City of Destruction

"Clemens F. Metternich?"

Bazel found the black-robed man's name unfamiliar and frowned slightly.

But clearly, this was not the time to investigate the man's origins.

Just then, he seemed to notice something and suddenly sniffed the air.

In an instant, Bazel's composure vanished, replaced by extreme disgust. He said coldly, "Damn it!!! I can smell the filthy stench of vampires too!!!"

At the scent of blood, Silver Wolf was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. All his fur stood on end, and a low, beastly growl rumbled from his throat.

After a pause, he fixed his huge bell-like eyes on the members of the Oma Royal Family across from him and sneered repeatedly. "What? The Oma and Xid Empires have actually joined forces to deal with me?"

Anyone who could make him feel such a powerful threat had to be a vampire of extraordinary bloodline, at least a blood clan member at the "Prince" level!

If the members of the Oma Royal Family before him were merely enemies with opposing allegiances, then those filthy vampires were werewolves' age-old enemies of thousands of years, foes they would fight to the death!

How many Prince-level vampires were there in the vast Xid Empire?

For a dignified Blood Prince to lower himself and lie in ambush on Oma Empire territory, targeting him no less, was suspicious enough.

The Oma Royal Family and Xid Royal Family had been mortal enemies for centuries. How could they suddenly join hands?

Whether as one of the Top Ten Legendary Demon Hunters or as the leader of the White Wolf Bandit Group, neither identity should have been worth the two empires joining forces.

In that instant, countless conspiracies flashed through Bazel's mind, yet every one of them seemed unbelievable.

But strangely,

Everyone on the Oma Empire's side acted as though they had heard nothing.

No one responded to what Bazel had said. It was as if vampires simply did not exist.

Standing on the second floor of the drafty tavern, Rein wore an expression of utter despair as he was forced to witness the development of this entire "major incident."

The oppressive presence of the big shots clashing below made him tremble, unable to move.

Any one of the people present could have crushed this little shrimp, who had only just awakened as a Transcendent, with a single finger.

He wanted to slip away, but his legs would not obey him.

It felt like being an ant beneath a herd of elephants. The slightest movement would get him crushed to bits!

"Fuck me..."

Rein truly had no strength left to complain.

More than a year of hellish imprisonment had taught him enough brutal lessons about reality.

He had painstakingly played the fool for a year before finally breaking free of the Weasel Bandit Group's control and escaping that old schemer Piscis's plots...

And now? He had barely escaped the dragon's den only to walk straight into the tiger's lair?

Was a conflict on this level really something a little shrimp like him could get involved in?

Meanwhile, Rhine, the grand knight commander clad in heavy armor, stepped into the ruins.

He helped the severely wounded Princess Ymir to her feet and said quietly in an apologetic tone, "Your Highness, you should leave first. Metternich conveyed His Majesty's secret order. I can only carry it out."

Originally, he had been the only one who knew why Princess Ymir had risked coming to the Black Market Trade Fair. He also knew how much effort the Princess had devoted to this matter.

But under the pressure of the imperial order, he now had no choice but to participate in the hunt for Bazel, ruining the Princess's carefully laid plans.

The feeling of betrayal filled him with guilt.

Ymir shook her head, stopping Rhine from continuing.

How could she fail to understand the situation before her? The Empress in the palace had grown impatient.

Ymir did not linger any longer or offer any explanation. Covering the wound in her chest where the wolf claw had shattered her flesh, she decisively turned and left.

Only Rhine, who stood closest to her, caught that fleeting dimness in her eyes.

Meanwhile, the entire trade fair erupted into chaos.

"Damn it, those bastards from the Oma Royal Family actually came knocking! Brothers, grab your weapons and kill those sons of bitches with me!"

"I want to see which blind bastard dared to ambush our boss!"

"They're too arrogant! We absolutely can't let those bastards leave alive!"

"Mechanical City boilers, increase pressure! Prepare the cannons!"

"..."

The commotion around Hyacinth Tavern was enormous. Before long, countless bandits wielding weapons came cursing as they gathered around.

The bandits were used to robbing and looting, and their reactions in battle were swift.

With powerful enemies attacking, the steel fortresses began turning with a series of clanks. Cannon after cannon swung toward Hyacinth Tavern.

In particular, the three War Elephant-class Mechanical Cities were outfitted with hundreds of siege cannons. This kind of blanket artillery barrage could blast even top-tier Transcendents to pieces.

It was as if the situation had suddenly turned around.

Bazel, who had just been besieged by several experts, had suddenly become the side with overwhelming numbers.

If it were only the few members of the Oma Royal Family before them, then even if Enma Blackmoss, another of the Top Ten Legendary Demon Hunters, was here...

They would definitely not leave alive today!

The standoff outside Hyacinth Tavern continued.

The side with fewer people remained as steady as Mount Tai, while Bazel's side, despite having more people, did not rush to attack.

Aside from their leader Bazel, the White Wolf Bandit Group had quite a few experts of every rank. Although their Extraordinary Cultivation might not have been as terrifying as those members of the Oma Royal Family, they were at least absolutely confident they could kill them through sheer numbers.

But for some reason, as Bazel watched his fellow bandits and brothers swarm in, he did not feel reassured in the slightest. Instead, the unease in his heart only grew stronger.

Werewolf bloodlines naturally carried an innate ability to sense danger.

As time passed, that sense of danger suddenly grew more and more intense.

"What exactly is going on? Where does their confidence come from...?"

Bazel stared unblinkingly at the calm enemies before him, his heart filled with confusion.

Originally, he had thought his old rival Enma Blackmoss would be the greatest threat. But for some reason, that obscure little aide kept drawing his gaze.

It was as though that man possessed some kind of magic. He felt like a demon lurking in the abyss—cold and deadly!

"Finally, I'm saved..."

As the bandits' side became increasingly chaotic, Rein felt that his life finally had some hope of survival.

More and more bandits gathered around, and the tense atmosphere between the big shots in the tavern was broken by the noisy uproar.

As more people gathered and pressed closer, naturally no one noticed that a certain little shrimp had quietly slipped away.

Having listened to both sides' verbal sparring from beginning to end, Rein was probably the bystander who understood best that a life-and-death battle would soon unfold here.

The big shots had been watching him earlier, leaving him no chance to run. Now that the opportunity had come, how could he waste it? He immediately slipped into the crowd.

Rein did not hesitate in the slightest and jogged away, wanting to flee the center of the incident as quickly as possible.

He did not care in the least which big shots lived or died.

He had no interest in digging into whatever conspiracy lay behind all this, either.

He knew his place. This was not the kind of excitement he could watch. His life was at stake!

"Please don't start fighting yet. Please don't start fighting yet..."

As Rein ran, he prayed to every god he could think of, begging not to be dragged into it.

A large-scale war was a meat grinder. In the heart of the storm, one would not even know how one died.

But the accident still happened.

Boom!

A sudden cannon blast stunned everyone.

Without any warning, a shell flew in from somewhere and struck one of the White Wolf Gang's main Mechanical Cities.

Then, with a deafening boom, a fierce ball of fire exploded. The thick armor was actually blasted open with a terrifying hole...

The power was so great that it left everyone dumbfounded!

"What's going on? Who the hell is firing wildly? Where the fuck are they aiming?!"

"No, that power... It sounds like a super-heavy cannon?"

"Look! Look at the lake! There's an iron monster in the lake!"

"That tonnage... It's a Behemoth-class Lord Mechanical City! This is bad—it's the Oma Royal Academy of Sciences' top-tier Mechanical City, the City of Destruction!"

"..."

Moments later, a colossal steel monster dozens of times larger than a War Elephant-class Mechanical City slowly emerged from the waters of Storm Lake, exposing its savage armor. The muzzles of countless massive cannons lit up with fire at once...

The curtain rose on the great battle.