Ermu

Chapter 1309: Thunderclap

Since the outbreak of the Western Front, the Sky Lord's thoughts have undergone tremendous changes compared to before the war.

In the past, its understanding of humans primarily came from war reports and Holy Seat meetings. Aside from the obviously contemptuous "insect" remarks, the lack of a sufficient number of warrior-type Awakened among humans was a common consensus among all Great Lords. Their advancement difficulty was on par with that of its own kind, but their abilities were unpredictable, making the overall strength of humans highly unstable.

As for the males without any magic, they were purely extras on the battlefield, equivalent to inferior beings within the Sky Lord's own race. The latter had been completely abandoned after the First Battle of Divine Will, without even the qualification to participate in combat, at best only used as laborers. This highlighted the vast difference in strength between the two races.

The Tianhai Realm, on the other hand, had evolved even more thoroughly. Whether it was the sea ships that devoured continents or the most basic warriors, they possessed highly similar magic, as if they were specifically designed for war. Even the Evil Beasts that were corroded and controlled by them could grow into magic-wielding entities, undoubtedly making them the strongest among the four races.

Therefore, after the Second Battle of Divine Will, the human inheritance fragments were regarded by the higher echelons as possessions within their grasp.

This was why Ersiluk's last words caused such an uproar on the Sovereign Holy Seat.

But now, Haekzord increasingly felt that it might not be an exaggeration.

If the human's unexpected use of fire was not enough to arouse the King's vigilance, then the new weapons discovered by the Sky Lord's race two weeks ago were a completely different matter.

Human males—individuals regarded as extras—had relied on a strangely shaped iron bird to fly into the sky without the assistance of witches!

When it first heard this news, its initial reaction was that it was impossible.

Since ancient times, apart from birds and beasts, the sky had always been the domain of magic users. Coupled with the notion that the gods came from beyond the sky, the dome overhead was shrouded in a layer of sacred meaning. How could races without even magic possibly involve themselves in this sacred realm!?

However, there was more than one witness. Having finally accepted this, Haekzord realized that the elevation of humans was probably not just related to fire.

Indeed, it was gradually leaning towards the “elevation theory” that the Silent Disaster had surprisingly proposed—perhaps the Nightmare had realized this possibility earlier than it had, and had decided to enter the deeper layers of the consciousness realm to find answers.

After all, the speed of evolution displayed by humans was simply too fast.

It should be noted that there was no mention of iron birds in Ersiluk's report. If they had possessed this weapon at that time, there was no reason to hide it until now. The only explanation was that in less than a year, the changes in humans had expanded from the ground to the sky.

Only elevation could explain such a tremendous mutation.

Once males could become the main force in the war, the war potential of humans would undoubtedly increase greatly, which might also be the true warning contained in Ersiluk's last words.

Fortunately, compared to fire, Haekzord was much more familiar with the sky. And the iron bird created by the opponent was not much stronger than a terror beast. As long as it was present, the sky would not be touched by anyone else!

This attack would definitely not suffer a setback like last time.

This confidence was by no means a contempt—to that extent, it would be foolish to underestimate the enemy.

Its confidence came from its title.

Because it was the Dominator of the Sky!

——After passing through the gate, the Sky Lord had suddenly appeared on the edge of the island.

Also present was the parasitic eye guard, who never left its side—if eye guards were one of the rare species, then parasitic eye guards were an even rarer and more valuable resource. This technology was inspired by the underground civilization. It required sacrificing an Awakened to merge with the eye guard. Once successful, the former would become an empty shell bearing the soul, while the latter would gain the ability to move freely.

Despite the high cost, Haekzord did not hesitate to deploy it to the front line and accompany him in action. Only in this way could it restrain the other key target mentioned by Ersiluk: a witch capable of ultra-long-range strikes.

Until landing on the island, the image of this witch had not appeared in its mind, which meant that the only opponent who could threaten it was not on the island.

At the same time, it did not detect any gazes looking this way.

There was no better time than now.

Haekzord no longer hesitated and decisively unfolded the complete form of the Twisted Door!

The black hole opened behind it, quickly spreading to a width of dozens of steps—any natural barrier would become meaningless in the face of this door!

Red mist spewed out, and Siasis, a high-level Awakened, was the first to appear before it. "Lord, your troops are ready."

"Give my order to seize this island and kill all rebels who are seen!"

"As you wish!" Siasis let out a sharp shriek. As a mind mage who had experienced three promotion ceremonies, this shriek was enough to cause humans who were not wearing divine stones to collapse on the spot, and even if they were, they would fall into a trance due to the mental impact. At the same time, it was also the order to attack. After the shriek, a large number of original bodies and symbiotic bodies swarmed out of the Twisted Door and rushed towards the center of the island!

The strength of the human fire crossbow was that it had an extremely long range. As long as the distance could be shortened, these new symbiotic bodies could definitely break through the opponent's defense in one fell swoop.

Soon, the vanguard troops crossed the outer perimeter of the island and approached the human town.

However, the sound of gunfire was delayed.

This surprised Haekzord.

It had finally managed to put the opponent on the same level as its race, so how could such an oversight occur? Could it be that they had not yet realized that their position had been invaded!

"Lord..." A quarter of an hour later, Siasis rushed back, "The inner city has been occupied by our side, but... no trace of any humans has been found. This is already an empty city!"

"What did you say?" Haekzord stared.

"There are still many unfinished buildings in the city, and judging from their condition, they seem to have been erected not long ago. They probably abandoned Grand Duke Island a day or two ago."

So... the ships observed by the sentry were not transporting troops to the island, but were speeding up the evacuation?

But--how was that possible?

This action of the humans was as if they knew that it was about to attack Grand Duke Island! The problem was that it had specifically kept the army away from all towns, and every route was checked by the eye guards. It had even had its subordinates concentrate on guarding those human laborers who were most likely to leak secrets, isolating all possibilities of communication with the outside world. Even if the other party noticed something was wrong, they shouldn't have evacuated so quickly!

Where did the news leak from?

Before it could think about this question properly, a deafening explosion erupted in the center of the island. In an instant, the entire ground shook violently.

An extremely bright fireball lit up the hazy daytime, mixed with billowing black smoke rising into the sky. Then, the violent shockwave instantly swept across the entire inner city, and the surging dust swallowed the warriors in the city in the blink of an eye.