Ashen Dragon

The day before.

Principality of Norton, near the Falling Leaf Path.

"Hurry up, the master is watching you!"

"This is the will of the great Red Dragon!"

"For the Ashen Kingdom!"

Dolores led hundreds of Great Goblin and Bugbear troops, advancing rapidly along a special path. Their mission was to attack the capital of the Principality of Norton, Kenya City, as quickly as possible.

Although it was called a principality, the territory of Norton wasn't even as large as some of the more powerful counties. The entire region had only three cities, and three-quarters of its population resided in Kenya City, a city built with the assistance of the Boske Duchy. The name meant "place of rise" in the Scania language, reflecting the hopes of the Principality of Norton.

The city had nearly twenty thousand residents. Once it was captured, the entire Principality of Norton would essentially fall. The strategy of the Ashen Kingdom was to use "blitzkrieg" to quickly attack the capital and capture it directly. Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

To that end, they brought along ten cannons, heavy siege weapons crafted overtime by the players at Storm Arsenal.

Fortunately, the Dragon Vein Goblins were strong enough to carry the cannons, allowing them to march quickly without being encumbered.

The Bugbear guarding Dolores was a bit puzzled:

"Sir, are these broken iron pipes really useful? They don't seem better than the big club in my hand."

"Ignorant fool."

"You'll see soon enough."

"These are the true symbols of blood and fire."

Dolores grinned and laughed excitedly.

Having experienced many large-scale wars and seen the effectiveness of firearms, this war-savvy goblin had become a thorough "reformist" and even befriended Iron Madman, the president of the Mechanical God Cult.

The city's garrison hadn't gone through such wars. They were completely unaware of the impending danger and had not yet spotted the well-hidden Ashen Kingdom forces in their blind spots.

The well-trained Goblin Soldiers set up the cannon positions and calibrated them quickly, finishing the preparations.

The Goblin Skirmishers stood ready to advance.

Dolores wiped his Bloodfire Battle Axe, tearing off a piece of flesh stuck to it, and then shouted loudly:

"Fire the cannons!"

The goblins obeyed the command and loaded the shells into the cannons.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The cannons roared, sending thunderous echoes across the earth.

The Bugbear from earlier covered his ears in fear, collapsing to the ground, muttering continuously: "What... what powerful iron pipes."

"Coward."

"You will no longer be my personal guard."

Dolores glanced at him with disdain, his tone full of contempt.

A Bugbear afraid of cannon fire wasn't fit to be the guard of the Great General of the Ashen Kingdom!

"Hahaha!"

"That's right! Blast them away!"

Dolores laughed heartily, savoring the delightful smell of gunpowder in the air, his laughter undiminished by the loud cannon fire.

Most of Norton's troops were already deployed with the allied forces. Now, fewer than a thousand defenders were on the city walls.

The defenders on the walls had never seen such a display before. The simultaneous cannon blasts and explosions lit up the sky.

They only saw shadowy figures streaking through the air before their vision was filled with the light of the explosions.

Many of the soldiers on the walls were killed by the explosions, and most of the survivors were left in a state of panic, not realizing that war had already begun.

"Oh gods... is this divine retribution?"

"What on earth is this?"

"Ah!"

"Where is the enemy?"

Under centuries of "assimilation" and "taming" by the Boske Duchy, these once valiant barbarians had lost the courage and fearlessness of their ancestors.

Artillery rained down on the walls, and under the barrage, the centuries-old battlements collapsed, creating a gap several meters wide.

That was enough.

"Charge!"

Dolores lifted his Bloodfire Battle Axe in one hand and shouted fiercely: "Follow me to capture the city! Crush them!"

He led the charge at the front, leaping through the gap with a single bound, and with a wide swing of his Great Axe, he sliced the dozen defenders blocking the way in half.

"Monster!"

"Help!"

"Dear gods, it's the Envious War Maniac, Dolores!"

"It's the Ashen Kingdom's army!"

Hearing the foul nickname infuriated Dolores further. He leapt tens of meters, catching up to the speaker, and smashed the insolent human into a meat patty with the flat of his axe.

"I am Dolores!"

"The strongest general under the great Red Dragon!"

"And your eternal nightmare!"

Dolores swung his axe, roaring in a rage.

The Goblin sword and shield troops followed closely, slaughtering the defenders on the walls, venting their long-repressed killing desires.

"Damn, these monsters!"

"I can't kill them at all!"

"Are those scales?"

Under the blitz attack from the Ashen Kingdom, the defenders on the walls crumbled, fleeing in disarray.

The goblin skirmishers behind them raised their spears and, following their sergeant's order to "fire at will," began shooting at the exposed heads on the walls, causing many defenders to fall.

Soon, nearly a thousand defenders were all wiped out.

By now, this battle could no longer be called a fight; it was simply a one-sided massacre.

And it only took an hour.

To put it simply, killing a thousand pigs might take more than an hour, but the Ashen Kingdom's army wiped out the defenders in the same amount of time.

Dolores himself became a killing machine, personally taking down at least a hundred people.

"There's trouble over the wall!"

"What's happening outside?"

"There seems to be an enemy!"

"I think I heard thunder."

"Damn it, what's going on?"

The city's residents were still unaware of what had happened, remaining in anxious confusion. They didn't know the city had already fallen.

But they soon understood.

A loud dragon's roar echoed from the sky.

"Roar—"

The dreadful flaming apparition of the Red Dragon appeared over the city. Its golden eyes looked down upon the earth, and its wings seemed like a sea of flames, ready to burn the entire city.

"By the gods..."

"What kind of monster is this?"

"I, I know what it is now..."

"Is that the legendary Infernal Calamity?"

The people were shaken by the dragon's phantom in the sky, falling into terrified chaos.

"Greetings, residents of Kenya."

The airborne monster slowly spoke, its voice deep and authoritative, exuding a sense of overwhelming pressure.

"I am here to inform you."

"From now on, there is no more so-called Principality of Norton, only the Ashen Kingdom."

"Everyone, welcome to the Ashen Kingdom."