Chapter 31
* Peng! *
Saurun's head, an unresigned expression upon the face, flew several metres far in the air, and finally fell to the ground. His both eyes were opened wide; he was no longer able to close them.
His headless corpse was still kneeling in front of Leylin and blood poured out from it continuously.
The corpse's left hand was still extended — it was his misfortune that it was blocked by grey radiant armour, a few inches away from Leylin's body.
"Even without the defense of the Fallen Star Pendant, I don't have to fear most of the acolytes' attacks. Along with the frost runes' enhancement of a greatsword, combined with Grand Knight's abilities, it is one of the top strengths amongst acolytes!"
In the last exchange against Leylin Dodge rather than using the Fallen Star Pendent to test his new found abilities, although he has grown very strong due to not using it in actual life and death fight, he has not grasped it totally. Today though using these acolytes as granite he is sharpening himself even further.
Leylin was very satisfied with this battle's outcome.
Saurun was only an acolyte who was slightly less inferior than Torash. When Leylin, however, used his techniques, he could not withstand even a few rounds before being completely defeated, even with his head being chopped off.
"It's your turn now!" Leylin kicked Saurun's corpse away and charged towards the female blond acolyte.
"It's completed!"
At the same time, the female blond acolyte exhaled, as if shouldering a huge burden.
A bright red flower unfolded its petals and revealed a green rock the size of a fist. It had a dazzling gleam, with the female blond acolyte's fresh blood that was sprayed on it. There was also a broken half of a dagger, which was thrown on the floor.
These 3 items faintly resembled a triangular formation, with many greyish power runes surrounding them.
Leylin's didn't charged towards her but stayed put letting her do her thing, the female blond acolyte smirked and pointed at Leylin, "By the name of Memphis Rofar Maginent, of the Gigantic Binding Sprite from the abyss, the person that I point to will lose all ability of motion!"
* Weng Weng! *
Light began to shine from the triangular formation, and Leylin suddenly felt a huge binding strength engulfing him, which made him rooted to the spot.
The smile that mocked her efforts still remained on Leylin lips, with no fear and agitation at all.
Leylin remained still looking at the binding with an amused expression and the sounds of shackles sounded from the void.
"You will pay for your crimes , I will quite enjoy your agonizing screams and plea for mercy. These are the chains of the Gigantic Binding Abyss Sprite. No matter how many of them you break, the remaining amount would not only regrow, but the binding power will also be doubled!"
As the female acolyte spoke, Leylin felt the chain getting tighter and tighter around his body.
* Chi! * The silver glow from the Fallen Star Pendant continuously clashed against strength from the void, time to time producing white mist.
"You despicable maggot, the shameless murderer, you dared to killed the acolytes from two of our great academies, so I will grant you death to redeem your sins!"
The thrill of revenge and smugness filled the face of the female acolyte. The muscles on her face contorted, turning the once-beautiful face into an extremely loathsome one.
"You dared to kill Saurun; I will make you pay the price of blood!"
The female acolyte pointed at Leylin, "Strength deprivation!"
As she spoke, Leylin felt the strength in his body dispersing. In an instant, it was as if he changed from a Grand Knight into a regular human .
"Is this how it feels to be cursed?"
Leylin shrugged, "Such a measly curse, how can it make me bow my head!"
"It all has ended!" The female acolyte chanted in an incantation, "Flames of the abyss, cremate this sinner into ashes!"
As soon as the Byron language incantation had been uttered, a black fire suddenly blazed from below Leylin's body.
The flame continuously spread, engulfing Leylin's whole body in an instant.
* Peng! * The frost greatsword on Leylin's hands fell onto the floor. The icy shards shattered and broke into many pieces. Finally, even the refined metal blade of the cross blade melted under the black red flames, turning into a puddle of liquid metal.
* Chi Chi! *
The grey armour on Leylin's body started to give in, and the A.I. Chip wildly flashed its alert in front of Leylin's eyes, [Warning! Warning! The energy from the Fallen Star Pendant is rapidly decreasing. Currently left with: 45%. Estimated to be fully depleted in 34 seconds!]
"Ignore it! Deactivate Fallen Star Pendent! " Leylin ordered. Immediately Leylin's muscles bulged, and his whole body seemed to increase by a size.
[The Host has entered the state of a Grand Knight's secret technique. strength and agility have been greatly boosted!] The A.I. Chip very soon reported the change in stats.
Suddenly the protective layer was gone and fire engulfed Leylin, He closed his eyes, marveled at his phenomenal physique as he was just felling a burning sensation which was not very agonizing.
An invisible layer of energy separated the fire away from his body and keeping it at bay.
Leylin clenched his fist and felt sensational strength. He slowly but surely walked towards the Female Acolytes who was beyond terrified.
Leylin looked at her expression very pleased with the results. ' Yes, This is what I wanted. Power so great that my enemies has nothing but despair in the visage and unbridled guilt to even dare to stand before me '
Leylin walked Impassively like an asura from the depths of hell , crackling and rattling sounds could he heard from his body, and the countless black-rune-inscribed chains became visible and were broken by Leylin. They then fell to the ground and vanished.
"It's your turn now, you disgusting whore!"
Leylin's figure flew like a gust of wind and appeared directly in front of the female acolyte.
"Im…Impossible, how did you manage to counter it?" shrieked the female blonde acolyte and she pointed her finger at Leylin. Then several basin- sized fireballs directly struck Leylin's body.
* Boom! * The flames exploded, burning with the previous black fire, as it extinguished very soon.
After the explosion ended, Leylin was unscathed.
"No! No!" The female acolyte fell onto the ground and crawled backwards.
Leylin kicked the green rock and dagger on the ground, breaking the spell formation.
Two streams of red fluid trickled down from the female acolyte's nose, even her tears were falling.
"No! Don't kill me! My mentor is…."
The female acolyte snivelled continuously as she crawled and spoke.
"I don't care who you are!" Leylin's expression appeared indifferent as he shook off the flames and knocked her out controlling his strength.
' You will have the honor of being a part in my experiment little lady' Leylin stopped using his burst of strength.
Throughout these battle leylin effectively put himself in the most adverse of situation, in order to test his strength and see the progress he has made, he came to a single conclusion.
"Too Fucking Weak "
Leylin looked towards the burning flames, "In the legends and tales told by the bards, the abyss fire is something which can burn the void. An existence that all children of the earth cannot resist! This is most likely just a projection of the true abyss fire— it does not have even one zillionth of the original's might. If not, I would have long turned into ashes!"
Leylin thought for a while, before returning to the original place. He then recorded all of the ingredients and the spell formation that the female acolyte used before roaming the battlefield to collect his spoils of war.
* Peng! * The unconscious Jayden was tossed before Bicky.
Although the battle earlier looked extremely intense, It was without doubt a one sided affair , the time that had passed was extremely short — so much so that Bicky was still in shock.
"Hurry and leave this place. The energy waves from earlier would attract many acolytes over. If you don't wish to die, hurry and leave now!"
Leylin cleared his throat and looked at Bicky who nodded her head before he left the place.
Looking at the back of Leylin, Bicky's expression was extremely complicated.
This person was here to save her. Moreover, the strength that he possessed was far above that which Bicky could imagine.
Lightning Wielder, Silver Claw, they were all impressive and notable acolytes from the opposing academies. However in front of that person earlier, they were as weak as a sponge when they pleaded and was slaughtered mercilessly.
"But. . . exactly who is he?"
Bicky blinked her eyes. Merlin, Leylin, Fayle and the others, all of the acolytes' images flashed past from her memory, yet she felt helpless as there was no such person in all of the acolytes that she recalled that resembled her savior.
However, her instincts told her that she definitely knew this person and that they had an extremely intimate relationship!
"Magi are reputed for their rationality. Such a thing like instinct will lower our judgment. Everything has to be proved beyond refutation…."
The sayings of an elder surfaced in her mind.
Bicky's expression was seemingly vacant as she gritted her teeth and poured a potion on Jayden's face, before she,too, left that place.
Although Jayden was Molly's idol, she was now dead. Naturally Bicky wouldn't risk anymore for Jayden.
Minutes later, Jayden opened his eyes and got up.
"What happened to me? Where is Torash?"
Jayden was at a loss, before the colours on his face changed. Touching his chest, he felt for the magic artifact which was still resting in his arms. Moreover, when he ensured that his sack was present, only then did he heave a sigh of relief.
"This is the aftermath of an intense battle! Who is it that saved me?"
Jayden scratched his forehead, before thinking of a girl's figure who had dashed towards him, "Was it Molly? Such a terrifying battle, I wonder how she is…."
"Here!" Footsteps sounds drew closer and very soon 2 acolytes appeared within Jayden's vision.
"An acolyte from Abyssal Bone Forest Academy! Kill him!"
After seeing Jayden, the two acolytes let off an excited howl and began to prepare their rank 0 spells.
Jayden sighed, before bringing out his magic artifact once again…
Leylin was, by now, dozens of miles away from this battlefield Carrying the unconscious Female acolyte. He returned to his base, checking his spoils.
Those 3 acolytes were well known for their strengths. Furthermore, the ingredients and magic crystals that they carried with them were plentiful. They gave Leylin a total of tens of thousands of magic crystals and other valuable resources.
Leylin felt the surface of a black red diary cover, and he exclaimed in glee, "This is the female acolyte's abyss fired but i know it's in Abyss Script!"
Leylin flipped open the diary and a mysterious rune appeared, "A.I. Chip, compare to database!"
[Beep! Mission establishing, comparison in progress! Similarity level to Abyss script: 98.7%, Purgatory script: 45.3%….]
"No matter what, it is a good spoil!"
Satisfied, Leylin kept the black red diary in his possession.
What followed next was the most valuable loot this time around.
Leylin looked at the pile of items in front of him and muttered irresolutely to himself.
There were a few broken items, a dagger which had been broken into half, the remnant of a silver palm, with an incomplete silver necklace, with lightning flashing time to time.
The 3 acolytes who died under Leylin's hands were the potential Magi of the enemy academies, so how could they not have magic artifacts on them?
'I will reverse engineer them to increase my understanding of Alchemy and threw it away after I am done. '
Leylin didn't care for their badges because it's a ruse for him anyways.
Two days passed.
The wilderness found outside the secret plane was lit up with a bright yellow color. From time to time, there were gusts of wind blowing granules of sand, and the living organisms on the ground avoided this place at all cost — even the moles and ants were not an exception.
The entrance to the secret plane was slowly shrinking as if it were a live animal.
Siley looked at the silver hourglass floating in midair. On the upper half of the hourglass, beads of golden sand trickled downwards, finally leaving behind a thin layer.
* Di! * With the passing of time, the final golden bead of sand trickled downward.
"The time is up, let us receive our acolytes!" Siley opened his mouth and spoke in a low tone.
"Are you extremely anxious?" Guru who was at the side smirked, "Every minute more that passes, one acolyte in Abyssal Bone Forest Academy will be slain. Their heads will become the glory of my Sage Gotham's Hut, and hung on the large gates…."
"At this moment, the secret plane might no longer have anymore Abyssal Bone Forest Academy acolytes. We all know that once the acolytes from the two academies have gathered, Abyssal Bone Forest Academy's acolytes would be meat on a chopping board for us to slice, and is not even equivalent to a lamb.
The other blonde women smiled — but her smiled seemed somewhat malicious.
"Nicola, you still can't let it go?" Finally, a trace of expression surfaced on Siley's face, and it seemed to be – regret?
"I have long since forgotten the matters from the past!" The female blonde woman Nicola said with a frosty expression.
"You can seek revenge for the matters previously, but once you are bent on destroying this academy that I succeeded as a professor, then you will be my eternal nemesis!"
Siley's face too gradually hardened.
"Haha…Haha… You are still as arrogant as before, thinking that you are the main character of some novel, which the earth would revolve around you indefinitely!"
"However such an expression makes me want to puke!" Said the blonde woman as her eyes appeared to emit flames.
"I want to destroy your life's work, destroy the Abyssal Bone Forest Academy, even if there is the Lighthouse of the Night mediating, this time, there is still the next time…."
"Enough!" Guru at the side interrupted Nicola.
"Earlier you stopped me and Siley from fighting, but why is it that you can't endure it now?"
"My reason for stopping you was because I want to take action myself!" Nicola's maniacal look grew even stronger.
"Enough!" A dense black colour descended, and covered the sky in an instant.
Amidst the darkness, there was a bright yellow light that came from within, revealing a figure that was wrapped in black robes.
"Sir!" The three chairmen bowed.
They were only rank 2 Magus, yet this person in front of them was a true rank 3 Magus! Every level in the Magus World had an obvious difference like that between the sky and earth.
Previously, it was this Sir that suppressed the 3 of them to mediate the war.
"Since my Lighthouse of the Night has already stepped in, any conflicts that arise after is deemed as a provocation to us, as the contract and date are still effective."
The black-robed man had a pair of dark green eyes. No matter if it was Siley or the other 2 chairman, if these eyes landed on them, they would shudder as if being trapped by some magical beast.
This feeling of imminent death finally brought Nicola out from her madness.
"From now, activate the spell formation, and receive the acolytes within the secret plane!"
"Yes, Sir!"
* Tring *
'Hmm.. The time has come huh. ' As leylin was doing his work suddenly an reminder came from the A. I. Chip that the time is almost up.
Leylin looked at the four bodies, not very satisfied with the experiment. All the limbs of the Acolytes were Intangled and they were beyond recognition.
' I was asking for too much In such a short time span, well whatever it was pretty worthwhile ' Leylin didn't really expect any results from the experiment but he got to test some of his merging theories of Utilizing Life Force of Grand Knights and elevating it's overall quality.
Leylin undid his spells, curses and destroyed all evidence of the experimentation. He burned the bodies too.
Leylin has already collected enough Badges to have enough contribution point needed for Grine water.
"The teleportation is finally here!" Leylin knew that the Teleportation will be little delayed due to bickering of the Chairmens of the three academy.
The badge on Leylin's chest emitted a fluorescent light.
Leylin's entire body was then engulfed by a layer of this light and was lifted off the ground as he began to involuntarily rise into the sky.
Floating at a distance within the light bubble, Leylin saw other acolytes in distant regions also floating in the same manner; they looked like stars strewn across the sky.
"This is really a beautiful scene!"
'It was quite boring to be honest,I don't find any thrill in these stupid games, I will quickly get the useful potion formula from Kroft and the Branded Swordsman Book from Dorotte. After the refining of the Bloodline I will set off.
Leylin smiled heartily, and removed the Shapeshifting spell.
The muscles on his face contorted, as his height continuously grew. Very soon, Leylin resumed the state of his original appearance.
"I have been acting inside the secret plane with this disguise, where no one had seen my true appearance!"
"Right now, I am Leylin Farlier, an ordinary Potioneering acolyte!"
The Reason Leylin didn't cause much Chaos was because he just couldn't be bothered to. Every action carries a consequence, He has not forgotten his priorities yet.
"Before becoming an official Magus, it is best to maintain a low profile. There won't be anything wrong with that!" Beware of Jayden's outcome, Leylin steeled his heart with this resolve.
...