Badge in Azure

“Head inquisitor?”

“This is not Qin. Even if the three head inquisitors launch their assaults together, Alchemy City will not give a hoot.”

Saleen nodded and said, “Understood. Even if they decide to interfere, we will be dead by then, revenge is meaningless to us.”

“Good that you understand. Once we enter the Purgatory Desert, no one will be able to discover our tracks, they won’t even be able to intercept us at the desert’s periphery. With Black William following us, he can leak our movements to the people from the inquisition. If we do not kill him, we will run into an ambush no matter which direction we travel in.”

“I see. Lex, how fast can you fly?”

“My maximum speed is one-hundred and sixty miles an hour, but it wouldn’t hold out for more than half an hour. My usual speed is one-hundred and twenty miles an hour.”

“Mine’s also around one-hundred and twenty miles an hour.”

Saleen and Lex gave each other a bitter smile. Even though their flying abilities were at the standard of a grade-7 sorcerer, they still could not catch up to Black William. Black William had to be wearing speed-enhancing equipment, otherwise with his powers, he would only be able to fly at a speed between one-hundred and twenty to one-hundred and fifty miles an hour. If Saleen and Lex gave their best shot, they should be able to catch up to him.

“We have to kill him, even if it means offending the three leaders of the inquisition, but we cannot catch him.”

Lex pondered for a moment, then she instructed the two female mages, “Narnia and Kaya, you two will sit in the other chariot, you don’t have to return to this chariot anymore.”

The two female mages were dumbfounded. In that instant, the chariot had slowed down, before gradually coming to a complete stop. Saleen removed the Water Shield, allowing the two female mages to disembark and go into the other chariot.

“Nailisi, what ideas do you have to deal with this Black William?” Lex humbly asked for advice. She had seen in some notes that the special powers of a demon were similar to that of a human. Perhaps, the four demons would have a solution.

By dismissing the mages serving her, Lex had made clear her stance. She knew Nailisi’s identity, but she would not expose Nailisi. The people accompanying her to the Purgatory Desert were her most trusted mages and swordmasters. Those two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters had been protecting Lex since she was a child.

The war chariots started moving again, continuing the journey. In the sky, Black William followed slowly. He was a little astounded that the war chariots were traveling at a speed of forty miles an hour. His flying speed was already faster than that of a grade-8 sorcerer, so he was not worried about losing them. If the chariots entered the desert, the terrain would not be so rugged anymore. By then, even if Black William followed on foot, he could still track them from a long distance away.

Nailisi looked to her left and right, but the four demons simply hung their heads low. Even though the demons were not under many restrictions on the Myers mainland, their forte did not lie in flying. Earlier on, Saleen and Lex had disclosed their flying speeds, which the demons would not even be able to match up to.

In front of Lex, Nailisi was embarrassed to wallop the demons, so she simply snorted as a sign of displeasure at the incompetence of the four demons.

Nailisi was also frustrated. There were demons in the demonic plane who could fly well. In fact, some spirits could only fly and not land. Such spirits would lose most of their offensive power the moment they landed. The problem was, Nailisi required a few days of preparation to summon a demon, and she also could not predict which demon she would summon. It was possible that Saleen and Lex were bankrupt, so no useful demons would be summoned.

The alchemical crossbow could not be used either as Lex had too little manpower. If ten-thousand alchemical crossbows fired at the same time, Black William would definitely be injured. Since there were only ten alchemical crossbows at the moment, there was no point. The arrows were very costly, they should not be consumed unnecessarily.

Eleanor suddenly opened her mouth, and told Saleen, “If you two split up, can you kill that holy master?”

Saleen and Lex glanced at each other, nodding slowly. Either of them had their own method. Other than the God’s Ring, Lex’s family secret arts were already at a certain degree of proficiency, and that power was stronger than her magic. Saleen also possessed the Crystal Finger skill. As long as they snuck up to Black William, they could conduct a sneak attack on him.

Raphael had created a spell like the Crystal Finger, but it had not been circulated around. Even if someone knew about it, they would never expect Saleen to be able to release this level-7 spell since he was only at grade-5. More accurately, the Crystal Finger was a level-8 spell. A grade-7 sorcerer would even need to don special equipment in order to cast the spell once.

“If you two split up, who will Black William pursue?”

“He will come for me,” Lex replied.

“I feel that he will chase me.” Saleen waved his left hand in front of Lex. Black William must have discovered that Saleen’s body contained divinity. This divinity, was the crux to obtaining the seeds of the divine trees.

“Let’s set a trap. I will escape, while you chase me. Once all of you separate, Black William will definitely want to take action.” Eleanor suggested, but Saleen was hesitant.

“Once I use the Crystal Finger, I will be exhausted. If I lower my offensive power, I might not be able to kill Black William. What if Eleanor decides to harm me after I become exhausted?

“Saleen, how confident are you?” Lex asked worriedly. She had the God’s Ring, so even if Black William did not die, she would not be captured by him. She was not sure what secret skill Saleen possessed though.

“If Nailisi is with me, I have absolute confidence.” Saleen left a backup plan, he had to have someone around who could protect him. Nailisi could run very quickly. Even if she piggybacked Saleen, she could still escape from the enemy’s clutches.

“Do we do it or not?” Once again, Lex sought Saleen’s opinion. This operation was risky. If Saleen got into trouble, she would not be confident of opening the temple and obtaining the seeds of the divine trees herself.

“Let’s do it. Eleanor, you have to contribute as well.”

“My bangle…”

“I cannot return it to you, I have given it to Cuisi already,” Nailisi rejected flatly.

Cuisi would of course not return it. Even though he was furious that he had to put on an earring which was transformed from a bangle, that bangle had increased his offensive power. Be it speed, power or mental strength they were increased from it. That bangle had a space for storing items also. It was definitely an equipment above the standard of a godly equipment.

“I need an equipment to help you. Black William is too powerful, he will have holy equipment by his side. He has to be killed in one hit. If he escapes, he will never be deceived again.”

Saleen thought to himself, “A holy master’s attack range is shorter than that of a mage, but for their true combat range, both parties will overlap. No mage will cast a spell from the maximum limit of their combat range. If Black William were to attack me, he would control me from a distance of eighty to one-hundred meters first before attacking. He will not do it within a range of ten meters.

“What equipment are you looking for?”

“What about my other items? The materials I require aren’t found in this world.”

Reluctantly, Nailisi took out all the loot she took from Eleanor’s possession, placing them in the center of the chariot. Eleanor only took a piece of two-foot long dark green wood, and passed it to Saleen. Then she said, “Treat this wood with your alchemy first to remove the impurities. I will give you a drawing, help me to produce a short bow. As long as he uses a Divine spell to attack you, I will be able to use this bow to control his movements.”

Saleen nodded. He received the wood and immediately used the water flames to quench it. The water flames were not really flames, in fact, they were really frigid. Now, Saleen was very familiar with the Water Flame Alchemy. There were no more large tornadoes circling him, and the Snowkill Skill was invisible.

Nailisi quickly put away the other items, causing Eleanor to cackle. If Saleen could produce the Elf Bow according to the drawing, then she was fine with not having the other items. She was a little unwilling to see the bangle go as it was a gift from the marquis though.

Seeing that Saleen immediately started producing the Elf Bow without asking any questions. Eleanor could not help but ask, “Aren’t you afraid of me running away?”

“Run? To where? The inquisition?” Saleen did not stop his work, he simply posed a question to Eleanor.

Eleanor was dejected, she had no home anymore, she was all alone by herself. Saleen’s question had hit the bullseye. As she was probably the only elf on this plane, she had never felt a sense of security wherever she went.

Even though the people around Saleen were vicious, they would not do anything to her. Ever since being imparted with Saleen’s holy prose, Nailisi’s attitude towards her had improved greatly. The Sword Aura Sealing Spell on her body had disappeared, and Jola had stopped prohibiting her abilities. Saleen allowed a grand mage like her to remain by his side, as though he had peace of mind.

“So it is because he knows I have nowhere to go!”

Of course, Saleen knew what it was like being homeless. He also had experience dealing with Nailisi, so it was much simpler for him to handle Eleanor. After all, an elf was not a demon, they would not have any complicated motives.

Saleen also had his own agenda by leaving Eleanor by his side. Other than Daniel, the rest of his mages were from the Sregl Island. These mages could be trusted, but they were given to him by his teacher, and Saleen did not want to keep relying on Jason.

Saleen had observed Eleanor for many days. Eleanor took her tasks seriously, making Saleen very happy. If she could stay with him voluntarily, then he would have an extra grand mage.

Saleen was not totally ignorant about the holy texts. Other than the twenty-four holy prose on the Ring of Gifts, Raphael’s magical tower also had some magic notes which contained an analysis into holy texts. Even though not many were right, it could help Saleen expand his horizons. Eleanor did not lie to Saleen. Saleen could judge for himself that the holy texts he learned were genuine and useful.

From a mage’s perspective, the gods were considered a race too, there was no segregation based on status. It was just that this particular race was infinitely more powerful than the magic beasts. The mages also yearned to learn the knowledge possessed by the gods. Long ago when the humans warred against the gods, their objective might not have been the abilities of the gods.

Eleanor did not continue speculating about Saleen, she began drawing. Some magic arrays needed to be fused with the Elf Bow. Most importantly, the arch of the bow had to be pure in order to allow the power of the elves to be infused into the feather arrows. To increase the might of the Elf Bow, a simpler method would be to refine the relevant feather arrows. That would be much easier than refining the arch of the bow.

The team only stopped traveling when the sky became dark, then they set up camp on the outermost area of the Black Rock Mountain. The terrain there was more tapered. If one traveled farther north, they would arrive at the pure desert region. Black William landed atop a mountain, and from a great distance away, he observed Lex’s swordmasters setting up camp. He surveilled them keenly, trying to identify the weakness of the team.