Badge in Azure

“Bain…” Lex felt a little melancholy. Bain’s training actually had not run into problems, it was just that he was injured. Back when Lex left Holy Rock City as a child, Bain had been protecting her all the while. His injury was left behind at that time.

“Viscountess, I hope my daughter can learn magic from Saleen,” Bain suddenly muttered.

Lex was momentarily stunned. Bain’s daughter had begun learning magic, but she did not have an official teacher yet. Even though Saleen was a grand mage, he was a little too young.

“He has the legacy of the Sregl Island, he will be a powerful mage,” Bain explained. “Only if you come forward, will he accept students.”

Lex nodded. She understood that Bain was hoping the two of them would not have any conflict.

“I can implore Joey,” Lex smiled forcefully. “Bain’s body must be on the verge of breaking down already, otherwise he wouldn’t say such things.”

“Viscountess, you can make a request, but please don’t use it on me. All my years of hard work will go down the drain otherwise.”

Back in Saleen’s magic war chariot, the four demons looked around as they got admonished by Nailisi. This made the two remaining female mages feel very awkward. Even though they had guessed that the women were demons, they could not put everything down and leave like Lex did. Lex made them stay in hopes that they could observe the demons.

The demons were at such a short distance away, making the two female mages very uneasy. They subconsciously leaned towards Saleen, afraid that the demons would go berserk and devour them.

With the exception of Cuisi, the other three demons were kind of fearful of the two female mages. At such a distance, a demon would have an absolute advantage over a mage. The problem was, the equipment on the female mages was very powerful. The mages serving Lex were different from Bifano’s subordinates. At the very least, they were wealthier and owned many pieces of equipment.

The demons did not feel at ease with their new master called Saleen. After all, their scaled skeletons were quality materials for equipment refinement. The demonic plane did not have a chasm in history. All the demons knew that after the decline of humans, the humans began treating them horribly.

Saleen kept sizing the four demons up, it would be a lie to say that he was not upset. It was just that these demons would never be as loyal as Nailisi.

The two war chariots reached maximum velocity, as the skeletal warhorses kept running without getting fatigued. The war had not spread to this place, and the road conditions were terrific. The magic bugs could not fly as fast. When they seemed like they were going to be out of sight, Nailisi took out the Dimension Stone and put the magic bugs away.

After these magic bugs entered the Dimension Stone, they would die after a short while. Their flesh would be kept fresh and tender, so it could still be used to feed the lightning dragons.

While traveling north, Lex stubbornly insisted that the convoy returned to the Stone Statue Castle, as she wanted to subdue the Metal Titan.

The north of the Chishui River had fallen, with the Tanggulasi Army swarming the area. In order to reach the Purgatory Desert, the convoy had to pass through this dangerous region. At the very least, the current was not so rapid at the location of the Stone Statue Castle, so it was easy to cross the river.

Along the journey, the convoy did not get sniped. The north of the Chishui River had mostly been seized by the Cloudflow Empire, but there was still a substantial part of this region which refused to surrender. The Grand Duke of Titan had escaped to Fire Dance City and was currently forming resistance, so the Cloudflow Empire was helpless at the moment. As there was still a large enemy at the north of the Chishui River, it would be too big a price to invade Fire Dance City. If there were any missteps, the Tanggulasi Empire, which was located at the river’s north, could easily take advantage of the situation.

From this aspect, Cloudflow’s tactics were not as good as those of Qin.

At that moment, Saleen could not be bothered to conceal his capabilities. As the skeletal warhorses charged forward with all their might, the smaller armies would not dare obstruct. By going around the large city, Saleen had reached the south bank of the Chishui River in less than half a month. Situated opposite this bank was the Stone Statue Castle.

The huge metal bridge over the river was missing. Lex disembarked from the chariot, and used a pair of alchemical binoculars to view the opposite bank.

The Stone Statue Castle was in ruins, it had obviously went through another round of battle. Tanggulasi’s army had been there before, but it seemed like they did not manage to subdue the Metal Titan. The thunderous noises coming from the castle indicated that the big guy was still roaming around.

Saleen also came out of the chariot. Currently, his Icy Sight enabled him to view more than one-thousand meters into the distance. Even though the Chishui River was wider, he could vaguely make out the scene on the opposite shore. It was not as clear as the images seen through the alchemical binoculars though.

“Saleen…”

“Do you have confidence?” Saleen looked at Lex.

Lex rubbed her face childishly, relaxing her mind. She then said, “With only about three-thousand scrolls, it can only be controlled for a very short time. It depends on luck.”

Saleen thought to himself, “My badge and your God’s Ring can be used to control the Metal Titan. A pity our equipment can only be used once before needing to rest for a long time. Entering the Purgatory Desert is way more perilous, no matter what, they cannot be used here.”

“What should the bait be?”

“A fully constructed puppet.” Lex was reluctant, but she still came to a decision.

Saleen had eight lifelike fully constructed puppets and one more which was not affected by the Divine spell, but its value was still equally tremendous. It could only be abandoned there as bait.

“Let’s cross the river.” Lex took out several kayaks from the God’s Ring. These kayaks were considered as the lowest grade equipment. The magic arrays atop them only needed to be stimulated in order to fill them up with air instantly.

Of course, the God’s Ring could store a larger boat, but a larger boat would alarm the Metal Titan on the opposite bank. The magic war chariots and the skeletal warhorses had to be put away for the time being. Four kayaks, containing about twenty people, were rowed slowly across the river towards the opposite bank.

The skies were clear and the sunlight shone across the land, causing the river to shimmer. As the wind blew, a stench could be detected in the air. The powerful Metal Titan was on the opposite bank, but Saleen never felt so serene. As his perception was spread out, all areas within a radius of hundreds of meters were under his surveillance. The Chishui River did not contain any powerful magic beasts, but it was still better to be cautious. If an ambush was laying on the opposite bank and an alchemical crossbow began firing, the people onboard the kayaks would be in deep trouble.

Saleen’s subordinates would do fine, the ones at risk were the ten swordmasters and Eleanor. Eleanor’s injury had not fully recovered and in the past few days of traveling, Saleen could not give her the magic liquid. He could only cast the Chunlin spell repeatedly to provide treatment.

Eleanor had long dismissed the idea of escaping. The appearance of the four demons made her realize that even if she was not injured, she would never be Saleen’s match.

Saleen felt weird though. They had crossed the river, but he still did not see the assassin emerging. Could the assassin be underwater?

In this position, the Chishui River was only about eight-hundred meters wide, and the two banks were slightly steep. As the kayaks were about to reach the opposite bank, a shadow flew out from beside Lex. Leaping dozens of meters into the air, it flew towards a rock on the bank. This person wielded a broadsword about two meters long, and he hacked at the rear of the rock as he landed.

Blood gushed into the air. There were five soldiers from the Tanggulasi Empire hidden behind the rock and they were wielding miniature steel crossbows. The person who killed them was a Black Metal Grand Swordmaster who served Lex. In a single stroke, he killed five people without any hesitation.

These five soldiers were pretty unlucky. Many people were assigned to patrol the riverside, but the Chishui River was too long. An area of a few miles was not even protected by anyone. These guys ran into Lex’s men though. Even though they had steel crossbows in hand, they did not even have the chance to use them.

The Black Metal Grand Swordmaster picked up a steel crossbow and studied it, as he used another hand to catch the rope which was tossed from below the bank. He pulled the kayaks onshore one by one.

“Viscountess, they weren’t waiting for us, it’s just a normal patrol team.” That Black Metal Grand Swordmaster was professional military personnel too. With one look at the enemy’s equipment, he could roughly understand the enemy’s formation and the amount of manpower they had.

“How long will such scouts take to change their shifts?”

“One day.”

“Mm, the sky is getting dark, we don’t have much time. Go to the main road to keep a lookout, and stay away from this location.” Lex dismissed the swordmasters and the Black Metal Grand Swordmasters, allowing them to lead the skeletal warhorses and magic war chariots far away from the shore.

All the mages stayed behind. Lex took out a huge quantity of items from the God’s Ring, and began setting a magic array. Other than Eleanor, the rest of the mages went to work.

This was Saleen’s first time seeing a magic array which was more than one-hundred meters in diameter. Most of the materials Lex took out had been prepared beforehand, but the connecting portions had to be replaced by magic powder.

The setting up of a complex magic array was fraught with difficulties, but Lex was intending to place a temporary trap. Nothing should go awry with eight grand mages working their magic at the same time.

The ground was made as flat as a mirror, as thousands of magic symbols were continuously drawn on it. When the sky was almost dark, the magic array was then completed. Lex began distributing the scrolls containing the Fossilization Spell. Thereafter, a fully constructed puppet was taken out and instructed to walk towards the Stone Statue Castle.

The Metal Titan had eaten half of the bridge, and had fought with the Tanggulasi’s army, so it was currently resting inside the castle. The moment the fully constructed puppet got close, it discovered the puppet. The metallic smell from the fully constructed puppet was too alluring, it had no way of resisting it.

The people outside the castle heard an earth-shattering roar, and then a one-hundred meter tall monster stood up abruptly.

If the material of the fully constructed puppet was not so special, the Metal Titan, would have ignored it. A two-meter tall fully constructed puppet was not even sufficient for the Metal Titan to use it as a toothpick.

Even before the fully constructed puppet could get close to the walls, the Metal Titan had already strode beside the wall. Using a pair of golden eyes to scan the surroundings, it immediately discovered the tiny thing on the ground.

Metal Titans were considered intelligent beings, but this Metal Titan was obviously dumber. It would not loiter around here after the fight with Tanggulasi’s army otherwise. The moment it saw the delicacy, it immediately threw caution to the wind, charging towards the fully constructed puppet. The fully constructed puppet took off immediately, and even though it had a lower speed, it managed to enter Lex’s magic trap in time.

Om…

A thunderous metallic boom sounded as the Metal Titan leaped into the air, going straight into the magic trap. At the same time, dozens of auxiliary magic arrays got stimulated simultaneously. The mages lying in ambush followed the protocol, casting their Fossilization Spell scrolls.

The Metal Titan had almost zilch resistance to the Fossilization Spell. If it was not for its mighty vitality, it would have been killed in that instant. In a flash, the surface of the Metal Titan’s body was shone upon by magic light, fossilizing it totally. This caused the Metal Titan to be frozen in a jumping posture.

Lex was jubilant. As long as the Metal Titan was captured and then fitted with fossilization-resisting armor, it would immediately become a tool which was in no way inferior to a war puppet.