Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
Han Jin was much faster. With a stride, he had caught up with the Minotaur. The giant axe in his hand streaked across the air and left a shadow in midair, whistling and streaking toward the back of the Minotaur’s head.
Hearing the strange sound behind him, the Minotaur subconsciously turned his head, only to find a sharp blade coming towards him. Frightened out of his wits, he struggled to raise his own axe, but his arms were still stiff from his last round of clashes with Han Jin and couldn’t move at all. The next moment, the giant axe fell into his body, cutting him into two pieces.
The other Minotaurs around them finally came to themselves. Astonishingly, instead of running away after seeing their leader killed, they roared and rushed toward Han Jin with red eyes.
Han Jin smiled bitterly as he faced the charging Minotaurs. He was still not strong enough. The one he had just killed had cost him lots of energy, and had brought him nothing but thorough pain. He could still feel blood boiling in his thorax abdomen. If that Minotaur had withstood a few more attacks, Han Jin would have been the one running.
Two chopped down at Han Jin from two directions. Han Jin held his giant axe in his right hand, stepped back slightly, and flipped his left fingers. Two charms of fire were thrown out at an extremely quick speed, accurately hitting the two Minotaurs’ faces.
The distance between them was too short for the two Minotaurs to respond. What’s more, they had both thought that Han Jin was just a soldier. They had not expected this human to know magic! When they saw the light of fire, everything was too late.
“Boom!” “Boom!” After two loud sounds, the two Minotaurs flew back, covered in flame, and then thudded down on to the ground, unable to move. The fire was still burning when they landed, filling the air with the scent of roasting flesh.
These were not really two huge balls of burning fire, but two burning corpses, for fire balls would extinguish after explosion. But the other Minotaurs weren’t detered at all, and charged forward again after a brief stun.
Han Jin brandished the axe in his hand like a windmill. Though the fight had consumed a lot of his energy, it was still not difficult for him to wield an axe of fifty kilograms in weight. Meanwhile, his left hand would throw out fire charms from time to time. He no longer needed those low grade charms anyway, and now was a great chance to dump all of them!
The Minotaurs gradually lost their morale. In truth, they were more afraid of the fireballs that could be released instantly without incantation than the axe in Han Jin’s hand. An attack from an ordinary magician was nothing to them, because they would kill him long before he finished his spell. But the magic released by Han Jin was too fast. Each time his terrible hand waved in front of their faces, they knew exactly what was going to happen. However, within such a short distance, they had no time to dodge even though they knew an attack was coming.
Han Jin retreated unhurriedly as he fought. When he had stepped back around twenty meters, a dozen corps lined the street, while the attack from the remaining Minotaurs was more scattered and discouraged.
Suddenly, a streak of flowing golden light was shot from afar, followed by an immense sense of pressure. The Minotaurs were all stunned as they felt it, before turning around and fleeing with a scream.
Guevara took off his helmet, standing there calmly and leisurely as he looked at Han Jin. A hint of smile crept on his lips. “Are you all right?” he asked smilingly.
Han Jin smiled back. “When it comes to fleeing, few are better than me.”
They both showed no interest in the fleeing Minotaurs, nor anything around them; they were only trivial minions.
Guevara laughed. “Ha! You really have great potential, little one. I did not expect you to single handedly disrupt their defense.”
Han Jin gave a dry cough.
“Sorry, it should be Mr. Raphael.”
However reluctant, Han Jin could do nothing about Guevara. He could not defeat him in a fight, nor could he be impolite to this old man. Han Jin looked toward where Guevara had come from. Soldiers from the Riptide Regiment were everywhere, all hunting down the remnant soldiers of Black Raven City. Ronning was also rushing toward them. Han Jin suddenly realized that he had been too absorbed in fighting with the Minotaurs, and had nearly forgotten about the Purifying Crystal.
“We are not needed here. Sir, will you come with me to look for Prader, or…” Han Jin asked.
“What? Are you losing your confidence just because he is a dark magician?” Guevara was in a good mood right now and even joked with Han Jin.
Han Jin shrugged. “Of course not. But with your help, we can be sure that nothing can run, making this faster.”
Han Jin’s words reminded Guevara of the hidden clock that was ticking. He pulled the smile from his face and solemnly smiled.
They ran at full speed to the square which had been pointed out by the Minotaur, and had no intention to tangle with the remaining guards along the way. Obviously, the guards were in no mood to fight with the duo either. Soon, they reached the square which was located in the center of the city.
Some Minotaurs ran into the square in a flurry from another direction, and turned back immediately when they saw Han Jin and Guevara. Han Jin strode forward, kicked one down, and asked, “Where is the altar?”
“Uh… under the square.” The Minotaur was scared out of his wits as he laid on his stomach, shivering and not daring to resist.
“Where is the entrance?”
“It’s in the palace over there.” The Minotaur pointed to a palace not far away.
Han Jin took a glance at it. The palace covered at least a thousand square meters. Han Jin frowned. “Do you know the exact location?! If you want to survive, lead us there.”
The Minotaur trembled even more violently. “I… I’ve never been there either. I really don’t know! But I know of another entrance which seems to be blocked.”
“Lead the way.” Han Jin grabbed the Minotaur by his back and lifted him up.
At the other end of the square, there really was a ladder extending downward. After ten more meters along with the ladder, a closed door appeared. Han Jin pushed it. The door was made of metal and was heavy. Someone must have locked it from the other side so it couldn’t be opened from above ground.
Guevara silently thrusted his war pike toward it. Blinding gold light exploded outward and forced everyone present to close their eyes. Following the light was a thunderous sound. Dust spattered in all directions, and rocks rained down like a hail storm as the earth shook violently. Han Jin subconsciously raised his arms to protect his head.
Before long, everything quieted down. Guevara was still standing there leisurely, but the war pike in his hand had twisted out of shape. Meanwhile, Han Jin was covered with a thick layer of dust, and even his hair had become grey. He hastily dusted himself off and gave Guevara a weary look. After all, he didn’t have the strength of fighting to ward off dust, nor did he have the luxury to use an Earthmeld Charm for something so trivial.
Suddenly, a loud noise came. Han Jin turned around and was quite amused as he saw the Minotaur fainting in fear. The closed iron door was forcefully barged open. Half of it remained intact, but the other half leaned uselessly against the wall.
“Come on.” Guevara threw away the distorted war pike and went first.
Han Jin followed him. Seeing Guevara had no weapon in hand, Han Jin quickened his steps and passed Guevara his giant axe. “Use this, Senior.”
Guevara cast a glance at him while kept walking, not taking it. “Do you think I’m too old for this? He is just a magician. Don’t be so nervous.”
“Of course not. I just think that bringing a weapon might be better,” Han Jin explained.
“Very few people can force me to use a weapon,” Guevara proudly said. “That dark magician is definitely not one of them!”
Seeing as Guevara was so confident, Han Jin felt it inappropriate to say anything more and silently followed beside Guevara.
The underground palace was quite large. It was different from the other labyrinths Han Jin had seen before, and a wide main road spanned the entire palace. Han Jin caught an Evil Eye randomly, and was told that the altar was straight down the main road.
In the depth of the palace, Prader was calmly sitting on the high altar. On the ritual table in front of him was a giant crystal. Few were left in this palace, but Prader hadn’t run away. It wasn’t because he was particularly loyal; he simply knew that even if he could leave this underground palace, he would not be able to escape Black Raven City.
And most of all, to remove the curse, they need the Purifying Crystal. It was very likely that ordinary people would never have heard of this crystal before, let alone know how to use it. Thus, Prader was confident that they would not kill him immediately.
Finally, both Han Jin and Guevara saw the altar at the end of the road. At the same time, Prader also saw them.
Though there were only two enemies, Prader still felt an overwhelming pressure. But even so, he sat there calmly. Since the enemy had sent two powerful professionals, it meant that they placed a great importance on the crystal, which in turn meant he had more leverage to bargain for his survival.
The distance between them grew shorter and shorter. Suddenly, Prader noticed something, and his eyes looked like they were about to pop out from fear.
“It’s you…” Prader’s trembling hands pointed forward. He couldn’t even form a complete sentence.
“Ah, so you are the one guarding the crystal,” Guevara casually replied. A cold light shined across his eyes, which also represented his current feelings.
“Sir, you know him?” Han Jin asked in surprise.
“Humph! Of course I know him. During those years in Nuremberg, he often visited me.” Guevara’s bleak laughter echoed in the empty hall, his tone filled with bitter hatred.
“You’re alive? How… is this possible?” Prader was startled, as if he had seen a ghost.
“You thought I was dead? So sorry to disappoint,” Guevara sneered.
Prader hands were still trembling, but as soon as he heard Guevara speak, his lips also started trembling. He looked extremely nervous.
Guevara didn’t stop his steps while talking. He walked slowly to the altar. When he was nearly twenty meters away from Prader, rays of golden light suddenly appeared on his body. He dashed to the altar like a lightning bolt, leaving a mirage of himself in the air.
At the same time, a wand suddenly appeared in Prader’s hand as well. It was greyish-white and mottled like an aged man.
A huge black ball unexpectedly appeared at the top of the wand and shot toward Guevara. Then Prader’s feet moved. A fence made of steel columns as thick as a man’s arm dropped down between him and Guevara. The hall was divided into two parts.
“Devour?!” Guevara was shocked. He quickly dodged the black sphere, which passed beside him and hit the ground, leaving a huge hole in the floor as if the solid ground had been melted by fire.
Guevara’s expression turned grave, not expecting that Prader could release even such a high grade spell instantly. But he immediately realized that Prader’s lips were not trembling, but rather actually chanting incantations under the guise of nervousness.
“Ha ha…” Prader laughed, but in desperation. He had planned to use the solution of removing the curse as a bargaining chip. At the very least, he wanted to bargain for his life. But when he saw Guevara, his heart instantly dropped into an ice cavern. How would Guevara forget those days and nights, and the deep hatred between them?
“Guevara… Zaganide ordered me! You can’t blame me!” Prader said with a tone of frustration. He was still making a last effort.
“Do you think you can stop me with words?” Guevara sneered and knocked on the fence in front of him.
Prader became truly desperate when Guevara ignored his plea, but immediately after, his eyes turned cold. He turned around and raised his magic wand. A giant fireball appeared out of nowhere and directly flew toward the Purify Crystal. Since he was doomed to die, those who were cursed would die with him!
