Of course, their future homes would all be arranged for.
What was previously a three-story hotel had become the military command center for the prefectural city of Cod. Watts was standing in front of the third-floor window, staring down at the evacuation. In his heart, he secretly let out a sigh. He understood… that the homes of these civilians would definitely be destroyed.
To make the prefectural city of Cod a military fort, many residential homes had to be destroyed, and tunnels and pits were dug everywhere.
Although the King had spent an enormous amount of money for the sake of relocating these civilians, for them to give up the homes they had spent twelve years establishing still deeply hurt these civilians.
“Under the unifying force of the kingdom, their lives are much better than twelve years ago.” Watts looked like he was a middle-aged man, but in reality he was in his nineties. He knew exactly how chaotic the Anarchic Lands had been in the past. The orphans alone were countless in number. From this, one could see how brutal the wars had been.
Suddenly, the sound of knocking could be heard.
“Enter,” Watts said calmly.
“Milord, the Grand Marshal has come,” the soldier reported immediately upon entering.
“His Lordship, the Grand Marshal?” Watts immediately said. “Then quick, bring me to him.”
The citizens of the Baruch Kingdom all naturally worshipped those talented, powerful experts who supported the kingdom. The number one person was of course Linley. After him was his Majesty, King Wharton, and then… the leader of the five wargods, the Undying Warrior Saint, Barker.
Within a courtyard behind the hotel.
Barker was seated, enjoying some wine by himself, when Watts ran in and delivered a military salute. “Lord Grand Marshal!” Barker raised his head and glanced at him, then chuckled, “Oh, it’s Watts. Come on over. Be at ease.”
Over the past twelve years, the kingdom had discovered many talented people.
Barker and his brothers normally spent their time training. They rarely got involved in other matters. Watts, however, was a very promising prospect whom Barker had discovered.
“Come, drink.” Barker poured Watts a cup of wine.
Watts asked, “Lord Grand Marshal, the purpose of your journey this time is…?”
Barker laughed. “Didn’t I tell you last time? I told you I’d bring you over thirty magicite cannons.” Watts’ eyes immediately lit up. Barker continued, “I brought a total of thirty-six. These thirty-six magicite cannons have already been prepared.”
“Already prepared?” Watts was worried. “But how would you bring them over? Lord Grand Marshal, those magicite cannons must be in a distant location. Bringing them over will take a huge amount of time. Will we have enough time?”
Barker shook his head and laughed. “For the sake of these magicite cannons, I spent all day travelling.”
Watts was confused.
What did the Grand Marshal mean?
Barker waved his hand in the direction of some empty space in the courtyard.
Instantly, one magicite cannon after another appeared out of thin air. They were divided into four rows, with nine magicite cannons in each row. Each of them were two or three meters long, and the width of the cannon mouths were roughly half a meter. The cannons were covered with complicated magical runes.
Beneath the sunlight, the magicite cannons gleamed with a mesmerizing light.
Thirty six magicite cannons.
“This… this…” Watts was excited.
“Watts, haven’t you heard of interspatial rings?” Barker snickered. “Fortunately, mine is pretty big. It was just able to squeeze these thirty-six magicite cannons. However, for the sake of these thirty-six magicite cannons, I ran around half the Yulan continent and flew for a whole day. Only then did I manage to collect them all and bring them here.”
These thirty-six magicite cannons were all large-caliber cannons.
The size of the cannon mouths and the complicated runes on them were proof of the level of these cannons. Cannons on this level generally couldn’t be bought from the various empires, but through the connections of the Dawson Conglomerate, they were able to get quite a few.
Through storing them in his interspatial ring, Barker was able to easily bring them all over.
“These thirty-six magicite cannons are equivalent to thirty-six magi of the eighth rank, and they have virtually limitless mageforce.” Barker laughed. Most magi of the eighth rank could only use spells of the eighth rank three times before running out of mageforce.
Even if they had powerful magistaffs, they would perhaps only be able to cast them four or five times.
But these magicite cannons could continue to attack ceaselessly so long as they had magicite gems to fuel them.
“Lord Grand Marshal, with these thirty-six magicite cannons, if we use them correctly, they would definitely be able to match the effect of hundreds of thousands of soldiers.” Watts’ face was filled with irrepressible excitement, and then he laughed. “But of course, I would need enough magicite gems.”
Magicite cannons burned through money.
With each blast, it was as though gold coins were being shot out of the cannon. Without enough wealth, who would be willing to use them?
“Don’t worry. Soon, the magicite gems will be brought over as well,” Barker said with certainty.
“Our enemies are over a million in number. When the battle starts, these thirty-six magicite cannons will definitely use up an astonishing amount of magicite gems.” Watts looked at Barker. “Lord Grand Marshal, to bring over such a high amount of magicite gems will most likely need many people.”
Barker nodded.
He could store the magicite cannons in his interspatial ring, but the size of the ring was limited. If he wanted to move a large amount of magicite gems, his interspatial ring would be too small. He’d have to make over ten trips.
At the magicite mines, they no longer worked under any disguises or pretenses, since the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows had already mobilized their armies. They were excavating at full-speed. These magicite mines weren’t like copper or iron mines.
Those materials needed to be smelted. It was a great deal of work.
But magicite gems only needed to be washed, and then they would be divided into grades. They were one of the easier types of minerals to mine for. The only thing difficult about them… was that magicite gems were very tough.
The higher the level of magicite gem, the tougher they were, far more so than ordinary stones.
Ordinary tools wouldn’t be able to dig them out at all.
These miners were all specially selected. They had at least the strength of a warrior of the third rank. Their strength, combined with some special excavating tools, just barely allowed them to dig the gems out.
“Clang!” “Clang!” “Bang!” …
Digging sounds rang out nonstop. Many people were here digging. Although they weren’t individually fast, all added together, the result was that bags stuffed with magicite gems were constantly being brought out, then divided by level into piles.
It had been two months since they had started mining.
Despite that, they had only finished digging out part of the mine.
“What’s going on? They told us to bring such a huge iron chest and store magicite gems in it. Such a huge iron chest, if used to hold magicite gems, would weigh several million pounds. How would we possibly deliver them?” The garrison troops stared at those enormous metal boxes which were fifty meters long, thirty meters wide, and thirty meters tall. They were all puzzled.
These boxes were very sturdy. Why use such huge iron boxes to store magicite gems?
Although a single magicite gem wasn’t too heavy, a full box of them would definitely be several million pounds in weight. Several million pounds’ worth of magicite gems… how would ordinary troops possibly move them? It wouldn’t be so bad if they were divided into smaller shipments
, but all together…
Not even an interspatial ring would be able to hold such a large amount.
After having mined for two months, the amount of magicite gems they had mined had finally filled this massive chest. They used a large amount of steel chains to bind the entire chest securely. Every single chain was a meter thick, and there were dozens around the chest.
“Later, giant dragons will come to move the chest. All of you be quiet. Don’t cause too much of a ruckus,” the military officer’s order came out.
Giant dragon?
All of the soldiers stared in the sky as they waited.
It was late at night. The full moon hung high in the sky.
Indeed, a massive Tyrant Wyrm over a hundred meters long appeared in the sky. The soldiers below felt the world grow dark, and the natural, awesome presence of the Tyrant Wyrm made the pulses of these soldiers speed up. The hundred-meter-long Tyrant Wyrm landed on the ground.
“Master had me, a noble Saint-level dragon, to carry things for him. Jeeze…” The Tyrant Wyrm, Plaket, secretly sighed.
His fiery, cart-sized eyes swept the nearby soldiers with a glance. His massive nostrils snorted, then his two draconic claws grabbed those sturdy chains. The massive Tyrant Wyrm easily lifted that iron chest that weighed millions of pounds into the air. Beneath the glow of the moonlight, it flew off with the massive chest towards the south, in the direction of the prefectural city of Cod.
85
The Call to Assemble
The prefectural city of Cod was a city with several hundreds of thousands of citizens and which took up a huge amount of space. Given the local geography as well as the intentional destruction caused by the Baruch Kingdom’s forces, the Radiant Church’s side was forced to attack the city from the south and the east gates.
The north gate was actually open, as they had no fear of the enemy attacking from that side.
The day slowly grew bright, and many soldiers who had been on guard duty at night switched shifts. Logically speaking, there should have been fewer soldiers outside in the morning, but the new shift discovered to their surprise… that there were many people outside, and it seemed as though the soldiers that had been on duty weren’t tired at all. Instead, they were excited.
“Buddy, time to change shifts. What are you guys talking about?”
Many soldiers ran to their shift changing positions.
“A titanic dragon, a titanic dragon. It had no wings, but it was able to fly. It was a Saint-level titanic dragon. Wow. It was so huge. It was like a mountain.” The night-shift garrison soldiers were talking excitedly amongst themselves.
“What dragon?” The new arrival was shocked.
The night-shift garrison soldier explained excitedly, “Last night, an enormous dragon flew over… there were a lot of soldiers waiting to move things. Look, they’re still moving things. That enormous metal case was delivered by the flying dragon.”
The new arrival looked over.
He saw a massive box at least fifty meters long. He sucked a cold breath. How could people possibly move such an enormous box? Perhaps it truly was a massive dragon that had carried it here.
A large number of soldiers were currently right in the middle of the metal box, carrying out bulging sacks.
The news about the giant dragon quickly spread throughout the army camp, causing the morale of the soldiers of Cod to rise. Their side had the help of a massive dragon, and a Saint-level one who could fly, at that. They would definitely be successful.
But the enemy forces, by contrast…
The Liuyan River was a fairly large river. Although it wasn’t one of the top three rivers of the Anarchic Lands, it was still fifty or sixty meters wide, and caused endless headaches for the forces of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows.
The bridge that had been erected at enormous expense had been destroyed by the Baruch Kingdom itself.
Building it was hard, but destroying it was simple.
The Cardinal of the Radiant Church, Guillermo, and the Dark Cardinal of the Cult of Shadows, Weiss Porter, stared at the river, frowning. To build a floating bridge was simple, but how could a million-man army possibly cross on such a floating bridge?
In addition, some of their war machines were extremely large. How would they ship them across?
“We have to immediately build a large number of floating bridges to let the soldiers cross,” Guillermo frowned, urging.
“Then what about the war machines?” someone below asked.
To attack a city, one had to use war machines such as the escalades, which were dozens of meters wide. How could something so large and so heavy be shipped across? But building a large bridge would take an enormous amount of time; even the time it would take to let the cement settle down and harden would be time consuming.
There wasn’t enough time.
“When the time comes, magic will have to be used to freeze the water into ice.” Guillermo frowned.
It was currently August, the hottest time of the year. In addition, this was a very large river. To freeze the river solid enough to allow the escalades and the other large war machines to cross would require at least an Arch Magus of the ninth rank.
The prefectural city of Cod was constantly being renovated as well, preparing all sorts of war machines of its own. The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows continued to plan ways to bring across their million-man-army. In the Anarchic Lands, warfare was about to break out at any moment.
At this time…
The O’Brien Empire. War God Mountain.
“Whooosh.”
The War God, O’Brien, suddenly appeared at the door to his cave. The War God, O’Brien, stood there, as straight as a spear, emanating a fierce air. His scarlet red hair fluttered freely, and a hint of a smile was on his face.
It had been a long time since he had left the cave.
A flash of light suddenly appeared in front of him. It was Fain.
“Master.” Fain stood respectfully in front of the War God, O’Brien. The War God, as soon as he had stepped outside, had summoned Fain.
The War God glanced at his disciple. “Fain, spend the next period of time in training and in preparation…” The War God’s voice trailed off, but Fain’s eyes lit up. He looked at his master. “Master, are you saying…?”
“Right. It should be starting again soon… because that person in the Forest of Darkness has instructed me to go to him.” The words of the War God O’Brien made Fain’s heart begin to tremble.
Fain knew that the Deity in the Forest of Darkness rarely got involved in any matters. For him to now have the War God go over most likely meant… it was time to once again open the Necropolis of the Gods.
The War God O’Brien immediately transformed into a fiery streak of light, flashing across the sky and quickly disappearing into the eastern horizon. His speed was simply astonishing, far beyond the likes of Linley and the others.
On a mountain peak in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
A devilish youth with dark-golden eyes and a long robe stood on the peak, staring at the east. There was a knife-scar in the middle of his forehead. Only people who knew him were aware… that this wasn’t actually a knife scar. It was the powerful weapon of the King of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.
The King of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts… Dylin!
“Hrmph, that old bastard.” Dylin stared towards the east. He had received the summons from that person in the Forest of Darkness as well. Although Dylin disliked him, he didn’t dare to disobey either. “He was like this five thousand years ago, and now, he’s still like this. The Yulan continent… that old bastard is the most comfortable person here.”
“Swish.”
Dylin’s body flashed, and a dark golden light streaked toward the eastern horizon, then disappeared. The speed… seemed to be even more astonishing than that of the War God O’Brien.
On a cloud-shrouded peak near the imperial capital of the Yulan Empire.
Long silver hair flowing freely. A shining jade mask. Moon-white robes. The person looked like an Angel who didn’t belong in this world, or perhaps a spirit. But from the figure… this person seemed very willowy. The person looked somewhat like a woman.
This was the oldest human Deity in the Yulan continent, the pillar of support for the Yulan Empire… the High Priest!
“Is it beginning?” The High Priest stared towards the northeast. The glowing jade mask caused his face to be hidden. “Who knows how many people will die this time.” The High Priest let out a sigh, and then a wind arose nearby.
When the wind died down, the High Priest had disappeared as well.
Within a graceful entertainment area in the Rohault Empire.
“C’mon, give me a kiss.” Still dressed in a loose robe, and that lazy smile still on his face, Cesar was currently cuddling a beautiful woman, teasing her while drinking wine. But just as they were having fun, his face suddenly froze. “Leave for now.” Cesar waved his hand.
The beautiful woman clearly was confused.
“I told you to leave.” Cesar frowned. The slight aura he was now emanating made the woman’s heart quail, and she immediately left, not daring to protest.
Frowning, Cesar let out an unhappy grumble. “The Forest of Darkness… oh, your Lordship, your mightiness, someone like you has no need for a minor figure like me. I just reached the Deity level not too long ago. Why do I have to go with you.”
Although he was annoyed, Cesar didn’t dare to disobey.
His five thousand years of life had let Cesar know quite a bit about the background history of the Yulan continent.
A black shadow flashed, and Cesar disappeared as though he had teleported. If Bebe and Osenno had seen this… they would have been shocked. For someone to be able to reach such a level in the Shadowshape technique was simply too terrifying.
Baruch Rising_Book 3 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 66