Cthulhu Gonfalon

Ryan was a bit flustered when he found that he had been recognized.

He never thought that the giant and the young wizard who were supposed to be captive in the cave were still alive. They were not even injured after being hit by the Cloudkill spell, and most importantly, they even guessed his identity.

When he realized that his lie had been seen through, he felt like he was standing naked in a world of ice and snow, and it was so cold that his whole body was trembling.

What was the scariest thing in the world?

For Ryan who believed in secrecy and deception, it would be that his lies’ were totally seen through.

All these years, he had lied to many people and managed to get away with it. His lying skills made him feel secure and comfortable, as if he was wearing magic armour all over his body.

But now that he had been seen through, and there were no secrets about him anymore…

“It may not be that bad; they probably guessed a little bit…”

Ryan was trying to comfort himself, then he heard that Gerrard was sneering and shouting.

“You think you could please the Evil God of Scheme and Deception by betraying your peers? Let me tell you, the God of Conspiracy has been defeated already!”

Hearing this, he almost fainted.

The God of Conspiracy had not abandoned him? He was defeated!?

The d*mn huge giant, I knew there was a God behind him, a very powerful God!

My God…

Ryan felt as if he had already died, and his soul had left his body and was falling down to the abyss, to the Underworld. He was on his way to purgatory.

Right at this moment, a strong and chilling sound snapped him out of it.

“Giant Growth!”

The wizard, who was silent until now, raised up his hand, and a light glistened from the tip of his magic wand that was designed to help him to practice spells. Instantly, Gerrard was hit by this light.

The powerful magic energy began to work in the blink of an eye, and Gerrard grew much bigger. Then the back of his head hit the top of the cave.

Bang!

The tough stonewall was penetrated by Gerrard’s head, then by his whole upper body. Gerrard was now stuck in the stonewall like a beast in a trap.

“You think I can be so easily defeated by you!” Gerrard shouted as loud as thunder, and the sound echoed in the cave. The furious giant had exerted all his terrifying power. The rock above was cracking, as if it would collapse any minute now.

It did not collapse however. The wizard told Ryan to watch his back, and he immediately dashed forward and performed another spell.

His magic wand began to emit black light; the light was dim, rather thin and smooth like black silk. While he was brandishing his magic wand, the black “silk” quickly got bigger and bigger and turned into a large circle.

The wizard touched Gerrard’s leg with his hand, and before Gerrard realized, the black circle shut itself completely with him inside.

Inside the circle, there was sheer darkness that would make people feel dizzy. Before Gerrard even realized, he exclaimed and fell deeper into it.

He felt the sheer darkness beneath him was like an abyss, and he then vanished and was devoured by the darkness.

Gerrard’s shouting could still be heard from the darkness, and before he made any other moves, the wizard stopped the spell and the sheer darkness disappeared immediately along with Gerrard. If it weren’t for the falling debris, no one would possibly have believed a giant named Gerrard ever existed.

Earlier before, when the wizard was practicing the “Giant Growth” spell, Palin had felt there was something wrong. He meant to stop the wizard, but he was stopped by Ryan. Facing a very experienced bandit, the young wizard of low rank only managed to escape from being killed, and still he had suffered a lot during the process. He was barely holding up now.

At that moment, he could do nothing but watch the wizard practice the “Shadow Conjuration” and open the portal to the shadow.

The next moment, the portal was closed, and Gerrard who was still in the shadow could not come back anymore.

Palin was both anxious and angry, but he could not do anything. Right at this moment, he heard a voice that came from his heart.

“I will lend you my power. Do not be merciful, give him a good punch!”

Palin felt an incredibly powerful energy burst from his body.

The young wizard brandished his wooden wand, and although it was just a common wand, it tore the air apart.

Ryan subconsciously leaned to one side and was hit right on his shoulder by Palin’s wand. He was pushed away by the extreme power and thrown back against the stonewall.

Crack!

Ryan’s bones were broken. Due to the extreme pain, he could not even make a sound and fainted.

With only one strike, Palin managed to knock Ryan unconscious. He did not show his happiness or amazement, but rather he hurriedly dashed toward the wizard.

He knew that his spells could not possibly defeat the wizard, so he did not chant any spells but directly smashed the wizard with the wooden wand.

The wooden wand hit the wizard heavily, and activated the Protection spell that he had fixed on himself. The gray white light instantly covered the wizard’s whole body and became similar to a rock. At the same time, the wizard’s body began to fade, as if the air surrounding him had been twisted.

Thump.

The wooden wand hit the stonewall and broke the rock, and bounced back and fell into the corner.

Palin was not surprised by this, an experienced wizard would definitely practice as many protection spells as possible on himself. For example, a few advanced wizards he knew would even practiced a transportation spell on themselves, so they could be transported and run away if they were severely attacked.

“Safety first” was the life motto of many wizards, since managing to run away meant there was still a tomorrow for them. One can’t do anything if one is dead.

So there was a saying in this world: the creature that was most difficult to kill was neither the powerful huge dragon nor the immortal Davy Jones, but an advanced wizard with a well functioning brain.

The wooden wand Palin threw had very powerful momentum, but he did not expect it to cause any harm to the wizard from the very beginning.

What he had hoped was that the wooden wand would just cause some trouble for the wizard.

Although the momentum was mostly offset by the protection spell, the tiny bit of momentum that was left made the wizard feel like he had been hit by an ox. Now he could not stand steadily and staggered a few steps.

Right at this moment, Palin rushed and stopped in front of him like a tiger running downhill. Palin reached toward to the wizard, and cold air began to rise from his right hand.

The wizard’s figure, which was as vague as the water wave, was penetrated by Palin’s hand covered with the cold air. There was the sound of breaking glass, and the wizard’s vague figure became clear again. Palin adjusted the direction of his right hand and crushed the gray white stone skin and grasped the wizard’s neck.

The thick cold air spread to the wizard’s body from Palin’s hand. Since the wizard had lost the protection of his spells, he could not fight back anymore and fainted due to the extreme cold. Palin then lifted him as if he was carrying baggage.

The short but intense fight had finally come to an end. From the time when the wizard practiced his spells with full strength to the time when the wizard and Ryan were defeated, only a few seconds had passed.

Palin threw the fainted wizard onto the ground and dispersed the cold magic power in his hand.

Just now, I did not chant any incantation or practice any spell, but I managed to practice a powerful magic that only a wizard of the middle rank could practice. My right hand even destroyed two protection spells, and the rest of the energy could still make the wizard faint due to the extreme cold. I could never practice such a powerful spell when I have only been learning to practice spells for less than two years.

He thought for a while, and tried to talk with Sui Xiong via telepathy, “Your Majesty, are you the one who gave me the power?”

After a few seconds, a weak sound came from a long distance.

“Yes… Palin, you won? Good… I am looking for Gerrard. I will leave you take care of this…”

Palin lowered his head and showed his respect to the Great God. He did not raise his head up to look around until the sound had faded away.

His Majesty went to save Gerrard who is trapped in the plane of shadow, and he asked me to take care of things here. I have to try my best so I do not let him down!

“Okay… Let me first deal with the wizard, my predecessor. Compared to a bandit who believes in the God of Conspiracy, I think he will be more willing to talk with me who is walking the path of knowledge as he is.”

The cave was suddenly filled with the cold air. Then a swirling blue light appeared in the air accompanied by a cracking sound. There were many tiny electric lights moving in the air like agile swimming fish.

A few seconds later, the blue light got bigger and turned into a halo. Then Gerrard, who was covered with dust, came out in quandary while brandishing his ax that was tainted with black blood. He was coughing severely, but after a long while, he finally pulled himself back together.

“It seems that your journey in the plane of shadow was not that pleasant.” Palin had been waiting for him for a long time.

“Eh-hem…yes, it sucked!” Gerrard smiled bitterly. “I want to apologize for my behaviour in the battle. My ability has degenerated since these recent years have been so comfortable, and I should not have made those mistakes.”

“I am so happy you two are still fine,” Sui Xiong’s laugh echoed through the air. “As for how to deal with Ryan and the wizard, I will just leave that to you. I need to have a rest.”

Then the sound faded away.

In the sky, there was a huge floating jellyfish using its tentacles to grab the rock and fix itself to the peak of a mountain. The energetic magic power that was flowing inside his body gradually becoming milder.

This time, Sui Xiong was really exhausted.