Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 46: A Falling Out
Osenno felt extremely astonished in his heart. “So...so fast!” Just then, all four of his doppelgangers had been struck at virtually the same time. If he hadn’t hurriedly used two of the Angel Saints as shields, he probably would’ve been killed by Linley in one blow.
Actually, in human form, Linley wasn’t much stronger than Osenno.
The main thing was that Linley had just hit him with a sneak attack. Given Bloodviolet’s speed, Osenno barely had any time to react before Linley’s sword arrived in front of him. If Osenno had been prepared, he wouldn’t have cut such a sorry shape.
“Linley, what do you mean by this!” Heidens cold voice snapped out.
At the same time, Heidens and Fallen Leaf both stood up as well. On the Cult of Shadows’ side, Affleck, O’Casey, and Cramerson stood up as well, all staring coldly at Linley. The leaders of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows, the two major religions of the Yulan continent, had a common enemy....
Linley!
Seeing the look in the eyes of Heidens, Affleck, Fallen Leaf, and the others, Linley actually felt a hint of joy in his heart.
“Grandpa Doehring, can you see this?”
Twenty years!
When he had left the city of Hess and entered the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, it had been year 10000 of the Yulan calendar. At that time, Linley was twenty years old. At that time, Linley had sworn that he would definitely destroy the Radiant Church and break its roots. But he knew...he had to take it a step at a time.
The Radiant Church valued the power of faith.
It had now lost a third of the Holy Union, and only had a population of four or five hundred million. Two hundred million of them came from the Radiant Church’s lands in the Anarchic Lands. If Linley unified that area and forbade proselytizing...
This would be an unimaginable blow to the Radiant Church.
“In the past, in my eyes, the Radiant Church was such a huge entity. But now...” Linley glanced at Osenno, who was still clutching his bloody chest. “Even the Praetor, Osenno, is far from being a match for me.” Linley murmured to himself, “Grandpa Doehring, just watch. Soon. Soon, the day will arrive when I destroy the entire Radiant Church and uproot it entirely. I only need one more step!”
In Linley’s heart, Doehring Cowart held a very high status.
Ever since he was young, he had been taught by Doehring Cowart. Doehring Cowart had been entirely selfless. Whether it be in magic training or in the Straight Chisel School, Doehring Cowart had taught Linley everything. And when they had encountered a crisis, Grandpa Doehring had consumed his own spiritual energy to rescue Linley.
Linley had been waiting a long time to deliver this vicious blow to the Radiant Church.
And now, the Radiant Church had thrown itself on his spear? How could Linley show any mercy?
“What?” Linley glanced at the group of people in the cabin. “You want to take action?” Just as Heidens and Affleck were about to speak, Linley’s body suddenly became covered with deep azure draconic scales, and the robe he wore exploded outward, the scraps of cloth blasting out like arrows.
The experts of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows easily blocked these scraps of cloth which had blasted everywhere.
Linley’s icy draconic tail swung about behind him, humming as it ripped through the air. Linley’s dark golden eyes swept the people in front of him. “If you want action, I’m ready to oblige!”
“I’m waiting as well.” Barker’s deep voice rang out, and at the same time, his body immediately began to transform as well, suddenly swelling in size as he expanded to three meters in height. His skin had turned green, and those green veins popping out on top of his muscles, the size of a snake, were terrifying to behold.
Those white, marble-like slabs of armor quickly appeared from his skin, covering Barker’s entire body.
Supreme Warrior Saint – Undying Warrior!
“Heh heh.” An insidious laugh rang out, and Zassler’s hooded gaze swept the people present. “I, Zassler, ever since reaching the Saint-level, haven’t had a good fight. Radiant Church...the ‘kindness’ you showed me in the past, I am going to ‘repay’ you for, right now.”
“Harhar! Fighting? Can’t leave me, Bebe, out of it.” Bebe floated next to Linley.
The situation in the cabin had immediately gone from bad to worse.
The Holy Emperor Heidens and the Dark Patriarch Affleck glanced at each other. They had known early on that although Linley’s side had four powerful experts, in terms of strength, Zassler had just reached the Saint-level and probably wouldn’t be able to threaten the likes of Heidens and Affleck yet.
But Barker was an Undying Warrior Saint. He would be a bit harder to handle.
That Bebe was no less of a threat than Barker.
But the greatest threat...was Linley. Not only was he a Dragonblood Warrior Saint, he also had a terrifying high level of understanding of the Laws. Almost all of the previous Supreme Warriors had a very low grasp of the Laws, and not a single one had reached Linley’s level of understanding.
He was the most powerful Dragonblood Warrior in history!
“I’ll use Oracular Magic. I should be able to tie down Linley. With Fallen Leaf joining forces with me, it should be possible for us to defeat him.” Heidens secretly calculated. The power of Oracular Magic wasn’t something which Osenno’s ‘Doppelganger Technique’ could match.
Heidens and Affleck understood what the other was thinking from that glance alone.
“Ha, haha.” Heidens let out three laughs. By prearranged signal, Fallen Leaf and Osenno immediately made their moves.
“Bang!”
The ceiling to the ship cabin exploded, and ten shadows burst out towards the sky like arrows. The ship instantly shuddered, and the sailors below immediately jumped into the river and started swimming for the shore.
As they swam, they raised their heads up to stare at the sky.
They were the warriors of the Baruch Kingdom. They had been invited here, and they knew that one of the persons discussing matters in the cabin was the spiritual pillar of support for the entire Baruch Kingdom. Linley.
“Ah, is that, the legendary phoenix?” A sailor’s mouth flapped open in astonishment.
High in the mid-air, an enormous flying creature with a wingspan of over a hundred meters had appeared, its entire body covered with fire. Black feathers covered its entire body, and its noble, crested head was covered with black feathers as well. This black flying creature appeared very noble. This was a Saint-level magical beast, the legendary ‘Hellfire Phoenix’!
Hellfire Phoenix – A darkness and fire dual-element Saint-level magical beast.
In mid-air, this Hellfire Phoenix covered the boundless skies like an enormous black cloud. The leader of the Fallen Angels, Cramerson, was standing on the back of the Hellfire Phoenix, staring coldly at Linley who was standing in mid-air.
“Roaaaaar.” A terrifying howl.
A massive black dragon with physical wings which was more than a hundred meters long flew over. The black colored dragon’s eyes burned like coals, and it emanated a suffocating aura of power. The Dark Patriarch, Affleck, was standing on the head of this Saint-level Black Dragon.
The Cult of Shadows had hidden two Saint-level magical beasts not too far away. Both of them had now shown themselves.
As for the Radiant Church, they had a Saint-level magical beast as well.
A beautiful silver light shone off its draconic scales which covered its entire body. Under the sun, this silver dragon seemed so beautiful and graceful. Amongst dragons, Silver Dragons were often praised as the most graceful and noble of dragons, and rightfully so. But this massive, hundred meter long Silver Dragon actually had two heads.
Mutant Saint-level magical beast – Saint-level Two-Headed Silver Dragon!
Lord Fallen Leaf’s skinny body was standing atop the body of this Saint-level Two-Headed Silver Dragon.
“Wow.” The sailors on the shore felt their hearts constrict tightly. Good Heavens. Three massive Saint-level magical beasts had appeared out of nowhere, and more importantly...there were so many people standing in mid-air as well.
These were all Saint-level combatants.
“So many Saints, and Saint-level magical beasts as well. Even if I die today, it will have been worth seeing this.” A sailor stared in awe at the scene and mumbled to himself.
At this moment, the feeling these sailors had when they stared at these Saint-level experts and Saint-level magical beasts was the same feeling when Linley had when he had watched those two Saints fight when he was a child. In their eyes, these massive dragons and mighty Saints were far and high above them and above all mortals.
“Look. That’s the Dragonblood Warrior, our Lord Linley.” Many sailors saw the Dragonformed Linley. Their eyes were filled with worship as they stared at him, as well as a hint of pride. They were proud to be citizens of the Baruch Kingdom.
“Lord Linley seems to be about to engage in battle with those Saints. They have so many people.” The sailors slowly began to come to their senses.
“Lord Linley will definitely win.” A sailor said firmly, his eyes filled with veneration towards Linley.
In the air above Liuyan River, Linley, Barker, Zassler, and Bebe were floating there. Zassler was currently mumbling the words to a spell, and soon, three illusionary flashes of light appeared behind Zassler, as three great Saint-level undead descended.
Two of them were skeletons, but their bones gleamed like diamonds while flashing with dazzling light. These were Saint-level Skeleton Kings! As for the other one, it was a powerful looking monstrosity dressed in a tattered long robe. It was a powerful Ancient Wight who had reached the Saint-level.
The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows weren’t worried at all. Against these Saint-level undead, the ordinary Angel Saints and Fallen Angel Saints would be enough.
“Linley, all we want to do is preach. You can still rule over the Anarchic Lands. I hope that at this moment of no return, you’ll reconsider.” Although he said this, Heidens had already brought a precious treasure of the Radiant Sovereign to his hands; the ‘Original Scripture’ which the Lord had given them.
A soft, holy light appeared in front of Heidens.
“Reconsider my ass.” Bebe knew exactly how Linley was feeling.
Unifying the Anarchic Lands was a small matter. Destroying the Radiant Church, that was what mattered.
“Stop dreaming. The Anarchic Lands belongs to me. Nobody is permitted to influence it. As for you...” Linley’s empty hands curled into fists. “How about you roll back to your own domains. Otherwise...we’ll talk with our fists!”
Heidens and Affleck couldn’t help but be enraged.
An enraged bird cry came forth from the massive Hellfire Phoenix as well, and then it spoke in the human tongue. “You detestable human.” And then, a bolt of pure black flame shot out towards Linley.
“Crackle crackle.” The black flames surrounded Linley.
His body faintly covered with a layer of battle-qi, Linley wasn’t damaged at all. Linley’s dark golden eyes stared coldly and remorselessly at these people. “You attacked me first!” As he spoke, Linley suddenly moved at high speed.
After having Dragonformed, and with the assistance of his insights into the wind, Linley’s speed was now far greater than Osenno’s.
There wasn’t even any wind sound to be heard. Space itself seemed to twist and distort, and Linley suddenly appeared next to the Hellfire Phoenix. The Hellfire Phoenix’s cart-sized eyes immediately radiated thin threads of black light at Linley.
The leader of the Fallen Angels, Cramerson, suddenly moved his six black wings and charged straight for Linley.
“Haha...” Linley let out a loud laugh. Putting the terrifying power of the Dragonblood Warriors on full display, while combining them with his understanding of the Laws, Linley’s power reached a transformative crescendo....
A soft wind seemed to gently waft past those black threads.
And then, Linley thrust his hands out like knives, using the incomparably massive strength of the Dragonblood Warriors to chop down at the Hellfire Phoenix. Although this blow carried enormous force, when Linley’s hand swung down, the entire nearby space seemed to be locked while at the same time folding and distorting.
Linley was nothing more than a blur.
Knowing things weren’t going well, the Hellfire Phoenix let out a few bird-cries of terror, while at the same time shrinking its body, vainly hoping to flee. Simultaneously, the Six-Winged Fallen Angel, Cramerson, let out an explosive shout as he pierced the black longsword in his hands towards Linley.
“Swish!”
Linley’s speed was simply too fast, especially after transforming. The Hellfire Phoenix didn’t have any chance to dodge, even after it shrank in size.
With a ‘swish’ sound, the Hellfire Phoenix, already down to a size of only ten meters, had its head directly split into two halves. A Saint-level magical beast died, just like that, after a single blow from the Dragonformed Linley.
This attack was the second level of the Tempos of the Wind technique, relying on the ‘Slow’ aspect’s ‘Spatial Freezing’ concept and the ‘Fast’ aspect’s ‘Spatial Folding’ concept, combined into one.
It was the most penetrative physical attack Linley currently was capable of.
“Swiiish.” Linley’s bladed palm swung right through the skull of the Hellfire Phoenix, and then, like steel claws, grabbed one side of the skull with each claw. The terrifying strength of the Dragonblood Warriors was put on full display as he suddenly, forcefully, ripped....
“SPLATTER!”
Blood blasted everywhere like rain, as the Hellfire Phoenix’s entire body was ripped into two halves, starting from that wound in its head.
“Swish!” The sword of the Six-Winged Fallen Angel, Cramerson, seemed to pierce through the void as it stabbed at Linley, but just as it was about to land on his body, the barely-visible ‘Pulseguard Defense’ around Linley’s body easily blocked the attack. This strike didn’t even touch Linley’s scales.
At this moment, Linley’s draconic claws were still holding onto half of the Hellfire Phoenix’s corpse, its blood still dripping down into the Liuyan River.
“What?!” Cramerson was shocked. His attack hadn’t even been able to break through the ‘Pulseguard Defense’.
Linley’s dark golden eyes swung towards Cramerson, his lips curving upwards. “The next one...is you!” As he spoke, Linley let the two halves of the Saint-level Hellfire Phoenix drop from his hands. “Splash!” The corpse landed in the turbid waters of the Liuyan River.