At first, Aaron and his three companions cut through every obstacle, unstoppable. The Cult of the Dragon's followers crumbled beneath their attacks.
But as they approached the city's central building, the pressure of battle suddenly intensified.
The reason was simple. The Cult of the Dragon was a typical sect divided into inner circle members and peripheral members. Supposedly, apart from those who wore purple robes, most peripheral members knew neither how to communicate with dragons nor the secret methods of creating dracoliches. All they could do was start as the lowest-ranking unaffiliated members on the fringes and prove their strength through hard work, earning the lowest dragon claw insignia before climbing rank by rank until they became wearers of the purple robe.
The enemies Aaron and his companions initially encountered were peripheral members. Most were of ordinary strength and lacked sufficient combat experience. But as the four fought their way deeper, more and more half-dragons appeared, and the cultists grew steadily stronger.
More and more enemies appeared nearby, converging on the four of them.
Even from a distance, they could see five half-dragons guarding the doors of the great hall in the city center.
Many of the cultists were also better equipped. They wore sturdy armor and carried Heavy Crossbows and heavy bows. Each squad consisted of four to six members, and some even included spellcasters.
The Cult of the Dragon was rich. Very rich. After all, no one on good terms with dragons was poor.
The enemies' numbers far exceeded Kong and Reynard's estimates. Even Charlotte's relaxed expression vanished. The young lady gently tugged at Aaron's clothes and whispered, "Little brother, we don't have enough magical power to deal with this many enemies."
The fighting on the outskirts had already roused this stronghold of the Cult of the Dragon.