Ten days ago, the Third Legion of the Southern Borders suffered a devastating defeat, and Count Kolo met his demise. The people of Kolo City were thrown into disarray. The Kolo territory could not remain leaderless. In the absence of a designated heir, the empire's prescribed succession order dictated that the first in line would automatically assume the mantle of lordship.
As Count Kolo had no heirs or siblings, his paternal uncle, Aubrey Kolo, was unexpectedly thrusted into the role of lord. Aubrey, in his forties, possessed middling abilities---neither remarkable nor lackluster. He had spent half his life in idleness, indulging in the pleasures of wine and women. He anticipated that the latter half of his life would follow a similar course, but fate had other plans, and he was abruptly thrust into the role of lord without rhyme or reason. Aubrey was elated. He promptly embraced the opulent lifestyle of a noble lord, immersing himself even further in luxurious pleasures. However, this newfound comfort was short-lived.
"Urgent news! Urgent news!"
"Dragon-kinds sighted to have departed from the Chaos Forest!"
"They are marching towards Kolo!"
Aubrey was thoroughly startled. "How is it possible for dragons to be in the Chaos Forest?"
One of the Kolo family knights, who had come to deliver the report, explained, "Dragons were never seen in the Chaos Forest until the emergence of the Dragon Demon King. Since then, dragon-kinds have been engaging in massive movements..."
Aubrey was gripped by dread. Even if he was somewhat naive, he could not possibly be oblivious to the circumstances. How did the Kolo family's knight order vanish? What befell the Third Legion of the Southern Border stationed in the Kolo Province? And how could he remain ignorant of the imminent danger that now loomed over Kolo City, right on his doorstep?
Aubrey exclaimed, "Seal off the city gates, activate the protective barrier, muster the city defense force immediately, dispatch messengers to nearby cities to seek reinforcements, and do so with utmost haste!"
Amidst the chaos, Kolo City was caught off guard and rushed to prepare as best as they could.
"Oh shit! Look!"
"A true dragon!"
"The Demon King is attacking Kolo City!"
At that moment, a massive, earth-hued yellow dragon circled in the skies above Kolo City. Its terrifying dragon fear burst forth, akin to an overwhelming tidal wave sweeping over the city. Thousands of city defense soldiers were affected, feeling dizzy and weak-kneed, all succumbing to panic. Tens of thousands of citizens were left shaken by the sheer force of the presence. Even the residual waves of its power were enough to strike fear and sap their courage to resist.
It was over! Utterly over! This was not just any ordinary dragon; it was the most esteemed class of dragon---a true dragon, a behemoth of dread. Kolo City's garrison could easily deal with rogues and bandits, but to defend against such a fearsome, fully grown Abyssal Dragon? It was nothing short of a pipe dream!
How formidable was the presence of an Abyssal Dragon empowered by the imposing dragon fear? Coupled with the oppressive aura of a Level 5 overlord, it made people instinctively believe they were facing the Dragon Demon King himself! For centuries within the scope of the Chaos Forest, no entity of this magnitude had appeared. Despite recent military failures, who could have foreseen that the Demon King would be so audacious as to launch a direct assault on Kolo City? It was sheer madness!
Of course, they had misunderstood again. While this yellow dragon exuded a commanding presence, it was not the Demon King. In fact, it was not even the body double for the Demon King. It was Long San, one of the trio of dragons from the Darkness City. Long San was an earth-element dragon, excelling in defense and earth-based magic. Its offensive capabilities were far inferior compared to other elemental attributed abyssal dragons. Yet, even so, as a true dragon, it was never an opponent that ordinary armies could contend with.
"HWOOOOAAAARRR---!"
The dragon's breath swept over the protective barrier of Kolo City, distorting it almost instantaneously. The defending soldiers stared in disbelief, their hearts nearly bursting with terror. Unlike the forest cities, Kolo City's protective barrier was built according to the empire's standards, supported by no less than five hundred barrier mages! However, at this very moment, the barrier maintained by these five hundred mages was almost pierced through by the sheer might of this dragon alone.
"Humans, your continuous pillaging and exploitation of the Chaos Forest, along with repeated invasions, have crossed the bottom line of Darkness City!" The dragon's voice reverberated.
"Our king shall soon reign supreme!"
"And to demand justice for the various races of the forest!"
"If you wish to survive, surrender now and yield, or else you insects shall face the wrath of our king firsthand. Everything here will be reduced to ashes!"
Upon hearing these words, humans were once again stunned. Their shock wasn't just due to the dragon's might. Judging from its tone and phrasing, this dragon seemed to be a subordinate sent by the Demon King, rather than the Demon King himself. How was this possible? The strength of this dragon had already reached a level that instilled fear and trepidation in everyone!
"Ridiculous claims!"
"He cannot breach our defenses!"
"The impregnable barrier of Kolo City stands strong!"
"Dragon King, I advise you to cease these false pretenses and bluffings!"
Aubrey yelled at the top of his lungs, "The forces of Grand Duke Bachor are about to arrive. Dare to invade the empire's territory, and you shall pay a hundredfold, a thousandfold price for it!"
Long San got furious.
"Insolent ants!"
"Do you think you can hold me back with this shoddy barrier?"
The massive dragon descended before the city, slamming the ground with its massive claw, releasing a burst of terrifying magical energy.
"Earthquake!"
Kolo City was ultimately a border town. It did not have the same level of defense as the major military strongholds. The protective barrier of Kolo City could only withstand direct attacks. At this moment, Long San used earth magic to infiltrate the ground, creating seismic waves for indirect attacks.
"Shit!"
"The barrier! It can't absorb such potent earth magic!"
The city's defenders were horrified as they felt the intense shaking of the earth. Cracks rapidly spread, dealing significant damage to the city's structures.
"Sundering Earth!"
Building upon the foundation of the earthquake, Long San infused a powerful high-level earth magic, causing dozens, even hundreds, of fissures to spread. In an instant, vast sections of the city walls collapsed. Arrow towers, fortifications, various defensive structures---everything crumbled like a domino effect. The outer defensive perimeter was disintegrated like mere sand castles.
"This is too terrifying!"
"So this is the might of a true dragon? The power of the Demon King?"
While the earth dragon's offensive capabilities were somewhat lacking due to the nature of earth magic, its potent earth spells were incredibly effective at destroying enemy fortifications. When employed for assaulting cities and strongholds, they became overwhelmingly destructive, rendering defenses obsolete.
"Hahahaha!"
"The defenses of Kolo's main city are as fragile as rotted wood."
"I have yet to muster my full strength, and it's already crumbling. With such feeble defenses, you still dare to resist my king's dominion?"
Aubrey was gripped by extreme fear. He forced himself to shout, "Everyone, don't panic! The Demon King's tricks are nothing more than this. Have faith! His confrontation with the empire is a path of certain death!"
Long San unleashed another high-level earth magic. Much like swimming, it submerged into the ground, merging seamlessly with the earth. After about four or five seconds, it suddenly burst out from under Kolo City, emerging right in front of Aubrey.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Aubrey was so terrified that he slumped to the ground. A pungent smell of urine immediately emanated from his trousers as he crawled and scrambled in a desperate attempt to escape.
However, a massive claw descended, pinning him to the ground in an instant. Long San sneered, "Repeat what you just said!"
"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender! I surrender!"
Aubrey was now utterly hopeless. He had thought that the unassailable city's defenses would stand strong, but before this terrifying behemoth, they crumbled into insignificance.
"Attack!"
"Quick, attack!"
"Save the lord!"
Several brave city defense officers shouted loudly. Waves of magic spells and arrows imbued with Qi rained down like droplets, yet Long San simply ignored them. As an earth-elemental dragon, Long San possessed incredibly strong defense. Moreover, dragons had innate magic resistance. These scattered attacks were nothing.
"Is this all you've got?"
Long San unleashed another burst of magical attack. Countless earthen spikes erupted from the ground, each as sharp as a stalagmite, skewering soldiers as if they were meat skewers. The scene was horrifying and brutal, sending shivers down everyone's spines. This creature was simply too terrifying. With its sheer power, it had breached Kolo City on its own and now, in front of thousands upon thousands of city guards, it unabashedly trampled the lord underfoot.
The Kolo family knight order was absent, and the ordinary city defense forces were no match for this behemoth. Despite the presence of numerous mercenaries and adventurers, some of whom were even high-level powerhouses, why would they possibly risk their lives for Kolo?
Before anyone could come up with a strategy, Long San sensed the presence of the protective barrier formation. It seized Lord Aubrey and took flight.
"Oh no!"
"Stop the dragon!"
"It's heading for the protective barrier formation!"
Archers and mages immediately tried to focus their attacks on Long San. Lord Aubrey, with tears streaming down his face, squealed like a slaughtered pig, "Hold your fire! Don't attack! You idiots, do you want to kill me?"
This made the mage corps and city defense forces hesitate. However, Long San had already reached the airspace above the barrier formation. This was the pivotal point controlling Kolo City's protective barrier. Five hundred barrier mages were supplying energy to the formation to keep the barrier functioning.
"Hahahaha!"
"You shall all burn!"
A blast of dragonfire landed on the formation, not only destroying it but also incinerating most of the barrier mages, causing the protective barrier to immediately collapse.
Just then, reinforcements arrived. Leading the charge were two abyssal dragons---one black and one blue. The entire force consisted of only 17,000 combat units, comprising 7,000 draconians and 10,000 orcish and troll winged beast riders. They were all highly mobile aerial units. Though their numbers seemed small, their power was terrifying. How could the weak Kolo City's 20,000 town security and defense forces possibly withstand this? The power disparity was simply overwhelming. Most of the city defense forces were merely Level 1 and 2. After all, if they were capable of reaching higher levels, why would they settle for being lowly city guards when they could join the empire's formal army?
On the other hand, the Demon King's army consisted of 7,000 draconian soldiers. While their numbers were not large, their quality was formidable. There were 5,000 high soldiers and 2,000 super soldiers among them. In other words, 5,000 top-tier Level 2 elites and 2,000 top-tier Level 3 elites. While this force had a relatively small number, their strength was immensely formidable, enough to take on the empire's formal legions that were six times their size or more.
Furthermore, the 10,000 federation soldiers were no pushovers either, with a high proportion of elite orcs and trolls. Their combined strength was also not inferior to the empire's formal army, and the proportion of elite units among them was significantly higher. Even if the Kolo City's knight order still existed, it would be a futile struggle against such a formidable force.
But of course, the most despair-inducing aspect was not the strength of this army; it was the two leading true dragons at the forefront. They had not concealed their presence. The green wind dragon emitted an aura comparable in power to the earth dragon. The leading dark dragon, on the other hand, exuded an oppressive aura even stronger than the combined might of the green and yellow dragons, bearing a monarch's dominance and majesty that was almost too overwhelming to face directly.
Where they passed, a potent force of darkness was left in their wake, enough to distort light and transform clear skies into a tempestuous storm with thunderclouds amassing overhead. What kind of power was this?
Aubrey had utterly collapsed! While the yellow dragon had entered the city by its own strength, this terror-inducing behemoth was not bluffing at all. It seemed that it really was not the Demon King, but rather a lieutenant dispatched by the Dragon Demon King.
"It's over! It's all over!"
In the depths of his despair, Aubrey was brutally slammed into the ground by the earth dragon. The black dragon, shrouded in an aura of death and darkness, had already enveloped the entire city in its ominous presence. The once-bright sky now resembled a pitch-black night, constantly illuminated by flashes of lightning.
This was the scene of an impending apocalypse.
"From today onward!"
"The imperial province of Kolo shall become history!"
"I shall become the new ruler of this land!"
Countless bolts of lightning rained down like a tempestuous storm, and the city was submerged in waves of dark energy. Fallen soldiers were resurrected as undead to continue the onslaught. The city's defenses were like a struggling candle in a violent storm, feeble and futile against this overwhelming force.