Badge in Azure

Chapter 557: Breakout (Part 2)

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

Most of the materials Saleen used to craft armor for the demons were obtained from magic beast shells from the sea. These shells might be precious, but they had their fair share of flaws too. They were too lightweight. To a human, a lighter armor could raise their efficacy during battle, however, a demon’s strength was too shocking. A demon was actually better off having heavier armor.

The heavier the armor, the better. It could absorb impact from a weapon, thus having better defense against heavy weapons.

At the moment, Saleen had gained immense knowledge about crafting armor, he had also obtained a large amount of gorilla metal. He decided to produce new armor for the four demons. As for the style of the armor, Saleen would imitate the Grukos family’s Spirit Snake Armor.

The production of armor might appear easy, but it was actually the most fundamental way for a nation to display its capabilities. Even dumb creatures like the dwarf demons could craft armor, but the quality of their armor was too inferior. Even with a precious material like the gorilla metal in their possession, the dwarf demons’ armor was totally useless in the face of Lex’s and Saleen’s intermediate level magic.

A genuine magic armor was only considered a success if it could resist intermediate level magic for a short time.

Even though the demons never gave a hoot about such battles, they were overjoyed when they learned that Saleen was going to craft new armor for them the moment he returned. It meant that their master’s master did not regard them as cannon fodder.

Like always, Saleen maintained a calm disposition, crafting armor for the demons while interacting with Eleanor at the same time.

Eleanor’s injuries were not serious, it was just that Lex’s team did not deploy any mages to help her. As a result, she had to fight alone and had gotten deprived of rest. Her consumption of mental strength was a little overbearing and coupled with her original injuries, it resulted in her old injuries relapsing.

Eleanor’s constitution had a solid foundation, as long as she returned to Metatrin City with Saleen to recuperate, she would make a full recovery.

Once again, she replayed the images in the magic crystals. In the images, hundreds of magic beasts were spotted surrounding the camp, using magic attacks to pound the camp grounds. These ape-like magic beasts could cast an assortment of spells, but each of them could only cast one type of spell. There should be some differences between these magic beasts.

There were three main attack methods. The first was magic flames, the flames released by the magic beasts had a range of about two-hundred yards, they would form three fireballs before flying towards the target in a rotating fashion. The flying speed of these magic flames was slightly slow, but unless three mages retaliated at the same time, one fireball would survive and strike the barracks.

The metal barracks contained a magic array which could defend against the level-4 fireballs, but it would deplete magic nuclei. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, Lex’s mages were very smart. They only used a low level spell to ruin the stability of the fireballs, causing two of the three fireballs to disappear autonomously, so only one landed on the barracks.

At the end of the day, humans were still the ones who could battle whilst consuming the least amount of resources. Those magic beasts did not destroy the walls intentionally. The walls were very difficult to be destroyed, but they were short, so the magic beasts could simply leap over them. The problem was, if the walls were not destroyed, the assault efficiency of the magic beasts would be very low.

Saleen broke out in sweat as he reviewed the images. If he was the one who built the camp compound, he would have made the walls six yards tall and placed a battlement directly behind the walls. In such a scenario, the magic beasts would then try to destroy the walls out of desperation. Since there were so many magic beasts, it would be too easy for them to destroy the walls.

Lex’s walls were only two yards tall, so the magic beasts could leap over them without much effort. The thickness of the walls were increased by three times though.

Saleen went back to re-study the defenses of the camp complex, and then understood the necessity of many details.

The other two spells were also offensive, a magic beast did not know any auxiliary magic. One of them was the Ice Arrow, which Saleen was proficient in. It was originally a level-3 spell, but Saleen had already advanced it. It now possessed the lethality of grade-4 magic. These magic beasts had also cast level-4 Ice Arrows.

The Ice Arrow was a spell peskier than a fireball, especially in the aspect of destroying armor. An Ice Arrow could make the texture of most substances brittle, lowering their defensive power. Lex’s mages did not have any effective solutions to deal with the Ice Arrow, they only prepared an extra Ice crystal Shield in the defensive magic array on the barracks. This was an unpopular defensive spell which could weaken the attack of water magic.

The scars in the barracks were created by the attacks from the Ice Arrows, the mages had to repair them after daybreak.

The third spell those magic beasts used was the Berserk spell. The Berserk spell was a level-4 spell, but it was very onerous for a human to master it. Once a magic beast went berserk, the surface of their body would undergo fossilization, they would also grow taller and bigger.

The berserk magic beasts leaped over the walls, and began thrashing at the humans warriors.

After seeing the three skills displayed by the magic beasts, Saleen knew that Nailisi could have escaped easily if she was not bent on guarding the camp compound. These three skills did not pose a threat to Nailisi at all. Be it a fireball or Ice Arrow, it would not cause sufficient damage to hurt Nailisi’s lightning-protected body. A berserk magic beast would not be able to defeat Nailisi, who could rival the strongest demon in the world.

Nailisi’s melee fighting ability was about to reach the standard of a supreme demon already, just like Cuisi. If Nailisi wanted to flee, those magic beasts would not have been able to stop her. Nailisi was waiting for Saleen and had to look after Eleanor, so she stayed behind to resist the magic beasts’ offensive.

After reviewing all the magic images, Saleen then found out that Lex’s mages suspected Nailisi after learning about the deaths of two mages, so they were not willing to deploy people to aid Eleanor.

Lex’s mages possessed magic equipment which could conduct soulish communication, so they knew whether their comrades were dead or alive.

“Nailisi, you did the right thing.” Saleen was also upset by this matter. Those two mages did not heed Lex’s command, they were determined to meet her on the mountain peak. Their behavior would already add more trouble at that point in time. In order to increase their traveling speed, they did not bring along swordmasters for protection, they were simply seeking death. Even if they had brought along only two swordmasters for protection, it would not have been so easy for the parasitic bodies to kill them.

“Saleen, don’t pamper her,” Sika warned. When she noticed the smugness on Nailisi’s face, she really wanted to use her cudgel to smash Nailisi’s head.

“No, Sika, some people around Lex aren’t very reliable, Lex herself might not even know that. Even though she has many loyal people around her, I feel that these people aren’t as reliable as the demons.”

Seeing that Sika still did not understand, Saleen said, “On this trip out, I had been so calculative with Lex because of her subordinates. Of her subordinates, some swordsmen followed her out of loyalty, but there are many who follow her simply because of her status as a member of the Grukos imperial family. The moment there are any unforeseen circumstances, these people would become a hindrance, take for example the total separation from the Holy Rock City. Even the former group of people isn’t very beneficial to us. If I didn’t vie for anything, they would feel that everything should belong to Lex, and it would be a natural thing to them.”

Saleen had hit the bullseye. Lex might have announced Saleen’s status as her partner, but her subordinates thought otherwise. In their eyes, everything should go to Lex, it had nothing to do with Saleen’s effort.

To Lex, this was a display of loyalty, but to Saleen, this was hostility.

“It’s so troublesome.” Sika muttered, but she did not go on. If Saleen married Lex, these problems would naturally be resolved. From Sika’s perspective, Saleen had been grinding for more than a year. In less than two years, the mages from the Sregl Island would arrive. By then, Saleen’s power could rival that of Lex.

In such a situation, Sika would never agree to let Saleen marry Lex.

At the moment, Sika was the highest ranking priestess among the Caucasus people, so it was impossible for her to get married to Saleen. She also did not want Saleen to tide over hard times by relying on such methods. If Saleen became rich in the future, he would own many soldiers and mages and Sika would not disagree with him marrying Lex, because that would be an annexation of Lex’s assets. At this point in time, Saleen would have to depend on Lex however.

As a result, Sika was jubilant when Saleen was so calculative with Lex. As for the admonishment of Nailisi, she was just worried that Nailisi would create unresolvable trouble for Saleen. Even though Nailisi claimed that she had sent Luola to protect the two mages, Sika did not believe her at all. If the two mages were protected by a demon, they might not have died. At best, Luola was there to do surveillance.

“The breakout is simple, but I do not wish for all of you to come to any harm.” Even though Saleen spoke to Eleanor, he was also directing his words to the three demons.

“There won’t be just one kind of magic beast, the magic beasts who came to harass the campgrounds were suitable for battles on slopes. Once we leave the mountain, there will be more challenging adversaries.” Saleen also did another round of calculations in his heart, “The whole process of entering the temple took about five months. The fights in the temple were simple, but many magic beasts had appeared outside the temple in these five months. This means that the day of the resurrection of the gods in this space will not be too far into the future. Maybe one two hundred years, or only eight to ten years.”

“Eleanor, once you recover, we will leave. I will request one mage from Lex to aid you in battle. Jola, you and Su shall lead the four demons to protect Eleanor, let Sika and Nailisi protect me.”

Speaking, Saleen pondered for a moment, then he took out twenty level-5 magic scrolls. These scrolls contained single attack spells, they were not used in the fight against the dwarf demons. Handing those scrolls to Eleanor, Saleen said, “When the fight gets tough, try not to use your magic chords for battle, you can use these scrolls instead.”

Saleen still could not rest assured. Since Eleanor possessed vast knowledge, he even planned to not let Eleanor shoulder any of the combat matters when they returned to Metatrin City. He wanted to ask Eleanor to impart special knowledge, such as elvish magic, to the mages around him. A mage like Eleanor was extremely precious to the mages on the Myers mainland.

Eleanor smiled and slapped the bow beside her, then said, “I still have this.” She had already gotten accustomed to Saleen’s form of generosity. He had his evil instances too, such as the time when he refused to return the bracelet to her.

As though there was telepathy between them, Saleen broke into laughter, then said, “That bracelet belongs to Cuisi now, I cannot return it to you. Once I get back, I will craft another piece of equipment for you. You will use this first, but you have to return it to me in the future.”

As Saleen spoke, he gave his White Crystal Ring to Eleanor. This ring was gifted to him by Jason, it was also an extremely valuable item. Saleen could not bear to give this object to anyone, it was the first present from his teacher. Eleanor’s mental strength might seem very powerful to others, almost at the standard of a sorcerer, but if her magic chords were emptied, she would have to fight using the bow. Using an elvish bow would deplete the mental strength too.

Without that bracelet, Eleanor’s mental strength would definitely show signs of insufficiency, a normal mage would never possess skills like hers. The divinecherry arrow was also one of Saleen’s secret weapons.