Badge in Azure

Chapter 243: Captain Saleen (Part 2)

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

The thing a mage feared most was becoming lost during their journey of training. Without guidance from another person and unable to find the right direction, a mage would lose themselves. Consequently, they would not amount to much in their life.

Lex sensed Saleen's determination and was subconsciously influenced by him. She was well aware of what she wanted. It was just that the journey ahead would be very difficult. Thus, during this time, she could only work very hard in order to lessen the pressure she felt in her mind.

Just as Lex was going to say something to Saleen, a thunderous boom could be heard out of the blue from the magic tower. Nailisi jumped out from the sixth story of the magic tower, looking very uneasy. The whole magic tower began to waver, causing Lex to be greatly astounded.

The magic tower looked like it was going to collapse soon. Lex did not care whether the tower collapsed, but the unfinished alchemical boat was right in front of the tower. If the tower really fell, the turtle shell might have been fine, but the rest of the installations would be completely ruined.

"Sika!" Saleen hollered, then he soared into the air and charged towards the window of the sixth story. Looking in through the window, Saleen noticed that Sika was trying her very best to control the skeleton of the magic beast. As she was on top the bones, black runes levitated in midair around her, engulfing the entire sixth story.

The skeleton of the magic beast seemed to have come to life. Its long tail shook about wildly, striking the walls of the magic tower and giving off an earth-shattering sound. The bone wings under its ribs were also flapping about. Sika grasped the neck of the skeleton while the skeleton crashed against the magic tower forcefully. With every crash, the magic tower would sway, and it felt like it would collapse at anytime.

"Everything's fine!" Sika's face turned scarlet when she looked up and noticed Saleen outside the window. This was the first time Sika had tried communicating with the magic beast soul inside the skeleton, but she was too weak, so the magic beast soul had refused to acknowledge her. After a long period of interaction, the magic beast soul had grown annoyed. Even though it would not harm Sika, it had nearly trampled Nailisi.

When Saleen saw the situation on the sixth story, he immediately used his icy sight to conduct a scan. He knew that Sika would not be harmed, but it seemed like the magic tower was going to collapse soon since the magic beast skeleton was already far too strong.

The construction of a magic tower was very stringent. Even if the best materials were not used and there was no fortification by magic arrays, it would be hard to destroy a magic tower either way. Most of the time, a magic tower would remain standing for more than one thousand years, and it was more difficult to topple a magic tower than a metal arrow tower. However, every hit by this skeleton caused a crack in the structure of the magic tower.

"Lex, hurry…"

Saleen yelled, but he did not have any solutions either. He was more proficient in battles and offense, but it would be impossible for him to stop the crumbling of the magic tower.

Lex was also helpless in the face of this swaying magic tower. She simply cast a level-6 earth spell repeatedly - Crystal City, forming several magic barriers between the turtle shell and the magic tower. Then, she flew into the air and went to the other side of the tower. She called out to Saleen, "Attack this side!"

After saying her piece, Lex went back to the other side and erected dozens of consecutive walls along the base of the magic tower. Right now, Lex was not thinking of salvaging the magic tower. She was thinking of how to make the tower fall towards the other side.

Saleen then went to the rear of the magic tower. He lowered his altitude and took a look at the position of the magic marking left behind by Lex. This position was coincidentally at the sturdiest part of the magic tower, where black steel rocks were giving off a dark glow and forming a crimson hue in the sunset.

Saleen quickly took out his gourd and tapped on it, and the five meter long blue-green water flow was ejected. Saleen let the water flow encircle his body before putting away his gourd and taking out the demonic spellbook. Saleen opened the black magic book and then released the level-5 ice bomb which was stored inside.

A massive ice bomb bombarded the base of the magic tower ruthlessly, causing it to explode with a blinding light in that instant. The ice bomb crashed into pieces, and fragments of ice pierced into the base of the magic tower before igniting. Saleen took this opportunity to launch the water flow, making it cut deep into the base of the magic tower.

The almost indestructible water flow contained small serrated edges. When the water flow moved rapidly, it was even more terrifying than the sharpest blade in the world. The magic patterns within the water flow moved cyclically, causing the cutting power to be maintained indefinitely.

Ka, ka…

The cutting of the water flow on the steel rock produced the sound of grinding metal. The ice bomb fragments and the burning from the flames had caused the strength of the steel rock to be slightly lowered, and after repeated cuts by the water flow, some cracks were finally produced.

Boom!

On the sixth story, the skeleton had actually managed to burst through the floor separating the fifth and sixth level. This had caused the entire sixth story to break off from the rest of the magic tower. Gargantuan rock pieces avalanched downwards, causing Saleen to escape in fright.

Hong…

A dull noise emanated throughout the island. Saleen retracted his water flow, and at the same time, he caught a glimpse of a giant shadow crashing through the walls of the magic tower and running out at lightning speed.

Sika was in a fluster on the back of this shadow.

Ka cha! A crisp crack came from the base of the magic tower. Saleen retreated once more, only to see the colossal magic tower collapsing slowly towards him. The ground trembled, causing dust to fly dozens of meters into the air, and it was still flying even higher. A gust of violent wind blew past, having been a Storm spell cast by Lex. This wind had blown away all of the dust formed by the tower's collapse.

Upon seeing that the turtle shell was safe, Saleen then rose up into the air once more and started pursuing Sika.

In midair, he shouted downwards, "Sika, stop now!"

After the magic beast had flown out of the magic tower, it had already landed and retracted its wings, and now was running furiously. Sika sat on top of it, unable to reply to Saleen due to the vigorous bumping. She had not known that this would be the result of stimulating the magic beast soul. It was not like she had never done this before, but compared to this magic beast, the other souls had been like obedient domesticated cats and dogs.

"Ah!" Sika roared. She was also fuming now. This fellow was too unruly and had even destroyed the magic tower. Lex had kept some alchemical appliances in the magic tower, and Sika did not know whether or not she would need to compensate Lex. The moment Sika thought of needing to pay gold coins in compensation, it was as though a fire had been lit in her eyes. She removed her hands which had been gripping onto the skeleton before wielding her cudgel. Then, with both hands clutched around the cudgel, Sika smashed it down hard onto the skull of the skeleton.

"Run, go ahead and run some more!" Sika waved her cudgel wildly, and with every blow she delivered, a string of sparks would appear between the cudgel and the magic beast skeleton. After Sika's cudgel had been refined by Faerun, its degree of toughness had already exceeded that of most magic equipment. However, that magic beast skeleton was also extremely tough. There was not even a single mark even though Sika had delivered two vigorous blows.

The skeleton did not have a direction in mind, so it simply sprinted aimlessly and eventually reached the seaside. Those pirates by the sea had been building their tents when Sika rode in on the skeleton and came charging into the camp compound. Several pirates could not dodge in time and were hurled away by that impact.

Peng! Peng!

There were not many tents in the camp compound, and after the rampage by that magic beast skeleton, the entire compound was in shreds. The fleeing pirates were stunned as they watched the scene unfolding before them. They had just seen a female warrior, who was prettier than the most beautiful songstress in a tavern, on top of a monster made out of bones. She was waving a gigantic cudgel about in absolute madness.

Sika was on the verge of tears already. The heap of gems and money which she and Saleen had accumulated through sheer hard work all this time was going to go into the compensation for the damages caused by this skeleton.

All of a sudden, Sika stood up and planted both feet firmly into the back of the skeleton. She began spinning the cudgel, causing metallic magic patterns to crisscross as dozens of razor-sharp dragon horns popped out from the top of the cudgel.

"I dare you to run some more!" Sika raised her cudgel and was about to strike.

Within that skeleton, the magic beast soul suddenly felt threatened, and Sika heard a furious roar. She did not care anymore, and she smashed her cudgel downwards.

With a boom, the magic beast skeleton slammed against the ground and slid dozens of meters forward, almost charging into the ocean. Sika raised her cudgel once more and was going to continue hitting it, but Saleen had already caught up and while in midair, he bellowed, "Sika, stop hitting it!"

At this point in time, Sika calmed down. The magic beast soul did not really have the intention of harming her, and her cudgel also had not managed to break any of the skeleton's bones.

"Saleen…"

Sika lowered her cudgel, with tears brimming in her eyes. That was the first time Saleen had seen her with this expression, causing him to be stunned.

"Gold coins! Gold coins!" Sika started slapping the magic beast skeleton as she spoke incoherently.

"What gold coins?" Saleen slowly landed beside Sika, and he did not know how to console her after seeing her looking so heartbroken.

Sika used her sleeve to wipe her nose and held back her tears. Sika then climbed off of the magic beast skeleton and turned around to give it a kick. Her back faced Saleen, as she did not know what to say to him.

All of a sudden, Saleen realized what was going on, and a wave of warmth welled up in his heart. At the end of the day, Sika did not have any complicated thoughts. So that was what Sika was worried about!

"Sika…"

"Mm." Sika did not bother turning around. She simply leaned against her cudgel as she felt that her feet were in great pain. The magic beast skeleton was stronger than steel. Instead of venting her anger, Sika had almost been injured after delivering a few kicks to the skeleton.

"Are you worried because Lex's alchemical equipment has been ruined?"

Seeing that Sika did not reply, Saleen laughed and came behind her. Then, Saleen pulled on her tight sleeves and said, "Let's go. We will go back and take a look. If Lex demands compensation from you, then we will not work for her anymore."

Sika turned around. Her face was scarlet as she hesitated and said, "That wouldn't be too good, would it?"

"Why wouldn't it be? You may not know it yet, but I am the captain of the pirates now!"

"Pirates? Ah! Right, I saw some strange-looking people just now. I think I rammed into some of them. So they are the pirates? I will go and slaughter them!" Sika quickly forgot about the gold coins and was about to grab her weapon to kill those pirates.

Saleen grabbed onto Sika's sleeves. It was still an unknown whether those pirates who had been hurled away would survive, and if Sika still went to beat them up, there would be very few people remaining in the camp compound.

"Sika, I have subdued those pirates!"

"Ah? Oh right…" Sika had finally regained her composure. Then, she asked strangely, "Those men are so weak. Why did you capture them?"

"They came of their own accord. I don't know either. But, I am the captain now. Also, don't behave like this in the future, Sika. Lex would never demand compensation from you even though her items were destroyed." As Saleen spoke to Sika, he also felt incoherent as he did not really know what to say.

"That's true. Saleen, you are the captain now. Do you plan to carry out robberies?" Sika asked uneasily. Sika's question was not considered odd either. If it was possible, Saleen would really try to conduct robberies, but he would only rob ships belonging to the country of Shengfeng. Saleen's main agenda had been the country of Shengfeng when he had decided to subdue the pirates.