Badge in Azure

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Complete obliteration?

Sauron felt it was rather risky to take the magic cannon after hearing Sika's words. Defeating and obliterating an army were completely different concepts, and the cost for executing them differed greatly as well.

"Relax, you see that big guy over there?" Sika pointed at the Metal Titan.

Sauron nodded. He envied it for being able to transport such huge equipment.

"It is not for pulling carts. The Metal Titan is a heavy piece of equipment for crushing the enemy."

While Sauron was a warrior, he had made impressions of Metal Titans. The reason Qin created war puppets was because humanity ordered Metal Titans around to battle, and it was a concept that had survived the ages. The shortcoming of the Metal Titan was that it was incapable of transformations, unlike the Mechanical Soul. If the Mechanical Soul were there, it could have transformed into a mobile turret, carrying the huge magic cannon and running around with it.

"Rest assured, general, I've brought enough poison and warriors with me. The metal flyers will be here in two days as well," Sika consoled Sauron. Obliterating enemies cost a lot, but she had brought ample equipment for guerrilla with her, so the soldiers were there to kill any defeated and scattered enemy troops.

Sauron became alert when he heard 'metal flyers'. That was something that had brought indisputable, brutal might to bear on the battle of Ironwall City during the assault. He cautiously asked, "umm, Your Highness, can you sell the metal flyers to me? I don't need schematics, and you can install self-destruct mechanisms in them. If I dare to look into them, you're welcomed to render all of them scraps."

Sika smiled. "General, they're are not something you're able to use, unless…"

"Unless?"

"Unless you're able to suppress the sorcerers in the enemy ranks, even the ones in magic towers."

Sauron was speechless. He never expected the requirement to be something so steep. Everyone knew that Saleen had assaulted Ironwall City and destroyed it, but no one knew of the details of the battle. Sauron was able to gather from Sika's words that Saleen's army had suppressed all nine magic towers within Ironwall City before sending in the metal flyers for assault.

If someone were to possess power capable of suppressing nine magic towers, they would be able to take down Ironwall City even without the metal flyers. How Saleen did it was different: he reduced Ironwall City to ashes, and the price he paid was small in comparison.

"And furthermore, General, the metal flyers' survivability isn't as high as you think them to be. Once they're broken, they're worth little more than scrap metal."

"Your Highness, forgive me for…"

"You're not being delusional. If that thing didn't have that many weaknesses, Qin's capabilities and resources would be enough to develop things like that."

Sika was telling the truth. Qin had mages in abundance, and many were versed in alchemy. It was not a difficult task to develop equipment of that sort. But what use would such it be?

A level six grand mage would be more than capable of taking down the flyers, and just how many level six mages are there in Qin? Every big city has them, and every city has more than one.

The Sikeqinyans had been aggressive in their assault of Ceylon City, yet the casualties suffered by both sides remained low. Saleen had sturdy walls to rely on, and the countless metal towers were capable of shooting arrows like they cost nothing.

The Sikeqinyans, on the other hand, relied heavily on low level puppets to serve as the main attack force. Saleen had never anticipated it. There was a lack of mages in Sikeqinya and the low level puppets could be made without powerful alchemy. In fact, most puppet parts were things that even common smiths were capable of crafting. The puppets only needed mages to craft their cores.

Furthermore, the low level puppets' main purpose was to block arrows for the invading troops. The Sikeqinyans never bothered with ramming gates or scaling walls. They tried lean, large-scale equipment that was pieced together in haste as close to the walls as possible, intending to use heavy attack weapons to tear down sections of the walls.

Saleen had not anticipated the enemy to be equipped with such large-scale equipment, but he was hardly fettered. He sent six Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers to fetch a large magic cannon from the harbor and fired three times at the Sikeqinyans' giant catapults.

The sorcerers among the ranks of the invading army were not able to do anything but see the catapults destroyed. Saleen never bothered to attack the enemy troops with the magic cannon. The Sikeqinyan sorcerers were confused as to why Saleen stopped, but they did not dare charge and destroy the fearsome weapon that Saleen had.

The battles turned steady. Small catapults continued to hurl rocks at the city walls, and Saleen let the level nine Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers stand guard at the walls, swatting the incoming rocks away. There was no way common rocks were able to get near to the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers.

Saleen turned around and returned to the Magical Element Tower when he saw that there was nothing harrowing taking place. He took out a map of the mainland and released magic images, before beginning to ponder things.

There were many dots all over the map.

Metatrin City, Lianyun City, Alchemy City, Dragon Island, Holy Rock City, Principality of Bitterwater, Daliang City, Sanlian City, Purgatory Desert, Holy City, the Tanggulasian Imperial City, Glorious City, Ceylon City, Sikeqinyan Imperial City, Royal Harbor, Didypus, Chaotic Swamp, Lonestar City…

Saleen's eyes settled on Daliang City.

Daliang City was one of the weaker cities of his, with only two small secret passages in the mountains linking the city to the Principality of Bitterwater. It was hard to defend. It had plains in the north and the Separation Sea at the south. The plains and the waters both made it easy for enemies to attack the city, and Sanlian City to the west was quite a distance away.

So why didn't the Holy See attack Daliang City?

If the Holy See was worried about retaliation, they wouldn't be stupid enough to touch his children. The lesson at Ironwall City made the Holy See quiet down for less than a month. What was happening within the Holy See in that month? Or rather, what happened to the powers within the Holy See that they paid no heed to attacks that were impossible to defend against?

Daliang City is a threat to the Holy See's holy army's flanks one way or another. The Holy See shouldn't be ignoring such a location.

There was no way Saleen was able to reach the key to all that, no matter how hard he tried with his calculations. He opened the sound transmission magic array, feeling rather exasperated, contacting Lex at Royal Harbor.

Saleen voiced his worries, and Lex had considered the entire problem. She said "We have accumulated wealth so massive that most people wouldn't be able to amass over their lives, thanks to our mystical adventures and encounters. The same goes for the Holy See. You can't guess it, and I'm just as confused as to what actually made the Holy See regain its aggressive attitude all of a sudden."

"What do you plan to do then, Lex?" Saleen felt rather lost.

"Daliang City's location is a crucial one, yet it is lacking in defense. I think that you should head to my hometown, the Golden Plains, the place they call the Grukos Basin."

"Get someone from the Grukos to garrison Daliang City?" Saleen asked, puzzled. He had the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake with him and, as such, was capable of mobilizing the core powers of the Grukos. The war had affected just about everywhere, but the Grukos were actually hardly affected at all.

Holy Rock City was just a part of the Grukos. The true wealth of the Grukos was concentrated in the Golden Plains. Within the huge basin lay the core of the Grukos' power and where their wealth was concentrated as well.

It was said that the place possessed powers far greater than the Holy Rock City's. If Chanake had not chosen to become the emperor, he would have qualified to become a part of the clan's core circle.

"Wouldn't Daliang City become another Holy Rock City then?" Saleen asked further. Despite the fact that Holy Rock City was an independent place, as the Grukos would not interfere with the way that the emperors did things, but whenever Holy Rock City was in trouble, the Grukos was still called upon. The Golden Plains were far above Holy Rock City.

"Relax, you have the mark of the Six-winged Flying Snake with you, which means you possess a part of the Grukos' power. My father, he…he is too arrogant. He would have been able to borrow the power of the family, and he wouldn't have…"

Lex did not continue. The mark was something his father gave her. If her father were to use the mark on his own, he would not be set up by the Holy See. The Golden Plains had over ten people who were more powerful than her father. Any two of them, with her father's powers added, would have crushed whatever the Holy See was scheming against them.

"I understand." Saleen was relieved. If the people of the Golden Plains were to garrison Daliang City, there would be nothing for him to worry about. The most glaring problem with Daliang City was that it lacked high level powers. It would have sufficed if he and Lex were both available to see to the city, but there were only a golden grand swordmaster and two level nine sorcerers taking care of the place, and Saleen felt insecure about how things were with the city.

Lex sighed. "Saleen, I should be there in the city with you, but things in Sikeqinya required at least one of us to take care of things. I'll have the Winged Skull defend Ceylon City in your stead. Take Nailisi with you and head to Golden Plains."

"Now?"

"Now indeed. If we lose Daliang City, neither of us would be able to live with the embarrassment. Furthermore, the Principality of Bitterwater would be in a dire state."

"Alright, I'll make a move as soon as the Winged Skull is here, but Ceylon City…"

Lex had miscalculated. She realized that Saleen had insufficient troops with him and the city was defended by Nailisi's demon army alone. Lex said, "go kill as many of the Sikeqinyans as you fancy, try to diminish as much of their power as possible, then let Nailisi garrison the place. I'll send someone to help her out. You take the Winged Skull to Golden Plains and ask for the clan's powers to help defend Daliang City."

"Is there anything I should look out for in Golden Plains?"

"Noting that you should be concerned about. But I need to remind you that if the clan wants to take back the mark of Six-winged Flying Snake, you should agree to their request, but…you need to do so with ample requirements from them."

Saleen was dumbfounded. He had never anticipated Lex to tell him to return the mark to the clan. He would be able to mobilize the power of the clan with something like that with him. What would have been deemed worthy enough to exchange for such an item?

Lex was unable to see Saleen's expression, but she was able to guess what he was thinking. "Saleen, the mark of Six-winged Flying Snake is a powerful equipment that belonged to the Grukos. If the clan wants it back, you can name any price you want. So long as it doesn't sound too far-fetched, the clan will agree to anything."

"Understood. I'll wait for the Winged Skull to get here," Saleen replied and shut the magic array, falling even deeper in thought.