An hour and ten minutes later, the army of the Nether Bark Kingdom arrived at Blazing Sun City.
"I guess we'll have to do without Lu Chong."
Zhou Zhou said as he stared at the dreadful looking army.
Hearing his lord, Bai Yung and the other veterans swallowed heavily, sweats trailing down their brows.
"This battle just got tougher."
Bai Yung muttered.
"Lord Thugar, may I ask why you have assembled such an army against me?"
"The Supreme Will won't be pleased by such an action."
Raising his voice, Zhou Zhou addressed the Nether Bark Kingdom's hero.
"Don't act so clueless, Blazing Sun!"
"Your soldiers conquered a region of our sacred kingdom!"
"That's a provocation to us, and must be answered in blood!
Thugar shouted angrily.
Raising an eyebrow at the words of the seven meters tall kobold, Zhou Zhou recalled the notifications he received during yesterday's expedition.
None confirm to Thugar's words.
"You must be mistaken, Lord Thugar."
"Every region my soldiers conquered is independent of any kingdom."
"I made sure of that."
He replied calmly.
"This is the contract signed by the Wild Stone King, Regional lord of Gravel Wilderness."
Thugar said, holding up a scroll.
"He pledged loyalty to the Nether Bark Kingdom three days ago, placing his region under our control."
"Your action of conquering the Gravel Wilderness is a blatant disrespect to us. And the agreement with the Supreme Will does not forbid revenge!"
The kobold added.
"We were set up!"
Bai Yung said, glaring at Thugar.
'With Blazing Sun out of the way, Storm Lord will have a chance to compete for the strongest lord of his planet."
'Once that happens, we can use his strength and resources to become an Intermediate-tier kingdom.'
Thugar recalled the words of the Pope as he pointed his scythe at the city in front of him.
"Up hold the reputation of the kingdom!"
He surged forward atop his White platinum-tier hound.
"For the kingdom!"
The other kobolds roared as they charged.
Diamond-tier kobolds rode on Yellow gold-tier hounds, leading the rest of the army forward in a thunderous advance.
Zhou Zhou turned to his soldiers.
"You've heard their excuse for this attack. Let me be clear, it won't be the last."
His gaze hardened.
"As long as we are not strong enough to inspire fear and terror, others will continue to find reasons to attack us."
"But this invasion is an opportunity."
He looked back at the charging army, eyes cold.
"We'll make everyone who hears about this battle fear us."
"Now go kill these bastards!"
He gave the order.
"For the lord and the city!"
Bai Yung roared as he shot forward, targeting one of the kobolds at the Diamond-tier intermediate grade.
With the remaining two Diamond-tier kobolds in sight, Maris left Thugar for Aegon and Nezario.
With Lu Chong unavailable, they had the honor of taking on the big bad boy.
"Give me the honor of killing a dragon."
Thugar declared as he leapt from his hound, shooting straight at Nezario and Aegon.
Nezario moved first, activating Magma Explosion. A concentrated ball of lava blasted towards the Thugar.
Not confident in a single attack, he immediately followed up with All Things Burn.
Pulling the scattered flames together, Aegon conjured a flame sword before hurling it after the ball of lava.
Swinging his scythe at the falling attacks, Thugar summoned a massive ghost shrouded in green eerie flames.
Appearing behind the kobold, the ghost wailed as an intangible force escaped from its mouth.
Boom!
The ball of lava released by Nezario exploded into harmless tongues of energy.
Boom!
Right behind the explosion, the flame sword crashed into the green specter.
"Eeeehh!!"
A horrifying wail erupted as the blade tore away a third of the ghost's massive face.
!!!
Aegon and Nezario coughed up blood as they got slammed by the ghost's attack.
.
"Die!"
Bai Yung furiously shouted as he thrust his spear at his opponent-Garth.
"Now!"
With their opponents within range, one of the kobolds facing Maris shouted.
In the next instant, three gigantic kobolds formed from raw energy materialized right in their midst.
The one controlled by Garth brought its palm crashing down onto Bai Yung's spear, sending the commander flying.
Bam!!
Smashing into the ground, blood trickled down Bai Yung's lips as he struggled to emerge from the crater his fall created.
His state would've been way worse without Carter's White platinum-tier armor.
.
"Die you traitor!"
The other two kobold formations roared as they punched at Maris.
Fully aware of the presence of death, Maris knew it currently surrounds him.
And not in a friendly way.
'I will head to purgatory if I let that hit me.'
He thought as he quickly put some distance between himself and the eighty meters tall kobolds.
"See that, Blazing Sun?"
"We came fully prepared for you and your army!"
"Now let's see if your soldiers are good against stronger opponents... as they are against weaker ones!"
Thugar laughed as he chased after Aegon and Nezario.
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