The Sun King still didn't want to leave the South Pole and wouldn't leave it to join the fight if he had a choice. He also didn't trust the new gem kings completely, but he didn't have a choice but to appear and fight right now.
He didn't have a choice because the barrier shielding the South Pole had also reduced in strength. Just like him, the strength of the barrier had fallen from 100C to 95C.
This means that the barrier is no longer an impenetrable shield. If the strongest gem kings or the strongest invader want to kill him, they can now breach the barrier of the South Pole.
Secondly, the weakening of his strength and the barrier won't stop. The 5% weakness is just the start.
If nothing is done to stop the invaders from continuing to steal his power, his strength will continue to weaken. This means that he will only become easier to kill over time as long as the invaders aren't stopped.
He cherishes his life very much, but he is also smart enough to know that it is better to fight for survival when he still has the chance or victory than to stand idly by as death approaches. So he went to join the five gem kings in fighting off the invaders.
The reappearance of the Sun King and the five powerful gem kings rejuvenated the morale of the resistance. Every Vulcan rallied for one final push to defeat the invaders.
The pressure on the Blood Skull army did increase. Their rapid progress was slowed down immensely. Things got worse when mobile fortresses were breached.
The new tactic of the resistance was to give their special bombs to the Sun King and the powerful gem kings right from the start. All six of them would then rush at a single mobile fortress.
This tactic was very successful because the six of them couldn't be stopped from approaching the mobile fortresses. The six of them could avoid most projectiles shot at them. They couldn't avoid the Spear of Light, but the damage that the Spear of Light could do to them was limited.
After they approached a mobile fortress, they would place the special bomb onto the transparent shield around the mobile fortress. Once the bomb detonated, it would shred the shield and create an opening for them.
This tactic produced great results the first time. The five gem kings and the Sun King were able to kill many people in the Blood Skull army before Thunder Drake and Lady Evergreen could come to their rescue.
The golden chains that bound the Sun King the last time couldn't be used to trap them this time because they needed time to deploy. The chains needed Sword Flash to create them. They don't appear naturally in the domain.
Sword Flash didn't want to spend his time setting up the formation using the hands of god in each of the mobile fortresses for enemies that wouldn't come.
He hadn't had a need to do so since the Sun King went into hiding. But after confirming that the Sun King and powerful enemies were on the move again, he began to prepare the golden chains.
The Sun King and the five peak gem kings didn't know what the Blood Skull army was planning. Their own plan was to commit a series of hit-and-run attacks.
They had essentially become guerrilla fighters. The success of their first run emboldened them to use the same tactics in their second run.
This time, they picked Arthur's mobile fortress. Arthur watched as the six powerful enemies rushed at them while Thor scrambled to stop their approach with guns.
But nothing Thor could do could stop them. At most, he slightly injured them. This wasn't enough to deter them from approaching like a pack of hungry wolves who had set their eyes on a piece of prime rib.
The shield protecting the mobile fortress was destroyed, and the six powerful enemies rushed into the mobile fortress to kill and destroy. But what they received was a face full of lightning from Thunder Drake and a beating from an angry forest that suddenly appeared in the mobile fortress.
Thunder Drake and Lady Evergreen suddenly appeared in the mobile fortress and began fighting the six enemies. This happened because all three patriarchs had placed their golem avatars in each mobile fortress after the mobile fortresses were breached the first time at the beginning of the campaign by the army of resistance.
The golem avatars were also in the mobile fortress that the six peak fourth-step enemies just breached and destroyed. It was just that the six enemies had caught them off guard. By the time the golem avatars were activated, the six of them had destroyed too much and were quick to escape.
But this time, Thunder Drake and Lady Evergreen were prepared. And this time, there was no angry world spirit to interfere in the operation of Lady Evergreen's plants because they are fighting within the domain of the Ethera tree.
Thunder Drake and Lady Evergreen had been waiting for them to attack, so they were quick to respond. They had appeared as soon as it was reported that the six powerful enemies had appeared. But they stayed in hiding and waited for the six enemies to enter the domain and use up their bomb before making a move.
Lightning blasted the six of them, and whole plants rushed to bind them. The five gem kings were still fine, but the Sun King was immediately injured by the lightning attack.
The Sun King had fought Thunder Drake many times before and had been completely fine during their fights. But this time, he couldn't shrug off the blow that struck him. The lightning bolts were able to penetrate the shell of plasma around him and injure him lightly.
The injury was just a scratch on his body. But his performance was a stark difference from his previous performance against Thunder Drake when Thunder Drake couldn't injure him at all.