Badge in Azure

Chapter 1373: Ambush (Part 2)

That Dissolving Light, Fycro’s level-13 skill, was the only skill developed after he had ignited the divine fire. its activation required no conscious control; it was a passive skill that was unleashed whenever Fycro faced mortal danger.

The temperature of Dissolving Light was totally under Fycro’s control. If he succeeded in developing a divine persona, he would have the capability of making that layer of defense hotter than the sun.

By then the level difference was not something that could be reversed: Those of an inadequate level would not have been able to get near Fycro.

Then again, Fycro hadn’t developed his divine persona yet, and there was no power from divine kingdoms to waste. As a result, the bubble quickly withdrew to his body after bursting for a brief moment.

His hip injuries healed instantly. His clothing was restored: there were no signs of wear and tear.

The godly armor within his body proved insufficient to stop an attack from the Inferno Spear, making Fycro put his guard up. After witnessing Rafel’s failed assassination attempt, Saleen knew the situation had become dire.

The space outside the magic tower suddenly turned black.

Fycro felt as if Saleen and the others had vanished. Endless night fell upon them; starlight was everywhere. If people glimpsed at it briefly, their souls would have been lost in the stars for eternity.

The Level-13 Endless Night had been cast from the magic tower after being amplified by the Rings of Water and Fire, trapping Fycro.

Jason decided to make his move, which coincidentally happened when Fycro was about to retreat from his most powerful attack. Fycro lacked the ability to escape the area-of-effect of the Endless Night at that moment. Jason, on the other hand, had good control of his combat tempo. Saleen took the opening to cast Lightning Constellation.

He also unleashed his Lightning Territory, shrouding the plains beyond the magic tower. The Pande’s Maze spun. Even if Fycro broke through the Endless Night right there and then, he wouldn’t have been able to locate the exit he had passed through earlier.

Faint light emanated on Fycro’s body. He didn’t even attempt to break the spell. The level-13 Endless Night had been boosted by the magic amplifier and the magic tower, making it capable of trapping a target of the same level.

If Fycro had retaliated, however, he would have had to unleash his most powerful attack. Even after breaking through the Endless Night, there were still some level-13 beings lying in wait outside.

Fycro’s combat capacity was daunting. He immediately transitioned into defense mode when the Endless Night manifested earlier.

Sika looked at Fycro from the inside of the magic tower and said scathingly, “If he would just stay still and let me whack him, I’d be able to break through that turtle shell of his.”

Such was the effect of the difference in levels. It was impossible for Sika to match Fycro’s speed. She had enough power to beat him to a pulp; the problem was that she was hampered by the inability to use that power.

Had Sika been able to lock onto Fycro and attack with her metal totem pole, Fycro would have succumbed, despite being a pseudo god.

Sika wasn’t the only one who was frustrated: Saleen couldn’t keep up with Fycro either. Yet he could see everything Fycro was doing. He just couldn’t move as quickly. Saleen’s power of the soul was hardly any weaker than Fycro’s divine soul after all.

“Saleen, Fycro’s godly item is a mirror. Your lightning icicles and even that family badge of yours still wouldn’t be able to destroy that thing.” Jason’s powers were only marginally weaker than Fycro’s, so he had no need to worry when he was inside the magic tower.

If only he could step outside and have a showdown with Fycro! Turning around and leaving the area would have been pointless.

That’s why he decided to cast Endless Night. His goal was to end the fight as fast as possible. If Fycro broke the Endless Night, Jason would have still had the means of dealing with him. But Fycro unexpectedly hunkered down and messed up Jason’s plan of attack.

He knew right away that killing that pseudo god would have been nearly impossible.

Saleen’s level was of no help. The weapon spirit of his magic amplifier had just advanced to level-13. Despite having sufficiently powerful equipment, his combat prowess was far inferior to Fycro’s.

Then, too, Rafel could have fought toe-to-toe with Fycro, but the power expenditure would have been hard to replenish. And what about the millions of believers Fycro had brought to that interdimensional space? He had no intention of killing all the mages on that plane. Those believers were there mainly to provide supremacy to Fycro.

Even if those believers died in battle, Fycro would be able to collect their souls and send them inside the Mirror of Fate to continue providing the power of faith for him.

If Saleen couldn’t get rid of Fycro quickly, attrition warfare would result, no doubt with a bleak outcome.

Fycro hovered midair in silence. The starlight in the Endless Night was confusing. No one would have been able to tell the direction.

Fycro looked down on the mirror in his hand. He was checking the reverse side.

The starlight still looked confusing, but what Fycro was seeing was not the Endless Night: they were sneaking up on him.

The ability of astrologers…

Fycro shuddered. That starlight could do no harm. On the other hand, the constellation power mixed within the starlight would have caused him a lot of trouble if it had entered his body—despite being a pseudo god!

If Saleen had cast constellation power, though, he would have left tracks behind. He would not have needed to spend much of his power getting out of the Endless Night by then.

So, using the godly item came with hefty cost after all. Since Fycro wasn’t a mage, he needed to provide power for his godly item from his own stores.

A road manifested beneath his feet. That time, it looked narrow and uneven instead of wide and smooth like the Road of Glory. Fycro remained quick on his feet. He traced the tracks of those pursuing starlight and flew ahead.

Ding…

A needle flew at him, banging the Mirror of Fate. The needle rattled for a second before letting out a shrill noise. Then it turned around and flew away. Fycro pulled the mirror, which was flying in front of him, with fright. Taking it in his hand, he saw the mirror was so tangled with starlight he could barely make out any images.

The constellation power Saleen had cast from the Star Gathering Needle muddled the mirror’s ability to see fate.

The godly item in Fycro’s possession was still powerful though. The constellation power Saleen had cast was gradually absorbed by the Mirror of Fate.

But then again, constellation power, which possessed the ability to affect fate, would have robbed part of the godly item’s functions before they were absorbed.

Saleen intended to break the mirror, but the needle he had used with not a level-19, so it was impossible for him to destroy Fycro’s godly item. Through that trial alone, Saleen knew that his teacher was right: If he used his family badge, Fycro might reflect his lightning attack back at him.

That action would have temporarily damaged Fycro’s godly item; not even magic towers could withstand a reflected lightning attack.

Jason’s judgment was still stronger than Saleen’s. Saleen inspected the Star Gathering Needle in his hand and noticed its damaged tip. That was a level-18 Star Gathering Needle. That Mirror of Fate did indeed possess the ability to reflect attacks.

By virtue of the strength of its material alone, the level-18 Star Gathering Needle would not have been damaged; it would have remained intact.

The ability to reflect an attack was a terrifying thought. Saleen wondered what would happen if he cast the Crystal Finger onto the mirror instead of Fycro and concluded it would have ended up killing him. He thanked his teacher for reminding him of this important detail.

There was another problem then: If I can’t attack Fycro, will I ever be able to kill him?

Jason got an answer when Saleen was still pondering this question. Hundreds of mages began to cast magic attacks aimed at Fycro trapped inside Endless Night.

The size of the mirror in Fycro’s hand expanded tenfold, thereby blocking his whole body. Those magic attacks, regardless of type, were all reflected back to where they came from.

Fycro wasn’t tracking where the magic attacks had originated at that time. He knew that the starlight Saleen had cast earlier was also a trap.

Without the protection of that powerful godly item, that thin needle might have injected constellation power into Fycro’s body…and that definitely would have been problematic for his divine fire to dispel in time.

The truth was, all Saleen’s equipment and skills would have posed a threat to him. Fycro developed a colossal headache just thinking about it.

But he still refused to leave. While the Endless Night was definitely powerful, it was impossible to trap him. Until he could pinpoint Saleen’s location, Fycro was determined to stay put.

Even if he used the mirror to break through the Endless Night, the magic tower would have recorded everything, enabling his enemies to peer into the secrets of his godly item.

If Saleen wanted to tap into this information, the mage would have to pay the price one way or another.

Fycro decided he didn’t have to kill Saleen right away. Saleen’s teacher, the mage called Jason, was actually capable of casting level-13 magic attacks. Worse still, that level-13 magic attack was powerful enough to morph into a level-14 magic attack.

The difference between each level after level-13 was comparable to that between one whole rank before level-9, which was essentially a difference of three levels.

After hundreds of magic attacks were reflected, hundreds more came. All those spells were extremely complex and did not seem to repeat. Jason was using this type of attack to learn which forms of magic were most effective in deflecting Fycro’s attacks.

After several rounds of attacks, Jason was able to make that determination, more or less. Dark elemental magic was the toughest one to reflect among all types of elemental magic. Magic spells that were not categorized by elemental types were even harder to resist.

“Violet Angel!”

The Violet Angel heeded Saleen’s order and began beating the War Drum of Fear. The sound went straight into Fycro’s ear and mind. The Mirror of Fate couldn’t reflect that.

It was impossible to reflect such skills, and even if someone succeeded in doing so, Saleen wouldn’t have been harmed. Because the War Drum of Fear was selective in its attacks, it was not possible for Saleen to use area-of-effect attacks that were indiscriminate in a battlefield setting.

That would have ended up killing all his soldiers.

Fycro continued casting over a dozen divine skills that only served to weaken the drum’s attacks instead of completely shutting out the attacks.

Fycro could wait no longer. Saleen’s skill and edge in numbers were too much for him. Fycro had resisted over 1000 attacks in less than 20 seconds. Even though they were essentially harmless, he just couldn’t ignore them.

The Endless Night was still eating away at his body, forcing him to take out a scroll.

That scroll had no holy prose on it and was sealed using a rune charm array. Fycro undid the seal and unraveled it. Intense light spread out with him at the center, nullifying the Endless Night around him.

The very reason Fycro wasted his most powerful level-13 scroll was that he didn’t want to use the Mirror of Fate. That mirror would have been the key to killing Saleen; wasting the scroll was an act of desperation.