Westheid led a special airborne unit of True Dragons, rampaging through the territories loyal to the Dragon Race. He employed an endless variety of tactics to wreak havoc upon the Dragon Descendant forces on the Kepal Plain.
When the audience in the square saw what Westheid was doing, they were utterly stunned.
The Radiant Holy Tree Empire was a thoroughly feudal and aristocratic regi. None of those present could be called rciful or clean-handed.
But because of the "Prosperity Law" established by the Radiant Holy Tree, every Lord had to do their utmost to ensure the prosperity of their own lands.
So, while these lords were certainly high and mighty, they still had their limits. They wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.
In any case, compared to what Westheid was doing now, they seed downright humane.
"What a psycho."
"Duke Qinghui seems a little too extre."
"How can he be such a psycho? Where did he even co up with these thods for torturing the common folk?"p>"Why is Duke Qinghui so practiced at this?"
"Wait a minute. He wouldn’t pull this kind of stuff in the Qinghui Territory too, would he?"
"If that’s the case, then it makes sense why the Qinghui Territory fell."
So even began to suspect that the fall of the Qinghui Territory was caused by the actions of Westheid, this so-called "Benevolent Monarch."
Fortunately, the Qinghui Territory had only fallen a few years prior, so mories hadn’t faded so quickly. A quick search on the Magic Net revealed that this was not the case. While the Qinghui Territory hadn’t been the most powerful or prosperous of the Branch of Prosperity’s domains, it had been a normal province, with no overly outrageous situations reported.
"I guess he must have snapped."
Luyetan propped her delicate cheek with one hand and said, "I’d heard before that Duke Qinghui had given up on himself, but seeing this in person, I realize that’s not it. His behavior is less that, and more like... he’s had a great epiphany."
"What do you think, Rozana?"
Yuanxi Palace addressed the Half-Elf Maid behind her. The voluptuous, erald-haired beauty placed her hands together over her stomach, lowered her gaze slightly, and said:
"I’m not sure either. Duke Qinghui... He may be able to get along well with many people, but it’s very difficult to get close to his heart. No one ever knows what he is truly thinking."
TAP, TAP—
The Shadow Fla Duke tapped his cane twice and said:
"Prying into the affairs of a Friend of the Oath is a discourtesy. Yuanxi Palace, do not bring it up again... What is important now is that we observe Duke Qinghui’s actions."
"Alright, alright, old man. Don’t be so upset. I truly do value the friendship among the Branch of Prosperity, really."
Luyetan spread her hands and said:
"If we must talk about the Trial, then let’s talk about the Trial. Speaking of which, with Duke Qinghui running amok like this, are those Demon Dragons really going to be so obedient? Those Dragon Descendants are their most die-hard minions."
If the audience was impressed by Westheid’s "Benevolent Monarch" persona, then the ferocity of the Giant Dragons was even more baffling. They acted as if they had truly beco Westheid’s loyal followers, carrying out wanton slaughter at his command.
It was worth noting that during the so-called Age of Dragon Calamity, few cities were actually destroyed by the Demon Dragons’ own hands. Most of the warti casualties were inflicted by the Dragon Descendants under their command.
"That may be true, but the Demon Dragons don’t care."
"They despise all mortals besides their own kind, the Dragon Descendants included. To a Demon Dragon, a Dragon Descendant is, at best, a mortal who’s easy on the eyes. Perhaps Scorching Wings cares about the number of slaves in his territory, but as long as soone else takes the bla, the Demon Dragons don’t mind sating their bloodlust."
"By acting this way, Duke Qinghui has nearly obliterated the war potential of the Demon Dragon Legion on the Kepal Plain. By the ti Scorching Wings returns, I’m afraid it will be impossible to muster an army."
"So he’s using a scorched-earth strategy? Indirectly, it’s a great achievent, but it’s hard to say how much the Divine Ancestor will approve of such an opportunistic thod."
"I still think it would be more appropriate to join the Resistance Army, confront the Demon Dragons head-on, and save the people."
Seeing Westheid play his hand so brilliantly, the one cursing up a storm was undoubtedly Prince Yaligong. And just as unhappy as His Imperial Highness Prince Yaligong were the friends and family of many other Trial Takers.
Because of Reiya’s hardcore competitive nature, Westheid acquiesced to the Silver-haired Dragon Lady’s will. He adopted a "better to kill an innocent than let an enemy escape" policy toward the other Trial Takers in the Secret Realm. Any Trial Taker who showed the slightest potential for hostility was to be killed on sight.
As for the criteria? Their attitude toward Reiya, of course. The slightest hint of hostility in their eyes or words was an imdiate death sentence.
And as everyone knew, when a Silver-haired Dragon Lady descended from the sky riding a Dragon Beast and commanding Dragon Thunder, no properly educated Imperial Citizen was going to give her a warm welco.
Even if they weren’t interested in the generous bounty Prince Yaligong had offered, their reactions were far from friendly.
Thus, they got what was coming to them, and all of them were eliminated.
So when new Trial Takers appeared near the Dragon Group on the projection screen, the crowd subconsciously assud new victims had arrived.
"Wait, is that... a Knight from the Country of Yonglan?"
..........
"We’ve basically been to all the settlents on the Kepal Plain with high concentrations of Dragon Descendants. After your ’administration,’ Brother, even if these places weren’t completely wiped out, they won’t recover for at least a decade. They certainly won’t be able to contribute one iota to any war effort."
Westheid lay on the broad back of a Dragon Beast, arms pillowed behind his head, listening to Yolanda’s report. The platinum-haired girl concluded her summary with a complicated tone:
"In any case, your actions have achieved remarkable results. I doubt there are any towns left on the Kepal Plain that still support the Demon Dragons... This is what they call destroying your own power base, I suppose."
"Then we’ve basically done all we can. Next, we need to think about our exit strategy... How many of the Giant Dragons are still with us?"
Westheid asked, gently swinging one of his legs he’d propped up.
"About a quarter of them remain. You gathered them all, only to slowly dismiss them along the way. Why did you do that?"
Westheid stated, as if it were obvious, "Because we can’t swallow them all in one go. So, as regrettable as it is, we have to split them up. Besides, I sent them to take charge of unfamiliar, worthless territories. That should be enough to keep them occupied for a while."
Suddenly, Reiya, who had her eyes closed the entire ti, spoke up.
"West, the Dragon Beast I sent ahead was killed... It was a Trial Taker."
By digging into her Dragon God bloodline, Reiya had learned how to brand low-level Dragon Beasts. This allowed the mindless living weapons to obey her commands as extensions of her own body, and they could also transmit simple signals back to their Dominator.
"Oh? There are still Trial Takers daring to hang around? Word doesn’t travel fast, does it? In that case, let be the one to et them this ti."
Westheid sat up in excitent and said.
They didn’t imdiately command their dragons to pounce on every Trial Taker they t and turn them into dragon dung. On the contrary, Westheid always gave his opponents a chance to challenge his party. If they could win, he would be rciful and spare their lives.
It was a rare chance to accumulate combat experience in the Trial. Unfortunately, to this day, not a single Trial Taker had managed to defeat the hacker.
Whether it was Westheid, Reiya, or Yolanda, after their ascension through the blood-offering ritual, all of them had undergone a complete transformation. Although they were still naive when it ca to combat experience, they exuded a certain beauty, both inside and out—the beauty of raw stats and ga-breaking chanics.
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