Ashen Dragon

The ears of the Empire soldiers were filled with the crackling sounds of electricity: "Azimuth 175, altitude 3500, prepare to fire!"

Accompanied by the sound of metal grinding, the barrels suddenly lifted high. The ogre loaders skillfully pushed armor-piercing bullets into the breech, and the clinking of brass shells was as crisp as silver coins falling to the ground.

The crosshairs in the sight were aligned with the vague figures with twin wings in the sky.

The longswords in the hands of the Holy Guard Army burned fiercely, heavenly fire continuously fell, and divine light descended, burning the Empire soldiers on the ground like divine punishment.

In the eyes of ordinary mortals, they were lofty angels, divine messengers to be worshipped, but in the eyes of the Empire soldiers—they were just enemies, enemies that could be translated into military achievements.

"Fire!" The commander's scream and the sound of the first shell erupting from the barrel exploded simultaneously, and the blast of air from the muzzle lifted the hats off the Empire soldiers.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Instantly, with the rumbling growls, countless orange-red scarlet lights blossomed in the sky, shrapnel wove into a burning net between the clouds, roaring towards the Thrace Holy Guard Army in the sky.

To deal with the Angel Divine Descendant, the Empire had inscribed many armor-piercing bullets with runes specifically targeting the Sun God Power.

The commander of the Holy Guard Army—a six-winged angel—wore an indifferent expression, with firelight flickering in his golden pupils, and the brand in the middle of his forehead lit up.

"Holy Chanting Brand, divine eyes like torches."

He softly chanted the hymn, slowly waved the flame longsword in his hand, and as the tip of the sword drew a circle in the air, a red formation condensed by sparks appeared in front of him.

Other Holy Guards followed suit, chanting hymns, drawing circles with their longswords, as more and more red formations appeared in mid-air, eventually converging into a reverse pentagram formation with a diameter of several hundred meters, staining the sky orange-red.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The armor-piercing bullets from the air defense cannons struck the formation, causing successive explosions, yet did not shake the formation in the slightest, only creating ripples of energy.

The formation was huge and complex, yet not sacred, instead displaying a blood-like crimson color, exuding a trace of eerie aura.

On the ground, Ta'er frowned deeply, muttering to himself: "Reverse pentagram..."

The Holy Guards swung their longswords, accompanied by a dull roar in the sky, as burning meteors surged out from the formation, crashing towards the Empire soldiers on the ground.

Even more terrifying, each meteor's bottom was enveloped by a constantly rotating reverse pentagram formation.

And even the shells were merged into a mass, becoming a giant metal ball nearly ten meters in diameter, plummeting towards the ground.

The sky shuddered, the ground trembled, and the all-out strike by the Holy Guard Army was already equivalent in power to a forbidden curse above the Ninth Tier, far beyond what mortals could withstand.

"Buzz—"

The eardrums of the Empire soldiers were pierced painfully by some air-tearing tremor, as they raised their heads in confusion to the sky, then stood there rigidly.

——Only to see the sky splitting into red cracks, with fireballs dragging sulfur-colored trails shattering the clouds.

"By Cassius above..."

"That's..."

Their confusion swiftly transformed into fear, the Empire soldiers trembled all over, their faces pale and bewildered.

They had always watched their enemies struggle, wail, and scream in disaster.

Yet now, under the all-out strike of the Holy Guard Army, they themselves had become victims, the people in despair before the catastrophe.

Watching those meteors descending from the sky, Ta'er was shocked, hastily ordering: "Air defense cannons, intercept them! Fire for me!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The mouths of dozens of air defense cannons erupted with fire, the shells trailing thick smoke soaring into the sky, interweaving into a dense net once again.

But these meteors were all wrapped in the reverse pentagram formation, even after the attack by the shells, they did not explode mid-air, even absorbing and enveloping the shells' metal.

Hot debris rained down on the ground like raindrops, effortlessly taking the lives of Empire soldiers, even piercing the steam tanks.

The meteors had not yet fallen, yet the scorching air currents had already swept across the ground, the heat waves scorching the skin, sand and dust stinging the eyes, the air filling with the smell of scorch.

The Empire soldiers wanted to turn and run, but found those meteors seemed ubiquitous, already covering the entire Empire position.

"Sin Soul is burned out, my lord always remains—"

The ground cracked open, countless blazing chains rose up, wildly dancing mid-air, cutting off the roads to the outside, entrapping this Empire Army.

Fear ultimately turned into despair, many Empire soldiers knelt on the ground, praying to their divine in their hearts—the Ashen Empire's Emperor Cassius to intervene and save them from doom.

"Great Red Dragon..."

"His Majesty Cassius blesses us, we will survive!"

The half-dragon officer watched the meteors drawing closer to the ground, gritting his teeth, showing reluctance, sweat already soaking his back.

Ta'er knew that once these meteors fully descended, the mixed battalion he commanded would likely be completely annihilated.

This might be, since the founding, the first time the Empire's army has been systematically wiped out, as the highest commander of this army, he would be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

Ta'er shouldered a rocket launcher, firing it towards the meteors overhead, while roaring: "Spell protection team, hold on for me too!"

Over a hundred burly ogres raised their giant shields, the runes engraved on them suddenly lighting up, releasing an antimagic field, forming a hemispherical domain with a diameter of several hundred meters, enveloping the position of the Ashen Empire.