Badge in Azure

Using dragon crystals as fuel was not worth mentioning. Grand Duke Iron Blood had the backing of Dragon Island, which probably had a stockpile of dragon crystals so massive that it would make gods jealous. Furthermore, one dragon crystal could last countless level ten attacks.

The way dragon crystals stored energy was very different from magic nuclei. A piece of dragon crystal was hundreds of times more expensive than a magic nucleus of the same level.

The Grand Duke used various measures to break the enemy. He had the magic cannons suppress the enemies’ defenses, before gathering the powerful ones and taking out the magic tower one after another.

None of the mages of Devil’s Horn was able to take on the Cloudflow army without their towers. The Grand Duke’s men were armed with formidable gear as well.

Two of the four level ten sorcerers had magic books. The remaining two wielded magic stave, which had magic amplification effects. Of course, it would not compare to the elemental envoy, but it for magic staves to have amplification.

The Devil’s Horn had over 100 towers on the island, but only three were level nine or above. That meant that there were only three level ten sorcerers throughout the entire Devil’s Horn.

The rise of power throughout Myers Mainland did not benefit the Devil’s Horn very much. Many became sorcerers, but only two became mage trainers.

The three mage trainers were in different corners of the island. Level ten mage trainers had no concern for magic cannons and were even able to retaliate. However, three level ten mages from the enemy’s side eyed the three towers.

As such, all retaliatory measures from the towers were nullified. Even after fighting for hours, the towers had only been able to destroy some of the magic cannons.

The magic towers, on the other hand, toppled one after another. After the mages manning the towers were killed, the huge puppets tore the towers open, allowing the Iron Blood Warriors to pillage them.

Saleen did not bring many people to the island. He had an army of 20000 imps, but he was unable to put them to work on the island, so he let the Grand Duke have fun pillaging the island while he sat by and did nothing.

If he unleashed his lightning puppets, he could gain quite a lot, but Saleen was not in the mood to pillage. He was looking into how to take out the magic towers.

The Grand Duke had been ferocious and looked unstoppable on Devil’s Horn, but it was the result of ample preparation. There had been over 1000 Iron Blood Warriors on the island. An army of over 1,000 level nine warriors could take on armies in the millions.

“Looks like Devil’s Horn had indeed been annexed by the Elemental Hand. The layout, well…” Saleen shook his head. There were no other elites other than the three level ten mage trainers. It was quite obvious to Saleen that none of the other mages had much of a future.

If not for Devil’s Horn’s value as the first line of defense at sea, the Elemental Hand would probably tear the island apart instead of keeping it around.

Grand Duke Iron Blood nodded. The casualties were smaller than expected, and the loss of magic cannons was not as high as expected. Devil’s Horn’s prowess had deteriorated instead of improved, so taking it out was no longer even a problem.

He had invested quite a lot of money and materials in the assault. If he had failed, the losses would have been considerable. With Devil’s Horn conquered, he could either destroy it or take it for himself, enabling him to make it a bridgehead to pin down Alchemy City.

Two figures flew from the sea. Saleen observed the two with his Elemental Eye, seeing at least two level ten professionals. Saleen called and flew in their direction.

The Grand Duke put his bow away and took out a dragon spear, before summoning a purple-gold dragon to ride.

A dragon knight! Grand Duke Iron Blood is a dragon knight!

The dragon was rare and known for its defensive capabilities, but not its magical abilities. However, as a steed for a dragon knight, the purple-gold dragon offered powerful defense and a formidable life force to the knight riding it.

As long as the dragon lived, it would be very difficult to kill the knight killed.

The most peculiar part of the purple-gold dragon was its forehead, as it bore a huge sealing mark. Grand Duke Iron Blood used some unknown means to seal the powers of a powerful dragon, enabling it to traverse the Myers Mainland without suffering judgment from the rules of the plane. The purple-gold dragon looked about level 12.

Saleen felt immense pressure behind him. His magic amplifier flew out and formed a huge black ring behind him. The black crystals spun slowly and would provide him with powerful balls of lightning at any given moment.

The Grand Duke had been concerned for Saleen’s safety, as the two who were flying from the west were true mights, who were faster than mage trainers.

He was afraid of the enemy getting too close to Saleen. If the mage were killed, the Grand Duke would suffer a great loss. Having an ally like Saleen meant that there would be no shortage in supplies.

If he did not have Saleen’s backing in ventures like attacking Alchemy City, there was simply no telling how long he would have to prepare on his own.

If Lex took control of both nations, he would not necessarily be relaxed enough to sign any treaties. Lex was a Grukos after all, and she had a huge family behind her. Saleen, on the other hand, was on his own. While he had the backing of mages from Sreeger Island, he had no blood ties with them.

None of the Sreeger Island mages wanted a piece of the mainland for themselves, and no one would want to become emperor.

However, seeing Saleen’s magic amplifier, the Grand Duke regretted summoning his dragon. When a level ten mage trainer was equipped with magic amplifiers, their combat capacities would be far above level ten true mights.

Saleen was also smart enough to never allow hostile true mights to get near him.

But since he had already exposed his true powers, the Grand Duke saw fit to simply be quick. The dragon let out a loud roar. The roar went past Saleen and hit the two true mights who were flying at them.

The two were unable to help but shudder. They were not capable of resisting a level 12 purple-gold dragon. The momentary shudder was more than enough for Saleen to hit both of them with two lightning icicles.

Saleen had no intentions of killing them with one shot, but targeting the abdomen made the two lightning icicles hit parts that were most difficult to evade.

Saleen only had two lightning icicles left. He dove as he hit the two true mights, stopping 100 meters away from the water. The two lightning icicles fell into the water.

Red blood bloomed in the seawater and Saleen dove into the sea without hesitation. There was another person hiding in the sea that was hit by the lightning icicles, which made them bleed, which meant they were able to resist burns from the lightning attacks.

While they were able to resist burning, it was unknown if they would be able to resist paralysis. Saleen had no intention to let them off. The person lurking under the water had been able to survive being hit by two of his lightning icicles, which put Saleen on guard.

Grand Duke Iron Blood saw Saleen dive into the water and his dragon stopped before the two true mights. No skills were used as the purple-gold dragon chomped down on the two of them and swallowed.

The dragon made a show of swallowing them and looked very pleased. The Grand Duke forbade the dragon from killing as it fancied and eating any living beings, making it very frustrated.

There was only one exception to the rules—when the Grand Duke fought others. It was permitted to raze an entire city as it fancied, so eating his enemies was a no-brainer.

The dragon dove into the water with Saleen. Saleen’s Elemental Eye was unable to distinguish things underwater, but the dragon was able to see everything clearly.

The thing hit by Saleen’s lightning icicle was not human, but a crystal sea snake. There was a person hiding beneath the crystal sea snake, ready to deal a killing blow to Saleen.

The dragon was able to tell that Saleen would not be in any danger. The reason the dragon dove was to get to the crystal sea snake.

The venom of crystal sea snakes was comparable to dragons. The creatures were never below level nine. The snake was only paralyzed when it was hit by Saleen’s lightning icicles. The snake was 100 times more delicious than humans to the dragon.

Dragons had no fear of poisons and even deliberately ate venomous creatures to amplify their powers. It cast a dragon magic spell as soon as it hit the water.

The crystal sea snake’s body was being torn apart by chaotic currents and bled profusely as it got sucked before the dragon.

The snake was still paralyzed and fear was seen in its eyes when it saw the dragon.

The Grand Duke said, “Leave its magic nucleus behind for Saleen. That is his prize!”

The dragon understood the Grand Duke’s words. While it was irritated, it dared not disobey him. It grazed the snake with its fangs and the snake’s body disintegrated. It swallowed the venom glands, flesh, and blood, leaving only its skeleton, skin and magic nucleus behind.

The Grand Duke flicked his dragon spear and grabbed all three items. Saleen’s fight was over as well.

Saleen cast Thunder Phantasm and 12 clones materialized in the water. The assassin extended their senses to tell them apart in reflex and ended up spurting blood from all of their orifices.

Saleen unraveled the scroll in his hand and cast an Ice Bomb, which burned with blue flames.

The assassin’s body shone with white light and quickly recovered. Such massive damage to the soul was but a flesh wound to the assassin. They threw a dagger, breaking the Ice Bomb.

The dagger drew an arc in the water to continue attacking Saleen but was warped by the blue flames on the Ice Bomb. The temperature of flames capable of burning in water was unimaginably hot.

All of Saleen’s illusions surrounded the assassin, who panicked, as was impossible to tell them apart with their naked eyes. However, detection using mental powers would cause severe damage.

The Grand Duke’s dragon came before them as they hesitated. It opened its mouth and ate the assassin.

The assassin struggled, attempting to break free, but vortexes already formed around the dragon’s mouth, trapping them. When the dragon intended to eat, it did not just hunt like conventional magic beasts; it cast magic spells as well.

It was quite unfortunate for the assassin, who had just advanced to level ten, to have run into peculiar specimens like Saleen and Grand Duke Iron Blood, a mage who was versed in close quarter combat and a warrior who had a dragon as a steed.

The purple-gold dragon’s defenses was such that even if it allowed the assassin to attack, they would not be able to injure it.