Vol 3. Chapter 80: The Abyss Demons Attack
Several minutes earlier—
On the northern walls of Sky Dome City, Lingmu, commander of the Second Army, was making his routine rounds, conscientiously walking along the city walls and keeping watch over everything around him.
Although Sky Dome was the capital, surrounded in every direction by numerous cities that were practically impregnable fortresses, making the possibility of an enemy reaching this place unnoticed virtually zero, Lingmu nevertheless remained fully alert as he carried out his duty, watching for any enemies that might appear nearby.
However—
‘His Majesty’s coronation ceremony is taking place, yet I still have to stand guard here. What a shame.’
Lingmu could not help sighing inwardly.
Yet just as the army commander was lamenting this while gazing into the distance, an unidentified mass of black suddenly entered his field of vision.
Lingmu’s pupils abruptly contracted as an ominous premonition surged into his heart.
“Hmm?!! Wh... wh... what is that?!”
Following Lingmu’s startled cry, a sudden change occurred beneath the azure sky.
Around the forest beyond the distant canyon, a mass of black mist abruptly began spilling outward. Under the stunned gazes of Lingmu and the others, the black mist rapidly spread, covering the forest in the blink of an eye...
Then—
An enormous, loathsome monster covered from head to toe in bizarre black fur, resembling a Nargacuga, suddenly charged out of the forest.
‘Th... that is...?! An Abyss Demon?!!’
The instant he saw the black monster, Lingmu’s entire body trembled, and an uncontrollable cry of alarm escaped his lips.
As his cry rang out, the Nargacuga-like Abyss Demon suddenly raised its head and unleashed a horrifying roar that sounded like the wailing of ghosts and howling of demons!
“Awooo! Awooooooooooooo!!!!...”
The roar continued spreading.
The forest began to tremble.
In an instant, beneath Lingmu’s horrified gaze, accompanied by deep, oppressive growls, tens of thousands of Abyss Demons surged out of the forest like beasts whose shackles had suddenly been broken, pouring forth under the guidance of that roar!
Bone-chilling killing intent, eerie black mist, and stampeding bloodthirsty monsters—
In an instant, they converged into wave after wave of pitch-black tides, surging toward Sky Dome like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam!!
Among the Abyss Demons were even dozens of enormous Sixth-Tier existences!!
As for Fifth-Tier Abyss Demons, they were simply countless!
Although no Seventh-Tier existence had appeared yet, their sheer numbers were already enough to make anyone’s blood run cold.
And with the appearance of these loathsome monsters, waves of deep, terrifying beastly roars mixed together with an immense, boundless, nauseating pressure that seemed to carry the aura of death itself. It swept across heaven and earth like a raging tidal wave, crashing violently toward the city walls [N O V E L I G H T] from afar.
In an instant, the peaceful atmosphere within the city was utterly shattered!
It was not only Lingmu.
At this moment, every soldier felt an unprecedented shudder of terror.
Everyone involuntarily held their breath, their eyes filled with disbelief.
“I... I... fucking have to be dreaming, right?!!”
“Why... Why would Abyss Demons appear here...? And so many of them?”
Biting down hard on his lip, Lingmu stared with a twitching expression at the overwhelming tide of Abyss Demons surging toward them.
However—
Despite the immense shock in his heart, his many years of experience and composure as a commander quickly allowed Lingmu to calm himself.
The next moment, the army commander drew the sword at his waist and, channeling his powerful battle aura, let out a furious roar.
“Everyone! Level-One Combat Readiness!”
The moment his order rang out, the defenders atop the walls immediately began mobilizing at high speed.
The results of the troops’ relentless training over the years were displayed to their fullest at this very moment.
In an instant, every soldier took their assigned position. Tens of thousands of magic rifles gradually began emitting dazzling light, while hundreds of large-scale heavy bombardment cannons were directly raised into position, their pitch-black muzzles aimed at the oncoming horde of Abyss Demons.
As mana surged, the battle mages completed their anti-army magic formations.
Seeing his subordinates rapidly finish their preparations for battle, the army commander could not help revealing a gratified look, and some of the unease in his heart finally subsided.
Once everything was ready, the army commander hurriedly turned toward the female adjutant behind him and anxiously ordered,
“Quick! Notify His Majesty and General Luokefei!”
“Yes!!”
After receiving the order and casting an uneasy glance at the overwhelmingly imposing Abyss Demon horde, the female adjutant hurriedly leaped down from the city wall and raced toward the communications department...
At the same time—
The army commander sounded the alarm.
—
Back to the present.
Looking at the panting soldier who had just delivered the news to him, Xue Tianao’s brows began twitching violently.
“You’re saying Abyss Demons appeared in the north, in the direction of the canyon?”
“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!”
“...”
After receiving this news, Xue Tianao fell briefly silent.
Although it was difficult to believe, judging from the soldier’s nervous reaction and the alarm ringing throughout the entire city—
There was no doubt that the Abyss Demon horde had truly appeared.
But—
‘What the hell is going on?’
Xue Tianao could not help roaring inwardly.
An Abyss Demon horde had actually reached Sky Dome?
Reached the Imperial Capital?!
Even if Abyss Demons could charge forward extremely quickly, starting from the Great Winter Forest in the northern border and storming through cities and fortresses all the way to the Imperial Capital, even if every fortress along the way had been made of paper and offered absolutely no resistance, it should still have taken the Abyss Demon horde at least several days to reach Sky Dome!
So why had he received absolutely no news during all those days?!
What the hell was the Fourth Army on the northern border doing?!
At that thought, Xue Tianao, whose mood had already been terrible, became even more furious. The mana surrounding his body grew increasingly violent and icy, causing even the Royal Knight kneeling before him to involuntarily tremble.
After calming himself slightly, Xue Tianao coldly glanced at the knight kneeling on the ground.
“What exactly is going on at the northern border?!”
Hearing the chill in Xue Tianao’s voice, a bead of cold sweat slowly rolled down the knight’s forehead.
“R-Reporting to Your Majesty, we don’t know either. There has been no news from the northern border, and even now, we still haven’t been able to establish contact with the Fourth Army...”
“Useless trash...”
After cursing angrily, Xue Tianao gazed toward the north of Sky Dome, his azure eyes narrowing slightly as a grave look surfaced within them...
They could not establish contact.
Was it because of interference from the storm, cutting off communications?
No.
That possibility was far too low.
The Abyss Demons could not possibly ignore all those targets and head directly for Sky Dome.
In other words—
The Fourth Army had already...
‘Fuck! What the hell is going on?!’
—
Meanwhile, at the site of Garos Fortress on the northern border.
The majestic fortress that had previously been rebuilt was now nowhere to be seen.
In its place stood a dead ruin engulfed in flames and the stench of blood.
Broken walls and shattered ruins were everywhere, along with mangled corpses drenched in blood. The entire place looked like hell on earth...
Nearly all the soldiers of the Fourth Army who had once defended this place had died.
Some had become food for the Abyss Demons, while others had been directly infected by the Shadow of Silence Power...
A small number of people had managed to survive only because they had hidden inside newly constructed underground shelters before the fortress fell, thus avoiding detection by the Abyss Demons...
When the night passed and there was almost no longer any movement from the Abyss Demons inside the fortress, some of the survivors finally began to emerge from their endless terror.
Carefully, they opened the door of the underground shelter just a crack.
As one of the survivors, squad captain Pabala anxiously pressed his eye against the narrow gap and nervously observed the situation outside.
After watching for a while, Pabala finally let out a long breath of relief.
“Looks like the Abyss Demons are all gone...”
The moment he said this—
The dozens of soldiers hiding inside the shelter with him also breathed sighs of relief.
The joy of having narrowly survived death filled everyone’s hearts.
However—
Now that the immediate threat of death had passed, squad captain Pabala instead revealed a puzzled expression and stared at the distant remains of the city walls...
Strictly speaking—
The fall of their fortress had not been entirely because of the Abyss Demons.
Although they had indeed been caught completely off guard at first, with the reinforcements that arrived afterward, the fortress’s formidable defenses, and the heavy firepower provided by His Majesty Xue Tianao, they had barely managed to ‘hold off’ the Abyss Demon horde’s assault.
However—
Just as they were preparing to call for further reinforcements while simultaneously reporting the matter to His Majesty, the supposedly ‘impregnable’ city walls had suddenly collapsed under the Abyss Demons’ bombardment.
And it was not merely the fortress’s defensive walls.
Every defensive wall within visible range had collapsed along with them...
The collapse had been far too sudden.
So sudden that no one had been able to react in time...
They had originally still been able to rely on the terrain advantage to resist the Abyss Demon horde, but in an instant, they were thrown into the disastrous position of having no choice but to confront countless Abyss Demons head-on.
Under such circumstances, the result was obvious...
The army defending Garos Fortress had been almost completely annihilated in an instant...
Remembering the miserable deaths of his comrades, Pabala unwillingly clenched both fists.
“Why? Why did... the city walls suddenly collapse?! No... That shouldn’t have happened! The people of the northern border might be barbarians, but their ability to construct defensive fortifications has always been first-rate. The walls shouldn’t have been that fragile!”
The young squad captain could not help saying this aloud.
Hearing his captain’s words, a nearby soldier breathing heavily remained silent for several seconds before slowly speaking.
“Um, Captain... the walls around this section of the fortress... th-they weren’t built by the northern engineering corps...”
“Hmm? What did you say?”
“It’s... the defenses in this area weren’t built solely by the Duke Family. After this place was breached by the Snow Devourer, people from the Black Rose Family helped rebuild it...”
“Hmm? Wait?! You... You said... the Black Rose Family?!”