Valerian, The Legendary

91 Treasure?

The two men stood in front of Fragrantia and Valerian, they were speaking in a teasing tone. Valerian asked, “How did you bypass the security of the woods?”

The two men glanced at each other and with a sneer, one of them said, “We are dressed as beasts, our heart is that of a beast, do you think that your measly spell can hold us back? A poor child you are.”

Fragrantia said, “What they mean is that they have acted like wild beasts for such a long time that in essence they have become beasts, do not look at their human skeleton. The protection spell can only keep out humans not marked by me. Beasts can move in freely.”

Valerian understood, and the man on the other side said, “Indeed, we are the beasts, and you know what beasts do when you hurt one of them?”

Fragrantia said, “Can you give up the theatrics, why are you here?”

“To kill you.”, the man who has been silent from the beginning said, and he had just leaned forward when he sensed a strong impact from his abdomen.

Looking down, Valerian had appeared in front of him, with his right knee digging deep in the abdomen of the savage. The child almost felt as if he had collided with a rock, the muscles were that taut, but he had cast a hardening spell already so the impact was not reversed on him.

The blow made the save take back three steps. Fragrantia was an arch-mage and knew that it was not the time to freeze and cast a spell to hold the other savage, ‘Vitis Ligatura.’

The savage was entangled for a moment and then with a sigh, he mumbled, “Foolish struggle.”

.....

Suddenly he jerked and the vines broke apart. This guy was a grandmaster, his strength was good enough to deal with Fragrantia’s spells directly. While the other savage was a grade-five warrior, he could overwhelm Valerian with ease.

The battle had begun and the opponents were decided. Fragrantia faced the grandmaster with a calm expression, while Valerian exchanged blows with the enemy in front of him. The savage facing Valerian said, “You are young, but you are strong, remember that the one who killed you is called Sabath.”

Valerian had no idea of entertaining him with speech or even remembering his name. To him, this fight was to only see his true limit. During the spars in the academy, he was not allowed to let go of restraint, and so, this chance was a godsend to him.

Fragrantia on the other side was not troubled at all. She was casting spell after spell, her side of the clearing had now bloomed into a small garden. The grandmaster was strong, but he was unable to keep up with the speed of spell casting.

Valerian dodged a punch and was about to side-step when a knee hit him in the chest and his small body was sent flying right into the tree trunk, with a bang. Fragrantia saw this but she did not say a word.

The grandmaster savage laughed and said, “Empress, your little pup is done for. How long will you last?”

Fragrantia did not answer him but smirked. The next moment, the whole forest echoed with a roar. This roar was not in line with something that an ordinary magical beast would have. The savages were shocked, their pupils contracted. They shivered when they located the source of this roar.

They looked at the tree, Valerian stood under the canopy, with shreds of moonlight penetrating the leaves and falling on his face. He was angry and instinctively let out the roar of a dragon. Fragrantia was not surprised, but she was shocked at this, her face was frozen in a smirk, and her gaze was locked at Valerian’s visage.

The boy leaned forward and vanished from his spot, the next moment, the savage grandmaster was forced to swallow a mouthful of saliva. Valerian’s jade hand was poking through their chest of Sabath. The latter was twitching all over, his eyes brimming with pain and misery.

Valerian did not simply stab through his chest, but his hand was channeling fire attribute mana to Sabath, burning him inside out, slowly. Another thing was that the spinal cord was grasped by Valerian and a few columns were held in his grip poking out from the back.

Dread, the grandmaster did not expect this young child to be so terrifying, however, he was not worried about the death of his companion, Valkyria did not have the tradition to cry over the dead, but he was focused on the dragon roar and let out by this child.

In his mind, this child was the treasure blessed by the dragon god, otherwise, how can a human let out such a horrible sound that could almost make him faint? Valerian increased the input of fire mana and the heat turned Sabath into a statue of ash.

As Valerian took his hand back, the ash statue fell apart. His silver hair shone under the moonlight as his gaze scrutinized the Grandmaster. He cast spells, without speaking, ‘Flamma Liga, Terra Liga, Vitis Paralytica, Mens Laqueo.’

Four spells, four different attributes, but all had one effect, Immobilization. The grandmaster was not even remotely ready for such a variable attack on him, and before he knew his body was bound in three different bindings, just when he was about to call out for the enemy, he felt a strong pain in his head as if it was going to explode.

Valerian said to the frozen Empress, “Aunt, what are you waiting for?”

Fragrantia woke up from the shock, Valerian had finally called her aunt, but she knew this was not the time to celebrate, and she cast the most dreadful wooden spell, ‘Mors Vitis.’

This spell did not have a grade, however, it was by no means a weak spell. The stronger the mage using this spell, the better the outcome. For example, if Fragrantia was to cast this spell against an army of grade one warriors, none of them will last more than a few minutes.

A grandmaster was akin to an army, and a new grandmaster, such as the savage in front of them, was a vulnerable army. He was not used to his complete power just yet.

Fragrantia looked at the dying grandmaster and asked, “What made you come and challenge us without properly getting used to your strength? Also, how did you know that I will be here?”

The grandmaster’s complexion was turning paler by the moment, but he still stood tall and refused to answer. Valerian said, “I have heard that the Valkyrians respect the strong, I defeated your companion, he owes me some answers, and so do you.”

The grandmaster let out a low chuckle and said, “Do you think by bringing this up, you can get any answer? Only those fools in the old times followed these rules. I would rather die than outs my people to you. I do not mind dying, but you wait, my king will come to avenge me.”

Valerian heard his words and walked over, he raised his head to lock his gaze with the mountain in front of him and said, “If your king did not come, then I will go to him, and ask, why he sent losers to disturb the peace of my mother, and if he did not have an answer for me, I will have his head, just like yours.”

The grandmaster was shocked, this child was able to speak to him about his king in such a frantic manner, yet the eyes did not tremble. He realized that Valerian was not joking with him. At this moment, he realized that the defeat was not in vain, he really met a strong guy.

The next moment his world turned dark, the vines of death have absorbed all his vitality. Then his body fell to the ground with a thud. The spells Valerian had cast were all negated.

Fragrantia came to his side, and she did not say anything but checked him from head to toe. She spotted a small tear on his clothes, located on his back, and asked, “Are you fine?”

Her voice was filled with concern. Valerian smiled at her and said, “Yes, I am fine, let me check if she is fine. The impact was really strong.”

He wanted to turn around and check the tree if there was any damage, but Fragrantia squinted her eyes on him and turned him around, she asked, “How do you say that you are fine if the impact was strong enough to damage the tree?”

Valerian scratched the back of his head and with a sheepish grin he said, “I cast a hardening spell on my back before the collision.”

Fragrantia froze but then she burst out in loud laughter. She was amazed by how quick this little guy thought of casting a hardening spell. This would make the impact harder and the opponent will feel that they were stronger. He deceived them all. Sly brat, she called him in her mind.

Valerian walked over to the tree, and checked the place of impact, he was caressing the trunk with his tender hand, when a sharp edge of the bark cut it. The child did not feel much pain but the drop of blood fell on the tree trunk, and then, Fragrantia suddenly scooped him in her arms and rushed away.