Badge in Azure

“This won’t do!” Saleen yelled to Lex.

“Mm, let me think about it.” Lex was also frustrated. It seemed like the number of dwarf demons remained astronomical. Saleen and her had already used one-hundred intermediate level scrolls.

There was already a low quantity of group attack spell scrolls to begin with, and Lex had left a huge batch of them in Bitter Water Prefecture and Metatrin City. She only brought along slightly over a hundred of them. Saleen had a ton of blank scrolls, but he did not have as many completed scrolls as Lex.

These dwarf demons seemed like they could not be extirpated and they were not afraid of death. They were simply a bunch of hob meat. Even if one massacred all of them, they would sustain substantial losses too. The armor worn by the dwarf demons was originally left behind by the goddess for Saleen and the rest, but they now had to pay such a huge price to obtain it.

“If the area of the underground palace was as big as the one on the surface, then it wouldn’t be weird to spot hundreds of thousands of dwarf demons. The area of the temple is too colossal and the goddess had left behind too many rations. The dwarf demons have been able to reproduce without any worries, they must have filled the underground palace to the brim already.”

“Why are there creatures like the dwarf demons in this world?!” Lex almost had the urge to lash out at someone.

“Saleen, I will do it with Cuisi. Let Bain deal with the stronger one,” Sika requested out of her own initiative.

Saleen hesitated for a moment, then said, “Bring along the fully constructed puppets, I will be more than fifty yards away from you.”

Lex did not waste any more time talking, she immediately released six fully constructed puppets. Sika nodded at Cuisi. Rousing his whip, Cuisi swooped downwards.

Lex immediately flew into the hole in the ceiling, using magic to create a landing spot, then she began meditating. She had to regain her mental strength.

Cuisi’s plan was very simple. He used the whip to entrap one dwarf demon, before using it as a meteor hammer. A sixteen yard long meteor hammer was brandished, creating an empty space for Sika at the same time. Only a demon like Cuisi would possess almost the same amount of strength as Sika. Sika was now a nature priestess, her strength was not actually very useful in this situation.

Sika’s magic beast skeleton landed on the ground, its wings retracting at the same time. Riding atop, Sika’s legs could straddle the magic beast skeleton, like a pair of stirrups. All six fully constructed puppets were either behind or next to Sika. Sika swayed her cudgel about, making a beeline for the densest formation of dwarf demons.

Cuisi got out of the way, waving his whip about, helping Sika fend off the blows coming from the rear. Occasionally, one or two dwarf demons would slip through, but they would be obstructed by the six fully constructed puppets.

Sika’s dashing speed was not fast. When the dwarf demons finally noticed that the enemy was coming for them, they hollered wildly, waving their dozen pounds heavy metal warhammers at Sika.

Sika’s beast skeleton only had a four yard long body, but its tail was over six yards in length. Not knowing fear, the dwarf demons lunged at Sika. Unexpectedly, Sika’s beast skeleton opened its mouth wide, it thrashed forcefully and devoured the dwarf demons one by one. No armor could withstand the razor sharp teeth of Sika’s beast skeleton, a bite from it would result in thorough penetration through the armor.

Sika actually dashed into the midst of the dwarf demons, the cudgel in her hand danced in the air, smashing recklessly to the left and right. No dwarf demons could get close to her body. With six fully constructed puppets securing the rear, Sika did not even need to turn around, she only needed to tap into the power of the earth to smash the dwarf demons with her weapon.

There were simply too many dwarf demons, so there was no room for skills anymore.

Thrashing their way out, the six fully constructed puppets and Cuisi charged ahead valiantly. Sika turned her beast skeleton around, and began killing inwards. After two rounds of this, bodies were strewn across the ground, at least one-hundred dwarf demons were slaughtered by Sika’s cudgel, while those struck by the fully constructed puppets suffered grave injuries. No matter how powerful their recovery abilities were, the dwarf demons would not be able to fight for the time being.

A fully constructed puppet required a mage’s command. Even though Saleen had gifted the Power of Life to the fully constructed puppets, they were not truly intelligent creatures. Most of the dwarf demons did not die, those who did were simply unlucky to have gotten fatally struck by a weapon weighing more than one-hundred pounds.

Sika only attacked in one direction, conserving much of her physical strength. No matter how strong she and how powerful the magic beast skeleton was, she would also get fatigued otherwise. The repeated trips caused the fully constructed puppets to deplete their magic nuclei first.

Lex’s fully constructed puppets were not mosaicked with the dragonshard. So, Saleen had no choice but to take the risk and land on the ground. Under Cuisi’s protection, Saleen helped change the magic nuclei in the fully constructed puppets.

After meditating for half an hour, Lex decided to swap places with Saleen. Saleen actually did not want to do that, but he still allowed Lex to take over his task.

Saleen did not consume much of his magic chords and mental strength, but he was feeling nervous. If he did not rest, he would also get exhausted eventually. After an hour, the two of them would switch places and one would begin meditating. The situation was finally looking up.

Enduring two hours of battle, the fully constructed puppets were now covered in scars. Fortunately, the fully constructed puppets could resist blunt weapons better than magic sharp weapons. Sika and Cuisi did not get exhausted, but against an endless stream of dwarf demons, Cuisi was a little bored. Bain never took any action all this while, he was hiding atop the wall. He did not sustain serious injuries from that hit by the tall dwarf demon, if such a dwarf demon appeared again, it would be best for him to handle that.

No one could replace Cuisi, so Cuisi tried to let the fully constructed puppets fight most of the time. He did not attack voluntarily so that he could limit the consumption of strength.

Saleen was not skiving either. He had discovered a weakness of the dwarf demons; their fingers. Armor created by dwarf demons was not like those metal armor crafted by the humans. The fingers portion of their armor was a pair of gloves sewn from beast skin, while the back of the glove was fused with metal pieces. Saleen realized that his own water flow could easily severe the fingers of a dwarf demon. He frequently landed to use the Icicle spell to attack those dwarf demons.

Saleen was most skilled in the Icicle Spell, it could be cast instantaneously and enjoyed a quick release. The depletion by a level-1 spell was negligible to a grade-5 mage. When an icicle hit a dwarf demon’s hand, it could not penetrate the metal pieces, but could freeze them. This caused the frozen fingers to be stuck to the warhammer. Consequently, the swaying action would cause the fingers to break away and the warhammer to slip from their grip.

The more Sika battled, the more valiant she got. The magic beast skeleton under her would frequently activate its wings. The three pairs of its bone wings were like razor sharp long blades, all dwarf demons in their path would be sliced into two pieces.

The magic beast skeleton had at least been struck ten-thousand times by the dwarf demons, but it remained undamaged. If it was not for its low frequency of attack, Sika could actually have set it free to battle with the dwarf demons individually. Whenever a dwarf demon’s warhammer landed on the magic beast skeleton, it would simply bounce off. Some of the mutated dwarf demons possessed too much strength, which actually caused their metal warhammers to be smashed out of shape.

The level of consumption was not low at all. Under such intense fighting conditions, the six fully constructed puppets would require a change of magic nuclei every ten minutes. Saleen could not bear to use high level magic nuclei, so he could only use intermediate level magic nuclei to power the puppets.

Saleen also noticed that Sika was not in any danger. Several powerful dwarf demons which emerged were all assassinated by Bain. The elderly assassin did not sustain any serious injuries either, he could still carry on fighting. The only upsetting thing was that a huge quantity of magic nuclei had to be consumed in order to guarantee safety, which was similar to expending scrolls.

After eight hours of battle, Sika finally could not endure any longer, she got a little exhausted. Even though it was much easier controlling the magic beast skeleton as compared to a mage controlling a puppet, eight hours of battle would also cause one to feel fatigued. Sika was not injured, thanks to the ridiculously low level of intelligence of the dwarf demons, none of them actually thought of tossing their warhammers at her.

If Sika was soaring in the air, they would toss their warhammers upwards. On the ground, they would only charge forward barbarically, it was totally unmethodical.

If there were hundreds of metal warhammers flying in madness, it would be much more horrifying than magic stone cannons.

Steering the magic beast skeleton, Sika flew up, then she climbed out of that hole and rested in the upper palace. Everyone followed Sika and left. It was much easier guarding this hole compared to the gates below.

“How many were killed?” Sika was panting a little as she sat down on the floor immediately. Putting away her weapon, she took out a small bottle and swallowed some medicine. The medicine of the Caucasus people was really precious. It had originated from the mysterious highlands, an extremely frigid region. Its effect was mightier than a mage’s magic medicine, but its level of production was very low. It could not be made commonplace.

“At least twenty-three-thousand I guess.” Saleen did not keep track either.

“One-hundred-fourteen-thousand and sixty of them.”

“Ah?” Hearing Lex’s words, even Sika herself was astounded.

“I mean including the ones killed by Saleen and I,” Lex replied in slight exasperation. Magic could massacre a huge number of dwarf demons. Sika was courageous and skilled, but no one would know how many more days were needed in order to exterminate the dwarf demons.

“Lex, don’t be discouraged, if our army can don the armor of those dwarf demons, then the goddess’ wishes can be easily fulfilled,” Saleen consoled Lex.

“I know that, but we have left Metatrin City for too long, I am afraid of any changes that might have happened. To go back to Metatrin City, we have to get to the desert, it is impossible to establish a teleportation portal to the outside world here.”

“The three kings are holding the fort, everything is fine unless a grade-9 expert is personally involved.” Even though Saleen said that, he felt worried. “It has been over six months since we left, can Daniel control the three kings?”

Boom!

A fully constructed puppet brandished its square ax, sending a dwarf demon who climbed out of the hole back to the ground. Lex came to the hole, then cast an Earthwall spell.

The dwarf demons had begun scaling the walls. If someone was assigned to guard the hole, they would get annoyed eventually.

Back at the foot of the mountain, several months after Lex had left, those mages had already gotten impatient. Nailisi sat on the sidelines, not feeling anxious at all. If Saleen was in danger, even if he was in another plane, she would also be able to detect it. When those few mages were discussing about going up to look for Lex, Nailisi would only shake her head in response.

“Master wants me to stay here, I will never leave.”

“What about Cuisi?” a mage probed.

“Are you the one in charge?” Nailisi rolled her eyes, treating the mage with disdain.

That mage was hopping mad. He had never been disparaged by anyone, even Lex treated him politely. When that mage considered the fact that Nailisi might be a demon and there were two Silver Grand Swordmasters next to her, he made a wise move not to hurt her.

“I will go up myself, you won’t be able to do anything to stop me,” the mage said spitefully.

“Go ahead. If you run into any enemies along the way, don’t get killed, the others will have to be my witness,” Nailisi replied with a cackle.

This mage was demoralized. Cuisi was gone, and Lex’s subordinates had been withholding their curiosity about Cuisi’s whereabouts. “If Cuisi is hiding in ambush up ahead, and I go forth alone, I might not be able to triumph over a demon.”

“Nailisi…” Seeing that the situation was deadlocked, Jola wanted to advise Nailisi because he knew that the cooperation with Lex was very important to Saleen, but Nailisi glared ferociously at him. Jola was rendered speechless in that instant. Even if he was not afraid of Nailisi’s ability, he also would not offend a beauty for the sake of Lex’s subordinates.