Book 01, Coiling Dragon Ring

by Unknown

  “Dance of the Fire Serpents!”

  The cold voice of the mysterious magus suddenly rang out, and in the blink of an eye, seven enormous fire serpents, each spanning tens of meters long, appeared. Howling, they erupted away from the magus in all directions. Each fire snake appeared to be a real, living creature, with distinct scales and enormous bodies that inspired fear in all who saw it.

  Everyone who was watching was stunned.

  A Fire Element spell of the eighth rank – Dance of the Fire Serpent!

  It now became clear that this entire time, the mysterious magus was mumbling the words to a magical incantation. He was preparing this terrifying Fire Element spell of the eighth rank – Dance of the Fire Serpent! This spell could unleash seven enormous fire serpents, each of which had a simply astonishing attack power. Even the terrifying defensive ability of the Velocidragon would not be proof against it; if struck, even if it survived, it would be badly injured.

  If dealing with a magus of the seventh rank, the small squad might be able to hold on for a while longer, but dealing with a magus of the eighth rank, and a Velocidragon as well? They simply did not have the power to resist.

  Only now did they understand that this mysterious magus was a master of the eighth rank!

  “It’s the Dance of the Fire Serpents. Quick, run away!” The red-haired warrior’s facial expression changed dramatically, and he shouted in a loud voice.

  The six remaining members of the small squad were now all filled with terror.

  “Too late. Prepare for the baptism of death!” The mysterious magus said in a cold, cruel voice, which pierced like a cold dagger at the hearts of the members of the small squad.

  *

  Book 1, Chapter 11 – Dance of the Fire Serpents (part 2)

  The seven fire serpents flew at a very high speed, and wherever they passed through, the stone houses nearby immediately began to blaze. The burning flames towered towards the high heavens, an absolutely catastrophic scene. Seeing their homes be disintegrated from afar, the denizens of Wushan township, who had long since fled and hidden far away, all felt pain and sorrow in their hearts.

  In front of the seven giant fire serpents, their stone houses seemed like naught but toys. They were easily demolished, and the flames in the wreckages rose towards the sky.

  “Run!” The female archer no longer cared about anything else. She immediately directed her griffin to fly to a higher altitude.

  There was a limit to the distance at which a fire-element magus would be able to control the seven fire serpents. If the archer and her mount could fly beyond that point, she would be safe.

  “Whooooosh.” Two of the blazing fire serpents enveloped the two female magi and the Vampiric Iron Bull as well. Almost instantaneously, the sound of burning, crackling flesh could be heard, and Linley thought that he could smell hair burning.

  “Big brother Kerry [Kai’lai]! Save us!” The desolate cry of a female magus sounded out, filled with pain, from within the middle of the fire serpent.

  “Snort. Snort.” The eyes of the Vampiric Iron Bull were terrifyingly red, and every single muscle in its body was quivering nonstop. It continuously roared in anger, wanting to charge past through the encircling fire serpents, but unfortunately, the restrictive power of each fire serpent was simply too great.

  “Louisa [Lu’yi’sha]!” The red-haired warrior howled angrily, his voice filled with anguish.

  Very shortly afterwards, both female magi and the Vampiric Iron Bull were reduced to naught but gray ash. But the red-haired warrior no longer had even the opportunity to cry out. He and the other two warriors each had to face an enormous fire serpent of their own as well. In front of the titanic flaming body of the serpents, they seemed to be nothing more than children, incapable of the slightest resistance.

  They had the power to split stone with a single punch, but so what? While constricted by a huge flaming serpent, what could they do?

  “Ahhhh!” Surrounded by flaming serpents, the three warriors couldn’t help but let out torturous cries.

  As they shouted, their battle-qi vanished, having been demolished. The hissing sound of burning flesh once again could be heard. The muscles on the faces of the three warriors twitched, and their eyes bulged out. All the hair on their bodies was burnt clean in the twinkling of an eye, and following that their skin, their flesh, and their bones. Nothing could withstand the terrifyingly high temperature of the fire serpents.

  In a very short period of time, the three formidable warriors had also been reduced to nothing more than dust.

  “Huff… huff… “

  The female archer’s breath was ragged, but she had finally escaped the boundaries of the Dance of the Fire Serpents.

  “Luke… Louisa… big brother Kerry… I will definitely avenge you all. Definitely.” The female archer cried bitterly, and as she did, she directed her griffin to fly still higher.”

  “ZZZZT!”

  An enormously thick bolt of lightning struck down from the clear, cloudless skies, striking directly down on the totally unprepared archer. Her entire body was turned directly to dust from that strike, while her griffin was scorched black as well. The two of them fell down from the sky, heavily crashing into the stone ground of the town as they crashed through a wooden roof and into the base of a dwelling.

  “Want to run? Hmph.” The mysterious magus let out a deep snort.

  Over a hundred meters away, Hillman swallowed hard, his own heart filled with a thread of inescapable fear. “Not only is he a magus of the eighth rank… he is a dual element magus!”

  … .

  “That spell was called Dance of the Fire Serpents?” Linley was still standing there, totally awestruck.

  The sight of those enormous fire serpents and the inferno they had cast had totally shocked Linley, like he had never been shocked before. Each of the fire serpents was as terrifying as the Velocidragon. Seven of them together? They represented an utter apocalypse. Even the stone houses were disintegrated by their flames.

  In the blink of an eye, those four mighty warriors, those two magi, and that archer, as well as their two magical beast companions were utterly destroyed, with the possible exception of that griffin.

  The seven fire serpents had disappeared by now, but Linley could still feel the terrifying, seismic presence and power emanating from the area. The entire battlefield had been annihilated, leaving nothing left but the finest of debris. The debris all radiated tremendous heat, as though testifying to the power of the battle they had just endured.

  “Ama… amazing.”

  Linley’s breathing slowly began to stabilize. Swimming in his mind were images of those seven fire serpents, and how they had descended on the battlefield like a catastrophe of power.

  Compared to that vision, even the Velocidragon was not as impressive as before.

  Linley’s gaze suddenly turned towards the mysterious magus on the back of the Velocidragon. By appearances, the magus was much smaller and much weaker.

  “Just then… just then, was he the one who cast the ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’?” Linley really found it a little hard to believe. A person who seemed a full size smaller than Uncle Hillman was actually able to cast such an apocalyptic spell.

  Linley’s heart was suddenly filled with dread, as he stared at that far-off, distant figure.

  “This… this is what a magus is?” For the first time, the concept of a magus clearly imprinted itself in Linley’s mind.

  At the same time…

  Linley suddenly had a powerful urge to become a powerful magus as well.

  “If one day, I too was capable of such a powerful attack… ” Fantasizing about it, Linley felt the blood in his veins boil to the limit. He was in a state of tremendous excitement.

  Right at that moment?

  Linley knew the path that he would take in the future.

  To pursue the peak, the pinnacle of power.

  “Father!” Linley suddenly saw that his own father
, Hogg. Seeing how Wushan township had just suffered an unmitigated catastrophe, as the lord of Wushan township, Hogg’s heart was filled with helplessness.

  “Don’t make a sound.” Hogg glanced at Linley, conveying that message with his eyes.

  Hogg turned towards the magus, his heart filled with ruefulness. “He’s actually a magus of the eighth rank. And a dual-element magus! Perhaps the entire kingdom of Fenlai has only a handful of people more powerful than him. Someone like him actually came to our little town… “

  Hogg’s only desire, at this point, was that the mysterious magus would leave as soon as possible, and let Wushan town return to its normal tranquilness.

  The mysterious magus suddenly leapt down directly from the back of the Velocidragon. He was at least two stories up, but he descended easily with a single jump.

  Striding up to the ashes of the red-haired warrior, the mysterious magus waved his hands, and the gray ash parted. A violet, almost translucent-looking diamond suddenly appeared. With a flick of the wrist, the mysterious magus plucked out the d’Bero Shadow Diamond.

  “Haha, the d’Bero shadow diamond. I searched for you for ten years. Who would have thought that just because today, I decided to pass by this town, I would actually meet you by accident? Haha… Heymans [Hai’man’si], now that I have this shadow diamond, once I socket it into my staff, I want to see how you will possibly stand against me next time. Haha… ” The mysterious magus began to laugh wildly.

  Hogg and the other residents of Wushan township simply watched quietly from afar, not daring to make a sound, for fear of angering this powerful, mysterious magus.

  “Wushan town, eh… who leads Wushan town?” The mysterious magus suddenly said.

  “Father… ” Linley was shocked.

  At this point, Hogg had no choice but to stiffen his spine and step forward. He respectfully said, “Mighty lord magus, I am the leader of Wushan town.”

  “Oh.” The mysterious magus’ face was still covered by his violet robes, preventing anyone from seeing his face. He lightly said, “Your town suffered some serious damages today. I annihilated this small adventuring party. On their bodies, there is sure to be a good amount of gold coins. The gold coins, no doubt, have been melted and reforged by my ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’, but they are still worth some money. Just consider them yours, as my recompense for what Wushan town just went through.”

  Hearing the words of the mysterious magus, Hogg felt a sense of relief.

  This mysterious magus probably wouldn’t go kill-crazy now.

  “I, Hogg, on behalf of the entire Wushan township, would like to thank you for your kindness, lord magus.” Hogg respectfully bowed down.

  The mysterious magus lightly nodded, then turned and walked towards the Velocidragon. The Velocidragon immediately knelt down, stretching out his foreleg. The magus stepped onto the Velocidragon’s leg, walked two steps, then easily jumped onto the Velocidragon’s back.

  “Hmph.” The Velocidragon let out a lazy snort, as two plumes of white smoke once more emanated from its nostrils.

  And then, the Velocidragon once more began walking, its heavy footsteps shaking the earth. Watching the enormous creature and the mysterious magus on its back walk far away and disappear off into the distance, all the citizens of Wushan township finally felt their hearts begin to calm down.

  *

  Book 1, Chapter 12 – The Will of the Mighty (part 1)

  Only after seeing the magical beast of the seventh rank, the Velocidragon, and its mysterious magus master depart, did Hogg calm down.

  “Uncle Hiri.” Hogg immediately turned to look at his housetaker Hiri. “Immediately order some people to recover all of the melted gold from within those piles of ashes. This adventuring party was quite extraordinary as well. No doubt, they had a great deal of wealth on them. I hope they had enough to recompense the losses we have suffered today”

  Hogg stared in all directions, seeing how so many houses had been reduced to rubble.

  “Yes, milord.” Hiri nodded.

  “Hillman.” Hogg turned to look at Hillman. Smiling, he said, “What do you think?”

  Hillman nodded as well. “I was absolutely terrified. When I saw that magical beast of the seventh rank, the Velocidragon, and that mysterious magus, I knew that Wushan township didn’t have the slightest ability to fight back in any way. If such an exalted personage as a magus of the eighth rank decided to destroy our town on a whim, I doubt anyone would dare to criticize him, much less sanction or punish him.”

  Magi had extremely high social standings.

  Normally, even an ordinary magus had the same social standing as a noble.

  And a magus of the eighth rank? Even if he was in the presence of a king, he would not need to kneel or show obeisance. He could just chat while staying standing. From this, one could tell how exalted a level an eighth rank magus held.

  “Right. So, we should all celebrate the fact that not a single person from Wushan town perished today.” Hogg laughed.

  “It definitely is worth celebrating,” Hillman nodded and laughed as well.

  “Hillman, take some men to assist Uncle Hiri. After finishing up, please address the issue of the commoners who lost their houses.” Hogg instructed.

  “Yes, lord Hogg.” Hillman assented.

  Hogg looked behind him carefully, then asked Hillman suspiciously, “Hm? Where did Linley go? He was just here a moment ago.”

  “No idea. Didn’t notice.” Hillman shook his head as well.

  “My lord, young master Linley has already went home.” Hiri said from the side. “Although, when he left, he seemed to be in a daze. No clue what he was thinking about.”

  Hogg thoughtfully nodded.

  ==================

  If there was one thing which the Baruch clan manor did not lack for, it was rooms. In the days of the Baruch clan’s glories, hundreds of people lived here. The population now was much lower than before. Even an eight year old child such as Linley had his standalone quarters.

  Within Linley’s bedroom.

  Linley was kneeling on the bed, his brow furrowed in thought.

  Again and again, the terrifying power of the ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’ swam about in his mind’s eye. Those seven huge fire serpents and the tempest of flame they generated repeated in his mind over and over again, as well as how they instantly turned everything around them to ash, including the powerful warriors and magi of the small adventuring group.

  “Magi are so powerful.”

  Linley felt a thread of desire in his heart. “Although I am a member of the Dragonblood Warriors clan, the density of Dragonblood in my veins is too low. The fact that anyone with Dragonblood is totally unable to utilize any other battle-qi cultivating methods is something which will hold back my ability to develop my warrior abilities to the maximum. I wonder if it would be possible for me to be a magus, instead.”

  Linley suddenly had the desire to become a magus.

  “That Velocidragon was terrifyingly powerful as well. If I were to have a Velocidragon, then… “

  Linley began to think back to the awe-inspiring might of the Velocidragon.

  It’s lightning-fast, whip-like tail had so easily shattered the stone projectiles aimed at it, and had demolished any houses it touched. Its enormous body resembled huge siege weapons which armies might field in a war. Once it charged forward at a fast pace, considering how tough its scales were, the Velocidragon really would be a terrifying opponent.

  “Magical beasts… I wonder how someone acquires a magical beast.” Linley desired to have a magical beast of his own as well.

  For whatever reason, as he lay on the bed, Linley simply couldn’t fall asleep. He tossed and turned, his mind filled with images of the Velocidragon and the ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’ which the magus had displayed.

  “Linley, what’s wrong?” A familiar voice said.

  Linley scrambled to his feet. Raising his head, he saw that it was his father, Hogg
. At the moment, a smiling, praising look was on Hogg’s face as he watched Linley.

  “Father.” Linley said respectfully. Suddenly, Linley felt confused. “Why is father smiling at me? And with this sort of expression?”

  Hogg was extremely strict with Linley, and rarely smiled at him in such a intimate manner. His current expression made Linley feel all the more astonished.

  “Not bad, not bad,” Hogg said proudly as he looked at Linley. “You really are a scion of our Dragonblood Warrior clan. You have our superior qualities. If a descendant of the Dragonblood Warriors were to be terrified of death, terrified of blood, of slaughter, then it would be an absolute joke.”

  Upon hearing these words, Linley immediately understood. His father was happy at how he had not been terrified by the sight of the Velocidragon eating Luke alive.

  Linley said, surprised, “Father, you saw everything?”

  “That Velocidragon caused such a stir. How could I not? As soon as the Velocidragon arrived at Wushan township, I came out as well, but I was off to a different side. I could clearly see the expressions on your face and on Hillman’s,” Hogg nodded.

  Linley grinned.

  Back then, aside from the initial bit of panic, he later only felt his blood boil and surge, filling him with a thirst for bloodletting. Linley, as well, had wondered at the time if it was because of the Dragonblood in his veins.

  Hogg laughed. “Linley, did the events of today astonish you so much that you even forgot about dinner?”

  “Dinner?” Linley was startled.

  “Rumble.” Linley’s belly sounded in agreement at this time. Only now did Linley realize that the evening training hadn’t even begun before the Velocidragon and the mysterious magus arrived.

  By all rights, it was now time for dinner.

  But Linley’s mind was still preoccupied thinking about that ‘Dance of the Fire Serpents’ and that Velocidragon.

  “Father, I’d like to ask, is it possible for a member of the Dragonblood Warrior clan to become a magus?” Linley’s hands unconsciously balled up, clenching his bedsheets. He stared hard at his father.

  Hogg was startled, but in the next moment he immediately understood. Looks like his child now wanted to become a magus.