Mage Manual
Chapter 415 - 345: Battle Return

Chapter 415: Chapter 345: Battle Return

"Run? Running is a must; never mind Harvey; Cleos is a real Three-winged Holy Realm, I don’t stand a chance."

"Hostage? The only hostage near me is the receptionist, but not to mention my conscience, the problem is that she is already broken and can’t even move."

"If holding a movable person hostage is akin to riding a horse, then holding someone immobile is like being ridden by a horse—it serves no purpose but to increase the anger of the Red Hats."

Ash knew he couldn’t avoid combat; his current position was at the reception, a distance away from the stairs. He had to fight to have a chance to escape.

So, how should he fight? Usually, Ash would send a Substitute to attract the enemy’s attention by dying...

But his Substitute should still be with Liss...

After a moment of silence, Ash suddenly raised his hands and stood up, walking towards the Red Hats, "I surrender."

"Don’t surrender!" Harvey and Cleos shouted simultaneously, while the Red Hats raised their guns and aimed at Ash, being a T0 generation of the Gun Technique faction, the Red Hats are almost entirely Gun Masters, even if it’s not their primary faction, it’s their secondary.

Ash was stunned, "So, not even surrendering is allowed? Then why haven’t you just killed me? Are you that barbaric?"

The two Red Hat Captains were also helpless; they knew what was brewing inside Ash, but they really couldn’t initiate an unlawful killing of a criminal who surrenders. In fact, they hardly dared to hurt Ash—unless Ash clearly resisted arrest, for even if Ash was a wanted criminal, if they attacked first, the Gospel Book would deem them guilty of intentional harm.

Civilization is the shackle of violence; the more civilized a kingdom is, the more cautious the use of violence.

In the Kingdom of Blood Moon, they might still stealthily enforce the law irregularly, but the strongest point of the Kingdom of Gospel is that monitoring is constant and omnipresent. As long as the Red Hats want to stay on the leaderboard, they absolutely dare not violate the law.

Cleos signaled a Red Hat to handcuff Ash, his eyes red as he said, "Keep your hands raised high, any slight movement from you, and we will attack your vitals, unauthorized movement means death."

"I’m just a mere Two-winged Mage, how could I possibly misbehave in front of a Holy Sanctuary Mage?" Ash shrugged his shoulders and obediently waited for the Red Hat to restrain him.

However, when the Red Hat approached him, Ash’s black robe suddenly split down the middle—he had sliced his robe with his Heart Sword!

Bang! Bang!

"Close your eyes!"

As Harvey shouted, Ash immediately dodged towards the direction of the game pod.

Because he waited until the Red Hat came close to reveal his plan, a slight turn of his body allowed him to hide behind the Red Hat, making it impossible for the others to risk shooting their colleague and execute precise shooting; the gun bullets hit the ground.

All the Red Hats immediately closed their eyes and scattered in all directions; however, several Red Hats still aimed their gun muzzles at the staircase and windows, leaving Ash entirely without the slightest chance for luck, sincerely running to the corridor between the game pods, feeling quite regretful—

The Red Hats almost entirely dodged the intimidation of his "Fiendish Coat"!

The moment he cut open his robe, they all closed their eyes, having never witnessed the demon-like visage of Ash!

It was to be expected, with the Awards List blatantly displaying his prize, and considering that Ash had also used the "Fiendish Coat" to scare away two agents from the Family Reunion Office in Azura, how could the Red Hats not be prepared?

However, that was good; since they closed their eyes and rendered their most important sense, sight, useless, Ash could escape more easily. Though despicable, under the dense cover of game pods, the Red Hats wouldn’t dare to attack recklessly; if they accidentally harmed any innocent citizens of Vatican Mura, they should be ready to be unmasked—

However—

Ash suddenly froze, a sense of terror making his scalp tingle, his cells frantically preventing him from stepping into death. Without time to think, he immediately spat out "sweet words and a hidden dagger" stabbing it into the ground, creating a warm yellow Sword Barrier instantly!

"Sword Barrier!"

Pop, Pop, Pop!

Echoing in the space were three explosive sounds; Ash saw nothing clearly before the Sword Barrier exploded, then his abdomen felt like it was hammered by the tail of a Fish-Slicing Dragon, Ash felt himself flying, his stomach bursting like a water bag, the intense shock burning away his vision in a burst of myriad colors—

Crack!

His back smashed against the cold, hard ground, Ash violently spat out a mouthful of blood foam, the cold air he breathed in felt like knives stabbing into his lungs, the pain occupying much of his cognitive resources, leaving only a bit of his combat instincts functioning—

It was a bouncing bullet!

With game pods all around, logically, the Red Hats couldn’t shoot, but the bouncing bullet ricocheted twice between the ceiling and the walls, shooting towards Ash from an incredible angle above, its force unmitigated, not only instantly destroying the Two-winged Defense Miracle "Sword Barrier" but also having enough power to blast through his abdomen—no, not blast through, it was a Miracle Concussion Bullet, converting all kinetic energy into a wide area hammering, transforming a potentially fatal shot into a harder-to-heal concussion injury!

The Sword Maiden had mentioned that the gun technique faction generally has two directions, either assuredly fatal damage, meaning a headshot to ensure instantaneous death; or extreme destructive force, ensuring that the enemy cannot defend or heal.

If it’s a non-headshot penetrative injury, for a Mage, it’s actually easy to heal, as the affected area is small, and various medical miracles can easily remedy it; but those specifically designed to broadly destroy flesh with heavy hits, not only can they instantly ruin various organs of a Mage causing a drastic drop in strength, but the Mage also can’t heal quickly.

Ash felt his abdomen had nearly turned to mush, his intestines more tangled than shoelaces, his ribs probably shattered too, just at that edge between death and depleted strength—crying out, the Red Hats’ gun bullets were really gentle, Ash now didn’t even need to think about resisting, he was straining all his efforts just to breathe.

If only he had the Reverse Sun Technique Spirit gifted by the Sword Maiden, he could heal immediately.

Unfortunately, he gave the wrong answer in the cabin and was sent out.

Sword Maiden...

"There’s no need to surrender, no need to resist, you will be unconscious in 10 seconds, and we’ll take you away after you fall asleep," Right’s voice was getting closer, along with the sound of footsteps. "You shouldn’t feel reluctant either, for I am a Three-winged Gun Master. Even if you are a Weak Mage, if I want you unconscious for a few seconds, that’s how long it will be."

Yet another Three-winged Mage, and moreover, the most violent of the Gun Masters. Together with Cleos next to him, it meant two Holy Sanctuary Mages were capturing me...

The first time I was captured, it was by one Holy Sanctuary Mage.

The second time, by two Holy Sanctuary Mages.

Ash could only pray this was an arithmetic sequence, not a geometric one.

But this time, it seemed like there was no escape, Ash was finally returning to his old profession—as a professional prison evaluator, this time he was going to thoroughly evaluate the prison facilities of the Kingdom of Gospel.

However, when Ash barely recovered from a concussion, he opened his eyes and saw Igula on the ceiling.

The Swindler had opened a grid in the ceiling, poking out half of his head to look at him, his gaze as cold as if he were looking at a piece of pork.

Igula pointed at himself, then at the ground, and finally waved to Ash, signaling him to quickly stand up.

Ash didn’t quite understand Igula’s tactical hand signals, but he understood his task—to stand up as the Taunting Companion.

As long as he stood up, the "Evil Spirit Coat’s" deterrence check would continue to be effective. The Red Hats wouldn’t dare to open their eyes and would have to fight without sight!

But standing up was very risky, Ash was no good citizen, he was now a legitimate fugitive, and the Red Hats wouldn’t just be trouble-free if they killed him, they would even get a reward!

But at this point, how could Ash not trust Igula?

He gathered his sword fingers, activated the Passionate Technique Spirit, converted all the pain, fear, and battle intent in his heart into joy, then activated the Emotion Sword Technique Spirit, and formed a ’Joyful Sword,’ stabbing it into his abdomen!

Miracle·Favoritism·Joyful Sword!

Warmth spread through his body from his stomach, joy seeping from the outside in. Ash was surprised to discover that his pain was also suppressed by the ’Joyful Sword,’ at least it didn’t occupy too much of his mental resources, and his body’s gears could barely drive.

Although the ’Joyful Sword’ would likely resurge once it wore off, at least he could hold on until he completed his tactical task!

"Uh!"

Ash supported himself and stood up from the gaming pod, only to see Cleos appear in the corridor. He grunted and summoned the Heart Sword towards the Holy Sanctuary Mage!

"Confirm Ash·Heath’s clear resisting arrest behavior." Even with her eyes closed, Cleos easily shot the Heart Sword, "Remove kill restrictions!"

Thud!

The floor suddenly vibrated, and a giant eerie green Array appeared beneath the Red Hats. The eerie green smoke penetrated their bodies, rapidly reacting chemically with their souls.

Even with their eyes closed, the Red Hats seemed to see a rain-soaked, deserted night street. Their clothes were soaked, cold wind hit their faces painfully, bringing with them distress, sadness, self-pity, fear, and coldness, all sorts of negative emotions assailed their minds, even causing Cleos and Right to shiver slightly.

Just beneath the Red Hats, a coffin was hanging upside down from the ceiling, numerous eerie green chains emerging from inside the coffin tightly binding the ceiling, the eight chains clearly outlining an octagonal Array. Harvey lay on the floor, hands together in prayer, facing the coffin through the empty space.

Miracle·Immortal Coffin Rainy Night!

Using necromancy to simulate effects of illusion and spirit systems, unleashing negative energy to induce hallucinations in the enemy!

In the moments the Red Hats were dazed, Igula jumped down, pulling Ash to a blind spot out of the Red Hats’ aiming line, and loudly said, "I’m about to unleash the Spiritual Scream, common people more than ten meters away listening directly will die instantly, three, two, one!"

The Red Hats, freed from the negative energy, paled in shock. However, Spiritual Scream was imminent, and they had no time to kill Igula, the instigator!

Ash was initially puzzled why Igula had picked up the bad habit of narrating before a big move, but just before Igula unleashed the Silent Scream, the Red Hats raised their guns, attacking the ground, ceiling, and walls of the gaming layer, remotely deploying Earth Magic Miracle to create temporary sound barriers!

In the moment Igula released the Silent Scream, a petite blue shadow also climbed over the outer wall into the gaming layer—Banjee·Doran.

The strongest Ice Gun Master of the Funeral Service Office.

In front of the juvenile housekeeper, a group of Red Hats turned their backs towards him.

Dual ice-cursed guns emptied their magazines in a second, 62 Miracle gun bullets like sudden rain shooting toward the Law Enforcers. If hit, these bullets would extract blood from the enemy’s body creating sharp ice flowers causing secondary damage, turning death into a brilliant crystalline artwork!

The perfect combination of gun technique and ice technique, efficiency complemented by splendor!

Miracle·Blossoming Ice!