Chapter 408 – Chaos (1/2)
Azure Dragon City, White Tiger City, Vermilion Bird City, and Black Tortoise City, the four first-class main cities of Xuanhuang Ancient Country, were stationed at the four sides of the Imperial Capital, responsible for guarding the borders. This day, a piece of urgent military news was sent to the Imperial Capital that all four main cities had sightings of Demon troops.
In addition to that, the armies stationed in various places also reported the emergence of varying numbers of demons.
A Demon army appeared 10,000 miles east of Azure Dragon City and massacred a village of over 2,000 people. The bodies of the villagers were hung on trees and houses were burnt down, the blaze lasted all night long and the pungent smell could be caught miles away.
A Demon army appeared 15,000 miles west of White Tiger City, ambushed a military camp, and after breaking through their defenses, slaughtered nearly 100,000 soldiers.
A Demon army appeared 25,000 miles west of Vermilion Bird City. This group of roughly a million demons suddenly stormed a frontier fortress town. After encountering the desperate struggle of both human soldiers and players of this town and losing a large number of troops without success, dozens of Saint-tier Demon mages brazenly stepped in and pushed the whole town together with millions of soldiers and civilians in it into the ground with forbidden magic. Currently, that military town had vanished from the face of the earth and in its original spot was a lake tens of miles wide.
A Demon army appeared 30,000 miles north of Black Tortoise City…
News from all directions startled the city lords of the main cities, horrified the players, and shocked all the ministers of the Central Dynasty.
“Who can tell me what is going on? The Demon race’s attempt to build a cross-realm Teleportation Portal in our Xuanhuang Ancient Country was ruined, so why have there been so many Demon troops appearing at the same time? Just how did they do it?!” In the imperial palace of the Imperial Capital, His Majesty, the Emperor of Xuanhuang Ancient Country, smacked the armrest of his chair angrily.
The emperor was a middle-aged man with a jade-smooth complexion and three long tied strings of beard under his jaw, a very handsome man indeed. Only his face was currently full of anger as his dignified eyes scanned every minister standing below. Under the sweep of the emperor's eyes, all ministers bowed their heads in shame, not daring to look at him.
“Your Majesty, I think the top priority is not investigating how they got here, but to find a way to destroy them all. Otherwise, at this rate, except for the important cities and towns, our country will be unable to withstand the demon’s raids.”
The one who spoke was a middle-aged man dressed in ring armor. His face was clean and solemn, giving off an inviolable sense of majesty. He stood in the first right place under the emperor, so it went without saying that he was the top of the military ministers, the leader of the tens of millions of Xuanhuang soldiers – the Grand Marshal of All Troops.
“Minister Yue is right. So then, how do we eliminate them?” Seeing that it was the grand marshal who had spoken, the emperor reined in his anger and asked in a heavy voice.
“Your Majesty, I suggest we first use the scorched earth strategy. We move all the resources, people, and scattered garrison troops in villages and towns to second-tier cities. At the same time, send an army to those secondary main cities for defense. Each main city should have at least ten Saint mages to prevent the enemy from destroying it with large-scale magic. Second, we form quality raid teams led by Divine experts to raid and kill all the demons in our territory. Third, notify other countries and ask for reinforcements,” the grand marshal quickly proposed the method to deal with the Demon race’s large-scale attack.
The emperor nodded slightly. After contemplating for a moment, he asked, “Must we use the scorched earth strategy? In this way, the people will have a hard time. Even if we beat back the demons, I don’t know how many years it will take to recover.”
The grand marshal grew solemn. He bowed heavily with cupped fists. “Your Majesty, this is going to be a long war, no less serious than the war ten thousand years ago.”
“All right.” The emperor slapped his seat heavily and shouted, “Facing our greatest enemy, everyone must do their best. I hereby order all military forces in the country to be under the command of Minister Yue. If anyone refuses to take this order, Grand Marshal has the right to execute first and then report, or simply execute without report!”
“Your ministers heed the order.” All the ministers in the hall bowed in unison.
“Your Majesty, what should we do about Heavens Scar?” Marshal Ferotiger, who had returned to the Imperial Capital, asked aloud.
The emperor pondered and looked over at the grand marshal. After some thought, the grand marshal said, “Since the Lord of Sky City is in charge of defense over there, we don’t have to mobilize troops for that area for the time being as long as he does a good job. Let's first clean up the demons permeating our country.”
……
“What?! So many demons appeared? Didn’t we stop their attempt to build a cross-realm teleportation route? How did they get in?”
In Sky City, Fatty jumped at the news of the ubiquitous emergence of Demon troops.
No one could answer Fatty's question, and he didn’t expect anyone to be able to either. After a moment of surprise, he smiled. “There will always be people to shoulder the sky when it falls, all we have to do is keep this place safe.”
Sky City lowered until it was only a hundred meters from the ground, breaking the tall trees and peaks in the surroundings. All 3,000 magic crystal cannons were gathered in one place, aiming at the entrance of Heavens Scar. The vice marshals of the Tiger Army simply rooted here, ready to attack the moment anything came out of the entrance of Heavens Scar.