"Charge!"

Akuniryas and his comrades charged forward relentlessly. The few scattered dragon kin along the front lines spanning dozens of kilometers could only try to stall them at key points.

So when this vanguard force broke through the final fortress ahead, the dark silhouettes of the tall buildings in the Oakenburg city center were already vaguely visible in the distance.

"We've finally returned!"

Tears welled up in the corners of Akuniryas' eyes as he recalled infiltrating this place with the dragon slayers before, only able to secretly witness the suffering of his compatriots being enslaved by the foreigners.

Now they could brazenly slaughter their way in!

"Fire the signal flares," he ordered his subordinates.

Three blinding green smoke trails immediately shot up into the sky, signaling to the clustered army forces that this area had been breached, urging them to quickly send reinforcements through this opening into the city center.

"Lieutenant, watch out above!" The engineer Fennis suddenly shouted in alarm.

Before Akuniryas could even look up, dark meteors rained down from the sky at high speed, crashing towards the unsuspecting vanguard troops around him with no time to react.

The explosive force instantly shredded more than a dozen soldiers closest to the blasts. A miasma of noxious purple-black fog then spread out, black oil oozing across the ground carrying a virulent poison.

"Black dragon! Take cover!"

The scout screamed out, Akuniryas finally making out a slender draconic form writhing in the moonless night sky. Its scales glinted with an eerie blacklight under the illumination flares fired from miles away.

"That black dragon from the Strife Plain? It was attracted by the flares?" He had not yet seen the rumored crimson dragon allies described in the intelligence reports and overlooked this threat.

But there was no time for regrets now. The black dragon hovered midair, its blood-red vertical pupils locking onto the tiny isolated ground force as it relentlessly bombarded them with magic.

Orbs of decay, darkness spheres, and shadowflight arrows mercilessly reaped the lives of the vanguard troops.

"Ah! What is this? I can't move!"

"My bones are melting! Kill me! Please, kill me!"

The shadowy powers contained a terrifying corrosive quality that inspired dread and hatred - the black dragon's bloodline gift.

The viscous black oil stuck to anything it touched, immobilizing its victims.

It would then corrode through any protective gear before seeping into the exposed flesh, melting internal organs, bones and blood vessels alike. The nerves transmitted every agonizing sensation, the torture exceeding even dragonfire.

Akuniryas was caught unawares as well, but the black oil could not adhere to his body. As his uniform corroded away, it sloughed off like a mask upon touching his skin.

"Cough! Cough!"

He covered his mouth to keep the poisonous fumes from entering as the purple fog silently suffocated anyone trapped in the black night.

"Fennis?"

Akuniryas suddenly noticed the battalion's most skilled engineer not far in front of him, the latter's calves already ensnared by the black sludge. He hurried over for a closer look.

"Not through the dermis yet, you might still have a chance." He risked turning on his daylamp to examine the injury.

"Sir, you should run!" Fennis' face had taken on an eerie purple-blue pallor, cold sweat streaming down in beads under the bright light.

But instead of fear, he bizarrely cracked a slight smile.

"Sir, we've managed to rescue Morey after all. Exchanging my life for that is well worth it."

Akuniryas took out a small medical saw instead.

"Fennis, you're not dead yet! I need to saw off your leg because the decay hasn't spread into your body."

But just as he was about to begin, Fennis suddenly gripped his arm tightly.

"Don't be reckless! You can still li-"

Akuniryas thought the engineer was giving up hope of survival and was about to persuade him otherwise.

But when he saw the other's face, he could not help but shudder violently, the small saw slipping from his grip and clattering to the ground.

Fennis' face had severely bloated and decayed, his entire head swelling to three times its size. His pores had dilated to a horrifying magnitude, wisps of purple-blue poison gas hissing out as bloody blisters bubbled up one by one across his features before bursting - even for the veteran Akuniryas used to gruesome sights, he could not help but gag.

The surrounding screams and arcing bowgun fire had fallen silent at some point, no more dark spells raining from above. The black dragon seemed to have departed.

"Heh heh…ha…ha…"

Mocking laughter laced with the rumbling of the ominous thunderclouds seemed to emanate from everywhere, ridiculing the would-be heroes whose entire vanguard had been slaughtered by just a few spells.

Bang!

Fennis' head swelled to its maximum before finally exploding, splattering Akuniryas with blood, brain matter and some other vile substances.

But he showed no fear or revulsion, only numbly rising to his feet to take in the grisly demise of the comrades who had fought by his side.

"Although I should probably stay here and await reinforcements…"

He muttered to himself as he casually picked up a few bowguns, removing the uranium cores and pocketing them. He then gathered all the explosive alchemical vials and some supplementary craft gear, fully arming himself.

"…But my battalion has been annihilated. I have no face to meet my other comrades now."

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He did not want to cower pathetically behind some large tree, only to be found by the relief troops amidst the gruesomely slain corpses.

Akuniryas steadfastly set his sights on the nearby city center. He crouched low and began creeping forward cautiously, bowguns gripped tightly like a night hunter meticulously alert to his surroundings.

Passing through the layers of shaded foliage, there was bizarrely not a single dragon kin to be found nearby.

"It seems that black dragon did not come for the flares. The enemy knew a force had breached their lines before that and specially deployed it to deal with us."

He analyzed inwardly. The closer he got to the city center, the stronger the defenses became as the fortresses grew more concentrated in the shrinking area.

But once through the defensive perimeter, there were shockingly no remaining guard forces whatsoever!

"What's that?"

Akuniryas emerged from the small woods to see an incongruous cluster of fortresses ahead with no mage-crystal turrets or troops garrisoned atop them.

He stealthily crept closer but still no one hindered him, as if the enemy believed that should a human army advance this far, the war was already hopelessly lost - no need to waste combat resources here.

"A gate. Let's see what's inside."

Akuniryas blasted the iron door's lock with his bowgun. The thunderous boom did not deter him from immediately charging through the billowing smoke.

Inside were two passages, one leading up and the other down. The upper path obviously ascended to the fortress cluster above, so he chose to enter the underground workings below.

"This is…!"

As soon as Akuniryas entered, he was stunned to find multiple branching tunnels sprawled out before him, the crisscrossing passageways delving deep into unfathomable darkness.

"The whole underground is interconnected! Could these tunnels lead directly into the interior of the various fortresses? No wonder we couldn't find entrances to the disabled forts before - they were accessed through these underground passages."

He murmured in realization before a vital revelation struck him - the fortresses infiltrated by the explosive vials had not truly lost combat ability! The dragon kin could recirculate and reinforce the compromised citadels through these tunnels. That supposed breach in their defensive line could quickly regain its strength!

The relief forces would be lured into a devastating trap, marching forward with no defenses as they were systematically butchered.

"I guess this underground complex only has a few exits…the front line had one, but that route has already been destroyed. This is the only remaining way in or out now, guarding those scrawny kobolds while any stragglers are mopped up by the hammer drakes. No wonder it's undefended - if a large army force made it this far, it means the outer fortresses have already failed. They can just abandon them."

If one or two lucky survivors slipped in, it would hardly make waves.

"No! I have to find a way to stop the relief troops!"

Envisioning potential casualties over two thousand strong, Akuniryas immediately cleared his mind, his military discipline compelling him to prevent sacrificing his allies.

But just as he turned to leave, a shadowy figure appeared at the tunnel entrance.

"Who's there?"

He whipped around, dropping into a combat stance as his bowgun snapped up and fired!

The bundled uranium rounds screamed out in a thunderous report, unerringly striking the shadowy form square in the chest.

But apart from exploding cloth and debris, the bowgun attack seemed to impact like it had struck one of those reinforced fortresses - no sensation of rending flesh.

"?"

Disbelieving, Akuniryas fired again with the same ineffective result.

"I didn't see any mana shielding, it shouldn't be completely unharmed!"

Lowering his weapons, he could only squint with wide eyes as the shadowy figure stepped into the dim illumination of the torchlight.

A tree root…

That was all Akuniryas registered before his vision spun and his brain seemed to tumble. The tensed nerves abruptly slackened, his over two meter tall frame crashing heavily to the ground with a dull thud!

The shadowy figure retracted its foreleg, contemplatively regarding the unconscious battalion commander wheezing softly before it.

…

For now, the siege of Pillar Mountain had entered a lull.

Ryton was under far greater pressure than the Imperial Allied forces, with the power of three primordial dragons alone enough to counter their air forces. Their equipment and supply situation was also nowhere near as abundant.

The day's battles had nearly depleted their uranium energy reserves, the remaining stocks still trickling in from the rear. The gryphons and battle dragons were also severely fatigued - to immediately launch a night assault through such daunting terrain and opposition would only end in defeat.

Raphael abruptly awoke after several hours of deep slumber.

The surrounding lights had been extinguished. Apart from Arnold, whom he had used as a headrest, Milmos, Henry and the other dragon kin were nowhere to be seen, even Old Flame had departed.

"They've all gone out?"

The massive draconic form slowly sat upright, his golden scaled back earning a contented snore from the golden dragon who seemed quite pleased to have the weight lifted off him.

Raphael gradually clambered through the vast empty cavern. The laborer kin had only recently cleared out the extensive rubble left by the dragonslayers, expanding the space though not yet having time to construct refined buildings. Thus, he did not need to worry about knocking over a structure with an errant swish of his tail as he strode unimpeded towards the exit.

Outside was ablaze with fires as dragon kin, vassals and human laborers armed themselves, either willingly or under coercion. The distant Dragon Domain headquarters similarly glowed with numerous lights as the humans prepared for their assault on the mountain tomorrow.

"I imagine Augustus felt much the same mindset as I do now, before I tore him apart."

Raphael's draconic eyes could not conceal the hatred, ferocity and barely restrained wrath with no outlet, truly tasting the bitterness of defeat in war.

His wings drooped despondently as his shoulders slumped. He could not help but question himself: "Am I too weak? Or are my overall forces too feeble?"

Raphael recalled Alvis' strategic proposal to abandon Pillar Mountain.

"Give up the mountain…that would mean should I fail, the dominion I have painstakingly built up will utterly crumble! My dragon kin will go extinct, my subordinates will flee as refugees. Those lands, weapons, mines…and my gold! It will all scatter to the winds, no different than my former vagrant existence. No, even more wretched!"

Losing all those material holdings would rob Raphael of a certain "gravitas" - he would no longer command rights and influence.

Not that he particularly cared about that, but gold and a stable food source were the bottom line, and both required that "gravitas" to sustain them.

"Calling in the Prulis faction…I suppose that's an option," Raphael still felt Alvis' strategy was too risky as he considered other paths.

"But that would mean submitting to their dragon's interference. Even my treasury would become widespread knowledge…Although those four humans who tried to kill me have already seen it, the greed of my own kind is far worse. They are nothing but beasts cloaked in a veneer of civilization!"

He did not hesitate to disparage his dragon compatriots with the utmost malice. Arnold and Old Flame were the only direct outside aid he could accept.

The current war situation could not be resolved with just some material support. He would need several tremendously powerful primordial dragon allies to selflessly intervene and directly counter the human's two-pronged offensive.

"But then what? A few ungrateful dragons lingering and making demands would be an even worse headache than the humans. They would uphold that hypocrite Herazanthos' principles to dominate and deprive me of my wealth and authority. And the humans would inevitably dispatch an even larger army to besiege me. If it escalated to an all-out war between dragons and mankind, where would my interests lie amidst such cataclysm?"

Considering the broader implications, calling in the Prulis dragon reinforcements was simply not viable.

Then…there were no other options. Cooperating with Alvis' plan for a two-front counter-attack was the only solution, for Erl lacked the resources and strength for a protracted campaign - he needed to secure a decisive, rapid victory.

"If I can survive this crisis, I must take direct control in properly managing this base of operations!"

Ultimately, Raphael inwardly vowed to enact Alvis' plan.

Rumble!

A thunderous boom echoed from the skies above, but it was not from distant mage-cannon bombardments - this was a shift in the natural environment.

As the rolling thunder grew louder, droplets of rain began pattering down onto the crimson dragon's scales, the refreshing chill helping to clear his mind.

"Milmos!"

Raphael took wing, gliding down to where the core dragon kin contingent had set up large outfield tents along the lengthy fortress supply lines to work.

Gales whipped and lashed as the downpour intensified, forcing those within the tents to shield their faces.

"Master," Milmos ventured out into the wind and rain, looking up towards the crimson silhouette lurking behind the black rain-shrouded night, those golden vertical pupils glowing starkly.

"Abandon the defense of Pillar Mountain. Fully redeploy all the hammer drakes and combat kobolds southward. Non-combatants are to withdraw to those human noble estates and they will be guarded there. Only leave a minimum hammer drakes force alongside Old Flame to delay the human's advance along the supply lines."

Milmos was aghast. "Master! That will back us into an inescapable dead end!"

"We're already at a dead end!" Raphael scoffed coldly before winging off towards the city center.