novelSika, Sika! (1)
| ← Ch.0185 | Ch.0187 → |
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Asking an opponent for their surname before a duel to the death was a customary practice. However, Saleen pursed his lips tightly, refusing to reveal his name. He simply could not be bothered to exchange pleasantries with the black deacon. Out of nowhere, Lex's voice could be heard."My surname is Grukos. I don't care who you are or where you come from. I have killed and will kill many people like you. I bet I could even do it in my sleep."
What is she doing? Saleen thought. The black deacon roared with anger. Suddenly, Saleen realized the rationale behind Lex's odd behavior earlier. She only knew the general location of the black deacon, but could not accurate pinpoint where he was. By throwing her surname out there, she had unnerved the black deacon enough to distract him from hiding himself properly. Amazing. Only people like Lex could do this so effortlessly just by revealing their surnames, Saleen thought.
As a descendant of the Grukos family, Lex knew the people of the Holy See like the palm of her hand. She had very reliable sources of information. She knew everything from their general appearances to their organization, as well as its members.
Unless they were unimportant figures, no one from the Holy See would not at least flinch at the mention of the Grukos. This was especially true now, since the cards were in the black deacon's hands.
Hundreds of evil spirits, each with the ranking equivalent to that of a swordsman, had surrounded the group of four. Once these evil spirits finished them off, Lex would become the black deacon's most valuable trophy.
In a fit of rage, the black deacon had forgotten to hide his aura properly. Lex, upon discovering his location, braved the searing pain in her ribs and levitated. The Book of the Fallen was not something that the black deacon himself had refined. He could not exercise full control over it without the right environment. Unless he was promoted to the rank of a bishop, he would not be able to harness the full power of the holy equipment. Unfortunately for him, Lex had found his location almost instantaneously.
Seeing that Lex's trick worked, Saleen let out a sigh of relief. Typically, a fight between a grade-6 mage and a holy master would not drag on for too long. In this case, as long as Saleen could fend the evil spirits off until Lex slaughtered the black deacon, he would be fine. This was turning out to be a very realistic aim.
The evil spirits had recovered most of their fighting power, but their intelligence still left much to be desired. It was almost as if they were not gaining any intelligence. Most of them were still waiting for the right moment to attack, although when they did, they did not do it together. If they had done the exact opposite with the intensity only displayed by the swordmasters from Dragon's Tooth Town, Saleen knew he would have been dead in a matter of minutes.
"Let me do the honors, " Daniel said bravely. He knew that within the people in the group, he was the weakest member. The winged skeleton had the power equivalent to that of a grade-6 creature. Yet, he was just an insignificant grade-3 necromancer. The death flames could only assist the winged skeleton in battle for about ten minutes before they ran out of energy. If he did not get sufficient rest, he would use up the death flames and it would be impossible to get them burning again.
Saleen did not stop Daniel. Instead, he patiently hid behind the fully constructed puppets, and carefully observed the evil spirits' second form.
Appearance wise, the evil spirits had definitely gotten a lot more muscular. However, all Saleen could focus on was the flames that were glowing from underneath their skin. This could only mean one thing - they had directly absorbed the powers of the frigid purple flames, temporarily restoring their original forms. However, Saleen was unsure of whether their souls had remained ripped out of them.
The winged skeleton leapt into the air, its hands suddenly morphing to form bone spears. With a swoosh, it threw the bone spears from the sky and successfully pinned an evil spirit onto the ground. It did not stop there. After that attack, the winged skeleton hovered above the remaining evil spirits tauntingly while launching its next bone spear attack without any further hesitation.
The first time its target had been struck through a sneak attack, and the target had been a slightly weaker evil spirit. The winged skeleton had excellent battle wit even though it was very different from Nailisi, who had some semblance to the human race. If their species could evolve, it would have been speaking simple languages by now.
Although Daniel was a very unlucky fellow, he had managed to get his hands on an extremely rare item: highly advanced death flames. He had also been able to secure a winged skeleton which could potentially evolve. These were objects that simply could not be bought in Alchemy City.
The evil spirits were angry and out for blood. A group of evil spirits, decked in armor and other swordmaster gear, leapt into the air towards the winged skeleton that was waiting for them. They had jumped over thirty meters high, a height that was taller than most buildings.
These creatures! They must be on the same level as bronze grand swordmasters! Saleen thought as he gulped. Swordmasters who had the ability to leap that high were very likely to have sword auras that could leave their bodies and launch attacks on their opponents.
Boom! Boom! Boom! That was the only sound Nailisi could hear as the winged skeleton was about to be hacked into bits. At this point, she could no longer afford to wait for the right moment to strike. She mobilized the fully constructed puppet to charge towards the evil spirits. The fully constructed puppet accelerated as its feet extinguished the purple flame beneath it almost immediately, exposing the soil that was hidden underneath.
The worst thing anyone could do was underestimate the power of the fully constructed puppets. Although they looked harmless with their three meter tall frames, they weighed tens of thousands of kilograms. A person only needed to imagine a truck barrelling towards them at lightning speed. That was how destructive their attacks could be. Nailisi knew that and was about to put it to good use. She commanded the fully constructed puppet to ram into the evil spirits.
The sound of colliding metal was extremely piercing. Deafening, in fact. The fully constructed puppet did not seem to care for using the axe in its hands to attack its opponents. It cared more about using its strong, durable body to violently stomp through the group of evil spirits.
Dozens of weapons pierced through the body of the fully constructed puppet, but none of them badly damaged its vital parts. It was running too fast. Evil spirits from the side were unable to gather energy in time to attack it.
Nailisi followed suit, keeping perfect pace with it without showing any signs of slowing it down. Meanwhile, the winged skeleton had lost its wings. Part of its wings had passed over a bronze grand swordmaster's face and were hurtling towards the ground.
With a stretch of her hand, Nailisi effortlessly caught the ends of the winged skeleton's severed wings before turning around to run. She knew that even if the winged skeleton were to do a fantastic job in repairing its wings, it would be defenseless for a few days. Nailisi's curiosity about the winged skeleton had peaked. She had a faint impression of the death dimension. Had my parents been there before? Is that why I have this familiar feeling? Nailisi thought to herself.
Her curiosity was not the most important thing right now. Saleen was now face to face with an expanding purple flame. A long, slender palm had shot out from within the burning flames towards Saleen's calf. It was not attacking him with just its fingers though. Clutched between them was a needle that shone menacingly.
Saleen, whose senses had been hampered, could not see the needle coming. On his right was Sika; on his left was Daniel; behind his back were the fully constructed puppets. A person would have thought that he would be able to see the assassin who was hiding right in front of him, seeing that his attention was only concentrated on that area.
Sika instinctively bellowed, "Shatter!"
A dark shadow suddenly flew out from the bone necklace hanging from her neck and formed the shape of a totem. That totem chased after the hand that was about to pierce Saleen's skin like a missile. After that, Saleen cast her boomerang out towards the assassin.
With a "ping" sound, that needle shattered into several fragments. Within the blink of an eye, the bones of the assassin's hand had broken as well. Saleen felt chills run down his spine as cold sweat started dripping from his forehead. That had been too close for comfort. From the attack, Saleen could tell that the assassin was highly skilled. His ability to hide his aura rivalled that of Lex's personnel, Bain.
If the assassin was in great pain, he did not show it. Instead, he used his other good hand to take out another weapon - a gun. That firearm was very small. In fact, the gun could have been sandwiched between Saleen and the assassin and they would have still had room to spare.
To put it into perspective, the distance between Saleen and the assassin was only three steps. In such a short distance, Saleen knew that the assassin's speed would match up to that of the magic spells he could launch.
"Saleen!"
"Sika!"
"Master..."
A cacophony of voices rang in the air as the members of the group shouted at one another, hoping that the others were alright.
Keeping a neutral expression, Daniel released a Bone Shackle spell in an attempt to take down another assassin that had suddenly appeared behind Sika's back. He had done it even if he knew that he was just wasting his energy. His attempt at stopping the assassin would be futile as the powers of the assassins they were up against were at least grade-6.
Assassins attacking one after another, especially when the second one launched a surprise attack, was one of the most common ways to defeat a mage. However, the fact that two grade-6 assassins were needed in order to kill a grade-4 mage was fairly unheard of.
Grade-4 mages like Saleen had very keen senses. The more assassins they were, the more heartbeats he could hear, and the greater the risk that the assassins would be discovered.
The only thing complicating this was the fact that the two assassins were evil spirits. They had no heartbeats, nor did they breathe. The only way they survived was by hiding their essences within the purple flames. Sika's attack had only been successful in crushing one of her opponent's hands. The other assassin had leapt towards Sika from behind, his hands brandishing a long scimitar.
Not caring about the boomerang that was approaching him from behind, the assassin who had the firearm in his good hand charged towards Saleen. Sika, who was not too bothered about the scimitar that was about to stab her from behind, attempted to pursue the assassin in front of her. Right now, the person who was in shock was actually Nailisi. She could not believe how much danger Saleen was in. All she had done was leave Saleen alone for less than a minute.
Shots fired by a grade-6 assassin, especially within a three-step point-blank range, were attacks that Saleen would be unable to defend himself from in time.
With a slicing sound, the assassin's scimitar scrapped against Sika's back, effectively slicing apart the armor that Saleen had custom-made for her. Sika, struggling to stand, threw the wooden club that she had in her hand in a last-ditch effort to protect herself from any further injuries.
Saleen felt his mind go blank as he witnessed Sika fall onto the floor in agonisingly slow motion. He glanced at her wounds and winced. Her entire back had a slash mark almost two feet long. It was so deep that the bone was visible. Instinctively, he released a spell called Mutating Wind.
A layer of fog started emanating from Saleen's body. He did not attempt to dodge the gun. In fact, he rushed towards it. The evil spirits were creatures with no emotion. Thus, they were not affected by Saleen's odd behavior at all. The gun was making its way towards Saleen's abdomen...
No, the assassin was not about to utilize his bullets. As soon as the weapon was close enough to Saleen, he would flick his wrist and the spear hidden within the gun would reveal itself. By the time Saleen realized this, it would be too late for him, and the spear would already have plunged deep into his heart. Stabbing someone's lower abdomen would not kill them. However, as soon as the heart ruptured, even grade-9 mages would not be able to save Saleen.
Saleen, too distraught for words, leapt towards the gun. Only one thought was flashing frenziedly throughout his mind - save Sika.
No sooner had the wooden club thrown by Sika made contact with the assassin's back than the crunching sound of bone breaking could be heard from afar. Her attack had expended her remaining energy. Falling onto the floor, she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. The scimitar that the other assassin had used against her did not contain poison, but it was a serrated knife. These types of knives, after making contact with skin, would immediately draw a never-ending flow of blood.
It was the first time that Saleen had seen such a fearsome assassin. He knew that with Sika's throwing ability, even the strongest magical beasts would have been rolling on the floor in pain after the wooden club struck them. However, the assassin that had been struck could still find the energy in him to continue charging towards Saleen.
Saleen had momentarily lost his agility from the earlier attack. All he had now was his speed.
The fog that was coming from Saleen's body was already one foot thick. However, the assassin was easily able to slice through the fog using the gun-and-dagger device, and stabbed the weapon into Saleen's ice plate armor.
A deep crack appeared on the armor almost immediately. Saleen's body, with some momentum from the fog, launched up into the air. The assassin, whose arms were tired by now, could only watch as the tip of the gun which contained the blade slipped down from the ice plate armor. Saleen saw red. His left hand immediately reached out towards the assassin's face.
Although he was a mage, Saleen realized that he would not be able to finish off his opponent with just one spell as the distance between them was too small. Technically, since his opponent was an evil spirit, he would likely would not care about life and death.
"Now you'll see what actual hell feels like, " Saleen roared as his left hand, glowing a brilliant green, silently punched through the assassin's face.
Seeing that his companion was in grave danger, the second assassin, the one who had the scimitar, immediately came to his aid. Upon seeing that there were remnants of Sika's flesh on the tip of the scimitar, Saleen felt an anger that he had never felt before consume him. His azure blue eyes flashed a menacing red.
"Sika!" Saleen screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that his loud volume would somehow startle his injured comrade into consciousness. He pulled his left gand back from the assassin's face and charged towards the second assassin that was brandishing the scimitar.
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