"Swadi, another Demon Beast, thirteen hundred meters away. Take it out..."
"Understood!"
Whoosh! An arrow streaked across the sky like a shooting star, hitting a tiny black dot on the horizon.
Boom! An Overlord floating far away in the sky instantly exploded into fragments.
"Nicely done!" an elderly voice praised without holding back.
"Thanks for the compliment!" Swadi gave his right hand a shake, and the Enchanted Folding Bow in it immediately transformed into a wrist guard around his wrist. Behind him, eighteen thousand soldiers of the First Legion were steadily advancing!
Along with the long, serpentine column marched more than a dozen luxurious carriages. Different magical inscriptions were etched across the roofs, representing various Magic Guilds. Most eye-catching, however, were the Demon Beasts pulling them!
The six most luxurious carriages were each pulled by a different kind of Demon Beast! The carriage at the front was drawn by two warhorses with horns on their heads. If they were pure white, they would have given unicorns a run for their money...
The carriage behind it was pulled by two enormous wild boars. Their powerful muscles were sharply defined, like stone. Clearly, even as boars, they were not to be underestimated. Farther back was a lizard over five meters long. It was obviously someone's pet, brought out to show off and put to work pulling a carriage. Its back was covered in iron armor, inscriptions flashing across it from time to time. Equipping a pet with magical armor was an extravagant display few could afford...
"In my opinion, our whereabouts have already been exposed..." said a remarkably imposing general in the middle of the army.
From the carriage beside him came a dismissive sneer. It was the same person who had spotted the Overlord over a thousand meters away. "So what if we've been exposed? General Yarman, are you worried they'll get away?"
Yarman, commander of the First Legion, sighed softly. "In fact, the very thing you're sneering at is what worries me. We took advantage of the Magic Exchange Conference to put mages from various countries at our disposal. But if these Demon Beasts escape, we'll lose our chance to hunt them down. Once these mages leave our country, our magical forces will be stretched thin again..."
"Heh. Whose fault is that? If His Majesty the King had granted Merlin's Robe to our Keren Magic Guild earlier, our strength would have doubled by now. Hmph, now he finally understands the importance of magic..."
Yarman smiled bitterly. "All right, Thomas, Star Mage. His Majesty the King knows he was wrong. He's still the king, so you should give him some leeway to make mistakes. But after this war, I'm sure your Magic Guild will become the kingdom's one and only noble house!"
"Report! Report!" Suddenly, a sentry came galloping toward them from the distance, his horse's hooves kicking up a cloud of dust across the ground...
Yarman lightly squeezed his horse's flanks, and it trotted over to the sentry. "Have you found the Demon Beasts?" Yarman asked first.
"Yes, General. We found traces of Demon Beasts five miles ahead, but they're pursuing a human merchant caravan!"
"A human merchant caravan?" Yarman's eyes widened. "Who could be so foolish? Don't they know that Morton has already fallen to the Demon Beasts? Why would they travel through Morton's territory?"
"I don't know. We've never seen the emblem on their carriages, but they can't be a small merchant caravan. They have one fifth-level mage and two fourth-level mages with them!"
"Since when could merchant caravans afford to hire mages?" Thomas, president of the Keren Magic Guild, called for his carriage to stop and stepped out with a cold snort.
"Either way, they're human, so we should save them. Besides, rescuing three mages is bound to earn us a handsome reward!" Yarman looked to Thomas, seeking his opinion.
Thomas didn't seem to mind. "Fine. It's time we saw how strong these legendary Demon Beasts are. A glimpse can reveal the whole picture. Let's go meet them!"
The army halted, and the mages in the various carriages got out. When they heard that Demon Beasts were attacking a human merchant caravan ahead, they eagerly set off to watch the spectacle, chatting and laughing. They really were just there for the excitement. With a thousand guild mages gathered from six kingdoms, they had the confidence to blast even three kingdoms' combined armies into oblivion with magic!
"Damn it, Louis, hurry! Leave the cargo behind—we need to save ourselves!" the fifth-level mage shouted miserably at the warrior still driving the carriage behind him. The warrior was also fifth-level, but weighed down by the carriage, he couldn't run as fast as a mage of the same level!
"No! This cargo is all the income we've earned this trip. If we lose it, our merchant caravan is finished. Damn it! Giddyup! Giddyup! Giddyup!"
"Roar!" Suddenly, two Zerglings surged forward. They leaped high into the air and pounced toward the carriage!
"You'll get us all killed!" The fifth-level mage unleashed two fireballs. They struck the Zerglings in midair, and the intense heat burned them to ash in an instant. But after the two Zerglings were killed, even more came rushing from behind!
"Ah! Ah!" Two screams rang out. The two warriors following behind the carriage had been tackled to the ground by Zerglings and torn to pieces in moments!
"Cast your spell—Wall of Fire!" Seeing the carriage and the five warriors remaining behind him, the fifth-level mage immediately ordered the two fourth-level mages beside him to cast the spell. Meng gritted his teeth and stopped.
"O proud fire spirits, your servants are being hunted by evil! Grant us your mercy and create a barrier the wicked cannot cross—Wall of Fire!"
Whoosh! A wall of flame, over thirty meters wide and a full three meters high, burst from the ground behind the carriage, completely blocking their pursuers!
"Awooo..." "Awooo..." The Zerglings fearlessly charged straight into the wall of fire. The raging fire elemental energy surging upward from the ground instantly burned more than a dozen of them to ash!
"Hmm. They aren't weak enough to be fleeing so desperately, are they?" Thomas said doubtfully, watching the Zerglings prove utterly helpless against the magic. The mages around him also wore suspicious expressions.
But the next moment, everyone's doubts were instantly cleared!
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." Hundreds of Zerglings charged into the wall of fire all at once. After incinerating more than eight hundred Zerglings, the wall ran out of elemental energy and began to die down. Now less than a meter high, the flames seemed to have opened the mouth of a terrifying sack. On the other side of that sack were thousands upon thousands of Zerglings!
"Damn it! Move in at once and save them!" Thomas's expression changed. He shouted, drew his staff, and began preparing a spell!
Before you continue