Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The long sword looked ordinary, radiating a soft but determined glow. As the silver-purple in Natasha's eyes became pure crystal-clear, two illusory splits that looks as though they could split the world apart suddenly appeared on the blade. In a mere second, the sword had reached Congus' head.
The vital part of a lich was not its heart and neck. Only by damaging the head, where the soul resided, could one effectively injure a lich.
Under the weight of the “Pale Justice”, streaks of transparent cracks appeared in the boring mix of black, white and grey. Two needle-like red spots were revealed underneath.
Puff… It sounded like the sword just hacked onto a piece of rotten wood. All the emergency defense spells were rendered invalid by the power of the mysterious existence in the World of Souls.
“Ah!!!” A bitter and piercing shriek burst out.
And Natasha was directly blown away by the power. Blood came out from her eyes, nose, and mouth.
This was not DemiG.o.d-lich's Howling, but the spiritual power waves released by Congus in great fury. Although with Pale Justice's protection, Natasha was still severely injured. Meanwhile, Lucien suffered even more from the great power. He felt beyond dizzy, and there was a strong taste of blood in his mouth.
“Good… Good!” Congus's furious voice seemed to come from far away.
Both Lucien's and Natasha's hearts sank for a second.
Was Congus still “alive”?!
Suddenly, Congus's black cloak split from the middle. The white skeleton inside collapsed to the ground and decayed instantly. The smell stank badly.
On the skull, two deep cracks appeared, under which warm holy light twinkled.
Then with a crispy sound, the skull cracked open. The smaller golden skull in the middle also bore undescribable unreal injuries.
Without the protection of the defense spells, this one single strike was almost as powerful as the power of Alterna to Congus.
Pale Justice, the terminator of all evils, was a legendary weapon at this moment!
The silver moonlight seized control over the mixed colors of black, white and grey, preventing it from spreading out.
“I will be back. You'd better come up with some better tricks! ” Congus proclaimed in a voice was full of viciousness.
The golden skull broke into three pieces and clattered on the ground, while Congus' soul slowly faded from the scene.
“Even with this he still isn't entirely dead! Liches, no, sorcerers are so troublesome!” Natasha complained half-jokingly in a finally relaxed mood.
Lucien was already lying on the ground, unable to move. He felt that his neurons twitched under the sharp pain. However, he felt such ease in his mind. Despite the cost, they had defeated DemiG.o.d-lich!, Although he had been stuck at the accidence of the legendary level for hundreds of years, he was still a true legendary sorcerer! Without a doubt, they were very proud of themselves.
“Among… Among all the sorcerers, necromancers are the hardest to… to kill.” Lucien gasped through the sentence due to the great pain. But after he pulled out a tube of Water Song and drank it all, he felt better. Then he continued. “But we nailed it! Now Congus has to go back to the main material world for his resurgence using his phylactery since he had used up his most convenient backup last time. This means we'll be safe for at least one day.”
Natasha stood up and carefully brought Lucien's left arm to him. “We can get ready by making the most of the day. Then as long as we can stay alive for one more day, given that the pieces can behave themselves like today, granny Hathaway and the Lord of Storm shall be arriving. By the way, can you put this back?”
“I'm not a radiant knight,” said Lucien. But he still stood up slowly and took over his left arm. Pressing it against the cut, the flesh and nerves started growing, and the bones were covered in a layer of dim white light.
Carrying the Saint Badge given by Ell, Lucien was as strong as a grand knight. Plus his blood power, the magic potion Water Song, and the power of Alterna, although he could not fully recover, Lucien could still roughly put the left arm back. However, the pain and the torturing itch from the growing of flesh were so intolerable that Lucien had to bite his lips very tight to stop himself from crying out loud.
At this time, a cold hand touched Lucien's face, soothing his pain while delivering great willpower.
Natasha frowned slightly, but she joked deliberately to distract Lucien. “You finally get to know how I felt when there was a hole in my lower abdomen, huh? A grand knight can quickly recover, but it's an awful torture.”
Beads of sweat covered Lucien's forehead, but were then gently wiped off by Natasha. A few minutes later, Lucien finally managed to force a smile and replied, “I couldn't tell by then. You were even discussing how to barbecue your own organs.”
“Hehe, do you want me to cook one for you now?” Natasha grinned. Seeing that Lucien now felt much better, she asked. “How's Alterna right now? Is your arm growing back okay?”
Lucien nodded. “Alterna just released the control, so the pieces of the mysterious existence had a chance to recover a bit. Without my blood power and spiritual power, Alterna might not be able to always stay in control. If that happens, we probably won't be able to escape to a three-hundred-meter distance in time.”
Then Lucien tried to move his left arm and estimated. “I can lift it and do some simple actions, but not the complex ones, not to mention the delicate gestures for casting. I have to use a Necromancy rite to fully recover.”
Natasha felt relieved knowing that there wouldn't be any permanent injury left in Lucien's arm. Like a victor, she lifted Pale Justice and said in good spirit, “although we haven't fully killed Congus, I'm sure I'm the first level-seven knight ever who managed to kill a legendary during direct combat! That's awesome! Absolutely awesome!”
She paced around full of excitement, her face flus.h.i.+ng slightly.
“This's the adventure I long for! A friend that knows me well, powerful enemies, dangerous fights. If I can go back alive, this is gonna be a memory of my lifetime!”
“Me, too,” said Lucien seriously, staring at Natasha's lips, “but we'd better not pursue this kind of fight all the time, or we'd die sooner or later.”
“Of course, if it wasn't because of you, I would have gone back to Varantine's area directly.” As the future top leader, Natasha understood how important it was to keep herself safe. She arrived in Erdo this time on her own because she had previously received Hathaway's message that Lucien went missing. Thus, she had purposefully picked the commission to explore and investigate the s.p.a.ce, so that she could search for Lucien in the area controlled by the Church, where Hathaway and the Lord of Storm were not suited to enter.
It took her two months before she found Lucien on the remote Erdo peninsula.
Natasha then added in excitement. “I'm gonna put this on record in my family history. Descendants of my family will regard me as a real knight with great bravery and determination, and they'll know that she has a sorcerer friend.”
After a short pause, Natasha smiled at Lucien. “I'm also gonna put on record that beside defeating DemiG.o.d-lich, she also took away the first kiss of a grand arcanist. Well, I'm sure you'll become a grand arcanist in the future.”
She expressed her positiveness towards Lucien's future achievements. At this time, thinking positively gave her the confidence to face the even greater danger coming for them the day after.
They had to equip themselves with hope to face desperation.
Feeling a bit embarra.s.sed, Lucien smiled and asked carefully. “Don't you feel… ugh.. disgusted when kissing a man?”
Natasha rubbed her chin and thought about it carefully, but then she said a bit confusedly, “I thought I would, but it wasn't as bad as I imagined. Maybe it's because you are my best friend, or maybe it's clean as that was your first kiss.”
She smacked her lips, as if she was trying to recall how the kiss felt.
Lucien had to admit that Natasha's masculinity was still impressive to him. Meanwhile, he was quite happy about it because this was good progress between Natasha and him.
“Alright, let's go and check the Death Valley out,” said Lucien. “We'll try to see if there's a way to keep us safe.”
“Okay.” said Natasha. She wiped off the blood on her face and grabbed Lucien's arm.
Before they left the cave, they saw something s.h.i.+ning dimly on the ground.
“What is it?” Natasha approached it and found that there was an ancient-style ring hiding underneath the rotten golden skull.
Lucien's eyes suddenly lit up. ” All the rest of Congus' magic items were destroyed under Alterna's strike. And he didn't return to the main material world and his demiplane after that, which means this is a…”
“Legendary item!” Both of them exclaimed at the same time full of wild surprise.
Lucien walked closer to the ring but did not touch it. He explained to Natasha.
“Many magic items have creepy powers. Take my magic robe as an example, I can hide my soul in it and then wait for a body to occupy when someone tries to take away the robe. The ring may be DemiG.o.d-lich's only legendary item, so we have to be careful. Protect me with Pale Justice; It is a legendary item when it comes to defence against soul attacks or curses.”
Natasha nodded. She pulled out the sword and grabbed it tight.
Lucien calmed himself down and cast Identification on the ring.
