Badge in Azure

“Come in!” Sika let go of Saleen. Both of their children were by their side and they couldn’t do anything intimate with the children watching. She would have usually entrusted both children to female Caucasus warriors at times like that. Saleen wanted to be with his children, so she took them to her room instead.

The Caucasus warrior standing guard outside came in and handed the emergency letter to Sika, who then handed it to Saleen. She told the messenger to fetch the Caucasus warrior who usually took care of the children. She knew that Saleen was going to get busy.

The children were both sleepy. They held onto the figures that Saleen gave them as The Caucasus warrior took them to bed. Saleen opened the letter and found that it came from Bitterwater Prefecture.

Daliang City was near Bitterwater Prefecture and cost less when teleportation portal was used. The letter came with a magic map that had details highlighted.

The Grukos had actually lent 12 level-9 sorcerers to Lex for reinforcements, as well as sending about 3000 soldiers her way. Those troops were all elites, and no auxiliary troops were among their ranks, as all of them were magic cavalry.

The Grukos cavalry used an ancient system of organization, dividing their units to light cavalry, heavy cavalry, battle cavalry, and guerrilla cavalry. The ones deployed to Daliang City were battle cavalry units. They were inferior to light cavalry in terms of speed and lacked the shock capacity of heavy cavalry. They were the ones capable of dismounting and fighting on foot when there was such a need for it.

They were equivalent to mounted heavy infantry and magic heavy infantry. Arbola raised the ranks of the units sent to Daliang City due to concerns about Daliang City’s importance to the Golden Plains. If the Golden Plains were more powerful, then Daliang City would be a center point on the Myers Mainland.

The army was ordered to go downward along the river from the Golden Plains, cross the mountains, then arrive at the Separation Sea by boat before landing north of the Separation Sea. They continued marching northward nonstop and came under attack about 1000 miles away from Daliang City.

The 12 level-9 sorcerers were not just for show. Their assailants were quite literally crushed. There were scouts who fled back to Daliang City, informing them that the Holy See had gathered an army. They joined hands with the Cloudflow Empire and took Sanlian City out. There were more than 100 thousand scattered troops from Sanlian City being chased all the way to Daliang City.

If it was not for a pass east of Sanlian City that held the allied army for three days, it was feared that none of the 100 thousand would have survived the assault.

The situation with Daliang City’s assault was told in detail in the letter. If it had not been for the Grukos’ support, the city’s mages would not have been able to hold the line. Even so, things were still in a dire state in Daliang City. The number of enemies was huge, and many Blood Knights emerged, totaling to about a million. The Blood Knights that Saleen knew of where created from barbarians caught by the tribunal. The number of barbarians were few and far between though. In the war with the Qin Empire, all Blood Knights had perished.

As such, there must have been a new source being used to create Blood Knights, and that might have been prisoners of the war, or even civilians.

The allied army fielded huge amount of siege equipment, throwing all manner of destructive weapons at Daliang City every day. That wore out the mages in the magic towers.

The situation was made worse by the fact that the army that the Holy See deployed was simply too large. They went to take all the lands north of Daliang City, as well as taking out the secret passages in the mountains between Daliang City and Bitterwater Prefecture. The mages of Bitterwater Prefecture had no choice but to blow up some of the narrower paths in the valley to defend against the invading army.

As such, Daliang City was rendered an isolated city being assaulted from all sides. It was fortunate that it was not yet winter, and the city was located in the central area of the mainland. There was also steady rainfall for the time being. The wells within the city were useless as underground water sources were completely blocked off by the mages outside the city. Daliang City resorted to filling the underground reservoirs to the brim.

None of it could have been done without a good number of mages available.

Other cities would have long been taken out when faced with such assaults, as no one could live without water.

It was also fortunate that, despite Daliang City being diligent in the effort of taking in immigrants, the city was still a militarized one in nature. The number of civilians within the city was less than one-tenth of the military population within. When the assault occurred, there was little panic in the city.

Even the 100 thousand scattered troops from Sanlian City had mostly recuperated and were ready to fight again.

Although Sanlian City was lost, it was not certain that they would lose Daliang City as well. Stephanie, who was in charge of Daliang City, knew that it was only a matter of time before an isolated city would get ran over. It was different from Lonestar City, as that place was defended by spirits who were tireless in nature. The amount of death mages around also meant that they could be rotated according to needs.

Daliang City, at the moment, had ample military units. If there were huge casualties, the army would have ended up more and more worn out, leading to critical failures.

Saleen read the letter and said to Sika, “It seems like the Holy See’s power has gotten a huge upgrade. They wouldn’t have gone wasting their forces like that otherwise. The region north of Qin had yet to be taken. If such an army were to be diverted at the northern regions, it would deal a crippling blow to Qin.”

“Why are they so insistent on taking Daliang City?” Sika asked a very direct question.

“They’re after Bitterwater Prefecture.” Saleen pointed on the map and continued, “There are five valleys being destroyed here, but if they truly wanted to make tunnels at these places, it would be an easy job. At the very least, both of us here are already capable enough to do something like that. If they were able to take Daliang City and use it as a base to invade the Bitterwater prefecture, then Holy Rock City would be in trouble.”

Sika recalled the terrain between Bitterwater Prefecture and Holy Rock City and knew Saleen’s words were true. While there were rivers getting in the way, the place was very suitable for stocking up huge numbers of military units, enabling a large scale invasion on Holy Rock City nearby.

If they were to invade Qin from the northern regions, it would have actually proved more difficult instead.

The Bitterwater Prefecture was huge, yet had a small population, being a place ill-suited for putting down roots. It was still a very important place to Qin as a whole. Taking Bitterwater Prefecture meant that one would have created a large hammer west of Holy Rock City, which could then be used to smash the city.

“Why isn’t there any news from the Holy See?” Saleen knew that Pope Theisio left and needed to return to the Holy City. Arbola would have pursued him in hopes of killing him before he returned to the city. Saleen had heard of no news of such developments despite having returned for a few months. What was more eerie was that Arbola did not spread any news about the fall of the pope. If such news were to spread, the Holy See would have definitely suffered massive internal conflict, preventing them from launching any further plans of attack.

“No time to fret about all that. We’ll head straight for Daliang City to back them up. With teacher here, nothing bad can happen to Metatrin City.”

“Well said, we should send someone to gather the nobles.”

“What for?”

“Guard Phoenix, of course! What would the nobles think if both you and I were to leave? The army in Guderian City retreated, but only retreated 200 miles, so it was hardly a retreat. We’ll get the equipment ready while the nobles will be contributing funds and food to give everyone peace of mind. We’ll talk about taking those from Guderian when we’ve gotten the few cities at the border of Phoenix secured.” Saleen elaborated with great confidence.

Saleen’s call to the nobles was an effective one. A great number of nobles in Metatrin hailed from Phoenix. Even though many lost their lands, Saleen gave them hope nonetheless. They needed to pull their weight to keep hope alive.

Saleen’s alchemy factories were required to produce large amounts of equipment every day. If none of the equipment was sold and there was a stockpile, it would have been a huge waste of money. The nobles had the money, but not the goods. The deal was a win-win situation for both sides and it was swiftly closed.

The three duchesses were even more elated. They had few lands to begin with and the lands taken were restricted to be from within Phoenix. Once they expanded their armies, they would be able to attack Qin any time.

That was especially so in the case of Guderian City. If the Holy See was actually able to take it and the duchesses were able to reclaim it, it would no longer be under Holy Rock City’s control.

Saleen and the nobles got all the details of the trade set after several meetings. He also contacted Lex, who wanted Saleen to head for the Royal Harbor. The place was probably under a lot of military pressure.

There was also Ceylon City. Things in Ceylon City were being taken care of by Nailisi. Most of the mercenaries were being held back around Yaoyang City, preventing them from entering Ceylon City territory.

The demon army poured onto the battlefield in endless waves. None of those demons had undergone any training. Nailisi had no hope for them to take any land anyway. They were only needed to fight the Sikeqinyans.

Having fought for such a long time, no one in Yaoyang City area dared try guerilla warfare anymore. Every time they did, thousands of troops perished. The demon army did not bother with taking prisoners, and they needed little else other than food. They could eat meat of any kind, including their enemies.

Saleen busied himself with the arrangements in Metatrin City, before taking Sika and his children away. He used the Magical Element Tower, stuffing everyone in there and heading for the Royal Harbor.

The tower flew at full speed, reaching the harbor in just ten days.

Allied forces consisting of the Holy See and the Sikenqinyan army were found north of the Royal Harbor. The allied forces launched an assault for months. The outskirts of the Royal Harbor were constantly shifting hands, neither side controlling it for long.

Saleen did not go straight for the allied forces when he reached the Royal Harbor. He boarded the Ancient, gathering all the mages and grand swordmasters before opening up the rooms in the hold and beginning to craft ancient figures.

The figures that Gaine had crafted were perfect and they only needed an infusion of souls from the ancient warriors.

Saleen crafted 3600 figures before stopping. A week passed in the meantime and Daliang City’s gates were breached once. Three grade-9 sorcerers were able to seal them, but there was still a bloody battle within the city walls. Thousands of the invaders were all killed before things turned stable again.

Seeing things had taken a turn for the worse, Saleen did not bother going to the outskirts of the Royal Harbor. He simply left 1000 figures at the harbor. Without anyone to command them, they were only able to perform simple defensive maneuvers, just like the wandering elemental creatures in the Imperial City of the Abyss.

It was fortunate that 1000 figures proved adequate to hold their own against 10 thousand soldiers.

Saleen brought Lex, Sika, the winged skeleton, Jola, Nicholas, Eleanor, and the remaining 2600 figures with him, heading for Daliang City in a hurry.

Saleen initially had no intentions of bringing Lex along. Lex’s God’s Ring was the only equipment capable of stocking ample number of metal flyers, which he brought more than 600 with him.

The Magical Element Tower took to the sky and passed by the allied forces’ main camp. Saleen stayed for a little while, throwing more than 100 level-9 spells downwards, before flying south again.