From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 653 Kaicheng

"For the Queen!"

"For Kanaburi!"

"For the Commander!"

"For Lord Doom!"

The Crusader's battle cry awakened the demons stationed in the city of Favor.

Rather than a garrison, it was more like living there. The demons did not regard Favored City as a military fortress, but as a city to live in, or rather, territory.

Demons have no human rights (of course, they are not human at all), even in their homeland, the Abyss.

Demons born in the various abyssal planes are free, but their homelands are controlled by different demon lords. Therefore, once a newborn demon is given life, it must serve its lord.

The demon lords are less commanding their subordinates and more operating as slaves. As a result, almost all demons living in the abyss live in fear, which has shaped their style of burning, killing, and looting on the material plane.

Even regions like Montive and Sakoli, located at the northernmost tip of the world with harsh climates and considered barren lands by inland civilized people, are quite comfortable living environments for demons.

Their strong bodies allow them to easily obtain large amounts of food, and once they no longer have to worry about survival, a sense of territory naturally arises.

Due to the watchful eyes of the High Heavens and other deities, demon lords cannot openly enter the Material Plane. Therefore, if they want to expand their influence in the Material Plane, they must rely on their various demons. However, simply using fear to suppress these demons is not a practical way to ensure their loyalty.

After all, demon lords cannot manifest themselves on the prime material plane, and they cannot easily send out avatars. The last demon lord to do so was Descari, whose avatar was drowned by the god Oroden in the huge unfrozen lake east of Montevi.

This humiliation was one of the main reasons why he was so eager to destroy Montivel.

Because of the dimensional barrier, demon lords have to rely on demons who can move freely in the prime material plane to achieve their goals. Therefore, the areas that are conquered and occupied by the demon lords' legions and are nominally owned by the demon lords become another guarantee for the demon lords to reward their subordinates and secure their loyalty.

Moreover, because the conditions on the Prime Material Plane are far superior to those on the Abyss, all demons have an extremely high interest and desire to invade Grellion.

The demons currently stationed inside the City of Favor are just such a group of guys who enjoy themselves in the Prime Material Plane.

They occupied houses of all sizes in the city. Some demons with low strength or special hobbies did not even occupy houses, but rather a beam above a tavern, a sewer that had not been dredged for a long time and was no longer leaking, or even a haystack in a stable (the horses in the stable had long been eaten by demons).

The demons never cared about maintenance or defense; they seized the city of Juanze only to ruin it according to their own desires. No matter what the place they were assigned to was originally like, they would ruin it to resemble their own image.

Under these circumstances, the fact that the buildings in Juanze City can still stand after so many years is entirely due to the dwarves' upright and simple construction standards.

The First Legion, led by Erabes, had smoothly defeated the small group of demons blocking the bridgehead and successfully lowered the drawbridge.

Next, all you need to do is cross the valley to reach the main gate of Juanze City.

Everything was going too smoothly; Irabes felt that the demons standing in the way of the Crusaders hadn't even considered defense.

They simply crawled out from all sorts of unexpected places with screams, instantly turning into vicious predators upon seeing the Crusader soldiers, and then scattered and fled as soon as spears and swords struck them and their skin was corroded by the holy water blessed by the priests.

In the end, the First Legion wasted the most time cleaning up the mess left by the demons and creating a road.

“Your Majesty!” Irabes sheathed his sword and nodded to Gopher, who was riding on the back of the golden unicorn, “We have lowered the drawbridge and can launch an attack on Juanze City soon.”

"Very good. Has anyone seen the military advisor? Or am I mistaken? Didn't he mention in the pre-war meeting that he would help open the first gate of Juanze City?"

Before Irabes could answer Godfrey's question, a loud explosion rang out from the bridgehead where the fighting had just ended, followed by the screams of soldiers.

Godfrey straightened up on the back of the golden horn, trying to see what was happening.

"What's going on!" Irabes shouted to a Divine Eagle Guard knight and asked.

“Your Majesty, Commander Tirabard,” the knight replied in a muffled voice without removing his helmet, “the demons haven’t considered maintenance at all. One of the chains on the drawbridge has broken, throwing several soldiers standing on it into the valley. The drawbridge looks to be in bad shape; it might plunge into the abyss before we can get all the soldiers to the other side…”

Before the Eagle Guard Knight could finish speaking, the soldiers of the First Legion erupted in an even louder cheer, and a large shadow rapidly approached from the sky, blocking out the sunlight.

"Jinlong! He's our military advisor!"

"It's magnificent! Look at his horns, they look just like a crown!"

They all heard the soldiers' conversation and couldn't help but relax.

"Commander Tirabad, has Montevey awarded Lady Trentiliver a medal?" Godfrey suddenly asked.

"As far as I know, both Patriarch Hullen and the City Council have considered this issue, but Lady Terendilifer ultimately declined, not believing that a dragon would gain much glory from a title in a human kingdom." Irabes didn't understand why Godfrey suddenly brought this up, but still answered the Queen's question truthfully.

In fact, Godfrey asked this question because she overheard the soldiers discussing the horned crown on the head of the Golden Dragon Avi.

As a symbol of power, crowns were not uncommon in most Western feudal countries; any landowner could have one made. However, crowns of the royal rank were much rarer. Moreover, to emphasize the power and status represented by the crown, nobles with higher titles would often insist that the crowns of lower-ranking nobles not overstep their bounds.

“Well, perhaps once we recover Lady Trentliver’s remains, we should posthumously grant her a title. Surely she won’t be able to refuse then?” Godfrey settled back into the saddle on Golden Horn’s horse and patted its strong neck. “Come on, good girl, let’s go see what kind of magic your master used.”

As a queen with an exceptionally long reign, Godfrey had experienced countless battles against demons throughout her life, and therefore had absolute confidence in her riding skills. However, the feeling of riding on the back of the Golden Horn was still completely beyond her expectations.

Riding a horse is not an easy thing. Contrary to the visual image of sitting on a saddle, if a rider wants to better control his mount, he must rely on the strength of his thighs to grip the horse's back, which is more like squatting on the horse's back.

Furthermore, if one is merely sitting on the saddle, the up-and-down jolting caused by inertia during high-speed movement can cause considerable injury to the rider's buttocks. Therefore, in order to maintain stability during high-speed movement, the rider's lower limbs must exert a great deal of effort.

However, when Godfrey rode the Golden Horn, he was completely captivated by the effortless comfort it provided.

She could always feel a firm support for her hips, even when she was sure there was no contact with the saddle.

Once she got used to it, she began to let the unicorn beneath her roam freely. No matter the terrain, Godfrey, riding on the back of the golden unicorn, always felt as relaxed and at ease as if she were enjoying dessert at a tea table.

Upon receiving the order, Golden Horn leaped gracefully a few times, carrying Godfrey up the bridgehead wall, and stood atop the tilting tower, looking down at the soldiers below.

"Oh!"

Even though she was mentally prepared for Ivy's magic, Godfrey still couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Because the city gates of Juanze City are disappearing.

It was broken down into the most basic structure that makes up the building, which is the bricks and stones.

These bricks and stones were easily removed from the city wall by an invisible force, and then stacked up piece by piece in mid-air, gradually forming a stone bridge with a beautiful arch support above the West Seren Valley.

Goefry even saw many bricks fused together without distinction, forming thick stone pillars that then hinged to the mountain walls on both sides.

This bridge was not built by human hands; it was created by magic, growing directly from the mountainside and the castle.

The magnificent figure of the golden dragon circled and swirled above the valley, gracefully dodging the scattered rockets and catapults fired from within Juanze City, while continuing to cast its spell.

In the blink of an eye, a sturdy stone bridge was erected, connecting the bridgehead and the city of Juanze, providing the Holy Army warriors with an unobstructed route for their attack.

"For the victory of the Fifth Holy War! Attack! Capture the City of Favor!" Godfrey, who had been queen for a hundred years and was practically the embodiment of the word "queen," immediately came to her senses, drew her sword from her waist, pointed down at the city below, and loudly issued the order.

Upon seeing the golden dragon hovering above the valley and the queen standing proudly amidst the shimmering light cast by the dragon's wings, the soldiers were immediately filled with boundless pride and responded to the queen's attack command with enthusiastic strides.

After the city gates disappeared, the demons, who had been hiding, were suddenly exposed.

This was a chaotic group of violent demons. They were about taller than normal humans, but because they were always hunched over, they looked almost the same size.

These demons have deep red skin, limbs that are skin and bones like those of malnourished patients, long, thin tails that drag behind them, and most of them hold spears that are not well maintained and are covered with dried blood and rust.

The Ferocious Demons are a low-level unit in the demon army, numerous and ferocious. However, in the demon's battle order, there is actually an even lower-level part, which is the human servant army composed of cultists and demonic offspring.

However, these guys couldn't enjoy the defensive bonuses from the city walls and could only live in the outer city, far from them. But it was still quite comfortable for them, because that area used to be the rear of Juanze City and a former distribution center for supplies, so there were quite a few houses to keep them warm.

But this also represents the first wave of conflict between the Crusaders and the demons, at a critical juncture when they are unable to support their demonic masters.

Irabes incorporated the paladins of the Divine Eagle Guard into the First Legion, hoping that their combat experience would inspire the new recruits around them and maintain the overall advance of the front.

Therefore, when the rabid demons wielding spears swarmed forward haphazardly, preparing to slaughter the weak recruits in their hearts, they were immediately met with a counterattack from the fully armed knights.

The gleaming longsword, accompanied by a roar, sliced ​​through the demons' skin, while the ensuing holy power of the oath amplified the results, either severing limbs or severely damaging organs.

Surprisingly, the demons' will to resist did not seem strong. The monstrous demons blocking the city gate quickly retreated and scattered in all directions.

The recruits erupted in another cheer, raising their shields and longswords in preparation for the pursuit, only to be stopped loudly by the Divine Eagle Guards in the formation.

"Secure this section of the wall! Follow Commander Tilabad's orders; we must ensure that all the brothers behind us can enter the city! This is not a siege, but a surprise attack! A general offensive! We must drive all the demons out of the City of Favor!"

The vanguard of the First Army Corps then began to deploy in a semi-circle within the city to ensure that the roads of the following troops would not be blocked.

"Reserves! Advance along the main road, we must capture the second gate!" Irabes Tilabad finally entered the city, with Queen Godfrey riding ahead of her on horseback.

“The resistance here is surprisingly weak.” Godfrey frowned as she examined the demon corpses lying on the stone path. “I didn’t see many high-level demons.”

"Watch out!" Irabes spotted a ball of fire falling from the sky, its target the conspicuous Queen Godfrey.

The unicorn with its dazzling fur leaped nimbly, dodging whatever landed at its feet.

It was a ceramic jar filled with alchemical products, and inside was a generous amount of blazing glue. The blazing glue ignited a burning surface on the ground, and the splattered liquid also burned many soldiers who were nearby.

However, the Crusader soldiers were prepared for this. They brought a bag of sand and poured it onto the alchemical flames made of molten glue, preventing any potential damage in a very short time.

"What terrifying arm strength." The still-steady Godfrey looked into the distance. On the second, higher city wall, giants belonging to the demons were tossing alchemical tools. "Can they even throw that bottle of blazing glue this far, from three city blocks away?"

"Take cover! Raise your shields!" Irabes shouted. "Watch out for those ballistae! Try to advance behind buildings! I really hope the Commander and the Hell Knights can take care of those guys quickly."

(End of this chapter)