Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 183.2

Translator: Pai_

Badal had manipulated the surrounding magnetism, disturbing the force Turan was using to control his movement.

It was the same principle he had used in the past when disrupting flight magic by twisting air currents against other Aravion nobles.

But Turan, unfazed by the sudden turbulence in his flight path, immediately switched to wind-based flight magic and at the same time turned his body to launch the iron ball with his slingshot.

Just like Cadrum, who had once worn the Sky Guardian, Badal used lightning to melt the ball. However, instead of pursuing immediately, he kept some distance.

It seemed the earlier blow he had taken had left a significant impression.

‘So iron doesn’t work against Aravion nobles after all.’

As he fled using wind magic, Turan could sense the incoming attacks aimed at him.

Arrows, throwing spears, and bladed disks.

As he quickly maneuvered to evade them, those attacks struck the city of Axum directly.

“Aaaargh!”

“O gods, o gods!”

"Please spare us..."

Even attacks from ordinary nobles were disasters to regular civilians, but attacks imbued with the gods’ skills brought consequences far more dreadful.

Buildings sliced apart by spinning disks collapsed, burying people beneath them. Throwing spears exploded, blowing away entire small shops.

Arrows from Rahman, whose body was possessed by Talis, produced thick poisonous mist that seemed capable of melting anything they touched.

The powerless citizens, unable to even clearly see the mighty nobles fighting, couldn’t think of fleeing. They simply collapsed to the ground and begged for their lives.

Every time something flashed, it flew across hundreds of meters, where could they possibly flee?

In this battle, which was nothing short of a war among gods, even knights or low-ranking nobles could do nothing.

If they happened to get caught in the crossfire of an attack, they would die just like the commoners.

Turan, twisting his body desperately to evade, grit his teeth as he looked down on the scene.

‘Damn it…’

Strategically speaking, the destruction of Axum City was a loss for them rather than him, so he ought to welcome it, but he simply couldn’t accept it that way.

Those powerless ones, the sheep that needed protection, were dying meaningless deaths as collateral damage from the Shepherds’ battle, and he couldn’t bear to witness it with joy.

In the end, Turan gave up taking the optimal evasion routes and, accepting several hits, steered toward the outskirts of Axum City.

“He’s fleeing north!”

“After him!”

Even as he took a few blows and fled to the city’s edge, Turan realized this had been the strategically sound choice.

Unlike Badal or the possessed beings of Zahar who alternated attacks and had moments to catch their breath, Turan, fleeing and counterattacking alone, was consuming far more magic power.

Turan quickly healed his tattered legs, forearms, and side, then turned around to see Badal flying toward him and the gods of Zahar in pursuit, riding various types of magical beasts.

If he could just continue flying straight using flight magic, he could easily gain distance. But due to constant interference, that wasn’t possible.

The biggest problem of all was Badal.

Unlike Turan, he appeared to skillfully manipulate magnetism using a skill. To shake him off, Turan would need Bije.

‘This is dangerous.’

A sense of crisis crept in, he might really die at this rate.

Of course, he never thought there’d be no danger when attempting such a mission, but the situation was even worse than expected.

From Badal, who was far stronger than anticipated, to Talis’s group who had already come in pursuit ahead of time.

If only these misfortunes hadn’t piled on top of each other, the escape would have gone smoothly...

No, regretting or blaming misfortune was meaningless now.

What mattered was figuring out how to escape, no matter what.

As he continued flying north, chased from behind and thinking through possibilities, Turan frowned as he sensed a presence approaching from the west.

‘Why now?’

Haroon, who had been sent away using Bije earlier, was now returning toward them.

The gods of Zahar, who had been chasing, hesitated and withdrew slightly as lightning magic from a mythical-class magical beast carrying vast magic power exploded around them.

More accurately, the magical beasts they were riding recoiled under the pressure of Bije’s presence.

-Turan!

-Why did you come back? I told you to take her to Kalamaf!

-But this woman said... she said if I didn’t come back, Turan would die. I didn’t like that!

Was that how she had been persuaded?

Turan clicked his tongue, but he understood the decision Bije had made.

If she had sensed the overwhelming power Badal displayed during their escape, she would have instinctively known he was in danger.

And so, a brief lull formed thanks to the unexpected intervention.

While catching his breath, Talis, inhabiting Rahman’s body, spoke to Turan.

“I never imagined you’d come directly to Axum. Alone, no less. It was more reckless than brave.”

Why was he suddenly initiating conversation here?

Was he trying to buy time for the pursuit team to catch up?

Turan harbored such doubts but responded to the conversation.

It gave him a chance to catch the breath he’d been holding from fleeing moments ago. More importantly, now that Haroon had reentered the enemy’s range, it was hard to continue a chase.

He might as well talk and try to come up with a better idea.

“Are you planning to give advice as a grandfather?”

“I’m no longer your grandfather, so I can’t do that. So tell me, what were you thinking? That woman can’t possibly be worth all this risk.”

As he said, now that she inhabited the body of a normal human, Haroon would be of little help to Turan even if he did retrieve her.

To manifest powers as a possessed body, a certain amount of magic power was needed, as well as a physical form compatible with the soul.

There wasn’t anyone in the House Parsha who fit that description. And even if there were, Turan’s character was not so vile that he would sacrifice his subordinates just to fully exploit Haroon’s powers.

Moreover, even capturing an enemy would require a massive consumption of souls for possession.

“At the very least, I can extract internal information about Zahar.”

Now that the other had declared he wouldn’t even play the role of grandfather, Turan’s reply was just as curt.

Hearing that, Talis twisted his lips into a smirk.

“That’s a decent excuse. But my instincts tell me that’s not the real reason.”

Talis’s pointed observation, that perhaps Turan had developed sympathy for someone who had treated him kindly, was alarmingly accurate, cutting right to the heart of his inner thoughts.

As he’d felt before, this god’s insight and persistence were on a different level entirely, far beyond other gods who merely possessed brute strength.

“What are you trying to say?”

“Caesar… that is, leave Haroon here and I’ll let you go. We still have use for her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

The one who cut into their conversation was Badal, whose condition had somewhat improved compared to earlier, perhaps from having used a powerful recovery-type sacred relic in the meantime.

Of course, due to the overwhelmingly strong magic power imbued in that body, he was still far from fully healed.

"That bastard dies here."

“Now, now, don’t get too worked up. It’s not like anything that happens here really matters to us anymore, right?”

Turan could understand what Talis meant as he tried to restrain Badal.

For those who planned to cross over to the gods’ homeland, another world, power struggles in this world were meaningless.

As he soothed the furious Badal, Talis turned to Bije and spoke.

“Come back, Caesar. We still need you.”

“You think that’ll work after throwing me to that stalker?”

Unlike the tone he used with Turan, the way she reproached Talis resembled that of a young woman.

“I truly feel sorry for that. But I thought that unless I went that far, I wouldn’t be able to change your mind.”

“No matter how many times you say it, nothing changes.”

At her firm rejection, Talis let out a deep sigh.

Then, all of a sudden, he pointed at Turan and said,

“Really, do you still cling to that belief? I told you, I confirmed it myself. That guy is not the reincarnation of Otas or anything like you hope!”

*****

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