Badge in Azure

Chapter 1460: Test (Part 2)

The head warden’s act of putting away the dagger gave Saleen an opening to fire a lightning bolt from his family badge.

An opportunity like this would present itself only once. That was not just because the head warden would be more careful from then on, but because his family badge was still only capable of casting its strongest attack a single time.

Saleen worked on the badge, but he had only begun learning the knowledge stored inside and how to use the interior spaces.

Those spaces would have wrecked any common items stored inside. That was why Saleen could only put high-level materials there. The environments within, which all had to do with discharges of lightning and thunder, were ironically the best natural milieu for refining and upgrading materials.

The lightning badge’s body had been crafted from the remains of the Thunder God, which, in turn, had been crafted into the Book of Lightning. Because of his level, Saleen could only do so much since his power of the soul was comparable to that of a lesser god.

Saleen had to seize any opportunity to kill the head warden. The problem was not his reluctance to use a level-8 scroll but his inability to lock onto that warden.

The head warden was wrestling with a different problem: He still couldn’t find Saleen. While he wasn’t all that familiar with Saleen’s skills, he knew enough about them, especially peculiar ones like the Thunder Phantasm. Had he not, he might have fallen for one of Saleen’s little tricks.

When a professional advanced to level-10 and beyond, most would have gotten used to targeting and observing enemies using mental powers. That, however, was a deadly flaw to their modus operandi.

All at once a thick bolt of lightning covered the head warden’s body. Even if he was a god of fire, he wouldn’t have been able to survive something like that. As the outer layer of his body exploded, translucent red crystals expanded and formed a layer of armor.

When the electrical discharge hit, the flames on the outer layer vanished as the red crystal armor crumbled bit by bit and dropped to the ground.

But the head warden was unscathed: His defense capability was activated using godly armor and power skills, enabling him to narrowly escape death.

Meanwhile, flames were bursting from his skin, forming a new layer of a transparent crystal façade.

Though the flaming armor was destroyed, it was repaired immediately. Every restoration, however, caused its defense to drop considerably, necessitating a troublesome repair.

The head warden never expected Saleen’s attack to be so ferocious. From what he knew about the mage, Saleen had only been able to escape the great head inquisitor owing to the powers bestowed by godly items.

His godly item, the flaming armor, was of even higher level. Why was it so badly damaged? Though the armor’s surface appeared to be restored, in reality, it had lost 80 percent of its defensive capacity.

The Violet Angel roared, took Rafel and charged at the head warden. Metal-cutting territory burst from Rafel’s Inferno Spear, causing the head warden great stress.

The territory was super powerful. However, Rafel’s level was lower than the head warden’s, which meant killing him using territorial powers alone was impossible. But then again, Rafel was targeting the damaged godly armor.

The timing of the strike was impeccable. The armor on the head warden’s body shattered again but was instantly restored.

The flaming armor’s defensive capacity was less than ten percent of what it had been at the start.

Slam! Icy winds breathed by the Violet Angel clashed as they covered the head warden’s body. The Violet Angel seized the chance to whack the head warden hard with its tail.

The head warden retaliated by raising its tail and lopping off the Violet Angel’s tail with one blow.

The Violet Angel roared, but not in pain. As a puppet, its soul was protected by the lightning cage and it felt no pain. It was simply covering for Rafel with its body.

Rafel chanted prayers and the tip of the Inferno Spear opened up, revealing a rectangular crystal inside.

Crimson aura covered the Violet Angel. The head warden then swung his greatsword sideways. Seeing that Rafel wasn’t able to evade it, Saleen bellowed, making the head warden lose control of the golden dagger. The blade flew from the head warden’s hand and started slicing the flames enveloping it. Then it headed straight for the head warden’s heart.

Saleen hadn’t even cast one magic spell, unsettling the head warden.

A mage as powerful as Saleen could have cast level-13 magic spells in an instant. Doing so might have meant that he possessed level-14 scrolls. Saleen’s wealth was such that it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to get level-15 scrolls and even cast them. The head warden was baffled: Why was the mage being so conservative with his magic chords and power of the soul?

He couldn’t think of one reason. He put his greatsword away and swatted the golden dagger away. Then he swung its tail again to block Rafel’s Inferno Spear.

The Inferno Spear was a powerful godly item. Even if it couldn’t be used at full power in Rafel’s hand, the head warden’s tail still would not have been able to break it. That much he knew. Purple-red flames burst out of his body as he charged at the spot where the cloudy mists were the thickest.

Find Saleen, kill him, and end the fight.

To say that the head warden was an experienced veteran was an understatement. He had fought in over 10,00 battles. The Holy See had once been in a shaky state. At the time he wasn’t the head warden, just a candidate.

The head warden, who had far more combat experience than Saleen, had only fallen into one of Saleen’s many traps, which was him taking the time to seize the golden dagger.

That, however, was a result of the head warden cockiness about his godly armor. Judging from records, the armor would have suffered a ten percent drop after resisting Saleen’s strongest attack once.

The result was unexpected: Less than ten percent of the armor’s attributes remained. The head warden altered his thought patterns and stopped baiting Saleen. Instead, he took the initiative to locate him and attack.

If Saleen acquired some new terrifying skills while he was busy defending himself, he would have suffered injuries by then.

He deemed himself to have been in too much of a hurry. Saleen had become one of the strongest mages on the mainland in little time; luck had been on his side. Someone like that would not die easily. He needed to be attacked head-on.

The head warden planned his next steps. He didn’t bother sweeping the place using the power of the soul. He simply made a rough estimate of how many enemies were in the clouds and headed there straightaway without knowing if they were real or fake.

The simpler the methods used, the harder it would be to dismantle them. Saleen saw the head warden charging hastily. In response, he then took control of the 11 Thunder Phantasms and kept evading the attacks. That was what the head warden was hoping would happen: Saleen’s power of the soul was formidable enough to allow him to control the phantasms without leaving an opening.

Although Saleen’s level-13 magic held the head warden back for a while, there was no chance for him to use a level-18 scroll.

By then Saleen was feeling lucky. It was hard killing the level-14 head warden despite having level-18 scrolls at his disposal. He wondered, what if I faced the Lord of Glory instead? Wouldn’t things be even harder?

The volcano below had completely erupted. The surrounding mountains were filled with soldiers taking shelter.

Phew. Saleen’s flying troops had escaped in time and run over 100 kilometers away. The head warden swung around, greatsword in hand, cutting up clouds wherever he went. But the dissipated clouds stayed dissipated.

One Thunder Phantasms that couldn’t escape in time ended up being cut in half. Saleen felt it unnecessary to dupe the head warden with death-like effects anymore. And what did it matter? Thunder Phantasms had no souls. The head warden would have known they were fakes the moment his sword connected with them.

His teeth gritted, Saleen had the metal angels scatter and leave the battlefield. They were so shocked their combat prowess dropped exponentially, and they ceased being much of a threat to the head warden.

Those metal angels began to speed up after separating from the head warden about 1,000 meters away, heading straight for the other fortresses on Black Dungeon Island. Metal angels could be resurrected. But Saleen didn’t want his forces wasted at such a place. Over 100 metal angels posed a serious threat to a fortress.

What’s more, the metal angels had nothing to do with the clouds.

The head warden didn’t bother chasing them. He cleverly ignored Saleen’s second bait. If he had gone after those angels, they would have retaliated full force, which would have slowed the head warden down or stopped him in his tracks.

That was how Rafel had pulled off her attack earlier. Were it not for the head warden’s godly armor, he would have been targeted by Saleen’s second attack.

Both sides were playing it safe; neither side brought powerful attacks to bear against the other.

Four-ball lightning stayed on Saleen’s Thunder Dragon Blaster as he patiently waited for the chance to strike.

The three weapon spirits near Saleen didn’t dare make a move. The level-13 weapon spirits had not reached level-14, and it would have been too risky to charge at the head warden.

The head warden had more than just that flaming great sword with him.

Saleen began to regret not taking the Floating City with him; the large-scale Thunder Dragon Blasters would have aided him tactically. He also brought large-scale Thunder Dragon Blasters but they had not been installed. The volcano’s eruption caused the army to retreat and the assault did go as expected.

What concerned Saleen was the loosening of the plane rules, a palpable sign of the rise of powers across the mainland.

Myers Mainland would allow the Lord of Glory to enter in a few months. Saleen wondered, will I be able to advance another level by then? Not a problem if I can enter the Hall of Gods and have another piece of high-level divine persona.

The head warden kept rushing around carelessly, killing ten Thunder Phantasms of Saleen’s in no time and gaining speed. If it hadn’t been for the special properties of Saleen’s lightning territory, he wouldn’t have been able to conceal himself.

Even though the head warden charged and swung his sword several times, he still couldn’t cut Saleen down. He had been missing Saleen’s location by several meters every time: He knew Saleen’s skill was capable of messing with his judgment.

It was time for a new tactic. The head warden stopped moving and extended his greatsword. Its blade grew over 30 meters long and purple flames leaped about on it. There were no more clouds within the 100-meter radius.

Saleen knew the head warden was switching to a powerful skill with a reach that was no longer evadable using tricks alone. But then again, that’s exactly what Saleen had been waiting for. Finally, the head warden was motionless! At last, Saleen could use a scroll on him.

But Saleen didn’t attack right away. Rather, he had the God of Magic Net cast a divine spell instead.