Badge in Azure

Twenty-four Dimensional Blades cut up the pests. The Dimensional Blades attacked their targets incessantly until they were dead, which identified them as vastly different levels from common Dimensional Blades. It was precisely due to such traits that the unique properties of pests held the Dimensional Blades back for repeated cutting until the blades ran out of energy and dissipated.

The pests no doubt died right after they were hit, but their bodies continued to reconfigure themselves.

Saleen fired a lightning icicle and hit the bug that was magically marked, killing it immediately. That was the easy one, though. The smaller bug behind the huge one was more difficult to deal with.

That smaller bug started at a little more than a meter in length and expanded suddenly, getting ready to charge at Saleen. Rafel lashed out with her Inferno Spear, but the weapon was surprisingly unable to get through when it crashed into the bug's carapace.

Rafel put quite a bit of strength behind the thrust, causing the bug to fall but remain unscathed. It also prevented the bug from charging at Saleen.

The parties crossed each other and Saleen fired his second lightning icicle at the bug's eyes.

Saleen had stopped relying on his lightning icicles to take out enemies. He had instead been using all kinds of elemental magic spells to keep things in control, reserving that very penetrative weapon only for the killing blow. It was too draining otherwise.

"Rafel, get it over with quick." The lightning icicle had already killed that powerful magic beast when Saleen said that.

Regardless of how high the level of a magic beast was, if it was devoid of intelligence, then it would be a piece of cake for Saleen. The bug thought it would be able to repel the lightning icicle simply by shutting its eyes, never expecting the electrical power on the icicle to paralyze it before the icicle itself shot right through its brain.

Rafel nodded and dumped the bit of metallic poison into the pool.

No more large magic beasts emerged from the pool, but if smaller ones—like the thousands of tiny bugs that emerged earlier—emerging again, it would keep Saleen's hands full.

There was no telling just how many of the tiny bugs flipped when the metallic poison was dumped into the water, causing them to float on the water.

Saleen unleashed two lightning warriors and had them drag the two magic beasts' dead bodies over, before putting them into his Ring of Cosmos. The two magic beasts were of very high levels, and they died in vain.

The very reason why Saleen did not call for the lightning warriors to help him out, was because of the level difference. Lightning warriors were puppets and advancing further would require materials to be swapped and the puppets to be reworked.

Saleen's lightning puppets were of materials of ample strength, but he did not put too much work into crafting them. As such, most of the lightning warriors were level ten, with a handful of them being level 11. Only those that Dante used often reached level 12.

Level 12 lightning warriors were fully capable of taking on level ten magic beasts even without Saleen's command. That was because lightning warriors were capable of overwhelming elemental skills, and their bodies far exceeded the strengths expected of level ten puppets.

All the magic beasts were carefully selected by the goddess, so they were probably somewhere between level 15 to level 16, which made them very capable of posing a threat to Saleen but unable to kill him off right away.

The goddess put extreme pressure on Saleen, but she did not intend to get him killed. As such, so long as Saleen was willing to bring all he had to the table to deal with the magic beasts, it would not be much of a problem for him to leave the space alive.

The problem, however, was that Saleen had no intention of bringing all he had when dealing with a few magic beasts. He intended to take every single dead magic beasts in that space. Magic beasts of such high levels were only found around the Oceanic Ice Block on the Myers Mainland. If not, they would only be found in areas that were even more dangerous.

The metallic poison spread throughout the pool, but Saleen was not done yet. He unraveled a Deep Blue Territory. All water within a 1,000-meters radius froze over, preventing any bugs from flying out of the pond.

The bugs were capable of casting Wind Blades, but the spell was weak against cold. While Saleen's skill might not have killed them, he had put them back into hibernation, and it would take them three to five months to awaken.

The bug space had a radius of over a dozen kilometers, and Saleen was able to sense it all. Now that he had taken flight, he was able to see a cave at the edge of the space and a passage leading to the next space.

Damn it. The goddess has designed the place like that to have him burrow holes.

Saleen thought for a bit before telling Rafel, "Get behind me."

Rafel fell into step behind him without knowing what he was up to.

"Put your weapon away and grab onto my belt."

Rafel put away her Inferno Spear and grabbed hold of Saleen's belt. It was only then that she realized that she was hugging Saleen.

Rafel was baffled. "Are you looking for warmth, mage?"

"Nope, you need to stay guarded against the cold!" Saleen smirked before the ice on his body enveloped both him and Rafel, encasing them completely and protecting them from the magic beasts they were passing. He then shot into the cave like a meteor.

The length of the cave was only several kilometers long, but Rafel felt as if her blood had been frozen over. If she had not been frozen together with Saleen, there was no telling where she would have ended up.

Saleen was flying too quickly. He zipped past over a dozen kilometers in the swamp area, preventing any remaining magic beast from even trying to attack them.

With the strongest magic beast dead, there was simply no need for Saleen to linger in that space any longer.

He burst through the cave using Comet Flash, and there was indeed a trap laid inside: a powerful cold python. The creature had long since disappeared from Myers Mainland. The goddess had put it there just to add to the difficulty of the ordeal.

The cold python was instead practically shredded by Saleen's Comet Flash. Its bones were broken in tens of places. If Saleen wanted to truly kill it, he would only need to cast a spell above level seven.

Saleen did not see the creature to be worth the effort. The cold python was only a rare creature. It was level 12 and when put in dark and wet environments, it would be able to fight with level 13 prowess. He did not need the cold python when he had so many other priceless materials.

Saleen stopped after passing through the cave and had Rafel stand before him. He sat down to rest and restore his powers.

Comet Flash had a greater drain. Even after advancing to level 15, Saleen was still reluctant to overuse the spell, especially in his current situation, where he had 23 more magic beasts to deal with.

However, if he crawled in that hole, it would waste a lot of time, and he would have to tangle with magic beasts.

At the same time, he had also intended to see if the goddess was watching him by going through the cave in such a manner. Comet Flash was simply too fast. If the goddess were watching him, he would have sensed something from the goddess when moving at such high speeds.

The goddess would have to adjust her way of sensing before being able to locate Saleen. He was already at level 15. If he got even one level higher, the goddess would no longer be able to keep an eye on him without him knowing it.

The difference between levels 16 and 18 was not one whole rank, and the way sensing was done was similar.

At present, Saleen had to resort to such means to test the goddess out. He needed to know if she was watching him or not.

The outcome had proven rather surprising to Saleen—the goddess was not watching him at all. The space was indeed independent, which meant that if he failed to get out on his own, the goddess would not come in to save him.

Perfect. That meant he could do whatever he liked there.

Saleen was correct to think so, as the goddess never had any intention of keeping an eye on him. If Saleen were not able to make it out of the ordeal, then the goddess would deem him unworthy of any further attention, and he would be better off dead. The goddess would only find him worth her time if he were able to make it through the ordeal. There was no way the goddess would deal with the Lord of Glory personally, after all. From her perspective, that pathetic god was of far lower importance than those people of hers.

Saleen would do the same if he were in her shoes. For instance, if Jola were caught in any trouble, Saleen would put all the troubles he ran into on Myers Mainland aside just to figure out ways to save his followers.

Followers, at later stages, spent most of their time solving problems for their liege, but that was not to say that they just threw their lives away. The goddess's followers had unquestionable loyalty. They lived and died with the goddess and never regretted anything about it. If those followers were resurrected, they would be able to take care of managerial duties in her steed, which allowed her to focus on restoring her powers, as well as looking into ways of allowing her to continue living without doing any harm to the Source of any planes.

While Saleen was being tested at the temple, the fighting at the gates of the divine kingdom had gotten unusually intense.

Grand Duke Platinum knew when to join the winning team, and he had long come to a consensus with his clan, opting to join the Fifth Dynasty. That was because his estate was caught in an unlucky location. If he did not side with Saleen, his land would soon end up being destroyed by the divine kingdom.

With Grand Duke Platinum serving as a spokesperson of sorts, Saleen was met with little resistance in Cloudflow, especially among the four dukes, with only one refusing to submit. Both Grand Duke Iron Blood and Duke Dragonlance chose to side with the Fifth Dynasty.

Grand Duke Iron Blood was more than happy to do so. Unlike the other dukes, who had their clans being held hostage, Grand Duke Iron Blood only brought his trusted ones, and he commanded forces to join the Fifth Dynasty as well.

Saleen's reward to him was as hefty as it could get—he gave the Grand Duke two subcontinent planes to rule over.

One of them had long been promised by Saleen, while the other one was to make up for the losses the Grand Duke suffered in terms of position. He was unable to betray the Fifth Dynasty after swearing fealty, after all.

He gained two planes just by making the snap decision to submit. He was able to give a plane to his son, who would become an emperor in that plane and expand the forces of their clan. In doing so, Grand Duke Iron Blood became the trailblazer of his clan.

The Dragon Island was indeed powerful, so much so that his power eclipsed the other three dukes, but he had no interest in becoming a manifestation of profit.

The Grand Duke had subjugated three planes himself, but he did not have an absolute edge in the three planes. He required Saleen's help before he was able to subjugate the planes as soon as possible and reap the rewards from within.

Saleen paid the price of five planes to buy over the Grand Duke. The return he gained was that the Fifth Dynasty was no longer met with any resistance in over half of Cloudflow's lands.

Regardless of how large subcontinent planes were, they were unable to compare with main planes in size. The Grand Duke knew that very well, but there was nothing he was able to do about the fact that he was incapable of wrestling the places from Saleen.

But then again, what became the decisive factor bringing about the Grand Duke's submission was that Saleen had told the Grand Duke that Lex would only be the empress for 100 years. She would choose one with the greatest support from the war to take the throne after her.

He and Saleen shared amicable relations, and he had Saleen's backup. He would definitely gain more than others from the war with the god creatures. It was very possible for him to become an emperor of the Fifth Dynasty right away, which was exactly what he wanted.