Under the Red Dragon

Dora-Bi City, the bridgehead of the Marino Defense Line.

In the latter half of the night, the dense overcast clouds began to dissipate, revealing the starlight that was about to descend.

The starlight falling from the firmament shone into the spacious bedroom, illuminating the white velvet bedspread as light as a feather.

Perhaps the starlight was particularly heavy tonight, unexpectedly waking Grand Duke Lorn of Marino from his nightmare.

As Grand Duke Lorn of Marino sat up in his warm bed, gasping for breath, the undergarments clinging to his body were already completely soaked with cold sweat.

“Master, what’s wrong?” The female servant, also awakened by Lorn, rubbed her sleepy eyes and crawled over from the foot of the bed, touching Grand Duke Lorn’s icy undergarments, and was immediately alarmed.

Without even bothering about her own half-naked large white rabbits exposed in the cold air, she slipped out of bed, lit the lights in the room, and began to help Grand Duke Lorn change into new, soft undergarments.

The continuous rainfall in recent days made the still-warm climate of Dora-Bi City feel as if it had entered the winter season ahead of schedule.

The damp and cold weather not only greatly reduced the combat desire and morale of the garrison guarding Dora-Bi City and the entire Marino Defense Line, but also severely hampered the logistical supply transportation of the Southern Noble Alliance’s crucial first line of defense.

Because this was not ordinary natural plum rain weather, but an unnatural, man-made disaster.

The Northern Golden Empire and the allied forces of the other seven kings had yet to arrive in sight, but their methods had already struck the Southern Noble Alliance head-on.

In warfare, logistics are paramount.

Even the world’s strongest army, without sufficient supplies of materials and food, will see its morale decline and its soldiers lose the will to fight.

In Kalon Gergomora’s understanding, countless memories and knowledge records showed that only one army could maintain a high degree of determination and will to fight under extremely scarce material supply, and that was very difficult to replicate.

Even for the legionnaires of the Golden Empire, occupying the moral high ground and having righteous reasons, Kalon could not guarantee that all legions could overcome such difficulties, let alone the legionnaires of the Southern Nobles.

The Eight Kings’ Allied Army dispatched large-scale aerial knight orders and flying alchemical legions, using the mobility and flexibility of the aerial knight orders to wreak havoc throughout the Marino Defense Line and its rear.

Although the breath attacks and magical attacks of wyverns, magic dragons, and even giant dragons could not exceed the range of the Marino Defense Line’s air defense array, they would attract the attack of air defense forces if they descended even slightly.

But the combination of power and intelligent ideas is the correct way to use power.

Seemingly controlling the weather, a spell that has no obvious targeting power in battle, can tactically bring serious setbacks to the enemy, and such a spell does not even need to approach the enemy’s defense line; rainwater falling from high altitudes becomes an important weapon in this war.

Grand Duke Lorn of Marino felt disturbed whenever he thought of the current difficulties. He allowed the maid to change his clothes, and subconsciously wanted to get up, but felt as if he had no strength all over his body.

“You may leave, and have Larrow come here.”

Lorn waved his hand to dismiss his bed-warming maid, watching the figures of the patrolling guards distorted in the lamplight like demonic shadows, and the occasional sound of footsteps made him feel particularly anxious.

It was not until the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps rang out that Lorn took a deep breath and stood up from the bedside, coming to the armor stand to put on a calm appearance, standing with his hands behind his back.

Although Larrow, as Grand Duke Lorn of Marino’s personal guard captain, was Lorn’s absolute confidant and close subordinate, Lorn still would not reveal his weak side.

This was unrelated to their relationship, but rather a mask that nobles in high positions were born to wear; unknown mystery was one of the powerful reins by which these nobles controlled power.

“Grand Duke!” The middle-aged warrior, clad in ornate light armor, turned his longsword behind his back, knelt on one knee to salute, and only then spoke after standing up.

“Larrow, has any news come from yesterday?” Lorn asked softly, gesturing for his personal guard captain to come forward and help him put on his armor.

The transmission of information was delayed. Even with the deep and integrated connections between the twenty-one countries of the Southern Noble Alliance, there would be delays in the connection of communication systems.

Being able to know the messages conveyed yesterday was already an effect achieved by the nobles using magical power at all costs.

“Grand Duke, yesterday, the Joint Giant Eagle Guard and the Griffin Knight Corps each lost two hundred warriors, and the heads of those Griffin Knights and Giant Eagle Guard warriors were cut off and taken away by the aerial knights of the Eight Kings,”

Larrow’s words, like a damp and cold breath, made Grand Duke Lorn feel somewhat chilled. “Three of the vital transportation routes leading to Dora-Bi and the entire Marino Defense Line were destroyed by those giant dragons, and the materials and food transported by various countries were also burned to ashes by those giant dragons.”

“Although the logistics legions are driving the laborers to repair the roads as soon as possible, it is difficult to guarantee the timely arrival of logistical supplies, after all, those wyverns and giant dragons are difficult to contain!”

“Grand Duke, those nobles are also unwilling to spend too much on food and military supplies, after all, the losses along the way are too great.”

“And it’s impossible to fully guarantee the safe arrival of the transported supplies, but if timely replenishment of supplies is not received, the supply can only be reduced, and perhaps the joint reinforcement legions sent by those nobles will start to clamor.”

“These damned guys,” Grand Duke Marino couldn’t help but be furious, “Don’t they know that once Marino is breached by those ambitious monsters, the next to face them will be them?”

“At this time, are these short-sighted guys still thinking of preserving their strength?”

Giant dragons are powerful, especially in large-scale operations, where groups of giant dragons are enough to destroy legions and breach cities.

Even in plane wars, giant dragons can become the main force, invincible on most battlefields.

However, in the hands of Kalon Gergomora, the powerful city-breaking weapon, the war weapon, completely changed its role.

The giant dragons of the Golden Empire, led in batches by the Dragon King of the Empire, galloped across the sky, turning the entire Marino Defense Line and the traffic arteries of other cities upside down.

The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy retreats, we attack. The giant dragons do not directly confront the defensive fortifications of those cities with their flesh, perfectly utilizing the unique comprehensive advantages of the giant dragons.

The joint aerial giant eagle knights and griffin knights sent by various countries, although trained from an early age and able to withstand most of the dragon might of the giant dragons in fierce battles, and even fearless of the majesty of the Dragon King of the Golden Empire after being blessed with the power of spells.

But even if the giant dragons later subdued by the Golden Empire could not be as orderly and strict as the legionnaires of the Empire, the giant dragons were always the undisputed overlords of the sky.

These giant eagle knights and griffin knights, whose original role was to restrain giant dragons and wyvern legions, could not even take effect, and were completely crushed by the giant dragon legions led by the Dragon King in the aerial battlefield guarding the rear.

Moreover, the chimera legions and bipedal dragon beast legions secretly cultivated by these noble alliances were completely besieged and killed by the six red dragons led by Kraina, the Red King of the Golden Empire, and the three hundred wyvern knights led by Wyvern Captain Bartoli in the first confrontation, scattering the entire legion’s organization.

Among them, the young red dragon Cadilos, known as the “Crimson Roar,” was even more frenzied in battle, chasing the remaining air combat legions that fled back to the Marino Defense Line to the vicinity of the city, and a breath of fire directly incinerated twenty griffin knights into ashes under the gaze of everyone.

If this male red dragon, which was already approaching maturity, had not had one of its wings shot down by the alchemical weapon known as the Falling Star Light—Amat’s Fang, perhaps this frenzied red dragon would have tried to attack Dora-Bi City alone.

And the Southern Nobles had also sent legendary powerhouses to try to lure and kill these rampant giant dragons, but although the Dragon King of the Golden Empire could not fight against true legendary powerhouses, he could rely on his bizarre and ever-changing spells and flexible mobility to maneuver with the legendary powerhouses, restraining those legends.

Especially Liam, the Eternal Punishment Dragon, who was originally unknown, simultaneously restrained two legends with spells such as the Eternal Punishment Realm and the Magic Labyrinth, a kind of space-like spell.

Although this adult Eternal Punishment Dragon was beaten to near death by the legendary powerhouse, it also became famous from then on.

Since then, the aerial forces of the Southern Noble Alliance rarely dared to step out of the surrounding area of the entire defense line to face the aerial legions of the Northern Eight Kings alone, and only dared to hover over the cities and the Marino Defense Line.

The aerial reconnaissance scouts originally sent by the Southern Nobles were almost completely swept away, making it difficult to learn the situation of the Eight Kings’ Allied Army through their own reconnaissance forces.

Although the legendary powerhouses under these nobles caused the aerial allied forces of the Eight Kings to lose some strength, they also made the aerial knights of the Eight Kings more mature and cunning, coming and going like the wind, retreating thousands of miles if they failed to strike, making the noble allied forces suffer unspeakably.

Grand Duke Lorn of Marino also knew the difficulty of the situation, and was just venting his anger just now.

These Southern Nobles had not fully anticipated the fighting style of the Golden Empire. In their eyes, giant dragons would only rely on their strength and powerful bodies to recklessly impact the city’s defense lines like beasts.

The lack of prior preparation plunged the noble legions into a quagmire of war before they even formally saw the allied forces of the Eight Kings.

But with tactics like Kalon Gergomora’s, even with prior preparation, the consequences would not be any better than they are now.

These noble-dominated countries, due to their ancient systems and civilizations, have always lacked unified cultural recognition and spiritual cohesion.

But in the Eight Kings Alliance, from the moment they gathered their troops, these nobles were forced to shift from superficial economic and political alliances to true deep military and political integration.

There are many national leaders in Akania who target internal struggles, suppress their people, and exploit their people, but hold the willingness to compromise, exchange, and communicate externally.

But Kalon Gergomora is not such a ruler, nor is he such a dragon.

Kalon Gergomora’s temper of saying what he means is vividly displayed in the eyes of these Southern Nobles at this moment.

Grand Duke Lorn of Marino, as the first to bear the brunt, felt the deepest.

If Lorn was not the target that the Golden Empire named to eliminate, perhaps under such pressure, this Grand Duke would inevitably have the idea of surrendering to the Eight Kings’ Allied Army.

Every day that passed, the pressure in Grand Duke Marino’s heart was heavier than the day before. The Golden Empire’s strategy of killing people and punishing hearts had achieved half of its expected goals.

Grand Duke Marino was even worried that if the Golden Empire and the legions of the kings planned to delay the pace of this war into a long-term war, the entire Marino Duchy might be dragged down.

Fortunately, this kind of consumption is equal for both sides of the war. The wealth and resources of the nobles are being consumed, and the strength of the Golden Empire and the kings is also being consumed.

It was not until he was armored that Grand Duke Lorn suppressed his anger and asked, “How is the situation in various parts of the Marino Defense Line these two days? Has anything happened?”

Larrow showed a somewhat embarrassed look on his face and said softly, “Grand Duke, because materials are given priority to the duchy’s legions and the allied forces of other nobles, the meals of those laborers and corvée laborers have been reduced from two meals a day to one, which has caused many laborers to complain.”

“Just before nightfall tonight, two hundred slaves in the labor camp attempted to escape under cover of night, fleeing to the territory of the Hobbes Empire, but they were all captured by the soldiers of the patrol legion!”

“According to the confessions of these slaves, there are many slaves in the labor camp who plan to unite and rebel, wanting to surrender to the Hobbes Empire!”

“Many citizens in Dora-Bi City saw the proclamations dropped by the Golden Empire and have begun to secretly hide their food. Even if the patrol legions hang those people up, it is difficult to collect much food!”

“Lowly people, truly a group of lowly people,” Grand Duke Lorn turned around with a livid face, unable to control his emotions any longer, and was furious.

He had also seen the countless notices dropped by the Golden Empire’s aerial knight legions, which not only proclaimed the conspiracies and misdeeds of the Southern Nobles, but also stated that the kings’ allied forces would only punish the chief culprits and wipe out those nobles.

And in the notices, they also ‘kindly’ reminded the countless residents of Dora-Bi City to store their food and close the doors and windows of their homes when the war came.

Although Kalon Gergomora did not promise that the kings’ allied forces would not kill civilians in the war, after all, in Kalon’s eyes, only the people of the Golden Empire were his people.

And every loyal warrior of the Empire was far more valuable than others, and he would not want the warriors of the Empire to have concerns on the battlefield in order to gain a good reputation.

But these notices also stated that as long as those civilians did not actively participate in the war, the warriors of the Golden Empire would not actively harm those civilians.

The struggle between the Southern Nobles and the Northern Kings was not of concern to most of the people; they only cared about their own safety, so this announcement by the Golden Empire also brought many troubles to Grand Duke Marino in collecting food and corvée labor.

“Why do these lowly people rebel against me?”

“These lowly people, I let them live, I give them food to eat, and they actually rebel against me?” Grand Duke Marino roared, “Kill, leave none alive, leave none alive!”

Larrow looked embarrassed and said in a low voice, “Grand Duke, if this is the case, the entire Dora-Bi City will be in chaos.”

Lorn glared angrily at the confidant in front of him, and after a long time, he said somewhat weakly, “Forget it, execute all the slaves who intended to defect, and hang all those who want to take the lead in causing trouble, as a warning!”

“Let’s go, Larrow, come out with me and see the situation of the city defenses.”

Dolabi City isn't located in the heartland of the Marino Duchy, but it serves as the most crucial stronghold in the Marino defense line, which is why Grand Duke Marino personally oversees its defense.

Dolabi City is built against the mountains, nestled within the mountain pass of the Dolabi mountain range, almost entirely surrounded by mountains.

The mountain peak on the left rises from the plains to an altitude of 980 meters, while the mountain peak on the right reaches an altitude of 870 meters.

Dolabi City is situated in a large basin between these two mountains, approximately twenty kilometers long and forty-two kilometers wide.

High walls, eleven meters tall and three meters wide, are constructed against the steep peaks and cliffs.

There are three city gates: south, north, and east.

The south gate is a natural mountain pass forming the basin, with a sizable barbican outside.

The north gate is located at a lower part of the hillside, also designed with a barbican, but smaller in scale.

The east gate is a hidden gate, small in size, mainly used for small detachments to launch surprise attacks along the roads.

Multiple watchtowers and fire defense points are set up around the mountain city, including the high points of the mountains on both sides and the highest points of the surrounding mountains.

Due to the sparse vegetation on this section of the mountain, the surroundings of the mountain city are clearly visible.

In the Dolabi mountain range, which stretches east-west on both sides of the mountain city, the other mountain sections are even more treacherous than the surroundings of the mountain city, making it difficult even for monkeys to cross, making it almost impossible for enemies to successfully attack by detouring.

In terms of the defensive strength of Dolabi City alone, it is virtually impregnable in the mortal realm.

Moreover, as a stronghold city connecting the Marino Duchy and the Hobbes Empire, Dolabi City has relatively complete living facilities, with over twenty square kilometers of usable land within the city, and a river flowing from north to south through Dolabi City.

Several wide reservoirs are built beside the river to supply the daily life and production needs of the city's residents.

In addition, there are houses, water wells, markets, warehouses, barracks, handicraft workshops, quarrying camps, cattle and sheep pens, and a large amount of cultivated land on the gentle slopes within the city.

This is a fully equipped medium-to-large city capable of supporting the long-term production and life of hundreds of thousands of people.

Besides the facilities within the city, a large expanse of plains outside the city has also been reclaimed into fertile fields; opening the city gates for farming during times when war hasn't arrived can replenish the city's food and supplies.

In times of war, a scorched-earth policy is implemented, withdrawing into the city to hold firm, so that even the Hobbes Empire, watching from the mountain passes across the plains, cannot easily contemplate attacking the Marino Duchy.

Therefore, when Grand Duke Marino, Loren, stepped onto the towering city walls with his personal guard, he finally felt some rare confidence.

The shadow of the giant dragons in the sky had long disappeared, and the continuous rain had stopped, leaving only the flowing water in the drainage channels on the city walls.

Many soldiers guarding the city walls hid in the embrasures and watchtowers of the city walls, huddling together to keep warm.

Even continuous rain shouldn't be this cold, but the Golden Empire had many dragons, especially a high proportion of white dragons among the five-colored dragons.

These white dragons, cooperating with blue dragon species that controlled storms, forcibly altered the weather of the entire nearby area, making the summer rain colder than the winter rain, and freezing many warriors of the noble legions within a short half-month.

The change in weather increased the demand for supplies among these legion warriors, especially cold-proof cotton clothing, which was extremely scarce due to lack of prior preparation.

Moreover, the erratic weather, alternating between hot and cold, further challenged the adaptability of these warriors.

However, these legion warriors were still better off; the most severely affected were the laborers and artisans who maintained the entire defense line and excavated mountain fortresses and watchtowers.

Prolonged cold and accumulated water forced many laborers and artisans to maintain and work in the accumulated water, leading to skin ulcers, and the growth of sores and maggots on the parts below their knees.

Among the slaves, three or four out of ten died.

It can be said that the entire defense line of the Marino Duchy was built on the corpses of these slaves and laborers.

Grand Duke Loren stood past the embrasure on the city wall, inspecting the defense line he had personally built. Gryphon knights in the sky were on duty in shifts, patrolling the mountain range above the entire defense line day and night, scouting for any movements.

Looking from the highest point of the eastern mountain peak, the scattered lights of fire on the distant mountains made him feel at ease.

The tactical concept of the southern nobles for the entire Marino defense line was to rely on solid fortifications and powerful defensive facilities to crush the enemy's frontal attacks and find opportunities to counterattack.

As long as Dolabi City was secure, even if the defense line was broken through by the enemy with blood and bodies, the fortifications on both sides of the breakthrough point could block the retreat of the invading Eight Kings Alliance, and cooperate with the reserve legions in various cities behind the defense line to disperse and annihilate the invading Eight Kings Alliance one by one.

Therefore, in addition to the garrison troops stationed in various permanent fortifications and fortresses on the Marino defense line, mobile units were also deployed in the rear of the defense zone, such as the Rose Knights团 dispatched by the Rose Duchy and various integrated cavalry regiments dispatched by various countries.

"I wonder where those guys are now, and what kind of offensive preparations they will make. Have any messages come from those merchants and scouts recently?"

Grand Duke Loren turned his head and asked his personal guard.

"Your Grace, the latest news from those scouts only indicates that the Ice Giant Legion, as the last legion in the Eight Kings Alliance, has entered the Forsaken Mountain Range. Apart from that, no other news can be conveyed."

A personal guard cautiously replied, "The entire sky is almost blocked by the Eight Kings' Alliance, making it difficult for those scouts to find out the movements of those monsters."

"Moreover, many scouts have disappeared after sending back messages. According to those merchants, when they left the Golden Empire, they saw many people being hanged directly outside the city by the Inquisition. Those merchants dare not inquire about the movements of the Golden Empire at this time!"

Grand Duke Loren exhaled a breath of cold air. As a peak Saint-level powerhouse, relying on the treasures inherited from his family, he even dared to confront ordinary Legends, but now he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

In war, logistics and intelligence are of utmost importance, but the nobles are almost completely ignorant of the movements of the Northern Kings, and even divination magic cannot clearly detect their movements.

However, the Northern Kings, taking advantage of their powerful and unmatched aerial legion advantage, have almost thoroughly investigated the deployment of the entire Marino defense line.

This made the little confidence that Grand Duke Marino had just raised fall back into the abyss.

Loren couldn't help but stomp the solid stone beneath his feet with his expensive leather boots, as if doing so could bring him some confidence.

They stood on a solid observation platform, the entire platform made of the surrounding mountains, purely built with gray-brown granite.

A heavy cannon was densely covered with complex magic patterns, inlaid with huge magic crystals and gems as rapid-response energy sources.

In addition to the magic cannons, there were also many 'Moradin's Wrath' heavy cannons purchased from the merchant guilds of the Central Continent and produced and cast by the dwarves on the embrasures of the city walls.

Moradin is the main dwarf god worshiped by many branches of the dwarves. The power of the heavy cannon known as 'Moradin's Wrath' should not be underestimated.

However, although the shells used by 'Moradin's Wrath' seem to have similar high-energy gunpowder components to the artillery used by the Golden Empire, with the same components of high-energy gunpowder, they are not a black technology developed by the dwarves.

The shells of 'Moradin's Wrath' are fruits produced by a magical plant that the dwarves plant in volcanic and heavy metal areas, naturally carrying a dual physical and magical explosion effect.

Because the production is not as sufficient as artificial research and development, the price is also relatively expensive. The configuration of this batch of 'Moradin's Wrath' heavy cannons alone cost the southern nobles hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

However, hundreds of thousands of gold coins seem large enough, but they are only the basic unit of measurement for the construction cost of the entire Marino defense line.

There are also batches of huge armor-piercing ballistae and alchemical giant crossbows as powerful weapons against giants and dragons, which are installed in various outposts along the entire defense line.

The entire Marino defense line, built along the Dolabi mountain range, is as long as three hundred kilometers, extending from the Marino Duchy to the neighboring Rosetta Duchy and Dumyat Duchy.

At the highest points of the mountains and the nodes of magic sources, the defensive fortifications built by the combined forces of the southern countries number as many as thousands, although most are observation and conventional guard posts.

Some permanent fortifications are first equipped with heavy artillery and giant crossbows, and then the fortifications are excavated according to the mountains, but this also shows the determination of these nobles.

The legion warriors stationed in these defensive fortifications alone number as many as three hundred thousand.

Adding in the laborers who guarantee logistics and the slave laborers who build the defense line, the population of the entire Marino defense line is as high as more than one million, a number that is close to a quarter of the entire statistical population of a higher duchy like Marino.

This shows the fear of the Southern nobles towards the Allied Kings.

As a gateway to advance south, once the Allied Kings launch a frontal attack on this defense line, they will be subject to the flanking attacks of the Rosetta Duchy and the Dumyat Duchy on the east and west sides.

But if those Allied Kings want to break through from the sea, it will be even more difficult. The overall terrain of the western Dumyat Duchy belongs to the highland hilly area, and the joint defense line relying on various cities is not necessarily easier to break through than the Marino defense line.

The eastern Rosetta Duchy, on the other hand, lives by the sea and has a strong naval fleet and a joint fleet dispatched by the noble alliance as the sea defense line relying on the city.

Once the Allied Kings' legions are blocked, the powerful logistical supply pressure will be enough to overwhelm those Allied Kings' legions.

Thinking of this, Grand Duke Loren's expression became solemn.

He watched as the sky was about to dawn, and the light of the sun had vaguely appeared on the horizon, and couldn't help but murmur to himself: "I hope those monsters come later, so that our defense line can be built more perfectly, and I hope those monsters come earlier, otherwise those nobles will not have much loss, but the duchy is destined to suffer heavy losses."

"With ups and downs, whether Marino can still become a high-level duchy in the future is also unknown!" Loren raised his head and sighed deeply.

……

After the Eight Kings' Council, the kings discussed jointly sending troops to the south to pacify the noble alliance and occupy the southern countries.

Among them, the Golden Empire dispatched two organized legions and several independently titled battle groups, totaling 100,000 warriors. Each organized legion had approximately 30,000 people.

After the military system reform of the Golden Empire, the basic establishment of the legion is legion, battle group, battalion group, company group, platoon, and squad.

Each squad has about ten soldiers, more or less. A platoon has three squads.

A company has three platoons, a battalion group has three company groups, and a battle group has three battalion groups.

At the regiment level, in addition to having three infantry battalion groups, sometimes it will also have remote artillery battalion groups, remote archer battalion groups, and mid-range musketeer battalion groups and golem armored company groups, depending on the configuration of the legion.

Therefore, the scale of the entire legion's warriors is not fixed, but this slightly complicated military system does not mean chaos.

On the contrary, with the reserve of basic quality warrior talents, the more regular subdivision of military system reform is, the better it is to manage and mobilize.

An officer who can lead a thousand people without confusion is a talent, an officer who can lead ten thousand warriors without confusion is a general, and an officer who can lead one hundred thousand warriors is a rare and outstanding general.

Although the Golden Empire does not have rare and outstanding generals, relying on long-term basic quality education and training, as well as familiarity with the large-scale establishment of the military system, the 100,000 troops are almost in order.

Under the command of the legion commander, they had already set off to contact the legions of the Hobbes Empire.

Subsequently, the Dark Elf King led four elite legions totaling more than 40,000 people, and the two alchemical legions of Saros, the Lord of the Dark Nest, had only 12,000 warriors, belonging to the second batch of departing troops.

Ragnar Haeg, the Frost Giant King, led 3,000 Frost Giant elite legions plus 60,000 Frost Plains mixed legions, and departed one after another to join the vanguard.

After these kings' legions converged, the Frost Giant Legion, the Dark Elves, and the Dark Nest legions will attack in the direction of the Dumyat Duchy to contain Dumyat as the main force on the front battlefield.

And maintain communication and contact to find an opportunity to quickly break through the allied defense line of the three countries' nobles.

Posel Lane, the Orc King, even mobilized all the elites of the Orc Kingdom, taking the Golden Empire's 'Imperial Glory' main fleet as the flagship, and set out with 200,000 Orc troops straight to the southern Rosetta Duchy waters.

Posel Lane, the Orc King, personally sits in command of the army, waiting for the news from the Golden Empire, ambitiously wanting to personally break through the Rosetta Duchy, and is bound to win the first battle of the Eight Kings Alliance.

The Elven Kingdom is currently dealing with internal chaos and cannot send more legion warriors. It only sent 2,000 mixed magic archers and sword dancer legions, and sent a Sun Elf legendary warrior as the commander to cooperate with Mogues, the multi-armed giant in the Forsaken Mountain Range.

On the one hand, these orderly elves can suppress the giants who are still in a chaotic stage near the legion, and on the other hand, they also assist the low-level officers of the Golden Empire to help the multi-armed giant Mogues regulate and reorganize those giant and monster legions.

These kings' legions are more or less influenced by the Golden Empire, not only in the joint reorganization, but also in the establishment of a communication and liaison system.

Morgothyes, the many-armed giant king, slumped dejectedly on his stone throne, built from mountain rocks. He watched the Frost Giant legions disappear from his sight, then gazed at the giants, giant sub-species, and various monsters in the river valley plains, who were being trained by low-ranking officers of the Golden Empire. He spat on the ground.

"Pah, I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw the comparison. Now, I just want to snap the necks of all these idiots."

"I let your warrior instructors train them. You should have told those instructors to be harsher. Anyone who dared to disobey should have their heads chopped off."

Morgothyes muttered, "With me here, no giant would dare to resist. I'd personally take care of him!"

As the first to prepare, Morgothyes's legion was the last to depart, but the reason was convincing.

If these giants and monsters weren't restrained and went wild, the negative impact would outweigh their contribution on the battlefield.

The White Dragon King, Gormoth, was now in his prime adolescence, his body reaching twenty meters. But compared to the mountain-high Morgothyes, he was no bigger than a juvenile dragon.

Gormoth watched the foolish giants panicking under the Golden Empire instructors' commands, and he grinned, revealing his fangs. "King Morgothyes, this is normal. The giants and monsters aren't used to being constrained by order."

"Killing is just a means, not the end. Those who can't be taught will be reorganized by the Empire's instructors. Then, those giants and monsters will be used for the first wave of attacks. It's a way to make use of the useless!"

The many-armed giant nodded, crossing his four arms and watching coldly.

The Golden Empire didn't expect these giants and monsters to form an army-like order in a short time. But those smarter giants, selected by the Empire's instructors, were given the title and authority to command various units in the name of Morgothyes, the giant king.

With these smarter giants in charge, most giants and monsters would know when to advance and retreat upon hearing commands and slogans during war.

Whether to attack left or right would be enough.

Besides the giants and sub-species monsters being reorganized, many weaker monsters were felling trees under the guidance of the Elven legions, using the wood to make simple shields.

The shields were so crudely made that a layer of oil was applied, dried slightly in the shade, and then layers of tough animal hide were bound with gnarled ancient vines from the mountains, creating temporary, usable heavy wooden shields.

Even with the Golden Empire's productivity, it wasn't enough to fully arm the Frost Giant legions and Morgothyes's legion.

Even after Morgothyes paid a large amount of wealth plundered from the Cloud Giant palaces, he could only buy enough arms to equip three thousand elite giant soldiers.

Morgothyes used his alliance with the Golden Empire as an excuse to extort the Evil Giants' and Death Giants' territories, but he could only gather enough equipment for two hundred elite giant warriors, showing the backwardness of the civilizations in the Godforsaken Mountains.

If there was more time to prepare for war, Morgothyes would have conquered the Evil Giants and Death Giants and driven these higher giants south.

Including the Cloud Giants' equipment, Morgothyes could arm a total of seven thousand 'elite' soldiers. The remaining giant warriors could only use self-made weapons and defensive equipment.

But after seeing the Golden Empire's orderly military appearance, Morgothyes felt that something was wrong with his legion. The usually bold giant felt a rare sense of annoyance.

So Morgothyes always felt that the corners of Gormoth's mouth were upturned in mockery.

"Liam never put in so much effort when he was under me," one of Morgothyes's heads stared ahead, while the eyes of another head glanced sideways at the ancestral white dragon. "Your Golden Empire really knows how to win over dragon hearts!"

The White Dragon Gormoth shook his head, carved from ice, his slender dragon horns shining with iridescent light in the sun.

He laughed, "Dragons should gather with dragons, just as King Morgothyes should rule all the giants in the Godforsaken Mountains."

Morgothyes was very pleased with the flattery, especially since Gormoth was a famous Dragon King in the Golden Empire.

So the giant asked, "How is Gogelmora doing? Although he didn't show it, I could sense that he wasn't in good condition."

"If he needs help, I can lend a hand, as long as you give me a discount next time!"

Morgothyes wouldn't simply become friends with the dragons, even if they currently had the same goals and might be like-minded friends in the future.

As the initiator and leader of the Kings' Alliance, only Kalon Gogelmora and the Golden Empire could serve as a bridge of trust and cooperation between the kings.

Every king knew that the universe outside of Aikania was almost infinitely large, but they had been trapped in this swamp for too long.

Only Kalon Gogelmora had the amazing ambition to unite the kings and escape this muddy swamp.

The White Dragon Gormoth shook his head and said softly, "Kalon always has his own plans, but he hasn't told us. It's probably nothing."

"That's good," Morgothyes looked at the flags that had long disappeared in the distance and suddenly laughed. "That guy was right, heroes emerge in times of turmoil. I can't wait."

"I and Gogelmora will personally go there. I want to see who in the Northern Lands can resist!"

Thank you for the votes and rewards, I've made up for it, I guarantee it!