Ember Dragon

However, at that moment, the wasteland opposite the Rock Rift Valley trembled, and a cloud of dust stretching for more than ten kilometers swept in from the horizon, covering the sky and the earth, as if the end of the world was about to come.

Countless ferocious black shadows emerged from the smoke and dust, their horns and claws faintly visible—they were the descendants of the evil dragon, and they were countless, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Their numbers could probably reach millions, like surging waves and overflowing floods, rushing towards the Allied positions.

Meanwhile, the cultists of the Dragon Worship Church, clad in deep blue robes, rode atop the towering backs of the evil dragon's descendants, roaring as they charged forward.

In the sky, countless giant dragons, following the decree of the Five-Colored Dragon Queen, roared with their heads held high, their imposing aura overwhelming.

Amidst this deafening roar, Archbishop Jude Gonzalez of the Blue Dragon Cult rode a storm dragon, circling high in the sky. He spread his arms, revealing a grotesque, scaly head, half-human and half-dragon, beneath his hood.

"Children of Tiamat, the time has come to prove your loyalty! Destroy those pathetic rebels and let them wail in the shadow of the dragons!"

His voice was passionate and stirring, with highs and lows. As he spoke, the dark clouds in the sky surged and spread rapidly, forming huge, ferocious dragon faces high in the sky.

"For the great and immortal Queen!"

"For Tiamat!"

"The kingdoms of mortals will perish, and the great dragon will reign supreme over the world!"

The cultists, their faces contorted with fanaticism, rode atop the dragon beasts, brandishing their weapons and shouting themselves hoarse.

Surrounded by crisscrossing bolts of lightning, Jude looked toward the allied forces across the rift, raised his dragon-headed scepter, his eyes flashing with furious sparks of electricity, and his voice like overlapping thunder, extremely oppressive.

"You vile bastards, you have stolen Her Majesty the Dragon Queen's power! And you even dared to try to stop Her Majesty's arrival!"

"In the name of the great Mother of Dragons, I will bestow upon you destruction—"

"boom!"

A loud sound echoed through the rift valley as the Imperial sniper held his sniper rifle, which had a caliber comparable to a machine gun, with wisps of gray smoke rising from the muzzle.

The exploding bullet struck the bishop's chest at unimaginable speed, only to be stopped by a triggered protective spell.

Although the spell blocked and recoiled most of the impact, the enormous kinetic energy still caused Jude to stumble and nearly fall off the Storm Dragon's back.

Seeing this, a military researcher observing through binoculars in the distance shook his head and sighed, "The spell's penetration is still insufficient; there's room for improvement."

On the high slopes north of the Locke Rift Valley, Dolo raised his megaphone and mocked mercilessly, "Fool, if I were you, I wouldn't choose to spout nonsense in front of the Empire's most elite army."

To be so humiliated in front of countless believers was something Jude could not tolerate. His eyes were bloodshot, his anger barely contained, and his pupils emitted countless intersecting arcs of electricity.

The dragon-headed scepter swung through the air, drawing upon the terrifying divine power bestowed by the Five-Colored Dragon Queen, triggering a terrifying thunderstorm. The archbishop roared, "Despicable and shameless imperial people!"
"Charge! Charge! Tear them apart!"

Before the words were even finished, the wave of people, consisting of the descendants of the evil dragon and believers of the Dragon Worship Cult, surged up, and their powerful battle roars soared into the sky, shaking the heavens and the earth.

On the other side of the rift, within the allied forces' positions, the Empire's ogre artillerymen were skillfully loading shells and conducting aiming and calibration with remarkable efficiency.

The dragon vein goblin on the high platform casually waved his hand and coldly commanded, "All troops, listen up—fire!"

In an instant, the earth trembled and ten thousand cannons roared!
Countless shells, trailing thick smoke and flashes of fire, burst forth from the thousands of dark cannons, crisscrossing in the sky to form a vast, all-encompassing net, as if to engulf everything within the position.

The shells traced near-perfect parabolic arcs, crossed the deep chasm, and landed in the positions of the Dragon Cult Legion.

"boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Explosions rang out one after another, and fireballs burst forth from the tidal wave of blue dragon descendants and cultists, sending dust soaring into the sky and releasing powerful shockwaves.

The deafening roar was mixed with shrill screams as countless charred corpses and severed limbs were blasted away. A single round of shelling caused thousands of casualties.

Moreover, the Empire has more than just cannons for attacking the army. In the distant trenches, rows of anti-aircraft guns raise their muzzles and fire a series of shrapnel shells.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A dense roar echoed through the sky as countless cannonballs hurtled towards the five-colored dragon, storm dragon, and manticore beast high in the air, creating a terrifying metallic storm.

These cannonballs were meticulously crafted by the Imperial Weapons Research Institute. They possess extremely high penetrability and are specifically designed to deal with monsters covered in scales. After testing, they can even pierce the scales of a young green dragon, demonstrating their terrifying power.

A blue dragon that was about to reach adulthood had just been swaggering and roaring at the allied forces' positions, claiming that it would make the Silvermoon Elves its food.

The next moment, the Empire's shells came raining down like a storm, and in an instant, broken scales flew everywhere, and blood blossoms spurted from the blue dragon's body.

He exclaimed in bewilderment, "How is this possible! How could I be injured by something like this! Our dragon scales are clearly stronger than shields!"

Gazing at the humans operating the anti-aircraft guns in the distance, the blue dragon was enraged to the point of losing his mind. He flew towards them furiously, lightning flashing in his eyes: "You lowly ants, how dare you use such methods—"

"Bang bang bang!"

The young and arrogant blue dragon thought its roar would instill fear and tremble among the human soldiers, but it never expected that it would be met only with even more intense artillery fire.

Under the dense and interwoven barrage of fire, the blue dragon's body was riddled with countless bloody holes, and even its wings were tattered and leaking air everywhere.

Finally, with a mournful howl, the blue dragon, covered in blood, fell helplessly from mid-air into the extremely deep Locke Great Rift Valley with a muffled thud, and then fell silent.

This is the first pureblood dragon to die in this war, but it will certainly not be the last.

"Marshal Dolo, only our Metal Dragon Clan can withstand those evil brethren."

"No, wait a little longer, the Empire's offensive is not over yet."

“But ordinary weapons are no match for those evil dragons. If we let them cross the Locke Rift—” Dionysius was still arguing with the earth spirit.

But when he turned his head, he saw a young red dragon flying unsteadily above the Locke Rift Valley. Under the intense artillery fire, it was unable to maintain its balance and could only howl as it plummeted into the depths of the rift valley.

Gu Jinlong was astonished. The power of these weapons was terrifying; they could actually break through the dragon's scales!
Beside him, Dolo crossed his arms and said with a half-smile, "I've said it before, this terrain is most advantageous to the Imperial army. If they want to cross the canyon, they will pay a heavy price."

Dionysius nodded slightly, but there was no joy on his face; a trace of barely perceptible worry shone through his amber eyes.

The Burning Empire is currently their ally, but the future is uncertain. The scales of the Five-Colored Evil Dragon will be shattered by the Empire's cannon fire; what will happen if the Metal Dragon stands against the Empire?

In Dionysius's view, Dolo was not only killing enemies, but also demonstrating against him—more precisely, against the metal dragons, and even against His Majesty Bahamut behind them.

The emperor wanted to use this war to show them that the empire had the strength to fight against the dragon race.

"Watch out for those strange iron balls, don't get hit by them!"

"Damn Imperials!"

The five-colored dragons circled overhead, but having witnessed the fate of the giant dragons that had fallen into the rift, they hesitated to swoop down.

Jude gritted his teeth and said, "Enough! This can't go on any longer! Destroy those strange weapons!"

"For the great Mother of Dragons, let thunder destroy the mortal world—" The evil dragon priests raised their scepters, and dark clouds spread wildly, reaching the sky above the allied forces' positions, where a vast amount of lightning was brewing.

"boom!"

A deafening roar echoed through the sky, and bolts of lightning as thick as bowls struck down, instantly destroying several heavy cannons and blasting more than a dozen imperial artillerymen into dust.

On the opposite side of the rift, a group of burly, obese blue dragon descendants growled softly, lowering their heads, arcs of electricity crackling around their massive horns.

"boom!"

Bolts of lightning erupted from their horns, striking the opposite bank of the rift. Hundreds of fully armed Imperial soldiers were engulfed by the lightning, turning into charred remains.

The Church of the Dragons' counterattack did inflict some losses on the Imperial Legion, but compared to the casualties caused by the Empire's firepower, it was negligible.

From the start of the war, every minute, even every second, descendants of the evil dragon and followers of the Church of the Dragon Worship have died in the Empire's relentless bombing.

"Tiamat, above!"

"How exactly did those Imperials manage to do that?"

Doro knew that as long as the followers of the Church of the Dragon did not cross the rift, the Imperial army's long-range strike capability would give them an absolute advantage.

If they were to forcibly cross the Great Rift Valley, they would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

This is why Dolo, as the nominal "attacker," chose such a defensible and difficult-to-attack location as the main battlefield.

He knew that under the Empire's relentless bombardment, the Church of the Dragon would either have to retreat or be forced to become the true aggressor.

Sure enough, after a moment of contemplation, Jude brandished his dragon-headed scepter and commanded with a grim face, "In that case, cross the rift and engage those damned allied forces in close combat! The dragon's flesh will crush those fragile ants!"

At his command, a dozen or so evil dragon priests and shamans chanted incantations and released spells, causing the earth to tremble violently. Accompanied by flying soil and dust, rocks at the edge of the rift valley suddenly rose up.

Like giant dragons made of piled rocks, they rush towards the other side of the rift valley, forming several massive bridges connecting the north and south banks.

Meanwhile, the Blue Dragon Descendants, the Godslayers, raised their dragon skull shields, brandished their electrified longswords, and roared angrily as they launched a fierce charge towards the allied positions on the opposite bank.

"You lowly bastard!"

"Tremble before the power of the Mother Goddess!"

As heavy infantry charging into battle, the Blue Dragon Descendants Godslayers are impeccable. They are covered in scale armor, are tall, and can take four or five meters in a single stride. They charge at an extremely fast speed and can wreak havoc once they enter the enemy's territory, fiercely attacking the enemy's defenses.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Empire's garrison. The other side had already built fortifications, with layers of sandbags piled up and hundreds of state-of-the-art machine guns mounted inside, their muzzles pointed at the enemy on the stone bridge.

"Fire!"

"Da da da da da!"

An extremely dense barrage of gunfire erupted, with countless bullets pouring out of the gun barrels like a storm, forming a crisscrossing network of fire in mid-air. This terrifying metallic storm instantly engulfed the Blue Dragon Descendants.

The Blue Dragon Descendant Godslayer's bone shield was shattered, and his body was pierced by bullets. Before he could even roar, he collapsed with a thud, falling off the stone bridge along with the shattered stones.

"Kill them all! For the Empire!"

"Shoot!"

"Don't be intimidated by these Imperials, they won't last long! Charge! Charge!!"

"Once we engage in close combat, these fragile humans will be torn to shreds, and you will become Her Majesty Tiamat's heroes!"

Countless cultists and descendants of the Blue Dragon surged onto the stone bridge, only to be killed by the Empire's terrifying firepower, falling one after another from mid-air into the dark abyss.

In just a short while, the bottom of the rift was piled high with the corpses of members of the Dragon Worship Cult, forming small hills, and the still-warm blood flowed in rivers.

Watching the soldiers fall continuously, Jude shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Fear not, charge! You are warriors chosen by Her Majesty the Dragon Queen! Even in death, your souls will ascend to the divine realm and enjoy boundless bliss!"

With expressions of fearlessness, the cultists brandished their swords and charged onto the stone bridge, launching an assault on the enemy's defenses.

Those descendants of evil dragons, as natural weapons of war created by Tiamat, were inherently cruel and bloodthirsty, unafraid of death. Naturally, they charged forward with fierce eyes and roars.

Their numbers were simply too great; even with hundreds of machine guns forming a crisscrossing barrage, they couldn't kill them all. Using their companions in front as a shield, the descendants of the evil dragons in the rear finally approached the north bank of the Great Rift Valley.

Many of the Blue Dragon's descendants clung to the sides and underside of the stone bridge, quickly passing through and dodging the bullets.

"Marshal Dolo, they're about to land. Let our Seleucids fight them!" Adrian drew his longsword and volunteered.

But Doro shook his head again, saying only, "It's not time yet. We can still wear down a lot of the Church of the Dragon."

Adrian looked toward the stone bridge, which was now covered with a dense swarm of blue dragon descendants, almost dyed blue, numbering at least several hundred. The monsters surged toward the opposite bank like a floodgate had been opened.

But just then, a series of earth-shattering roars rang out.

"boom!"

The explosion engulfed the Blue Dragon's descendants, blasting the middle section of the stone bridge apart. The entire bridge collapsed with a deafening roar, sending rocks carrying countless howling monsters plummeting towards the bottom of the chasm. (End of Chapter)