Badge in Azure

Nailisi naturally had her own thoughts about who was closer to her. She left the snake egg behind and gave it to Sika, but Sika had no use for such things.

Saleen had no idea that Nailisi kept snake eggs, which were even more precious. At the moment, he simply focused on the red rock egg’s shell.

The shell of that egg was hard and hot. As such, no conventional weapon would be able to cut it open. In fact, it would even be considered a very powerful piece of magic equipment on its own, at least when it was used for protection.

Saleen could not afford to leave the shell behind. Van Gogh would escape if he did not end up taking it away, and members of the Tribunal would return and find ways to pick the place clean.

At that moment, Nailisi took out her Grey Memory, leapt into the air, and stabbed at the red crystal rock. The resulting flash from the spear was as powerful as she had expected, as it blew a large hole that was more than ten meters deep off of the hard crystal rock.

Upon seeing this, Saleen felt his heart ache. After all, Nailisi’s thrust had reduced a good number of the precious materials to dust.

However, even with the big hole formed, the attack did not end up piercing the eggshell. So, Saleen had no choice but to search a bit with his mental powers, finally finding the average thickness of the shell to be about 120 meters in thickness. While Nailisi’s weapon was indeed formidable, it was inadequate for piercing such a large eggshell.

The egg’s external layer was filled with a thick red crystal rock of somewhat inferior quality. There was possibly an underground fire vein underneath that red crystal rock, which made it seem as if there was a red crystal rock mine at that precise spot.

“Master, how about you let Flare have a go at it?” Nailisi asked Saleen, who then had no choice but to summon the leader of the Vermillion Knights and his subordinates.

Flare took a look at the inside of the red rock egg and got incredibly excited. He then said to Saleen, “Master, if you let my subordinates recover here, all 144 Vermillion Knights will be able to keep fighting for you within about three days!”

“Recover? What I want is for you to cut this red crystal rock open! Can you get that done?” Saleen asked Flare, clearly exasperated.

After all, this situation was dangerous and dire, and that place was not at all safe. They were in a cave that was deep beneath ground, which lay within an undersea crevice. As such, even the tiniest earthquake would have been more than enough to bury all of them within it!

“Alright, master, I’ll try…” Flare was incredibly disappointed by the response he received, but he had no choice but to obey.

Thus, he summoned 24 of his subordinates and placed a magic array around them. He then came and stand at the center of the array and raised his spear.

At that moment, he stabbed the Flaming Halberd into the earth. As he did so, an incredibly thin crack appeared in the red crystal rock.

Flare felt that this was adequate to fulfil his orders, and as such, he summoned his steed while still standing at the center of the array. Flare’s body grew humongous in an instant, and all 24 of the summoned Vermillion Knights grew to heights of over a hundred meters!

None of them had weapons, as they did not need them. Instead, they simply worked in conjunction with each other to activate the magic array.

Suddenly, a long beam of fire shot out from Flare’s body, while the Flaming Halberd cut open a huge crack on the rock. Every single slash from the halberd extended the crack longer and longer.

The area of the eggshell that Saleen was currently facing was pierced in an instant. It was then cut into huge square blocks.

The crystal rocks had been dead to begin with. Now, without the fire snake around, and as they were lacking protection from the magic patterns, Flare was able to easily cut the rock open by using the rules of the fire element.

This had little to do with the powerfulness of his offensive capacity. Other elemental creatures would probably have been scalded, and it would have been impossible for them to cut open the tremendously thick shell. But, Saleen was able to take out a dimension stone and put all of those huge red crystal rock within it.

The eggshell of the fire snake was incredibly huge and had a thickness over 100 meters. If it had not been for some help from elemental creatures like the Vermillion Knights, Saleen would have only been able to pick several pieces to take away and go home, having to return again later after assembling a team to pick up the rest. It was unknown if the cave would have been around for that long, not to mention that the Tribunal would have had their sights set upon that spot as well.

Flare worked quickly as he instructed his subordinates to activate the magic array, while keeping his offensive capacity at its peak. It was only in such an environment that he would have been able to attack without regard for anything. Furthermore, during the process, all of his Vermillion Knight subordinates’ conditions had reached their peaks as well.

Flare let those 24 Vermillion Knights return to the elemental badge, while he summoned another 24. Saleen did not stop him.

Initially, those 24 had been at their lowest. But luckily, they had absorbed fire elemental powers in a frenzy as soon as they entered the red rock egg, which instantly restored their vigors.

Flare moved to another spot and laid out the magic array once again. Those 24 Vermillion Knights, who did not have their elemental cores destroyed, had their powers restored, so they lent their efforts to totally wreck the place as their injuries were mending.

Flare stopped summoning new Vermillion Knights. After all, most of them had already had their cores destroyed, and it would be better for them to recover slowly. So, the remaining 48 Vermillion Knights would have to be enough to keep Saleen safe.

While Saleen was busy digging up crystals at the bottom of the ocean, 12 black-robed priests and warden leaders from the Tribunal were incredibly anxious. Van Gogh was never seen again after he left, and the Eye of the Storm was nowhere to be found either.

At the moment, they had no idea what else to do. If they simply returned to the Tribunal like this, none of them would be able to keep their heads on their necks for long!

The warden leaders looked at the 12 black-robed priests, while the priests were eyeing each other, all of them unable to come to a unanimous decision. The eldest black-robed priest then asked, “How about we return to Black Dungeon Island for now?”

“Lord Van Gogh isn’t with us. Will we be able to enter it?” another black-robed priests asked.

“Let’s just return to the Tribunal,” the youngest black-robed priest said, his eyes sparkling.

Everyone knew that he was thinking of returning to the Tribunal, asking around with his friends, and then possibly running away if things did not turn out right. At least this would be a better option than going to Black Dungeon Island. If they went there, it would be very difficult for them to leave again.

“What do you all think about that?” The old holy master looked around and saw that everyone looked tired and dejected.

Flight capabilities of holy masters were inferior to those of the mages, and the cost of mental powers for taking flight was rather high. If they stayed any longer, there would be no guarantee that they would reach the shore by air. Hence, they all decided to take flight at once…

“Let’s head to the Tribunal then.”

“I second that!”

“Agreed!”

The old holy master looked at the warden leaders and asked, “Do you guys want to return to Black Dungeon and take a look at the Tribunal?”

The warden leaders had spent quite a bit of power from their divine crystals to keep themselves in the air while wearing their divine armor. Thus, the energy drain that they experienced was several times that of flying armor that was crafted by the mages.

Thus, they had no choice but to nod and agree. Besides, without a ship, it would have been safer to keep the holy masters around in case they happened to encounter any flying magic beasts.

The warden leaders knew exactly what the holy masters were thinking. If they were to return to Black Dungeon like that, it would have been the end of every one of them.

When they talked about returning to the Tribunal, what they actually meant was that they would pick up news on land. However, none of them wanted to say that out loud for fear of being made scapegoats later on.

While the Tribunal was known for the severity of its punishments, it was willing to go easy on its own people, especially if one was willing to sell their own people out. As the group flew toward the shore, they all felt incredibly nervous.

They did not dare fly too high, nor did they dare to stay too close to the sea. Although they flew in a very tight formation, they were still wary of each other. As such, every single one of them was tightly wound and incredibly nervous.

When the red rock egg in the underground cave had been cleaned up quite a bit, lava was poured on it from above. The egg was then put away in the purgatory of devils.

The lava would have been useful to enrich the purgatory of devils’ environment. Nailisi found it hard to find such lava lakes, so she took all of the lava away and planted the egg deep within the ground in the purgatory of devils, leaving it to congeal there.

Saleen was quick with his work. He spent a whole day busily working underground and had bagged up almost all of the red crystal rock there was to bag before returning to the crevice the same way that he came.

He then went to the bottom of the ocean along the crevice and found the Magical Element Tower, which was standing still in the opening. The heavenly angel was nowhere to be found.

The heavenly angel was a summoned creature, and it was impossible for it to last for one whole day. With Van Gogh gone, the heavenly angel had disappeared after fighting two level 10 creatures.

Saleen did not dare stay for long, as ke knew what Van Gogh was capable of. In fact, if it had not been for the power of his family badge, the Lance of Order would have beaten him to a pulp!

The only way that he could keep himself safe was if he threw all of his elemental creatures at Van Gogh at the same time. So, the fact that his family badge was depleted and was out of use for half a year, it was the wisest choice for him to leave sooner rather than later.

Saleen took the tower to the surface and went all the way to Ceylon City. He had no idea that, due to him having bagged both the Lance of Order and the divine puppet, Van Gogh had escaped Black Dungeon Island and had gone to Alchemy City.

A conflict erupted on Black Dungeon Island, and the head warden and the head inquisitor parted on bad terms. The island was also filled with numerous dead bodies.

The Magical Element Tower continued to fly close to the surface of the sea. Saleen cared little for fuel costs, so he chose to have all of the magic power furnaces working at maximum power. As such, the magic tower flew faster than when it had come the first time.

The amount of red crystal rock was abundant. Other than the red rock egg, there was still a crystal rock vein that was hundreds of meters thick. The crystals, which were not that pure, were beneficial when used as fuel for the magic power furnace.

At the moment, the lesser nobles of Sikeqinya who were within the magic tower were all behaving themselves. The battle they had witnessed was something the lesser nobles, who were all common people, would have never been able to comprehend.

When the powerful heavenly angel appeared, the lesser nobles were so frightened that they knelt and prayed instantly. As for the Sikeqinyan people, they hardly ever cared about praying. As such, they could have simply turned their backs on the faith that they professed to.

However, that heavenly angel was quickly caught in a pincer attack by two tall monsters. After duking it out for two hours, the heavenly angel was reduced to fragments, then scattered in the seawater. The lesser nobles stopped praying right then and there, then began singing praises to Saleen.

Saleen did not bother listening to their praises and paid little heed to what the lesser nobles thought. How people fought had changed.

In ancient times, human castes were determined by the amount of power one possessed, which meant that being rich was of little value. Bloodlines did not matter either, unless one was from a very powerful one that allowed them to be the ruler over some mighty kingdom or land. However, Saleen still did not kill all of those lesser nobles, as he still had some use for them.

Upon the journey, the Magical Element Tower ran into quite a number of magic beasts, but luckily, it was able to return safely to Magnolia Bay at Ceylon City.

The tower landed right at the port, and Nailisi immediately summoned hundreds of demons and had all of the lesser nobles brought to the house of the lord. The people of Ceylon City left the port in fear after seeing a magic tower land right before their eyes.

At that time, there were several fishing boats which did not dare to return to port. Hence, the place was quite desolate.

Saleen did not head for the house of the lord himself. Instead, he looked out at the city that was so familiar to him from inside the tower. As he did so, he had mixed feelings.

The tall fort at the shore, the abandoned turrets, and the tattered and broken steps made of huge rocks, as well as the scarred and chipped statues and the wind with a fishy smell to it all made Saleen feel like he was going to cry. He had finally returned to his birthplace!

“Teacher, what should we do with those people we saved?” Truman asked after noticing that Saleen had not instructed them on what to do with the merchants and sailors.

“Have Gugger lock them up for the time being. After all, smuggling is a crime,” Saleen ordered after taking a moment to compose himself.

He knew that he couldn’t simply release those people. At the very least, he was not able to let the captain go free after he wrecked Ironwall City himself! As the leader of the chamber of commerce in Ironwall City, that captain would have hated him to the bone and would surely seek revenge!