Badge in Azure

Chapter 185: Left Hand (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

There were still two other evil spirits trapped within the giant shackles and they began to snarl at Saleen. Seeing that the current cutter had not dissipated, Saleen controlled it to enter into the eyes of another evil spirit.

This time, Saleen acted quickly. Using the memory he had of earlier on, the current quickly churned within the skull and enveloped the entirety of the holy prose. Just as he was about to dissect the holy prose, it quickly reassembled and the outer layer of holy prose exploded violently, Saleen felt a heavy blow to his head and his control started to slow down. Over a dozen symbols took the opportunity to escape.

The evil spirit’s skull exploded and black juices sprayed all over the shackles in an incredibly disgusting display

Just as Saleen was considering changing his method to deal with the third evil spirit, the purple flames in the distance suddenly expanded and the temperature dropped even further. Saleen raised his head and saw a swordsman with a large figure appearing from the flames. He was decked in heavy armor and was carrying a sword blade.

A grand swordmaster!

Saleen saw that the eyes of the swordmaster were still pitch black. He knew that the black deacon must have found out that he had been researching his secrets and was beginning to grow uneasy.

Saleen had suspected from the start that even if these evil spirits were able to revive an infinite amount of times, against any professionals who were at the level of a swordmaster or above, they would be too weak. The black deacon could not have used them to defeat everyone.

If he and Lex persevered, with the number of scrolls they had with him, lasting a month would not be a problem. It was possible that the black deacon would not be able to last a month controlling the Book of the Fallen.

A divine master had to eat as well and not everyone was like Lex who had a large number of daily necessities and rations with her.

Saleen had a habit of doing this as well, but it might have been because he had been afraid of starving to death since he had been young. He would always keep some smoked meat or bread inside of his bag or demonic ring. Saleen wanted to make sure that no matter what environment he was in, he would not need to worry about food anymore.

At the start, his reason for learning magic had been so that he would never have to worry about food ever again.

As expected, the black deacon was growing uneasy. He had not expected anyone to unveil the secrets within his holy weapon, and if Saleen continued, all the evil spirits would be destroyed sooner or later. Hence, he had no choice but to release the second form of the evil spirits.

The second form of the evil spirits possessed powers that were similar to the ones they had possessed before they had died. This swordmaster had once been a bronze grand swordmaster with incredible battle techniques. Even though he had lost his vision, his senses had become more heightened and were similar to those of a mage of the same grade.

In most situations, a mage could still fight without his vision. This swordmaster had such high focus that with the help of the purple flames, his senses had increased by more than ten times.

Saleen saw the grand swordmaster walking over and said softly, “Nailisi, take him out quickly. When this one dies, it will not revive that easily. Otherwise, the black deacon would have used them to surround us and would not have gone through all that trouble.”

“Alright.” Nailisi walked towards the grand swordmaster. At the same time, the eyes of a fully constructed puppet turned red and activated as it followed behind her.

“That’s a fully constructed puppet! It… it’s perfect.” Daniel had only realized now that the structure of the metal giant was not the common puppet magic that he was used to.

Saleen had not heard what Daniel had said. He knew that their troubles were just beginning. If the black deacon decided to surround them at the expense of all of his evil spirits, with more than eight hundred evil spirits at this grade, they were dead for sure.

At this thought, Saleen looked at the last evil spirit in the shackles. It had begun to struggle and the parts that were locking down its limbs had started to shatter. Saleen raised his left hand and took in a deep breath. A dim green water ball appeared in his left hand, and since he had advanced, the two strange-looking water shields had completely changed their appearances. They no longer looked like water bubbles, but instead were completely liquid.

With a booming noise, the two water shields accurately struck the face of the evil spirit before adhering to it and enveloping its entire skull.

Kaboom…

The evil spirit’s spine broke, and the skull which was covered by the water shields fell to the ground before bouncing back up.

Saleen extended his hand and the water shields flew back to him as he hesitantly looked at the evil spirit’s skull. Nailisi had already charged forward with the fully constructed puppet. Its axe was almost as long as a sword blade, but was much heavier. The sword blade of the grand swordmaster landed squarely on the fully constructed puppet’s chest. Had he been a living human, he would not have been this dumb.

The fully constructed puppet did not care about the grand swordmaster’s attack at all. It swung its axe and smashed it directly into the chest of the grand swordmaster.

The sword blade had been stabbed in at least half a foot. The swordmaster had likely been incredibly powerful when he was still alive. If he had not been facing a puppet made entirely of metal, this stab would have been enough to break any shield from a low-grade mage. Even a grade-4 mage lacking ice plate armor would have been killed within seconds.

The fully constructed puppet’s axe pierced directly into the swordmaster’s chest, and with a push, his entire chest came collapsing down, having been cut into two halves by the axe. Nailisi jumped up and grabbed the swordmaster by its head, giving it a tug, and the entire head together with the metal helmet came off. She was afraid that it was still not dead and with a press, black juices spilled out from the gaps within the helmet. The entire head had been crushed by her.

The grand swordmaster’s hands were still pushing forward and he had lost his balance by then. With a splat, the entire head of the sword blade broke. The fully constructed puppet took a step forward, and bringing its axe down, chopped the body of the swordmaster into pieces.

Seeing this, Saleen did not feel relieved at all. The grand swordmaster was too powerful and a single strike to the fully constructed puppet had nearly broken its outer shell. Moreover, it could still battle even though its body was chopped into two halves. Things like this posed a serious threat to mages.

Saleen had always been curious about his left hand but he had no time to contemplate it now. Even if this had something to do with the Myers Goddess, he could only brace himself for the time being. He picked up the head of the evil spirit which was enveloped in the water shield and shoved his left hand inside.

Saleen’s left hand passed through the skull and grabbed onto the holy prose. The holy prose could not fight back under Saleen’s left hand and lost the energy that it had exhibited before.

Saleen could clearly sense the life energy within his left hand. It was so overwhelming that he did not dare accept it. If a person wanted something, they needed to pay something of a similar price. Saleen was afraid that this was a trap by the gods, but if he did not find a way to deal with the evil spirits quickly right now, hundreds of swordmaster-like evil spirits would hack all of them into pieces.

A person about to die of thirst would not care if the alcohol was poisoned.

With a swooshing sound, a purple chill flashed past the flames and went towards Saleen’s throat. If it had not been for the fact that this weapon had been moving too quickly and the sound could not be masked, Saleen would not have realized that he had been ambushed.

From his left hand, the second water shield emerged. Sika threw her boomerang at the same time and knocked the oncoming weapon onto the ground.

Assassins!

The black deacon had restored the abilities of the evil spirits. Saleen was able to kill the evil spirits, but if the first form was used, the black deacon would be in big trouble.

“Mage, no matter how strong you are, you are but a grade-4 mage. Do you really think you are a match for my hunters of hell?” The black deacon’s voice resounded again and Saleen keenly located him.

No wonder the black deacon had been unwilling to attack in this manner. Doing so would expose him.

Saleen saw that the purple flames between him and the black deacon had evil spirits reviving continuously within them. This time, they were no longer crawling on the ground but were all standing upright. All of them were holding onto weapons they had been skilled at when they were still alive, and among them were three mages.

“Lex, it’s up to you,” Saleen shouted. If he could find the black deacon’s location, so could Lex. Lex had nine fully constructed puppets with her and they would be enough to withstand the attacks from the swordsmen. With her abilities, she could defeat the black deacon as well. As for himself…

Nailisi retreated. Sika stood nervously beside Saleen. The assassin earlier had only thrown a dagger before disappearing into thin air.

Daniel could not be bothered with the injuries of the winged skeleton anymore and he released it from his death flames, having it fly about in the air.

Saleen’s hand trembled and the skull within the water shield fell to the ground. The two clear water spheres returned to Saleen’s side, ready to defend against any further attacks from the assassin. At the same time, he activated his fully constructed puppet. He no longer needed to save his magic nuclei. This battle would be his last. If they lost here, there would be no point to holding on to any magic nuclei.

“Daniel, don’t be nervous. Even if we die, I won’t let the Holy See get anything.”

Daniel laughed. He was not afraid of dying, but rather, he was a little regretful. If he had known this day was coming, he would have researched some recipes for poisonous magic and thrown it into any church in order to get some money back. Now, he had lost his family and had not earned anything. He was not content with dying in this place.

“Mages, before you all die, could you tell me your names?” The black deacon had come to terms with the situation. Now that his men had died, he could not shun his responsibilities. If he saved his evil spirits and was not able to capture a few of them to bring back, even the grand cardinal would not be able to save him.

Saleen looked at his clean white left hand and sputtered, not answering the black deacon’s question.

A mage’s beliefs were even purer than those of a holy master. Despite things having reached this stage, the black deacon was still thinking of shaking his soul. He was starting to lose ground and was no longer confident of winning this fight.

Although Saleen had no idea where Lex was, he knew that so long as she managed to find the black deacon, there would only be one outcome: The black deacon would be tortured by Lex until he died. Lex still had a level-7 scroll with her, and if even that could not kill a deacon, her title as a grade-6 mage would be an utter joke.