Badge in Azure

Chapter 1317: Taking on the Abominations (Part 1)

Rafel intended to incite Saleen in order to learn more about the human, but no ripples of emotions were seen in his blue eyes. He simply smiled and ceased talking to her.

“Alright, we’ll get Rafel’s weapon in three days,” Saleen said. “The destination is about a week away, so make a list of everything you need within said time. While we have the Floating City as our backing in this battle, there are also plenty of abominations capable of flight. We have no time to rest. Every required supply is to be produced three times the numbers reported.”

Saleen was not addressing his followers when he was saying all of that. Every single follower of his was incredibly wealthy. He was addressing some of the level 10 mage trainers he had brought with him. They were being assigned to different corners of the Floating City as measures of defense.

There were magic towers on the Floating City. Those level 10 mages were in charge of compensating for defensive measures required during the magic net’s downtimes. During normal times, the mage trainers were in charge of commanding regional defenses. Saleen would assign their subordinates later.

The mages calculated the cost of the upcoming battle according to Saleen’s requirements and reported the numbers to him. He read them and felt that the cost of war was too great. It also seemed pointless.

Saleen’s Floating City reached the border of Kroraina in the middle of December. They met up with Grand Duke Iron Blood’s army, which consisted of 200,000 men. It was apparent that the Grand Duke had no intentions of wasting his main force there. Only 50,000 of the 200,000 were Dragon Blood Warriors. While the rest were still elites, they consisted of the Grand Duke’s forces back in Cloudflow Empire instead of those from Dragon Island.

Imposa also returned. Saleen felt Imposa’s soul had quieted down considerably compared to when he last saw him. It lacked the anxiousness that unnerved him. It seemed that the problem with Imposa’s soul had been momentarily suppressed and even showed signs of recovery.

Saleen calculated for a bit using astrology. He found that there would be no major problems with Imposa for at least the next three to five years.

The Floating City was huge, so there were no problems carrying the troops. Furthermore, the number of demons living within Nailisi’s purgatory of devils climbed considerably, making it look like a small interdimensional space.

The demon plane’s rules were replicated in that purgatory. Rules absent in the demon plane were found in the purgatory.

The huge piece of land carrying the Grand Duke’s army and mages arrived in Highland City at the end of December. The citizens there had all been migrated. Only a few believers remained behind.

Things with Highland City changed. That position at the acquired set of coordinates was surrounded by a dozen layers of fortresses. Huge amount of weapons were installed on them. Saleen was surprised to see many mages on them. The mages were hired on the spot. All of them were citizens of Laiyin Duchy or Sikeqinyans.

Fycro’s holy masters did not panic at Saleen’s arrival. The Floating City gradually descended, stopping at the height of 1,640 feet. Fycro flew up to the Floating City to meet Saleen personally. Twelve weird-looking knights appeared behind him.

From Saleen’s perspective, all 12 of those knights were at level nine, yet they possessed level 10 combat capacity. That was the result of the armor they wore. He was able to produce Tainted Blood Armor, so he was hardly interested in armor capable of raising levels.

It was not that Fycro intended to hide anything from him. Bug Angel Armors were all-purpose armors. However, those armors Fycro had given his subordinates were made specifically for believers. All those believers were loyal to Fycro, so there were probably secrets regarding mental powers and the soul about them.

Even if Fycro were to give Saleen the armor, he would not let his men wear them. It could have possibly rendered anyone who wore the armor a Fycro believer. Mages were incredibly sensitive to divine arts, so they were heavily guarded against it.

“Some abominations began to show up, but most of them were already killed. I’ve managed to capture some,” Fycro said as he took out an abomination from his own space and dropped it before everyone.

The abomination howled as soon as it was dropped, intending to hurt someone around it. White divine power imprisonment had been cast around it, so the abomination only ended up being burned by the divine power. Its howl turned to shrieks. Saleen cast Mute Enchantment without a care, silencing the abomination’s noise.

Grand Duke Iron Blood was not around. He had no intention of meeting Fycro. Only Saleen and his followers were around. Fycro became rather nonchalant with the way he talked.

“I take it that this thing here would only be around level five, correct?” Saleen eyed the abomination doubtfully.

It wore no equipment and had thin scales. It had a single straight horn on its head, and its face looked like that of common beasts found on Myers Mainland. Its limbs, however, resembled that of humans.

“It’s a sheep of the abomination plane,” Fycro said. “The abominations release their cattle for grazing when they invade a place, allowing the cattle to eat to their hearts’ content. When the army of the abominations arrive, the cattle becomes their food.”

Saleen found sheep with level five powers interesting. He believed that Fycro was not making the invasion bigger than it could have been.

The word “sheep” was an allegory, making clear of their status as livestock in abomination plane. Demonic spirits were of similar status among demonkind. The only difference was that they were lower levels.

“Fycro, I see that the portal not being fully opened yet,” Saleen said. “Are there many abominations around like this one now?”

“About a million of them showed up,” Fycro replied. “My army suffered few casualties. We’ve been holding on using large-scale equipment. I hired many mages. Oh right, Saleen, care to sell me some magic nuclei?”

“No problem,” Saleen said. “What level would they need to be?”

“Higher than four but lower than seven,” Fycro replied.

“Alright, I’ll sell them to you at cost,” Saleen said, not lingering on the issue.

He saw many magic towers among the fortresses. They were packed very closely to one another. That was the first battle front.

While the mages were essentially mercenaries, Saleen did not want them ending up dead before they were able to do what they needed. The mages would have a higher rate of survival if there was ample magic nuclei around.

“Thank you very much, Saleen,” Fycro said with a smile.

Saleen thought, I should thank you as well. My armies need training. Without such training, they won’t be able to take on greater disasters anyway.

He had brought many men with him this time, including 120,000 demons, 120,000 bug angels, and 120,000 enchanters.

The trade between Fycro and Saleen was not performed with gold coins but divine crystals. Saleen had many divine crystals with him, but there was never a notion of too much with such things. To mages, divine crystals were incredibly pure things and could serve the functions of magic nuclei, as well as replenishment of mental powers.

Both parties finished trading. Fycro took out a map and began to discuss the layout of defenses with Saleen. The Floating City could serve as support from above. The abominations spread out in all directions when they emerged from the portal. The group of fortresses were not tightly built. The spaces between them would allow considerable numbers to escape.

Still, it was not wrong to lay them out that way. It would enable the fortresses to serve a better use. If they were to simply surround the exit without any place for the abominations to run, the abominations would attack the fortresses until they crumbled. Leaving spaces for escape allowed the abominations to fight among themselves for a place at the narrow paths.

Any living being had a certain extent of laziness. The abominations were not an exception. The relatively easy way of escaping proved more attractive and lethal.

“I’d defend the south and the east,” Saleen said to Fycro as he pointed at the two regions on the map. “I don’t wish to see any abominations showing up in Kroraina and Qin.”

“Very well, I’ll let my men retreat in these two directions,” Fycro said. “I hope you’ll be able to hold out this time, Saleen.”

Saleen smiled and replied, “So, are we the only two who are doing this? I take it that it’s not a day or two since you’ve dispersed the people of Highland City. Has nobody volunteered to help in the meantime?”

“Grand Duke Bronze sent word that he was willing to mobilize 100,000 for the war effort, and the emperor of Tanggulasi Empire was willing to mobilize 200,000,” Fycro said.

“Did you refuse them?” Saleen asked.

“No. Their armies are still on their way,” Fycro replied.

“What about Sikeqinya?” Saleen asked.

“Emperor Danny was unable to get anyone to respond to his call,” Fycro said. “I was unable to pay a good price, so none of the nobles bothered.”

Saleen sighed. If the abominations were to invade Myers Mainland, Sikeqinya would be caught close to ground zero. Even at a time like this, the Sikeqinyan nobles still bothered to be petty over monetary gains. There was simply no hope for the country.

“Alright, Fycro, these are the war flags that I’ve crafted,” Saleen said. “Give it to the armies to avoid any friendly fire. If you’re unable to hold out, I’ll send men to back you up. If my side is unable to hold…”

Fycro took Saleen’s space equipment and put the flags inside, saying, “The men I’ve gathered have no intentions of running. We will loosen up the limit of defense 100 miles.”

“Radius of diameter?” Saleen asked.

“Diameter,” Fycro solemnly answered.

That meant the portal served as the origin point, and the area within a 50-mile radius was the battlefield. If the fighting exceeded the area, they would fail to contain the fighting. It would make controlling the spread of abominations throughout Myers Mainland difficult.

After seeing Fycro take his 12 knights away, Nicholas said, “Those 12 are Divine Palace Knights, personal guards only reserved for gods. Fycro had indeed betrayed God.”

An important figure like Fycro betrayed his god and said god had no idea about it? Saleen seemed to realize something. Fycro probably had some special equipment with him that allowed him to avoid being detected by their god.

Gods did not concern themselves with the trillions of common believers. There were leaders among the preachers in every plane, and the gods took their time to check on those people time and again. Fycro’s status in the Holy See was extremely high, and there were unusually huge numbers of believers willing to follow him. Their god would not have just left someone so important alone.

“We’ll leave that aside and focus on defense for now,” Saleen said. “Winged Skull, no need to summon spirits this time. We’ll reserve your spirit army for last.”

“Yes, master.”

“Nailisi, take control of Floating City with Sika and Rossen,” Saleen said.

“Yes, master.”

“Nicholas, come with me with Jola,” Saleen directed. “We’ll take the star figures and set up a defense here. All of the rest, go about your business according to plan.”

Saleen laid out his battle plans and left some unavoidable ones for Grand Duke Iron Blood, which was something that had previously agreed upon.