21st Century Archmage

Craaaaaaaash!

Boooom!

“Gah!”

An ear-splitting explosion rocked me back to my senses, just in time to notice the shards of rock whistling towards me.

“Shield!”

I unconsciously shouted Shield.

‘Fuck!! I dont have mana!

For a moment, I thought I didnt have any mana.

Ziiiiiiiiing!

Craaaaaaaash!

“…..!!”

But to my momentary shock, a blue shield glowing with cold energy appeared to block the flying shards. Even after repelling stones the size of watermelons, the shield stood firm.

Whirr, whirr.

And then, I felt the vibrations of the mana core at my waist.

‘T-The 4th Circle?

I could feel that my mana, which had completely disappeared since coming to this underground chamber, had recovered all the way to the 4th Circle.

“Huhuhu. Move! How dare a mere protective guardian play tricks before the staff of the mighty Tarkania-nim!”

“Lets melt her down. Kukuku.”

“You should have read the mood and disappeared after your masters death, did you really think you were a dragon just because you were given a tiny piece of dragon heart? Huhuhu.”

‘Holy! That woman is—!

It was the golden-haired, golden-eyed beauty who ended up making me run like a crazy mustang. She was floating within the huge stone building, radiating bloodthirst, directing it towards the people at the center of the building.

‘Lass!

The unawakened dragonia, Lokoroïa, was trembling in front of the black mages. In her shaking hand was a 1-meter-long black mana staff. On one end of the staff, a crystal ball the size of a volleyball was exuding an enormous amount of yin-attribute mana, and perhaps because of the distorted mana, all the mana in the surroundings were whirling around like a maelstrom.

‘Those bastards!

Three black animals in human skin were standing behind the girl and laughing ominously. They werent even liches, but the faces visible from the peeled-back robes were skeletally gaunt.

“Lokoroïa, what are you doing? Quickly kill that protective guardian. With the magic staff of Tarkania-nim in your hands, you can crush that bitch instantly. Quickly give the order, my cute little child…”

The tall, skeletal black mages insidious voice made goosebumps stand up all over my body.

“Nghh…”

The girl appeared to be resisting the mages intent, her face twisting in pain as her bare upper body recoiled. It looked like she was fighting back against something with all her strength.

“Huhuhu. Give up. Youre not even awakened yet, so do you really think you could escape the Tear of Restraint? Just listen to us, obediently, like youve done so far. Thats a good girl.”

The black mage used a bony hand to stroke Lokoroïas white body as if coaxing and soothing. It was disgusting. The revolting actions of beasts that had cast away their humanity nauseated me.

“ O Guardian, you who suffered for thousands of years to protect the relic of Tarkania-nim, you may now rest in peace, thank you for your hard work. Think of it as an honor to die by the staff of your creator. Kukuku.”

The black mages sneered at the golden-eyed woman as she shook with rage. However, the woman, the guardian, said nothing and simply remained floating in the air, glaring murderously at the black mages. It seemed she could not approach the relic of Tarkania or attack it.

Just then, the guardian turned her piercing gaze from the black mages to me.

‘Mm…