Badge in Azure

Chapter 332: Recovering the Juggernaut (Part 2)

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

"Mister Mage, I don't even know you. But if I have offended you in any way, please accept my apologies," Jola said as he took a step back and lowered his head. It might have seemed like an apologetic gesture, but in reality, he was just preparing to draw his sword.

"In other words, you admit to having used me just now?" Saleen asked, his voice suddenly cold. The snowflakes that cascaded from the sky started spinning around him, forming a tornado-like shape.

No matter how good Jola was at his swordcraft, he would never beat Saleen's keen senses. Saleen had been aware of Jola's killing intent for a while now, and there was no way he was going to just sit there and do nothing about it. No sooner had Jola lowered his head did he start to use water flame alchemy to launch a Snowkill spell. This particular spell was not suited for close combat, but since Saleen was a powerful mage, he was able to combine his magic along with the snow to form a barrier that surrounded him in all four directions. Jola would not be able to launch a sneak attack on him unless he could break through this impenetrable barrier.

Even if Jola did break through Saleen's snowkill defense, Saleen still had his ice plate armor and water shield on hand. Not only could Saleen's azure blue water flames be used to refine gold, but they could also be used to destroy rhenium gold at the molecular level. Thus, the water flames by themselves were a very strong spell.

Anyone struck by the water flames would be disintegrated into tiny particles the size of microscopic elements. Not even gods would be able to save that unlucky soul.

Saleen had a dozen pirates around him acting as his personal bodyguards. Anyone who wanted to get close to him would have to get through those steel crossbows first. Without Nailisi and Sika by his side, Saleen decided to go about fighting Jola very cautiously. In fact, it was in these situations that Saleen realized the importance of the two ladies. If any one of them had been present at the moment, they would have been able to block Jola's strongest attacks, giving Saleen a chance to launch a counterattack.

During close combat, a grand swordmaster was always faster than a mage. However, if the grand swordmaster was to slow down by even a fraction of a second, it was possible he would be unable to leave the battlefield alive. After all, not all magic spells could be neutralized by the sword aura. Most powerful mages would have loyal followers to constantly protect them from surprise attacks launched by people in close range like Jola.

All of a sudden, Saleen revealed his killing intent. His facial expression suddenly changed into one that was cold and calculating. Jola had never expected the mage in front of him to look so vicious. However, he had already started his wave of attacks. There was no stopping now.

As Jola stretched his hand in Saleen's direction, the Qin eight-sided sword popped out of its sheath and landed elegantly in his palm. Jola charged towards Saleen so fast that his entire body became a blur.

The sword aura, which made an appearance again, shone brighter than any magic spell that Saleen had seen. It glowed a bright gold, something that should have been impossible given that he was not even a silver grand swordmaster. Yet, the power of his sword aura rivalled that of a golden grand swordmaster.

Upon seeing Jola do his thing, the four magic beast swordsmen finally realized how terrifyingly strong Jola was.

If Saleen had not been a grade-5 mage, he would have died from one swipe of Jola's sword. Before Jola's sword aura even touched a single hair on Saleen's body, it already knew what its target was. This sword aura, along with Jola's killer instincts, worked well together to make Jola the powerful grand swordmaster that he was today. In fact, with the power that the sword aura was emitting, people might have actually believed that Jola's sword aura could split a mountain into two.

Ordinary commoners, upon seeing this scene unfold before them, might have simply died of fright. Even professionals might not have been able to withstand the immense power that was radiating from Jola's body right now. However, Saleen was no ordinary mage. His mental strength would multiply exponentially with each advancement in grade. Plus, given that he honed his mental powers with his family badge nearly every single day, he was nearly immune to all sorts of debuffs.

That was because no debuff would bring about as much pain as his family badge. Saleen had long since been accustomed to fighting in seemingly hopeless circumstances. No sooner had Jola charged towards him did Saleen yell, "Fire the arrows!"

His words seemed to affect the pirates mentally, for they immediately activated their crossbows as though they were some mindless zombies. More than a hundred steel arrows flew outwards, some not even aimed at Jola.

Jola's white robe clung tightly onto his body as if he had been drenched in water with his clothes on. There was no way the average enemy could have blacked his attack. It was the first time that he had attacked at such a fast speed. However, he knew that all he needed to do was subdue the mage long enough for him to escape.

Jola had never thought of killing all the people present. He knew that he could not do it by himself anyway. The sword aura had its limitations. It was impossible to depend on it to kill over a hundred people. Everyone present had at least some form of fighting ability. Plus, they had an advanced death creature as backup. Thus, Jola could only hope to escape in one piece.

Saleen remained calm. He knew that as long as he had not discovered the Second Dynasty archaeological site, the three kings would not allow him to die so easily. Plus, he wanted to use this opportunity to enrich his experience with stronger opponents. In the past, he had never done one-on-one combat with a formidable opponent because he had always had either Sika or Nailisi and sometimes even both of those women by his side. Those two would always rob Saleen of his opportunity to shine alone. Jola could not be bothered to deal with Saleen's pirates, and honestly, Saleen was so focused on Jola that he had forgotten about their existence. He knew that those pirates would serve more as a hindrance rather than help. Overall, now was the best opportunity to see whether he could truly hold his own against a strong grand swordmaster like Jola.

The steel arrows descended upon Jola's silhouette like rain. He skillfully weaved in and out of the descending arrows like a snake. Only a few steel arrows actually made contact with his white robe. Each arrow that even came close to hitting Jola's vital organs was instantly deflected by Jola's clothing. Jola displayed such precise control of his difficult techniques that most grand swordmasters would have been shocked.

However, Saleen had prepared himself long ago. In front of his body floated hundreds of icicles which were ready to strike Jola at any time. No sooner had Jola finished dodging every last arrow did Saleen launch them at him. Every single icicle flew towards Jola like a heat-seeking missile. Well, technically, "heat-seeking missile" was not really an appropriate term, given that these icicles could not actually follow their target. However, they did travel as fast as missiles, and were definitely faster than the steel arrows. What Saleen needed in order to successfully strike Jola was precise judgement, and right now, Saleen thought that it would be a good idea to launch all his icicles straight ahead. At the same time, the tornado-like structure blew towards Jola, sucking him within.

Jola's white robe could not deflect Saleen's icicles like it could with the steel arrows earlier on, because the icicles were much stronger. Plus, Jola was not able to predict the angle at which each icicle was going to attack since every single one of them was being controlled by Saleen. Jola's white robe was riddled with holes in a matter of seconds. Because of this attack, Jola could not move as fast as before. His intimidating front was now completely gone.

Never in Jola's wildest dreams would he have thought that a grade-5 mage would be able to stop him with a simple Icicle spell. Unwilling to admit defeat, he willed an even stronger sword aura out of his Qin eight-sided sword. With one slash of his weapon, he obliterated the tornado. However, he was not able to stop the snowflakes from travelling through the holes in his robe. Almost immediately after he had neutralized Saleen's tornado, he felt the sting of the snow cutting his skin, drawing copious quantities of blood in the process.

Snowkill was a level-6 spell that was almost impossible for Jola to shield himself against. Jola's injuries made him even more ruthless. He did not bother with the wounds on his body. All he wanted to do was kill Saleen. The sword aura that emerged from the sword had nearly solidified by now. With a swipe, it came down on Saleen. Hard. He was less than ten meters away from Saleen. With his speed, it would only take half a second for his sword aura to fatally strike Saleen.

With a simple wave of his hand, Saleen's water flames floated into the air and landed themselves on one of his huge water shields, effectively blocking Jola from reaching him. With a swipe of his sword, the water shield disintegrated. However, the water flames left a huge impression on Jola's sword. What was supposed to be metal was now replaced by a huge hole. Just then, one lone icicle struck the sword from this very hole.

Even though Jola's sword retained its shape thanks to the sword aura, that one blow had targeted the sword's weakest spot. Saleen had never used his mental power this way before. In an instant, he had managed to deduce all of Jola's methods of attack. It was the first time Saleen had actually applied his calculative abilities on the battlefield, and it proved to be very effective.

Lex's mentor had once said that given enough time, Saleen would be able to use his Ice Blade spell to split even a golden grand swordmaster in half. Ever since Saleen had managed to absorb the powers of the goddess' necklace, he was more powerful than ever. Now, as long as the enemy slowed down by even a little bit, he would have more than enough time to determine their weaknesses.

Once he managed to do that, all he needed was another two frames of time in order to launch a counterattack.

Ironically, if Saleen were to use level-5 or level-6 magic, he would not be able to achieve the desired effect. That was because releasing higher-level magic in a split second was still something that he struggled with. However, all he needed was a level-3 spell to completely shatter Jola's sword.

As the broken piece of the sword flew through the air, the shrill grinding sound that the metal made with the air was even more piercing than the arrows whichc had been shot by the steel crossbows.

Jola twisted his body around, his movements fluid and natural, as if he had anticipated Saleen's moves. With that, he managed to dodge Saleen's water flames and shatter the water shield. The water flames shrunk to about a meter in diameter. Just one turn of Jola's body had covered enough distance that he was now only less than three meters away from Saleen. It was as if every last one of Saleen's movements was predictable to him.

Three meters - at this range, no mage would be able to launch an attack in time. Jola's lips curled up into a smirk as he allowed the sheath on his back to slide downwards into his hands. No sooner had the weapon made contact with his palm did he point it towards Saleen. The sheath looked quaint and ancient. Saleen did not know what material it had been carved out of, but it was obvious that it had not come together with the long sword.

As Jola bathed in the feeling of success, he suddenly noticed Saleen's lips curling into the same smirk that he had now.

"You did not disappoint me alright!" Saleen yelled. A huge spider suddenly came out of nowhere, and it was none other than his witcher spider puppet. The puppet wasted no time in casting an illusion spell on Jola. It expanded to become two times larger than the wheel of a car and was so large that Saleen had to take a few steps back in order to give the creature enough space to stand between him and Jola.

If Jola had been a brainless bloke, he probably would not have been afraid of dealing with this colossal phantom. However, he knew enough to recognize a witcher spider when he saw one, and he knew that these creatures were experts in shattering sword auras, magic shields, and divine barriers. Even if he did force the sword aura out of his body in order to prevent the spider from smashing it into pieces, he himself would be torn apart if he were unlucky enough to end up in its clutches.

The illusion was so real that Jola forgot for a moment that it was not even possible for witcher spiders to be so larger. Any spider-related magic beasts could only grow to a maximum length of half a meter.

By now, Saleen's magic was no longer locked onto Jola, thanks to the latter's efforts. His sheath wobbled slightly in his grip as Jola brought it down on the witcher spider's two front legs. His sheath leaked out the essence of death, enough to completely destroy the spider's illusion. Illusions were usually obliterated using either destructive magic arrays or magic spells. However, the amount of power hidden in Jola's sheath literally wiped out the illusion in the air entirely.

Instantly, the witcher spider reverted back to its original size. As it did so, a flash of blue electric current emerged from its body and struck Jola's hands. Instantly, Jola felt his entire body go numb and his head fill with dread. He had predicted earlier on that he would be attacked after destroying the illusion, but he also knew that there was nothing he could do to dodge the attack. No human could outrun or dodge an electric current attack.

"Seal him in a block of ice!" Saleen chanted as the pitch-black fog that surrounded his body started to wrap around Jola, effectively trapping him. Six huge ice crystals appeared out of nowhere and crashed towards Jola, caging him in a huge block of ice.