บท 67: Out of Control (Part 2)
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Saleen held his breath. His hands and feet were icy cold.
Aini voice was trembling as he said softly, "It’s alright. They’re dead."
Only then did Saleen notice that the beast’s eyes were unmoving and blank. The headless riders did not have their war horses. They stood quietly, their heads not in sight.
"Aini…"
"It’s really alright. These headless riders require a large amount of fresh blood to be revived. Let’s follow the wind to the exit." Even though Aini said that, he was not that confident deep down. Mages believed in the truth, while all of his knowledge had come from books.
Just as Aini finished speaking, a swishing sound could be heard from above, and what followed was the sound of flowing liquid. Everyone looked up just to see that the top of the cave was a chimney-like opening. The wind was coming in from there. The opening was very long, and almost as wide as two people. Since it was nightfall, there was no light shining in, and it seemed especially deep and gloomy.
A large amount of red liquid spewed down from the opening into the cave. Saleen could smell blood.
"It’s a blood pond. Move!" Saleen lost his composure again. The offerings at the altar had, in fact, activated an entire chain reaction in the cave. The blood pouring down from the blood pond would cause the headless riders to be revived in no time. As for the giant beast in the center, it was the legendary evil dragon.
This was a simple set-up. If someone made an offering, it would mean that the black mage had descended. The blood pond was activated and hence the headless riders would be revived. If this setup was everywhere, the Phoenix Duchy was in trouble.
As the blood rained down, it seeped into the armor of the headless riders and a shrill noise emanated from within them, almost as if countless people were killing each other. Aini looked anxiously ay Nailisi.
He thought that Nailisi was a Grade 6 mage, or at the very least a Grade 5 one. If she could fly to the cave’s opening, a rope could allow everyone to escape.
Nailisi ignored Aini. She grabbed Saleen and carried him on her back.
"Master, hold on tight," Nailisi said as she jumped, placing both of her hands on the stone wall. She was barefooted and used both her hands and feet to climb upwards. Aini was shocked beyond words and he knew deep down that he had been wrong. A grand mage, even if imprisoned, would not have been a servant for anyone.
Sika’s movements were not slow either. She took out a pair of gloves from her bag and started climbing towards the opening with Nailisi.
Nailisi was a demon and her fingers easily slipped into the crevices of the stone wall. At the parts where it was smoother, she was even able to slip her fingernails in. Sika was a Caucasus and since she had been young, she had learned how to climb such walls. Her gloves had also been specially made, and with Nailisi leading the way, she encountered no difficulties in climbing to the top. Only Aini was in trouble.
Nailisi had been even faster than a lizard and her silhouette disappeared through the opening. Aini felt a sudden fear grip him and he started shouting, "Saleen! Saleen!"
Aini’s shouting echoed throughout the cave. The evil dragon’s eyes turned and faced him. Aini immediately stopped shouting. The evil dragon had not revived completely yet and could only feel the vibrations of the sound waves. If he were to continue shouting, it would only attract the remaining headless riders.
Nailisi became faster and faster, the stone wall almost like the ground to her. Saleen felt as though he were riding on a horse. After a height of over twenty meters, Saleen saw a dozen magic arrays etched onto the stone wall. In the middle of the magic arrays was a black hole, and blood was gushing out from there.
It was not long before Nailisi brought Saleen out of the cave. The surroundings were wild grass, and as Saleen took it in, he realized he was on a mountaintop.
There were not many large mountains in Phoenix Duchy and the peak of the mountains near them were only three hundred meters tall. As Saleen looked out over the view, Baron Cook’s castle was far away. What shocked him was that the field had been lit up with fire torches all throughout.
There were back-up troops counterattacking from the outside. Black mages had no need for fire torches and these fires must have meant that it was a human army. Saleen even heard an explosion. For the explosion to have travelled this far, it could not have been any ordinary fireball magic.
This army had a high-grade mage!
Saleen started cursing in his heart. Baron Cook had been bait, and the defense of the castle had merely been to lure the black mage into attacking. This must have been the case for the empire’s army to have reached them so quickly. He had been so dumb and finally understood where Baron Cook’s courage had come from. The back-up soldiers would be arriving soon, hence why Baron Cook had been so staunchly righteous.
He had offended Baron Cook and wondered if the baron had been killed by the headless riders. If he was not dead, would Saleen himself be in trouble?
"Saleen!" Sika crawled out of the hole. It was only then did Saleen realize that Aini had not come up. He looked at the hole by his feet and started thinking.
To save or not to save?
Aini’s motives had been horrifying but in the event that Baron Cook was still alive and Aini was dead, he would become the best scapegoat.
Saleen clenched his teeth. He had already invested far too much on Aini. If he were to give up now, he would be being overly cautious.
"Sika, the rope." Saleen said simply as Sika took out a rope from her bag, unravelled it, and threw it down. The rope was very long but it was not three hundred meters. Saleen took out his own rope and tied it onto Sika’s rope.
This was equipment for adventurers that Aini had prepared for Saleen and the others. A normal rope was around fifty meters, but Aini had been generous with his money and had given Saleen and Sika the best ropes in his shop. These ropes had been made from spider silk, and even though the knot was thinner than a finger, it could withstand the weight of ten people.
It seemed that these things had all been fated. If Aini had given Saleen a normal rope, only Nailisi would have been able to save him, and if that was the case, Nailisi might have just unexpectedly eaten Aini up.
Aini was dragged up in poor condition, his body full of bloodstains. He saw the fire torches from afar and was stunned.
Most mages were intellectually gifted and Aini was the cream of the crop. He understood immediately that Baron Cook had been a bait.
Saleen did not say anything to blame Aini. He only gave a bitter smile and said, "You understand too?"
Aini clenched his fist, his face pale. He grit his teeth and said, "I have gotten you into trouble. I will take responsibility for this."
"Responsibility for what? Let’s release the evil dragon. These back up troops might not be able to manage the situation. Also, there are the golems. If those golems regain their freedom, they might be as powerful as a headless rider."
Regret flashed past Aini as he said, "Since it has already been done, there is no point in regretting it."
"We need to leave Phoenix now. If the black magic gets out of control, the situation in the duchy will fester. There are so many black puppets and there is no telling how many people have been killed by the black mage. You and I, we can’t take responsibility for this."
"Saleen…"
"Enough. Take it that I was unlucky to have made a friend like you. The baron wanted you dead and I could not have done nothing. We could not have predicted what was coming afterwards, and now we can only hope for the baron’s death to be more thorough or else we will be in trouble."
Saleen could not have been more grateful either. Now that things had progressed to this predicament, things had gotten ridiculous. He was really unlucky to encounter something bad wherever he went.
He could only blame himself for always wanting to win. Why had he needed to bet with Aini for no reason? If the arrows had come out perfect, the castle could have definitely held off a one day attack. They had just needed to get over that period. Once the reinforcements came, without the evil dragons and the ancient headless riders, defeating the black puppets would not have been a problem. If that had been the case, he might even have been rewarded by the emperor.
A true mage would not fight for a meaningless win. Saleen finally understood that saying. It was just too bad that the price he had paid this time was so great.
"Saleen, don’t worry. Even if Baron Cook hasn’t died this time, I won’t let him return to the Qin Empire alive." Aini’s eyes had a coldness to them as he announced Baron Cook’s death penalty.
"That simple?" Saleen was not sure where Aini had gotten that confidence from.
"The Clyde family is loyal to the emperor and has ties with the upper house. Although Cook is in the same camp as the Clyde family, he has a weak foundation and the emperor would not risk offending the Clyde family for him. So long as he does not speak in front of the emperor, it will not matter if he is dead."
Saleen did not understand talk about politics. However, he understood that the Clyde family had much stronger forces backing them.
"Aini, is it a fortune or a misfortune to know you?"
Aini laughed aloud and slapped Saleen on the back, saying, "If I can successfully become a death mage, it will definitely be in your favor. I will return to my family’s core and be in control of more resources."
Saleen laughed. If Aini could adjust his mentality this quickly, he was definitely the descendant of a big family. His nature could not be compared to that of a commoner.
"Hopefully. But for now, what is important is escaping. We do not have any horses." Saleen raised a realistic question.
Aini furrowed his brows. Taking out two scrolls from his bag, he said, "I have two Windspeed scrolls with me, but we have four people…"
He knew Saleen was a Grade 1 mage and could only cast Grade 2 magic at best. Someone else needed to run with only their legs.
"How far is the nearest town from here?" Saleen was overjoyed. Two scrolls would be enough. One for Sika, another for Aini, and as for himself, he would need to trouble Nailisi. There was a trend in this imp becoming someone else’s ride.
"Over a hundred kilometers." Aini was not sure where Saleen’s joy was coming from.
"Then we can leave." Saleen laughed as he let Sika secure the rope on a rock, the four of them gliding down the mountain top.
In the distance, the castle started shaking as flames rose above the bright sky. Thousands of torches dimmed in color, and Saleen’s heart stopped. He knew that it must have been the doing of the grand mage.
He did not have much time to think about it. Saleen opened the scroll and focused on initiating the Windspeed spell, casting it on Aini. A scroll, which was one-off equipment, was something only a mage could use. Saleen could only use a Grade 2 scroll at best, and luckily, the Windspeed spell was Grade 2 magic. If not, he would not have been able to use it.
He cast the second Windspeed spell on Sika. After doing so, he climbed onto Nailisi, and with a weird glance from Aini, rode towards the south.
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