Badge in Azure Chapter 580 - Surrounded (Part 1)

Chapter 580: Surrounded (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Su sighed for a reason. Those three bandits were indeed powerful, if they did not underestimate their enemy Su would not have been able to triumph so easily.
The three bandits had connected their armor and the metal-armored dragon into one entity in order to improve their coordination with the metal-armored dragon. This caused their actions to be restrained, they could not be as agile as a true grand swordmaster. Su managed to slice the bandits’ throats accurately by releasing the Sword Aura in mid-air. He himself could not even understand how that happened.
If the enemy had transferred their Sword Aura into the armor and the areas of the armor below the mandible were made of magic beast skin, Su’s Sword Aura could not have penetrated it. The effect would be akin to striking someone with a heavy hammer, the enemy would get dizzy.
Su had planned to cause a moment of giddiness in the enemy, he did not expect to kill them directly.
The two bandits had died wrongfully, they had utilized an external equipment, but could not coordinate seamlessly with it.
At this moment, dozens of skeletons rushed up, separating Su from the heavy cavalrymen. Sprinting on foot, Su managed to catch up to the bandits who were fleeing. Swiping his cutlass, he amputated the metal-armored dragon’s tail which was attacking him. He then tossed a longsword into the air. Carrying a razor sharp Sword Aura, it penetrated the bandit’s body.
Su took a few steps forward and pulled out his longsword. The skeletons behind him had been trampled into shreds by the heavy cavalrymen and hundreds of arrows were launched. Su pushed up his own face guard. As Sword Aura circulated throughout his body, his armor emanated a brilliance. Forcefully resisting the barrage of feather arrows, Su ran back to the camp.
If he possessed a ride like the metal-armored dragon, he would have dared charge in the opposite direction. Since the enemies were riding on one-hundred metal-armored earthworms, Su did not want any accidents to happen. These metal-armored earthworms were grade-4 magic beasts after all. Since he had slaughtered the enemy’s leaders, there was no need to take further risks.
As the main road was not far from the barrack and Su sprinted extremely quickly, he arrived back at the camp in a flash, then he leaped over the walls.
The men from the Black Dragon Bandit Gang witnessed their three leaders getting killed, yet they could not catch up to the killer. Su managed to get away. This caused the one-hundred heavy cavalrymen to be outraged. They then began charging towards the camp compound.
Alchemical crossbows installed in the camp immediately fired in a frantic fashion. Three rounds of barrage took place. Dozens of heavy cavalrymen had their armor penetrated by the alchemical crossbows. A few were unfortunately shot at their vital sites which caused them to die on the spot.
As the one-hundred heavy cavalrymen did not know how many alchemical crossbows there were in the camp, they did not dare advance any further. The cavalrymen at the front with the metal-armored earthworms veered into a new direction. They then separated and fled the threat posed by the alchemical crossbows.
An alchemical crossbow could pierce heavy armor within one-hundred yards, but if the distance was more than one-hundred yards, its effect would be greatly diminished.
Su was a little fatigued. Panting, he shoved his face guard aside, then told Aini, “Your skeletons were sacrificed.”
Without waiting for Aini to respond, he put both swords back into the sheaths, then walked towards Saleen’s barrack.
“Sir…” When Su entered the barrack, Saleen had already retracted his cloud. Noticing that Su was a little exhausted, Saleen told Narnia, “Sorry to trouble you.”
Narnia nodded her head, then cast the Chunlin spell. A stream of green radiance diffused into Su’s body, causing Su to be energized in that instant. Even though his Sword Aura had not been regained, his physical fatigue had completely disappeared. The effect of a level-4 treatment spell was not that good if one was not injured.
“Why did you take part in the fight?” Saleen said, his words peppered with a tone of admonishment.
“There were three men riding on metal-armored dragons, they are as powerful as a Black Metal Grand Swordmaster.”
“Aye, you thought that Aini couldn’t handle it? Forget it, I won’t continue lecturing you. Look at how mature Cuisi is. As long as the enemy doesn’t enter the camp compound, he will never take action.”
Su was momentarily stunned, then he understood what Saleen meant. He got lucky in his sneak attack. If there were some powerful figures in the enemy team, he would have been killed outside. In the camp where mages were in close proximity, there would never be a situation whereby one would get killed instantly.
If the enemy possessed alchemical crossbows, Su would have sustained serious injuries if they fired arrows. Fortunately, those heavy cavalrymen were using steel crossbows, which could be resisted by his armor and Sword Aura.
“Sir, when I was at home, I was groomed according to the requirements of a general. I will not be so impulsive in the future. Unless Sir gives me a team, I will not act alone anymore.”
“It’s good that you understand. A person’s ability is always limited, Ismail was really powerful, but he still got killed in the end.”
Su listened to Saleen’s lesson modestly. Alchemical crossbows were extremely rare in the subcontinent plane and there were no other especially powerful items. Although alchemical crossbows existed in small numbers on the plane of Myers mainland, a powerful person would never be deprived of such weapons.
Saleen smiled, then said, “You were learning warring skills. Now that you see Jola leading troops, you must be envious.”
Su nodded his head in embarrassment. He was envious of Jola, who could personally groom a squad of elites.
“Don’t think you are better because you are younger than him. Let me tell you something, your talent is not better than Jola’s. He can lead soldiers while ensuring that his swordsmanship training is unaffected, but you cannot do that. I am hoping for you to become a Golden Grand Swordmaster first before allowing you to command troops.”
Su wanted to rebut because becoming a Golden Grand Swordmaster was much more difficult than becoming a grade-9 sorcerer. He held himself back when he heard the confidence in Saleen’s tone. “Perhaps the rules on the mainland plane are different from that of the subcontinent plane?”
“Rest first, once you recover, go and take over Cuisi’s place. Don’t allow Sharman to die. Given Aini’s powers, you don’t have to protect him. He is not an elemental mage, he possesses way more survival techniques than me.”
“Got it.” Su bowed respectfully and apologized at Narnia. He then found a bed and laid down.
A grand swordmaster was unlike a mage, the best way for them to recover was sleep. The secondary method was adjusting the Sword Aura.
“That guy has a bright future!” Seeing how Su interacted with Saleen, Narnia felt that this young Silver Grand Swordmaster had unlimited prospects. When most pugilists had attained such a grade, they would grow arrogant. Due to an increase in strength, they would have reverse psychological effects towards their past experiences.
Before a swordsman became a grand swordmaster they would be suppressed by the mages. Once they advanced to a Silver Grand Swordmaster and gained the ability to kill a mage in one second, the attitude a grand swordmaster had towards a mage might undergo subtle changes.
“Yes, it is only a matter of time before Su’s achievements exceed that of Jola’s, he isn’t as complicated as Jola.”
As the two people engaged in a conversation in the barrack, Aini who was outside had already summoned the Floral Death Creature to obstruct the doors to the barracks. Quite a number of people had died. When the Floral Death Creature was summoned, it could absorb these scents of death without Aini needing to deplete any energy. He knew that if the one-hundred heavy cavalrymen forcefully attacked, the fifty alchemical crossbows wielded by his subordinates would not be able to resist at all.
The archery skills of Aini’s subordinates were simply too lousy. Those metal-armored earthworms could crash through the wooden walls easily. Once the exterior defense was gone the enemy would be able to observe the interior of the camp clearly. By then it would be more challenging to put up a defense.
Of Sharman’s subordinates, only that grade-5 mage could observe the situation clearly. He could kill those three bandits by himself, but he would have to cast about six level-5 spells to do so. Six level-5 spells were equivalent to half his magic chords already. His remaining magic chords might be insufficient to deal with the one-hundred heavy cavalrymen. Even if he could kill everyone, the light cavalrymen at the rear would be able to kill him.
An elemental mage holding up a Magic Shield was not totally safe either. If he got surrounded by the enemies he did not have the ability to fly.
Su’s actions had struck fear into those bandits, many of them had witnessed the three dragon riders getting killed by the enemy in one go. At the moment, the bandits had gotten a little hesitant about this mission.
The intelligence report did not state that the enemy would be this powerful. Since the enemy could kill three dragon riders, he had to be at least a Silver Grand Swordmaster.
A Silver Grand Swordmaster was not invincible, these one-thousand men would be able to overwhelm him easily, but the enemy still had a grade-5 mage. The combination of a Silver Grand Swordmaster with a grade-5 mage had caused the bandits to be fearful.
The difference in abilities could not be resolved using bravery. These bandits had originated from different parts of the mainland, they were not a close-knit team.
It was already impossible to flee. With thousands of bandits under their control, the people from the Black Dragon Bandit Gang began formulating a new strategy.
Seeing that the enemy did not organize another assault, the elemental mage retreated and set up camp, encircling this compound which leaned against a mountain. Putting aside his worries, he went to look for his lady superior.
Over at Saleen’s side, Saleen was still exchanging pointers about magic combat with Narnia. Narnia was really smart, she had already grasped the initial steps of casting the Water Shield quickly. After imparting crucial knowledge, Saleen began teaching Narnia a new skill; Ice Arrow.
Narnia could cast the Ice Arrow. Her Ice Arrow was a level-2 spell, whereas Saleen’s Ice Arrow could attain the lethality of level-3 magic.
The most critical problem with Narnia was that she was a grade-4 mage, so her magic chords was insufficient. The moment the enemy donned magic armor she would have to battle with level-4 magic in order to kill the enemy. Even though the Ice Arrow had the offensive power of level-3 magic, it carried the effects of freezing and disintegration. It was a pretty good choice to use the Ice Arrow as the first attack to destroy armor. Saleen could even use a complex Icicle Spell to produce the effect of destroying armor, and this spell could still cause group damage.
Once the utilization technique of water magic was mastered, water magic would not be any weaker than fire magic.
Sharman’s mage was proficient in fire magic, but in the face of powerful adversaries, he could only his strongest magic attack. The thing Saleen had taught Narnia was to use low level magic to achieve the effect of intermediate level magic.
As Saleen had grew older and developed an intimate relationship with Sika, he was not as ignorant as he was in the aspect of emotions. He roughly knew that Narnia was fond of him, but he did not harbor any mutual feelings for her.
Narnia was young and beautiful, she possessed profound knowledge and had a good character. She was also a mage, but Saleen was fond of Sika and this could not be changed.
Since he had no way of reciprocating Narnia’s feelings, Saleen just wanted to provide more help to this female mage.
A mage like Narnia never demanded much of their own offensive abilities. This world was currently on the brink of utter chaos, so Saleen hoped that Narnia would possess some abilities to preserve her own life.
Lex would face many enemies. As her subordinate, Narnia would definitely meet with many perils.
Narnia did not think so much, she was already very joyous that she got to spend some time alone with Saleen. Saleen was imparting exclusive magic knowledge to her although she did not like this type of magic knowledge.
When Saleen was getting tired from all the talking, Narnia began teaching Saleen knowledge about the fourth dynasty. Certain practices need not be learned, Saleen only had to learn some special details and rules which were usually passed down in a family. In the future when Saleen interacted with a real noble, it would be these details which would arouse other people’s suspicions.
Saleen could not rely on the Sregl Island forever, he would have to recruit substantial manpower. Why should these people follow him unless he was a prominent noble who possessed the authority to confer titles upon others? If he established a state, he could even attract many people with lofty ambitions.
Each time a dynasty changed, new nobles would emerge, Saleen just had to act like one. With Lex at the side lending her influence, the issue of recruiting subordinates would become much simpler already.