333 Jola’s Request Part 1 (1/2)

Saleen's Quickcloud spell had been executed so quickly that no one could say for sure whether they even saw Jola being struck by the blue electric current. Even though the electric current was not too powerful, it gave Saleen enough time to finish preparing his ice attack. The entire time Saleen was finishing up his spell, Jola's body was numb and he could not even move a single muscle in his body.

Jola was a creature of habit, and that happened to be his downfall. Everyone knew that the witcher spider was not a magical creature. To a grand swordmaster, magic beasts who could not do magic were easier to deal with than those who did, because they did not need to worry about being attacked from afar. Even though Jola had viewed the witcher spider as a threat, he had not anticipated the electric current attack. When he had, it was too late.

Back in Daniel's death flames, Banchajanna opened his eyes suddenly and said with a hint of suspicion in his voice, ”I feel… master's essence!”

”I feel it too!” Diyabannersa said nervously. ”No, I think it's master's lighting dragon? But it's too far away from us!” Judikaka could not help but blurt out agitatedly. Discovering this very essence proved that coming to the Myers Mainland had been the right thing to do. The three kings did not dare call Shanglan by his name. Instead, they resumed addressing the man as ”master”.

The three kings did not even bother to watch Saleen in action. They found these battles petty and an insult to the humans who had lived before them.

”Don't talk about master behind his back!” Banchajanna said. They were deathly scared that Shanglan had not died. If Shanglan were alive, there was no telling what could happen. ”Okay then, let's sleep for a bit, shall we?” Diyabannersa said, without a hint of agitation in his voice when Shanglan's name was brought up.

”Yeah, okay. Will Daniel wake us up when we get there?” Judikaka replied. He was not behaving like his usual self, no longer displaying any signs of intelligence. In fact, he even neglected to find the source of that essence. All he and the others wanted to do was escape the restrictions imposed by the scepter. They were not here to find Shanglan.

Saleen scattered his Quickcloud spell as he watched the enormous icicles emerge from the clouds. The six ice crystals had fused into one, with Jola effectively sealed inside. Jola was not dead, of course. His sword aura was circling inside his body rapidly to prevent his muscles and blood vessels from freezing over. He felt depressed as he was now in a lose-lose situation. If he could crank up the power in his sheath, he could shatter the ice crystals instantly. However, doing this would cause his body irreversible damage. Even so, if he did not, he would lose this battle with Saleen.

The grade-5 mage smiled as observed everything happening inside the ice crystals. After a long ten-minute wait, Saleen finally sensed Jola's sword aura weakening.

What a powerful grand swordmaster! I like him, Saleen thought, delighted that he had been able to defeat a truly formidable opponent by himself. Jola was truly a master in swordcraft, and his sword aura was not only powerful, but also durable. Not only that, but he also possessed a powerful weapon. If the energy contained within the sheath were to explode, Saleen knew for sure that he would instantly die.

However, Saleen knew that Jola would not allow that to happen as it would not benefit him. A strong grand swordmaster like him was now in deep freeze thanks to Saleen's adept skills. Unless Saleen scattered his spell, only death awaited the grand swordmaster.

Of course, Saleen had no intention of killing Jola at all. He was going to overpower this grand swordmaster and force him to become his loyal follower. The purpose of not enlisting Aini and Daniel's help earlier on was to make Jola accept the outcome willingly once he single-handedly defeated him.

Saleen tapped his fingers lightly on the ice crystals as he revelled in the feeling of victory. He had not expected the electric current to be so effective, especially since it was the first time his witcher spider had used it in battle. He figured that he would be able to use this current to defeat even stronger opponents if the other party did not know about the ability.

Even those that were used to debuffs would be unable to move a single finger after being struck by the lightning dragon. To be able to successfully avoid getting hit by the current, one would have to be able to predict the attack beforehand and take necessary protective measures. That was because electric currents moved at a speed too fast for anyone to react to at a moment's notice.

After another two minutes of not doing anything, Saleen figured that he had better release Jola soon. If not, the grand swordmaster inside might actually die. Saleen released the magic that he had prepared a long time ago to neutralize the ice crystals. Although it was always easier to scatter his own magic, Saleen could already easily scatter magic spells that were level-3 and below during actual combat, saving a huge amount of energy from his magic chords in the process. In other words, if he were to fight a junior mage, all he needed to do was use one spell and a dispersing scroll to finish him or her off.

Alas, this technique could not be further refined during the archmage stages because the mages in the past had only focused on scattering low-level magic. If Saleen wanted to learn how to scatter mid-level and high-level spells during battle, he would have to dedicate a lot of time into studying it.

The four magic beast swordsmen, upon seeing how Jola and Saleen had fought, decided to completely discard their intentions of fighting back. If they had been at the end of Jola's sword, they would not have survived the attack. Since that mage had managed to defeat Jola all by himself, they figured that they probably should not do anything to set him off.

As the ice crystals vanished, Jola fell heavily onto the ground with a loud thud, half of his strength already zapped away by now. The sheath that was previously in his hand dropped into the snow, where it was picked up and passed to Saleen by a pirate.

As Saleen attempted to use his senses to further examine the sheath, he realized that he could not, for he was blocked by an invisible power. It was strong, but that was all. It had no attack power. He did not try to force the barrier apart. Saleen had felt the essence hidden inside of the sheath before. It felt like a very intimidating, sinister, and ominous presence. He figured that the purpose of the sheath was to contain this power from leaking to the outside world.

”Now can we talk?” Saleen said mockingly as he looked down on Jola, both literally and metaphorically. Jola had injuries covering him from head to toe, some owing to the snowkill, and others from the icicle attack. Most of them had come from being frozen inside the ice crystals. He looked absolutely pathetic at the moment, but he was like a cat with nine lives. He would live. Plus, since the sword aura had not been completely destroyed, Jola's injuries would heal in no time.

”Okay... so I've been captured by you. I guess I'm just unlucky. I've apologized, what more do you want?” Jola spat out, his words gliding over his tongue smoothly without any pauses in between.

”Well, you see, my friend over here is a necromancer,” Saleen said as he pointed his finger at Aini.

As Jola shifted his gaze to Aini, the latter exuded some of his aura on purpose to frighten the grand swordmaster. Indeed, his move scared Jola to bits. Aini's essence matched the unique essence that only the powerful force inside the sheath contained, which meant that killing people was essentially literally in his blood.

”I see,” Jola said as calmly as possible. He rolled his neck around and tried to sit up, but realized that he was locked in place by Saleen's senses. After a brief struggle, he gave up.

”My friend over here needs a death creature to fight for him. You seem like a good candidate. Why not let him convert you into a death creature, and I'll forgive you for offending me earlier on?” Saleen asked.