Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  But Lampson was extremely careful. He was afraid of the possibility that these people had been infiltrated, and thus all of the servants had been sent away.

  ….

  Linley and Zassler quickly arrived at the high city walls. Those twenty-meter high walls were more than enough to render Zassler speechless.

  “There’s no way I can get over.” Zassler was quite blunt.

  He was an Arch Magus necromancer. His physical condition was on par with an ordinary fighter of the third rank. But for him to leap over a twenty, thirty meter high wall was impossible.

  “Haeru.” Linley looked at his Blackcloud Panther.

  “Grooooowl.” This two meter tall, four meter long, handsome black panther, Haeru, stared at the Arch Magus necromancer Zassler with his cold eyes.

  “Ride on Haeru’s back.” Linley instructed.

  Zassler no longer hesitated, immediately leaping onto Haeru’s back. Standing on Haeru’s neck, Bebe also gave Zassler a challenging look. Zassler, however, didn’t dare contend against these two magical beasts.

  He had clearly seen the results of that battle just then. Given his judgment, he could clearly tell that both the black Shadowmouse and the black panther were magical beasts of the ninth rank. Without having his undead minions ready, he, an Arch Magus necromancer, didn’t dare irritate magical beasts of the ninth rank.

  “Let’s go.”

  With a leap, Linley flew into the air like an arrow, vaulting over thirty meters with a single bound, easily flipping past the wall and landing on the other side.

  “Swoosh.” With a mighty bound, Haeru transformed into a black blur and easily leapt past the twenty-meter high city wall.

  On the wild grass outside the city.

  “Whoah. This panther is quite fast.” Zassler clutched his chest, letting out a shocked breath. As he spoke, he dismounted.

  “Stay on.” Linley immediately said. “Haeru, let’s go back now.”

  Linley immediately executed the ‘Supersonic’ spell on himself. Linley quickly hurried towards their mountain valley home, moving as fast as the wind, but Haeru easily maintained pace with him.

  Scant minutes later, Zassler and Linley arrived at the mountain valley.

  “Starting today, you will live here. If you want to leave, it’s best if you change your appearance first.” Linley said calmly. Looking at his surroundings, Zassler nodded with satisfaction. “I like secluded areas. This place is very much suited for my training.”

  That very night, Linley built a wooden room for Zassler as well.

  Late at night, when Linley was seated on the grass, preparing to quietly train, he suddenly sensed that from Zassler’s wooden room, there was a dense, deathly aura emanating from within. No wonder Zassler liked secluded areas. In places where there were many people, Zassler wouldn’t dare train in such an open, unrestrained manner.

  “Necromancer.” Thinking back to the information he had read about necromancers, Linley couldn’t help but feel some fear.

  Generally speaking, the older a necromancer was, the more powerful his spiritual energy was, and the more terrifyingly powerful he was. Because, with enough time, they could amass an enormous number of undead minions.

  “At the courtyard, Zassler’s undead minions were all of the ninth rank. Most likely, he also has an ocean’s worth of middle-rank undead minions as well.” Linley had heard that an Arch Magus necromancer could be considered an entire terrifying army by himself.

  An Arch Magus necromancer was totally capable of summoning a massive army of hundreds of thousands of minions to do battle.

  And, in wars, as long as he could kill his opponents, the necromancer would be able to create undead slaves out of their corpses, controlling the deceased warriors of his opponents. His opponent’s corpses would do his bidding and wage war against his enemies.

  A necromancer’s army only grew with each battle.

  But of course, the pre-requisite for that was that the necromancer have sufficient spiritual energy.

  “In addition, I’ve heard it said that necromancers have more than just the Wraith Call ability or the ability to create undead slaves. I’ve heard that there are some unique, sinister necromantic spells.”

  Necromancers were most famous for their plagues.

  In historical records, there was indeed a case where, because of a single necromancer, a huge epidemic had occurred, costing tens of millions of people their lives. This was also the reason why, when Linley had seen Holmer using poison, Linley had wondered if Holmer was a necromancer.

  ………..

  Dawn. The sky slowly brightened.

  The Arch Magus necromancer, Zassler, retracted his spiritual energy out of the undead realm and back into his body. Opening his eyes, a small smile appeared on his face. “Yesterday really was my lucky day.”

  “Not only did I regain my liberty, in the undead realm, I even managed to subdue a Black Knight Captain. Although it cost me one of my golden-furred zombies, the cost was worth it.” Zassler was very happy.

  Although golden-furred zombies were also of the ninth rank, compared to a Black Knight Captain, they were much weaker. A Black Knight Captain was roughly on the same level of power as the Undead Dragon. It could be considered a peak-stage creature of the ninth rank.

  Right now, under Zassler’s control were three undead minions of the peak-stage ninth rank – An Undead Dragon, an Ancient Wight, and a Black Knight Captain. At the same time, he also had available to him two golden-furred zombies and two golden skeletal archers.

  Three peak-stage ninth rank minions, four ordinary ninth-rank minions.

  This was the most powerful force available to Zassler. As for undead minions of the eighth and seventh ranks, he had far more. After all, in the undead realm, a high-class undead could enslave many lower-ranked undead.

  For example, those two golden skeletal archers controlled an army of five hundred thousand skeletons.

  As for the Black Knight Captain, he had a number of Black Knights of the eighth rank under his command.

  A necromancer, especially an 800+ year old Arch Magus necromancer, definitely could be considered a terrifying one-man army. This was no joke.

  “Hrm?” As he walked out of his wooden room, Zassler’s eyes immediately widened.

  Because right now, Linley was quietly standing on top of the pond, his eyes closed. His body seemed to be feather-light, and he didn’t sink down at all into the water.

  “This is…” Zassler was extremely amazed.

  Zassler knew very well that Linley was not a Saint-level combatant. After transforming, Linley was only a peak-stage ninth rank, while in his human form, he was most likely even weaker. But right now, Linley was standing there as though he weighed nothing at all.

  “Mr. Zassler.” Linley suddenly opened his eyes, a rare smile on his face. At the same time, he walked over on the surface of the pond, as easily as though he were walking on solid land.

  “We can be considered allies now. I want to know a few things about the Radiant Church.” Linley said directly.

  Zassler chuckled, then nodded. “Even if you didn’t ask me, I would tell you. Right. Before this, we should show some mutual trust in each other. I really don’t know much about you at all.”

  “Linley. Full name, Linley Baruch. Twenty one years old. Beneath the Saint-rank, no one in the world is a match for me.” Linley said calmly, but his words were extremely confident.

  As a peak-stage Dragonblood Warrior of the ninth rank, he could already be considered invincible save against Saint-levels. When combining that with the adamantine heavy sword which he could use with the ‘impose’ level at maximum proficiency now, and more importantly with Linley’s supportive abilities as a dual-element magus of the eighth rank…Linley’s power could rise to an amazing level.

  “Dragonblood Warrior. No wonder.” Only now did Zassler understand that Linley wasn’t a Draconian. Suddenly, Zassler stared. “What did you say? Twenty one years old?”

>   “And?” Linley looked at Zassler.

  Linley knew very well that this Arch Magus necromancer was definitely a very proud person. If Linley wasn’t able to totally overawe him, most likely their teamwork would be very difficult to manage.

  “How is that possible?” Zassler was rather shocked. But then, he laughed. “Haha, I’m different. The older we necromancers are, the more of an advantage we have. This year, I’ll be 866 years old.” Zassler proudly announced his age.

  “Linley, you say that you are invincible aside from the Saint-levels. I don’t really believe it.” Zassler said calmly. “My army of undead minions reaches into the millions, and I have three peak-stage undead minions of the ninth rank.”

  At this time, both sides were trying to forcibly suppress the other. In addition, by letting each other know exactly how powerful they were, they would be able to coordinate their teamwork better as well.

  “Zassler.” Linley glanced at him coldly. “I admit that if I were to fight against your entire army of undead, I wouldn’t be able to fight through them. However, I have two peak-stage magical beasts of my own. And I’ve forgotten to tell you something. I’m not only a Dragonblood Warrior. I am also a dual-element magus of the eighth rank. Your human wave tactics are of no use against me.”

  Zassler was now totally stunned.

  He could accept that as a Dragonblood Warrior, Linley could reach the peak of the ninth rank as a warrior at twenty one years of age.

  But a twenty one year old dual element magus of the eighth rank was absolutely terrifying.

  After all, the hardest part of magus training was cultivating spiritual energy. There was simply no way to avoid it. For a twenty one year old to have such a terrifying amount of spiritual energy was something which Zassler didn’t even dare to think about.

  “A dual-element magus of the eighth rank. Twenty one years old?” Zassler murmured. “Is this the number one magus genius in all of history?”

  When Linley was seventeen, he had reached the seventh rank as a magus. This was the second youngest in history.

  But a twenty one year old dual-element magus of the eighth rank? This was the first in history.

  “When I reached the eighth rank as a necromancer, I believe I was around four hundred years old.” When Zassler thought about how old he had been, he found that there was nothing more he could say.

  Book 8, The Ten Thousand Kilometer Journey – Chapter 27, Secrets of the Church

  Zassler knew that for a twenty one year old to reach such a level meant that in the future, he would eventually leave Zassler far behind in the dust.

  “We can be considered to know something about each other’s abilities now. Didn’t you want to know about the Radiant Church?” A look of self-confidence was on Zassler’s face. With regards to the secrets of the Radiant Church, he, Zassler, probably knew as much as the high level members of the Church itself.

  “Speak.” Linley immediately began to listen carefully.

  Zassler nodded. “Simply put, the Radiant Church’s power, on the most superficial level, includes Missionaries, Priests, Bishops, Vicars, and Cardinals. They also have the eight ace regiments of knights, as well as powerful Knights of the Radiant Temple. This can be considered their second military force. In addition, they also have the servants of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal as well as a large number of Ascetics.”

  Hearing this, Linley was silent. He knew all this already.

  “But aside from these overtly visible forces, they also have two hidden forces.” These words immediately aroused Linley’s interest.

  Ascetics and Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal were considered their ‘overtly visible’ forces?

  “These two hidden forces are extremely formidable, more powerful than any of their other forces. The first hidden force is known as the Zealots!” Zassler frowned. “These Zealots are very terrifying. They have a very strange power which is not light-style power. I can’t explain it either.”

  This was the first time that Linley had heard the term ‘Zealot’.

  “And the second force?” Linley asked.

  Zassler’s face was solemn. “The second force is the most powerful force the Radiant Church has to offer, their true trump card. They will never use this force unless things reach the final, most critical point. These are…Descended Angels!”

  “Angels?!” Linley’s heart shook.

  In the past, at the Ernst Institute, Linley had read quite a bit regarding Angels. The impression he had of Angels was that they were powerful, extremely powerful.

  “Because of the restrictions of having fleshly bodies, Descended Angels will not be at the peak of their power. However, even the weakest Descended Angel will be a combatant of the ninth rank. Many are Saint-levels. Descended Angels are the true, most terrifying force available to the Radiant Church.” Zassler sighed.

  Linley’s heart was filled with shock.

  “Zassler, I’ve read about Angels before. The descriptions of the most powerful Angels say that they have the power of Deities. If the Radiant Church has a large number of powerful Angels, they shouldn’t be in their current state.” Linley probed.

  Zassler shook his head. “No. The power of the Descended Angels will depend on the human vessels the Radiant Church provides.”

  “Human vessels?” Linley looked questioningly at Zassler.

  “Right. Angels are unable to create dimensional rifts and directly descend into our world. Their only option is to use some special methods and descend into the body of a human. The strength or weakness of this human body will determine how much power the Angel can wield.” Zassler explained.

  “Linley, although this world has ninth-rank combatants and Saint-level combatants…if it weren’t for their battle-qi, their physical strength would be quite a bit weaker. Normal humans can only reach the sixth rank based on their muscular strength.”

  Linley agreed with this assessment.

  “When an Angel descends into a body with muscular strength of the sixth rank, they can at most wield power of the ninth rank. Thus, the Radiant Church needs bodies of the seventh rank, or even higher.” Zassler said with certainty.

  “Even more powerful bodies?” Linley frowned.

  “Although normal human bodies can generally only reach the sixth rank, there are still some geniuses who are extremely powerful. Since youth, they possess boundless strength. It can be said that they are inherently powerful. These people with special natural gifts might reach the limit of the seventh rank based on muscle power alone. And a body which can naturally reach the seventh rank in power should be enough to allow an Angel to wield power of the Saint-level.”

  Hearing Zassler’s words, Linley couldn’t help but frown.

  Because Linley’s great grandfather had been able to train to the seventh level just based on his muscular strength. But afterwards, Linley’s great grandfather had died in battle. In the past, Linley had never questioned this, but now…

  “Could it have been possible that my great grandfather was actually taken away by the Radiant Church for his body?” Linley was guessing.

  In truth, all of the Four Supreme Warriors possessed tremendous innate physical gifts. All of them could train to an extremely powerful level just based on muscle strength.

  Zassler continued, “This has caused the Radiant Church to scour the entire world for people with powerful bodies. The more powerful the body, the more powerful the Descended Angel will be. But it’s of no use. In this era, the Yulan continent has four Deity-level combatants. Faced with these Deity-level combatants, Saint-level combatants can do nothing but die.”

  “Four Deity-level combatants?” Linley stared at Zassler in surprise. It seemed as though Zassler knew about the existence of that expert from the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

  Zassler saw Linley’s surprise. Laughing, he said, “The four Deity-level combatants are humanity’s War God and High Priest, the magical beast who is the King of the Forest of Darkness, and the magica
l beast King of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts who appeared on Apocalypse Day.”

  “Linley, when I was being taught the secrets to Necromantic Magic, I learned…that the bodies of Deities are at the Saint-level in terms of physical strength alone.” Zassler said with certainty.

  A Deity-level combatant could be said to be composed of his divine body, his divine spark, and the divine power he wielded. There was no way a Saint-level combatant could injure them at all.

  “Thus, in order to wield the power of a Deity, the body alone must be at the Saint-level in physical strength. Most likely, the Radiant Church is not able to manifest a Deity-level Angel. Even if high class Angels were to descend, they wouldn’t be able to use their deific power, due to being restricted by their physical bodies.” Zassler said confidently.

  The teachings of Necromantic Magic were abstruse and profound. In addition, Zassler was over eight centuries old. He truly knew many things.

  “Deity-level combatants!” Linley’s heart swelled with amazement.

  Any of these four most powerful experts of the Yulan continent could shake the world with their might. On the Apocalypse Day, the appearance of Dylin had caused both the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows to flee and avoid him.

  The Radiant Church had their Descended Angels. But then, what did the Cult of Shadows possess, for them to be equal to the Radiant Church for countless, untold years?

  Despite that, both powers combined still didn’t dare to offend that Dylin, the King of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

  From this, one could clearly tell how ineffable the power of a Deity-level combatant was.

  “Who knows when I will have power like that.” Linley was filled with eagerness and hope towards this sort of power.

  ….

  Zassler continued to tell Linley a great deal of information regarding the Radiant Church.

  “The Radiant Church cares the most about two things. The first is finding extremely powerful bodies. The second is to find extremely pure souls.” As Zassler said this, Linley’s face changed.

  Pure souls?