Those Heroes learned the lessons from Zhao Lei's failure.
They attempted to bypass the Darkness Canyon and get through the mountains via other, smaller passages or simply via the air in order to directly launch a sneak attack at the Demon King's nest.
It's still a suicidal move though.
Zhang Nu, who was situated within the Castle, had grown greatly in power since Zhao Lei's attack.
Thus, those invaders cannot possibly pose a threat to him.
Zhang Nu had no worries over his own safety, but a battle will likely end up causing damage to his territory.
Damage to normal structures didn't really matter, but if the goblin farms, House of Skeletons, or the Minotaur Camp were to be destroyed, it would definitely end up adversely affecting the development of his territory. That's something that must not be allowed to happen.
Thus, Zhang Nu decided to proactively attack instead.
"My lord! Your army has been fully assembled!"
The draconian general knelt on one knee. An army made of 10 draconian battlemages, 50 high soldiers, and 200 normal soldiers was assembled.
They're the most elite draconian army!
They didn't even include any skeleton soldiers!
Skeleton units tend to be a bit lacking in speed, so they're not suitable for rapid assaults.
Draconians are different though. Those units are all elite fighters. Draconians are quite agile from the start, so they can easily traverse even forests, mountains, and other rough terrain.
This army is capable of launching a quick attack, quickly ending the battle, and then quickly withdrawing from the battlefield, all without any delay.
"My lord, please give us the order!"
Zhang Nu nodded, "Go forth then!"
The draconian general Zhang San was quite excited.
He never imagined that he would get the chance to show his mettle so soon.
Those Heroes came at just the right time. On this day, he shall use their blood to prove his abilities and loyalty.
"For our lord!"
"Crush our enemies!"
Zhang Nu raised his mighty looking polearm as the signal, and the other draconians roared out in unison. They left the Darkness Canyon and sped through the night like ghosts at a terrifying pace.
"Let me see then."
"Just what kind of entertainment those Heroes will be able to show me."
Zhang Nu flew into the sky. If there are any sneaky strategies or ambushes, then he'll be able to discover them right away via Appraisal. He will thus ensure that nothing goes wrong.
...
During the later half of the night.
Inside the dark forest.
A leopard-kin Hero was looking around suspiciously.
A tiger-kin Hero asked, "What is it?"
The leopard-kin Hero replied, "Did you feel the earth shake just now?"
The other Heroes stopped for a moment.
Before anyone had the chance to carefully check, screams started ringing out within the forest.
All the Heroes and other warriors were greatly alarmed.
Although the forest is quite safe and hidden, they still set up some wolf-kin with high detection and acute senses of smell all around to act as guards in order to prevent any sneak attacks.
The constant screaming obviously means that the wolf-kin guards were being wiped out.
The tiger-kin Hero roared out in rage, "Fucking hell! It's an enemy attack! Get ready for battle! Everyone get up now!"
Over a dozen Heroes and several hundred elite warriors all hurriedly gathered up.
Yet, before everyone even managed to get a clear picture of the attacker's form or numbers.
Boom!
Boom!
The earth really was shaking!
The trees before them all fell down.
A wolf-kin Hero yelled out in alarm, "Something's coming!'
"Roar------!"
A powerful and violent roar rang out.
An enormous monster charged out of the woods!
"What the heck?"
"Oh god! It's a dragon!"
"It's a dragon. This is an earth drake!"
The creature that charged through the woods and appeared before everyone was an enormous draconic beast. More accurately, it's an earth drake.
Dragon is a very diverse race.
Earth drakes are one of the branches among dragons.
This particular earth drake is three meters tall and over a dozen meters long.
Although earth drakes lack wings, and so are unable to fly, their limbs and tail are extremely thick. Their scales are the size of a man's hand and several centimeters thick, while also giving off a metallic shine.
It's an iron earth drake!
More accurately speaking, it's an abyssal iron earth drake!
Iron earth drakes are known for their powerful defenses. Their resistances are extremely high against both magic and physical attacks!
"Damn it!"
"Why is there a monster like that here of all places?"
"Get it! Attack! Kill it, quick!"
Everyone swarmed it and all kinds of attacks rained wildly upon the earth drake. Most of the attacks simply bounced off, doing miniscule amounts of damage.
"Roar!"
The earth drake's sharp claws ripped a wolf-kin warrior apart.
Its enormous tail swept across the field and about 4 tiger and bear-kin were all sent flying over ten meters away.
The earth drake fearlessly charged directly into the mob and physically crashed against the army made of several hundred elite warriors over and over, killing dozens of warriors.
During all of this, two unlucky Heroes were stomped into paste.
The other Heroes were all shaken. They practically couldn't believe their eyes. Just where did this terrifying monster pop up from?
And it had such unthinkable combat power too!
It definitely exceeds even the level of a level 1 Lord!
The wolf-kin Hero commander spoke with a dark expression, "That guy's at least a level 2 Lord. Even with our strength, we would have to pay dearly if we want to kill it!"
The tiger-kin Hero leader spoke, enraged, "We can't let it keep rampaging about. Otherwise, with all our subordinates dead, what are we supposed to use to challenge the Demon King with?"
The others were all on the verge of tears.
They're here to subjugate the Demon King here.
So how did they end up provoking such a vicious monster?
With how unbelievable the earth drake's defenses are, even if they did win in the end, they would also definitely end up taking enormous casualties. In that case, their plans of subjugating the Darkness Valley will probably have to be put on hold.