Badge in Azure

Chapter 223: A Storm (Part 2)

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

With a loud bang, Daniel released a bone puppet. It leapt into the air before landing onto the deck on all six limbs, puncturing holes in the floor with its sharp claws. There was chaos all around. The storm had come so suddenly that even the disguised battleship had no chance to pull out of it. If Saleen and the gang had been on a sailboat, they would not even have had a chance to lower their sails. The sheer force of wind would have overturned the boat, taking them along with it.

The current situation was not too promising either. Ominous dark clouds peppered the humid sky as the howling sound of wind could be heard throughout the distance. The unexpected torrential winds had caused the magical lights on the ship to swing to and fro violently, causing flashes of light to appear every now and then. By now, the waves had reached ten meters in height as the ship attempted to forge on through the water. Dark, foaming waves began to rise up ominously against the front of the battleship. They loomed higher and higher until one eventually crashed right over the side of the huge ship.

Instantly, Saleen was tossed around and rolled under the waves like a rag doll. As he fell heavily onto the floor of the deck, he saw a sailor, who had been trying to close off the pathway leading to the lower deck, being lifted up by the waves and thrown overboard. Saleen gulped. That sailor had been a skilled swordsman, yet he could not do anything against the storm.

With a sickening crack, the naval ram, which had been disguised as the ship's mast, snapped under the force of the strong winds. The rain exhibited no signs of stopping. If anything, it continued cascading in diagonal sheets in its full glory. The raindrops that hit Saleen's shield bounced instantly right off.

Saleen remained unusually calm and composed. He stood firmly on the floor of the deck as he turned around and said, "Lex, we can't save the ship! We need to strike now!"

Before he could do anything else, the sounds of the ship's keel collapsing filled the air. The rock turtle had been lifted by the huge waves, causing the chains that tied it to the ship to be pulled along harshly. This tug alone nearly tore the entire ship apart.

Lex was stunned for a moment before she realized that Fellett was indeed an unreliable person. The ship was sinking and he was nowhere to be seen.

A ray of magic light shone in the distance before it vanished as quickly as it had come. Saleen's heart fluttered with excitement. He knew that all elements behaved abnormally in the face of the storm, but what truly surprised him was the fact that the light had something to do with fire elements. What excited him though was that the water elements in the area had strengthened a great deal during this storm. Deciding to test his Water Magic, he waved his hands. Instantly, hundreds of icicles appeared in the air out of nowhere.

Although it looked impressive, Saleen had merely cast a level-2 spell. In the past, Saleen had been able to conjure up thousands of icicles, but they had used up half of his magic chords and he had needed to repeat the spell many times in order to get them to reach that number. Now, he had improved so much that just one wave of his hands was enough to make more than three hundred icicles appear in the air, ready to strike their targets.

At that moment, he felt as if the power of heaven and earth had been concentrated into the spell. "Sika, seize the rock turtle! Now!" Saleen bellowed. Daniel instantly summoned the remaining seven bone puppets to assist him. During battles like this, it was people who depended on brute strength that would be able to weather through both the storm and the fight. Those that relied more on combat techniques would have lost the battle before it even started.

The eight bone puppets instantly surrounded the entire deck, preventing any sailors from gaining access to it. Nailisi lifted her leg and kicked the sailor that had escorted them upstairs overboard. The remaining sailors had gathered behind them by then. All of them only had a single goal in mind, which was to prevent the rock turtle from ending up in Saleen's hands.

The rock turtle was over twenty meters long. Within the course of two days, the sailors had hollowed out all of its flesh. The only thing left was its shell, which had been sealed shut and left at the back of the ship. The empty shell was heavy, but buoyant. It had been hollowed out, after all. The wooden battleship might have been destroyed by the storm, but the turtle's shell remained intact.

Boom!

With a swing of his hand, Saleen threw the icicles in the direction of the deck's floor. A great explosion pulsed through the battleship as the icicles smashed right through the floor of the deck, leaving a gaping hole at least five meters in diameter.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the storm raged on, Saleen continued unleashing icicle after icicle, smashing hole after hole through the cabins located on the second floor. He was not going to fight Fellett when he had his crew on board. It would only be a fair fight if it was one on one, and for that to happen, everyone else had to take a swim.

Saleen would only rest easy once all of the sailors and slaves onboard had been tossed into the sea either by the force of the waves or his Icicle spells. He could not think of anyone else aside from Nailisi who would be able to hold their own against these dangerously choppy waves.

The howling winds and the roar of the waves pierced his eardrums. Saleen had never experienced the wrath of such waves in his life. Yet, he was not filled with the slightest bit of terror. All he did was levitate as he cast a mutated Windspeed spell, which expanded to form an air bubble that wrapped around his body. The air bubble was opaque, so nobody could see what he was doing inside the air bubble.

Saleen's magic exemplified the powers of a true grand mage. He was able to manipulate his surroundings to his advantage, and in the process, unleash the greatest power possible from the elements. Saleen had allowed the winds to carry him upwards as the water droplets that clung onto his skin, fabric, hair, and other parts of the body flew outwards towards the back of the ship, leaving him dry.

Only grade-6 mages were able to execute this spell perfectly. However, as a grade-4 mage, Saleen was already able to replicate it. He had seen this spell done by Lex at least a hundred times. Although Lex had not cast the spell specifically so that he could learn it, he had committed the workings of the spell to memory anyway. Now, under these special circumstances as he felt the waves move past him, he felt like he was flying.

To him, the storm was an enabler, not an obstacle. His powers would only strengthen as the storm raged on. As he felt a huge wave speed past him, Saleen retrieved the bronze magic book from the Ring of Gifts.

Using whatever he had in him, Saleen unleashed all the magic inside the magic spellbook. A mist-like fog started seeping out of the book, burning wildly in the air before taking on the form of fireballs. They burned brilliantly in the air as they hurtled towards the ship's stern. The sailors did not even have time to react before they were struck by the fireballs and tossed into the ocean, where they were then swept away by the waves. All of them had fastened themselves to each other using a rope secured tightly around their waists, probably to anchor themselves to the ship in case one of them fell overboard. Unfortunately for the sailors that were not struck by Saleen's magic, this proved to be their downfall as they were dragged overboard by those that had fallen into the sea.

The sounds of crunching bones and roaring waves filled the air. Saleen looked around and saw an enormous neck emerge from beneath the waves. He could not identify the monster based on its facial features, but it looked to be very fearsome. With a snap of its jaws, the beast swallowed dozens of sailors before disappearing beneath the waves.

Bang! The rock turtle's shell collided heavily with the ship, causing the front of the ship to tilt downwards. This could only mean one thing - it was sinking. Saleen looked around, hoping to see some lifeboats or any other floatation devices. Alas, he saw none. That was when he realized that the only way for him, Lex, and the others to get out of here alive was to get on that empty, buoyant shell.

Forked lightning, brilliant and white-hot, flashed through the blackening sky, occasionally illuminating what was left of the floor of the deck. More than thirty slaves had blocked Lex and Sika's path. One black grand swordmaster was keeping Nailisi busy while the other one, who had been protecting Fellett all the while, suddenly leapt up into the air, leveraging his gravity to strike the metal chain connecting the rock turtle to the ship ten times with his long sword, effectively severing it.

Ice blade magic? Show me what you've got! Saleen thought as he gathered moisture from the air, preparing for his next wave of attacks.

Instead of utilizing the Current Cutter spell. Saleen conjured up six wind blades in just twelve frames of time. The offensive power of a black grand swordmaster rivalled that of a grade-7 mage. However, by the time a mage reached that grade of power, they would have already mastered the art of flying. On the other hand, grand swordmasters could barely fly even if they were grade-8. In other words, only golden grand swordmasters were able to compete with a sorcerer on a level playing field.

The six icicle blades continued drawing moisture from the air and sea before silently hurtling towards the young grand swordmaster. The icicle blades had only been half a foot long when they were first unleashed. However, as they travelled towards the black grand swordmaster, they each expanded rapidly to over a meter in length. The magical patterns engraved on the icicles moved gracefully, and even expanded along with the icicles.

Saleen's attack had sealed off his opponent's potential escape routes. The Icicle Blade spell was a more lethal spell than the Icicle Attack spell. It was possible to break an Icicle Attack spell. However, the icicle blades that Saleen had conjured up were so strong that they could cut through metal. Saleen's spell had also successfully trapped Fellett, leaving him with no hope of escaping.

Although Fellett did not show it, he was quaking on the inside. He had originally wanted to find an excuse to force Lex and the others off the ship. He had not expected Lex to strike so quickly. The maidservant was so strong that it terrified him. From the corner of his eye, he saw the Caucasus warrior and the maidservant fighting the black grand swordmaster, and the man was losing terribly. The eight giant bone puppets had started to attack the sailors, who by now had arranged themselves into battle formation. Before Fellett could even blink, the sailors were dead, their bodies strewn all over the place.

If it had not been for the torrential storm, the eight bone puppets would not have been able to kill so many sailors. It was not that the storm boosted their strength. It was that the storm had terrified the humans and weakened them enough to be able to be taken down easily.

Fellett had no choice but to give up his original plan of robbing Lex. Instead, he jumped off of the ship together with his most loyal men, intending to use the turtle shell to weather the storm. However, the metal chain connecting the rock turtle to the ship had been severed, and even with the help of his men, he could not spot it anywhere. It had drifted too far away.

However, before he could get over his loss, the six giant icicle blades appeared out of nowhere. It did not matter that Fellett was equipped with the most advanced combat techniques available. He could not do anything when his feet were not on the ground. He was not a mage, so he could not release any spells to defend himself.

The icicle blades had appeared at the right time. The black metal grand swordmaster had exhausted his energy after severing the chains earlier. With the icicle blades coming in all four directions and Fellett being directly behind him, the black metal grand swordmaster had nowhere to run. His only option was to face the icicle blades head on.

Facing a magic attack head-on was probably one of the worst things anyone could do, even for a golden grand swordmaster. However, Saleen was not going to give the black metal grand swordmaster any chance to breathe. The swordmaster could only summon his residual sword aura to defend himself.

The sound of metal shattering was piercing to the black metal grand swordmaster's ears. Before he could finish summoning his aura, his long sword had already been broken into many fragments by the icicle blades. Left with no weapon to defend himself with, he pulled Fellett towards him and twisted his way out of the magical trap that Saleen had set for him. Since Saleen had been able to figure out his weakness, the black metal grand swordmaster could also figure out the flaws in Saleen's spell.

If the icicle blades had been small enough, the black metal grand swordmaster would have been able to use his long sword to break them. On the other hand, if they were too big, they would have been too bulky to seal all the possible escape routes. However, at the moment, Saleen was too powerful for him. Aside from the limitations imposed by his magic chords, in terms of techniques, senses, and the use of magic, Saleen's powers were at an all-time high.

Seeing that the black metal grand swordmaster had escaped his icicle blade attack, Saleen retrieved three level-5 scrolls from the Ring of Gifts and unleashed all the magic in them one by one. To be able to release so many spells in one go was a skill that not many mages possessed. It was not that hard of a technique to master - most mages simply did not find the prospect of wasting so many scrolls in one go appealing.

Using the three level-5 scrolls, Saleen unleashed three Water Strike spells. Once the spell had been cast, a wall of water strong enough to destroy a magic chariot was supposed to emerge from beneath the ground. It worked even more effectively now because he had just released three of them. As expected, three streams of water shot up into the sky, converged, and headed directly towards the black metal grand swordmaster.

The black metal grand swordmaster, who had let his guard down after thinking that he had managed to get a chance to catch his breath, instinctively resummoned his sword aura before bringing Fellett into a protective embrace. With a "whoosh!" sound, the giant wall of water came into contact with the black metal grand swordmaster. Instantly, the water grinded his armor into dust. It was almost as if he had taken a bath in the most corrosive of alchemy potions. The torrential rain washed away the armor, revealing dozens of abrasions and wounds that covered the swordmaster's torso. Usually, the sheer force of three Water Strike spells combined would have killed even the most high-ranking mages and warriors. However, this swordmaster's life force was unusually strong. In fact, Saleen had not even managed to draw blood at all. Actually, the injuries inflicted upon the swordmaster by Saleen were rapidly healing.

Lex grunted as she sped past the slaves, who were more like human sacrifices. After ensuring that the coast was clear, she unleashed a level-7 magic spell from the ship's rail - Incandescent Flame.

Almost immediately, the surrounding temperatures began to grow hotter and hotter. A crimson-red air current emerged from Lex's body and danced wildly around the black metal grand swordmaster, effectively surrounding him.

The rest of the slaves leapt towards Lex, each of them sporting a crazed look in their eyes. At the back, Sika and Nailisi were still fighting the remaining black metal grand swordmaster. Lex decided to pull her gaze away from them and focus on her fight against both the black metal grand swordmaster and the slaves. Now that she had managed to fend off her opponent's attacks, she was not scared of the slaves anymore. They were like annoying pests waiting to be exterminated.

Before the slaves could even close in on Lex, the latter had erected a giant brick wall behind her, effectively protecting herself from the axe-wielding maniacs. By then, Daniel's bone puppets had come to assist her as well. With a wave of his hand, Daniel summoned his pets, directing them to charge towards the slaves and grind them into meatsauce.