Badge in Azure

Chapter 1492: Cleaning up the Imperial City of the Abyss (Part 1)

Amassing an army of over a million-strong in three days would have been very difficult, even in Qin. The Cloudflow people had never seen any great disasters, were comparatively wealthy, less well-equipped, and less disciplined, after all. Being able to organize such a retaliatory force had been a miracle.

The Baldur’s Gate was secretly being set up over 100 kilometers from the more lavish gate as well. Jason was the one that was placed in charge.

The Cloudflow scouts had, without a doubt, seen the Baldur’s Gate, but they were quickly chased off by mages from Metatrin City after trying to approach it. Jason was not so prideful as to want to take on the problem all on his own. He sent letters to nobles of the Cloudflow Empire instead, telling them that he would provide support both in equipment and in troops.

Saleen’s ancient warriors, star figures, and puppet legions were all standing by within the Baldur’s Gate.

Jason also began to construct a fortress at the same time. It took the form of a castle that was over ten kilometers in diameter and was completely interconnected and built-in layers. That castle served one specific purpose—the construction of a massive magic net.

The Floating City did not come, hovering above Metatrin City instead. Jason was not impulsive enough to forgo Metatrin’s defense. Attacks from the godly creatures were indiscriminate in terms of location. All angels were capable of flight, after all. If the Floating City were to make it there, the angels would have definitely hit Metatrin City as well.

Jason’s intentions behind setting up the Baldur’s Gate there was simple—he wanted to have his troops charge into the divine kingdom.

Others were afraid of rules within the divine kingdom of gods, but not Jason. The rules of his Rings of Water and Fire were such that not even the Goddess of Myers would have been able to override it, let alone the Lord of Glory.

There was a city at the center between the Baldur’s Gate and the divine kingdom’s gate. That city was the territory of one of the four grand dukes of the Cloudflow Empire—Grand Duke Platinum.

Grand Duke Platinum had established himself as a merchant. His family and his businesses were both extensive. His equipment and troops were comparable to those of Misty City. Furthermore, Grand Duke Platinum was deemed easier to get along with than the other three grand dukes. When the divine kingdom’s gate showed up, armies from the nobles flocked to a place called Lion City, setting up a defense parameter. The two sides of Lion City had treacherous terrain to begin with. The castle that was constructed would have wholly sealed the roads leading north.

No one knew where the angels from the divine kingdom’s gate would have attacked. But since the divine kingdom appeared, the angels would have attacked human cities one way or another, and Lion City was the closest city to be found. There were other large cities built by the Kingdom of Metatrin nearby as well.

The Cloudflow people knew that if the army of angels in the divine kingdom were to refrain from relentlessly attacking them and go somewhere else, the people of Metatrin would have attacked the divine kingdom instead.

While Cloudflow nobles were known to be decadent, it was apparent that the Cloudflow Empire was still nonetheless capable of taking a stand at critical times. At the very least, the nobles had stockpiled a massive amount of food and had been quick at recruiting an army. It was the fate of the mainland on the line, after all.

If a god were to conquer Myers Mainland, the nobles would have lost everything.

Grand Duke Iron Blood set up the second line of defense at Titan. He mobilized the forces of the Nature Faith, which had been expanding too quickly. High-level holy masters existed in massive numbers. What the grand duke was doing would have also cut down the faith’s powers.

Those holy masters were unable to back out of a war between religions. Their only option was to fight to the death.

Saleen headed towards the Imperial City of the Abyss along with the Goddess of Myers. She was utterly oblivious to the fact that the mainland was in chaos. The advent of the divine kingdom had even affected multiple other planes. Some planes had also sent their armies, getting ready to fight to the death with that god’s armies.

Only Dante could be found hiding inside the Lightning Moon, which was kept within Saleen’s magic amplifier. Not even the goddess could detect its presence when it was hidden that way. The Lightning Moon blocked the probing abilities of the gods. Myers would have only been able to sense that there was a weapon spirit within that piece of equipment.

Other than that, only enchanters and Bug Angel Warriors were found in the living spaces of the magic cube. Saleen had not brought even a single human mage with him.

Saleen had no idea what the goddess was trying to do at the Imperial City of the Abyss. They arrived outside of the Imperial City, and the goddess peered inside, then saying to Saleen, “You have a badge. Hand it over.”

He was unable to do anything but comply and hand over the badge that Gaine had given to him.

The goddess took the badge in her hand and inspected it carefully. She then took out another similar badge from her bangle, put it on, and handed Saleen’s badge back to him.

“Sigh, I have to rely on equipment to get through as I am now. I’m not certain that I will be able to just barge through the place,” the goddess said.

Saleen put his badge back on and walked into the Imperial City with the goddess.

The goddess nonchalantly cast magic, capturing elemental creatures nearby and flinging them to Saleen. She was taking a detour around the city walls and was moving at dizzying speed. Saleen knew that the goddess treated these as gifts to him.

The levels of the elemental creatures at the fringes of the Imperial City had grown increasingly higher. They seemed to have had something to do with the heroic spirits in the cemetery. Saleen took them all in without question. He had nothing to lose anyway. Most elemental creatures were not intelligent and were devoid of emotions, acting solely on instinct. Those elemental creatures born of the Imperial City came to have something like magic arrays on them, enabling them to be put under control and guard the city.

Saleen divided those elemental creatures into two types—intelligent ones, which he threw into the magic cube after sealing them, and unintelligent ones, which he threw into the Ring of Cosmos right away.

The goddess’s speed was frightening. She was stopping and capturing elemental creatures along the way, yet still, Saleen had a hard time catching up to her. She wasted quite a bit of time capturing the elemental creatures as she toured all around the outskirts of the Imperial City. Saleen had finally gotten a good idea of how large the city truly was.

The city was about the size of an entire duchy found in Phoenix, and it might have even been somewhat more extensive than that. They moved deeper inside and found some powerful magic arrays at work.

Those magic arrays were capable of continuing to work in the absence of their operators. Many buildings still stood, along with some weapons resembling statues.

The goddess took care of them one after another before throwing all of them to Saleen.

It was especially easy for her to do away with the magic arrays, which were like toys to the goddess, as they lacked the ability to do her any harm at all. Saleen did not feel as though anything was out of place. The goddess had been a level 18 mage before becoming a god. Rather, it would have been peculiar if the magic arrays had actually been able to do her harm.

The way that she was tearing down the magic arrays was unique—she simply thrust her hand into the center of them and pulled. Their entire inner workings were torn out right away.

She threw all of that to Saleen as well. A god at her level and furthermore, one who had once been a level 18 mage, had no interest whatsoever in those magic array diagrams.

Saleen had initially thought that she had only been doing it as a way to give him gifts, but he realized later that she was not doing it for him at all. The goddess was simply moving too quickly. Her method of literally going in circles was meant to tear down the layers of the Imperial City’s defenses, stripping the place of the last pieces of resistance it had.

What Saleen had gotten was only small piles of materials and magic array diagrams. The goddess would have definitely have had more than that herself. If she were actually gathering those things for Saleen, there was no need for her to waste her time and energy doing so.

Saleen did not ask. He and the goddess were both moving at frightening speeds. If they were to continue advancing at speeds like that, it would have taken them less than a month to actually search the entire Imperial City.

The goddess was very pleased with Saleen’s attitude. She gradually made it further and further into the deeper parts of the Imperial City, and she slowed down somewhat. When they reached an area over 100 kilometers away from the palace, she left the astrology tower and some vast compounds untouched. She circled around them for the moment as if she was looking for something.

They finally came before a tall tower. The goddess stopped and turned around, saying to Saleen, “Stand guard outside. Regardless of what comes out, shoot it with your lightning icicles. Don’t let even a single one of them escape.”

“Sure,” Saleen agreed. Any monster capable of escaping the goddess was definitely worthy of caution. Anything that got past her might decide to attack him on its way out, so it was better for him to make the first move anyway.

The goddess entered the tower and left Saleen standing outside. Saleen summoned his lightning warriors and had the tower completely surrounded. The offensive capabilities of the lightning warriors were no longer what they had once been. The electrical discharge from them would have proven adequate enough to paralyze even some of the higher-leveled professionals.

Thunder dragons shot out of Saleen’s magic amplifier behind him as well. The Thunder Dragon Bangle split up, and 24 thunder dragons circled in the water. It looked as though they were enjoying themselves in the water, which was where they had spent most of their time when they were young.

Saleen was just about to finish getting ready when over 20 Angels of Fear flew out of over a dozen of the tower’s windows. All of the Angels of Fear were level 13 beings. Despite being a level 14 mage, he still did not dare to get close to the Angels of Fear.

He remembered well how fast the Angels of Fear were capable of moving. That was how they moved in combat, instead of their movement resembling Saleen’s Comet Flash, which was the speed they used for traveling.

A yellow light shone beneath Saleen’s feet as he prepared to begin fighting them at any moment. Devastating explosions could be heard coming from within the tower. It was unknown what the goddess was fighting against, but it was apparent that her hands were full and that she had no time or energy to help Saleen.

Saleen fired his lightning icicles in multiple directions while the lightning warriors charged.

The Angels of Fear all howled, yet their attacks were utterly useless against the lightning warriors. They were far better at defense than they were at offense unless they had reached the point where Saleen was, which was level 14.

Over 10000 lightning warriors sealed the tower off using tightly packed formations. Every single Angel of Fear was being dealt with by over 1000 lightning warriors each. The ones that were hit by seven of the lightning icicles became paralyzed immediately after the projectiles penetrated their bodies. Saleen specifically targeted the huge face at their bellies.

These Angels of Fear were different from the one that Saleen killed the first time. While they were of higher levels, their souls were not linked.

The lightning warriors pounced on them while wielding all manner of weapons. While they might have been of lower levels, the weapons they used were made from the remains of god creatures. The seven Angels of Fear were taken apart in an instant, making it impossible for them even to attempt to resurrect. The lightning power gathered by thousands of lightning warriors was equal to one lightning attack fired by Saleen.

The Angels of Fear howled in rage, yet their sound attacks had no effect on Saleen. His lightning territory had been cast, rendering the Angels of Fear’s abilities utterly useless.

The battles from then on out were hardly interesting. Saleen overwhelmed them with the sheer numbers of lightning warriors that he had deployed. That, coupled with offensive powers from lightning icicles, gradually wore down over 20 angels of fear, taking them apart piece by piece. He then threw their remains into his Ring of Cosmos.

The skins of Angels of Fear were rare things that were capable of being made into War Drums of Fear. Those weapons were devastating against enemy armies.

When Saleen was done cleaning up the battlefield, he saw the goddess hoisting a youth who had been tied up like a sack, as she walked out of the tower. That youth looked ferocious, spitting out a black thread as soon as they saw Saleen, sending it right toward his face.