockbear helped out Diana and Kain, the huge bear returned back home to his den, so Aaron had to visit the bear’s den if he wanted to have a word with him.

Of course, Glimmer accompanied him, but Aaron was riding on Blizzard while Thunder stayed behind with the girls.