Mage’s Sword
Outer seas, on board the Barbarians’ ship.
“AGH...” Odge suddenly dropped to his knees, roaring in pain.
“Dear, what’s the matter?” Madam Tillen rushed to his side and helped him up.
“My family’s sacrificial altar... It’s gone! The response has been completely cut off...” Odge spat out the words through gritted teeth, and the implications in his statement made Tillen pale in response.
“We haven’t caught up to them?” After they had received the news, Odge had immediately set off. However, they had to conceal their movements and the barbarian lands in Fire Scale Island were very far from Pirates’ Cove.
Originally, this had been done for their own safety. But something like this happening would make it extremely difficult to mount a rescue.
“We must avenge them!” Tillen bit her lip so hard that a trickle of blood spilled out. Since their sacrificial altar had been destroyed, it was obvious what had befallen the members of their tribe.
Her heart dropped. It wasn’t just one or two barbarians that had fallen. Everyone in the tribe, be it the elderly, the frail, the women, or the children, had perished. The souls of hundreds of years of the tribe’s experts, their sacrifices and devotion, had been completely destroyed.
Even if she wasn’t a barbarian, Tillen could imagine how this sort of aftermath would lead to the Barbarians going berserk.
“Ah... In my name as Odge, the king and leader of the barbarians, I vow to the gods that I’ll wrench that damned wizard’s skull off!” Odge roared, slicing his cheek with his dagger. Boiling dark red blood rolled down from the cut, making his boorish face seem even more malevolent and terrifying.
“Oh! Kill him! Kill him!” The barbarians below him all saw red, as their family and children had all been at Fire Scale Island. There was no chance that they had survived.
The fox woman Tillen gritted her teeth, but spoke out in the end, “Odge! I believe that now isn’t the best time to fight him, he must have prepared a trap for us!”
After the words left her mouth, she could no longer continue speaking. This was because she saw the expression in Odge’s eyes, that look of undying, frightening hatred! After what had happened, forget a trap, Odge would traverse hell and high water without the slightest hesitation.
At this moment, even if she had come to advise on the situation, her persuasion would not have the slightest effect.
‘Is this part of his plan? Using the power of hatred to lead these barbarians into a trap...’ At this moment, Madam Tillen suddenly felt a deep chill in her heart, caused by that noble wizard.
......
Fire Scale Island was within their sights. Dense black smoke continued to pour into the horizon, and the entire island seemed to have descended into hell. Seeing their tribe’s land wrapped in a great fire, the barbarians all descended into frantic roaring.
“Find them! Tear them apart!” Odge tightly gripped Madam Tillen’s shoulder. Rivulets of blood appeared on her skin.
“I will!” Madam Tillen vowed. After saying this however, she realised that she did not need to use tracing spells.
This was because several ships from the Scarlet Tigers appeared in her line of sight, and they seemed to have not left in time. Tens of small barbarian corpses were hung from the mast as bait.
*Roar!* After seeing those corpses, the barbarians collectively went berserk. Odge brandished his enormous saber and the other sailors rowed with all their might. There was only one wish in the barbarians’ hearts-- to find those damned robbers and get their revenge!
The Barbarians were the only ones allowed to bring death and suffering to other races in these regions of the outer seas. Now, they were suffering the fate that they handed down to others.
Madam Tillen’s heart suddenly grew sorrowful, and a single tear rolled down her face. She could already see the shadow of her own death, and could not escape from it.
*Mmmmmmm!* The deep sound of a bugle horn could be heard, bringing to one’s mind the coming siege.
The Scarlet Tigers’ elite troops emerged and completely surrounded all of the Barbarians’ ships. They were like an enormous pocket wrapping around its goods. In their fury, these simple-minded barbarians did not sense the danger before them at all, and immediately took the bait.
“Kill! The boss is giving 5 gold coins for every barbarian’s head!” Ronald loudly ordered, and the reward was spread widely through the use of signal flags.
*Boom! Boom!* The goblin cannons boomed without end, and near them were the sounds of dwarven artillery firing volleys of gunfire. Under Leylin’s command, the Scarlet Tigers had slowly come up with their own style of combat.
*Roar! Roar!* Row after row of barbarians collapsed in a flicker of flames. Even their tough skin could not withstand the combined power of gunpowder and magic.
Odge grew even more berserk at this presentation. After the long-range battle had ended, it was time for the traditional methods of jumping and boarding ships. Odge immediately ignored the charge of a pirate towards him, lifting the fellow up by his head.
*Krrch! Krrch!* The human pirate’s complexion twisted, and rivulets of blood flowed down from his forehead. Crazed roars sounded as this unfortunate pirate’s skill burst like a watermelon in Odge’s palm.
*Chhh!* Blazing hot white light flashed past, and the surrounding pirates were directly slashed into two halves by the saber’s qi.
As the strongest in the barbarian tribe, Odge was a high-ranked warrior. His barbarian bloodline and the support of magic items allowed very few below the realm of legendaries to rival him.
It was a pity that all of this was as negligible as a grain of sand in the face of the Scarlet Tigers. A scarlet red figure suddenly flew from the opposing ship, letting out a powerful clear cry in midair.
*Roar!* A domain of intimidating draconic power extended from the ship. This oppressive power stemming from a bloodline made Madam Tillen take a few steps back in fright. After, she saw a winged half-dragon creature swoop down at great speed, a longsword burning with raging flames intercepting Odge’s saber. An enormous crack appeared on his blade.
‘A human demi dragon? No, it’s a dragon’s disciple! This power...’ Madam Tillen dumbly looked on at Isabel who was covered in red scales, with a despondent expression on her face, ‘Is this the bloodline of a legendary dragon? But how is this possible? Wasn’t she corrupted by demons?’
Madam Tillen did not know what power a successor of a legendary dragon’s bloodline could wield, but now it was made clear to her.
“The Scarlet Witch?!” Odge looked at the crack on his enchanted saber with a pained expression on his face. This was the weapon he used most after all, and it had helped him cut off the heads of many troublesome enemies.
Now however, a crack had appeared on the enchanted saber after just one clash with the witch.
“A legendary item!” Odge looked at the blazing red longsword in Isabel’s grasp with an increasingly ugly expression. He sensed an unknown danger coming from that weapon.
“Don’t let her weapon touch you, and be careful of her dragon breath attack! I’ll help you!” Madam Tillen’s expression was very anxious, and she readied several amplification spells in her hand and was about to cast them.
“I am your opponent! We meet again, beautiful lady.”
*Rumble!* The raging flames of a fireball engulfed them, blocking Madam Tillen’s way. The entire area was thrown into chaos, with barbarians and pirates fighting wildly. One of the barbarians fell on occasion, and their head would be chopped off immediately.
Blood stained the ground, but even in this hellish scene Leylin had nary a speck of dust on him. He even greeted Madam Tillen in a refined and courteous manner, as if he was the most respectable noble.
“Leylin Faulen...” Madam Tillen called out the wizard’s name through gritted teeth, her eyes slowly filling with fear. That man’s grasp of human nature was even more terrifying than the devil’s.
It had not been long since she had seen a true devil in Neville, but the feeling that he gave her was not as evil and as profound as what she felt in Leylin’s presence.
“It has been four or five years since we last met, hasn’t it? Madam is still as beautiful as before...” A sincere smile broke out on the noble baron’s face, and Tillen felt that if she gave him her hand, he would have kissed it in greeting without the slightest hesitation.
However, the eyes of the wizard who stood across from her were ice-cold, and he looked at her with a face utterly devoid of emotion.
“I apologise, my beautiful lady. I don’t have much time left, so can I ask you to hurry up and die for me?” In a single second, the light and breezy conversation turned dangerous. Wind howled, and Leylin smiled slightly as powerful magic converged. An earth-shattering attack was cast resolutely, ignoring all the beauty that Madam Tillen possessed and indifferently sending her to her death.
This sorrowful feeling made Madam Tillen’s heart feel depressed. Her feelings lasted only for a moment though, and afterwards she no longer had the capacity to reflect on it.
Berserk energy particles converged into a splendidly brilliant longsword. The swordpoint had a spiritual quality to it, and it was directly thrust at Tillen. A strong wind seemed to directly slice at the skin on her face.
“Mage’s Sword! A rank 7 spell! You’re already a high-ranked wizard!” Trickles of blood dripped down, but Madam Tillen’s face was still filled with incredulity. She finally knew how she had lost. A high-ranked wizard could completely crush the barbarians here.
‘But he’s only a little older than 21 years old! With this power, he must be a genius that even the gods will envy...’ Madam Tillen was unable to think anymore after this. The sharp Mage’s Sword pierced through the layers of her defence, directly running through the fox woman’s bosom.
Even though she had been a sorcerer and the chief wizard of the Barbarians, Tillen’s attainments in magic were only on par with Ernest. She had only achieved that through her bloodline power. She was simply unable to endure a single blow from Leylin.