With the caster dead, the spear of light vanished, and Jason fell to the ground.
A ripple of magic appeared, and a skeleton materialized nearby. It quickly pulled a magic scroll from Jason's robes and tore it open.
Light wrapped around Jason's body, and his fatal wound rapidly healed.
"Kh, kh, kh." With his lungs pierced, Jason's voice came out breathy.
At last, his injuries healed completely, but Jason was still in too much pain to move. The pain from such a massive wound would not fade so quickly.
"Good thing I had Temporary Undead Transformation. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have had a chance to heal," Jason muttered.
Temporary Undead Transformation was not a spell, but a "gift" from the Netherworld to all necromancers and magical beasts with the undead attribute.
Anyone who could communicate with the Netherworld and form a pact with an undead could use Temporary Undead Transformation to become undead for a short time. During that period, a necromancer could only be killed by having his soul completely destroyed. Otherwise, he would not die even if his head were separated from his body.
Of course, Temporary Undead Transformation had a fatal drawback: using it too often could easily turn the user into a real undead, and one that could not go to the Netherworld at that. Normally summoned undead lacked the spiritual force to sustain themselves and would be recalled to the Netherworld after enough time had passed. Undead directly transformed through Temporary Undead Transformation, however, would remain in the Material Plane.
The legendary undead said to wander ancient tombs or ruins belonged to this category.
Jason could maintain Temporary Undead Transformation for one minute and use it at most three times. It was one of his trump cards for staying alive.
After recovering a little, Jason hurried back to where he had just fought.
The angel had vanished, leaving only a heap of charred flesh and the magician who had been torn in two.
Even though Jason had killed before, the gruesome sight still made him a little nauseous.
However, the things on the old magician's body caught his attention.
Neither his magic staff nor his magic robe was ordinary, and there were also three rings on his fingers!
Jason had seen an Interspatial Ring before. His "imperial father," Maisiji, had one, which had been held by successive emperors of the Rhein Empire.
Of the three rings, two were magic rings radiating strong magical light. The other looked completely ordinary, but it gave Jason a peculiar feeling: the "spatial fluctuation" unique to an Interspatial Ring.
Ignoring the blood and grime, Jason picked it up and tested it with a drop of blood. A soul connection formed instantly-it really was an Interspatial Ring!
Jason was excited for a while, but then he remembered that the Radiant Church would surely send someone to investigate the angel's death. He immediately set about cleaning up the area.
First, he put away the old magician's corpse. Whether for the treasures on his body or to give him a proper burial, Jason had to collect his remains.
The angel had been reduced to scraps of flesh, so there was nothing to worry about there. Jason walked over to Veronica.
Jason had been pierced straight through and had not seen what happened afterward. Only when he got closer did he discover the girl's miserable state.
Blood, tears, snot, and scraps of flesh were mixed together. Jason could no longer even make out her human features.
There was no time to treat her, and she did not need treatment for the moment anyway. Jason picked her up and ran toward his horse.
Halfway there, he remembered something. He took out a fire-attribute scroll and instantly summoned Blazing Fire Rain, devastating the scene.
Then he summoned four more undead. Together with the one he had already summoned, that made five at once, his current limit.
He ordered the undead to destroy the scene again, then run off in different directions.
Once an undead left the range of their spiritual connection, it could remain on its own for only ten minutes before being automatically recalled to the Netherworld.
Only then did Jason mount his horse and flee with Veronica.
All four of Veronica's limbs had been severed. Although the wounds had healed, some nerves and muscles were still attached, and the sight made Jason's scalp tingle.
"That looks painful."
After cutting away the tissue that swung about as the horse ran, Jason pulled a fist-sized disc from his waist and activated the light element within it, slowly healing the minor wounds on the girl's body.
The Rhine Clan had given him the disc. A light-attribute healing formation was inscribed on it, and a level-seven light-attribute magic core was embedded in it. It could cast healing magic, but its only drawback was that it consumed an enormous amount of energy; a level-seven magic core could only support a few uses.
Jason had relied heavily on this treasure over the past year or so. Without it, there was no telling how many more scars and hidden injuries he would have had on his body and face.
Whether from the mental shock or the numbing pain in her body, Jason saw that Veronica's eyes had lost focus.
Fortunately, Jason checked her with his spiritual force and found that her soul was still there. She had probably just suffered too great a shock.
Jason's destination was Blue Lake Manor, more than a hundred li east of Fenlai City.
While he was in Rhine City, Jason had spent some time planning his training journey. Although a year had passed and most of the information he had gathered was now outdated, some of it was still useful.
Among it was the location of the Rhine Empire's "office" in the Holy Union-Blue Lake Manor.
The location of Blue Lake Manor was no secret. Major nations all established offices in relatively friendly countries to handle various disputes and cases.
Jason had already planned to come to Blue Lake Manor and ask for help if he ran into trouble searching for Mist Valley in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
Not daring to pass through Rhine City, Jason took a long detour. His horse grew so exhausted that he even used the "healing disc" to cast a healing spell on it along the way.
I'll have to look for some information on Life Magic later. At the very least, I should learn a healing spell for emergencies, Jason thought as he traveled.
Jason looked at Veronica again and found that she seemed to be looking at him too.
"You're awake." Jason's words were not quite accurate. She had not been asleep just now; her "heart had died," that was all.
"Who are you? Do you want to use me too?" Veronica asked coldly.
Jason raised an eyebrow. It looked as though Veronica no longer trusted anyone else.
But Jason did not care. He had only come to Wushan Town to visit the place, and saving her had been incidental. He reckoned that, according to the original story, Veronica would have become a vessel for an angel even if she had not died.
So Jason merely gave a perfunctory reply. "Let's talk later."
Jason remembered the Interspatial Ring in his hand and raised it for a closer look.
The silver metal band was set with a cyan gemstone and looked little different from jewelry sold by ordinary merchants.
Jason had never looked into how Interspatial Rings were made or what basic materials they required. From its appearance, this one was very different from the ring passed down through generations of Rhein emperors. At the very least, they were definitely not made of the same material.
He sensed the things inside. It was packed with scrolls, Magic Crystal Cards, magic cores, magical materials, metal materials, and the corpses of magical beasts. It seemed the old magician had been quite wealthy.
As expected of someone from the Baruch Clan.
What caught Jason's attention most was a "wing" inside. Judging by its appearance, it was probably the wing of a Level Nine Magical Beast, a Silver Dragon-and possibly one that had already reached Saint-level!
It seemed the Baruch Clan still preserved the legend of how to activate their bloodline, which was why they had gone to great expense to acquire this Silver Dragon wing. But the method of avoiding being burned alive by dragon blood had been partly lost, leaving them unable to revive the Dragonblood Warrior Clan.
He put away the bundles and weapons on the horse's back, leaving only a two-handed saber. The horse's load immediately grew lighter.
Interspatial Rings are great! Jason exclaimed inwardly.