Free Web NovelThe wind and snow howled.
An Worm-Eaten Household was burning in the valley, and black smoke, a mixture of blood and tar, rose into the sky, igniting the entire twilight horizon.
And in the burning mountain of corpses and sea of fire, the Dragon Blood Legion descended through the snow. free𝑤ebnovel.com
They wore heavy armor, black interwoven with red, their formation as disciplined as a rolling iron current.
The heavy infantry were the first to break through the wind, forming a wedge formation with their shields.
Behind them were the cleaving knights and heavily armored javelin throwers, arrayed on two flanks.
"Demon Blast Javelins" thrown from the high mountains ripped through the sky, falling in swathes like a sudden thunderstorm.
Flames, explosions, and battle aura, a triple wave of destruction, advanced like a tide.
The Worm-Eaten Household surged forward, densely crawling over the valley.
But in front of the Dragon Blood Legion, they seemed to be just a group of "clearance targets" that had been precisely calculated.
"First line advance, wedge formation unchanged."
"Second line break left, three-stage magic spears ready!"
"Decapitation squad, line up and take positions."
Every command was concise, direct, and without the slightest hesitation.
That was the voice of the Vice Legion Commander, Gaius Calvin, echoing through the formation.
He rode a warhorse covered in heavy armor, his burly, nearly two-meter-tall figure as majestic as a sculpture, his entire being like an iron fortress.
Slowly raising his battle blade, the blade body flowed like magma, and the rising red battle aura erupted like a furnace, casting a blood-red glow over the entire Snowpeak.
Before the battle aura even fell, the Worm-Eaten Household instinctively recoiled a step.
Blocking his path were three tall, high-ranking Worm-Eaten Household.
They had human forms, but were clad in makeshift armor patched together from insect shells and dead flesh, their pupils a deep blue, their expressions cold and detached.
These were former Snowsworn warriors, one of the strongest warrior races of the Snow Country, whose bodies had been seized by the Worm-Eaten Household.
Forty years ago, the Empire conquered the Snow Country, burned its royal court, annihilated its imperial family, and trampled this proud military race into the dust.
Now, they were reawakened and controlled by the Worm-Eaten ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Household in the form of hosts.
They still retained their combat skills, and were even more ferocious.
Bone blades extended from their arms, their footsteps silent in the snow, and as the insect patterns on their bodies flickered, they began to absorb blood and dead flesh from the battlefield to strengthen themselves.
"Mouth one."
One Worm-Eaten Household suddenly erupted with silver-white battle aura, like an arctic storm whipping up snow, striking at Gaius's throat with its blade;
Another stomped heavily on the snow, kicking a rock to pieces, purple insect patterns rapidly flickering within its body, clearly activating some kind of enhancement spell;
The third roared, releasing a piercing sonic wave, attempting to disrupt the flow of battle aura.
Gaius merely glanced at them coldly, a flicker of disdain in his eyes.
"Things that are dead should stay dead!"
He urged his horse forward, and the warhorse accelerated with a roar, charging alone into the midst of the three corpses!
The red flames instantly expanded, condensing into a substantial battle aura domain.
"Red Flame - Domain Slash, full release."
He raised his battle blade high, flames swirling around him like a tornado, carving a crimson path across the Snowpeak.
With a sudden slash!
It was as if the world was split open by a falling crimson meteor!
The three Worm-Eaten Household froze in their movements, then their bodies disintegrated in mid-air.
No, they were completely melted from the inside out by the scorching battle aura, their bones and flesh charred black, their insect shells exploding, their internal organs bursting like a red mist splattering everywhere!
At the site of the slash, the Snowpeak melted into black mud, and the air was filled with the stench of charred insect bodies and the smell of hot metal.
"Is this the power of a Peak Knight?" a commander in the formation murmured, his voice filled with awe.
Two seconds later, the three Worm-Eaten Household crashed to the ground, utterly dead.
"All troops advance!" Gaius roared, not looking back as he continued to ride forward.
The Dragon Blood Legion pressed forward, like an iron chain twisting like a giant dragon, charging into the still-collapsing Worm-Eaten Household positions.
The Doomsday Mother Nest trembled, and three waves of spiritual corrosion surged from its depths.
Ordinary legions would often see their formations collapse and their will disintegrate at this moment, but the Dragon Blood Legion did not hesitate.
They resonated with their battle aura, reflecting the spiritual waves back, even causing feedback disruption to the Doomsday Mother Nest.
"They're trying to use spiritual tactics! Too naive."
"Keep pushing! Target the nerve crystals and incubation core!"
"Fireline Five-One—prepare to deploy Molten Bomb (molten flame bombs)!"
A decapitation squad of five men broke out from the snow forest, their battle aura shimmering in different colors—red, blue, green, gray, and gold—each demonstrating their unique abilities: armor-piercing, beheading, nest disruption, and incineration.
Their coordination was so seamless that it could rival a small tactical legion.
When yet another Doomsday Mother Nest collapsed in a fiery explosion, its main structure reduced to broken walls and ruins, the entire valley began to rain down black insect blood and charred debris.
Gaius slowly sheathed his blade, looking coldly into the distance.
"This is just the beginning." As his iron cavalry passed, the Worm-Eaten Household trembled. "Let them feel the true wrath of the Empire."
The battle banner of the Dragon Blood Legion flew high in the wind and snow, like burning fury, illuminating the entire blood-stained valley.
Although the Cold Iron Legion was already one of the Empire's few elite battle groups, with strict tactics and stable personnel, and even managed to hold the defensive line firmly for a month on the northern frontier, when the Dragon Blood Legion truly stepped onto this frozen battlefield, the contrast became stark, and the difference was immense.
In just four days, the Dragon Blood Legion forcefully took over command, replacing the Cold Iron Legion soldiers who were exhausted to their limits.
That legion, which had gritted its teeth and endured for a whole month between blood and snow, finally got to reorganize and rest.
But the advance of the Dragon Blood Legion was like an ice-breaking spear, unstoppable.
They continuously captured over ten Doomsday Mother Nest strongholds, which was more than double the Cold Iron Legion's achievements in a month!
They formed ranks in the wind and snow, using battle aura as a furnace and blood as a sacrifice, charging, beheading, incinerating, excavating nests, and laying mines, one after another, their actions as precise as machinery.
It wasn't a victory relying on the surprise attack of a single strong individual, but the entire legion working together like gears in a machine.
The colors of battle aura intertwined over the battlefield, like a flowing rainbow bridge, showcasing the elite battle aura characteristics from every family in the Empire, all highly disciplined and unified in their deployment.
Gathering the strengths of a hundred schools, this was the terrifying aspect of the Empire's strongest legion.
The wind and snow continued to fall, and the charred ruins of the Doomsday Mother Nest emitted thick white smoke, reflected in the crimson eyes of the flesh and blood tower.
The Despair Witch stood on high, her figure graceful, like a noble maiden dressed for a banquet.
But what escaped her lips was a low, feminine male voice, carrying the disdain of a deity looking down on mortals.
"How boring."
In his internal perception, over a dozen Doomsday Mother Nests had been dyed ash-colored, symbolizing complete loss of contact.
These were all nodes he had meticulously laid out, theoretically meant to rapidly spread and multiply in the Snow Country, eventually turning this cold land into an incubation bed connected to the abyss.
"Four-fifths of the Snow Country is completely ruined—population, army, nobility, resources, all churned into insect mud. But compared to expectations—it's still a bit too little." His voice was low and hoarse yet gentle, carrying an unsettling sense of contradiction.
If it weren't for that old Duke decisively blockading Frost Halberd City, firmly pinning several Doomsday Mother Nests beneath the city, the plan would have already advanced further south.
Frost Halberd City, which should have fallen, had now become a graveyard where the Doomsday Mother Nest failed to conquer after a long siege.
"According to the plan, in just ten days, I could have turned the entire Snow Country into a spawning ground."
"Now I'm trapped in this boring offense and defense, bah."
He sighed softly, his gaze turning to the battle line further in the distance.
There, the Dragon Blood Legion was eradicating the Doomsday Mother Nests with terrifying efficiency, and even his sensory network felt a pain as if being "live-cut."
"The Empire's dogs—still annoying, as expected."
However, he was not flustered.
The Despair Witch slowly turned and stepped into the depths of the grotto, woven from insect flesh and blood-bone, where a colossal, heart-like entity pulsed slowly, oozing black bubbles that made the entire space tremble.
"The Doomsday Mother Nest—is not won by numbers." He whispered softly, his expression as gentle as a lover's whisper, "As long as it's still here, everything else is just a prelude."
On the other side, at Frost Halberd City, on the main tower of the north wall, the wind and snow howled furiously.
On the thick, cast-iron battlements, Duke Edmund stood with his hands behind his back, his silver-white cloak flapping in the wind, his hair as white as frost and snow, looking a dozen years older than a month ago.
He squinted at the burning valley in the distance on the battle line, the screams of the Worm-Eaten Household swallowed by the flames, and the black armored battle flag of the Dragon Blood Legion fluttering fiercely in the wind.
"...The Dragon Blood Legion, truly lives up to its reputation." The Duke's voice was not loud, but it revealed an undeniable sense of relief.
Two people stood beside him.
One was the middle-aged knight known as the "Blade of the Royal Court"—Arthur Gareon.
Clad in a scarlet cloak and carrying a dragon-patterned longsword at his waist, he had a slender build and a handsome face with a sharp edge, his eyes hiding a constantly suppressed sharpness.
He looked surprisingly young for his age, even a bit too young, but standing there, he exuded a sense of reassurance.
"The situation in the Snow Country is a bit worse than we imagined before taking over." Arthur's tone was cold, his gaze fixed on a marked spot on the map, "But it's only 'worse.'"
"Our main force has already begun clearing, and the Cold Iron Legion is also resting and awaiting orders. As long as the plan remains unchanged, the rest is just harvesting."
His tone was as calm as water, yet the certainty in his words made it impossible to question him.
The other was even more striking: Aurelian Thor, the Supreme Mage, the highest authority of the Magician Forest.
He wore a deep blue, star-patterned mage robe, his face obscured by a hood, making him seem to merge with the night sky. In these days, Aurelian's mage corps had also contributed significantly.
They were responsible for detecting the Doomsday Mother Nest's weaknesses, setting up amplification magic arrays, casting shields, and providing battlefield healing. Spells, like starlight, scattered across the battlefield, providing stable and precise support to the Dragon Blood Legion.
Although the mages were not numerous, they were a crucial lever that swayed the entire battle.
Without them, the Dragon Blood Legion's advance speed could never have been so swift.
He didn't look at the map; he merely looked up at the distant sky: "Do you think the Doomsday Mother Nest really spread on its own?"
"The entire system—has design, coordination, and strategies of sacrifice. These things cannot be achieved by a simple swarm of insects."
He extended a finger and lightly tapped the air, and a faint magical fluctuation transformed into a phantom of the Worm-Eaten Household network, writhing like a living creature.
"I can confirm that behind these Doomsday Mother Nests—there is 'a certain consciousness,' an existence even more skilled than I am at guiding chaos and evolution."
Arthur frowned: "You mean, it's 'man-made'?"
Aurelian nodded.
"If we can sever its main brain, the entire Doomsday Mother Nest system will immediately paralyze."
"However," he changed his tone, "the Doomsday Mother Nest is different; it seems to hide something even more terrifying that I cannot yet discern."
Duke Edmund looked at the distant battlefield and slowly said: "You mean the Doomsday Mother Nest is the key, and it still has a hidden card?"
"Precisely." Aurelian answered calmly, "But if we attack that place rashly, without knowing the full picture, we will suffer heavy losses."
Arthur smiled faintly, tightening his grip on his sword hilt: "Then let's first clear all the surrounding Doomsday Mother Nests, and then concentrate our main force to attack a single point." "Tactically, gradual encirclement and elimination is the most stable approach." He said, "No matter where the mastermind behind this is hiding, we will eventually find him."
Edmund nodded, his voice firm: "Let's do it."
Just as the three of them finalized their strategy and prepared to issue commands,
A staff officer quickly ascended the city tower, his expression complex, and raised his binoculars, pointing towards a corner of the battlefield.
"Duke, please look over there." He said into the Duke's ear.
Edmund frowned, took the binoculars, and squinted in the direction the staff officer pointed.
The wind and snow could not obscure that unusual sight.
At the southwestern slope, a knight squad of no more than a hundred men was rapidly advancing.
Unlike the heavy black iron armor of the Dragon Blood Legion, the battle armor worn by these individuals seemed somewhat strange; many armors even had peculiar bottles and jars hanging from them, and metal tube-like devices rattled at their waists, as if they could explode at any moment.
Even more bizarre was their method of attack.
Someone running suddenly paused, pulled out a metal nozzle from their back, twisted it hard, and immediately a roar of red flames several meters high erupted, burning the charging Worm-Eaten Household from the root, their wails echoing through the valley.
Flames churned in the ice and snow, leaving behind scorched earth and eerie crimson, while these knights, like incinerators from purgatory, maintained their steady advance, their progress cold and relentless.
"At a time like this, on a battlefield like this—there's actually an unidentified knight squad daring to appear here? What unit is that?" Arthur raised an eyebrow slightly, showing a hint of confusion for the first time.
But Edmund was already stunned.
He suddenly widened his eyes, staring intently at a flag held high at the very front of that strange knight squad.
A scarlet background, with a golden rising sun slowly ascending, like flames flickering fiercely.
That was the banner of the Red Tide Territory!
A name flashed through his mind, a person who should still be far away in Snowpeak County stabilizing the situation, and absolutely impossible to appear here:
Louis Calvin.
"What—is he doing here?" freēwēbηovel.c૦m
In an instant, Duke Edmund almost blurted out, his tone carrying a rare shock, even some unease.
He had thought that he had set up this great battle, besieging the Doomsday Mother Nest, and only needed to proceed steadily and meticulously.
But now his rather intelligent son-in-law, leading a bizarre-looking knight squad, had silently broken into this battlefield?
At the critical juncture when the Dragon Blood Legion and the Doomsday Mother Nest were about to clash fiercely?
Flames erupted once more, large swathes of Worm-Eaten Household were incinerated, and that "flame-spraying knight squad" actually seemed like a special force specifically designed to hunt Worm-Eaten Household nests.
On a secondary front, they rapidly gained a local advantage, steadily approaching a small Doomsday Mother Nest stronghold that had not yet been noticed by the main force.
"Rhino!" Edmund called out in a low voice.
An old knight responded, giving a steady salute.
"Immediately take three scouts and approach that Red Tide knight squad. Tell them this is an order from the direct legion of Frost Halberd City, and they are to come see me inside Frost Halberd City at once."
