"So what exactly are we going to do now?"

Milmos had been sitting idly all day and couldn't help but ask the steadfast Alvis beside him.

Ever since meeting with the human nobles last night, Alvis had not launched an all-out attack, nor had he plundered or taken advantage of the situation. Under his command, the dragon kin had simply taken the necessary supplies for travel and living before departing, even returning the few captured guards.

Then they settled into the central agency buildings. After a good night's sleep, Alvis gave no major orders, only continuously monitoring the city's stability and whether engineering projects were falling behind.

This left Milmos utterly perplexed. It had thought Alvis would first disarm the human nobles, gradually eliminate their outer forces by replacing them with dwarves, then find an excuse to bring in dragon kin reinforcements from Pillar Mountain to kill off a few key human leaders, or slaughter them all. Finally, it imagined Alvis would somehow explain things to Raphael and take power.

But he had missed the great opportunity last night, and now he simply stayed put. Was he just waiting to die?

"Alvis! Do you know how much risk I took to follow you here? Now the dwarves listen to you, Hil listens to you, and I do everything according to you! You're the uncrowned king of Erl! And you're just using this immense power to scare the humans a bit, then play act as mayor?"

Watching Alvis carefully study the city's data, Milmos could no longer hold back his furious questioning.

Not looking up, Alvis replied, "You think we should have a bloody street battle with the humans? Let the people's hidden traps laid by the nobles be activated? Those city fortresses are no use to us."

"What do you mean?" Milmos asked coldly.

"I've reviewed the previous laws and work logs. The construction of the city fortresses was ordered personally by this Komo fellow. He even used his authority and connections to delay production of uranium bowguns and mana crystal rifles at the alchemy plants, instead converting them to permanent mana crystal cannons. This was only a few days after you said Countess asked you to undermine and overthrow the rule of the Vattier and Moran families."

Alvis looked up. "These two idiots clearly had plans. On the surface, the twelve noble families' forces - the patrol squads, guardian knights - one was already under Komo's control, the other constantly away in the northern suburbs. So why did they also deploy their armed forces inside the city?"

Milmos pondered. "The nobles have covert agents among the people?"

"Correct. Being among them, they naturally know their comrades' forces have infiltrated the populace. Normally acting as toiling masses, but ready to support the manors as outside reinforcements when the time comes. That's why they built the fortresses, to let the patrol squads inside as a deterrent firepower."

"But what does that have to do with not taking action? Last night Hil and the human lackeys already controlled the city district. We easily entered their manors and confronted that leader. Now it's daytime, the perfect condition to strike!"

"The Ceda wyrms and dwarves have already set sail overnight! Our forces are further diminished. More importantly, the master is returning!"

Alvis remained unconcerned. "I'm waiting for Raphael to come back!"

He then addressed the extremely dissatisfied Baron Komo slouched in the sofa nearby. "Rest assured, everything is under control. Just wait for your lover to return safe and sound so you can reunite. After this, we'll be even closer. Then you'll know my good intentions - maybe you'll even call me a benefactor…for you, that is."

"Hmph! I'll happily await the good news!" Baron Komo snorted back rudely.

...

At this moment, it was already the sunset hour in the Eastern Trade Dragon Valley.

After Raphael checked for the thirty-fourth time that the supplies were complete and accounted for, a ship finally appeared in the distance.

"They're finally here!"

He had been eagerly awaiting this all day, idly wandering around the dragon valley watching his kind pragmatically exchange veins of ore and grain for cute little baby dragon gold coins, then using the fragrant gold to purchase decorations he saw as worthless.

Arnold said the younger dragons these days liked designing their rooms with unique styles - it was the progress of thought and the pursuit of self-worth.

But Raphael had experienced times of scarcity and knew that only naked power and wealth were what he wanted.

"Your ship seems to have a bit of an issue," Arnold said, holding a large monocular telescope to his eye and observing carefully before speaking to the red dragon.

"An issue?"

Raphael couldn't help but flap his wings and fly over rapidly.

As the distance closed, he saw ten wooden ships raising huge sewn canvas sails, tightly coordinated together as they carefully sailed. The Ceda wyrms on deck held dragonbreath artillery cannons arrayed as if facing a great enemy, while the dwarves stood ready by the primitive fire cannons.

"Who attacked my fleet?" Raphael was instantly enraged, for he noticed the two ships being protected in the middle had uneven hulls - those blackened holes and broken masts and decks were fresh trauma.

Boom!

A massive blast of wind pressure swept downwards. The Ceda wyrms and dwarves couldn't help but look up in terror - the crimson magic dragon hovered above!

"Who attacked you!" came the demanding roar, filled with extreme displeasure and suppressed killing intent.

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"Humans!" An elder dwarf leapt up from the high observation deck to shout back:

"Most noble lord! The humans from the eastern shore attacked us while we sailed in a line formation! With level 5 spell strength mana crystal cannons! The flag on their sails was a snake coiled around an eagle's talon!"

"Where are they?" Raphael glared down viciously, his ferocious draconic aura spreading outward.

Feeling the waves of draconic might, the dwarf elder trembled, but last night and this morning they had been relentlessly pursued by humans. If not for the Ceda wyrms' superb sailing skills constantly using countercurrents to block the enemy ships, they would have been caught and annihilated long ago - refitted cargo ships were no match for warships.

"Finally, we have a real bulwark to vent on!" The dwarf elder felt an rare sense of "having someone above" looking at the fierce and formidable Raphael. Though this red dragon was vicious and harsh, no one could deny his power.

This was a mainstay that could prop up the confidence of all races in a force, a nation.

...

"Just about 25 nautical miles behind us to the south! Relentlessly pursuing!" The dwarf elder pointed viciously.

Raphael turned his gaze, gave a flap of his wings and instantly became a crimson blur vanishing from sight, leaving a great wind that sent the fleet into disarray, almost colliding with each other as waves nearly swamped them.

"Sergeant Rainard, are those dragon kin still ahead?" On the Ryton warship, an aged officer in a white academy uniform called out loudly to the sailor above.

"Yes sir, Lieutenant Colonel, I can still see the tail end of their turtle formation!" Rainard operated complex alchemical equipment on the observation deck - this vibration-resistant, shake-proof, waterproof telescope was imported from the Natterian Empire, originally used on its alloy armored ships for ocean voyages.

But the Ryton Kingdom had no sea access, so they just used this butcher's knife to slaughter chickens.

"Keep them pinned but don't press too tight," the lieutenant colonel instructed. "See what these dragon kin suddenly departing from the fallen Oakenburg area are up to and determine their objective."

Ever since Raphael occupied Oakenburg, the nearby Ryton nation had naturally been on high alert. They intensify warship patrols to detect enemies early.

Night was the key patrol time, and telescopes with serpent-eye spells easily spotted the Ceda wyrms slipping out under cover of darkness.

The patrolling ship squadrons included three lacking long-range capability, so the remaining four ironclad warships rapidly reported to headquarters before independently giving chase.

Thus began an entire night of skirmishing and firing until day broke, by which time they had entered the northern mainland interior and the Ryton warships shifted from aggressive attacks to intermittent bombardment, primarily observing to avoid rousing any dragons ashore.

"Still, it's a bit surprising these dragon kin could withstand our ironclads' assault in wooden ships without losing a single vessel," the lieutenant colonel debated with his staff officers nearby.

"In any case, this is also an opportunity," said one young blond staff officer. "First, we can probe the evil dragons' outside military strength. Second, we can obtain their recent strategic objectives - our high command and the imperial analysts all believe this incident was instigated by the dragon clan behind the scenes. These apex predators are starting to become restive."

"But the integration of their internal forces is too sloppy," a disdainful intelligence officer sneered. "Our spies love assignments in the Dragon Domain the most because it's the easiest - as long as you don't enter the dragons' territories, everywhere else is wide open with zero grassroots organization or mobilization ability. From the perspective of mobile tactics and localized encirclements, we humans can efficiently concentrate all our strength into one fist, a blow no single dragon could withstand alone."

The lieutenant colonel remained unmoved by his subordinates' arrogant scoffs, suddenly feeling a slight breeze gently caressing his face, as tender as a lover's lips intimately tracing his cheeks.

"Don't view dragons, those extreme beings, through the lens of social creatures," the lieutenant colonel stopped his men's antics. "When I studied naval knowledge in the Natterian Empire, one day the teacher was ill and a draconologist temporarily substituted - he was the imperial consultant on the general theory of battle-dragons at sea. He said in ancient times, every single dragon was a warrior capable of shaking entire continents, with enough stamina and energy to exhaust any race."

The lieutenant colonel's words clearly didn't connect with his subordinates' neural pathways as they exchanged wordless looks and headshakes at the old fool mired in legends.

Suddenly! A raging wind struck! The entire ironclad warship began violently pitching, sailors not well-braced went tumbling, their heads smashing into the iron railing bases for instant deaths!

Woooo!!!!

The shrill blaring of urgent ship horns echoed across these waters as the deck officers immediately tackled and shielded the lieutenant colonel with their bodies.

Then, a tremendous explosion rocked a nearby warship, iron shrapnel and debris rapidly spraying outward, some pieces striking the young officer shielding the lieutenant colonel, his gut organs shredded as he immediately passed out.

"Under attack!"

"Fire crews, hurry!"

"We have casualties! Where are the medic mages!"

"Return fire! Return fire!"

Chaos erupted like a powder keg, sailors and officers frantically running, commanding, acting.

The lieutenant colonel was dragged into the command cabin by arriving guards, then a mass of people came rushing with reports.

"Sir! The enemy seems to have attacked from high above! Suspected dragon, the remaining three warships report no hostiles detected on the water or shoreline."

The lieutenant colonel's eyes went wide. "Airborne? A dragon? Impossible! Our telescopes use the latest technology! The thermal imaging can detect any enemy, the Observation Protocols explicitly require incorporating anti-air observation as a priority - even if one ship's sailors were lazy, would all four be lazy together? I trust my sailors!"

That officer nodded and withdrew hurriedly, anxiously reestablishing communications with the other two ships.

"Sir, the Hamburg is three-quarters sunk! Many of our brethren are struggling for life on the surface. Shall we dispatch hands to rescue them?" A short, stout sailor reported. But from his tear-filled eyes, the lieutenant colonel knew everyone wanted to go save their comrades.

"Of course, go quickly! Provide covering fire with the portable bowguns."

Before the lieutenant colonel could catch his breath, the two officers he had been speaking with earlier dragged over a corpse with an agonized expression and reported sorrowfully:

"Lieutenant Colonel, sir. Hermann is dead. Cause of death was his internal organs shredded by shrapnel… he died in extreme pain from blood loss, suffocation and agony."

The other officer closed the staff officer's eyes. "He had even invited us to attend his wedding with his fiancée next month. Did you forget he had requested leave that you denied? That night he complained about what he'd do if he missed the wedding, how he'd have descendants to join the military and continue serving the kingdom."

Watching the dead officer's face muscles gradually slacken into repose, the lieutenant colonel tensed his jaw and ordered:

"Condense the fleet! Form a triangle formation and turn around slowly. Retrieve the crew, then withdraw!"

Though this order seemed cowardly, Ryton officers were rational and obedience was paramount - without hesitation they began executing the lieutenant colonel's command.

"How did it come to this?!"

After issuing the order, the lieutenant colonel slowly squatted down, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Wait! That enemy still hasn't been found!" He suddenly remembered, his attention obscured by news of his comrades' brutal deaths.

Roaaar!!!

A ferocious draconic roar tore through the air outside! The lieutenant colonel raised his head towards the window in terror and shock - a crimson dragon the size of two ironclad ships swooped down in godly descent! It effortlessly smashed through the second ironclad!

Hundreds of energy cannons then opened fire in volleys that seemed to merely tickle the crimson demon's scales.

"So this is the true face of our enemy?"

The lieutenant colonel watched the massive beast staring directly at him, its dark golden slit-pupiled eyes bloodshot and radiating murderous intent, especially that protruding horn most ominous.

Then tremendous waves came crashing, completely capsizing this ship, the lieutenant colonel and his remaining fleet mates all plunged into the watery grave!