The marching speed of the ground troops compared to the aerial ones was vastly different.
The ground troops had to go over terrain, go around large boulders, pass through narrow valley passes, walk over plains, but the aerial troops just had to fly.
To synchronise the speed of flight with the movement speed of the ground troops, the dragon's often circled around the same spot as if they were preying eagles, so that the ground troops could cover enough distance for the march to continue.
After the vampire troops diverged towards their specific attacking positions, it only took them 1-1.5 hours worth of march to exit the proper land domain and enter the desert sands.
Fine black sand mixed with normal sand covered the entire expanse as far as one's eye could see, and a troop had to go knee deep into the sand just to get enough footing to take another step reducing their marching speed considerably.
The sand was only a foot deep at some parts but was several dozen feet deep at others.
The further the Bloodfall army travelled into the desert, the softer and blacker the sand became and the bigger the sand dunes were.
It was a terrain that was disastrous for Bipedal species but advantageous for species with more legs.
Having only two legs, the weight of the vampire body caused it to sink very deeply within the sand, however, if that same weight was to be divided by 4 legs, or 6 or 8 the ease of movement would increase significantly.
Satan's army which consisted of all sorts of beasts with all sorts of leg numbers had an advantage in this terrain in terms of movement as it seemed like the dark faction sovereign had chosen to play to his strengths when he had chosen this particular disc to defend.
Max's expression was grim, his army was losing a lot of stamina in trying to cross the desert sand and the real battle had not even started yet-
He was briefed about how traversing the desert would be a challenge in the council meeting, but experiencing it firsthand was a whole another experience.
As he was wondering all this, he heard a loud explosion from nearby as his attention was drawn towards a sand dune underneath which Rhea had seemingly blasted with a dragon's breath.
Naturally in front of the Black dragons wrath the sand dune was reduced to nothing almost instantly revealing several hiding centipede like beasts within which were charred to death.
They were probably lying in ambush to disrupt the marching armies but were sniffed out by Rhea.
This incident put Max on high alert as he jumped off Mira's back and landed in front of his army's vanguard, starting to use [ Way Of The Earth ] to listen to the language of Earth and determine if anyone else was lurking in the depths of the sand.
Max was shocked to see that there were thousands of such centipede warriors littered all across the terrain as he began using [ Earth manipulation ] to give them a sandy death.
He crushed a few, he solidified the earth around a few to trap them in prison, while he mobilised the small rocks and pebbles around a few to pierce holes in their bodies and kill them.
With him at the helm he ensured that not a single Bloodfall clan soldier fell prey to petty ambushes as whatever danger lurked in the sands was dealt with within the sands with no-one being any wiser.
As Max passed over the area where Rhea had blasted the corpses to ashes, his eyes widened as he noticed that the power of the flame had caused some sand to crystallise and become solid as glass and other crystalline structures.
It was basic physics 101, however, seeing it in action filled his head with countless battle ideas for the upcoming fight.
It took the Bloodfall troops 4 times their normal time to traverse the same distance that they could on land within the sand, but as Max crossed an especially tall sand-dune he finally got the first glimpse of Satan's fort and his hellish army surrounding it.
At the centre of his tower-like fort a tall beam of light shot towards the sky, signalling the ongoing disc raid.
In the sky surrounding the fort, he saw an endless swarm of hell-hounds and flying beasts with talons that hovered around it like bees creating a meat shield which was so thick that Max could not see what laid beyond with his naked eyes.
To his right, he could see the vampire forces meant to attack the south end marching under the Velter clan.
They looked like a sea of tiny men from his vantage point.
To his left he saw a sea of men about 1/3rd the size of the contingent attacking the southern fort, attacking the western end where the werewolves were present.
And in between those two he stood alongside the dragon's over his head attacking the south-west end where he saw the white, yellow, red dragon's patiently waiting for their challengers in the sky.I think you should take a look at
Max knew the battle plan.
He knew that the goal was for the west forces to lure the werewolves out and somehow drag them behind to meet the southern powers circumventing his fight. However, looking at the sheer magnitude of stuff, Max couldn't help but feel his stomach do backward flips in nervousness and anxiety.
As a lord, he knew he had no room to show weakness.
He understood full well that if the sight of the enemy could make him this nervous then it would surely make the normal soldier extremely jittery and unable to properly fight.
He undoubtedly needed to give them a boost of confidence and for him to do that he needed to show that he himself was fearless.
" Brave men of the Bloodfall clan, hear me…. " Max said as although he did not shout his voice reverberated powerfully throughout the surrounding desert with every Bloodfall clan soldier being all ears to what their leader had to say.
" As you all must know, I'm a Godslayer " Max said, raising both of his hands in the sky with pride as a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
A few cheers escaped the Bloodfall troops as they were all aware of how many god's had bitten the dust fighting their leader.
" What you all may not know is that before becoming a god-slayer, I was a DRAGON SLAYER….. " Max said with a mad laugh as he pointed towards the enemy dragon's and the weird ghoul-like troops beneath them.
" Today our king Regus Aurelius has given me the chance to claim unparalleled glory by claiming dragon heads and stacking them as a pillar one over another to create a tower taller than the defensive base of Satan!
And while I don't need the help of any one of you to achieve it, I think it will be legendary for you lot to witness it.
For nothing else but stories.
Stories you will tell your children and grandchildren when this war is over about how you saw your lord Ravan Bloodfall leading the vanguard as he stacked dragonhead after dragonhead after dragonhead to make a tower LARGER THAN THE ONE USED BY SATAN!
Ofcourse, this story goes two ways.
One - you say you witnessed it
Two - You say….. and my children I gave my lord one such head to add in his tower…. On that day, I too, became a dragonslayer! " Max said as he could see the expressions on the faces of his troops changing from nervousness to determination.
Max had lit a fire under them, changing the narrative from a war to a mere game.
" I offer you a chance to witness history, whether you wish to be a part of it or be a mere observer is up to you- " Max said as he suddenly turned and began charging towards the enemy alone with a shrill war cry.
The clone, who needed no further instructions seized the moment as he said " FIRST LEGION, DON'T LET THE LORD OUTDO US, I WANT A PIECE OF HISTORY TOO-
CHARGE "
The first legion troops, who were already electrified, let out a war cry themselves and began to follow their lord, followed by the second legion and then the third and fourth.
Over their heads the dragons also swooped into action as marching under formation behind Rhea's lead they began swooping towards the enemy at speeds that would make fighter jets look like toy planes.
Dragon's Breath was met with Dragon's Breath as explosions rang all across the sky-
The sand underneath was blown away, minor sand storms created, however they were all waved aside by Sebastian with a single flick of his wrist powered by the Vayu-Astra.
The time for talk, the time for planning, the time for preparing was now over.
The dreaded ultimate battle that would decide the entire outcome of this dimensional faction war had officially begun.