Badge in Azure

The wardens were behind the 15 square formations while the Blood Knights were put at the front. Every single square formation had about 1,100 units following right behind the punishers.

The ramming power of the punishers exceeded that of a battering ram. At the very least, battering rams were incapable of cracking a level nine Crystal City.

The group of forts below Daliang City was constructed in haste and piled up using magic. If it had been placed anywhere else, it would have been considered sturdy. However, in an environment where the power of magic was greatly diminished, the fossilized small forts were incapable of dealing with ramming attacks from the punishers.

The punishers moved forward slowly. When they arrived about five miles away from Daliang City and about three miles away from the forts, the charge began.

Charges of common cavalry were initiated thousands of feet away to prevent the horses from tiring and losing momentum. The punishers were capable of running for 10,000 miles. As such, the several miles distance was simply meant for acceleration.

Most catapults at the walls lost their accuracy. When the ground collapsed and Daliang City was shaken violently, most of the catapult bases were broken. Those that survived were not recalibrated.

Numerous catapults threw huge rocks beneath. The balls of rock rolled in the air and landed near the punishers, who kept their heads low and flung the incredibly heavy rocks away without trouble. The horns on their heads sparked as the rocks were flung over a dozen miles away.

While the catapults lost their accuracy, their range remained largely unchanged. The second round of rocks flung landed on the backs of the punishers, rolling off at the Blood Knights.

The Blood Knights were not as good at riding as the elite cavalry units. When the huge balls of rock rolled about, over a hundred Blood Knights were instantly turned to mush. Any Blood Knights who managed to evade slowed down considerably, making the formations messy.

Saleen sighed deeply upon seeing how more than 20 catapults attacked but were only able to kill about a hundred enemies. The efficiency was truly terrible.

However, he had personal experiences with the Blood Knights and knew that common arrows had no effect on them. They would only lose combat capacity if high-level alchemy arrows hit vital areas.

Although high-level alchemy arrows were capable of being shot at such a distance, even if the arrows were to connect, it would be hard to hit the Blood Knights in the vital areas.

Other than Eleanor, only the level nine archer at Royal Harbor would have been able to hit the targets from miles away. Those two were the only level nine archers in both nations.

There were hardly any hopes of advancement in the profession. It was simply too difficult for archers to survive in battles, yet they were unable to heighten their skills without participating in battles.

The magic cannons within the forts began to fire away in a frenzy. All troops assigned below consisted of spirits and demons for safety reasons. Human armies had all retreated to Daliang City. No magic cannons were spared. The problem of whether the cannons would have malfunctioned was entirely nonexistent at the moment.

The high rate of fire was all aimed at a single target.

This time, the magic cannon attacks became effective. A punisher taking the lead had its head shot off. While it remained charging forward, it lost all sense of direction and was quickly brought down by a ball of rock flung from the air. It went to charge at the flanks when it got up again, ramming into another punisher.

Twelve magic cannons shot at another target. The punishers were now only about two miles away from the group of forts. There were cannons that missed the target, but most of them were able to hit the second target.

The unanimous firing had caused a weak elemental resonance. The ground shook as a result, which Saleen was able to feel from the walls. Everyone felt like their hearts were about to jump out of their chests.

It was fortunate that no elemental storms were whipped up or no magical catastrophe taking place. Besides, there were too few of the magic cannons to do so. Their attacks were also several times weaker than what it would have been under normal circumstances.

Saleen no longer cared for the forts. There was simply no way those small forts could withstand such weapons of war. He gazed far away and shared his senses with Nailisi.

Three middle-aged holy masters were issuing orders while being surrounded by the army about 10 miles away.

Saleen said, “Nailisi, do you see them?”

“I see them,” she said.

“Your target is the tallest one,” Saleen said. “Can you see that emblem on his chest?”

“I do, master,” Nailisi replied.

“Wait for your chance,” Saleen said. “Jola and Sul will be there to protect you. Me and Lex will take on the other two respectively. Give it all you’ve got. Hit them really hard, even if you’re unable to kill him. Sika will be there to deal a killing blow in such cases.”

Nailisi licked her lips and suppressed the excitement deep down. “Relax, master. I’ll die if he doesn’t!”

“Don’t say things like that. Beware of the equipment in his hand,” Saleen said. The one he spoke of was the fourth head inquisitor, who was holding a thin, yellow book that did not seem to fluctuate with any power.

Nailisi cared little for the details and sneaked outside the walls.

The punishers had arrived several hundred miles away. None of the demons or spirits attempted to fight. They got inside the purgatory of the devils that Nailisi opened up instead.

Boom…

Noises of the forts toppling were heard. The short walls at the outskirts were all destroyed by many punishers. Once in, the punishers saw a huge portal and the demons and spirits running away in a hurry.

The punishers turned around and charged. Nailisi gave a cold smirk as she turned the portal around. Six punishers ran straight into the purgatory of the fallen. She turned the portal around again and sent another six into the purgatory of the elements.

Nailisi dared not take any more of the punishers into her collection of purgatories after sending 12 of them inside. The offensive power within the 12 Notes of First Purgatory was probably incapable of handling too many punishers in them. Furthermore, the spaces were simply too small, and their powers too limited. If the enemies thrown within were too powerful, there was no certainty that they would have ended up dead inside.

She as actually being overcautious. Nailisi’s double in the sky took notice as soon as the six punishers rushed inside the purgatory of the fallen.

Twenty-four chains shot down from the hovering altar and chained all six punishers up. The 24 chains were originally meant for chaining the original body of the Divine Baby. It was too easy to finish off the punishers.

Since they were unable to kill them, the punishers were chained up tightly. Divine powers imbued within the chains were gained from prayers of the adherents of the Goddess of Nature.

There were hundreds of thousands of humanoid monsters throughout the entire purgatory, which continued to sing praises to and worship Nailisi’s double. Divine power within the chains gushed and continued to assimilate the energies within the bodies of the punishers.

The power originated from the Lord of Glory seemed rather weak in comparison to the new flow of energy within. The six punishers gradually quieted down and stopped struggling. The six punishers that were thrown inside the purgatory of elements struggled for much longer and suffered a worse fate.

The Eye of the Storm in the sky noticed as soon as they came in. It had been fighting with the great fire snake for an unknown amount of time. Their powers had tangled with each other and had even begun to assimilate each other’s powers. The two elemental beings found a new target and went on to attack them instead.

Countless wind blades wrapped in fire cut up the bodies of the punishers. The entire space was a domain controlled by those two beings. There was nowhere to run. The punishers were incapable of gaining support of any kind and had to resort to using divine powers in their bodies to resist the attacks.

However, the powers of the Eye of the Storm and great fire snake were cycled by the space itself, which essentially made the punishers’ powers limitless. The wind blades wrapped in fire cut them up layer by layer.

Under the workings of stockpiled divine powers, their bodies quickly restored after being cut up, before getting cut up again. The cycle repeated itself over and over.

The punishers at the rear barged into the forts and came into contact with the remaining demons and spirits. Nailisi knew there was no way she could take all her underlings with her. She rubbed her hands and laid on the ground, quickly turning herself into a golden dragon and taking to the air. She snatched a punisher with her claws and began to tear it apart.

While Nailisi had no way of controlling dragon tongue spells of the golden dragon form, she still had the immense physical power of the dragon. The punisher was quickly torn into pieces by the dragon claws.

The punisher’s tail whipped hard at the body of the golden dragon, but the level difference between the two was too great. The attacks were pointless.

Nailisi was still able to feel pain since not taking damage did not mean not feeling any pain. She flew high into the air and threw the broken punisher to the ground. She took another one up and began biting it.

The scene with the punishers was sent back to the head inquisitors, who all yelled in fright and surprise, “A golden dragon!”

The three young head inquisitors were elated. There is actually a golden dragon in Daliang City! Better still, the golden dragon can be captured and tamed using divine spells!

Once tamed, the golden dragon’s life would be incredibly long and could be shared with the tamer. The lifespan would be shared with the owner of the dragon as it remained alive. Such was the mystical parts of divine arts, which was something that mages were incapable of emulating.

Despite the keen interest, which shone in their eyes, they were unable to see anything wrong with the dragon. That was because the dragon had fully displayed its power. Lone punishers stood no chance against the dragon.

Nailisi did not use dragon breath, which greatly diminished the cost of using the golden dragon form. She chomped on the punisher in excitement. While the monster was practically tasteless, it was still an ecstatic feeling biting and tearing something with dragon fangs.

Saleen observed with his Elemental Eye and saw the people around all three head inquisitors waving their flags. The army clad in red changed their formations. It became apparent they were about to attack.

So they can’t resist the temptation of the golden dragon and took the bait after all! Nice, bingo!

Saleen was afraid that the three head inquisitors would not bat an eye at the dragon. If they were to attack slowly, the passage at the giant’s ear would have been found. But, there was no way he could send troops to fight down there. The result would be massive casualties.

“Get ready, the targets are moving!” Saleen informed the people around him.

Common troops did not take part in the battle. The Tribunal forces attacked without bothering to set up camp. The Tribunal knew that the terrain around Daliang City had suddenly changed. Even troops within city were unable to get used to it. Attacking with the punishers yielded effective results.

The head inquisitors saw whatever the punishers saw. Saleen was able to tell as much from how they noticed Nailisi’s dragon form. He held the urge to act in and stayed at the walls, letting Nailisi tear at the punishers.

The walls were very quiet. The troops had forgotten to even cheer when they saw the golden dragon appear. They held their breath and stared at the battle below.

“There is another mile away. Let’s go,” Saleen said as he leapt over the walls.

Sika followed closely, and the golden grand swordmasters leapt as well. There was no need for Eleanor to go down. Her archery was most effective attacking targets at a mile away, which made it easy for her to attack from the walls. The last to fly was Lex. Colorful lights coursed throughout her body, making her look like a butterfly.