The more flawless a plan appeared to be, the more difficult it was to fix when something unforeseen happened. Fycro did something important, and the holy masters lost their very core—he left.
If Saleen were to leave Metatrin City, Jason would have been in charge. Even if he were not around, there was still Sika to command battles. Even without both Jason and Sika around, Daniel would have still been able to maintain the day-to-day affairs of the city. The nobles were also able to keep the city running simply by doing their jobs.
Fycro, on the other hand, was the very core of the Oracle Corps. Without him around, no one knew what to do when someone threw a wrench into his plans.
That finger bone was less 3 feet long. Its grey-whitish colors made it look a little different from usual rotten bones. Saleen’s Elemental Eye was still able to see the layers of energy on the bone. He found there were sections of space within.
While level 10 mages were barely able to pull off such space partitioning in such a small area, piling up 10,000 spaces within that bit of area like the finger bone was something totally out of a level 10 mage’s league.
Saleen was unable to do it either. The dark space he developed was on par with the finger bone in terms of power. He was only able to lay something like that on the most resilient of materials. If the materials used turned out to be average, doing so would have destroyed the material.
The spaces in the finger bone were more advanced. They all hovered outside of the bone itself. There was literally nothing on the bone.
Saleen noticed the part where the bone broke. It was a result of being broken by a sharp weapon. He was able to see the emptiness of the bone. The leaking liquid emanated evil aura that was very potent.
He was alerted and cast over 20 layers of Water Shield to completely wrap himself. Level 11 Endless Night from his magic robe was also cast.
The finger bone exploded without making a sound. The black liquid sprayed outside, spreading over a mile. The black liquid shot through the Lightning Cage. Most of its aura was stopped by electricity, but the area within the 1-mile radius was tainted with evil aura.
Saleen was at the rear when the explosion was about to happen. However, he stood right before Jola right before the bone exploded.
He knew that Jola would not have been able to dodge the force of the explosion. The compressed black liquid sprayed all over the place. The bone seemed to have carried tens of thousands of pounds of black liquid within.
All 24 layers of the Water Shield were destroyed one after another. Not even the lightning magic patterns on them had been able to prevent the black liquid from penetrating. The Endless Night disappeared altogether. Defense from dark element was unable to contain the explosion.
Saleen continued casting instant-cast spells. Water Shield bought him time and allowed him to open a scroll. The scroll conjured a water element crystalline wall right before him, which was 18-feet thick. It was still unable to stop the shockwave from the explosion. The water element crystalline shattered. The Figure of Fate within Saleen’s body instantly wilted.
He looked incredibly troubled as he ingested huge amounts of pharmaceuticals, recovering over half of his mental powers and magic chords. The Figure of Fate suffered lethal damage. Even his Starline Robe was damaged.
“Dispel!” Rafel switched her spear without anyone noticing.
Her spear was thrust behind Saleen, dispelling all of the black mist before him. He backed away in a hurry and cast Water Shield.
The residual shockwave from the explosion subsided. The Water Shield blocked the black weapon outside, protecting Jola at the same time.
Jola was incredibly angered and ashamed of himself. Despite being a follower, Saleen took the hit in his stead. Had Saleen not had the Figure of Fate in him, he would have been dead.
“My liege!” Jola drew his sword, Face.
It was a weapon presented to him by Saleen. It had resilient, ferocious attributes. His face was completely reddened from the blood rushing to his head.
Saleen waved and said, “Contact Grand Duke Iron Blood. We’re retreating.”
He unleashed the lightning warriors to pick up the pieces of the bones on the ground. The pieces themselves caused no harm to the lightning warriors.
The Lightning Cage was still intact despite the explosion. The black liquid that stained the construct was quickly scrubbed off by electricity, disappearing without a trace.
Saleen put his equipment away and felt incredibly worn. He had continuously cast high level spells just to defend against the explosion. His magic chords and mental powers were totally exhausted. If it had not been for his magic amplifier, he would not have been able to protect Jola.
It was not Jola’s fault. The fault lied with him for being overconfident and thinking he could take on Fycro’s trap.
“My liege. I’ll kill Fycro!” Jola held on his sword firmly, refusing to do as told.
“Jola!” Saleen used Thundering Shock, which hit Jola squarely and shook him to his senses.
While he was not killed in the explosion, he was still affected by the evil aura. He was extremely enraged, so much so that he almost pierced Saleen with his sword.
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If it had not been for the fact that he had been following Saleen long enough that his body learned to protect him on reflex, he would have caused serious injuries to Saleen if he were to actually thrust his sword.
Jola leapt and disappeared hundreds of feet away. He knew Saleen was making the right choice. Despite suffering one such attack, it was totally out of Fycro’s expectations. There was still time for them to retreat.
Saleen took Rafel and flew high into the sky. He put his lightning warriors away. All the others—the star figures, bug angels, and elite demons—perished in the explosion. A huge chasm appeared at ground zero of the explosion, which had a depth exceeding 1,500 feet.
When the explosion happened, the Floating City was already 90,000 feet in the air and completely free from what happened below. There were huge numbers of holy masters taking to the air while Saleen took flight, trying to intercept him.
He was incredibly angered and said to Rafel, “Kill them all!”
Rafel nodded. She found Saleen’s mood unfathomable, but she would have carried out his orders all the same. From her perspective, only mages mattered the most. Casualties of his troops were inconsequential.
Level 10 mages within the four magic towers at the edge of his place struggled to put up magical shields They soon took to the air with Saleen, heading toward the Floating City. They were no longer able to fight in such an environment. That evil aura was too much for them to handle.
The aura was still spreading outside. Highland City was considered doomed.
Rafel flashed and charged into the fray of the holy masters. They were unable to prepare their divine spells and quickly cut off. Countless fine metal threads appeared around Rafel, which vibrated violently and cut up the space around them.
About 100 high level holy masters fell to one skill from Rafel. Their dead bodies were cut up into thousands of pieces and dropped to the ground. She followed Saleen to the Floating City when she was done.
Metal Storm was Rafel’s unique skill. There were few angels possessing similar powers. The god she once served had been rather peculiar. The god had been incredibly formidable be it in close quarters or ranged combat. After her god perished, she advanced and automatically gained a series of skills. She tested them out that day and found the results ideal.
Jola got to Grand Duke Iron Blood as quickly as possible and said, “My liege told me to tell you to immediately retreat.”
He looked at the Holy See armies in the other two directions when he was done. Suppressing the rage in him, he shot into the air and flew toward the Floating City.
Grand Duke Iron Blood relayed his orders without hesitation. His army had only begun to engage the abominations when a violent explosion happened in the east. Black aura spread outside and killed everything it touched.
It was fortunate that the Grand Duke purchased Bug Angel Armors, enabling all of his troops to fly. The black mist spread extremely fast yet was very slow to move upward.
The spread of the abominations were no longer controllable once the Grand Duke’s army retreated. The abominations were unusually frightened by the black mist. Most of them fled westward. They did not even bother to tangle with the remaining armies on the ground.
There were still quite a number of mages and warriors at the group of fortresses at the center. They were not caught in the earlier explosion. When they saw the Grand Duke’s 200,000-strong army retreat, they knew right there and then they had lost the place.
Any professional capable of flight headed straight for the Floating City. Warriors incapable of flight fled west, mingling with the fleeing abominations.
The scene looked very harrowing. Both sides were still at each other’s throats just a while ago, yet none of them bothered to attack each other. They simply ran together in a single direction.
There were 24 large-scale magic power furnaces on the Floating City. The furnaces were fully activated and preparing the Floating City to escape as quickly as possible. The black mist spread upward. Some of the Grand Duke’s troops were unable to make it out. The Bug Angel Warriors were corroded by the black mist midair. They dissolved with their armor and were reduced to black mist.
Not very many Saleen’s troops were getting out either. Over half of the warriors he brought perished. He had never suffered such massive casualties since he had built his own nation.
The Bug Angel Warriors, demons, and star figures were all formidable warriors. If those warriors were to gang up on a level nine professional, they would have easily reduced the professional into minced meat within a minute.
Saleen returned to the Floating City and entered the Magical Element Tower. He took over command of the enchanters from Rossen.
Six magic arrays lit up beneath the Floating City. Magic light shot from the core of the magic arrays. The place where the beam hit was precisely where the Holy See laid out their defenses. There were six command camps there.
“Attack!” Saleen brought the Floating City down and forced it down onto Highland City.
The black mist had spread over a mile high. Saleen’s Floating City launched lethal attacks about 3,200 feet away from the black mist.
Magic cannons, level nine magic, magic metal shells, rocks, and large-scale Hogina’s Guns were all used. All the weapons Saleen had prepared for taking on the powerful abominations were unleashed on Fycro’s Oracle Corps.
Grand Duke Iron Blood and Imposa came to see Saleen in shambles. The black mist had dissolved at least one-third of their armies. Saleen was not the only one who suffered great losses in the battle. Furthermore, the Grand Duke was not like Saleen, who had killed massive numbers of level nine and level 10 abominations at the start, acquiring hundreds of thousands of dark crystal cores.
None of the abominations attacked the Grand Duke’s army in the beginning. As such, the Grand Duke had only suffered losses and gained nothing.