Under the Red Dragon

Sir Leia, the Holy Knight Commander of the Rose Duchy, gripped his weapon tightly with a hand that strained against his gauntlet, then spurred his horse forward at the very front of the united noble cavalry.

Behind this nominal viscount rode the Rose Knights, the war machine upon which the Rose Duchy, the strongest of the twenty-one southern noble states, stood—a force to be reckoned with.

The Rose Knights numbered only two thousand on the rolls, a seemingly paltry number when viewed against the scale of a nation.

However, the entry requirement for the Rose Knights was, first and foremost, to be a formal knight.

And a formal knight had already begun to transcend the ordinary, stepping into the threshold of the extraordinary.

Two thousand extraordinary knights, clad head-to-toe in armor, both man and steed, were a terrifying force on the battlefield!

So, were two thousand Rose Knights powerful enough?

This was the advantage that short-lived, intelligent species like humans held over most intelligent civilizations in the world of Akani: within their vast numbers, only a small fraction needed to stand out to allow them to collectively resist and even overcome dragons, who had once ruled the world, despite their own insignificant stature.

Flanking the two thousand Rose Knights were eighteen thousand fully armored cavalrymen scraped together from the twenty-one southern noble states.

Though only the knights among these eighteen thousand cavalry wore full plate, their combined strength was enough to sway the course of almost any conflict in the mortal realm.

Viewed from afar on the plains, these twenty thousand or so armored riders, arrayed somewhat haphazardly but gradually picking up speed, occupied the majority of the vast plain’s visible expanse.

Even adult dragons could not withstand a head-on assault from a force of this size; they could only take to the skies on their wings and avoid the brunt of the charge.

Unfortunately for the nobles, Kalon Hogmora was no ordinary dragon; he possessed not only the immense strength to face such a large army head-on, but also loyal and valiant claws of his own.

As the Hogmora dragon clan grew, Kalon Hogmora no longer felt the prickling sense of impending doom that had plagued him in his youth.

Whether it was the civilizations and nations in Akani that were hostile to him and his dragon clan, or the harvesters sent by the so-called gods, or the crises born from his own awareness of the future unfolding in Akani, he had ample strength to face them.

He was not a lone dragon, but had the entire dragon clan to aid him, an entire prosperous empire at his command, and several exceptionally powerful allies to advance alongside him.

Unless those high and mighty gods could break free from the constraints of the rules and, at the cost of immense divine power, personally destroy the entire world, or lower their divine kingdoms to the edge of Akani’s planar world barrier.

And then open the barriers of their divine kingdoms and the planar barriers of Akani, allowing the legions of prayer-reciting believers and fanatics to descend into the mortal realm.

Otherwise, Kalon Hogmora could ask those who opposed him: How many legions could the gods muster in Akani?

Although the rearguard consisted of only five thousand heavy shield spearmen, two thousand elven magic archers and sword dancers, and six thousand death knights and three thousand imperial heavy mixed knight regiments scattered around the periphery of the army, it seemed difficult to defend the entire huge camp.

If the hundreds of thousands of laborers' camps were attacked, the resulting chaos would have a far greater impact than the damage caused by the enemy.

But Kalon Hogmora never paid attention to the distant oncoming tide; he only smiled as he watched the dragon whelps flying around in the camp, chirping, and Behemoth—Achilles, raising his head to look at the many-armed giant Morges.

The next generation of the Golden Empire, even the ancestral red dragons, were looking forward to the impact they would have on the world in the future.

Kalon believed that the education he gave these whelps could not be more critical for dragons.

Kalon Hogmora was thinking about the next generation of dragons in the face of a life-and-death war, while Sir Leia, the Holy Knight Commander of the Rose Knights, was thinking about his own pathetic future.

A future that could be seen at a glance.

Within the heavy armored knight regiment's fastest reaction time, the city wall defense line, like the undulating spine of a giant star beast, had been breached by the Golden Empire and the Kings.

The walls inlaid with mithril runes, shimmering with magical elemental runes, and lined with rows of magic heavy artillery alchemy weapons, were now occupied by countless giants and monsters.

Giants and monsters ran around on the city walls, roaring and fighting, trying to kill the noble legions. Looking out from the Marino defense line, the noble legions' lines were in full retreat.

When an army is defeated, it collapses like a mountain. Even the barbican controlled by the high-point defense system had been breached by the Golden Empire's well-organized legions, and huge Titan Golems were wreaking havoc within.

The screams and wails of the noble legions from the mountain could even be heard amidst the thunderous sound of horses' hooves.

As the commander of the entire cavalry regiment, Leia knew that the entire regiment might be wiped out here.

The left and right ends of the Marino defense line were breached by the Beast King and the other Kings, and several cities fell one after another, while the city of Dorabi on the front was being forcibly broken by the Golden Empire.

The combined legions sent by these nobles were their most powerful mobile forces, but now they had become an isolated army.

Even if the knights of these noble legions gave up the attack now, they would still die in the subsequent division and encirclement by the Eight Kings' Allied Forces.

Therefore, Leia knew that at this moment, he could only make a decisive gamble.

On the undulating horseback, the Holy Knight could still see the figure standing under the banner of the king tens of miles away. Like the unique appearance among the dragons, the dragon emperor's dragonkin form was also unique.

Four pairs of dragon horns were ferocious, his cheeks were wrapped in armor formed by fine scales, the bone spurs protruding from his elbows were like spear tips, his huge wings were retracted behind him to form freely movable dragon bone membrane wings, and his bones looked like crystal metal that had been repeatedly tempered by blood and fire.

Leia also knew how terrible this Dragon Emperor was. Neither he nor the other southern nobles had ever thought of being able to defeat this Ancestral Red Dragon head-on on the battlefield.

"Just give me a chance, bless me, I believe in the God of Justice of the Knights, I only need one chance to cut off the dragon's banner, break through the dragon's legions, and kill into the laborers' camp. Maybe this is the last chance!"

Leia prayed silently, and then, in the last few miles, began to raise his most trusted companion—the Sword of Knight Justice.

The heavy sword shone with the brilliance of a Holy Knight!

"We are righteous knights, we are unyielding eagles, take up your weapons and break through the obstacles ahead with me!"

The emblem of the Rose Duchy shone brightly on his breastplate, and vast power surged within the Holy Knight's body, flowing throughout his body.

The brilliance of the Seed of Power burst out from the Holy Knight's armor and long sword, as if he was holding up a burning lightsaber.

These brave knights raised their weapons high, making a low roar that boosted morale. Weapons gleaming with light were raised one after another, and armors lit up one after another, as if shrouded in light, launching an impact against the dark, motionless curtain.

In just a few miles, from the horses warming up to accelerating within a thousand meters, it was only a moment's effort, but in this short period of time, no knight feared this death charge.

Many people create miracles precisely because they do things knowing that they cannot be done.

It's a pity that those who create miracles are the survivors, not the vast majority!

"That's a real man!" Jilenis said, calmly walking slowly through the legions' ranks, dragging his dragon horn hammer, coldly staring at the sound of horses' hooves and the friction and collision of steel like a sea tide.

"Legion parade, collective left turn, heavy shields forward!" he said quietly to all the soldiers.

Like the precise and ingenious workings of machinery, all the heavy shield spearmen turned collectively, stepping forward amidst the sound of steel armor colliding.

The huge, man-high heavy hide shields were deeply embedded into the plain's soil at the appropriate distance to meet the opposing legion's impact, standing diagonally on the ground to form an impenetrable shield wall.

Thick, sharp spears squeezed out from the gaps in the shield wall, propped up diagonally, using the earth as a support point and the soldiers' arms and waists as control points, forming a forest of thorns shimmering with the cold light of death.

And in the intervals of the legion parade, alchemical wolf beasts with flexible steps passed through from behind, then squatted down together in the gaps of the legion ranks.

All of the Golden Empire's golem legions had been dispatched as cannon fodder and screening arrays to capture the Marino defense line, but there was still a batch of alchemical beast legions that had not been dispatched.

These legions, created with alchemical beast technology, were flexible and best suited for urban street fighting, followed by serving as auxiliary ranged attack legions on the plains.

Using these alchemical beast legions in the battle to capture the outskirts of Dorabi City was simply a waste.

But at this moment, these alchemical beast legions could also show their strength and power.

Dense, crouching wolf beasts, with Vulcan cannon barrels loaded on their backs, were raised slightly, three inches high from their backs, aiming forward.

What the Golden Empire's spellcasters could do, other spellcasters could not do.

But the powerful spellcasters in Akani had different ideas from the Golden Empire. They studied powerful spells, simpler spellcasting formulas, and unique original magic that was most suitable for them.

The Golden Empire's idea was to bring magic civilization technology to the direction of magic industrialization, which was standardized and scaled application.

Any industry that could be standardized for production was incredibly terrifying with the blessing of industrialization. The most terrible thing about industrialization was not other advantages, but the unparalleled productivity.

Those spellcasters could not do this, not only because of their ideas, but also because the monopoly of knowledge was necessary.

In addition to these alchemical beast legions, the elven magic archer and sword dancer legions also began to be stationed behind the legion ranks under the command of the Golden Empire's generals.

As the leader and executor of the Kings' Alliance, the Golden Empire had the name and power recognized by the Kings to temporarily control and mobilize the legions of the other Kings to cooperate with the legions of the Golden Empire.

Under the orderly dispatch, the battle broke out in the silence of agitation.

The sound of horses' hooves was like thunder. The knights of the noble legions completely abandoned their defense of the flanks, bypassed the death knights who were trying to encircle them, and adopted a collective charge attack posture.

The noble legions came with the wind on the plains. In the favorable wind direction, the running speed increased again. The swift speed brought an indomitable momentum, allowing them to generate irresistible courage and invincible determination.

So, a rain of javelins and short crossbows fell towards the Golden Empire's army. The huge power allowed these knights' javelins to even pierce through the shields of the Golden Empire's heavy shield legions, deeply embedding themselves within.

But even more fierce than this rain of javelins and crossbow bolts were the artillery fire from the Golden Empire and the arrows shot by the elven magic archers.

As a weapon using high-energy gunpowder, the Vulcan cannon's attack power and range could not be compared with magic cannons.

But in such a dense battlefield, the fragments after the Vulcan cannon exploded and the shock wave of high-energy gunpowder spread wider than the power of magic heavy artillery.

Hot shells flew out from the six-barreled Vulcan cannons, directly hitting the knights who were charging towards the imperial legions in the air.

The one where the shell hit the knight's body, the flames splashed and the fragments splashed around tore many knights' leather armor and armor to pieces.

More knights were thrown off their horses, and the huge impact range broke the hooves of these unprotected war horses, which wailed and fell on the battlefield, and then were directly trampled into bloody mud by the heavy armored knights behind them.

There were also many knights who did not have time to react and were tripped over by the knights and war horses that fell in front of them, causing a series of reactions.

If it were an ordinary legion, its momentum would inevitably be hindered by such a powerful bombing.

But these knights became even more fierce, directly crashing into the heavy shield legions in the face of fierce artillery fire and arrows.

The collision between the two sides reached a fever pitch in an instant, and countless vanguard knights were directly strung to death by the heavy shield legions' spears.

In such a violent collision, the spears easily pierced through the noble knights' thick armor, tearing muscles, breaking bones, and splashing blood and flesh everywhere.

The elven sword dancer legions swung their sharp, narrow blades in unison. Hundreds of sharp blades slashed diagonally upwards in unison, drawing phantom-like arcs in the rolling dust waves.

Visible magic sword energy ripples burst out on the sharp blades, and the sharp energy blades pushed forward, turning into an irresistible impact, cutting through the dust waves and armor, tearing apart the knights' war horses and flesh.

Those noble knights who stepped on the corpses of the knights who had been strung to death by spears and leaped high had no time to resist and were directly torn apart by the elven sword dancer legions along with their horses.

"We are death knights born from blood and fire," the centaur Chiron roared to the sky, "The Emperor's banner is there, and He will watch us destroy all disobedient enemies!"

Rumbling, hooves larger than sea bowls trampled the earth, beginning to roll out waves of dust.

The imperial cavalry legions, flanking from both sides of the battlefield, began to launch an impact!