Shepherd Wizard Chapter 66

Translator: Pai_

Having bombarded two islands earlier, Turan explored the power of this black powder, known as the Spirit of Fire, from various angles.

Fortunately, since the Three Brothers Island was overflowing with pirates to use as test subjects, he was able to conduct quite a variety of experiments.

He detonated it above their heads, under their feet, beyond a single wall, and even cornered them before setting it off…

As a result, he discovered that the impact was maximized when the explosion occurred in a confined space rather than an open area.

From what he had observed through his ability to read the flow of the wind, it seemed that the force, which should have dispersed in all directions, instead rebounded off the walls and concentrated inward.

If used properly, this could lead to the creation of some rather interesting things. However, with an imminent battle at hand, he had no choice but to utilize it in a relatively simple manner.

That was by creating a wall of wind, just as he did when making wind paths, effectively turning the explosion site into an indoor space.

‘What a gruesome sight.’

Flying in the sky, Turan looked down at the corridor, now in shambles due to the explosion moments ago.

His strategy was to simultaneously detonate a massive amount of the Spirit of Fire, enough to blacken the floor, while sealing off the windows with a wall of wind.

As a result, the explosion that started within the corridor did not spill out but was instead fully contained inside.

Of course, some of the force was dispersed through doors leading to the bedrooms and staircases.

Based on what he sensed through the sacred relic, two of the nine nobles had died instantly, while two others had suffered significant damage, their energy visibly faltering.

This was an outcome beyond his expectations.

Originally, Turan had merely hoped to inflict moderate damage on all nine, impairing their bodies and magic, and if he was really lucky, render one of them incapable of fighting.

It seemed that the fortress building, being sturdy enough to withstand the explosion, had played a role in amplifying the results.

“Orin, Amia… damn it! Is this the trap of a Barrier Master!?”

“N-no! If there had been a barrier laid in advance, my magic artifact would have definitely detected it-”

“Just get out of here! Jump out the window!”

“What about those two?”

“Carry them!”

Though all of the Spirit of Fire inside had been consumed, those who did not understand the cause of the explosion would likely assume another similar attack could follow at any moment.

Considering that, their decision was not entirely unwise.

As the seven remaining nobles jumped out of the window, carrying the two corpses, Turan hovered in midair, spinning his slingshot while watching them.

Since they were moving targets, he could not use wind paths. However, that was not an issue, his slingshot attacks were more than enough to kill most nobles in a single strike.

‘Let’s take care of that one first.’

Among the seven, there was a particularly small-built man.

Since he was carrying a corpse, both of his hands were occupied, and his condition was among the worst.

Turan hurled a stone at him, and with a sound like the air being torn apart, the target’s head exploded.

It seemed he had some kind of defensive magic artifact, as a multicolored glow flared up in an attempt to block the attack. However, it was not strong enough to withstand a slingshot strike that had been powered up over time.

“What the…”

“A sniper! The attack came from above!”

“I can’t see anything!”

“Then light it up!”

It was a long-standing tactic, when facing an invisible opponent, the first move was always to illuminate the surroundings. This was a direct result of history, when the House Zahar once terrorized others by abusing their Concealment Magic.

If the Zahars had not been too troublesome to eradicate, the rulers of the Enril Desert might have been different by now.

However, Turan had anticipated this.

As soon as he threw the stone, he immediately re-entered the corridor, which had been torn apart by the explosion, and descended through a hole in the floor.

No matter how specialized their bloodline was in light, they could not shine through stone and wood to illuminate the inside.

“Where’s the enemy…?”

“Can’t see them!”

As a result, even though the surroundings were as bright as midday, the nobles of House Varaha could not locate their enemy and fell into confusion.

They continued to look around frantically until they eventually charged toward Solif, who was standing in the distant garden.

Whatever that ambush had been just now, securing Solif’s custody was their top priority.

“Damn it, subdue that bastard first!”

The nobles of House Varaha each conjured weapons of light and fire, launching them at Solif.

In response, Solif created a halo, drawing out a whip of light, just as he had done when he fought Turan in the past. However, the force behind it now was incomparable to back then.

At that time, he had held back, unsure of his opponent’s full strength.

“Ugh-”

Despite his power, Solif was unable to take control of the battle.

Being outnumbered one to six was already difficult enough, and to make matters worse, he was injured and had all of his magic artifacts taken from him.

Meanwhile, three of the nobles, who possessed greater magic power than Turan, were at the forefront, blocking Solif’s attacks while each using a different magic artifact.

‘One of them seems to be using the artifact Solif originally had. Another one… it feels similar to my Guardian magic artifact… And the last one is defending by physically moving himself?’

The only reason Solif was able to hold his ground and not be instantly overwhelmed was because he was also using a defensive magic artifact, Turan’s trusted Guardian magic artifact.

With it fully activated, Solif was theoretically on par with a high-ranking noble heir of the Guardian Bloodline. No matter how high-ranking the attacking nobles were, taking him down in an instant was no easy feat.

Thanks to that, Turan had enough leeway to exit the building, create a wind path, and prepare for a second shot.

His target was the one moving the least among the six.

Completely immersed in battle, the nobles of House Varaha naturally did not even notice his actions.

"Kuhek!"

A stone flew in silently, piercing one noble’s heart. The House Varaha nobles, who had been overwhelming Solif just moments ago, immediately switched to a defensive formation.

One of them examined the corpse and tried to deduce the direction from which the stone had come, but by then, Turan had already retreated back into the fortress.

“No way, is it really a Zahar…? Why?”

The leader of the group that had come to capture Solif, a cousin of the head of House Varaha, muttered in disbelief.

As if the very idea of a noble from House Zahar interfering here was as shocking as the sky collapsing.

However, his stunned expression lasted only a moment. He had not become their leader for nothing, he quickly regained his composure and issued commands.

“I’ll keep fighting him with Soru! Ray, take care of the Zahar bastard hiding inside the building!”

Of the three nobles stronger than Turan, two, along with three weaker nobles, surrounded Solif once again, while the remaining one charged toward the fortress.

A bird made of fire ignited in his hand, rapidly swelling in size before soaring toward the stronghold.

‘Damn it…’

As the firebird swept through the corridors and rooms, it incinerated the bodies of over a hundred pirates who had been hiding inside, watching the battle between the powerful magic users.

So, this was the kind of devastation a Pyromaniac Bloodline wielder could unleash when wielding immense power.

Turan pulled out the water flask he had and doused his face before launching himself toward the back of the mansion.

He could feel the scorching heat licking at his back and the nape of his neck.

“Kh….”

Even though he had escaped as quickly as he could, the burning pain on his back suggested that he had sustained a significant burn.

Had he at least activated the Guardian magic artifact, it might not have been this bad, but since he had lent it to Solif, there was nothing he could do about it now.

As he withdrew, he absorbed magic power from the Mimic Relic. Then, turning his head, he saw the noble of House Varaha named Ray approaching.

The burning fortress cast a fiery glow behind him, throwing his face into deep shadows.

“I was sure everything had already been settled between our sides. Is interfering with our event the will of your house, Zahar?”

“Think whatever you want.”

From the way he spoke, it seemed that there had been some sort of understanding between House Varaha and House Zahar.

Perhaps it was something trivial, like an agreement where Zahar would not interfere with Varaha’s pursuit, even within their own territory, in exchange for some tangible or intangible asset.

Or perhaps it was something even darker.

For example, the shadow of the same god might be looming behind Zahar as well, or different gods could be backing each house, leading them to reach some kind of secret agreement...

Even as these thoughts ran through Turan’s mind, his expression remained completely unaffected, as if he had carelessly thrown out his words without a second thought.

Unlike Ray, whose face twisted at being provoked by a noble clearly much younger than himself.

“What the hell are you relying on to act so arrogantly? You do know that our House Varaha is your natural enemy, don’t you? Or are you perhaps an heir?”

Light and fire, both elements were practically the bane of Zahar’s Concealment ability.

From the beginning, the Zahar bloodline was not particularly strong in direct confrontations.

No matter how talented a wizard Turan was, fighting head-on against a battle-specialized wizard with greater power was no easy feat.

If there had at least been water nearby, as there was during his fight with Solif, that might have been different, but that was not the case here, making it even more disadvantageous.

Yet, there was not even a trace of fear in Turan’s gaze as he looked at his opponent.

“I’m not an heir, but I can still beat you.”

Ray bristled at the remark, and the moment he fired a massive sphere of flame imbued with overwhelming magic power, Turan stomped the ground.

Immediately, a towering wall of earth rose up right in front of him.

Despite the disparity in magic power, the stone wall Turan had created endured the explosion of the fireball without a scratch.

“The ones Pyromaniacs hate the most are those of the Wave Rider bloodline when near water - or Earthmovers, wasn’t it?”

And the magic power Turan had just absorbed belonged precisely to an Earthmover Bloodline user.

It had come from the commander of the army he had killed in the Western Wasteland.

While immense heat could melt even soil and stone, the land imbued with the power of an Earthmover family was a different story.

Turan counterattacked, launching a stone with his slingshot. Amusingly, the influence of the Earthmover bloodline made it fly even faster and hit harder than usual.

“Ugh!”

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Ray instinctively raised his hand to shield his face.

At that moment, something greenish slipped out of his grasp and intercepted the stone in his stead.

It was the small, palm-sized shield he had seen earlier.

Likely a defensive magic artifact, it confidently hovered around Ray as if it could deflect any attack.

“Damn it…!”

Judging by his reaction, it seemed Ray had not consciously blocked the attack himself.

He cursed under his breath as he touched the spot on his face where the stone had almost struck.

His face had reddened, likely from the shame and rage of realizing he had been afraid.

Extending his hand toward Turan, he unleashed dozens of arrows formed from light.

Light-forged weapons were among the most commonly used magic by knights due to their simplicity, but when wielded by a noble of the Light Bloodline, they became far deadlier weapons.

In response, Turan stomped the ground again, causing stone spikes to shoot up, intercepting the incoming arrows one by one.

Both wielded physical force, earth magic being more defensive and slow, while light was aggressive and swift.

As their attacks clashed, Turan allocated a portion of his focus to discreetly releasing the Spirit of Fire using wind magic.

It naturally bypassed the shield and, upon reaching Ray’s vicinity, erupted in a violent explosion.

“Urgh!”

While such an attack was unlikely to seriously injure a high-ranking noble, it was enough to temporarily impair his vision and hearing.

In a battle like this, that kind of disruption was more than significant.

As Ray instinctively clutched his face for a moment, Turan seized the opening. Earth spikes shot forward, piercing through Ray’s feet and legs.

The Green Shield could only block so much, it could not possibly deflect every single attack while Ray was completely stationary.

“Aaaaagh!”

Ray let out a scream of agony.

However, as befitting a high-ranking noble who had lived for centuries, Ray continued to fire arrows of light without pause, forcing Turan into a defensive stance.

Turan attempted to send out the Spirit of Fire once more using wind magic, but this time, shockingly, the powder exploded the moment it left his hand.

A faint groan escaped Turan’s lips as he suffered a slight burn on his hand.

“Ugh….”

“I don’t know what trick you pulled, but it won’t work twice!”

Since he had been fully focused in the midst of battle, Ray had quickly realized that the black powder had been deliberately sent toward him to detonate. He had already come up with a countermeasure.

Moreover, perhaps due to his Pyromaniac Bloodline, his ability to ignite flames was significantly faster than before.

Realizing that further use of the Spirit of Fire was futile, Turan abandoned the tactic and chose to engage in a straightforward magic duel instead.

He manipulated the earth, creating more stone spikes to restrict Ray’s movement while simultaneously shooting down the incoming arrows of light.

Meanwhile, whenever an opportunity arose, he launched stones with his slingshot, but the Green Shield intercepted them.

Even so, in the grand scheme of things, this too was a form of poison.

All magic artifacts fundamentally relied on their user’s magic power as an energy source.

For an artifact that blocked attacks automatically, the magic consumption was bound to be even greater, making it obvious which side was at a disadvantage.

“Huff, huff….”

Ray’s heavy breathing and cold sweat were clear indicators that he was burning through his magic power too quickly.

The problem was that Turan, too, was nearing the depletion of his Earthmover Bloodline magic.

As soon as he exhausted it and took a step back, Ray noticed his advantage and grinned triumphantly.

“Haha… You put up a good fight, but you’re at your limit, aren’t you?”

“Not really.”

Despite his words, Turan had also expended a considerable amount of energy in their relentless exchange of attacks.

While he still had more stamina than his opponent, he needed to conserve his strength, as he would soon have to assist Solif in his battle.

Truthfully, the fact that Ray had immediately found a way to counter the Spirit of Fire was an unexpected miscalculation.

Had that not been the case, the fight would have ended much sooner. As expected of a high-ranking noble wizard.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in battle, Turan retrieved the Mimic Relic from his robes and absorbed a second source of magic power.

“What is that? A magic artifact?”

“Something like that.”

It was blatantly obvious that Ray was trying to buy time to recover his stamina and magic power, but Turan played along.

After all, he too needed time for the foreign magic power to fully integrate into his body.

A moment later, once the magic had completely settled within him, Turan raised both hands, conjuring light in one and fire in the other.

“What…?”

Ray’s face twisted in confusion.

Light and fire, weren’t those the two types of power that nobles of House Zahar, who specialized in concealment, despised the most?

Of course, his opponent had earlier displayed the abilities of a trained Earthmover Bloodline noble out of nowhere, but even so, these were not the kinds of weapons one would expect him to wield against someone of the Sun Bloodline.

As if answering Ray’s unspoken question, Turan fused the light and fire in his hands into one.

Two forces that, as if existing on entirely different planes, refused to mix at first.

But before long, they melded together in an unstable, flickering manner, forming a radiant halo behind Turan’s back.