Chapter 140

In the past, Turan had been captivated by the magic performed by the old man before him.

Witnessing the power of the most powerful wizard in this world, he longed to wield such power himself.

And now, years later, he was finally facing the opponent he had always wanted to reach.

The head of House Aravion, a descendant of the Thunder Lord.

‘His impression has changed a lot since back then.’

The Badal he had seen in the past was a lethargic old man.

He would nap under the sun while having a proxy handle things in his stead, and even when he exercised power directly, it was clear he struggled.

But the Badal now looked at least ten years younger than before, and even his expression and movements were full of life.

Something that couldn’t be possible unless he had taken some mythical elixir of immortality.

Turan, immediately awakening his spiritual perception and opening the vision of his soul, shuddered as he looked upon his opponent.

The spiritual body, grotesquely swollen as if it would burst from his head at any moment, was forcibly holding onto his physical form...

And within it, seen through the Mimic Relic, his inner self was the same as before.

Every time a massive hand gripped a hammer and struck the anvil, lightning and wind raged, a symbol of the Thunder Lord.

Suppressing the fear that welled up within, Turan spoke with a mocking tone.

"So you're the one who put your precious daughter in this state? Just like a white elf would."

“A white elf, that was quite an amusing lie.”

Rather than being enraged by the provocation of a young man hundreds of years his junior, Badal maintained a calm expression like still water and responded.

Though screams, shouts, and spells flying in all directions made the place chaotic, the two were able to converse without difficulty.

Thanks to both using wind magic to simultaneously send and receive each other’s voices.

Through this, it was clear that while Badal’s magical talent might fall short compared to Meisa or Turan, it was still on an entirely different level than that of ordinary wizards.

After all, the gods wouldn’t have chosen a vessel lacking in qualities.

Even while conversing, Turan glanced with his eyes to check on the state of his two companions.

Solif seemed to be quite seriously injured, but Meisa, in contrast, appeared to have only bled heavily on the surface without suffering a fatal wound.

“There’s something I’d like to ask. Do you possess Cadrum’s soul?”

“Well, who kno-”

Before he could even finish his words, the slingshot spinning in Turan’s hand exploded.

It was a high-speed throw using the Spirit of Fire as propulsion.

A sudden and underhanded ambush.

But Badal, without even twitching an eyebrow, immediately dropped a lightning strike from the sky, precisely intercepting the projectile.

Just as when Turan had attacked the Sky Guardian before, the metal ball made from the magic artifact instantly melted away, leaving only metal vapor behind.

‘This is...’

The sky, which had been rather clear until moments ago, had long since become shrouded in dark clouds.

As in the past, it was highly likely that the old man before him had created this phenomenon to set the stage for easier use of lightning magic.

In response, Turan immediately used the Concealment spell to melt into the darkness.

Of course, he didn’t truly expect to remain hidden. Just as when he fought Meisa before, his intention was to make Badal consume some magic power and scatter his concentration by forcing him to produce light.

However, instead of creating a sphere of light to illuminate the surroundings, Badal pulled out a long staff from his robe.

No, on closer inspection, it wasn’t a staff at all.

At the tip of the long rod made of blue crystal, a jade-colored gem was embedded in the shape of a square hammer...

The moment Badal raised the hammer high into the sky, Meisa, who had been catching her breath in the background, shouted urgently.

“Get out of the way!”

Whoosh. At the same time that Turan quickly detonated the Spirit of Fire to propel his body away, a violet flash burst from around Badal.

A bizarre color that could never be replicated by ordinary lightning magic.

Though he did not know it was a form of plasma, he instinctively sensed that the power contained within was horrifyingly immense.

From the spot where Badal had stood just moments ago to where Turan was now standing.

A distance of about a hundred meters, within a radius of several dozen meters, the air rippled and shimmered with mirage-like heat waves.

Seeing this, Turan had already deactivated his Concealment spell.

The light had been so terribly bright that his magic power had melted away in an instant.

Truly befitting of a house head, even his method of dispelling Concealment was leagues apart from that of ordinary wizards.

‘So this is what they call divine punishment...’

The sacred relic of the Thunder Lord, considered a counterpart to the 'Sky Guardian' that Meisa wore.

Unlike the Sky Guardian, which ranked in the mid-upper tier, this relic was among the most prized and highest-tiered relics in all of Aravion.

It was an item equal in value to the Mimic Relic Turan possessed.

In the distant past, people had seen a single swing of this hammer dry up rivers and believed it to be a staff that sparked flame.

"Oh."

Perhaps surprised by Turan's mobility, Badal furrowed one brow and then swung the hammer in a swift arc.

At that, a massive charge gathered in the sky came together with a rumbling sound into a single point.

“You’re pretty good at dodging. Then how about this?”

If a pesky fly keeps evading pinpoint attacks, one only needs to swat it with a broad paddle.

Following the hammer's guidance, the charge in the sky transformed into the shape of a violet dragon and descended to the ground.

A technique that ignored the fundamentals of lightning magic, which usually appeared and disappeared in an instant like a flash.

Turan urgently evaded by detonating the Spirit of Fire again and using flight magic, but the dragons were relentless, continuing to pursue him despite the initial failure.

It wasn’t a spell that ended with evasion, it had tracking capabilities.

“Ugh-”

Turan hastily retreated and immediately drew forth the combined power of Aravion’s two bloodlines.

It had been about one month and ten days since he learned god's magic.

Through practice, he had already mastered which lever to pull to exert which power.

The moment Turan activated his spell, dozens of thunder dragons descended upon him.

The shock wave from the thunderous impact instantly sent a couple of nearby knights flying far away.

"No!"

"This bastard!"

Meisa and Solif, crying out in anguish, immediately launched attacks at the now-exposed Badal.

A spear crafted from the Light of Judgement, and a massive boulder lifted through earth-shaping magic.

But Badal, standing still, deflected both attacks.

The Light of Judgement entangled with the purple light flowing from his hammer and vanished, and the magic-infused boulder was caught in a storm-like wind barrier and flung aside.

Seizing the moment, Solif shaped the Light of Judgement into the form of a sword and charged in for close combat.

However, Badal deftly dodged the blade and swung divine punishment, slamming Solif in the chest.

“Guh-!”

With an elegant movement, a thunderous boom erupted, and Solif’s body was hurled several hundred meters away.

Meisa’s eyes widened in shock at the incredible distance, something unthinkable from a mere physical blow.

“Sol...!”

Of course, they were not unaware of the skill gap with Badal.

Despite fighting in a hit-and-run style over the past several hours to aid their main forces’ retreat, they were already on the verge of collapse.

And even that had only been possible because Badal hadn’t shown his full power.

Perhaps due to false rumors about the white elf, he had refrained from using the god's magic and had even held back to try and capture Meisa alive.

Thanks to that, Solif had managed to use Meisa as a shield every time he was about to receive a deadly blow, cleverly turning it into a nullified attack.

It helped that Meisa, due to the Sky Guardian, was practically immune to lightning magic, making her a tremendous asset.

But at this very moment, with Turan’s arrival, Badal had revealed his true strength, and he was stronger than ever.

For a brief moment, Meisa trembled with despair as her fighting spirit wavered, but then Badal turned his head and let out an impressed exclamation.

“Indeed, you really can use skills. So the rumors were true.”

Not long after, a gust of wind blew, and the sight of Turan half-crouched entered the eyes of the two.

A dark blue barrier shimmered in a semi-transparent form around his body.

This god's magic, once used by Cadrum, possessed the strongest defensive capability among the skills Turan could wield.

And yet, judging by the stinging sensation across his body as if burned, had he taken the hit directly, the defense spell or not, he might have been killed instantly.

‘He’s stronger than I thought…’

He had heard that Osel had repelled the head of House Varaha at the Lavitas stronghold, so Turan had assumed that even a possession vessel residing in a Great Noble House's family head wouldn't be that powerful.

At the very least, he believed that if the three of them worked together, they wouldn’t necessarily overpower him but could at least hold their own.

But now, facing the power of the head of House Aravion directly, it was clear that he far surpassed Turan’s expectations.

Was it the compatibility as a vessel?

Or was it simply the power of the god’s original body?

Either way, the head of House Aravion was overwhelming Turan’s group without even revealing the true magic he should possess as the Thunder Lord.

Of course, perhaps things would be different if Meisa and Solif weren’t already close to complete exhaustion...

While inwardly clicking his tongue at the opponent’s skill, the burning sensation from his body faded rapidly.

It was thanks to the relic around his neck, Modest Wish, which had begun to heal him.

It didn’t have strong regenerative power, at best, it could slightly ease major injuries, but even just neutralizing these small wounds was a huge help in combat.

“Hang in there a little longer! Reinforcements are on the way!”

Shouting to encourage his companions, Turan flew into the air to gain a higher position and then created several whirlwinds aimed at Badal.

The technique Cadrum once called Cyclone.

Unlike the first time he had used it, he didn’t simply throw it haphazardly and be done with it.

Using wind magic, he designed the whirlwinds to converge from all sides and surround Badal.

Combining ordinary magic with god's magic, this was one of the elements Turan had painstakingly researched over the past month.

“Not bad.”

With a short compliment, Badal lightly stomped the ground and soared into the air as well.

In response, Turan sent the whirlwinds upward to chase him.

With ordinary flight magic, dodging at that speed should have been impossible.

"What."

At the sight that followed, Turan’s eyes widened instinctively.

Badal, who had leapt into the air, escaped the encirclement in an instant with speed truly like lightning.

A speed so far removed from conventional flight magic, it was more fitting to compare it to Bije’s flight.

“Amazing, isn’t it?”

Whether it was mockery or a sincere question was unclear, as Badal murmured while flying at that same speed straight toward Turan.

His hammer, like before, was brimming with violet energy.

As Turan again executed an emergency dodge using the Spirit of Fire, the aftermath of the impact exploded right beside him and struck his side.

"Kuh...!"

Groaning as if his lungs were being crushed, Turan narrowly escaped and shuddered as he looked at the place he had just been.

Where Badal’s hammer had struck moments ago, a massive crack several dozen meters wide had formed in the ground.

Even a graze from that would have been like getting smacked by the tail of a Great Sea Serpent.

He began to worry whether Solif, who had been hit earlier, was even still alive.

"Strong attacks you dodge, unavoidable attacks you block... a troublesome opponent indeed."

Though it sounded like a complaint at first, a faint smile appeared on Badal’s face.

Was he enjoying the fact that he had encountered a challenging opponent?

As Badal charged in once more, Turan detonated the Spirit of Fire to escape again, but was quickly caught up to.

Whatever he was doing, his opponent’s flight magic was impossibly fast.

‘There’s no way mere wind movement could reach that speed, and even among god's magic, other than acceleration, nothing could do that. Could it be some exclusive ability only the Thunder Lord can use?’

Dozens of thoughts flashed through his mind in that brief instant.

Turan realized that his opponent’s movement differed quite noticeably from standard flight magic.

Unlike the usual method of pushing the body through the air with wind, this felt more like an invisible hand was pulling the body forward...

Just as a flash of insight began to form in his mind, a commotion erupted in the distance, interrupting his thoughts.

“Reinforcements!”

“Enemies! Fall back and form ranks!”

The Lavitas wizards who had accompanied him earlier aboard Bije had now officially joined the battle.

‘They only just arrived? No, on second thought, they’re pretty fast...’

Only then did Turan realize that it hadn’t even been a full minute since he began fighting Badal.

The intensity of the battle had simply made it feel much longer.

“Aravion! Attack the Aravion forces!”

“Where are the wizards from Kalamaf? Bring over the wounded!”

The Lavitas wizards who appeared next struck the flank of the Aravion army, which had been pressing the House Berk wizards hard.

Not all of them were Healers of the Lavitas Bloodline, some were nobles from vassal houses specialized in combat, and their battle prowess was nothing to scoff at.

In the meantime, Badal, though showing no outward signs, seemed to grow more urgent and, unlike earlier, rushed at Turan without his previous composure.

Every time he swung his hammer, infused with violet flashes, the atmosphere shimmered and flared from the immense heat.

In response, Turan configured his relic to the Sun Bloodline and conjured the Light of Judgement.

As Badal had shown earlier, that violet lightning could interact with the Light of Judgement.

If their attacks could be neutralized by each other, then the same must hold true in reverse.

As expected, the Light of Judgement, unlike his other techniques, effectively blocked Badal’s attacks.

Though each time, chunks of magic power were shaved away.

While desperately evading and attempting to shake Badal’s approach with wind magic, Turan came to another realization.

He couldn’t sense even a trace of wind magic around Badal’s body.

What moved him were pieces of metal embedded throughout his clothing.

Just then, as Badal moved to strike Turan, he suddenly frowned and extended one hand backward.

A dark blue barrier extended from his hand and clashed with a flying wind blade, ringing out with a sharp clang.

“So you’ve learned to use it. Certainly... it’s well made.”

Muttering softly, Badal gazed across at Meisa, who was pressing her fingers against one temple as though battling a headache, eyes locked on him.

Turan then realized that wind and lightning were intertwined within her soul, she had finally succeeded in linking the symbols through Soul Magic.

Considering she hadn’t used it just moments earlier, she had either kept it as a hidden trump card or had just barely succeeded in activating it now.

“You... absolutely... can’t lay a hand on him!”

Whether due to the strain of the symbolic connection, or from the excessive blood loss, Meisa’s already pale face had turned bluish-white.

Badal, watching her quietly, suddenly shifted his gaze to his surroundings.

“This isn’t good.”

Just as he said, the Aravion forces that had accompanied him were now being pushed back by the Lavitas wizards.

Because aside from Badal himself, there were no other powerful wizards on their side capable of countering the two top-tier Lavitas wizards.

“This is as far as we go.”

With that blunt declaration, Badal lowered his hammer and stepped back, clearly showing that he had no intention of continuing the fight.

“As far as we go?”

“Continuing this fight would only bring bad outcomes for both sides.”

Turan wanted to shout, “Who decides that?” and rip into him, but even he knew this wasn’t the moment to press further.

He still needed to check on Solif, who had been hurled away moments ago, and Meisa, too, looked visibly strained, barely able to handle using Soul Magic.

Did Badal sense Turan’s hesitation?

With a face now weary, so different from the lively expression he wore earlier, Badal spoke.

“This is truly exhausting. At such a critical time, having to waste strength on something so trivial…”

What did he mean by a critical time?

Before Turan could ask, Badal vanished, flying away at the same tremendous speed as before.

[“All forces, retreat!”]

Soon after, a booming voice echoed down from the sky.

Even amidst the din of the battlefield, the voice cut through clearly, prompting the retreat of the Aravion wizards who had been on the losing end.

They, too, had simply been awaiting their leader’s command.

And just like that, the battle ended in anticlimactic fashion.

While remaining alert in case the retreat was merely a ruse, Turan went searching for Solif, who had been struck and sent flying.

It wasn’t long before he found him, his chest crushed, buried nearly a meter deep in the ground.

“You alive?”

“Feels like I’m already dead. If not, I’ll be dead soon enough.”

Chuckling at the grumbling reply, Turan immediately activated the Lavitas Bloodline and cast healing magic on Solif’s body.

Before long, with a crackling sound, his caved-in chest began to straighten, and all the small wounds across his body vanished.

"While I haven't seen you, you've acquired another new skill... Where's that old man?"

“He ran.”

“Damn it, that monster geezer. We should’ve ended him right here.”

In truth, saying he “ran” wasn’t entirely accurate.

Even though the Aravion forces had retreated, if Badal had truly used his full power, he likely had enough strength to keep fighting.

More importantly, he had barely used any god's magic, nor the “skill” he referred to earlier.

Whether he was holding back or unable to use it remained unclear.

‘Still... have I finally grown strong enough to hold my own in a fight?’

If he had to compare, the gap was still like that between a strong, muscular man and a frail woman.

But at least he’d reached the level where actual blows could be exchanged.

No longer just a bug that could be squashed with a finger.

That realization gave him a brief sense of pride, and then Turan began walking toward the Lavitas wizards who were tending to the wounded.

He prayed there was no one among the dead whom he personally knew.

But that hope was quickly shattered as a familiar voice rang out, screaming in anguish not far away.

*****