The vanguard legion of the Ninth Imperial Army was cut off from retreat.

Concealed within the underground tunnels were two thousand kobolds redeployed from the old domain, armed with a wide assortment of weapons: dragonbreath artillery cannons, explosive crossbow, regular bowguns, and even cold weapons.

At this moment, the retreating artillery troops had to face head-on this dragon kin force that had been accumulating fury for so long.

However, the other legions waiting for reinforcements outside immediately noticed this and hurriedly reported it to their superiors.

"What?" The commander of the Ninth Legion was stunned upon hearing this desperate news. "The vanguard has been caught in a trap? Provide immediate artillery support to the other cannoneers! The battle drag…"

Before he could finish, he felt the ground trembling! The tables and chairs around him were shaken up and knocked over, and he himself was unfortunately thrown down as well.

"What's going on?"

"Reporting, sir." A scout hurried over. "A barrage of extremely powerful large energy spheres were fired from the forests on both flanks of the suburb, striking our forward positions. Our field mage-cannons suffered heavy losses. The artillery legions request retreat, as under such overwhelming bombardment they cannot complete their support mission, which would lead to the entire army being wiped out."

"Those dragon kin killing tactics?"

The legion commander could only think of this.

After the battle dragon Blaze fled back, it immediately divulged all the intelligence it had.

But before the staff officers could analyze it, Cornet demanded they quickly resolve the army's deployment issues, as he planned to launch the attack on September 4th.

As a result, the various legion commanders only knew the enemy had long-range capabilities similar to mage-cannons combined with aerial bombardment, but were completely unaware of the specifics - countermeasures, rate of fire, range, power level. The staff officers could only tell them to be careful.

The drawbacks of rushing became apparent, as lack of intelligence and insufficient analysis time led to the failure of the first battle.

"Can we see the enemy's position?" The legion commander asked the scout anxiously, eyes bloodshot.

The young man shook his head, exhaling before responding in a low voice, "No, they seem to be hiding deeper in the forest. But according to veteran artillerymen's estimates, they're about two kilometers out. The rate of fire is astonishing - likely over a thousand units firing simultaneously!"

"Pull the entire legion back two thousand meters," the legion commander ordered after taking a deep breath. "Our only hope now is the battle dragons."

...

On the frontline battlefield ahead.

The Empire's ground forces had been suppressed by Cinder Shell, effectively losing all combat capability. Their only remaining hope was the air force.

The gryphon squadrons circled, preparing to dive-bomb the kobold forces on the ground. But just as they formed up to descend, dozens of Cinder Shell volleys came flying in from unknown directions, exploding across that entire airspace!

The gryphon knights immediately suffered massive casualties. They then received the order to retreat from the legion commander via communication orb and had no choice but to withdraw.

Now, only the battle dragons could save the vanguard legion trapped in the encirclement.

"Stay away from the ground, watch for high-angle attacks, use spells to eliminate the dragon kin on the surface!"

Learning from Blaze's squad's lesson, this squad leader didn't dare risk getting too close to the ground. They spread out to avoid being caught in an area blanketed with energy attacks.

While maneuvering, they unleashed rapid-fire spells toward the kobolds, effectively killing off a portion of the dragon kin, but to no avail against the overall situation.

"Charge! Charge straight at those humans!"

The rat dragon Hil was the overall commander here, scuttling on four legs while carrying weapons on its back, shouting orders to the formation.

Its goal was to intermingle with the enemy forces, preventing the battle dragons from risking attacks that could harm allied troops.

"Commander! Hostiles spotted ahead! It's the dragon kin!"

The scout was the first to discover their retreat was cut off and immediately reported it.

"So this was a trap," the commander realized he was doomed to die fighting here.

"Prepare bombardment!"

He had no intention of surrendering, ordering his troops to engage without infantry support!

But moving the cannons, fixing the cannon mounts, adjusting angles - all took time, and the kobolds had already charged in!

Boom! Boom!

Bowgun attacks exploded in bloody blooms across the artillery positions. With no close-combat abilities and only carrying mana cannons for mobility, the artillerymen could only be slaughtered.

Finally, once the distances closed into bowgun range, the Imperial soldiers managed to get off a few return volleys.

But these shells passed straight through the kobold ranks, deflected by their constant advance to instead impact the ground.

"Yeaarrgh!"

Hil led the charge, pouncing on the commander standing defiantly at the front lines. In this moment there was no alchemy, no magic, no strategy or tactics - only primitive melee slaughter!

The burly rat dragon warlord over three meters long easily overpowered the human, shrugging off the desperate knife thrust into its armored scales to smash the man's head with its warhammer!

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Behind it, over a thousand howling kobolds poured into the human ranks, beginning a frenzied massacre. The vanguard legion trapped in the forest was doomed to become fresh roadkill under the wheels of the new age.

...

On the command airship.

The chief of staff didn't dare breathe a word, handing a report to Cornet, who sat emotionless while constantly drumming the table with his index finger knuckle.

"Read it to me," Cornet's voice was like that failed territorial dragon's, filled with resentment.

"Yes, Commander."

The staff officer could only begin reading aloud: "In the first battle engagement, due to intelligence shortfalls failing to ascertain the enemy's numbers and deployment, the vanguard recklessly pushed into their depths, subsequently being…"

He read on at length before continuing: "Approximately seven thousand seven hundred casualties, with only rear troops managing to withdraw."

Cornet fell silent for a long period, no one else on the airship daring to speak or even breathe heavily, each able to hear their own heartbeats.

"…Why didn't that dragon show up?" he finally spoke.

"It likely went to deal with the Ryton forces instead…probably. After all, that's its old lair - Pillar Mountain is Ryton's primary target."

"What time is it now?" Cornet suddenly asked this seemingly unrelated question.

The staff officer checked the wall clock. "Ten thirty-five."

"How is it the Karuk forces are nowhere to be seen?" Cornet raised his eyeglass, scanning westward where the Karuk army was supposed to have arrived per their agreed timing to coordinate the joint strike, but they had failed to appear.

…

At that same moment in Tokas Village.

Alvis surveyed the gruesome battlefield in awe of the hammer drakes' might.

The Karuk defenses had initially been fully equipped - trenches, anti-air batteries, underground facilities, fortresses, the works.

Now there were only craters pockmarking the ground and long furrows from the drakes' passage, streaks of uranium-green ichor dripping onto the earth amidst scattered blood, mud, shredded metal plates. Torn flesh and limbs hung from the breached fortress walls, black smoke rising in plumes to stain the golden autumn clouds with soot.

Three hours prior, the hammer drakes had punched through Tokas's defensive line.

Afterward, they turned eastward as planned, coordinating with the highly mobile infantry battalion aboard the Land III to encircle the Karuk army before they could retreat.

Any enemies attempting resistance along the way were annihilated.

Alvis had just arrived at the front aboard a command car, surveying the devastation with a sense of awe: "Truly befitting creatures able to wrestle young dragons. Raphael's blood has further enhanced their terrifying might."

The battle had ended, and the heavily armored troop had completed their mission, resting quietly on the open field.

The remaining demi-human soldiers scattered about, collecting their anticipated spoils of war.

"Commander Alvis, these are the surrendered Karuk people," said the wolfman Anubis, pointing towards the disarmed humans crouching on the ground in the distance.

Alvis gave them an indifferent glance, but his gray eyes narrowed slightly, revealing his disdain.

He dismounted without acknowledging the surrendered group. Instead, he walked towards the resting hammer drakes. Anubis followed closely step-by-step, while the rat dragon guards hurriedly cleared away any debris on the ground.

"How are you feeling?" Alvis asked one of the hammer drakes in draconic.

"I need a large amount of meat…" came the drake's low, grating voice.

When handing over his elite dragon kin forces to Alvis, Raphael had specifically warned him: The Hammer Drakes were obligate carnivores. At rest, their needs were minimal, but after significant exertion and expending cinder shell, they required immense quantities of raw meat to replenish their strength. Otherwise they would grow too weak to even move.

The meat had to be uncooked flesh - no cured or smoked meats would suffice, nor could it be rotten or spoiled.

"Immense" meant a quantity equal to half the drake's body weight - around fifty tons each.

For the thirty Hammer Drakes, that was one thousand five hundred tons that Alvis' expeditionary force could not possibly carry as excess replenishment.

So he turned his gaze toward the demi-human soldiers foraging for supplies in various areas, hoping they had acquired something suitable.

"You can rest assured," Anubis leaned in and said. "I am an expert at prying open the mouths of intelligent beings to extract the secrets they hide in their brains. Those surrendered humans barely have any with backbone."

"I'll start by finding out from the troops who the officers are. Then I'll seize the officers and force them to lead us to the supply depots."

Anubis smiled while rubbing his hands together, his words and actions both boasting of his methods.

But Alvis countered, "Those with backbone would only die in the charge. The Karuk soldiers you encountered, who attacked despite knowing defeat, are the ones."

The wolfman's expression went through several changes, not understanding the meaning, and could only reluctantly mumble acknowledgment.

Soon the demi-human soldiers brought in resources from various locations.

Food, uranite energy blocks were the basics, along with a number of captured army horses and morverns brought over. Heavy weapons like field mage-cannons were not in short supply either.

"What kinds of food?" Alvis asked this first.

"Bread, cured meats, dried vegetables," a fox soldier replied. "There's also a lot of unfamiliar stuff in the provisions for high-ranking officers! That man led the way called it caviar, foie gras, escargot and such - never even heard of them."

Alvis snapped irritably, "I meant livestock like cattle, sheep, pigs to be slaughtered! Not food for you lot - you can survive eating tree bark!"

The fox soldier stood at attention, voice raised in fright, "Reporting, none found sir, no livestock!"

Off to the side, Anubis immediately dragged over one of the Karuk officer, baring fangs as he jammed the bowgun muzzle into the man's neck and bellowed, "Where is your livestock?!"

Without waiting for the terrified, slobbering man to answer, Anubis violently flung him to the ground and began stomping on his shoulderblades with heavy military boots, until a sickening crunch of shattered bone came from there.

Bang!

Anubis adjusted the bowgun's power and blew the wretched man's head off. He casually grabbed another officer guide over.

This time, before Anubis could speak, the officer broke down weeping, "Don't kill me! We really don't have any livestock! Those animals still need tending! Our military command didn't seem to want to take this war seriously - they just hauled some food supplies over from the warehouses and called it done! I had nothing to do with it, I swear!"

"Then why build such extensive defensive works if you were unprepared?" Anubis delivered a stinging slap that sent the man shrieking, his ear a bloody, pulped mess.

But clinging to the hope of staying alive, he painfully explained, "This was…preparations for dealing with the Morey Kingdom, because…we've always been at odds with them. Tokas is a vital mining town - we couldn't afford to lose it."

Anubis wore an expression of sudden understanding. He turned to Alvis while casually executing this man as well. "Commander Alvis, it seems they truly don't have what you need."

The wolfman shrugged helplessly, indicating he had done his best.

"Hmm…"

Alvis fell into contemplation, the matter of provisioning the Hammer Drakes a vexing problem. They were his key force, the hope of defending Erl.

"How many prisoners did you take?" he suddenly asked.

"Around twenty thousand or so," the lizardman battalion commander beside him answered.

Alvis recalled his own last weighing at around seventy kilograms...

...

September 4th, noon.

After replenishing their meal and energy needs, Alvis' forces maintained their formation as they continued the eastward advance on Oakland. The Hammer Drakes spread out across the plains like roving hills.

The artillery battalions received morverns and horses as draft animals, trailing behind.

Four infantry battalions raced along the flanks.

Seated in the jostling open-topped carrier, Alvis took out a communication sphere to report to Raphael:

"Lord Crimson Dragon, we have successfully destroyed the Karuk garrison forces to the southwest of Erl. They suffered tremendous losses in formation, supplies and equipment. The cost to me was a mere ninety demi-humans. We are now advancing on Oakland, and barring stops for refueling and meals, estimate reaching there around 1 AM on September 5th."

Raphael's satisfied voice came through, "So quickly! Excellent! Press your advantage! The sooner I resolve the southern issues, the more I can divert forces to deal with these fearless humans!"

From the tinge of suppressed fury in the dragon's tone, Alvis sensed his confrontation with the Ryton forces was not going well.

Not wanting to negatively influence Raphael's spirits however, he could only conclude, "Then my next communication will be after breaching Oakland. We shall consult on a two-pronged strike to wipe out the Imperial coalition forces in one fell swoop!"

"Very well."

"I wish you prosperity in battle."

Alvis terminated the call. He tilted his head back, gazing at the increasingly brilliant autumn sun, wondering if rain might be coming.

"If it does rain, the Molton River would be a great boon to us," Alvis said, leaning back with hands behind his head. As the Ground III rumbled along, he closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.