A grim, murderous air filled the Central Plaza of Black Stone Territory.
The sun cast a long, slanted shadow from the high platform. Raylo stood upon it, looking down at the fully assembled army below.
A torrent of steel stood silent in the plaza. The Mammoth Knights were like mobile fortresses, and the mounts of the Earth Dragon Knights periodically let out low, guttural roars. Farther in the distance, the Griffins and Pegasi stood quietly, their wings folded, awaiting the command.
Clad in full armor, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, Ed stood behind Raylo like an iron tower.
NEIGH!
With the neigh of a Pegasus, the first Pegasus Knight descended from the sky, making a clean landing ten ters from the high platform.
"My Lord! The first unit of the Demon Serpent Legion has finished assembling on the eastern edge of the Jade Swamp! We have a visual—it’s a Snake-man Legion, approximately eight thousand strong!"
The news spread quickly among the officers, and a faint murmur rippled through the plaza.
Eight thousand Snake-n. That was already a force to be reckoned with.
Raylo remained expressionless, rely giving a slight nod to dismiss the Knight.
Ti passed slowly, and the silence in the plaza was filled with a heavy sense of anticipation.
An hour later, the sharp sound of sothing slicing through the air ca from the sky once more.
"My Lord! We’ve spotted a second unit of the Demon Serpent Legion! It’s a force of Lizardfolk, numbering... numbering over ten thousand!"
This ti, even so of the experienced old veterans paled.
Ten thousand Lizardfolk on top of the eight thousand Snake-n brought the total enemy strength to nearly twenty thousand.
This was no longer a localized conflict, but a true war.
Ed’s brow furrowed tightly. He took a step forward and said in a low voice,
"My Lord, an army of nearly twenty thousand Demons..."
He didn’t finish his sentence, but his anxiety was palpable.
「Two more hours passed.」
The third Pegasus Knight arrived.
"My Lord! We’ve confird the enemy’s designations! They’re two of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent’s most notorious war legions: ’Poison Fang’ and ’Blood River’!"
"The two war legions have converged and are now advancing along our territory’s eastern border, heading for the Black Water River!"
Poison Fang!
Blood River!
The soldiers present had all heard of these two infamous nas.
This not only confird the intelligence reports that the enemy possessed two Tier Five Domain Powerhouses, but it also ant that this twenty-thousand-strong army was the elite of the elite, not just hastily assembled cannon fodder.
Ti seed to stretch on endlessly, every minute and every second an agony.
At high noon, the figure of the fourth Pegasus Knight appeared on the horizon.
He had been flying at a frantic pace, and his Pegasus was already panting with exhaustion.
"My Lord! The entire enemy army has reached the north bank of the Black Water River! Over the water... we can already feel intense fluctuations of Magic Power!"
’Now is the ti!’
Raylo slowly drew the sword from his waist.
All eyes, all bated breath, focused on the high platform, on the young Lord who stood there.
SHING!
The ring of the blade echoed across the plaza like a clap of thunder, shattering the tense silence.
His voice carried across the plaza.
"All troops, hear my order."
"Objective: the Black Water River."
"Move out!"
There was no drawn-out mobilization, no impassioned speech.
Just two simple words, yet they ignited a fire in every heart.
ROAR!!
The mont the order was given, the Earth Dragon Knights spurred their mounts forward. The heavy thud of their footfalls was like the beat of war drums, and the earth began to tremble.
Imdiately after, the heavily armored unit of ten Mammoth Knights set off.
"For Black Stone Territory!"
Ed drew his Long Sword and roared.
"For Black Stone Territory!!"
A thunderous response echoed to the heavens.
In the sky, an aerial formation of sixteen Griffin Knights and over two hundred Pegasus Knights soared into the air, their massive wingspan obscuring half the sky.
A clear, piercing cry echoed through the clouds.
A tawny blur shot down from the tower of the Lord’s Castle like a bolt of lightning, the imnse wind pressure from its descent making the surrounding banners whip and snap.
The Storm Griffin King landed steadily behind Raylo. It affectionately nuzzled his shoulder with its enormous head, its wings, like iron feathers, brimming with power.
Raylo climbed onto Baofeng’s back, and together they soared into the sky.
The torrent of steel poured out of the city gates, rolling inexorably toward the Black Water River.
At the very rear of the army, Golden Dragon Sun unfurled its massive wings, blotting out the sky. It let out a long, jubilant roar and soared into the heavens.
The army of Black Stone Territory advanced like a silent, iron-gray tide, sweeping noiselessly over the hills and finally coming to a halt in a dense forest about two kiloters from the Black Water River.
Raylo ordered the entire army to take cover. The Pegasus Knights and Griffin Knights landed in clearings, folding their wings to blend in with the shadows of the trees.
The Mammoths and Earth Dragons were led to low-lying areas, their massive bodies hidden by the natural foliage.
The air was filled with the scent of earth and rotting leaves, mingled with an unsettling, cloying sweetness drifting from the distance.
Raylo did not descend with the main army. He remained circling a thousand ters in the air, riding Storm Griffin King Baofeng.
The clouds provided the best cover, and from this altitude, he had an unobstructed view of the entire scene at the Black Water Riverbank.
On the wide banks of the Black Water River, a dark mass of soldiers sward across the land like a colony of ants.
They were the two great war legions under the command of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent: Poison Fang and Blood River.
Lizardman Warriors, ard with Bone Spears and Stone Axes, ford ranks under the harsh barks of their officers.
The more slender Snake-n moved along the riverbank, their forked tongues flicking as their eyes glinted with cruel bloodlust.
At the very front of the army, near the riverbank, over a hundred Lizardman Shamans clad in Beast Hides and wielding strange Magic Staves had ford a large circle.
They chanted incantations under their breath, their withered bodies swaying bizarrely to the rhythm of the Spell.
"It’s beginning," Raylo murmured to himself.
Accompanied by a shrill, piercing chant, the hundred-odd Lizardman Shamans simultaneously struck the ground with their Magic Staves.
Plus of dark green, seemingly living fog erupted from the skulls atop the Magic Staves.
The fog rapidly converged and rged, forming a vast and viscous cloud of poison in the air that exuded a nauseating stench of decay.
It roiled and writhed like an Abyssal ooze monster, slowly descending toward the surface of the Black Water River.
The vegetation along the riverbank withered and yellowed at a visible rate, ultimately dissolving into black sludge.
The cloying scent in the air instantly intensified a hundredfold. Even Baofeng, circling high above, snorted in irritation.
The mont the poison cloud touched the water, it let out a SIZZLING sound, like a red-hot iron plunged into cold water.
The clear river water began to grow turbid, first turning pale green, then shifting to a black as dark as ink.
A mont later, the surface of the river beca dotted with the white bellies of dead fish. Countless fish, shrimp, and turtles struggled to the surface, only to cease their convulsions monts later and drift downstream with the current.
In just a few short minutes, the entire Black Water River had been transford into a River of Death.
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