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Fog Sea, aboard the Specter Empire.
Captain Iffley felt a surge of power coming from the Underworld.
Rumble~
The Specter Empire shuddered violently, as if about to leap from the sea.
Within a radius of dozens of nautical miles centered on this giant ship, all living creatures instantly died and decayed.
But Iffley and his crew were unaffected, for they had long existed between life and death.
Rumble~
Another violent tremor came from the Empire, and a crew member frantically pushed open the door to the captain's cabin: "Captain, it's the power room!"
Iffley's eyes narrowed: "The corpse of the Ancient Death!"
Immediately afterward, he prayed to the "Creator", reporting the matter.
The "Creator" had once performed a seal in the room where the "Ancient Death's" corpse was stored. Iffley was powerless to do anything about it and could only pray to the deity, asking Him to strengthen the power of the seal.
However, the "Creator" was very busy at this time.
...
Regarding preventing the resurrection of the Ancient Death, Hobert was quite confident. He not only possessed the uniqueness of the "Black Emperor" pathway but also the "0-80" Book of Law.
Although the resurrected Ancient Death represented death, She only had certain symbolism and lacked uniqueness within His body.
This was equivalent to having a very high Sefirah, but the actual ability was much weaker than a true Death.
Even so, an ordinary Sequence 1 would find it very difficult to deal with such an existence, but Hobert was no ordinary person. He could use uniqueness!
The Ancient Death seemed to realize the danger. She blinked at Hobert, and the illusory door inside seemed to possess a certain activity, flashing with magical light.
Hobert suddenly felt a blur before his eyes. The next moment, he slammed hard into the barrier formed by the power of the "Nation of Disorder", and even the "Brass Book" almost slipped from his hand.
After a moment's thought, he immediately understood that the Ancient Death had just tried to send him somewhere, but he was blocked by the barrier formed by the "Nation of Disorder!"
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Ancient Death burst out of the downward passage. She was enormous, with his body covered in feathers composed of blazing white flames and mysterious patterns.
However, She looked relatively illusory overall, as if the photo had been faded after being exposed to the sun for a long time.
This made Hobert realize that the Ancient Death had fallen in the Second Epoch. The long years and the subsequent advancement of the "Underworld Emperor" to Death had a significant impact on the Ancient Death.
But now was not the time to ponder this. Hobert "magnified" the damage caused by the "Book of Law" to the Ancient Death, causing the shedding of feathers and the decay of skin on Her body to spread rapidly downward!
The Ancient Death discovered that Hobert, this troublesome fellow, was still present, and so She suddenly spread Her wings, fanning out a bone-chilling wind.
Even with the protection of the "Order Crystal", Hobert felt a chill all over his body, and his spirit body trembled involuntarily.
Fortunately, the "Book of Law" was not greatly affected. The latest page once again displayed mercury-colored characters forming the words: The larger the size, the more power is consumed.
The Ancient Death immediately became even more illusory. The power drawn from the "River of Eternal Darkness" seemed insufficient to maintain His current state!
Recovering, Hobert used the ability of "Connection" to cut off a portion of the Ancient Death's means of obtaining power.
There were skills involved. Hobert used this ability on the Ancient Death, rather than between the Ancient Death and the "River of Eternal Darkness", otherwise, the probability of success would be very low.
The Ancient Death's movements became jerky, as if She had become a machine with insufficient power.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hobert "tampered" with the state of the Ancient Death, changing "resurrection" to "fall", but the first attempt failed.
The Ancient Death raised Her head, and the battlefield opened up by Hobert using the power of the "Nation of Disorder" ignited with blazing white flames.
These flames used all spirituality and spirit bodies as fuel, burning the battlefield into a "spiritual vacuum" within a second or two.
But Hobert was not greatly affected, because new words had already appeared on the "Book of Law": Living people who enter the "City of the Dead" will be punished with "imprisonment".
Although this was a punishment, it was equivalent to protecting Hobert in another way.
After the surrounding spirituality was burned out, the blazing white flames disappeared, and at the same time, the "imprisonment" of Hobert also disappeared.
Hobert performed a second "tampering" on the already very weak Ancient Death, still changing the "resurrection" process to the "fall" process.
This time it was successful!
Wahhh gaa~
The Ancient Death raised Her head and let out a strange cry. Her body was covered in blazing white flames, and Her figure became more and more illusory, eventually being burned clean, leaving nothing behind!
She fell so cleanly and neatly, making Hobert a little unbelievable.
But in the next second, another huge bird head emerged from the entrance of the hall leading to the "River of Eternal Darkness"! It was still the Ancient Death!
Hobert was a little helpless. It seemed that in "City of the Dead" Calderón, it was difficult to completely stop the resurrection process of the Ancient Death.
That "Underworld Faction" member said before that "In this divine kingdom, She the Death", which probably meant this.
The Ancient Death should be well aware of this characteristic of Hers, and it was also difficult to lure the other party to a place outside of Calderón.
Hobert retreated to the edge of the battlefield, maintaining a defensive posture while thinking of a way to solve the problem.
Suddenly, Hobert noticed that something seemed wrong with the Ancient Death's eyes.
After taking a closer look, Hobert found that the bronze-like feeling in the other party's eyes had disappeared, and the illusory doors were not as obvious. A thin, crimson film seemed to be covering the outside.
Hobert was stunned for a moment and realized: This is a bit like the eyes of a snake!
Looking again at the Ancient Death's illusory body, most of it was still covered with feathers composed of blazing white flames and mysterious patterns.
But some places had patches of dark green scales, and between the scales, white feathers grew.
Hobert recognized it: This is the characteristic of the feathered serpent!
Immediately afterward, He realized: "Underworld Emperor" Salinger not only advanced to Death but also had a certain impact on the "River of Eternal Darkness", so although "City of the Dead" Calderón was the Ancient Death's home ground, the "Underworld Emperor" could also use Her arrangement in the "River of Eternal Darkness" to have a certain influence on the resurrection process of the Ancient Death.
Perhaps every time the Ancient Death "died", the "Underworld Emperor's" influence on Her would be deeper, and eventually, a chimera of two "Deaths" might be formed.
In that case, no one would know who would eventually resurrect!
Hobert's thoughts formed only in an instant. At this time, the Ancient Death had completely emerged from the entrance and was about to attack the enemy in front of Her.
At this moment, Hobert suddenly had inspiration: The Ancient Death is the dominant position of the giant bird in front of us!
So He "magnified" the consciousness of the "Underworld Emperor", and the Ancient Death immediately stood there blankly. Her eyes were sometimes layers of illusory doors, and sometimes they turned slightly red, burning with pale white flames!
While the two "Deaths" were fighting for control of the body, Hobert frowned and considered countermeasures.
The key was still to seal the entrance to the "River of Eternal Darkness", otherwise, no one knew how many times the Ancient Death had to be killed to completely exhaust Her spiritual remnants.
Currently, the sealing power that Hobert could call upon was only the power from the "Nation of Disorder", after all, only a Sefirah could fight against Sefirah.
But it was difficult to seal only by using the "Nation of Disorder". He had to find a way to strengthen the power of the "Nation of Disorder" or weaken the power of the "River of Eternal Darkness"!
But a new problem arose, how should the power of Sefirah be strengthened or weakened?
Currently, Hobert's ability to "magnify" and "weaken" did not apply to Sefirah.
At this time, in the eyes of the Ancient Death, the pale flames gradually weakened, and the layers of illusory doors became clear again.
This shows that the Ancient Death was about to defeat the "Underworld Emperor" and regain control of the body.
Hobert took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm.
He also thought of another plan: Could he ask "The Fool" for help? Ask Him to use the power of "The Sefirah Castle" to try?
At this time, the Ancient Death finally gained the upper hand again. After all, this was His resurrection arrangement, and the "Underworld Emperor" could not influence Him for a long time.
Hobert looked at the Ancient Death's slightly illusory and enormous body, preparing to "tamper" with His state again.
At this instant, Hobert suddenly had inspiration!
The Ancient Death was now very illusory, possibly because He had not found His body, or possibly because He could only rely on the power of the "River of Eternal Darkness" to support His existence.
Furthermore, Hobert thought that the "River of Eternal Darkness" was an illusory existence! To be precise, among the Sefirah, except for the "Chaos Sea", all Sefirah did not have a substantial meaning in the real world.
This made Hobert think that if everything around him became more inclined to reality, he could weaken the connection between "City of the Dead" and "River of Eternal Darkness" to a certain extent.
The moment Hobert had inspiration, the Ancient Death had already begun to attack. He suddenly spread his wings, forming a flowing illusory symbol inside the wings, which eventually formed a banshee image emitting a pale white light.
Hobert's spirit body suddenly separated from the physical body, uncontrollably moving towards the Ancient Death step by step.
If the opponent was really the Death, it would be difficult for Hobert to avoid such an attack, but the other party did not have uniqueness in his body, which did not make Hobert lose his mind, but only his spirit body was out of his control.
He took a deep breath, "Magnifying" the power of his own spirit body, and then "weakening" the abilities of the Ancient Death.
Finally, Hobert regained partial control of his spirit body, halting his approach towards the Ancient Death, and wrestling for control over his own spirit.
In Hobert's physical hand, the "Book of Law" spontaneously displayed words: For a living person, the spirit body being within the physical body aligns with the laws of this world.
Hobert instantly gained the upper hand in the struggle for control of his spirit body. He abruptly took a few steps back, returning to his own body.
Even though both his body and spirit body had undergone qualitative changes, this ordeal damaged his spirit body, making the two seem mismatched, and every movement felt stiff.
However, Hobert already had the idea of sealing the "River of Eternal Darkness," so he simply didn't confront the Ancient Death head-on, but instead rolled behind a massive sarcophagus, buying time for the "Book of Law."
Under the guidance of Hobert's spirituality, the "Book of Law" displayed new words: "City of the Dead," Calderón, was once a city in the real world, so its essence leans more towards reality.
Creak, creak~
The surrounding hall suddenly echoed with sounds like dry branches snapping, as if the city was reconstructing itself from within.
Wahhh ga~
The Ancient Death emitted a strange cry, and Hobert's thoughts became sluggish. Just as his body was about to stiffen, Hobert struggled to use the ability of "Disorder," making the Ancient Death's target chaotic.
This allowed Hobert to only bear a portion of the attack. Many of the surrounding sarcophagi were shattered by the divine-level "Language of the Dead," and the corpses inside, whether complete or incomplete, tumbled out.
At the same time, the "Book of Law" once again displayed new words: Because Calderón's essence leans towards reality, even though it is located deep within the Underworld, it is still easier to establish a connection with the real world.
Whoosh~
The "City of the Dead," Calderón, abruptly approached Port Montenson. Two cities, one on the ground and one suspended in the air, were now very, very close, almost touching each other.
The illusory cold wind formed by the sudden proximity of the two cities scattered many of the spirit bodies in Port Montenson.
At the same time, Port Montenson rapidly became more pale and illusory, and this chilling "wave" was spreading outwards from the city center.
The influence of the Underworld on the real world accelerated.
In the grand hall at the very bottom of the city of Calderón, Hobert felt the city gradually becoming solid, while the power of the "River of Eternal Darkness" diminished, no longer surging outwards from the entrance.
The Ancient Death, whose power was based on the "River of Eternal Darkness," became weaker, and its massive physique became even more illusory.
It once again opened its wings, radiating a ghastly white light, like a supreme king!
Thump, thump, thump~
The coffins within the battlefield were knocked from the inside by some force. The coffin lids opened one by one, and the corpses of various creatures sat up, first reverently bowing towards the Ancient Death, and then charging towards Hobert.
Hobert "distorted" their movements, turning their charge into a dance.
But then the Ancient Death regained control of them, and they all used Beyonder abilities to attack Hobert.
Hobert "distorted" the Beyonder abilities of these giants, elves, demons, and other Beyonders, turning their "Dawn," "Lightning," and "Sulfur Fireballs" all into fireworks.
As the brilliant fireworks exploded, the dim hall, corpses, and coffins all looked very festive amidst the crackling sounds.
While all of this was happening, new words appeared on the "Book of Law" once again: As Calderón returns to the real world, all illusory powers are weakened.
Hobert, who had been staring at the direction of the entrance, noticed that the illusory "River of Eternal Darkness" had finally severed most of its connection with the city and with the resurrected Ancient Death. Its power had finally receded from the entrance and returned to the river deep underground.
Hobert, while somewhat disheveledly dodging the Ancient Death's attacks, quickly mobilized the power of the "Nation of Disorder" again to cover the entrance.
This time it went smoothly, and the entrance was quickly sealed!
Theoretically speaking, the power of the "River of Eternal Darkness" could permeate through buildings and leak out from places other than the entrance, after all, it was illusory and had no substance.
It was precisely because it had no substance that when the "City of the Dead" became closer to reality, this entrance became abstract.
As long as this abstract entrance was sealed, there would be no leakage of power from other places.
Whoosh~
Hobert exhaled a long breath, finally completing the seal!
Wahhh ga~
The Ancient Death at this moment had become almost transparent. It cried out in extreme unwillingness, but with the weakening of its power, it could no longer attack Hobert.
The surrounding corpses seemed to have suffered a tremendous shock, instantly turning into stone statues standing there motionless.
...
On the streets near the center of the "City of the Dead," "Erebus" was still laughing, but as time passed, it was no longer a "Haha" laugh, but a "Hehehe" laugh.
Suddenly, he looked towards the center of the city, seemingly sensing something.
In the next second, "Erebus's" appearance changed. His hair and beard first became thick, and his skin became rough and aged, completely turning into another person.
He suddenly recalled that he was the leader of the "Underworld Faction." To achieve their goals, the "Underworld Faction" had cumulatively sacrificed over eight hundred thousand lives in the past hundred years.
The spirit bodies of those innocent lives supported the "Underworld Faction" members in conducting various research, supporting them in getting closer and closer to the central location of the city.
In return, they could occasionally possess abilities at the Angel level!
But their bodies and minds were also irreversibly eroded and corrupted, eventually forgetting who they were.
The only thing they remembered was to continuously sacrifice spirit bodies, allowing the Ancient Death's remaining spirit here to gradually activate.
Finally, the Ancient Death was resurrected!
But...
He looked around. Cracks suddenly appeared on the bone-white buildings on both sides of the street, and then they collapsed outwards from the center of the city.
The resurrection of the Ancient Death stopped. Its remaining spirit suffered a great blow, and it might be very, very difficult for it to have any chance of resurrection again.
Selena, who was beside him, suddenly became illusory. Before disappearing, she smiled and said: "Teacher succeeded!
"It's good to learn about the outside world from him..."
Her figure completely disappeared.
And the leader of the "Underworld Faction," after regaining some sanity, quickly fled to the edge of the city.
...
In the City Hall of Port Montenson, cries of grief rose and fell.
The deceased relatives of the official Beyonders were outside the barrier formed by the "Crystal of Order."
They scratched and bumped against the barrier, wanting to hug their deceased children again, wanting to hold their loved one's hand, wanting to embrace their parents.
Tate deeply buried his head, trying to control his emotions, while holding up the "Crystal of Order" in one hand, maintaining the barrier around him.
"Child, I'm leaving," Tate's mother smiled.
Only then did Tate raise his head and find that his mother had become very illusory.
"Thank Death, for allowing me to see you one more time, for letting me know that Ada can grow up carefree..." Her figure completely disappeared.
Tate wiped away his tears: "I also want to thank the gods! Thank everything extraordinary!"
As the surrounding relatives disappeared, everyone took a while to basically recover their emotions.
At this time, they saw that the Calderón City previously suspended in mid-air was very, very close to them, and it seemed that it no longer possessed the characteristics that could deter spirit bodies and minds.
However, the city was currently slowly moving away, and many of the buildings in the city were collapsing and scattering, slowly falling into Port Montenson and the surrounding areas.
Giving people the feeling that the "City of the Dead" was becoming shattered.
...
Fog Sea, on the Specter Empire.
The violent shaking of the engine room stopped, and everything on this giant ship returned to normal.
Captain Yves breathed a sigh of relief, believing that the "Creator" had resealed this place.
...
And at this time, the "Creator" was still in the hall in the central part of Calderón.
The entire city was collapsing and disintegrating, but this huge palace was not greatly affected.
The Ancient Death finally disappeared in extreme unwillingness. Hobert could feel that the Ancient Death's remaining spirit had weakened a lot.
According to reason, if anyone had become the new "Death" before this, then within the divinity belonging to this "Death," there must be the remaining spirits of the Ancient Death and the "Underworld Emperor."
After this ordeal, the Ancient Death's remaining spirit in the divinity would be significantly weakened.
The entire sense of existence of Calderón had also weakened a lot. Perhaps in the long years, this city, which represented the last foundation of the Ancient Death's existence, would completely merge with the Underworld, and it would eventually lose all possibility of resurrection.
Hobert looked at the corpses falling into the coffins around him, and suddenly lamented: "Gods must also follow the laws, even Death will have death, nothing can avoid the shackles of the laws!"
He suddenly smiled: "Except for me!"
At this moment, Hobert suddenly felt that he had understood the meaning of the laws. It was like an insurmountable high wall, a high wall that could even crush the gods!
But as long as it exists, there is a possibility of climbing over it.
In this instant, Hobert felt that he had digested a lot of the "Heretic Prince" potion!
After lamenting, Hobert regained his senses, left Calderon, and returned to Monteson Port.
By this time, Calderon was far from Monteson Port. The resurrection of the Ancient Death had failed, and the mutation of the Underworld had ceased.
The "City of the Dead" was returning to the depths of the Underworld, and a clear boundary reappeared between the Underworld and reality.
Returning to the Monteson Port City Hall, Ted and the others had mostly overcome their grief.
Hobert raised his hand and dispelled the barrier, confirming to Ted and the others that the person before them was indeed Grand Duke Hobert.
"You go first!" Hobert raised his hand again, sending over a dozen official Beyonders to Angel City.
Immediately afterward, Hobert "warped" the members of the "Underworld Faction" to Monteson Port.
He had noticed earlier that the "Underworld Faction" members had taken the opportunity of the "City of the Dead" approaching the real world to flee into the real world.
Of course, Hobert had no intention of letting them go. Someone had to be responsible for this.
However, Hobert didn't completely kill them. Instead, he "warped" them into undead, making it impossible for them to leave Monteson Port.
Because their state was very special, Hobert easily "warped" their state, causing them to gradually turn into evil spirits over the next period of time.
Then, Hobert took out the "0-78" Spiritual Wilderness from the "Nation of Disorder" and formed a massive "Spirituality Barrier" around the land affected by the Underworld.
Over a hundred kilometers of territory around Monteson Port had been affected by the Underworld and was no longer suitable for human habitation.
The bones here had crawled out of the ground and turned into skeleton warriors. All the corpses had turned into Zombies, and all the souls of dead creatures that had not yet entered the Underworld had turned into evil spirits.
Crucially, Calderon had awakened many ancient undead, and they had already "settled" in Monteson Port.
When leaving Calderon, Hobert had planned to transform this place into a training base for official Beyonders.
After arranging all of this, Calderon completely disappeared from view, and the Underworld was completely isolated from the real world.
Because of the fusion process between the Underworld and the real world, the climate here had undergone drastic changes. Although it wouldn't be as unpredictable as the Berserk Sea, it would definitely be cloudy all year round, with no sight of the sun.
Hobert roughly estimated that it might take decades for the surrounding land to return to normal.
After leaving a "door" in the "Spirituality Barrier", Hobert returned to Angel City and immediately convened a high-level meeting to inform everyone of the incident, ordering Lawrence and Ted, two demigods, to be responsible for the aftermath and the renovation of the training base.
At the same time, Hobert ordered the Beyonder forces and regular army of the Southern Balam Duchy to assemble on the border between Southern Balam and the Balam Empire, instructing Medici to launch a battle against the Balam Empire.
Then, Hobert issued mobilization orders for the Angel City region and the Highland County and Colon County, requiring these areas to prepare for logistical work once the war began!
Previously, Hobert had been unwilling to start the war immediately, feeling that it would be better to wait until after the spring plowing, when the labor force across the country would be freed from the fields.
In addition, starting a war with the Balam Empire was the most welcome thing for the countries of the Northern Continent. Moreover, Hobert was very clear that once the war started, it would definitely not be just a battle with the Balam Empire. Trunsoest and the others would definitely come to help, and the countries of the Northern Continent would definitely secretly aid the Balam Empire.
Letting this dying empire consume more of the Southern Balam Duchy's vital forces was, in the eyes of the countries of the Northern Continent, the best outcome—the Southern Balam Duchy defeating the Balam Empire but also paying a heavy price.
Therefore, this war could not be delayed. It had to be fought with the assurance of achieving a decisive victory within two months.
However, what happened in Monteson Port touched Hobert's bottom line. That was the great rear of the Southern Balam Duchy. Anyone who dared to target it would be given a fierce punch, preferably one that would give them a psychological shadow.
Hobert's requirement for Medici was to launch a campaign that would hurt the Balam Empire!
It was permissible not to occupy any of the enemy's territory, but it was essential to greatly deplete the enemy's vital forces.
The Balam Empire must not dare to slack off in the slightest, with all its forces on standby, having to keep one eye open even while sleeping!
Medici immediately understood Hobert's intention: "A very clever strategy of exhausting the enemy!
"Give me three days, and we'll prepare!"
After the meeting ended, the propaganda department took action. When the people of Angel City learned that a large amount of territory in the Southern Balam Duchy had been destroyed, leaving tens of thousands homeless, they strongly supported Grand Duke Hobert's decision.
Because preparations had to be made for wartime logistics, a large number of job opportunities emerged. Thus, during the winter season, when most people were resting, the capital, Angel City, became lively again.
While the capital of the Southern Balam Duchy and the entire Highland area were mobilized, Hobert had Audrey continue to bargain in Cevas, while Hobert himself used the teleportation array to travel to Backlund to accuse the Balam Empire of the sneak attack at the League of Nations.
He also said that they were undermining the peaceful situation in the Southern Continent.
The representative of the Balam Empire tried hard to explain that the "Underworld Faction" had launched the attack, and the "Underworld Faction" was not under their control.
Hobert seized on the point that the "Underworld Faction" was also a branch of the Spirit Religion, arguing that the Balam Empire had an undeniable responsibility.
What made the Balam Empire even more flustered was that the countries of the Northern Continent actually supported the Southern Balam Duchy!
Hobert was very clear that although they sounded good, saying that they were standing on the side of justice, their real purpose was to deepen the conflict between these two Southern Continent countries.
He was using this to put pressure on the Balam Empire, causing their high-level officials to panic first.
Hobert stayed in Backlund for only three days, returning to the Southern Balam Duchy on the evening of the third day, specifically to the city of Yason near the front line.
It was at this time that Hobert received an important piece of information provided by Xio!
… …
The next day, Cevas.
The negotiations between the Balam Empire and the Southern Balam Duchy began as usual. The diplomats of the Balam Empire believed that today would be another day of arguing.
After the main personnel were all present, Audrey, the special envoy from the Southern Balam Duchy, suddenly stood up and said: "I now solemnly inform you that because of your attack on our country's south and your refusal to apologize or compensate, Grand Duke Hobert has issued an order to declare war on the Balam Empire!
"This is the declaration of war!"
Audrey immediately left the negotiation hall after submitting the declaration of war.
The diplomats of the Balam Empire didn't recover for a long time. Of course, they knew that the Southern Balam Duchy was assembling troops on the border between the two sides, but these soldiers had already completed their assembly in Yason City one or two months ago.
Because Audrey was still in Cevas, and Hobert also appeared in Backlund, condemning the Balam Empire at the "League of Nations."
This caused them to make a serious misjudgment, believing that the Southern Balam Duchy's troop assembly on the border was still to exert pressure, just to make the Balam Empire give in during negotiations.
Of course, the Balam Empire also carried out troop assembly, but their high-level officials generally believed that this war would not break out. After all, after the World War in the Northern Continent, Hobert had always pursued a policy of appeasement, seemingly unwilling to have another war.
They were stunned for a full dozen seconds before someone picked up the state letter on the table and looked at it. It was indeed a declaration of war!
Only then did they react and immediately reported the matter.
Prime Minister Santos was very surprised and reconfirmed the content of the declaration of war before immediately convening an imperial conference, while ordering soldiers to intercept Audrey, insisting on detaining them.
However, Audrey's motorcade disappeared into the void shortly after leaving the city.
… …
At the same time as Audrey declared war, the Southern Balam army had already crossed the border between the two countries.
However, Medici did not directly attack the main force of the Balam Empire on the border, but instead rushed with the entire army towards the side and rear of the Imperial Army's main force.
The Imperial Army's main force did not know that the war had already begun. They saw a unit advancing rapidly and openly on the avenue. Some were puzzled, and some officers even thought it was a friendly army conducting training.
After a portion of the Southern Balam army had passed, they reacted and quickly organized manpower to intercept them.
However, the Southern Balam army was prepared, blocking the Imperial Army while quickly passing through.
Soon, their vanguard occupied the border town of Miguel, an important supply city for the Imperial Army's border troops. Occupying this place meant that the initial victory had been achieved in this roundabout operation.
However, Medici did not stop the pace of the attack. Taking advantage of the slow-moving Balam Empire still mobilizing, he launched another penetration tactic, occupying the cities of Wanis and Lanyd one after another from south to north in one day.
From Lanyd, one could see the Borsch Mountains in the north.
This made the Imperial Army a little strange, because these cities were not important cities. Why would the Southern Balam army spend so much effort to occupy these cities?
It wasn't until the subsequent national mobilization that the Imperial Army suddenly understood.
It turned out that the three cities occupied by the Southern Balam army formed a north-south line of defense, connected to the Borsch Mountains in the north, actually cutting the Balam Empire's forces into eastern and western parts!
At the beginning of the war, the Imperial Army lost the opportunity to gather together!
But even at this time, they were not worried, because in their opinion, these three cities were not large and could not station many troops.
Moreover, this part of the Southern Balam army had become an "isolated force." Food could still be plundered from the cities, but it was impossible to bring much ammunition.
Therefore, the commander of the Imperial Army believed that these three cities could be recovered soon.
So, they calmly divided into eastern and western groups, gathered their forces with overwhelming superiority, and launched attacks on the three cities.
The attacks began with a bewildering surprise: Where did the defenders get so many cannons? Where did so many heavy machine guns come from?
The Imperial officers were well aware that the defenders of the three cities hadn't brought heavy equipment to facilitate their rapid movements!
Taking Vanic in the middle as an example, during the siege, a single volley from the defending cannons killed two or three hundred men. It was estimated that there were at least 100 large-caliber cannons within the small city of Vanic.
Unless the scouts were blind, they couldn't have missed so many cannons passing through half of the Balam Empire from south to north.
Furthermore, the network of heavy machine gun fire within the city was so dense that not even a mosquito could fly through.
For a time, the Imperial officers were at a loss, unsure of how to fight this battle.
On the fifth day of the war, an observation group composed of high-ranking military officials from the Loen Kingdom, the Intis Republic, and the Feysac Empire arrived at the front lines.
The Imperial army's commander-in-chief claimed to have surrounded the main forces of the Southern Balam army in three small cities.
After listening to the briefing, Georgina, Hobert's 'old superior,' bluntly stated, "You have already failed!"
She was well aware of the Southern Balam army's use of teleportation arrays. Their initial raiding force wasn't meant to be the defenders; they were seizing the cities and establishing teleportation arrays before the Imperial army could react.
Since they failed to retake those three cities at the time, unless the Southern Balam army voluntarily withdraws, there's no way you'll conquer them now!
...
Just as Georgina had predicted, teleportation arrays connecting to Ason City and Angel City were established in all three cities.
The wounded were carried down from the front lines and sent directly to the National Hospital in Angele for surgery and treatment.
Cart after cart of artillery shells were sent to the front lines. Because there was too much ammunition being delivered, creating a dangerous situation, the logistics units even sent some back.
Bread baked in Ason was still warm when it arrived at the front lines!
Georgina was right; unless they abandoned the cities, the Imperial army had no chance of breaking through.
This was Medici's strategic understanding that Hobert had grasped, mobilizing the entire Balam Empire with just three brigades.
Currently, the main force of the Southern Balam Duchy remains stationed on the border between the two countries, watching the tactically outdated Empire with vigilance.
...
The Northern Continent observation group's suggestions greatly surprised the Imperial army's commanders.
However, considering that the Loen Kingdom had witnessed how the Southern Balam army fought, and the Intis Republic and the Feysac Empire had suffered losses at their hands, they took these suggestions seriously and realized that extraordinary combat was necessary to break through these cities.
Just as they were gathering Beyonder forces to raid Vanic, located in the middle of the three cities, major newspapers across the Northern Continent published a bombshell announcement:
The Intis Republic had initiated a proposal in the 'United Nations' to restore the Paz Kingdom. Apart from the Southern Balam Duchy and the Feysac Kingdom, all other countries voted in favor.
Although the Southern Balam Duchy used its 'veto' power, the restoration of the Paz Kingdom still began with the support of some 'civilian forces'.
As a result, the Paz River Valley region, which had been divided up by various Northern Continent countries for over a century, once again welcomed the rule of a kingdom.
Everyone could see that this was to curb the Southern Balam Duchy's northward expansion.
Although the proposal was put forward by the Intis Republic, Loen was essentially orchestrating the construction of this nation behind the scenes.
First, the colonies ceded by the defeated Intis Republic and Feysac Empire were transferred to the Paz Kingdom. The three countries, including Loen, also promised to supply them with a large amount of weapons and ammunition, helping them equip an army of 300,000 men within a year.
This Paz Kingdom became a powerful nation in the Southern Continent from the very beginning!
For the Feysac royal family, what Willam I was doing was somewhat excessive. This guy was clearly relying on the conflict between Trunsoest and Hobert to repeatedly switch sides.
However, what they didn't know was that Willam I also had his own ideas. In the eyes of this 'old politician,' this might be his last chance to become a King of Angels.
As long as the decisive battle between Hobert and Trunsoest began, he would do everything in his power to help Hobert kill Trunsoest and immediately pledge allegiance to the 'Creator,' hoping to obtain a Sequence 1 characteristic and become a 'King of Angels' in this way.
Otherwise, if Willam I had pledged allegiance to the 'Creator' early on, the entire Northern Continent would pose no threat to the Southern Balam Duchy. Where would he have the opportunity to earn merit?
Therefore, under Willam I's orders, the Loen Kingdom had been creating conflicts in the Southern Continent and even agreed to the Intis Republic's suggestion to send Trunsoest to the Southern Continent.
During the previous World War, Trunsoest had deeply cooperated with Intis. At that time, Intis had promised that after their victory, they would give the Paz River Valley to Trunsoest to establish a kingdom. That's why Trunsoest's subordinates fought so hard against the Loen people in the Paz River Valley.
It's just that later, Intis and Feysac failed, naturally losing the ability to fulfill their promise.
As for the safety issue of cooperating with Trunsoest, Willam I knew that Hobert would never allow Trunsoest to take the Beyonder characteristics from his body again, so he believed that his safety was guaranteed.
Subsequently, the situation in the Southern Continent suddenly became confusing!
Originally, everyone's attention was focused on the war between Southern Balam and the Balam Empire, but the restoration of the Paz Kingdom was clearly premeditated, taking advantage of the Southern Balam Duchy's inability to fight on two fronts to revive.
Once this newly restored kingdom establishes effective rule during the war, it will inevitably create a two-on-one situation, and the Southern Balam Duchy will be dragged into a long-term war, losing the best opportunity for development.
At this time, the countries of the Northern Continent can calmly mediate and manipulate Southern Balam through political means.
May 12th was the day of the Paz Kingdom's king's coronation.
The kingdom's capital was located in Caesar Port, the most developed area by the colonizers. In the newly renovated palace, many nobles and high officials from various countries were invited to hold a grand ceremony.
As the ceremony began, the king of this new country, dressed in classical attire, slowly walked from outside toward the throne inside the palace.
He appeared to be in his twenties, with short bronze-colored hair. He was none other than the former 'Night Emperor,' Trunsoest!
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