Badge in Azure

Nailisi could not help but ask, “there are people among you Cloudflow people fit to serve in a death squad?”

A death squad had at one time meant nobles who graciously accepted impossible or suicide missions, throwing themselves at the face of death for noble causes. The definition changed to mean nobles who were not afraid of sacrifice due to responsibilities they bore. The definition changed again to become what it was presently, which meant people who were willing to die to accomplish their missions, which literally made them soldiers going on suicide missions.

Nailisi’s impression of the Cloudflow people was that they were afraid of death. She was not the only one who thought so. That black metal grand swordmaster’s expression shifted back and forth from indignant frustration to blatant fear.

They were unable to muster the courage to defend their people, and so they simply said, “the people followed Grand Duke Jatan at a very young age. The Grand Duke’s orders serve as infallible truth to them. There were many baffling feats demanded of them during their training, like the Grand Duke would have them march even though there was a thousand meter tall cliff right just steps away. Those who dared not follow his orders would be cast out of the squad.”

“Wouldn’t the death squad be all dead by then?” Sika was dismissive of such methods of training. One did not necessarily need to resort to such measures to nurture courage.

The Caucasians never did anything like that, but there were no cowards known to run away from battle in any battle they have fought.

“There will always be some who survive,” the grand swordmaster wore a bitter smile.

“What are the people like, in terms of fighting capacity?” Sika had no interest in asking boring questions. Any country would have several who were not afraid of death. It was hardly surprising, especially given how the death squad was nurtured from a very young age, meaning they lacked critical thinking of any kind.

The grand swordmaster ground their teeth.”All of them learned the secret art of the Grants. They are incapable of using sword aura, but capable of using magic armor and are immensely strong. If I fought one of them, I’d surely be able to win. If I fought two of them at once, I’d definitely die.”

They had truly sold the grand duke out with the words. No one who did not serve Grand Duke Jatan would know about details like that.

“Alright, big sis, let me have a go.” Nailisi summoned two demons, recalling the magic bugs that surrounded the grand swordmaster.

“What’s your name again?”

“I’m Shakko.”

“Alright, Shakko. Fight the two demons, and fight them with all you’ve got, because they might actually kill you. But if you end up killing both of them, I’ll kill you.”

Shakko’s expression looked very troubled. Nailisi threw them a sword, which he took. “Where should I stab if I did not want to kill them?”

“Anywhere but the heart.”

Shakko acknowledged her and thrust at the demon before them. The demon held a massive halberd. Shakko jumped and the demon blocked their attack with the halberd. Shakko’s sword bounced off the massive weapon.

The demon’s arms went numb from the attack. While demons were undoubtedly strong, they were incapable of standing off against a black metal grand swordmaster’s sword aura.

Shakko was terrified of death. The sword bent after bouncing when they thrusted. Shakko’s body drew an arc in the air, before lashing out at the other demon.

The second demon punched, which glanced at the side of the sword. Shakko punched in retaliation. Fists of two different species clashed, and the one who was sent flying was the demon.

Sika was surprised and said to Nailisi, “good foundations indeed, but why would that fellow turn out to be like that?”

“Big sis, being able to fight well doesn’t mean being brave.”

Shakko was already in danger. The other demon straightened themselves and lashed out with a straight thrust. Shakko’s sword burst with sword aura in order to boost the next attack.

The sword was brought down onto the halberd, but was stuck. The demons were battle-hardened veterans with ample tricks on their sleeves. The halberd was not repelled by the sword. The demon twisted and the blade on the side of the halberd tangled the sword instead.

Shakko’s strength exceeded a demon when they burst with sword aura. However, the demon that Shakko had thrown off earlier pounced and grabbed Shakko’s head.

Shakko let go, but the demon had already caught them. The demon’s tail stuck right before Shakko’s throat.

“What do you think, Shakko? What would be the outcome if my demons fought with the death squad?” Nailisi asked gleefully. The two demons were not all that exceptional, but they worked together, the grand swordmaster was immediately cornered when their judgment lapsed.

“Three demons like that would probably be able to kill one of them. If they came out unscathed, six of them could take on one.” Shakko answered truthfully.

Nailisi imagined the fights for a little bit. The death squad members were indeed very powerful and were armed with magic armor. There was no need for her demons to tangle with such powerful enemies.

She gestured and had the demon let go of Shakko. “Shakko, you have two choices here. Leave us and run, but the Grand Duke will come for your head. Or you could follow me instead.”

“Follow you?” Shakko looked at Nailisi rather sheepishly.

“Yeah. My demons need sparring trainers. Their technique looks rough. Your job would be to fight the demons every day, and I assure you that no harm would come to you. How about that?”

Shakko looked rather dejected. “I’d just run then.”

They saw a female archer holding an arrow in her hand as soon as they finished saying that. Shakko trembled. The very reason they were unable to fight the demons was because they had been shot in the abdomen by Eleanor. While the injury was quickly patched up, it still held them back when they fought.

The sky was clear then and they were over a thousand miles in the air, looking down with alchemy binoculars. The arrow came absurdly fast, piercing through the magic beast and into their abdomen.

The archer’s target was the magic beast, and getting the grand swordmaster was simply a bonus, which meant their injury was not severe. If the archer wanted to kill them instead, there would be no way for them to run.

“What’s up? Don’t feel like running anymore?” Nailisi asked sarcastically.

“Oh hell, no way I’m running!” Shakko shook their head furiously.

“Good thinking. The level of guts you have means that no one could make use of you anywhere. You just concentrate on beating down my demons from here on out. You’ll get to live safely at least. If your luck is good, you might even advance to become a silver grand swordmaster, and you’d spend your days in safety till you die of old age.”

“Right, umm…” Shakko looked at Nailisi.

She threw a scroll at Shakko. “Write down your name and become my slave.”

Shakko clenched the scroll and looked very exasperated. There was no simply no way they could reason with her. If they did not sign the contract, they would definitely be killed.

The mound of magic bugs were still wiggling before Nailisi. Shakko felt their throat feeling rather awful and spit out a glob of phlegm. The glob wiggled on the ground, and a very tiny magic bug was found within.

“Ahhh!” Shakko yelled in fright and quickly bit their finger, writing down their name on the contract without any delay.

Nailisi only wrote one type of scroll, and that was a slavery contract. As such, the scroll was prepared. The scrolls that Saleen made for Nailisi were all made of starline paper as well. A black metal grand swordmaster was incapable of trying anything funny.

“Cuisi, dismantle the traps. Deploy demonic spirits and magic bugs. Give a signal when enemies are sighted.” Nailisi knew there were many powerful ones among their enemy and was reluctant to field the demons.

Cuisi nodded. Nailisi took her skeleton king form and began summoning spirits.

Nailisi was barely able to get herself a spirit space, which was capable of housing hundreds of spirits. However, she lacked the patience of the Winged Skull and refused to train the spirits. As such, the spirits were difficult to command.

There was only a path leading from the magic tower to the pool. Nailisi deployed all of the spirits at the narrow valley path and then tasked two supreme demons to take 100 elite demons with them.

All of them were armed with elvish alchemy crossbows, taking their positions at the sides of the valley, waiting to ambush their enemy.

Saleen was not out yet, so Nailisi and the others had no choice but to wait patiently.

When the sky turned dark, a signal from a demonic spirit was seen at the outskirts. Huge amounts of magic bugs were killed. Nailisi tensed up immediately. She the most powerful member of their party at the moment, but she had less stamina to spare in battle than Sika.

In order to conserve her stamina, she only took her spirit form, holding a bone spear that was over four meters long.

She hid herself among the spirits and lurked in the valley, leaving the fighting to the others.

Eleanor dared not take flight. There was a level ten true might among the enemy. If they happened to get near her while she was on the Wings of an Elf, there would be nowhere for her to run. She stood at the top of the magic tower, enabling her to retreat into the tower at any time.

The magic tower was controlled by the water puppet, and there were demons and ancient figures lying in wait.

The demons at the outskirts were recalled. Only demonic spirits were left behind. The demonic spirits were small, which enabled them to easily hide, but Nailisi was able to sense that the demonic spirits were rooted out one by one from their hiding spots and killed. None of them were able to make it out alive.

The enemy had gotten close. A flying magic beast was seen in the air. Eleanor did not hold back. There were three arrows between her fingers, and she shot all of them.

After the three arrows were shot, three more were nocked on the Seven Nights. The second wave of arrows were shot right behind. Eleanor shot nine arrows in three consecutive waves.

The nine arrows zipped past, making high-pitched noises, hitting the abdomens of nine magic beasts and piercing through, killing the warriors riding them.

No one in the air had anticipated the archer beneath to be so powerful. They spread out immediately. Eleanor was only able to identify the leader of the enemy: a tall man who was sitting on the back of a golden eagle.

Eleanor drew an elvish space arrow and aimed.

The tall man behind the golden eagle saw Eleanor as well and threw a huge iron ball right at the tower. The trajectory of the ball was coincidentally on the path where Eleanor’s arrow would travel. Eleanor let go and the space arrow flashed. Eleanor then drew a lightning arrow that Saleen made specifically for her.

Boom!

That iron ball with a diameter of half a foot was blown up by the arrow. The space arrow appeared right before the golden eagle’s eyes. The man behind quickly drew a dagger and blocked the arrow.

Eleanor was unfettered. She had already shot her third arrow, and it was a lightning arrow.

The man behind the golden eagle drew a four-meter-long sword, which made it look like a spear. The sword lashed out straight at the arrow.

The warriors who had spread out earlier began throwing javelins from behind the magic beasts.

The lightning arrow shredded half of that man’s sword with a loud boom. His formless sword aura was incapable of stopping the lightning arrow’s might. He flinched.

Sika’s javelin reached the golden eagle’s abdomen!