161 Killing the Grand Swordmaster Part 2 (2/2)

No wonder the mission had been kept so tightly under wraps. Lex shook her head. They had killed people that were not supposed to have been killed. If she had known these details earlier, she would not have hesitated to kill the swordsmen from the Williams family. Now, all she could think about was whether the swordmasters from the Williams family knew that the commodities they had stolen belonged to the Goethe clan. If the answer was yes, then they were knowingly dragging Saleen down with them.

Lex was not afraid of Marquess Gilya. He could throw a temper tantrum for all she cared. She was a governor now, and was of higher status than him. Bitter Water Prefecture and Dragon Bone City were thousands of miles away from each other. Even if Marquess Gilya became infuriated, he could not do anything to her.

The only problem now was that Dragon Bone City and Alchemy City were fairly close to each other. Lex knew that she needed to handle this matter with care.

Inside the tent, Saleen repeatedly cast the Icicle spell onto the bronze grand swordmaster. He had maintained the complexity of the spell at Grade 1. In addition, Saleen had deliberately slowed down the speed at which the icicles were fired. The sword aura present in the swordmaster’s body immediately activated its defense mechanisms in an attempt to ward off Saleen’s attacks. The latter observed patiently as he repeatedly shot icicles at his captive’s body. However, just before each icicle was about to pierce through the bronze grand swordmaster’s skin, Saleen would immediately release a counter-spell to disperse it.

After some detailed observations, Saleen discovered that the sword aura was similar to a life force in itself. The holy masters in the mainland used powers similar to this, which had been passed down from the Goddess of Myers.

Saleen felt as if he had experienced the power of the goddess herself. It was very different from the sword aura. The latter was more cohesive and full of explosive power whereas the former was much more magnificent overall. In fact, as an added bonus, divine powers tended to provide a feeling of comfort along with strength. The only thing shared between these two magic forces were their roots – they both existed as forces outside of the six great elements.

Even if the sword aura’s strength did not originate from the six great elements, Saleen was still able to pinpoint its weakness. As long as the circulation of the sword aura was slowed by one hundred times, he could weaken it enough to destroy it easily.

Regarding the bronze grand swordmaster, he was on the verge of death. He had survived for far longer than expected despite being severely injured. He had lost total control of his body, and the sword aura was circulating in his body at a much slower speed. It was just the right time for Saleen to test his theory.

At the moment, the bronze grand swordmaster had passed out from the pain. Had he been awake, he likely would have been so humiliated that he would be wishing for death. Saleen controlled each icicle with extreme precision. Every icicle was immediately dispelled before coming into contact with the captive’s flesh. Although Saleen was able to fire nearly two hundred Grade 1 spells, he decided to end his experiment after seeing that his magic chords had been depleted of energy.

Since Saleen now understood the defense mechanisms of the sword aura, the bronze grand swordmaster was no longer needed. He let the next icicle pierce a hole the size of a small bowl in his captive’s lower abdomen. The residual sword aura remaining in the body of the bronze grand swordmaster, having been struck in its weak point, immediately flew out of control. In an instant, his internal organs were torn to shreds by the now out-of-control sword aura. Saleen sighed as he stared at the dead man that laid before him.

Thanks to the swordmaster, Saleen had been better able to grasp the workings of the sword aura. However, he knew that even if he was equipped with said knowledge, he would still lose terribly in an actual battle against warriors that had attained swordmaster status. There were just too many ways of utilizing the sword aura. More often than not, these methods were very unconventional as well. It would be too difficult to predict how they would utilize their sword auras, and thus, predicting their moves would be an uphill task as well.

Saleen held a magic nucleus and observed his magic chords as they regenerated at lightning speed. The truth of the matter was as clear as day to him. With his current strength, it would be very hard to defeat a zun grand swordmaster. Plus, once he used up all his scrolls, he would be in even more danger. Lex had warned him earlier to never be obsessed with power. However, Saleen was actually more sensitive about this subject matter than Lex. He had learned nothing from Jason, just a little too much about the rules of becoming a true mage.

Just then, Saleen heard his name being called from outside the tent, ”Saleen, let’s go!” The voice belonged to none other than Lex.

She had no desire to stay here any longer. She knew the identity of the bandits as well as the mastermind behind the smuggling. Should the people from Marquis Gilya return, she did not want to be present to kill them, even if she knew they deserved it.

What Saleen had done could still be tolerated by the Gilya clan. A mage eradicating a group of bandits was not an uncommon event. However, now that Lex knew the identity of these bandits, she had to choose between two options:

One, kill them. Or two, make her presence known.

Neither of these options seemed appealing to Lex, so she had decided that it was time to leave. After calling Saleen out of the tent, Lex ordered Nailisi to put it away. She did not bother dispelling the black fog. Sika, accompanied by eight horses, approached them. The group of four, no longer caring about the group of merchants, mounted their horses and sped off towards the east.

This time, Lex did not control the speed of the horses. The four of them switched horses every hour and had already covered a distance of nearly two hundred miles by sunset. However, even with the help of magic, the eight horses were too tired to carry any loads by the end of the two hundred mile journey.

Alas, even though they had sped up, they were not at the town they had wanted to go to. The horses were too exhausted to move, and walking was not an option either. The four of them realized that they would have to camp out in the woods once again.

After arranging a simple magic array to protect the eight war horses, Lex placed a few magic traps and magic alarms outside of their camp before joining the others in preparing food beside a bonfire like ordinary mercenaries would do.

In the northern part of the empire, the nights were always cold, even during the summer. Tonight was no different. In fact, if it had rained earlier, this place would have been a bit chilly by now. Mages were able to adapt to all climates as long as they had their magic chords with them. Sika, meanwhile, was not afraid of the cold. Even deep into winter, she would still go outdoors wearing clothes that exposed her lower abdomen. As for Nailisi, because she was an imp, the Myers Mainland’s natural environment was like heaven to her.

If anyone had come close enough, they likely would have been scratching their heads in confusion at the sight before them – a group of three girls and one boy wearing starkly different outfits. Nailisi was dressed in clothing made of the fur of a Pixiu; Sika was decked in armor from head to toe; Saleen was wearing a simple mage robe, and Lex was wearing her rainbow-colored robe. Not only would any onlookers have witnessed their outrageous clothes, they would also have gotten to see them huddle around a bonfire started from pure magic medicine, not wood.

The stars were glowing beautifully in the night sky. As Lex hummed a tune and watched Nailisi prepare food over the magic flame, she gradually became more cheerful. She could get used to a life like this.