Badge in Azure

Chapter 26: The Holy Master (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When the weak fluorescent light lit up, everyone gradually regained sight of their surroundings. They also saw Saleen’s half-smile. Canghong was shocked. He had indeed harbored thoughts of burning bridges after the mission, but now suppressed them. It would not be wise to turn against a mage over money.

“Let’s go.” Saleen deployed the second Fluorescence spell. The view of their surroundings was even clearer now. Canghong waved his hand and Lucas came forward to join him.

Usually, no mercenary regiment would assign their archer to be at the front, especially since Canghong was not a heavily armored swordsman himself. But at the moment, it was more important to guard their backs. The sunset had passed. Before darkness fell, a mass of grey fog floated into the crevice at the foot of mountain.

This tunnel was unusually wide, but had a narrow entrance which was not easy to find. Upon entering, the squad immediately slowed down.

Lucas patiently observed the track marks on the road to calculate the distance between them and the adventurers ahead of them. They would definitely meet the Vulture Regiment first. Based on their habits, the three squads would be separated, so for the first encounter they would meet ten people at most.

The fluorescent light was surrounded by the fog and did not seem to seep out into it. Concealed in the darkness, Saleen and the others moved forward slowly. Nobody saw Saleen open his mouth and gently release three air bubbles. These three bubbles were almost transparent, and kept growing larger until they were as large as a face basin.

The transparent bubbles which could hardly be seen with the naked eye floated past Saleen. Saleen felt much safer with this.

He could control three Water Shields at the same time. Any more than that, and he would not be able to withstand the exhaustion. The mutated water shield was much safer than the Invisible Shield, and only a Grade 2 mage at minimum could destroy it.

Saleen was also wary of the men from the Falcon Regiment. Cook, who had a scar on his face, was well built. Saleen could not see his weapon, and so deduced that he could be a martial arts exponent or a bandit-like assassin who used daggers. Regardless, it was a threat to have him in such close proximity to a mage.

Cook was secretly surprised as well that the young mage could actually sustain six spells at the same time. Although they could have been supported by magic nuclei, it was evident that the mage had strong mental power. Was he really a Grade 1 mage?

The inside of the tunnel was extremely gloomy. Under the glare of the fluorescent light, an area with a radius of dozens of meters was illuminated with a soft green glow, as though filled with evil spirits. Canghong, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped, and Lucas began to sign complicated hand gestures.

Saleen had no idea what he was gesturing but he sensed the presence of enemies.

Hiding at the fork road ahead of them were two men. If Saleen had not cast the Fog of Confusion, he might not have perceived their presences. Nothing under the cover of the fog could escape Saleen’s senses.

Lucas removed the short bow from his back as Saleen tried hard to find his enemies among the fog, but to no avail. Suddenly, a sharp sound pierced through the air. The opponent’s archer had fired an arrow.

Usually, each squad would only include one archer, but the Vulture Regiment used the relatively rare five-two configuration, which had two archers. Instantly, six arrows were shot into the area covered by the fog, straight into the center of the mist.

The opponents were not able to detect the mage’s position and could only attack based on experienced judgement. The six arrows sealed off their entire range of movement. There were blue rays on the tips of the arrows. Poisonous arrow tips!

Although Saleen did not have legitimate combat experience, he had read a vast amount. After each time he had used the mysterious badge, he had used the time during which he lost control over his body to review his knowledge. Jason had a wide collection of books, especially magic notes. Most of them collected the experiences of mages, including that of their combat experiences.

When Saleen had deployed the Fog of Confusion, he had adjusted the spell slightly, so that the place he was standing was off-center. All six arrows went straight towards Pino. Saleen quickly moved to the front, his hands ready with a spell. His targets were the two enemies within the area of the fog.

The two men had concealed themselves extremely well, possibly because they were assassins.

A white light flashed, and a giant ice ball flew out from Saleen’s hands. Flying faster than the arrows, it shot towards the two men hiding at the fork road. His action had exposed his position, and six arrows came again from afar, heading towards him.

At this time, Lucas took action. He half-opened his short bow, attaching two metal eagle plumes. Lucas stood right in front of the squad. Anxious to exterminate the mage, the two archers had chosen to attack Saleen at the same time. Lucas immediately found the position of the archers. A red glint appeared in his eyes and his pupils dilated swiftly as the metal eagle plumes flew out of his hand with a explosive sound.

Cook was now standing behind Saleen. The six arrows flew overhead, and he pounced towards the top of the tunnel. There were no people waiting to ambush them there, and with this leap, he had jumped out of the area covered by the fog.

Two assassins hid in ambush at the fork road. If this squad were to move forward another three meters, they would attack. However, because Canghong who was leading had suddenly stopped, they could only wait. In the fog, they had heard the mage’s uneven breaths.

As long as the mage was dead, this squad of seven would not be a threat. After they retreated from their attack, they would let the other two squads follow up with their attacks and harassment. In less than three days, this squad would collapse.

At such wishful thinking, a huge ice ball flew over, and for some strange reason, it had not made any sound.

The snow white ice ball was twice as big as a person’s head. The two bandits jumped up in fright. Could this mage’s aim get any worse? The ice ball was flying towards the space in between them. Even if they did not move, they would not get hit.

It was a delayed release. The chilly ice ball exploded and out flew dozens of sharp icicles. Because the distance was so close, almost all of the icicles were shot into the chests of the two bandits.

The temperature of the icicles froze the wounds. The two bandits felt their bodies turning numb. Amazingly, they did not die instantly but instead gave blank stares to their compatriots who stood opposite to them.

A Grade 2 spell! This rare term appeared in the minds of the two bandits before they died.

If it hadn’t been for Saleen, the entire squad would have been exposed to the ambush. The five from the Falcon Regiment were not wearing any heavy armor, and would definitely have been harmed by the arrows’ precise attacks. The Fog of Confusion had caused the archers’ arrows to lose their accuracy. Saleen had deflected these two rounds of attacks with ease.

Pino, however, was flustered. When his sword had been knocked away by the first round of attacks, there had been a small explosion. The opponent did not have any magic archers, only self-exploding magic arrows. The scattered fragments were blocked by Saleen’s bubbles and Invisible Shield, and were not of any threat.

Saleen continued to traverse along the stone wall. Two brief cries were heard, the opponent’s archers having been killed by Lucas. There were sounds of fighting coming from behind him. Sika was shouting something in that distinct voice of hers. He could not make out what she was saying, as it was in the Caucasus language. There was a spurt of fresh blood from at least fifteen meters away, which was blocked by Saleen’s Invisible Shield.

The fresh blood spread out on the Magic Shield, making it a demonic shade of purple in the fluorescent light.

The winner of the clash had been determined in less than twenty seconds. The assassins’ attack had been thwarted by Saleen. The two rounds of attacks by the opponent’s archers had not hit their mage target but had instead exposed their locations, and Lucas’ two eagle plumes had been drawn back to fire shortly after their release.

Although the archers had been slain, there were still the swordsmen with heavy armor, spear swordsmen, and holy master. The swordsmen with heavy armor could be hammered into a pulp by Sika’s cudgel. In terms of strength, Caucasus women definitely had the upper hand.

Cook crawled against the ceiling of the cave and soon discovered the holy master, who was desperately trying to cast a divine spell to save the spear swordsman. Canghong and Lucas were dealing with the other spear swordsman. There was a long whip in Canghong’s hand, whereas Lucas had swapped out his bow for a three-edged dagger.

There was a hole as large as a bowl in the injured spear swordsman’s chest armor, which had likely been brought about by the three-edged dagger. The three-edged dagger had its uses on the battlefield, primarily against heavily armored foot soldiers. Regular weapons were not able to pierce heavy armor, but heavy armor could easily be penetrated by the three-edged dagger. The three-edged dagger was short and was usually used as a form of auxiliary arm.

The three-edged dagger was a weapon that was much detested by mercenaries when they were in combat. Most mercenaries would not be protected by heavy armor, much less magic armor, and leather armor was useless against a three-edged dagger. Although the three-edged dagger was sharp, once it penetrated the flesh, it would tear the wound. This spear swordsman had suddenly attacked Lucas, but had ended up being the one attacked by the archer instead. The treatment by the holy master would not have any effect.

Cook moved down from the ceiling, a metal glove on his hand. Using the sharp blades on each of the fingertips, he pounced at the holy master. Although a holy master’s attacking prowess was not strong, they were good at treatments and defense. It would be difficult to pursue him once he had escaped. Cook had a wealth of experience behind him. When he noticed that the holy master had not assisted in attacking and had gone to treat the wounded instead, he knew that it would be irksome to deal with these two men. Hence, he had decided to be ruthless and kill off this ceremonial figure.

Although the spear swordsman’s wound had stopped bleeding, he still looked pale. The holy master stopped his treatment and pointed his finger skywards. A white glow engulfed his entire body instantaneously. Cook’s movement was obstructed, and he felt as though he was being pricked all over by needles. Instead of pouncing, he found himself falling downwards forcefully.

He was shocked. This was a senior holy master, who did not need to say any prayers to release offensive divine spells.

To fall from the ceiling of the cave which was ten meters tall without the protection of the sword aura would at the very least cause a fracture. In the midst of the white light, Cook took a good look at the holy master.

He was in his thirties, middle-aged, and dressed in a white robe. He looked saintly against the white light. Cook was paralyzed with fear, seeing the holy master’s finger point towards his head.

Saleen did not dispel the Fog of Confusion. He leaned against the stone wall, carefully sensing and scanning for enemies who had fallen into his trap. Although Canghong had said that the opponent had only ten men, any slip up could be fatal. The latent ability of the two men he had killed was almost at Grade 4. If they were of any higher level, he would not have been so confident of their true locations.

If an assassin at the level of Grade 4 appeared, he would be in trouble. A shadow moved. It was Lucas who had appeared next to Saleen. Fresh blood was smeared on one side of his body. Sarah dashed to the front like a gust of wind, holding a Qin Empire flexible sword. Weapons such as the flexible sword were only used by swordsmen from Qin Empire, mainly because the use of it involved arduous practice.