Red dragon: in charge of natural disasters

When the light beam fired from the "Throat of Annihilation" struck the outer layer of the light barrier, there was no explosion, only a crisp chime like glass shattering.

Augustus's pride and joy, the "God-Given Coating"—a golden light membrane created by the prayers of dozens of angel descendants and thousands of sun priests day and night—peeled, cracked, and gradually disintegrated like a broken eggshell.

Immediately afterward, the internal structure of the light barrier was also ruthlessly damaged and destroyed by this light beam. With the point of impact as the center, space twisted and wrinkled like crumpled parchment.

Finally, even the sky let out a mournful wail of grief and indignation as the light barrier was torn apart by the magic-guided railgun, leaving a gap nearly a hundred meters wide.

"Amanata be praised."

"What, what kind of weapon is that? How can it have such power? Could it also be borrowing the power of the gods?"

The officers and soldiers within Augustus were horrified. For the first time in a century, they had witnessed this sacred barrier being breached.

However, they no longer had time to be surprised—because an even more intense imperial offensive was about to arrive.

"All troops, listen up—charge!"

"For the Empire!"

"For His Majesty Keishus!"

The horn of the Azure Serpent Dragon sounded, and cheers from within the imperial lines resounded through the sky, shattering the clouds.

"Buzz——"

Accompanied by the roar of engines, the Ashen Empire's armored corps immediately launched a charge, surging towards the gap like an iron torrent.

The empire's infantry followed behind the armored forces, marching quickly with their guns gleaming, muzzles spitting out dazzling fire, and dense bullets pouring out like a violent storm.

"Whoosh——"

A piercing shriek rang out as hundreds of bipedal dragons equipped with "Skyfire" armor howled as they dove into the gap, each carrying extremely cruel weapons such as white phosphorus bombs and napalm bombs.

"Boom! Boom!"

Without the protection of the barrier, countless bombs tore through the night sky and rained down, the repeated intense explosions shaking the city walls and turning the Thracian lines into a hell filled with phosphorus fire and gasoline.

The iron railings melted into scarlet liquid, and the highly adhesive incendiary splashed onto the soldiers, the flames crawling and spreading like living things, while a milky white, deadly smoke filled the city walls.

"No, no——"

"Great Lord of Eternal Radiance! Please save me!"

Thracian soldiers wailed and struggled in the sea of fire, praying to their gods almost frantically, but all to no avail.

Noble officers hid in the towers and fortresses, waving their ornate sabers and angrily berating, "You cowards! Counterattack! Counterattack! Don't let them get up here!"

The sun god ballistae on the city walls fired long arrows trailing light, shooting down bipedal dragons in mid-air, but soon, without protection, they suffered devastating blows.

However, several shells engraved with tracking arrays came howling, destroying these precious sun god ballistae along with the soldiers operating them.

On the ground, giant armor wielded power fists, smashing the iron golems blocking the gap into scrap metal. Immediately afterward, steam tanks also poured into the gap, rampaging across the land in front of the city walls, continuously bombarding the walls.

Under the impact of the tank's armor-piercing shells, scorched holes appeared in the walls of Augustus, countless rubble fell, and the entire city wall became riddled with holes and was on the verge of collapse.

The empire's machine gunners sat on top of armored vehicles, aiming their guns at the Thracian soldiers on the city walls and pulling the triggers with roars.

"Da-da-da——"

Strings of fire spewed from the muzzles, and dense bullets poured onto the defending soldiers, causing them to fall in droves.

These ordinary Thracian soldiers held double-barreled rifles imported from the empire, laboriously loading ammunition packs, and often before they could raise their guns, they were shot down by machine gun bullets and fell silent.

"Boom——"

Under the officers' orders, the iron city gate slowly rose again, and Thrace's elite heavy infantry filed out, numbering as many as five or six thousand.

These soldiers held heavy shields engraved with the sacred emblem of the sun god in their left hands, and gripped silver spears nearly ten meters long in their right hands, their steps uniform.

Their golden, ornate heavy armor shone brightly under the light emanating from the Sun God's Tower, looking like a golden fortress from afar.

This army was known as the "Radiant Legion," a famous and battle-hardened force that had wiped out the giant tribes left behind in the north, and was very good at fighting against large enemies.

The noble warrior at the head raised his spear, waved the Thracian flag painted with the sun and wings, and shouted loudly, "For Thrace! For the Lord of Eternal Radiance!"

"For Thrace!"

This battle cry resounded through the sky, but was easily drowned out by the louder rumbling and gunfire in the distance.

Steam tanks surrounded them from different directions, their turrets rotating rapidly, aiming their muzzles at the Radiant Legion, and then firing in unison.

"Boom!"

In an instant, hundreds of shells trailed thick smoke, howling towards the Radiant Legion.

The noble quickly raised the golden giant shield in his hand, and roared with all his might, "In the name of the sun god's people—stop them!"

"Boom!"

In an instant, armor-piercing shells trailing thick smoke pierced through the shields of light and ruthlessly crashed into the crowd, the violent explosions blasting several soldiers away, fragments of armor, broken spears, and charred remains appearing in mid-air.

The noble officer used his giant shield to block an armor-piercing shell head-on, and roared through gritted teeth, "Maintain formation! We must not let them attack Augustus——"

However, at this moment, most of the soldiers of the Radiant Legion were blasted into a daze, and many even felt deafened and could not hear any sound, and the formation became fragmented.

Thick smoke filled the interior of the Radiant Legion's formation, making it difficult for them to see their comrades—and of course, they could not see the approaching enemies.

Without giving them any time to breathe, the steam tanks charged across the earth, like roaring behemoths, charging towards the chaotic Radiant Legion.

The heavy infantry of the Radiant Legion could only rely on instinct to thrust into the billowing smoke, trying to resist those "iron bumps."

"Boom——"

Engines roared, cannons screamed, and steam tanks broke through the smoke, their hard tracks crushing the bodies of heavy armored infantry, directly grinding them into minced meat.

"We can't stop them!"

"These things can't be broken at all!"

Hundreds of steam tanks divided the battlefield, like fierce and torrential floods, completely collapsing the Radiant Legion, leaving corpses and ruts all over the ground in front of the walls of Augustus.

"Victory!"

"Crush these cowardly southerners! They are simply vulnerable!"

The humans and goblins inside the steam tanks were extremely excited, raising their arms and shouting, as if they had already seen a bright future of promotion and ennoblement.

But immediately afterward, Thrace's arcane corps once again showed their terrifying foundation.

Dozens of mages wearing scarlet-gold robes floated in the sky above the elemental towers, they raised their wands and chanted spells at the same time, their voices becoming clearer and clearer, and the surrounding magic net fluctuations became more and more intense.

Legendary mage Aquilis stood on top of the city wall, his scarlet robe hunted like crow wings in the strong wind, he turned his staff, and golden liquid runes appeared on his knuckles.

As ancient elven incantations were chanted from his mouth, every rune on the walls of Augustus shone brightly, and the smell of sulfur filled the air.

Aquilis suddenly opened his eyes.

"Boom!"

The ground in front of the walls of Augustus suddenly cracked, and abyssal fissures emitting white smoke appeared, swallowing more than a dozen steam tanks and several giant armors.

The moment the magic wand fell, scorching magma gushed out from those fissures, and this magma enveloped the entire city of Augustus, forming a tsunami-like wave that spread madly towards the empire's armored corps.

Even the indestructible steam tanks would instantly turn into molten iron after being swallowed by the underground magma, and the drivers inside would not even be able to leave a trace of residue.

The armor of the tanks melted like wax, and the crew members became flesh and blood reliefs embedded in steel.

In just a few tens of seconds, more than thirty tanks and a dozen giant armors were swallowed by the magma wave—this was a forbidden spell!

But after all, magma could not distinguish between friend and foe, and those Thracian soldiers who were still left on the wasteland were also swallowed up in despair, leaving no bones left.

"Worthy of Aquilis! Worthy of our Thracian Kingdom's Arcane Corps!"

"Kill all these imperials!"

"Counterattack!"

The Thracian soldiers on the city walls cheered enthusiastically, with a few more points of rejoicing in their tone after surviving the disaster.

The imperial armored corps quickly organized a retreat, retreating nearly a thousand meters, and the empire's spellcasters also cast various cold and water-attribute spells to solidify the magma.

The airships in the sky released thick columns of cold light, and wherever the cold light swept, it turned into solidified volcanic rock.

In the end, a relatively flat volcanic rock wasteland appeared in front of the walls of Augustus, with a wavy shape on it, and the remains of those steam tanks, giant armors, and Thracian soldiers were all buried deep underground.

"Augustus will never fall!"

"Damn imperials!"

The Thracian officers raised their arms and cheered, rejoicing at having resisted a round of attacks by the imperials.

Dayev looked at the black wasteland, tore off his blasted clothes, and his mood became heavier and heavier.

Is this worth celebrating?

Is a country that can bury living soldiers of its own in lava at any time, a country that brutally oppresses its people, still worth him continuing to follow?

The empire's armored corps suffered heavy losses in the previous round of attacks, with one-fifth of the tanks swallowed by the magma.

This time, after deliberation and discussion, they did not rush in rashly, but instead sent a motley army composed of Starfallen.

Boundary markers engraved with ancient teleportation arrays appeared in the imperial lines, and then, tens of thousands of players poured out of the arrays, rushing to the battlefield excitedly.

"Brothers, charge!"

"Make way! I'm in a hurry to hold a retirement ceremony for the BOSS!"

"Damn, is this first to climb the city reward for a title of nobility real? Awesome!!"

As soon as the players appeared, the entire battlefield became noisy, as if they were not going to a bloody killing field, but a relaxing and enjoyable amusement park.

All players' screens showed this task prompt:

[Conquer Augustus]

Task Type: War Task

Task Objective: Capture Augustus, kill Wilhelm

Task Description: With the slumber of the sun god, the era of the Thracian Kingdom has long ended. These descendants of the sun god are only worthy of trembling under the iron hooves of the empire!

Use all means, at all costs, to capture the former "City of Sunrise" Augustus, and welcome the arrival of a great era!

Task Reward: Massive Gold Coins, Faction Contribution, Gold Coins

Task Special Title: [Sunset Hero]

The players called friends and companions, and soon formed a snowball effect.

"This task is awesome, wait, I'll call a teammate over!"

"Stop mining, come fight!"

"Get rich, starting today!"

In just a few minutes, stimulated by the [War Task], millions of players appeared on the battlefield, like surging waves, rushing towards Augustus.

"Aoooo——For the Empire! For Emperor Kai!"

"Wilhelm, prepare to die!"

Iron Tide stuffed himself into a flying cannon, grinned and shouted, "Make way! I'm going to perform a textbook-level feeding... uh, no, a textbook-level breakthrough!"

"Bang!"

One by one, dragon scale cultivators drew graceful arcs in the sky, landing directly on the walls of Augustus, and then began to kill and carry out a cruel massacre.

They wielded chainswords and pressed the bolter, setting off a bloody storm.

On the Sun God's Tower, Wilhelm looked at the strange men pouring towards Augustus, his eyes narrowed slightly, his eyes cold.

"Starfallen..."

As the ruler of the Thracian Kingdom, he of course knew about this kind of immortal existence that appeared on the continent a few years ago, and the Thracian army had recruited many Starfallen.

But in terms of strength and numbers, the Starfallen under his command were far inferior to those under the empire.

At this moment, the players who had defected to Thrace were shrinking in the crowd, carrying old-fashioned rifles and shivering.

Looking at the overwhelming enemy faction players, a warrior player nicknamed [Royal Knight Commander] wanted to cry without tears, and muttered to himself, "How could this be, what about the promised three kingdoms, what about the sun god's favor...

Thracian Kingdom, cheer up quickly, where is His Majesty Wilhelm? Save us quickly!" His voice even had a sob.

No wonder when asking questions on the forum, those old players recommended choosing the empire as a starting point.

He worked hard for several months, and finally became a small officer in Thrace, and in the blink of an eye, he was about to start from scratch as a prisoner of war in the Ashen Empire. (End of this chapter)