Badge in Azure

“Seems to me that we need to settle this my way!” Saleen laughed. Jalin was able to sense a strange feeling when he fought her before from his laugh alone.

“Soldier, how many spirits will you be able to summon?”

“A little more than 100,000,” the winged skeleton answered plainly.

Jalin had only begun to seriously gauge the strange skeleton then. The pile of bones was obviously a bonded creature to Saleen. Instead of being stored inside some contracted space or equipment, the peculiar being was hanging around Saleen all the time. Saleen and the creature both rode nightmares, which were spirit creatures higher than grade-6.

Having heard the winged skeleton was capable of summoning more than 100,000 spirits, Jalin began to calculate. “Is that skeleton a grade-10 creature? That can’t be possible. Saleen is a grade-9 sorcerer. How is it possible for him to own a grade-10 creature?”

“No need for such numbers. How many flying creatures capable of spewing poison like the false dragon spirit do you have?”

The winged skeleton pondered for a bit before answering, “Less than 2,000.”

“Well then, go prepare toxins for those spirits. When you’re done, we shall launch an assault.”

“Launch an assault?” Jalin doubted her ears. Even with her and Saleen considered, there were only five grade-9 sorcerers in their band. There were eight grade-7 sorcerers, and the ten remaining mages were grade-6 grand mages.

According to Grukos intelligence, there were more than 30 professionals among the ranks of the army surrounding Guderian City. Even if they were to be split between two forces stationed in the south and north, Saleen would still need to contend with about 15 professionals.

The bulk of the army in front of them was an elephant in the room. The enemy had more than 500,000 units standing in their way, while they commanded a force of a little more than 1,000 strong.

While Saleen’s War Drum of Fear was indeed a powerful equipment, the pests unleashed from within were incapable of going against grade-7 professionals. The number of said pests was limited. It was impossible for Saleen to crush a 500,000 strong army with just one single piece of equipment.

Saleen knew that well himself. Within the environment of the Imperial City of the Abyss, the pests were able to resurrect indefinitely. On land however, the restorative abilities of the pests were far inferior to the elemental creatures’.

Then again, Saleen had no intention of killing every single soldier in the army before him. It was no Ironwall City; the camp was arranged in a very sparse manner. He also lacked support provided by his metal flyers.

The winged skeleton nodded in agreement and went on to open the spirit space, unleashing the spirits he brought with him. The winged skeleton had learned of such methods from Nailisi. Since the winged skeleton came to know that Nailisi brought more than 100,000 demons with her all the time, the winged skeleton also began selecting spirits to be sent into spirit space.

The jade skeletons under the winged skeleton’s command also possessed some measure of intelligence. The winged skeleton had every six jade skeletons control a death magic array, which was kept operational for summoning spirits. Any spirits whom they found that failed their standards were sent back. Only the ones deemed fit for entering the spirit space were left behind.

Many frail spirits were incapable of entering the spirit space, as doing so would have torn them apart. Only spirits with a certain measure of abilities were deemed fit to be taken alongside the winged skeleton.

“Jalin, I need help from your men.”

“Please speak.” Jalin was secretly gleeful that Saleen asked her for help.

“When the battle begins, please have your men protect Hogina.”

Jalin felt very dejected at the request. She saw Hogina to be little more than a child and was puzzled as to why Saleen was concerned about that little girl so much. There was no lack of grade-6 grand mages in the Golden Plains after all.

It was still a personal request from him nonetheless, and Saleen had never made any during their trip. Most battles were even fought by Saleen using little more than just his War Drum of Fear.

The winged skeleton went about selecting spirits carefully. While he possessed large number of spirits capable of flight, the toxins that Saleen crafted required spirits of certain levels. Such spirits needed to be at least above grade-4. They had their bodies reinforced and were capable of executing simple commands.

Hogina stared at the row of spirits that the winged skeleton summoned from afar and felt nothing but envy, especially because there were so many of them capable of flight. The huge false dragon spirit was even capable of circling slowly in the air.

“Jalin, here is how I would go about it. When the winged skeleton is done with preparations, I would summon some elemental creatures on the ground to fight alongside the guards while we take to the air with the spirits. We will use them to fight off the enemies coming for the spirits. The spirits will take the lead, spewing large amount of toxins. There would hardly be anyone capable of surviving such an attack. All of our troops will require magical buffs to prevent them from getting poisoned.”

“So, we’ll just go in hard and fast like that?” Jalin asked out of concern. Her teacher was about 200 miles away. If they were caught in a pinch Arbola would not be able to make it in time to save them.

“We will only be fighting our way into the city instead of trying to make a last stand. Theisio is nowhere in sight. Real trouble comes when he does show up.” Saleen had been observing from afar all that time. They were standing on a meandering slope, while the plains were right before them. Saleen was able to see more than 100 miles away, which was where the rear of the enemy forces laid.

Judging from the logistics at the camp, the enemy had yet to prepare themselves to launch an attack. That meant that Theisio was nowhere near them. While that all seemed odd, Saleen did not bother to find out why. There were simply too many unexpected matters to be dealt with. If Saleen had encountered such accidents, it was only natural for that to also happen with Theisio.

“Alright, I’ll leave you in charge,” Jalin answered gently. Saleen felt like he was covered with goosebumps all over, but he was unable to bring himself to tell her that she was being creepy.

The winged skeleton had only finished preparing when the sky turned dark. Saleen then went on to summon Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers, Vermillion Knights, and Angel of Brightness. Those three types were suitable beings to act as shock troops. He had only begun to truly let Jalin see what he was capable of then.

Jalin was barely able to contain her excitement seeing more than 100 elemental creatures before her.

Elemental badges! They had to be elemental badges!

She wanted very badly to tell him that she needed a dark elemental creature, but Saleen did not continue summoning. The belt where the six badges were housed became the focal point for Jalin’s eyes.

Everyone had weaknesses. As long as one was a mage, there was just no way that Saleen’s stuff wouldn’t pique their interest.

Saleen had quite a headache over the fact that Jalin had no weakness to exploit previously. That would have made her very hard to deal with. From what Arbola told them, she meant for Jalin to follow him for a very, very long time, but he did not want such a mage to become his comrade-in-arms.

There was hardly anyone who dared move against him in Golden Plains, yet Jalin was definitely not one of those people. He would not hesitate to use instant death spells against her. If there was to be anyone who tried something like that with him, he would try to find ways to get back at them.

Mages were known for holding grudges. The higher the level of a mage, the more inclined they were to do so.

As soon as the elemental badges were used, Saleen felt relieved that he was able to find a weakness within Jalin which he was able to exploit. She was a mage, and as such, she was helpless in resisting something so extremely rare.

The 2,000 strong flying spirits took to the air under the winged skeleton’s instructions and began circling about in the air. Arbola’s personal guards suited themselves up with their magic armor as well, packing up before mounting their horses.

More than 100 elemental creatures surrounded the personal guards and Saleen elaborated, “These elemental creatures will only attack really powerful foes. Anything that manages to slip past them will be your job. Be alert, we’re going to carve our way through those Holy See b**tards. Do you all feel fear? We are charging against an enemy force of 500,000 strong after all!”

The personal guards smirked. “What is there to fear? The worst that can happen is just dying in battle.” For them, being able to fight such intense battles was an honor. It was not a suicide mission. The power demonstrated by the Holy See forces was far below what was expected of them. With so many bulky beings around to help them out, the upcoming battle would probably be easier than it needed to be.

The soldiers were familiar with tactical details and knew well that assaulting an enemy camp was different from clashing with enemies head on. What proved most dire with such situations. They could be hampered by the terrain of the camp, preventing them from keeping their formations intact. With the help of those elemental creatures, they would practically walk over the enemy camp like it was not there in the first place.

“Alright, let’s move.” Those were not his troops, and as such, he did not bother giving them much of a speech. He took the winged skeleton and Jalin into the air, flying towards the Holy See army camp with the spirits.

The Holy See army had no intentions of launching an assault at that moment, and the camp leaned towards the rear somewhat. With their frontlines being destroyed by the magic cannon, the army retreated more than 50 miles away.

As such, Saleen’s Elemental Eye was able to make out the rear end of the camp. He looked about the camp and found a few tall battlements. The winged skeleton also took the spirits flying at heights of several hundred yards high, just enough to make attacking with divine spells very difficult.

The Lord of Glory’s divine spells still proved deadly against spirits. That was why Saleen had the winged skeleton summon spirits with formidable flying abilities, instead of having a horde of 100,000 strong rush at the camp.

While Arbola had wanted him to be bait, he was far from foolish enough to send all of his forces doing it.

“Master, I will be taking the lead. Be careful.” The winged skeleton beckoned to Saleen, standing on the back of the false dragon spirit. They needed to take command of the flying spirits after all. If the spirits were to be left to their own devices, all of them would end up dead soon enough.

Jalin could not helped but feel envious of Saleen. “That winged skeleton sure is an intelligent one and having just one such bonded creature is already a hundred times better than having a follower.” She always had a habit of collecting equipment, and then she began thinking about collecting summoned creatures.

Looking from the rear, it seemed that a bunch of pitch-black spirits were being led by a huge false dragon and charging straight for the Holy See army’s camp. Under the moonlight, the winged skeleton held tight to his huge battle-axe while exuding incredibly cold air about himself. That was more than the air of a spirit; it was the air of a king about to conquer the world.

“Beings of old, I now implore you to lend me your strength!” the winged skeleton shouted loud at the sky, summoning mystical powers out of nowhere from the spirit plane. They were then channeled to the winged skeleton’s battle-axe. The magic patterns on both sides of the axe, and the magic array which looked like a pair of eyes, exuded powerful death aura.

At that very moment, the winged skeleton was able to sense every minute movements of all the spirits under his command. Nothing the spirits did escaped his eyes, as if the spirits were an extension of his body.

Such was the true power of a king!

The winged skeleton then gave the order to strike. His order was clearly transmitted to every single one of the spirits, regardless of the unit’s level of strength. All of the spirits used death magic to carry toxins specially crafted in Metatrin City. The false dragon spirit had the highest amount.

Under the winged skeleton’s orders, the false dragon spirit opened its mouth and spewed toxic mist at the camp.

Out of concern for spells affecting a wide area, the Holy See camp was sparsely set. An independent campsite housed 1,000 at most, and most of those camps housed only about 500.

The campsite targeted by the false dragon was one housing 1,000. It covered quite a huge area. The toxic mist that spewed out of the false dragon’s mouth soon spread. When the mist reached the ground, the entire campsite was covered in it. The winged skeleton took a close look at the tents and found that even the metal barracks began to corrode.

The troops at the core of the camp were instantly killed by the potent poison without making a sound.