Badge in Azure

Four-thousand men and horses continued on their journey. There was a special presence in the company, a grade-6 mage, who was under constant protection by two black metal grand swordmasters. This mage wore a magic robe with three rows of symbols and a clan badge. This was a mage from a noble family and he carried himself with composure and arrogance.

Aside from the two black metal grand swordmasters, there was also a large group of soldiers within the regiment designated to protect this mage. It was clear that this mage was of a very high status as he was being protected in the same way as a sorcerer.

Bringing up the rear were many auxiliary soldiers who were in charge of looking after the large-scale and moderate-scale equipment that the army had brought along. These soldiers possessed decent fighting abilities and were much stronger than most mercenaries. Other than the noises made by the rumbling of the wheels, the entire army was silent throughout their journey. This was a very powerful army.

If one could recognize the clan badge on the mage’s chest, one would realize that one of the six biggest Dukes of Holy Rock City’s House of Commons belonged to this clan.

There were a total of twelve Dukes in Holy Rock City’s House of Lords and House of Commons who governed the city’s military and financial affairs. Every Duke’s clan had a very rich heritage. This grade-6 mage was young and was not even forty years old. It was clear that he was groomed by his clan to become a mage. His clan badge was the symbol of a white rose.

The white rose clan had a longer history than even the Qin Empire and had held a very important position in Holy Rock City since the country was built. Even if he was not a mage, the regiment leader would not dare to order him around. It was the mage’s idea to travel with the army.

It was a good thing that although Qin mages could be overbearing, they would not cause any delay to military matters. This mage from the white rose clan would never try to influence the regiment leader’s orders or try to take action on his own. If the regiment leader needed him to take any action, it could be discussed. If the mage felt confident with what the regiment leader was requesting, he would do his best.

Arrogance was part of his nature, but that did not mean that he did not care about relations. He decided to serve the army mainly to bring honor to his clan.

In the city patrol headquarters of Holy Rock City was a room with faint light that had been sealed up. A young man had been locked up inside this room. He was extremely anxious. “It has already been a day, why is there no reply?” After escaping from Green Dragon Stone and personally delivering the news to Holy Rock City, he expected to be hosted at the military hall under the House of Commons minimally and not locked up in the city patrol headquarters.

These were two different offices that governed very different things. This young man was a professional assassin. He had chanced upon the massacre that the Holy See was carrying out at Green Dragon Stone. He eventually managed to escape to bring this piece of news to Holy Rock City. He had thought that he would be rewarded handsomely, possibly even being given the title of a Baron.

The moment he entered the city, he was captured by the patrolling soldiers. He did not even have the chance to meet anyone from the royal swordsmen camp.

The door suddenly opened and light shone through. The young assassin tensed. A middle-aged man with a tall and strong build entered. This person grew a short moustache and seemed to be a person of power.

For some reason unknown to the young assassin, he felt extremely fearful of this man that had just entered. He stood up and almost instinctively struck the man.

“Don’t be nervous. I heard that you bring a very important piece of news and I am here to personally assess it.”

“You are?”

“I am from the Prince’s mansion.”

“Your Majesty, the news is very important, but I’m afraid that it is too late. Green Dragon Stone was attacked by many men of the Holy See and it should be a bloody mess by now. All the inhabitants and some merchants that were unfortunate to be passing by were all killed.”

“How did you escape?”

“I am an assassin and I was outside of Green Dragon Stone.”

“Do you have any companions?”

“No, I am not affiliated to any clans,” the young assassin answered honestly. He thought he was about to be recruited by this middle-aged man. Noble families often took in some assassins to help them settle matters that required underhanded methods.

“That’s good,” the middle-aged man laughed. He flicked his finger lightly and a beam of golden sword aura pierced through the young assassin’s head.

The young assassin’s corpse slowly crumbled to the floor. The middle-aged man left the room and said to the person in charge of city patrol who was waiting outside, “Those that have seen this young man, secretly transfer them to the House of Commons’ military intelligence department. I don’t want to have to kill you so please forget whatever happened here.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” His face was covered in sweat. He knew why Prince Safilos did what he did, hence he also understood that if he could not keep the secret, his whole family would be killed for sure. Those that would be transferred to military intelligence department would be killed off sooner or later while ‘carrying out their missions’.

The Prince was kind enough not to add on any crimes to these soldiers’ names so that after their death, their families would still be well-taken care of. Looks like he would not have to die, as long as he could keep his mouth shut.

Even Prince Safilos came down personally to settle this messenger, so all he had to do was to pretend that this messenger never existed.

This little mess in Holy Rock City had been settled and no one would bring it up again. The assassin would never know the reason behind his death. He did what he did for the Qin Empire. Safilos did not even ask him any significant questions before killing him directly. Meanwhile, the men from Holy See were setting up the gigantic array…

The army of more than four-thousand men was closing in on Green Dragon Stone. Even though they were traveling with their baggage and supplies, they were less than one-hundred miles away and would reach in three hours. The road was flat so the carriages would travel at a very high speed.

The six gigantic rocks around Green Dragon Stone that were as tall as mountains had turned back into their original colors. It was as if they were looking down on Green Dragon Stone that was still engulfed in white fog. The areas that had been totally enveloped by white fog now looked like a small city of white fog. On top of the city walls were soldiers that were created from white fog. They looked unusually real and concrete, except for the wisps of fog emanating from the surface of their skin. The armor that they wore was still in metallic color.

Genesis was a method that God used for creation. Other than the fact that these creatures would not have a soul, everything else would become more and more real.

The over four-thousand soldiers entered the area, but steered clear of the small city of white fog. They began to set up their formation one mile away. The auxiliary soldiers began to construct all sorts of puppets and catapults while the heavy-armored knights led the frontline and the warhorses rested at the side. Once anyone from within the city tried to destroy the magic gadgets, the heavy-armored knights would charge forward and kill them off.

Although it was already night, the auxiliary soldiers still worked close to perfection. Magic lights had been placed around them to provide them with some light. The auxiliary soldiers were familiar with every component of gadgets and their serial numbers and how they were supposed to be constructed. The five catapults were completed the fastest, followed by the ten stone-armored puppets. These were the cheapest kinds of puppets as they were made entirely from rock materials. The mage would give them a boost at the very end so that they could fight for up to ten minutes.

Once the eight-yard tall stone-armored puppets had been completed, the mage began to infuse magic into the materials so that they would not be destroyed by the enemy so easily. These rock materials were not very stable after all.

After that, the soldiers would fit the puppets with even more gadgets. They were soon carrying metal hammers or projectile weapons such as spears, stones, and magic bombs. The captain did not wish to risk his soldiers’ lives so he decided to attack with catapults first before sending the puppets in to wreak havoc.

Once a safe area has been cleared, the soldiers would enter. Now, the mage would be able to plan what magic he would want to use, but first he must clear up the fog.

The red Bishop discovered the enemy outside of the Genesis’ array. The attack had already begun. The magic catapults began to hurl magic rock bombs that had been combined with some magic burning bombs. The fog began to burn. The red Bishop knew that it would be difficult to complete his mission now unless he launched an attack on his own to cut open the metal house. The enemy on the outside refused to enter while he was unable to destroy those that had been trapped inside.

Just as the red Bishop was deep in thoughts, a witcher spider was approaching him from the statue behind and was baring its fangs. With a leap, it glided silently onto the red Bishop’s back. He turned around violently. There was no time to cast a high-level protection rune. He stretched out one hand and pierced through the witcher spider’s eyes.

If this was a real witcher spider, the Bishop’s finger would have burst the spider’s brain, except that this was a puppet. The witcher spider’s legs grew sharp hair that cut the red Bishop’s finger. They were able to destroy magic and could even easily overcome a grade-4 magic shield.

Saleen felt pain in his head. He immediately cut off his mental connection to the witcher spider that he was controlling. The spider fell onto the floor and its actions became a bit rigid.

The red Bishop’s finger became numb and began to bleed immediately. He was horrified to see that the blood that was oozing out of his finger was dark green in color. “What kind of poison is this? I was blessed by the Gods!”

The red Bishop acted decisively. He pinched his injured finger and pulled hard. The entire finger was torn off, but the stump where his finger originally was was still bleeding dark green blood.

The red Bishop’s heart turned cold. He drew a half-sword from his waist. It was a holy equipment. He cut off his entire arm with the half-sword. Due to the effect of holy equipment, there was little blood at the location where he made the cut, but the blood was still dark green in color. The red Bishop felt faint momentarily. If he cut even higher, he might as well cut off his head.

He could still use divine spells to restore an arm but not his head. Reviving using divine spells required a complete body and not a headless one. He took out a small bottle, crushed it, and stuffed the pill into his mouth. Soon, the red Bishop collapsed on the floor and he never opened his eyes again.

It was forgivable for the red Bishop to die at the hands of a puppet that was modified by Joey. The poison that Saleen used was extremely limited. A few hundred dried leaves would only produce one drop of poison. Saleen was the only one who could create this poison because he was the only one who possessed a dried divine tree. He was also the only one with an elf as one of his followers.

If it was anyone else, the red Bishop could not have been killed by such a sneak attack. No matter how powerful a poison was, it would not be able to kill a grade-7 holy priest so quickly if it did not contain elements of divinity.

Grade-7 holy priests had received God’s blessings and should have a very resilient life and immunity to most poison.