novelTwelfth Holy Guard (III)
| ← Ch.369 | Ch.371 → |
Chapter 370: Twelfth Holy Guard (III)
With his left foot stepping on the ground, Long Haochen relied on the force from his own attack to rush forward, making his sword Rippling Light instantly turn dazzling white. Following the blade, an edge of white light burst out, aiming to strike at the red skeleton.
The white color covering the sword was of course a result from Holy Sword, but that white edge of light was a particular attack in the state of Holy Sword, called Holy Flower.
Even the red skeleton didn't dare meet the attack from Holy Flower head-on. Left helpless, he could only use his shield for his protection. With a loud sound, Holy Flower pushed him back with its powerful force. And at that time, Long Haochen had already closed in.
The Holy Glorious Shield vanished, and Long Haochen only had the sword Rippling Light glinting with Holy Sword in his hands.
An Asura Strike was launched.
Right in that instant, Long Haochen seemed to have entered an extraordinary state, emitting an incomparable sword intent. This simple Asura Strike gave off a feeling of unity between the sword and its master, which was represented by a five meters large white halo spreading out from his body.
Because of Long Haochen's fast combination, the red skeleton was unable to counterattack. Instead, he used his shield defensively, just like before. At the same time, his body was inclined slightly, in an attempt to counterattack immediately after blocking this blow.
However, the power in Long Haochen's attack was not to be underestimated. Right at that instant, it rose to the peak of it's power, and Long Haochen gave off the impression of being able to overcome anything.
This impression resulted directly from the sword intent. It was based on an understanding Long Haochen obtained little by little from the Aria of the Goddess of light. The reason why he didn't use his sword intent directly against him was just to avoid damaging the body of the red skeleton.
Bang! His shield broken in fragments, the red skeleton was sent flying by this blow, and because his body was inclined towards Long Haochen at the time of the attack, he was actually in a semi-inclined posture as he was hurled in the air.
The four wings on Long Haochen's back eventually flapped, and a lightning-like golden flash covered the ceiling. Launching a kick against the red skeleton, he aimed Rippling Light against the bone blade held in the right hand of the red skeleton, breaking it into pieces. After completing these two movements in a split second, Long Haochen turned back and smashed his right elbow against the throat of the red skeleton.
This attack was completed in a flash, and in the next instant, the man and the skeleton parted with each other. The red skeleton was violently flung ten meters back, and hit the ground hard, the parts of his bone blade scattered on the ground.
Seeing this brilliant battle, everyone from the 64th commander grade Demon Hunt Squad couldn't help but show fervent looks. They finally won. After close to a year, they finally won against this powerful red skeleton. And this was in a one against one duel, where Long Haochen didn't use the support from Yating or Haoyue. He did this to show his respect towards this opponent.
Boo The red skeleton let out a sort of moan, crawling on the ground with the use of his left hand.
Long Haochen regained the Glorious Holy Shield from the Eternal Melody, and made preparations to continue the battle.
However, the red skeleton didn't continue his offense, but watcHed Long Haochen attentively. This lasted for more than ten seconds, before he slowly gave a nod. He actually knelt down in front of Long Haochen, clearly showing his obeisance with this movement.
This?... Long Haochen looked at him with a start, "Elder, there is no need to act like that."
"Master, the Twelfth Holy Guard reports to you." A muffled and cold voice was heard coming from the red skeleton, "In any world outside the Tower of Eternity, whoever wants to harm you will have to walk over my smashed bones for that."
After saying these words, the red skeleton abruptly turned into a red flash of light flying in Long Haochen's direction. In the air, his body became smaller and smaller. When he arrived before Long Haochen, his body's shape already became that of a small red flame. Instantly, he disappeared into the Eternal Melody.
Long Haochen felt a warm feeling on his chest. Pulling up his garment, he gave a look to the Eternal Melody, only to see that on the gem above the white skull shaped pendant a small red fire pulsed.
Twelfth Holy Guard?
Looking at the snapped arms, bone blade and shield disappearing into the ground, Long Haochen couldn't help but look sluggish.
"Boss, what happened? Was it an ability or an increase of spiritual energy?" Sima Xian asked eagerly. They all got to see that red light, but didn't hear the voice of the Twelfth Holy Guard, thus believing that everything was going on, the same way as before.
Long Haochen shook his head, giving a bitter smile, "I'm afraid that I am being forced to become a necromancer." After repeating the words of the Twelfth Holy Guard, he continued, "If my guess is correct, I should have gotten the ability to summon that red skeleton as guard. Wait a bit, I'll give it a try."
After saying this, Long Haochen slowly closed his eyes, before a red glint occurred and the tall red skeleton calling himself Twelfth Holy Guard appeared before Long Haochen, its previously snapped arm and broken shield were back to normal. He emitted a glowing and wild aura.
When Long Haochen closed his eyes, he learned that his own soul seemed to have gained connection with this red skeleton. He was now completely capable of giving him orders during battle. And atop of that, the skeleton had a self-awareness of his own, and the battle instincts their group already got to experience.
Everyone looked at each other, but no one seemed able to determine whether this was a good or a bad thing.
The calamity brought to the continent by the necromancers was something they were all aware of, and Long Haochen was moreover an outstanding knight privileged as the Scion of Light. If he were to really become a necromancer, things would be really messy and even the Temple Alliance would definitely not accept it. And furthermore, given that this Twelfth Holy Guard entered the Eternal Melody on his own, would it even be possible to drive him out of it? In the end, Long Haochen didn't have absolute control over this pendant.
"Haochen." Cai'er took Long Haochen's hand."Actually, I think that you are really overthinking this. In this world, there is nothing that can be categorized as absolutely good or evil. Necromancers can actually be light attribute users, so what could be impossible? The fact that you obtained this strength doesn't mean you definitely have to use it. And in addition, this red skeleton detaining the soul of a powerhouse doesn't have any of the bearings of an undead creature. When you'll summon it, it will only be to fight against demons. What is there to worry about if you just use it to kill demon aggressors?"
Han Yu nodded, "Vice-captain is right. Although this Tower of Eternity is the dwelling place of the Holy Necromancer Elux, he doesn't have any enmity towards you or us. On the contrary, it is because of his help that our strength keeps growing. As long as we aren't disturbed by our own acts, the world's view doesn't matter. Moreover, there will be no problem at all about concealing his existence."
Sima Xian responded, "That's right! Over seventy percent of the Demon Hunt Squads die in the demon territory. Maybe we will come to die there someday, too. Boss, don't overthink this. Just accept it. Let's go now, we should keep advancing and have a look to see what else there is on this first floor."
After getting the support from his comrades, Long Haochen's face eased up. Actually, after all this time, he had already realized all this, but didn't want for the harmony of the team to be disturbed by the matter. He was still underestimating the trust the others had in him: no one would actually question his intentions.
Connecting his mental force with the Eternal Melody, Long Haochen transmitted his thoughts and the Twelfth Holy Guard was again concealed as a red light. It was as if he was pulled in by the Eternal Melody.
"Keep our battle formation and advance." Long Haochen shouted, showing the initiative by taking out the Glorious Holy Shield and the Rippling Light while placing himself at the front.
The additional ability carried by the Rippling Light was extremely powerful. When launching an attack, it would make it carry illusory ripples of spiritual energy, launching a second additional attack with roughly a third of the original attack's strength.
In other words, when using the attack Holy Sword, at the same time, it would launch a second attack with a third of the Holy Sword's strength. This was also the main reason that made the Twelfth Holy Guard unable to block Long Haochen's attack. Of course, Long Haochen also understood that if the Twelfth Holy Guard had a set of equipment on par with his own, achieving victory against him wouldn't possibly be that easy.
After all, in terms of battle techniques, Long Haochen still had things to learn from him.
This time, they advanced twenty more meters before the Tower of Eternity showed some reaction. And now, they seemed to be drawing closer and closer to the end of the first floor. Long Haochen vaguely saw a huge sculpture standing at the end of the first floor.
A sparkling blue light appeared out of nowhere and from it, a skeleton that seemed no different from the Twelfth Holy Guard slowly appeared. An ice-blue mass of light seemed to stream into it, but it actually didn't expand to the size of the Twelfth Holy Guard, only reaching a height of a meter and eight centimeters. His whole body became deep blue, with two blue soulfires pulsing in his eyes. In his right hand, a long staff appeared quietly.
"A mage type skeleton! Be careful everyone." Long Haochen gave a shout, dashing like a dart in the direction of that blue skeleton. It took him a mere instant to reach his peak speed. He had the premonition that this had to be the last test of the first floor. After passing it, they would have conquered the whole first floor of the Tower of Eternity.
A hot pure golden flame surrounded Long Haochen's body, illuminating the whole Tower of Eternity. This was not only intended as a means to resist against an opponent of the ice element, but also to light up the surroundings for his comrades, so that everyone could find it easier to respond to the attacks from that blue skeleton.
The blue skeleton and the red skeleton of the sixth test had a significant difference in demeanor, which was that the former didn't make the slightest sound after the ignition of his soulfire. He appeared incomparably calm. Against Long Haochen's charge, his body slided sideways as if gliding on ice, meanwhile, with a shake of the staff in his hand, a fog of ice headed in Long Haochen's direction.
"Hehe, now should be the time for this bro to show his strength." said Lin Xin with a voice filled with excitement. Suddenly, a layer of blue fire appeared in front of Long Haochen.
| ← Ch. 369 | Ch. 371 → |