Ashen Dragon

"Every enemy of the Empire shouts like this—whether they are the Northern Nobility, Shield Dwarves, or Divine Descendants of North Aisier. But in the end, they all crumble to dust under the Empire's iron hooves!"

Dolores raised the massive Bloodfire Battle Axe: "Remember! Every brick of the city wall will be engraved with your names! The heroes who breach the city will receive medals forged in gold, gaining unparalleled power and status!

But the souls of cowards will be nailed to the anvil of the factories, wailing for eternity!"

The battle axe of Dolores ignited with Dragonflame, like a giant torch, lighting up the sky.

"When the city gate collapses, I want to hear the screams of the Thrace King drown out the death knell! I want to see their Divine Descendants kneel on the scorched earth and kiss the emblem of the Empire!"

"At this moment! As the Imperial Marshal, I stand with you at the frontline!"

Dolores pulled open the armor, tearing his robe to reveal a chest covered with dense and terrifying scars: "This scar comes from the arrows of the Northerners! This from the fangs of the Frost Giants! This from the Light Blades of the Divine Descendants, and here—"

He heavily pounded on the position of his heart, "forever boils for the Empire! Burns for His Majesty Cassius! And you?"

Dolores forcefully swung the Bloodfire Battle Axe, the blade slicing through the air, the deafening roar piercing through the clouds.

"Will you crawl back to your homeland in shame, cursed for your cowardice by your descendants? Or will you cast a new monument with the ashes of Augustus?"

"Destroy Augustus!"

"Conquer the Thrace Kingdom!"

In an instant, the Imperial position boiled over, the battle cries of the entire army shaking the land, a dragon group of Bipedal Wyverns, Flame Flying Dragons, Pseudo Dragons, Shadow Dragon Beasts ascended into the sky, extending their necks and howling to the heavens in unison.

In the name of the Imperial People, by the power granted by His Majesty Cassius! Crush those lambs who cower behind the city walls!"

Dolores raised his arm and shouted: "Let their blood soak your armor, let their cries become the anthem of triumph! Today—Augustus will turn into a stairway to eternity in our fury!

Hundreds of thousands of Imperial Soldiers gathered on the battlefield also brandished their weapons, unleashing thundering battle cries that echoed to the sky, almost tearing the heavens apart.

"As long as life continues! Conquest does not cease!"

Dolores swung the battle axe in the direction of Augustus, his expression ferocious, his voice hoarse: "Open fire for me—"

In an instant, ten thousand cannons roared, countless shells trailing thick smoke streaked through the sky, weaving a burning net in the sky, heading towards Augustus in the distance.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

Countless shells bombarded against that grand light screen, the explosions generating flames and smoke that nearly obscured the sky, enveloping the entire city of Augustus.

Even with the light screen's protection, the city walls trembled slightly under the intense shockwaves, some rubble fell, and within the city, the Thrace Soldiers showed expressions of fear and whispered among themselves.

"This is practically a scourge!"

"By Amanata...they won't break in, will they?"

"Surely not, under the protection of His Majesty Wilhelm, we..."

Even the Thrace People, familiar with artillery and firearms, had never seen such a grand scene, such dense shells, such fierce firepower.

This caliber of bombardment would spell disaster for any city, but fortunately, this is Augustus, the legendary 'City of Sunrise,' the city standing with the Eternal Sun God Tower.

"Second round, volley fire!"

"Boom—"

The tanks roared across the wastelands, with thick barrels erupting in fire, and one armor-piercing bullet after another bombarded the outer walls, making the light curtain flicker.

Through relentless research by the Mechanical God Cult, the power of these armor-piercing bullets was no less than ordinary Fifth Tier Energy Magic, each one capable of causing massive damage.

At the same time, airships in the sky began flying in groups toward the direction of August City, their elemental cannons in the belly firing beams of powerful energy.

With a screech as piercing as the Reaper's, bipedal wyverns clad in Skyfire Armor swept over the city of August, dropping bombs as densely as raindrops.

"Boom!"

Under such bombardment, even the light curtain released by the Eternal Sun God Tower flickered slightly, and on the city walls, some people lost their footing and fell due to the shockwave from the explosions, with countless debris falling.

"Stand firm!"

"Damn it, Kain fell!"

Tierna raised her burning longsword, Holy Light bursting from her eyes, and shouted loudly, "Angel Divine Descendants, hear my command! Stop the advance of those Evil Dragon Minions at all costs!"

Accompanied by the melodious sacred song, beams of light shot up into the sky again, and the Sun God Power of the Angel Divine Descendants poured into the Holy Domain, making the light curtain even more brilliant and solid.

Overlooking the steam tanks and armored vehicles speeding across the wastelands, and the wyverns flying over the sky of the city.

Listening to the piercing screech and deafening roar, Dayev stood dumbfounded on the city tower, gripping the medal in his hand, feeling an unprecedented shock.

Is this the way the Ashen Empire fights its wars?

Even though the Empire people were evidently weak in aura, many among them were not even Professionals.

Yet with the Empire's extremely sharp weapons and equipment, they could unleash destructive power no less than an Elemental Great Mage—or even a Legendary Mage.

Behind Dayev, Thrace officers roared and bellowed, "Counterattack, counterattack!"

The synchronized salvo of 75 howitzers made the northern wall of the canyon tremble. The staff officer put down his binoculars and shook his head at the commander of the 3rd Armored Division: "The impact point of the shell crater deviated by 20 meters, General. Those Elves embedded anti-reconnaissance runes in the sandstone."

Before he could finish speaking, a scream came from the observation balloon: "Magic pulse! Everyone close your eyes—"

Twelve golden beams of light suddenly pierced through the morning mist. On the cliff top, the Paladin Order raised their Holy Emblems high, smashing the accumulated Dawn Divine Technique down onto the artillery positions. Private Colin watched as the M114 howitzer twisted into a pretzel under the intense light, molten iron dripping from the barrel burned through his boot.

07:23 Air Suppression

A squadron of FW-190 fighters roared across the battlefield, only to run headfirst into the acidic breath of the Dragon Cavalry squadron. The radio was filled with curses in German and the sound of scales rubbing, until a Stuka dive bomber, in a desperate gamble, crashed into the left-wing of a Red Dragon. The explosion of two tons of aviation fuel tore a mushroom cloud of flesh and metal from the clouds.

08:17 Infantry and Tank Coordinated Assault

The Tiger Tank crushed the corpses of engineers pierced with arrows, the 88mm gun pounding against the Dwarf-forged bronze city gate. When the third armor-piercing bullet finally made a breach, Earth Dragon Cavalry poured out from underground tunnels. Later in his wartime diary, Flamethrower Operator Kersin wrote: "Those armored lizards tore into the tank's bottom amid flames of 2000 degrees as if they were anti-tank pikes climbing out from Hell."

09:02 Magical Counterattack

Atop the Mage Tower of the defense forces, the Arcane concentrator began to overload. On the staff map, the three armored companies' advance arrows suddenly twisted into blood-red whirlpools. Soldiers in the trenches watched as a T-34 tank's turret was twisted into a pretzel by Space Magic, and the driver crawled out of the steel intestines; an entire oak forest was transformed into skeletal puppets by Necromancy, entrail-covered branches entangling the Sherman tank treads.

10:55 Decisive Moment

When Beastman Berserkers withstood MG42 machine gun bullet chains and charged into the command post, the Allied Forces finally activated their secret weapon: the "God Slayer" sonic cannon seized from the Nazi laboratory. High-frequency shockwaves shattered the mages' protective barriers and ruptured the innards of half the commandos. The dying Elf Great Mage used his last magic power to summon a meteor, only to collide a thousand meters high with the B-17 bomber group guided by the radio.

The parasites were not completely dead. The remains of a guard twitched as it suddenly rose, a translucent spirit sucking monster larva's tentacle emerging from the split in his neck, and his pupils dilated to a milky white. He grabbed a dagger and stabbed at his former comrades, squeezing out an inhuman synthesized voice from his throat: "Skull... for the Overmind...". And the true horror was just beginning to show—for a distant sewage pond started to boil, more pallid figures floating to the surface, dragging by tentacles a dozen prisoners encased in mucus cocoons, their human faces twisting into silent screams under the chrysalis.

Echoes of The Abyss

When the last gunshot faded, the sewers returned to deathly silence. Only the floating remnants of uniforms and the still-pulsating nerve-corroding mycelial mat proved the existence of this massacre. The Spirit Sucking Monsters dragged their captives into the depths of the drainage pipes, and the mucus cocoons occasionally twitched, as if the "seeds" inside were about to hatch. And in the mental network of the Overmind, the coordinates of these new bodies were turning into a string of cold purple light, converging toward that huge pulsating shadow beneath the Bod Gate.