Chapter 964: The Battle Commences

"Your Majesty the Kings have agreed to your request."

Upon hearing Kestajin's words, Lei En was rather surprised; the Dwarf King had agreed so quickly, without any bargaining. Seeing Kestajin's anxious face, he instantly guessed the reason, rose, and asked, "What has happened?"

"The Demonkin army has begun its assault!"

Kestajin said hurriedly, "I was still waiting for the Kings' deliberation result when I received a magical transmission; the Demonkin army that was repelled this morning has shown movement. They have gathered at least two hundred thousand troops, more than any previous assault, and seem intent on breaking through the city walls in one go."

What a divine assist!

Lei En thought to himself that his two demands were extremely harsh; although the Dwarf King had been forced into a corner and ultimately had to agree, the Netifu Demon's attack was imminent, leaving the Dwarf King no time to bargain, so he had to consent immediately.

With that thought, the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers stationed near the Dreweil Peninsula sent a message confirming that the Demonkin army was indeed gathering.

Kestajin, seeing Lei En still composed, urged, "Lei En, dispatch your army to the battlefield at once."

"Hold on, the Demonkin forces haven't launched an attack that quickly yet."

Lei En opened a parchment on his desk and said, "Sign this treaty first."

"It's already this late..." Kestajin sighed helplessly, forced himself to stay calm and read the parchment. Its content was brief, written in Aurelien Language and Dwarf language; the heading identified the parties to the treaty—one side Lei En, the other the five Dwarf kingdoms—and then listed the two conditions, phrased precisely and solemnly.

The ink on the paper had not yet dried, clearly Lei En had just written it.

Kestajin read the treaty carefully and noticed that below, Lei En had already signed his name, with an empty box beside it awaiting a signature.

He lifted the pen to sign, but paused before the stroke.

Such a momentous treaty, concerning the future of the entire Dwarf race, made the pen in his hand feel as heavy as a mountain, and he could not put it to paper for a long time.

"I am not the Dwarf King; even if I sign, it has no legal effect," Kestajin shook his head. "Dwarves keep their word and will never renege, tarnishing their ancestors' honor. Lei En, since the Kings have already agreed to your request, please trust us."

"I trust you," Lei En began, then stopped.

But he did not trust the Dwarf King.

Five hundred million Gold Shields and territorial sovereignty—what do ancestral honors matter in the face of such enormous profit? If the Dwarf King decides to renege, we would have no proof, and exposing his falsehood would look terrible.

"This is only a draft," Lei En said calmly. "After the formal treaty, I will discuss signing it with the Kings and swear in the names of the gods as witness; it does not involve you."

Kestajin understood.

If the Kings later renege, Lei En, holding this draft treaty, can rightfully demand the Dwarves to fulfill it—at least to deliver those five hundred million Gold Shields. Whether by forceful seizure or intimidation, it would be a justified action.

"Alright, I will sign."

The King of the Hills pressed the pen heavily, signing his name on the parchment.

After writing, Kestajin exhaled a long breath; having lived for centuries, he had never found his name so difficult to write.

"Can we deploy the army now?"

"Depart immediately."

Lei En folded the parchment, had Kestajin summon the two accompanying Dwarf legendary mages, then opened a portal and led everyone through.

On the other side of the portal was a spacious, bright hall; the floor and walls were cast of metal, and a silver throne stood in the center, facing a transparent wall through which the clouds outside could be seen, high in an unknown altitude.

"Where is this?" a accompanying Dwarf mage asked.

The two legendary mages looked around curiously, assessing the hall and guessing their location.

"Star Destroyer!"

Kestajin exclaimed with delight.

He had boarded a Star Destroyer before and would never forget what he saw on the bridge that day; he shouted, "Lei En, are you going to pilot the Star Destroyer to destroy the Demonkin forces?"

Lei En was already seated in the central chair, remotely commanding the Star Destroyer to accelerate.

"We'll see."

He replied while operating, "The Star Destroyer is merely a transport, delivering Extreme Warriors and Thundercast Celestial Soldiers to the Dreweil Peninsula vicinity, but it will not enter the battlefield."

"Why?" Kestajin asked, disappointment on his face.

"The Star Destroyer cannot be exposed for now," Lei En explained. "Kurgos is not worth firing upon; the Star Destroyer was prepared for the Eternal Chosen and the Death Lord, but the time is not right. When these two greatest enemies discover the Star Destroyer's existence, that will be the day of their extinction."

Kestajin's face brightened, then he exclaimed excitedly, "When that time comes, you must let me see it with my own eyes."

The two Dwarf mages were both startled.

Lei En's words revealed far too much information; both the Eternal Chosen and the Death Lord are the most terrifying beings of the Prime Material Plane, and according to him, the Star Destroyer they are on can annihilate them, a fact that even Kestajin believed without doubt!

"Hehe..."

Lei En chuckled, "Perhaps you'll soon see the Eternal Chosen."

Kestajin's eyelids twitched, "How could that be? Kurgos and the Eternal Chosen are mortal enemies; they have clashed countless times over the Demonkin tribes' power, and the Eternal Chosen would never aid Kurgos."

"Precisely because they are enemies, it becomes possible," Lei En said, looking ahead. "Perhaps the Eternal Chosen has been watching from the shadows for a long time."

"You mean he is waiting for Kurgos and the Dwarves to destroy each other?" Kestajin realized.

Lei En nodded, "Very likely."

Kestajin's limbs went cold; only now did he realize the Dwarves' situation was more perilous than it seemed. Without Lei En's support, even if they defeated Kurgos's Demonkin army, the Eternal Chosen might still reap the benefit, rendering the Dwarves' bloodshed futile.

"Lei En, aren't you making further preparations to face the Eternal Chosen's massive army?" the King of the Hills suddenly felt that merely having the Star Destroyer was insufficient.

"It's not time for the final battle yet," Lei En shook his head. "As long as Aiken sees my army on the field, he will retreat."

Kestajin was skeptical, "How can you be certain?"

It's a kind of tacit understanding!

Lei En said calmly, "Aiken and I both regard each other as our greatest enemy, eager to eliminate the other, but he is not ready and is waiting for a chance, and so am I."

Time is on my side, and my strength grows each day.

The longer we delay, the more the scales of victory tip toward us; when Aiken finally prepares for war, he will despair at this reality.

The two Dwarf legendary mages glanced at each other from the side.

Lei En placed himself on an equal footing with the Eternal Chosen, perhaps even a notch higher, seemingly already plotting to kill the Eternal Chosen.

One of the Dwarf mages couldn't help but ask, "Consul, where is your army?"

They only saw Lei En alone.

"Of course, on this Star Destroyer," Kestajin answered for Lei En, "Lei En, how many people did you bring this time?"

"One thousand three hundred." Lei En replied.

Another dwarf legendary mage cautioned carefully, "Sir, might that be too few? Kurgos has gathered over two hundred thousand troops."

Lei En raised his hand and opened a projection on the bridge, showing the state of the hangar.

There are two legions in the hangar.

One is the Extreme Warrior Brigade, led personally by Captain Malius, comprising five companies, with three hundred Extreme Warriors all clad in powered armor.

The other thousand are all Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, wearing golden armor, golden masks on their faces, lightning war hammers and Bolt Guns at their waists, standing in a perfectly ordered square formation.

Kestajin inhaled a breath of cold air and shouted, "Enough! Enough!"

After donning powered armor, each Extreme Warrior is stronger than the Legendary Peak, and four or five together can slay a regular Saint Rank strongman!

And the Thundercast Celestial Soldiers—he is accustomed to dealing with these mysterious, reclusive super warriors, knows well their great power, and they seem to have become even stronger this year.

There are so many Thundercast Celestial Soldiers!

All 1,300 are legends; even against Demonkin armies a hundred times larger, there is no problem.

"Maharl above!"

"Heavens…"

The two dwarf mages had also heard of the Extreme Warriors' reputation; even through the projection screen they could feel the terrifying might of the legion, their eyes widened.

Kestajin shouted gleefully, "Those Demonkin brats should just wait to die, hahaha…"

At that moment, the Star Destroyer's teleportation completed its activation.

A booming rumble.

The Star Destroyer leapt into the void, instantly crossing hundreds of li from the high skies over Gotham City's northern suburbs; in the next instant it appeared in the sky dozens of li from the Dreweil Peninsula. The Star Destroyer slowed its speed and deployed an Invisibility Field, hovering steadily aloft, gazing at the peninsula.

"Dreweil!"

The two dwarf mages were shocked; this teleportation finally made them understand that the so‑called "Star Destroyer" is Lei En's Fu Kong Cheng.

Kestajin, unfazed, looked down at the situation on the peninsula.

A towering wall twenty li long spanned the northern part of the peninsula; beneath it a moat hundreds of meters wide was dug, linking the western strait and eastern bay, with seawater flooding the moat, forming the first defensive line against the enemy.

At this moment, on the open plain north of the wall, tens of thousands of Demonkin troops were gathering.

Netifu Demons had erected dozens of barracks in the area linking the peninsula to the New Continent, with surrounding Demonkin tribes supplying food and reinforcements.

Most of them wore black armor and bore various heavy weapons; these are ordinary Demonkin soldiers.

The most eye‑catching among the army are the Abyss Knights.

These powerful Abyss Knights are not only superbly equipped, their strength far surpasses that of Demonkin soldiers; each rides a hellish warhorse, and as they gallop the heavy, rhythmic hoofbeats shake the ground like a torrent of steel, awe‑inspiring.

"So many Abyss Knights?" Lei En asked, surprised, estimating over fifty thousand.

"Yes."

Kestajin replied in a deep voice, "In the past months Kurgos has rarely deployed Abyss Knights; the main siege forces are Demonkin soldiers, Evil Beastmen, and Demons. On the few occasions Abyss Knights were sent, they were teleported onto the peninsula for rear assaults, all of which we repelled."

Lei En nodded.

Abyss Knights are the elite of the Netifu Demons, unsuited for siege warfare, only able to unleash their full power in frontal charge battles.

Today Kurgos sent all the Abyss Knights, placing them amid the Demonkin army, clearly waiting for the vanguard to breach the wall, then letting the Abyss Knights surge in, breaking through the dwarf legion's defense in one decisive push to secure victory.

The tactic is simple and direct; anyone can see it, yet it is highly effective.

Even knowing the enemy's plan, the dwarves find it hard to stop.

Lei En looked at the wall named "Cezak Wall," nearly twenty meters high and over ten meters thick, built by the dwarves who first piled the excavated moat earth, then had mages cast Mud to Stone, turning it into massive solid rocks.

Moreover, the dwarves spent vast alchemical materials to embed rune arrays within the wall, reinforcing it, boosting magical resistance, preventing destruction by Purgatory mages' spells.

Every fifty meters along the wall a bunker was built, mounting hundreds of steel crossbow cannons.

These crossbow cannons are a dwarf technique learned from the Mechanical Guild, merging steam crossbows with their magical artillery; rune blacksmiths enchant the massive bolts, which explode and scatter shrapnel on impact, their power comparable to a Six‑Ring spell, capable of killing swaths of enemies with a single shot.

The steel crossbow cannons have tremendous lethality, but fire too slowly—ten seconds between shots—and are very costly.

Nevertheless, they remain the dwarves' greatest reliance for holding the wall.

Dwarf warriors are scattered along the twenty‑li‑long wall.

They hide behind ramparts, peeking to observe the approaching Demonkin army from afar; the black mass of enemies rolls like a tide across the ground, filling their eyes with despair.

Many dwarves look pale and exhausted.

They had just endured last night's battle, almost everyone wounded; dwarf priests had already exhausted their healing spells, enough only to treat the more severely injured dwarf warriors.

The Demonkin's rapid renewed assault left most dwarves without proper rest; after hundreds of battles over the past months, even though dwarf warriors have wills as steadfast as mountains, their spirits waned, morale sinking to rock bottom.

"Maharl above!"

"Great Mother Earth, please protect me…"

"Brave and fearless Gemulinier, grant me courage! If today is my death day, then let me die gloriously in battle!"

The dwarves silently prayed to their patron gods, which did little besides firming their Willpower a bit, slightly raising morale, having little effect on the fight.

A moment later.

The Demonkin army advanced to about a li from the wall and halted, outside the range of the steel crossbow cannons; the army formed a line parallel to the wall, and the Demonkin commander shouted loudly, ordering his men into formation, ready to strike.

At the front were Evil Beastmen and Demons, enslaved by the Demonkin, always the first to charge, used as cannon fodder.

In the rear of the battlefield, more Demonkin troops gathered from the north.

Among the Abyss Knights, a legendary Demonkin over two meters tall received orders, raised his massive horn, and sounded it.

"Wooo…"

The deep, coarse horn blast echoed across the battlefield, a signal to attack.

In an instant, tens of thousands of Evil Beastmen and Demons roared, sprinting toward the Cezak Wall. The steel crossbow cannons on the wall activated, aiming at the incoming masses, firing instantly as they entered range.

The entire battlefield boiled over; the battle began!

(End of chapter)