Lynn stood atop the Chaos Dragon's back, watching the four trails of dust recede into the distance. Then he had the Chaos Dragon turn toward the world's core region.
He did not accompany any of the teams. He had other matters to attend to.
The real war had only just begun. It was time for him to start laying the groundwork as well.
While Aldric was in seclusion, he needed to work hard too, clearing away every obstacle for the final battle!
The four teams were now four baits, enough to lure out all those high-ranking alchemists.
Then... they would wipe them out in one fell swoop!
After the four teams began sweeping through the land in four directions, they split apart once more into countless smaller groups and spread out.
Villages and towns along the way fell one after another, and countless native inhabitants were killed or wounded.
The first major city fell on the evening of the second day.
It was a city built upon a plain, its walls constructed from dark gray stone and standing roughly twenty meters tall. Glowing alchemical runes were embedded across their surface.
The runes formed a thin, constantly flowing membrane of light over the walls, capable of resisting both physical impacts and energy attacks.
Ordinary attacks would have found it difficult to breach this city, but the goblins' technological weapons bombarded it without pause!
Cracks only began to appear after half an hour of relentless bombardment by magic-energy cannons and magic-energy tanks.
At first, there was only a tiny fissure. Then it spread along the paths of the runes, extending to either side.
The membrane of light on the walls was still functioning, but if this continued, it would eventually be breached. The alchemists thus freed up part of their forces