1264 Goodbye, Gaine Part 1 (2/2)

Alchemy City had ample numbers of powerful professionals, but they had never expected to fight Saleen. Even if they'd intended to do so, they would not have been able to catch up to him.

People who were able to catch up to Saleen were in short supply. They were also afraid of not being able to take him on when they were at a disadvantage.

The Floating City was indeed such an abhorrent menace. The shock of seeing such a huge city flying overhead was something that even their enemies couldn't suppress.

Furthermore, Saleen's Floating City was 36 square miles. Being of such a humongous size, it could easily crush any city it landed on, let alone just throwing by rocks down from above.

Saleen had actually done so. A local noble had killed hundreds of adherents of the Nature Faith, so Saleen had immediately gone there with the Floating City. He'd landed right on top of the city belonging to said noble. The city was reduced to dust in mere moments.

No northern nobles had been able to put up a decent fight after that. The Alchemy City mages had contracts in their hands, yet all of them proved useless. No nobles were able to fight Saleen. Only Alchemy City would have been able to stand a chance against him if they were willing to mobilize their mages and armies.

Alchemy City's army was small, numbering less than 100 thousand. They had more mages than soldiers. The problem, however, was that there had been a strict contract signed between Alchemy City and Holy Rock City. Mages of Alchemy City were allowed to deploy, but their armies were only allowed to defend within the city or on warships at sea.

The city's mages had taken to the sky to attack the Floating City. However, the Floating City's altitude was at a height that mages were very wary of. Few dared fight recklessly. They were all beaten to a pulp by the enchanters. Those who were not able to fly fast enough had been blown to bits by incoming magic attacks.

As soon as Saleen's Floating City was deployed, it seemed as if the tables had turned. The entirety of northern Qin had seemingly being swept clean by a tidal wave.

Due to their relations with Lex, the resistance from the northern Qin nobles was not intense. If not for that, Saleen would have had to slaughter every single city he found.

Alchemy City had never suffered such a crushing defeat when the Holy See was at the height of their power. They were incapable of doing anything to reverse their defeat, as Saleen's Floating City was able to trample over any conventional armies.

The mages from Alchemy City retreated. Saleen's Floating City headed for the ruins where Pompeii City had once been.

There was no need to actually rebuild the place. Saleen simply instructed the lightning puppets to repair the walls of the ruins. The walls were treated like artwork. Many expensive stone materials were used for the repair.

The newly built city wall had an irregular square shape and a circumference of ten miles. The walls were carved with murals and elaborate writings, illustrating Pompeii City's history.

A huge memorial was built on the eastern side of the city. Over a million names were carved on the memorial. It contained all of the information found in the household register of Pompeii City.

Alchemy City had destroyed Pompeii City, yet their magic records survived. Saleen did the best he could to illustrate the names and identities of all those people on the memorial.

The memorial was surrounded by a Qin-styled cemetery where all of the dead bodies that remained were buried. The entire cemetery was a huge magic array, including the gravestones.

With command over a Floating City, it became incredibly easy for the enchanters to cast spells from a height of about 100 meters overhead.

As Alchemy City had suffered a devastating blow at northern Qin, Alchemy City did not dare to send any mages to harass Saleen. There was no need to do so, as Saleen's strength had grown to the point where they had to take him seriously.

However, Saleen did not simply let the matter slide. He sent an adherent of the Nature Faith to Alchemy City, asking to be refunded for the house he'd bought there. Alchemy City felt disgusted by Saleen's antics.

They were selling real estate properties to earn money. Mages had to bear with the exorbitant cost if they intended to stay in Alchemy City.

However, with Metatrin City rising up to compete with Alchemy City, the mages had to go elsewhere. Real estate prices plummeted in Alchemy City as a result.

Saleen asked to be refunded at the highest price possible. Alchemy City was already enemies with Saleen, and he was provoking them for doing such a thing.

However, the contract was still in effect. If Alchemy City were to refuse, Saleen would have other reasons to look for trouble with Alchemy City.

While Alchemy City felt disgusted by what he'd pulled, there was no way for them to weasel out of the deal, so they refunded Saleen who took back the house. However, things took a turn for the worse when the Nature Faith adherent was unable to leave Alchemy City. The adherent was robbed and killed right in front of the Elemental Hand's tower.

The killer was a powerful assassin. Alchemy City practically turned the place upside down, but no one was able to find the killer.

Saleen then asked Alchemy City about how they would settle the matter with him.

Alchemy City was naturally unwilling to stomach a loss like that, but Saleen was quick on his feet. He simply took the Floating City to territories under Alchemy City's control and poisoned every single field that belonged to them.

The poison was not a strong one and was incapable of killing anyone, yet it would prevent the soil from producing crops for over ten years.

Saleen left feeling very pleased with himself. He took Sika to the Imperial City of the Abyss through the teleportation portal. The other end of the teleportation portal was a huge island outside of the Oceanic Ice Block.

That place had been converted into a spirit island by the Winged Skull. Their warship was patrolling nearby.

”Master, why didn't you bring Nailisi with you?” The Winged Skull asked on the Pan Turtle Alchemy Ship.

”Nailisi need to man the Floating City, as only she is capable of commanding that many demonic spirits. I'm totally at odds with Alchemy City now. I never thought that, as a mage, I'd have come this far,” Saleen said, sighing deeply.