Badge in Azure

Saleen had seen the four demons in action before, so he knew that the fish beasts did not pose a threat to them, but what about Sika? He was a little worried for her.

After glancing meaningfully at Sika, Saleen left the barrack. Sika followed suit.

“How do you feel about the fish beasts?”

“They are weak, I can handle them with the Roar of the Beast Spirit.”

“What is the Roar of the Beast Spirit?”

“It’s a warrior priestess’ skill, not limited by grade. It has many functions. Look, my warriors can placate the magic wolves even though they are wild, and they don’t attack the Caucasus people frequently. That is just one of the branched skill of the Roar of the Beast Spirit; placating a magic beast.”

“Can you try it out?” Saleen was rarely naggy, but there was too much danger this time around. He was afraid that Sika might get into trouble. No matter how strong a warrior who possessed neither magic nor Sword Aura, was, they would not have too many ways to deal with a colossal number of tiny creatures.

Sika laughed, then said, “Why are you so worried for me, I will tell you if I am in danger. If you are so afraid, we can test it out right here.”

“Okay.” Saleen had a hand full of black sand. This black sand was obtained from the depths of the desert and it had the presence of life. Saleen then grabbed a ball of Restorative Water. The ball of water encompassed the black sand. Soon after, the fish beasts were hatched and they rushed out from the ball of water.

Saleen released a cloud which stuck to his body, as its periphery started burning, causing the fish beasts to go for Sika. Saleen watched nervously, standing ready to lend a hand if needed.

Sika’s lips moved slightly, but Saleen did not hear anything. Immediately, the pouncing fish beasts slowed down. By the time they arrived beside Sika, they no longer had the intention to attack her. After dancing about Sika for a while, the fish beasts then flew into the distance.

Saleen was dumbfounded, then he said, “Why didn’t they bite you?”

“Even the poisonous mosquitoes from the Caucasus region do not bite me. Do you believe me now? In such a situation, the fish beasts will still go berserk if I had attacked them though.”

“That’s enough.” Saleen was jubilant, then said, “As long as you don’t need special protection, I will have peace of mind. In that case, I will leave the battle to the other mages.”

Sika pursed her lips, displaying a gentle smile which was rarely seen. She then extended her hand to caress Saleen’s hair. That layer of flame engulfing Saleen’s hair did not even scald her hand.

“See, the power of a warrior priestess isn’t any weaker than that of a mage.”

Saleen’s mood brightened. Even though his flame was only an evolved level-1 spell, it was still an elemental flame. The fact that Sika remained unharmed despite touching it with her naked hand showed that her power was indeed comparable to that of a mage’s.

“Why are you smiling foolishly?” Sika was puzzled. All the while, Saleen had appeared respectable. Yet his appearance today was somewhat similar to Sika’s.

“I was just thinking that the pressure from the Holy See had been worrying me all this while. It’s my fault that I hadn’t relaxed even for one moment. If the Holy See wants to come, then I will let him come, our lives still have to go on. As long as you are fine, I will be happy.”

Sika pouted, every Caucasus person understood this logic, yet Saleen only figured it out after so many years. Sika was of course overjoyed that Saleen could say something like that. This meant that Saleen, a mage, had been influenced by Sika, who was a Caucasus person. “Does that mean that I have a chance of becoming a nature priestess?”

When Sika thought of this, she also began smiling foolishly.

From a short distance away, Jola was observing them, then he thought to himself, “Why is Saleen smiling so strangely? Aye, I have such a bitter life, there are so many beautiful women around me, but I cannot woo any of them. Nailisi’s subordinates seem fine, but I have a feeling that those women are all very dangerous. Each time they get close to me, my heart rate increases greatly, this is so inconceivable to a Silver Grand Swordmaster.”

Lex’s men were not as lackadaisical as Jola, the Black Metal Grand Swordmasters were very concerned about the current situation as people from the inquisition would definitely enter the desert. It was okay if there were only a few of them. If there were many people from the inquisition, the grand swordmasters were not worried about being captured, they were in fact afraid that these people would become food for the magic beasts in the desert.

Once those fish beasts consumed large amounts of food, they would become mature, which was a terrifying matter. They would be fish who could fly and cast magic on top of having high magic resistance. The worst thing was that no armor could withstand the chewing from this fish. It was not worrying when the fish beasts were young, but the moment they grew up, they could devour a person’s brain with just one bite.

The mages had already explained the features of the fish beasts to the warriors, and everyone also knew how to tackle them. If there were too many fish beasts present, everyone knew that they would not be able to leave the desert alive.

Even though they had pledged their lives to the viscountess, they could not accept having a meaningless death.

The two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters reminded the swordmasters of that. With the Spirit Snake Armor, the swordmasters could use some skills of a grand swordmaster. Without the skills of a grand swordmaster, the swordmasters would have to consume large amounts of Sword Aura to deal with the fish beasts.

Wild Bear was distressed because he was taught by a Black Metal Grand Swordmaster individually, he was taught spearing techniques. While other people used a sword, Wild Bear used a spear because the Qin Eight-sided Sword was like a toy to him. Since a spear had a one-foot long edge, it could also slaughter the fish beasts effectively.

The fish beasts were not omnipresent, it was just that Lex’s camp was coincidentally situated above a dried waterbody currently. Lex had dug out the remaining fish eggs, so there weren’t many beneath them anymore.

These fish eggs were incubated using magic, then they were used to train the soldiers. Very quickly, the swordmasters grasped the technique to shock the fish beasts to death using their Sword Aura as they engaged in adaptive training.

In the beginning, the mages only incubated dozens of fish beasts. Later on, they simply hatched hundreds of them at once to allow the swordmasters to practice.

In the hands of Wild Bear, a gigantic metal spear seemed lightweight and tiny. As he swiped the metal spear, using the thorn-laden blade to slice the thumb-sized fish beasts, he grew bored and depressed.

These things with tough shells made him unable to keep up. As the fish beasts flew in the air, it was an extremely energy-consuming task to kill them with brute strength.

Feeling very dull, Wild Bear told the Black Metal Grand Swordmaster, “I will go seek some advice from Jola.”

That Black Metal Grand Swordmaster was of course more than willing to let Wild Bear go, because he was extremely in awe of Jola’s swordsmanship and his technique of utilizing the Sword Aura. This Black Metal Grand Swordmaster was pretty young, he was only about thirty years old. Jola was younger than him and Jola was already a Silver Grand Swordmaster.

Such a situation was actually commonplace. The cultivation of the Sword Aura was easier to grasp compared to magic, but it was more difficult for one to become an expert. A mage could still rely on years of accumulation, but if a swordsman had not become a swordmaster before reaching the age of twenty, then their achievement would not be too great. If they had not become a grand swordmaster before thirty years old, then it would be impossible for them to advance to a Golden Grand Swordmaster.

Wielding the metal spear, Wild Bear came to Jola and giggled, then said, “Jola, I need something from you.”

“Yes?” Jola had a good impression of Wild Bear, it was easy interacting with such a straightforward person.

“How good is your spear technique? I need a teacher.”

“Are you a high grade swordmaster already?”

“Almost there.” Wild Bear smiled with an honest appearance.

“Stab me with all your might.”

Woo!

Wild Bear was very compliant. As the metal spear produced the sound of air exploding, it had already arrived before Jola. Since Jola allowed him to use all his might, he mustered all his strength. He caused the tip of the spear to sheen with the blinding Sword Aura.

Jola extended his hand, pressing a finger against the tip of the spear. The Sword Aura was dispersed by this. Following that, a section of the steel tip melted, as though it had been scorched by magic flames.

“Do you understand now?” Jola asked.

Wild Bear furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment, then said, “A little.”

“Explain to me what you’ve learned.”

“Your Sword Aura was hidden in your finger, it wasn’t released, and it was more concentrated than mine.”

“Anything else?”

“It seemed like you could predict the path of my attack.”

“Go on.”

“You didn’t initiate the attack. The quality of my Sword Aura isn’t as good as yours, so it got dispersed with a strike.”

“That’s pretty good understanding already, I didn’t know you were so intelligent,” Jola teased. Wild Bear might appear honest, but he could resist ten men after becoming a swordsman. Jola only gave a simple demonstration and he could already decipher so many things.

“What else is there?” Wild Bear asked modestly.

“When your Sword Aura crashed into mine, it got controlled by my Sword Aura. I didn’t release the Sword Aura through my finger, I simply used the crushing power of your Sword Aura to destroy the tip of the spear. If it wasn’t the tip of the spear but a fish beast, I would be able to smash its magic nucleus with my finger, and its exterior shell would be totally useless.”

“With the frequency of the Sword Aura? I haven’t learned it yet.” Wild Bear scratched his head. Lex had hired a good swordsmanship teacher for Wild Bear, so he had a thorough understanding of the Sword Aura and its future developments.

“If you are up against a single creature, you don’t have to grasp all the techniques, you just have to remember one of the frequencies.” The moment Jola explained it to Wild Bear, Wild Bear immediately understood the concept.

Essentially, if the frequency of the Sword Aura could be controlled, a grand swordmaster would be able to destroy any single-layered Magic Shield. In the instant when a weapon came into contact with a Magic Shield, or even before they came into contact, a grand swordmaster would be able to calculate the vibration frequency of the Magic Shield. They would be able to adjust their Sword Aura in order to destroy the Magic Shield.

This skill was extremely difficult to master, it was just like using the Figaro Formula to calculate the weakness of a spell. Most mages could do it, but they could not apply it in battle. The speed of calculation was too low, one would already be dead the moment they managed to deduce it.

Jola could not do it either, however, the structures of the magic beasts were identical. After killing the first fish beast, Jola had already grasped the weakness of the fish beasts. In the future, he just needed to stabilize the frequency of his Sword Aura in order to kill these creatures easily. A mature fish beast would undergo some changes, but that was not a big deal, Jola could simply capture one and study it.

“My weapon is ruined.” Wild Bear said in a depressed tone, as he noticed that the steel tip had melted into a clot.

“Go look for Sir Saleen, he will help you produce a new spear.”

“Really?” Wild Bear was ecstatic. He had long wanted to seek help from Saleen, but he did not dare to. Lex could produce it too, but her method required the use of an alchemy laboratory. Saleen could readily produce weapons and armor.

“Just tell him that I have destroyed your weapon, and Sir Saleen will help you.”

Even before Jola finished his sentence, Wild Bear began striding towards Saleen. He was a man who did things simply. Wild Bear came before Saleen and handed over his spear, as he looked at Saleen with his head lowered.

Saleen suddenly broke into laughter, he had heard everything Jola said. Looking at Wild Bear’s appearance, he also grew fond of Wild Bear. Lex was really good at judging people. Who would not adore such an innocent fellow who was also a genius in swordsmanship?