Chapter 120
Chapter 120: Genesis, the God’s Envoy (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The silver grand swordmaster used their sword aura to resist the Grade 8 spell, though they became slightly dizzy after being hit by the Meteorite spell. The sword aura exuded from within their body and exploded on the surface of their skin. Then, a red shadow pounced on the swordmaster and gripped him. This red shadow was a fire puppet, a Grade 8 spell.
Grade 8 Fire Magic could already melt metal, so that grip immediately destroyed the sword aura of the silver grand swordmaster. The swordmaster could feel that death was near as they remained dizzy. The sword in their hand was no longer swinging as ferociously and freely as it had been before.
The fire puppet simply gripped tightly onto the silver grand swordmaster, producing an endless sizzling noise. When the swordmaster finally became void of life, the fire puppet shrank quickly. By then, the silver grand swordmaster’s skin had already been burnt beyond recognition.
In the face of that intense pain, the silver grand swordmaster had roared and howled like a magic beast. However, Faerun had been unmoved and had continued opening his scrolls.
A bright white light filled the night sky in that instant. Saleen squinted his eyes and saw a beam of light as thick as a rice bowl shooting out from the scroll and hitting the swordmaster’s head.
Aurora of Destruction!
This Grade 8 Light Magic that could not be locked onto a target had accurately struck the head of the silver grand swordmaster. Their half bald head was no longer protected by the resilient sword aura, so half of their head had simply melted silently. All of their head had melted away except for their mouth.
Until now, the silver grand swordmaster’s hand had looked like the sun, emitting a sword aura that was golden in color.
The fire puppet and the giant rock beneath their feet disintegrated into smoke and dust after the final explosion. The magic arrays surrounding the enormous rock could also only resist the impact for a short while before they disappeared as well.
With a crash, the swordmaster’s body fell from the sky. When they had delivered their final strike, they had almost advanced to the next grade. But since they had lost half of their skull, they would not be able to comprehend those secrets and mysteries anymore.
The flying magic beast in the sky gave a shriek and turned around to escape. Faerun did not bother giving chase. After all, since the swordmaster had died, the beast would regain its freedom from this point on. Furthermore, that magic beast would not be able to fly faster than those beasts which were gifted in wind power. It would not be worth it to waste a Grade 8 scroll on a Grade 5 or 6 magic beast.
“Let’s go over and take a look,” Saleen said to Tenesee. Saleen suppressed the excitement in his heart and ran towards Faerun. This time, there were no black metal grand swordmasters around. Faerun had dealt with the silver grand swordmaster alone by using the power of the scrolls. Bain had kept hidden in the shadows all this while. This incident had allowed the capabilities of magic prowess to be displayed to their fullest extent.
Lex slipped out from a tent to the side. Nailisi pulled on Saleen, and Saleen stopped walking and turned around. Nailisi shook her head and said to Saleen in the ancient Myers language, “His soul has disappeared. He is not of much value to me.”
Indeed, Saleen had wanted to take possession of the body, but when he heard Nailisi’s words, he slowed his pace.
The Aurora of Destruction could actually destroy the soul itself. Even though this spell could not be locked onto a target, its power was unfathomable. Saleen had discovered that all spells were balanced. If one had some shortcomings, there would be compensation in its other aspects.
The Aurora of Destruction could not be locked onto a target, instantly cast, or cast a second time. The compensation for all of these shortcomings resulted in the spell having a tremendous lethality.
For seven hundred years, the Grukos family had owned a countless number of royal mages. When these mages practiced, they also produced large quantities of magic scrolls, and some of these scrolls could store spells that were Grade 7 and above for a very long time. In reality, the real motive of the emperor had been to gift the mages these high-level scrolls. The rest of the presents had just been added out of convenience. In turn, this allowed Faerun to have the combat capabilities of a Grade 8 sorcerer.
A silver grand swordmaster would never be able to withstand centuries of an empire’s accumulated magic. Saleen suspected that Lex still had some tricks up her sleeves. Even if she were to fight against a golden grand swordmaster, it was possible that the swordmaster would very likely die. Also, the ring on Lex’s finger was very strange. Saleen found it very familiar, but he could not pinpoint it to any of the contents of the books he had read before.
It was too strange. His recollection magic had failed him.
“Go and pursue the people who caused this disruption. Capture a few of them. I want some statements,” Lex gave her orders word by word, staring at the body of the silver grand swordmaster with a stern look on her face. The cavalry who had already prepared themselves then gave chase on horseback towards the south.
The sentries to the south needed to surveil the main road. There were one hundred infantry soldiers and two combat mages, so they could only harass their enemies at the moment.
Jitters lingered in Lex’s heart. If Faerun had not insisted on using the Grade 8 scroll, the silver grand swordmaster might have killed her when he descended and attacked from the sky. The aura of that sword had already reached the pinnacle of silver grand swordsmanship, and when the swordmaster had been dying, their sword had even exploded into a golden sword aura.
It would have been almost impossible to defend from that silver grand swordmaster’s long distance attack if Lex had not been prepared.
Faerun had exhausted a great amount of his mental power when he repeatedly used the scrolls as he was falling from the sky. Furthermore, for his final blow, Faerun had used the Figaro formula to calculate the trajectory of the Aurora of Destruction, which had not only used his mental strength, but his physical strength as well. Since the Aurora of Destruction could not lock onto a target, the angle at which the scroll was opened was crucial. Without the fire puppet hugging onto the silver grand swordmaster, that sluggish final blow would not have had much effectiveness.
“Viscountess.” Saleen had arrived at the battlefield and was astonished when he saw the smithereens of the giant rock that had been crushed by the silver grand swordmaster. Normal magic would definitely not have been able to withstand such an impact. Saleen would need at least eight to ten years to even roughly figure out the weaknesses of that sword, as the difference in grade between him and the swordmaster was simply too great.
Lex nodded at Saleen. The sounds of a raging battle could be heard from afar, and the second group of cavalry had already left the camp. This time, they had brought ten combat mages with them.
The body of the silver grand swordmaster was carried over to Lex. Half of their brain was missing, and the surface of their body had been burnt beyond recognition. Only the dagger in their hand remained completely undamaged.
Lex took the dagger and placed it in her palm. The dagger was about one feet long, with a white body. However, the dagger did not reflect light, and it was not made from metal. Lex looked at it carefully but could not find any clues as the dagger had no symbols or markings on it.
Saleen could not identify it either. To be able to withstand the golden sword aura from the swordmaster, this dagger was certainly of the best quality. However, there were no assassins with Saleen, so he had no use for the dagger. Lex, however, had a horrifying character beside her, so it looked like the dagger would belong to him from now on.
Just as Saleen thought of this, Lex tossed the dagger into the darkness at random, and the white dagger disappeared. Saleen could feel a faint presence from Bain which appeared and disappeared in a flash.
“Allow me to take care of the body,” Saleen said, pointing to the silver grand swordmaster. Even though the effect would not be great, Nailisi had already eaten one man and there was no need to act noble anymore. This body would become food for Nailisi.
“Alright, he’s yours.” Lex did not say anything as Saleen stored the body into his Demonic Ring.
“Tenesee, do you know why this man braved such a huge risk to attack me?” The fear in Lex’s heart had gradually disappeared, and she remembered to give a reminder to her subordinate.
“This man was on the brink of a breakthrough, so he only needed one more round of battle.” Lex was only a year or two older than Saleen, but her tone was that of an old woman. “You are a swordmaster already. You cannot back down from the path of swordsmanship.”
“Alright.” Tenesee stored Lex’s advice into his heart. He had been a swordmaster for quite some time already, but no matter what he did, he had not been able to make any further progress. Now, he had suddenly realized that the reason was because he had not had a real fight yet, so now he needed to find a competent swordmaster in order for him to sharpen his skills.
The sounds of the raging battle had drawn increasingly closer. It turned out that the two batches of reinforcements had not been able to resist the advances of the enemy. Tenesee frowned and said, “Viscountess, I shall go.”
Lex nodded and replied, “Bring the heavy cavalry with you.”
Saleen was skeptical. Since the time the silver grand swordmaster had died, the enemy had actually been advancing instead of retreating. It was not a good sign. Could it be that the enemy had other hidden trump cards? Tenesee had led the troops of the Bitter Water Army into battle, leaving only the palace swordsmen and some support troops in the camp.
Faerun suddenly took out a water bottle, took a few gulps of magic liquid, and said to Lex, “Something is wrong. Someone is coming…”
Before Faerun could complete his sentence, the sky suddenly lit up as though a sun had appeared in the camp. Within the blinding light, three silhouettes floated in midair, and they brought with them a sacred and inviolable vibe.
Saleen took two steps back and the three silhouettes became clearer. One of them was the white deacon named Picasso, whom Saleen had met back at the Chaotic Swamp. With Faerun around, Saleen was not afraid of Picasso. However, in the middle of the trio was a man whom Picasso was standing next to in a position of respect. This man was obviously of a much higher level than Picasso.
Inside of the holy light, the young man’s face displayed a look of astonishment. He said, “Silam is dead? That was fast. Lex, were you the one who killed him?”
His voice was full of vigor and could be heard clearly throughout the camp. The rays from the sky were extremely intense, and the soldiers could not even open their eyes whereas the swordmasters and mages were straining to open their eyes and take a closer look at the man.
“Who are you?” Lex looked unusually dejected. This man was so powerful that Lex felt like she was looking at her uncle, Safilos. Safilos was a golden grand swordmaster, and was the only one in the Grukos lineage who had a high chance of becoming a grand swordmaster. This man who called Lex by her name with that irksome vibe, it had to have been the holy light from the Holy See.
“I forgot to introduce myself. I am Genesis. You must have heard of me before. Right, little viscountess?”
“You…”
Viscountess Lex was startled and furious at the same time. She was shocked because Genesis was one of the seven envoys of god within the Holy See and possessed the strength of god. And she was angry because this envoy of god had trespassed into Qin borders, and that symbolized the start of the Holy War. However, the Holy See had not issued such a holy decree.
Genesis did not care about Lex’s feelings. He was engrossed in himself and said, “Lex, if I had known that you had so many tricks up your sleeves, then I would have sent more fools from the Pivotal Council. If more people from the Pivotal Council are killed, then the pope will not be so indecisive. If I capture you and kill your emperor, then the pope should have a decision, right?”
Without any warning, the four black metal grand swordmasters leapt up into the air. With them were the black glow from their swords, and they lunged at Genesis who had been talking incessantly. The four of them knew that they were no match for Genesis, but their attacks were meant to buy time for Faerun so that he could cast his magic scrolls.