Badge in Azure

The sandstorm appeared unusually fast. If Lex was not prepared by designing such a metal house beforehand, everyone would have been exterminated in the sandstorm no matter how powerful they were.

The atmosphere in the room was very tense. Black sand particles pounded the exterior of the metal house. The mages were silently calculating. They were calculating how long the metal in the house could hold out for.

“This is the material used for making the giant shields wielded by the war puppets, with an additional ten-thousandth of copper and two hundred and forty-thousandth of thorium. It has a thickness of half a yard. The innermost layer contains only stainless steel, with a thickness of half a centimeter though.” Lex provided the specific details of the metal house.

“If the sandstorm doesn’t stop, this house will be able to last for six hours.” Saleen was the first to calculate the duration.

The rest of the mages heaved a sigh of relief, it was impossible for a sandstorm to last for six hours. Even if a sandstorm did last for six hours, it would not remain at one location.

“Something outside is attacking the house.” Nailisi pressed her ear to the wall, listening intently.

Everyone’s faces changed. It was not strange for a magic beast to be able to detect signs of life behind a half-yard thick wall of metal. The scary thing was that the magic beast attacking the house might have originated from the sandstorm.

How strong would a magic beast have to be in order to survive in a sandstorm? Saleen knew that a grade-9 mage could, but a grade-9 magic beast might not be able to do so. A mage was human, possessing intelligence, they could use many techniques which a magic beast did not possess. The world was not ruled by strength. The magic nucleus of a grade-9 magic beast could definitely store more energy than a grade-9 mage’s magic chords, but a grade-9 magic beast would not be able to kill a grade-9 mage.

“Not to worry. A fish can swim by nature, even though humans have learned swimming, they will never match up to a fish. That magic beast outside might be one that can live in a sandstorm naturally.” Noticing that everyone was fearful, Lex quickly reminded them.

Ka…ka…

The creature outside kept chewing at the metal house. This magic beast should not be able to swallow metal. After a long time of biting the mages did not realize anything amiss with the vibrations of the wall.

Had the magic beast bitten a deep hole in a certain part, there would have been changes to the vibration frequency. The magic beast might be ferocious, but it could not swallow metal, so everyone was relieved.

The chewing noises suddenly stopped. Even though the sand particles continued their assault on the wall, the surroundings appeared abnormally quiet. Out of the blue, there was a raucous boom. The mages managed to control the soundwaves in time, otherwise everyone would have fainted due to the impact. An unknown thing had attacked the metal house, causing the house to roll about.

A protrusion appeared on one face of the wall.

This time around, Lex could not maintain her cool anymore. The metal house was attached to the underground chain, while the end of the chain was already solidified with black sand that was melted by fire magic. It was solid as a rock, yet this attack managed to tear the chain apart.

Ra!

A desolate noise filled the air, but then it got further and further away. Now that the metal house had lost the stabilization provided by the chain, it was sucked into the sandstorm and was now flying in the air. This horrifying power was actually more powerful than a sea storm.

In the deep sea, a storm could capsize a more than two-hundred yard long warship from Cloudflow. This sandstorm could cause a metal structure to fly through the air though.

At that moment, the difference in everyone’s power was evident. Bain could still stand on two feet on the floor despite the overturning house. He was like a metal statue which had been drilled into the ground.

Lex stood upright while leaning against Bain. It was unclear whether she was relying on her own strength or receiving help from Bain, but she looked very composed.

Wild Bear pierced his spear into the ground, as his gigantic palms gripped onto the pole, preventing himself from rolling about. Jola also stood rooted to the spot calmly, but he was very nervous.

Nailisi supported Saleen, while Saleen was pulling onto Sika. They were three people and six legs clasping tightly on the ground, yet there were three different powers in use at that moment.

Nailisi’s shoes were transformed with the shapeshifting skill. In actual fact, she was barefoot. At that moment, her nails had stabbed into the metal flooring, so she was extremely stable. On the other hand, a layer of ice had appeared underneath Saleen’s feet, freezing him to the ground. Sika simply grabbed onto the both of them, not even using an ounce of strength. Her body was like glue, soft and fluid, as she pasted herself to the ground. Sika was using a technique Saleen was unaware of.

The two Black Metal Grand Swordmasters had flipped out the thorns on their boots as they did with their gloves. They leaned against the wall, with their four limbs in a fixed position. The swordmasters were prostrate on the ground, using the magic array on their Spirit Snake Armor to stick themselves securely to the ground.

The four demons followed the swordmasters and prostrated themselves on the ground. They were very clear-headed, the positions they were in coincidentally surrounded Saleen.

The worst was Eleanor. She had used earth magic, raising a rock spear from the ground. She simply hugged onto this rock spear to stabilize herself.

Lex glanced at Saleen, she was very familiar with this feeling. Back in Raphael’s magical tower, the both of them had walked through a very long passageway after entering the metal pillar. In the passageway, both of them were rolling over one another as they slid through and Lex had created a mess by vomiting.

As Lex looked for Saleen, she realized that he was looking at Eleanor and felt a little disappointed.

Even though Eleanor had the abilities of a grade-5 mage, her body was not as strong as Lex’s, it was tough for her to be hugging onto a rock spear. It was not known as to when the sandstorm would end. Since the metal house was sucked into the sandstorm, it was impossible to wait for it to pass by anymore. It was possible that the house would fly for a protracted duration.

Saleen decided to bless Eleanor with the Water Shield. A giant bubble engulfed Eleanor along with that rock spear. Even though earth spells could be cast, the house was metal. The house was currently in the air, so any earth spells would be dispersed quickly.

After Saleen blessed Eleanor with a Water Shield, he released another twelve ice thorns to encompass Eleanor.

The rock spear crumbled at that moment. The gigantic bubble formed by the Water Shield rocked about the twelve ice thorns a few times before freezing firmly together with them.

Eleanor nodded gratefully at Saleen. Even though such a tumble could not really hurt her, it was true that she did not have any good countermeasures for it. If she were to roll about haphazardly in front of a group of swordmasters it would be shameful.

The metal house was suspended in air for about an hour before smashing to the ground with a thud. Everyone was prepared, so no one got hurt. After the mages cast the Chunlin Spell, the swordmasters who fell in a regulated fashion soon regained their consciousness. Their fatigue was also removed.

Fortunately, none of the people vomited.

“How do we get out?” Saleen asked Lex. The metal house was built in a modular format, so it was tightly sealed, even water could not seep in. If it was not for the mages casting wind magic to create fresh air, everyone would have suffocated inside. A mysterious creature had struck the exterior of the house, deforming one side of the wall.

It was impossible to use magic to unlock the metal house anymore. Lex laughed bitterly, then said, “It’s up to you.”

The remaining people could grind the wall away, it was just that Saleen’s water flow would not consume many magic chords, and was quicker. Since there might be danger outside, everyone had to maintain their offensive powers.

Saleen slapped the gourd hanging around his waist, and a green water flow flew out, and began drilling a hole in the wall. The hardness and strength of this metal wall was similar to that of the metallized steel rocks in the temple. Nevertheless, Saleen only needed half an hour to cut a one yard square opening.

Two swordmasters crawled out swiftly, followed by Wild Bear.

The mages were the last to exit. When Saleen left the metal house, he felt fortunate when he saw the situation outside the structure. The black sand particles had worn away almost half of the extremely sturdy metal wall. It would have been impossible for him to make an opening so quickly otherwise.

That also meant that everyone’s calculations were wrong. The metal house had only been in the sandstorm for less than two hours, yet half of its thickness was gone by then. If the sandstorm lasted for four hours, the black sand would have definitely penetrated the house.

“Something is amiss!” Nailisi looked up to the sky, and there were clouds. The clouds were thin, but the strange thing was that the sun could not be spotted. It was not strange to see clouds in a desert because there sometimes was rainfall. It was broad daylight but there was no sun though. This caused Saleen to feel like he had returned to the hell of god’s punishment. Everything around him had become unfamiliar.

The thin clouds were converging towards each other. Lex turned around to look at that colossal metal house. Saleen immediately understood that the metal was very expensive. The house was too huge, and given Lex’s mental strength, she could not store the whole thing.

“I will segment it, you can calculate our bearings.”

Saleen wasted no time, he continued using the water flow to dissect this lifesaving metal house. Lex took out the magic compass, trying to determine their current position. She realized that the needle of the magic compass was turning about chaotically, it was impossible to measure a set of definite coordinates.

The warriors had scouted the surroundings, there was currently no danger. In front of them was a huge crater. The terrain there was similar to that of Gobi, the black sand was very shallow.

Lex immediately took out the magic war chariots and instructed the mages to go onboard first. Saleen also seized the opportunity to release the skeletal warhorses. Lex then took out the remaining dozen war puppets. The war puppets would act as cannon fodder, protecting everyone at the periphery.

“Our bearings cannot be calculated.”

“What do you mean by that?” Saleen’s hands never stopped working, they were still segmenting the metal.

“The compass has malfunctioned as there is no sun. I can’t even calculate the coordinates using the other method.”

Every mage who knew alchemy would have a magic clock. If the sun could be seen, they would be able to calculate their geographical coordinates by referring to the sun’s position and the current time. There was no sun at the moment though.

“Are we lost?”

“Whether or not we are lost, we have to leave at once.” Lex looked at the yet to be segmented metal house with much pain, the pieces of armor that house could create! Even if the copper and thorium were extracted from the metal, it was still a sizeable fortune.

If everyone cooperated, the metal house could be segmented instantly. The depleted Sword Aura and magic chords could not be replenished immediately though. The clouds were gathering though, the moment it rained, there was a possibility that there were billions of fish eggs in the huge crater up ahead.

“Saleen… leave it.” Lex turned around and glanced at it with much reluctance, then she boarded the magic war chariot. Now was not the time to be stingy.

Saleen was also helpless. It was precisely because the quality of the metal was too good that he could not segment it swiftly. If it was normal raw steel, or preliminary steel ingots, his level-4 water flow could cut them like blocks of wood.

The wind brought along traces of water vapor. Saleen withdrew his water flow, then dragged Sika and Nailisi aboard the magic war chariot.

What ought to be given up, had to be given up.