Since Spiritshade City floated in the air, airships were indispensable for the military to travel back and forth for battles.
In this strictly hierarchical city, everything was graded. For instance, when Lion was a first-year student, the robes, staffs, and other equipment issued by the school were all low-grade. Now that he had risen to fifth year, his treatment had improved accordingly. Not only had his wizard robe and staff been replaced with high-grade ones enhanced with various blessing spells, but he also wore a magical necklace around his neck and a magic ring on his left index finger. Even the gray cloak he wore had magical protection against arrows. As for the floating boots on his feet, they were issued uniformly by the military before departure, allowing brief levitation to prevent anyone from accidentally falling off the airship and dying.
The airships were similarly divided into high, medium, and low grades. The top-tier airship was like a space fortress, albeit with the遗憾 of not having multiple turret designs. It was rumored to be entirely crafted from pure refined gold, exuding a majestic aura that commanded awe and reverence at first sight. It belonged to the Spiritshade City Lord and usually parked in the plaza in front of the palace, rarely used. The next tier was akin to the size of a destroyer, with only a few equipped in the entire military, making it one of the strongest weapons, typically used only during the annual large-scale expeditions.
The next tier down was rather humble, resembling flying ships equipped with some magical crossbows, and that was it. The hull was mainly iron and wood, with crucial parts forged from refined gold and secret silver. They were abundantly equipped in the military and served as the main transportation. After all, the Shadow Realm differed from the Material World, lacking substantial mineral deposits, making metallic items relatively scarce and rare.
The worst kind was the one Lion was currently riding on… what an airship! It was merely a large flying raft!
Since it was the lowest-level "military exercise," the military naturally wouldn't deploy superior weaponry and equipment. Having such a flying raft as transportation was already something to be grateful for.
Anyway, they were already on the way back, and they would return to Spiritshade City within half an hour.
This "military exercise," though routine, had yielded decent results. In a vast mountainous region, they had discovered a group of Shadow Minotaurs, about forty to fifty in number, all captured alive and now being escorted on several airships behind them.
Shadow Minotaurs were intelligent, communicative, cowardly, obedient, and possessed immense strength, making them ideal slave material. They were widely used in Spiritshade City's mines and workshops. However, the name "Shadow Minotaur" always made Lion chuckle.
The so-called Shadow Minotaurs were unique creatures of the Shadow Realm, unrelated to the Minotaurs of the Material World, except for the two curved horns on their heads. When Spiritshade City entered the Shadow Realm, its residents encountered many native creatures of this realm. Since these strange creatures didn't exist in the Material World, the residents didn't have corresponding names for them in their vocabulary and struggled to refer to them.
Later, a senior official suggested, and the government issued a decree to uniformly name the creatures of the Shadow Realm. The naming method was simple: if it resembled a creature from the Material World, it would be named the same. For instance, this monster with curved horns on its head was directly named Minotaur—but since it was indeed different from a Minotaur, "Shadow" was prefixed to it, becoming Shadow Minotaur.
Shadow Minotaur, Shadow Mouse, Shadow Six-Legged Horse, Shadow Three-Headed Dog, Shadow Dragon… Honestly, it was quite unimaginative. Whenever Lion thought of this, he couldn't help but laugh. Had the ancestors of Spiritshade City lacked talent in naming?
However, pondering this was meaningless. After all, it had been over a thousand years, and everyone had already gotten used to it. Even if someone could come up with more suitable and pleasant names now, they couldn't replace tradition.
Lion naturally didn't care about these things as they were none of his business. What he was thinking about now was that tomorrow was the end-of-month holiday again. What gift should he bring back for Shangjia this time?
Just as he was contemplating, he suddenly felt a bright flash in front of him. Looking up, he saw several points of bright light flickering through the vast shadowy mist. Lion's heart tightened slightly. The airship leading the way was sending out a warning signal to the whole team, indicating that they had encountered enemies.
Odd.
They were already close to Spiritshade City and shouldn't have encountered large groups of shadowy creatures. But if they had only encountered a few scattered monsters, the vanguard would have swept them away without needing to alert the entire team.
Everyone else on the airship also saw the lights and their faces immediately became serious.
The squadron that came out for this "military exercise" consisted of ten airships, each with a high-ranking military officer sitting in command, two soldiers as deputies, and six to seven "interns." The interns included students from the wizard school and apprentice priests from the temple. On Lion's airship, including him, there were six interns: four wizard school students and two apprentice priests.
The commanding officer was a black-robed wizard who sat still in the only chair on the airship, his hood pulled low, hiding his face in the shadows. Judging from the skull decoration on his staff and the eerie aura surrounding him, Lion could deduce that his area of expertise was necromancy. During the previous military exercises, he had cast a wide-range fear spell that terrified the Shadow Minotaurs into trembling and kneeling, confirming Lion's suspicion.
Only a necromancer could wield a fear spell with such mastery.
Seeing the warning from the airship ahead, the black-robed wizard slowly stood up and looked into the dense mist ahead, with two greenish, ghostly lights flickering in the shadows under his hood, presumably his eyes.
"Prepare!" he said in a low, hoarse voice that clearly reached everyone's ears.
The two deputy soldiers immediately guarded on the left and right, shielding the six interns behind them. Lion began to concentrate, the magic he had prepared this morning floating into his mind.
It was a bit troublesome, he thought. Since they were on the way back, this military exercise was nearing its end. Although everyone had prepared magic before departing, they had almost used it up in the previous battles. For a wizard, once the pre-prepared magic was depleted and he couldn't cast spells on the spot, he was like a rifle without bullets, completely losing his offensive capability.
Although there were apprentice priests in the team, their situation was similar to the wizards. A priest's magic, or miracles, must be requested through prayer to the deity and granted by them, also with a limited quantity—too many granted miracles would overflow the priest's body. At this point, these apprentice priests' miracles should also be nearly exhausted.
If the attacking enemy had seized this opportunity, calculating their return route and laying an ambush here… then they might indeed be in trouble. Hopefully, it was just a coincidence, a chance encounter…
Just as he was thinking, another "bang" sounded, and a white light rose from the mist ahead, blooming in the sky and turning into a rain of colorful dots. Lion nodded slightly; this was a signal to Spiritshade City, requesting reinforcements.
It seemed they were really in trouble.
The airships behind also accelerated to catch up and joined Lion's airship in forming a crescent formation, preparing to meet the enemy.
Lion wondered who the enemy ahead was.
As if specifically answering Lion's question, another "bang" sounded, and a flare popped. This time, it wasn't a request for reinforcements from Spiritshade City but clearly a message to the rear troops. In the gloomy mist, the flare bloomed in mid-air, transforming into the shape of a mask.
A black cloth mask.
Lion's heart tightened slightly, and he heard his companions beside him gasping.
The black mask was the holy emblem of Mask, the god of shadows and thieves.
Were the enemies under Mask's command?