Fall of the City

Let's go back to the day before.

Near the Fallen Leaf Trail in the Norton Duchy.

"Hurry up, your master is watching you!"

"This is the will of the Great Red Dragon!"

"For the Embers of the Burned Kingdom!"

Dolo is leading an army of hundreds of Hobgoblin and Bugbear on a rapid advance, following a special route. Their mission is to capture the capital of the Norton Duchy — Kenyaza City —as quickly as possible.

Although it is called a duchy, the territory of the Norton Duchy is even smaller than that of some powerful marquisates. It has only three cities in the country, and three-quarters of its population is concentrated in Kenyaza City that the Bosque Duchy helped to establish. The name means "Land of Rising" in Scania Language and contains the high expectations of the Norton Duchy.

The city had a population of nearly 20,000, and if it were to fall, the entire Norton Duchy would essentially be doomed. The Embers of the Burned Kingdom's strategy was to launch a blitzkrieg against the capital of the Norton Duchy, capturing it directly.

To this end, they brought a full ten cannons, which were siege weapons that the players of Storm Armory had worked overtime to create.

Fortunately, the power of the Dragon Vein Hobgoblin was strong enough that even when they carried cannons, they could march quickly without being hindered by them.

The Bugbear attendant flanking Dolo asked with some doubt, "My lord, are these broken iron pipes really useful? I feel like they're not as good as the big club in my hand."

"You ignorant fool."

"Hmph, you'll see soon enough."

"This is a genuine symbol of blood and fire."

Dolo grinned and chuckled, his tone quite excited.

Having experienced numerous large-scale wars and tasted the benefits of firearms, this war-savvy Hobgoblin has become a thorough "Reformists," even becoming friends with Steel Frenzy, the leader of the Church of the Machine God.

The city's defenders, who had never experienced such a war, were completely unaware of the impending danger, and had not even discovered the well-hidden army of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom, which was in a blind spot.

The Hobgoblin soldiers set up the cannons, calibrated them, and quickly completed the preparations.

The Hobgoblin soldiers lay in wait, ready to march.

Dolo wiped the Bloodfire Battle Axe in his hand, tore off a piece of flesh stuck to it, and then roared:

"Fire!"

The Hobgoblin obeyed the order and placed the cannonballs inside.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The cannons roared, creating thunderous booms across the land.

The Bugbear frightened that it covered its ears, collapsed to the ground, and kept muttering, "What... what a powerful iron pipe."

"Hmph, coward."

"You will no longer be a close attendant."

Dolo glanced at him dismissively, his tone contemptuous.

Bugbear who's afraid of even artillery fire isn't fit to be the bodyguard of the Great General of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom!

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"That's it! Blow them up!"

Dolo laughed heartily, savoring the wonderful smell of Gunsmoke in the air; even the loud cannon fire couldn't drown out his laughter.

The Norton Duchy had previously sent most of its troops to join the allied forces, and now there are fewer than a thousand defenders on the city walls.

The defenders on the city wall had never seen such a sight before; cannons roared and sparks flew everywhere.

They only saw blurry shadows streaking across the sky before their vision was filled with the flames of an explosion.

Many of the soldiers on the city wall were blown to death, while most of the survivors were still in a state of panic and did not even realize that war had come.

"Gods... is this Divine Punishment descending?"

"What exactly is this?"

"Ah!"

Where exactly is the enemy?

After hundreds of years of "assimilation" and "taming" by the Bosque Duchy, these former barbarians have lost the bravery and fearlessness of their ancestors.

Shells rained down on the city wall, and under the baptism of artillery fire, the wall, which had stood for hundreds of years, collapsed with a roar, leaving a gap several meters wide.

That's enough.

"Charge!"

Dolo lifted the Bloodfire Battle Axe with one hand and shouted fiercely, "Follow me to attack the city! Crush them!"

He charged to the front of the column, leaped into the gap, and with a single swing of his giant axe, cut the dozen or so guards blocking the way in half.

"Monster!"

"Help!"

"My God, it's the Envious Battle Maniac Dolo!"

"It's the army of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom!"

Dolo, enraged by this nonsensical title, leaped dozens of meters to catch up and smashed the arrogant human into a pulp with the flat of his axe.

"I am Dolo!"

"The most powerful general under the Great Red Dragon!"

"It will also be your eternal nightmare!"

Dolo brandished his battle axe and roared in exasperation.

The Hobgoblin swordsmen followed closely behind, hacking and slashing at the defenders on the city walls, venting their long-suppressed bloodlust.

"Damn it, these monsters!"

"I can't kill them at all!"

Are those scales?

Under the blitzkrieg of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom, the defenders on the city walls crumbled and fled in disarray.

Meanwhile, the Hobgoblin skirmishers behind them raised their spears, and at the command of their Skirmisher Squad Leader to fire freely, they opened fire, shooting at the heads protruding from the city wall, causing many of the defenders to fall off the wall.

Soon, the nearly one thousand defenders were all wiped out.

Now, this battle can no longer be called a battle; it's practically a one-sided massacre.

And this only took one hour.

To put it simply, killing a thousand pigs might take more than an hour, but the army of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom managed to wipe out the garrison in just one hour.

Dolo, in particular, became a killing machine, personally killing at least a hundred people.

"There's a problem on the city wall!"

What's happening outside?

"There seems to be an enemy!"

"I think I heard thunder."

"Damn it, what's going on?"

The city's residents were still unaware of what had happened and were filled with fear and anxiety; they had no idea that the city had fallen.

However, they soon realized this.

A resounding dragon roar echoed from the sky.

"Roar--"

A ferocious fiery illusion of Red Dragon appeared in the sky above the city. Its golden pupils looked down at the earth, and its wings resembled a leaping sea of flames, threatening to burn the entire city to ashes.

"By the gods above..."

"What kind of monster is this?!"

"I... I know what that is..."

"Is that the legendary Purgatory Calamity?" People were all terrified by the phantom of the giant dragon in the sky, and were plunged into fear. The crowd was in an uproar.

"Hello, residents of Kenyaza."

The monster in the air slowly spoke, its voice heavy and majestic, extremely oppressive.

"I'm here to inform you."

"From now on, there is no longer any so-called Norton Duchy, only the Embers of the Burned Kingdom."

"Welcome, everyone, to the Embers of the Burned Kingdom."