Badge in Azure

Chapter 1350: Evil Oracle (Part 1)

Rafel extended her hand and took hold of that level-11 abomination. The grayish-white colors seen on her hand were some mystical metal that had yet to be named by humans.

Thanks to the metal’s power, Rafel was almost immune to the tiny thorns on the abominations’ heads. She took hold of the horn and hoisted the beast into the air, bringing it down hard to her feet. Then she stomped on its formidable body and practically snapped it in two.

Chills ran up and down Nailisi’s body: Rafel’s combat methods resembled Sika’s somewhat, and both were even similar in appearance, with pretty faces and voluptuous bodies.

The problem was that their combat methods didn’t match their looks at all. Whereas Sika was practically invincible with her staff in her hand, Rafel looked more or less the same. The way she fought was extremely violent, but also extremely effective.

Nailisi wouldn’t have been afraid of level-11 abominations either, but that’s because she had reliable equipment. The Sword of Rules and the Gray Memory were both anti-abomination weapons, especially Gray Memory.

One thrust was all it would have taken to turn a level-11 abomination into an empty husk.

Nailisi knew that if she did not have the Gray Memory with her, she would not have been able to get rid of a level 11-abomination so easily, even if she were to take her golden dragon form.

The reason she was able to use Gray Memory without difficulty was also attributed to Saleen’s formidable mental powers. The rules of the Soul Bond expanded those powers to frightening levels.

Soul Bond offered benefits to the demon and was not just a means to bind her.

The level-11 abomination possessed skills surpassing those of level-10 mages; the strength of its constitution surpassed that of a level-10, as well. Yet with one stomp, Rafel was able to kill such a composite being despite all its traits geared for combat.

When the other level-11 abomination saw what happened, it stopped dead in its tracks and waited for the army of 800 abominations right behind it. The general of the level-11 abomination assembled its troops into a triangular formation and then it led the charge into Rafel.

The power of over 800 abominations behind the level-11 was daunting. The abomination’s armor shone with glittering light. Without that protective armor, its body would not have been able to withstand such formidable power.

Rafel turned her eyes at the abomination army charging in her direction. That level-11 abomination taking the lead had its powers enhanced by one whole level through the use of that formation. The combat prowess of the abominations behind it was strong as well, and they charged together with their leader.

Rafel extended her hand again only this time she took Nailisi’s Gray Memory instead. Nailisi was shocked! Despite her refined intuition, she was unable to do anything against Rafel’s techniques, which had been forged in countless battles.

Rafel held onto the Gray Memory and charged at the abomination army.

Dead bodies were strewn all over the plaza: the abomination army was like a mechanical being, grinding the bodies beneath its feet into dust. Rafel’s steps, on the other hand, looked as if she was dancing as she moved forward.

She then thrust her spear. All six eyes on Gray Memory opened at the same time. Rafel leaped over 100 meters with her last step, plunging the spear into the level-11 abomination’s chest.

The other 800 abominations were charging with that level-11 abomination. When Rafel’s spear penetrated the abomination’s heart, the beams shot by the six eyes on Gray Memory were more terrifying than the aura of the abominations.

A satisfied moan was heard from the Gray Memory: All 800 or so abominations were reduced to husks afterward, sucked dry by the Gray Memory.

Rafel then pulled out the Gray Memory without care and threw it back to Nailisi. While her own spear would have been capable of killing that level-11 abomination as well, it would not have been able to kill over 800 charging troops.

A large number of the 800 abomination troops were level-9s, and a handful were level-10s, too.

Rafel felt that killing them one by one was simply too much work.

Nailisi was in awe. If she were to kill all 800 or so abominations right before her, the quickest way she would have done so was to lure all of them into the purgatory of the fallen and let her double finish them off.

Her double’s combat prowess was probably on par with Rafel’s. At the very least, the Shackles of the Fallen’s quality would have been more powerful than the Gray Memory.

Rafel pivoted and said to Saleen from afar, “Do whatever you want. With those two level-11 abominations dead, the Heretic God will definitely have been alerted. Come with me.”

Then she headed towards the cavern at the south.

With each step of her walk, she covered tens of meters. She might have looked graceful and leisurely as she moved, but she was actually faster than most flying mages.

Saleen quickly followed behind Rafel and passed through three halls. Rafel didn’t stop until she reached the fourth one.

Rafel then pointed at the black vortex in the middle of the hall and said, “My lord, this is the largest of the portals in the entire underground city. Get this purified so that at least we’ll be able to guarantee that the Heretic God will not send monsters that are too powerful.”

Saleen didn’t reply. He wasn’t afraid of the Heretic God sending in powerful beings: The strongest being on the entire Myers Mainland stood no chance against his family badge’s attack.

But what would happen if that monster brought gear? Without equipment, skills alone wouldn’t have been enough to stop a lightning attack.

That fourth hall was a plaza on the south side of an underground city meant for gathering troops. The place was taken by the abominations–and there were almost 100,000 of them. Those abominations were tightly packed, passing through one underground passage after another as they headed north. Their target was the magic door at the second level.

When Saleen’s party entered the hall, none of the abominations had been able to react before Saleen unleashed his Lightning Territory. Eight Armoring Lightning Beads flew around him. Both the Winged Skull and Rafel brandished their meteor hammers.

Nailisi held tight onto her Gray Memory and followed closely behind, getting ready to deal with any level-11 abominations showing up. In addition, three level-11 abominations were found in the hall.

The black vortex at the center of the hall had a diameter of over a dozen meters and measured over 30 meters high. While that black vortex was not the tallest, Saleen’s Elemental Eye nonetheless found that the elemental spaces around the vortex had been thrown into chaos.

This was the one portal that would have enabled high-level abominations to pass through. Saleen found no abominations below level-7 within that hall. Level-9s were everywhere; level-10s were also seen in great numbers.

Continuous explosions were heard. The three level-11 abominations charged at the same time after low-level abominations had cleared the way for them.

Rafel then said, “The three of us will take one each.”

Both the Winged Skull and Nailisi nodded. Both came to completely approve of Rafel’s combat prowess before they knew it.

Rafel held onto her spear while Nailisi gripped tightly on Gray Memory. The Winged Skull put the meteor hammer away and brandished the Reaper Scythe to slay the surrounding abominations.

That weapon even continued to absorb the souls of the abominations.

The steps of the three powerful abominations were deafening as they charged at Saleen. That was a stunning skill which, when coupled with the evil aura emanated by the abominations, would have made lower-level beings balk.

However, both Nailisi and the Winged Skull had been sharing sensory perceptions with Saleen, and Saleen’s mental powers far surpassed those of three abominations.

Stunning Nailisi and the Winged Skull would have required the stunner to possess skills surpassing Saleen’s thundering sound skills.

“Boring indeed,” Saleen said plainly and cast Thundering Explosion in secret. Those three abominations halted briefly before accelerating quickly, coming right before Saleen.

All three abominations had weapons: One held a rectangular wooden plaque, one held a curved blade with a reverse edge, and the remaining one held a small claw hammer.

The rectangular plaque was bashed onto the Winged Skull, making it feel as if it had been thrust into endless darkness so intense that even its eyes were unable to see anything.

This was impossible because the Winged Skull’s eyes coalesced from soul flames. Those eyes would not have lost their ability to see even after being blinded by intense light, let alone darkness.

That wooden plaque robbed the Winged Skull of its sight right there and then, yet it dared not trust its ears even though it heard Saleen screaming.

Saleen would absolutely not have screamed. The Winged Skull experienced what it was like for Saleen to use his family badge. That pain was so intense that even a spirit like the Winged Skull whimpered.

Saleen, however, was hardly fazed.

Saleen never screamed even once when facing off against the angel of fear. On the contrary, he was the kind of person who would have suffered in silence, a behavior that had been drilled into him from youth.

The reversed edge blade was swung at Nailisi, turning into gentle light and shrouding Nailisi within. Edges of the blade were coming at her in all directions.

Nailisi blocked behind her with the square shield, and all six eyes on Gray Memory were opened, locking onto its target in an instant. She didn’t care which flash of the blade she was dealing with; she simply stabbed anything that came near her.

The small claw hammer was swung at Rafel, and no peculiar statuses were cast onto her. Her opponent’s level was simply too low. Because of this, she could see through all the tricks used against her.

The claw hammer itself was a powerful weapon, and Rafel snatched it away from the abomination. She then caught the abomination’s horn with her other hand.

She seemed to enjoy fighting this way very much. As expected, she took the abomination by the horn, threw it to the ground and stomped on it.

Pfft...

Black smoke billowed and the abomination Rafel had stomped on disappeared in a flash, turning into a claw hammer. The claw hammer that Rafel had thrown to Saleen turned into the abomination instead.

That abomination was feeling very smug. Its enemy had been a powerful god being, yet she was fooled just the same. It was not the abomination’s unique ability but the claw hammer’s—a weapon beyond level-14.

The enemy it closed in on was a mere level-10 mage. “The Heretic God would see what I’m doing this time, eh? Lucky that I’ve been here a while. Those level-12 ones are still feeling lazy after all. I wouldn’t have the chance to prove myself if they’re here already.”

That abomination was still feeling smug as those thoughts ran through its head. But that mage didn’t look scared at all. It simply pointed one finger at the abomination.

Is this some kind of joke? Is he trying to poke me in the eye? He could come at my eye with a knife, and he still wouldn’t be able to break through my eyelids! That mage must have gone stupid.

The abomination was thinking of those things when a beam of white light suddenly burst from the mage’s finger. That beam was hardly blinding at all, yet nothing was able to stand in its way as it penetrated the abomination’s head.