Chapter 4 - Assassination in the Valley (2)

Chapter 4: Assassination in the Valley (2)

Translator: Ma Shaoyi and Pan Junqian

Proofread by Peter Gong

In the afternoon, Rowen leaves Yadi city and walks briskly on his way home. Dibit’ s words give him a great deal of confidence which relaxes him a lot.

The afternoon sun is strong enough to melt much of the snow on the road, but it is still so cold that Rowen has to pick up his pace to keep warm. Summoners, like enchanters, are not very good in physique, far less than warriors.

Before Rowen realizes it, he is already in the Thunder Valley, less than ten kilometers from the town of Mayor.

Thunder Valley has a very strange terrain. Every thunderstorm season, there will be countless thunder and lightning fall in this valley, and at this time people and animals in this valley will usually be struck by lightning and for this the valley is named.

But that doesn’t mean nobody passes through the valley. In fact, when there are no thunder and lightning, the Thunder Valley is not dangerous. And if the Thunder Valley is not crossed, the journey from the town of Mayor to the city of Yadi will have to take at least two kilometers to cross. Thus, people usually choose to walk through the Thunder Valley, and they make detours only when there are thunder and lightning.

It is winter, not in the thunderstorm season, and today is a sunny day. Naturally, Rowen goes into the Thunder Valley as usual.

Rowen made his way through the valley a dozen times over the years, each time smoothly. This time, however, he encounters trouble. In front of him, a slight man in a enchanter’s robe, holding a wand, blocks his way.

There is a token of burning flame on the robe, which means he is a Fire enchanter. And next to the flame, there are four stars, which means that he is a level-Ⅳ enchanter.

Like summoners, enchanters are divided into 10 levels, with the lowest level (level-I) and the highest level (level-X). Those who have not yet reached the level- are the enchanter apprentices, while those below the level-Ⅲ are called junior enchanters who can only cast primary magic; wizards from Level Ⅳ to Ⅵ are the intermediate enchanter who can release a relatively strong intermediate magic; enchanters above level-Ⅵ are the senior enchanter who can cast superior magic and even sealed incantation.

On the Cang Yun Continent, the enchanter are altogether divided into six systems, respectively the wind affinity, the fire affinity, the earth affinity, the water affinity, the light affinity and the dark affinity. An enchanter can only learn one of these systems, and a few can learn two or more.

“Rowen·Wolf?” The enchanter’s voice is quiet, a little gloomy, making listeners feel uncomfortable.

“I’m Rowen, and Mr. Enchanter, would you mind if I ask …” Although Rowen holds a bad impression of this enchanter, he still expresses his politeness at this time since Patriarch Brian has been teaching him to keep necessary courtesy whenever he meets strangers for the first time.

But apparently this enchanter has no manners, and before Rowen finishes his words, the enchanter’s cold voice is heard, “Good, then you will die now!”

The enchanter casts a spell quickly, and then a bolt of lightning appears in midair and strikes Rowen. That should be the middle magic of Fire affinity—Thunderstrike!

This is completely beyond Rowen’s expectation. Seeing the lightning coming down, he starts running away subconsciously, narrowly missing the lightning bolt.

After a few seconds of confusion, Rowen quickly calms down. Although it is the first time for him to encounter such a situation, he still remembers what Patriarch Brain used to tell him more than once. He told him that when facing the enemy only by keeping calm could he get the upper hand. Now, although this enemy is an enchanter and even a level-Ⅳenchanter who is quite powerful than him, he will not resign himself to extinction.

The first rule of the Wolf family is “never give in, no matter how strong the enemy is!”

Rowen pours all his strength into his legs and begins to run around the enchanter. For a level-Ⅳ Fire enchanter, Thunderstrike should be the most powerful single attack spell while it is also one of the worst spells in terms of targeting accuracy. And If the target keeps moving fast and not in a straight line, it’s even harder for the enchanter to hit it.

And Rowen also finds out that the enchanter has been using the Thunderstrike to attack him. Thinking that this is the Valley of Thunder, he suspects that the enchanter is trying to disguise his death as an accident. Although it is not the thunderstorm season, if he dies of Thunderstrike in the Valley of Thunder, everyone will tend to think he is struck by the fall of lightning.

But running away is not a permanent solution, and Rowen knows he must fight back. As a summoner, he is limited to making full use of his power to make a counterattack, but he soon finds that his only option is to summon the mysterious summoning beast which is still unable to attack.

“Bang!” there comes another lightning ricocheting behind him, and the earth is splashed here and there. Rowen feels stressful, and if it goes on like this, he will run out his strength before he is dead, even though he is not killed by lightning.

Rowen keeps uttering the spells as he is running as fast as he can. Suddenly, a huge iron block appears, landing heavily next to the enchanter.

What a pity! Rowen complains in his mind because the iron block could have crashed on the enchanter. He believes that the thin and weak enchanter will be smashed into a bloody pile of flesh if the giant iron block hits him.

Apparently, the enchanter is shocked by the sudden appearance of the huge iron block. A red flash of light flashes across the top of his wand and an enchanting shield of light red suddenly appears to protect the enchanter.

For an enchanter with a frail and weak body, the enchanting shield is their strongest means to defend. When an enchanter reaches level-IV, he will be able to use this enchanting shield, but its defensive ability is not yet strong.

A lighting strikes again, but this time it doesn’t go for Rowen but for the huge iron block.

Rowen utters the recall spell in a hurry, but it is late, and the iron block has been struck. He is anxious, fearing that lighting will do harm to the summoning beast. However, he then notices that the thunder and lightning striking on the iron block have disappear without a trace as if they were absorbed by it.

However, at this very moment when the spell is about to finish, the iron block disappears, going back to its summoning realm. Then it shows up again and lands heavily from the sky when Rowen utters the recall spell again.

Not knowing that whether Rowen is lucky or the summoning beast has sensed his will, but this time the iron beast rushes directly towards that enchanter.

“Boom…” the iron block smashes on the enchanting shield with a strange thud.

“Bang!” unable to bear the weight of the huge iron block, the enchanting shield suddenly cracks. Seeing thing are going wrong, the enchanter starts to escape, but it’s too late since the iron block has had a face-to-face contact with him. The enchanter lets out a miserable hum and lies down. The huge iron block shakes the earth again.

Rowen swiftly rushes towards him, drawing out the dagger hidden against his waist. This dagger is a gift from Nina and it is also the sharpest weapon about him.

Blood is being spit out from the enchanter’s mouth, and he is unable to move but is still alive. Obviously, the enchanting shield saves his life and the iron block does not go towards him at the last moment but only slightly touches his back. Otherwise, the enchanter is definitely killed.

Rowen clutches the dagger, hanging high over his head.

“No…” the enchanter implores Rowen with a begging expression on his face, managing to utter a single word to ask Rowen to spare his life.

Rowen grits his teeth and plunges into the enchanter’s throat with the dagger without any mercy. The enchanter’s pupil dilates as his blood spills, and his vitality also vanishes rapidly.

The blood almost splatters on Rowen’s clothes when the dagger is drawn out from his body. Rowen staggers back a few steps, then sits down feebly against the iron block gasping quickly.

It almost exhausts his strength in the previous fast running. In addition, it is the first time in his 16 years that he has been placed on the edge of death at this dangerous moment and it is also the first time for him to have someone killed. Though he knows he should do so, but strangely, he feels exhausted at that moment.

Over these years, he has travels alone more than once between Yadi City and Mayor Town, but nothing wrong happens. The road between those two towns has always been safe without any incidents, that’s why he goes there alone. But he has never imagined the things that have happened to him today.

Rowen doesn’t know why this enchanter is trying to kill him, but since the enchanter manages to do so, there is no reason for Rowen to spare his life.