Several carriages billowed thick smoke as they gradually rolled into the dense ranks of the beastman army.
They had dark skin, muscular builds, and hides as rough as iron chains. Standing at least two hundred fifty centimeters tall, these war machines were a major source of oppression. The burlier ones towered five meters high, and with their heavy armor, they were practically indistinguishable from tanks.
They even loomed a full head above Princess Celi’s own carriage.
Xuefei was certain that if one of these brutes charged over and slugged the carriage, the whole compartment would shatter into pathetic splinters hurtling a hundred meters into the sky. A head-on clash with the full army? Those poor snake demons wouldn’t stand a chance—they’d be ground into paste, and any intact corpses left behind would be a miracle worth burning incense to thank the gods for.
And this was just the beastmen’s vanguard.
The trebuchets and siege engines clustered in the center of the formation made Xuefei wonder if these guys had really come just to intercept Celi, or if they planned to smash through every city in their path and obliterate anything that crossed their sight.
Up at the front, high on a platform, sat a gray-skinned beastman with a hideous face and two massive tusks jutting from his jaws. A few proper-looking flags were planted behind him. He had to be the leader… or maybe the general.
“But they’re just a brainless race at the end of the day. No need to panic, Miss Celi.”
“Mm, okay… alright…” Miss Celi nodded, finally relaxing now that the two big shots had spoken up.
Beastmen were terrifyingly strong, after all.
Okate scratched his red crew cut, heart pounding as he poked his head out of the carriage for a peek at the dark horde across the open plain before yanking it right back in.
Okate would never forget the time a lone beastman had swatted him flying a dozen meters into the air with one punch. If those tree branches hadn’t broken his fall, he’d have been laid up at home for a decade, the rest of his life spent in a wheelchair.
Truth be told, if Xuefei weren’t an evil dragon who looked down on the beastmen’s so-called mighty strength, even she might have panicked like Okate. And this was the kind of force you’d run into right after leaving Novice Village—enough to make anyone sweat bullets for their life.
“Heh, talk about… totally lame, right?” Okate muttered under his breath.
Still talking big!
Xuefei sighed for her old comrade from back in the day, elegantly crossing her legs and taking a sip of tea.
Fair enough.
Okate had charged into things with that fearless newborn-calf energy at the start. He’d gotten lucky and never died in combat right up until the end, but the plague had taken him in—that was probably his one big regret.
“Time to prepare for battle?” Laer rose to her feet with a serious expression as the beastman army closed in.
“I already hit them with Demon pressure a moment ago, but it didn’t faze them.”
“Looks like they really do want to pick a fight with us,” Xuefei said, standing as well. She fanned her dragon wings, her whole body thrumming with battle lust.
Yeah, it had been ages since her last real scrap. She wondered just how much stronger she’d gotten since then.
“Are you two lords seriously going to fight the beastmen?” Celi asked nervously. Honestly, against a force like this, unless the Evil Dragon Lord herself showed up, she couldn’t imagine anyone cutting through them on raw personal power alone.
“We promised to keep you safe, didn’t we? And if the beastmen won’t show us any respect, we’ve got no reason to go easy on them,” Xuefei said with a smile tugging at her lips. “Time to make them pay.”
~~~
Meanwhile, within the beastman army.
Iron-shod feet thudded dully against the earth in a relentless rhythm, mingled with heavy panting and guttural howls rising and falling around them. The metal tools clutched in their fists clanged noisily.
Everywhere they marched turned to rotting meat sludge.
High on a crude palanquin of rough canvas and wooden frames, borne aloft by several five-meter-tall burly beastmen, lounged a shorter but insufferably smug beastman, splayed out like a slab of raw meat as if savoring the adoration of the rank and file.
His skin was gray—more prestigious than black, the hallmark of beastman royal blood.
Not long ago, this high-spirited beastman prince, Gerdun, had caught wind from his spies that the princess of the Snake Demon Country had fled under cover of night…
A golden opportunity—how could he waste it?
They said the Snake Demon Country hid a treasure that would let its possessor rule the world.
For the princess to bolt straight to Evil Dragon Territory, there had to be a reason. If he could get his claws into leverage over the Snake Demon Country, the beastmen would make a historic leap forward. Hell, they might even topple the Evil Dragon and claim world domination!
No… even his arrogant little brothers and his plague-ridden father, the Beastman King, would have to reevaluate him! They’d hand over the throne without a fight!
Obviously, he was the true king material.
This battle permitted only victory—no failure allowed!
“Report to His Highness the Prince!” Suddenly, a burly beastman with gray braids shouted from below the throne. The prince kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, radiating arrogance.
“Speak!”
He straightened the small crown atop his head, his elephant-like tusks gleaming with a milky white sheen.
“The High Priest says that on the Snake Demon Princess’s carriage, there appear to be two Demon clansmen!”
“What?!”
Had that Snake Demon Princess really gotten tangled up with Demon clansmen?
No way that girl was some seductive slut who resorted to despicable tricks, right? Heh, but that sort of behavior only backfired against those lowly races like goblins, didn’t it?
In that light, the so-called Evil Dragon was nothing impressive after all.
And even if the Evil Dragon itself showed up, could it stand against their siege engines? Those weapons drew on craftsmanship passed down from the Ancient Dwarves—implements mighty enough to carve open mountains and rivers! Their power rivaled Super Tier magic without question!
A little more research, and they’d even take to the skies in hot air balloons, conquering the aerial races to claim dominion over the heavens!
Thus, Beastman Prince Gerdun paid no heed whatsoever to those so-called Demons.
Not to mention, they were advancing with an army of a hundred thousand, while the enemy had just two. What could they possibly do to match that?
It was absurd to think their host of elite warriors couldn’t handle a mere pair. At worst, factor in the Snake Demon Princess for three—but the prince was certain he could deal with that seductive slut single-handedly.
With a wave of his hand, the prince signaled. Abruptly, a small beastman on the marching army’s right flank drew a deep breath and blew a furious blast on the horn slung around his neck.
“Beat the drums!”
“Hoo— Hoo—!!”
As the marching drums thundered to life, the beastmen hoisted their weapons high. Their guttural roars rose in rhythmic cadence, faces twisting into even more savage snarls—like a legion of malevolent statues come alive.
Meteor hammers, spiked maces, greatswords, massive cleavers…
These brutal weapons meshed perfectly with the beastmen’s primal nature, while their bodies of living steel formed the unyieldingest shields!
“Whoever captures the princess shall be rewarded!”
Those had been the prince’s words to every beastman before the clash, and now these battle-mad brutes plunged headlong into a frenzy of bloodlust.
