Badge in Azure

Chapter 1501: Getting a Share (Part 2)

Van Gogh no longer questioned why the army of 200 had worn only leather armor rather than using metal. They were simply shadows crafted by Agares after all.

"What about Arbola?" Van Gogh asked anxiously.

"I made her into a shadow mage, of course. How could I bring her along with me otherwise?" Agares held Snakerun in his hand, using it to gut an angel who was close to death. The angel struck by Snakerun had the essence of its body quickly sucked dry by the weapon.

Snakerun was a dagger Saleen had crafted for him. The weapon itself was extremely brutal, and only assassins would have been able to make use of it. If Sul or Jola had been the ones using such a weapon, it would have definitely affected the progress of their swordsmanship.

Snakerun and Agares, however, complimented each other.

Shadow warriors were capable of recovering within seconds of being killed by the god creatures. Van Gogh was nonetheless able to see the weaknesses of the shadow army. While the shadow warriors seemed to be quick to recover, it took them 30 frames to do so.

If the shadow warriors were hit by powerful equipment, destroying them altogether would have been relatively easy.

The shadow warriors continued to advance and strike down the god creatures. Agares was already a level 13 assassin, while the shadow warriors began to climb up from level five or six. The progress only slowed after they reached level nine.

Every single god creature that was killed had their powers of the Source sucked dry by the shadow warriors.

That was the terrifying thing about shadow warriors. They needed to expend powers of the Source in order to repair themselves, but such expenditure was only a fraction of what they absorbed. As such, the shadow warriors would have only gotten increasingly more powerful with every bit they absorbed. Any remaining power of the Source would have accumulated, which was then collected by their master.

"Are you scared of me now, Van Gogh?" Agares laughed maniacally as he asked. Van Gogh's hands did not stop. He opened the black book and absorbed one god creature after another. No one knew what kind of space they were being thrown into after he absorbed them.

In fact, he was not exiling the absorbed creatures, but rather he was sending them to his own personal space. He kept an untold number of puppets in those spaces, which would have then killed and absorbed the creatures he drew in.

A crisp, clear voice could be heard high up in the air while Van Gogh and Agares were having the time of their lives killing god creatures.

"Hi! If you two want to get more, come up here and help me out!" the voice said.

Agares looked up and saw a huge demon in the sky who was surrounded by a large number of angels. Flying bugs were abundant below the demon.

"Agares, I'm talking to you!" Nailisi said, growing impatient. Van Gogh and Agares were there to pick on the god creatures, yet they restricted themselves to slaughtering weaklings. While Nailisi was currently fine despite the fact that she was surrounded, if she were to expend her powers too quickly, she would have transformed involuntarily.

She deemed her devil form to be the form most suited for combat. She still had problems getting used to her human mage, golden dragon, and spirit forms.

Agares finally recalled who that voice belonged to—it was that woman by Saleen's side who went by the name Nailisi.

"Coming right up," Agares said as he complied. Agares had no intention of getting on the bad side of someone who played an important role at Saleen's side before he had a better idea of what they were actually capable of.

If the Legion of Shadows were able to be expanded beyond its 200 members, they could have been made into a massive army. Those 200 would have served as the core, with every shadow warrior being able to take control of ten shadow warriors one level below them.

That was to say, at least in theory, if the shadow warriors were to advance to level 18, they would have been able to take control of ten level 17 shadow warriors. Those level 17 shadow warriors would have been able to, in turn, take control of a total of 100 level 16 warriors.

The shadow warriors were currently at level nine, which meant that they were already controlling 2000 level eight warriors, and more level seven shadow warriors were still being made. The core 200 would remain undying unless Agares was dead.

When those 20000 level seven warriors were completed, they would have continued on to create 200 thousand level six shadow warriors. It was thanks to the 100 core shadow warriors commanded by the founding emperor of the Cloudflow Empire that he was able to subjugate many powerful beings, continuing the rule after the Fourth Dynasty was gone.

Creating shadow warriors required a bit of power of the Source. In actuality, he was still using the power of those god creatures. The god creatures that were killed and devoured were all made into materials for creating shadow warriors.

It was due to Agares' possession of such an ability that Nailisi summoned him, telling him to take care of anything attacking from one direction. If the god were to come from that direction, Agares and his shadow warriors would have been able to resist that god's attack at least once.

Agares knew that Nailisi was aware that he was picking up loot in secret. If he were to refuse to offer his services, she could have greatly inconvenienced him. She might have even fought him right away.

Agares was capable of trading with Saleen, but he was not able to do so with any of Saleen's subordinates. That was frustrating to him, and Agares wondered where Saleen was when such a grand battle was being fought.

Due to his concerns regarding Saleen, Agares brought his Legion of Shadows and did as Nailisi told him to—blocking the direction facing the gates of the divine kingdom. The army of angels would have continued to charge wherever Nailisi was, and stopping her would have required the arrival of a god.

Agares did not need to worry about targets. This was the first time his Legion of Shadows was at work, and it seemed as though they already showed signs of breaking into level ten. He had to bring the legion to level 11, or those units would soon perish.

True Legion of Shadows could only be used for doing battle when they reached level 12. However, Agares had been unable to wait any longer. With god creatures serving as supplements, he could enhance the shadow warriors' powers right away without any concerns for side effects. If Saleen's army did not show up, he saw no reason to take further risks. His Legion of Shadows was still flawed at the moment, and even Van Gogh was able to see that flaw.

Agares took in bodies of the god creatures and made them into shadow warriors. Nailisi was keeping herself busy as well, and she was even doing it on an even larger scale. She opened the gate to her collection of purgatories wide, throwing all of the angels that she killed into it.

There were hundreds of weapons embedded into Nailisi's armor, all of them left behind from the angels' attacks on her. Many angels attacked her with all they had, sacrificing themselves in the process. That act resulted in their weapons being left stuck in Nailisi's armor.

Saleen had crafted an insane set of armor just to keep her safe. Super strong materials forged into a level of thickness beyond the comprehension of other professionals had made it so that it was almost impossible to destroy her armor.

Van Gogh did not dare to do too much at that moment. He had a powerful godly item acquired from a temple of the Goddess of Myers, and he had created a great many spaces within it. It was a pity that those spaces were not life-sustaining. So, he created many divine puppets instead, and those puppets were best when made out of the bodies of god creatures.

The army charging into the gates of the divine kingdom grew increasingly large. Many of those in the incoming armies were like Agares, wanting to get something out of the war.

Everyone knew that given how slow gods were in reacting to anything, there were little to no dangers to be had when charging inside a divine kingdom for the first time. Gods would not have been able to react to the first instance of such an invasion, but would have definitely gone out to kill intruders the next time it happened.

Nailisi felt a cold smirk coming from deep within herself. Those charging in were just too greedy, wanting to take everything there was to take within sight. There was no way she was going to just let those people do as they wished. While gods were slow to react to matters like that, it still nonetheless depended on the situation. If she were to bait the Lord of Glory herself, said god would have at least sent a double in less than a minute.

But then again, she had not finished feeding her 12 Notes of First Purgatory. When she was done, she would use all of those greedy people as stepping stones.

Nailisi kept a close eye on Agares' Legion of Shadows as she fought. She charged after observing them for a moment, barging through barricades of angels, and took one of the shadow warriors in her hand, chucking it into her collection of purgatories.

Agares was startled. He lifted his blade and was about to attack Nailisi.

Nailisi then shouted, "I've taken one for research!"

Agares looked at the tall, imposing devil in front of him and swallowed his frustration. He had seen Nailisi throw one of his shadow warriors into a mysterious gate that remained opened behind her, and he was unable to tell just how many spaces there were lying beyond that gate.

Nailisi was brutal and thick-skinned. "Agares, were you trying to attack me just now?" she asked Agares after having taken advantage of him.

"Indeed. I thought you were going to attack me," he responded. Nailisi was satisfied with Agares' answer and did not tangle with him any further. She swung around her Sword of Rules and said, "Are we considered allies, Agares?"

Agares thought for a bit then answered, saying, "Indeed."

"Good to hear. When the god or his double come later, hold the line for me for several seconds," she said.

Agares frowned at first, but then smiled brightly. If Nailisi had not said it, he would not have expected that the god would be participating in that battle personally.

It seemed that she intended to bait the god, and she was telling him in advance, attempting to show that she was indeed on the same side as him. As for asking him to hold the line, what she really meant was for him to sacrifice his Legion of Shadows.

Despite how difficult it was to foster the Legion of Shadows, 100 of them would have sufficed. He had simply brought 200 of them to filter out the incapable ones.

Commanding the Legion of Shadows required one to use one's power of the soul. While Agares's power of the soul was sufficiently strong, he was controlling more than just the Legion of Shadows. There were also shadow assassins and shadow mages amongst them as well.

He might have become the most powerful emperor in history.

Subjugating Arbola took a huge toll on his power of the soul, and there was a limit to how many units of the Legion of Shadows he was able to create. That founding emperor of Cloudflow would have otherwise been able to create a lot more high-level shadow warriors and unite the entire mainland.

Arbola was a very powerful mage, so powerful that Agares almost found his own power of the soul inadequate. As such, he simply let Arbola become a shadow and put her to sleep. Even so, 200 shadow warriors were already a little too many for Agares to actually retain control of.

Agares was no longer able to command the shadow assassins, and he alone knew how tough that was.

As such, he obediently divided his shadow warriors into two groups, with one being assigned far away while the other group stayed close to him. Those that he took with him were the ones who performed better in the prior battles, as well as the ones to advance the quickest.

Nailisi smirked coldly. She had heard of the shadow warriors before, and the one that she had just chucked into her collection of purgatories was one of the best. There was no way that shadow warrior would ever be able to emerge outside again.

Her collection of purgatories were already capable of automatically dissolving any skills wielded by the trapped professionals and calculating the rules. Nailisi was not actually bullying Agares for nothing. That man had once attempted to assassinate her master. While she was not allowed to make a move against him, she was nonetheless able to analyze the rules contained within his skills.

If those rules proved to be high and powerful enough, a Purgatory of Shadows could have possibly been created.