"Prepare for battle." Salin was expressionless as he ordered the pirates to recheck their weapons and reload their steel crossbows. Due to the short time needed to refine the weapons, these steel crossbows were of little use to puppets of the Headless Horseman's level. There were also too many ordinary black puppets, so they weren't of much use.
The pirates didn't know how powerful the black puppets were. They only heard the report from the two scouts. The two scouts had easily killed four black puppets, so the pirates weren't that nervous.
More than a hundred pirates sheathed their spears and lengthened them, moving forward in the snow like knights from a thousand years ago. However, these pirates had been modified several times, and their faces were still somewhat sinister. One look and anyone could tell that they weren't good people.
This place was still more than five hundred kilometers away from Salin's destination. The ruins of the Second Dynasty were in the center of the Chaos Swamp. At this speed, they would need at least two days to reach there.
Salin couldn't go any faster. The pirates weren't of high ranks, and a rapid march would affect their battle strength too much. Daniel simply rode on the Undead Peaches, no longer riding on the Skeleton Warhorse.
The Chaos Swamp was always overcast, so the reflection of the snow wasn't too glaring. There were no hills here, so the field of vision was extremely wide. The scouts didn't walk more than ten kilometers this time, but advanced cautiously within the range of Salin's cold vision.
Salin only ordered them to stop for lunch after walking for nearly a hundred kilometers to the west and seeing hills ahead.
This place wasn't like the south, where the weather was too cold. Even for lunch, they had to set up a simple campsite and light a bonfire. The bread and dried meat that the pirates brought along couldn't be swallowed without heating them up. The pirates didn't dare to drink anymore. They all boiled water over the bonfire and threw tea leaves into the metal pots, making turbid tea.
Tea leaves were a specialty of the south, and the pirates were used to drinking it. However, good tea leaves were too expensive, so they could only drink low-quality powder. For those who lived on the sea all year round, not drinking tea would cause them to fall sick almost immediately.
On the hills, there was an abnormally thick layer of snow on a hundred-meter-tall slope. When the bonfire in the distance lit up, something under the snow immediately started moving.
The scouts who hadn't rested quickly discovered the abnormality on the hill. They immediately took out a small flag and waved it from afar. The pirates were very familiar with flag language, and someone immediately reported to Salin.
"Hmm? Get one to five teams to build the fortifications. We'll wait here. " Salin did not want to fight the Black Puppets in the hilly terrain. The terrain here was flat, and even if he could not win, the Skeleton Warhorses could run faster than the Black Puppets. Even the Headless Horseman would find it difficult to catch up. If they entered a hilly area, the Skeleton Warhorse's advantage would be reduced.
The pirates who were busy cooking immediately split up. The so-called fortification was actually to build a temporary fortress with snow. This was not a big deal for Mages. When snow was under high pressure, it would directly turn into ice, and when ice was compressed by magic, it would be as hard as steel. If the degree of compression exceeded a critical point, it would turn into black ice, which was harder than most metals.
Salin wasn't at that level yet, but he could still build a temporary fortress that was stronger than a brick castle. After all, he only had a hundred or so subordinates and a hundred or so Skeleton Warhorses, so he didn't need to occupy too much space.
The pirates took their shovels from Sarah and immediately went to build up their fortifications with snow.
The three Sovereign Kings had made up their minds to observe the current combat power of the humans, so they all hid in Daniel's commanding flames and refused to help. Daniel commanded Peter Hughes to help the pirates trample out a solid foundation in the snow.
Not long after, a two-hundred-meter-wide snow castle was built. The walls of this miniature castle were about five meters thick. Salin began to cast magic in sections, freezing the hard snow into ice. The pirates dug out soil from under the snow, mixed it with the charcoal from the bonfire, and spread it on the ground. Immediately, the ground was no longer smooth, and it was suitable for humans to walk on.
The outer wall of the snow castle was as smooth as a mirror. Salin released Restoration Water outside the wall and froze it. If the Black Puppets touched this kind of wall, they would suffer great damage.
Salin's Restoration Water could last for about two months, which was enough to last until the end of the battle.
Ainphent was not idle. He was refining iron arrows in his tent. This time, he used the old method, using his family's alchemy model to modify the arrows for the pirates' steel crossbows. Now that he was a fifth-level Mage, he had enough spiritual power, so he wouldn't make the same mistake again. Moreover, the pirates didn't carry many iron arrows, and one-third of them had been refined long ago, so Ainphent didn't have to be so anxious.
In the sky, a double-headed eagle flew over from afar. The black mage had discovered Salin's team, and finally couldn't hold back and wanted to observe them from a closer distance. How could Salin let it do as it wished?
The double-headed eagle was flying at a height of about eight hundred meters, and Salin's magic couldn't attack that far. He quietly summoned Zola and asked, "Are your arrows accurate?"
"Very accurate, if it's an alchemy crossbow."
"Do you know how to use an alchemy crossbow equipped with an alchemy telescope?"
"Alchemy telescope? That's good stuff. Sir, can you give me one? "
"What do you want it for?"
"To watch a beauty bathe, of course!" Zola seemed to have forgotten yesterday's pain and returned to his normal self. Salin really wanted to kick him away. Alchemy binoculars were very difficult to make. They needed high-level crystals and mages to polish them carefully with magic. Binoculars made by ordinary craftsmen would always have visual errors, and they couldn't be used on weapons.
"I want you to shoot down that thing in the sky." Salin didn't continue Zola's words. If Zola did a good job, he would give Zola an alchemy telescope. Anyway, any woman around him would have serious consequences if Zola saw them. Whether it was Neris, Silva, or Rex, they would all teach Zola a deep lesson.
The alchemy crossbow equipped with an alchemy telescope was also called a sniper crossbow. It was strictly prohibited by the four empires, and no weapons trading company dared to sell it. The nobles were worried about their own lives. This thing gave an ordinary person the power of a mage, and it could kill a professional below level seven at a distance of about a mile.
Unless the target had the insane mental power of Salin or Ainphent, it was very hard to detect.
The alchemy telescope had a complicated magic array that could lock onto the target. It was very easy for a crossbowman to aim, which was what the nobles were most afraid of.
Salin didn't care about this. Rex wouldn't object to him making a weapon like this. However, Salin only made one secretly. If this thing got out, who knew how many people would die unjustly.
Zola took the alchemy crossbow from Salin. This alchemy crossbow was close to a meter wide, but it didn't have a stand. It was completely controlled by the crossbowman's strength. Zola easily fiddled with it, turned the thorny wheel, and loaded the arrow onto the alchemy crossbow. He began to adjust the alchemy telescope on the crossbow.
This crossbow arrow was a high-grade item. The arrowhead was covered in hollowed out magic patterns, and the material was dark gold. After the thorny wheel turned, the magic array on the alchemy crossbow was activated at the same time. The six magic cores lit up weakly, and the energy was quickly consumed.
Zola didn't dare to be negligent. He raised his hand and aimed the alchemy crossbow at the double-headed eagle flying in the sky. In the telescope, the double-headed eagle's strange red eyes could be clearly seen.
Zola's arm was as steady as a mountain, not trembling at all. He pressed the button on the magic array, and the six level-three magic cores immediately dimmed. The front of the alchemy crossbow lit up with a dazzling light.
This was the true meaning of an alchemy crossbow. The arrow carried the power of a level-two spell, and at the same time, had the powerful impact of a physical attack.
One attack consumed six level-three magic cores. On the battlefield, such a weapon was of course meaningless. Nearly a thousand gold coins could only kill one target. Unless it was to assassinate the enemy's general, the gains wouldn't make up for the losses.
Salin knew that the double-headed eagle was difficult to refine, so he was willing to spend so much money to destroy the eyes in the sky.
The alchemy arrow's hollow arrowhead emitted purple flames. Without making any sound, it arrived in front of the double-headed eagle like lightning. The black magician controlling the double-headed eagle couldn't react at all.
Zola's movements were too fast. He almost raised his arm and shot the alchemy arrow.
A hard crossbow plus a level-two spell might not be the most powerful attack, but the speed at which the arrow was shot surpassed that of an intermediate spell. It was too fast. Unless Zola saw it when he was aiming, he could only rely on the mental strength of a professional to sense it.
Bang!
More flames shot out from the hollowed out magic pattern of the alchemy arrow, and the arrow shaft sank deep into the double-headed eagle's abdomen. Zola didn't aim for the head or neck. First of all, for a puppet, that might not be a vital point. Secondly, the double-headed eagle, as its name implied, had two heads. He couldn't hit two targets at the same time with one arrow.
To be able to instantly aim from eight hundred meters away and hit the double-headed eagle's abdomen, Zola's archery was impressive enough. He had trained hard in archery for the sake of assassinating that duke. Even in the Cloud Flow Court, no one knew that his archery wasn't inferior to his sword skills.
Within two hundred meters, Zola didn't even need the alchemy telescope to accurately hit an insect the size of a fingernail.
Purple flames shot out from the orifices of the double-headed eagle at the same time. The magic on the alchemy arrow activated and destroyed the puppet's core in an instant. A cloud of black smoke sprayed out and was instantly burned away by the purple flames, leaving nothing behind.
"Sigh, I wonder how many souls there are." Salin sighed when he saw the double-headed eagle fall. A lot of souls were needed to refine a double-headed eagle. This thing flew so fast that even he couldn't catch up to it. The black magician used the double-headed eagle to scout the enemy's situation and was successful in every endeavor. It was just that this time, the black magician hadn't thought that Salin would have a forbidden weapon and an expert archer by his side.
"Sir, actually, it doesn't matter if a person's soul is there or not when they're dead."
Zola returned the alchemy crossbow to Salin with some reluctance.
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