Badge in Azure

Saleen ended up using up large number level nine scrolls and Lex felt a bit of a pinch for him. Little did she know that he was simply clearing up old stocks.

Saleen had used a month in the astrology tower to research level ten magic and crafted quite a number of scrolls. Crafting scrolls using starline paper guaranteed almost absolute success, but control of the crafted spells would have been far worse.

All those level nine scrolls actually carried watered down versions of level ten magic. No one would have been able to use them but Saleen himself, as such, the only use they were of to him were simply being thrown in huge numbers at conventional military camps. Even if the spells ran amok, they would have taken quite a number of enemies with them.

The camp was left in shambles as the Magical Element Tower left. However, there were few powerful ones at Royal Harbor and there were only some sorcerers left behind to guard the place; none of them dared move against the messy yet sizable enemy camp.

On the other hand, none of the sorcerers and holy masters dared give chase to the Magical Element Tower.

Having more than a hundred scrolls thrown out was a move that proved fatal to many. All of those scrolls carried level nine magic still, despite their weakened power. The allied forces quickly retreated when Saleen left, setting up camp again more than a hundred miles away from where they were attacked.

None of the commanders of the respective armies dared suggest giving up the assault, but none too dared say anything about advancing forward. The Holy See troops never had such orders with them in the first place and saw no value in dying like that. The Sikeqinyans on the other hand, were truly frightened.

The 10 thousand mile journey to Daliang City was being covered by Saleen’s tower flying at about 200 miles per hour. It would have taken them days before arriving at Daliang City.

Saleen and Lex went to research the map of Daliang City again within the magic tower, thinking about where they should be assaulting first. The number of mighty ones involved in the assault of Daliang City would have been massive. The city would not have suffered so badly despite having 15 level nine sorcerers with them otherwise.

The one weakness with the Magical Element Tower was that it was incapable of unleashing attacks during flight. It was required to hover in mid-air before it could be used for battles. Such requirements made it easy for the tower to be surrounded. Lex searched for a bit in the magic map and decided to launch their assault from the eastside of the city, taking out the army putting Principality of Bitterwater under lockdown.

Without Nailisi around, Saleen’s main force for the ambush consisted only of the Winged Skull’s spirits. Their combat capacity was apparently inferior to that of the demons, but spirits proved far easier to control than demons, and they had even less fear of pain and death.

The magic tower was flying high up in the air, encountering thunderstorms several times when they were flying in the clouds. Everyone was on guard, but Saleen was nonchalant. He knew from Gaine that elementite was an insulators by nature.

Of course, there was no way to forge a set of armor using elementite. The only way that would have rendered a construct totally immune to lightning attacks was to do it like Saleen did: creating a completely sealed magic tower using large number of elementite.

If one was unlucky, said construct would have still been hit by lightning. It was just that one was totally free from such worries because of elementite’s inherent properties of resisting lightning attacks. The elementite used in this case was of the highest quality. The tower would have simply fell to the ground with the flying magic patterns etched onto it destroyed when attacked by lightning. Saleen was in a hurry, and he had no time to wait for such storms to pass.

Saleen’s luck seemed to have took a turn for the better since he practiced astrology. Despite having zipped in and out of the clouds, the tower was never even hit by lightning once.

The Magical Element Tower arrived in the mountains east of Daliang City. Due to the tower’s altitude, the Holy See’s army was not aware that Saleen’s group was near.

The Holy See deployed about 80 thousand troops to dig at the valley between the mountains. Despite having blown up the valley earlier, none of the mages stayed to guard the place. Large number of holy masters from the Holy See and mages from Cloudflow were searching for people of Principality of Bitterwater after all.

The 80 thousand were slow in their work. The assault at Daliang City had a long way to go still, and the Holy See saw no need to sacrifice any of their own to hasten the process. The blown up roads were still laden with magic traps, and every step needed prior detection from the holy masters and mages.

Those traps have killed thousands of the Holy See’s troops. That, coupled with casualties suffered when the valley was blown up, the Holy See had lost about 20 thousand troops.

Saleen put his Magical Element Tower away and had the Winged Skull summon his spirit army. Jola stayed behind with the Winged Skull. They worked just fine as a unit with Nicholas around too.

The only troublesome part was the children, and it was fortunate that Sika brought her steed. Saleen was surprised to see a huge beast of about 100 meters long.

Flesh and scales have grown on the bones of the beast. The huge being resembled a dragon, with long horns and sharp fangs. Its wings were carved with magic patterns, which were more complex than any that Saleen knew.

Sika stood on the back of that thing while the kids sat in front of her, laughing as the huge beast took flight.

Saleen shook his head in exasperation, thinking that he was probably the only one in history to bring children of such young age into the battlefield. The scales on its back stood up after the beast took flight, protecting the children.

The two children cradled their respective figures. They seemed to have lost all interest in the divine beast, not bothering to take it out and play. Those two figures were completely rendered under their control, enabling them to put up all manner of expressions.

Eleanor was arranged to be by Sika’s side. She was at the pinnacle of level eight, being stuck and unable to advance to level nine. Her prowess with archery however, grew exponentially. She was no longer that level seven archer who would have exhausted herself almost completely just to shoot one arrow.

Saleen unleashed 360 ancient figures, having them get near the Holy See army on the ground with Lex. The two secret passages were near, and it was impossible to have all 80 thousand of their troops in one place. They were forced to scale the mountain, which four areas were divided out of the two passages, with personnel in each area cleaning out sections being blown up by magic.

All 360 of the ancient figures held magic weapons crafted in Metatrin City in their hand; all of those being heavy halberds without exception. Such weapons were too heavy for normal people to wield. Even swordmasters would have had trouble wielding them.

The figures however, possessed great strength, exceeding even that of demons. The ancient warriors sneaked up the rear of the Holy See army under Saleen’s instructions.

The Holy See army did not bother setting up defenses at their rear, as the battlefield lied right at the rear. Conventional logic had it that there would not have been any enemies showing up there. All the mages and holy masters were sent to the front, while the troops rotated in swifts to do the digging. The 360 figures charged at the camp. Some of the troops who were resting were simply equivalent of low-level swordsmen, which meant they stood no chance against the sudden onslaught. The camp had only about 2000 troops. Saleen and Lex took care of the patrols while the ancient figures went wiping out the entire camp without making much noise.

Sika and Eleanor watched everything unfold in the air. There was little left to the imagination with how things turned out below. None were able to escape the camp alive, and Saleen went to attack the next camp.

Eleanor took the Seven Nights in her hand and said to Sika in a rather bored tone, “Sika, do you think that that Jalin fellow will get us into trouble?”

“Get us into what kind of trouble?” Sika asked in puzzlement.

“Lex had sent her to Daliang City before any of us. She clearly didn’t like Jalin much and the way she vented her displeasure was rather obvious.”

“Isn’t that rather normal then? Even I wouldn’t want her around,” Sika patted the head of the two children and felt herself being able to relate to what Lex did. Jalin was a very overeager woman with very strong possessive tendencies. She might have appeared weak and gentle on the outside, but she was actually nothing but trouble.

“I thought it’d have been better to keep her around and have her charge at the frontlines. Arbola wouldn’t have anything to say about that, would she?”

“Lex wanted to rile her up somewhat. When she got somewhat pissed, it would have made her easy to manipulate. Lex is far more capable than you’d have imagined her to be. Don’t let her amicable facade fool you. Have you ever seen her being caught with the short end of the stick before?”

“Aren’t you concerned for Saleen? If anything happens…”

“What is there to be concerned about. I know well what kind of person piques Saleen’s interests. That Jalin could have been ten times prettier than she is now, and Saleen wouldn’t even bat an eye still. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Eleanor felt curious and asked. She was not quite sure what would have attracted Saleen’s attention.

“Unless she got turned into a magic beast, having valuable alchemy materials with her. Then she would have gotten Saleen’s attention,” Sika said and laughed.

Eleanor laughed as well. Sika’s depiction was an apt one. If Jalin had indeed been turned into a magic beast, her appeal would have been increased by a thousand folds.

Saleen was a nostalgic person and he was nicer to Eleanor than he was to Jalin. Despite being of high level and sported very attractive appearance, none of that would have mattered if she was a piece of s**t inside. Saleen liked being warm and fuzzy, and even Lex would have shed her strong, aggressive part of herself and turned into a gentle woman before him.

“But Eleanor, you’d really need to advance to the next level soon. You’d know when we got to Daliang City. Our enemies have gotten increasingly powerful,” Sika said with an earnest tone. Eleanor had once been Saleen’s prisoner, before joining his side and becoming his follower. She was alright as a person, but she needed to work on her attitude at training.

“Sika, it’s not like I want to be stuck like this. My blood says that I’ll have a hard time advancing in Myers Mainland. I’ve been looking for the medicines I’ll need. It would be great if there’s spring water of the Fountain of Life around, and I need it in huge quantities.”

“Is there any way for you to return to the elf plane?” Sika probed.

“I wouldn’t want to go back even if there is a way to do so. No one would’ve accepted an elf like me,” Eleanor said something casually; something which she had been keeping to herself.

“Something is around!” Sika said as she pointed. It was only birds flying east. However, the speed of their flight was so great that it caught her attention. Her observation skills as a priest told her that they were magic beasts being put under someone’s control.

Eleanor smiled and draw an arrow, shooting it nonchalantly. The arrow turned into a bunch of illusions mid-air before spreading out, hitting every one of those birds down.

During her days in Metatrin City, she developed an amicable relationship with Sika. Sika had the alchemy factory made her a quiver and arrows. The amount of arrows Eleanor carried with her at the moment would have easily lasted her for years.

Sika looked at the scene in admiration and said, “Too bad this isn’t something I can ever learn.”

“Sika, your strength is something I envy you for,” Eleanor comforted her in return.

The two of them worked in tandem, with one being in charge of observation while the other shooting. None of the bird type magic beast set up around the camps were able to escape and deliver the news of their assault. Saleen went about sneaking up on camps on the ground until dark, before he was found by the Holy See troops.

The rear of the camp was where the troops rested. The Holy See went with the digging by having 2000 troops worked for 40 hours being buffed by divine spells. As such, the troops at the rear have completely let their guard down. After killing more than 10 thousand troops, the rest of the troops left were those who were almost done resting, being called to dig at the mountain again.

Saleen did not bother hiding himself any further after he was exposed. He went through magic fire, which signaled the Winged Skull to send their spirit army. By then, they have already blocked all escape routes within the mountain.