Shepherd Wizard-Chapter 201

Translator: Pai_

The opening act of the battle began with a deafening boom from the House Parsha.

It was a sound somewhat similar to the gunfire they had heard several times before, but amplified to hundreds of times its volume and ferocity.

Its true identity was none other than a cannon.

The diameter of the muzzle was longer than a person’s forearm, a device so heavy that even dozens of ordinary people working together would have trouble moving it.

From within it, a cannonball was fired using a large amount of gunpowder as a propellant, and with the added power of the shooters’ magic power, it flew faster, more forcefully, and penetrated everything in its path.

Three or four cannonballs tore through the formation of the Aravion and Nagin wizards, shredding dozens of wizards in an instant.

“Wh-what is this-”

“Don’t panic! They won’t be able to launch continuous attacks anyway, so we just have to close the distance quickly!”

Of course, the Aravion-Nagin alliance had already somewhat expected that House Parsha might have invented a weapon like the cannon.

After all, guns and cannons are not so different in their basic mechanism, and in terms of invention order, it was actually cannons that came first.

However, unlike guns, the power of the cannon was far beyond imagination, as it was enhanced by the magic power of multiple wizards at once.

After the soul-shattering cannon barrage, a hail of gunfire erupted from dozens of rifles, lightning strikes from Aravion nobles, and all kinds of offensive spells wielded by nobles with various bloodlines and their respective specialty magic.

As the magical beasts of the Nagin nobles roared and charged forward, knights wielding spears and swords stood at the forefront to intercept them.

Thus began the chaos of melee combat.

*

While chaos reigned on the ground, two wizards faced each other high above in the sky, even higher than the others.

Badal Aravion, Turan Parsha.

The leaders of each faction and the most powerful wizards in the world.

Having already exchanged taunts and psychological maneuvers earlier during their meeting, neither of them spoke a word now.

What came first was an attack to check the opponent.

As Badal aimed the Thunder Lord’s hammer, Turan’s body was cloaked in black shadow and moved sideways like a spring.

Whoosh, a violet flash pierced the air, releasing the acrid scent of ozone.

'He's gotten faster than before.'

Seeing this, Badal clicked his tongue softly.

Unlike before, when he was somewhat unpolished, the current Turan had already trained enough to use magnetic flight effectively in combat.

Of course, he still fell somewhat short compared to Badal, but that was only because Badal’s soul retained the power of the Thunder Lord.

Had Turan possessed the same four symbols of the Thunder Lord and been able to use that power, the outcome would have been obvious.

‘Is he really not Otas’s reincarnation?’

Even though he had already received confirmation from Monarch, he couldn’t help but harbor that doubt.

Even Meisa, who was created by grinding the souls of countless wizards, didn’t possess talent of this caliber.

Unlike Badal, whose mind was tangled with various suspicions, Turan was entirely immersed in the battle.

His thought acceleration and senses, pushed to their limits, captured every flying bullet and spell, every twitch of his opponent’s expression, every slight wrinkle and movement of the eyes.

‘An opening.’

The speed at which thought turned into action was truly instantaneous.

A steel ball flying from the shadows struck the forearm Badal had raised to cover his face.

“Kh!”

Badal’s face twisted in pain from a bone-breaking impact.

Because his body was wrapped in that black mist, he had failed to notice the motion of the slingshot being drawn.

Just like during his past fight with Haroon, when it was annoying not to see the action of aiming the gun and pulling the trigger.

In response to the pain, the symbols residing within Badal surged.

As the hand holding the hammer pounded the anvil more fiercely, lightning and storms rose, providing tremendous power.

“Uooooooo-!”

The roar that erupted from his aged throat was so powerful it briefly seized control of the chaotic battlefield.

Startled, those who looked up to the sky saw a giant hammer floating in midair.

This was because the lightning that wrapped around Badal's original hammer, Heaven's Punishment, had taken such a form.

The lightning hammer, dozens of meters in size, had no physical form and thus swung with no weight, descending upon Turan at a blinding speed.

Though he managed to dodge the first strike with high-speed movement as before, the inertia on his body was far too great to avoid the second strike, which came down along the trajectory of his evasion.

“Kh…!”

As the intangible violet hammer passed through his body, Turan clenched his teeth in excruciating pain.

A sensation of massive lightning charges boring into his body and burning him from the inside.

If he hadn’t possessed the Aravion bloodline, which provided some resistance to lightning, and if he hadn’t added the defensive power of the Ruvan bloodline and the strength of the Guardian magic artifact, he would have been burned to death in a single blow.

Should Badal swing that hammer on the ground, likely hundreds would perish instantly.

‘Is this truly the Thunder Lord’s power? At full strength?’

Turan saw lightning flowing down from Badal's two eyes as he glared at him.

Not just that, even everything beneath his skin flickered as if transformed entirely into lightning.

It wasn’t hard to guess that this incarnation of lightning was not normal.

With such overwhelming power radiating from him, it was only natural that there would be a price to pay.

Just like how Haroon once drew immense power despite having an ordinary human body.

Badal’s body was already aged and weakened, so if time dragged on, he would inevitably self-destruct.

But if Turan openly avoided the fight, Badal would simply strike down the Parsha army with that massive lightning hammer.

In that case, even if he won the fight, it couldn't be called a victory.

Turan had to deal not only with this battle, but also with Phoenix leading Zahar in the southeast, and Monarch, who was surely plotting something somewhere even now.

To do so, the foundation of his power, his army, had to be preserved.

"Huuu..."

Gripping one of the multiple handles created by combining the Storm bloodline, Turan formed a navy-blue bolt of lightning between his hands and compressed it with magnetism.

After repeating this a few times, the navy lightning cluster astonishingly elongated like a baton.

On top of that, activating the Varaha bloodline, Turan added light-based magic.

By applying the technique of handling the Light of Judgement, it became both lightning and light.

A technique uniquely Turan’s, forged from gods skills, the magic proficiency of a human wizard, and the Mimic Sacred Relic.

The navy-blue pillar, the Lightning Sword, collided with Badal’s approaching violet hammer from afar, creating a thunderous boom.

The impact from lightning meeting lightning sent wizards over a hundred meters below flying like toys.

'It worked.'

A faint smile appeared on Turan’s face as he succeeded in blocking the attack.

That cluster of lightning energy was practically immune to physical defense, but could be blocked, somewhat, by another force of the same lightning attribute, even if weaker.

Of course, in just that one exchange, the Lightning Sword’s power had clearly weakened.

As Badal scowled and stepped back, Turan assessed the loss incurred from the earlier clash.

‘But it’ll be disadvantageous to keep defending like this. Just from a glance, the loss rate is too high.’

The reason was fairly obvious.

His side had only combined two bloodlines, while the other side was using a combination of four.

The origin of their power, it was the same principle as in the game world, where a 2 job class could never surpass the strength of a 4 job class.

There were two ways to overcome this.

Either possess such an overwhelming difference in magic power that it compensated for the inefficiency of bloodline fusion, or likewise combine four bloodlines.

Of course, if he could have done either of those, he would’ve done it long ago.

By now, unless one extracted power from a fellow Family Head-level powerhouse, magic power yielded little gain, and as for fusion, such a kind of fusion didn’t even exist in the first place.

One of the representative strengths promoted by the game that served as the basis of their power had been the diverse advancement routes arising from the combination of all sorts of jobs, but that didn’t mean it offered truly infinite combinations.

Even while thinking that, Turan continued to clash with Badal.

He swung his navy-blue lightning, which was barely the size of a carving knife compared to the massive hammer of his opponent, to block attacks, occasionally counterattacking with slingshots, and when a hit seemed unavoidable, he used one of the skills from combining the Assassin bloodline, Position Shift, to evade.

Anyway, since distance favored Badal and his massive hammer, Turan clung close, throwing punches and kicks, or clouding vision with steam produced by scattering Water of Death.

“Such a nuisance...”

Badal’s murmuring voice didn’t sound human, it sounded like lightning rumbling, mimicking speech.

Upon hearing that sound, Turan instinctively understood.

Badal had already given up his current physical body, and this would be the last time he fought at full strength.

If so, the only thing left was who would wear out first.

Amidst the fierce combat, Turan could feel for the first time the symbols within him beginning to shake.

It was because he had drawn too much power from the Aravion symbol, a fusion of wind and lightning, and the Zahar symbol, a fusion of Chaser and Hunter.

Just as the gods had restrained their skills due to physical burden, the side effects of attempting symbol combinations too frequently with a human body were slowly beginning to emerge.

“Huuk, ha…”

The sensation of body, mind, and soul all screaming in pain was truly horrendous beyond words.

Even while pushing himself to the brink, Turan could sense that the battle on the ground was roughly concluding in his army’s favor.

The army of House Parsha shot down the magical beasts of Nagin and struck down the nobles of Aravion, gradually encircling the enemy.

If they could just buy time like this, they could secure an easy vict-

At that moment, the nobles and wizards of Nagin, who had been desperately fighting on the ground, screamed.

Just like before in the library, they suddenly mutated into monsters in an instant.

Moreover, even the corpses that had already fallen and died began to mutate, plunging the Parsha army into chaos.

Humans transforming into unknown monsters without warning?

The psychological shock from the unthinkable was greater than even the actual power they faced.

‘Monarch!’

Unless such power could be exercised remotely, the bastard had to be somewhere nearby.

At least, it had been confirmed he wasn’t within the Parsha army, so he was likely hiding somewhere among the Aravion or Nagin forces.

As the battle that had been turning one-sided only moments ago plunged back into chaos, Turan felt a surge of urgency.

Just then, Badal said mockingly with a rumbling voice.

“You seem to feel pain seeing them die. How pathetic.”

His tone was as if those down below, fighting with all they had, were mere ants and not human.

Turan found the attitude shown by the fallen gods to be revolting beyond measure.

Before, he hadn’t understood clearly why, but now he could explain it properly.

It was because they didn’t view their descendants, their own kin, as true humans.

Who in the world would welcome having their very existence denied?

“If you’d been to that world, you’d know we’re no different from Earthlings. Or was even that just a deception?”

At Turan’s question, Badal’s movements halted momentarily.

Was it that Kim Woong’s defection hadn’t yet been relayed to their side? Or had they assumed he would never speak of it even after switching sides?

“Sure, Earthlings and you lot are the same. But you’re not like us.”

“You really believe your essence is superior to everyone else’s? When you’re nothing but a bunch of shut-in game addicts.”

As Turan spoke in a tone befitting a god, it was clear that Badal’s mood had soured.

Even though Badal looked like the very incarnation of lightning, his eyes barely visible through the crackling storm, Turan could tell.

Then, with a thunderous boom, a massive barrage of lightning began to strike the ground.

Startled, Turan turned to look at Badal, only to realize that the attack hadn’t originated from him.

The source of the power came from behind the Parsha forces, from Meisa, who should have been hiding in the canyon where the dwarves once lived.

It seemed she had been secretly observing from afar and had chosen to intervene upon seeing the tide of battle turn.

“Meisa...”

Even after withdrawing from almost all activity following her pregnancy and confining herself to her room, her offensive magic skills had not waned in the slightest.

When her signature barrage of lightning was combined with the skills from the Storm bloodline, the mutated beasts that had been ravaging the Parsha army were annihilated in an instant.

“Ugh, haah...”

“Meisa nim has stepped in! Don’t attack, just hold out! If you endure, you’ll survive!”

Her intervention calmed the Parsha army, which had been on the verge of collapse in a near-panic.

Had the surviving Aravion wizards taken that opportunity to attack, they might have inflicted heavy damage, but fortunately, they too were half in a daze.

Their former allies from Nagin had suddenly turned into monsters, who could continue to fight with resolve after seeing that?

Only those who had known it would happen from the beginning could endure.

Like the possessed ones hiding within Aravion and Nagin.

Turan quickly perceived that several high-ranking nobles from the two families were moving simultaneously toward Meisa.

‘Those bastards…!’

Just as he was about to attack the possessed, Badal blocked him.

Despite having tried to kill Turan only moments ago, Badal now acted solely to prevent him from reaching Meisa.

“Leaving in the middle of a fight isn’t proper, is it?”

That mocking tone made it clear to Turan, Badal had known all along that Meisa was here.

Drawing her out had been part of their strategy.

‘Was bringing Meisa a mistake? Should I have left her in Kalamaf?’

A sudden regret surfaced, but upon reflection, it was a meaningless assumption.

Had Meisa not appeared here, the Parsha army would have been wiped out by Nagin’s mutated beasts.

Alternatively, it was possible the army gathered here had been a decoy, and others had planned to ambush Kalamaf instead.

That possibility was why Turan had brought Meisa along in the first place.

No, right now wasn’t the time to be contemplating anything.

What he had to do now was break through Badal and save Meisa.

As Turan charged at Badal with renewed resolve, Meisa was attacked by no fewer than eight possessed beings.

Each one wielded bizarre skills derived from strange bloodlines, breaking through the defensive magic artifacts Meisa had prepared one after another.

A few Parsha wizards who were nearby rushed in to help, but once two of the enemies secured control of the area and blocked them, it became difficult to intervene.

“Urgh...!”

Meisa let out a faint groan under the continued onslaught.

Having absorbed the power of the Nagin Family Head during their previous encounter, she was now far stronger than before.

Though all her attackers were comparable to, or stronger than, the highest-ranking nobles, she should still have been capable of enduring, at the very least.

The problem was that if she took even a single wrong hit, it could be fatal.

Her body, already beginning to falter under weakened magical reinforcement, was one concern, but more critical was the child in her womb.

No matter how immense the baby’s potential might be, for now it was still a normal fetus with no magic power, if it were struck even once by lightning, it would be reduced to ash within her.

“All of you-get-out-of my way!”

With Meisa’s shout, dozens of massive lightning spears formed around her and launched toward the enemies.

One or two of the possessed from Nagin and Aravion were caught by the attack and screamed, but the rest managed to block or deflect it somehow.

As the defensive magic artifacts surrounding her collapsed all at once from an attack that slipped through an opening, Meisa’s face turned pale with terror.

‘This is…’

She could feel that the enemy, having seen her pregnancy, was desperately trying to land even a light hit.

From a tactical standpoint, it was a first-class decision, actively targeting what the opponent feared most.

Watching from above, Turan grit his teeth and went into a steep dive.

“Ha!”

With a short laugh, Badal blocked him again, just like before.

This time not by swinging a giant lightning hammer, but by forming a tightly interwoven lightning barrier like chains.

But unlike earlier, Turan didn’t retreat in the face of interference. He clenched his teeth and charged straight through.

Crackle- the impact was even more horrifying than when he had taken a hit from the lightning hammer earlier; his vision went white.

“Kh….”

For a brief moment, his consciousness faded, but as it returned, Turan realized he had succeeded in breaking past Badal and now held the high ground above the wolves aiming for Meisa.

He immediately manipulated magnetism to extend the length of his lightning sword from earlier.

The navy-blue blade cleaved through the bodies of the possessed who had rushed in.

Thanks to his activated spiritual perception, he could see spirit forms shooting out of their bodies.

“Turan!”

But the expression on Meisa’s face as she called his name was not one of relief or joy, but of fear.

Thanks to the sensory enhancement of the Mimic Sacred Relic, he didn’t need to look back to know why.

Determined to harshly punish the foe who dared to turn his back after allowing a single hit, Badal had fired a violet plasma blast that pierced through Turan’s chest, burning most of his internal organs, including his heart.

‘Guh…’

As he fell, Turan couldn’t even scream.

His lungs, which he needed to exhale, had already burned away.

With trembling hands, he set the Mimic Sacred Relic to the Lavitas bloodline and activated Healing Magic at maximum output, it was all he could do.

‘Can I survive this?’

Though high-ranking nobles had miraculous vitality, as shown when even Meisa once survived with her waist severed, this wound was severe enough that even Turan could not be sure of recovery.

Heart, lungs, liver, stomach, nearly all the vital organs in his upper body were gone.

Meisa, who had rushed to catch him, grabbed his body just as Badal followed and reached out his hand.

‘No…’

If Meisa, with nearly all her defensive artifacts exhausted, had to engage Badal, she would undoubtedly take some damage.

Even if she managed to endure, the child would not.

Foreseeing the dreadful outcome filled Turan with horror as he forced his ruined body to move.

Rising with his chest pierced by lightning, he looked exactly like a walking corpse.

Seeing this, Meisa shouted in panic.

“Don’t move!”

He wanted to tell her to back off, but he couldn’t speak with his lungs not yet regenerated.

Turan, struggling, pushed her aside and looked toward Badal, who had extended his long hammer.

As the same plasma that had pierced his chest earlier shot forth again, Turan drew his lightning sword to meet it.

At that moment, the four internal symbols that had neared their limit shattered and tangled into pieces.