Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Celine instinctively closed her eyes when the darkness surged towards her. At that moment, Link did exactly three things.
He ended the light distortion spell and erected a spiritual defensive barrier that he had recently acquired around Celine. He then cast a magical brand on the Red Dragon Magician known as Piceno.
The magical brand was almost undetectable and difficult to dispel. It ensured that its caster would be able to track down his or her target anywhere in the world.
When he was done, Link rushed to Celine’s side immediately. “How are you feeling?”
Celine shook her head, with one hand held against her forehead. “I’m alright. The darkness disappeared as soon as I closed my eyes. I probably didn’t close them fast enough, as my head’s throbbing now.”
Link looked at Celine’s face. Once he was sure that everything was alright and that she was not trying to put on a brave face, he turned around and strode towards the door. “I’ll go see who this person is!”
“Be careful. I think there’s much more to him than meets the eye!” Celine shouted after Link.
Link nodded. With one hand gripping on the handle of the Ode of a Full Moon sword, he exited the room. Sensing where the magical brand was, he made a dash towards it.
Back in the room, after putting on her clothes, Celine took out her rifle and came out on the veranda. She then propped up her rifle, ready to back Link up in his confrontation.
Seconds later, Link caught sight of the Red Dragon Magician Piceno outside the room. Strangely enough, he seemed to be heading towards the heart of the crack rather than trying to escape into the outside world.
Piceno was fast. He had also chosen to walk on an isolated path. However, it was daytime. Despite his efforts to avoid attention, he still managed to draw it to himself. Everyone was perplexed by the sight of Link and Piceno, the latter seemingly in a hurry to be somewhere.
“Stop him! Stop him this instant!” shouted Link while pointing at Piceno. He still did not have a clue as to who the man was or when he had infiltrated the realm crack, but his presence here troubled Link greatly.
The discovery of his presence had been made by accident. This had caught Piceno by surprise.
Link always hated situations like this, where neither side had come prepared, and there was no telling what would happen at any moment.
It was due to this uncertainty that Link kept some distance between himself and his quarry. He then psychically gave an order to a couple of Magicians nearby. “Keep back, don’t try to stop him. Let him pass through, but don’t let him get too close to the heart of the crack.”
Piceno was running straight towards the center of the crack. Maybe he already had a plan in mind, or maybe there was nowhere else he could run off to. In any case, Link decided to open an escape route for him so that he would not be driven into a corner and be forced to do something he would later regret.
The people up ahead stepped aside for Piceno to pass as soon as they heard Link’s voice, while Magicians and Warriors moved in on him from all directions. A Sunlight Warrior stood 60 feet away from the Red Dragon Magician, with his back facing the realm crack. If Piceno wanted to reach the center of the crack, he would have to deal with the Warrior in front of him first.
The Sunlight Warrior rushed at Piceno and roared, “Stop, in the name of the lord of Ferde!”
Piceno did not stop. Instead, he quickened his pace.
“Take him down!” shouted Link. One would only be put at a disadvantage by showing mercy to someone as dangerous as Piceno.
At that moment, everyone realized that Piceno was trouble. Hearing Link’s order, the Sunlight Warrior roared again, “Die!”
Boom! He slammed one foot into the ground and launched himself forward by activating Charge. His entire body emanated a dazzling golden light as he flew through the air like a golden arrow towards Piceno.
The ones Link had brought with him into the crack were all Elites. The Sunlight Warrior was in the early stages of Level-9. He would probably be able to charge into the wall of a small city in Norton Kingdom and leave a huge hole on it if he felt like it.
What happened next stunned everyone. The Warrior staggered all of a sudden in his trajectory, missing Piceno by inches.
What was even stranger was the fact that the Warrior showed no sign of stopping. He shouted, “You’re mine!”
He was now roaring and swinging his fists at empty air.
“He’s under an illusion spell!” shouted one of the Magicians.
Other Warriors came at Piceno. However, all of them grazed past him as well and was now thrashing against the air, completely ignoring Piceno.
“Magicians, take aim! All Warriors back away now!” Link pulled out his Ode of a Full Moon sword. He then began channeling Mana into it, ready to launch his attack.
The other Magicians followed his suit.
Piceno was now 500 feet away from the crack. As the heart of the crack was also the core of the magic seal keeping the realm crack closed, there would most certainly be trouble if he were to come any closer to it.
At that moment, Piceno cocked his head back and let out a roar.
The roar was deafening. It spread out in all directions like a tidal wave. The Magicians closest to him took a few steps when the sound hit them. Though they were able to activate their defensive amulets in time, all of them clutched at their chests, panting slightly, as if they had been hit by something heavy in the chest and were now sustaining severe internal injuries as a result.
A moment later, Link realized that there was something off about the sonic attack.
This was no mere roar. It seemed to bring with it a powerful spiritual impact. When the roar hit him, Link could feel a violent pain surge through him from his chest, as if he had been struck by a sledgehammer.
At first, Link also took an instinctive step back. However, he realized what the roar really was. It’s a soul spell!
Fortunately, he had first-hand experience with the soul spell of the guardian who had protected the Book of Creation’s fragment in the far north. Thanks to this, he was able to easily come to this conclusion.
Though Piceno’s soul spell was impressive, it was still a few levels below the guardian’s. Link was able to sense where the spell’s flaw was without even feeling the need to compose himself.
Once the flaw was discovered, the soul spell was immediately rendered ineffective, and Link was able to use his magic once more.
Realizing what had happened, Piceno turned around and glanced at Link.
With just a glance, Link realized that the person in front of him was not a Red Dragon Magician by the name of Piceno. Even the illusion spell he had cast on himself had been dispelled along with his soul spell.
Link was able to see that the man’s skin was blue. His pupil-less eyes glowed white. His nose was sharp, and he had a wide forehead, on which mysterious runes swirled.
Though his eyes were devoid of pupils, making it almost impossible to tell what he was feeling through his eyes, Link was able to tell from his face that surprise was what Piceno was feeling at the moment.
Nana had reached the scene just then.
Piceno glared at her as if trying to cast the same spell on her, but Nana’s spiritual constitution was different from that of any other human being. As a result, the spell did not have any effect on her.
Link’s spell had already taken form in his sword. However, he did not release it at the intruder. For some reason, he felt that the situation was not as bad as he had initially thought.
This might all have been one big misunderstanding.
Letting his spell fizzle out, Link shouted to Nana, “Subdue him!”
When she heard Link’s order, Nana, who was about to draw her sword out of her scabbard, strode towards the blue-skinned man and swung her scabbard at him, with her sword still in it.
Thud! The intruder apparently had no experience in the martial arts, as he could not even react to Nana’s attack in time and took the full brunt of her scabbard.
Nana’s power was originally at the pinnacle of Level-13. After receiving Link’s miracle concoction, her power has risen up to Level-14. She now had near perfect mastery of the martial arts and flawless control of her own power. At that moment, her attack was strong enough to send the blue-skinned man flying until he landed a good ten feet in front of Link.
With a dull thud, the blue-skinned man crashed to the ground. Nana caught up to him. She placed a foot on his chest and pressed him down to the ground in order to prevent him from escaping.
Suddenly the unexpected happened. The man struggled for a while, but could not free himself from under Nana’s foot. In the end, he raised both his hands up and shouted, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I mean you no harm, no harm at all! This is all a misunderstanding!”
