Chapter 857: The World beneath the Ice Sheets (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Saleen hardly felt sorry over what happened. If the ancient warriors were to be restored to a level of power and intelligence from ancient times, it would have proved very difficult for him to have them under control. He was able to subdue the warriors due only to the fact that they possessed weak souls. If the warriors were to have strong souls instead, not only would Saleen be unable to subdue them, he might also have been severely damaged by the resulting recoil.
Keeping grade-9 professionals as slaves had Saleen feeling rather uncomfortable. It was fortunate that he was a mage. It meant that he knew well where his bottom line was. If it had not been for him, the ancient warriors would have lost their souls sooner or later. The Ancient was just an escort wars.h.i.+p, and the grade-9 soldiers were just elite troops. The rooms designed for them were simply impossible to provide eternal protection.
If it had not been for him, the souls of the ancient warriors would have been completely lost in another three to five-thousand years, and they would have never woke from their slumber again.
Saleen was greatly relieved seeing how the twenty-four ancient warriors had no intentions of fighting him. His journey into the oceanic ice block would have been far safer with the twenty-for grade-9 warriors around.
It was a pity however, that Saleen had no choice but to kill the remaining sixteen, as he did not have enough Eternal Control shards with him. Their bodies and the tainted blood armor they wore were sent into the purgatory of bloodshed, to be used for repairing the Twelve Notes of the First Purgatory.
If Saleen had the remaining sixteen under control, his journey into the oceanic ice block would have been even safer still. Ancient warriors wearing tainted blood armor would be able to truly give all their grade-9 powers in fights, when under someone’s instructions.
Nailisi sent Saleen and the ancient warriors into the purgatory of darkness. Saleen simply began using the dark elements within the purgatory of darkness to craft masks. His own Devil Mask was a powerful equipment in itself. While Saleen was unable to craft such a high level equipment on his own, he was also capable of crafting copies of lower levels. Water flame alchemy was also one of the best skills to be had. Saleen was a grade-8 mage himself, making holy equipment was not something difficult for him.
Saleen’s mental capacity was more than ten times greater than that when he was a grand mage. The use of water flame alchemy became more and more of a breeze. He was even able to chat with Nailisi as he was crafting masks for his twenty-four ancient warriors.
“Master, why don’t you wait a bit longer and make more of those things. You would be able to control more ancient warriors then, and when we venture into the oceanic ice block, your safety will be absolutely guaranteed.”
“What month is it now?”
“February.”
“Lex took off to rescue Bain and Isabella was taken away. Things are in a mess back home and I need to go home as soon as possible. The more ancient warriors I put under my control, the more time I would need to do so. If I was to attempt controlling the twenty-four of them again, the time needed would be six times more than it was. In the same manner, unless some of the warriors under me actually end up dead, I wouldn’t be able to subdue them with my current speed.”
“Master, Lex sent people to look into Isabella’s matter. The one taking her was probably smeone higher than a grade-9. With your current powers, you have nothing to fear. The ones hunting for Bain now are all holy masters from the Holy See. Holy masters are in worse states than mages when facing a.s.sa.s.sins. You know well how good Bain is himself. The way I see it, his attacks are as good as any golden grand swordmasters’, maybe even stronger.”
“Lex wanted to see Bain alive, not avenge him. a.s.sa.s.sins have always been powerful offensively, but in terms of stamina and defense, they are nowhere that of mages. The Holy See have too many professionals at their disposal. If Bain was to be cornered, he would have nowhere to run.”
“Master, you are not missing big sis Sika, are you?”
“If you like to think so, suit yourself,” Saleen said. If Lex was to sneak into Sikenqinya through the Chaotic Swamp, she may have had to deal with Fycro’s forces. Fycro might have been looking for him. Saleen did not need to worry about anyone else looking for him. If Fycro managed to track him there however, he might have to worry about keeping the Ancient.
There was simply nothing Nailisi was able to do. Saleen was not known to be one to change his mind. That was one personality trait he shared with Jason.
Saleen crafted masks with six elemental points for the ancient warriors patiently. Twenty-four masks were crafted from the white water flame within the span of two days, flying off to meet their new owner.
Saleen found something rather interesting within that two days. The ancient warriors had not been aware of the fact that they were as good as dead, and had actually attempted to eat. In truth however, the ancient warriors sustained themselves completely through absorbing ambient energy from their environment. Any food taken would have simply ended up rotting inside their bodies, as the food was not able to be absorbed.
Saleen decided to infuse a portion of the power of life from the G.o.ddess of Myers in his left hand into the twenty-four warriors. The strands of power went straight to the Eternal Control shards crafted by Saleen instead of being absorbed, boosting the strength of their souls by one-hundred fold.
Even so, the strength of the warriors’ souls were nowhere near that of their levels.
Dark red masks stuck onto the faces of the warriors. There were six elemental points on the masks, which just barely worked with their helmets, giving the masks a certain level of defensive properties. The magic arrays within the masks however, were directly connected to the souls of the warriors, enabling them to activate the arrays using their own mental powers to make sound. That effectively gave them the ability of speech.
There was also a slot for setting magic nuclei between their brows. The digestive systems of the warriors had atrophied, which meant that they would never again been able to sustain themselves through eating. Their source of sustenance was then akin to puppets, derived from the energies of magic nuclei.
That proved to be something rather convenient instead, as the likes of golden grand swordmasters hardly ate as well. The abilities of the bodies of such humans to absorb energy had reduced their dependence of food.
There was one more day left, and Saleen decided to craft twenty-four spears according to the weight and other specifications of the weapons wielded by the ancient warriors. The spears looked just like the ones wielded by the warriors themselves. The shafts were crafted specifically from the branches of the Tree of Taboo. The spearheads crafted from an alloy produced from gorilla metal mixed with wrought gold. Weapons of such materials enabled the red sword aura of the ancient warriors be used to their fullest, without any worries about the weapons breaking under such stresses.
The bodies of the ancient warriors had been restored to about sixty percent of what they originally were in the span of three days. The restoration would reach eighty percent in another month. Only by then, under smooth instructions, would the prowess of grade-9 warriors be truly apparent.
“We can leave now,” Saleen did not say much. Other than crafting weapons and equipment, he had been trying to work in tandem with the warriors within those three days, by running simulations over and over.
Nailisi took the forms of devils and spirits, and played the role of an enemy several times. Nailisi lost every time. The time when she had overwhelmed ten ancient warriors with her powers alone was never seen again. Under Saleen’s instructions, all twenty-four warriors managed to work as one tight unit, with offensive and defensive maneuvers playing out so effectively that it rendered Nailisi unusually frustrated.
She had only realized her own shortcomings then, and learned that having overwhelming power was far from enough. The critical difference between her and Saleen in terms of combat capacity, laid within the ability to calculate.
The pan’s turtle alchemical boat made it to the surface and Saleen went back to the Dragon Skeleton Combat Vessel to talk to the Mechanical Soul, having it lead the fleet to hunt cautiously on the outskirts. He set the hunting area to be within five-hundred yard radius, as going out from the area would have resulted in ma.s.sive numbers of powerful magic beasts ganging up on them. While the Ancient had no need to worry about such an occurrence, the bone wars.h.i.+ps were not quite as durable.
The bone wars.h.i.+ps proved very useful to Metatrin City. While they were hardly of any use against Cloudflow, such s.h.i.+ps still proved to have an edge over Porter City’s navy. The Ancient was not allowed to make its way back for that moment. Saleen wanted to have more of the s.h.i.+ps under his control, before allowing them to be seen in front of his enemies.
The tens of thousands of warriors aboard the Ancients were also, for the moment, something dangerous to deal with.
“Genga, if the fleet runs into any problem…”
“I will just kill myself!”, the Mechanical Soul answered without a hint of hesitation. While it still harbored intentions to rebel despite being fully under Saleen’s control, it began to consider getting along with Saleen after seeing what he was capable of, and refrained from any actions that would bring it more bad luck.
“Glad to see you know your place. Nicholas, Eleanor, Nailisi, Rossen, Soldier, you all follow me into the oceanic ice block. Soldier will be in command of everyone for the time being. Soldier’s word is my word.”
“Master!”, Nailisi did not like what she had heard.
“You can choose to stay behind, Nailisi,” Saleen looked at Nailisi. She had no choice but to keep her head down, and stop fighting with the winged skeleton. The pan’s turtle alchemical boat became the winged skeleton’s private equipment. Making the winged skeleton the commander was the best choice if they wanted to go in and out of the oceanic ice block as they pleased.
“Leave the demons and mages on the Dragon Skeleton Combat Vessel. If we did not make it back in the next half year, bring the s.h.i.+p back to Metatrin City.”
The mages were shocked to hear such words.
“Your highness!”
“Master!”
“My liege…”
“I’m just saying. Humans probably haven’t entered the oceanic ice block for the past ten-thousand years. Even if I had equipment enabling me to go into the deep seas, there is no telling if I will definitely be able to make it back safe and sound. Metatrin City is our root. If I’m not able to make it back… well, haha…well, Sika will become the King of the Kingdom of Metatrin. Since I have a son, he will be the next king, your future king.”
“Just hang on back for the time being and keep getting used to controlling the Dragon Skeleton Combat Vessel. I can’t just keep having Soldier put everything of his onto the s.h.i.+p. I need people whom I can trust to handle this s.h.i.+p. After all, the reason I brought you people along was because I trust you people. Yeah, right. If I’m not able to make it out, don’t go home the way we came. Go west for ten-thousand miles, then go south. There is a map recorded on the magic compa.s.s of the vessel on that coordinate. Go slow, and you will be able to fight your way back to Metatrin City. The vessel have more than enough to fight off the beasts along the way and take you all home safely.”
The mages were unable to go against Saleen’s orders. Saleen then continued with a smile, “I’m the kind of person who is really scared of dying. If it was really that dangerous, I wouldn’t have come this far. I have the protection of the Ancient. Even if beasts are to come in packs, there is hardly anything they can do to me.”
Saleen finished and had the ancient warriors take one step forward, unleas.h.i.+ng their red aura about them.
All mages seemed to have fires burning in their minds, which was a result of powerful mental oppression. The grand mages all had their hair standing up, their hearts beating in their rib cages, blood rus.h.i.+ng to their heads, and had headaches, from the mental powers the warriors exuded.