Chapter 492
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A magic war chariot was described as a portable magical tower . Even though its offensive power was much weaker than that of a magical tower, it allowed a mage to meditate whenever they wished, which was its most important function . Onboard a magic war chariot, a mage's consumption was lowered while their recovery was heightened, which was in fact a great boost to their offensive powers .
Lex handed the command of her subordinates to Saleen, then she began meditating . This journey would not be peaceful . They were not harassed by Tanggulasi's army at the Stone Statue Castle, but it did not mean that they would not be attacked in the future .
Saleen decided to get Jola onboard, and showed him the map of Titan .
There were a few mountains north of the Chishui River, so the magic war chariots could advance very swiftly . It also meant that the cavalrymen from the Tanggulasi Empire could do so too .
Jola took one look at the map, then said, "Sir, we have to travel more than seven-hundred miles . The skeletal warhorses might be able to endure it, but the swordmasters will not hold on forever . We need to ensure that when we are entering the Purgatory Desert, everyone has their offensive powers . All of us should rest for at least eight hours daily, and the mages should help everyone rejuvenate their bodies . Excluding the three mealtimes and time taken to set up camp, we can only travel for ten hours every single day . "
"Ten hours, will the swordmasters be able to hold out?"
"We should have three hours of rest time . As long as there is sufficient sleep, they can hold out . The skeletal warhorses are easy to handle . "
"That means there will be nine hours left, and we can travel at a speed of forty miles an hour . "
"Sir, you cannot calculate in this manner . You have to take into account the rivers, mountains, enemies, and other kinds of situations . "
"So how long will it take?"
"If luck is in our favor, four days . "
Saleen heaved a sigh of relief . The Agares family would not be able to react in a span of four days . As this place was already seized by the Tanggulasi Empire, they only needed to guard against the Tanggulasi's army .
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Seeing that Saleen was kind of complacent, Jola said, "Sir, we have to be careful of Tanggulasi's army, especially the ones who are related to the Holy See . Those people aren't afraid of dying . To them, death is the simplest method to enter heaven . "
"What suggestions do you have?" Saleen knew that he could not win the war by marching an army, so he sought advice from Jola . Jola was no expert either, but he was more familiar with Cloudflow and Tanggulasi compared to Saleen .
"The mages are very exhausted . If the viscountess can provide constant-fire alchemical crossbows to lessen the work of the swordmasters, we can maintain our speed . Once a person is tired, they won't even be able to travel in a chariot, much less ride on a skeletal warhorse . "
Lex opened her eyes and glanced at Jola . She then took out twelve weirdly-styled alchemical crossbows . A normal alchemical crossbow was about two meters wide, and a rack was needed for support . The width of these twelve alchemical crossbows did not even reach a meter . There was a protruding case on the top of each crossbow, where a gear was supposedly placed, but in its place were two magic arrays .
Such an alchemical crossbow could be swiftly loaded as the arrows in the magazine would flow into the groove automatically . Its firing speed was faster than that of a bow . The only flaw was that a magic nucleus had to be mosaicked into it, so the cost of production and maintenance was exorbitant . On average, before the shelf life of this alchemical crossbow was up, every arrow it fired would cost around three gold coins .
It must be noted that a soldier's monthly remuneration was only one gold coin, some earned even less . A swordmaster's pay was between three to five gold coins, this was the standard rate of a professional army . A mercenary earned more, but they were responsible for their own equipment . In actual fact, they did not earn a lot more, unless they were willing to take risks and put their lives on the line .
To prevent quick depletion during battle, Lex had mosaicked level-5 magic nuclei onto all the alchemical crossbows . The magic nuclei in the magic array could only be installed by a mage .
The convoy traveled through the night as they had not broke free from the troops stationed near the Stone Statue Castle . They could not rest for this night .
As it was October, deep into autumn, Titan was slightly chilly in the evenings . Fortunately, it did not rain continuously like winter in Cloudflow . It was not very overbearing either .
During the journey, the convoy ran into some leftover soldiers, they were the private soldiers belonging to Titan's nobles who had been defeated by the Tanggulasi army . Jola did not hesitate at all . He led ten swordmasters and charged over, slaughtering these thirty leftover soldiers .
Saleen hesitated for a moment, but did not stop Jola . His team traveled in between Titan's cities, as most of these cities would have Tanggulasi's soldiers . Even though the leftover soldiers did not pose a threat to Saleen, they might leak information .
The convoy rushed all the way to dawn, it only stopped when the swordmasters could no longer stomach the fatigue . Jola found an obscure forest for everyone to rest in . If a brigade of soldiers camped in the forest, there would be trouble . Saleen's team was very small, and many of them were elites . They were actually safe in the forest because of that . They would not be easily discovered .
In order to subdue the Metal Titan, Lex's mages had severely depleted their mental strength . All of the mages were resting in the chariots, while Saleen created the Restorative Water for the swordmasters . Each of them was also blessed with the Chunlin spell .
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After the soldiers were placated, Saleen set some magic traps to play it safe, then he intertwined many metal wires around the branches of the surrounding trees . These metal wires did not have any magical attributes, they were just hidden between the leaves . If someone wanted to conduct a sneak attack from above, the attacker would get trapped in the metal wires .
Jola was still alert, he accompanied Saleen all this while, and Sika did not leave Lex's side at all . She knew that Saleen would need Lex's help in order to complete the upcoming tasks .
After this very tiny camp was set up, Saleen did not return to the chariot . Instead, he built a platform between the treetops, and laid in a net formed by the metal wires .
This forest was not considered very dense, so the moonlight could penetrate the treetops . Gazing at the star filled sky, Saleen could not get to sleep no matter what . He took out the clan badge and caressed it . In the middle of this black badge, that deep imprint of the lightning star carried a touch of azure hue .
"It is an unknown as to when I can return to Ceylon City, Earl Sufonso should still be alive . With the whole world in turmoil, Sikeqinya cannot be spared either . Yaoyang City, which Earl Sufonso resides in, is still a port city . It is a pretty good resupply point in the north of the mainland . "
Saleen felt that he was homesick, as an unexplainable wave of affection overcame him .
"Master . " Nailisi climbed up the tree sneakily .
"Why aren't you protecting those mages?"
"Cuisi and the rest are around, I don't have to be there . Master, aren't you waiting for me?"
"Waiting for you?"
"Of course, there are four demons, you need to understand their offensive powers and fighting techniques . I was still thinking of asking you to help them craft some equipment . "
As Saleen had just experienced some abrupt emotions, he did not bother arguing about the issue of Nailisi and the demons, he simply nodded his head .
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Nailisi began explaining in detail the demons' races, their abilities, suitable fighting techniques, and the equipment they required .
Saleen took note of every single detail, then he asked, "Nailisi, how many of such demons can you summon?"
"Master, if too many are summoned, they cannot be controlled . If you are talking about spirits, a few hundred can be summoned . We can select them, and they can be at the standard of a high grade swordmaster . "
"Is Cuisi stronger than you?"
"Yes . " With a lingering fear, Nailisi confirmed, "If he didn't try to be a smart aleck, I might not have been able to see Master ever again . "
"I need demons like Luola, who are proficient at using weapons . "
"Master, this depends on luck . Such demons usually follow a devil . It is very difficult to summon them . If there are any mistakes, and a devil is summoned, all of us would be doomed . "
"What about the magic bugs?"
"Magic bugs achieve victory in numbers, they consume more food than Master's lightning dragons . I summoned the magic bugs to feed the lightning dragons . Some magic bugs in the demonic plane are extremely huge, and their offensive power is really low . They look like worms which have been magnified thousands of times . "
Saleen felt disgusted when he heard that, but Nailisi continued introducing common knowledge about the demonic plane .
"Master, the magic bugs will only be valuable in an enclosed space like the one in the temple . If the enemy was the ten swordmasters serving Lex and they donned sealed magic armor, each of them would be able to slaughter tens of thousands of magic bugs . The life of a magic bug is short, they are not very useful . All the imps feed on magic bugs . "
"Nailisi, isn't an imp stronger than a spirit? Why did you say that a spirit at the standard of a high grade swordmaster can be summoned?"
"A spirit's appearance is highly similar to that of a human, they can emulate human martial arts very quickly . If their equipment is good . I am saying, they can have an offensive power equivalent to that of a high grade swordmaster . "
"I read in the books that a spirit might be a hybrid of humans and demons, and they can learn human magic . Is that true?"
"Of course not, a spirit's inborn strength is hundreds of times stronger than that of a human . If Master didn't use magic, you would definitely be defeated by a spirit . "
Saleen's physique was akin to that of a beginner swordmaster, but he did not have the corresponding skillset . Saleen was clear about his own weakness .
"Is it very difficult to summon a demon?" Saleen analyzed meticulously, discovering the loopholes in Nailisi's explanation . In order to possess high offensive power, it was impossible to rely on the spirits . In the demonic plane, a spirit's status was even inferior to that of an imp .
Nailisi replied hesitantly, "Master, this matter…"
Saleen immediately felt that something was amiss, Nailisi would only speak non-fluently when she got into trouble .
Seeing that Saleen was staring at her, Nailisi knew that she would have to spill the beans sooner or later . She bit the bullet and said, "I used some of Master's high grade materials, and six high level magic nuclei to summon them…"
Saleen was extremely angry, a high level magic nucleus was an item which did not have a market price . Other than getting high level magic nuclei from the temple and the hell of god's punishment, Saleen had never seen more than two level-7 magic nuclei anywhere else . In an equipment shop, all magic nuclei above level-7 were sold separately, and only a sorcerer had the rights to purchase them .
After Saleen advanced to a sorcerer, he would have to rely on the high level magic nuclei to regain his magic chords in a short time . Nailisi had used six of them in one go .
"Master, please punish me . " Nailisi pressed herself against Saleen, looking guilty .
"How long can those four demons stay on the Myers mainland?" Saleen suppressed his rage . If they could only be summoned temporarily, then he would have suffered great losses .
"As long as I don't die, they will not be sent back!" Nailisi replied with her head hung low .
"Six magic nuclei, aye! Nailisi, give me the remaining magic nuclei for safekeeping . " Saleen stretched out his hand . Helplessly, Nailisi took out the high level magic nuclei which Saleen gave her for storage .