Shepherd Wizard (Novel) - Chapter 183

Chapter 183

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Turan’sescape attempt looked impulsive at first glance, but his judgment was based on fairly complex calculations.

 

First, it would be difficult to wait and see more, as once he left this place, there was a high possibility there would be no opportunity to make contact with Harun again.

 

Since it was such a busy time, Paol, the identity he was disguised as, must have had something to do, and just not doing it would arouse Talis’s suspicion.

 

The possibility wasn’t very high, but he might have already been discovered and they could be rushing here.

 

And once they learned that he had infiltrated by disguising as his subordinate, they wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen twice.

 

Even this infiltration had involved luck in various ways.

 

So had he thought of a way to safely escape?

 

If asked that question, Turan would answer about fifty-fifty.

 

He couldn’t guarantee success, but he had thought of an operation worth trying.

 

Of course, it was too low a probability for weighing someone’s life, but considering that the survival possibility was almost nonexistent if he didn’t try, there was no reason not to do it.

 

“You bastard!”

 

Right after Turan flew up carrying Harun, the floor exploded and Badal’s angry roar echoed.

 

In that short time, he had realized that the opponent’s identity was the disguised Turan, and that he was trying to rescue Harun.

 

Badal, who had rushed up from the basement, saw that a window on one side of the bathroom was broken, and that Harun was flying away in the distance.

 

As she, hanging from something invisible, passed through the barrier in the air, a sharp noise rang out.

 

‘How dare you…’

 

Badal immediately activated the Thunder Lord’s symbol and lifted his body with magnetic force to catch the fleeing Harun.

 

Perhaps because he was carrying Harun, who had become nothing but an ordinary human?

 

The escape speed wasn’t very fast.

 

At full power, he could catch them within three seconds at most.

 

However, just before flying, Badal felt a strange sense of unease and hesitated for a moment.

 

‘Why is he using stealth?’

 

At first glance, it looked like Harun was flying alone, but since she wouldn’t have the ability to fly on her own, naturally Turan must be stealthed while grabbing or supporting that body.

 

But what reason could there be to waste magical power hiding his appearance in such a situation?

 

Since stealth wasn’t applied to Harun’s body anyway, the escape was clearly visible.

 

At the same time as the thought occurred, an attack from right beside him struck Badal’s face.

 

“Kugh…”

 

Maximum power slingshot strike from stealth.

 

Although he couldn’t enhance it with magnetic force because Badal of the Arabion bloodline had the ability to detect electricity, this was enough to pierce through the protection of defensive magic devices and shatter his cheekbone.

 

As Badal, who had taken a direct close-range shot, staggered, Turan, who had been stealthed in a corner of the bathroom, immediately pressed a sword to his neck.

 

The piercing longsword he had lent to Berit in the past.

 

‘Got it.’

 

The identity of what had flown away with Harun while stealthed was actually Bije.

 

Turan himself had only pretended to fly away with her at first, then immediately hid stealthed in one side of the bathroom, waiting for an opportunity.

 

Thanks to this, he was able to deliver a painful blow to Badal, who was completely off guard.

 

If he stabbed the opponent who was incapacitated with his sword for a decisive blow…

 

‘Hmm?’

 

But why was it that the longsword aimed at the defenseless temple, instead of penetrating the head, tilted at an angle and tore the scalp?

 

As if he had stabbed a sturdy iron plate.

 

It was too powerful for defense by a magic device… could it be a holy relic? Or defensive ability under specific conditions?

 

In an instant, Turan’s mind quickly went into analysis mode.

 

The slingshot strike just now had been blocked by something but had penetrated and dealt damage, so why was there no effect this time?

 

After brief consideration, he immediately switched to the Baraha bloodline and activated Judgment’s Light, wrapping Badal’s entire body with a golden whip.

 

“Kraaagh!”

 

The smell of burning flesh pierced his nose along with the scream.

 

This side also seemed to have prepared some defensive means, as it unfortunately didn’t cut through the body, but it succeeded in dealing quite significant damage.

 

Full-body burns were no small injury even for a noble.

 

Then, Badal’s screaming body glowed brightly.

 

Turan immediately switched his holy relic to the Ruban bloodline, activated even his Guardian magic device, and retreated.

 

“Die!”

 

Crash! Along with the old man’s roar, purple lightning erupted from his body, devastating the entire Zahar family head’s residence.

 

To the extent that nothing remained except the outer walls made of bricks ground from giant bones.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Even though he had retreated as far as possible to minimize damage, his entire body was tingling.

 

Although he now had magical power roughly similar to Badal’s normal state, when the Thunder Lord’s symbol was activated, that gap widened somewhat.

 

Moreover, that purple lightning itself was also a Thunder Lord skill.

 

“Turan, you, how dare you!”

 

“I haven’t lived recklessly enough to hear words like ‘how dare’ from an idiot who harbors grudges for thousands of years over being rejected by a woman.”

 

Badal’s face turned red, not only having been deceived once by facial disguise, but even having his old weaknesses dug up.

 

Turan laughed, having provoked the mighty god who had once seemed like an insurmountable wall.

 

“Well then, goodbye!”

 

Along with the farewell greeting, a pile of gunpowder he had prepared in advance exploded.

 

Turan, who flew toward the broken window with the roar, rubbed his numb abdomen and suppressed the pain.

 

Since he had used several times the amount of gunpowder he normally used for emergency evasion, the impact was considerable.

 

Of course, thanks to the tremendous effect, he was able to exit the family head’s residence in an instant and create a distance of over a hundred meters.

 

If he accelerated using magnetic force like this…

 

‘Oh no.’

 

Only then did Turan remember that the clothes he was wearing belonged to Zahar noble Paol, so they weren’t equipped with devices to assist high-speed maneuvering using magnetic force.

 

It was a part he hadn’t thought of because it was a hastily conceived plan.

 

The pursuing Badal with fire in his eyes wouldn’t give him time to change clothes.

 

After very brief consideration, Turan took out an iron ball used for throwing and grasped it while exerting magnetic force.

 

As the ball was shot by magnetic force, naturally Turan’s body holding it also moved forward rapidly.

 

It didn’t look good and he couldn’t use one hand, but it was a fairly decent method.

 

‘I thought of everything else but couldn’t think of this, but somehow I managed to make do, fortunately…’

 

Just as he was about to feel relieved, Turan felt something ominous and quickly raised his arm.

 

With a thud and the sound of flesh being cut, an arrowhead had pierced his forearm and reached right in front of his face.

 

If he hadn’t blocked it instinctively, it would have pierced his eye and torn his brain.

 

‘Sniper?’

 

The short arrow, less than half the length of an ordinary arrow, had flown at literally light speed.

 

Even if asked to block it again, he wasn’t confident he could.

 

When he turned his gaze toward where the attack had come from, he could see a man who would be in his thirties to mid-thirties by commoner standards, holding a bow with a strange tube attached.

 

It was a face he’d never seen before, but he could tell who it was because he’d seen it in portraits in the past.

 

Zahar’s successor and Berit’s father, Rahman Zahar.

 

From his body emanated power that, while not as strong as Harun’s in the past, was still formidable.

 

As if proving he had successfully inherited the family head’s magical power.

 

He, who was also Turan’s fifth cousin uncle, made a bizarre smile and moved his lips.

 

[You’ve done quite a cute thing, grandson.]

 

Because the distance was easily over five to six hundred meters, his voice couldn’t be heard, but the shape of his lips allowed him to somewhat infer the words.

 

Seeing this, Turan realized that what had taken over Rahman’s body was his grandfather, Talis.

 

Since it was something he had somewhat predicted, it wasn’t particularly surprising, but…

 

‘Faster than I thought.’

 

It had been less than ten seconds since he attacked Badal and escaped.

 

Even assuming the place where he normally stayed and conducted business was right nearby, it was too fast an appearance.

 

Moreover, he was fully armed and even had a magical beast suitable for pursuit by his side.

 

Turan realized that Talis had already somehow detected Paol’s transgression, so he was on his way to subdue him after recognizing that his identity was the disguised Turan.

 

In other words, if he hadn’t acted immediately, the last chance to save Harun would have flown away.

 

“Kugh…”

 

Such thoughts were brief as his vision blurred and burning heat surged from where he’d been hit by the arrow.

 

Dizziness and high fever, paralysis and headache.

 

It was clear that deadly poison had been applied to the arrow with the Alchemist’s skill.

 

Turan, staggering and descending to the ground, quickly switched his holy relic to the Ravitas bloodline and exercised the Purifier’s ability.

 

He felt all kinds of negative sensations disturbing his mind rapidly disappear.

 

Then, quickly pulling out the arrow and healing the wound, Turan raised his head to look up.

 

Badal Arabion, his entire body burned, was looking down at him.

 

“I almost missed you.”

 

Badal, speaking mockingly, showed no signs of fatigue on his face despite having burns on top of his already aged body.

 

It was definitely incomparable stamina to before.

 

And the ones felt here and there around, possessing magical power too powerful to be ordinary nobles.

 

Feeling Zahar’s gods rapidly approaching, Turan again grasped an iron ball and attempted to flee.

 

“No way.”

 

Along with Badal’s distant shout, the iron ball that had been guiding Turan’s body shook in all directions.

 

He had manipulated the surrounding magnetic force, disturbing the power Turan was controlling.

 

It was the same principle as when he had previously disrupted flight magic by distorting wind flows against other Arabion nobles.

 

However, Turan, regardless of the suddenly shaking flight trajectory, immediately switched to flight magic using wind, while simultaneously turning his body to shoot an iron ball with his slingshot.

 

Badal, like Kadram who had worn the Sky Guardian in the past, spat lightning to melt the ball, but rather than immediately pursuing, he maintained some distance.

 

It seemed that getting hit earlier had left quite a deep impression.

 

‘As expected, metal doesn’t work against Arabion nobles.’

 

Turan could feel attacks flying toward him as he fled with wind magic.

 

Arrows, spears, sharp discs and other projectiles.

 

When he quickly performed evasive maneuvers to avoid them, these attacks naturally struck Aksum city.

 

“Aaaahhhhh!”

 

“Oh god, oh god!”

 

“Please spare us…”

 

Even ordinary nobles’ attacks were nothing short of disaster for commoners, but the aftermath brought by attacks containing the gods’ skills was even more terrible.

 

Several buildings cut by passing discs collapsed with a rumble, crushing people, while spears exploded, blowing away one or two small shops entirely.

 

The arrows of Rahman, or rather Talis in that body, created dense poisonous fog that seemed to melt anything it touched.

 

Powerless people couldn’t even dare to flee from the fight of mighty nobles barely visible to their eyes, just prostrating and praying.

 

Every time something flashed, covering hundreds of meters and something flying over, where could they possibly run?

 

In this battle, which was literally no different from a fight of gods, even knights and lower-tier nobles couldn’t do anything.

 

If they were grazed wrong by even one attack, losing their lives would be no different from commoners.

 

Turan, desperately twisting his body, gritted his teeth looking down at such scenes.

 

‘Damn it…’

 

Strategically, it should be something to welcome since the devastation of Aksum city would be a loss for them rather, but he couldn’t accept it that way.

 

Because he couldn’t gladly watch those powerless ones, the sheep to be protected, dying meaninglessly from the aftermath of shepherds fighting.

 

Eventually, Turan gave up using the optimal evasion route and headed toward Aksum city’s outskirts, accepting getting hit several times.

 

“He’s fleeing north.”

 

“Chase him!”

 

Having fled to the city outskirts after taking several hits, Turan realized this had been the strategically correct choice as well.

 

Because Turan’s side, who had to evade and counterattack alone, consumed much more magical power than Badal or Zahar’s possessed vessels who took turns attacking and thus had time to rest.

 

Quickly healing his tattered legs, forearms, and ribs, when he looked back he could see Badal flying and Zahar’s gods pursuing on various types of magical beasts.

 

If he could just fly straight with flight magic, he could have created sufficient distance, but he couldn’t do so due to continuous interference.

 

Most importantly, the biggest problem was Badal.

 

Unlike Turan himself, to shake off him who seemed to skillfully manipulate magnetic force using skills, he needed Bije.

 

‘This is dangerous.’

 

He felt a sense of crisis that he might really die at this rate.

 

Of course, he hadn’t thought there would be no danger when attempting such an operation, but the situation was worse than expected.

 

From Badal who was much healthier than expected to Talis’s gang who had already come to chase him.

 

If misfortune hadn’t piled upon misfortune, he would have escaped smoothly…

 

No, regretting like this or blaming bad luck was merely meaningless.

 

What he needed to do now was find a way to escape somehow.

 

While continuing to fly north with pursuers behind him and pondering methods, Turan frowned at a presence approaching from the west.

 

‘Why?’

 

Harun, whom he had sent away using Bije just moments ago, was returning toward them again.

 

As the legendary-class magical beast harboring massive amounts of magical power unleashed lightning magic, the pursuing Zahar gods hesitated and retreated to the surroundings.

 

Precisely, the magical beasts they were riding had retreated, overwhelmed by Bije’s presence.

 

“Turan!”

 

“Why did you come back? I told you to take that person to Kalamaf!”

 

“But this woman said if I don’t go back, Turan will die. I don’t want that!”

 

So she had been persuaded that way.

 

Turan clicked his tongue but understood Bije’s judgment.

 

If she had felt the tremendous power Badal had shown while fleeing, she would have intuited that he would be in danger.

 

The brief respite created by such sudden intervention.

 

While catching his breath, Talis, inhabiting Rahman’s body, called out to Turan.

 

“I never imagined you’d attack Aksum directly, and alone at that. It was reckless beyond brave.”

 

Why was he suddenly starting a conversation here?

 

To buy time for the pursuit team to catch up?

 

Turan harbored such questions but obediently engaged in conversation.

 

This side could also catch the breath that had risen from fleeing until just now, and most importantly, since Harun had re-entered the enemy’s range, it was difficult to engage in a chase.

 

It would be good to come up with some better method while talking.

 

“Are you going to give me grandfatherly advice?”

 

“I’m no longer a grandfather, so I can’t do that. So, what were you thinking attempting such a thing? That woman doesn’t have enough value to risk such danger.”

 

As he said, now that she dwelt in an ordinary human’s body, getting Harun back wouldn’t be much help to Turan.

 

To exert power as a possessed vessel, a body with some magical power and good compatibility with the soul was needed.

 

Not only was there no such person in the Parsha family, but even if there were, Turan’s nature wasn’t crude enough to sacrifice his subordinates to use Harun at full power.

 

Moreover, even if he captured an enemy, he would need to consume large amounts of souls for possession.

 

“At least I can extract Zahar’s internal information.”

 

Since the opponent had declared he wouldn’t even play the grandfather role anymore, Turan’s answer had also become short.

 

Hearing this, Talis twisted his lips and said,

 

“Not bad for an excuse. But my intuition says that’s not the reason.”

 

Talis’s point that he had developed sympathy for being treated well was surprisingly precisely penetrating Turan’s inner thoughts.

 

As expected, as he had felt before, the insight and persistence possessed by that god was on a different level from other gods who seemed like mere powerful youngsters.

 

“What do you want to say?”

 

“Caesar… that is, if you put Harun down here and leave, I’ll just let you go. We still need her on our side.”

 

“That’s nonsense.”

 

What interrupted their conversation was Badal, whose condition had improved somewhat from earlier, perhaps having used some powerful recovery-type holy relic.

 

Of course, because the magical power dwelling in that body was so immense, he was still far from complete recovery.

 

“That bastard dies here.”

 

“Now now, don’t get too heated. After all, from now on, whatever happens here is none of our business, right?”

 

Turan could understand what Talis meant in restraining Badal.

 

For them, who planned to cross over to another world, the gods’ homeland, power struggles in this world were meaningless.

 

Talis, who had been soothing the angry Badal, looked toward Bije and said,

 

“Come back, Caesar. We still need you.”

 

“You think such words will work after throwing me to that stalker?”

 

Unlike the tone toward Turan, the tone reproaching Talis was similar to that of a young woman.

 

“I’m sorry about that. But without going that far, it seemed difficult to change your mind.”

 

“No matter how many times you say it, nothing changes.”

 

Talis sighed deeply at the firm rejection.

 

Then he suddenly pointed at Turan and said,

 

“Really, haven’t you given up that belief yet? I clearly confirmed it for you. That guy isn’t Otas’s reincarnation as you hope!”