The rumbling sounds continued, but Charles II walked forward with a numb expression amidst the gunfire. In front of him, there were many soldiers running in panic on the road full of rubble and blood. Some of the wounded even lost their arms in their panic, but in order to escape the hellish gunfire, they still gritted their teeth and ran toward the city gate. Many people wanted to escape the city because if they continued to stay here, no one knew if the gunfire would fall on their heads …
"Your Majesty!"
With a cry of surprise, an azure magic shield appeared around Charles II's body. Then, Magister Crohn, who was wearing a magic robe and holding a dark red magic staff, landed beside him. After returning from the 'magic conference', Crohn, Scarlet, Strange, and the others went to the Dragons Tower to learn and communicate with them. But because of this, they were also caught by Queio as "able-bodied men" and came to the front line to assist in the battle after the war broke out.
The other Magisters worked hard to assist in the logistics. Crohn was assigned the task of resisting possible enemy attacks from the rear of the city. After all, in a situation where the enemy had not moved, most of the time they had to consider whether there were movements from other directions. Digging tunnels, night attacks on the city walls, and the like were normal for siege battles.
Therefore, Crohn also escaped the first round of bombardment.
When he realized the seriousness of the problem, he immediately flew to help protect Charles II, but was almost hit directly by the second round of bombardment. If not for his good luck, Crohn's ice shield would have been no different from a fragile wooden plank in front of the crystal cannonballs with terrifying kinetic energy.
Now that he finally found Charles II, who was in a sorry state, Crohn immediately came over to cast a spell to protect the monarch, but he found that the once high-spirited monarch's face was now ashen. When he looked at him, his eyes were abnormally dull. "Crohn? You're here … "
He didn't give any orders and just continued to walk forward. Crohn knew that this wasn't the way and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I'll escort you back to the imperial city now! We need to find someone to gather the soldiers here. The enemy's attack is too fierce, we can't just wait for death in the city like this! "
"Find who?"
Charles II pointed to the northern city wall that had been blown up for dozens of meters. "How many people there can continue to fight for me?"
Then he patted Crohn on the shoulder. "Don't worry about me for now. Go over there and help them first, however many people your spell can save."
"Your Majesty …"
Crohn could hear the deep despair in his words, but should he listen to the Emperor at this time? If they listened, Charles II might be blasted to death in the next second. If they didn't listen, wouldn't that be disobeying the orders of the monarch?
"Run! Run! "
Suddenly, there was a commotion behind them. The two of them turned around and saw that the West Gate had been opened by the soldiers guarding the city. Countless people saw the gate open, and they all ran out like crazy. Under such circumstances, people instinctively thought that the outside of the city was safer than the inside, because there were no enemies outside, while staying inside the city could be blown to pieces at any time.
In the era of cold weapons, the fear of defending a city came from the fact that the city walls were breached and the enemies entered the city. At this time, everyone was hiding in the city that they thought was safe, but they realized that they were still facing the risk of being blown up.
What was even more frightening was that no one knew where the next shell would land. In a situation where they could no longer see the enemy, this fear of the unknown was far more devastating than the simple news of "the enemy has entered the city". After the city gate opened, because there were too many people pouring out, many in the front row were trampled underfoot on the spot. They couldn't even get up before they were trampled to death by the tide of people behind them.
Looking at the chaos, Charles II was even more desperate. He waved his hand. "Go save the people, don't worry about me."
Just as Archmage Crohn was hesitating, a circle of flames suddenly descended around him. He was startled, and upon a closer look, he realized that it was a large shield condensed from elements. The violent magic fluctuations made him turn around. Lord Queio stood beside Charles II with a gloomy expression and said, "Follow me."
This lord, who had disappeared before, had actually gone to cast a spell to protect the nobles who had not yet been blown up. He knew very well that he had to work hard to ensure the survival of these guys so that he could continue to use them as puppets in the future. If he allowed Efta's bombardment to destroy the core layer, it would be meaningless to leave Charles II as a "commander without an army".
But he didn't expect that Efta's bombardment would come round after round. If he hadn't acted quickly, Charles II would have almost been blown to death on the spot.
The anger in Queio's heart continued to accumulate amidst the bombardment, but at this moment, he was still able to keep himself rational as much as possible. He raised his hand and enveloped Charles II with a shield. He directly floated into the air and brought the latter to the tallest bell tower in the center of the city. He completely ignored Crohn, who seemed to want to say something but was hesitant.
The latter looked at the backs of the two figures in the distance and sighed silently. The whistling sound of the shells came again. His expression did not change as he raised his shield and flew forward. At this time, he could only choose to continue carrying out Charles II's previous order — to use magic to save the wounded as much as possible.
When Charles II arrived in front of the bell tower, he was shocked to find many nobles in tattered clothes and dusty faces who had survived.
"Stay inside."
After saying this, Queio turned around and flew in another direction. Charles II looked at the battered and exhausted nobles in front of him. Most of them were in the prime of their lives. Among them, a few silver-haired old nobles were also in high spirits before going into battle. But now, all of them were sitting on the ground dispiritedly. Many of them were injured and were gritting their teeth to endure the pain. When they saw Charles II coming over, they did not immediately salute or shout slogans like in the past. Instead, they looked at the monarch and waited for him to say something.
But how could Charles II be in the mood to encourage these nobles?
They hadn't even seen the enemy's face, and a third of the entire city had been blown up. Even more than half of the assembled army had been killed or injured. Now, there were even people who opened the city gates and fled outside. Anyone with a little military knowledge would understand that this battle had been lost!
Charles II stood there in a daze for a long time. In the end, he didn't say anything. He slowly walked to the wall and sat on the ground without a care for his image.
At this time, it was no longer important whether the Dragons would take action or not. Charles II had already lost the foundation of his rule. Who would continue to listen to a commander without military strength?
His behavior made the other nobles lower their heads. Before anyone could express anything, the next round of bombardment resonated in the surroundings. The top of the bell tower was directly hit by a cannonball, and the impact of the explosion caused the entire top half of the bell tower to collapse. This scene caused everyone to turn pale with fright. However, Charles II sat there and did not dodge at all. He raised his head as though he was welcoming his end.
But then, these falling stones were blocked outside by a barrier.
Queio let them stay here because he had released a sufficiently strong barrier in advance. Even if the bell tower was blown into ruins, these nobles were still alive and well inside the barrier. But for them, the scene around them made them even more disheartened. Looking around, the buildings of the central inner city, the city walls, and even the originally smooth streets were almost completely destroyed. After the debris of the buildings fell to the ground, they could even see many soldiers who were originally running away. But after the fierce bombardment, they even had a mental breakdown. They were kneeling on the ground, covering their faces and wailing.
In this kind of war, who could say that there was a possibility of a comeback?
And Queio, who was standing in the ruins, was now personally facing the fierce explosion and impact. His shield constantly flashed with orange light, blocking all the damage outside. In fact, as long as he floated more than a dozen meters above the ground, he could basically avoid these injuries. But at this moment, he was standing here, trying to accumulate the anger in his heart and find a reason to make a decision.
Thinking that until now, no other Dragons had appeared in this war, Queio couldn't help but feel a little regretful. Back then, when he used the "space-time rift" to reach a contract with those feudal lords, he didn't even consider letting them participate in this kind of war. He only told the other Dragons to support the royal family's "Dragon Tower" teaching project. So now, in the eyes of the other Dragons, the Red Dragons were probably a joke!
Queio had to admit that Efta's combat power was completely beyond his imagination. With such a bombardment, even if three more members of the royal family came, they would still end up the same.
But did this mean that he had to give up?
In fact, Queio already had no way out. If he gave up now, it would not matter if the royal family was finished, but what about the reputation of the Red Dragons? How much power would they have left in the future among the Dragons?
What made Queio's heart palpitate even more was the strength displayed by the humans in front of him. In the view of the Dragons, a war between humans was a war between ants. No matter how many humans there were, they would never be a threat to the Dragons.
But the continuous bombardment of the shield made Queio change his view. If it was a young dragon standing here, his fate would not be any better than the dismembered corpses beside him. And even young Dragons like Iscar could also die under the attack of the crystal cannons if they were not protected in advance.
In other words, the attack power possessed by humans could already threaten the Dragons.
It was just like Count Rice, who had rebelled in the Eiffta cabinet. He did not lack food or clothing, but he tried his best to destroy Eiffta's path to unification. He wanted to defend his own interests as a "great lord."
And now, Queio was also aware of such a crisis.
The sound of the cannons stopped. He gritted his teeth and was about to leave when the roar of propellers came from the sky. After the "Albatross" returned to the city, it flew directly to the sky above Enrique City. Because it was a large target, it bombed at an altitude of 3,000 meters.
Queo stared blankly as the plane dropped the bomb. He narrowed his eyes and watched helplessly as the huge bomb landed not far in front of him …
"Boom!"
The impact, which was far more powerful than the crystal cannons, shattered the first layer of the shield around Queio's body. Although the "Wall of Flaming Sun", which was passively activated, blocked the subsequent impact, the Dragons Lord still took two steps back because of the terrifying shock.
After the smoke and fog dispersed, a huge pit more than three meters deep was left on the ground. Within a radius of 20 meters, there were still no buildings standing. Only the place where Queio stood was slightly better preserved because of the "Wall of Flaming Sun". The other areas were only scorched black from the high temperature.
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