Chapter 257: Dejavu

Leonel was stunned.

This was the third time he was seeing Merlin's name in such an important setting. Though there were some legends about him in the Mage Academy Library, Leonel didn't really pay much attention to it. This was because those books were too low level. The information practically bordered on fairy tale.

However, things were a bit different now...

The first time Leonel saw his name was after entering the Joan Zone. Apparently those matters were related to a prophecy he had made in the past.

The second time he saw it was when he entered this Mythological Zone. Once again, it was related to a prophecy this Merlin had made in the past again.

This was now the third time Leonel had seen this name in a surprising capacity. It could be said that this was the last thing he had ever expected to find.

At the same time, Leonel wondered why it was Maugrier was so weak with such an inheritance on him. How could he be ranked in the 60's amongst Demon Lords? But after a moment of thought, he realized that this might have been the wrong way to look at things.

It might very well be possible that the former Maugrier wasn't worthy of ever becoming a Demon Lord in his lifetime until he stumbled into this inheritance. If Leonel looked at things like this, then it was very possible.

If Leonel took it one step further, it had to be remembered that Merlin was a hero of the human world, not the demon world. To the demons, he should have been a great enemy. After all, he was responsible for the rise of King Arthur.

Since that was the case, such an inheritance might not be suited to demons for use to begin with. If that was the case, then the fact Maugrier made it so far with it just went to show just how special the inheritance in this crystal was.

'Wow...'

Leonel felt like the crystal was an all new world. Unlike the crystals of the Magic Art Tower which only had a single Mage Art within them, this crystal was separated into several layers, each holding a different truth of the path of a bowman.

There were spells for enhancing eyesight, for accelerating an arrow mid-flight, and there was even meditation techniques for knights and mages within it.

The meditation techniques of this Mythological Zone all had one purpose: to Crystallize Force. Or rather, what the people of this Zone called either Spirit Pressure or Internal Strength.

Spirit Pressure meditation techniques compressed the Soul Force in one's Ethereal Glabella. Internal Strength meditation techniques compressed the Force within one's Force Nodes.

There were no limitations to meditation techniques, they could be used no matter which step of cultivation one was at. So, it was no problem for Leonel to start late.

However, there were obviously tiers of quality amongst meditation techniques. Some excelled in the degree to which one could compress and other excelled in the speed compression occurred, but those that could do both to perfection were rare.

The Mage Academy provided many types of meditation techniques. In fact, Leonel had dozens in his Dreamscape at this very moment. It was precisely because of this that he could see that Merlin's meditation technique was far beyond anything he had ever seen before.

'It pulls on the power of the stars? What a fantastical meditation technique...'

Leonel felt that this meditation technique resonated with him on a profound level. He felt that maybe this so-called power of the stars might be greatly beneficial to him.

Maybe there was a reason his Lineage Factor was named the Snowy Star Owl.

However, Leonel didn't immediately make this connection. This wasn't because he was stupid or that his Dreamscape was still lacking — though the latter might be part of the reason — but rather because he was a man of the modern era.

To people of backward, medieval era places like this, stars were mysterious entities and sometimes even gods looking down on them. However, to Leonel, they were massive balls of flaming gas. What could possibly be special about them?

Though Leonel had this inherent bias ingrained within him, he also knew that any techniques that appeared in this world would be real. He also had to admit that in this new world, where there were Dimensions above the third and abilities he couldn't imagine, it wasn't appropriate for him to try to reconcile everything with his own limited knowledge.

'My main focus will still be the spear, but there's a lot of useful things in here. Since I'm talented in the bow, it won't hurt to take a look...'

With that thought, Leonel began to walk back, already drafting up plans for a protective covering for his fingers. He wanted it to be light weight and also not interfere with his spear wielding. If it could add special attributes to his arrows as well, that might be nice....

Leonel drafted tens of possible plans in his Dream World as he walked. Before he realized it, he had already walked out of the ash forest, finding an army led by Sir Peirce before him.

Sir Peirce sat atop his horse, his snake-like eyes observing Leonel curiously.

"... Demon Lord Maugrier is dead." Leonel finished his report under the astonished gazes of Peirce's death guards.

Peirce's eyes narrowed. He looked Leonel up and down for a long while, but didn't find anything off about him. Leonel didn't even look particularly tired.

The actions of the demons had been getting more and more aggressive over the past month. It could be said that the number of clashes between human and demonkind, likewise, increased exponentially.

Yet, in all this time, the number of high level figures that had fallen was zero. Unless... one counted the two Demon Lords that had both fallen at Leonel's hands.

The truth was that there were simply too many demons. There were many Demon Generals who rivaled Demon Lords in potential and strength but were never promoted for fear of the 66 limit. Even if Leonel killed them, there would probably be a new 66th ranked Demon Lord by tomorrow. But, even with this being the case, Leonel's feats were too shocking.

Since when were Demon Lords so easy to kill? There was definitely something about this child's calculative abilities and mind that were beyond expectations. Of course, there was also the factor his enemies underestimating him due to his age, but this didn't diminish the impressiveness by much at all.

Seemingly thinking of something, Sir Peirce opened his mouth to speak.

"Remember, boy, don't forget the rules of Camelot."

Sir Peirce didn't elaborate on his words at all, but Leonel understood what he meant. Though rare, there was no small number of humans who had fallen to the darker path. Many of those humans started by picking up things they shouldn't have from the bodies of demons...

Leonel's eyes narrowed slightly, but he never got a chance to respond...

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Leonel suddenly felt a strong case of dejavu overwhelm him. Hadn't this exact same thing occurred on the Project Hunt Island...?

At that moment, the dark night skies were illuminated by a dull gray pillar of light in the distance.

What Leonel didn't know at that moment was that this wasn't a Force Eruption and... the true purpose behind the all out assault of the Demons was about to be revealed.