Badge in Azure

Saleen had heard before that pure-bred grade-three warhorses could travel more than sixty miles per hour, but only for two to three hours. After that, it would have to rest completely and not move for the next eighteen days. At a comfortable pace, the pure-bred horse could travel at forty miles per hour. That was equivalent to the speed at which normal knights would charge.

The winged skeleton put in great effort to create the skeletal warhorse and clearly knew more about horses than Saleen. This type of warhorse could catch up with flying mages and could travel at a consistent pace for an entire day.

There was no way the knights would be able to control the warhorses traveling at a speed of eighty miles an hour. If not for the winged skeleton, practically every knight would have been thrown off and crushed.

The winged skeleton demonstrated the immense power of his advanced abilities. Saleen’s bond did not restrict his development and the grade-8 death mage was already on the same level as a grand mage. Of course, this was related to how powerful Saleen’s mental strength was. Both he and Nailisi were bonded to Saleen with their souls. As long as Saleen’s mental strength could advance to the standard of a grade-9 sorcerer, the winged skeleton would be able to advance to grade-9 as well.

Even so, the winged skeleton would have put in effort as well. As his master, Saleen would not be able to extend any other kind of aid to him.

Saleen was in good health and the two mages were more powerful than him. Both Isabella and Eleanor were proficient in both magic and combat so they were able to travel for ten hours straight before finally stopping for a rest.

Any other mage would already have been paralyzed. Even if they boosted themselves with spells continuously, they would never have been able to travel on their horses for ten hours straight.

The two-hundred warriors that had followed Saleen were the most tired of all. During the break in the day, the mages boosted everyone with spells. By the time night came, everyone was already asleep except for the winged skeleton and the demons.

The winged skeleton was wearing the armor that Saleen had refined for him. The front of the helmet was a crystal mask. Soul flames danced slowly behind the mask and displayed a strange and magical silver color in the night.

Cuisi took a look at the winged skeleton and recalled Nailisi’s warning so he made sure to stay out of the way of the spirit of the dead. He ordered the other three demons to stand guard outside Saleen’s tentage. The spirits of the dead under the winged skeleton would be responsible for the security of the entire campsite.

The winged skeleton stood at the entrance of the campsite, armed with a weapon that was more than four yards long.

The tip of this weapon was a circular-shaped axe blade that was more than a yard long in diameter. The gigantic axe opened up on both sides and was blood-red in color. There was a magic array on both sides of the axe and there were colorful magic nuclei like six strange looking eyes mounted on it.

The winged skeleton found this weapon from the ocean and by his estimation, the weapon should at least be twenty-thousand years old. While a weapon with a long history might not necessarily mean that it was a good weapon, the fact remained that it withstood pressure and decomposition under water for twenty-thousand years without any signs of damage. This was definitely an equipment of high quality.

The handle of the giant axe was oval in shape and was filled with magic patterns. These magic patterns were not refined only on its surface, it was refined completely into the interior of the axe. They would not disappear no matter how much one polished it.

The aura of the spirit of the dead emanated through the winged skeleton’s gloves and entered the giant axe. The colorful magic nuclei lit up and the blood-red magic patterns flowed on the black giant axe.

There were six jade skeletons that stood behind the winged skeleton and each of them were also armed with a similar giant axe. Those were weapons that Saleen refined by trying to copy the winged skeleton’s original weapon.

The winged skeleton and his men were extremely powerful and no one dared to handle such a giant axe. Even silver grand swordmasters would have to think twice about it.

Seven skeletons stood at the entrance of the campsite and the nocturnal magic beasts all stayed far away. Six streams of gray-colored aura flowed from winged skeleton’s giant axe and were absorbed by the axes of the jade skeletons behind him.

These seven skeletons functioned as one. Saleen dared to bring only two-hundred men to Daliang City partly because he was confident in his own abilities, but also because the winged skeleton was already a grade-8 spirit of the dead and was already more powerful than the Three Kings. Judikaka’s soul flame was given to the winged skull and once Saleen advanced, the winged skeleton would immediately advance to grade-9 as well.

The winged skeleton looked up at the moon. The silver-colored moonlight passed through the crystal mask and entered his eyes before being absorbed by his soul flames. The soul flames grew stronger after absorbing the moonlight.

The night passed peacefully and the campsite was not disturbed. Saleen led the troops to continue on their way. It was already the middle of September. He had to reach Daliang City by the end of October and would have to take into account the route conditions and whether they would encounter any attacks by the enemy.

They did not encounter any trouble from Metatrin to the new city that Aini was overseeing. Saleen turned towards the south when they reached the border of Laiyin and headed towards Daliang City by traveling along the border of Luolan.

These two-hundred men who were clad in full armor were conspicuous. They were only less noticeable because they did not travel on routes commonly used by wagons. They would not stop along the way for supplies and would travel around towns and sprinted across plains.

No one would have been able to catch up with the skeletal warhorses even if they wanted to. These two-hundred skeletal warhorses covered seven-hundred miles every day even as they carried Saleen and his two-hundred soldiers and mages.

Regardless of the local noble families that harbored evil intentions, Holy Rock City armies, or even some bandit companies; everyone had miscalculated and were all left behind by Saleen’s strange way of moving his troops.

By the middle of October, Saleen led his two-hundred men into Luolan and onto the lands controlled by Lex’s Bitter Water Prefecture.

There was a militarized town on the border with five-thousand soldiers in it. Saleen showed his badge. The most senior officer in this town was an elderly member of a noble family of Bitter Water Prefecture. When he saw Saleen’s badge, he quickly extended hospitality to Saleen.

“Your Highness, I did not expect you to reach us so quickly!” The elder received Saleen’s troops outside of the town. He did not reveal any signs of disappointment even after noticing that Saleen only brought two-hundred men.

Saleen was silently approving of this. This was an elder that possessed intelligence, or perhaps, craftiness. This town that he oversaw was connected to the regions controlled by Holy Rock City. Only with such wisdom would both parties be able to co-exist peacefully.

This elder was previously a grade-1 Viscount and was a member of a noble family assigned to Lex by Emperor Chanake. After building up her kingdom, Lex promoted him to a grade-2 Earl, which was a double promotion. He now commanded five-thousand soldiers and guarded over this place.

“Earl…” Saleen was led to the Earl’s mansion where the latter has arranged a banquet. The moment Saleen spoke, the Earl smiled and said, “Your Highness, please call me Besta. I witnessed the growth of the Princess, I’m not an outsider.”

Saleen smiled and said, “Besta, are we able to establish contact with Daliang City here?”

“Strictly speaking, yes, but…” Besta felt a little embarrassed. The number of magic nuclei he possessed was limited. He would not use them unless necessary. Just delivering a document would expend one magic nucleus. Even a low-level teleportation portal would require six grade-4 magic nuclei to be used up.

Saleen understood Besta’s difficulties immediately and said, “Although Lex will replenish the magic nuclei that you have expended, they will only be delivered at the end of the year. Alright, I will help you this time around. You must guard this town properly and not be taken advantage of by those in the north.” Even as he spoke, Saleen took out a box that was specifically designed to store magic nuclei. In the box were sixty grade-4 magic nuclei that had already been cut and passed it to Besta.

The old uncle became extra cautious. It was not easy guarding the border in this place that did not have much of a future. These sixty magic nuclei were nothing to Saleen.

Besta was a little embarrassed. Indeed, Lex had not sent over any magic nuclei for a long time. In the previous attack, they managed to take down three important cities successfully, but a lot of magic nuclei were also used up. While he still had quite a number of low-level magic nuclei, the number of middle-level magic nuclei were rather limited.

“Your Highness, how can I accept this?”

“Don’t worry. Lex will repay me,” Saleen joked. Besta began to feel embarrassed. Saleen was already willing to send aid from many miles away, why would he care about these sixty middle-grade magic nuclei, even if they could have been sold for ten-thousand gold coins?

Saleen did not write to Lex immediately. Instead, he began to discuss the military equipment that their town possessed with Besta.

It was through this discussion that Saleen found out that aside from the five-hundred or so bodyguards that belonged to Earl Besta, the rest of the five-thousand soldiers were all new recruits that had only been trained for two to three years. The training they had undergone were not like those that Lex had put Saleen’s soldiers through. Their training was instead the simplest type that followed Qin laws.

The soldiers would be able to operate most of the common weapons. As for their combat skills, five soldiers should be able to kill a grade-1 swordsman.

Lex did not deploy any elite soldiers at the border of the land controlled by Holy Rock City. Saleen could read between the lines and now understood a bit more about the situation that Lex was in. The number of soldiers under Lex was definitely more than five-hundred-thousand, but half of them did not possess much fighting abilities.

While it would be sufficient if they were only defending the city, attacking other cities or being engaged in open battles would be suicidal. If this was the case, there would be no need for Saleen to leave any equipment behind for Earl Besta. His equipment was meant for his main forces.

Saleen then wrote a letter and asked Besta to deliver it to Daliang City. In the letter was information on the equipment and resources that Saleen has brought along and his strategy for the battle.

Saleen had many resources, but they had yet to be pieced together into equipment. He would need the help of Lex’s mages to prepare the necessary equipment for refining. This was why Saleen wrote to Lex when he was still more than one-thousand miles away. He could not afford to start preparing only after he had reached Daliang City.

Saleen and the rest still needed to continue on their way, but they were already exhausted. They would rest in this small town for a day to fully recover their strength before carrying on again.

Saleen and the rest slept while Earl Besta was settling some military issues in his mansion. Suddenly, a bodyguard came in a hurry and reported that a troop of about two-thousand knights were approaching the small town. Earl Besta was taken aback. two-thousand knights formed the standard size of a battalion. It was very likely that they would be followed by two-thousand heavy-armored knights and six-thousand foot soldiers.

The old Earl did not wake Saleen. Instead, he told the bodyguard, “Gather some men. I will go to the top of the city wall and have a look.”

“My Lord, can I come with you?” Besta had only just finished speaking and the winged skeleton had already appeared in front of him with that formidable axe. The soul flames were dancing slowly underneath his crystal mask.

The winged skeleton had always stayed by Saleen’ side. When Besta first saw him, he had thought that he was just an ordinary spirit of the dead. He never expected this spirit of the dead to possess intelligence and the ability to speak his language.