Nightrain City used to be the capital of the Seventeen New Moon Countries, but now it was only a small city on the outskirts of the Bardi Empire. However, the one in charge of this city was the Bardi Empire's Dragon Knight Archduke, Halent Winston.
Many mega empires had their own trump card armies that had been passed down for countless years. The Bardi Empire's most famous army was its Dragon Knight army.
Dragons would forever stand at the top of the food chain, and they were one of the few Gold Bloodline species in the world. Even the weakest of them would be equivalent to a human Gold rank. As long as they learned some hunting techniques and magic, even ordinary Legend-rank warriors would be helpless against these flying beasts.
After all, dragons could fly, while ordinary warriors could only get beaten up on the ground.
The Dragon Knight contract was usually a contract between a powerful warrior and a Dragons, and basically only the strong would be recognized by the Dragons. However, the result was an obvious paradox. The weak who needed the Dragons' power would never be recognized by the Dragons, while the strong who were recognized by the Dragons didn't need the Dragons' power. In that case, the Dragon Knight naturally became a legend.
That was why even if there were one or two weak individuals who coincidentally obtained the Dragon Knight's recognition, it wouldn't become the norm. And as humanity's combat strength decreased, the Dragon Knight, which was the ultimate form of aerial combat, became fewer and fewer. It was already quite rare for a powerful country to have one or two Dragon Knights, and most of them were young dragons that were hired at great expense. Their combat strength and willpower were all questionable.
However, there was one country that had always been an exception. The Bardi Empire had never had less than fifty Dragon Knights. Even the weakest Dragon Knight was at the Gold rank. It was incomprehensible how the Bardi Empire was able to obtain the dragons' recognition so easily.
Some people said that the Bardi Empire obtained the Dragon God's secret treasure, while others said that they had a long-standing alliance with the Dragons. But no matter what, due to the large number of Dragon Knights, the skies would never belong to the Bardi Empire's enemies. One of the reasons why the Ottoman Empire developed aerial battleships was because it treated those damned Dragon Knight Knights as imaginary enemies.
Halent Winston was the vice commander of the Dragon Knight Army (the commander was a member of the royal family, and the current leader was Emperor Orloss). He was one of the top ten most powerful generals in the country, and he was ranked sixty-seventh on the Famous Generals Rankings — the "Dragon Knight Archduke".
The current Bardi Empire had a total of seventy-two Dragon Knight members. Sixty of them were divided into twelve small squadrons. Roland himself commanded five squadrons of twenty-five Dragon Knight members.
Even without mentioning his identity and status, his personal strength was astonishing. The Dragons he was riding on were the adult Blue Dragon "Cloud Storm" Sishusler, who was quite famous among the dragons.
He himself had become a Legendary Warrior ten years ago, wielding the Legendary Thunder Horn. He had once killed a hundred Gryphon Knight single-handedly on the battlefield. He was also a famous general.
One year ago, he silently left the Bardi Empire's capital and brought all of his subordinates' combat strength to this city. At the time, this had caused quite a commotion.
As the former capital of the Bardi Empire, Nightrain City was a classic example of a fortress city. But ever since Archduke Halent moved here, not only did he bring a large number of troops with him, he also invested a large amount of funds and resources into protecting the city. Numerous cannon towers and defensive towers were built, and the city walls were reinforced over and over again. Originally, everyone found this quite strange. After all, fortresses often required imaginary enemies.
Nightrain City didn't have any neighboring countries, so Halent's actions seemed completely unnecessary. But after the "Victoria Port Incident" occurred, Nightrain City became the only way to reach Port Victoria. Only then did everyone learn what Archduke Halent was guarding against — the undead.
While the Bardi nobles were astonished by Archduke Halent's choice, in less than a year's time, there were almost no bandits in the area. Due to the constant appearance of dragons in the sky, Nightrain City gained a new name: Rain Dragon City.
When we first entered the city, a sudden downpour covered everything, making it easier for us to enter. Since Archduke Halent was also a guest from the Bardi Empire's capital, Lilith and Carolyn's identities were switched again in order to avoid bumping into him.
Since Lilith was the eldest daughter of the Bardi Empire's main faction, her documents were even more authentic than the real deal. But if possible, I still didn't want to meet this famous dragon knight Archduke Halent in person. That was why my plan was to enter the city as inconspicuously as possible and first gather information before considering whether or not to meet with Archduke Halent.
To be honest, if it wasn't necessary, I didn't even intend to pass through this city.
"Carolyn, how's your relationship with Archduke Halent? Have you met him before? "
"He … he's a little … scary."
Carolyn, who had been clinging to her maid for quite a while, finally answered me. Her voice was filled with a mysterious tremble and unease, as if she had recalled something frightening.
From her scattered words, I roughly understood Bardi nobles' impression of Halent. He never participated in any noble banquets or social events. If he had to attend any formal gatherings, he would always appear in his military uniform. He even had the guts to carry a sword in front of Emperor Halent.
Although he had offended many people, he had also gained the recognition of many military commanders and commoners. He was a representative of the Bardi Empire's true power and hawks.
As for why Carolyn was so scared, it was because her father, who was also a Duke, had once invited Halent, who hadn't inherited the title of Archduke yet, to be his swordsmanship teacher to his two children.
This was doubtlessly a method for nobles to rope in and get close to each other. However, Halent obviously took it seriously and forcefully trained Carolyn and her younger brother strictly according to military standards. The two siblings, who had been spoiled since childhood, were bullied to to the point of death. Even after Carolyn's father personally begged for mercy, Halent still persisted in his opinion.
"Let them go? Since they're now my subordinates, I can't allow them to continue being unqualified soldiers, even if Emperor Halent begs for mercy. The two of you only have two choices. Complete your training, or die! "
When Halent's soft voice echoed in the courtyard, for some reason, nobody dared to look directly at the general. That formless might was just like a dragon patrolling its own territory.
"There's no mistaking it. Dragon's might."
I came to a simple conclusion after hearing this description.
Perhaps the Bardi Empire's Dragon Knight was mysterious in the eyes of many, but after so many years, some things had long since been revealed.
First of all, the Dragon Knight was basically a family inheritance. Secondly, it was easy to learn from previous battles that most of these Knights weren't pure humans. What flowed in their veins was the bloodline of dragons. They were a group of dragon descendants.
Unlike the magically created draconians, dragon descendants were naturally much stronger. Most of their ancestors were true dragons, and they would often inherit part of Dragons' power and natural talents, making them quite difficult to deal with.
The Bardi Empire's Dragon Knight was a dragon descendant. This might be a secret to ordinary people, but in the world of the strong, it wasn't much of a secret. The true secret was how to keep a dragon descendant in a human country and how to have a dragon descendant become a Dragon Knight.
Indeed, as a dragon descendant was a mixed-blood of Dragons, it was quite easy for Dragons to have a good impression of them. However, having a good impression of them was one thing, and having them work for them was another. Even if they were distant relatives, there was no reason for them to ride on someone else's back.
And if a dragon descendant's spouse was an ordinary human, the power of their bloodline would naturally thin out. In just a few generations, they would be no different from ordinary humans. Just what was going on with these dragon descendants that had been passed down for thousands of years? It was truly incomprehensible.
To be honest, I was even more unwilling to meet this Legend-ranked Duke Halent after hearing all this. After all, the Eye of Truth, one of the necessary natural talents of Immemorial Dragons, specialized in seeing through all sorts of illusions and disguises. Deception would basically be negligible in front of Little Red, but if we met a dragon descendant who inherited this natural talent, it was likely that all our secrets would be exposed.
But right now, I wasn't in the mood to guess at the secrets of these Dragons. After all, if anyone was struck by a 500-kilogram greatsword and sunk into the city walls, it would be impossible for them to remain relaxed.
One minute ago, right after we opened the city gates, a figure that wasn't particularly tall appeared in front of our caravan amidst the heavy rain. Heavy rain pelted down on his waterproof hood. His naturally curly golden hair maintained its unique characteristics in the rain, and his golden vertical eyes gave off an aura that would make any living creature tremble.
"Archduke Halent …"
When Carolyn muttered Halent's name, I was still trying to think of a way to deceive him. But the next instant, that huge steel blade that was as tall as a human sliced into my body. I didn't even have the time to react before I was sent flying several dozen meters and embedded into the city wall.
"I've said it before, filthy undead are not allowed to enter my city. Trespassers, die! "
Halent spoke in a soft voice, but nobody would doubt his determination to kill me.
If he had only attacked the lich, perhaps there would have been room for negotiation. However, someone was already unable to restrain himself, and his surging killing intent transformed into a physical pressure.
"You dare to hit Father!?"
Ah Dang, who had been slowly following behind the caravan, was originally napping, but now he suddenly became furious. The next instant, the already gigantic Abomination instantly increased in size by more than ten times, becoming a giant of flesh that was even taller than the city walls.
This time, even Halent revealed an expression of astonishment. A strong individual's aura wouldn't lie. This Giant Abomination in front of him was definitely no ordinary creature. The pressure it gave him far surpassed even that of a Legend-ranked lich. Could it be that the undead were plotting something again?
Halent's expression remained calm even as that gigantic foot was about to stomp down. He knew that his old companion wouldn't allow any danger to befall him.
* Pa!! *
Ah Dang was knocked down by a heavy object before the foot even landed.
What suddenly pounced on Ah Dang was a Blue Dragon that descended from the sky. Thunder and lightning circled around the Blue Dragon, and the berserk thunder gave off an even more frightening aura. Blue Dragons on rainy nights were the favored children of storms and thunder. Right now, this was its strongest home ground.
"… Damn it, where did this monster come from?"
However, this majestic Blue Dragon wasn't in a good situation. A piece of flesh had already been cut off from one of its lower limbs. Just one contact with the Giant Abomination caused it to be at a disadvantage. The Giant Abomination's skin had teeth that could devour corpses and bones, and a piece of flesh was bitten off the moment it came into contact with the Giant Abomination.
"Ah Dang, Ah Dang is going to eat you!"
The furious Ah Dang didn't intend to hold back at all. His distorted body transformed into the scariest nightmare. The gigantic Giant Abomination transformed into a gigantic dragonspider that could devour dragons. With just one exchange of blows, the adult Dragon Abomination became tiny in front of Ah Dang and was viciously sent flying.
The Dragon Knight Archduke was still as calm as ever. It was just that the horn at his waist was already at his mouth. Since the undead had already torn all pretense of cordiality, the next battle would no longer be a local battle. It would be a battle between the undead and the Dragon Knight!
"Ah Dang! Back down! "
Right now, I was burning with anger. I didn't care if you were an undead, a dragon knight, or a dragon knight. Since you had already slapped me in the face, I would naturally return the favor.
My berserk magic transformed into a black mist, while the power of death transformed into pitch-black shadows. These were my servants of death. Being immersed in the darkness, I seemed even more like a boss than a boss.
It had been a long time since I had been hit in such a sorry state. The only thing that proved that I still maintained my rationality was that I was still maintaining my lich form and only intended to use magic to fight.
"Roland, I sense that something's wrong with the situation. Calm down first. Be more rational! "
Heloise was warning me, but did I even need this silly cat to remind me? It was obvious that something was wrong with the current situation. We had clearly come in without permission, yet the Dragon Knight had immediately attacked us. It was quite obvious that there was something fishy going on.
"I'm quite rational. I'll use my rationality to kill him … The end of all things, Frigid Winter!"
A huge amount of Ice Magic gathered on the ancient arm, and the green Soulfire turned into a pale white Ice Flame. It would be impolite not to return the favor. Since you attacked me as a greeting, let me use a tactical spell to return the favor.
"Is this your rationality? You're probably using your knees to maintain your rationality! "
Halent watched as the heavy rain in the sky instantly transformed into snowflakes. For the first time in his life, he wondered if he shouldn't have gone out today, or if he had found the wrong person.
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