The wind and snow howled.
An insect hive burned in the valley, black smoke made of blood and tar surging skyward and setting the entire twilight horizon ablaze.
Amid the burning mountains of corpses and seas of fire, the Dragonblood Legion marched down through the snow.
They wore heavy armor of interwoven black and red, their disciplined formation rolling forward like a torrent of iron.
The heavy infantry broke through the wind first, raising their shields into a wedge assault formation.
Behind them, slashing knights and heavy javelin throwers formed two flanking wings.
Magic Blast Javelins hurled from the heights sliced across the sky, falling in sheets like a sudden thunderstorm.
Flames, explosions, and battle aura advanced in waves of triple-layered destruction.
Insect corpses surged toward them, crawling densely across the valley.
But before the Dragonblood Legion, they seemed like nothing more than meticulously calculated "elimination targets."
"First rank, advance. Maintain the wedge."
"Second rank, break their front and thrust left. Prepare three-stage magic javelins!"
"Decapitation squads, take your positions."
Every command was concise and direct, without the slightest hesitation.
It was the voice of Deputy Legion Commander Gaius Calvin, echoing through the formation.
He rode a heavily armored warhorse. Nearly two meters tall, his powerful frame looked sculpted from metal, his entire presence like an iron rampart.
He slowly raised his warblade. Its surface flowed like magma, and the red battle aura rising with it erupted like a furnace, bathing the snowfield in a blood-red glow.
Before his battle aura even descended, the insect corpses instinctively took a step back.
Blocking his path were three towering high-rank insect corpses.
They had human forms, but wore imitation armor pieced together from insect shells and dead flesh. Their pupils glowed an eerie blue, their expressions cold.
They were former Snow Oath