Badge in Azure

Thunderous rumble reverberated inside Saleen’s head. The Thunder Dragon Blaster in his hand felt as if it were a part of his body. Six near-transparent icicles shot out. The electricity on the icicles no longer jumped, but stayed fixed onto the ice like magic patterns.

It was because the icicles fired too quickly, zipping through the air, straight past the gap between the sorcerers and penetrating the rock cliff behind them.

The six icicles stuck to the rock and blue light sparkled before shooting out streaks of electricity, connecting them together. The connected flow of electricity turned into a purple electrical net in no time.

The fossilized gods pursuing from behind ran straight into the electrical net and got cut into pieces, falling. It was only then that the sorcerers realized that Saleen was covering the rear. The sorcerers felt rather embarrassed, but little did they know that Saleen did not mind killing them to stop the enemy.

The sorcerers refused to become his followers and made themselves a part of Kingdom of Metatrin.

The beast was large, and it was fortunate that the diameter of the cave easily exceeded 30 meters. There were parasitic puppets emerging along the way, clearing the path of any obstacles.

The six huge icicles continued releasing electricity. The attack had Saleen cranked all of the powers to the maximum. Lightning rules, energy balance rules, and the bit of rules of fate that he had been able to catch a glimpse of.

The 30 meter-wide electrical net lasted for one whole minute before dissipating entirely. The six icicles still emanated coldness. Any fossilized gods that passed through the field of cold slowed by at least 50 percent.

The beast had ran for several miles within a minute.

Sika left magic marks when she followed Saleen and found the exit of the statue of the giant: the huge ear they came in through.

Saleen thought that the outside of Daliang City was still probably be considered part of the cemetery, which meant that there was no problem for the fossilized gods to make it outside. The problem was how to seal the ear.

Saleen went outside the hole of the ear and said to Sika, “Go up and get more magic fire shells.”

“What else do you need?”

“A magic cannon!” Saleen shouted and jumped down for the beast. Gusion followed Saleen, jumping down with the Dragon Slaughtering War Flag in his hand and feeling rather anxious.

It was an exciting experience like no other. Despite having been a mercenary for decades, he had never experienced something like that. When the hundreds of thousands of statues came alive, the scene finally had Gusion understand what Saleen had said to him a long time ago.

What you experienced before is hardly worth mentioning. If you want to reach greater heights, then come with me. I guarantee you that your view of the world would be opened a hundred times wider.

It was apparent that Saleen did not lie to him. His view was opened far more than just a hundred times. That short battle had the instincts in his body achieving unimaginable breakthroughs.

The human body had a weird, mystical structure to it. When one had reached a certain level, it would have been almost impossible to advance any further without stress of comparable levels.

It worked all the same with mages. Every danger faced during advancement was an ordeal that one had to overcome.

Saleen glanced at the sorcerers and put his Tempest Dragonmights away, summoning 12 Vermillion Knights instead. The grand mages stood behind the sorcerers with ashen faces, which had them feeling rather awkward. The sorcerers then berated them, “What are you waiting for? Seal the hole!”

Sealing of the hole was easier said than done. Seeing Sika riding the beast and going up to the city, Saleen felt rather relieved. She had always had a calming effect on him.

He summoned 24 Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers, who were ordered to put their hammers away. Saleen took out huge pieces of steel and handed them to the Stone Statue Soldiers, to have them dig and fill the hole up.

Only the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers were capable of labor like that. The steel that Saleen took out was used for making towers.

The towers used for setting up magic nets were required to be planted deep into the earth and be connected to magic power furnaces. The crafting of the steel was difficult, and every piece was over a hundred meters long.

That steel was used as shovels, digging up dirt and covering up the cave.

The mages finally had something to do. They cast Fossilization at the dirt thrown into the cave, rendering it stiff to seal the hole. The 24 Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers threw dirt more than 10 meters into the hole of the ear until all of the dirt was finally fossilized. With the exception of the 12 level nine sorcerers, all of the mages who tagged along practically emptied their magic chords.

Saleen unleashed 12 Tempest Dragonmights and sent the grand mages and thoroughly exhausted warriors back to the city above. He then distributed magic nuclei to the 12 level nine sorcerers, allowing them to replenish their magic chords.

“Your highness, we can’t hold them in for long!” the sorcerer who was taking the lead reminded. His tone became earnest as he acknowledged Saleen.

Saleen knew that a wall of merely a dozen meters thick would not be able to hold the fossilized gods in for long. The fossilized dirt was less than sturdy, and considerably weaker than the natural rocks around them.

For powerful beings at level eight or nine, it was just a matter of time before they dug their way out of the rocks.

“Can we keep Daliang City safe without sealing the place?” Saleen’s expression was a serious one. He had lost the use of his most powerful attack given that he had already used up his family badge before.

The Thunder Dragon Blaster would be operational in a bit, but even the blaster’s power would have proved inadequate for sealing up the cave.

It’s up to the magic cannon to seal the place, then. Regardless of how many of them rush out of the place, one shot would finish them off, wouldn’t it?

“I’ll have a temporary magic tower constructed and we’ll use the magic cannon for the job for the time being. Everyone take turns to guard the hole. I think those things will just keep attacking. So long as…”

Saleen did not continue. He too knew that so long as Jalin remained inside, that Area of Doom would continue to work, attacking anything within range. With time, there would be more and more fossilized gods being awakened, until level 10, 11, and 12 ones emerged.

There would be no other way but to escape the region by then.

But how is the army up to a million in the city going to run? Daliang City had been raised 500 meters from the ground. The city walls were directly connected to steep cliffs leading to the ground. There is just no way for conventional troops to leave the place!

The best way to go about it is to build ramps and have the army desert the city before any more powerful fossilized gods emerged, but when the ramp is finally constructed, the army of the Tribunal will probably show up at our doors.

With three head inquisitors waiting outside, the army will still have to face the tribunal. Jalin really caused us a huge headache. I hope she’ll just end up dead inside, Saleen prayed within his mind.

Boom, boom!

Loud ramming noises came from within the hole of the ear. Even the fossilized dirt wall was unable to prevent the sound from reaching outside. The sorcerers were frightened. Saleen unleashed 24 ancient figures calmly and had them armed, standing in front of everyone.

It was fortunate that Saleen had gone on another trip to the Imperial City of the Abyss. If he did not have the figures with him, he would have had no choice but to desert Daliang City. The number of fossilized gods was simply too huge. Even though the place was a narrow one, it was still unable to keep them in.

Saleen felt like his head about to burst. Just how many fossilized gods are there inside an eggshell like that? The statues were packed to the brim. The density at which they were arranged far exceeded how conventional armies were organized. What he saw was simply the ones his Elemental Eye had allowed him to see.

Would there have been fossilized gods of even higher levels in there? If that was so, there was no way he would be able to resist their attacks, even if he completed the construction of all 80 thousand ancient figures.

Sika returned soon enough, bringing 12 magic cannons with her. Saleen calmly instructed the Stone Statue Soldiers to install the cannons onto their rigs and fossilize the earth. The sorcerers retreated, helping Saleen build a temporary magic tower.

Due to being incapable of gathering elemental energies, the power of mages would be weakened by 90 percent without a magic tower.

Saleen had schematics and materials with him. The steel rocks were cut to size. The mages needed only to stack them to construct the much needed crude tower.

It was a seven-floored tower with two additional basement floors. It was considered a peculiar structure, as no magic towers had basements. Due to being incapable to draw elemental powers where they were, however, those floors were made into foundation for stabilization purposes.

The magic tower had seven magic power furnaces installed in it. The furnaces were originally made to be used within warships and, as such, were not very big ones. Without the furnaces, the tower would have been useless.

The fossilized gods eventually bust through the hole of the giant’s ear. The ancient figures standing guard outside rushed at them.

One side was still building a tower while the other side was fighting a fierce battle. While the ancient figures did not suffer much loss, the fight nonetheless had Saleen feeling very nervous. There were times where some fossilized gods penetrated the blockade of the ancient giants and rush at the tower that was being built.

Sika and Gusion dealt with them calmly, while Saleen kept replenishing the numbers of the ancient figures.

A turret was finally set up and Saleen had a sorcerer take the turret, aiming for the hole and firing.

Hundreds of fossilized gods were targeted in the narrow hole. However, without being able to draw power from elements, the power of the magic cannon was weakened. Most fossilized gods suffered only flesh wounds and only the ones at the very front were blown to shreds.

Saleen got even more restless. If the killing was continued at such a rate, there was no way he could kill the fossilized gods off even if all of the cannons were to be rendered to scraps from firing too many rounds.

“Try using the magic fire shells then.” Saleen was at his wit’s end. He summoned the Tempest Dragonmights and had them lob magic fire shells at the gods. The shells were attachments carried by the metal flyers.

All metal flyers stayed put at the palace. Sika gathered more than a thousand of them. She was rather afraid of having them blow up in her hands, given how many of them she was actually carrying.

When all 12 magic cannons were set up, Saleen had lost more than a hundred ancient figures. It was fortunate that there were ways to repair them so long as their souls remained intact. Saleen retrieved the broken figures one by one.

The Tempest Dragonmights began lobbing magic fire shells, which went accurately into the hole of the giant’s ear. The shells, which were filled with fire oil of extremely high viscosity and added with magic powder, exploded.

Their flame could only be extinguished by magic, as water would prove useless against them.

The magic cannons stopped firing, and the hole was practically boiling. The fossilized gods walked out from the fire, actually smiling in glee.

Saleen was at a loss. The fossilized gods did not fear pain. The burning of the magic fire shells had instead made them feel as if they were freed. If only we can die from the fires!

The souls of gods were frozen inside the fossilized bodies and were unable to die. Glee was actually found their mangled faces twisting in pain, which unsettled Saleen.