Badge in Azure

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

The fog in Green Dragon Stone was getting increasingly larger and increasingly concentrated. Saleen’s Elemental Eye was adversely affected, it could no longer differentiate between the things within the fog. It could only identify living targets or moving things. Be that as it may, Saleen and company appeared extremely composed.

Especially Cuisi. In the demonic plane, there were many environments like this. Many demons had already grown accustomed to hunting without any visibility, some even developed abilities which were superior to vision. Many demons had a pair of long horns. Besides acting as a fearsome weapon, these horns also possessed sensitive perception abilities.

Unlike humans, a demon’s sensory organs were separated into two categories. One of which were horns and scales, these two types of organs did not contain any pain receptors and they could also regenerate. Even if the whole piece was gone, it could still grow out again.

Cuisi had already advanced to a supreme demon. His horns possessed extremely sensitive perception, they could identify all targets within a hundred yards. If Cuisi controlled his horns intentionally, they could even release perception like what a mage usually did. That extended his sensory distance.

As for Su, his ability to evaluate danger originated from an ability of a Silver Grand Swordmaster; prediction.

In the instant before danger occurred, Su would receive a soulish warning, and thus he could accurately determine how to deal with it. This was the mightiest aspect of a Silver Grand Swordmaster. For a Golden Grand Swordmaster however, they could even possess predictive abilities like the ones brought about by astrology. For example, if a person tried to assassinate Safilos, Safilos could even determine when it would take place. He would not know which direction the danger would come from though.

With regards to a swordmaster’s judgment about danger, the accuracy would be increased the closer it was to the timing of the occurrence.

As for Aini, he was a death mage, so he could use skills like the Eye of the Dead to observe all targets within the fog. The skeletons under his control were not affected. In fact, he was ready to release the green-bronze zombies anytime.

Within the white fog, the white-robed warriors from the Holy See tiptoed over, trying to execute a sneak attack. Aini pretended to see nothing allowing a dozen white-robed warriors to creep past the spaces between the skeletons. When the warriors were fifty yards away Aini then released a bone hammer he had prepared beforehand smashing them to the ground one by one.

The Holy See’s warriors were smashed into pulp as blood gushed out furiously. They collapsed to the ground, then seeped into the ground silently. Even though the Green Dragon Stone was small its ground was paved with tough green stones. To date, the magic adhesives added in the past had not lost effect yet, so not even one crevice could be found in the ground. This allowed huge chariots carrying military equipment to travel on it swiftly.

Fresh blood seeped directly into the stone causing the white fog to be even more concentrated. The divine spell called life conversion had its sinister aspects. The flesh of Holy See’s warriors was used to reinforce the array installed in Green Dragon Stone. The more people Saleen and his team slaughtered, the mightier this array would get.

“Something is wrong!” Saleen’s perception towards the elements was the most sensitive, his eyes could already observe all the minute changes taking place. He realized that the water element in Green Dragon Stone was in imbalance. While the presence of the other five elements was vague, they were on the verge of disappearing already.

The white-robed warriors emerged endlessly and some soldiers from the imperial swordsman’s camp were starting to get injured. The armor worn by the soldiers provided dense protection. The injured soldiers immediately retreated to the inner side of the formation as Narnia cast magic to treat them. This cycle continued. By the time more than three-hundred Holy See’s warriors were killed, Saleen’s team still had not suffered one fatality.

The magic beasts transformed from the tiles had completely disappeared by now. Saleen estimated that around three-thousand men could conceal themselves in Green Dragon Stone. If this went on, the enemies lying in ambush would be wiped out in at most two hours. “The enemy’s holy masters hadn’t taken action, while I have mages helping to hold the fort. Even though my vision is slightly restricted, the difference in powers is just too big. Such a sneak attack will be meaningless.”

Outside Green Dragon Stone, an emblem group of cavalrymen were quickly approaching. They noticed that at the end of the road ahead Green Dragon Stone had disappeared and in its place was a gigantic fog. This fog had a radius of several miles. The strangest thing was that the white fog had formed a three-dimensional shape of a castle. It was fluttering constantly in the frigid winds.

“Shieldmen, protect the mages. Heavy armor brigade, charge!” The commander of the emblem group gave his order without any hesitation. All the soldiers pulled down the mask hidden in their helmets, sealing ventilation. Their armor was different from the ones used by the imperial swordsman’s camp. A filtration device had been installed at the breathing vents. They could battle in poison fog for a longer time, but the armor was not totally sealed, they could not go underwater.

The armor donned by the imperial swordsman’s camp was too expensive, only the commanders of the armies from the four towns possessed similar equipment.

On the metal masks of these soldiers, the eye regions were still fitted with polished crystals, allowing them to observe dozens of yards ahead in the fog. The white fog slowly produced soldiers one by one and these soldiers charged at the Qin troops.

Most of the Qin troops wielded spears, some also had custom made long knives suitable for horse battles. As the knives and spears slashed at the bodies of soldiers produced from the white fog the feeling was like hacking a puppet made from leather. These elite Qin troops possessed sufficient strength, thus killing the white fog soldiers in one hit. The dispersed white fog swiftly converged though. A minute or two later another soldier would appear.

The lowest rank of a general commanding Qin’s emblem groups was also a viscount, there were no imbeciles. Whenever they noticed such a situation they would immediately strike their personal war drum and disseminate orders.

The soldiers got into a formation made up of three layers. The outermost layer of soldiers used their spears to destroy the white fog soldiers, the middle layer was in charge of providing warning and assistance, and the innermost layer removed a leather pouch from their saddle. The appearance of this pouch was strange, it had a metal seal and there were grooves on this seal. The soldiers would place their razor sharp blades in the grooves. With a tug the magic powder within the grooves would seep into the blade of the weapon.

After the innermost soldiers had done all this, they swapped places with the ones at the outermost layer, using their powder-infused weapons to kill the white fog soldiers. The effect was pretty good. After the troops which were condensed from the white fog were struck by these weapons they could no longer be reassembled again.

The elite armies of Qin would carry magic-countering powder. It was dirt cheap, but it would greatly erode a weapon. Only in situations like the current one would the commander give an order for the soldiers to put this powder on their weapons. Basically, weapons which were dabbed in the magic-countering powder would be corroded into a heap of waste metal within two or three days. After several hours of usage the weapons would not be as sharp as before.

A regular Qin army would carry five weapons, while an elite squad would usually carry seven. These weapons all had a spot reserved for smearing powder. In front of these well-trained Qin soldiers the fog people produced by the divine spell did not stand a chance.

The commander of the emblem group altered the rhythm of drumming, then the two white-robed mages which were being protected removed a large leather pouch from the back of their warhorses. It was such a huge spatial equipment, but the real space inside was less than one cubic yard. This was a special equipment belonging to the Qin army specially crafted for low grade mages.

The two white-robed mages took out four shiny black objects from the leather pouches, these items resembled gigantic apples made from steel. The white-robed mages handed the steel apples to the warriors beside them. Eight warriors holding onto the steel apples carefully approached the center position of a squad, then they leaped off their warhorses. Hanging rubber bands on the squad’s warhorses they then swiftly launched the eight steel apples forward.

Such simple catapults could only be utilized in alley fights, the flinging distance was only a few hundred yards. Their largest function was tossing magic bombs.

As the eight steel apples were flying in mid-air the two white-robed mages quickly released their spells which had been prepared beforehand. The magic arrays in the eight steel apples got stimulated, then they exploded with a thunderous boom.

Special flammable powder was hidden inside tiny metal balls within the steel apples and there were holes all over these metal balls. Once the magic array got stimulated and the magic powder began burning. These tiny metal balls would thus become mini fireballs and they could burn for an extended period of time.

Almost one-thousand tiny metal balls were spurting flames as they spread throughout the white fog. Wherever they rolled past the white fog would be extirpated by the magic flames. The two white-robed mages were only at the standard of grade-3, yet they had used a low level magic equipment to open a colossal sanctuary for an entire emblem group of soldiers.

As the white fog was corrosive, no one knew whether the soldiers’ armor could endure being inside the white fog for a protracted duration. The soldiers charged forward into the cleansed area, then began inspecting their armor.

There were Black Metal Grand Swordmasters and professional assassins hidden in this emblem group, but the enemy’s holy masters did not emerge. The grand swordmasters and assassins could not unleash their might. The emblem group commander realized that this mission was more troublesome than usual, so he decided to strike his war drum once again.

The white-robed mages took out firework signals, handing them to the soldiers for launch. This time around, the equipment had malfunctioned. As the fireworks were launched to an altitude of over thirty yards, they suddenly exploded. The signals could not be relayed to Northtown.

The atmosphere was horrifyingly quiet. Everyone was sealed in their armor, even the mages were protected by the Invisible Shield. They could not communicate via talking. The worst thing was that they had followed the pre-calculations and charged into Green Dragon Stone. Until now, be it the grand swordmasters or mages, no one had discovered any traces of the imperial swordsman’s camp.

The armor of both parties contained magic telepathy. If there were allies nearby the mages would surely know. In an environment where friendly fire was prone to happening, the soldiers from the imperial swordsman’s camp would definitely not conceal the telepathic ability of their armor.

Safilos’ plan had been ruined by a large spell array by the Holy See. The elite soldiers from Northtown could not locate the warriors from the imperial swordsman’s camp. They could only kill the fog soldiers aimlessly, they could not even orientate themselves. Fortunately, that intense fire element had dispersed a portion of the fog, so these one-thousand soldiers would not need to fret about their breathing and equipment for the time being.

The military might of Qin was the strongest precisely because the main forces possessed ample magic equipment to deal with all sorts of environments.

The emblem group commander pulled his mask aside, then yelled, “All of you don’t have to worry. Even though we are trapped, Northtown will send reinforcements if they do not receive any information from us within an hour. By then, grand mages will come and destroy this array.”

Even if he did not say that the morale of the troops would not waver. This emblem group commander possessed vast experience. That shout from him totally changed the moods of his soldiers. Tens of thousands of troops were stationed in Northtown, there were also dozens of grand mages and sorcerers. Northtown was less than one-hundred miles from Green Dragon Stone. The moment reinforcements were deployed, any kind of trouble could be resolved already.

The emblem group commander was in the foulest mood, “Where is Viscountess Lex’s envoy?”