A Sorcerer's Journey Chapter 13

Four fighters who were battling below Sorcerer Dior were so brilliant that they wrestled off Glenn and Chris's attention, which had been focused on the clash between ice columns that Dior produced and the tentacles which were trying to take Dior's life.

At the forefront was Legend Knight Barron. Having already pushed one tentacle back, he was brandishing his axe, teeth clenched, eyes fiercely belligerent and pecs swarthy and glossy, ready to crush the next target into pulps.

On Barron's left was the boatswain of the ship. His weapon was a sword. He had patrolled and policed the ship with that ornate leather-bound sword dangling on his waist. But he had never been seen to be engaged in a fight. Now, he was blazing his sword in a flash and truncated a large chunk of a tentacle, which then cowered back in a great pain.

Among the rest of the fighters, there were Kyrie and Bionna, the two geniuses who had stayed with Sorcerer Dior.

Bionna was in the rear of the squad. She was a little nervous facing those giant ugly beasts. But she had not been approached by a fleeting tentacle yet, because the knights in front of her were protecting her. But that protection had been rendered unnecessary.

Between her eyebrows, a golden round ring, like a third eye, caught Glenn's attention. It was said to be an energy source of certain elements. When Bionna focused her eyes for a few seconds on the tentacle, which was pouncing at her, the undulations of energy around her eyes could be visibly seen speeding.

As a result of that stare, the tentacle had become highly dehydrated and then shriveled up into a dead body. And no less than five of that colossus's feet had turned into "mummies".

But that death stare of Bionna's didn't last long. In a few moments, Bionna started panting for air, and the third eye vanished as if it had never existed.

As Bionna bent over for a break from her wonderous sorcery, the little white mouse, which was frolicing on Kyrie's shoulder, turned its curious yet caring eyes to her, seemingly unaware of the peril it was in.

And Kyrie himself, who wore his usual presumptuous look, was not even taking the enemies as seriously as the little white mouse did. The look was neither of complacency nor of pride. It was somewhere in between. It was like he had been detached from the earthly delights or sufferings, and were standing above the heavens like an emperor.

What in no way would be penetrated was the arcane sorcery that he was unleashing.

No flashes of arms were seen, nor spells were heard cast, nor blazes bolted, the tentacles that drew near to Kyrie had all been amputated in a weird way. The heads and limbs of the monsters fell to the ground as if they had been lopped off by something, but no movement had been made by Kyrie.

As Glenn was marveling at these invisible killings which were conducted by Kyrie, a tentacle was creeping fast from the hull towards Kyrie, and the most unbelievable thing happened.

As the tentacle erected its cranial part and got poised to charge, it loomed so large that everyone at the scene had believed that Kyrie would be overwhelmed. However, strangely, the whole body of the hulk evaporated in literally a second, except for a segment of a snake's tail now lying on the deck, making a rattling sound. The thicker end of the tail looked like it had been crosscut by an incomparably sharp sword - so smooth and glossy.

"No wonder they have the privilege to stay with Sorcerer Dior," remarked Lafite.

She knew the two students were genuinely great, in terms of sorcery. Although she had been able to use the vine, she had produced it merely through Magical Tools, which her father had bought her. That was essentially not real sorcery and the efficacy of the vine would definitely never run parallel to theirs.

But exercise of such powerful sorcery would require a constant supply of magical force, which, considering their young age, would have been an impossible thing to achieve.

So, both of them had had to rest after several killings.

Going back to the aerial warfare, Sorcerer Dior was facing two gliding arms pouncing at him. His mechanical eye was spinning even faster, but the noise from the rotation was drowned by his whizzing robe in the strong gale.

The color on Dior's face darkened as he was murmuring something. Glenn and Lafite both knew he was going to play the trump card.

"Deathly Flame!" Dior yelled.

Even the knights jerked their heads up.

Dark clouds gathered for a moment, and then dispersed and cleared. And in Dior' hand appeared a ball of grey flame. The flame was neither raging nor did it look fatally ferocious, but it made all things and people on the deck tremble, and it was flickering as if it was catching and feeding on the look of fear on their faces.

What Dior was whispering while he was doing the sorcery ran into the ears of all the students and was ringing so clearly as if Dior had been whispering into the ears of every single one of them.

The two flying arms were then set ablaze and this time, the owner of all these fearless tentacles in the sea made a shrieking sound in an excruciating pain. The screaming was so loud and piercing that you could feel a stinging pain in your ear and your heart.

The octopus broke the surface of the sea, leapt out of the water and then dropped back into the sea that was seething wildly. Meanwhile, all the tentacles engaged in the combats drew back.

"The thing escaped!" A student noticed the beast plowing into the sea and then he exclaimed in delight.

Everyone burst into cheers of joy at this hard-fought battle. Dior, however, raised his hand, on which he had held the fire earlier, and stopped the victorious acclamation.

He then swung a vicious look at the crippled tentacles lying sparsely on the deck and his eyes finally lingered on the tentacle that he had frozen under his feet, as he slowly descended on the deck.

Sorcerers were vicious. Some were not evil in nature, though. But they would kill to gain knowledge that was exclusive to a higher level sorcerer, and in the process, even the ones who had the kindest hearts in the world would become hard-hearted.

"Hah! A leviathan from Hurado, how dare you?!" bellowed Dior after he surveyed the tentacle before him.

"Now behold the revenge since you had no intention to respect the Non-Offensive Agreement between sorcerers and Hurado sea creatures."

Dior pulled from him a leathered bag, and from it came numerous palm-sized winged black centipedes with gruesome eyes.

"Have a taste of them. The Ancient Sorcerers invented them for you - the Hurado sea monster."

The half dead tentacle on the deck was too weak to make a move facing the threat. And clearly human or sorcerer language was beyond their comprehension.

The next moment, the plague of centipedes bored their way into the tentacle, through its eyes, mouth, ears and every place that had a hole, right into its viscera.

It was really weird that when the centipedes entered the tentacle's body, they were just babies, but after having their fill, they came out fully mature.

"The Helminths, predators of you Hurado monsters have more of them!" said Dior.

Dior's gloomy look suddenly turned noticeably proud as the tentacle writhed in burning pain and kept banging its thinner part on the deck.

It was said that the Helminths, the natural enemy of Hurado Leviathans, only had a lifespan of one day. But they could and had completed their mission of devouring the leviathan in just half an hour.

Chapter end