The horns blared, and the war drums resounded. The main force of the empire began its advance! This assault was three times larger than the first wave, comprising two main components:
Fifty thousand noble troops, including various hereditary nobles' family knight orders, as well as the retainers and experts nurtured by Marquis Kregi and the various Counts and Viscounts.
Six hundred thousand imperial legion troops, composed of three fully geared imperial official army legions, divided into ground cavalry units, flying cavalry units, dozens of mage battalions, hundreds of infantry battalions, and various special combat battalions.
Within a blink of an eye, Marquis Kregi had committed all his forces. There were no tactics like encircling or ambushes; they simply sealed Kolo off completely. If the forces of the Demon King were not completely annihilated at this moment, when this army retreated back to the Chaos Forest, the difficulty of eliminating them would increase manifold.Compared to the Chaos Forest, the Demon King's army did not have a significant home advantage in the Kolo region.
Long Yi was already finding it extremely difficult to handle both Xiang Nanfeng and Hong Xia while being vigilant for sneak attacks from several other Heroes at any moment. Suddenly, a several hundred meters long thunder python was summoned. It instantly entwined around Long Yi's body. The power of the lightning elemental was so immense that even Long Yi, who had advanced magic resistance, felt unable to completely immunize himself from it and was paralyzed and bound.
Simultaneously, a colossal golden-armored giant, standing at thirty meters tall, emerged from the earth. Seizing the opportunity, he swung his enormous sword at the dragon's back, shattering numerous scales and creating a deep, gaping wound. The Demon King's life force diminished significantly in an instant.
Long Yi roared in fury. A surge of potent dark magic erupted from his body, forming a deathly black hole. However, Hong Xia swiftly dispelled it using radiant divine magic.
"Demon King! Your end has come!"
"This moment marks the end of your road!"
The Demon King sustained multiple injuries, and four formidable auras encircled him, restricting his movements. Hong Xia, the high priest of the Radiant Church; Xiang Nanfeng, the leader of the Mercenary Guild; Marquis Kregi of the empire; and Commander Bard, the chief knight of the Guardian Knight Order --- four top-tier powerhouses.
Four super-elite experts appeared simultaneously, exerting tremendous pressure. Each one possessed the strength of a Level 6 overlord. Long Yi, already feeling suppressed due to being restrained by two super-Heroes, now faced the additional pressure of two more powerhouses of this caliber.
Commander Bard was the guardian chief knight stationed in the southern territory, vastly stronger than an ordinary guardian knight. Ten of his sword slashes were enough to slay an average adult dragon.
As for Marquis Kregi, he was a powerful Level 6 overlord mage. Although his magical abilities were significantly weakened and restricted against dragons, he possessed rich combat experience and magical techniques from his days as a renowned adventurer twenty to thirty years ago. He had an array of methods to handle dragons. For instance, with a variety of sealing spells and controlling skills, Marquis Kregi could effectively suppress and weaken the Dragon King's power. This would create opportunities for Bard and Xiang Nanfeng to deal damage.
Additionally, around the four of them were many more top-tier Heroes and family retainers, ready to strike opportunistically. It seemed like an inevitable defeat, even though the Dark Dragon King was a monarch.
Yet Long Yi showed no fear. He mocked loudly, "Hahaha, you ants are not worth mentioning! Your current might is merely the result of outnumbering us!"
Commander Bard snorted coldly, "Against an evil like you, why bother with knightly ideals? You killed nine of my subordinates. Today, I won't rest until I've cut you into nine pieces!"
In an instant, a golden sword radiance surged, transforming into a hundred-meter-long sword beam, resembling a torrential waterfall slashing toward the Demon King. The Demon King had just summoned a shield, but it was immediately dispelled by Hong Xia and Kregi using divine magic and sorcery. The golden sword left a wound on its body.
With this strike, the Demon King's HP decreased sharply once more. His HP was now reduced to one-third. In contrast, the four opponents before him, with the Radiant High Priest acting as a healer, could quickly recover even if they were injured.
The situation was dire. The imperial main force was about to arrive. Just as he could not face four opponents alone, the less than two hundred thousand elite soldiers from the federation could not possibly withstand the nearly one million imperial coalition forces. Continuing this way would undoubtedly lead to defeat.
Long Yi, however, remained undeterred. He was not pessimistic about their current disadvantage; it was only temporary. Zhang San, Li Si, and the Demon King's royal guards had yet to make their move. They were the trump card forces lurking in the Kolo region. The reason for their current inactivity was simple: they were waiting for the opportune moment. When the entire imperial coalition was fully engaged in battle, that would be their prime opportunity to strike.
"He's weakening fast!" Hong Xia shouted loudly. "Put in more effort to finish him off!"
On the surface, the two Heroes seemed to have minimal depletion, but after fighting for this extended period, their MP were significantly drained. The Demon King had the ability to drainMP, which meant they had to resolve this swiftly and decisively. There was no time to waste.
"I have just the solution!" Marquis Kregi began chanting, unleashing giant serpents covered in runes from the spatial dimension behind him. They swiftly lunged towards the Demon King, each bite packed with powerful sealing and control effects. Being bitten by these serpents meant losing the ability to cast spells and move.
A barrage of dragon flames came their way, reducing several serpents to ashes. However, two serpents managed to sneak through, attacking from tricky angles. They clamped onto the Demon King's wings, causing him to feel a numbing sensation. Despite the Demon King's resistances, he was affected to some extent. Meanwhile, Bard and Xiang Nanfeng attacked simultaneously from both sides. The Demon King struggled to defend, and a radiant spear from Hong Xia found its mark. His HP further dwindled. The more they fought, the more invigorated the four became. The Demon King, no matter how tenacious, could not endure such intense assaults for much longer.
Meanwhile, the Imperial forces were rapidly entering the battlefield, breaking the deadlock that had persisted. Just at this moment, something unexpected occurred. Piercing sounds cut through the air, accompanied by a strange energy fluctuation that prompted some to cast scouting spells in the direction of the noise.
"What's happening?"
Cone-shaped objects, propelled by powerful magical flames, zoomed toward the battlefield at astonishing speeds. Before the imperial forces could discern their origin, dozens, even hundreds of these objects had infiltrated their camp. Explosions echoed continuously, casting flames, lightning, and gusts of wind in all directions, causing widespread area damage.
"Magitek weapons!"
"Seems like magitek weapons!"
A few seasoned mercenaries recognized them. Without the imperial coalition being able to prepare adequately, hundreds more magitek missiles were fired rapidly, striking the rear of the imperial forces.
"Shit!"
"Who's attacking us?"
"Where are the enemies?"
"Find them and eliminate them!"
Although the consecutive magitek missile strikes did not cause casualties significant enough to influence the battle directly, they did disrupt the imperial forces' formation to some extent. As everyone prepared to pinpoint the source of the attacks, spatial energies suddenly became chaotic. The next moment, an enormous, oval-shaped object, completely black and several hundred meters tall, appeared out of thin air in the rear of the battlefield.
"Oh, my God!"
"What is this?"
"How did it emerge?"
"Looks like a magitek structure!"
"My God, this is a magitek fortress, the most advanced and massive of its kind!"
No one could have anticipated such an event. The floating citadel was indeed mobile, but its movement speed was exceptionally slow, lacking strong maneuverability. Moreover, during movement, many defense systems could not be activated, making it vulnerable to surprise attacks.
However, as a supreme magitek citadel, the Citadel of Eternity not only possessed floating capabilities but also featured a void engine, essentially a spatial device. What did this mean? It was a teleportation device! The Citadel of Eternity could not only move but also teleport.
However, the void device was prone to overloading, resulting in an extremely long cooldown time. After teleporting over such a vast distance, it would take at least two months before it could be used again. Normally, this function was reserved for escape scenarios.
Directly teleporting into the battlefield was highly perilous. During the spatial teleportation process, all defense systems remained inactive. If the enemy was experienced enough and launched a fierce attack the moment the citadel appeared, it could cause significant damage before the citadel could respond. Yet, such magitech devices were exceedingly rare worldwide. How could the imperial coalition react in time? Moreover, most of the imperial mage units, archers, and aerial forces were at the front lines and could not be recalled swiftly.
"Finally caught up!" Grand Archmage Bai Jie of the human race stood in the control room of the supreme magitek citadel, holding a long staff. She could observe real-time images of the outside world. Bai Jie immediately commanded, "Full-scale attack!"
The intelligent core of the magitech fortress, Xiao Tong, responded, "Understood."
The next moment, imperial soldiers noticed something peculiar. On the surface of the magitech fortress, resembling an oval-shaped iron lump, rows of firing ports suddenly opened. Countless magitek soldiers, resembling terminators, emerged. They held magitek rifles and stood at the firing ports, swiftly targeting the imperial coalition forces below.
In an instant, numerous magitek beams rained down like a storm.
"Damn it!"
"The Demon King actually has an ancient supreme magitek fortress!"
"Attack! Attack! Bring down this damn thing!"
The formation of the imperial coalition forces was in chaos. They started to counterattack in a panic. However, at this moment, the defensive systems of the magitech fortress had been activated. A powerful shield, akin to an eggshell, enveloped the egg-shaped citadel.
Countless magitek soldiers continued their relentless assault. Under normal circumstances, these soldiers were merely at an average elite level. But with the attribute bonuses and defense provided by the citadel, their combat effectiveness was extraordinary.
Screams filled the air! Casualties mounted! Hundreds of launch pits continued their onslaught. Magitek missiles flew out one after another. The offensive capability of the Citadel of Eternity was even stronger than the Bloody Fortress! With such a powerful magitek citadel suddenly appearing behind the imperial army, it immediately disrupted the well-coordinated momentum of the imperial forces' assault!
"Damn it all! You actually kept such a move in your hand!"
Marquis Kregi's face turned extremely ugly as he saw the devastating casualties in his legion. At this moment, the Demon King, Long Yi, was also feeling frustrated. He knew the real Demon King had indeed kept a trump card, but he had only thought of it as the royal guards as well as Zhang San and Li Si. He never imagined that his master would send such a formidable magitek citadel. The moment the Citadel of Eternity appeared, it exerted immense pressure, causing severe losses to the empire. However, the imperial commanders were not pushovers.
After a period of chaos, the empire commanders immediately divided their forces and counterattacked. A formation of mages began chanting collectively, attempting to launch a large-scale united magic, intending to break the fortress's defenses.
However, just at that moment, the citadel's AI, Xiao Tong, spoke out, "Threat detected! Activating the citadel's main cannon!"
A gigantic cannon emerged from the citadel. Inside the pitch-black barrel, numerous intricate magical formations were etched, condensing various elemental energies like wind, fire, light, and thunder and compressing them tightly.
Boom!
A dazzling light beam pierced through the mage formation, tearing it apart like a piece of paper. The protective shield of the formation was shattered, and it hit the central mage, releasing terrifying energy that practically evaporated all the mages within the formation! The power of this strike was no less than a full-powered attack from a Level 6 overlord mage!
Bai Jie was very satisfied with the devastating effect. "Since the main cannon is in use, let's activate the ten secondary cannons too!"
"As our master commanded!"
"Annihilate as many enemies as possible! At any cost!"
Xiao Tong promptly responded, "Understood, Citadel Commander!"
Ten more cannons appeared. Although their power was inferior to the main cannon, they were comparable to a Level 5 overlord mage.
Countless magitek soldiers, 100 missile launch pits, 10 magitek cannons, and 1 super cannon. The Citadel of Eternity had transformed into a Citadel of Reckoning. Its killing power was off the charts! The imperial coalition forces were in disarray. Everything was in chaos! Blood flowed like rivers! It was pandemonium!
"The casualties are too severe!"
"At this rate, even if we win...I won't be able to explain to the Grand Duke!"
Marquis Kregi roared with fury, his eyes bloodshot. "We must retreat for now!"
"We can't retreat! Retreating now would mean all our previous efforts will be in vain!" Xiang Nanfeng firmly opposed the idea.
Hong Xia added, "The Demon King is on the brink of defeat. As long as we take him down in time, the Demon King's army will collapse without a fight. That's the only way to minimize our losses!"
Bard, the Knight Commander, chimed in, "Your Lordship, what they're saying is right. Let's kill the Demon King first; forget about the fortress for now!"
Marquis Kregi calmed down and carefully considered their words. It made sense. He could only grit his teeth and agree, "In that case, I have to trouble all of you to go all out. There's no need to hold back at a time like this!"
Xiang Nanfeng, Hong Xia, and Bard nodded. Just as everyone was preparing to give their all to swiftly annihilate the Demon King...Suddenly, powerful auras appeared, rushing towards them at astonishing speeds. The Demon King breathed a sigh of relief. This situation was now completely under control! Their hidden forces had now come into play!"