Badge in Azure

Chapter 1413: Level Advantage (Part 2)

When those mages escaped, with the exception of the purple-robed mage, Saleen had recorded all of the energy vibrations of the remaining five mages. That enabled him to trace them as yellow light flashed beneath his feet, pursuing them all the way outside the metal tower.

The escaping mages were preoccupied with running away, resulting in them focusing on flying as far as they were able, killing no one in the process.

There was only one exit to the Baldur’s Gate after all, and they had yet to master the equipment. It would have been the end of them if they were to be trapped inside.

They were in shambles and had been cornered before they were even able to actually fight Saleen. However, with even their leader gone, there was little they were able to do. They should have split the six godly items among themselves, and yet their leader had taken everything for himself.

All of the escaping mages were still feeling wronged about that.

Saleen was chasing them right behind and Rafel was tagging along. It was far easier for her to deal with those level 11 mages. However, she had to switch to her Inferno Spear nonetheless.

All of those level 11 mages before were capable of using territories and only a godly item that she was familiar with, would have allowed her to take out those powerful enemies as quickly as possible.

The very reason why mages were difficult to kill was because it was difficult to get near them. However, that room they were in before had been too small for the mages. Rafel had been able to easily get near and kill all three of them without trouble.

If those mages were to all flee by spreading out into different directions or attack Rafel at the same time, at least one or two of them would have been able to escape, instead of being wiped out quickly.

Seeing how valiant Rafel’s performance turned out to be, Nailisi turned to the Winged Skull after Rafel left and asked, “Hey bones, how about we just think of a way of getting rid of the angel eh?”

“Master doesn’t allow it,” the Winged Skull answered coldly.

“But we’d turn useless if this keeps on.”

“Idiot,” the Winged Skull berated her instead.

“Why the harsh tone?” It was rather rare for Nailisi to not flare up, and went on to ask the Winged Skull such a funny question instead.

“You could advance. Even if master were to be able to supply Rafel with divine power indefinitely, she would have needed to stick around master to ensure that her level doesn’t drop. You’re a luoluokaluo. By the time you got all eight of your powers gathered, she would have been no match for you,” the Winged Skull answered her question patiently, which was an equally rare occurrence.

Nailisi pouted, being rather embarrassed to simply admit that she had such thoughts, because she thought training to get that far would have been a pain. She then simply asked in return, “What about you then?”

“Me? I’m confident that I’d be able to get to level 13 within 100 years. There is no way Rafel could have gotten to level 14 by then.”

“Heh...” Nailisi did not continue the conversation and had simply glared at the few who were looking at her. They were professionals who followed Saleen inside the gate, with Truman being among them.

Truman grinned and did not pay much attention to that bonded creature of his teacher. He knew what Nailisi’s temperament was like by then. The other professionals turned their heads around grinning, pretending as if they have heard none of what Nailisi said.

“Hmph. Everyone, clean up the insides of the metal tower. This is the control hub of the Baldur’s Gate and no one else is to be left alive. Understand?” Nailisi put up airs and ordered. Everyone acknowledged and brought their group of warriors into the spaces within the metal tower.

Without the power from the Book of Gaia getting in the way, the professionals and soldiers all brought impressive power to bear. All spaces within the metal power were cleared one after another.

But then again, they did not find the Violet Angel. None of them where that thing had been taken to for research.

That was rather normal as well. Despite having taken the form of a metal dragon, the Violet Angel was still nonetheless beneath the notice of the highest echelon of the Elemental Hand. That was, unless they found what it truly was.

Saleen cast earth magic behind and caught up to the five escaping mages. The five mages noticed that Saleen was coming at them alone and were elated. They were about to turn around to attack, when they saw hundreds of elemental creatures burst out of Saleen’s body.

All of those creatures were of level ten, and there were also a great number of puppets and figures among the elemental creatures.

All five mages were frightened to their core, wondering what kind of a monster they had ran into, who possessed so many powerful combat weapons.

Saleen’s elemental creatures and all puppets surrounded the five mages. Saleen pointed at one of them and said, “Surrender or I’ll kill you.”

“I will not...”

Pfftt!

Saleen fired two shots of lightning icicles. The first shot was blocked by that mage using a square metal plate. That lightning icicle melted inside the metal, as its internal parts were surprisingly capable of high temperatures. However, the second shot burst his head right away.

The remaining four mages were frightened to their cores. If Saleen were to use such skills to attack them, they would have still been able to defend themselves effectively due to having been prepared. But how long could we keep this up?

Saleen’s finger pointed at yet another mage. He sent a ball lightning flying out of the Thunder Dragon Blaster without saying again. The Thunder Dragon Blaster was only able to shoot four ball lightning and in order to ensure lethality, he had to shoot two balls at least.

Their speeds were far slower than that of the lightning icicles, and shooting one ball after another would have easily alerted the enemy.

If they were to be enemies that Saleen would have been able to easily target, he would not have had to use such equipment in the first place.

The Thunder Dragon Blaster had two advantages. The first being its long range. There was no other equipment other than the Thunder Dragon Blaster, not even his family badge, would have been able to attack enemies tens of kilometers away.

At the very least, there was no other equipment that would have enabled him to attack a target further away at the moment.

The other advantage was that its high damage potential. Physical or energy defenses alike were like ineffective before the lightning icicles.

Only equipment the likes of godly items would have allowed the lightning icicles to be blocked, due to their innate resilience, and it came with the risk of harming said equipment’s innate attributes.

That mage conjured a firewall as the ball lightning were shot, intending to deflect Saleen’s attack. Fire type defenses were usually poor, yet if someone were to still use fire type defenses at such levels, they would have been people extremely proficient at fire elemental magic, capable of using such magic to the fullest.

Said advantage was that such spells burst quickly and was powerful.

All two of Saleen’s ball lightning were not, however, hindered in the least. The high temperatures of the firewall were not even worth mentioning when compared to the amount of energy in the balls. The fire elemental vibrations were unable to affect the ball lightning’s advance as well.

Saleen was overwhelming the other mage using rules, nullifying that mage’s tricky barrier altogether. Before that mage was able to cast magic prepped for retaliation, his innards were charred by Saleen’s ball lightning.

Two of the five mages who faced Saleen ended up with one losing his brain and the other having his innards charred. That took only three attacks to accomplish.

The remaining three mages had their eyes almost popping out of their sockets in disbelief. They were all level 11 mages like Saleen, and they were unable to fathom why there was such a huge gap in terms of combat prowess between them.

Generally-speaking, even with the advantages provided by equipment added in, such battles would not have ended up like that!

Saleen’s elemental creatures and puppets did not even need to join the fray. They were simply there to block the mages’ escape.

Saleen lowered his arm and took out three scrolls, throwing to the remaining three mages and said, “Submit to me and I shall spare you.”

It was not a thought that he cooked up on the fly. He had thought it out before he came to the Baldur’s Gate. If he were to be able to subjugate several of the Elemental Hand’s leaders, it would have made controlling Alchemy City all the more easier.

Not all mages from Alchemy City had to be his enemies and ended up killed. It would have been a waste of talent and a loss in the power of humanity as a whole.

Most of the mages in Alchemy City were still young, and those young mages would have played important roles in the expansion of Myers Mainland, when they matured in time.

Saleen knew that his eventual foe would not have been Alchemy City. It would not have even been Safilos or even Grand Duke Iron Blood; it would have been beings from foreign planes.

The abominations sent by the Heretic God had almost slaughtered the entire Myers Mainland. Saleen would not have been able to stop the catastrophe, if he had not been able to keep the situation contained.

If the catastrophe were to affect the entire mainland, he would have only been able to protect some of his cities at best, making it even impossible to protect all of his subjects.

The three level 11 mages looked at each other and said nothing.

“I assume you’re afraid of the purple-robed one then? Relax, I’ve sent a level 13 pseudogod to take him out. There is another one right outside the Baldur’s Gate. There is no way he is getting out alive,” Saleen described the situation calmly, putting the three mages at ease.

While it was within the rules of the Elemental Hand that all of them were to take turns to rule, yet that leader of theirs had been overpowering them all the time, making him the de facto head of the Elemental Hand.

All six godly items were in his possession, and they definitely had something to say about that.

However, things are different with Saleen. He has far greater wealth, he has a country to run, if we were to follow Saleen...

The three mages were moved and Saleen lifted his arm again, saying, “Don’t bother talking terms with me. I could just kill everyone in Baldur’s Gate if I want to. The only reason why I want you people to submit to me, is just so to have less from Alchemy City dead.”

All three mages unraveled their scrolls quickly and wrote their names of the parchments.

Saleen had gotten the scrolls ready after all. All three of them knew what was the best course of action to take, after being bossed around for so long. If they were to really irk Saleen, he would have actually killed everyone from Alchemy City indeed.

Saleen was relieved to see the three mages sign their contracts. If they were to refuse, it would have taken him far more time to take Alchemy City’s powers.

Saleen cared little for his current reputation but he had the future to think about. He gradually came to develop an idea, something which was unable to be carried out all on his own and would have needed help from a lot of people. As such, he listened to Jason’s suggestion and went on to ally with Safilos.

Rafel came to his side and Saleen did not bother to recall those elemental creatures, as if he had forgotten all about them. He turned around and told Rafel, “Relay my orders. All who surrender shall be spared. Any who resists, shall have their souls gobbled up by the Winged Skull.”

Rafel nodded and left. Saleen then said to the three mages who signed the contracts, while still being surrounded by the elemental creatures, “So this is the only nest of Alchemy City?”

The three mages wore bitter grins. Saleen used the word ‘nest’, which spoke volumes of his disrespect for them. However, since they have submitted to Saleen, they saw no point to be petty about that.

“There were two other ruins controlled by Alchemy City that have yet to be developed. Those are places that we’d only dare enter after the Baldur’s Gate is completely controlled.”

Saleen thought for a bit and said, “No hurry then. How many mages that the Elemental Hand still have who are not here?”

“There are about 30000 of them. All of them are meant for retaking the city,” a mage answered truthfully.

“Right. You three shall continue to take control of the Elemental Hand. I’m not interfering with governance, but I’d be taking everything in the city’s warehouses. Let me know if you need anything.” All three mages were frustrated but there was nothing they were able to do about it.

“Oh right. The three of you, heh...” Saleen did not continue the topic and changed the subject. He then asked them, “You people know anything about Black Dungeon?”

“We do.”

“My next target would be the Holy See. The Pivotal Council is an easy target and the new pope doesn’t concern himself with the Holy See at all. The strongest pope we know is now dead. The oracles from the divine kingdom are dead too. Fycro, the number oracle in the Oracle Corps, I killed him too. Get prepared and assault Holy See, in the name of Alchemy City.”

Saleen then added, seeing how troubled those three looked, “I would provide warriors for you people. Rest assured that I don’t want to see too many mages dead too.” What he meant by that was that it was apparently alright for him to have some mages ended up dead.