“Your speed has been halved, but mine is unimpaired.” Earth elemental essence was glowing and swirling around Linley as well, seemingly paired perfectly with the earth elemental essence glowing over the ground.
The earth elemental essences used by the Supergravity Field utilized certain unique vibrations. Each individual earth-style magus would utilize it in a slightly different manner, and would have different frequencies of vibrations. If one could totally control the oscillations of the earth elemental essences, one could nullify the influence of the Supergravity Field.
With the opponent’s speed halved, his own speed, comparatively, was now much higher. Linley agilely dodged his enemy’s attacks, while quickly beginning to mumble the words to another spell.
“Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!”
Dozens of earthen spears erupted from the ground beneath the feet of the Windwolves. Those fiercely sharp edges directly penetrated into the chests of seven of the Windwolves, causing them to bleed profusely. Several of the other Windwolves were also seriously wounded by the earthen spears.
“Hoooooowl!”
The two Windwolf leaders were growing frantic.
Within the area of effect of the Supergravity Field, they had less than half of their original speed. They simply had no way of stopping the agile, nimble Linley. If they fought him head on, they could kill him, but they simply couldn’t get near him! Based on Linley’s ability as a magus of the fifth rank, dealing with them wasn’t too difficult.
“Hoooooowl!” A low howl.
Without any hesitation, the two Windwolf leaders turned tail and ran. The ten or so surviving Windwolves also fled with them. Covered by darkness, in the blink of an eye, the Windwolves disappeared from Linley’s field of vision. Seeing this, Linley quickly ran over and caught up to three heavily injured Windwolves that hadn’t managed to flee in time.
“Crash! Crash! Crash!”
Linley landed three successive kicks on the skulls of the heavily wounded Windwolves. The sound of splintering skulls could be heard, and the three Windwolves immediately collapsed. Including the seven Windwolves that had been stabbed in the chest by the earthen spears, a total of ten Windwolves had been slain. But because Linley had just exerted himself too vigorously, the wound across his chest had split open once again, and fresh blood began to flow out.
37
Danger
“Whew. They finally left.” Linley finally let out a deep breath.
Linley knew very well that he only had the prowess of a warrior of the fourth rank. Engaging in close quarters combat with Windwolves of the fifth rank was tantamount to suicide. Only by using magic could he hope to survive. But if it weren’t for the fact that he had had sufficient speed, how would he have had the chance to cast any magic spells? Fortunately, he was quite fast, and so he had managed to obtain this favorable result.
“Even if a magus of the sixth rank were present, he wouldn’t necessarily have done better than me. A magus of the sixth rank, in terms of speed, wouldn’t have been able to shake off the pursuit of those Windwolves. When surrounded and attacked by a pack of Windwolves, he might not even have had the chance to cast any spells.” Linley felt all the more certain that his decision to not let up on his physical training had been a very wise decision.
Linley glanced at the Coiling Dragon Ring on his left hand. Ever since he had grown up, he had begun wearing the ring on his finger.
“And it’s a good thing that I have this Coiling Dragon Ring! Otherwise, how would I have been able to utilize so many spells of the fifth rank?”
For the average magus of the fifth rank, after utilizing two spells of the fifth rank, they would most likely be out of mageforce. But Linley was different. He had just used six spells of the fifth rank; three casts of ‘Shattered Rocks’, one cast of ‘Supergravity Field’, one cast of ‘Earthguard’, and one cast of ‘Earth Spear Array’.
The reason for this? The Coiling Dragon Ring.
In years past, Doehring Cowart had come across this ring by accident. One time, when Doehring Cowart cast a spell, he found out, to his astonishment, that a spell which was cast through the Coiling Dragon Ring would only require a sixth as much mageforce and spiritual energy to achieve the same effect.
Clearly, through the Coiling Dragon Ring, one could more clearly sense and manipulate elemental essence. Additionally, it placed a much lower demand on spiritual energy and mageforce.
A sixth. What did that represent?
A Saint-level magus could normally just utilize the terrifying ‘Annihilating Tempest’ spell a single time. But with the aid of the Coiling Dragon Ring, he could use the spell six times! Such a terrifyingly powerful treasure caused Doehring Cowart to be uncontrollably excited. He considered this discovery to be the blessing of the earth mother, which was why he had named the ring the ‘Worldring’.
The divine treasure, ‘Worldring’.
This was the name which Doehring Cowart had bequeathed upon it. Based on what Doehring Cowart had said, although the Yulan continent had some exceedingly powerful treasures which could make it much easier for a magus to cast spells, there were virtually none which had the same degree of effect as the ‘Worldring’.
But after obtaining this Coiling Dragon Ring, when training with it, Linley discovered something.
“Not just earth-style magic! Wind-style magic, and even my miniscule amount of fire-style magic, when channeled through the Coiling Dragon Ring, only requires a sixth as much spiritual essence and mageforce.” Looking at the ring, Linley felt happier and happier.
Doehring Cowart also chose this moment to appear besides Linley.
“Don’t look at it. In my era, after obtaining this Coiling Dragon Ring, I never dared to inform anyone about it. If anyone found out about it, most likely a large number of Saint-level combatants would come to try and take it from me. But I must say, even I did not imagine that it could also assist fire-style and wind-style magic users.” Doehring Cowart sighed.
Linley nodded. “In the future, I will never dare to reveal this secret either.” Linley knew very well how precious this ring was. If its secret was leaked out, he would most likely be dismembered by all the Saint-level combatants of the Yulan continent.
“Boss, you done?” The little Shadowmouse, Bebe, chose to speak at this moment. He was standing atop a grassy place not far away. Just then, Bebe had not joined the battle, just watched from afar.
Linley smiled.
“Oof, that hurts.” Seeing the wound on his chest and how his clothes had been torn and stained by blood, Linley began to carefully dress his wound while also using elemental essence to close it.
Bebe was staring at Linley’s wound as well, seemingly quite concerned.
“Boss, the next time something like this happens, I’m gonna take action.” Bebe suddenly said to Linley mentally.
“No need, not unless you believe I’m in a situation where I am powerless to resist and am definitely going to die. Only then can you act. Otherwise… what’s the point of me doing training here?” Linley’s voice was firm and unyielding. Bebe immediately no longer dared to speak. Bebe had long ago wanted to engage in slaughter, but Linley had never agreed.
Right now, hiding in the grass thirty meters away from Linley, a black shadow lay in ambush.
“Just now, in that battle, from start to finish, he utilized six spells of the fifth rank. Although the spells only had the power of the fifth rank, given that he was able to cast six of them, he is most likely a magus of the sixth rank. His combat prowess should be that of a warrior of the fourth rank. Based on the fact that his movements were assisted by wind-style magic, he most likely also possesses affinity for wind magic. In summary: A dual-element magus of the sixth rank, and a warrior of the fourth rank.”
The distant dark shadow was calculating.
“90% chance of killing him successfully. I can make my move.” The dark shadow made his decision.
Linley had just finished with one large battle. Natu
rally, he would be a bit more relaxed. The dark shadow still remained unmoving. In the dark night, he was nothing more than just another shadow. Not even the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, had the slightest idea he was there, much less Linley.
The layer of glowing elemental essence on the ground had vanished.
The Supergravity Field had expired!
“Now!” The dark shadow, which had been lying in ambush this entire time, suddenly flew out silently, flying at astonishing speed towards Linley, like an illusionary shadow.
Linley suddenly felt a sense of panic, and he immediately dodged at high speed while turning his head to look behind himself. He saw a dark shadow stabbing at him with a sharp knife, the knife emanating a cold light which made Linley’s heart turn to ice. The cold, callous, murderous eyes in the dark shadow also made Linley’s heart tighten.
“How incredibly fast!” Linley hurriedly retreated, but clearly the shadow was even faster. The flashing black knife had almost reached his eyes.
“Clang!”
Linley wielded his straight chisel to block the opponent’s knife, and the opponent’s black knife viciously collided with the straight chisel. With a cracking sound, the straight chisel was totally shattered, with some of the shards of the straight chisel cutting into Linley’s face, leaving bloody lines all over him.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Seven or eight blades of wind suddenly appeared next to Linley and chopped at the dark shadow. Based on Linley’s current level of ability, he was totally capable of subvocally casting the wind blades spell. Those seven or eight wind blades all chopped at the dark shadow, but once they came into contact with the black light emanating from the shadow, they all disappeared.
“Darkness-style battle-qi!” Linley immediately made the deduction.
Although these seven or eight blades of wind had not managed to block the dark shadow, they had managed to distract it momentarily. Linley immediately turned around and shot forward like an arrow from a bow. The dark shadow had fast reflexes, however, and chased after Linley, vaulting forward towards Linley at an even higher speed.
In midair, facing Linley, the dark shadow thrust at Linley with his knife once again, still aiming directly for Linley’s heart. At this moment, the image of those five corpses he had seen just before entering the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts flashed in the back of Linley’s mind. All five of them had been killed by stabs to the heart.
“Die.”
The dark shadow was totally confident. His knife, covered with a black glow, had already reached Linley’s chest. In midair, there was no place for Linley to go or to hide. The only option he had was to instacast the most protective defensive spell available to him; the shield of earth! A small shield of earth, only a third of the size of a normal one, suddenly appeared in front of Linley’s chest.
“Hrmph!”
The dark shadow sneered. The knife in his hand pierced through the shield at an even greater speed. To someone on the dark shadow’s level, a shield of earth posed no barrier at all.
After having been shrunk in size, the shield of earth actually had quite respectable defensive abilities, but when faced with the attack from this knife, all it could do was slow it down and not stop it. Linley felt some pain in his chest as in just a few moments, the knife pierced all the way through his shield of earth.
“Raaaaawr!”
A terrifying, high-pitched scream could be heard as the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, suddenly appeared next to the dark shadow’s wrist. The Shadowmouse’s mouth was large enough to chomp down on a human hand, while his sharp teeth were totally capable of chewing through anything. Bebe bit down hard on the dark shadow’s wrist. With an anguished cry, the dark shadow lost his hand at the wrist.
All that was left was half of a hand, still grasping the dagger that had pierced through the shield of earth and penetrated Linley’s chest.
“Ah…. ah!!!” His wrist had been totally bitten off. The pain caused the dark shadow to scream in misery.
With a flash, the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, suddenly arrived right in front of the dark shadow. The dark shadow stared with terror and amazement at the pet-sized Shadowmouse. “What… what… what freak is this?” The dark shadow definitely couldn’t believe that this was a Shadowmouse. He had seen Shadowmice before, and none were this terrifying.
The dark shadow forced himself to ignore the pain from his severed wrist as he generated a dark layer of protective battle-qi while also moving to flee.
The dark shadow only seemed to see the little Shadowmouse flicker in front of him. And then, he felt sudden, excruciating pain, as the little Shadowmouse had lunged forward and bit him directly in the throat. Even his protective layer of dark battle-qi was chewed through.
“CRUNCH!”
That person’s quavering scream suddenly cut off. Half his neck had been bitten off. His head was only attached to his body by a thin strip of flesh. The eyes of this dark shadow gradually lost all life, and his body slumped down to the ground.
At this time, Linley also landed on the ground. He immediately pulled out the dagger, blood already pouring from the wound in his chest, staining his clothes red. Seeing the wound in his chest, Linley felt his heart quiver. If his opponent’s knife had gone in just a few more centimeters, his heart would have been penetrated.
“So close. Just a bit further, and my life would’ve been gone.”
After this narrow shave, Linley couldn’t help but turn to look at the little Shadowmouse, Bebe. Bebe urgently asked, “Boss, what’s the situation?”
“Not too bad. I didn’t lose my life.” Linley smiled at Bebe. If it weren’t for Bebe, he really would’ve died.
Hearing these words, Bebe’s face was no longer as frantic as it was earlier. At the same time, he also began to grow cocky. The fur on his back stood up straight, and he began wagging his posterior at Linley. After wagging a few times, he delightedly said to Linley through their mental bond, “Boss, you are way too weak. You keep on saying that you want to train yourself, but look! You almost just got yourself assassinated by that guy.” There was no way that the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, was going to give up this opportunity to mock Linley.
Linley only chuckled.
“Bebe, thanks. You saved my life just then.” Looking at the two terrifying wounds on his chest, Linley couldn’t help but sigh. “And this was just the first day!”
Doehring Cowart appeared as well, also sighing in surprise. “This assassins subterfuge abilities were really terrifying. This time, the little Shadowmouse really saved the day. If it weren’t for him, Linley, you would’ve been done for. As for me, this useless old fellow, all I have left is my spirit. There’s no way for me to rescue you.”
Linley understood that Doehring Cowart, despite being a Saint-level Grand Magus, only had his spirit left.
“Doehring Cowart, how could that assassin move so quickly? Even with the assistance of wind-style magic, I couldn’t outpace him.” Linley didn’t really understand.
Doehring Cowart explained, “That assassin should’ve been a warrior of the sixth rank, but he specialized in the strange, secretive ways of darkness-element battle-qi. In addition, he should’ve received special training in subterfuge and concealing his aura. A warrior of the sixth rank who has received special training should have higher combat ability than the average warrior of the sixth rank. Darkness-element battle-qi is quite strange and secretive. Most likely, he specialized in a certain darkness-element technique that boosted his speed.”
Linley nodded slightly.
Darkness-element magic or battle-qi was forbidden in the Holy Union. In the Four Great Empires and in the Dark Alliance, however, the darkness styles were not forbidden. Similarly, in the Dark Alliance, light-style magic and battle-qi training was forbidden.
“Boss, get over here quick!” The little Shadowmouse, Bebe, began jumping up and down next to the corpse of the assassin.
Linley glanced over questioningly. “Bebe, what is
it?”
“This assassin had a pouch on his back,” the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, said excitedly. Linley walked over to the assassin’s corpse. The black clothes on the assassin’s back had already been ripped apart. Clearly, this was the doing of the little Shadowmouse.
Beneath the torn back clothes, a backpack was tightly strapped to the assassin’s back.
“Linley, I’ll wager that those five we saw earlier were killed by him as well. Based on his ability, who knows how many he has killed? His pouch most likely has quite a few magicite cores.” Doehring Cowart smiled as he spoke.
Linley couldn’t help but feel excited. Based on this assassin’s prowess, he was perhaps able to kill even your average warrior of the sixth rank. Most likely, he had quite a few possessions.
“Squeak squeak!” The little Shadowmouse grabbed the backpack with his teeth, and with a bound, leapt on top of Linley’s shoulder.
Seeing this, Linley couldn’t help but feel secretly surprised. “Bebe’s speed really is incredibly fast now. Even though that assassin was very fast as well, he was only a bit faster than me. But Bebe’s speed is fast enough that I don’t even have the ability to react to him. No wonder that assassin was bitten to death by Bebe without even having the chance to dodge or block.”
“Squeak! Squeak!” Holding the backpack in his teeth, the little Shadowmouse, Bebe, shook it a few times. “Boss, hurry up and open it up to take a look!” He said rather urgently to Linley through their link.
Bebe was very curious as to what was inside the pouch.
Laughing, Linley accepted the pouch. It was a pitch-black backpack, also made from leather, but clearly of far higher quality than Linley’s own leather backpack. Most likely, it was made from the skin of some high-rank magical beast. He opened the backpack.
Coiling Dragon_Book 1 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 33
