Near the portal, the Demon King's army was under attack by the empire. The Royal Griffin Knight Order, unlike typical knights, was equipped not with lances but with war hammers. Cavalry rarely use short weapons like war hammers, but in the hands of these human knights, the hammers were not easy to handle.
Qi was seen gathering in the war hammers and the Royal Griffin Knights threw their hammers. Instantly, the hammers swelled in size dozens of times in the wind, transforming into a giant hammer interwoven with lightning, moving at an incredibly fast speed. Even the formidable physique of ogres, when struck by such a hammer, was instantly smashed into pieces. Even the average silver giants would suffer significant injuries from such a hit. This was because the Royal Griffin Knight Order uniformly practiced the "Tempest Thunder Hammer" martial technique, a long-range attack technique of considerable power.
Although the number of Royal Griffin Knights was not large, when they launched a collective attack, the effect was still very powerful.
"Everyone together!"
"Attack the portal!"
Under the cover of other units' fire, the Royal Griffin Knights quickly moved to the side of the portal, jointly attacking the portal. It was known that the portal itself was not stable. If it were to sustain such a fierce attack suddenly, the portal might be disrupted, preventing the majority of the Demon King's army from being transported. Given that the Stellar Gateway, despite its convenience, has a cooldown period between activations, if the front and rear of the Demon King's forces were separated, they would immediately find themselves in a predicament.
"Protect the portal!" Long Yi roared as he transformed into his dragon form, releasing a vast cloud of black mist that instantly absorbed some of the attacks, but alone, he was not enough to completely protect the portal.
"Divine Tree Sanctuary!" Seeing the situation, Nancilia quickly activated her domain ability. Countless massive roots burst from the ground, encasing the area around the portal in layers like armor to shield it from attacks.
At the same time, Zhang San, Li Si, and other top fighters from Darkness City also activated their domains or cast magical barriers, firmly protecting the portal within them. Although the attacks from the Royal Griffin Knights were sharp and fierce, breaking through their defense in a short time was not an easy task.
The teleportation process might be slowed, but with just this amount of imperial forces, disrupting it was impossible. The empire, anticipating this, saw that breaking the portal was hopeless. Fortunately, they gave up continuing to attack the portal and instead took advantage of it to tie down the top experts of Darkness City, then quickly launched attacks on other parts of the army that had not yet secured their footing. After a brief and intense battle, the empire, using their pre-arranged ambush, inflicted some losses on the Demon King's army as they passed through the portal. However, in the end, the Demon King's army still successfully arrived.
Meanwhile, accompanied by violent spatial fluctuations, a towering and immense fortress was transported. The moment the Citadel of Eternity arrived, its formidable firepower and attack capabilities immediately assumed a dominant position on the battlefield. Upon seeing this, the imperial troops immediately made a decisive retreat without engaging in further combat.
Zhang Nu stood within the fortress, observing the somewhat chaotic and disordered battlefield, but he was not angry; instead, a subtle cold smile hung at the corner of his mouth.
"Your Majesty!" Nancilia approached and said, "The empire had anticipated that our portal would appear here, so they prepared an ambush in advance. Although it caused us some losses and trouble, it did not prevent the formation of the spatial gate."
"That's inevitable," Zhang Nu smiled and said. "The empire just wanted to intimidate us, they weren't truly trying to stop our invasion."
Hearing this, Nancilia was somewhat confused. The rationale was quite simple. The empire had no real need to do this, because even if they stopped the invasion once, there would be a second and third time. As long as the Demon King still existed, war would be inevitable. Compared to the empire, the growth rate of the Demon King's army was clearly faster. From the empire's perspective, with the terrifyingly rapid strength increase of the Chaos Federation, time was on the side of the Chaos Federation.
Given this, it was naturally better to conclude the war sooner rather than later. The longer the delay, the more disadvantageous it was for the empire. And rather than having the empire to launch an offensive, it was better to respond calmly, wait at ease, and firmly hold the home-field advantage. The Demon King army dared to utilize spatial means to directly transport to the core heartland of the empire. They must be prepared for the possibility of being completely annihilated by the empire, as escaping would be almost impossible. If the empire could destroy them with relatively minor losses, the subsequent counterattack into the Chaos Forest will be much easier.
Zhang Nu calmly said, "Heal the injured ones, adjust the combat formation, and we will head directly towards the imperial capital, aiming to arrive in the shortest time possible."
"Yes!" his subordinates promptly responded.
Following this, the Demon King's army quickly mobilized. Two hundred Abyssal Dragons, leading a hundred thousand flying draconian troops, cleared the path ahead. All military fortresses and obstructive troops and defenses encountered along the way were struck with devastating blows immediately.
As the Demon King's army approached with formidable momentum, the imperial capital had already sounded the alarm, and everyone was busily engaged.
"The Demon King's army will arrive at the imperial capital in about two days!"
"Effective immediately, the entire city of the imperial capital is under martial law! All non-combat units must not leave their homes to avoid unnecessary trouble."
The vast imperial capital, a city with a population of millions, was now enveloped in a tense atmosphere. Layers upon layers of barriers were activated, magic towers were lit, and millions of combat units entered a state of readiness, keeping everyone in the empire extremely busy.
Marquis Gabrulain approached the emperor to report, "We have deployed numerous traps and ambushes along the way, which should sufficiently weaken the Demon King's army and give us more time to prepare."
Emperor Frelio XVI nodded in satisfaction. Up to this point, everything was proceeding according to plan. Now, the entire population of the outer city of the imperial capital had been relocated inside the inner city, and a large number of streets and houses in the outer city had been forcibly requisitioned by the imperial army to serve as the base for combat operations.
Emperor Frelio himself ascended a temporarily constructed command platform. He was accompanied by nearly twenty of the empire's top powerhouses, including the Prophet Primo, the Sunset Five Sword Saints, and Gabrulain. These individuals all possessed Level 6 strength and were generally of monarch-level at the very least.
As for Emperor Frelio himself, he was dressed in new armor that was different from his usual attire. He wore a golden armor with the appearance of a dragon coiling around it and wielded a golden crystal greatsword, the material of which was unknown. Undoubtedly, both the armor and the greatsword were epic-level equipment that were not only rare but also of exceptionally high quality even among other epic-level items.
"Let this Demon King witness the true depth of strength an empire possesses!" Frelio declared. "He will pay the price for his ignorance and folly!"
Frelio's entire being radiated a powerful aura, and as he spoke, a dozen or so faint apparitions appeared behind him. These were not mere illusions; they were actually the spirits of the emperors of ages past.
"And my Thunder Empire will avenge past humiliations and reclaim everything we've lost!"
"Victory for the empire!" shouted Marquis Gabrulain.
Hundreds, even thousands, of the empire's most powerful warriors and countless legions from every direction also roared in response, their cries echoing through the heavens.
"Victory for the empire!"
"Victory for the empire!"
Emperor Frelio XVI loudly declared, "Initiate the ceremony!"
The empire's chief priest, a venerable man with white hair, led the imperial priests in beginning the ritual. Dozens of imperial altars lit up, casting various blessings, enhancements, and buffs layer by layer upon the empire's combat units. As an imperial power, having various means and depths of resources was not unusual. Although the buffs bestowed by the empire on its troops might not compare with the divine blessings stacked by the several temples of Darkness City, they were sufficient to allow this army to perform with extraordinary combat effectiveness in the coming days.
The time soon arrived, and the empire had made all its preparations. On the distant horizon, a dark line was slowly becoming visible, if one had a powerful enough vision, they would recognize that this line was none other than the two hundred Abyssal Dragons of the Demon King. Flanked by countless draconian royal guards and draconian battle mages transformed into drakes---numbering at least in the thousands---followed by a vast number of highly trained and baptized draconian super soldiers.
"They are coming!"
Emperor Frelio XVI once again affirmed his confidence. Before this battle began, the prophet had conducted numerous prophecy sessions, and the empire had continuously adjusted its deployment and plans according to these predictions, achieving near perfection under the existing conditions. At this moment, the scale and mode of the Demon King's army's invasion almost perfectly matched the projections seen on the timeline. Even the slight variations were normal disturbances, and everything was going according to plan.
"Your Majesty!They have arrived!"
"As these dragons and draconians approach, they will first use their dragon fear to intimidate our forces, causing temporary dizziness and confusion among our soldiers. Then they will use dragon flame and thunder in concentrated attacks to break the protective barriers of the imperial capital, creating opportunities for breaching our defenses in the subsequent assault."
Marquis Gabrulain was speaking when the two hundred Abyssal Dragons approached. As if to confirm his words, led by Long Yi, the dragons almost simultaneously unleashed a long-accumulated and ferociously powerful dragon fear attack. This invisible and pervasive shockwave instantly enveloped the imperial defending forces like a blanket.
"Spiritual Barrier!" The empire was prepared. Several specially constructed altars lit up. After these altars absorbed a large number of spirit gems as offerings, they released a psychic energy that was the exact opposite in nature to the dragon fear. When the two forces collided, they neutralized each other.
"What's going on?!" Long Yi found that his full-strength dragon fear had not caused even the slightest impact on the humans. It was somewhat unbelievable. Psychic attacks usually have very few defensive measures.
His expression darkened. "These humans were indeed prepared, making our dragon fear ineffective.... Never mind, let's quickly open a gap in the outer barrier first! Everyone, coordinate with my attack!"
As he spoke, Long Yi opened his massive jaws, and a column of dragon flame, as thick as a train car, was released from his mouth. The other dragons, having prepared for a long time, also released their fire columns at the same time. All the fire columns converged with Long Yi's, forcefully merging into one or two hundred streams of dragon flames. They ultimately coalesced into a dense super dragon flame. This combined dragon flame attack was a maneuver that Long Yi and his subordinates had developed after extensive practice, capable of instantaneously producing a force powerful enough to annihilate a Level 6 mythic unit. No matter how strong the barriers of the imperial capital were, they could not withstand this attack.
Such a terrifying attack, even a Level 6 legendary unit could not emerge completely unscathed.
However, the empire was still well-prepared. Thousands of royal mages had readied themselves and, as if anticipating the move, summoned a massive spatial rift right in front of the super dragon fire. The dragon fire hadn't even touched the barrier and was directly sucked into this rift. The entire space was severely distorted, causing a violent spatial explosion, but the aftershocks of this explosion were unable to threaten the barrier of the imperial capital.
At this, the dragons were stunned. Their attacks had been countered twice. As the saying goes, the initial forceful effort weakens on the second attempt and is exhausted by the third.
Emperor Frelio XVI laughed heartily upon seeing this, "Hahaha, thanks to our prophet, their methods are now ineffective against us!"
Just then, the massive supreme magitek fortress and hundreds of thousands of the Demon King's army arrived from behind. Emperor Frelio XVI spoke sternly, "They've appeared, continue as planned, deal with this fortress first, we must not let it function!"
Through numerous foresight sessions, Emperor Frelio XVI was well aware that the fortress not only possessed fierce firepower but also housed between one hundred and two hundred thousand magitek units and mage units. The ferocity of their combined firepower was unimaginable, so it had to be dealt with.
With these two successful and perfect suppressions just now, the emperor was full of confidence. He believed that as long as they continued to follow the plan, they could completely destroy the fortress before it could be effective, rendering it useless. And without this fortress, the Demon King's army would not only pose no threat to the imperial capital, but they would also have no chance to retreat or escape, ultimately doomed to destruction under the empire's trap.
"The Demon King must die!" Emperor Frelio XVI raised his crystal giant sword, deciding to personally confront the upcoming Demon King. This real Demon King was very strong, but with his current state, boosted by the spirits of imperial ancestors, along with the vast imperial army, empire's experts, and Heroes from all sides assisting him, he was fully capable of fighting and even capturing the Demon King!
The emperor had considered every detail of this battle and believed that there was no possibility of defeat."