Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 140
Chapter 140
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Discord
In the past, Turan had admired the magic displayed by the elderly man before him.
Witnessing the power of the world’s most formidable mage, he had yearned to wield such strength himself.
And now, several years later, he was finally facing the opponent he had aspired to reach.
The family head of Arabion, descendant of the Thunder Lord.
‘His appearance has changed considerably from before.’
The Badal that Turan had seen in the past was a feeble old man.
Normally, he would delegate to representatives while dozing in the sunlight, and even when exercising his power directly, he had clearly shown signs of strain.
However, the current Badal appeared at least ten years younger than before, with expressions and movements overflowing with vitality.
It seemed impossible without consuming some mythical elixir of immortality.
Immediately awakening his spiritual perception and opening his spiritual vision, Turan shuddered at the sight of his opponent.
An excessively enlarged spirit form, forcibly holding onto the body as if it might burst from the head at any moment…
Moreover, peering into his interior through the Mimic Holy Relic revealed the same as before.
The symbol of the Thunder Lord was visible—a massive hand grasping a hammer, striking an anvil, with lightning and wind swirling with each blow.
Suppressing the fear rising within him, Turan spoke mockingly:
“So you’re the one who reduced your precious daughter to this state? How befitting of a white elf.”
“White elf? That was quite an entertaining lie.”
Instead of becoming enraged at the provocation from someone hundreds of years his junior, Badal maintained a calm, fluid expression as he responded.
Despite the chaos of screams, shouts, and magic flying in all directions, the two could converse without difficulty.
This was possible because they were simultaneously projecting and drawing in each other’s voices with wind magic.
Through this, Turan could tell that Badal’s magical talent, though inferior to his own and Meisa’s, was on an entirely different level compared to ordinary mages.
Of course, why would the gods choose vessels lacking in aptitude?
Even while conversing, Turan quickly glanced to check the condition of his two companions.
Solif appeared to have sustained significant injuries, while Meisa seemed to have suffered considerable bleeding but no mortal wounds.
“I have a question for you—do you possess Rom’s soul?”
“Well, I wonder—”
Before Turan could finish speaking, he spun his hand, and the sling he was holding exploded.
It was a high-speed throw using Fire Soul as propellant.
A sudden, underhanded ambush.
However, Badal, without so much as twitching an eyebrow, immediately summoned lightning from the sky to precisely intercept the projectile.
Just as when Turan had attacked the Guardian of the Sky in the past, the steel ball made from magical devices instantly melted away, leaving only metallic vapor.
‘This is…’
The sky, which had been relatively clear when he had arrived, was now long covered with dark clouds.
As in the past, this phenomenon was likely created by the old man before him to facilitate his lightning magic.
In response, Turan immediately dissolved into the darkness using invisibility magic.
Of course, he didn’t truly believe he could hide; rather, like when fighting Meisa before, his aim was to force his opponent to expend even a small amount of magical power and divide his attention by creating light.
However, instead of creating spheres of light to illuminate the surroundings, Badal pulled out a long staff from his chest.
No, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a staff at all.
It was a hammer with a jade-colored jewel embedded in a square shape at the end of a long rod made of blue crystal…
The moment Badal raised the hammer high into the air, Meisa, who had been catching her breath behind, urgently shouted:
“Dodge!”
With a whoosh, just as Turan quickly exploded Fire Soul to propel himself away, a purple flash erupted around Badal.
A bizarre color that could never be achieved with conventional lightning magic.
Though he didn’t know that this was a form of plasma, he could instinctively sense that the power contained within was terrifyingly potent.
From where Badal had just been to where Turan had stood.
Over a hundred meters in distance, the air in a radius of several dozen meters simmered, creating heat haze.
Seeing this, Turan had already deactivated his invisibility magic.
The light had been so blindingly bright that his magical power had instantly dissolved.
Indeed befitting of a family head, his method of drawing out someone from invisibility was on an entirely different level compared to ordinary mages.
‘So this is the Heaven’s Punishment…’
The Holy Relic of the Thunder Lord, believed to be paired with the “Guardian of the Sky” that Meisa was wearing.
Moreover, unlike the Guardian of the Sky which was merely high-tier, this was Arabion’s most prized top-tier Holy Relic.
An item that could be considered equal to the Mimic Holy Relic that Turan possessed.
In the ancient past, people who saw this hammer swing once and dry up a river supposedly called it “the staff that ignites flames”?
“Oh.”
Seemingly surprised by Turan’s mobility, Badal raised one eyebrow before swiftly swinging his hammer once.
Immediately, the immense amount of electric charge gathered in the sky above coalesced with a growling sound.
“You’re quite skilled at evasion. Then how about this?”
If a fly skillfully dodges attacks focused on a single point, then one should strike it with a broad flyswatter.
Following the hammer’s guidance, the charge gathered in the sky transformed into the shape of a purple dragon and descended to earth.
A technique that defied the fundamental principle of lightning magic, which typically appears and disappears in a flash.
Turan hurriedly tried to evade by exploding Fire Soul for flight magic as before, but the dragons persisted after one failure, relentlessly pursuing him.
It was magic imbued with tracking capabilities—escaping wouldn’t end it.
“Ugh—”
In response, Turan hastily retreated while immediately drawing upon the power of combining Arabion’s two bloodlines.
After mastering god’s magic for about a month and ten days.
Through practice during this time, he had already learned which handles to pull for which powers.
As Turan used his magic, dozens of lightning dragons overwhelmed him.
The shockwave from the ensuing thunderous boom instantly sent a couple of nearby knights flying far away.
“No!”
“You bastard!”
Meisa and Solif, who had cried out in desperation, immediately launched attacks toward the now unguarded Badal… A spear crafted from the Light of Judgment, and a boulder raised through earth manipulation magic.
However, Badal simply stood still, deflecting both attacks effortlessly.
The Light of Judgment intertwined with the purple light emanating from the hammer and dissipated, while the boulder, charged with powerful magic, bounced off a stormy wind barrier.
Seizing this opportunity, Solif shaped the Light of Judgment into a sword form and attempted close combat.
However, Badal skillfully evaded the sword while swinging Heaven’s Punishment to strike Solif’s chest.
“Kuk—!”
With an extraordinarily graceful movement accompanied by a thunderous sound, Solif’s body flew over several hundred meters from that spot.
The distance was impossibly far for a normal strike, causing Meisa to widen her eyes in surprise.
“Sol…!”
Of course, they weren’t unaware of the difference in ability between themselves and Badal.
Despite already fighting hit-and-run tactics for several hours to allow the main force to retreat, they had been reduced to near-death states.
Even this had only been possible because Badal hadn’t revealed his full power.
Perhaps due to the false rumors about white elves, he had refrained from using god’s magic and even showed restraint in trying to capture Meisa alive.
Thanks to this, Solif had managed to use Meisa as a shield whenever he was about to receive a lethal attack, nullifying many of Badal’s strikes.
This was particularly effective since she was practically immune to lightning magic thanks to the Guardian of the Sky.
But at this moment, Badal, who had revealed his true abilities upon Turan’s arrival, was even more powerful than before.
As they briefly trembled with a sense of deflated morale, Badal turned his head and exclaimed in admiration:
“Indeed, you truly can use skills. So the rumors were true.”
Not long after, as the wind whooshed, they saw Turan half-crouching, the sight entering their eyes.
A semi-transparent dark blue barrier was draped around his body.
This god’s magic, which Kadram had used in the past, possessed the strongest defensive capability among the techniques he could employ.
Yet judging by how his entire body stung as if burned, had he taken a direct hit, he would have died instantly regardless of his defensive magical device.
‘He’s stronger than I expected…’
Though Osel had reportedly fought and repelled the Baraha family head from the Ravitas headquarters, Turan had assumed that even as a vessel inhabiting a great family head, he wouldn’t be that powerful.
He had believed that if the three of them combined forces, even if they couldn’t overpower him, they could at least hold their own.
But the power of the Arabion family head that he now faced exceeded his expectations.
Was it due to compatibility as a vessel?
Or a difference based on the strength of the god itself?
Either way, the Arabion family head was overwhelming Turan’s group without even revealing his true magic as the Thunder Lord.
Of course, had Meisa and Solif not been nearly exhausted, the situation might have been somewhat better…
While inwardly marveling at his opponent’s skill, the stinging sensation of burns throughout his body rapidly subsided.
This was thanks to the Holy Relic “Modest Wish” around his neck healing his body.
Though not possessing particularly strong recovery power, meaning it could only slightly alleviate serious injuries, even just negating such minor damage proved immensely helpful in battle.
“Hold on a little longer! Reinforcements are coming!”
After shouting these words to encourage the two, Turan immediately took to the air, taking a high position before creating multiple vortexes aimed at Badal.
The technique that Kadram had previously called “Cyclone.”
Unlike when he first used it, he didn’t simply throw it carelessly.
He designed it so that several vortexes scattered using wind magic would converge to surround Badal.
Combining conventional magic with god’s magic was precisely what Turan had been diligently researching over the past month or so.
“Impressive.”
With this brief praise, Badal lightly stomped his foot and immediately ascended into the sky.
In response, Turan sent the vortexes skyward to pursue his opponent.
With ordinary flight magic, it would be impossible to avoid the speed of this—
“What the.”
Turan involuntarily widened his eyes at the subsequent scene.
Badal, having ascended into the sky, escaped the encirclement instantaneously with literally lightning-like speed.
At a pace incomparable to ordinary flight magic, more akin to Bije’s flight.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?”
Muttering words that could be either mockery or genuine inquiry, Badal flew toward Turan at that same speed.
His hammer was again fully charged with the same purple light as before.
As Turan avoided this with an emergency maneuver, the aftershock of the force that erupted right beside him struck his side.
“Kuk…!”
Emitting a groan as if his lungs were being squeezed, Turan moved away and felt a chill down his spine as he looked at where he had been.
Around where Badal’s hammer had struck, a massive fissure with a diameter of several dozen meters had formed.
Had he been even grazed by that, it would have been like being struck by the Giant Sea Serpent’s tail.
He worried whether Solif, who had been hit earlier, was still alive.
“Strong attacks you dodge, unavoidable attacks you block… You’re quite a troublesome opponent.”
Though it sounded like grumbling, a faint smile played across Badal’s face.
Perhaps he found it entertaining to face such a challenging opponent.
As Badal charged again, Turan evaded by detonating Fire Soul, but was quickly caught up to.
Whatever method he was using, his opponent’s flight magic was impossibly fast.
‘It’s impossible to achieve such speed by moving the body with wind, and even among god’s magic, there’s nothing like this except acceleration. Could this be a unique ability that only the Thunder Lord can use?’
Dozens of thoughts flashed through his mind in that brief moment.
Along with this, Turan realized that his opponent’s movements differed somewhat from conventional flight magic.
Unlike normal flight that pushes the body with wind, it was more like an invisible hand pulling the body…
Just as a flash of insight was about to strike his mind, a commotion erupted from the distance, interrupting his thoughts.
“Reinforcements have arrived!”
“Enemy! Fall back and form ranks!”
The Ravitas mages who had come with him on Bije had now fully joined the battle… ‘They’re only coming now? No, come to think of it, they arrived quite quickly…’
Only then did Turan realize that his confrontation with Badal had begun less than a minute ago.
He had merely felt like they had been fighting for a long time due to the extremely high density of the battle.
“Attack Arabion! Attack the Arabion side!”
“Which side are the Kalamaf mages on! Bring the wounded here!”
The Ravitas mages who appeared next struck the flank of the Arabion army that had been pressing the Berk family mages.
Not all were healers with the Ravitas bloodline; some were nobles from vassal families with combat-specialized bloodlines, so their fighting skills were not inferior.
Meanwhile, though Badal didn’t show it, he seemed to have grown urgent, as unlike before, he no longer displayed leisure but flew toward Turan.
Each time he swung the hammer imbued with purple lightning, the atmosphere simmered with immense heat.
In response, Turan set his Holy Relic to the Sun bloodline and created the Light of Judgment to counter.
As Badal had demonstrated earlier, that purple lightning could interact with the Light of Judgment.
If one attack could be blocked by the other, the reverse should also be true.
As expected, the Light of Judgment effectively blocked Badal’s attacks, unlike other techniques.
Though each time, a considerable amount of magical power was consumed.
While desperately evading and trying to disrupt Badal’s approach with wind magic, Turan realized another fact.
There was no trace of wind magic around Badal’s body.
What moved his body were the metal pieces positioned throughout his clothing.
At that moment, Badal, who was about to attack Turan, frowned and extended one hand backward.
A dark blue barrier extending from his hand clashed with an incoming wind blade with a clang.
“So you’ve managed to use it. Indeed… well crafted.”
Across from Badal, who muttered quietly.
Meisa was glaring at him while pressing one finger against her temple as if suffering from a headache.
Turan realized that wind and lightning were intertwined within her, that she had finally succeeded in connecting symbols through soul magic.
Considering she hadn’t used it until now, it was either a trump card she had been hiding, or she had just barely succeeded.
“You… will never touch me!”
Whether due to the difficulty of connecting symbols, Meisa’s face, already pale from blood loss, had turned not just white but almost bluish.
Badal, who had been staring at her intently, suddenly turned his gaze to the surroundings.
“The situation has deteriorated.”
True to his words, the Arabion army that had accompanied Badal was now being pushed back by the Ravitas mages.
Since there were no mages as powerful as Badal himself, there was no one who could withstand the two top-tier mages belonging to Ravitas.
“This is as far as we go.”
Having uttered these words abruptly, Badal lowered his hammer and stepped back, as if demonstrating his lack of will to fight.
“As far as we go?”
“Further fighting would only lead to unfavorable outcomes for both sides.”
Though he wanted to shout “who decides that?” and tear into him, Turan recognized that the situation didn’t allow for it.
He needed to check on Solif’s condition after he had been sent flying, and Meisa also clearly appeared to be struggling with soul magic.
Perhaps sensing Turan’s concerns?
Badal, with a face that had grown fatigued unlike his previously vibrant appearance, said:
“This is truly exhausting beyond measure. To think I must expend effort on such trivial matters during this crucial period…”
What crucial period could he be referring to?
Before Turan could ask, Badal disappeared behind, flying with the same extraordinary speed as before.
[“Everyone, retreat!”]
A voice thundered through the sky soon after.
At this voice that pierced even the battlefield’s noise, the Arabion mages, who had been pushed back, began to retreat in unison.
They too had been waiting only for their leader’s command.
A battle that had ended so unexpectedly.
While remaining cautious in case the retreat was merely a feint, Turan searched for Solif, who had been sent flying earlier.
Not long after, he found him buried nearly a meter deep in the ground with his chest bones crushed.
“Are you alive?”
“I think I’m already dead. Or about to die.”
Turan smiled faintly at the grumbling voice and immediately activated his Ravitas bloodline, casting healing magic on Solif’s body.
Soon after, with a cracking sound, his caved-in chest expanded, and all the minor wounds across his body disappeared.
“I see you’ve acquired another new skill while I wasn’t looking… What about that old man?”
“He fled.”
“Damn that monster of an old man. We should have finished him off here.”
In truth, describing it as “fleeing” was somewhat inaccurate.
Although the Arabion army was retreating, had Badal exerted his full power, he certainly had enough capacity to continue fighting.
Above all, he had barely used god’s magic, the technique he had referred to as “skill.”
Whether he had spared them or been unable to use it remained unclear.
‘But at least we’ve grown enough to put up a fight now…’
If one were to make a comparison, the gap was still as significant as that between a muscular man and a frail woman.
But at least they had reached a level where they could exchange blows.
Unlike before, when they had been no different from insects that could be crushed with a finger.
Just as he was feeling a small sense of pride in this fact, Turan walked toward the Ravitas mages who were healing the wounded.
Hoping that none of the people he knew had perished.
In stark contrast to that hope, not long after, he heard a familiar voice crying out in agonizing grief.