Badge in Azure

–

Saleen only just realized that except for Cuisi, none of Lex’s subordinates were nearby. Even Su and Jola had been sent flying. Just one hit of that hammer was enough to result in instant death as long as it made contact with one’s body, regardless of any magic defences.

Bain returned to Lex’s side with a grim and gloomy face while she sat on the floor, trying to regulate her breathing. Everyone was injured. The swordsmen who had been blown away by the Meteor Hammer would have been severely handicapped if not for the protection by the Spirit Snake Armor.

“Eleanor, thank you.” At this moment, Saleen understood the value of that one arrow. If Eleanor had not sacrificed ten years of life in exchange for that moment of pause, he would not have been able to strike the Supreme Demon.

Eleanor only smiled indifferently in response. Based on her status, if she were in the elf dimension, she would have been able to replenish her life again with the Fountain of Life. On the Myers Mainland, these ten years of life were gone for good.

The clan badge was a formidable weapon of attack, unfortunately the interval between each time it could be used was even more limited than the God’s Ring. Saleen kept the badge and saw that Nailisi was falling from the sky while retrieving the corpse of the Supreme Demon.

The ground shook again. The Supreme Demon had used a power equivalent to the Forbidden Curse to ensure the stability of the outer dimensions. With its death, the outer dimensions were now starting to collapse. These dimensions were already weak and fragile to begin with, but were kept in balance by very precise and calculated arrangements. The moment the core that maintained this balance was destroyed, it was inevitable that Lorga City would also fall.

The Supreme Demon’s actions had allowed creatures to escape from some dimensions though. Having lost the power given to them by the statue of God, these creatures would not be able to live for long. Now, they had lost all their sanity and had started to kill one another.

“Disciples…”

Saleen felt a tinge of sadness when witnessing this scene. Without religion as a goal, these disciples had all turned into demons.

Sadness aside, Saleen did not have the intention to help them from their predicament. Even though the creatures were killing one another, they would not affect Saleen at all. Smoke and dust was everywhere as the barriers between dimensions opened, creating a buffer between the danger and him. Once the creatures were more or less dead, Saleen would leave.

Lorga, which existed even before the second dynasty had been built, was finally falling. Even with the protection of the Gods, it could not exist forever. Lorga’s demise would come down to something simple; the removal of a statue of God by Saleen.

“Ismail, do you feel any regret?” Saleen could not help but ask.

“Why should I? All this was bound to come to an end.” Ismail’s voice was laced with defeated acceptance, but his expression was stoic and hard.

“So you did not help me just now because you thought I was going to die sooner or later anyway, right?” Saleen’s question caught Ismail off guard. At first, he thought he could escape from Saleen’s control, but after witnessing the bolt of lightning that Saleen could release, Ismail was afraid. He knew that if he angered Saleen enough for him to use that bolt of lightning on him, not even the ashes of his bones would be left behind.

Saleen laughed coldly and said, “That will be the last time.”

“Yes, Master Saleen.” Ismail did not argue. Although he had lived for a very long time, he still failed to comprehend humans’ way of thinking. Saleen was no longer able to use the badge again, so he needed to knock some sense into Ismail.

Faced with Saleen’s threat, Ismail wisely chose to obey. In the near future, if he chose to go against the contract, his physical body would disintegrate and his soul would wander aimlessly. In the long run, he would not be able to return to the purgatory dimension. Basically, he had nowhere to go, now that he was tied to this contract. Mages would be able to locate his position, so as long as he was still in this dimension, he must put up with Saleen’s threats.

The mages led by Lex no longer had any objections towards the collaboration between her and Saleen. No matter what Saleen’s background was at Bitter Water Prefecture, everything was different now.

Everything was more or less what Lex expected as she had always known that Saleen was skilled. What caught her by surprise was how destructive his powers were. Even a grade-10 creature could not survive one blow of that. Initially, she was only interested in Saleen’s background, and if he did not encounter any good mentors, she could take him under her wings and train him into a mage. He would not be anywhere near what he was now without her.

Even if she considered the perspective of a Sikenqinyan, Lex’s gamble was correct. The mages that represented Sregl Island needed to be reputable and were often chosen from Alchemy City. Because of this, Lex’s status was equally important in order to be considered as a mage of Sregl Island.

As long as they needed each other, the opportunity for collaboration would continue to exist.

The dust had settled and more than ten hours had passed before Lorga’s collapse was finally complete. Lex and her companions found their bearings and began to pack up their camp. After boarding the magic chariot and summoning the skeletal warhorses, they began to set off for the north.

With Lex around, the team did not face any issues with logistics as all sorts of resources that they might need could be found within her God’s Ring. As for Saleen, although the Dimension Stone which he possessed did not contain unlimited dimensions, it contained a much larger capacity for dimensions compared to most holy equipment. The scorching heat of the Purgatory Desert would have driven everyone mad otherwise.

Although the Spirit Snake Armor could provide protection, the armor still needed to be removed in order to sleep. The mages could not possibly be using their powers against the sweltering hotness and the bitter cold all the time. The field packs and equipment that Lex had prepared was put to good use on this occasion. Although Saleen was not afraid of the harsh environment, he still chose to follow Jola and Su in wrapping himself up with a blanket.

Instead of staying in the magic chariot, he was riding a skeletal warhorse along with two Silver Grand swordmasters.

Saleen realized that although the magic chariot provided an ideal environment for battle, it was still different from the Magical Tower. In the Tower, mages could undergo self-training in any type of magic. In the magic chariot, his senses and mental strength felt slightly different from normal.

These slight differences could not be felt during battle, but were obvious during self-training. Saleen purposely left the magic chariot in hope of accurately assessing the effects of the magic training that he had undergone recently.

The moment he alighted, Sika wanted to come along too. Saleen whispered in her ear, and eventually only brought Nailisi along, leaving Sika back in the chariot.

Even though temperatures were low while travelling at night, it was definitely more bearable than the scorching heat of the day.

Nailisi followed behind Saleen while the flying dragon trudged slowly ahead, with Ismail still on its back. Although it was awkward, it was dangerous to fly in the Purgatory Desert, so the six-legged flying dragon had no choice but to travel on foot.

About three and a half miles behind Saleen’s team, two Supreme Court adjudicators and two wardens were traveling with much difficulty. Delase and Fanyin counted themselves to be extraordinarily unlucky. They were leading about ten other wardens towards the north when they suddenly met with a sandstorm. Everyone tried to hide underground but the moment they entered the sand, the attack came unexpectedly.

The thing that troubled the two of them most was that the strongest Zun Grand swordmaster had died in the attack. Now they were left with two wardens that had survived by sticking to them closely. As they possessed the Divine Crystal, they managed to survive the attack by using Divine spells. Once the sandstorm blew over, almost no one else was left for them to lead. At this point, it was impossible to leave the desert simply because they had completely lost their directions.

Arrogance was a trait shared by Delase and Fanyin, so they chose to follow Lex’s team into the desert. In the end, not only did they not catch up with her, they lost almost all of their companions during the journey.

Out of anger, both of them made up their minds to bring along the remaining two wardens and flew at a low height for more than a hundred miles before reaching Lorga City.

They tried to enter the city, but could not find the city gates. They then tried to climb over the city walls, but were almost killed by the defences mounted on them. With no other choice, they decided to rest outside the city gates for the day. In the middle of their sleep, Lorga City began to collapse.

Delase and Fanyin lost their drive and escaped as far away as possible. When they finally decided to return to investigate, they saw Lex’s team a very long distance away. The range at which the God’s Eye could measure distance was extremely wide. When Lorga City fell, all its surrounding restrictions had also vanished. The two of them followed behind, but did not dare to get too close.

If this was anywhere else but the desert, they would have been discovered long ago. In an environment such as the Purgatory Desert, Lex was unable to release the Flying Puppets for patrolling purposes. The team could only depend on her senses and the scope for patrolling was limited to a mile because of that.

As far as Delase and Fanyin were aware, Lex definitely possessed the Alchemy Binoculars. They decided to keep at least three miles between them, for fear of rousing her attention.

As of now, more than five-hundred wardens had already died. If a battle were to start, the two of them had little confidence that they would win. Although they were not aware that the city that had collapsed was Lorga, what was certain was that the city that they had failed to enter was the same one that Lex’s team managed to escape from. There must be something that their team possessedthat the two of them did not.

This pursuit was tough for the two Holy See adjudicators. Lex and her companions were riding chariots and horses at about twenty miles an hour. This was an extremely fast speed considering they were traveling in the desert. As for the two of them, they could only travel on foot. They did not dare to use any Divine spells for fear of being discovered by Saleen, even if they were ten miles apart.

The physical body condition was essential for the use of low-level Divine spells. Compared to mages, the physical bodies of Holy Masters were relatively weaker. On top of that, the two of them had not been training their bodies for many years, so this pursuit had been extremely tough thus far.

“Why don’t we borrow power to kill Lex before forcing the other mages to tell us the location of the temple?” Delase spoke with hatred in his voice. He was lying in a prone position on top of a sand dune, observing that the team had stopped and was starting to set up camp.

“Borrow power? Are you saying…,” Fanyin almost agreed, but feeling that something was amiss, said, “Have you forgotten how Genesis died?”

Delase was speechless. Although they looked down on the Oracle, it was able to use the Lord of Glory’s godly punishment, which was one of the most powerful attacks of the Holy See. It was killed by Lex’s counterattack instead though.

“We just need to follow them until they reach the temple and reveal their location to the head inquisitor. I am sure he will pardon us for our mistakes in the past.” Fanyin had wrapped his body with a thick layer of fur as the low-level Divine spell was unable to eliminate the cold completely.

Delase suddenly jerked his head downwards just as a mage in the camp raised the Alchemy Binoculars towards their direction. Even with a distance of more than three miles between them, a mage that was using the binoculars would be able to see his face clearly.

At this moment, Delase could barely suppress his frustrations. The other party was resting in warm tentages while he could only sleep in the open. The other party had skeletal warhorses that could gallop on for a full day and night before resting for more than ten hours straight while he had to stick closely to their schedule, so much so that he did not even have time to relieve himself.