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Chapter 103: The Mighty Dragon Breaks the Battle Formation with Blood Crystal Soul

The premature return of the White Dragon "Winter Night" to the eastern front, having resolved the aerial battle, was an unexpected and powerful reinforcement that allowed me to successfully force back the "Ferocious Underworld Martial Saint" without escalating into a fight to the death. The reason "Winter Night" achieved such battlefield success was entirely due to the ice-based dragon tower he painstakingly built in the Northern Country.

The dragon tower is an extremely luxurious and rare structure even among the dragonkind. It must be built on a natural elemental spring, a connection point between the material plane and an elemental plane. It requires tens of thousands of tons of pure, matching elemental magic minerals, along with countless precious treasures and millions of dragon-specific magic runes to complete the tower. Once a dragon tower is built, it not only serves as an offensive and defensive war fortress but also provides a constant supply of immense magical power to nearby dragons of the same element, significantly boosting the growth rate and strength of the dragonkind. It is considered the most precious asset of the dragon race. However, apart from the materials and costs involved, the mere existence of a natural elemental spring is something that can hardly be found. Even with the combined efforts of the entire dragonkind over a million years, only three dragon towers have been built so far, occupied by the Gold Dragon, Sea Dragon, and Red Dragon, respectively. The immense power of these dragon towers has made these three dragon races far superior in strength compared to their counterparts.

As for "Winter Night's" privately built dragon tower in the Northern Country, the situation was different. When the ice-based forbidden spell "Tears of the Firmament" and the legendary divine weapon "Spear of Absolute Destiny" were used together, they opened an ice elemental spring, but it was not naturally formed. It was tainted with a large amount of chaotic power from the "Sea of Star Souls," which could not be indefinitely absorbed by ice-based dragons naturally, thus providing limited help in strength enhancement. Moreover, the ice crystal stones "Winter Night" used to build the tower were by-products of the forbidden spell and were impure, making their effects less than ideal. With "Winter Night's" strength alone, the process of imprinting magic runes was naturally slow, not to mention the lack of treasures to empower the tower.

Initially, "Winter Night," in his ignorance, arrogantly attempted to build a giant dragon tower over four hundred meters tall. However, when actual construction began, difficulties arose at every step. Later, when Saranxia, the "King of the Undead," arrived at Fontainebleau and accidentally learned about this, he snatched the ice staff "Ice Dragon's Sigh" from Hai Ruo and proceeded to scold "Winter Night," hitting him over the head repeatedly. The "King of the Undead" berated the white dragon for his ignorance and wastefulness, leaving the ancient dragon hanging his head in shame. Saranxia then took over and redesigned the dragon tower, abandoning the grandiose plan and simplifying the construction process. Using the super magic cannon tower "Tower to the Heavens" in the capital of the Mercenary Empire, "Star Shattering Abyss," as a blueprint, he finally turned this dragon tower into a long-range ice-based magic cannon tower.

The newly named "Ice Throne" is less than a hundred meters tall and can only provide sufficient magic power for "Winter Night" alone. Its specifications and power are relatively simple, and even its magic cannon's power is far inferior to the "Tower to the Heavens" in "Star Shattering Abyss." However, by abandoning various additional functions, the tower gained a unique ability called the "Ice Space Reflection." As the master of the dragon tower, "Winter Night" can summon an inverted illusion of the "Ice Throne" once a day for half an hour, no matter where he is in the world. Although this illusion is a virtual image, it is a projection coordinate through the "Ice Elemental Plane" and can unleash half the power of the "Ice Throne." Its power is equivalent to eight level-10 ice mages working in tandem, greatly enhancing "Winter Night's" combat effectiveness.

It was with the power of the "Ice Space Reflection" that "Winter Night" launched the power of the "Ice Throne" dragon tower against the two human Dragon Knights and hundreds of Griffin Riders, decisively defeating them. One Dragon Knight was killed, and the other injured, with more than half of the Griffin Riders suffering casualties, while "Winter Night" remained unscathed and calmly returned to the eastern front to help me conclude the battle.

Meanwhile, on the main southern battlefield, the critical moment had arrived.

The grand army personally led by Katherine, consisting of 120,000 half-orc warriors as the main force, 40,000 yak warriors as the backbone, and 60,000 wolf cavalry for coordination, was arrayed with its back to the mountain, imposing and orderly. The human legion, with 400,000 troops, included the most elite Royal Knights, Royal Guards, and Court Mages. The human forces alone had 80,000 heavily armored knights, and nearly half of the soldiers possessed battle aura, making their combat power extraordinary.

The battle began with a charge from the human heavy cavalry, but Katherine's forces were ready with heavy shields and anti-cavalry spears, using the half-orcs' raw strength and resilience to hold the line. Both sides continuously committed more troops, turning the vast battlefield into a sea of slaughter. In this close-quarters combat, the orcs' strength was fully unleashed, with casualty ratios remaining disproportionately in favor of the orcs, around 1:4 or 1:5. Normally, the human commander should have avoided such a situation, but to create the optimal environment for the appearance of the "Dragon Golems," Duke Saranxia chose to ignore the sacrifice of his men to add another bloody feather to his cap.

After hours of relentless combat, the human army's momentum faltered, and they began to fall back, pulling the orc forces deeper into the heart of the battlefield. Duke Saranxia immediately seized the opportunity. Two hundred towering Dragon Golems, roaring like thunder, surged into the battlefield, while the human army's reserve forces also entered the fray. The exhausted human troops, seeing their greatest hope, rallied their remaining strength and followed the Dragon Golems into the fray.

Facing the Dragon Golems, which were twice the size of the yak warriors, the orcs, a race devoted to the War God, showed no fear and charged forward. At this moment, Katherine revealed her first trump card—the Qu Bull Knights.

The Qu is a massive herbivore from the Swamp of Devourment, weighing over two tons, covered in thick scales, and sporting three formidable horns on its head. With a short-distance running speed comparable to that of a horse, Katherine scoured the Swamp of Devourment and was only able to equip 3,000 Qu Bull Knights. These riders, clad in heavy armor, rode into battle on Qu bulls, wielding totem poles studded with iron nails. As the Qu Bull Knights charged at the Dragon Golems, the ground shook beneath their hooves, and their ferocity matched that of the mechanical beasts. The battle raged on, with the Qu Bull Knights meeting the Dragon Golems head-on, each side testing the other's resolve in a clash that would determine the fate of the battlefield.