Chapter 312: Sweeping Away the Demons (1)

Duke Siren was struggling to figure out how to handle the situation before him when Prince Duri stepped forward and said, “Uncle, this baron is a bit hot-tempered, but his status is different. The dignity of the Golden Mage cannot be offended by ordinary people, and there are also two legendary warriors in his territory…”
Duri didn’t say anything unnecessary. He believed his uncle could assess the situation and know what to do.
On one side was an ignorant noble sent by his family to the army to gain experience, while on the other were warriors whose status was equal to or even higher than his. For Dures to clash with such strong opponents, it was only fair he suffered!
“Besides, Donald is also Catherine’s future husband. My mother has high hopes for him, and he is one of the two main supporters of my ascension!”
Hearing Duri’s addition, Duke Siren knew even better what to decide.
“Dures attacked the Celt reinforcements’ camp without reason, attempting to harm the Golden Mage. He has been executed on the spot. Dispose of his body!”
Watching the embarrassed faces of the supervisors and Dures’ tragic death, most of Duke Siren’s guards took pleasure in it. It seemed this guy had often offended others by relying on his status, and many local residents who had suffered under him cheered.
Seeing this, Duke Siren grew even more disgusted with these useless noble sons—completely uncomparable to the legitimate descendants of powerful families like the Celts!
Shaking his head, he decided not to think further. He sent people to dispose of the body and ordered that the news be kept secret for now, to be released back to the palace after the battle.
Yet, thinking about the chaos that would arise when Dures’ family protested upon his return, he felt a headache coming on!
“Let them make a fuss. These families have gone too far over the years. It’s perfect for them to clash with such strong warriors. After they get battered, I’ll deal with the mess!”
That was Duke Siren’s plan. He treated Donald, the Celt noble, with even greater respect!
Without the annoyance of a despised guy like Dures, the duke rushed to the command post to handle official matters. Jack continued to catch up with his former comrades, though their conversations were inevitably interrupted.
“Dong… dong…”
The deep sound of the alarm bells echoed throughout Dragon Tooth Fortress. Hearing the bells, the guards and locals immediately mobilized in emergency.
Perhaps accustomed to such sudden incidents, these people remained busy yet orderly. Everything seemed well-organized.

The defenders of Longya entered the western fortress district in organized groups, while the civilians helped prepare battering rams and stones to defend against demons scaling the walls.
“Dark Knights, form up here! Everyone else, get on the ships—we’re going to see just how strong those demons are!”
Upon hearing the alarm of a demon attack, Donald immediately gave orders. It had been agreed beforehand that all combat operations would be under his command. Though Durai felt it was a bit hasty to go to battle so soon after arriving at Longya Fortress, he agreed to join them on the western fortress walls as well, as it would be good to see the demons’ attacking power.
Since the demons appeared in the mountainous area west of Longya Mountain, they were blocked by the ancient, heavily fortified military structure of Longya Fortress, keeping them outside most of the fortress’s territory. There were few demons wandering east of Longya Fortress, not enough to pose a real threat. If not for the astonishing number of demons gathered west of the fortress, the Grand Duke of Siren would never have sent envoys abroad for help.
After all, the major noble families in Gadré had long harbored malicious intentions toward Siren, and the grudges accumulated over generations wouldn’t vanish so quickly. Otherwise, seeking help from Gadré would have been the better choice—after all, it was once their homeland!
There was a distance of over ten miles between the eastern and western fortresses where Donald and his group were, so the Grand Duke of Siren gave up riding fast horses and instead took Donald’s ship, arriving at the western fortress walls in just three minutes, just in time before the demons reached the city.
The magic ship landed directly on the 500-foot-wide walls of the western fortress. Donald and the others saw from the deck the massive army of demons rushing at the walls like a tide. Although most were low-level demons, their numbers likely reached hundreds of thousands, with more arriving from afar.
Donald and his group arrived at just the right time. This was the largest attack since the demons first invaded. Compared to previous small-scale attacks involving tens or hundreds of demons, this one seemed to involve nearly a million demons attacking the city. It seemed the demons, having failed to take the city after prolonged efforts, had lost patience and decided to go all out.
Meanwhile, the defenders on the walls had already started attacking, hurling hundreds of battering rams and stones down. Each heavy object that fell could kill dozens or even hundreds of low-level demons, quickly pushing back the first wave of tens of thousands of demons.

For many advanced demons capable of flying, these traditional and ancient human defensive weapons were not very useful, but for those lower-level demons reliant on physical combat, they were deadly weapons. After climbing onto the city walls, aside from the experienced archmage Messele and the old scholar Albano, Donald and the others saw such a grand scale of warfare for the first time, leaving them deeply astonished. Just then, a group of Qassei demons, who had hidden among the lower-level demons below, suddenly appeared. numbering in the thousands and belonging to the bronze-level, magic-oriented demons, they were extremely cunning—having sneaked into the ranks of the lower-level demons and, under the cover of the demon horde, reached the base of the fortress. They then unleashed their innate magical abilities—fireballs. Faced with this seemingly overwhelming barrage of fireballs, the people from Celtlet could not help but exclaim in shock. What surprised them even more was that the defenders of Dragon Tooth Fortress ignored these powerful magical attacks entirely, continuing to shoot at the lower-level demons below, paying no attention to the far more threatening thousands of fireballs. The range of a mage’s fireball attack is usually only about 100 feet, at most 120 feet, and the 300-foot-high walls of Dragon Tooth Fortress made it impossible for these demons’ innate spells to reach the human defenders on top of the walls. To the astonished eyes of the reinforcements from Celtlet, the once fierce swarm of fireballs disappeared with just a few faint sputtering sounds upon hitting the walls, leaving only inconspicuous black marks as proof that those fierce spells had once existed. It turned out that a weapon like fireball, once a deadly tool on the battlefield, was barely more than a tickle against the anti-magic walls of Dragon Tooth Fortress. The walls, reinforced with anti-magic materials, were not only as strong as steel but also immune to attacks from lower-level spells below level three and had strong resistance to spells above level four. Combined with their inherent strength, only spells of level seven or higher could cause damage to the walls. But surely the defenders wouldn’t just stand by and allow their opponents to freely use powerful spells? It was precisely because of these inherent strengths and anti-magic properties that Dragon Tooth Fortress had remained unconquered for a thousand years, hailed as the great structure in the western continent that could never be breached.

Fireball, known as the most powerful third-level spell due to its explosive force and damage, also falls under the category of third-level spells. No matter how strong its explosive power may be, its nature prevents it from overcoming the magical resistance of the Dragon Tooth Fortress walls. Thus, it cannot be very effective. This is why, during the era of the Magic Empire when Banai ruled the entire continent and the nation was powerful enough to gather sufficient materials to build such large-scale anti-magic defensive structures, it was difficult for the now greatly weakened human kingdoms to construct such fortresses. When the Qasim demons’ ambush plan failed, they panicked and tried to retreat. These demons, skilled in magic, found their strongest tactics ineffective against humans’ sturdy walls. With their relatively weak physical combat abilities, charging at the fortress alone would only lead to certain death. Although demons are chaotic and evil by nature, they are still intelligent beings. They possess the instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm. Especially those of the magic-based type are generally more intelligent and cunning, preferring to launch surprise attacks from behind. To them, human concepts of etiquette and shame are nothing but jokes. How could the defenders of the Dragon Tooth Fortress let these cunning Qasim demons, who had failed in their ambush, escape? Ballistae were pushed forward, loaded with ammunition, and fired at them. Trapped among the lower-level demons, they became easy targets. Under normal circumstances, eliminating these cunning bronze demons would require more than ten times the effort! Perhaps the heavy losses suffered by the Qasim demons angered their commanders, as a howl was heard from afar, followed by a group of thousands of winged demons flying in like a dark cloud from behind. The appearance of the winged demons posed a crisis for the Dragon Tooth Fortress defenders. Although the elite archers of the Siren Knights’ Fifth Step Battle Unit could shoot down most of the flying demons with a coordinated attack, the demons had extremely strong physical recovery abilities. Even if hit by several arrows, as long as vital organs like the heart and brain were not struck, they could still continue flying toward the fortress, causing significant trouble for the human defenders. Only those flying demons hit by crossbows would instantly lose their combat ability and fall to the ground below the fortress. The number of crossbows and their ammunition were limited—these were among the top three most powerful defensive weapons in human history, capable even of threatening dragons.

The top-ranked one was a large magical defense structure led by a mage tower, while the second was the magic crystal cannons, for which the manufacturing methods have been lost, with only a very small number remaining. It was said that a single shot from the most powerful magic crystal cannon could rival that of a level 9 golden spell, and it could fire repeatedly. The cooldown time for these cannons was much shorter than that required for a golden archmage to recover from casting a single golden spell. Of course, the flexibility and versatility of a golden archmage could not compare to those of inanimate objects like magic crystal cannons, yet even so, the deterrence power of a single magic crystal cannon exceeded that of an army of tens of thousands. With the strength of any single country, no more than a hundred crossbows could be assembled, most of which were sent to Dragon Tooth Fortress. Against thousands of flying demons, these few dozen crossbows were clearly insufficient. Seeing this situation, Donald asked the Grand Duke of Siren to order the commander to give his troops some space along the city walls. The Siren defenders were also glad for the reinforcements to join the battle earlier, as it would make it easier for them to resist the demon attacks! “Arquebus Guard, prepare!” “First rank, fire!” “Bang! Bang—” The thirty arquebusiers who came this time were divided into two teams, with the first rank firing together first.