Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 345: The Battle Returns

Escape? Escape was certain. Not to mention Leite, but Cleos was a bona fide three-wing Sanctuary. I had no chance of winning.

Hostage? The only person beside me was the receptionist, and not to mention whether my conscience would allow it, the problem was that the receptionist was already incapacitated and couldn’t even move.

If taking a mobile person as a hostage is like riding a horse, then taking an immobile person as a hostage is like being ridden by the horse. It would only increase the Red Hat’s anger without any other effect.

Ashe knew the battle was unavoidable. He was currently at the reception desk, a distance from the stairs, and had to fight to gain a chance to escape.

So, how should he fight? Generally, at this point, Ashe would choose to use a Substitute to attract the enemy’s attention by sacrificing it…

But the Substitute should still be with Lise…

After a moment of silence, Ashe suddenly raised his hands and stood up, walking towards the Red Hats voluntarily. “I surrender.”

“No surrender allowed!” Leite and Cleos shouted in unison. The Red Hats all raised their guns and aimed at Ashe—being a T0 level Spellcasting Sect of this generation, almost all Red Hats were gun sorcerers, and even if it wasn’t their main sect, it was their secondary sect.

Ashe was stunned. “You won’t even let me surrender? Then why haven’t you just shot me already? Are you really this barbaric?”

The two Red Hat captains were also frustrated. They knew exactly what Ashe was up to, but they really couldn’t lead by illegally killing a surrendering criminal. In fact, they didn’t even dare to harm Ashe—unless Ashe explicitly resisted arrest. Otherwise, even though Ashe was a fugitive, if they initiated the attack, the Gospel Book would deem them guilty of intentional harm.

Civilization is a shackle on violence; the more civilized a country, the more cautious it is in using violence.

In the Blood Moon Kingdom, they might still secretly break the law, but the strongest point of the Gospel Book Kingdom is that supervision is omnipresent. As long as the Red Hats wanted to remain on the ranking list, they absolutely wouldn’t dare to break the law first.

Cleos motioned for a Red Hat to put handcuffs on Ashe, her eyes reddening. “Keep your hands up. If you make any sudden moves, we’ll target your vital points. Any movement will be met with lethal force.”

“I’m just a mere two-wings sorcerer; how could I dare act out in front of a Sanctuary sorcerer?” Ashe shrugged and waited obediently for the Red Hat to restrain him.

However, as the Red Hat approached Ashe, his black robe suddenly split open—he had used his Heart Sword to cut through his clothes!

Bang! Bang!

“Close your eyes!”

As Leite shouted, Ashe immediately dashed towards the game pods.

Because he had waited for the Red Hat to get close before revealing his dagger, a slight sidestep allowed him to hide behind the Red Hat, making it impossible for the others to risk hitting their colleague. The bullets all struck the ground.

All the Red Hats quickly closed their eyes and scattered, but several of them still aimed their guns at the stairwell and windows. Ashe’s last bit of hope vanished as he obediently ran into the aisle between the game pods, feeling a pang of regret—

The Red Hats had almost entirely avoided his “Fiend Trench Coat” intimidation!

As soon as he slashed his robe, they had all closed their eyes, none of them witnessing Ashe’s fiendish visage!

It made sense, though. The Art Ranking had clearly displayed his reward, and after Ashe had used the “Fiend Trench Coat” to scare off two affairs commissioners from the Happy Family Firm in Azura, the Red Hats were undoubtedly prepared.

But this also worked in his favor. Since they had closed their eyes and abandoned their most crucial sense, Ashe could escape more easily. Though it was despicable, under the cover of the dense game pods, the Red Hats wouldn’t dare to attack recklessly. If they injured an innocent Vamora citizen, they could say goodbye to their hats—

However—

Ashe suddenly froze, a wave of fear crawling up his scalp, his cells screaming to prevent him from stepping into death. Without thinking, he immediately spat out his Honey Sword, driving it into the ground. A warm, yellow barrier formed instantly!

“Sword Body Barrier!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three explosions echoed in the space. Ashe couldn’t see anything before his sword body barrier shattered, and his abdomen felt like it was struck by the tail of a Blade Fish Dragon. He only felt himself being lifted off the ground, his stomach bursting like a water balloon. The intense impact turned his vision into a kaleidoscope of colors—

Smack!

His back slammed into the cold, hard floor, and Ashe spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. The cold air he inhaled felt like knives stabbing into his lungs. The pain overwhelmed his thoughts, leaving only a faint glimmer of combat instincts—

It was a Bouncing Bullet!

Ashe was surrounded by game pods on all sides, so theoretically, the Red Hats shouldn’t have been able to shoot him. But that Bouncing Bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and walls twice, hitting Ashe from above at an impossible angle. Its power was undiminished, instantly shattering his two-wings Defensive Miracle, the sword body barrier, and still having enough force to strike his abdomen—not piercing it, but delivering a Miracle Shockwave Bullet that converted all its kinetic energy into a massive hammer blow, changing a potentially fatal shot into a more difficult-to-heal internal injury!

The Sword Princess had taught him that there were generally two directions for Gunmanship sects: either fatal precision, essentially headshots ensuring instant death, or extreme high-intensity destructive power, ensuring the enemy couldn’t defend or heal.

If it were a non-headshot piercing wound, it would be relatively easy for sorcerers to heal, given the small wound area and the effectiveness of various Healing Miracles. However, those high-intensity blunt force injuries that massively damaged the body could instantly incapacitate a sorcerer, preventing them from healing quickly.

Ashe felt like his abdomen had turned into mush, his intestines tangled worse than shoelaces, and several ribs were likely shattered. He was teetering on the brink of death, his strength completely drained. The Red Hats’ bullets were indeed gentle; Ashe couldn’t even think about resisting now, as even breathing required all his effort.

If only he still had the Reverse Day spirit gifted by the Sword Princess, he could have healed instantly.

Unfortunately, he had lost it by answering wrong in the Cabin.

Sword Princess…

“You don’t need to surrender or resist. In ten seconds, you’ll be unconscious. We’ll take you away once you’re asleep,” Leite’s voice grew closer, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. “Don’t feel bad. I’m a three-wings gun sorcerer. Even if you are a physical sorcerer, if I want you unconscious in a few seconds, you’ll be unconscious in a few seconds.”

Another three-wings sorcerer, and the most violent kind—a gun sorcerer. Plus, Cleos was nearby, meaning two Sanctuary sorcerers were here to capture him…

The first time Ashe was caught, it was by one Sanctuary sorcerer.

The second time, it was by two Sanctuary sorcerers.

Ashe could only hope this was an arithmetic progression, not a geometric one.

But this time, escape seemed impossible. Ashe was finally about to return to his old profession—as a professional prison evaluator, he was ready to thoroughly assess the facilities of the Kingdom of Gospel’s prison.

However, when Ashe barely recovered from his concussion and opened his eyes, he saw Igor on the ceiling.

The Con Artist had removed a ceiling tile and was peeking down at him, his gaze as cold as if he were looking at a piece of pork.

Igor pointed to himself, then to the ground, before finally beckoning Ashe to stand up.

Ashe didn’t fully understand Igor’s tactical sign language but grasped his task—to stand up as a decoy.

As long as he stood up, the “Fiend Trench Coat” intimidation effect would continue, and the Red Hats wouldn’t dare to open their eyes, forcing them to fight without their sight!

But standing up was extremely dangerous. Ashe wasn’t an upstanding citizen; he was a bona fide fugitive. The Red Hats killing him wouldn’t just be excused; they’d get a reward!

Yet, at this point, how could Ashe not trust Igor?

He clenched his sword fingers, activated the Devotion spirit, converting all his pain, fear, and fighting spirit into joy. Then he activated the Love Sword spirit, conjuring a “Joy Sword,” and stabbed it into his abdomen!

Miracle: Single-minded Devotion: Joy Sword!

Warmth spread from his abdomen, soothing his entire body. Joy seeped in from the outside in, and Ashe was pleasantly surprised to find his pain suppressed by the Joy Sword, at least not dominating his thoughts. The gears of his body could barely start moving again.

Though the pain would likely return once the Joy Sword’s effect wore off, Ashe could at least hold out long enough to complete his tactical task!

“Ugh!”

Ashe propped himself up against the game pod and stood. He saw Cleos appear in the hallway. He groaned and summoned the Heart Sword, launching it at the Sanctuary sorcerer!

“Confirming that Ashe Heath is resisting arrest,” Cleos said, effortlessly shattering the Heart Sword with her eyes closed. “Lift the kill restriction!”

Boom!

The floor suddenly shook, and a massive, ghostly green magic circle appeared beneath the Red Hats. Ghostly green smoke seeped into their bodies, quickly reacting with their souls.

Even with their eyes closed, the Red Hats seemed to see a deserted, rainy night street. Their clothes felt soaked, cold wind stinging their faces, and a barrage of negative emotions—despair, sorrow, self-pity, fear, and coldness—overwhelmed their hearts. Even Cleos and Leite shivered slightly.

Directly beneath the Red Hats, on the lower level, an inverted coffin was suspended from the ceiling. Several ghostly green chains emerged from the coffin, tightly anchoring it to the ceiling, forming an octagonal magic circle. Harvey lay on the ground, gazing up at the coffin with his hands clasped in prayer.

Miracle: Immortal Coffin on a Cold Rainy Night!

Using necromancy to achieve the effects of the Illusion Sect and Mental Sect, it poured negative energy into the enemies, causing them to hallucinate!

In the few breaths while the Red Hats were dazed, Igor jumped down and pulled Ashe into the Red Hats’ blind spot. He raised his voice and shouted, “I’m about to release a Mental Scream. Ordinary people within ten meters will drop dead instantly just by hearing it. Three, two, one!”

The Red Hats, struggling to break free from the negative energy, turned pale. The Mental Scream was imminent, and they had no time to kill Igor, the mastermind behind this!

Ashe was initially puzzled by Igor’s habit of narrating his ultimate move, but just before Igor unleashed his silent scream, the Red Hats raised their guns and fired at various parts of the gaming floor—ground, ceiling, and walls—using Earth spell Miracles to create temporary soundproof barriers!

At the moment Igor released his silent scream, a petite blue figure flipped over the outer wall and onto the gaming floor—it was Banjeet Dolan.

The strongest ice gun sorcerer from the Funeral Firm.

At that moment, the young butler faced a group of Red Hats with their backs to him.

In one second, the dual ice spell guns emptied their magazines, and 62 Miracle bullets rained down on the enforcers like a sudden downpour. Upon impact, these bullets would extract the blood from the enemies’ bodies, forming sharp ice flowers for secondary damage, turning death into a brilliant, crystalline work of art!

The perfect combination of gun spellcasting and ice spells, where efficiency and elegance complement each other!

Miracle: Blooming Ice!