Chapter 981

The winged girl Mia struck first.

As an Eighth-Rank warrior, Mia was similar to many elves, having merged magic into her bow and arrows, making her single-target damage quite terrifying.

In the previous war against the Purple Cloud Empire, more than one Forbidden Curse mage had died at her hands.

She struck first, and the moment she did, she used Blazing Flame, directly blasting apart a swath of Iron Horn warriors.

The winged folk behind her struck one after another, all using enchanted heavy crossbows with terrifying penetration power; attacking from the sky, they were also hard to counter.

Moreover, with Blazing Flame, they held an overwhelming advantage against these Iron Horn warriors.

In a short time, this entire unit of Iron Horn warriors was slaughtered, without even a chance to send word back.

Mia led the winged troops to once again search for other warriors.

After another few hours, the other warriors still riding the flying ships also encountered Iron Horn troops.

However, their method of fighting was different — they dismounted their troops at a spot somewhat distant from the Iron Horn troops, then launched the attack from the ground.

After all, they did not use bows and arrows as their primary means of attack.

Faced with the Flame Empire troops, who held both numerical superiority and far superior equipment, the Iron Horn troops had not the slightest power to resist.

Still, the battle dragged on for quite some time!

Unlike the winged troops and the earlier flying warships, which could swiftly finish enemies in an instant.

This way, the warriors of the Iron Horn Empire had enough time to send word back.

"Report — to the Grand General! Many of our ground raiding units have sent distress messages. Inside the Eternal Night Empire, a force bearing flame symbols has suddenly appeared and is slaughtering our warriors wholesale!"

When the Iron Horn Empire's flying fleet was nearly at the Eternal Night Empire, aboard one of the Iron Horn Empire's flying ships, the Iron Horn Grand General received the report.

"A force with flame symbols? Where did they come from?"

The Iron Horn Grand General's gaze hardened.

"Unclear. The raiding units sent at most one magical letter. When we replied to ask further, they had already given no response at all. I'm afraid… the odds are against them!"

The messenger said.

The Iron Horn Grand General's gaze turned to the Iron Horn Holy Son.

Though he was the Grand General, the one who truly held decision-making power here was actually the Iron Horn Holy Son.

The Iron Horn Holy Son deliberated: "Send magical letters to all the raiding units, ordering them to stop raiding first and rendezvous at Mabuchi Fortress. Once gathered, defend with everything they have and wait for the main army to return."

"Yes, Holy Son!"

The messenger withdrew.

After speaking, the Iron Horn Holy Son looked at the Iron Horn Grand General: "Grand General, the capital of the Eternal Night Empire is almost upon us. The will of the gods cannot be reversed. Let us first finish this decisive battle, then march east to see just who has the nerve to dare slaughter our Empire's warriors!"

The Iron Horn Grand General nodded, his voice filled with cold killing intent: "Holy Son, anyone who dares lay hands on our warriors — we'll take them as extra spoils. Once we've broken through their nation, we must give the troops free rein to loot for a full month!"

The Iron Horn Holy Son said coolly: "Such matters, Grand General, are yours to decide."

"Grand General! Grand General! This is bad — there are pursuers behind us!"

At this moment, the earlier messenger came running back in panic.

"Pursuers? What pursuers?"

The Iron Horn Grand General asked.

"Several dozen li behind our fleet, there are many, many flying ships — they're flying above the clouds!"

The messenger said.

"Come, let's go take a look."

The Iron Horn Holy Son was the first to fly out.

The Iron Horn Grand General flew out after him.

The two swiftly ascended, rising above the cloud layer.

Then they saw, swaying into view behind them, a dense, packed mass of flying ships rushing toward them at speed!

This flying fleet's scale was far larger than that of their Iron Horn Empire!

One could imagine the number of warriors inside was certainly no small matter, and the powerful experts were surely many!

"Perhaps it's some other Empire's flying fleet — no need to panic. Lord Kais, are you there?"

The Iron Horn Holy Son asked.

"Holy Son, this old one is here."

An aged voice rang out.

A great stone in the Iron Horn Holy Son's heart dropped to the ground, and he said: "Come, let's go over and take a look."

He led the Iron Horn Grand General flying swiftly over, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at a spot some ten-plus kilometers from that flying fleet.

"Holy Son, look — flame symbols!"

The Iron Horn Grand General's voice tightened as he spoke.

"They're coming for us!"