Badge in Azure

There were dozens of rounds of assaults, more than half had missed their targets even though Saleen had altered the coordinates beforehand. Coordinates for such large weapons were pretty useful against other large weapons, but if they were used against individual soldiers, the outcome was entirely dependent on luck.

The attack which dealt true damage to the expeditionary army was the blanket-like rain of arrows from the city entrance.

Saleen gazed at the savage-looking expeditionary soldiers as they carried ladders and sprinted towards the walls of Metatrin City. He felt as though they were ferocious ghosts.

Legend had it that only the beings from the ghost plane would be so insane and horrifying.

Those few hundred steel arrow chariots were the last skill the Holy See had, they could only be destroyed by a large trebuchet. The trebuchets which launched one stone cannon at a time could only strike the soldiers controlling the arrow chariots, they could hardly damage these huge steel machines.

The firing speed of an arrow chariot was slightly slower than a bow, but faster than a crossbow. It could launch dozens of arrows in one go and could execute more than ten consecutive launches.

These launches would be completed within one minute while the reloading of divinity-infused arrows would be finished within ten minutes. It could be said that the barrage of arrows from the expeditionary army was also pretty powerful. The arrow chariots, made from steel, were pushed to a location five-hundred from the city walls. They then began firing.

From this distance, a normal bow used by a soldier would not be able to shoot that far. The soldiers behind the steel arrow chariots would thus be able to attack and reload arrows calmly.

A large trebuchet could not strike such a small arrow chariot accurately, the shots from a magic trebuchet could not destroy it. The best method would be to use a powerful magic attack to destroy these arrow chariots swiftly.

To enjoy a range of more than five-hundred a spell would at least have to be a grade-9 single magic attack. It was impossible for Saleen to recruit so many grade-8 mages.

The manpower holding the first line of defense consisted of death archers and some skeletons. The death archers and skeletons stood at the pass and used their bows to injure the Tanggulasi soldiers who were carrying ladders. Many of those gigantic arrows launched from the arrow chariots struck these spirits.

A spirit did not move fast, but its perception was sharp. Many of them dodged the enemy’s attacks earlier and only a few were hit in the head. Since their heads were not damaged, the Soul Flame was not dispersed. Despite their bodies being penetrated, the spirits could still continue battling.

The city entrance was very wide. Hiding within a fortification made up of colossal rocks, the second camp and mercenaries were unharmed. They were startled when they noticed the one yard long arrows hitting the city entrance from a distance of five-hundred yards. If normal soldiers were deployed to conduct retaliation at the city entrance, the number of casualties would have exceeded one-thousand.

“Let’s begin.” Saleen noticed that the enemy’s ladders could possibly get close to the city walls, “This is the just the first wave of attack, if the enemy can breach the city just like that, then it is useless.”

The rear portion of Metatrin City’s entrance was constructed using the Dante’s Sequence, it resembled a row of uniform structures. Under Saleen’s command, dozens of cracks appeared. These cracks were smooth as glass and they were expanding silently. Finally, dozens of metal battlements rose up from beneath the cracks.

As the dozens of battlements rose up, they reached a height of ten yards, forming sharp angles with the edge of the city walls. It allowed the soldiers to shoot their arrows downwards. A metal battlement had thirty-six firing holes and positioned behind each firing hole was a magic alchemical crossbow.

The enemy’s soldiers charged forward while carrying ladders, there was not even a single large puppet paving the way for them. There were no devices like battering rams either. Due to Saleen’s keen eye, Saleen managed to discover that a few teams were obviously powerful. These teams were hidden among the few thousand soldiers.

“I see that you are trying to take advantage of the chaos, heh heh.” Saleen snorted, “Luckily I am at the city entrance. Using the few alchemical binoculars at one side of the wall, it will be very difficult to observe all the targets and profile of the enemies.”

Within the three teams, there were holy masters who were at least at grade-5. Usually, a holy master of this standard would not follow the infantrymen to invade a city. These three holy masters concealed themselves very well and they did not even use divine spells to enhance their speed. Given their usual speed, they could cover a few hundred yards in the blink of an eye otherwise.

Saleen’s Elemental Eye was an instinct, it did not even attract the attention of the holy masters. As Saleen observed the situation carefully, he whispered the positions of the three holy masters to the mages around him. These mages then disseminated the order into the battlements.

At the core of the dozens of metal battlements was a magic tablet, it was just like the one Saleen had obtained from Raphael’s magical tower. Atop each magic tablet was a three-dimensional image. The mages outside marked the targets, then the three magic disciples beside the magic tablet immediately produced three numbers.

Behind each firing hole was a group of soldiers and each group of soldiers was paired with one magic disciple. There was one group who was assigned to a grade-1 mage. This mage immediately adjusted the angle of the alchemical crossbow, then he spotted the targets through the observing hole.

This grade-1 mage swiftly altered the alchemical crossbow and locked the aim onto the holy masters. In every metal battlement there was a low grade disciple doing the same action. The accuracy of an alchemical crossbow was extremely horrifying in the hands of a mage.

The dozens of metal battlements fired arrows almost exactly at the same time. These arrows drew a red brilliance across the sky as it emitted a shrill sonic boom.

Archbishop Nicholas, who was situated at the rear, noticed this scene. His face turned ghastly. “The enemy has so many mages? My surprise attack has failed.”

Usually, the first wave of attack was used to sound out the enemy. Archbishop Nicholas had concealed the three cardinal deacons, these people were as powerful as a grade-5 mage. By allowing the three cardinal deacons to breach the city entrance and open their divine scrolls, Nicholas could then deploy the Red Bishops to mount an offensive. By tearing a hole in the city entrance, he could definitely destroy part of the city walls by ignoring the number of casualties.

In many battles, the Holy See had employed such a method to execute surprise attacks. Nicholas was baffled, he had specially instructed the three cardinal deacons to refrain from using any divine spells before reaching the city walls. How did the three of them get exposed?

Everything was too late now. Through a pair of alchemical binoculars, Nicholas noticed that there was a total of fourteen red streaks that created straight lines across the sky as they made a beeline for the three cardinal deacons.

The speed of these alchemical arrows was too high, the arrowheads were all crafted from the thorns of grade-4 red krill. As long as one got hit an instantaneous divine spell would not be able to resist it.

The scarier thing was that almost five-hundred alchemical arrows were fired from the other holes. They followed closely behind the fourteen red streaks after the red streaks were launched. They were aimed at the three holy masters.

There was a grand total of five-hundred and four alchemical arrows. Out of the blue, the three holy masters as well as the soldiers around them were uniformly engulfed in the middle.

It was unavoidable!

The value of these five-hundred and four arrows was surely more than ten-thousand gold coins, or even more. One barrage of arrows from Saleen only killed less than one-hundred soldiers. The three cardinal deacons instinctively released a defensive divine spell called the Shield of Holy Light. They then got thrashed into pulp.

In this offensive, the commanders knew who the main force was, but a sudden attack from the city entrance took the lives of three mighty holy masters. This was an extremely horrifying matter. The three holy masters had cast the Shield of Holy Light, but the arrows still managed to create dozens of cavities in their bodies.

Nicholas, who was observing from afar, was very heartbroken. At the same time, he was glad that he did not deploy more holy masters to execute this mission. Even if there were more holy masters present, these over five-hundred alchemical arrows could not be blocked. Saleen intended to strike fear into the enemy with this attack, killing them in one hit.

Only such magic disciples were able to control alchemical crossbows. Previously, the arrows required about three minutes of travel time. With only a distance of few hundred yards, well-trained soldiers could also reach the foot of the city walls within three minutes despite carrying ladders. Usually, all the arrows would not be expended. That low grade mage in the middle rarely participated in battle because only a low grade mage could take precise aim at moving targets instantaneously and lock on to them. The remaining magic disciples had relied on the red streaks produced by his alchemical arrows. They could take aim swiftly and accurately due to them.

The alchemical arrows which gave off a red brilliance were used to help the other archers adjust their coordinates.

The moment the three holy masters died the nearby Tanggulasi commanders lost their morale to attack simultaneously, but they continued leading the soldiers in the charge forward. This whole process lasted for only a minute. The infantrymen finally reached the foot of the city walls with their ladders.

The spirits atop the city entrance continued firing arrows. Since the soldiers only had wooden shields, they scaled the walls while resisting the arrows.

The few hundred metal arrow chariots continued firing, causing a substantial loss of spirits. Diyabannersa then summoned more spirits to replenish the numbers. As a spirit king, he could summon an infinite number of low grade spirits. Saleen was surveilling the battle from the city entrance so Diyabannersa did not dare play any tricks. He guarded this portion of the city walls very thoroughly.

The soldiers at the rear were originally taking shelter inside the stone houses, interlaced cloisters, and bunkers. Seeing that the enemy had begun scaling the city walls, these soldiers began sending huge quantities of grass balls to the exterior. The nuclei of these grass balls were filled with rocks with many small openings. These openings were filled with magic burning powder.

The grass balls were set ablaze and then tossed down the city walls. The moment they hit any soldier an intense fire would be ignited. The magic powder spewed outwards, staining the enemy, there was no way of extinguishing this fire.

Nicholas felt like vomiting blood, “This city is way too rich.”

It must be noted that magic powder was a substance which could not be employed in large amounts even though it was not expensive. It was unlike oil. Oil could be produced by normal people, but the production of magic powder would require at least a high grade magic disciple.

The invading soldiers were burned badly by the grass balls, but the worse thing was that the ladders were all ruined. The soldiers at the rear could not even organize an assault. The spirits at the city entrance continued firing arrows and for the first time the expeditionary soldiers were forced to retreat.

An offensive with almost three-thousand people was defeated just like that. Every soldier was wounded this time around while there were about fourteen-hundred corpses left at the foot of the city walls.

Nicholas understood that a war was a waste of money, “The people in the city are way wealthier than I thought. This war cannot be perpetuated anymore, but can I retreat? If I retreat, punishment from the Holy See will await me.”