Badge in Azure Chapter 171

Chapter 171: The Next Person was Merely a Speck of Dust (Part 2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lex did not dare to stay for too long in Dragon’s Tooth Town either. Since Dominic had intended to capture her alive, he must have been eyeing the wealth of the Bitter Water Prefecture. Since the matter had not blown up yet, Dominic would not send his main troops after Lex. However, Pompeii had a grade-7 mage, and if this mage really came here, then Lex was not confident she could win the battle.
Only three out of the eight horses survived. The rest had been killed by the swordsmen from Dragon’s Tooth Town. Sika managed to find one untamed horse and rode it, then the four of them hurriedly left the town.
Once Lex and her team left, the people who had escaped earlier returned to put out the fire, but little did they know that it was just the beginning of the disaster. On her horse, Lex looked back, saw those people returning to the town, and could only sigh. If these people who had abandoned their homes in Dragon’s Tooth Town had taken this opportunity to escape to Cloudflow before the people from Pompeii arrived, it was possible that they could still escape unscathed. But now, it seemed like the fire that Lex had started would not be very effective.
Once the soldiers from Pompeii arrived, the people remaining in Dragon’s Tooth Town would meet their doom.
Saleen recalled a phrase from a book of magic notes that had greatly affected him – the next person was merely a speck of dust.
Saleen did not know who or what “the next person” was, he just did not want to become a speck of dust, hence he had chosen to practice magic. However, the journey thus far had been full of obstacles and perils, yet he could only change himself. Out of the billions of people on the Myers Mainland, how many of them could truly control their own destinies? Instead of pitying others, Saleen needed to grow and stand taller.
As they travelled into the night, it began to rain and the torchlights were extinguished. Dragon’s Tooth Town had long since been out of sight, and Saleen and his team travelled beneath the pitch black night sky. Only the sound from the horses’ hooves could be heard.
After the huge, intense battle back there, the four people had continued their journey without any rest. Nailisi was still coping just fine, but Lex displayed some fatigue. Lex did not dare consume too much magic liquid because such items were not sold in shops. They could only be created by sorcerers.
It was possible for Lex to start producing magic liquid, but one round of production would deplete her magic chords completely. The magic liquid she was carrying with her now had been created especially for her by the sorcerer. If Lex did not produce any magic liquid before she returned to the Bitter Water Prefecture, then it would be difficult to resupply the magic liquid.
The four horses jogged slowly and had covered a distance of one hundred miles by sunrise. However, the rain grew heavier now, and the sky was eerily overcast, as though the night were boundless.
In order to get to Alchemy City, Lex had left the main road and veered onto the trails. The southern part of Qin was filled with mountains. The roads were fine, but the narrow parts of the trails could only fit one carriage at a time. Furthermore, the roads were full of twists and turns, and in order to avoid tough obstacles, one had to meander deep into the mountains.
“After getting through these mountains, we will be able to reach Alchemy City after another one thousand miles.” Lex raised her arm and flicked a burning star into the sky. The burning star levitated in midair and provided them with directions.
A colossal shadow crashed down, and Lex was lifted up by a gust of wind. She had not been able to avoid it.
Saleen was shocked and cast ice plate armor and water shield in the same instant for double layered protection. Lex’s horse had been crushed by that gigantic being, and she placed her hands together and cast an extremely bright ray of light.
By this time, Saleen could see clearly. The gigantic being that had descended from above was a magic beast. This magic beast was twenty meters long, and above its thick neck was a head full of thorns. Razor sharp teeth were arranged closely together and protruded out of its mouth. The enormous body of the magic beast had pressed into the ground, sending muddy water spewing in all directions.
This monstrous magic beast also possessed a pair of wings. There were injuries all over its wings, with the largest gash being over five meters long. Blood was still oozing out of its wounds.
The magic beast struggled to get back onto its feet. It wavered for a few moments before slamming forcefully back onto the ground.
Sika and Nailisi were splashed all over their bodies by the muddy water. The magic beast wagged its thick and muscular tail in hopes of regaining its balance, but its efforts were all in vain.
“What is that?” Nailisi looked at the massive creature with great curiosity. To Nailisi, this creature smelled delicious, much better than the flesh of the grand swordmasters and more powerful than that of their souls.
There was an analogy among the people of Tanggulasi – cheese had fallen from the sky.
The colossal beast spun its head around and gave out an earth shattering roar.
Ang…
With the exception of Nailisi, the other three people and four horses lost all their strength after hearing that roar. The war horses fell to the ground, white foam flowing out from their mouths and their eyes devoid of all life.
Saleen recovered from his shock instantly and hollered at the top of his lungs, “Run, it’s a dragon!”
Sika and Lex also regained their composure. Then, Sika shouted, “Why should we run? It’s injured already.”
Saleen had no time to explain further. He simply blessed Sika with the Windspeed spell. Among the four of them, Sika possessed the strongest explosive power, but her endurance was not as long lasting as Nailisi’s. Saleen grabbed firmly onto the dart capsule that was hanging on Nailisi’s belt and escaped.
The dragon might have been down to its last breath, but even so, it was still lethal. This was not a low-grade green dragon. Saleen had seen a map of the dragon family in the past. This creature was an extremely dangerous sea dragon – Tiago.
In terms of dragons, tiago belonged to the race of tyrannical dragons. Such dragons did not have scales, yet they loved hunting in the water. They could also fly at high speeds and elemental attacks were their forte. As fine hairs grew on the surface of the skin of these dragons, their skins were top-notch materials in weaving. Furthermore, the dragon skin was tough, equivalent to dragon scales. Hence, these dragons had become one of human’s favorite targets to hunt and capture.
Tiagoes were intelligent dragons and could not be tamed. Most of the tiagoes who were sent to Myers were killed, while a small number of them managed to escape their manmade cages and went to hide in the depths of the ocean.
Saleen did not wish to fight with a tiago. A single breath from a tiago would cause Saleen to be frozen and break into smithereens. The breaths of other dragons would only cause burns, corrosion, or poison, but the breath of a tiago was the coldest of all. In particular, when steel was hit by a tiago’s breath, it would shatter completely.
The breath from a tiago was stronger than the Absolute Zero spell. While the Absolute Zero spell contained only magic, the breath of a tiago would result in a two-pronged offense that used both magic and physics.
“Saleen.” Lex caught up to Saleen and pulled on his clothes.
“Lex, that’s a tiago.” Saleen noticed that Lex was holding him back and was afraid that the dragon would turn around and go after them, so he had stomped out of anxiousness.
“Dragons fly using magic. Since it can’t fly, it must be unable to cast any magic too.” Lex was abnormally collected. When she had thought about the tiago at first, she had also wanted to run to safety immediately.
“Right!” Saleen then calmed down. When he looked back, he could see a dragon writhing in pain on the ground a few hundred meters away.
If that tiago could fly, Saleen’s legs would never be able to outrun it, and Lex would not be able to even if she flew. A mage might have been able to fly faster than a horse could run, but they were definitely slower than a dragon.
The effective radius of a dragon’s breath was only one and a half times the length of the dragon’s body. That tiago was only twenty meters long, so even if it could spit dragon’s breath, the breath would only travel for thirty meters. By now, Saleen had run at least two hundred meters ahead.
Saleen took a few steps back and activated his icy sight, glaring at that tiago. After a few moments of observation, Saleen said, “Lex, do you think we have a chance at killing this dragon?”
“It will be difficult. I can only cast level-7 spells at most, and for dragons at such grades, they are immune to any magic below level-8. Your witcher spider will not work either. Once Sika and Nailisi get close to the tiago, their lives will be in danger the moment the dragon comes in contact with them.”
Saleen had a headache. This creature was so seriously injured that the energy in its body had become erratic. But even so, Saleen and his team could still not kill this dragon.
“What about the fully constructed puppets?”
“I will give it a shot,” Lex replied. Then, she gingerly approached the rear of the dragon. When she was thirty-five meters away from the dragon, she deployed a fully constructed puppet.
The skin of the tiago was tough. When it was used to manufacture light armor, it was even better than sturdy dragon scales. All the fine hairs on the skin were the best material for producing magic robes. Even the worst alchemist in existence would be able to create a set of high-grade magic robes using fine hairs from a tiago.
If the black metal grand swordmasters had worn armor fused with the skin of a tiago, perhaps the envoys of god would not have been able to kill two of them. And Faerun? Faerun might not have died either.
Lex had gained her riches from the remains of the goddess, so she did not lack any money. But many things, such as these rare materials, could not be purchased with money.
Saleen observed Lex’s actions from afar and whispered to Nailisi, “Can you handle this dragon?”
Nailisi lowered her head and looked at her own fingernails before saying, “It will be difficult. The combat power of this dragon is similar to that of demons. It could even be slightly higher.”
“Demons? Are you saying that a tiago’s strength is only equivalent to that of demons?”
“No, its power is similar to that of supreme demons. But this dragon lacks wisdom, and its combat techniques are too simplistic. If it doesn’t move, I can surely kill it. But if it moves about wildly, I think it would be better for us to beg for mercy.” Nailisi’s words caused Saleen to feel demoralized. Beg for mercy? How many creatures had begged in front of humans? Things had not turned out well for any of them.
Lex stopped. A red glow appeared in the eyes of the fully constructed puppet, and a halbert appeared in the hands of this puppet. Then, the puppet charged towards the tiago.
Peng!
The tiago did not even turn around. It simply waved its tail and caused the puppet weighing thousands of kilograms to be flung away. Glaring sparks were produced due to friction between the tiago’s tail and the body of the fully constructed puppet. Saleen witnessed everything very clearly. The metallic armor of the puppet which those swordmasters had not even been able to penetrate had been smashed by the tiago’s tail, causing the alchemical parts inside of it to fly outwards
Sika stuck out her tongue. That single move by the tiago had exceeded her own knowledge of strength. Sika felt that she could destroy a fully constructed puppet through a difficult fight, but this seriously injured dragon had simply shaken its tail and the puppet had already been broken into various small parts.
Lex backed away helplessly. This dragon was too much for her to handle. Lex was well aware of the sturdiness of the puppet’s body. The puppet could crash about recklessly on the battlefield and an alchemy crossbow would not even be able to damage it. Furthermore, fully constructed puppets were nimbler and smaller than war puppets, so large alchemy crossbows found in fortresses could not even get a strict aim on them.
Saleen looked at the dragon indignantly. Its entire body was full of treasures, especially its magic nuclei. A tiago’s magic nuclei were priceless. The magic nuclei also contained special water element attributes which were very suitable for Saleen.
“Nailisi, are you sure about this? If it doesn’t move, how long will you need to kill it?” Saleen stared at the gaping wounds on the tiago’s wings as he came up with an idea. After all, the tiago was seriously injured, and its legs could not even support its body properly.
“If I take some risks, I can kill it within a second. But if I use the safer method, I will probably need about ten minutes.”
“In that case, use the safer method. Nailisi, follow me. Sika, stay alert and protect me.” As Saleen spoke, he began walking towards that tiago.