The Holy Master (Part 2)

When Lucas saw that Cook was in danger, he withdrew his three-edged dagger and charged towards the holy master without hesitation. Without even turning his head, the holy master waved his hand and a shield of light appeared behind his body. The shield blocked the three-edged dagger and brought it to the ground with a clang. Lucas jumped out of the battle zone and took out his short bow. At that moment, Sarah dashed forward, her snake-like flexible sword aimed at the holy master's ankle. However, when she curled up her body and positioned herself at a low angle, she had poised herself for defeat.

Seeing Sarah, the holy master frowned. He pointed his finger downwards and a white light shot out, hitting Sarah's flexible sword. Sarah felt a scorching heat on the palm holding her sword, and practically smelled her flesh burning.

Bang! Cook fell heavily to the ground, the impact of his fall greater than if he had fallen naturally. Even Saleen, who was far off in the distance, could hear the breaking of Cook's bones. 

Immediately, a shot of black light aimed at the holy master's chest flew from Lucas' bow. Lucas, afraid that the holy master had killed Cook, repeatedly shot arrows at him. The holy master's white robe continuously emitted a bright light and with every arrow, he retreated half a step. However, none of the arrows pierced his white robe.

Lucas withdrew, as Canghong had gotten himself into a precarious situation. The last standing swordsman who was clearly the squad leader was dressed in magic armor. On some occasions, he did not duck from the leather whip that was aimed at him by Canghong. Sparks of fire splattered out as though the strikes could hardly hurt his body. Despite this, he did not stop moving his sword, creating two gashes on Canghong's metal armor. 

Pino was already injured, as he had been shot by four of the arrows. Of the arrows, two had carried explosives. His face was full of scratches, and there were several metal arrows protruding from his leather armor. When it came to defense, he was not as capable as Saleen. It was his agility that had helped him escape from the most fatal attacks. The opponent had managed to cause such damage to their squad despite not being able to aim accurately. If Lucas had not used those two eagle plumes against them, the squad would have been crushed.

As the white light entered the fog, the holy master appeared in front of Saleen. Grade 1 magic was no match for senior divinity. This he already knew. Once the holy master emerged, there was no chance that their opponents would launch a surprise attack. The result of this battle was doomed. 

Saleen's magic had destroyed the opponent's archers and also killed two bandits. Sika had demolished the opponent's heavily armored swordsman, which prevented Canghong's squad from being attacked from all sides.

Saleen felt that Sika was truly brutal. Her huge cudgel had hair attached to it, which he found disgusting. On the other end of the cudgel was the swordsman in heavy armor who had a steel helmet. If he hadn't been struck into pieces with one blow, the hair at the end of Sika's cudgel would not be there.

On the other hand, Sika did not see anything wrong in what she had done, as she was only protecting Saleen. In her heart, his standing was equivalent to that of the priest in her village. Protecting the priest was the responsibility of every Caucasus individual. In addition, she owed Saleen a few hundred gold coins. Therefore, whoever dared to touch Saleen would have their skull broken in one blow by her cudgel. It was the fear of every Caucasus individual to have his or her creditor die.

Pino quietly dressed his wound. Saleen took his metal water flask and passed it to him.

"This is restorative water. There is poison in your wound. Give it a wash." Saleen saw that Pino's flesh had begun to turn black and purple, and could not stand by doing nothing.

"Thank you." Pino grit his teeth and took the water flask from him. He was now well aware that Saleen had placed him in the center of the fog to bait their opponent into firing. He did not hold any grudges towards him, for if it had been up to Canghong, he would have done the same. No regiment would be foolish enough to allow a mage to face off with their opponent's archers. As long as the mage was alive, the squad had a chance of reversing their fates.

As expected, Saleen's restorative water worked better than medicine. It might have taken effect more slowly with internal injuries, but after a wash, the poison in the surface of Pino's wound had been cleared away.

Sarah ran towards Canghong and he dodged, giving up his place. As Sarah held her sword in her left hand, ready to attack, Canghong used his long whip to pull the injured Cook back.

In less than a minute, this was followed by the sound of the Falcon Regiment grouping together.

"Stop!" The holy master shouted, having no place to retreat. However, no one stopped as they had already killed eight people and it was too late for talks of diplomacy. The opponent had laid an ambush and had not had good intentions to start with.

"I am from the Holy See. Today's incident was an accident," the holy master yelled in frustration. His power was greater than his that of his opponents, but he lacked coordination. Attacking divine spells were, after all, not magic. It would be impossible for him to kill all of his opponents.

Saleen narrowed his gaze and whispered, "Sika, did you kill the holy master in the back?"

"Yes, he could not endure it. I killed him easily with my cudgel," Sika said casually, as though she had stepped on an ant. Caucasus people liked mages but not holy masters, as the latter had been infiltrating the Caucasus Region to spread the glory of god. In the past few years, two to three tribes had begun to be controlled by the Holy See and as a result, the Caucasus people had declined and forgotten their basic dignity.

"Hmph." Saleen huffed through his nostrils, glancing at Pino. He saw Pino's hesitation and knew that the Falcon Regiment would not risk offending the Holy See. However, Sika had already killed a holy master, and who could be sure if that unlucky fellow had not been someone from the Holy See?

Pino felt the air turn colder by a few degrees and tried to hand the metal water flask back to Saleen. Saleen did not take it and instead walked a few steps forward, telling Canghong loudly, "Leave that swordsman to me. If you still want to carry on with your mission, kill this person. We can't turn back now."

Canghong grit his teeth and nodded, as he knew that the dead holy master had probably had ties with the Holy See. Since the deed had been done, there was no room for regret, unless he was able to kill Saleen and Sika as well. However, it appeared that there was no reason to do so since both of them possessed unexpectedly strong combat power. He also needed replacements for the two people who had sustained injuries, and thus had no reason to break ties with Saleen.

The holy master saw that the mage had spoken and his eyes were filled with fear. Saleen did not even look at him, beginning to prepare his magic. At the battle earlier, Saleen had not even used up ten percent of his magic chords. But now, he was preparing a Grade 2 spell which he only had one chance with. That swordsman was wearing magic armor and a Grade 1 spell would not be sufficient.

A Grade 1 mage would usually only be able to learn one Grade 2 spell. In addition, all it took was one use and the magic chords would be completely exhausted. However, Saleen's magic chords were different and were double that of his peers. In situations where none of his magic chords were exhausted, he would be able to deploy two Grade 2 spells consecutively.

In terms of combat range and power, Grade 2 magic was an entirely different concept from Grade 1 magic. Saleen was not well versed in Grade 2 magic, and required the use of magic hand gestures and chants to release the magic. The opponent's spear swordsman started to panic, but he had been trapped by Sarah's flexible sword and could neither attack nor escape.

In the midst of his low indistinct chanting, a white mark appeared between both of Saleen's hands. The white line extended through the air, straight towards the spear swordsman's chest. A bright red ray emerged from the blade of the swordsman's spear as he tried to defend himself.

He gave it his all, forcing all of his newly attained sword aura onto his weapon. This was equivalent to a self-crippling stroke. Even if he were able to defend against Saleen's magic, he would not be able to avoid being badly hurt. He had hope in his heart that if the holy master could settle this matter, his injuries would be inconsequential.

His hope was quickly diminished. Once Sarah saw that Saleen was dealing with him, she released him from her sword and ran towards the holy master with no intention of attacking him. 

The white mark had been an ice arrow. Ice arrows and icicles were used similarly in attacks but were different in terms of power and the appropriate distance for usage. The spear swordsman's weapon had been frozen solid after blocking Saleen's attack. The blood flow in both his arms had nearly been frozen solid as well. If he were only a grand swordmaster instead of a junior swordsman, he could have broken out of Saleen's spell with a strike.

Once Sika saw that Saleen had made his move, she leapt over ten meters in distance. In just a few steps, she had reached the spear swordsman and struck him with her cudgel.

Her cudgel was thick in front and thin at the end, and was heavier than the war hammer used in battles. The spear swordsman had just taken a relieved breath when Sika's cudgel appeared before him. He could not dodge or raise his spear to protect himself. He was relieved that Sika was a female and that her weapon, while thick, did not appear genuine.

"Crack!" The spear broke into three pieces after being hit by Sika's cudgel. The cudgel landed heavily on the spear swordsman's shoulder. Sika herself was shocked by the impact and later realized that Saleen's ice arrow had frozen the sword and made it brittle. No matter how powerful her opponent was, they would not have been able to withstand her single blow. Looking at the bloody battleground, Saleen shook his head. As a delicate and beautiful girl, Sika's method of attack was too bloody. However, Sika herself did not seem to think so, wiping off the blood on her cudgel on the opponent's body before returning to Saleen's side.

The Falcon Regiment had no more worries. Together with Cook, who had fractured his right shoulder, everyone began to head towards the holy master. If word got out that this incident had occurred, everyone would be in big trouble. The inquisitors in the Holy See were not vegetarians, and were, in truth, maniacs. The thought of the legends involving the inquisitors sent chills down everyone's spines. The only way out would be to silence the holy master.

The holy master's face turned fierce. He knew that a single command by Saleen would send him to his death. Knowing that there was no way out, the holy master suddenly knelt down. Saleen was shocked by his actions, thinking that he was perhaps asking for forgiveness. However, in an instant, the light rays from the holy master's body intensified and landed on everyone in a magnificent brilliance, causing piercing pain and making it impossible for them to open their eyes.

He started to recite a prayer: God had said followers, you do not have to panic…

Canghong felt a chill go through his heart – he was actually summoning God! 'Summoning God' was what it was commonly referred to as; the Holy See referred to it as the descent technique. In an instant, it could increase the holy master's power. Of course, after God had been summoned, the holy master would suffer a sorry fate. Usually, no holy master would do such a thing, unless he was a fanatic.

The descent technique could not be used by just anyone - only holy members of the Holy See could use it and minimally, only a high priest of Grade 1 level could deploy it. A Grade 1 level high priest of a formal position would own at least a large cathedral, with thousands of followers.