"Do you see that?"
Standing atop the green dragon's mound-like carcass, Singo pointed beneath his feet and declared in a ringing voice:
"So-called dragons are no different from ordinary beasts. They can be wounded, they can be defeated, and they can die!
"And what we must do is slay these evil dragons that bring ruin to all living souls, tear down the altars of the Cult of the Dragon, and end this catastrophe!" He thrust his arm toward the distant altar, his tone impassioned.
The long-oppressed commoners were swept up by his fervor. A massive uproar rippled through the crowd, congealing into a unified, thunderous roar.
"Tear down the Cult of the Dragon!"
"Slay the evil dragons!"
People surged toward the altar they had once feared most. Raising poleaxes and warhammers, they smashed into the Cult of the Dragon's altar, shattering the lingering dread in their hearts along with it.
"Mankind will never be slaves!"
"Smash it to pieces!"
Amidst chaotic shouts and enraged bellows, accompanied by the humming impact of warhammers crashing down, the dragon-headed altar that symbolized the theocratic dominion of the Cult of the Dragon was reduced to smithereens, leaving the ground strewn with shattered debris.
Suspended in midair, Xiaye Qiuyu casually manipulated flames to illuminate the deep cavern ahead. Her voice was somber:
"There are sixteen more dragon breeding grounds like this in Forest Hawk City. We must destroy every single one, so that the evil dragons' wings will never blot out the sky again!"
With cheers and roars, thousands of civilians once treated as "sacrificial offerings" formed an unstoppable torrent. Side by side with the players, they charged toward the next dragon breeding ground.
The cultists guarding the various altars fell into utter panic and confusion. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that these ordinary humans, viewed as mere offerings and livestock, could erupt with such power when driven into a corner.
Accompanied by whistling gunfire and the wails of cultists, altar after altar was obliterated. The ranks of the uprising swelled with each passing moment.
Their rallying cries grew increasingly fervent, piercing through the ground to shake the heavens and rock the entire Inner City.
...
On the city wall of Forest Hawk City, the gloom on Ulrichia's face grew heavier, her dark golden slit pupils brimming with boundless fury and shock.
Her brow furrowed in tension. "Grutar was actually killed by the Imperials? That useless wretch..."
Although Grutar was merely her most foolish, least-favored son, he had still been a mature adult green dragon—a formidable combatant within the Green Dragon Cult. Such a loss caused Ulrichia immense grief and indignation; it was simply unacceptable.
That had been a prime adult green dragon! How on earth had those Imperials managed to kill him?!
Sensing the altars being destroyed one after another, and watching the five-headed dragon phantasm in the sky steadily fade, Ulrichia's expression turned even darker.
Without Her Majesty Tiamat's blessing, the tide of this war would only turn for the worse. Forest Hawk City might even fall to those Imperials.
As if detecting the weakening of the five-headed dragon phantasm, the massive aerial dreadnoughts advanced once more. Countless beams of light rained down, bombarding the ranks of dragons and blasting green dragons right out of the sky.
At the same time, the Imperial Army made a swift advance. Battalions of steam tanks tore across the earth, crushing the corpses of dragonbeasts beneath their tracks. Kicking up plumes of dust, they caused the ground to tremble, closing the gap until less than a thousand meters remained between them and Forest Hawk City.
"This cannot continue. It seems I must take action myself to stop those damned Imperials.
"If that fails to produce results... my only choice will be to awaken my slumbering father."
Ulrichia knew well that her father, Erebus, the "Lord of the Rotting Bog," was at a crucial juncture of ascending to become a quasi-deity dragon.
As long as enough mortals were sacrificed to yield sufficient faith, this ancient wyrm would earn the right to become one of Tiamat's subordinate deities, ruling as a sovereign monarch in the new era when dragons dominated the earth.
Waking Erebus prematurely would undoubtedly incur his apocalyptic wrath.
Yet if Forest Hawk City fell and Tiamat's anchors of faith were entirely uprooted, her father would likewise fail to complete the ritual.
With this thought, Ulrichia beat her broad wings and let out a long, piercing roar, soaring toward the interior of Forest Hawk City.
...
Deprived of Ulrichia's support, the strength of the Dragon Cultists and dragonbeast legions waned significantly.
Furthermore, without the terrifying five-colored beams of light, the cultists lost nearly all capacity for long-range strikes. They could only endure the Imperials' relentless bombardment, completely powerless to retaliate.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Trailing dense smoke, artillery shells traced graceful arcs through the sky, weaving a dense, suffocating net across the heights.
Accompanied by deafening detonations, countless shells exploded midair. Shrapnel flew in every direction, battering the walls of Forest Hawk City until they were fractured and crumbling. Billowing fire swallowed scores of cultists, while searing shrapnel severed heads clean off shoulders.
Under the ferocious bombardment, the ground before Forest Hawk City was virtually blanketed in the corpses of dragonbeasts and cultists. This allowed the players to drive their steam tanks and all manner of modified vehicles forward, launching a grand, sweeping assault against Forest Hawk City.
"For Tiamat!"
"Long live the dragons!"
Rallied by evil dragon priests, cultists bearing longswords, shields, and crossbows embossed with the five-headed dragon emblem surged onto the ramparts wave after wave.
Yet as shells detonated above their heads, the cultists were charred black or hurled through the air by the shockwaves, smashing into minced meat upon impact.
Boom—
The city gates slowly opened, and over a thousand Dragon Cult cavalry mounted atop guard dragonbeasts appeared beneath the walls. Raising the banners of the Green Dragon Cult high, they charged toward the players while their dragonbeast mounts let out deep, guttural roars.
Dust billowed and the earth shook. Such a charge would have made any army within Seleucia tremble—except for the players from the north.
"Long live Tiamat!"
"Crush them!"
Watching the dragonbeast cavalry thunder toward them, the Machine Cult player in the cockpit named "AAA Heavy Tank Driver Master Liu" sneered in disdain.
"A bunch of meatbags under ten tons, and you want to butt heads with my hundred-ton beast?"
Without hesitation, he slammed the accelerator to the floor. The hundred-ton "Emperor's Wrath" heavy steam tank roared to life, charging head-on into the dragonbeasts like a mountain crashing into the earth.
Boom!
The roar of the engine, the wet squelch of treads crushing flesh, and the crisp snapping of bones rang out in rapid succession. The steam tank carved through the dragonbeasts as if traversing unoccupied territory, flattening every living thing before it with overwhelming, unstoppable force.
Blood soaked the massive ram, and behind the crimson treads lay a dozen mangled, shattered dragonbeast carcasses. The wretched cultist cavalry were crushed into patties, their bodies flattened beyond all recognition.
The player grinned, flashing a row of white teeth, his voice brimming with excitement. "And here I thought those were speed bumps! Take it up with my insurance!"
Similar scenes played out across the front as other steam tanks charged forward. After dozens of iterative upgrades by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, these iron behemoths were practically flawless—far beyond anything dragonbeasts bred from mortal blood could contend with.
In just a few charges, the Dragon Cult's dragonbeast cavalry was utterly routed, swallowed whole by the iron tide and leaving behind only a field of mangled corpses.
"Gods above..."
"Tiamat have mercy! What on earth is that? How can it possess strength rivaling a true dragon?!" The cultists finally dissolved into panic.
"They're just puny humans! You damned useless cowards, what are you afraid of?"
Several green dragons appeared atop the city walls of Forest Hawk City. Lifting their heads, they let out raspy roars and swooped down toward the steam tanks.
Corrosive fluid churned within their breath sacs, ready to spew deadly breath weapons at a moment's notice.
The green dragons held nothing but contempt for these clumsy, earthbound foes, confident they could toy with them effortlessly from the air.
Yet just as the green dragons went into a steep dive, several tanks elevated smaller-caliber barrels toward the sky, and tongues of flame erupted from their muzzles.
In an instant, streams of dense projectiles streaked skyward, hurtling toward the dragons. The wing membranes of the lead adult green dragon were shredded on the spot, sending it wailing toward the ground.
"No, impossible!"
"Damned humans!"
These were, in fact, variants modified by Imperial designers based on the "Empire's Wrath" chassis, equipped with quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft cannons specifically engineered to counter airborne threats.
Now, making their combat debut, these anti-aircraft "Empire's Wrath" variants bared their fangs, shooting down several green dragons in quick succession.
Immediately after, dozens of heavy steam tanks pivoted their turrets simultaneously, aiming their massive main cannons at the weakest section of Forest Hawk City's walls.
Boom!
Flames erupted, thick smoke billowed, and fire blazed as dozens of terrifying armor-piercing shells slammed into the city wall.
Amidst violent tremors and a towering plume of dust, that section of wall collapsed with a crash, tearing open a hundred-meter breach in Forest Hawk City.
"Charge!"
"For the Empire! For the Cinder Emperor!"
"Reclaim Forest Hawk City! For Holy Fadlan! For the great Lord of Eternal Radiance!"
Resounding war horns pierced the sky. Tens of thousands of players and soldiers of the human legions braved the poisonous mist and acid spewed by surviving dragonbeasts, charging forward with unyielding resolve to take Forest Hawk City.
...
Forest Hawk City, the Dragon Breeding Ground.
In the gloomy underground tunnels, the "Sacrifice Legion" led by the players was similarly sweeping forward with irresistible momentum.
Along the way, they had slaughtered numerous garrisoned cultists, demolished several altars, and liberated over ten thousand human sacrifices, swelling their numbers even further.
Mantou toyed with a dragon horn in his hand, looking immensely pleased with himself. "Turns out green dragons are nothing special. Acting all mighty and majestic, yet he still got taken down by us."
Xiaye Qiuyu, however, wore a solemn expression and murmured, "Be careful. Keep quiet for a moment..."
"What's wrong?"
"How is this possible...? I sense an exceptionally powerful aura. It far surpasses that mature adult green dragon from earlier. It's utterly terrifying."
Mantou frowned. "No way. Word is the fighting on the front lines is fierce. An ancient green dragon wouldn't just abandon—"
Suddenly, his words caught in his throat.
A pungent, acrid stench wafted over.
In the distance, two faintly glowing eyes appeared. Their dark golden slit pupils sent chills down everyone's spine, and a shadowy silhouette loomed in the darkness.
Trembling, the people raised their torches. By the flickering firelight, they could barely make out the true form of that figure—
A grotesque, menacing head; a crest extending along most of its spine; emerald-green scales; and an enormous body that nearly choked the entire tunnel.
It was a green dragon, and an ancient green dragon that had lived for nearly a millennium!
"Humans—"
Ulrichia stepped slowly out of the shadows. With a hideous visage, she glared fixedly at the crowd before her, uncontrollable fury burning in her narrow slit pupils.
"Was it you... who killed my son and destroyed the altars of Forest Hawk City?"
Confronted with such a terrifying dragon, the people fell into sheer panic. In their nerves, they pulled their triggers. Muzzles flared as bullets flew toward the green dragon, only to ping harmlessly off her scales.
Even the players went on high alert, gripped by sudden tension—because they had caught a glimpse of their enemy's partial status screen.
[Poisonous Emerald - Ulrichia (Challenge Rating: ???)]
To impose a level suppression on the current players, this green dragon had to possess a Challenge Rating of at least 20. She was an unprecedentedly formidable adversary.
"Holy shit, there's a hidden boss!"
"We're screwed, it's an ancient dragon! Bundle all of us together and we still wouldn't scratch her!"
"Didn't the Machine Cult kill an ancient dragon before? Tell them to bring their fleet over!"
"Don't panic! We won't know if we can take her until we try! Didn't we just kill that mature adult green dragon too?"
"Screw it, let's go!"
A dozen or so wizard players raised their wands and began chanting spells, hoping to replicate their earlier maneuver and bind this dragon.
Yet the spell resistance of an ancient green dragon was far beyond their imagination. Even high-circle spells struggled to leave a mark.
"Pathetic humans..."
Ulrichia merely flicked her talons, effortlessly severing the incoming spells. A sinister light gleamed in her eyes as ancient Draconic syllables tumbled from her jaws.
[Gaze of Hatred]
In an instant, dark green rays struck every single player who had just cast a spell. Their bodies rotted away, dissolving into foul puddles of sludge in the blink of an eye.
Farther back, Singo drew his dragon-hunting longbow to a full bend. An arrow imbued with various buffs whistled through the air, streaking straight toward the ancient green dragon's heart.
Yet with a flap of her wings, Ulrichia whipped up a tempest thick with acidic venom, instantly obliterating the incoming arrow.
The corrosive gale swept forward into the crowd. Over a hundred people were swallowed by the vortex, shredded into severed limbs and flying gore before they could even scream.
Using Misty Step, Singo blinked hundreds of meters away, barely escaping the acidic storm. But looking up, he saw the ancient green dragon sneer once more as she opened her cavernous maw and drew a deep breath.
Roar—!
It was Greater Shout!
In an instant, a devastating shockwave erupted outward, forming a cone of force that annihilated everything in its path, even fracturing solid stone.
Singo failed to evade in time. Cracks spiderwebbed across his body as he was drenched in blood, with violent crimson torrents gushing from his ears and nostrils.
Fortunately, he possessed a Death Ward amulet, which barely preserved his life against the onslaught and saved him from dying on the spot.
"Sing-dog, your daddy's here to save you!" Mantou yelled, sprinting forward at top speed.
"Get down!"
A pitch-black sword-shaped force field cleaved horizontally through the air, instantly slicing Singo in two. Mantou dropped flat to the ground by pure instinct, narrowly evading the blow, cold sweat drenching his entire body.
—It was the seventh-circle spell, Sword of Darkness.
Chapter 792