"Stay alert! There's movement on the other side. It might be a new wave of elemental creatures preparing to charge,"
The Decurion Captain of the City Defense Auxiliary raised his right hand and shouted the order: "Casters ready, Spirit-Capturing Nets in position, archers and crossbowmen ready, assist with a volley!"
Thud.
The Legion warriors in full plate armor stepped forward in unison, leveling their spears at the fixed low-level dimensional planar passage, shielding several casters who were preparing behind them.
Archers drew their bows, and crossbows were cocked. The tips of the arrows and bolts were etched with magic runes with element-dispelling effects, making them powerful weapons for area attacks against low-level elemental creatures.
Meanwhile, Camid's slender body climbed atop the massive steel pipes, his white wings hanging down.
Guided by his long necks, his two heads peered curiously over the heads of the warriors toward the low-level elemental planar passage before him, as a cold frost breath began to brew in his mouths.
This was a passage shaped like a circular archway, a permanent portal fixed by the empire's high-level casters, connecting to a naturally formed minor Fire Element Plane attached to the Ekania World's main plane.
From here, one could see that on the Fire Element Plane opposite, fire did not always cover every inch of land; charred earth and rocky minerals were the main theme of this minor secondary plane.
In the low hills and gullies, traces of past fire rampages were everywhere, but now, even the fires on the outskirts of this plane had begun to gradually extinguish. Only in the depths of the plane, which Camid could not see, was there still an abundance of constantly dissipating fire element energy.
According to the empire's exploration, the energy of this minor dimensional plane was nearing exhaustion over the long years. It held little development value, as the investment and output were disproportionate.
Therefore, it was chosen by the empire to serve as a landfill and waste disposal site for the empire's garbage and wastewater discharge.
Noisy sounds came from the back of the low hills. Although Camid's two heads and four vertical pupils were staring fixedly at the planar passage, his mind was constantly wandering.
"What a pity for the Plane Heart born in this plane; there's no way to excavate it. Otherwise, with this treasure, I might have been allocated more wealth this year."
Camid's eyes remained motionless; this White Dragon held a special status among the True Dragons.
Other True Dragons, under the coercion and inducement of the Ancestral Red Dragon, had long since abandoned their habits and tied themselves to this chariot of the Golden Empire, pushing its wheels forward.
Only Camid was allowed by the Ancestral Red Dragon to grow naturally according to his instincts.
Even the task of overseeing the empire's development of low-level dimensional planes was something Camid had applied for voluntarily.
The tentacles of the Golden Empire, under the collective will of the empire's rulers and supporters, continued to extend.
The large quantities of magical element mixtures consumed daily by Ancestor Red Dragon Kalon·kogmora and the Dragon Lord were the results of the empire's near-predatory mining of those explorable minor planes.
Also, the ordinary golem legions required by the empire's Golem Legion needed a large amount of elemental essences, which made the empire's military department quite supportive of this project.
The messy footsteps from behind the low hill grew more urgent, interrupting Camid's pleasant daydreaming. He slightly opened his large mouths, revealing rows of fangs as white as ice bones, his cold breath ready to erupt at any moment.
But what ran out from behind the low hill was a group of ragged humanoid creatures with messy hair and dry lips, looking like slaves. Among them, various races with different hair colors were the most numerous; some humans were not even of races born in the Ekania World.
But the surrounding warriors relaxed slightly at this time. The Decurion curled his lip and said, "Why those fools again? I thought elemental creatures were about to rush out, and I was ready to earn some credit."
The Decurion disappointedly ordered his guards to step forward and take these humanoid creatures into custody one by one.
Camid also smacked his lips and swallowed the cold breath back into his belly.
These unlucky fools were mostly driven by greed in their hearts, then deceived by devils into signing contracts and lured to these low-level Fire Element Planes to prospect for gold.
In these low-level Fire Element Planes, most of the elemental life forms born were of average strength; as long as one was careful, they would not pose a life-threatening danger to these gold prospectors.
The ragged clothes on these gold prospectors were a type of Fire-wash Cloth that could protect against fire damage. Wearing clothes made of Fire-wash Cloth was enough for these prospectors to carry out daily activities in the Fire Element Plane.
But devils are not such kind-hearted fellows. In the Fire Element Plane, various minerals and gold are indeed abundant; even the weakest adventurer can earn unexpected amounts of gold in a short time.
However, in the Fire Element Plane, gold is not the most expensive, nor are minerals. Potable water provided by devils is the most precious thing in this world.
So the ultimate fate of these gold prospectors was to fall into debt and become lifelong slaves to the devils.
These foolish and greedy slaves always thought of escaping the devils' control; the warriors and Camid had long since become accustomed to this situation.
But even if these slaves escaped the direct control of the devils, their end wouldn't be much better.
Slaves who had signed contracts with devils held little value in the eyes of the empire, and the empire's high-level officials would not waste resources and power to help these slaves break their contracts with the devils.
These slaves wouldn't be truly accepted by the empire either; the final result was just changing from a devil's slave to a True Dragon's slave, offering their labor on the empire's lands.
Some casters even had the wild idea to propose a trade with the slaves' masters—the devils—asking them to use resources and treasures to exchange for the large number of slaves in the empire's hands.
But because the coordinates of the material plane where the Golden Empire is located have been marked as a faithless and dangerous place by many devils lately, this endeavor has never successfully established contact with the devils.
"Forget it, just follow the old method: strip the clothes off these slaves, scour them for any hidden gold and wealth, and then send them to the slave camps."
Camid lowered his heads somewhat boredly and turned to walk toward the next outpost, muttering, "The power of these devils has actually extended to the secondary element planes outside the Ekania World. Maybe I should suggest to Kalon to be more careful."
But in the distant city, a distant and resonant bell suddenly rang out. The sound waves surged powerfully, reaching far beyond the outskirts, causing Camid's vertical pupils to instantly flash with two beams of sharp light.
Dong, dong, dong,
Unlike the usual rhythm, the urgent and resonant bell was a warning and also a horn call for the True Dragons.
Whoosh! A gale suddenly swept up from the ground. Camid spread his wings and flew straight toward the city center... Ellie, with a toddler in her mouth, landed on the city walls of Bay Stream City, gently putting the child down. The bell of Bay Stream City also rang at this moment, the melodious and resonant sound echoing over the entire city following Carlit's striking action.
This was a bell that only a True Dragon could ring. It wasn't that Kalite was being overreactive, but the distant forest was being crushed at extreme speed. Massive trees were being knocked over, and the dense forest was being collapsed by a gargantuan creature, forming a wide path leading forward.
Under the echo of the bell, many soldiers of the Bay Stream City defense legion began to mount the city walls and organize their armaments. Massive Armor-piercing Ballistae began to crank their winches, and thick Crescent Crossbow Bolts, as large as an adult's arm, began to accumulate enough power to pierce through steel plates as the winches tightened.
Elf archers and artillerymen had also taken their positions, and a solemn atmosphere enveloped Bay Stream City.
A massive noise came from the distant forest, getting closer and closer—a series of rapid, heavy footsteps, as if a group of giants were trampling the earth in a wild run.
Carlit flapped her wings and landed, standing beside a serious-looking Ellie. However, the two True Dragons vision had already ignored the beast tide scattering in panic, even as beasts, in their haste, crashed directly into the walls built of solid stone.
Smashing their own brains out, they were then trampled by the following herd, becoming a pile of mangled remains.
"That is," Carlit looked into the distance, her voice full of gravity, "Storm Giants, a group of Storm Giants."
"The problem is," Ellie's cheeks twitched, her voice somewhat dry, "these Storm Giants are also fleeing for their lives. What kind of terrifying existence is chasing them?"
The dense forest had been crushed, revealing large gaps. The True Dragons and warriors standing on the city walls could see the fleeing Storm Giants through the thinned forest.
There were about a dozen of these Storm Giants, but their height was quite terrifying. The Storm Giant at the very back was already almost level with the walls of Bay Stream City.
Although the walls of Bay Stream City were originally built only to guard against the impact of beasts and monster races, and were only sixteen meters high due to a lack of manpower, the walls built of giant stones were enough to handle most situations and the impact of war.
However, in front of Storm Giants whose average standing height reached over ten meters, the walls that used to look quite sturdy and brought a sense of security to the city's residents now seemed somewhat fragile.
It was as if those giants only needed to swing the weapons in their hands to easily collapse the entire section of the wall.
Hiss.
Carlit's fangs whistled; her forelimbs rested on the city wall as she said seriously, "Even so, we cannot simply abandon the city and flee. I have already rung the bell; we just need to hold on and wait for the Dragon clan to come to our aid."
"I won't leave you and the city to run away alone," Ellie's mouth twitched, her head nodding slightly toward the distance as she hissed, "However, it seems it might be very hard for us to hold out. If the other True Dragons are a bit slow to react, they'll arrive here only to collect the corpses of us two True Dragons."
The size of those Storm Giants was already enough for the two True Dragons to take seriously, but the hunters chasing this group of Storm Giants gave the two Female Dragon an uncontrollable pressure.
Even the two True Dragons who dared to brandish their claws in front of the Adult Silver Dragon Christiana felt their pressure multiply facing that Cyclops who looked nearly twenty meters tall.
A True Dragon's strength is closely related to age and size, and the same goes for these giants.
But a True Dragon's size includes their tail; a twenty-meter True Dragon and a twenty-meter giant are not the same concept or level.
Even if a Cyclops is only a lower species among giants, reaching a height of nearly twenty meters means it must have lived for centuries and grown to its peak.
And the two Female Dragon were still only juvenile True Dragons.
Moreover, the Cyclops dragging a giant hammer while chasing the Storm Giants did not come alone. In the forest trampled by the giants, shimmering and indistinct massive figures appeared.
Those were also massive giants; Stone Giants with bodies encased in rock followed the Cyclops Lord with slow steps.
There were also Mountain Giants famous for their immense strength, capable of lifting hills. These Mountain Giants were few in number, but unlike the variant Hill Giants, they were exceptionally large and sturdy. Standing beside the Cyclops Lord, they looked even more powerful than the Cyclops Lord himself.
There were also Wood Giants whose personalities didn't quite match their race; these giants, who were just as hot-tempered as Fire giants, had layers of patterns on their skin like ancient tree rings, looking like tattooed totems on their tough skin.
And then there were groups of giant-kin and giant subspecies, as well as Ancient Ogre species. These Ancient Ogres were regarded as subspecies of the giant bloodline, honoring the same ancestral blood as the giants.
Legend has it that the bloodlines of all True giants originate from the Father of Giants—Annam, this powerful God of giants.
In the giants' genealogy, Titans are also just high-level creations among giants, members of the True giants as well, and Annam, the Father of Giants, is the source of all Titans and giants in the world.
The various offspring of Annam, the Father of Giants, were the gods who created the world's Titans and giants. The ruler that can be born among Storm Giants, the Thunderer, was also created by the remnants of Annam's power.
Regarding their former nemeses, the two Female Dragon naturally had much knowledge from their inheritance. As they watched the Storm Giants, pursued by the Cyclops Lord, run toward the city, the warriors on the walls heightened their focus to the limit.
Carlit took a deep breath and roared, "Legion prepare, all units in position!"
"Stop, True Dragon s, perhaps we are friends,"
A massive voice, like rolling thunder, came from the mouth of a Storm Giant.
The panicked and fleeing Storm Giant Garcia shouted, "I am Garcia, the Young Master of the Storm Giant tribe! I have come to the land ruled by True Dragon s to seek the protection of the Storm Giants' friend—Lord Kalon Kogmora!"
Carlit halted her command, exchanged a glance with Ellie, and then roared in a deep voice, "Then stop your advance! Stand two hundred meters away and wait where you are!"
"But," Garcia hurriedly roared, "the cyclopes behind us, they're catching up!"
"I said, wait where you are!"
Carlit's expression was cold and hard as she stood atop the city wall, spreading her wings and roaring, "All warriors, switch targets! Archers and crossbows ready, casters ready, aim for the rear!"