Chapter 127 - Suspicious Movements (2)
3
When Azell’s party arrived, the town had gone to h.e.l.l. A small group of humans were leading a horde of 50 Orcs. They were killing every person in sight.
Azell spoke.
“I’ll leave the command to you, Duke.”
“All right. Laura and Yuren should skim the place with magic.”
Kairen immediately started to give orders. Azell also had extensive experience in commanding a group during the Dragon Demon wars as an officer. However, he would rather use his personal martial skills to accomplish missions rather than focusing on commanding others. This was why he determined it would be better for Kairen to be in command.
“We’ll prioritize tracking down and eliminating the hostile magicians.”
The enemy forces were bringing forth the darkness by extinguishing all the light not because the Orcs could see well within the darkness. Magicians were supporting them with magic. It allowed their troops to discern objects in darkness.
Yuren nodded his head.
“Understood. Their magicians are pretty powerful.”
“There are also two Dragon Majins.”
In a flash, the two of them had sensed the magicians. At Laura’s words, everyone turned to look at her. Azell asked a question.
“Are you sure it is them?”
“Yes, they are camouflaging the Dragon Demon magic as normal magic.”
They were using a magic tool to skillfully cover up the presence of Dragon Demon magic. However, Laura knew about the existence of such magical tools, and she was able to identify its presence. At that moment, Kairen spoke.
“We will scatter to defeat the enemies one by one. Laura and Yuren will take down the enemy magicians, then they will guide the townspeople to safety.”
They decided not to charge in immediately. They were on standby as Yuren placed a magic communication spell over the party. When the communication network was completed, Kairen and Azell ran like the wind.
Leticia was about to follow after them when she asked a question to Yuren.
“Are you sure about this? Is it ok to deploy us like this?”
She still didn’t completely trust Laura. Azell had put in a magical shunt within her, but Leticia had no idea how Laura would act when no one was close by to keep an eye on her.
Yuren shrugged his shoulders.
“We have no choice but to trust Azell’s judgement.”
“You are being irresponsible by trusting him so much.”
“I’ve already bet everything on him. If his judgement is wrong, I’ll probably be stabbed in the back. I’ll survive somehow and I’ll give him a piece of my mind afterwards.”
“You sound like a man, who lost his wallet as well as his soul by falling for a bad girl. You might have a predisposition for being a pushover. ”
Leticia gave those sarcastic remarks before she left him. Yuren grinned as he looked at Laura.
“Shall we go?”
“Should I say thank you for believing in me?”
Laura asked the question. Yuren shook his head from side to side.
“It isn’t as if I trust you.”
“Then why?”
“As I said before, I trust Azell’s judgement. Moreover, I’m not someone that’ll go down easily even if you try to stab me in the back. Let’s just go for now.”
As he spoke those words, Yuren extended his hand into the air. A marble made out of light rose up, and it exploded. A powerful wave of magical energy spread into the surrounding.
This had the effect of breaking the magic spell that allowed their enemies to see in the night as if it was midday. The enemy magicians were pretty talented, but they were of no trouble to Yuren.
“Well, then….”
Yuren winked towards Laura before he launched into the air. For a brief moment, Laura stared at his back. She mumbled absent-mindedly.
“Trust….”
She let out a small sigh as she launched herself into a different direction. She headed towards one of the magicians.
Yuren had just broken his magic spell, so the enemy magician was fl.u.s.tered. When he caught sight of Laura, he was taken aback.
“Traitor Laura Aunsaurus!”
The news of Laura’s betrayal had spread even to the rank and file members. It seemed specific information about her was spread too. If not, how could he recognize her in an instant when she was disguised as a human?
She had expected this, but it still felt very weird. She had yet to earn trust from her new allies, yet the people, who couldn’t even look at her straight in the past, was glaring at her with hate in their eyes.
Laura used her magic to prevent the magician from contacting the others.
“Unfortunately, I only want one thing from you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your death.”
Laura unraveled her disguise spell, and she revealed herself as a Dragon Demon. Her tsunami-like Dragon Demon magic swept over the enemy magician.
4
A new wind picked up as it swirled around the site of the slaughter. An Orc had been dragging along a screaming woman by her hair. It stopped in surprise when a change suddenly occurred. It had been able to see its surrounding as if it was daylight, but now its sight had darkened.
It wasn’t as if it couldn’t see. Originally, Orcs were night creatures, so they saw better at night compared to humans. However, until a moment ago, it had been able to see everything clearly. The difference was so stark that it had a hard time discerning shapes for a brief moment.
Pee-eet!
The Orc heard a sound ring out. It was as if someone was plucking a string. In a flash, it flinched when it felt something tap against its neck.
“Koo-roohk……?”
It wanted to speak out in confusion, but its voice wouldn’t come out. It was because half of its neck had been severed. Soon, blood shot out from the wound, and it lost consciousness.
Peet! Peet! Pee-bi-bi-beet!
An unseen opponent was slaughtering the Orcs. It was a phantom-like existence. This being was so fast in slicing through Orcs that it would have been hard to keep track of this being even in daylight. The Orcs didn’t even know what hit them. They were falling in droves.
Azell didn"t stay in one place. He continued to run as he used his senses to acquire targets. He cut down all his targets. He didn’t worry about saving and comforting each townspeople. He prioritized killing his enemies. Kairen was doing the same thing. It had been less than 2 minutes, yet the number of Orcs decreased in half.
Azell only stopped when he saw two old Spirit Order pract.i.tioners going up against one of the enemies. Azell dispersed his senses as he felt the fluctuation of magic.
‘Detection magic? There is a magician here.’
Azell’s gaze moved upwards. There was a magician hidden at the back of the roof. He was using an invisibility spell.
One of the old men had already fallen from a sword strike from the enemy. The other old man was letting out a shout of grief when the enemy tried to cut him down too. However, the enemy suddenly turned around to face Azell. The magician using the detection magic must have notified the swordsman down below about Azell’s presence.
Kah-ahng!
After receiving Azell’s sword strike, the swordsman flew backwards before he landed on the ground. It seemed he was unable to completely disperse the power of Azell’s strike. He slid backwards.
“Their tactics are getting dirtier with each pa.s.sing day.”
Azell spoke with a cold voice. The surviving old man was taken aback, so he asked a question.
“W…who are you?”
“I’ll introduce myself at a later time.”
When the swordsman caught sight of Azell responding to the old man, he became frightened. The swordsman, who had blocked Azell’s sword, spoke.
“Are you perhaps the person, who possesses the name steeped in sin? Why are you here?”
From the perspective of Dragon Demon king worshippers, Azell was already on the list of figures that should be avoided in a direct fight. Even high ranking officers were told to avoid him if there wasn’t a plan in place to deal with him.
“It has been awhile since I’ve heard that really long and annoying t.i.tle.”
“Huhk?”
The enemy swordsman was frightened. Azell was clearly walking towards him front the front, but his voice was heard from the swordsman’s back.
However, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of Azell. Azell struck out with his sword as he tried to take advantage of his enemy’s surprise.
Zzuh-uhng!
The enemy swordsman received Azell’s sword. A light exploded forth as the ground below the two combatants boiled like soup before it exploded.
Kwah-gwah-gwah-gwah-gwahng!
“I’m guessing you aren’t part of the regular troops?”
Azell was surprised. From what he experience up until now, all the rank and file members of their troops had fallen for the voice that was heard from the back. They were all killed with a single strike.
However, this person had blocked Azell’s attack. His concentration had been disturbed, yet he was able to follow Azell’s movements. It was surprising.
“Why don’t you guys stop it with the lame disguises? Even if you are able to hide your Dragon Demon magic, your Dragon Arts can’t imitate Spirit Order, Dragon Majin.”
“Koohk!”
The enemy swordsman grinded his teeth. They had hidden their true skills as a ploy to disguise their ident.i.ties. In truth, this mission was capable of being completed without using their full power.
However, they couldn’t afford to hold back now that Azell had appeared. From the information they possessed, they couldn’t win against this opponent even if they used all their power.
Ooooooooooooh!
The disguised swordsman dispelled his disguise to show his true form. He was a young Dragon Majin male with dark red horns and red eyes. Dragon Demon magic swirled around him as he charged Azell.
“s.h.i.t! I won’t go down so easily!”
“As I thought, you aren’t part of the regular troops. Are you an officer, who came out from the Plain of Darkness?”
Azell exchanged frantic sword strikes with him as he asked the question. He had gained a lot of information regarding the Plain of Darkness thanks to Laura, Yuren and Leticia. Aside from high ranking officers like Niberis and Laura, there were plenty of officers composed of Dragon Demons and Dragon Majins. A portion of this population had enough power to conduct the Dragon Slayer’s Ritual.
The Dragon Majin confronting Azell was very skilled. If one considered only physical capability, he was on par with Azell. He was also using techniques that were considered to be high level Dragon Art techniques. Moreover….
Pah-bahng!
From a completely different angle from the sword, a ball of light came towards Azell. He deflected it with his shoulder. An orb made out of light was floating around the Dragon Majin. It wasn’t something made out his Dragon Arts. It was a product of magic. The magician hidden atop the rooftop was supporting the Dragon Majin.
‘They work well together.’
It was very hard to support a fighter using physically destructive magic especially when the person was fighting a close combat with swords. This meant their minds were connected as the Dragon Majin decided the timing and the location of the magic attack.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pah!
The Dragon Majin’s sword flew toward Azell from the front, and the orb of light formed by the magicians moved all over the place to attack with light.
At the same time, the magician used other magic spells in succession. He was attempting to use curses that affect one’s sight, hearing and perception. He even tried to move the earth to trap Azell’s feet. The magician was able to a.s.sist with the orb of light , while attacking with quick and accurate magic attack. The magician was very skilled.
‘These two are quite skilled.’
The Dragon Majin wasn’t as skilled as Duran, whom he had killed. However, he was skilled enough to defeat Arrieta and Seigar by himself. The magician also displayed much more skill than the magicians from the Dragon’s Shadow..
Pahhhhhhng!
Light exploded from atop the roof. Azell furrowed his brows.
‘Did information about me get pa.s.sed around? Did they come up with how to cope with me or….?’
He didn’t show any outward signs as he suddenly sent a dagger towards the magician. However, it was blocked. The fact that he was able to antic.i.p.ate such an attack meant that there might be a Reaction type defensive barrier in use here.
However, it was a bit doubtful to think that the magician’s excellent skill enabled him to deal with Azell’s sudden attack. Maybe, they had a record of all the battles he had conducted with them, and they had a.n.a.lyzed the records. Did they make a manual on how to fight Azell?
Azell asked a question.
“Will you not answer my question?”
“I will inform you when your soul, which is deeply steeped in sin, departs your lowly body.”
“That is unfortunate. Doesn’t that mean I will never get to hear your answer?”
“Do you really think so? Rumble beneath my dignity!”
Koo-uhhhhhhhhhh!
When he spoke the cantrip, an oppressive mental wave spread into the surrounding. It wasn’t limited to a mental wave. A shockwave with physical properties followed behind the mental wave. It shook the surrounding.
“Koohk!”
It was an attack that couldn’t threaten Azell. However, the problem was the fact that Dillons was behind him. A regular person would die from the shockwave, so Azell had no choice to block the attack.
The Dragon Majin used this opportunity to press his advantage. A sword strike surrounded by light fell towards Azell like a rain shower.
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pah!
Once he was put at a disadvantage, Azell struggled as he was pushed backwards. The problem faced by Azell wasn’t caused only by the attacks from the Dragon Majin. The orb of light was increasing in number, and it was driving him into a sticky situation.
“I won’t give you time to summon your Dragon weapon!”
If Azell was able to summon his Dragon weapon, the situation would be turned on its head in an instant. Since the two knew this, they planned on ending the fight by going all out with their attacks.
Azell was focused on defense, so his movements were becoming more restricted. Now that he was put on the defensive, he was busy keeping up his defense.
Pah-paht! Pa-pa-pa-pa-pah!
The falling light kept getting past the defense of his sword. As expected, the magic spells were the problem. The magician kept using a different spell each time, and his defense was disrupted when blocking the incoming spells.
While the magician was sending his spell, he diligently increased the omnidirectional attack. The orbs of light supporting the Dragon Majin’s sword strikes had already reached 10 in number.
The Dragon Majin’s eyes shone.
‘Amazing defense! However, it is only a matter of time!’
The Dragon Majin, who was pushing against Azell’s defense, couldn’t hold back his shock. Azell was pushed up against the wall, yet he didn’t allow a single attack to scratch him. He blocked and deflected the sword strikes. He also trusted his armor’s defensive capability as he used the rounded parts of his armor to receive the attack at an angle to avoid damage.
However, he had a limit. At some point, Azell’s movement slipped…..
Too-ahhhhhhhhhng!
A powerful shockwave swept over the Dragon Majin.
‘What the h.e.l.l?’