Badge in Azure

“Yes, the thing is caught. How are your wounds, Nailisi?”, Saleen remembered the time when the lightning dragon almost ended up killing Nailisi with just one attack. The blood spilt from that one attack probably amounted to several jin.

“Master, it hurts…,” Nailisi uttered some words before finding herself to be in her spirit form. A three yard tall three-faced bone demon really had no place playing the coquette.

The winged skeleton gave a few dry laughs looking at the scene, and Nailisi continued glumly, “That thing has weird attacks. It looks like it will take me no less than half a month to return to normal.”

“Half a month!”, Saleen felt worried, yet happy at the same time. He was worried that she would have permanent, irreparable damage. If Nailisi was pierced by normal weapons, her wounds would have closed completely the next day. She then would have recovered in just three days with magical assistance.

“She will actually need half a month to recover from the stab wound caused by the silverline golden spearfish. So it seems that recovering her imp form’s full combat capacity will require about three to four months then.”

Saleen was happy that he had caught the silverline golden spearfish. No matter how powerful one such beast was, it would not have been able to survive being out of the water for one whole day. The water element within the purgatory of darkness was sucked dry, and the beast did not seem to be one capable of creating water to enable itself to breathe.

Of course, the one who did the most crucial work in capturing the fish was no other than Nicholas. The old man was only able to successfully cast his prophecy magic for a split second without a glitch after burning souls and giving life energy, forcefully putting the fish in suspended animation and preventing it from attacking.

Without the momentary pause, Saleen’s Eye of Lightning would not have been able to work at its fullest, and there would not have been any guarantee of it hitting the fish. The silverline golden spearfish might have been able to fend off lightning powers with its attack.

The picture of the eight yard long spike coming right for him flashed through his mind and it sent shivers down his spine. He was no demon. If his body was targeted and pierced by the spike, he might have ended up being torn in two.

As such, Saleen made the decision to share some of the Goddess of Myers’ power of life to Nicholas. The bones of his hand had completely deified, and the lost power of life was being gradually replenished instead of disappearing completely. His left hand was also the key to his use of the Crystal Finger. Grade-8 mages had yet to be able to use such powerful skills of Raphael’s without concern. Once cast, his arm would disintegrated, and the rest of his body might follow suit as well.

Only after surpassing grade-9 would Saleen been able to use the skill without worries. His God’s Left Hand was something capable of withstanding the Crystal Finger’s recoil, and even repairing itself.

That was something he could do only after leaving the oceanic ice block. What Saleen needed to do at that moment was to keep himself at top fighting shape. His Crystal Finger and family badge became trump cards to that particular hunt.

The water puppet remained silent. Nailisi showed everyone around her what true courage was with her actions. “If it was up to me, would I have simply abandoned Saleen and run away when facing such strong foes? Maybe not, but I might not have had the courage to stand right front of him to protect him.” The thoughts had the water puppet feeling very sad. It seemed to it that some part of who it was before died completely. It knew that in the past, it might have even followed through in a manner more thorough than Nailisi. “No, if I keep being like this, it means that I have just died yet another time. Even if I do become a person, that is not me, but someone else altogether! What can I do, for me to become truly me!?”

The water puppet felt confused and frustrated. It felt the power of life given to it by Saleen and started trembling. Its vision started getting blurry. If it kept on going like that, its consciousness would probably suffer yet another hit. The water puppet knew things were not right with it, and so it simply reduced its form to a collection of water element, making its way to the gourd at Saleen’s waist, and then slept.

Saleen felt baffled, but he did not mind. Ever since the water puppet developed its own ego and signed a contract with him, he had no longer been able to directly sense the puppet’s thoughts.

“Nailisi, my injuries will probably take another day to heal at most. I will go kill the silverline golden spearfish tomorrow. Soldier, wait here for a day and then we will continue moving on!”, Saleen returned to his quarters after he finished giving orders, and began training patiently.

The drain of his mental powers was immense, so much so that he was not able to complete one meditation session.

The pan’s turtle alchemical boat did not park on the ridge, and had instead floated and stuck itself to the bottom of the ice sheet. Snow-white shells collected on the ice’s surface in layers. The shells were all low level creatures, but there were times where some special breeds would appear, carrying pearls with them.

Pearls of shell-type magic beasts all possessed unique attributes, which proved to be of great use to mages. The winged skeleton sent spirits to collect the shells. They were able to see which shell contained pearls clearly, under the scrutiny of their Spirit Gaze.

Saleen rested for a day and meditated for a few times. His mental powers had finally been recovered. He checked around for after effects, and called for Eleanor after confirming that there was none to be found. He then entered the purgatory of darkness with her.

Eleanor felt restless within the purgatory, feeling as if she was stripped of her senses. Her own powers allowed her to see no more than a yard in front of her.

“My liege, I was able to see nothing,” Eleanor felt the dark element fill the entire space.

“No need to fret,” Saleen said and cast a grade-7 spell: Sensory Sharing. His Elemental Eye allowed him to see more than one-hundred miles away, which enabled Eleanor to do the same after Sensory Sharing was cast.

The silverline golden spearfish laid silently on the ground three miles away. Its head was wrapped with a thick layer of water vapor. The fish breathed with utmost difficulty, not daring to even move by half an inch. It was a delay of the inevitable. The water it was able to create was simply too limited. As soon as the energies in its magic nucleus were depleted, it would die in mere moments.

Saleen was not able to afford waiting for so long. He spoke to Eleanor, “Shoot it dead. Aim for the heart.”

Eleanor nodded as she took out the Seven Nights, nocking a space arrow on the bowstring.

“Can’t do it. Too far away.”

Saleen did not say much. He simply walked forward a bit with her. Eleanor stopped at the distance of about two-thousand yards away, “My liege, this will do.”

“Do it.”

Eleanor nocked her arrow again on the bowstring, and simply shot forward without bothering to aim.

The arrow disappeared as soon as it was let loose, and appeared on the fish’s body at the same time. The silverline golden spearfish detected danger, yet the arrow was lodged into its body before its scales even flicked, piercing its heart without mercy.

From Eleanor’s perspective, if she was not able to shoot her target–a fish, which was rendered utterly incapable of movement–down, she would have failed as an elf, and might have as well have called herself a low level creature, like an ogres.

While the silverline golden spearfish possessed powerful defense, space arrow attack worked by tearing through space. The arrow had actually flickered a few times in the air, traversing an unknown number of parallel space, before hitting the fish’s heart.

The silverline golden spearfish convulsed after its heart was pierced, thrashing about on the floor, and eventually failed entirely to keep the mist of water around its head. It was not to say that the elf’s space arrow was something completely unavoidable. The best method to actually evade such an attack was to avoid being targeted in the first place. When the shooter failed to lock on to the target, the space arrow would simply disappear in some unknown parallel space, not even being able to hit its target at all.

When one was being targeted with the elf’s space arrow, one would still be able to beat the arrow down when it returned to its original space. Although such a feat would have been extremely difficult, it was indeed possible for warriors of levels of golden grand swordmasters and above. Grade-9 sorcerers would also be able to achieve similar effects with certain equipment.

Be it golden grand swordmasters or grade-9 sorcerers, none would have been able match the silverline golden spearfish’s abilities blow for blow. At that moment, all of the fish’s powers and focus were used to enabled itself to breathe, and swift movements were also out of the question, rendering it incapable of casting any powerful magic. Eleanor’s shot was simply one that was hitting a fixed target. There was simply no way that she could have missed.

The Seven Nights was a longbow with powerful attributes. The reason why a grade-7 elf like Eleanor was able to simply kill a grade-9 magic beast, was due almost entirely to her powerful equipment.

They stood where they were for half an hour, before the fish finally kicked the bucket. An arrow pierced right through its heart was a critical, fatal damage.

Saleen only walked forward after confirming the fish to be dead. Even with the carcass now laid flat on the ground, it still measured up to about six yards tall. Saleen made directly for its eight yard long spike, slapping at the gourd on his waist and releasing a six yard long water current, before going about cutting the carcass apart.

Saleen was being meticulous about it, not wanting to damage the structures of the silverfish golden spearfish’s materials. The root of the spike was connected directly to the fish’s skull. He tore off the skin and recorded the bone parts with magic patterns, before actually cutting away at the spike. The spike was hollowed out, filled with silver liquid and a thin silver line, linking it to the magic nucleus inside the fish’s head.

After the spike was cut away, Saleen went digging out the magic nucleus. The size of the magic nucleus made him very happy. He stored it directly in his Devil Ring. He then took out the six eyes of the fish even more carefully, crafting them with water flame for a bit before storing them.

The eyes all came with natural magic patterns, enabling it to lock onto its targets. When all six eyes were locked onto Saleen, his body was rendered entirely immobile. If it had not been for Nicholas’ prophecy magic, he and Nailisi would not have been able to escape at all.

Saleen stored the six eyes for further study, which would enable him to create powerful weapons. For example, crafting six tiger eye stones and attaching them on arrows. If the patterns were also etched into the stones, that particular arrow would be able to literally lock its target in place, when the shooter looked down at their target.

After Saleen had all top priority parts stored, he began to cut off the fish’s scales. The scales could be considered special, as they were invisible most of the time. The silver liquid on the surface of the fish’s body allowed it to move in the water without much resistance. The scales could flick into action when danger was sensed, with defensive properties comparable to grade-9 magic.

From Saleen’s perspective, the silverline golden spearfish was a rare grade-9 magic beast. Such body structure and such magic-casting abilities would have rendered it almost invincible among the grade-9 magic beasts. The eight yard long spike in particular, was capable of energy attacks, by wrapping an invisible energy spear in front of it, effectively making the spike more than twenty yards long instead. All that combined with the speed at which it moved underwater, it was no surprise that the silverline golden spearfish was able to kill single-horned white whales.