A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 364 Cunning, cunning

"You're the evil sorcerer, your whole family are evil sorcerers!" Although the chief didn't move his hands, his eyebrows seemed to be about to fly up: "To crudely identify necromancers as evil sorcerers is a stereotype of mediocrity!"

"Only cowards who fear death would attach trivial value judgments to magic in order to escape the most mysterious and profound realms."

"Don't rush!" Joseph Rorschach was startled and took a half step back. Due to the limitations of the clone technique itself and the limited functions of this body, "Possessed Rorschach" could not unleash high-level magic. Otherwise, he would definitely have been able to strike hard and steal the kill from this archmage who was low on health and being held back by the Grey Cardinal.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs." The archmage made a grasping motion in the air, and dark tentacles extended from the "Well of Remains" behind him, binding Rorschach.

However, Joseph Jr.'s words awakened Joseph Sr. He realized that the person in front of him was the Imperial Army's chief accompanying mage himself, and immediately activated the ancient holy symbol once again.

The flames burning around the airships instantly became even hotter, and the rolling heat waves, carrying the attribute of "light," pierced through the breath of death.

The reason why the Priest of the Chancellery hesitated because of Sauron's bluff was simply because he was caught in a blind spot in his thinking. The reason why Rorschach immediately pointed out the Archmage's flaw was because he was an avatar that had temporarily lost contact with his main body due to the magical tsunami.

The reason it can continue to exist is because the [Descent Summoning Technique] dares to divide the soul and entrust it to the clone, a concept that is strictly speaking extremely backward.

The most common scenario is this: if the clone is corrupted, should we keep or discard this soul? If we don't, the original soul will be damaged or incomplete; if we take it back, the original body will be corrupted again.

Only ancient elves skilled in purification and healing, and nature-based mages, dare to do this.

Regardless, Rorschach's interference broke the previous stalemate. However, for Soren, this was a trivial matter. He could tell at a glance that Joseph's soul strength was extremely low. Although his intrinsic magic power was abundant, he guessed that Joseph would not be able to perform high-level magic.

After dealing with the charlatan, it's your turn! Enough time has been spent. Sauron raised his hand, magic surging on his tattoo, and the pre-set spell was activated.

A pure, bright light shot out against the tide, unimpeded by the priest's divine magic, and entered the old man's body in a straight line. Then, a horrifying scene unfolded: the old man's face and exposed skin were covered in bulging veins, which then continued to enlarge and develop, eventually bursting through his skin and transforming into flamboyant tentacles. Even areas covered by clothing were pierced.

Joseph immediately stopped his magic, his whole body wracked with pain, and he was also being attacked and entangled by his own blood vessels.

It is unreasonable for the sun's light to dispel the darkness, because darkness is merely "the emptiness and nothingness of light." Therefore, in the face of the power of the Lord of Light and Order, negative energy and the breath of death will only evaporate and dissolve rapidly. If it weren't for the battlefield filled with casualties, Sauron would have already been at a disadvantage.

Therefore, his [Vascular Mutation] does not rely on negative energy, but rather on excess, condensed life force to mutate the enemy's superficial blood vessels, causing these bodily tissues to mutate. It is an eighth-ring spell that combines the effects of consumption, attack, and control.

These vital energies are transformed from the breath of death. Soren observed that when an organism is near death, it unleashes its strongest survival instinct—both mind and body actively make a final stand.

Symbolically, he could similarly compress "death" into a yearning for and extreme rejection of life, extracting extreme life energy from the breath of death: it was transformed from life to death in the past individuals, and then reversed in the hands of a highly skilled archmage.

The so-called necromancy is not just about studying "death" and "negative energy". It also has a very deep understanding of the origin of life. Compared with the naturalism, which still retains a religious worship of life, necromancy mages are more rational in their approach to life, and even despise ethics, believing that worship and ethics are obstacles to research.

Therefore, infusing others with pure life force can not only be a form of healing, but in the hands of a necromancy-specialized spellcaster, it can also be transformed into a more difficult-to-discern and preventable killing technique.

The Lord of Order is merciful; His power does not easily reject life, nor does it burn or dissipate it. Joseph was thus severely wounded.

To achieve a cure, one must combine day and night; the pure life energy must be followed by a pure attack of death's breath. Sauron's breathing underwent a subtle change; he hesitated, wondering whether to obtain a puppet of a divine benefactor or experimental material constantly immersed in divine power.

It depends on what necromancy he chooses next.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light pierced through his side, striking the old man bound by blood vessels. This magical light seemed to have a physical form, like a high-pressure water jet giving Priest Joseph enough power to fly away from the chief mage's negative energy.

Instantly bathed in sunlight, Priest Joseph was imbued with the power of light. His mutated blood vessels were burned and withered, and the remaining blue light filled the wounds pierced by the blood vessels, allowing them to slowly heal.

Having lost a lot of blood after disengaging from the battle, this was a bad sign for the old man. The pale-faced grey-robed cardinal paused in the air, glanced at the youth who had "attacked him," and then saw the burning airship and the wreckage of the equipment before choosing to leave the battlefield.

"That charlatan actually ran away in fear!" Rorschach tried his best to show a surprised expression. At this moment, he was still bound by black tentacles, as if the light wave just now did not come from Rorschach.

The air grew quiet, leaving only the crackling of fireworks and the sound of the steel frame deforming.

Richard and the monk with the mustache exchanged glances. They had been watching the drama unfold from the beginning and were now at a loss as to how to deal with the young monk who had intruded.

When the two were tainted by the breath of death, they relied on Rorschach for help. Therefore, they did not take the initiative to attack the suspicious mage, but tacitly awaited the chief's instructions.

Was Sauron angry? No, he was re-evaluating the young man. The young man's soul quality was at most that of a mid-level mage, but he seemed completely unconcerned and at ease in the face of Sauron, a great mage.

His two attacks were indeed ineffective against him. The first time he infused the youth with death energy, the youth did not react at all. The second time, when the tentacles of negative energy came into contact with him, an ordinary person would immediately fall into a negative state, unlike him who was full of energy and could still cast spells freely.

Sauron hesitated!

He repeated his question once again, which was extremely rare for a chief: "Who exactly are you?"

"I've already said that, Joseph." Rorschach thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered a useful tiger skin: "However, my true identity is an agent of the Imperial Military's Special Forces Defense Agency, codename Frosthawk!"

The chief seemed to hear a joke: "Heh heh, the agency no longer exists. That makeshift team was completely swallowed up by the military intelligence agency after the death of its chief, Sebins."

Not only Rorschach, but Richard was also surprised: "Mr. Sabines is dead? Wait, he was the head of the secret service?"

"A suspicious plane crash." Soren seemed to know more, but he didn't say more.

Damn it! Rorschach was still somewhat grieving, after all, the bald man had treated him fairly well. He also wondered if the airships within the Empire's territory had some kind of debuff, making them so prone to crashing.

Soren waved his hand: "So stop pretending, you're definitely a lackey of the Magic Guild!"

(End of this chapter)