When A Mage Revolts

The Priests within the ice fog did not react to Benjamin’s statement.

Soon enough, the ice fog surrounding them gradually faded, revealing the empty spot where they stood at first.

The whole ground looked like it was bombarded by something; there were potholes all over the soil and the lush green grass was wiped out. And on this messy vacant land, two Priests who appeared unharmed wore an expression of astonishment as they looked down the other fallen Priest.

As for that fallen Priest, he had already lost his ability to move. Blood poured out from the bullet wound in his heart; flowed past his chest and slowly spilled to the muddy ground.

Benjamin squinted his eyes.

To a certain extent, the power of the magical instruments these three Priests possessed actually surprised him. Despite battling for quite some time, moreover with such a shocking explosion, these seemed to have only injured one of them. And that was what led him to firing his gun.

Just a moment before he pulled the trigger, through the dense ice fog, he found that the three Priests looked a little flustered, but only one person was injured. The crushed ice from the explosion was blocked by their Crosses of Protection but that injured Priest’s crosses were used up, that was why he was hit by some last few pieces of crushed ice, causing minor injuries.

Also, it was these minor injuries on the Priest’s body which made Benjamin realize that his Crosses of Protection were exhausted.

So, before his opponents could react, Benjamin rushed to use his fastest method of attack – shooting.

Losing the protections of magical instruments and Divine Charms, the Priest’s body stood as fragile as a piece of paper against his bullet. Thus, the bullet struck square on his heart, and before the two Priests at the side had realized what had happened, he fell.

"Who ... Who actually are you? How did you know who we are?" One of the Priests turned around and looked at Benjamin, shouted in a mixture of sorrow and anger.

"You’re asking me?" Benjamin shook his head indifferently, and responded to the question with another question. "I was just going to ask how the hell you guys found out where I was. Will you guys tell me?"

They immediately replied to his question with action.

After a short line of familiar incantation, two Holy Light grenades formed in the two Priests’ hands. They held the Grenades of Holy Light high, and looking like deities declaring judgment, fired at Benjamin.

On the other hand, Benjamin calmly chanted the incantation for an ice breaking spell; summoned an ice wall and placed it in front of himself as a shield.

The two Grenades of Holy Light were blocked entirely. Then, two smaller masses of holy light were deflected back, moved along the path they came from earlier, heading towards the two Priests respectively.

Probably still in pain and sorrow from their comrade’s death, the Priests’ reactions were a little slow. Only one of them reacted in time and quickly summoned a barrier, blocking the deflected Holy Light.

As for another Priest, he could not dodge in time and a cross shattered, helping him block the deflected holy light.

Bang!

Just when the layer of holy light barrier summoned from the cross disappeared, Benjamin suddenly pulled the trigger, firing once more. A noise so bright and loud like it was drumming dully in people’s hearts shook the remaining two Priests into a moment of bewilderment.

Then, the Priest who could not react in time slowly lowered his head while wearing an expression of disbelief.

All he saw in that moment was his chest, with an extra, small bullet hole. Blood oozed out in a drip-drip, gradually staining his clothing for disguise in red. Benjamin’s second shot fired precisely into the Priest’s heart, but unfortunately, this time, there was no more cross of protection to save the Priest’s life.

He lifted his head a little feebly and looked at Benjamin, wearing an expression which could not be described as hatred; just a face of disbelief and astonishment. Then, he gently fell on the ground, eyes widened from shock. He was frozen, and still looked somewhat puzzled.

Not even two minutes had passed; the second Priest had also passed away.

Benjamin blew away smoke at the muzzle of his gun, looked towards the last Priest, suddenly shrugged somewhat helplessly and said, "I didn’t know that that was his last cross. I just took my chances. I can’t believe he actually died."

Upon hearing that, the only Priest left looked at the corpses of his dead comrades, and then looked at the gun in Benjamin’s right hand and a huge water ball in his left which was formed who-knew-when, and suddenly showed a face of despair.

As if he had lost the will to fight, he revoked the barrier he summoned, plucked the remaining three crosses and threw them on the ground, and then took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

"God will punish you," he said in a voice as calm as a dead man.

"Very well, I too look forward to that day." Benjamin replied, while shaking his head and hurling the water ball he had just summoned.

The water ball left his hand and struck the Priest, wrapping all parts of the Priest in it. Then, under Benjamin’s control, a whirlpool began swirling in the water ball, starting a "quick-wash" mode.

After washing for about ten seconds, Benjamin lifted his hand and threw the Priest out of the water ball.

"Tell me, what is your purpose for appearing in Icor?" asked Benjamin, coldly.

"Keep dreaming…...I won’t tell you even if I die…...I…..."

Benjamin helplessly shook his head, and interrupted his words, controlling the water ball to once again encase the Priest. He washed him once more for about ten or more seconds and then threw him out.

"What about now? Still don’t want to talk?"

"You monster! Cursed bastard! You will never..."

"Okay, you continue your wash."

This same spell was used continuously around more than ten times. Benjamin was concerned that a long duration of washing would kill the Priest so every wash was kept within twenty seconds. However, although it was kept at that, after ten or more washes, the Priest also began to spout white foam from his mouth. His two eyes rolled above, and seemed close to being unconscious.

Although he did not really question , but judging from the way the Priest looked, Benjamin felt that it was time.

So, he held the water ball, allowing it to press on the Priest’s chest and performed a simple first aid for drowning. Half a minute later, the Priest suddenly coughed up a few mouthfuls of water, and slowly regained consciousness.

"Tell me the purpose of your journey, or else I’ll throw you in again." said Benjamin.

"No... That water, don’t throw me in again ..." The Priest seemed to have had his will destroyed by the maniacal flow of water and immediately opened his mouth to beg as such.

"What was the purpose for all of you appearing in Icor?" Benjamin saw that and knew that he could not stand it anymore; he was a thin line away from spilling everything. So, he repeated his question again.

"We... We were heading to capital of Icor ... Regina ..." The Priest laid on the ground, gasping for air while speaking.

Heading to Regina?

Benjamin could not help lifting his eyebrows.

Why did they need to go around the forests to get to Regina? They would need to spend at least a day more through this route; was it just because there were not many people here, so it was merely to avoid people’s attention?

"Continue, what were you guys planning to do there?" Benjamin asked while thinking along those lines.

But, after panting out another breath of air, a strange smile suddenly appeared on the Priest’s face. He widened his eyes like characters in a horror movie, stared at Benjamin and emitted a loud string of laughs, looking entirely distorted.

Then, he unexpectedly stopped laughing; his head bent to the side and blood trickled slowly from his nostrils and mouth. He was dead.

"You..."

Benjamin was startled and immediately approached the Priest to examine his condition. Unfortunately, whether it be a breath check or heartbeat hearing, they all could only prove that the Priest who was previously alive was now completely dead without a sign of life.

What happened?

Benjamin could feel strong explosive light particles from the Priest’s body. And it was because of the sudden chaotic behavior of the light particles, the internal organs of the Priest were destroyed and he died peculiarly in such a short moment.

After a while of daze, Benjamin realized what happened.

In the end, the Priest chose to self-destruct and kill himself.