Chapter 412: Chapter 414 The Opened Abyss Gate

Outside Naga City, warfare continued under the dim light.

Growling low in a way that set people on edge, Poison Scorpion Lions with fierce eyes attacked the Magic Language Bats in the air.

These high-level Demon Beasts with an average level of 8 or 9 were absolute dominators of the skies, the demons of the sky.

But these ferocious lives encountered something unexpected when they clashed with the Magic Language Bats.

Crossbows in the air.

Fixed behind the Magic Language Bats, the air crossbows had undergone several improvements and now, whether it was attack strength or shooting accuracy, had made great strides.

At that moment, these crossbows once again transformed into the Death God’s scythe, beginning to reap souls.

When there was still a distance of two or three hundred blades between the Poison Scorpion Lions and the Magic Language Bats, the Magic Language Knights riding behind squeezed the trigger.

Whiz~whiz~whiz~

Fine Gold-forged arrowheads pierced through the air, and for the opposing flying troops, the speed was incredibly fast; the moment the trigger was pulled, the arrows had already reached before their eyes.

Spurt~

The Poison Scorpion Lions couldn’t dodge in time and were directly pierced by the arrows, their flesh at that moment bursting like a ruptured water pipe, leaving crimson traces in the air.

These damned surface lives have no honor in combat; despite agreeing to close-quarters battle, they sneak attack!!

The Naga controlling the Poison Scorpion Lions in the air were immediately enraged.

But faced with the crossbow’s irrational concentrated firepower, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and push the Poison Scorpion Lions forward, literally piling up their lives.

But the tactic was indeed effective, the Magic Language Bats were right below Dawn City’s army; air superiority had to be held, they couldn’t possibly give in.

So after several rounds of mad shooting, and after at least one-fifth of the Poison Scorpion Lions were killed, the two sides began to engage in close combat.

The situation became extremely gruesome in an instant, blood, severed limbs, screams, at this moment became the main melody of the sky.

The key parts of the Magic Language Bats’ bodies were protected by solid armor, and their two strong claws were outfitted with specially forged steel talons, greatly enhancing both defensive and offensive capability.

Conversely, the Poison Scorpion Lions weren’t so fortunate; they relied only on their fur for armor and their sharp teeth and claws as spears. Although their killing power was also remarkable, their equipment paled in comparison.

The fundamental reason for the equipment disparity was the comprehensive strength gap between the backing forces.

With little difference in both sides’ level and strength, who had the better equipment naturally had the advantage. Rich, Dawn City now undoubtedly held enough advantage.

Roar~

A Poison Scorpion Lion dodged an oncoming crossbow bolt and let out a roar from its mouth, then sped up and dived towards the Magic Language Bat in front, determined to tear apart the damned bat before it.

Seeing this, the Magic Language Bat did not flinch in the slightest and, under the guidance of its Magic Language Knight, collided head-on with the Poison Scorpion Lion.

Bang~

A dull sound echoed through the air as they collided in the most direct way; crack–the Magic Language Knight could distinctly hear the sound of withered bone breaking, but it wasn’t the Magic Language Bat’s skeleton, but that of the opposing Poison Scorpion Lion.

Although the solid armor in front of the Magic Language Bat had caved in slightly, armor was still armor; it couldn’t be destroyed by flesh without sufficient strength.

The Poison Scorpion Lion let out a mournful scream from its mouth, trying to flap its wings to ascend and escape, but intense pain came from the root of its wings. It simply couldn’t hold on; the more it flapped, the more it hurt, and finally, its body rapidly descended.

But just as the Magic Language Warrior thought he had killed his opponent, an unexpected change occurred.

The Poison Scorpion Lion, tumbling downward, swung its scorpion tail shaped like a sickle-hook at the last moment of its fall, stabbing like a spear towards the Magic Language Knight above the Magic Language Bat.

The Magic Language Knight’s complexion changed drastically at that moment, but it was too late to react. Just when he thought he was finished,

Swoosh~ Spurt~

Another Magic Language Bat dove down fiercely, and the knight captain’s lance, semi-fixed, directly pierced through the scorpion tail like hitting the ten-ring target.

Slash~fresh blood splattered; the scorpion tail of the Poison Scorpion Lion couldn’t withstand such impact and broke off.

Coordinated attack.

The next moment that supporting Magic Language Bat slashed its talons fiercely over the broken bones of the Poison Scorpion Lion–crack–the already half-broken bones completely shattered.

The Poison Scorpion Lion let out an extremely pained roar, but it could no longer flap its wings, plummeting down madly.

In the end, boom–it smashed directly onto the ground, with blood and limbs splattering everywhere.

And such brutal collisions occurred throughout the sky.

The sounds of fierce combat and roars were incessant.

The battle in the sky was terrifying, yet the battle on the ground was no less intense, and even fiercer.

Who else could blunt the sharp edge of the Naga, an Upper Race, in the Underworld except for a few other races like the Dark Night Elves?

Now, these surface-dwellers had come before their city to openly provoke them–an absolutely intolerable act.

Moreover, they had suffered such a blow, being trapped and attacked within the city, without even the ability to fight back.

At this moment, the Naga burst forth, immediately venting their rage on the army of Dawn City.

The Naga’s first opponents were the Centaur Archers, whose powerful bows and excellent arrows became a mighty weapon of slaughter.

Regrettably, an Upper Race is an Upper Race–its formidable combat strength and agile bodies allowed them to find a path to charge through the rain of arrows, twisty as it might be.

Over ten thousand Naga dismounted from the backs of the Poison Scorpion Lions and, in a mere dozen breaths, broke through the barrage of arrows and reached the vanguard of Dawn City’s troops.

At the very forefront of the battle line were the Beastman Warriors.

As the Beastman Warriors in full Dwarf Armor saw the Naga descend from the backs of the Poison Scorpion Lions, they uniformly stepped forward, tilting their long spears at a 45-degree angle. In the blink of an eye, they formed a wall of steel like a porcupine.

The first Naga that arrived, upon seeing that phalanx of deadly spears, showed not a hint of fear, colliding against the sharp steel wall with utmost ferocity.

The Four-Armed Naga clearly intended to hack open the array of spears with their long swords, all four limbs swinging to create a shimmering blade barrier.

Unfortunately for them, the Beastman Warriors were not mere stationary targets, seizing any opportunity to thrust their spears forth.

Clang and clatter–most of the spears were parried away with the Naga’s long swords, but there’s always a chink in the armor.

Piercing through–a sudden strike from a Beastman Warrior penetrated a Naga with a spear, blood spurting like a fountain, slowing it down immediately. The surrounding Beastman Warriors saw the chance and thrust their spears again, completely reaping the soul of the Naga.

After the first Naga fell, more surged forward in a torrent.

These four-armed monstrosities truly lived up to the name of an Upper Race. Despite the nearly unsolvable iron forest formed by Beastmen, they still managed to carve out a blood-soaked path, breaking into the ranks of the Beastman Army.

The two sides engaged in a brutal, close-quarters clash.

However, to the Naga’s horror, they did not encounter the one-sided battle they had envisioned upon breaching the ranks of the Beastmen.

On the contrary, the resilience of the Beastman Warriors’ solid armor and their sharp spears and swords, coupled with their well-coordinated combat, placed the Naga at a severe disadvantage.

Four hands are hard to beat with just two, but Beastmen clearly had even more. Even if the Four-Armed Naga were to become Sixteen-Armed, it would still be to no avail on a battlefield of this caliber.

What’s more, the equipment of the Naga was far too outdated.

Their long swords were indeed sharp, but they struggled against the high-quality armor worn by the Beastman Warriors.

Whereas they might normally inflict damage on regular fighters with 10 units of force, against Beastmen clad in Dwarf Armor, the Naga were forced to exert 20 or even 30 units of force.

The doubled exertion greatly slowed the Naga’s advance, with each kill against the tough Beastmen demanding a significant physical toll.

The Naga’s plan to quickly annihilate the living forces of Dawn City’s army with their airborne troops, thus creating an opportunity for the Naga Army that followed, was met with heavy resistance right from the start.

The Beastman Warriors stood against the Naga’s charge with the utmost tenacity, like solid rocks withstanding the beatings of the tide.

Lide’s gaze was sharp; he was now perched atop Castro, surveying the whole field.

The direction of the war had not greatly surprised him; if the Naga had no other tricks up their sleeve, the war would be declared over at this point.

But were the Naga really that simple?

He did not believe that a race plotting to rule the Underworld would show all their cards so easily.

Had his Giant Army, Blood Clan Spellcasters, and even Transcendents yet to enter the fray, could they bring the city to its knees with just a single stroke?

Three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes…

Time on the battlefield seemed to drag on, but when no more Naga emerged from Naga City, Lide couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment.

Counting those airlifted to the battlefield, there were now about 40,000 Naga present outside–significant in number, yet somewhat underwhelming to Lide.

Although the Naga were ferocious, even managing to hold their ground against fully-armed Beastman Warriors with just their long swords, they could not hide the fact that these Dark Lives were losing momentum.

Even if he didn’t deploy any additional forces and relied solely on his current Centaur Archers, Magic Language Bats, and Beastman Warriors, he could still consume these Naga.

A great deal of force was required for the Naga to tear through the armor of the Beastmen, whereas the Beastmen only needed a single blow to kill the Naga–whose own armor was as weak as paper in the face of the Beastman Warriors’ swords.

As time ticked by, still no further movements came from Naga City, causing Lide’s brow to furrow.

He had transformed the soul of the crowned Naga and said there were Transcendent existences in Naga City, but where were they now??

With the city on the brink of being conquered, could they really still be holding back?

The strange actions of the Naga kept Lide constantly on alert, and the fact that the enemy had yet to make their second move also irked him.

Since they weren’t taking the bait, he decided to slaughter all of the Nagas to see if that would draw them out.

“Blood Clan Spellcasters, Centaur Heavy Armored Army, Giant Army, immediately attack!”

Lide’s emotionless command echoed across the battlefield, and the armies he summoned sprung into action with excitement.

The flanking Centaur Army and Giant Army, previously motionless, surged forward from either side, shielded by the Beastman Warriors at the front.

The Holy Light Bloodline hidden at the rear began casting spells to enhance the Beastman Warriors at the front with buffs or to directly attack with magic.

The already ferocious Beastman Warriors, now bolstered by magic, saw their combat prowess and morale climb, quickly gaining the upper hand over the Nagas.

And with the number reaching twenty thousand, the Centaur Heavy Armor Warriors charged forth, their remarkable combat strength once again coming into the limelight.

After a short burst of acceleration, they became a steel tide, their thunderous hooves shattering the earth as they crashed toward the Naga.

The Centaur Heavy Armor Warriors, clad in heavy armor and wielding long spears, averaged a body weight of 1.5 tons, reaching a devastating speed of sixty to seventy kilometers per hour after acceleration.

This was as if a small car were crashing into the Naga at an alarming velocity.

Not to mention the sharp spears in their hands.

On the other side, the battle with the Giant Army was even more frenzied; these five to six-blades tall giants were veritable killing machines on the battlefield.

It didn’t matter if the Naga were an Upper Race, even the Golden Race would be suppressed by the giants under these conditions.

The giants’ enormous size granted them unrivaled strength; a single blow from a Wolf Fang Club could blast rocks apart.

Centaur Archers, Beastman Warriors, Centaur Heavy Armor Warriors, Blood Clan Spellcasters, and the Giant Army–five powerful armies converged to butcher the Naga Army, and the formidable Upper Race instantly suffered a vicious slaughter.

Yes, a slaughter, the most naked slaughter.

With numerical superiority, equipment superiority, spellcaster superiority, an overall power advantage… Dawn City was now completely dominating the opposition.

The fierce and evil Naga could never have imagined they would one day meet such an end.

Magic exploded, sending flames into the sky, the stench of singed hair, the putrid smell of blood, mixed with various peculiar scents from the battlefield; this land had become a place of death.

Finally, when the casualties of the Naga reached a tipping point, the morale of these four-armed evil creatures began to collapse.

The remaining Naga, fewer than ten thousand, scattered and fled in a panic.

The once-ferocious Naga now resembled mice scampering away from a predatory cat.

And as the Underground Army claimed victory on the battlefield, the battle in the skies also reached a decisive moment.

For the Transcendent Frost Giant Dragon–Atlantis–had joined the fight.

This behemoth, with a wingspan of twenty-six blades, was an invincible presence. With a flap of its Dragon Wings, hundreds of blades around it quickly turned into ice beads…

With each blast of its bitterly cold Dragon Breath, the Frost Giant Dragon could instantly freeze the Poison Scorpion Lions; even more astonishing was the extent of the breath–a hundred blades long and thirty blades wide.

A super area-of-effect Skill.

Often, a single breath from the Frost Giant Dragon could obliterate dozens or even hundreds of Poison Scorpion Lions.

Not to mention the dragon’s Transcendent Dragon Power which seeped into the soul, instilling immense fear in the hearts of the Poison Scorpion Lions.

After Atlantis entered the fray, the scales quickly tipped in favor of Dawn City. The Poison Scorpion Lions were nothing more than bean sprouts before this giant dragon, easily crushed.

In the end, as the Poison Scorpion Lions retreated to Naga City in disarray, Atlantis alone slew more than two thousand of them.

A super killing machine.

A Transcendent being facing a low-level army is just that unreasonable, otherwise Transcendents wouldn’t be so rare in the Main Plane. Such power could change the course of a war.

The collapsing Naga began to flee heedlessly, their resistance greatly diminished, and so the army began capturing prisoners.

Especially as the Frost Giant Dragon swooped down from the sky, cutting off the Naga’s escape route back to Naga City, swathes of prisoners were subdued.

Lide watched this unfold with a rather curious expression.

“Could those Naga really have no tricks left up their sleeve, or did something go wrong?”

“Why didn’t their Transcendents take action in this war that decided their fate??”

“And not even one of these Nagas showed any combat power worth mentioning… What exactly are the Nagas plotting?”

When did conquering a city become so simple? Was it the power of the recent Alchemy Bomb that annihilated the Transcendents?

Full of doubts, Lide frowned deeply.

Finally, he shook his head. Regardless of the situation, his first order of business was to clean up the battlefield and then proceed to capture Naga City.

The unchanging response to all changes.

Watching the Nagas down below who were still fleeing and attempting to resist, his eyes sharpened.

“Lay down your weapons and submit, and you shall have the chance to survive in Twilight City!”

Blasphemous language thundered across the skies above the battlefield, further weakening the already low morale of the Naga fighters.

With the imposing presence of a Transcendent Frost Giant Dragon reigning in the skies, a significant number of Nagas indeed discarded their weapons.

The quality of bending to stronger forces yet also potentially rebelling, has always been characteristic of the Dark Races. To betray, to break faith, to rip up contracts – such acts are all too common for Dark Life.

Under the dual assault from land and air, the battlefield was swiftly brought under control.

As it appeared, the siege had already ended.

However, whether it truly ended would depend on whether there were any ambushes waiting within Naga City.

Rather than ordering his troops to enter the city, Lide sent dozens of scouts ahead.

At all times, intelligence was the most crucial element.

He certainly wasn’t so carefree as to rush blindly into enemy territory.

Twenty minutes later, Beastman King Kapp arrived on a Magic Language Bat to report to Lide.

“Your Majesty, preliminary statistics from the war have been compiled.”

“Speak.”

“About 3,000 Beastman Warriors died, roughly 1,000 Centaur Heavy Armor Warriors, and 30 from the Giant Army – all fell in the process of annihilating the Nagas. We have captured about 7,000 to 8,000 Naga prisoners, though precise numbers are still pending correction.

Approximately 1,000 Magic Language Bats perished, all fighting against Naga’s Flying troops – the Poison Scorpion Lions, who they met their end against. As for the Poison Scorpion Lions, we estimate about 6,000 of them perished and 1,000 were captured, with the remaining 3,000 retreating back to Naga City.”

Lide turned to look at Kapp, whose expression was grave, and nodded slightly.

The actual number of deaths exceeded 5,000 in this war, which could indeed be considered heavy compared to other conflicts.

But when compared to the casualties and prisoners of war of the Nagas, the loss was seemingly bearable.

“After the battle, be sure to properly attend to the bodies of the warriors. Our heroes should not be left to rest here!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Have the scouts returned from Naga City?”

“Two batches have already returned, having found nothing unusual, Your Majesty.”

“Send 3,000 troops from the Twilight Sect’s Judgement Army to search the city. Do not overlook any useful place.”

The Twilight Sect’s contribution to the recent battle was next to nothing, mainly because Lide hadn’t bothered sending them to be slaughtered by the Nagas without equipment, so their losses were minimal. Now, it was their turn to serve.

After giving brief instructions, Kapp turned and left. Shortly thereafter, believers from the Twilight Sect began their expedition towards Naga City.

In one Sunshine Hour, Naga City was thoroughly searched, revealing a startling fact that made Lide deeply anxious.

There was no trace of the Naga Chief or any other High-level Nagas in the city.

Instead, the soldiers found a Space Gate emitting an evil aura.

Upon sending someone to investigate, they discovered it led to a place where the air was thick with the smell of sulfur, over a scorched yellow land.

In other words, the issue that Lide had been worried about had indeed occurred–the Abyss Gate had been built by the Nagas ahead of time!!

The implications of this news were terrifying.

Had the Black Dragon already passed through the Space Gate? What was on the other side of the Space Gate? Had those Nagas fled to other lands or escaped into the Abyss?

And from within the Abyss, could powerful creatures emerge through this Space Gate?

Countless thoughts weighed heavily on Lide’s expression.

“Kapp, order the troops to temporarily withdraw from Naga City. I will go to the Space Gate myself.”