Ashen Dragon

The vanguard of the allied forces advanced to the hilly area before Triel Valley.

"Damn, where are the enemies..."

The knight on horseback gazed into the distance. He did not see any sign of the monsters, but the numerous traps in Triel Valley had already driven him to distraction. Various pitfalls, poison arrows, lassos, and tripwires only resulted in dozens of deaths, but they caused the front units to move cautiously forward.

After all, their principal job wasn't combat; before the war, they were just timid laborers, even serfs without personal freedom.

The commander of the "Legion of Honor" was named Joseph, merely a baron.

However, he did not even have his own fief; this so-called "baron" was more like an honorary title. Joseph was once a lowly carpenter's son, but through luck, he was chosen by the Rackman Family, received the purest knightly education, and ultimately leaped in social class to become an honorary noble and the commander of this so-called "Legion of Honor."

He always felt grateful to the Rackman Family, often fantasizing about dying heroically on the battlefield, repaying the family's kindness with the death a knight should have.

Watching the hesitant militia, Joseph suddenly felt an uncontrollable surge of anger.

This bunch of worms, how dare they serve alongside me!

I am a knight!

A noble from above!

Thinking this, he rode directly to the front of the formation.

"Crack!"

He lashed the hesitant soldiers with his whip, causing them to cry out in pain and agony.

Joseph shouted angrily:

"Advance forward for me!"

"No one is allowed to hide at the back!"

"His Grace was merciful enough to provide you scum with food and even relief funds. Is it to waste time here?"

"If such small traps can stop you, where is your courage? How do you live up to the honor of the title bestowed by His Grace?"

Under Joseph's stern orders, over a hundred supervising officers also used violent means to urge the soldiers forward, finally making the "Legion of Honor" advance properly.

Even though this massive legion often had trampling accidents, at least they would not be stopped by a trap or two.

Finally, the terrain opened up ahead, flat and expansive, as they finally entered Triel Valley.

"We finally made it."

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief.

Marching through the complex hilly terrain, those various traps had driven him mad.

Out of the thousands of militia members, they had already lost over a hundred men before even starting the battle, making the remaining ones feel some panic due to those dead soldiers. He had to kill several deserters in a row to barely maintain order.

"These despicable creatures, they don't even deserve to be called the 'Legion of Honor.'"

"These fellows who utterly lack noble honor... They should be starved to death!"

Joseph cursed silently as he rode his horse.

"Sir..."

The messenger's voice trembled slightly.

"What is it?"

"Are there more deserters up ahead, or another trampling accident, or another trap? Don't bring everything to me to handle; I'm here to fight for honor, not to babysit!"

Joseph spoke impatiently, unable to bear it any longer.

"No, sir, it's... it's none of that."

"Then what is it?"

"Sir, please... please come and see for yourself."

The messenger's voice trembled even more.

Joseph urged his horse forward and looked into the distance, only to stare dumbfoundedly into silence.

On that flat, expansive wasteland was a mottled torrent made up of goblins and kobolds.

Their march even stirred up a dust cloud.

This endless torrent surged in from all directions, probably numbering in the tens of thousands. Their eyes glowed with a haunting light, letting out low, clamorous roars.

Many of the monsters had sparse scales on their bodies, granted by the bloodline of the Red Dragon, filling their veins with a greedy thirst for slaughter and destruction.

Dozens of winged kobolds, Urd, flew chaotically in the air.

"This... this is..."

Joseph's hand holding the reins trembled.

He had imagined countless times charging on the battlefield, heroically slaying enemies and dying of exhaustion, sacrificing his life for the family.

He was always moved to tears by such thoughts, secretly determined to die heroically when the opportunity arose.

But he never imagined the real battlefield would be like this.

If they rushed into the torrent of monsters, they would be torn to pieces, devoid of any honor and dignity.

"No, it shouldn't be like this."

Joseph murmured to himself.

For a moment, he even wanted to turn his horse around and flee back to camp.

But the monsters had already surrounded them from all sides, coming into contact with the militia in the front line.

Joseph snapped out of his daze and fear, shouting with a trembling voice, "Engage! Engage and kill the enemies!"

In fact, the tactics chosen by Dolores of the Ashen Nest and Robert of the allied forces were surprisingly similar—both used the cannon fodder legion to pave the way and had elite troops follow.

This winged kobolds and goblins legion comprised over twenty thousand monsters summoned from various parts of Stormy Ridge, with only about thirty percent possessing a thin bloodline of the Red Dragon.

Due to their small size, the battle power of goblins and kobolds was inferior to that of ordinary human farmhands, but influenced by the aura of the Red Dragon, they became cruel and belligerent, their willingness to fight far surpassing that of the serf-manned "Legion of Honor."

"For the Ashen Nest!"

"For the Great Red Dragon!"

From the monster legion, waves of roaring shouts arose. On the "Legion of Honor" side, under Joseph's orders, they also sounded the horn of attack.

Thus, two large-scale cannon fodder legions intertwined, signalling the start of the war.

The monster legion's kobolds and goblins attacked frantically, charging at the enemy with no regard for their lives, even though their opponents were just some farmhands.

Several kobolds surrounded a human, clinging to his roughly made leather armor, hitting his head with stones, and stabbing his body repeatedly with crude daggers.

"For the Ashen Nest!"

A dragon vein goblin threw a short spear that pierced a soldier's body. With no weapons left, it clawed at him, and finally, leapt onto him to bite, tearing his face into a bloody mess and causing him to howl in pain. Stay connected with My Virtual Library Empire

The winged kobold Urd in the air spewed fire arrows, setting many soldiers' cloth uniforms alight, turning them into blazing "fire men."

Flames, blood, dust.

There was no tactic on this battlefield, just pure and primitive slaughter, with chaos reigning supreme.

Within just a few minutes of contact, the "Legion of Honor" had lost over a hundred men. Panic, wails, and cries resounded, and this cannon fodder army was inevitably heading towards collapse.