Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  As Linley saw it…in sparring with a Grand Magus Saint, he would rely on his speed to charge over and defeat the opponent before his opponent had even had the chance to use any magic. Wouldn’t that be an easy victory? If he were to allow his opponent to use his magic, on the other hand, then he probably wouldn’t even have a chance to run.

  The main thing that mattered was speed. What was the point of competing?

  “Linley, after reaching the Saint-level, you’ve been living in the O’Brien Empire, right?” Desri suddenly said.

  Linley nodded. “Right. What of it?” Linley was confused as to why Desri would suddenly ask him this.

  Desri laughed, “That makes sense. The O’Brien Empire is famous for its warriors, while the Yulan Empire is famous for its magi. Most likely, all the Saints you encountered in the O’Brien Empire were Warrior Saints, and you haven’t truly sparred against a Grand Magus Saint.”

  Linley started.

  This was indeed the case. All the people he had competed against were warriors. There wasn’t a single magus.

  Longhaus was a Grand Magus Saint, but they hadn’t dueled.

  “Grand Magus Saints are far fewer in number than Warrior Saints. However, the ratio isn’t as lopsided as in the O’Brien Empire.” Desri sighed. “In the continent, generally speaking, out of every four Saints, one is a Grand Magus Saint while the other three are Warrior Saints. But in the O’Brien Empire, perhaps only one Grand Magus Saint will appear for every ten or more Warrior Saints. The ratio is far too low.”

  “The Yulan Empire is different, however. In general, one out of every two Saints is a Grand Magus Saint.” These words from Desri made Linley’s heart tremble.

  One to one ratio?

  The Yulan Empire truly was the wellspring for magi. Desri continued, “The Holy Union is also famous for its magi. However, the Holy Union is famous more for its basic-level training, while the Yulan Empire has the High Priest, which is why it has so many Grand Magus Saints. Generally speaking, all of the disciples of the High Priest have the potential to become Grand Magus Saints.”

  Linley’s heart clenched.

  Two freaks!

  One War God, one High Priest.

  One trained a heap of Warrior Saints, while the other taught a heap of Grand Magus Saints.

  “Grand Magus Saints aren’t as simple as you think them to be. Let me tell you this. In a one on one battle between a Grand Magus Saint and a Warrior Saint, the Grand Magus Saint has the greater chance of victory.” Desri laughed. “Grand Magus Saints find it harder than warriors to train and advance to begin with. Even in a place such as the Yulan Empire, which highly prizes magi, the ratio is still only one to one.”

  Linley nodded.

  It was true that magi found training to be far harder than warriors. Linley had always thought it strange…since it was so hard for magi to train, if they were inferior to warriors at the Saint-level, wouldn’t that be very unfair? But in the O’Brien Empire, Linley had witnessed how powerful Warrior Saints were.

  As for Grand Magi Saints? He hadn’t.

  “Come, Linley. Let’s go…today, let Hayward show you how powerful Grand Magi Saints are. That way, when you meet Grand Magi Saints in the future, you won’t be caught off-guard.” Desri stood up.

  Linley immediately rose to his feet as well.

  Only after a true spar would he learn how powerful Grand Magi Saints were.

  At this time, Bebe hopped onto Linley’s shoulders as well, and their group left the cave estate. Reynolds and Monica couldn’t fly, so they stayed inside. Everyone else left and flew out of the valley.

  Linley and the others flew to a different part of the mountain.

  “This is the place where we usually spar against each other. You’ll spar here.” Desri said.

  Desri, Hayward, Higginson, Miller, Livingston, Foreman, Pennslyn, Linley. In total, there were eight of them standing there in mid-air. Linley and Hayward moved to stand opposite of each other at a distance of a hundred meters.

  “Come.” Hayward chuckled. Linley, not hesitant in the slightest, removed his outer robe and immediately Dragonformed. Those ferocious spikes erupted forth from his forehead, and his draconic black tail began to sway from behind…and his eyes turned dark golden.

  Linley’s body suddenly flickered. “Boom!” He charged towards Hayward at high speed.

  “Linley’s speed is a bit faster than last time.” Miller noticed Linley’s improvement. “But he’s still unable to overcome Hayward.”

  Smiling, Hayward didn’t move at all. He just quietly waited for Linley to arrive. When Linley reached a distance of ten meters from him, Hayward finally made his move. He transformed into a flash of blazing light in the blink of an eye, immediately pulling away from Linley. The distance between the two actually increased.

  In terms of flying speed, Linley was inferior to Hayward.

  “But…” Linley’s face changed. If his flying speed was inferior, didn’t that mean the opponent would be able to cast spells and easily devastate him? Indeed, moments later, a terrifying blast of heat began to emanate from Hayward’s body, and countless flecks of light began to swirl around in the air above Hayward.

  A brilliant, clear bird cry split the air!

  Two gold-tinged red wings, that crown-like crest of feathers, those cold, arrogant eyes…this terrifying creature was a size larger than even those gigantic dragons. Before this massive Fire Phoenix, Linley and the others were like ants.

  “Crackle.” The air itself began to crackle from the terrifying heat, which forced Linley to raise his defenses.

  “The forbidden-level spell, ‘Phoenix Metamorphosis’?” Linley felt a surge of panic.

  Fire magic was reputed for its offensive power, and its single-target attack, the ‘Phoenix Metamorphosis’ spell, was only weaker than the ‘Dimensional Blade’ spell. Linley didn’t have the ability to deal with it yet.

  The Fire Phoenix suddenly shrank in size, but it appeared to become more substantial. When it shrank to the size of ten meters in length, in all aspects, be it the plumage or the gaze, it looked just like a real magical beast. The entire body of the Fire Phoenix had turned golden.

  But although it had shrank in size, the amount of pressure it was exerting on Linley had increased to a terrifying level.

  “Whoosh!” The Fire Phoenix charged straight towards Linley, whose body was now covered by a layer of that roiling azurish-black mist. This was the Pulseguard Defense which Linley was so proud of.

  “Rumble.” Linley’s azurish-black battle-qi was being burned away at a visible rate. “If this continues, I’ll only be able to sustain it for a few more seconds.” Linley immediately flew backwards, and the Fire Phoenix flew back to Hayward’s side as well. Only then did Linley let out a sigh of relief.

  This golden Fire Phoenix was simply too terrifying.

  Laughing, Hayward looked at Linley. “Both Warrior Saints and Grand Magus Saints can fly once they reach the Saint-level. As far as flying speed goes, warriors are not necessarily faster. For example, wind-style magi and light-style magi…are extremely fast. Even I, a fire-style magus, am extremely fast, given my current level of training. Just through speed alone, I can make sure that you are unable to catch me, while I easily trample you.”

  “But of course, those entry-level fire-style or water-style Grand Magus Saints are inferior to you. In terms of speed, Grand Magus Saints are still a bit weaker than Warrior Saints. But despite that, there are Grand Magus Saints who are faster than Warrior Saints.”

  Linley understood.

  In terms of speed, Warrior Saints might have an advantage, but that didn’t mean all Grand Magus Saints were slower. Some of them flew at an astonishing speed. If one were to encounter an extremely fast Grand Magus Saint, then that would be dangerous…upon meeting such a person, the only choice was to flee.

  “But of course, this sort of technique is only suited for a minority of Grand Magus Saints.” Hayward continued. “Now, come attack me a
gain. I’ll show you the technique which Grand Magus Saints usually use against Warrior Saints.”

  Linley suddenly had the feeling…

  That perhaps, Grand Magus Saints truly were more terrifying than Warrior Saints.

  “Are you ready?” A visible smile was on Hayward’s face.

  Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 9, Sparring

  Desri, Higginson, Miller, and the others all quietly watched this sparring competition from afar.

  “Now, let’s pretend my speed was lower than yours.” Hayward grinned at Linley. “Come attack me. Watch how I deal with you.”

  Linley felt a hint of anticipation.

  If his speed was inferior, how would a Grand Magus Saint cope?

  Linley suddenly moved, transforming into a black blur. As Linley moved, Hayward also transformed into a flaming blur, retreating at high speed, but clearly his speed was far lower than Linley’s.

  “I want to see how you are going to block me.” Linley stared at Hayward.

  “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” Suddenly, the air was filled with house-sized chunks of flaming meteors. The large number of flaming meteors carried tremendous power as they slammed towards Linley, and in a blink of an eye, they totally covered the space in front of Linley, forming a barrier in front of him.

  Linley’s facial expression changed.

  Fire-style magic of the ninth rank: Scorching Meteor Shower. This technique, although much weaker than the forbidden-level spell ‘Heavenly Meteor’s Descent’ in terms of both scope and single-target damage, still forced Linley to have to break through these countless meteors if he was to continue attacking Hayward.

  The meteors were clustered so densely that there was no space to dodge at all.

  “Bang!” Linley charged forwards, smashing hard against a flaming meteor.

  Those massive flaming meteors were knocked flying by Linley, one after the other, while some others exploded and split apart. But although Linley’s body was tough enough that he didn’t fear these attacks, the constant impacts against these meteors caused his speed to decrease quite a bit.

  “Bang!” With a punch, he shattered the final flaming meteor in front of him. Linley finally saw the distant Hayward.

  Hayward stood there in mid-air, his face covered with smiles. “Linley, you lose again.”

  Linley nodded.

  “Your spells of the ninth rank are unable to hurt me, but they can greatly lower my speed. By the time I charged out, you probably would’ve already used a forbidden spell.” Linley understood this very well, but he didn’t have any choices. Those meteors weren’t like ordinary rocks, and Linley had to use great force to break each one of them.

  The nearby watching Desri said, “Linley, the most basic method which Grand Magus Saints use against Warrior Saints is to instacast spells to block them while retreating at high speed, then utilizing forbidden-level spells to attack them.”

  Linley nodded.

  “However, Mr. Hayward, you were able to instacast a spell of the ninth rank. This truly is…” Linley now knew how terrifyingly powerful this man was. Even while depending on the Coiling Dragon ring, Linley was only able to instacast spells of the seventh rank.

  Hayward chuckled, “But of course. Most Grand Magus Saints have very powerful spiritual energy, but can only instacast spells of the eighth rank. The reason I can instacast spells of the ninth rank is only because I’ve trained for many years and thus have even stronger spiritual energy.”

  Linley secretly sighed, “His Phoenix Metamorphosis can cause a Fire Phoenix which was hundreds of meters tall to condense into a phoenix which was only ten meters tall. I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”

  Generally speaking, the Phoenix Metamorphosis spell was capable of creating a Fire Phoenix which was roughly a hundred meters tall, and which was already frightfully powerful. But Hayward…clearly was one of the most powerful of Grand Magus Saints.

  “But in a dangerous situation, if a Grand Magus Saint was to wildly and repeatedly instacast spells of the eighth rank at you, they would still be able to slow you down.” Hayward said with certainty.

  Linley nodded and laughed. “However, it wouldn’t be effective as you, Mr. Hayward, instacasting spells of the ninth rank. It would take me far longer to break through your Scorching Meteor Shower. If it was a spell of the eighth rank that was used to block me, my speed probably would’ve been much faster.”

  “Linley, you can be considered a peak-level Warrior Saint. An ordinary Warrior Saint wouldn’t be able to break through an instacast spell of the eighth rank as quickly as you.” Hayward said.

  Linley nodded.

  Linley fully understood now…it was like how an ordinary person could sprint a hundred meters in ten seconds, but if he were running atop a track of mud, he might take fifteen seconds or even longer. Mud, to ordinary people, didn’t pose much of a threat either.

  But it definitely would be able to slow their speed down.

  “Linley, you must understand; the most important thing for a Grand Magus Saint to do when fighting against a Warrior Saint is to lower the opponent’s speed! Instacasting spell is one method, while for example darkness-style spells includes maledictive slowing spells…as long as the Grand Magus Saint can prevent you from catching up to them for a time, then the Grand Magus Saint will use that chance to utilize forbidden-level spells against you.”

  Desri and the others flew over as well.

  “Now that you’ve encountered a forbidden-level spell from a Grand Magus Saint, you should know how powerful they are.” Desri chuckled towards Linley.

  Linley nodded.

  Forbidden-level spells truly were terrifying. For example, that Phoenix Metamorphosis. Even if Linley were to stab straight through the skull of the Fire Phoenix, it would still constantly attack him, because it was a creature formed from elemental essence and wasn’t actually alive. A forbidden-spell like this was even more terrifyingly strong than a Saint-level magical beast.

  At least Saint-level magical beasts feared injury.

  To deal against forbidden-level magical spells, the only option was to break it by repeated blows and make it run out of energy.

  “Linley.” That beautiful lady, Pennslyn, smiled as she spoke. “Instacasting and slowing the opponent’s speed is a rather passive way for a Grand Magus Saint to deal with an opponent. Actually, Grand Magus Saints have another powerful method.”

  “Oh?”

  Linley stared at Hayward in astonishment. “Mr. Hayward, can it be that you have other tools at your disposal?”

  Grand Magus Saints were too terrifying!

  Hayward nodded. “Of course. This method is a fallback method which Grand Magus Saints rely upon. Linley, come and try to attack me again. If you experience it yourself, you will understand it clearly.” As he spoke, Hayward flew backwards, pulling once more to a distance of a hundred meters away from Linley.

  “The fallback method they rely on?” Linley was curious.

  “Boom!” Linley once more charged towards Hayward, but Hayward didn’t move at all, only staring at Linley with confidence.

  Once Linley drew near him though, Linley’s face suddenly changed. He felt a terrifyingly powerful storm of mental energy suddenly surround him and attack his spirit. In the blink of an eye, Linley suddenly felt dizzy, and his body swayed. Only after several seconds later did he fully recover.

  Several seconds, to Saints engaging in battle was more than enough to determine the outcome.

  Linley stared at Hayward in astonishment. “Mental attack?”

  “Haha…” Miller flew over, laughing. “Linley, that isn’t a mental attack. If it was a mental attack, your head would be splitting from pain and you would’ve collapsed.”

  Desri and the others flew over as well.

  Desri personally explained to him. “Linley, what’s the biggest advantage magi have over warriors?”

  “Mental and spiritual energy.” Linley didn’t hesitate at all.

  D
esri nodded. “Right. Magi possess the most powerful spiritual energy. The spiritual energy of a Grand Magus Saint is as powerful and boundless as the seas. They are far more powerful than that of a Warrior Saint. Aside from those few Grand Magus Saints who just entered the Saint-level, the vast majority of Grand Magus Saints are capable of using this sort of basic ‘Mindstorm’ attack.”

  “This Mindstorm attack doesn’t require any understanding of any Elemental Laws. It is nothing more than a spiritual energy based attack that uses a great deal of spiritual energy to strike at the opponent’s soul. This sort of tactic is very simple. Upon reaching the Saint-level, a Grand Magus Saint will quickly come to understand it.” Hayward said with absolute certainty.

  Linley understood this as well.

  The so-called ‘Mindstorm’ just then felt like a tremendous amount of spiritual energy smashing upon his soul time and time again, even though it didn’t actually cause much damage to the soul.

  “Hayward, naturally, developed his own unique spiritual attacks long ago. If he truly were to use his spiritual energy against you, you would be in trouble.” Desri laughed.

  Linley now understood the basic underpinnings of these mental attacks (or spiritual attacks). It was to form that normally soft and weak spiritual energy into sharp ‘knives’ and repeatedly stab at the opponent’s soul. This sort of attack was truly frightening! If one’s soul wasn’t strong enough, it might be directly shattered and destroyed.

  “Mindstorm! Haha…” Hayward shook his head and laughed. “This name was created by Grand Magus Saints long ago. But in truth, it’s nothing more than a very basic mental attack. It is only useful against Warrior Saints who are far weaker in mental energy.”

  Linley felt a sense of dread.

  Grand Magus Saints truly were powerful.

  Whether by instacasting spells to slow movement or by using Mindstorm type attacks to attack the soul…they had methods to be highly effective.

  “Grand Magus Saints are far fewer in number than Warrior Saints. Generally speaking, Grand Magus Saints have an advantage.” Higginson laughed loudly. “Linley, Warrior Saints have their experts, but Grand Magus Saints have their own as well. Who is stronger? That depends on the person.”