Badge in Azure

Chapter 236: Sleeping Spirits of the Dead (Part 1)

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

“Nailisi,” Sika called out gently.

Nailisi replied joyously, “Sister Sika, have you made up your mind?”

“Am I very stupid?” Sika looked at Saleen who was in the distance, with an elusive look on her face.

“Of course not. You are just too lazy to think. Otherwise, how would a fool ever be able to become a warrior priest?”

“Since you think that I am not stupid, do you think I will sign a contract with a demon? Nailisi, if you try this again, I will not care what Saleen thinks anymore, I will just kill you straightaway.” As Sika spoke, she grabbed the cudgel which had been placed on the turtle shell, and tried to smash Nailisi to pieces. This time around, Sika had not held back at all.

Nailisi was startled. The ring on her finger transformed into the Dragon’s Tooth Dagger in that instant, and the dagger lunged upwards. Dang! The dagger blocked Sika’s cudgel. The two of them possessed almost the same amount of strength. Nailisi had higher endurance while Sika’s forte was explosive power. This time around, Sika had the upper hand. Nailisi was afraid that if she had dodged Sika’s attack, the turtle shell would have been destroyed by Sika, and then she would have surely been punished by Saleen. To think that Nailisi was still trying to tempt Sika into signing some sort of contract.

The Dragon’s Tooth Dagger might have been very tough, but it was not as heavy as Sika’s cudgel. If Sika used all her strength, even a swordmaster might not be able to survive the blow. Nailisi felt as if she was struck by a mountain, as she lost her footing and was flung back.

Peng!

Nailisi slammed heavily into the ground right in front of Saleen. Saleen looked at Nailisi in astonishment and asked, “You, what are you doing?”

With a look of bitterness, Nailisi replied, “Master, I was practicing martial arts with Sister Sika. She is too good…”

Since Saleen was fully concentrated on the magic array, he did not suspect anything, so he simply nodded and said, “Continue practicing then, but don’t hurt Sika, understand?”

Nailisi felt that her both arms were going to break. However, she also did not dare to say too much to Saleen, because if she lied excessively, Saleen would be able to detect it. Thus, Nailisi left secretly and did not dare to look for Sika at the moment. She could only hide in the distance and observe the people who were busy working in front of the magic tower.

Seeing that Nailisi had gone into hiding, Sika sat down once more and hugged her weapon. As she watched Saleen busy himself with the magic array, she went into a daze.

Saleen and Lex worked until nightfall before finally constructing an oval-shaped shelf, where the seven offensive magic arrays were combined together. On the shelf, there were three magic arrays which were mosaicked with large crystals, and that was the place where the offensive magic array would release its magic.

The dense fog swarmed the magic tower swiftly, and Sika and Nailisi quickly ran back into the magic tower. Daniel also wanted to return to the tower, but Saleen smiled, pulled at his sleeve, and said, “Since it’s a test, there must be a target. These ghost fog monsters will be the best targets. Let’s go. We shall be the first ones to control the magic array.”

“But, you can do this alone…” Daniel’s face was as shriveled as the plates which the Tanggulasi people used, hard and dull.

“If I am alone, I won’t be able to hold on for long, and I still need you to change the magic nuclei.”

“Change the magic nuclei? You want to kill all of the ghost fog monsters? That’s impossible!”

“I get it. Daniel, don’t try to bluff anymore. If I slaughter all of these tiny things tonight, won’t the stronger monsters emerge? Are you going to deal with this problem only when you return in the future? I may not understand death magic, but I have memorized a lot of knowledge. Will these ghost fog monsters alone be able to protect the ghost fog island? If so, it is already too easy to harass a death mage.”

“No no no, I am just afraid that if we kill all of the ghost fog monsters now, we will not be able to handle the things that emerge later on.”

“If the sleeping spirits of the dead awaken suddenly, their powers will also be two grades weaker. We have two mage masters here. Do you think we cannot handle it?”

“Okay, I will do it.” Daniel became quite decisive at this point in time. He noticed that the fog was nearing, and within it, the shadows of the ghost fog monsters could be seen shifting about as a sour smell emanated in the direction of the magic tower.

“The two of you shall control the two sides and monitor the speed of depletion of the magic nuclei. Daniel, I will cast the magic first. Remember, there must be a six second window between the three of us, or else this thing will not be able to take it. Hm, if you are not precise enough, then seven seconds will do, but I will not be held responsible should there be an explosion.” As Saleen spoke, he blessed himself with ice plate armor before putting a water shield on as an additional layer over its surface, protecting himself completely.

Saleen did not care about what antics Daniel might have had. It was reasonable for Daniel to not to want to provoke the sleeping spirits of the dead. Even if Daniel dealt with these things right now, he would not be able to use them even after capturing them, so he would still have to hand them over to Saleen for safekeeping for now.

As to whether they would be able to deal with the sleeping spirits of the dead, Lex was around, so there should not have been a problem. Death creatures which were summoned onto the Myers Mainland would only be grade-8 at most, because those above grade-8 could not be controlled even by the death mages themselves, so they would not be able to stay on the mainland.

This meant that if sleeping spirits of the dead had been left behind by the death mages on this island, they would only be grade-8 at most, and without the help from the death flames, the powers of the spirits on the mainland would have weakened gradually. Right now, a grade-8 spirit would only possess level-6 abilities.

Lex would be able to handle a grade-6 death creature, and furthermore, Saleen was also around to help, so there was no reason it could not be defeated.

Saleen understood Daniel. If Saleen himself had been a death mage, he also would have hoped that he would be able to subdue a spirit of the dead on his own, without help from others. Even though Daniel was currently more likely to subdue the spirit, it would still be influenced by Saleen and Lex in the future, so it could not be fully considered his own contract creature.

Seven wooden magic arrays were positioned in a circle, and the three people stood on top of these refined magic arrays. Saleen stood in the middle. He had already started activating the magic arrays, not bothering to wait for the ghost fog monsters to come close. The magic produced a ripple of blue light, and as circles of ripples spread out, more complicated magic patterns appeared on the oval-shaped alchemical machine.

This alchemical machine, more than twenty meters long, was fully activated. At the same time, Lex also activated the powering device on the alchemical machine. There was no offensive result from Lex’s action. The main purpose was just to find out whether the two magic arrays would interfere with one another if they functioned at the same time.

These things could not be tested underwater. On land, mutual interference would at most cause the magic arrays to stop working, but if it happened underwater, no one would be able to float up once the magic arrays were ruined, and everyone would drown. The Grukos royal family had manufactured three of such ships and they had all sunk, so Saleen did not want to risk his own life.

This was the ocean. Once Saleen sank to the bottom, he would still be crushed by the water pressure even if he did not need to breathe.

The magic lines were situated behind the three giant crystals which were mosaicked at the front. The forty-two magic nuclei belonging to the seven magic arrays were activated at the same time, and the magic array behind the crystals gave off a blinding light. Then, Saleen lowered his voice and said, “Daniel, be careful when you are controlling it. We are only going against the ghost fog monsters.”

Before Saleen could complete his sentence, a massive ice bomb had condensed in front of the alchemical machine, levitating three meters in front of the crystals. This ice bomb was perfect as it contained twenty-four facets, and had a diameter of more than one meter. Saleen allowed Daniel to control the magic array, but Daniel had no way of managing it. He was only a death mage who did not have the ability to control the elements. Simply using mental power to control the workings of the magic array would not make the casting process precise. Daniel’s face was bitter as he tried very hard to prevent the magic array from operating at too high of a speed.

Whoosh!

The speed of the ice bomb was not fast. In fact, it was even slower than some average spells. Water vapor diffused from the surface of this perfect twenty-four-faceted ice crystal, and then the ice crystal flew into the dense fog.

After flying for about twenty meters, the ice bomb began burning, and an explosion occurred at the same time.

Boom!

Dozens of ghost fog monsters were smashed into pulp. The burning shards from the ice bomb entered the dense fog, and countless of excruciating screams filled the air.

“Such a repulsive noise. Lex, you will control this time around.” While speaking, Saleen stimulated the core of the magic array for the second time.

In reality, Saleen could control these seven magic arrays by himself, but he needed to make sure that even if he was not on the boat, the weapon would not become a decoration.

The second ice bomb was much smaller than before, with a diameter of less than one meter, but it was still perfect with twenty-four facets, encircled by water vapor. Lex was controlling the ice bomb while Saleen monitored the depletion of the magic nuclei.

It was not too bad. The forty-two grade-6 magic nuclei had not been depleted much. After all, only a level-5 spell had been cast, and its power had been restricted. The power of the spell could only be increased if the seven magic arrays interacted with one another. Right now, Saleen needed to do this step-by-step.

Boom!

This time around, the ice bomb flew for over one hundred meters before exploding, and more miserable howls could be heard compared to the previous attack. For the past week, these ghost fog monsters had gotten used to surrounding the magic tower whenever night had fallen. There was an attractive smell coming from the tower.

The ghost fog monsters did not feed on meat. They wanted to absorb power from souls. There was an incredible amount of ghost fog monsters on this island, and they had been starving for a long time since they had only been surviving on the miniscule bit of power from the death dimension which was found within the dense fog. They had no wisdom and did not have the ability to enter the death dimension, and so when the magic array on this island finally stopped working, they would simply starve to death.

Thus, even though the ghost fog monsters were fearful of the power from the magic tower, they still came forward relentlessly. It was just that today, the people in the tower were no longer defending. The people had emerged to use magic to bombard them. If the ghost fog monsters possessed wisdom, they would have escaped immediately, but right now, they were just charging towards the magic tower in a frenzy.

In front of the three giant crystals, pieces of ice bombs were formed through condensation and then flew into the fog. Beyond the oval-shaped alchemical machine, the dense fog was forced open by an invisible power. As the magic light shined onto the magic tower behind him, Saleen calmly stimulated the magic array time and again.

The magic nuclei were swiftly depleted, and the three crystals gave off a crackling sound as if they were going to break anytime soon.

Saleen bellowed calmly, “Daniel, go quickly now.”

Daniel obeyed and immediately took out the prepared magic nuclei. Then, he began replacing the magic nuclei on the magic array. At this point in time, Saleen’s design displayed its advantage. As the magic array was split into seven parts, it was easy to replace the magic nuclei even though the power of the magic array was constrained.

While the magic nuclei were being replaced, the frequency of attack was slowed. Hence, several ghost fog monsters managed to rush out from the dense fog and lunged at the oval-shaped alchemical machine. Orange flames started burning on Lex’s body, and hundreds of fire crows flew about in those flames, a few of them pouncing onto the ghost fog monsters.

Saleen was extremely impressed. To be able to control Fire Magic to such an extent, Lex’s achievements had already surpassed that of Faerun’s. Even though Saleen and Lex were at a very close distance from one another, Saleen could not feel the heat at all despite the fact that the flames were nearly coming into contact with his body. This had happened because Lex was in complete control over the power of the fire elements. That was the mark of a grand mage!