novelSuspicious Movements (3)
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Chapter 128 - Suspicious Movements (3)
'What the hell?'
The Dragon Majin was taken aback. The Dragon Majin hadn't given his opponent enough time to gather a significant amount of power. However, Azell's sword held an incredible amount of power within it. When their swords clashed, the Dragon Majin's body was stunned for a brief moment.
Soon, the Dragon Majin realized what method had been used by Azell. While they were exchanging sword strikes, Azell had let a small trickle of his magical energy infuse into the sword of the Dragon Majin, then he had detonated it.
"Ooh-ook!"
He hadn't noticed what was occurring, since he had been in a fierce duel. His heart leapt into his mouth. However, Azell was unable to take advantage of the opening thanks to the magical support from the magician. He was unable to go on the offensive.
He was only able to break up the stance of the Dragon Majin.
The Dragon majin jumped forward to apply an additional attack when it happened.
"You guys really did you homework on how do deal with me. I have to commend you guys."
"What?"
The Dragon Majin assumed a repulsive force would arise when their swords clashed, but Azell's sword slipped by his sword as if it was an illusion. Then the orbs of light passed through the empty air.
'Instantaneous movement? He did it while we were in contact with each other?'
Did he prepare the Instantaneous Movement in the brief moment when he was stunned? Azell's figure disappeared from his sight.
Kwahng!
He was able to block the next attack only by luck. He had instinctively hunched into himself as he protected his upper body. This was why he was able to intercept Azell's sword strike.
"Koo-oohk!"
However, the attack bypassed his defense, and it shook his internal organs. The Dragon Majin immediately kicked off the ground, and he used the Instantaneous Movement technique. He planned on retreating first before he re-acquired Azell in his field of vision.
Pah-ahhhhhhhh!
However, at that moment, he heard a shout of alarm from the magician he was connected to. After Azell attacked him, he had immediately went after the magician.
'As expected, he knows my location!'
The magician had hidden himself, but he was releasing a lot of offensive spells. Therefore, he knew it had been a matter of time before he was found.
The Dragon Majin gritted his teeth as he kicked off the ground....
Pah-hahk!
He heard the sound of a body being cut into two.
"... Uh?"
Suddenly, he could see a cape in his field of vision. He finally realized that he fell for a trap.
'Incarnation...... !'
He had no idea which one was the clone. Azell had been waiting for the moment the Dragon Majin focused his attention away towards his comrade.
'Ha! How can such a ridiculous bastard exist? Why did such a tribulation come to us.... . '
The Dragon Majin could feel the despair through the link connecting him to his comrade. He heard the short scream let out by his comrade.
"... all of you are skilled enough to be placed highly no matter where you go. Does this mean you guys are placing that high of an importance on this plan?"
Azell mumbled to himself after he took down the Dragon Majin and the magician.
The Dragon Majin was probably an officer dispatched from the Plain of Darkness according to the information he gathered from Laura, Yuren and Leticia. The troops that had been sent here by the Plain of Darkness was of high quality, and this meant that they had put a lot of importance on this plan. Moreover, it was obvious as to why the Dragon Demon King worshippers were were attacking this town.
The wanted a war between the Bijes kingdom and the Iellos kingdom.
They were probably going to make it look as if the army of Iellos had slaughtered the people of this town. It was a simple, yet effective tactic.
'These fuckers. Even if I know what they are trying to do, it isn't a problem I can remedy. I wonder if the Guardian Shadows would be more suitable. '
He had no choice, but to rely on the Guardian Shadows. They held influence over the entire continent, but there was also a systematic attempt by the organization to keep their identity a secret. Wouldn't that put a restriction on what they could actually do?
As Azell was having these thoughts, Dillons started asking him questions.
"Who are you? What the hell is all of this.... What's going on?"
"They are Dragon Demon King worshippers from the Plain of Darkness."
"They are Dragon Demon King worshippers?"
"At the very least, you can probably tell that they aren't from the Iellos kingdom. I believe they are here to instigate a war between Bijes and Iellos. Let us hope that the situation doesn't devolve to that level."
After he spoke those words, Azell threw himself into the air. The situation wasn't good enough where he could calmly have a conversation with his man. Moreover, they would be put in an awkward situation if the identity of the members of his party was revealed. The best thing to do was to save then inform the people of this town on what was going on. Then they had to make themselves scarce.
Soon, Azell's party killed all of the Dragon Demon King worshippers, and they gathered at the entrance of the town.
Azell asked Balseru a question.
"Why didn't you use the Guardian Shadows?"
"There were too many witnesses."
Balseru answered. He had been following the party from a distance, but he had participated in the battle. However, he hadn't called forth any other Guardian Shadows. He fought by himself.
'I wanted to see how skilled he was....... '
Surprisingly, no one in the party had caught sight of Balseru in action. He really was like a ghost. He only picked places where he wouldn't be seen as he had killed the Orcs.
"Then I'll excuse myself once again."
Balseru ignored the gazes from the party as he walked away into the distance. Although they had fought together in battle, it seemed Balseru still planned on putting distance from the party.
Kairen grumbled.
"What a creepy guy."
"I agree. Let's get out of here."
The flare was shot into the air, and they exited the town when they saw the army of the Bijes kingdom coming towards them.
Suddenly, Kairen spoke.
"By the way.... It seemed you had to exert yourself a little bit more than usual."
"It seemed they had analyzed information regarding me, and they came up with a countermeasure. It took me a lot of time, because I wanted to see what they knew about me."
It made him think of his past. During the Dragon Demon war, the Dragon Demon King's army were very wary of Azell. This was why they devised all kinds of methods in attempt to stop him. They even created a special force that were trained in a specialized battle tactic to catch him. No more words were needed to be said.
Kairen showed interest in the topic.
"How was it?"
"It was pretty good. They had come across me by mistake, yet they were quite effective in putting the plan in play. We'll have to be more careful from now on."
Azell gave an honest assessment. Kairen thought for a brief moment before he spoke.
"We did kill all of them, but they will probably know about our whereabouts now.."
"I agree. Then there are the ones that are still looking at us."
He could feel gazes looking at him from far away. It seemed Dragon Demon King worshippers used observers, who moved independent of the force carrying out the mission.
"Shall I try catch them?"
"It'll be an empty gesture. They are pretty far away, and they are spread out. We'll rattle them first, then we can feed them false information.
"Fortunately, we have two talented magicians."
Azell had identified five enemy observers. The closest one was 500 meters away, and the others were scattered far from each other. This was why it would be hard to hunt them all down in one fell swoop.
At this distance, a magician's ability shined more so than a swordsman. Soon, Yuren and Laura casted spells towards locations pointed out by Azell and Kairen. It was too far away, so they were only able to cause a momentary distraction. However, that was enough. The party immediately used their camouflage technique. Then they sent an exact replica of their image towards an entirely different direction.
Kairen spoke.
"Anyways, it'll be hard for them to predict where we are heading, so we'll be able to avoid their detection again."
The party was only here, because they received information from Yuren's guide. This roundabout route hadn't been part of their original plan, so even if the Plain of Darkness knew their current destination, they wouldn't be able to easily discern their final destination.
Azell spoke.
"If it is as Balseru had said, we'll be pursued sooner rather than later."
"We'll see if his words were correct or not. Situations like this always turns out for the worse in the end for me."
Kairen grumbled as if in disapproval.
5
Road of Emptiness.
It was a magical artifact left behind by Dragon Demon King Atein.
The artifact's worth was priceless, since it allowed instantaneous travel to various locations on the continent from the Plain of Darkness. It was a magic spell that couldn't be replicated, so the Plain of Darkness put great importance on the waypoints of the Road of Emptiness. It was disguised thoroughly, so outsiders wouldn't have any knowledge about it. Moreover, there were always a good amount of troops placed at each waypoint in order to protect them.
However, the Plain of Darkness was currently being plagued by a chronic problem. They had limited resources, and they had to be spent in a wise way. It was inevitable, since they were carrying out insidious plans across the continent.
<If I say the sight of these bastards make me feel sick, would you find it to be funny?>
A Skeleton Knight wearing black gold armor spoke. The surface of the armor had red lines running through it like arteries. It was an ominous sight. At a glance, one could tell it was a armor infused with powerful magic. If Azell saw this Undead, he would have been reminded of Delta and Zeta.
The Undead was a Skeleton Knight, and the armor had a similar design as the one worn by Zeta. However, unlike Zeta, one could see a sculpture-like horn protruding from the left side of the helmet, and its voice was entirely different.
<I would. >
Another similar looking Undead spoke with an apathetic voice. This one didn't have a horn, so if one discounted its voice and weapon, it looked very similar to Zeta. It held a mace on the right hand, and a shield on the left. The black magical weapons was infused with an ominous magical energy.
They were in a winding tunnel, and all the enemies blocking their path were Undead. They weren't just normal corpses. It looked as if they had been pieced together using numerous body parts. The bizarre looking monsters let out a horrifying sound as they blocked the path of the Skeleton Knights.
However, the two Undead Skeleton Knights were easily destroying all the monsters in their path.
Their magical energies, techniques and equipments were too powerful. They were like a localized typhoon. After they swept through the monsters, the sound of children whispering could be heard. The white Guardian Shadows finished off the ones that weren't completely destroyed.
They were so powerful that the woman following behind them didn't even need to stop once. She kept walking forward. The cold-faced woman with long blonde hair spoke.
"You should just stick to doing your job, Lambda and Mu."
The Dragon Majin Undead named Lambda grumbled at those word.
<Why aren't you doing your work, Iota?>
"As a matter of fact, it is probably time for me to move."
The blonde haired woman was a Keeper of Prophecy named Iota. She had been following the two up until now, but her eyes flashed when she saw the approaching enemies.
<You bastards!>
These were Undeads, who possessed intellect. However, unlike the Guardian Shadows, their opponents were all magicians.
Normally, Undead Spirit Order practitioners and Undead Dragon Arts practitioners had a hard time replicating the power they possessed when alive. On the other hand, Undead magicians retained most of their powers. In some cases, they became stronger in death.
The Undead magicians started to pour forth their magic spells. This was when Iota stepped forward.
"Ah ah. Even the Undead magicians were made from scraps.... They are very sensible in reusing their resources. I really like it. I like it so much that I want to kill them all."
She let out a twisted laugh as she engaged her defensive magic.
Normally, Undead Magicians chose to pass onto death. They opened the forbidden door in an attempt to gain a stronger power. However, these beings weren't such existences.
An evil mind had recycled these beings in an attempt to re-use the abilities possessed by dead magicians. As a high ranked magician, Iota could tell at a glance that these Undeads didn't truly possess self-awareness. They were like the mindless Undeads in the fact that a simple battle intelligence was artificially placed within them. It awoke automatically in battle situations. It had nothing to do with whether they possessed self-awareness or not.
This was why they were less skilled even if they were Undead magicians. Their magical power was strong, but the way they used it was too simple. It was a nightmare-like amount of fire power for most opponents, but they were easy pickings for a high ranked magician like Iota.
Ggwah-gwah-gwahng! Gwah-gwahng!
After receiving support from Iota, the troop of Guardian Shadows broke through the encirclement of Undead in a flash. Iota spoke.
"Isn't it time for the administrator to show up soon? I'm not sure how many there are."
| ← Ch. 128 | Ch. 130 → |