Chapter 1008: Baiting the Enemy (Part 1)

Regardless of how good a piece of equipment as, a person needed to be of corresponding level before they were able to bring out the equipment’s full power. Saleen appreciated the Signet of Silence for a bit before putting it away, crafting his next piece of equipment.

Even though Saleen knew that capability was more important than gear, the problem was that he was not only a mage, but a king as well. That meant that he needed to be responsible for the equipment his followers and subordinates used.

Saleen felt, for the first time after becoming a sorcerer, like a coolie. The help that Truman was able to be to him was limited. It was fortunate that Saleen had massive mental power reserves, which enabled him to craft equipment while giving Truman lessons.

That was the first time Truman had learned so patiently since he started following Saleen. He ate and drank almost nothing while staying by Saleen’s side to help his master craft equipment. The magic chords in his body grew without his knowledge.

His talents were far better than Saleen’s, yet he did not have Saleen’s luck. He was drowned by all the talent around him back in Sreeger Island and no sorcerer bothered taking him in. He became rather dejected for a while.

But, when he arrived at Metatrin City, Saleen let him manage the miniaturized magic cannon, and Truman felt he was being appreciated, and it changed his mood immensely. When Saleen actually took Truman in as his student, Truman’s resentment and resistance towards magic had all disappeared, and he dedicated himself to the learning of magic.

The feeling of knowing that there was a bright future ahead was irreplaceable. Truman’s speed of advancement was frightening, and it was only then that he caught Jason’s notice. The effect of rising levels of power throughout the entire plane was most apparent in the cases of mages with high potential like Truman. He was now a level five grand mage after spending several days working with Saleen continuously.

What troubled him were matters related to comprehension of things. His magic chords grew several times faster than Saleen’s had. Saleen’s water element also made it very difficult for him to advance.

Saleen had not expected Truman to advance to the next level so quickly. He had planned to let Truman go about developing an understanding of things on his own for several years, before teaching him the ways to advance to the ranks of sorcerers. However, with the state of things as they were then, it seemed that Truman would do fine staying by his side and learning instead.

The sorcerers from Metatrin City arrived at Royal Harbor within those six days. It was not considered fast, but considering that the sorcerers had to take a group of warriors with them as well as many other grand mages, resulting them having to use three warships, the speed at which they had arrived was frightening.

Metatrin City also brought Lex a great deal of supplies, mostly construction materials. Lex did not have many magic nuclei to spare. The ones that Saleen gave her were inadequate to lay down shoreline defenses. It was fortunate that the Ancient and the doubles of the Mechanical Soul were there to share Lex’s load.

The 12 sorcerers remained at Royal Harbor for half a day, helping Lex install massive amounts of magic arrays before departing for Ceylon City.

At the border of Ceylon City, less than a hundred miles away from Yaoyang City, 50,000 troops stood by. Saleen had all the vagrants and refugees conscripted to the army and assigned there. His demon army took 2,000 elites and loitered outside Yaoyang City.

The demon army served far better as deterrents than as actual combatants. Their over-five-meter-tall stature struck fear into the hearts of Yaoyang City’s troops. Such enemies made the troops feel hopeless.

Yaoyang City was not a major city and as such, had fewer than a thousand elite troops, which were mostly filled with common troops and low level mercenaries.

Sufonso knew well that if things were to go on like that, it was only a matter of time before the troops suffered a breakdown. His city was doomed before the enemy struck. However, it was unthinkable for him to run. Yaoyang City was his family’s estate and all of his relatives were in the city. If he were to run, all the lesser nobles and citizens would revolt against him.

A greater noble who was incapable of keeping their lands was to suffer grave consequences.

The imperial city sent word when things were still looking grim for the city. His Majesty Danny gathered 12 mercenary groups and 10,000 royal cavalry to aid Yaoyang City. The 12 mercenary groups were capable of pulling their own weight as they were all level six and above, with the total number reaching above a million. The 12 mercenary groups fielded 100,000 troops to serve as reinforcements, together with the royal cavalry and personal guards of over 30 local nobles. The total number of reinforcements sent to Yaoyang City was 150,000 individuals.

His Majesty Danny had spent a lot to hire the mercenaries. He was unable to sit around doing next to nothing. If things were to be allowed to continue, all the nobles would have revolted and sided with Saleen. Danny knew that Saleen would not destroy his cities unprovoked, as it would cause mass panic.

There were fewer than 10 cities throughout the entire Myers Mainland capable of withstanding an assault by the metal flyers.

The metal flyers were not powerful, but their targets were both common troops and civilians. There was hardly any city capable of dealing with such attacks.

Other than the troops, all of the surviving mages from Ironwall City went to Yaoyang City with the reinforcement. They intended to fix their cowardly actions. When the Magical Element Tower showed up at their door, all of them chose to cower. There might have been more who would have been able to escape if they had chosen to retaliate.

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Danny had also sent three palace mages, which were level nine sorcerers. They were a force to be reckoned with in the Sikeqinya Empire. Danny had also deployed mercenaries to keep Lex in check. If Lex were to divide her troops and sent aid to Saleen, the troops would assault her to take back Royal Harbor.

The very reason why Danny took so long to move was because he was contacting the Holy See. Pope Theisio caught wind of the news and agreed to dispatch warships to attack Ceylon City along the shoreline.

The very last decree that Danny gave was that any mercenary group capable of taking Ceylon City would be made the lord of the city, as well as exempted from paying tax for the next ten years.

It was a very enticing poison, but the mercenary groups were excited nonetheless. Saleen had finished consolidating the nearby lesser nobles. Ceylon City’s territory was very bloated. Getting their hands on that land would be akin to getting their own private kingdom.

The level eight and level nine mercenary groups were eager to move and many mercenaries of lower level proactively sought contact with stronger groups. The lesser groups knew that it was impossible for them to take the city on their own. What they wanted was very simple: take part in the campaign and share the loot.

As a result, when the 150,000 strong reinforcement arrived at Yaoyang City, about 100 mercenary groups took action. They headed straight for Ceylon City under the leadership of six greater mercenary groups. There were groups that had few more than a hundred men in their ranks and the largest group had a little over 3,000 men. Over 400,000 mercenaries in total gathered in northern Sikeqinya. Other smaller groups of mercenaries, with only three to five members, flocked to Ceylon City to pick scraps.

No one thought that Ceylon City was impregnable. The giant Ancient warship did not conceal itself at Royal Harbor. The place was being expanded and the city was rebuilt. The number of troops was gauged as well. The majority of the forces that attacked Ironwall City stayed at Royal Harbor. No one knew Saleen had 100,000 demons at his disposal.

From the mercenaries’ perspective, if Saleen had what it took to crush Yaoyang City, he would have done so a long time ago. No one knew about the feud between Earl Sufonso and Saleen, but there was no doubt that Saleen did not bring his troops to Yaoyang City for sightseeing. There was a 60 to 70 thousand person army south of Yaoyang City.

Saleen was very pleased to hear the news. It would have been hard for him retaliate if the forces sent at him were too small. The reinforcement currently sent against him was so huge that Yaoyang City had no way of keeping them in, so they had no choice but to attack his territory.

Saleen quickly ordered the demons at the frontlines to retreat to a suitable distance. If the enemy proved to be strong, they were to escape back to Ceylon City immediately instead of tangling with them.

As for the 50,000 new recruits, Saleen provided carriages as best as he was able to, allowing them to escape.

The equipment issued to the new recruits was not considered pitiful when compared with the low level mercenaries, as they were wearing paper armor provided by Saleen. The material used to create the paper armor was waste derived from practices conducted by magic apprentices and low level mages, sporting defensive capacities comparable to leather armor. However, there were no good ways of fixing them, making them one-time-use equipment.

The low level mercenaries of Sikeqinya treated even paper armor as treasure. The paper armor looked regal and with a few decorative pieces added, Saleen did not spend much arming the new recruits.

Saleen would have been insane if he had hoped that the new recruits were able to kill enemies effectively, as less than ten percent of them actually had experience fighting as mercenaries.

But then again, the generals leading the new recruits hailed from Principality of Bitterwater. Saleen had only given them one order: bait the enemy, lead them deep with their lines.

The generals were puzzled about the vague order. They asked Saleen about where should they be leading the enemy to, and Saleen replied by pointing at the walls that were still under construction. “Bring them here and I’ll have you rewarded.”

The generals gave the peculiar orders to the troops. The new recruits were given their first martial order: never ditch their equipment.

Saleen had no intentions of sending the new recruits to their deaths, but allowing them to dump their armor to run was not helpful for their growth. It would make them incompetent instead. If they were to ditch their weapons and armor, there would be little hope for them in the future. Their equipment was very light. The paper armor, crossbows, short spears, and thin swords were issued because Saleen was concerned that they would not be able to carry much.

Yaoyang City dragged things out until June before making sudden moves. The heavy cavalry barged onto the demons’ turf. The demons were far less capable at fighting than Sufonso had anticipated them to be. The contact had them practically massacred by the cavalry of comparative numbers.

The heavy cavalry was Danny’s elite squad. Saleen had ordered the demons to go easy, but when the squad barged onto the demons’ turf, they were not even able to pretend to be defeated.

Earl Sufonso was very pleased, thinking his majesty’s cavalry was indeed invincible. He ignored his subordinates’ advise and led his 1,000 strong personal army and 2,000 auxiliary troops, heading outside Yaoyang City. Earl Sufonso was not being stupid; he was a golden grand swordmaster after all, and it was a given that he did not think his life was in danger.

As his majesty had given the order to attack Ceylon City, he deemed it a good time to make his mark. The 150 strong army outside the city was simply the vanguard, with over a hundred mercenary groups right behind them. Just how large the army at Ceylon City is? 20,000?

So what if Saleen is a level nine sorcerer, eh? I’m a golden grand swordmaster. If Saleen were left on his own, it would be easy to take his head.

That Saleen destroyed Ironwall City. If I killed him, then I will definitely be promoted to duke.