章 68: The Headless Riders (Part 1)
編集者: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Grade 2 magic Windspeed spell was a very practical technique; it gave a very low-grade mage the ability to move quickly, as fast as a galloping stead.
The Windspeed spell could be sustained for as long as an hour, and within this hour, the person with the Windspeed spell could run at a speed of sixty kilometers an hour.
The best war horses could possibly run faster than this but would not be able to sustain the speed for so long. If they wanted to run at a constant speed, it would not be at this speed.
What Aini could not tolerate was that Nailisi, who did not have Windspeed spell and was carrying Saleen on her back, was running ahead of him and Sika.
Nailisi exposed her pale, slender calves, her crystal-like toes making faint marks on the ground. The explosive power from her muscles was comparable to that of a senior swordsman.
The theory was the same. To run as fast as them, a senior swordsman would need to depend on the movement of the sword aura and could not sustain it for too long of a duration.
The stiff wind blew onto Nailisi’s face. It was pleasant to her. She thought she could go even faster, without any need for other demons to be chasing her.
Usually, after a demon had deployed a high-level transformation skill, its power would decline. Nailisi had no such feeling. She even felt that after the transformation, her muscles had been continuously regulated and had even produced more power.
This was the effect upon the completion of the transformation skill. Since the transformation skill was connected to a demon’s pulse, could she have become of age already?
Wide, boundless fields came into view as the four of them quickly left the battle area behind. The ancient castle was far behind them, and the sounds of killings and explosions could no longer be heard. Instead, they felt wind passing their ears and were under the moonlight, offering them a refreshing view.
They did not suffer any ambush attacks along the way. The black puppets seemed to have been focused on the attack of the castle. One hour passed quickly, and Nailisi slowed down and stopped. The Windspeed spell on Aini and Sika had disappeared.
Saleen was too ill at ease to continue leaning on Nailisi’s back, despite it being comfortable and helping conserve his energy. He jumped down and asked, "Aini, how far away is the city?"
Aini caught his breath and looked at the starry sky to determine their location. Although Nailisi had always run ahead, she had not swayed from their direction. He made a calculation and then answered, "About thirty kilometers. We have yet to walk along the main road."
Saleen was somewhat relieved. They were near the city and there would be larger villages or even the manor of some nobleman. Saleen looked at the still panting Aini and asked, "Can you go on?"
"Yes," Aini answered with grit teeth. Thirty kilometres, without the help of the Windspeed spell, would take six hours on foot. He also knew that it was not yet safe to take a rest.
Because it was autumn, the dry weather of Phoenix Duchy helped reduce Aini’s suffering. Otherwise, his sickly body would have collapsed from fatigue after a few kilometers of walking on the muddy ground. After more than an hour, Saleen saw a manor.
Under the moonlight, startling bloodstains could be seen on the manor’s walls.
"Protect Aini," Saleen ordered Sika. He quickened his footsteps as he walked towards the manor’s main door with Nailisi.
The mud, which had been soaked with blood, had turned a blackish purple. There was a stink in the air, but not one corpse could be seen. What was surprising was that there was not a single being, not even a housefly. Saleen squatted down and dug up a pile of mud, giving it a sniff. There was no life, only coagulated blood in the mud. There was nothing to search for, not even the usual bugs.
The black mage had been here. Saleen stood up and retreated. He did not know if there would be an ambush in the manor. Aini saw Saleen retreat from the manor’s main door, shaking his head. He knew that the situation did not look good. If the black mage had caused a bloodbath here, what about the town not far from here?
That town only had a population of about ten thousand people. The black puppets which had appeared at the castle had numbered around a hundred thousand. This meant that their range of activity had been greater than expected and had killed even more people. They were still quite a long way from the border of Phoenix Duchy. If they could not find horses to travel the distance for them, it would be difficult to move out of the black mage’s range of activity. It would be a challenge to find any life within the black mage’s range of activity.
As he hesitated whether to enter the manor for a rest, the sound of hooves clopping some distance away could be heard. Turning his head to take a look, he saw five stallions galloping wildly on the road in the distance. The riders on the horses’ backs were lying low and could not be seen clearly. Chasing behind these five horses were two headless riders on their horses, closing the distance between them. Those being chased were fatigued and were slowing down.
"Go into the manor," Saleen saw the situation and did not offer aid. The headless riders were at the level of swordsmen at minimum, and as they usually carried out their attacks on war horses, he would not be able to defend against them using his magic shields. Besides that, Saleen did not know if those behind them possessed the power of the black mage. If more headless riders were to appear on these vast plains, a dozen of them could easily wipe out a regular mage.
Those escaping from the pursuit had seen Saleen and his party as well. As though they had seen hope, they kicked the horses’ bellies more forcefully and got off the main road, charging towards the manor.
The manor’s door was wide open. Saleen had not asked Sika to close the door, so the riders entered the manor. The headless riders behind them were going to arrive soon.
The wall surrounding the manor was made of stone even though it was not a militarized building. The main door was wide open, and beyond the door, there was no fortress meant for hiding. If the headless riders were to charge in, they could only retreat towards the back.
Saleen was deep in concentration, his hands readying his spells. Sika stood by the door, awaiting the right time to swing her cudgel at the headless rider coming through the door.
The headless rider who was leading was holding a huge spiked club. He was ready to smash it down on Sika’s head. This spiked club was full of metal spikes like the teeth of magic beasts. The entire club was made of metal and weighed more than a hundred kilograms. In comparison, the cudgel Sika that was holding was much smaller.
On a battlefield with thousands of soldiers and horses, such an assault would have been fearsome, causing even heavy metal shields to fly off with a blow. The door of the manor had evidently not been wide enough, and without a double-barrel attack from another headless rider, Sika dodged the club’s attack. Instead, her cudgel had hit the chest of the headless rider’s horse.
As the headless rider’s horse was draped with thick heavy metal armor, this blow had bounced off upon impact with the horse. Sika had made half a turn at the same spot to avoid being hit.
The five who had dashed into the manor appeared to be mercenaries. They jumped off of their horses and drew their long swords, blocking off the door. They were not apt at fighting on horses and knew the importance of guarding the main door. They knew they had to participate in this battle. They saw a young low-grade mage standing behind that female warrior. If the young mage also died, then they would have no chance of surviving.
Before they could even make their moves, Saleen had already released his spells in succession. The mercenaries stared with gaping mouths. They had battle experience, but had never seen a mage deploy so many spells consecutively. These spells seemed to have no breaks in between, and had instead been deployed at a rapid speed.
Saleen had first deployed an Ice Ring spell. At the same instant when Sika’s cudgel had hit the headless rider’s horse, this Ice Ring spell had been put on over one of the horse’s forelegs.
Sika’s blow did not cause any harm to the headless rider’s horse but because her strength was quite large, the horse had paused immediately. Saleen’s Ice Ring spell had used this chance to accurately lock onto his target.
Saleen’s Water Series magic had some mutated attributes, the most evident of which were their extended duratiosn. However, ice ring magic only lasted for one second. If the enemy did not move, it would not cause any harm. This was a useless spell. Who would stop midbattle to let someone put the ring on, and then continue on, so that the ice ring could cut them?
Saleen was different from other mages. He could not learn many spells at this grade and had only been able to explore the uses of his spells to compensate for his shortage in magic chords. In reality, now would have been the best time to release a Ground Magic spell. A rock spikes attack would have caused the headless rider to tumble onto the ground. Even the Swamp spell would have been a more powerful targeted spell. Saleen had instead chosen another method. He had made use of this one-tenth of a second to complete this useless spell. After the headless rider’s pause, the war horse had charged forward and could not really stop.
Only a Grade 3 spell would be able to make use of the offensive capabilities of the Ice Ring spell. One of the forelegs belonging to the headless rider’s horse was cut off instantaneously. At the same time, four icicles accurately shot through the headless rider’s hands at the palms and wrists. The right hand holding the spiked club froze and became unusually weak. It could not withstand the weight of the spiked club and with a "crack", it broke off.
The five mercenaries were extremely intelligent. For such small-scale battles, the battle power of mercenaries was no less than that of the Qin elite soldiers. They immediately dropped their long swords and drew their three-edged daggers to stab the headless rider’s joints. The armor covering the joints was thinner, and since the three-edged daggers were designed to penetrate armor, the tendons at the headless rider’s four limbs were cut. At the same time, Saleen’s acid also spluttered on the headless rider’s body.
The other headless rider had wanted to bypass his fallen compatriot. Sika leaped up and bashed her cudgel onto the headless rider’s neck. She did not know where the headless rider’s weak spot was, but was trying to create an opportunity for Saleen. The headless rider who had fallen off his horse was struggling to retaliate, but his four limbs had been broken. The five mercenaries held on to their three-edged daggers tightly, preventing him from exerting any strength. They did not dare pull out their three-edged daggers, worried that the headless rider’s joints would be able to restore themselves. The acid had already corroded the headless rider’s heavy armor. Aini brought his peculiar weapon before the fallen headless rider and struck it down forcefully.
His peculiar staff was hollow at its two squarish ends, and was spurting flames. If not for the acid having caused a hole, based on Aini’s strength, he would not have been able to cause the headless rider any harm. It was different now. His weapon had gored into the headless rider’s chest. With a pow, the flame spurted fiercely into the wound. A pitiful sound emerged from within the headless rider’s body as it twisted even more vigorously.
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