Badge in Azure

A real giant would be over one-hundred yards tall, but giants had long disappeared from the face of the plane. A twenty yard tall fellow already could not be stopped, at least not by them.

The mages cast several Quicksand spells obstructing the several mutated soldiers. There were over a hundred soldiers who were that tall while the magic chords of a grade-3 mage could only release twelve level-3 spells. The two mages had been maintaining their battle rhythm, so they were still left with eighty percent of their magic chords, but it still was not sufficient to deal with so many gigantic enemies.

Very soon, over a hundred soldiers had been captured, then they were tossed into the white fog a distance away. These soldiers began swallowing the white fog. Gradually, their bodies started expanding.

“My God, I do not wish to use such a cruel technique anymore. I hope the enemy will retreat and stop deploying more reinforcements.” The red bishop mumbled as he put away the book in his hand.

“Hypocrite!” A black deacon suddenly appeared.

“What are you doing here?!” The red bishop was startled.

“Relax, the spell array has been completed, I have come over to see if any assistance is required. To think that you are more ruthless than us, using such a technique. The souls of those soldiers should be disintegrated.”

“Are you here to insult me? Turns out that the head inquisitors have already overridden the pope!” the red bishop lashed out as he lost his composure.

“I am not, you are the leader of this mission. I am just here to take a look. If you do not want my help, I will leave right away.”

“Help? Fine, then go break that metal house.” The red bishop pointed at the metal barrack standing amidst the sea of flames.

“Break it? Great Bishop, please look at the type of spell surrounding that house. If I am not mistaken, it is the snowkill. Given my abilities, I will be dead meat if I go over.”

“Scram if you cannot help.”

“Oh dear, you are the most devout believer, but you are starting to spout vulgarities.” The black deacon laughed as he soared into the sky and entered an even thicker fog.

This time around the inquisition had recruited two black deacons and a dozen soul reapers at the rank of a first class high priest to cooperate with the red bishop and set a trap there. The inquisition did not really have the intention to respect this red bishop. This plan was originally conceptualized by the inquisition. After the head inquisitors managed to persuade the pope the pope then ordered this red bishop who had been concealing himself in Qin for many years to execute the plan.

In the heart of the black deacons the head inquisitors reigned supreme while the pope could only govern those who were inflexible. The red bishop was one such inflexible follower. He was obviously killing people, so why was he particular about the methods used?

At the northern gates of Northtown another emblem group had been assembled. This time around this emblem group contained Black Metal Grand Swordmasters, grade-5 grand mages, grade-6 assassins, and a few large chariots which were clearly carrying intermediate size magic equipment.

More chariots were gathered following behind this emblem group. They were catapults that were able to attack from several miles away.

A grade-4 mage stood beside the commander of this emblem group. This gray-robed mage held a compass in his hands. This compass had partitions in it and there were over five-hundred tiny red dots depicted on the part indicating the northern region.

“We have lost four-hundred and thirty-two men. If we still do not go over the whole army will be exterminated,” the grade-4 mage claimed.

Qin’s elite troops were permanently affixed with a level-0 spell, so their life status could be determined within a distance of one-hundred miles. Normal soldiers or peasants did not receive such treatment. The moment these people were confirmed to be killed in action, pensions would be immediately disseminated. The family members of the soldier would be arranged to enter the army and thus receive the corresponding treatment.

This was also one of the methods a general used to evaluate a battle. The one-thousand man team of elite troops had been depleted by half, while the second emblem group had to carry large appliances. There was no way to render aid quickly. There were another over three-thousand auxiliary troops at the back who were transporting components used for building large chariots.

An hour had already passed. The rescue team set off while there were two-hundred soldiers left at Green Dragon Stone. These two-hundred soldiers were above the standard of a swordmaster, there were some mages too. That was why the rescue mission had to proceed. In fact, even if these people were dead, Qin would still recover their bodies.

The emblem group commander just could not understand why the general was not willing to send more people. The general should have deployed sorcerers for the rescue. It seemed sufficient to bring along huge quantities of equipment to Green Dragon Stone even though it did not really conform to the rules.

Saleen and over two-hundred soldiers sought refuge in the metal barrack. The snowkill would continuously lower the temperature of the barrack, so the soldiers inside would not feel any discomfort. The volume of air was still adequate, as the magic installation kept providing fresh air. As long as there was a magic nucleus in this installation it could continue working until the shelf life of the equipment was up.

Since there were so many grand mages within the metal barrack, they could absorb the polluted air into their spatial equipment. Saleen even utilized the Dimension Stone. These people would have died long ago in this tiny space otherwise.

“Sir, we shouldn’t have come in. If you allowed me to go over, I would have identified the person controlling the array.” Su pressed his hand against his longsword, seemingly indignant. He was a Silver Grand Swordmaster, it was definitely possible for him to kill the person controlling the spell array. At the moment, the spell array had been completed, so it was much more challenging to do so now.

“Aye, this trap is much more complicated than you think.” Saleen did not explain much. The enemy had used some kind of skill to screen a mage’s perception of danger. It was only at this moment that he realized some obscure details.

The imperial swordsman’s camp had almost fully recovered under the effect of magic. At this point in time they were speechless. Without them Saleen and company might not have run into this fix.

Given the situation back then, Saleen would have opted to make a detour if he had discovered anything amiss with Green Dragon Stone. Everyone entered Green Dragon Stone because of the swordsmen’s insistence.

“The offensive hasn’t begun, we are just trapped in here,” Saleen continued.

“Indeed, this incident is fraught with anomalies,” Fellett said. Fellett was a sorcerer. Even though he did not don a black magic robe, his few spells had already exposed the fact that he was of a higher grade than Saleen. Fellett did not bother concealing his identity, he intentionally allowed the experienced imperial swordsmen to learn about it.

Fellett did that so as to win their hearts. “There is a sorcerer and a powerful death mage present. If a few talents from the imperial swordsman’s camp can be recruited, they can help my family and Saleen groom better soldiers. If Lex gifts a few of these professional soldiers they will definitely execute their task with determination.” Fellett hoped that Aini and Saleen could subdue them convincingly and not rely on Lex.

The effect of a normal soldier on the battlefield might be small, but if that colossal spell array was not present. These over two-hundred soldiers could have possibly become the decisive factor. “I only need one person to hold the fort against the holy masters while the soldiers attack crazily. The enemy’s wings will be clipped that way. During the battle between the experts, those swordmasters will become the most vital tool.”

“Since we are trapped Northtown will send reinforcements. This massive spell array can possibly devour more than ten-thousand soldiers. The Holy See is not targeting us, it wants to teach Holy Rock City a lesson.” Saleen spoke slowly, as his train of thoughts became clearer and clearer.

“Since we aren’t the targets, let’s charge out.” Su was not impatient, he was feeling aggrieved by hiding in this manner. He could not care less about the scalding flames. A Silver Grand Swordmaster’s offensive power was enduring, the flames would not be able to burn Su’s body. Only spells above level-7 could affect him.

“Su, the situation has become like that because the enemy is flexible. If we rush out now we might become their new targets. We will surely sustain casualties.” When Saleen said that, the faces of the imperial swordsman became increasingly pale.

Originally, they were the targets, but the approaching reinforcements were now the targets. If they remained in hiding they would remain safe under the protection of the grand mages and sorcerers, but the soldiers from the Northtown would be doomed.

Even if they held onto the notion of honor and tried to change the outcome it would be futile. In order to leave this house the mages would have to take action. It was clear that the mages would not obey them.

Qin armies had stringent regulations. For mages belonging to affiliated armies, an emblem group commander could only command those below grade-3. From grade-4 onwards, the emblem group commander could only communicate with them via discussions. The mages had the choice to reject the order. If the mage was a sorcerer even the highest ranking camp commander could not command them. Only the imperial family could exert influence over them.

There were people in the army who specialized in coordinating relations with sorcerers, these people were nobles with superior statuses and powerful backgrounds.

In the entire metal house, only Cuisi was feeling overjoyed. The flames outside were burning vigorously, but to Cuisi, the danger from these flames was inferior to that of a certain enemy hiding in the raging fire.

This enemy might be a grade-7 holy master or a holy knight. At the moment, Cuisi could also detect the danger area, but he could not locate that target. Even if he found the enemy he would not want to take any action. The people who would die were Safilos’ subordinates anyway.

“Let’s wait, the manpower from Northtown is sufficient to destroy all the enemies in Green Dragon Stone,” Saleen said.

At this point in time the people from the imperial swordsman’s camp realized that the person giving orders was the mage wearing strange-looking armor. It was neither the sorcerer nor that death mage. Even County Queen Lex’s envoy obeyed him.

Whenever the temperature outside the metal barrack reached a dangerous level, Saleen would cast the Water Flame Alchemy to produce the Snowkill spell so that the temperature would be lowered. As for that emblem group which came to provide assistance, there was only about one-hundred men left. The two grade-3 mages were enraged, they could no longer protect the soldiers and engage in difficult battles. By now their magic chords were down to about twenty percent, no spells higher than level-3 could be cast. The mages could only rely on level-0 spells to exert slight pressure on the enemy.

It was an entire emblem group of soldiers! Only about one-hundred people remained, ninety percent of manpower had been lost.

The surviving over one-hundred soldiers were still trying to escape. On the ground, a one-hundred yard line had been drawn. The interior of this line was smeared with magic powder to ensure no disturbances by any illusion and it was ramrod straight. They had to at least draw a line measuring one-thousand yards in order to be totally rid of danger.

There was no time left…

More than eight-hundred giants had encircled the surviving soldiers. These colleagues of the past had now become deadly killers.