Badge in Azure

No matter how anxious they were, they still had to wait. Without accurate coordinates, it would be impossible to find the exact location of the temple in this colossal Purgatory Desert.

Be it in the Bitter Water Prefecture or Metatrin City, resources were tight. Other than having the seeds of the divine tress, the temple might also have many other types of precious materials. Once the main temple was located, more accurate coordinates might be obtained, and the remaining temples could be excavated too.

If some temples were within Saleen’s and Lex’s sphere of control, they could be dug out immediately.

The first time Saleen entered a temple, he had obtained large quantities of magic nuclei and metal materials, which he had not finished consuming yet. If all twenty-four temples could be found, or if only half were found, it was still a humongous fortune for him.

Saleen had a premonition that the items in each temple were different. Lex had obtained a tremendous fortune, while Saleen himself had gotten magic nuclei. If they had entered the temple earlier, they might even have obtained a large number of demons.

Those supreme demons were dead, Nailisi had taken them as food. Even the bones, which could be used for refining equipment, were not left behind.

If Saleen could obtain the remains of a giant, then he could rival that of Lex’s Metal Titan. So far, there was nothing the Water Flame Alchemy could not refine.

Saleen and Lex were bent on locating this temple, they would not return to Metatrin City empty handed. If they did that, then Saleen would rather stay at the temple, where the pink army hid themselves for two more days. That way he could collect all those metallized steel rocks and that door which was made from a special material.

No matter what, Lex had also gotten a Metal Titan despite losing a huge number of scrolls, yet Saleen got nothing so far.

Once night fell, Lex deployed an extra mage to monitor the reactions of the flying puppet. Every day, this flying puppet would be deployed more than ten times. Each time, it could remain airborne for less than an hour before needing to be repaired. If the flying puppet was not consuming low level magic nuclei, Lex would not have deployed it so frequently.

The brilliant moon hung in the sky, as the temperature fell drastically. The air within the Black Rock Mountain was dry. There was no frost, yet their breath showed in the air.

“Humph!” One of the two mages in charge of keeping watch through the night snorted, as he furrowed his brows. The other mage, who was actually resting, also opened his eyes. Out of the blue, the mage beside him got attacked mentally. His partner could no longer observe the images sent back by the magic array.

The flying puppet had been attacked, and it was attacked by a human!

All the magic alarms within the tents sounded. The swordmasters put on their magic armor calmly. The Spirit Snake Armor could be put on independently, the wearer could don it on their own.

The four demons did not even remove their armor, they guarded the four corners of Saleen’s tent. The moment the magic alarm sounded, none of the demons stood up, they simply remained seated around Saleen.

“Is it finally here?” Saleen sat up, putting on his magic robe.

“Master, ignore it, we should check out the capabilities of that magic armor first,” Nailisi reminded Saleen. Even though Lex was a reliable friend, it was always better to understand her subordinates and their abilities if Saleen wanted to continue interacting with her.

Lex only took out the Spirit Snake Armor after such a long time living together, and this caused Nailisi to be immediately guarded.

Saleen cackled, but did not say anything. He was still controlling two fully constructed puppets, who were surveilling from a nearby hilltop. Naturally, he would be able to observe the situation outside anytime. The moment the magic alarm sounded, he had already contacted the puppets.

“Let’s go and see Sika, you will summon Jola. There might be a large team awaiting.” Saleen instructed Nailisi to get to work.

The four demons then followed Saleen to Sika’s tent. Sika was not trying to avoid any taboos by living alone, she was working very hard to refine the skeleton of that magic beast. Sika ignored the magic alarm even though it had sounded. Other than having ten swordmasters and two grand swordmasters, Lex had also deployed a large number of war puppets in the vicinity.

These war puppets represented half the offensive power of an emblem group. They had similar capabilities to a skeleton soldier, they were not afraid of many physical attacks. Even if their brains were missing, they could still fight under a mage’s command. Sika was not stupid, she would not fight for anyone else except for Saleen. “Let those puppets hold the fort first.”

The area of the Black Rock Mountain was very huge. The place where Saleen and his team had set up camp was on a slightly elevated and narrower terrain, so it was not advantageous for a battle against cavalrymen. Loud and non-uniformed vibrating noises came from the south, unnerving everyone.

Ten swordmasters and two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters had gotten on their skeletal warhorses, while the mages returned to the magic war chariots. The soldiers on the warhorses took out two segments of their spears and connected them, as they waited for Lex to give her orders.

Each one of them were very calm, and Saleen was very envious of that. Back when Saleen led the pirates to battle, the pirates were not of such quality. Even though the pirates were no longer unorganized, they still could not form an army, they were like untrained soldiers.

The clatter of horses’ hooves became clearer. From afar, it looked like a blood cloud tumbling over, dashing towards the camp compound while remaining pasted to the ground.

“Attack!” Lex calculated the right distance swiftly. Even before the enemy could get close, she had commanded her soldiers to launch an attack. Without any hesitation, the two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters led the ten swordmasters and charged out while Wild Bear stayed behind to guard the entrance of the camp compound.

On the battlefield, grand swordmasters were often seen leading elite troops into a fight, but a reserve team would always be prepared. Even though Lex’s reserve team had only one person, she was not worried. Sharp thorns were installed on the metal racks surrounding the camp compound, it would be impossible for the enemy and their warhorses to leap over them.

Twelve riders made a beeline for the blood cloud like a gust of black wind, but the blood cloud actually contained more than one-thousand knights clad in red armor. The knights’ warhorses did not wear any armor, but they were also red in color. Their skin was tattered and torn, as blood dripped from it.

The blood knights from the Holy See had finally appeared, and the pioneer platoon was as big as an emblem group.

Sensing that something was amiss, the two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters tossed their spears while they were still more than a hundred yards away from the enemy. The ten swordmasters followed suit without any reservations. The twelve spears landed accurately on the chests of twelve blood knights. Because of their huge inertias, these spears which were not infused with the Sword Aura easily penetrated the torsos of the blood knights.

The hearts of the twelve blood knights were pierced, then they tumbled off their warhorses. The two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters removed the large shield from the warhorses, then they wielded the double-edged serrated knives. The other ten swordmasters behind wielded their knives simultaneously. In a flash, these soldiers had dashed into the midst of the team of blood knights.

The pungent stench of blood caused the swordmasters to be a little shaken. Fortunately, they were riding on skeletal warhorses which would not be affected. They otherwise would have been thrown off their warhorses.

After the skeletal warhorses were equipped with metal armor, their weight increased by a third. As this tremendous inertia carried the twelve riders into the formation of blood knights, the double-edged serrated knives danced about, slicing the necks of the blood knights. This technique required great skill. If there were no skeletal warhorses, this slicing action would have required immense strength or a great amount of Sword Aura.

Thum… thum…

The sound of war drums could be heard coming from afar. About two miles out, there were holy masters striking war drums, urging the blood knights to carry out a massacre.

The weapons used by this emblem group of blood knights were not uniform, there was an assortment of weapons. After the twelve riders charged into the midst of all those blood knights, they tried to break out of the formation, but they had lost the effect of inertia. As a result, they were sucked into battle.

The two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters discovered the crux quickly. The double-edged serrated knives were more suitable for fighting with a blood knight as compared to a spear. As long as their hearts were not pierced or their heads chopped off, the blood knights could continue battling.

The clatter of the horses’ hoofs became chaotic as Lex’s expression turned ghastly. Her twelve riders were not getting trapped, but it was impossible to delay this emblem group of blood knights. Even if the blood knights were injured, they could still fight.

Whether the user thrusted forward or bent their wrist, the double-edged serrated knife could produce a slashing motion. Lex, however, had too few riders. If she had a brigade of soldiers, the outcome would not have been like this.

Hundreds of blood knights leapt over Lex’s riders, making a beeline for the camp compound.

Lex’s war puppets gathered behind Wild Bear, awaiting the enemy’s assault. These war puppets were almost three yards tall, they would not be at a disadvantage fighting with the blood knights. Even if Wild Bear was not on horseback, he was also more than two yards tall. If he rode on a skeletal warhorse, he would tower over those blood knights.

The poleaxe in Wild Bear’s hands began swaying about. Wild Bear was a little nervous since it was his first time facing such an opponent. Luckily, the war puppets stood behind him, so he did not experience any negative emotions. There was utter silence in front of the camp compound.

Swiftly, the blood knights had reached a position where they were less than one-hundred yards away from the camp compound. The mages scrambled to activate the traps, causing almost half of the blood knights to fall into the magic traps. Ground thorns, swamps, freezing, burning, and other effects emerged. Their blood warhorses moaned in agony as they fell down, but they did not die.

The blood knights who fell into the traps had sustained serious injuries, but under the encouragement of the war drums, they soldiered on desperately.

A magic beast might be scary, but an insane human was more petrifying. Hundreds of blood knights fell into the magic traps, and only dozens of them managed to hold on to their warhorses. The rest of the people dragged their torn limbs while some were on fire, as they continued charging towards the camp compound. Observing the unfolding scene through the fully constructed puppets, Saleen had chills.

It was not known whether the people beneath the red armor were from Tanggulasi or the missing barbarians. These people had long lost control of their will, they had been transformed into puppet-like beings by the holy masters.

A blood knight was like a slain warrior, they endured the magic traps using their physical bodies.

The mages were also stunned. No matter how strong an average person was, they would lose their offensive power the moment they got burnt by magic flames. What magic could be used to deal with these red monsters?!

Lex secretly felt regretful. If she did not subdue the Metal Titan, those low level Fossilization spell scrolls would have been a good weapon to deal with these things.

The reverse charging yielded no effect. The two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters activated the magic arrays in their helmets, then they began giving orders to the ten swordmasters.

“Go back, and chop the heads off the enemies.” Speaking, they ignited the powerful Sword Aura on their bodies, using their shields to strike dozens of blood knights. After paving a road splattered with blood, the two grand swordmasters led the ten swordmasters back to the camp compound.

“Viscountess, we…” A grade-5 mage began, as he wanted to help with the fight.

“Don’t move. The war puppets will be able to handle this emblem group. There are still holy masters behind, I have already detected their damn scents.”

“Okay.” The mages could also feel the power of divinity. A mage never adored a holy master. It was the first time these Qin mages were facing holy masters in a head-on battle though, they did not dare let their guard down.