Badge in Azure

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

This sorcerer's black magic robe only had one symbol, that meant that he was a grade-7 sorcerer. Being newly promoted, he was not very vigilant. He was still used to being protected by warriors.

From afar, Saleen noticed this grade-7 sorcerer, as his eyebrows furrowed. He was looking forward to seeing the grade-8 sorcerer, "According to the winged skeleton, that grade-8 sorcerer is very powerful, he should be close to grade-9 already. If such a character is executed, the enemy will surely be shaken." Saleen might not even be afraid if he fought with this grade-7 sorcerer. He possessed the water puppet which could release the Crystal Finger, as long as Saleen got close to this sorcerer he could definitely be killed.

Such a target was not worthy of Saleen's attack, but Saleen would still expose his skills if he attacked.

"Cuisi, the four of you shall go kill the cavalrymen who are protecting the mage." Saleen pointed into the distance. Cuisi and company nodded, they then wielded their weapons and crept over stealthily within the midst of the spirits. Saleen's heavy infantrymen had already done a roundabout, they were turning around now. The heavy infantrymen had to ride on horses and retreat earlier. An area in the camp complex had been cleared, as four-thousand heavy cavalrymen from the Bitter Water County charged in while riding on skeletal warhorses.

If skeletal warhorses were not available, these heavy cavalrymen would face quite a bit of danger when they entered the camp. In such a confined environment, the cavalrymen would lose their charging impact. They could be easily thrown off their horses by an infantryman's spear.

Outside the camp, the trebuchets had already tossed all of the flaming bags of oil, then they were destroyed and abandoned. The light infantrymen who were conducting an onslaught in the camp had gradually left. Boarding the horses and empty chariots, they retreated swiftly.

( Boxno vel. co m ) Within the camp, less than one-thousand light cavalrymen and four-thousand heavy cavalrymen remained. The other people left were Saleen's trusted soldiers and spirits.

This time around, Saleen had finally witnessed the charging impact of the Qin cavalrymen. These cavalrymen would form a column of eight while wielding cross spears, they then would utilize the strength of the skeletal warhorses to ram into Cloudflow's forcefully assembled formation. A cross spear was not a heavy weapon, but in the hands of these Qin heavy cavalrymen, it unleashed a power akin to that of a giant lance.

The cross spears easily stabbed the chests of the infantrymen, with a twist, blood would spew in all directions. Five columns of cavalrymen made up a squad. Going to and fro once, they could totally disperse the enemy's two-hundred infantrymen. They then would charge in a new direction. In this tapered camp, these people from the Bitter Water County acted as if they were on a vast plain, darting about swiftly.

Saleen's team did a surprise assault. There was another wall on the second level of the camp and the cavalrymen did not attempt to overcome it, they simply started a massacre on the first level.

Atop Cloudflow's battlements, any soldier who tried to use alchemical crossbows to retaliate would be accurately sniped by Eleanor. The handheld crossbows and continuous-fire crossbows used by the infantrymen were helpless in the face of the heavy cavalrymen. From time to time, there would be infantrymen who managed to open their pedal-operated crossbows, but they would quickly become the targets of the cavalrymen.

The lethality of a pedal-operated crossbow was pretty high, they could usually penetrate heavy armor. The moment any cavalryman from the Bitter Water County got shot, they would fall back right away. The skeletal warhorses were not afraid of arrows though. As long as the wounded cavalryman remained atop the warhorse, the enemy would not be able to capture them.

The reason there was such an outcome was because Saleen's heavy infantrymen had already cleared the obstacles inside the camp using their poleaxes. The sturdy barracks, wooden stilts, and barriers were destroyed by the heavy infantrymen. To most of the Cloudflow people, who just woke up and had not put on any armor, these cavalrymen were a nightmare.

The horns and drumming from the port were getting increasingly urgent. Saleen smiled then gave the order to retreat. This order was only directed at the heavy cavalrymen. During this onslaught, less than twenty heavy cavalrymen had died, but more than two-hundred people had been shot by arrows. If the battle perpetuated, the casualty rate would exceed twenty percent.

Since the enemy's main forces had not arrived, Saleen seized the opportunity to retreat first, allowing the spirits to hold the fort.

The Cloudflow sorcerer flew over, but he was not fast enough. The two-hundred cavalrymen below him rushed out from the wooden doors in the middle of the camp compound and charged in Saleen's direction. As they rushed into the midst of the spirits, their short golden lances would attack swiftly. Each attack would cause one spirit to collapse.

The winged skeleton, who was leading three jade skeletons to execute the Cloudflow soldiers, turned around abruptly and stared at the sorcerer in the air.

Even if the winged skeleton did not release any death magic, his killing speed was still faster than everyone else. Whenever his four yard long axe danced about, even the jade skeletons would steer clear of him. In the air, the sorcerer could clearly see that the two yard tall skeleton would create a pile of mashed bodies wherever he passed by.

This sorcerer noticed that there were three skeletons clad in armor behind this towering skeleton, protecting a black-robed mage. The sorcerer was petrified, then he turned to flee.

When the winged skeleton raised his head, he felt disgusted. "There are times when the Cloudflow sorcerers are so timid. This sorcerer is fleeing shamelessly, he turned around without any warning whatsoever, he didn't even bother informing the soldiers on the ground who are protecting him."

That two-hundred cavalrymen were still charging forward, they did not realize that the sorcerer in the air had fled.

"Does that mage have any dignity?"

Cavalrymen from Bitter Water County had already permeated the first level of the camp. The winged skeleton was massacring the soldiers to attract that mage's attention, but he did not know that bringing Mu En along was a mistake. Mu En's magic robe had two symbols, that had scared the enemy away.

"This location is less than three miles from the harbor, the grade-8 sorcerer who is still on the warship will surely not flee like that shameless fellow," when the winged skeleton thought of this, he did not try to pursue that grade-7 sorcerer. "It would be a little dangerous. If that grade-7 sorcerer releases a level-8 scroll, I will still be in danger."

The first level of the camp contained twenty-thousand troops. As both wings of the camp were set ablaze, the mages did not rush forward to extinguish the fire. They instead hid behind the Cloudflow soldiers in cowardice, not even attacking the invading soldiers. The number of mages in Cloudflow was few compared to Qin. Comparing both armies, the number of mages in Cloudflow was only around a third of those in Qin.

These white-robed mages kept making preparations to disperse the spirits' corrosiveness or toxins, but the spirits did not release any magic. The mages did not dare waste their magic chords recklessly, so the mages were doing nothing.

The winged skeleton did not create any death wizards or lower grade witch souls, the area-corroding skill was not displayed. If such a skill was employed and the enemy did not use their mages to disperse it, the armor and weapons of the soldiers would be slowly destroyed. During battle their equipment would be very brittle and could be easily fractured and shattered.

"Out of the blue, Saleen had the notion to retreat, "The Cloudflow's main camp is segregated into several plots and each plot is cordoned with walls. It will be impossible to enter the depths and kill the soldiers. The mages from Cloudflow's fleet should be arriving anytime soon as well."

On this note, Saleen signaled to Isabella. Isabella then released a light-type spell. An enormous column of light shot straight up into the air, this was the light-type alarm spell. When used in the evenings, it could be seen even from dozens of miles away.

When the cavalrymen from Bitter Water County saw this column of light shooting into the skies, they immediately assembled in an orderly fashion and retreated, even the spirits retreated slowly under the control of the winged skeleton.

At this point in time, the two-hundred cavalrymen realized that the mage above them had escaped, but they could not stop the warhorses' sprint. These two-hundred men were now deeply entangled in the midst of the spirits. They crashed straight into the Giant Skeletal Apes which were led by the winged skeleton.

The four yard tall Giant Skeletal Apes were not powerful spirits, but they possessed immense strength like the Giant Bone Devil. The Giant Skeletal Apes could only brandish their razor sharp claws. There was no strategy involved, it was simply bulky and agile.

Other than the magic beast swordsmen, the two-hundred people were considered the best cavalrymen in the Cloudflow's army. After crashing into the Giant Skeletal Apes they were not injured. All skeletons and fang-type death creatures were killed by their lances.

A row of Giant Skeletal Apes stopped these two-hundred cavalrymen. With a boom, dozens of cavalrymen were flung off their warhorses, as the apes used their claws to crush the warhorses. At the same time, the cavalrymen's golden lances were pierced into the torsos of the Giant Skeletal Apes. Due to the difference in height the lances did not pierce the orbitals of the apes. The Giant Skeletal Apes plucked away the golden lances and tossed them aside. They then lunged at the cavalrymen who had halted at the rear.

The Cloudflow people did not react very quickly. When Saleen's heavy cavalrymen were slowly being withdrawn, the retaliation from the first level had not even been organized yet. A retaliation could not be organized anymore, the over twenty-thousand people were utterly defeated. Only about three-thousand troops were still protecting the mages.

The mages had finally taken some action. Out of three-thousand soldiers, those who stood on the outer perimeter were blessed with magic. They managed to stop the offensive mounted by the skeletal soldiers.

Saleen sighed, "I didn't attract any worthy targets, if this drags on and the enemy's experts appear my subordinates will suffer massive losses. Had I known this would happen, I would have captured that grade-7 sorcerer. That would show some concrete results."

The Giant Skeletal Apes blocked the path of the cavalrymen. At that moment the four demons suddenly leaped over the apes and immersed themselves in the midst of the cavalrymen's formation. Aiwa brandished his meteor hammer, sending dozens of cavalrymen flying as they were unprepared. The cavalrymen suffered broken bones and two of them were struck in the head. Their skulls were shattered, killing them instantly.

The six white-robed mages blessed Tolesi with a dozen defensive spells, greatly emboldening him. Unleashing a Mental Storm first, the dozens of cavalrymen before him immediately went stiff. They suddenly suffered a splitting headache. At the same time, Luola waved his horse-killing sword. The serrated edges on one side of the horse-killing sword slashed the magic armor of these cavalrymen, causing blood to gush out. These people were simply sitting atop their warhorses and not moving, allowing Luola to test his weapon.

Cuisi grabbed a short golden lance. He flitted about, darting in and out of the group of warhorses. With every move he made, he would poke a hole in the face of one cavalryman. The metal face masks could not resist the attack from a supreme demon.

Just as the spirit army wanted to retreat from the camp compound, two sorcerers flew over from the port.

Saleen's heart lurched, as he increased the pace of retreat. He could not deal with a grade-7 sorcerer and a grade-8 sorcerer. "If the enemy has level-9 scrolls with them…"

Saleen immediately instructed his trusted soldiers around him to wield the elvish alchemical crossbows. These two-hundred men untied the quivers around their back simultaneously and activated the magic array. That caused the ends of the crossbow to open up and the handle to pop out.

"I will attack first to gain the upper hand," Saleen wanted to exterminate the grade-8 sorcerer before the sorcerer used his strongest attack. "Once the enemy gets desperate, my team will be torn to shreds if I don't…."