Translator: AnubisTL
The tails of alchemical cannon shells tore through the night sky, casting a flickering, unstable light. The thunderous roar of explosions and the heavy thud of iron golems' footsteps wove together into a prelude of destruction.
The two armies, like two raging torrents of death and steel, collided with a deafening crash on this nameless land south of the Scaly Earth Rift Road.
The moment the front lines clashed, this once silent and desolate land was instantly transformed into a bloody meat grinder that devoured all life.
With the tacit understanding forged through years of blood and fire, the Albert Family's heavy infantry instantly formed an impenetrable, dense shield wall, withstanding the first wave of the monsters' frenzied charge. The fine steel scimitars of the hyena warriors struck the giant tower shields—reinforced multiple times by alchemy—only to send a series of futile sparks flying. In the next instant, spears thrust out from the gaps in the shields like striking vipers, precisely piercing their throats.
A raging ogre warrior let out a deafening roar.
He strode forward, his massive, spike-covered wolf-toothed club smashing down with a vicious wind that tore through the air. It instantly sent a heavy infantryman, who had failed to dodge, flying backward like a ragdoll, shield and all.
The fallen heavy armored soldier had no time to struggle back to his feet.
He was instantly swarmed by the bloodthirsty, frenzied low-tier monsters rushing in from behind, torn to shreds after a single, short-lived scream of agony.
The ogre, fresh from its kill, grinned savagely as it scanned for its next victim. Suddenly, a dull, thunderous roar of iron hooves erupted from its flank.
An elite lancer charged like a lightning bolt. The magic energy concentrated at the tip of his lance coalesced into a single point, piercing with unerring precision through the narrow slit of the ogre's helmet.
Pshhh! Scalding blood erupted like a geyser.
Elsewhere, centaur knights charged frantically, their heavy greatswords and sharp spears ruthlessly reaping the lives of the elite human soldiers.
And those iron golems, like mobile fortresses—every swing of their massive iron fists or slash of their colossal weapons unleashed a storm of blood and gore.
When these iron behemoths of opposing factions collided, the resulting screech of twisting and tearing metal was enough to make one's scalp tingle and teeth ache.
"Storm... Gather!"
Vicious Wolf General Rhode let out a low growl, and the ancient runes on his greatsword suddenly flared with a blinding blue-white light.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!!!
Thunderbolts as thick as arms and utterly ferocious descended from the sky as if summoned, striking the densest clusters of monsters with unerring precision.
In an instant, the lower-level monsters were obliterated, leaving only a field of charred remains.
Immediately after, the Rune Knight leaped into the air, his humming greatsword held aloft. The wind runes on his boots flashed brilliantly, and his figure swept through the air like an autumn gale scattering fallen leaves. He struck down the powerful monster bosses—still paralyzed and writhing in agony from the thunderbolts—with lethal precision!
Shink!
Rhode's greatsword effortlessly tore open the belly of the nearest Ogre Warrior, sending a torrent of blood and viscera spilling out.
Without a moment's pause, he spun, swinging his shield. The heavy rim smashed into the skull of a Hyenaman Chieftain to his side like a warhammer, crushing it instantly.
At that same moment,
His peripheral vision caught three exceptionally ferocious figures tearing through the front line.
ROAR!!!
A Ferocious White Tiger leaped forward, its form a silver bolt of lightning tearing across the battlefield.
Where its massive claws swept, they stirred not just wind, but a storm of death mixed with armor shards and thick blood mist.
Three heavy cavalrymen, along with their mounts, were sliced clean in half in a single instant. Before the horses' death-throes could even fade, the tiger's steel-whip tail swept out, sending several infantrymen who had tried to flank it flying like broken kites, the sound of their bones shattering echoing clearly.
Yooo—!
The Ice Deer Lord let out a lethal, ethereal cry, plunging its massive, crystalline antlers into the earth. A tide of glacial magic energy erupted from the fissures, surging outward with furious intensity.
Within a twenty-foot radius, soldiers were instantly transformed into ice sculptures, their poses frozen in various states of agony, even their eyelashes coated in a beautiful, cruel white frost. The Ice Deer Lord then raised its bowl-sized iron hooves and charged, effortlessly trampling the sculptures, shattering them into a cloud of glistening ice dust.
Sssssss—!
The Giant Serpent Lord slithered forward, its hardened scales scraping the ground and leaving behind corrosive, molten-pitch-like venomous furrows. It reared its hideous head and spewed a dense, impenetrable cloud of purplish-black poisonous mist.
The pervasive venom seeped through the gaps in the soldiers' fine armor, searing their flesh like the most potent acid. The human warriors nearby erupted in agonized screams as their skin and muscle rapidly decayed and melted away.
But the human side's elite were no pushovers.
Sienna's body rippled with the alchemist's magic energy, which manifested as solid, lightning-like arcs.
From her space item, precision components gleaming with a metallic chill flew out in a stream. Swept up by the magic energy, they clanged and spun rapidly, assembling in an instant to form a floating arsenal behind her: dozens of alchemy cannons of various shapes, calibers, and lengths.
This was the signature technique of the Cannoneer, a specialized branch of alchemists.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Sienna's eyes, cold as a hawk's, locked onto her targets. A storm of death—a barrage of metal, fire, frost, and energy—instantly poured down upon the three wild monster lords.
Solid armor-piercing shells, searing fireballs, and frost beams that froze the very air.
Each attack struck with lethal precision, targeting their relatively weak points: eyes, joints, and old wounds.
The monster lords' flesh tore open as blood and meat exploded from their bodies. Faced with this relentless assault on their vitals, they felt a genuine threat to their lives and were forced to rein in their savage offense, diverting their attention to defend their weaknesses.
All the while, Guardian Mage Sanchez's chanting never ceased.
He was enveloped in a surging, dense aura of guardian magic energy. With his rapid and efficient incantations, combined with the occasional tearing of a magic scroll, wide-area protection spells were swiftly cast upon the warriors one after another.
Protection against sharp-edged weapons! Protection against blunt-force trauma! Protection against energy impact! Protection against physical penetration! Protection against elemental erosion!
He had comprehensively enhanced the warriors' physical and elemental resistances, temporarily transforming them into nearly indestructible bodies of steel.
Boom!
The Ferocious White Tiger's claws slammed brutally into a heavily armored warrior, but this time, it failed to tear him apart as before. Instead, the massive force merely sent him flying backward.
The warrior rolled a few times upon landing, then struggled to his feet, shook his head, and charged at the giant tiger once more.
The Ice Deer and the Giant Serpent faced the same situation.
They had become the primary targets of the human champions.
In an instant, the threat posed by the three wild monster lords to the human army's front line was drastically reduced.
However...
Besides the wild monster lords, three even more terrifying evil dragons were circling in the sky.
The White Dragon Treacy folded her wings, diving like a falling ice meteorite. Her frost-white dragon breath, resembling a waterfall of ice, washed over the human defensive line.
A dozen heavy infantrymen, too slow to dodge, were instantly transformed into lifelike ice sculptures. Their resolute expressions and shield-blocking stances were frozen in the chilling mist. Seizing the moment, the Ice Deer Lord reared its front hooves, its crystalline antlers gathering a bone-chilling light before it charged into the frozen group—BOOM! Frozen flesh and sturdy armor shattered together, erupting into a cloud of glittering ice crystals.
Red Dragon Samantha swept low across the battlefield, unleashing her own devastating dragon breath to scour the ground.
Where her crimson flames passed, soldiers screamed as they became living torches. Their agonizing wails nearly drowned out the roar of explosions, and the sickening stench of charred flesh filled the air, completely overwhelming the smell of gunpowder.
Seeing this, Sienna immediately commanded the cluster of alchemical cannons hovering behind her to pivot toward the red dragon.
The smaller firearms instantly disassembled into their basic components, then, drawn by magic energy, reassembled in a flash. They merged and transformed into a massive, oversized sniper cannon covered in energy circuits, its muzzle locked onto the red dragon ravaging the sky.
Just as her finger was about to pull the trigger—
"Ugh!"
A sudden, searing pain shot through her mind, as if a red-hot iron needle had been driven deep into her skull. Her concentrated spirit energy wavered.
It was the Iron Dragon Solgorn.
He had launched a spirit energy attack to disrupt Sienna's sniper shot. Simultaneously, his massive dragon claw snatched up an alchemy golem locked in combat with an ogre. Taking to the sky, he brutally tore out the golem's core engine with his talons, then hurled the heavy wreckage down onto the alchemists like a catapult stone.
Boom!
The debris was intercepted by an energy shield hastily erected by Guardian Mage Sanchez, exploding into a fireball.
The battle raged with ferocious intensity.
What troubled the human commander was this: none of the three evil dragons had lost their composure to the bloodlust of battle. They had not made the mistake of descending to the ground, where they could be surrounded and besieged.
Instead, they cunningly circled and strafed from the skies, relying primarily on their devastating dragon breath to shatter the human defenses from a distance. Only occasionally did they use their powerful dragon bodies as weapons, diving in for a single, brutal strike before immediately taking flight once more.
They refused to be drawn into a prolonged melee.
"Lock down the airspace!"
Guardian Mage Sanchez's face darkened. He tore open a scroll inscribed with a complex magic formation.
Voom—!
The surrounding air instantly seemed to solidify into glue as a powerful magical field, specifically designed to target flying creatures, descended. It exerted a massive suppression effect on all flight skills and instincts.
Human soldiers, officers, and the formidable alchemy golems all stared intently at the three figures in the sky. They stood ready, waiting for the moment the dragons would lose their ability to fly and crash to the ground, so they could launch a thunderous assault.
However, things did not go as planned.
The three dragons exchanged glances and, as if on cue, peeled back their massive jaws to reveal mocking smiles.
Several alchemy items they wore on different parts of their bodies—their horns, necks, and the base of their wings—simultaneously glowed with a soft yet steady light. The light neutralized and dispelled the surrounding binding field, allowing the air to flow normally again. Their flight ability was now only minimally affected.
When humans regarded dragons as major enemies, they always carried various spell scrolls or barriers designed to lock down the skies.
History was littered with arrogant dragons who fell victim to such measures.
The vast majority of dragonkind relied too heavily on their innate talents, holding themselves in such high esteem that they disdained making special preparations for such circumstances.
But the Ignis Dragon Clan, under the long-term influence and strict demands of the Red Iron Dragon Garos, had learned the importance of caution, however slightly, despite each dragon's still distinct and wildly different personality. As a result, they had long since equipped themselves with the corresponding alchemical countermeasures.
The spells meant to seal the skies were rendered useless.
The evil dragons continued to soar and rampage freely above the humans. Each blast of dragon breath and every diving strike inflicted massive damage and terror upon the human army's lines and morale.
Elsewhere.
Vicious Wolf General Rhode suddenly twisted his body as if he had eyes in the back of his head, evading a centaur warrior's long-charged lance thrust. In the same motion, he spun and swung his sword. The heavy rune greatsword tore through the air with a shrill whistle, slicing the powerful centaur warrior in two at the waist.
Monster bosses continuously roared and lunged at him from all sides.
Yet, under the rune knight's swift and ruthless counterattacks, they were all quickly transformed into cold corpses.
(End of the Chapter)
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