Chapter 352: Chapter 324: Existing in Name Only

In that moment, it was as if all the clamor of Steelmane City had been stripped away.

On the walls of the inner fortress, all eyes were locked on the three behemoths high in the sky.

A stifling sensation, the likes of which they had never experienced, pressed down on them. Even breathing became difficult, their chests feeling as if they were stuffed with waterlogged cotton.

"What are those things?"

"Airships... B-but, what kind of airships are that big?"

"Even the largest airships aren’t one-tenth their size!"

Everyone was utterly terrified.

It would be no exaggeration to call the behemoths before them castles.

But when had they ever seen castles that could fly?

It was simply inconceivable!

Uerk snapped back to his senses. He immediately suppressed his terror, turned, and roared, "Quick! Assemble all troops and prepare for battle!"

’Whatever those things in the sky are, they certainly don’t come in peace.’

’The priority is to stop them!’

Several Order Officers practically tumbled down the fortress walls. Soon, hoarse commands echoed from every corner of the inner fortress.

Steelmane City erupted into a flurry of activity, like an iron pot stirred to a boil.

Throngs of troops began to converge from barracks, alleyways, and training grounds, surging toward the inner fortress along the main thoroughfare.

At the same time, on the west side of Steelmane City, a torrent of grayish-brown shot into the air, bursting through the rising dust and streaking toward the sky.

It was a flying legion.

Fully armed Beastman soldiers on their mounts soared into the sky one after another.

Their mounts were as solid as mountain rock. Broad, leathery wings extended from their backs, the roots as thick as tree trunks and covered in dense, grayish-brown fur.

They were Camel Wing Beasts.

This flying legion, composed of well-trained soldiers atop aerial mounts famed for their endurance and ferocity, was the Steel Mane Tribe’s trump card—their most elite force.

The sight of nearly a thousand Camel Wing Beasts taking flight should have been spectacular and terrifying. Yet, as they ascended to the same altitude as the three flying towers, the entire legion looked minuscule before the behemoths, like moths drawn to a giant tree.

Even the shadows they cast were completely swallowed by the towers’ gloom.

The lead officer steeled himself and urged his mount forward, hovering about two hundred meters from the towers. He signaled his men to prepare to attack, then bellowed, "This is Steelmane City! Identify yourselves immediately, or don’t blame us for what comes next!"

His voice carried far across the open sky.

However, the response was a sudden, deep hum.

The three towers suddenly lit up.

Dark golden light surged from the patterns etched into the tower walls, climbing up along the tiered eaves to converge among the floating bronze bells at the apex.

In the next instant, a dazzling light erupted, sweeping out like a golden flood and instantly engulfing the entire sky.

The Camel Wing Beast riders surrounding the towers were instantly swallowed by the light.

They only felt something explode in their field of vision before everything went white.

Screams, gasps of alarm, and the crazed shrieks of startled mounts erupted all at once.

Overcome by sudden vertigo and excruciating pain, the Camel Wing Beasts began to tumble and thrash wildly in the sky.

In an instant, a hundred Beastman soldiers were thrown from their mounts.

They plummeted from the sky, limbs flailing uselessly, and smashed against the city walls and streets below with dull thuds. They were reduced to pools of gore and mangled flesh, shattered armor and severed limbs scattering everywhere.

More Beastman soldiers clung desperately to their reins but were still tossed about by their frenzied mounts.

They roared, desperately trying to calm their Camel Wing Beasts, but their mounts were like blindfolded insects, crashing wildly through the sky. They collided with their comrades’ mounts, leathery wings tangling together in a spray of blood and shredded feathers.

The entire flying legion was completely neutralized in a single exchange.

The Beastman soldiers were given no time to recover. The next moment, the three towers moved again.

The bronze statues of three-legged golden crows atop the towers suddenly glowed. A reddish-gold light shone from within, spreading from their beaks to their wingtips.

Then, a torrent of searing Golden Crow True Fire erupted from their beaks, forming a line of flame that streaked across the sky, sweeping through the chaotic swarm of Camel Wing Beasts.

Wherever the flames passed, the grayish-brown Camel Wing Beasts and their Beastman riders were incinerated.

Before they could even scream, they were instantly reduced to clumps of charred ash that scattered downward like a silent black rain.

The aerial force of nearly a thousand was almost completely annihilated in the span of a few breaths.

The Beastman leaders on the fortress walls watched, their eyes nearly splitting with rage, their faces a mask of fury and horror.

"Damn it! What in the hell are those things!"

"Don’t just stand there! Attack! Destroy those towers!"

"We absolutely cannot let them attack again."

They had wiped out a thousand elite soldiers in a single exchange. It was terrifying to imagine the catastrophic casualties if those three behemoths attacked the troops on the ground.

The Beastman leaders present quickly realized this. They were all about to strike, preparing to shoot the three towers down from the sky.

However, before they could act, they watched in horror as the three towers, which had been hovering motionless, suddenly tilted and dove toward Steelmane City below.

In that instant, an overwhelming pressure enveloped all of Steelmane City, making it difficult even to breathe.

The dark-gold towers, accompanied by a heavy roar of wind, hurtled toward the ground like three giant mountains falling from the sky.

One of the towers aimed straight for the inner fortress wall, its massive shadow enveloping the entire wall and the buildings behind it.

The faces of the Beastman leaders paled instantly.

"Fall back!" Uerk roared, leaping backward himself.

Zul was right behind him, his form melting into a shadow as he retreated far into the distance.

The other Beastman leaders scattered to get clear.

Faced with the ferocious impact of such a behemoth, not even those at the Legendary Tier dared to meet it head-on.

Ska, the only one present with that kind of power, hesitated for a moment before choosing the safer option and retreating far back.

’It’s better not to take any risks until I know what these towers really are.’

BOOM!

The colossal sound of the tower crashing into the fortress wall reverberated throughout the city.

Rubble and dust billowed up like a tidal wave of earth kicked up by a storm, surging outward and engulfing the surrounding buildings.

As expected, the towering wall collapsed in an instant. Brick and stone pulverized into dust, which erupted from the cracks mixed with dirt and ash.

The base of the tower gouged into the earth, carving out a deep trench and grinding the entire section of the wall, along with its remaining ramparts, into the ground.

At the same time, the other two towers smashed down into different parts of the city. Buildings collapsed where they landed, flames shot skyward, and deep craters were blasted into the streets.

The troops rushing to the scene were crushed into the rubble along with the buildings.

Screams and cries mingled, piercing the dust-filled air.

All of Steelmane City trembled violently from the impact, as if seized and shaken by an invisible giant hand.

Uerk landed on a pile of rubble behind the collapsed wall. He turned his head, and his eyes nearly split with rage.

As far as the eye could see, the surrounding area was nothing but ruins.

Countless buildings had been reduced to rubble in the impact, and the casualties among his people were catastrophic.

Ska, watching from the sidelines, felt the corner of his eye twitch. He suddenly felt that his earlier decision had been quite wise.

Byron, meanwhile, was completely stupefied. He stared, mouth agape, at the scene of devastation, which looked as if it had been ravaged by a natural disaster. His mouth was dry, and for a long time, he was unable to speak.

Before they could recover from their shock, massive doors opened simultaneously at the base of each of the three towers.

Following that, a tide of enormous humanoid puppets, completely clad in armor and wielding Golden Melon Hammers, poured out.

They marched over the shattered bricks with neat, heavy steps, fanning out in all directions.

Following them were large numbers of soldiers clad in various types of battle armor.

They were of various appearances and races, yet they moved in neat formations with a ferocious aura, following closely behind the Yellow Turban Warriors as they charged forth to kill.

The Beastman army, having just suffered a devastating blow, didn’t even have a moment to catch its breath before the oncoming enemy threw their ranks into disarray, forcing them into a steady retreat.

The moment the Yellow Turban Warriors appeared, a Beastman elder recognized them as the unique Alchemy Puppets of the Silver Moon Race, and was immediately filled with shock and fury.

"They’re the Silver Moon Race’s puppets!"

"Damn it, how did they get here?!"

"Those three towers... they belong to the Silver Moon Race?"

All the leaders of the Steel Mane Tribe, including Uerk and Zul, were filled with a mixture of rage and bewildered suspicion.

They had never heard of the Silver Moon Race possessing such massive transport vessels!

More importantly, the three towers were enormous; they should have been impossible to miss. How had the Silver Moon Race bypassed all the watchtowers and defensive lines, evaded all detection, and arrived at Steelmane City undetected?

They were utterly baffled.

Ska was equally filled with shocked disbelief.

’I never imagined the Silver Moon Race was hiding something like this.’

The Steel Mane Tribe had only declared war two days ago.

To be able to assemble tens of thousands of troops in such a short time, transport them across thousands of miles, bypass layers of watchposts, and silently deploy them directly into the heart of the Steel Mane Tribe...

This level of mobilization and troop transport capability could no longer be described as merely "fast"!

In the face of such capabilities, terrain, distance, and defensive fortifications... all of them were rendered meaningless.

Whenever the Silver Moon Race wished, they could strike directly at the enemy’s heartland.

Even Ska, who was no military expert, understood what a terrifyingly effective tool this would be in warfare.

Traditional defensive lines, watchtowers, and scout networks were all but useless against this kind of transcendent deployment capability.

In that moment, he realized the Clan’s intelligence on the Silver Moon Race was gravely mistaken.

The military might they had displayed far exceeded anyone’s expectations.

’The Steel Mane Tribe is probably going to suffer a devastating loss today.’

’Even if they manage to repel the Silver Moon Race, this capital, which the Steel Mane Tribe has spent centuries of blood and sweat to build, will be reduced to ruins.’

’And the worst-case scenario... is probably outright defeat.’

Uerk had clearly reached the same conclusion.

He stared intently at the figures continuously pouring from the towers, the color draining from his face.

Not long after declaring war on the Silver Moon Race, most of the Steel Mane Tribe’s forces had been dispatched to the borderlands.

Fewer than fifty thousand soldiers remained to defend the city, and a significant number of them had already been wiped out in the Silver Moon Race’s surprise attack.

Now that the enemy had invaded the city, they had lost their defensive advantage. They were no match for the Silver Moon Race.

One could say that the outcome of this battle was decided the moment those three towers appeared over Steelmane City.

’The only chance to turn the tables now is to take out their command structure.’

’Once their leaders are dead, the soldiers and puppets will fall into leaderless chaos. Then, we might have a chance to counterattack.’

A sudden premonition struck Uerk. He snapped his head up, his gaze piercing through the smoke and fire of the battlefield to fall upon one of the towers.

High in the sky before the tower, seven or eight figures had appeared at some point.

The one in the lead wore a moon-white robe and had pale gold hair. Simply by standing there quietly, he projected a transcendent, otherworldly aura that was utterly at odds with the surrounding smoke and clamor of battle. It was as if he existed in another world, making him impossible to ignore.

The moment his gaze met the man’s, the fury in Uerk’s chest erupted like ignited oil.

He tilted his head back, his voice practically ground from between his teeth, brimming with unconcealed killing intent.

"Anton Silver Moon!"

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