Chapter 56: Such a Response

As it turns out, this court mage was quite unfortunate. He used a rather profound mental probing technique that could accurately gauge the other party’s strength, which also had the side effect of “peeping”. To accurately assess the other’s abilities, one had to use their spiritual power to explore. Since the human body itself cannot well integrate magical power, to obtain detailed and accurate information, one must delve deep into it to judge its strength. Although this court mage’s thoughts weren’t particularly righteous, he was still cautious. Even though he used the mental probing technique, he did so carefully to avoid the other party suddenly retaliating and posing a threat to himself.

But what he didn’t expect was that Ophariel wasn’t human at all. Her body, even down to each strand of hair, was purely condensed magical power. It could be said that in this world, there was no existence more sensitive to magical power than her. Even those powerful grand mages were still mortal flesh. No matter how strong their magical power, the impurity of the flesh could not be eliminated. Therefore, in terms of sensitivity to magical power, no one could compare to Ophariel.

In fact, if it were just this, it wouldn’t have caused such a great loss to that poor court mage. After all, even if Ophariel was extremely sensitive to magical power fluctuations, she herself couldn’t use spells and had no way to freely manipulate magical power. Even if she sensed someone peeking at her, she wouldn’t know how to respond. However, the problem was that her magical attribute was the void attribute.

The natural enemy of mages.

The so-called void attribute is an attribute that nullifies all energy. This ability cannot provide its master with powerful protection and attack like elemental attributes, but for all mages, it is an absolute killer. The reason is that no matter how powerful their magic is, it’s still just a condensation of energy, and Ophariel’s void attribute can forcibly decompose and dissipate all energy, turning it into nothingness. In other words, in front of a mage with the void attribute, no matter how powerful the attack and defense methods other mages possess, they are all meaningless. Moreover, once entangled by void magic, not only will it cause the destruction and disappearance of magic, but it will also cause irreparable damage to the mage themselves.

After all, the source of a mage’s power is also magical energy, and once dispersed by void magic, it can never be recovered. Even a high-level grand mage, if hit by void magic and the magical energy in their body is dispersed, they would become completely useless, with no way to recover their strength.

Because of this, mages across the entire continent are extremely vigilant against those with the void attribute. Once discovered, it’s best to recruit them if possible; if not, they must be killed immediately, regardless of whether they are men, women, elderly, or children. They must be eliminated by any means necessary. Fortunately, while the void attribute is nearly invincible against mages, it has no effect on swordsmen. The reason Julian knew about the void attribute was because in his previous life, he had once accepted a commission from the Mage Association to hunt down and kill a person with the void attribute. It was only then that he learned detailed information about this attribute. What the Mage Association feared most was a person with the void attribute learning swordsmanship. Once they became a high-rank swordsman or even a knight, the mages would be in big trouble.

Of course, Julian in his previous life had also considered similar ideas. If he could find a person with the void attribute and train them to become a high-rank swordsman, he would have someone to rely on when facing mages in the future. After all, in his view, many mages’ spells were quite strange and powerful, so having someone to help him deal with mages would always be a good thing.

But later Julian discovered that heaven is indeed fair; when it gives you one thing, it takes away another. Whether it was those people with the void attribute he met in his previous life or Ophariel he met in this life, they all belonged to the category of people with no combat aptitude. Especially Ophariel, given her level of magical power condensation, logically speaking, she should have been able to exert power far beyond wraiths like Judy who were attached to armor, but she was as soft as an ordinary woman with no difference. It seems that the void attribute might also come with a “curse” of physical weakness for its possessor.

And because of this, when Ophariel sensitively perceived someone using magic to probe her, the void ability in her body suddenly burst out. For void energy, almost all other magical energies are its food. Now that such a juicy and delicious steak was sneakily delivering itself, how could the void energy possibly give up? So, before Ophariel could react herself, the void energy in her body suddenly erupted, completely nullifying and dissipating that poor, self-delivered spiritual power.

And it was under these circumstances that the court mage was caught off guard and suffered a backlash. You should know, spiritual power was his strength. Now that it was forcibly erased, it was like someone had chopped off a part of his body with an axe, painful and uncomfortable. This caused him to spit out a mouthful of fresh blood and then half-kneel on the ground.

“Catch her, catch her immediately!!”

After probing his own body’s magical power, the court mage despairingly discovered that his original mid-rank mage strength now had no difference from an apprentice. He could no longer freely mobilize magical power for his use as before. It could be said that he could never recover his original strength and could only be a mage apprentice in the future.

It was this discovery that made the court mage burn with rage. He had already forgotten that it was his own probing that brought about this calamity, and instead directed all his anger towards Ophariel.

Hearing the court mage’s order, those guard warriors were stunned for a moment, then drew their weapons and walked towards Ophariel. Although they didn’t know exactly what had happened, the person they were responsible for protecting suddenly fell down, so these warriors naturally sensed that a problem had occurred. After receiving his order, these warriors dared not be negligent and immediately rushed over.

Seeing this scene, the few attendants originally following Julian thought of their duty and wanted to go up to protect their master, but were stopped by Caster. He stood silently on the side, carefully observing Julian. With Caster’s experience, he of course knew who these people were. If that man was a court mage, then these warriors must be the legendary Mage Guard. In terms of individual strength, they were at most mid-rank swordsmen. However, unlike ordinary swordsmen, the members of the Mage Guard were basically equipped with expensive magical armor and weapons. It was these things that enhanced their power. Looking at the black armor on these warriors and the long swords shining with magical light, with these weapons and equipment, their strength might even reach upper mid-rank!

Of course, high-rank swordsman was out of the question, but even so, the strength of these people was enough to make one’s heart cold. And now, this lord had actually offended a court mage. It was a good opportunity to see the true strength of this lord. After all, the Mage Guard was not like their noble attendants who could be intimidated into obedience.

“My lord!”

Seeing these warriors rushing straight over, Ophariel was also startled. In fact, up to now, she still hadn’t figured out what exactly had happened to her, but now it was clear to everyone that these warriors were coming for her! As a former princess, Ophariel was naturally very familiar with the existence of the Mage Guard. Now seeing that they were actually coming to catch her, she immediately stood up nervously.

“Don’t worry.”

But contrary to Ophariel’s expectations, Julian wasn’t as nervous as she was. He just reached out his hand, gesturing for Ophariel to calm down, then stood up and turned to face those warriors who had rushed to his side. Then, his right hand pressed on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

“Swoosh!”

At this moment, the warrior at the front suddenly felt a dazzling white light burst out before his eyes. At the same time, an incomparable aura erupted, the powerful energy condensed into a tangible entity, forming a crescent-shaped shockwave that shot towards him like an arrow leaving the string.

“Soul Sword Light!”

Faced with this sudden attack, the Mage Guard warriors were all shocked. They hurriedly dodged to the side, avoiding this terrible strike. But others weren’t so lucky. With the eruption of the Soul Sword Light, a low rumble immediately sounded throughout the hall. The floor shattered and flew apart under the powerful impact, and even the solid walls shook violently after being hit by the Soul Sword Light, cracking like a spider web.

He attacked?!

The situation before them shocked everyone present. No one had expected that at this moment, someone would dare to attack the Mage Guard? That was the personal guard unit directly under the royal mages!!

Even Ophariel was now staring wide-eyed in surprise. Based on her understanding of Julian, she had thought this lord would use his most skilled persuasion tricks to get through this difficult situation. But she didn’t expect that Julian would reassure her not to worry one moment, and then turn around and draw his sword to attack people the next? Wasn’t this gap a bit too big?

What puzzled Ophariel even more was that the Soul Sword Light Julian used was almost identical to what she had seen Darlos use in Twilight Forest. Of course, the Soul Sword Light Julian used seemed to be somewhat weaker in power and intensity compared to the original version.

However… could Julian use this kind of sword technique? She remembered Julian saying that each swordsman’s understanding of their soul was different, and the techniques they used were also different. Moreover, the sword technique Darlos had comprehended was a power-type, which didn’t seem to be what Julian excelled at.

Thinking of this, Ophariel couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion, looking at the black long sword in Julian’s hand. At this moment, on that sword, pure white light was shining, the light that seemed almost tangible swirling and entwining on the black blade.

“Who are you! What do you want to do?”

The Mage Guard lived up to their reputation as the protectors of mages. Although they encountered a sudden attack, they quickly regrouped their formation, guarding that court mage in their midst. However, this time, they no longer rashly rushed forward. After all, the other party had already demonstrated their strength. Being able to use soul power outside the body must mean they were a high-rank swordsman. Although with their strength as the Mage Guard, they weren’t afraid to fight against such an opponent, facing a high-rank swordsman, it was still better to be cautious.

“That’s what I should be asking,” Julian held his sword diagonally in front of him, looking at the people before him with an ambiguous smile.

“You suddenly came up to arrest someone, what are you trying to do? I haven’t heard that the Mage Guard has the authority to arbitrarily arrest people.”

Hearing these words, the Mage Guard warriors all felt somewhat embarrassed. Their task was to protect mages from harm, and of course they had no authority to arrest people at will. Their previous action was just a reflexive response after hearing the order. And now that it was brought up, there really wasn’t much they could say.

Say that the other party had injured their mage? Everyone with eyes could see that this court mage was walking fine originally, then suddenly fell to the ground and started shouting about arresting that young woman, while that young woman had not made any movement from beginning to end. Although these Mage Guard warriors knew more about magic than ordinary people, they also saw very clearly that from the time they entered until now, that young woman had not made any threatening moves towards them. She had just been talking to the young man in front of her all along. There were no actions of chanting spells or casting magic. This sudden talk of arresting someone for no reason indeed seemed unjustifiable.

Thinking of this, everyone looked at each other, exchanging uneasy glances, suddenly realizing that the situation seemed to have gone beyond their control. If the other party wasn’t strong, they could have ignored their protests and just arrested them directly. But now, a high-rank swordsman… even if they didn’t consider his strength, they had to consider the power behind him. Daring to confront the Court Mage Guard head-on, his background must be extraordinary. And the one they were protecting was just an ordinary court mage, not some important figure. If they provoked trouble they shouldn’t have for his sake, it would be too much of a loss.

“Who’s in charge of the Court Mage Squad now?” Suddenly, Julian asked with a smile. He gently stroked the hilt of his sword, looking at the people before him with a hint of amusement.

This strange question stunned everyone, but someone quickly answered reflexively.

“We are under Grand Mage Laribode Selaya…”

Laribode Selaya?

Hearing this, Julian raised an eyebrow slightly. The image of a thin, frail youth wearing a thin robe immediately appeared in his mind.

This kid has become a Grand Mage now?

“You can go now,” Thinking of this, Julian waved his hand.

“Go back to Laribode, he needs to properly discipline his subordinates, not let them out everywhere causing trouble.”

This young man has quite an attitude.

Hearing Julian’s words, everyone present couldn’t help but draw in a cold breath.