Above Pangtuo City

Meanwhile, in Pearl County, Province of Hailan, Kingdom of Arthur.

With the demons' arrival, Pearl County, once renowned for its prosperity and bustle, had lost all its former warmth and liveliness. Instead, it seemed eerily desolate.

Ruined walls and buildings were everywhere, along with smoke that had yet to clear.

In the wilderness, demons roamed among the scattered bones. It was a scene straight out of the apocalypse.

Pangtuo City was the largest and most prosperous city in Pearl County.

It was backed by the rugged Black Stone Mountain. Its walls stood fifteen meters high and ten meters wide, while the broad Xinshui River wound around their base. The city was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Pangtuo City had originally belonged to the Croning Family. After the Royal Army occupied Pearl County, it became the headquarters of the garrison.

Back then, King Ferdinand had sent the elite Eastern Army to capture the city. It took twenty thousand men a full half month to seize it, at a cost of nearly six thousand lives—a testament to its formidable defenses.

Now that the demons were invading, this impregnable city had naturally become a lifeline for fleeing civilians and noble lords.

Back then, Pangtuo City had fewer than five thousand defenders, yet they had held off the King's twenty thousand elite troops for half a month.

Now, the city had over forty thousand soldiers, including the nobles' private forces. Counting the able-bodied men, there were no fewer than a hundred thousand people—more than enough to hold off the demon army.

Since the people and nobles of Pearl County all thought this way, a strange sight emerged.

When news of the demonic invasion reached them, most of Pearl County's residents fled elsewhere with their families, but many more flocked to Pangtuo City.