Chapter 861: Giant Elephant Knights

The Shoveltusked Elephants could use three types of magic, all advanced: Stone Armor, Linear Rock Barrage, and Earth Stomp.

Stone Armor enveloped them in a rocky shell; Linear Rock Barrage was somewhat similar to rock spikes but formed a straight line of sharp stone walls; Earth Stomp was a never-before-seen earth-attribute magic, activated by the Shoveltusked Elephants stomping their feet, rapidly flattening the ground.

It was like a massive jack suddenly slamming into the earth.

The area affected by Earth Stomp varied depending on the strength of each Shoveltusked Elephant. For instance, the herd leader’s Earth Stomp could cover a circular area ten meters in diameter, while newly matured elephants might only reach five meters. Young elephants just learning this magic might only affect a one-meter diameter around their stomp.

Stone Armor and Linear Rock Barrage weren’t the main focus—the key to taming lay in Earth Stomp. Liszt required Emily to master controlling the herd’s use of Earth Stomp while ensuring their discipline.

Once the herd’s wild instincts were subdued, knights would begin riding them. Only with mounted knights could these 121 Shoveltusked Elephants achieve synchronized movement.

...

For the latter half of January, Liszt assisted Emily in training the Shoveltusked Elephant herd while traveling tirelessly between Black Horse Island and Flame Island to transport essential supplies, laboriously sustaining the daily operations of the territory.

"Advance, Shoveltusked Elephants!"

Emily, riding atop the herd leader, issued the command. Behind her were over a hundred elephants of varying sizes, each carrying a knight—mostly novice knights.

"Hrooon!"

"Hrooon!"

The elephants occasionally raised their trunks, emitting deep calls.

They then formed a somewhat uneven formation, marching out of the "Elephant Garden" along a 40-meter-wide road compacted into hardened earth by their stomps. Though their pace wasn’t fast, their momentum was majestic, kicking up clouds of dust that billowed like smoke.

Around the herd, the Blizzard Beasts, led by Hiddleston the beast-leader, circled continuously to prevent the Shoveltusked Elephants from straying.

Under the coordinated control of the knights and Blizzard Beasts, the herd gradually adapted to disciplined movement, shedding their unruly habits.

"This is the prototype of my Giant Elephant Knights. In the future, I’ll expand the Shoveltusked Elephant population, train more earth-attribute Earth Knights, and refine their cohesion for construction projects!" Liszt, riding the invisible dragon, remained veiled at the border of the physical realm.

He was in high morale.

He had already decided to rename his direct knight order the Burning Legion, with the Giant Elephant Knights as its first company—focused not on combat but on engineering.

"Halt!"

Emily shouted as the herd reached their destination. The elephants, previously out of step, came to a messy stop before slowly adjusting into a more orderly formation. Ahead of them, where a small hill once stood, only a bare mound remained.

Turning slowly on the herd leader’s back, Emily issued a new command: "First row, step forward!"

The front row of Shoveltusked Elephants, guided by their knights, moved to the designated position. At Emily’s signal, the knights commanded their mounts: "Shoveltusked Elephants, Earth Stomp!"

"Hrooon!"

"Hrooon!"

"Hrooon!"

The elephants raised their forelimbs and stomped heavily, unleashing their magic. The ground buckled under the force.

The ground rumbled with earthquake-like tremors.

It was visible to the naked eye that the already super-compacted ground, impervious even to water droplets, sank another few dozen centimeters in thickness, the soil becoming even more solidified. If one were to attempt digging with a shovel now, the blade would likely bend before even scraping out an inch of soil—this soil had nearly reached the hardness of rock.

It was precisely this formidable magic that had flattened what was once a mountain into level ground.

"Second row, step forward!" Emily commanded again. The second row of Shoveltusked Elephants, guided by their knights, repeated the earlier maneuver, pressing the ground down another few centimeters.

And so, row after row of Shoveltusked Elephants continued the relentless earth-stomping, trampling the ground back and forth.

From the sky, Liszt watched with satisfaction: "Though their coordination still needs work, the Mammoth Knights are ready to begin constructing the highway. It doesn’t need to be forty meters wide—twenty will suffice... and the road doesn’t need to be this densely compacted either. A single pass by the elephants will be enough."

The most suitable terrain for knightly charges is flat ground with moderate firmness. Excessively hard surfaces are actually harmful, as they damage warhorses' hooves.

That evening.

After the Mammoth Knights returned from their drills, Liszt summoned Emily to the castle to discuss road construction. Duarte, Cross, and other regiment commanders attended the meeting.

"My plan is to build a road from here to here..." He traced the route on the map.

Starting from Flame City, the road would extend toward the direction of the Flame Mountain, all the way to the Jadeite Mountain where the Lightgreen Gem Dragon dwelled. The direct distance was roughly four hundred kilometers. However, a mountain range obstructed the path, requiring the highway to detour in a wide arc to bypass it—while the Shoveltusked Elephants could easily flatten small hills, a full mountain was beyond their capability.

This detour conveniently extended the total distance to five hundred kilometers.

"At this final location, I intend to build a new city. Originally, I planned to establish the royal capital here, but for now, I’ll set aside that idea and first construct a Jade City... The branch range of the Flame Mountains is called the Jadeite Mountain, and as the name suggests, it holds rich deposits of jade ore!"

"Jade ore?"

"Truly jade ore?"

Initially, Duarte and Cross had been puzzled as to why Liszt prioritized this road over one connecting to Estuary City. Now they understood—with such vast jade deposits, the effort was absolutely justified.

"You have two months. The Mammoth Knights will be leading the construction, while you must ensure their safety along the route and organize serfs to transport supplies."

...

Liszt named the highway the "Jade-Flame Highway," and on February 1st, the construction officially commenced, launching the grand road-building project.

Liszt continued handling logistics, traveling between Black Horse Island and Flame Island, primarily transporting food supplies.

Of course.

His search for natural nodes hadn’t ceased, though discovering new ones wasn’t an overnight task. He allocated more time to training, frequently visiting the Jadeite Mountain to practice with the Lightgreen Gem Dragon and the Apocalypse Volcano to train with the Fire Dragon.

Most often, however, he trained alongside the invisible dragon.

The *Invisible Dragon Knight - Dragon Aura Manual* was rapidly expanding beyond its initial techniques—Ghost-Wipe, Shadow-Sweep, and Snow Mountain-Collapse—to include the newly created fourth move, "Soundburst-Pierce," and the fifth, "Poison Dragon-Drill."

Similarly, the *Fire Dragon Knight - Dragon Aura Manual* had grown beyond Dragon Slash-Cleave, Skyburn-Sweep, Sun Devour-Thrust, Boil the Sea-Twist, and Earthshaker-Hammer, now incorporating the sixth technique, "Magma-Tap," and the seventh, "Aeon-Cut."

His training with the Lightgreen Gem Dragon progressed even more swiftly, leaving a faint knightly imprint in the dragon’s psyche.

The silhouette was still indistinct, its expression unclear, but the outline unmistakably resembled Liszt’s form. Mounted atop the Lightgreen Gem Dragon in this mindscape, the figure wielded a hazy five-meter-long Dragonlance, draped in a smoky gray mantle.

This was essentially the mark Liszt had imprinted upon the Lightgreen Gem Dragon’s consciousness.

When the image fully forms, it would signify Liszt’s ascension to the completion of his Dragon Knight training—and his status as the First Dragon Knight.

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