Badge in Azure Chapter 1099 - Pursuit and Traps (Part 1)

Chapter 1099: Pursuit and Traps (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The 12 powerful holy masters wore calm expressions. All the 160 gold-armored warriors rode level four horses. The warhorses were clad in golden armor from top to bottom.
At level three, warhorses were deemed fit enough to follow their masters into battle without fear of arrows. When clad in armor, the horses were strong enough to withstand attacks from mid-level human swordmasters.
Furthermore, mid-level swordmasters lacked the endurance of the magic beast warhorses, which were able to scale mountains like they were running on flatlands.
Warhorses originated from another plane, which were captured by humans and bred with many types of horses. Not only were they strong, the difference in their guts and the guts of common horses was like heaven and earth.
Such level four warhorses became rather rare about a thousand years ago. They were made steeds of elite troops of all sorts. Now, only high level generals rode them. Empires used them mostly for breeding purposes.
The gold-armored warriors surrounded the 13 holy masters, waiting for further orders in the storm.
The old holy master wore a black robe. He was short and looked common. However, the energy vibrations emanating from his body looked as if they did not belong to a human, like he was an evil dragon trapped in the dark, threatening to devour all life.
He had dark red eyes, only his pupils crystal clear with thin purple lines.
The old holy master pointed at the pathway that Saleen had once opened, after peering about for a bit. “There, but… the man is long gone.”
“Sir, shall we pursue?” a young holy master near the old holy master asked.
All 12 of the holy masters wore long robes and shone with holy light. No rainwater was able to wet their clothes. The only difference was that each of their black robes was etched with a holy runes from one to twelve. The rune on the robe of the young holy master who had just spoken to the old holy master meant ‘one’.
“No need for that. Let’s just see what they were doing here.”
“Yes, sir.”
The young holy master got down from his horse and took out a ring, casting weak green light. If Saleen had been there, he would have been surprised to see a holy master from the Holy See also armed with a Ring of Gifts, and furthermore, able to activate the divine spells stored within.
“Sir, shall we inform the two head inquisitors and try to block them off?” another young holy master asked quietly. They both shared a very close relationship with the elder. Not anyone would be able to state their opinions or give suggestions with the elder in front of them.
“There is no need for that. Just let them keep an eye on Misty City. With so many people eyeing Daliang City, I really can’t understand why Saleen would sneak out. There should be something more important than Daliang City. The fellow wouldn’t just leave his wives behind otherwise.”
From the elder’s tone, one would be able to tell that he held a lot of power in the Tribunal. He would not have talked about the other two head inquisitors in such a tone otherwise.
Only the great head inquisitor would be able to talk in such a manner in the Tribunal, and the great head inquisitor was the most powerful person in the Tribunal, for he was a level ten holy master.
The young holy masters said nothing more. They were able to tell how much importance he placed on the matter, given that the great head inquisitor decided to move personally and bring all 12 of them along.
The second and third head inquisitor did not participate in the battle of Daliang City, and that was a product of the great head inquisitor’s decision.
The great head inquisitor wanted to go to Daliang City himself, but news came that the king of Kingdom of Metatrin, Saleen, who was also a level nine sorcerer, had left Daliang City and was nowhere to be found.
The Tribunal had captured massive numbers of mages in its earlier days, but it did not mean that the Tribunal would underestimate mages. The greater the number of powerful mages they capture, the greater the respect they have developed for the mages.
A level nine sorcerer would be the most powerful among powerful ones, even if power levels across the entire mainland were raised.
The great head inquisitor was a level ten holy master who had just broken through recently, and there was no certainty that he would win against a level nine sorcerer at the pinnacle of his level.
The difference within the level was so huge that in the eyes of many, it was deemed insurmountable, but the great head inquisitor knew that some level nine sorcerers carried very powerful equipment.
The equipment left behind from ancients was capable of making up for half of the differences in a level, which when used by a level nine sorcerer at their peak, would enable them to kill any powerful ones below level 12.
There had been reports regarding Saleen. The great head inquisitor had developed some level of knowledge of the person. Saleen would definitely be armed with super powerful equipment.
The army that was sent to take out Metatrin City before would not have been wiped out otherwise. Be it the Tribunal or the Pivotal Council, everyone thought Metatrin City would be taken down. Because someone among the powerful ones had a level ten thunder dragon.
Even a level ten thunder dragon ended up dead and the golden grand swordmaster turned to dust, so there was simply no way the great head inquisitor would let his guard down against Saleen.
The group that pursued Saleen consisted of himself, the great head inquisitor of the Tribunal, and 12 of his most trusted adjudicators. All of the 12 adjudicators were originally level eight holy masters, who all received blessings by the descended oracle and advanced into level nine without difficulty.
The great head inquisitor was able to advance to level ten right away, becoming a level ten professional ahead of Theisio.
The gold-armored warriors were high-powered forces of the Tribunal and were only deployed when the great head inquisitor decided to move personally. No one else, not even the pope, was able to command them.
All of the equipment was crafted according to the specs of the equipment used by the Heaven Knights all those years ago. The secrets of the equipment were known only to members of the Holy See.
A young holy master opened the pathway leading to the temple using the Ring of Gifts and the gold-armored warriors rushed inside. They returned soon after.
“Sir, there was nothing in there.”
“Nothing?”
“There was only a huge space crafted using divine spells. But there was nothing else but… earth.”
Despite being able to understand the words, the great head inquisitor was still puzzled as to why Saleen would come to such a place alone.
“Sir, would this be a temple of that heretic god?” a young holy master asked.
The great head inquisitor had no intentions of going through the pathway and ponderedfor a bit in the rain, before saying, “they did not take flight this time. It would be rather easy to trace their tracks on the ground. We’ll just follow him and ask him when we get our hands on him. Then we’ll know what they’re doing here.”
“Yes, sir.”
The holy masters said nothing more. About a hundred of the gold-armored warriors mounted their horses and turned around, continuing their pursuit of Saleen. The great head inquisitor was still analyzing the situation. This place should have been a temple of the heretic god, but why is there nothing inside?
Despite the great head inquisitor’s high intelligence, he never thought Saleen emptied the entire temple of such vastness and truly left nothing behind when he did.
Saleen had no idea that the big boss of the Tribunal, the great head inquisitor, was chasing after his team. However, he nonetheless had Nicholas cast lesser prophecy spells out of caution, wiping his tracks as much as he was able.
The group moved with great speed. The Nightmares had frightening running speed back in the spirit plane. Even on Myers Mainland, not even level four warhorses were able to keep up with them.
While the area of the storm was vast, Saleen and the others were still able to leave the storm behind.
The Nightmares’ speed was comparable to the flight speed of common mages when running in the mountains, which made the journey incredibly dangerous.
However, even Isabella, the weakest of the current party, had abilities comparable to grand swordmasters, and they were still more than adequate to keep the Nightmare in control.
The team quickly entered the mountains with Nailisi leading the way. They scared off untold numbers of magic beast and ran over untold numbers of dead trees.
Despite looking as if they were running, the Nightmare’s feet never actually touched the ground. The creatures were even capable of flight back in the spirit plane.
They traveled more than a thousand miles in haste, before Saleen decided it was time everyone take a break. It was Isabella’s limit while the other two golden grand swordmasters hardly felt worn. It was far less taxing for the grand swordmasters to ride on steeds than running on their own.
Isabella knew that she was the reason Saleen stopped. They were near a river bank, which was all dried up. Saleen had Eleanor lay down some spells to prevent them from being flooded while setting up camp.
None of them were actually afraid of floods, but there was no reason to look messed up.
The camp was quickly set up and Sika asked Saleen, “why stop now?”
If they were doing it because of Isabella, she could have summoned her soul beast and taken flight, taking Isabella with her in the air.
“Some people are looking for us, and they’ve been tailing us for more than a thousand miles, but they weren’t able to pinpoint our location. It was only a matter of time before we were found. We’ll just lay down a trap here. If they actually are able to catch up, we’ll see if we can kill them. If they can’t find us, the campsite will confuse them, and we’ll just have the demons go south…”
“My liege, the ones on our tails are holy masters from the Holy See. They have broken my lesser prophecy spells several times,” Nicholas said, looking worried.
His lesser prophecy spells were matured and even level nine professionals would have a hard time breaking them. That meant that there was someone terrifying among the people on their tail.
“I know. They were definitely holy masters. No one would be obnoxious enough to keep chasing us for so long,” Saleen said as he began laying down magic traps around the campsite.
The river bank had steep, tall mountains on both sides. Eleanor flew up to the cliff and found a place to hide herself, and Jola followed her.
Eleanor was still quite capable of holding her own in close combat, but with the ones at their tail being powerful people, Saleen had to be careful. Her long range arrows were more powerful than level nine magic spells. Close combat was better left for golden grand swordmasters like Jola.
Nicholas and Sika stayed by Saleen’s side.
Don finally got his weapon, the God-hunting Spear. His confidence grew many times stronger with the spear in hand. The ones pursuing them were from the Holy See, and based on his heightened sense of smell, he thought that people from the Tribunal had made a move.
His daughter died in the hands of the Tribunal, and as such, Don hated the Tribunal more than Saleen did.
Saleen did not lay down very powerful magic traps. Traps like that were meant for dealing with low level people. A victory in their case could only be secured with one’s own powers.
It was a pity that there was too little power left inside that spear. Even after absorbing the energy barrier generated, Saleen’s badge was still far from capable of unleashing powerful lightning attacks.
Saleen’s only reliable equipment was the Thunder Dragon Blaster, as well as Nailisi’s 12 Notes of First Purgatory.
The sky turned dark. Sul and Don were tasked with keeping watch. The two men looked at each other sitting at opposite sides of a snuffed out fire.