Chapter 184

: Left Hand (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Saleen had cleared more than half of the evil spirits at once and the remaining few had quickly located him and pounced over. Saleen retreated two steps and had Daniel take over.
The death mage was much tougher looking than Saleen and the magic gestures that he made with both his hands were perfect. He kept silent as he recited his curses and completed his death magic.
Without a doubt, he was a hardworking person as well. It was just too bad that he did not possess a good magic lineage.
Saleen observed closely this time and looked for Daniel’s flaws and strong points. Like him, Daniel was looking to increase the speed of his magic, but he could reach the maximum speed of a single spell, and when combining spells, he did not have the powers of Saleen.
Giant bone shackles appeared in thin air and came from all sides, trapping three evil spirits inside. The three evil spirits were shackled at their heads and limbs, unable to move an inch.
This level-1 spell could only be used to control a mid-grade swordsman at best and could only be used once the swordsman was defenseless. A high-grade swordsman would be able to use his powers to break apart the shackles.
Saleen was delighted when he saw it. This magic was quite good. In a one-on-one battle, its flexibility was not as good as that of the frost array, but on the battlefield. It could control many enemies at once and was much better than the frost array.
If Daniel was with a warrior like Sika, he would only need to lock down their enemies for the warrior to be able to decapitate everyone.
Daniel must be kept by my side, Saleen started to think.
In choosing a death mage as a partner, Aini might have had stronger combat abilities, but Saleen could not be certain of Aini’s temper. He had gained the approval of Aini’s parents and had gone through life and death with Aini. It was possible that he was Aini’s only friend as well. However, Aini was a person with ideas of his own, and once he decided upon something, Saleen could not stop him.
Aini could not be controlled.
Daniel was different. His parents were not in the Qin Empire and when Saleen had come here, he had at least had Sika and Nailisi. Daniel was all alone, and not only did he not have anyone, but he was being watched closely by the people of the Holy See.
At this thought, Saleen smiled at Daniel and walked towards the evil spirits that had been restrained within the bone shackles.
The bone shackles had been created by death mages for battle and had many uses. This was death magic that required a medium and at minimum, a death mage needed to prepare some bone powder for its use. Hence, a dispersing spell was useless against the shackles, as they could only be crushed into bits. Furthermore, if there were any pieces left afterwards, they would remain there for a certain period of time.
Magic which was partially physical was very hard to deal with, and if one’s grade was not sufficient, it would be very difficult to dispel using techniques alone. Low-grade officers on the battlefield were swordsmen at most, and these spells could be used to completely halt any charging troops. No flaws existed with them.
Saleen approached the shackles. On them were not magic patterns, but rather, streaks of blood. The shapes of the bones were uneven and each nudge caused the evil spirits to be crushed even tighter. The evil spirits started scowling, long since having forgotten any language they had spoken when they were alive.
They were trapped in a hell-like space, never to die but having to suffer the eternal pain of hunger. If they came across anything to eat, they would suffer an worse fate. They would be driven by instinct to consume it, but any food they consumed would be split from them and become another evil spirit.
They could not avoid eating, but the more they ate, the hungrier they became. This was the life these evil spirits were living.

What did they do to suffer such a punishment?
Saleen said. He was only thinking aloud and did not actually expect these spirits who had lost their minds to reply to him.

Since the black deacon called this hell, it would be better for all of you to die than to live forever in hell… that is the cruellest punishment.

As Saleen spoke, he took out a small bottle filled with restorative water. This object had mutated under Saleen’s magic, and yet it was unusually stable and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Besides the fact that the amount of restorative water that Saleen created was eight times greater than anyone else, there was nothing different about it.
The restorative water in itself was a concept of unfinished magic. In other words, the process of completing this magic was incredibly slow and stable.
Even for a mage who was unfamiliar with a Water Magic, so long as they successfully created restorative water, they would be able to store it for six days. Only after six days would the spell be considered complete and start losing its effects. Saleen was not sure himself how long his restorative water could be stored, but whenever he was free, he would create a portion of restorative water to store. A single portion from him was equivalent to eight portions from another mage.
The clear, transparent restorative water floated in midair and Saleen recited his magic curse carefully. He could not afford to make any mistakes during this attack. A single mistake would mean that he would need to spend few more hours in this god forsaken place.
The restorative water gathered together and was slowly stretched thinner. The spell in Saleen’s hands was completed almost instantly and a long thick water current formed in the air, combining perfectly with the restorative water.
Current Cutter. Level-4 Water Magic.
Before he had learned this spell, Saleen had not thought that this spell would be sharper than the Ice Blade spell. It could be continuously upgraded until grade-10.
This level-4 spell had easily killed two swordmasters in the past and Saleen had not found a better target to experiment on since then. Now, he needed to control the offensive abilities of the current cutter, instead combining it with restorative water. He had to be careful not to kill the evil spirits.
The clear water current similar to a water snake danced around in the air before striking the eyes of an evil spirit directly.
The eyes of the evil spirit were hollow and black. The clear water current seemed to have stabbed past a sheet of paper, going directly into the brain of the evil spirit. The evil spirit screamed in agony while Saleen calmly controlled the water current, sensing that sliver of feeling within the evil spirit’s brain.
This evil spirit must have had a connection to the Book of the Fallen and Saleen needed to break that contact. Without the threat from the evil spirits, the black deacon would no longer be able to trap them. Any equipment which could trap living humans must have been at least half a god weapon. Even holy equipment could not have achieved such a thing.
Even so, the Book of the Fallen was a holy weapon at minimum, and if the black deacon could use such a weapon, he must have had a certain position in the tribunal. He would likely attain the position of a Black Clothed Chapel soon.
Saleen had no intention of taking down the black deacon by himself. He needed Lex to share this burden. She must have still been under attack by the evil spirits; this space was enclosed and the number of evil spirits around must have remained the same. So long as one was lured over, the others would follow.
If contact was cut off with the Book of the Fallen, these evil spirits would temporarily be unable to revive. The others could then focus on finding out where the black deacon was.
Even if he possessed the powers of a Black Clothed Chapel, Saleen was not afraid either way. He had realized that his clan badge was his best weapon. So long as his enemy was alone, he could use it without any fear. Aside from some trouble when they had encountered the tiago dragon, in all other instances, the clan badge had been a life saver for Saleen.
The brain of the evil spirit was definitely bigger than he had expected. Once the water current had pierced to the back of the evil spirit’s eyes, Saleen’s senses finally passed through and he found the secrets within the skull of the evil spirit.
The inside of the skull was dotted with holy prose which was continuously in motion, providing energy for the evil spirit. No wonder all magic attacks were able to cause the heads of the evil spirits to explode. The explosions were the holy prose exploding on their own in order to prevent the evil spirit from losing contact with the Book of the Fallen.
Saleen patiently memorized the holy prose. It was shimmering in a purple light, and there were over three hundred of them.
Was this the ability that the God of Light had given to the black deacon? In theory, it seemed the same as what the Myers Goddess had left behind. Saleen might not have known any divine spells, but he could still quickly analyze the connection.
The two were describing the same concept, only in different directions. The Myers Goddess had tried to give meaning to life while the God of Light had spoken of the eternity of death.
It was not that the Myers Goddess was incredibly easygoing. Anyone who grasped the secrets of life could just as easily take away someone’s life. It was just that the God of Light’s skills were far too evil. Some of them were even similar to the skills of the black mages.
At this thought, Saleen stiffened. If he spread this information, would the Holy See send the oracle after him to personally destroy him?
Saleen was sure that this skill had nothing to do with death magic. The evil spirits had lost their consciousness. Their minds had not returned to nature, but rather, had been forcefully taken by others to live the lives of evil spirits with minimal skills.
The souls that had been taken away had nothing to do with these bodies. If their souls were not destroyed, these bodies would reborn continuously within the fire, and their pain would be eternal.
He could not let the black deacon leave this place no matter what. At this distraction, Saleen failed to control the current properly and the more than three hundred holy prose started swirling and adhering to the crystal-clear current.
Splat!
Saleen felt his body going numb. It had occurred in such a short period of time, less than a third of a second. If Saleen had not been a mage, he would not have known what had happened.
The holy prose and the current had rubbed against each other, causing a spark. Saleen had been using his focus to control the current and the spark had created the illusion that he had been electrocuted.
Understanding this, Saleen grew even more agitated. He had lost control of the current completely and it had displayed killing intent, spiralling towards the holy prose.
So long as the holy prose was destroyed, the evil spirits could not be revived.
The holy prose seemed to sense the tremendous energy from the current and a good half of it exploded. It was flung outwards, into the surrounding flames, and disappeared. The clear current increased in volume and attacked the more than one hundred remaining symbols. Saw-like patterns appeared within the current and started spinning vigorously, almost like a chainsaw.
The layer of restorative water on the outside of the current seemed to hurt the holy prose as well. With the revolution, the remaining symbols exploded, disappearing into thin air.
They had escaped!
Saleen could not do anything about the holy prose that had been flung away. The over three hundred symbols acted as an entity, and unless all of them were destroyed, he could only delay the revival speed of the evil spirits at best.