At this moment, Yi Yinchuan halted the Ruined Land Alliance army fifty kilometers outside the White Stork Empire. He turned to a nearby incubus commander and said, “General Yanqing, you’ll lead five thousand incubus soldiers in disguised advance. You must not expose your movements. Your mission is to intercept every messenger the White Stork Empire sends out for help. Don’t let them contact the outside world.”
“Yes, sir!” General Yanqing answered. He then left, leading eight thousand incubus soldiers away.
“Yi Lan, you’ll lead one thousand winged soldiers and keep an eye on the Beastman Empire and the Sun-Moon Empire. If they make any move at all, report it at once. I don’t want the Beastman Empire stirring up trouble at this critical moment,” Yi Yinchuan ordered a winged general under his command.
“Yi Yinchuan, aren’t you worried the Crimson Empire and the Sun-Moon Empire will join forces with the White Stork Empire and pin us in between?” the elder Yi Yinchuan had called Elder Wu asked.
“Right now the Crescent Empire is under attack by the Worms and the Bimong. The White Stork Empire has received Your Majesty’s favor before; they definitely won’t sit back and watch us fall. The White Stork King will send troops to rescue us. On top of that, our previous assault left the White Stork Empire badly damaged. I doubt they still have many soldiers inside their borders. The Sun-Moon Empire has the Demon of Death—he alone is an army, and those skeleton legions can assimilate others. If we show we’re on guard against the Sun-Moon Empire, we’ll only draw his attention. It’s better to focus our forces and take White Stork first. As for the Crimson Empire, it’s a hundred thousand miles from here. We don’t need to worry about them,” Yi Yinchuan analyzed.
Elder Wu nodded at that. “I really was worrying for nothing.”
“All troops, full speed ahead! Target: the White Stork Empire!” Yi Yinchuan roared.
“Yes, sir!” All the winged men spread their wings and shot toward White Stork’s direction.
The witches of the witch tribe sat on broom-like magic devices, following unhurriedly behind the winged troops.
The incubi couldn’t fly, but their bodies were ghostlike, their speed incredibly fast. They quickly vanished into the night.
The Bimong, however, were left far behind. Their bodies were massive, their speed slow, and they could only rely on two thick legs to pound along the ground.
…
The vampires stationed at Agasas Hospital sensed the Ruined Land alliance army approaching and began withdrawing rapidly via the teleportation array.
The last vampire to leave was the hospital director. She set a timed explosive spell on the teleportation array, and the moment she vanished, the entire hospital exploded.
Boom!
After the deafening blast, the hospital was reduced to rubble, smoke billowing everywhere.
The people of Agasas were startled by the sudden disaster. They rushed out of their homes, staring from afar at the exploding hospital.
“Why did the hospital blow up?” “No idea.”
“Who did this? How does a perfectly fine hospital just explode?”
Citizens in the streets started talking all at once, puzzled about the cause of the explosion.
The teleportation array had been created by the former Queen of the Vampires, Lilia. The vampires would never leave such a precious array behind. If other races discovered its rules, the loss would be immeasurable. So before evacuating, the vampires would always destroy the teleportation array.
Soon, a squad of battle mages arrived on the scene, searching for the cause of the explosion.
A young man with a wild imagination suddenly said, “Could it be those Ruined Land bastards? If the battle mages get hurt, they won’t be able to receive treatment in time.”
“Don’t spout nonsense here and spread rumors—”
Before the battle mage could finish, an enemy-attack alarm rang through the entire city.
“Enemy attack! We’re under attack!”
“Hurry, hide, enemy attack!”
In an instant, the whole city fell into chaos, waves of people screaming everywhere.
Hearing the alarm, the battle mages rushed toward the defensive line. One powerful summoned beast after another was called out from star-gates, ready to fight.
Three minutes after the alarm bells began to toll, large numbers of winged soldiers surged in from all directions, charging at the battle mages on the walls.
In a heartbeat, the city walls were engulfed in battle. The winged soldiers were not only fast but also strong, and quickly gained the upper hand.
“Ruined Land savages!!!” A girl in an alley clenched her fists, anger flashing in her eyes.
The girl was none other than Vilya, a student of the Heavenly Capital Academy (Night White’s classmate).
She was the daughter of a wealthy man in Agasas, pampered since childhood and proud by nature. During the last invasion of the White Stork Empire by the Ruined Land savages, Vilya’s father and mother died at their hands. Most of the Heavenly Capital Academy’s students were either killed or crushed when the school buildings collapsed. Vilya had been lucky enough to escape and survived by a hair’s breadth.
These days, Vilya dreamt every night of her parents’ deaths, leaving her unable to eat or sleep in peace.
Gradually, flames started licking around Vilya’s fists, and a searing aura rose from her body.
Seeing this, Dominia immediately said, “Vilya, don’t be reckless! You’ve only just stepped into Forbidden Spell. There’s no way you alone can stand against an entire alliance army. Be rational.” (Night White’s classmate)
“Family hatred, national hatred—I can’t hold it down. I’m going to avenge my parents!” Vilya ground out between clenched teeth.
“But right now you can’t even cast a Forbidden Spell. How are you going to face the enemy? Your parents would rather see you live well and kill more of them in the future, not charge in blindly and throw your life away!” Dominia urged.
Hearing Dominia’s words, the flames around Vilya slowly faded, her aura calming down.
Dominia grabbed Vilya’s hand and pulled her back to a shabby rented room. She tossed Vilya an emergency pack she’d prepared in advance. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
“One day, I’ll avenge my parents and classmates. No matter what it costs, I’ll make these beasts pay with their lives for my parents and my classmates!” Vilya took the pack. Her eyes blazed with hatred.
The two of them left the place as fast as they could, sprinting toward the imperial capital of the White Stork Empire.
…
In the time it took an incense stick to burn, the city gates of Agasas were blown open by the witches’ spells. Thousands of winged soldiers dropped from the sky and started slaughtering the civilians below. The stench of blood spread through the entire city.
For a time, the city rang with screams, sobs, and wails.
“Don’t kill us, please, don’t kill us…”
“Help, there are monsters…”
“Ah… don’t kill us…”
The winged soldiers’ frenzied slaughter plunged the whole city into madness. To survive, many people even cast aside their dignity and knelt, begging the winged soldiers for mercy.
“Don’t kill me, I’m willing to be your slave…”
“Don’t kill me, I’ll be your servant, please, let me go…”
Seeing the civilians kneeling and howling in pain, the winged soldiers felt a perverse thrill. Their blades fell even harder.
The incubus soldiers destroyed magrail trains and other transport, cutting off any hope of escape for the civilians.
Bright red blood stained every street and alley. Corpses lay everywhere, and the thick smell of blood drifted over the whole city of Agasas.
In just one short hour, Agasas completely fell. Not a single civilian got out alive.
Vilya and Dominia escaped through the sewers. Their clothes and faces were smeared with filth, their bodies grimy from head to toe, looking as ragged as beggars, utterly disheveled.
Then Dominia began chanting softly, “Yin Xun! Wings of Haste!”
As she cast the spell, a pair of wings made of wind elements unfolded behind her back.
Dominia then pulled Vilya into her arms and said, “Vilya, hold my neck tight. If you fall from up high, I’m not coming after you.”
“If I fall, I’ll use magic to blast you down with me,” Vilya shot back as she wrapped her arms around Dominia’s neck.
“Such a sharp tongue.” With that, Dominia rose into the air and streaked toward the sky.
…
“Humans really are weak. The moment they face a strong enemy, they lose even the ability to defend themselves. Not a trace of resistance,” a winged soldier laughed.
Yi Yinchuan stayed silent. He stepped forward and slapped the soldier across the face. The blow was so heavy the soldier spat a mouthful of blood.
“Since ancient times, arrogant troops always lose. I’m not just saying this to him—I’m saying it to every one of you. I want you to treat every opponent as if they were part of the Demon Emperor’s infernal army. Killing a few unarmed civilians is nothing. If you’ve got guts, go chop off some demon soldiers’ heads before you talk like that again!” Yi Yinchuan barked.
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried such pressure that the soldiers around him all fell silent, trembling.
“Keep marching! Target, the White Stork imperial capital!” Yi Yinchuan roared, leading the bulk of the alliance army forward in attack.
Some witches cast wind magic to speed up the Bimong soldiers; their pace was just too slow.
With the witches’ help, the Bimong’s speed increased dramatically. They were still far from flying, but at least they could now see the figures of the winged men ahead.
