The Void City, a city ordered by Muria and built by the crew of the Void Fleet, has no walls. To Muria, walls that can only defend against ground forces are of little use.
After all, in Muria's eyes, most of the enemies he considers a threat can fly, so the defensive function of walls lies more in the array's power. However, an array doesn't necessarily need walls; it can use every building in the city as a node.
In Muria's plan, the Void City was designed without walls. The presence of walls would be more harmful than beneficial to this city, as they would hinder its expansion.
The city's defenses consist of towers standing on the array nodes designed by Muria. Each of these towering structures, tens of meters tall, is equipped with a magical cannon and two giant magical ballistae, specifically designed to target massive creatures flying in the sky.
When the two young members of the Yanlun Tribe followed the visiting group into the Void City, they were most struck by these destructive towers, leaving them awestruck and momentarily forgetting their quarrel.
However, the residents of the Void City quickly recaptured the boys' attention, pulling them away from the architectural marvels.
"Achai, look over there! A giant with purple skin—he's so tall! And look at that massive bird beneath him! What kind of beast is that? If I could sacrifice it, how much stronger would I become?" exclaimed Heijin, one of the boys, excitedly as he watched a storm giant riding a giant roc fly overhead. His words left the surrounding Yinhuang people speechless—this kid wanted to sacrifice the storm giant's mount!
But soon, Heijin's attention shifted to another type of giant. "Wow, their skin is so white! They're almost as tall as me!" He stared intently at a young cloud giant girl passing by, his expression changing.
Due to various considerations, Muria ordered that aside from high-level combat forces, such as legendary soul-level beings in the usual numbers, few fully matured combatants, like adult giants, were brought over. Instead, more than half of the immature giants and barely tapped dragonborn came along.
"Stop staring; you're about to drool," Achai teased as he saw Heijin looking at the cloud giant girl with a goofy expression.
"You're talking nonsense! I'm not drooling!" Heijin quickly wiped the corners of his mouth when teased by his teammate, only to find his hand dry. He turned to glare at him.
"Hey, look at that little guy!" Suddenly, Heijin spotted a dragonborn standing on a tower, adjusting a giant ballista. His face filled with surprise.
He remembered being the shortest boy in his tribe as a child, mocked and scorned for it. He had thought he was already quite short, but he never expected to see such a tiny creature in this amazing Void City. It was unbelievable.
"Are they also warriors who follow Lord Muria? They're so small; can they even fight?" Heijin couldn't help but wonder aloud. In the Yinhuang people's worldview, physical size often correlates with strength—the bigger the body, the stronger the power, and vice versa.
"Ann, look, another group of bumpkins! Look at their clueless expressions; it's hilarious," said a blue-haired dragonborn youth standing on a tower, holding a part twice his size. He turned to Ann, who was adjusting runes, and chuckled.
"Focus on your work and stop looking around," scolded Ann, a youth whose hair had turned bright gold from dragon blood. He frowned at his subordinate's behavior. "They're not bumpkins; they're residents of the Yinhuang World and now Lord Muria's subordinates. Don't refer to them so rudely again."
"Remember, you have no right to mock them. A few years ago, you were no better off than they are. Show respect to the Yinhuang people. Understand?"
Seeing his subordinates' indifferent expressions, Ann added, "We're all here to fight for Lord Muria. It's best if we get along. If this arrogance persists, it will cause trouble sooner or later."
"Got it," the dragonborn lazily responded from atop the tower.
"Commander Ann, you tell us to respect these local giants, but they're not respecting us. Listen to what they're saying—they're questioning our combat abilities, saying we can't fight."
Heijin and Achai's conversation wasn't particularly quiet, so the sharp-eared dragonborn youths heard them clearly. They were enraged at being called "small" and having their combat abilities questioned, finding it hard to tolerate the slight.
"Quiet! Do you want to start a brawl? Think about what happens if you do."
"Hey, big guy, look over here!" A clear, feminine voice suddenly called out. Ann looked toward the source and saw a golden-haired girl, just like him, operating a giant ballista aimed at one of the visiting Yinhuang youths.
As Ann looked over, the girl noticed his gaze, flashed a smile, and pulled the trigger on the ballista.
With a tearing sound, a giant arrow covered in runes shot out, heading straight for a Yinhuang youth who was just a bit shorter than the mutated cloud giants. On the youth's bare shoulder was a winged serpent ready to take flight.
"It's Xue Li, that crazy girl," Ann muttered, recognizing the golden-haired girl. As a fellow dragonborn, he knew her well. She was a top-tier human genius, having reached the end of the trial path, just like him.
Her status was equal to his, but she came from an even higher background—Xue Li was a noble, a true human aristocrat. Yet, after merging with dragon blood, her behavior had become wild, unrestrained, and completely unlike the refined noble lady she once was.
Take now, for example—hearing local giants doubt their combat abilities, the "crazy girl" had immediately turned her ballista on one of them.
"Watch out!" Just as Heijin was excitedly discussing the surroundings, Achai pushed him out of the way. A giant arrow grazed his chest, leaving a deep gash.
"Who?" Heijin, now sporting a bloody chest wound, glared in the direction the arrow came from, seeing a small golden figure jump down from the tower, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
"Not bad reaction speed, and it only left a small wound. But don't worry, I'll give you a deeper lesson soon," Xue Li said, emerging from the dust. Her golden hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she wore a form-fitting martial outfit.
"Why did you attack us?" The calm-headed hunter, Changgu, held back the furious Heijin and his son, looking at the approaching dragonborn girl, who stood less than two meters tall.
He knew what gold represented in this city. The girl before him, with her silky black hair and golden eyes, resembled the Titan they served. She likely had a very close connection to him.
"Why did I attack you?" Xue Li laughed at the question, her face showing a hint of mockery. "Didn't you hear what you were saying? Didn't you look down on our combat abilities? Now I'll show you whether we dragonborn are qualified to fight under Lord Muria."
"You want to fight me?" Heijin, who had been furious moments ago, suddenly froze, his expression becoming strange. "You're so small—how can you fight me?"
"Small?" Xue Li sneered. She clenched her fist, and a golden lightning bolt struck her from the sky. In an instant, the girl who had been under two meters tall transformed into a 15-meter-tall female giant, clad in a perfectly fitted golden bone armor with dragon-like slit pupils.
"Who are you calling small?"
Seeing this transformation, the Yinhuang people were stunned. They had never expected such a small creature to grow so massive, almost matching them in size.
"Local giants, witness the power of us dragonborn!" The towering female giant's face lit up with excitement. She paused for a moment and then disappeared, reappearing beside Heijin. Her bone-armored fist, like a heavy hammer, slammed toward the Yinhuang youth's face.
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