Chapter 364: The Retribution
When Bellak bowed to Lucien, a layer of dim light covered the creepy black ring on his right hand.
The ring was designed in the shape that the two black snakes joined head to tail. Targeting at Lucien, a dark ray suddenly and fiercely shot out.
The magic wall shielding Lucien disappeared, and so did the enchanted magic effect on the senior-rank arcana badge—Freedom of Movement (Common). A small anti-magic field was formed around Lucien.
The seventh-circle spell, Anti-magic Ray!
As a battle sorcerer, Bellak was more cautious than the senior-rank sorcerers that Lucien once had fought against. At the very beginning, he had picked the spells that worked the best on Lucien and activated his best magic item. Also, he had limited Lucien from using any high-rank magic items by building the anti-magic field.
Lucien was unable to activate his ring, Element, and thus the magic spells built in it could not be used. Fortunately, he was relatively experienced facing the anti-magic ray, so he immediately dodged aside and tried to find somewhere to hide, as the anti-magic field would not last long.
When Bellak saw Lucien’s swift movement, he realized that Lucien was also a quite competitive knight, but it did not matter to him. Smiling, he reached out his hand and gently pointed at the air in front of Lucien, and instantly, a tall and invisible force field wall rose straight from the ground.
Bang!
Lucien failed to change the direction of his movement and he ran into the wall.
Having no time to waste, using the rebound momentum, Lucien altered his direction and started to run at his full speed along the wall.
The biggest problem of this fifth-circle magic was that it was just a wall, not a cage!
When Lucien was about to jump into the lake, Bellak’s buffering time for casting had ended and another gray ray shot out from his finger. No matter how Lucien tried to dodge, the ray still got him.
Lucien’s eyes became glazed, and the body part struck by the ray began to harden like a grayish-white rock.
The grayish white color rapidly expanded, and in just a second, Lucien was transformed into a stone statue.
The sixth-circle spell, Stone!
"Ha, the so-called Demon of Primary... How weak you are!" Bellak put on a triumphant smile and he could not help making the sarcastic comment.
As a spy, Bellak was always under great pressure. He needed to take the chance to vent on his enemy or he would definitely go crazy. But although he was being sarcastic, he did not lower his alert. With the following series of casting, Bellak constrained Lucien completely.
After that, Bellak finally felt a bit relaxed. After all, Lucien was the student of the Lord of Storm and who knew if he had any strange magic items or scrolls.
Staring at Lucien who was right now a stone statue, there was a smirk on Bellak’s swarthy face, "The command was to end the life the Demon of Primary ranking No. 53 on the list, but I just caught him alive! When the Church burns him down into ashes in public in Lance, my reward shall be abundant and my honor shall be recognized by everyone!"
He knew that he was going to spend the following several decades hiding in the Holy City, Lance, as Holm parish would have no way to protect him when facing Fernando’s fury.
In Holm, all the night watchers were hiding very carefully. Once they were exposed, that would be the end of them.
Then Bellak looked around to figure out where he was right now.
Although the magic scroll carrying the magic Space Countercurrent just sent them to this random place, based on how long they had traveled just now, Bellak had the rough idea that they were not far from Rentato, and to be more specific, they should be right beside the Chirag Lake in the southeast of Rentato.
Using magic, Bellak turned Lucien’s stone statue into a miniature that he could hold in his hand. The miniature looked very lively despite the gray color.
"You’re a defiler, and you’re doomed to be burned down by the sacred flame. What a pity... or I could ask the Pope to turn you into a permanent statue and place you in my collection room. So far you’re the sorcerer ranking the highest on the list among those I’ve hunted, but, surprisingly, you’re the weakest one as well!" Holding the statue in his hand, somehow Bellak went a bit out of control, "You get it now? With no strong enough magic power, no matter how big an achievement you have in arcana, it’s just a phantom. A so-called great arcanist can easily be caught or killed by a senior-rank sorcerer!"
The fact that his arcana level was low was a wound in his heart. Bellak was not good at arcana and he had always been mocked by his fellow schoolmates and even his teachers and colleagues. No matter how his magic level improved, people around him just could not see it. And his beloved girl also jumped into the embrace of the guy who he hated the most—the guy whose arcana level was two levels higher than his, but at that time, Bellak’s magic level was still one-circle higher.
"You know what? Later in an adventure, I caught him... I killed him, but slowly. I tortured him... He begged me so desperately. But I was so happy. He was always up there, looking down upon me, but finally, he knelt down in front of me, and he even wanted to send me his wife as the gift. Your high arcana level doesn’t always help you, you know?"
If Lucien had been able to think, he definitely would have mocked Bellak that he was being overly sensitive and thus his life was turned into a failure. In the Congress, no one dared to mock a sorcerer face-to-face whose magic level was higher than his or her arcana level.
Bellak calmed himself down after venting out his anger. He was ready to set off for the Radiance Church as there was no more time for him to waste. Once the senior members of the Will of Element arrived, that would be the end of him.
Bellak knew what he should focus on right now despite all the emotions in his heart.
"Confess, Mr. Lucien Evans, the Demon of Primary! Confess good before going to hell! You should regret that you did not focus on improving your magic level!" Bellak shook his head when taking a glance at the miniature in his hand.
However, at the glance, Bellak saw that the statue was putting on a creepy smile!
Something was not right!
Subconsciously, Bellak immediately tried to throw out the miniature statue. He did not care whether the statue was going to be broken.
However, it was too late, as the cone breath fiercely came out from the mouth of the statue. The breath was dim and gloomy like the human beings’ dark and ever-changing mind. Bellack was too close to the statue, and he got affected by the breath.
Instantly, Bellak’s brain was paralyzed. He had so many thoughts flashing past his mind, that he could not stay focused!
At this time, some strange light flashed past and Bellak disappeared. At the next second, he reappeared on the other side in the air. He had got rid of the influence of the cone breath and the power of his mind was slowly recovering.
Meanwhile, a senior-rank magic armor covered his whole body.
The sixth-circle spell, Spell Trigger, which was a powerful magic spell used by senior-rank sorcerers to handle the emergencies such as assassination or surprise attack!
As soon as the paralyzation was gone, Bellak realized that it was the paralyzing breath from the crystal dragon, Alferris!
Not all of the crystal dragons had this kind of power. Alferris’ dragon breath had been improved by Fernando.
Layers of stone power fell from the statue, that became bigger and bigger. The breath of the dragon was imposing, and the fish in the lake all sank to the bottom out of fear.
After signing the compact with Lucien, Alferris had suggested that no matter where Lucien needed to go, it would turn itself into Lucien’s substitute using the illusion magic in order to find out who did all the plotting behind the cursed vase. As the real Lucien would follow Alferris like a mirror reflection while using the invisibility spell, Alferris’ way of talking and movement would be exactly the same as that of Lucien.
However, to make sure everything looked perfect, Alferris needed to wear all of Lucien’s senior-rank magic items, since they could not be replicated. Lucien was a bit concerned about it.
Alferris’ illusion magic could easily fool a seventh or eighth-circle sorcerer, if he or she did not use the special magic to examine carefully, not to mention Bellak. Therefore, since Donald, Morris, and Raventi could see the truth, they did not worry at all with letting "Lucien" go back with Bellak alone.
In fact, all of Bellak’s magic had failed to work except the anti-magic ray, since Alferris was immune to many spells. However, Alferris managed to deceive Bellak by using illusion, and was waiting for the chance to fight back.
Since the anti-magic ray did not affect the real Lucien who was in his invisibility, Alferris’ illusionary power was still working. Later, Alferris was able to get rid of the effect of the anti-magic ray faster than a senior-rank sorcerer.
"Well, call me Lucien Alferris!" said the little crystal dragon triumphantly. One of its big claws was wearing the beautiful and shining Holm Crown ring, Element.
Although Bellak was pissed, he did not panic. Bellack knew that Alferris just turned into the seventh-circle, so it would not be too hard for him to escape away under its claws. While feeling rather confused and wondering where Lucien really was, Bellak was ready to retreat.
However, before he managed to activate the magic model in his soul, Bellak suddenly sensed a great danger!
In the air above him, the real Lucien Evans showed up because the illusion magic from Alferris had been dispelled. Beside him in the air, there was a tube of colorless liquid, and Lucien was casting a long and weird spell.
In the next second, a colorless and dim ray shot out targeting at Bellak, who immediately activated the sixth-circle defensive spell—Starlight Cloak.
The light of stars joined together and became a cloak covering Bellak when the freezing-cold ray shot him in his chest.
Bellak heard the ice-cracking sound in his mind, and to his great shock, he saw that even the starlight cloak had failed to prevent the ray. The cloak was frozen, and the freezing process quickly extended to his body.
The water drops around were frozen into solid pieces; the hydrogen in the air was solidified; oxygen was solidified—the air was also frozen. There were light-blue snowflakes in the air, shining under the sunlight, and they were from the colorless liquid.
Bellak could not move. His magic ring was frozen and then broke into pieces, the blood in his body was frozen solid, and his skin was turned into a layer of crystal ice. In the last second of his life, the shock and great fear lingered in his eyes. He had never expected that Lucien, in fact, possessed such a horrifying magic!
What was it? However, Bellak would never know now.
Mimicking Bellak’s manner, Lucien put his right hand on his chest and slightly bowed.
"Thank you for the vase you sent me, Mr. Bellak."