Badge in Azure

Chapter 554: On Mountain Without End, There is a God (Part 1)

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

Nailisi’s smile was a little arrogant. She looked down on Lex’s men. If they were really worried about Lex, they should not have given up, no matter what kind of danger there was.

“Just wait patiently in the camp. If anything happens, don’t blame me for not reminding all of you.” With that, Nailisi took Eleanor’s bow and left to practice her archery skills. It was not that humans could not learn elvish arrow skills, it was just a fact that humans led shorter lives than elves, so many types of training methods were not suitable for them. If they really wanted to learn, they would have to overcome many obstacles, especially their lifespan.

Nailisi’s lifespan was definitely longer than any elf, so naturally she could learn Eleanor’s arrow skills. Ranged attacks had always been Nailisi’s weakness. She had been yearning to pick up ranged attacks for a very long time.

Picking up magic was much more difficult than elvish arrow skills, so she had not seen much improvements in that aspect.

Lex’s mages looked at each other. They did not have a leader amongst them. After Lex left, they were still able to handle things in the short term. As time passed, none of them could make rational decisions without Lex.

“The two of us will go up.” Two of the grade-5 mages finally made the decision and told the rest.

No one opposed. Although the two black metal grand swordmasters held high ranks, they did not have the authority to command mages.

The two grade-5 swordmasters knew that they should bring along a few warriors for their own safety. They also considered the fact that the warriors would be too slow and if they were to boost them with spells, they would be exhausting their own magic chords. Although they held the same grade as Saleen, his actual abilities were at least two times more powerful than theirs.

Saleen could bring along two powerful warriors by his side, boost them with spells anytime, and it still would not affect his own fighting strength. The two grade-5 mages were different. The combined amount of spells they could release were equivalent to what Saleen alone could produce. Based on the difference between how quickly they exhausted their magic chords compared to Saleen, if they were to attack him together, they would surely collapse first.

“Luola, follow the two of them.” Nailisi saw that two of the mages had finally decided to climb up the mountain, so she also decided to arrange for a demon to tail them.

“But…Master, what do I need to do?” Luola did not understand Nailisi’s intentions.

“Don’t be daft. The range of your senses should be very wide. Humph…” Nailisi thought about it and said, “If the two of them have a chance to live, then save them. If not, then kill them yourself. I want their spatial equipment.”

“Master, I cannot go up against two grade-5 mages.” Luola’s expression was one of helplessness. The order that Nailisi had given him was too difficult to carry out. Grade-5 mages could release grade-6 magic as a final resort if they had to. He certainly did not have the same kind of abilities as Cuisi.

“Damn it!” Nailisi cursed and said, “It’s not like I am asking you to kill them directly. Do you really think this mountain is safe and there is no danger? That’s because of the warriors in the camp and the mages’ protection. Those two mages will definitely run into trouble. If they do not survive, you will destroy their bodies by burning. Make sure it is thorough.”

Luola drew a long face and said, “Master Nailisi, I still cannot go up against them. If the two of them were to die, I…”

Nailisi knew that Luola was afraid and said, “Don’t worry. You have signed a special contract. No one can control your soul nor take over your body. If you really encounter trouble, come back here as fast as you can. Do not run towards the top.”

At this point, Nailisi paused before saying, “There is a God on this mountain who is still unconscious.”

“God?” Luola suddenly felt goosebumps.

“A God that has yet to become conscious, so what is there to be afraid of? It is probably… never mind, I cannot reveal. Just be on your guard when you encounter people or creatures that look frail, and do not initiate attacks on any creature. Go.” Nailisi did not explain further to Luola. Deep down, she knew that she was probably the safest because she had a soul bond with Saleen. Since Saleen possessed the power of life from the Goddess of Nature, she was basically safe from any attacks by creatures of godly attributes within this dimension.

As long as Saleen was safe from danger, then so was she. As for Lex’s men, there was no way they would sign any soul bonds with Lex. They were safer staying in the camp. The camp was well-designed to be sturdy and did not have openings in its defences since there were puppets standing guard at various positions.

“Those two grade-5 mages will be seeking death if they choose to leave the camp. Did they really think there is no danger in this dimension? Of course, if they were Saleen and Lex, then yes, nothing is considered a danger since Lex possesses the God’s ring.”

The two grade-5 mages left the camp and Luola followed suit. He was careful to make sure he kept a distance of one mile between them. Theoretically, grade-5 mages would still be able to sense his presence at this distance, but in normal circumstances, mages would not waste their mental strength this way. As long as Luola was cautious about suppressing his aura, even if the mages did check once in a while, they would still not be able to detect him.

About two days after they had set out from camp, Luola suddenly discovered an intense fight just ahead. He took a risk and approached. He saw from afar that the two grade-5 mages were battling each other, as if they were foes.

Luola could tell right away that they were being controlled by creatures that were very similar to soul eater demons. In fact, these creatures should be much stronger than soul eater demons. These were two grade-5 mages that were very familiar with each other. In order to infiltrate their souls, only a creature that was above grade-5 would be able to strike in the instant when the two mages were caught unaware.

There was a vicious bond signed between Nailisi and himself, but at this point, that bond was insurance for his soul instead. As long as Nailisi did not lose control, his soul would not be taken away. To force Nailisi to lose control, one would first have to control Saleen. To control Saleen, one would have to first deal with winged skeleton and the souls of twenty-four lightning dragons.

Luola decided to observe from a distance. The two grade-5 mages were exhausting their magic chords quickly as their spells were blasting away the rocks, mud and trees around them. There was pain and suffering in their eyes. Their souls had not dissipated, but had just been suppressed temporarily.

As their magic chords dwindled, so did their chances of fighting back and regaining control of their bodies. A mage’s magic chords and mental strength had a unique relationship that was connected to the soul. Without completely exhausting the magic chords, the creature that had infiltrated their body would not be able to fully control them.

Luola felt fortunate that everyone in his team had signed bonds with Saleen. The effect that the souls had on each other might not seem big, but in actual fact, they had already formed an interconnected web. To infiltrate his soul, one must first destroy this web completely.

Within half an hour, the two grade-5 mages had collapsed on the ground, all their magic chords and mental strength was spent. Their eyes stared blankly ahead and seemed to be at a loss. After another minute, the two grade-5 mages looked at each other and stood up.

That was when Luola walked out and unsheathed his horse-killing sword from behind.

The souls of the two grade-5 mages had already been devoured and were now completely different creatures. Luola did not hesitate. With a burst of speed, he had dashed to the front of the two mages in the blink of an eye.

The creatures that were controlling the two mages were caught by surprise. They did not expect that the bodies they controlled to be so weak. They knew in this instant that they would not be able to outrun the enemy, no matter how hard they tried.

“Luola, what are you trying to do!” One of the mages shouted.

“Kill.” With one sweep of Luola’s horse-killing sword, this mage was cut in half at the waist. His wound did not spurt out blood. Instead, a layer of thick and gooey fluid flowed out and completely sealed up the wound. The upper half of this mage’s body was now desperately using both his hands to climb down the mountain. The other mage was running up the mountain instead.

They had only just gained full control of the mages’ bodies so they were not able to transfer the mages’ magic chords at all. Even if they did, the magic chords had yet to replenish so they would not have been able to release any spells anyway.

Two grade-5 mages who could not release spells had no chance against a demon. Remembering Nailisi’s suggestion before he departed on this journey, Luola naturally knew what must be done. Within two steps, he caught up with the mage that was trying to escape upwards and with one stroke of the sword he split him in half from behind.

A thin and small purple creature flew out from this mage’s brain. Luola used the horse-killing sword to pierce through the creature. Then, he caught up with the other mage, split open his brain, and killed the other parasitic creature as well.

Luola did not recognize these parasitic creatures, but he knew that they were extremely horrifying. Once they managed to infiltrate successfully, the soul would be devoured but the body would still possess its original fighting strength. By then, what they were controlling was effectively a walking corpse.

If these two grade-5 mages had not been killed immediately and they went back to camp, they would have succeeded in convincing the others and blending back in. After these two creatures reproduced, more and more people would be controlled.

By logical deduction, this type of creatures would not be able to reproduce very quickly, but the problem was that they were hard to uncover. If not for Nailisi’s reminder, Luola might not have dared to kill the two grade-5 mages directly.

The bodies of the mages had been poisoned so Luola spread some magic powder on their corpses before burning them. Black flames quickly turned the corpses into ashes. Luola took only their rings and nothing else.

The spatial equipment of grade-5 mages were typically horrible, so Luola did not bother to look inside and stuffed them into his pocket directly. Nailisi had told him not to climb up the mountain and he did not want to take such a risk either. Only Cuisi had the abilities to act alone. As for himself, his biggest weakness was the lack of ability to fly.

It was difficult to dispose of the two parasitic creatures that he had killed. Luola burnt one of them and used Cuisi’s bottle to keep the other. There were layers of words in the demon language on the bottle, so even if the parasitic creature somehow revived, there was no way it could escape.

Everything was cleaned up, including burying the mages’ ashes. The ashes were lingering with the smell of demon fire and Luola wanted to eliminate any possibility of arousing suspicions.

He turned around to head back down the mountain. Unknown to him, two green parasites that looked like leeches had jumped out from a tree behind him. These parasites had thin slits for mouths on both sides and had more than ten eyes. They let out sharp cries, but did not dare to chase Luola. They seemed to know that it was almost impossible to control Luola’s soul anyway.

Chirp chirp…

The cries of these two parasites began to invite a chorus of similar sounds throughout the mountain. Luola had already departed for quite a distance so he was not aware that there were actually plenty of these parasites. Even so, he could feel a numbness in his scalp so he used the fastest possible speed and kept sprinting down back to the camp.

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