(This chapter is a bonus update for Alliance Leader Illusive Enchantress! May the Alliance Leader remain mighty and dominant—keep up the great work!)
Hearing the screams from atop the fortress wall, all the Sea Dragon soldiers grew excited—their morale surged instantly, and the Skyshaker Bombs began pounding the wall one after another.
After the fifth Skyshaker Bomb detonated, the wailing on the wall died down a lot, but huge roars erupted from inside the city, making the Sea Dragon soldiers even more fired up.
"Max out the range! I want to blast those Heavenly Dragon dogs inside the city to smithereens!" The general was also fired up after hearing the roars from within.
The Skyshaker Bombs kept pounding away. After all fifteen were fired, the commotion inside the city dropped off sharply. All the Sea Dragon soldiers were shouting with excitement, convinced they'd dealt a heavy blow to the Heavenly Dragon Empire this time.
But just then, a flood of defenders appeared on the wall, unleashing a barrage of arrows and instantly cutting down hundreds of Sea Dragon soldiers.
"Everyone fall back! I think we've been tricked!" One general realized what was happening and shouted immediately.
Just then, the fortress gate swung wide open, and tens of thousands of soldiers poured out. The Sea Dragon Empire troops were scared out of their wits and started fleeing in all directions.
But the main goal of the sortie wasn't really to chase down the enemy—it was to seize the war-carts used to launch the Skyshaker Bombs.
The war-carts were heavy and slow, so the Sea Dragon Empire soldiers had no choice but to abandon them in their escape. The Heavenly Dragon Empire troops just happened to pick up this windfall.
The war-carts were hauled back into the city, but this time the gate wasn’t even closed—after all, the Sea Dragon Empire had used up all their Skyshaker Bombs, so there was nothing to fear anymore.
General Roland Lowell walked up onto the wall, staring at the battered ramparts with a pang in his chest. Rebuilding this wall would take a mountain of manpower and resources—he swore he’d make the Sea Dragon Empire pay for it.
Of the fifteen Skyshaker Bombs fired, fewer than a thousand soldiers were actually killed—the real casualties came from the first five. The last ten didn’t hurt a single soul; everyone had already evacuated far away, so no matter how powerful the bombs were, it didn’t matter. All they did was leave huge craters in the city streets.
The Sea Dragon Empire soldiers hurried back to camp, their earlier high spirits now replaced by crushing disappointment that spread through the whole army.
When Feiqing Yun heard the results of the raid, his face turned the color of pig liver—he wanted nothing more than to execute the two generals who’d given the orders.
No matter how carefully he’d planned, he never expected the enemy would know about the night raid ahead of time. Now fifteen Skyshaker Bombs were wasted—an unbearable loss for the Sea Dragon Empire. Each bomb cost tens of thousands of high-grade Starstones; the price was unimaginable.
"Who came up with the idea to raid the enemy camp at night? Step forward!" Feiqing Yun glared at the officers in the camp, roaring in anger.
"It was me! Please, Marshal, spare my life—I swear I’ll redeem myself and slaughter those Heavenly Dragon bastards!" The general from yesterday spoke up, his face pale with fear after what had happened.
"I want nothing more than to kill you right now! The soldiers’ morale wasn’t boosted at all—instead it’s sunk even lower. We lost fifteen Skyshaker Bombs for nothing. You’re simply unforgivable!" Feiqing Yun snarled, raising his hand as if about to strike him down.
The other generals, seeing things take a turn for the worse, immediately knelt down and pleaded for mercy: "Marshal, please calm down! Our plan was flawless—the enemy was just too cunning and saw through it. Please, give him one more chance to redeem himself!"
"Please, Marshal, let him redeem himself!" everyone shouted in unison.
Feiqing Yun looked at his officers and said, "Fine! I'll give you one last chance. Tomorrow, lead the army and attack the fortress with everything you've got—break through the gate at any cost! If you fail, every one of you will be executed!"
"We will complete the mission, Marshal! Please rest assured!" the officers replied.
On the Sea Dragon Empire side, the troops were sunk in gloom, but on the Heavenly Dragon Empire side, morale was soaring. No one had expected so few casualties this time.
General Roland Lowell had recovered about thirty percent of his strength. He looked at the generals assembled in the council hall and said, "We lost plenty of men this time, but we've crushed the enemy's morale. Tomorrow we'll have a real showdown—remember, no arrogance or complacency. We'll celebrate only after we've truly defeated the Sea Dragon scum!"
"Please instruct us how to fight tomorrow, Great General! We'll wipe out the Sea Dragon scum to the last man!" one general said, brimming with fighting spirit.
"If all goes as planned, tomorrow we'll give them a surprise they'll never forget. The Sea Dragon scum bombarded us with Skyshaker Bombs—now we'll bombard them right back. Let them taste what it's like to be blasted and burned!" General Roland Lowell declared, face full of excitement.
Everyone was stunned—since when did the Heavenly Dragon Empire have such weapons? All the generals stared at Roland Lowell, hoping he'd explain.
One of them couldn't help but ask, "Great General, what do you mean? Are we making these powerful weapons ourselves now?"
"You've all seen the power of the Skyshaker Bombs. Of course our kingdom wants the means to make them, but the ones we'll be using aren't ours—they're ones we captured from the Sea Dragon Empire."
They should be able to make it back before noon tomorrow—that’ll be the perfect moment for my million-strong army to wipe out the enemy," Roland Lowell said.
Everyone glanced around and saw that all the top officers were present. Such an important mission couldn’t be handed to an ordinary soldier. One of them asked, "Which expert is handling this dangerous task?"
"It’s a tough mission, since Yuetian Wu—the Sea Dragon Empire’s top war general—is escorting the Skyshaker Bombs. Getting them won’t be easy. But I’m confident, because the people we sent aren’t any weaker than Yuetian Wu." Roland Lowell said, deciding to keep Selena’s true identity secret for now.
Everyone was fired up after hearing that, all guessing who the chosen expert might be. But since Roland Lowell didn’t say, nobody dared press him.
"Alright, everyone go prepare. Dawn’s not far off—the time has come for us to face the Sea Dragon Empire head-on!" Roland Lowell said.
With that, everyone left the council hall to organize their troops and battle plans.
At dawn, Roland Lowell sent out 800,000 troops, leaving just 100,000 to defend the city. This battle would decide the fate of a nation—he was both excited and cautious.
The entire Sea Dragon army mobilized as well, still nursing a grudge over last night's defeat. With every general issuing orders to fight to the death, morale sank even lower.
Meanwhile, Evan Chu and Selena were racing back atop Goldwing. With the captured Skyshaker Bombs, this battle was about to get even more spectacular...