The armour which the Scarlet Demons wore was not simply for show. They were forged by masterful blacksmiths using a metal that was fished up from the bottom of the sea that bordered the North: World's End Sea.
This metal, named 'Abyssal Steel,' was native to the North and was mainly only used to craft the armours of the Scarlet Demon Army.
As the black arrows of the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction fell, a majority of them clashed powerlessly against the surface of the Scarlet Demons' armour and fell to the ground, leaving nothing but a white scratch on the dark surface.
A small minority of the arrows managed to seek the gaps between the armours and managed to injure the Scarlet Demons. Genetically modified or not, their blood was still red and their lives were still finite.
Of the nine thousand or so Scarlet Demons that still stood atop Dawn Mountain, two dozen Scarlet Demons directly fell; the arrows had managed to find the gap in their helmet and had pierced their heads.
Three thousand archers shooting had managed to claim the lives of two dozen Scarlet Demons in the first volley.
Far from Dawn Mountain, Feng Tianfei calmly ordered. "Keep firing and do not let up. Also, employ the siege crossbows that we brought along."
The golden-armoured heroic-looking general already knew that it was futile to argue and simply went along with everything that the princess said. He was extremely efficient and competent in his duty, carrying out Tianfei's orders with exacting precision.
"Fire!" He yelled and following his command, thirty or so siege crossbows -created for the express purpose of destroying fortified castles and walls- lashed out, sending massive iron bolts thick as an infant's fist.
Over at the mountain, the Scarlet Demons did not earn a single moment of respite as they continuously faced the battering assault of the enemy archers. With each passing volley, more of their personnel succumbed to the attacks and fell, never to rise.
Blazing Steel was no incompetent fool. He quickly made arrangements to set up defences that could 'whether' these indiscriminate attacks. Unfortunately for him, the enemy this time just so happened to be completely unreasonable.
Just as the initial defences were set up, the iron bolts of the siege crossbows fell from the sky and impaled multiple Scarlet Demons in one go. Facing these weapons of great destruction, even the genetically modified Scarlet Demons were as soft and helpless as lambs.
Somewhere else on the battlefield, Yuelong, who had sought cover underneath a rocky outcrop, inwardly cursed at the sheer insanity of his fiancé, Feng Tianfei.
'This woman! Is she here to save us or bury us alongside our enemies!?!' He always knew Tianfei to be rather unreasonable and eccentric. And usually, these were qualities that he loved about her. However, given the situation that he found himself in currently, Yuelong began to worry about his future.
Such worries only continued to mount and intensify when he discovered that siege crossbows were being fired.
Yuelong felt a chill in his heart. He no longer felt safe underneath the rock that he hid.
The firing of arrows by the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction's Archers Division continued without breaks. They did not seem to be running out of arrow or siege bolts anytime soon, judging from their indiscriminate and wanton use of these implements.
It also made sense when one considered that the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction's original intention was to lay siege to Caroxtel City, the capital of the South Aislan Empire.
Within the camp of the Heavenly Spirit Empire faction, Feng Tianfei gazed at this scene of continuous fire and sighed with dejection. "If only we could have brought those mortars and cannons along with us."
The heroic-looking general who stood next to her heard these words and nearly happened to run away; no longer wanting to serve this devilish woman!
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Just then, Tianfei, who happened to be quietly sighing to herself, suddenly straightened up. A serious expression appeared on her face as she turned to look at the sky.
The heroic-looking general happened to follow her line of sight and also gazed at the sky. However, apart from the cloudless, clear blue sky, he saw nothing.
Tianfei, however, seemed to see a lot of things. Her eyes roamed the sky, seemingly reading something, and her mouth continuously muttered calculations. After nearly five minutes of this strange state, her face suddenly paled as her body shook.
With her cultivation supporting her, Tianfei managed to recover her footing. She then lowered her head and spoke with an extremely serious tone. "The Plains of Trigo."
"My Lady?" The heroic-looking general couldn't help but ask once again.
"The battle that decides the Hegemon of this continent," explained Tianfei. "It will occur at the Plains of Trigo, three days from now."
The heroic-looking general did not ask how she happened to know these things. Instead, he pondered for a moment before saying, "The plains are half a day's travel from here."
Tianfei nodded her head. She then said, "Instruct only the Golden Wing Army to arrive here for clean-up. The rest of the armies are to head to the plains and secure an advantageous location to set camp."
"The final battle is upon us, general. We cannot leave without a proper fight."
---
The hail of arrows and crossbow bolts continued to rain down upon Dawn Mountain for nearly a full hour. In the end, after the indiscriminate bombardment, there were more stalks of arrows than there were blades of grass upon the mountain surface.
The Golden Wing Army, an army that had arrived from the Heavenly Spirit Empire mainland, arrived during this period. Under the heroic-looking general's instruction and lead, they swept the ravaged Dawn Mountain looking for any survivors amongst the enemy forces.
It was when the Golden Wing Army was halfway up the mountain, upon the mountain waist, that a soul-piercing roar crushed the air. Humongous bodies of dead Scarlet Demons strewn on the ground were suddenly thrown into the air as their kin and brothers-in-arms, having used their companions as body shields and faked their 'deaths' for a chance at a counterattack, rushed to attack the Golden Wing Army.
Their charge was akin to an avalanche; their momentum was forceful and crushing as falling rocks.
Before the Golden Wing Army could even recover from their debilitated state after the sudden roar, they found themselves besieged by the Scarlet Demons. Their strengths were incomparable; they were simply crushed on first contact.
The heroic-looking general dressed in golden armour was a seasoned veteran of many battles. Witnessing this sudden change, he did not panic and instead became incomparably calm. After giving the battle situation a look, he immediately came up with a solution.
Form lines! Raise shields! Resist!
Three commands were passed and the Golden Wing Army instinctively followed his words. They raised their arms, locked their shields, and hunkered down to resist the furious charge of the Scarlet Demons. Their previously paper-like frontline immediately changed to resemble an iron wall.
Spear-wielders! Raise your spears!
His following command immediately had the backlines rearranged as soldiers wielding spears stepped forward to jab their weapons in between the gaps of the linked shields and into the bodies of the rampaging Scarlet Demons. Now, normally, such an attack would have been thwarted by the steel armour worn by the Scarlet Demons. However, after being battered by iron bolts and arrows for a whole hour, many weaknesses and cracks formed on their surface.
As such, the iron spears pierced through their armour and pierced their organs. Suffering fatal damage, the Scarlet Demons stopped their movements and lifelessly fell atop of the shields.
Pull back! Repeat! Second line!
At this command, the initial spear-wielders recovered their spears and moved away. Their spots were taken by a second line of spear-wielders who repeated the actions of their predecessors.
Under such a systematic defence, the charge of the Scarlet Demons was quickly culled. Apart from the initial losses that they suffered after being caught off-guard, the Golden Wing Army suffered very few casualties in the subsequent resistance.
Move! Step over those bodies and walk forward!
The shield-bearers roared a unified shout and took a step forward. Their linked shields resembled a massive golden city wall as they progressed ahead to face even more attacks from the Scarlet Demons.
Before long, all Scarlet Demons were crushed. The Scarlet Demon Army faction was no more upon the soil of the South Aislan Continent.
---
Hours later.
Wearing his bloodstained, filth-covered armour and uniform, Mu Yuelong, the young heir of the Mu Household and the Chief Commander of the Mu Household faction's armies, sat inside an opulent carriage with a grim and severe expression on his face.
Sitting on the other side facing him was his fiancée, 'Goddess' Feng Tianfei. Unlike him, she wore a neat and luxurious violet-coloured dress and sported a beautiful smile on her face.
A tense silence hung in the air as the two partners faced each other.
"You don't seem very happy with the fact that I came and rescued you," said Feng Tianfei, breaking the silence.
Taking a deep breath to calm his boiling rage, Yuelong severely said, "You shot at us. You shot arrows at my men!"
Yuelong slammed his fist against the adjacent table. The force of his impact caused the entire carriage to tremble.