"Tick, tick!"
Fang City, within the City Lord's Manor council chamber.
Looking at the familiar furnishings before him and listening to the sound of the pendulum clock he had once left behind ticking beside his ears, Arias, revisiting this old place after many years, felt no nostalgia whatsoever. Instead, his face was filled with gloom and conflicted emotions.
In fact, before officially arriving at Fauken Bay, he had already envisioned the state of the battle there.
For example, the Imperial forces might have already collapsed under the assault of the enemy fleet and those Beastfolk, forced to retreat to Fang City and hold on desperately.
Or perhaps Fang City itself had fallen, the main force had been reduced to less than a tenth of its original numbers, and even the Third Navy had been annihilated in that brutal naval battle.
But he had never expected that before he arrived with reinforcements.
The allied forces at Fauken Bay had not only avoided destruction despite the nearly hopeless disparity in troop numbers, but had instead pulled off a successful counterattack against the Bloodhowl Legion in what had seemed like an impossible situation.
Furthermore, despite the enemy fleet numbering nearly ten times their own, they had successfully destroyed almost two-thirds of the enemy warships.
They had not only forced the renowned Crimson Sun Crown to retreat in defeat with his remaining troops, but had also successfully killed a genuine Crown Tier powerhouse in this battle!
Even if that Crown Tier powerhouse had only advanced in recent years, and unlike the human cultivation system, had achieved it through some sort of shortcut.
At the end of the day, he had still been a Crown Tier existence.
He had even been ranked 149th in combat strength by the White Tower!
Even compared to Arias at