229 Ghost Fog Island Part 2 (2/2)
”This must be the most conducive environment for you to practice your death magic in, right?” Saleen asked, feeling uncomfortable being surrounded by the stench of death lingering in the air which was the coincidentally the direct opposite of the Myers Goddess’ powers.
”Yes, that might be the only good thing we can get out of this trip,” Daniel quipped.
”Ah Daniel, so you finally understand what the word ‘we’ means,” Saleen said, laughing at the end. At that moment, Daniel felt his heart stop as shivers ran down his spine.
”Saleen, I…” Daniel stuttered before he was cut off by Saleen, ”Save your breath. We’ll be here a while. Lex will be building a ship to get us off of this island, so when she needs your help, you’d better give it one hundred percent. Practice your magic when you’re not needed so that your winged skeleton can be restored to its peak state.”
”Huh?” Daniel said in confusion. He had thought that Saleen was going to confront him about what had happened a few days earlier.
”Daniel, Lex is someone who’s going to do big things one day. Do you really think you’re indispensable? Bitter Water Prefecture has so many mages like you that I’ve practically lost count. I just don’t understand why those thoughts ever crossed your mind,” Saleen said.
Daniel lowered his head in shame as he replied, ”I don’t know. Maybe it was the armor…” Saleen shuddered as he recalled the eyeless face floating about the armor. Daniel had deposited a huge portion of his death flames into Fellett’s body, and did not have as much willpower in resisting the spirit’s voices. Saleen was not sure if there were any side effects that Daniel might have been experiencing after that brief encounter with the spirit. All he knew was that if Daniel did give in to his greed, he would be dangerous to have around.
Bang! The huge turtle shell had rammed into one of the giant rocks on the island, shattering it into pieces. The crash also did a number on the already damaged body of the turtle. Without it, even if the turtle shell was hollow, it would still slowly sink.
Nailisi took out a lance from her bracelet and stabbed it deep into the rock. Since the lance was made of pure steel, it was not difficult for Nailisi to split the rock into half. Upon realizing how strong Nailisi was, Daniel started to become afraid of the demon. Now, he was not only scared of Saleen, but he was also afraid of Nailisi and Sika.
Saleen’s divine powers could easily subdue him, and Sika’s weapons shattered his defensive magic like it was nothing. Right now, Daniel knew that if Nailisi wanted to, she could simply beat him to a pulp using just her strength alone.
Saleen watched as Nailisi wrapped the chain tightly around the lance and casually bent it. Saleen was also surprised to see that the end of the lance had been buried deep into the rock. This was not something that just anyone could do. Even people who had honed their sword auras and had explosive power that surpassed even the strongest of magical beasts would not be able to bend a lance made of pure steel.
Saleen was pleased to have people like Nailisi and Sika who excelled in their craft and did a terrific job in protecting him. Even though neither of them had attempted to hone the sword auras before, both of them possessed ridiculous amounts of power. Even swordmasters who were not careful could die at their hands if the two ladies decided to launch a sneak attack on them.
And that was taking into account the fact that swordmasters had the ability to recognize their enemies’ sword auras or magical ranks, which would put Sika and Nailisi at a disadvantage since they had never practiced them.
The winged skeleton grabbed Daniel and started flying towards the island. As Daniel rose higher and higher into the air, he turned his head around and told Saleen, ”You’d better hurry up. It’s best if you can build some sort of temporary shelter. It gets kinda foggy at night! And it’s not like that big fog you saw over at Devil’s Horn. There might actually be a few monsters obscured by the fog.”
”Monsters? But didn’t you say that those necromancers would take everything with them?” Saleen asked.
”Well, this isn’t the death dimension so…” Daniel started, but before he could finish his sentence, the winged skeleton had placed him onto the ground. Saleen followed suit, leaping into the air. Before he crashed onto the ground, Saleen’s body was suddenly enveloped in a thick cloud-like mist that cushioned his landing.
There were giant boulders as well as some gravel present in the area that they had landed in. Strangely, not a single grain of sand was in sight. Daniel watched in amazement as Saleen started levitating in midair. He started trying to figure out the spell that Saleen had used, but to no avail.
Saleen gave Daniel a gentle smile before he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Lex flying back towards them from afar. He continued pressing Daniel for answers, ”There shouldn’t be anyone here. Didn’t you say that necromancers don’t leave anything behind? Why would there be monsters here?”
”This particular island is frequently connected to the death dimension. However, without a necromancer, death creatures will not be able to travel here on their own. That doesn’t mean that the island can’t house other monsters naturally though. To us necromancers, we could domesticate them and make them our slaves. In other words, the monsters here probably aren’t creatures from the death dimension. To most people, they’re actually scarier than illithids. Get too close to them and you’ll get your life force sucked right out of you. Even swordmasters would die in a heartbeat,” Daniel explained.
”Are they really that powerful?” Saleen exclaimed in wonder. Daniel replied, ”I mean… not if you’re prepared. These creatures move slowly and they don’t usually attack unless provoked. Just hide in a tent if you don’t want to be spotted. Don’t get surrounded though. These things can fly in the fog, and once you’re surrounded, there’s no way out.”
Sika leapt from the turtle shell and onto the ground of the island. If a person considered the metal chains to be long, they would be shaking once they knew how far she had jumped – ten meters. Daniel quaked as he witnessed Sika’s random burst of power. Sika patted on Daniel’s shoulder gently as she said, ”Just leave these monsters to me. I’m currently studying something regarding souls and spirits, and would love to have something to experiment on.”