Chapter 413: Golan Plains
Nearly ten thousand people gathered in the square, making it noisy and chaotic.
It wasn't until two hours later that the concubine selection finally ended.
Out of nearly a thousand human women, only a little over twenty were chosen.
To goblins, any human woman was considered beautiful.
After all, goblins had no real concept of beauty or ugliness.
As long as it was a female, they thought it was beautiful.
The king liked women with big breasts and wide hips.
So goblins only looked at whether the breasts and hips were big enough.
They ignored the face entirely.
Because goblins couldn't judge a woman's beauty based on her looks.
After the concubine selection ended, another group was brought before the goblin warrior.
"Boss, these are the humans we found in the biggest house!"
The goblin warrior looked down at the group his underlings had brought.
One, two, three...
There were twenty-three people.
The raven perched on the goblin warrior's shoulder was also sizing up the humans.
"Which one of you is the lord of the town?"
The raven suddenly spoke in human language, startling the crowd.
A chubby middle-aged man quickly raised his hand.
"I... I am the lord of Dawn Town, Baron Wade Levin!"
"Want to live?"
The raven scanned the fat baron up and down.
Levin hurriedly nodded.
"From now on, you are the mayor of Dawn Town, responsible for managing the town. From today, Dawn Town belongs to the great king. You must pledge loyalty to the king, or else the goblins will eat you alive!"
Levin turned pale and fell to his knees in terror.
"I... I swear allegiance to the great king! The people of Dawn Town are willing to submit!"
Although he didn't know who the king was,
Anyone who could tame goblins like this was no ordinary figure.
Survival was the priority.
Staying alive was the most important thing.
And thus, the battle of Dawn Town came to an end.
By the time it ended, the town square had finally quieted.
The crowds that once filled the square had dispersed.
The goblin army was also gradually withdrawing from Dawn Town.
Looking toward the northern wall of Dawn Town,
One could see massive floating ships docked there.
What happened in Dawn Town was happening across the borderlands.
The goblin army launched a multi-pronged attack.
Using floating ships to quickly deploy troops.
Sweeping outward from the Garrison Fort as the center.
Villages and towns along the way were all being taken over.
Humans were skilled at production, and the benefits of conquest far outweighed simple slaughter.
Thus, Li Meng issued strict orders.
Protect human productive facilities as much as possible and minimize human casualties.
If it were ordinary goblins, no matter how strict the orders, they wouldn't comply.
Once out of sight, they'd revert to their instincts.
But Li Meng's descendants were different.
They were much smarter than regular goblins.
In a sense, Li Meng's offspring were an evolved form of goblin.
Their individual strength and intelligence far surpassed that of ordinary goblins.
---
Augus Planet, Northern Continent.
At tens of thousands of meters high, the sky looked like a shattered mirror.
A giant crack appeared.
Li Meng and Xiao Bai walked out of the spatial rift hand-in-hand.
As they emerged,
The rift behind them rapidly collapsed and disappeared.
Floating in the void at this incredible height,
Li Meng looked down at the lush green land below.
"Xiao Bai, is this the Northern Continent?"
Xiao Bai glanced around and confirmed their location.
"Yes, that mountain range is the highest in the Northern Continent—the Odegas Mountains!"
Li Meng reached up and pulled five strands of hair from his head.
The hair floated upward with the wind.
Soon after, a burst of blood-red magical light exploded above them.
A massive blood sacrifice magic circle rapidly formed.
The gigantic blood array had a diameter of over a hundred kilometers.
It dyed the nearby sky red.
Li Meng was used to such miraculous scenes.
These days, he and Xiao Bai had visited multiple continents.
At each, they deployed a blood sacrifice magic circle.
The Northern Continent was their final stop.
"Master, if we perform a blood sacrifice on all life on Augus Continent, can we stop your body from collapsing?"
Li Meng glanced sideways at Xiao Bai.
He reached out and pulled her soft waist into his arms.
Holding her delicate body tightly, he looked up at the sky.
The sky had vanished, replaced by endless darkness.
A few stars flickered in the void.
"Xiao Bai, come with me to see the outside world!"
Augus Planet was a real world.
And it surely existed within a star system.
With a thought, Li Meng unleashed a burst of violent magic power.
A singularity exploded, tearing open a spatial crack.
Holding Xiao Bai tightly, he flew into the crack.
As they vanished,
The rift collapsed behind them.
Ten minutes later, in the dark starry sky,
Space shattered again and they emerged.
Before them appeared a barren rocky planet.
It looked much like Mars from the solar system,
But it was only about one percent the size of Augus Planet.
Floating in orbit, they quietly gazed at the planet.
Though there was no oxygen in the vacuum,
Li Meng felt no discomfort.
The space around them was enclosed,
Protected by an invisible magical barrier.
Li Meng could survive in a vacuum.
His magic power supplied all his body's needs.
But Xiao Bai couldn't survive like that.
"Xiao Bai, do you remember anything?"
Xiao Bai shook her head.
Though the sight was astonishing,
Her memories weren't just forgotten; they were lost.
She couldn't recall them just by trying.
"Let's go, check out other planets!"
Afterward, Li Meng took Xiao Bai to explore other planets.
The star system where Augus Planet resided had seven planets.
Three of them were gas giants.
---
Irisis Principality.
Garrison Fort, Count's Manor.
At night, the manor was quiet.
In a certain room, Li Meng opened his eyes from slumber.
He got out of bed, naked, and walked to the window.
Staring at the dark courtyard, Li Meng wore a contemplative expression.
[Message from Tabesa: the Sword Hero has been dispatched by the Papal State to assist Grand Duke Ferrandy in reclaiming Garrison Fort. They will arrive at Obenlo City in about five days.]
Li Meng was familiar with the Sword Hero.
Like him, the Sword Hero was a transmigrator.
The difference was, Li Meng was a soul transmigrator,
While the Sword Hero had been summoned to another world.
Li Meng didn't want to eliminate fellow humans from Earth.
They were short-lived,
No matter how powerful, they couldn't threaten him.
In their world, they might have been protagonists.
But here, he was the only protagonist.
He hadn't expected to meet Kain during this war.
"Xiao Bai, how are things at Irisis Principality?"
[They're gathering troops. In half a month, they should be ready to march.]
"Xiao Bai, how should we fight this war?"
[North of Twilight Forest is the Golan Plains, the Principality's biggest granary. The terrain is flat, the soil fertile for thousands of miles. Perfect for goblin cavalry and floating warships. If we attack Gogo City, the largest city on the Golan Plains, we can draw their main army there and decide the war in a single battle.]
A decisive battle?
Standing by the window, Li Meng fell into thought.
His goblin army lacked high-end combat power.
Opening multiple fronts would put them at a disadvantage when he wasn't present.
Although king-level and saint-level warriors couldn't decide a war alone,
They could still inflict heavy casualties.
And Irisis Principality had many emperor-level and god-level powerhouses.
They were like walking nukes on the battlefield.
Even if they couldn't wipe out the army,
They could easily kill the goblin commanders.
"Let's do it."
Victory at Gogo City would make conquering the borderlands easy.
Without outside help, the borderlands would fall to the goblin army.
[Master, Irisis Principality has also learned about our floating ships. They're forming magic archer units and dragon knight legions to counter them.]
Magic archers and dragon knights?
Li Meng frowned and looked up at the blood moon.
Human intelligence truly couldn't be underestimated.
Magic archers were a profession of the elves.
Only those with elven blood could become magic archers.
Thus, all magic archers were mixed-blood.
Magic archers had the longest attack range.
A king-level magic archer could kill someone from ten miles away.
But advancing as a magic archer was harder than as a swordsman or mage.
There were less than ten king-level magic archers in the entire Principality.
Stronger ones were even rarer.
"Dragon knights are troops from the Dragon Kingdom. Can they really spare help now?"
Taming a wyvern wasn't easy.
Only the Dragon Kingdom's royal family, descendants of dragons,
Had the natural bloodline suppression to control them.
[Dragon knights were ineffective against the demons. In exchange for two Sword Gods assisting the Dragon Kingdom, the Dragon Kingdom sent their dragon knights to aid Irisis Principality.]
Demons had many flying species.
Wyverns were strong, but numbers mattered.
Losing even one wyvern hurt the Dragon Kingdom deeply.
Meanwhile, demons didn't care if tens of thousands of their flyers died.
These reports likely came from the Duchess.
That night, Xiao Bai had implanted a clone inside Katerina.
"Looks like this war will be very interesting."
Li Meng smiled and turned toward the big bed.
On the bed lay a beautiful, snow-white body.
She was lying sideways, her waist and hip curves extremely alluring.
This was one of Li Meng's queens, number 217.
The next morning, a flock of ravens soared into the northern sky.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished from view.
---
Irisis Principality.
Golan Plains, Gogo City.
As the Principality's granary, the Golan Plains were well-developed.
The earth was covered with endless wheat fields.
As harvest season approached, the land turned into a golden sea.
Gogo City sat amidst this golden ocean.
In the morning, some serfs could be seen working in the fields outside the city.
Although the Gogo Plains were vast and fertile,
Land truly owned by commoners was less than one-thousandth.
Most fertile lands belonged to nobles and merchants.
Most villages were noble or merchant estates.
True peasant villages were few and disappearing fast.
"It's a noble, quick, bow down!"
A peasant couple walking along a path between fields
Heard the thunder of hooves ahead.
A young noble in fine robes galloped toward them.
The couple quickly knelt at the roadside.
The young noble noticed them too.
When he saw the peasant woman, his eyes lit up.
He yanked the reins, stopping in front of them.
The young noble looked down at the peasant woman.
She wore a gray dress,
But the whiteness of her chest and the deep cleavage made the noble grin.
He jumped off his horse and grabbed the woman's hand,
Dragging her deeper into the wheat field.
The peasant man paled but dared not object.
As serfs, their lives and bodies belonged to their masters.
Any resistance could cost them their lives.
"M-My lord, p-please don't..."
The peasant woman pleaded, her face flushing.
The noble boy frowned impatiently.
"Don't tell me it's your time of the month. If you're lying, I'll have my father sell you to the mines!"
Hearing this, the woman trembled,
Bit her lip, and said no more.
"Right here then!"
Seeing they were far from the road,
The noble boy eagerly pinned the woman down in the wheat.
He pressed down onto her,
And soon the field was filled with urgent panting and muffled sounds.
At the roadside, the peasant man stood up.
He glanced toward the wheat field,
Where two figures merged together.
The golden wheat swayed gently.
A look of sorrow flashed in his eyes.
He grabbed the reins and led the horse to wait by the roadside.
Just as the noble youth was working up a sweat,
A huge shadow suddenly enveloped them.
The peasant woman stared blankly at the sky.
"My lord, what... what is that?"
A fleet of floating ships appeared in the sky.
The shadow of dozens of floating ships covered the land.
The noble youth looked up in shock.
"What a grand fleet! Must be some merchant convoy!"
He had never seen so many floating ships before.
"Huh? What are they doing?"
At that moment, the fleet stopped in the air.
Thirty or more floating ships began to spread out,
Soon forming a horizontal 'one' character formation.