"Yes. They seem to be building a defensive camp at the outer part of the forest."
One of the abyssal guards who was bowing in front of Azralion said in a dark hoarse voice.
"They are building a base right inside my territory? How arrogant. They really are disregarding my existence."
Azralion said in amusement. He was sitting on a grand hellish throne. Countless complicated demonic inscriptions and runes were carefully engraved on the throne.
The throne itself was a legendary grade item known as the 'Throne of Arrogance.' It was given by Adrosiean and it could directly amplify the power of pride demons near it.
Beside the throne was a demonic portal that was slowly summoning the demonic soldiers for Azralion. When Azralion pour some of his mana, the demons would come out faster.
Most of them were low tier demons. However a few mid tier demons like abyssal guards also appeared once in a while. Because of this demonic portal, Azralion did not have to worry about running out of common troops.
This was the most important location inside the crimson forest. Azralion had built his demonic castle centering the portal.
As a great archdemon from the pride branch, how could Azralion live without a castle of his own inside this lowly forest?
This castle was not as big like the demonic castles from the demon world but it was not small either. It was in a minimal acceptable range for Azralion.
"Should we attack and destroy the camp before it is finished? We can easily destroy them if we strike now."
An abyssal guards asked. Azralion thought for a while. It will be easier to attack the humans before they fully set up their defensives. But Azralion slowly shook his head.
"No. Let them build their little base. Let them feel at ease and safe for now. When they get deeper, we will destroy them along with that pathetic camp of theirs!"
Azralion said with a sinister laughter. If he went out to attack the humans now, most of them would be able to escape. The humans were still at the outer part of the forest.
If the humans managed to escape with little casualties, they would come back again in a short time. Azralion wanted to deal a tremendous damage to the vanguard army in one go. That way, he could be able to buy more time for Adrosiean.
Furthermore even if dozens of these defensive bases were to complete, Azralion was confident that he could destroy them all.
No matter how many dogs there are, they cannot win against a tiger. Even the strongest person in the vanguard army, Leanora was an insignificant opponent to him.
Furthermore Azralion was not alone. He had hundreds of demon elites like abyssal guards as well as a Cerberus under his command. It was almost impossible to lose against this puny vanguard army.
"By your will!"
The abyssal guards did not question anything and obeyed.
_ _ _ _ _
A month passed by,
In front of a heavily fortified fortress,
"Lord Adrosiean, we have arrived. This is one of the Astenora Empire's fortresses that guard the way towards the dragon spires. There is no way around from this point forward.
All the possible ways towards the dragon spires are heavily guarded by Astenora Empire. We have to pass through at least one of these fortresses to reach the dragon spires."
Derroth respectfully said to Adrosiean. The Astenora Empire was located just beside the dragon spires, the long mountain range that divided the continent into two and separated the humanity and the rumored demi-human nations.
The geographical location of the Astenora Empire was considered very dangerous since there might be the possible invasions of the demi-human nations from the other side of the continent.
If the demi-humans cross the dragon spires and come to attack the humanity, the Astenora Empire would be the first to suffer.
There were also countless monsters and beasts lurking within the mountain range. These monsters and beasts would gather and form monsters waves and beast tides to attack the Astenora Empire on a regular basis.
Furthermore, after the rumors of a dragon residing in the mountain range, the threat level got skyrocketed.
A large amount of wyverns suddenly appeared out of nowhere and started attacking the outskirts of the Astenora Empire, searching for food.
Astenora Empire had to build several fortresses along the dragon spires to defend against the various attacks from monsters and beasts as well as to keep all the threats at bay.
Although the Astenora Empire had a terrible reputation among the human nations, they were the ones that keeping the unforseen threats from the other side of the continent in check.
However even though the location of Astenora Empire was considered the most dangerous place for a nation, it was also an opportunity.
Just by defending themselves, Astenora Empire had gained access to a stable supply of monsters and beasts corpses.
The bodies of monsters were precious materials especially for mages. Wyverns were also rare beasts and not commonly found in other parts of the continent. Their corpses were always in high demand.
Because of that, Astenora Empire had raised in power and became a powerful empire. Of cause their success was mainly because of their own efforts.
Most of the nations would already be overwhelmed and destroyed by the monster waves and beast tides if they were in Astenora Empire's place.
Thus, the citizens of Astenora Empire were very proud of their past heroes' contributions. Their first emperor who successfully elevated the Astenora kingdom into an Empire was now honored as the father of the nation and remembered by the citizens.
Every great empires had heroic tales of their own. They had long history and foundations that far exceeded the normal kingdoms.
"My current armies can be divided into four groups. Demonic humans from Crimson Cross, the undead legion which is also my strongest force, various demi-humans tribes that surrendered to me and a mix of monsters and beasts that I forcefully subdued."
Adrosiean pondered. He had a lot of additional troops added. After all he had spent a long time inside the deepest parts of the forests taking in the demi-humans and subduing the beasts.
"But expect for the Crimson Cross members and the undeads, others are not loyal to me. In fact they will stab me in the back and take revenge without hesitation if they get a chance. But that doesn't really matter. I planned to use them as cannon fodders to begin with."
Although the newly added troops had no loyalty towards him, Adrosiean had no problem with that.
Adrosiean had no time to do tiring things like associating and connecting just to gain the loyalty of insignificant people. He did not expect much from them to begin with.
"I have enough troops to break through the fortress but it will take too long."
Adrosiean was certain that just his newly subdued troops could destroy this fortress. But it will not be enough. This was Astenora Empire's major fortress that was guarding a key location.
This was one of the most heavily defended fortresses in the continent. It had enough troops to delay and buy time for the reinforcements from the other fortresses to come.
Adrosiean glanced at the imposing fortress. According to Derroth, there were a total of six of these fortresses across the mountain range. Adrosiean had to pass through at least one of them to reach the dragon spires.
There was no way around like before. Astenora Empire was not like the Crenoth kingdom. They had sufficient manpower to guard their territories.
Adrosiean now had a massive army. The newly subdued demi-humans and beasts were not his summons.
Adrosiean cannot even put them inside the ledger of collection like crimson cross members since he did not give these demi-humans and beasts his demonic energy and form connections. It was impossible to sneak in with an army this vast.
Adrosiean was not certain he could slip through undetected even if he was alone. He sensed that dozens of different magical items were installed in the fortress. There will sure to be a lot of detection magic devices.
Normally Adrosiean would be confident in his skills and mythical items. But he was not in the game anymore. He was now in a completely new world and reality.
Adrosiean was not certain that Astenora Empire possessed unique detection methods or not. He did not dare to take a risk for something this insignificant.
Solarstras Empire had a lot of powerful knights like solar knights while the Astenora Empire was proficient in magic.
Using their unending supply of monster corpses, Astenora Empire was able to research and had enough resources to produce a large amount of mages and magical items.
Astenora Empire had a total of six magic towers which represent an element of their own, fire, water, ice, earth, wind and lightning respectively. Each magic tower took the responsibility of managing one of these fortresses.
The fortress in front of Adrosiean was managed by the lightning magic tower and known as the 'Fortress of Thunder.' There were many lightning mages guarding the fortress along with a large army of soldiers and knights.