Badge in Azure

Chapter 346: Toiling Secretly (Part 2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

On the first story of the magic tower, an endless wave of puppets clad in metallic armor exited through the door. All the armor on the puppets was tattered and torn, as though it had been through many intense battles. These puppets were expressionless as they walked out in a single file. Then, they got into a square formation before advancing east.

Saleen’s team was fast approaching the piece of flat land. At this point in time, the scouts discovered traces of the black puppets, and a deafening alarm was raised. The piercing sounds given off by the metallic whistle spread over a great distance. The snowmen with red eyes in the far distance heard the whistle and turned to look at Saleen’s team.

“To high ground!” Saleen raised the reins on his bone horse and led Jola and the others up a hillside. There were no tall mountains in these hilly regions. This mountain was only two hundred meters in height. The bone horse traveled quickly, as though it was running on level ground. In the blink of an eye, all seventy-three people had made it to the peak of the mountain.

Saleen took out his alchemical binoculars and looked into the distance. He saw that there were tens of thousands of black puppets, headless riders, and soulless broken-armor puppets in between the hills. Additionally, a gigantic shadow could be vaguely spotted farther down. That was the evil dragon.

Saleen also spotted the ruined magic tower, and his pupils contracted sharply. Because, on that door of the magic tower, there were holy texts. Indeed, the people from the Holy See had been here before, but how had this place been dominated by the black mages?

However, this was not the time to discuss such a question. Anyway, Saleen and his team had arrived at their destination. It was time for the three kings to do their jobs.

“Judikaka, we are here, you can come out now,” Saleen yelled softly.

The three kings emerged from Daniel’s death flames unwillingly, then levitated in midair.

“Do you see the magic tower up ahead? Those are the remains from the Second Dynasty.” Saleen pointed into the distance, but he did not mention the presence of the black mages. Either way, the three kings would be able to sense them too. If they were not willing to help, Saleen would not deploy the pirates either. These pirates were much more useful than he had thought. They were not suited to be used as cannon fodder.

“Not bad. There seems to be a colossal underground structure. This should be the place. I can feel the vigorous elemental vibrations,” Judikaka roared with laughter. He did not care at all about the puppets being controlled by the black mages. No matter how many puppets there were, it would be useless. Other than the few big guys farther down, Judikaka would be able to terminate the rest of the enemies with just a single spell.

“Judikaka, you know the circumstances of the previous battles. My men were overpowered. If you three don’t do anything, I have no choice but to go back,” Saleen declared honestly. He was very disappointed that the Holy See’s underlings were not present. If the three kings decided to be lazy, Saleen would rather go back and think of a solution to deal with the black mages than wait around here.

With the bone horse’s speed, Saleen would be able to escape in time.

“No problem, let us settle this!” Judikaka led the other two kings and all three of them flew towards the black puppets.

The three kings looked very different when they were in combat. Banchajanna had six arms, six weapons, and an enormous tail. Judikaka’s bone wings extended to about twenty meters wide, covering the sun. Diyabannersa resembled the spirit of a dead giant. He had a height of more than fifty meters, the largest in size among the three kings.

The kings did not possess any illusory spells. Their bodies themselves were fearsome weapons after many centuries of hard training. Even if they could not release death magic, they would also be rare experts in this world.

Banchajanna was the first to make a move. He knocked his six weapons violently against one another. This time around, the soundwave was only projected to the front. At the same time, a region of vacuum, with a width of one hundred meters and a length of almost one mile, was formed.

Om…

Judikaka and Diyabannersa, who were beside Banchajanna, then bellowed in response, “Banchajanna!”

That attack by Banchajanna had destroyed countless numbers of black puppets and headless riders. However, Judikaka and Diyabannersa were also affected, and they almost fell to the ground. Banchajanna’s attack was very strange. If the kings’ powers had not originated from the same item, Judikaka and Diyabannersa would have sustained injuries by now.

“My apologies. Your turn now.” Banchajanna swiped his massive tail and went aside.

Judikaka raised his scepter furiously, then bellowed, “In the name of lies, I shall give you the truth!”

At the same time, thousands of skeletons emerged from the ground, their numbers still increasing. The moment the skeletons appeared, they began charging at the black puppets in the distance.

When the two-headed eagle was shot out of the sky by Jola, the black mages had not witnessed the scene. Thus, the black mages continued deploying various puppets onto the battlefield.

Diyabannersa decided to swing his weapons, casting a death spell at the ground. His attack was the simplest. The range of his spell exceeded that of an average spirit, as its range was at least thirty times that of a normal spell.

Dark rays of light flashed across the skies. This was simply a one-sided massacre. Even though the power of the three kings was restricted, the kings were still the nemesis of those puppets. Furthermore, the difference in grades was too big.

“Wouldn’t the battle be long over had you all done that just now?” Saleen witnessed the scene from the hill, in disdain at the kings’ intelligence. Had the three kings unleashed their power earlier, Saleen would not have had to waste so much time. Plus, they would have reached the magic tower long ago.

The pirates’ faces were as white as sheets when they witnessed the sheer amount of lethality exhibited by the three kings. The enemies, who the pirates needed great effort to quash, were like pieces of paper in the face of the kings. They finally understood why mages enjoyed such a high status in the empire. Soldiers like the pirates were already considered elites, but they would not be able to put up any defenses against these powerful spells.

Of course, once a mage advanced to such a grade, they would already be unwilling to leave their magic tower. Since the mage would enjoy an extended life, they would thus continue studying magic and overcome other obstacles, in hopes of eventually achieving eternal life. If a mage left their magic tower, they would face more risks to their life. Take, for example, Emperor Chanake. He had gone to the frontline and had been ambushed by his enemies, causing him to die on foreign land.

After Banchajanna executed his first attack, it became slightly difficult for him to cast spells. If he had been in the death dimension, he would have been able to recover swiftly. However, he was relying on Daniel’s planar coordinates right now, so there was a limit to how much power the death flames could absorb. Banchajanna then decided to land on the ground and get into a melee fight using his six weapons.

None of the puppets could withstand Banchajanna’s attacks. As long his weapons came into contact with a creature, be it a headless rider or an armored puppet, the creature would be smashed into pulp. Banchajanna then began absorbing strength from the soul shards of the fallen creatures. He seemed to have forgotten that such a process would attract attention from the gods in this world.

Fortunately, the Lord of Glory was not on this plane, while the black mages’ puppets were souls which had been abandoned by the gods.

The three kings swiftly cleared the path ahead, then Saleen announced, “Let’s follow them.” As Saleen spoke, he steered his bone horse and charged downhill. The three kings had already cleared a mile’s worth of enemies. If Saleen still did not catch up, his team would break contact with the kings.

Most of the spears wielded by the pirates had been destroyed in the previous battle. At this moment, the pirates were using scimitars produced by Saleen at the last minute. Jola and the magic beast swordsmen stuck close to Saleen, fearing for the safety of their commander. It was very dumb for a mage to be pioneering an attack. However, there were no enemies in the one-mile path ahead. After Banchajanna had absorbed the soul shards, the flesh on the ground twisted about desperately, but it could not transform into the poly spirit beast no matter what.

Without any effort, the three kings opened the path for Saleen and his team to charge towards the broken magic tower. Along the way, tens of thousands of puppets were obliterated. The black mages had never expected three spirits with level-9 powers to be present on this plane.

Similar grade spirits would already have been able to slaughter the puppets created by the black mages. Furthermore, the three kings also summoned a large number of death creatures. In a flash, the magic tower was besieged.

From inside the magic tower, Guise was dumbfounded when he saw a large population of death creatures surrounding the magic tower.

New contents had been added into the Holy See’s code. All death creatures and death mages were considered heresy. In truth, Guise did not want to use his subordinates’ power to engage in battle, as the magic tower was very safe under the black mages’ protection. However, it was impossible for Guise to turn a blind eye to the sudden appearance of so many death creatures.

Guise stood up and walked to the window. The two black mages were nowhere to be found. Thousands of spirits were swarming towards the magic tower, and in this crowd, three gigantic spirits caught Guise’s attention.

The three kings might have been able to conceal their atmospheric vibrations, but they were simply too massive in size, and this could not be concealed. Furthermore, Banchajanna was using a warhammer to smash the evil dragon’s head. In just one hit, the evil dragon’s colossal skull had caved in. It could only howl in excruciating pain, but could not retaliate. Banchajanna’s arms were unusually agile as he took turns attacking with the other five weapons. Compared to the evil dragon, Banchajanna seemed tiny.

The evil dragon was not a puppet which was made for close combat. Similar to war puppets, it was a weapon for attacking cities. In order to engage in a melee battle with Banchajanna, one would have to be as skilled as a grand swordmaster.

“Heresy…” Guise muttered. He was holding onto a square-shaped piece of metal sheet filled with holy texts. This metal sheet gave off white rays of light, and these rays seeped into the ground.

“There it is!” Saleen hollered. At this moment, he had caught up and pointed to the broken magic tower standing in the distance.

“Hm? Let’s go!” After finishing his sentence, Judikaka’s body shrank quickly, then he had the summoned spirits continue battling. The three kings transformed into skeletons before making big strides towards the magic tower.

Using their powerful mental strength, they had discovered the secret underneath the magic tower. There was a teleportation portal. This portal only provided transportation over a short distance, and it would surely lead to the remains which Saleen had mentioned. Even though the three kings were only spirits, they could feel the vigorous elemental vibrations. It was highly possible that there were even mineral veins!

Humans loved constructing their magical structures atop mineral veins. Through harnessing the natural powers present, the power of the magical structures would be amplified.

Back then, whenever humans had discovered some mineral veins, they had not bothered excavating them and had simply consumed the materials on the spot. After the power of humans had weakened, humans had then begun extracting the gems. Thereafter, they would segment the gems into different weights and sizes in order to uncover the underlying value.

Saleen had not lied. Such a place was indeed a relic belonging to the ancient humans. The three kings were grinning from ear to ear. Such a relic could really contain the things that they were searching for. Even though the black mages had occupied this place, black mages and elemental mages were governed by two different systems. Logically speaking, the black mages should not have destroyed the items in this relic. They did not even have a use for it.