The Final Battle Begins

Half a month later.

Three hundred kilometers northeast of Black Dragon City, a fleet of twenty mechanical airships has quietly arrived.

Of course, the enemy's movements were always under the control of the Black Dragon City intelligence team.

Black Dragon City already possessed Goblin Communicator capable of transmitting messages over extremely long distances. Black Dragon City's intelligence agents, spread throughout its various territories, were also closely monitoring this airship fleet approaching from the east.

Every day, from the moment the enemy left the Imperial Capital Wussenbar, their progress and location were relayed back to the command center in Black Dragon City in real time by intelligence agents.

Moreover, the enormous size of the mechanical airship couldn't hide from the Blue-tailed Hawk in the sky. By the time they approached the Alkolon Mountain Range, Rein and his men had been waiting for quite some time.

In a secluded corner of the mountains, a makeshift combat command post was set up.

The experts from Black Dragon City, including Rein, Cavo, Mafat, Ymir, and Canossa, gathered here.

In the mountain valley outside the command post, two thousand Kolman Warrior and their dragon mounts were also fully armored and ready for battle.

"The enemy will arrive at our ambush site in about half an hour."

In the center of the command post was a sand table, and Metternich was explaining the battle plan to everyone.

"The will of that Three-Eyed Evil God once descended upon City of Radiance, so the enemy should already have some information about our Black Dragon City. They know that we have the Wyvern Legion, and they will also think that it is our only means of resisting them. Therefore, in this first battle, only the Wyvern Legion can step forward to meet the enemy."

"The fact that the enemy knows we have Wyvern Legion and yet only sends twenty mechanical airships suggests their airship armor must be very sturdy, at least not easily destroyed by Fifth-tier Magical Beast. Those guys probably won't engage in direct combat. Therefore, this time, Kolman Warrior might have a tough time."

"Our advantage lies in the fact that the outside world's knowledge of our Black Dragon City Wyvern Legion is based on outdated information from several years ago."

"Because of this battle, we will have to fight a protracted war. High-end combat forces will also need to participate, but they cannot go all out. Our ideal outcome in this battle is to use a few hundred low-level inferior dragons to take down a few of the enemy's airships."

"."

Metternich rehearsed almost every detail of the operation on a sand table.

Where will the enemy appear, what unexpected situations will we encounter, and what are the solutions?

In the perpetually narrowed eyes of this brilliant advisor, one could only ever see his composure.

With the battle plan in place, Rein said, "Alright! Proceed according to plan. Elder Habu will lead the attack, with the rest providing support. The medical team will be handled by myself and Great Shaman Mafat. Any critically wounded soldiers must be immediately transported to the infirmary. We must minimize casualties as much as possible."

"Yes, Lord City Lord."

Everyone responded, but their expressions were far from relaxed.

Everyone is well aware that even with such thorough preparations, the risks of this battle are still considerable.

They "feigned weakness" to lure the enemy, which meant that the Wyvern Legion would clash head-on with those mechanical airships.

It felt a bit like a cavalryman of flesh and blood charging into a heavily armored tank.

The people inside the tanks knew they couldn't win, so they certainly wouldn't come out of those metal lumps. And for the sake of agility, the wyverns couldn't be equipped with heavy armor like ground dragoons. This meant that the knights would have to use their flesh and blood to clash head-on with artillery armor.

This is bound to be a fierce battle.

Fortunately, Kolman Warrior possess Legendary Vine Armor with exceptional defensive capabilities. This armor, impenetrable even by conventional artillery, greatly reduces casualties. As long as it's not an instant kill, with Rein and Mafat there, there won't be any particularly large personnel losses.

But some of the flying dragons might die.

The ambush that Rein and his men had set up was not deliberately concealed, and the commotion of thousands of dragons could not be hidden either.

Not long after the battle meeting ended, the extraterrestrial airship fleet arrived as scheduled.

Among the twenty airships, there was one large command ship.

On the deck, a burly man was observing the distance through binoculars, but after seeing nothing but a blurry fog, he angrily tossed the binoculars aside, muttering, "I've had enough of this damn place! This damn black fog, even breathing through my gas mask feels like it's on fire!"

As they flew, the observer on the airship noticed something unusual in the valley and immediately reported, "Lord Danchi, Perception Extraordinary has detected dense signs of life in the valley ahead. It looks like a large group of magical beasts!"

Upon hearing this, the burly man was not surprised at all; on the contrary, a look of joy appeared on his face.

He thought for a moment, then said with a look of disdain, "Heh, large magical beasts don't usually like to hide in groups. If I'm not mistaken, it should be that Black Dragon City Wyvern Legion. Those guys probably got wind of it and want to ambush us here."

At this point, the burly man showed no surprise whatsoever, as if he already knew his opponent's tactics inside and out.

He glanced at the rugged mountains around him and said, "This is indeed a suitable place for an ambush. It seems that the battle commanders among those natives aren't entirely fools; they've also thought of using these complex mountain peaks to block our airship's cannons and create obstacles for the flying dragons to evade."

Upon hearing this, the first mate asked, "Sir, should we avoid this area?"

The burly man shook his head. "Avoid? No, those guys coming is just what I want. As long as we deal with these Wyvern Knights, Black Dragon City will have no means to threaten our airships."

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he shouted, "Pass down the order to seal off the cabins and prepare for battle! Let us see just how powerful those legendary flying dragons with mythical dragon bloodlines really are!"

"Yes, sir!"

The next instant, the messenger relayed the order, and the twenty mechanical airships simultaneously closed their cabins, transforming into completely sealed aerial fortresses.

A quarter of an hour later, the Black Dragon City's Wyvern Riders clashed with the extraterrestrial fleet.

Upon meeting, the two sides immediately engaged in an exceptionally fierce hand-to-hand combat.

Although the dragon is considered a large magical beast, it is as small as a toothpick bird in a hippopotamus's mouth, compared to the mechanical airship.

Clearly, the enemy was also prepared.

The mechanical airships had incredibly thick armor. Even though the dragon's claws could easily tear through the steel plates, they only left some scratches on these iron lumps that did not affect their defense.

This was a battle that looked extremely fierce, with the Wyvern Knight using their flesh and blood to try to stop the enemy's attack.

Every now and then, Wyvern Knight were struck by the rapid-fire cannons from the Steam Airship, bursting into clouds of blood mist in the sky. Accompanied by the mournful cries of the dragons, one after another, heavily wounded dragons plummeted from the sky.

This was a battle that appeared to be extremely fierce.

Even with heavy casualties, the Wyvern Knight continued to charge relentlessly at the mechanical airships.

This scene was also witnessed by the enemies in Feiting.

After watching the cannons blast away a large number of wyverns, the burly man's lips curled into a mocking smile, "Hmph! Foolish natives! I'll see what you'll use to stop me after these wyverns are all dead!"

The battle was proceeding exactly according to Metternich's "script".

The Wyvern Legion of Black Dragon City first killed eight hundred enemies but lost a thousand of their own to deal with the enemy, then used their flesh and blood to fight against the mechanical airships.

Then, High-tier Extraordinary joined the battle, using explosives and magical artifacts, employing a full range of methods, and only then were they able to barely shoot down the first airship.

It looked like a "mutual destruction" strategy.

As time went by, the enemy on the mechanical airship gradually became more and more anxious.

The prolonged battle, which resulted in a stalemate, infuriated them.

Commander Danchi stared at the deserted third airship, his face growing increasingly grim. He cursed, "Damn it! Aren't those natives afraid of death?!"

He felt he could easily crush the Wyvern Legion, but for some reason, those guys always seemed to be "hanging on by a thread" and wouldn't die. Just when he was about to defeat them, a few new dragons would appear every now and then, showing no sign of retreating. It was incredibly annoying.

At this moment, his war advisor beside him also spoke with a grave expression, "Lord Danchi, if we press our advantage now, we will surely annihilate those native Wyvern Legion. However, our fleet may still suffer some losses if those guys use suicide attacks to shoot down a few ships. I believe the ideal solution is to seek support from General Dek's fleet. With a few more airships, those dragons will have no chance of breaking through our defensive formation."

Clearly, these outsiders do not consider the lives of some "natives" to be comparable to their own.

They had initially thought it would be a bloodless victory, similar to the capture of the Imperial Capital Wussenbar. However, they hadn't expected these natives to be so fierce, risking their lives to hold them off.

The loss of three mechanical airships has already caused Danchi considerable financial pain.

He felt that if he lost a few more airships to kill those barely surviving natives, even if his mission was successful, he would be ridiculed by his colleagues and scolded by the great Credo.

Thinking of this, Danchi, his expression grim, ordered, "Fleet, change course! Withdraw for now!"

"Yes!"

"Contact General Dek and ask them how the battle is going. If they haven't found those escaped natives yet, have them come to our aid first."

"Yes, sir!"

Just as Metternich had predicted, the enemy's every move was within his calculations.

Those guys valued their reputation and had no intention of engaging in a war of attrition with Black Dragon City. Instead, they chose to retreat temporarily and wait for reinforcements.

Almost simultaneously after this battle, the fleet that went to Sid failed to find the Sid Imperial Capital, which had been quietly hidden in the dense fog, and turned back to Black Dragon City.

A few days later, the two teams joined forces and then engaged in another fierce battle.

To the surprise of those outsiders, they still failed to take down Black Dragon City, this "hard nut to crack," in this battle.

They didn't even see the city, constantly harassed by the Wyvern Legion operating near the Alkolon Mountain Range.

But they also realized that Black Dragon City probably had no more trump cards left.

Even the "key figures" in the intelligence reports—Lord Rein, Prime Minister Ymir, Barbarian Chieftain Mafat, and a host of other experts—personally went to the battlefield to fight to the death.

Black Dragon City's High-tier Extraordinary clashed head-on with the Wyvern Legion time and again. However, flesh and blood had an inherent disadvantage in attacking mechanical airships, making it a fierce and protracted battle of flesh against steel.

Those outsiders clearly seemed poised to win, but somehow they always fell just short.

The Black Dragon City crew were like unkillable cockroaches, fearlessly charging into the airship fleet. Even after being severely wounded by artillery fire and landing on the ground, they would soon be back on the battlefield, bandaged up, ready to fight to the death.

This "fight to the death" attitude actually made the enemy hesitant to act, fearing that more warships would be destroyed.

This is also part of Metternich's plan.

This caused the enemy to "misjudge" the strength of Black Dragon City.

Then

Really!

Because the time dragged on for too long, the main fleet of those extraterrestrials finally couldn't hold back any longer and arrived in force.

The timing was almost exactly the same as Metternich's prediction.

On this day, the three mechanical airship fleets from outside the region finally converged west of the Alkolon Mountain Range.

A total of 121 ships.

On the main ship, the young man from the Three-Eyed Race listened to his subordinates' report on the battle situation with a dark expression.

"So, your forty airships, after spending so much time, didn't even get close to the city, and you even had eight shot down and more than ten damaged by the natives' flying dragons?"

After these words were spoken, the huge airship deck fell silent.

The burly man who served as the vanguard commander swallowed hard and explained tremblingly, "Credo, those natives are too desperate. In order to reduce our casualties, I chose a delaying tactic. Give me one more day, and I guarantee I can wipe out Black Dragon City!"

The young man raised an eyebrow and said coldly, "Heh, we've given you almost a month, and what's the result?"

The burly man, sweating profusely, retorted, "Sir, although we lost some airships, most of the native dragons were also killed in battle. Based on our previous intelligence, the remaining ones are no longer a threat, as long as..."

"Waste."

The three-eyed young man gave a soft shout, seemingly no longer having the patience to listen.

He waved his hand, looked in the direction of Black Dragon City, and ordered, "Let's go straight there."

Everyone: "Yes, Credo."

One hundred and twenty-one airships flew majestically along the Black Dragon Pass, without encountering any more guerrilla-like flying dragons.

This is something that those outsiders would consider perfectly reasonable.

The number of mechanical airships has increased several times over, and there is also a "King-class Warship" with firepower increased dozens of times. Under these circumstances, if the previous number of flying dragons were to come again, they would definitely be annihilated.

They traveled without any obstacles.

Black Dragon City now covers a vast area. Looking at the imposing stone city on the ground, the man named Credo showed a slight surprise. Just by looking at the number of residences, one could infer a large population. And looking at the streets, one could tell it was incredibly prosperous.

Even in the outer regions, cities with this kind of population density are rare.

Moreover, in the center of almost every large square in the city, he saw a tall white stone statue.

As soon as the young man's vertical pupil flashed, he uttered a soft exclamation. "Huh, this statue has actually generated the power of faith?"

When Credo saw the faint divine light emanating from the statue, his face suddenly turned grim. "What have these natives done to sincerely believe in a mortal?"

Turning his head, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. "Hmph! Besides gods, who is qualified to enjoy such worship and offerings! Blow up those statues!"

The next instant, a hundred bombs rained down from the sky, landing on the streets of Black Dragon City and blasting the statue into pieces.

The moment the bombs fell, low-pitched air raid sirens blared throughout the city's streets and alleys.

Another unique feature of Black Dragon City's architecture is the presence of deep and wide "air-raid shelters" dug deep underground!

The concept of "air raid shelters" didn't originally exist in this world, and battles between Mechanical City wouldn't normally require such structures. But Rein went to great lengths, spending vast amounts of resources to dig those caves, precisely to prepare for this possibility.

The moment the air raid siren sounded, ordinary residents of the city had already evacuated to underground air raid shelters in an orderly manner, following the emergency plan they had practiced before. This would greatly reduce casualties from the air raid.

However, the arrival of the enemy from the sky also caused panic among the ordinary people in the city.

Air raids, Steam Airship, and extraterrestrial enemies—these are things beyond the comprehension of ordinary people in the Ice Ridge Wasteland.

The city was thrown into chaos.

Meanwhile, in the war command center in the center of Black Dragon City.

Rein and his senior executives had already received the news.

"The enemy has a total of 121 warships. Except for 11 early warning warships that are relatively far away, all the others have entered our airspace covering our return to Black Dragon City."

"Everyone, prepare for battle! In the first volley of artillery fire, we will destroy 70% of their main warships!"

"Yes, Lord City Lord!"