Chapter 2149: Drawing the Sword
"The ’Radiant Hand’ of the Dawn Church’s Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer is not here."
The witch made a judgment at a glance:
"That gentleman is probably in the city. It’s still unclear what the ’Dragon Feast Cult’ wants to do tonight. He is sitting in the city, and it seems that he is not needed here."
The three dragons are indeed abnormal. Because the distance is too far, it’s temporarily impossible to determine their size, but one of them is a genuine Bone Dragon, another has three heads spewing flames, and the last one has three pairs of wings of different sizes.
More crucially, although Shard couldn’t see it, Miss Belindel, with her better eyesight, saw it quite clearly:
"There is a person standing on the head of each of the three dragons."
"Dragon Knights... is this a fairy tale turning into reality?"
Shard found this amusing, but was surprised to see Miss Belindel shaking her head seriously:
"The hidden legends and records passed down by the Seven Great Families mention: when Dragon Riders arrive at Moon Bay, it’s a harbinger of destruction."
"Hmm... look over there, what’s that?"
On the surging sea, accompanied by a faint blue light, a gigantic Ghost Ship pierced through the storm. Even though Shard was still on shore, he could feel the almost tangible pain on his skin from the Whisper Element.
This is some kind of relic, and its power isn’t weaker than the Sage-Level Relic ’Fishbone Pirate Ship’ he had encountered before.
"The cultists have summoned a relic, no need for us to worry, the church knows how to handle it. But what should we do now?"
Miss Belindel asked from the side as Shard directed his gaze from the distant green light on the ocean:
"Did you hear the Dragon Roar?"
"Of course I did."
She pointed to the sky, but Shard shook his head. At this moment, he distinctly heard the Dragon Roar coming from underwater. The raging sea in front of him reminded him of the area where the Sea of Darkness is located, and as the tide kept crashing, treating nature’s rhythm as some melody, the Dragon Roar was indeed entering his ears from beneath the sea:
"I’ve found the target, you wait for me on the shore, I want to..."
Just as he was about to leave, the witch grabbed his hand without any intention of letting go. Looking back at her, she didn’t speak, just stubbornly looked at him. Shard saw many emotions in those eyes, hesitated a little before nodding:
"Stay close to me, and be sure to stay safe."
Holding hands, with the help of the Illusionary Body Spell and Red Butterfly Illusion, the two once again broke through the church’s defenses and reconnaissance rituals. After reaching the end of the deserted pier, Shard scattered a handful of bone powder, and an old small wooden boat floated up from beneath the waves.
Miss Belindel didn’t have time to ask what strange Arcane Technique this was before Shard led her by the hand onto the boat. Without anyone rowing, the boat moved steadily, heading away from the shoreline into the gale and storm, like an inconspicuous leaf amidst the crashing waves.
To cast spells to defend against fireballs falling from above, Miss Belindel canceled the effect of the Illusionary Body Spell. Rain quickly soaked her hair and clothes, but she remained tense, chanting spells to bestow the boat various beneficial effects like "Ocean’s Luck," "Crystal Bramble Halo," and "Defend Against Evil."
After dealing with these, the small boat had completely drifted away from the shore. The slightly rocking boat made the witch curl up and sit down. Although the overall effect of the Illusionary Body Spell had disappeared, in such a pitch-black night, no one noticed this small inconspicuous boat on the sea.
Watching the shoreline gradually receding, she finally had time to turn her head from the stern to look at Shard, curious why he hadn’t spoken for so long. Upon turning, the first thing she saw was a touch of golden light, and then she saw the man standing at the bow of the boat as if facing the darkness and storm, with gold ember-like light traces already appearing on the hem of his clothes.
For a moment, she almost felt her heart stop, even perceiving this man at the bow of the boat as some indescribable entity. But after blinking, everything in her vision returned to normal.
"An illusion?"
Though she thought so, her deep breaths and inability to catch her breath told her that the momentary glimpse just now was her powerful inspiration at work.
Shard also turned to look at her at this time, his face barely suppressing his excitement. The sounds of Dragon Roar coming from underwater directly reached his soul. As the thunder clapped more frequently above, he could almost feel the familiar power present here in the seal of the Ocean Gods. It was not the Dragon Roar guiding him, but the power of the three Ocean Deities once absorbed, resonating with some sort of seal.
And more crucially, the power of Divinity was resonating with him. Although he still didn’t know how to obtain that power, Shard was certain he would get it:
"I’m going into the sea in a while, you wait for me on the boat."
This time the Blonde Witch did not object, instead suppressing the foreboding of what was about to happen, she nodded gently:
"Something’s not right. I did another Divination just now, those Cultists are probably going to summon something incredible soon. It’s something even more terrifying than a Dragon. We need to leave as soon as possible."
Even though the waves were raging, the wind was howling, and rain mixed with snow was falling, she felt her heart calmer at this moment than when in a quiet room for meditation. The once blurred fate was revealing its secrets to her. She sensed the man before her was about to do something significant, but she also felt extreme danger.
"Alright, I’ll act as quickly as possible."
Closing his eyes to sense the almost palpable power, Shard suddenly opened his eyes, gazing out at the dark sea where another small boat had appeared.
That was not the Ghost Ship seen at the shore just now. The Ghost Ship had already been driven away by some church ceremony, wandering on distant sea. The approaching small boat was no larger than the one Shard summoned. The edges of the wooden boat were covered with writhing seaweed, and there were only two people on it.
An elderly man resembling a Priest holding a Compass sat at the back, while the man standing at the bow clearly had a pair of Dragon horns on his head.
When his vertical pupils looked toward Shard, who also stood at the bow, Shard felt as though he was being gazed at by a genuine Dragon.
The Witch behind him wanted to stand up, but was stopped by Shard. Miss Belindel’s voice carried urgency in the rain:
"That seems to be Hal Wesley, the ’Dragon Devourer’ of the Dragon Feast Cult, an Eleven-Ring Warlock. This person is very famous; he’s a Dragonborn Circle Warlock himself, and although only Eleven Rings, he is undoubtedly stronger than me."
"I’ve encountered many Cult Groups, but this is the first time I’ve seen a true Dragonborn Circle Warlock."
After all, compared to a Dragonborn, Shard believed Fiona was actually a Humanoid Red Dragon.
Shard spoke softly, eyes piercing the rain curtain, looking at the man across the boat bow. Just as he was nearly certain that the other had come for the traces of the Divine War, Shard believed the Cultists must have already known his purpose.
White light streaked across from the high sky, amidst the intermittent Dragon Roar, the loudest crack of thunder to date almost made the sea vibrate. The white flash of lightning illuminated the two men standing opposite each other on the bows of the two boats, neither using an umbrella, each gazing at the other.
The Eleven Rings’ Ring of Fate first appeared in the Steam Mist, the core Spirit Runes "Enlightenment - Dragon," "Enlightenment - Gluttony," "Enlightenment - Devotion" made Shard frown slightly.
In ordinary circumstances, he certainly couldn’t defeat the other, but at this moment Deity-like power was resonating with him, and with time, the Divine Glow was gradually awakening from the slumber inside his soul. The Divine Radiance was driving the soul’s power, and the golden afterglow the Witch saw just now was certainly no illusion. With this agitation of power, Shard had already understood what he could learn from the High Ring Sorcery taught by the Witch.
Lightning flickered again in the high sky, and even the Dragons and High Ring Sorcerers combating above appeared utterly insignificant before this might of Nature. The Eleven-Ring Sorcerer at the boat’s bow gradually ascended into the sky, the shadow of a Dragon head flashed fleetingly in the darkness behind him.
Shard extended his hand to his back, hesitated after touching the Dragon Scale Sword, and instead held the exposed sword hilt of the Night Watchman.
The Witch no longer tried to persuade Shard to flee. Her exceedingly keen inspiration sensed the suffocating power emerging deep within the body and soul of the man facing away from her.
Only until this moment did Shard’s Ring of Fate corner appear amidst the thunder-drowned chimes, the Space-Time Spirit Rune shone with Spiritual Light, and with the wind brushing past his fingertips, the first crack appeared on his skin’s surface. In the crack, Bella Belindel even dared not gaze directly at the Golden Radiance:
"What exactly is he..."
Behind the Dragonborn in mid-air, seven enormous pitch-black Dragon heads completely materialized. Together they formed a circle, violent Spirit and Elements converged in their mouths to create a massive pitch-black Light Orb, yet Shard did not attempt to interrupt the other’s charging, maintaining the position of drawing the sword, intensifying the resonance between his soul and the drop of Divinity present here.
Crack!
The Great Witch of Destiny abruptly raised her head, astonishingly seeing a path of pitch-black lightning appear in the high sky. After slicing through the cloud layer, the phantom of a Dragon confronting a Giant briefly flashed at the clouds’ heights, like pitch-black lightning tearing through the interval of Space-Time. Not just her, everyone in the nearby sea area and docks almost felt an oppressing power far more terrifying than Dragon or any mortal creature following the abnormal pitch-black lightning.
The Deity’s Seal was being activated by Shard; the pitch-black lightning was merely a slight reaction. Confirming it’s impossible to absorb the divided location’s Divinity on a whim, Shard still refrained from acting prematurely.
Maintaining the sword-drawing stance, the Light Orb held in the mouths of the giant Dragon heads behind the Eleven-Ring Sorcerer in the sky grew larger, and the pitch-black lightning slicing through the night had already transformed into snowstorm, becoming increasingly terrifying.
The Dragons and humans flying high had to descend to evade, and this allowed them to discover the confrontation between the two small boats near the coast.
The small wooden boat locked by the giant Dragon heads was already unable to evade, yet the Witch aboard no longer cared about the impending threat, staring in shock at the bow of Shard, watching the golden Radiance flowing from his fingertips, letting the cloth wrapping the longsword burn like golden Flame in the wind.
The golden embers touched her cheek with the wind, making the Witch shiver sharply. Then, amidst the deafening Dragon roar, seeing the Dragon heads floating in the sky, finally spat the deadly Light Orb towards the sponge they occupied.