Badge in Azure

Earl Besta suppressed his shock. Generally, people of Qin did not fear of spirits of the dead too much.

“Your Excellency, how may I address you?” Although Earl Besta was already very old, he was also a high-level swordmaster. He could see that this spirit of the dead was powerful and did not dare to use his status as a member of the noble family as comparison.

Seeing the giant axe that the winged skeleton was wielding and the six identical skeletons behind him, Earl Besta suddenly realized that his five-hundred bodyguards were nothing compared to them.

“My name is Bing. Bring me to the top of the city wall. I want to see where these two-thousand cavalries are from.”

“Regarding His Highness, Saleen’s safety…

“He has those four women. Don’t worry.” the winged skeleton smiled, which looked queer. No human would feel a sense of security after seeing a skeleton smiling.

The winged skeleton thought to himself, “Women? Humph, Nailisi has really done well. Everyone who saw Cuisi and the rest will mistake them to be Saleen’s maids.” It was normal for mages to disguise themselves so no one would guess that those four demons that looked weak and helpless were actually as powerful as high-level Professionals.

The city wall of this anonymous town was exactly a mile wide. It was not tall and was very thick. There were arrow towers on top of the city wall and hidden behind the wall were catapults. The town possessed all the necessary equipment even though it was small.

Although the scout had reported the sighting of the cavalries as quickly as he could, it was clear that the latter were in a rush. By the time the winged skeleton reached the city wall, hundreds of knights were already within two-hundred yards.

These knights were decisive in their actions. They patrolled outside the city with their eyes locked onto the top of the city wall.

Earl Besta took over the alchemy binocular and saw that the cavalries were all light-armored knights. There were more than two-thousand of them along with thirteen-hundred foot soldiers. The latter rode on horses of a poorer grade and were about to dismount to change their armors.

Qin’s foot soldiers traveled on horses as well, hence they could travel very quickly. These foot soldiers usually did not wear their armor. Instead they would keep them in a bag on their horses and would only wear them when they arrived at their destination. This would help to conserve their energy. The only exception was if the foot soldiers were on their own.

“Earl, are the people of Holy Rock City aware of the military equipment that this town possesses?” The winged skeleton did not need any binoculars to clearly see what the soldiers were doing outside the city. These people obviously came prepared and there was a chance that they would attack the town.

“I think so. This town strictly prohibits normal citizens from entering so there shouldn’t be any spies around. Nevertheless, there is no way to hide the monthly supplies transported here. Anyone would be able to estimate our military forces just by observing these supplies when they are on the way here.” The Earl was afraid that the winged skeleton might not understand and said, “Soldiers of different grades will also receive different supplies. A professional need only a glance to know what are the items being transported on the wagons and thereby estimating the level of the army and its number of soldiers.”

“Humph, in other words, these people mean to attack the city. You only have five-hundred bodyguards while their assault team already consists of two-thousand light-armored knights. Let us keep the city gate shut. Hmm, they also have thirteen-hundred foot soldiers, but they don’t seem to be the main force. By the looks of it, this is an overstaffed battalion with close to twenty-thousand people.

At this moment, a knight rode to the bottom of the city and shouted to the top, “You in the city, open the door.”

“Earl, this land belongs to Bitter Water Prefecture, right?”

“Yes, but…”

“I know who they are. Our countries have an alliance. If they attack your city, it is the same as declaring war against Metatrin,” the winged skeleton said and hooked the Earl’s finger as a sign of promise.

Earl Besta was taken back by this humanized gesture. One of the jade skeletons behind the winged skeleton took a bow from one of the Earl’s bodyguard. It took one arrow and shot it downwards.

In the hands of the jade skeleton, an ordinary bow like this was able to create an explosive sound that could only be made by alchemy bows. The arrow directly pierced through the skull of the knight’s warhorse and between the knight’s legs.

The knight was uninjured, but his warhorse died instantly. No matter how agile the knight was, he could not avoid falling to the ground clumsily.

The knights outside the city were furious and protested loudly. The knight who lost his horse picked himself up and looked at the top of the city wall coldly for a long time before saying, “Who is in charge of this city? Send someone who can talk to us.”

This was when the winged skeleton spoke to Earl Besta, “Their target is your Highness. Many tried to stop us on our way here, but we managed to avoid them. This time around, I have revealed myself. This small town will be the last place that we can resist them. Earl, do you dare to stand up against these people outside the city?”

“If their target is her Highness, of course I dare!”

“Besta, their target is your Highness and not mine. No one knows that Saleen is here personally. Those that saw us on our way here can only deduce that mages and spatial equipment have been sent here to aid Your Highness, Lex. If they manage to intercept the equipment sent over by Metatrin, then Your Highness, Lex, will have a difficult time repelling the attack from the sea. What we have brought is a combat vessel that has been dismantled into its components. If Lex is unable to defeat Cloudflow’s fleet, she will be forced to marry the Emperor of Cloudflow, do you understand?”

“How dare Holy Rock City do that!” Earl Besta was raging.

“The armies deployed to the battlefront in the south of Holy Rock City are all the noble families’ armies and are controlled by Prince Safilos. If we fail to provide aid, Lex will be forced to be married off to Cloudflow and our alliance will collapse. It sounds ridiculous, but this is how it is. Holy Rock City is hoping that something will happen to Lex so that they will have the chance to control the north of Phoenix and suppress the lands occupied by Metatrin Kingdom.”

“Damn it!” Earl Besta was so furious that his moustache curled up. He drew out his Qin eight-sided sword from his waist and was about to give the order to attack.

“Earl, let me do it.” The winged skeleton pressed down Earl Besta’s hands. He was more than two yards tall and Earl Besta could not overpower him. The sword was put back in its sheath.

“Are you confident?” Earl Besta began to worry after his fury passed. The enemy was at least twenty-thousand strong while his small town only consisted of new recruits. His five-hundred bodyguards were rather capable and had followed him for many years. Nevertheless, five-hundred men would never be able to overcome twenty-thousand, especially if they were soldiers from the Qin army.

“Don’t worry.” The side of the winged skeleton’s mouth cracked open again. His unique way of smiling was his response to Earl Besta. “Earl, do you have any bodyguard that is extremely courageous? Lend me one.”

“Courageous? Mu En, come out,” Earl Besta shouted. A soldier that was two yards tall stepped out. This soldier was wearing restorative armor, where the exterior layer was a metallic light armor and the interior layer was a leather armor made from the hide of magic beasts. This bodyguard was about twenty years old. He wore a short bow on his back and looked like he was excellent at shooting.

The winged skeleton looked at Mu En and said, “Are you afraid of spirits of the dead?”

Mu En stood with his chest puffed out and said, “What is there to be afraid of? When Qin was founded, countless spirits of the dead fought in those battles. Without the spirits of the dead, there would have been no Qin to speak of.”

“Very well. Remove your armor, change into this and come out of the city with me.” A black magic robe appeared in the winged skeleton’s hands even as he spoke.

Mu En looked at Earl Besta, who said, “Just follow what Bing says.”

Mu En had no choice but to remove his two layers of armor. The cloth gown that he wore inside failed to conceal his admirable physique. After taking off his helmet and boots, Mu En donned the mage robes and looked extremely uncomfortable. Such an item was not supposed to be worn by anyone for no good reason. If an ordinary person wore it, mages would be furious.

Fortunately, there was a symbol of a skull on the black robe. That was the mark for death mages, so element mages would not bother him. There were very few death mages now, so hopefully no one would pick on his transgression.

After putting on his cloth boots and belt, winged skeleton made sure that the belt was mounted with magic nuclei and he passed Mu En a magic staff. Finally, Mu En put on a hood and his transformation into a mage was complete. Fortunately, his face was pale, otherwise it would be strange for a death mage to look so muscular.

The knight that was outside the city was getting impatient and was walking back to his troop. Even if they knew that the military forces in the city was weak, these two-thousand cavalries were still unable to attack the small town as the rest of the army had yet to arrive.

Cavalries were not suitable for attacking city walls. Even if they dismounted and became foot soldiers, they might not be as powerful as pure foot soldiers. They also did not have any equipment to attack the city.

After the winged skeleton has finished disguising Mu En, he suddenly extended his hand and drew a magic symbol on Mu En’s forehead. Mu En felt faint for a moment before regaining consciousness again. He now heard the winged skeleton’s voice in his head.

“Just say whatever I ask you to say. Just follow my tone.”

Mu En was confused, but nodded. All of a sudden, he feared that he might lose his soul now that he was being controlled by a spirit of the dead.

By the time the skeletons carried Mu En to the bottom of the city wall, he was no longer fearful. The winged skeleton left behind a few undead soldiers on top of the city wall to protect the Earl. Although these undead soldiers were only grade-2 spirits of the dead, they were still useful for blocking arrows.

The winged skeleton took out four green-spirit gemstones. These gemstones were not small and were found in the ocean. In an empty space behind the city wall, a huge black-colored magic array shone and close to a thousand death knights appeared.

The winged skeleton had summoned these death knights previously just to keep them in the green spirits. The green spirits were of such excellent quality that they could easily contain more than two-hundred grade-3 spirits of the dead.

Unlike doom knights, death knights would no longer be able to advance. Nevertheless, the abilities of these one-thousand spirits of the dead must not be overlooked. The winged skeleton smiled and helped Mu En onto a huge and handsome-looking skeletal warhorse. This skeletal warhorse was at least grade-3 and looked more formidable than those that Saleen and the rest rode on.

“Mu En, in a while, I will finish off all those people that wish to harm Princess Lex. You must not be soft-hearted okay?” The winged skeleton’s voice sounded in Mu En’s head. Mu En straightened his back suddenly.

“Your Excellency, I understand. I will follow your instructions!”

“Very well. Open the city gates.” The winged skeleton led the six jade skeletons that had also mounted onto their skeletal warhorses, each of them wielding a giant axe in their hands.