225 Courage Part 2 (1/2)
Most people might have thought that mages could only win fights when they were at a distance from their opponent. Some might even have thought that mages were as good as dead when they came too close to a swordsman. Fortunately or unfortunately, that was a huge misconception. Most spells only worked well at close range. Moreover, the effectiveness of magic spells were dependent on the circumstances. There was no fixed distance that a mage had to gauge in order to release a magic attack.
Take the crystal ring that Raphael had passed on to Saleen, for example. For it to work, the enemy needed to be within the striking range of ten meters. Before Saleen had further developed it, the striking range had not even been three meters. There were many other rare spells like this as well. The general consensus was that most mages did not like getting too close to their opponents during battle. Why take the risk If they could resolve their problems from a safe distance?
However, Lex and Saleen had no choice but to take that risk. They had never come face to face with such a strong opponent, or rather, armor, before. The armor was enough to boost the strength of its wearer from the level of a bronze grand swordmaster to that of a golden grand swordmaster. That was boost of three grades! Facing an opponent of that level was dangerous, perhaps even fatal to both Lex and Saleen.
Originally, Saleen had intended to fight Fellett until one of them came out on top. If he had cowered away while Nailisi and Sika sacrificed their lives, he would live the rest of his life in shame. He would not even have dared to continue honing his magic if he was going to be branded a deserter. However, he realized that he would not even need to do anything to weaken Fellett. The bolt of the alchemy crossbow had struck Fellett’s neck so forcefully that it was badly twisted.
Saleen knew that it was now or never. Under normal circumstances, a person who had been afflicted with this type of injury would have been completely paralyzed. Even if Fellett had truly been a golden grand swordmaster, he would not have been able to brush off this injury. Swordmasters were not like mages. They could not fire spells for the sake of their lives. Being unable to maneuver their neck was as good as losing half of their combat abilities.
As Saleen continued releasing scroll after scroll, the ocean waters rippled even more turbulently and the waves reached a height that Saleen did not even think was possible. These waves hurtled towards Fellett, who was still stuck at the stern of the ship, unable to move properly. These walls of water moved haphazardly in all directions. Saleen did not bother controlling the strength of the water. He wanted his spell to hit Fellett full force in order to stop him from getting away. He also wanted to give Lex as well as himself the chance to catch their breaths.
As Saleen hovered above the choppy waters, a whirlpool started to form beneath his feet. What started out as a small spiral immediately developed into a huge vortex. In the distance, a jagged bolt of white-hot lightning occasionally lit up the soon-to-be sunken ship.
Saleen started to gather moisture from the air. The small droplets of water coagulated into a huge mist before forming a wall of fog as thick as the cumulonimbus clouds that peppered the sky. The thickening fog lifted Saleen higher and higher as his Windspeed skill started to mutate yet again. Saleen noticed that he had not been sucked into the whirlpool as he travelled across the water. Instead, he felt as though he was one with the water elements.
Just then, Saleen realized that his magic chords had been depleted of their energy. It was then that he realized he had discovered a new magic spell! He probably would not have achieved this without Joey’s help. At that moment, he felt like he was one with the water, almost as though he lived in it.
Without realizing it, Saleen’s body had started absorbing even more water than before. The veil of mist that surrounded him began to grow thicker and thicker before reaching a diameter of at least one hundred meters. To Saleen, these cloud-like formations were weightless, hardly considered obstacles. He was able to freely pass through these clouds without any difficulty. He guessed that everyone else would not be able to navigate through them as easily as he could.
This magic was much better than the Windspeed spell. It was as if the grade-4 mage was levitating high in the sky. With his icy sight, Saleen could see through the opaque clouds. He began to fly for over two hundred meters before the clouds lifted him even higher than before. Unfortunately, that little stunt he had pulled with the clouds had consumed even more of his magic chords’ energy. It seemed that for every ten meters in height that the clouds were able to raise him, the rate of depletion of his magic chords was doubled.
Nonetheless, Saleen was not too worried. He just needed enough space between him and Fellett in order to avoid death by his sword. Now that his opponent was stuck in midair, his head fully paralyzed and immobile, Fellett was like a living dartboard.
Bang! The chains of fire that surrounded Lex suddenly exploded, burning even more brightly than before. Hundreds of fire crows started crowding around her. Ten meters. This distance was all Lex needed for the flames to effectively reach their target. The god’s ring on Lex’s hand glowed a light golden color as it pulsated on her finger. The golden light expanded until it covered Lex’s entire body. Saleen knew that Lex was taking a gamble. It was either her or the god’s ring. She had chosen to sacrifice her prized possession in exchange for a chance to live.
By then, the right-handed swordsman had switched his sword to his left hand in order to free up his right one and pop his neck back into place. Lex did not even flinch as the sickening ”pop” of Fellett’s neck being cracked into place reached her ears. It was her first time unleashing such a rare, unique spell. The flames that surrounded her glinted hungrily, as though they were waiting for the right moment to pounce on their prey. The fire crows that were dancing prettily beside her suddenly flew towards Fellett.
Unleashing Fire Magic like this was unheard of. Lex was now situated in the middle of the blazing fire. Even her hair was glowing bright orange from the flames that emanated from her body.
By now, Saleen had made his way towards Fellett and was hovering directly above him. The storm continued to rage on as darts of icy rain fell from the sky like there was no tomorrow. Saleen weaved in and out of the clouds as he fished out the demon spellbook from the Ring of Gifts. No sooner had he flipped open the pages of the magic book did a gigantic block of ice begin to form in midair. The ice bomb was originally a level-1 spell. However, this ice bomb that Saleen had created far surpassed any ice bomb that a grade-1 mage could conjure up. It was transparent and its diameter spanned over three meters. It had twenty-four sides and was smooth to the touch, almost like a polished magic nucleus.
Most mages had unique ways of casting their spells. After seeing Faerun’s Fireball spell, Saleen had been inspired to continue exploring areas that he wanted to further develop. The Icicle spell had only been the beginning. This ice bomb was his assassin’s mace.
After receiving the magic books and notes from Raphael, Saleen was better able to advance his studies in magic and formulate his theories. Using the Figaro formula, Saleen had managed to study the ice bomb attack in great detail. Although impressive, Saleen knew that he would never be able to replicate the spell and unleash it in such a magnitude without the assistance of the god’s ring. Just preparing to launch this spell alone took a great deal of effort and at least three minutes.
What made it worse for him was that this level-5 spell actually consumed double the amount of energy needed by other level-5 spells. Regardless, the twenty-four-faced ice bomb was a breathtaking sight to behold. Floating magic patterns which decorated the ice block suddenly oozed out thick layers of steam, which burned at the touch and exerted great pressure on everything it came in contact with.