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墨書 Inktalez
Although Yongan City was as solid as a fortress, no matter how grand a city might be, it was merely a piece of unguarded meat without defenders. After twelve consecutive hours of intense combat, the Imperial Guards were on the brink of collapse, as the enemy's assault was fierce. Many soldiers had to raise their bows and shoot their Feathered Arrows without even having a sip of water.
It was unknown how many hands had gone numb by this point; they could only rely on muscle memory to pick up the Feathered Arrows beside them, nock them to their bows, and shoot them away...
"Your Majesty! You cannot go!" The Emperor was preparing to personally visit the city walls when he was desperately stopped by the Minister of War and others. "Your Majesty! The only option now is to retreat and reconsider!"
The Emperor frowned and slapped the Minister of Personnel across the face, angrily saying, "This is Eternal Peace! Where do you expect me to retreat to?!"
A Vice Minister stepped forward and advised, "Your Majesty, though what the Minister of War says may not be pleasant to hear, it is indeed the best course of action. The Imperial Guards have already reached their limits; the city walls are in imminent danger. As a son of the Tang Dynasty, Your Majesty should immediately withdraw from the East Gate."
Thanks to the protection of the Moat and the Jing River and Wei River, Eternal Peace had not yet faced an attack from the enemy forces in the east. However, no one could guarantee when the Three Races Alliance would break through the rivers and completely encircle Eternal Peace.
The Emperor let out a cold laugh and looked at an official.
"Do any of you see a single commoner leaving?"
Upon hearing this, the officials from the Ministry of War were stunned, quickly becoming fearful—not of the Three Races Alliance outside the walls but of their sovereign before them.
"Not a single commoner has left! You want me to go first! What are you trying to do?" The Emperor berated the officials from the Ministry of War fiercely. "I see you all just want to use my escort as an excuse to flee south!"
The Minister of War immediately knelt down. "Your Majesty, I have no such intention. As long as Your Majesty follows the escorting troops out of Yongan City, I will lead all officials from the Ministry of War to defend on the city walls! If the enemy does not retreat, I will not leave my post!"
The Emperor snorted coldly, looking at the pale-faced officials around him. He sneered, "I fear you are the only one prepared to ascend the city walls!"
With that, while everyone was still in shock, the Emperor dashed out from the Ministry of War, seized a horse from a Messenger Scout, and headed straight for the West City Wall.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" The Minister of War was the first to react. Seeing that the Emperor was determined to ascend the city walls, he quickly mounted his horse to follow. Noticing many others hesitating nearby, he called out to those indecisive individuals, "If you want to leave, hurry up! But no matter what happens to Eternal Peace or our Tang Dynasty, never again refer to yourselves as officials of Tang!"
Dressed in his dragon robe, riding swiftly through the streets of Eternal Peace, the Emperor instantly attracted countless gazes from the citizens of Chang'an. In such a dire moment, seeing their sovereign appear on the streets was simply unbelievable.
"Could it be a retreat?" A younger boy watched as Your Majesty the Emperor sped away, speaking lightly, but suddenly felt a heavy knock on his head. Angrily turning around, he realized it was his father.
His father, with a long-unused Tang Dao strapped to his waist, said gravely, "Don't be foolish! His Majesty is heading west!"
"West? Isn't that where the enemy's offensive is the strongest?" The boy looked forward in disbelief, only to find that the Emperor's figure had already vanished. He then noticed his father also rushing westward and shouted in panic, "Dad! What are you doing?"
"His Majesty is personally going into battle; how can we Tang People remain indifferent?"
Similar scenes unfolded wherever Your Majesty the Emperor passed. Many older men pulled weapons from their homes and rushed toward the West City Wall. Though they couldn't match the ferocity of heavy cavalry, nor the utility of Rune Masters, nor the strength of Imperial Guards, these civilians who had rarely seen battle were also heading toward the West City Wall.
"The Dragon Court is attacking!" Upon reaching the foot of the West City Wall, Your Majesty the Emperor heard shouts from above and spotted a dragon's wing.
Dismounting swiftly, he rushed up the stairs and grabbed a longbow from a pile of weapons at the top. With his right hand, he quickly nocked a Feathered Arrow onto the bowstring and drew it back to its full extent.
"Whoosh—" The Feathered Arrow shot swiftly beneath the dragon's wing, instantly crippling half of its mobility. The wounded dragon nearly fell from the wall.
Your Majesty the Emperor quickly grabbed three more Feathered Arrows with his right hand, nocking one held between his index and middle fingers onto the bow again and drawing it back fully.
"Whoosh—" The arrow pierced through the dragon's right leg, causing it to collapse onto the wall. Without pausing, Your Majesty stepped forward and fired two more arrows that struck the dragon's eyes and neck until its fighting spirit was completely extinguished.
"Your Majesty!" An Imperial Guard exclaimed joyfully as he bowed to Your Majesty the Emperor, whose previously dim eyes now blazed with fire.
The cheers drew many Imperial Guards to turn and look at the one who had resolved this difficult problem. Although they couldn't see closely, they recognized him by his golden dragon robe!
The Emperor has arrived! His Majesty has personally taken to the walls to confront the enemy!!!
"Ah—" "Ah—" In that brief moment of distraction, many soldiers were struck by a surprise attack from the Giant Race. Your Majesty the Emperor immediately shouted, "All troops! Focus your minds to fend off the enemy!"
The roar pulled the Imperial Guards back to reality. The enemy's assault remained fierce; the arrival of His Majesty here did not signify victory in the war. If they failed in their duty and something happened to the Emperor, it would be a crime beyond forgiveness.
Before long, a number of civilians armed with various weapons appeared on the city walls. With their arrival, news of His Majesty the Emperor's presence at the walls spread to every soldier defending the city. Several nearby generals came to pay their respects and urged the Emperor to return to the palace.
"I am right here! When can you all leave the walls? Only then will I descend!"
Holding a longbow, His Majesty glared at the generals and scolded, "What are you doing standing before me? Can't you see your soldiers are fighting valiantly?"
The generals turned their gaze toward the Minister of War, who shook his head helplessly. If he could stop the Emperor's actions, then His Majesty wouldn't be here in the first place.
Seeing that their pleas were futile, the generals returned to their posts and ordered the entire army to continue fighting, simply because His Majesty was fighting alongside them.
The morale of the defenders soared once again. Countless soldiers, with red eyes and gritted teeth, frantically pulled Feathered Arrows from nearby piles, nocked them onto their longbows, and shot them with all their might.
The rain of arrows shot from Yongan City's walls once more caused headaches for the Three Races Alliance. The Dragon Race and Orc Race could hardly breach the walls; otherwise, they would be torn apart by the fierce barrage.
As the offensive of the Three Races Alliance was suppressed, cheers erupted from the civilians on the walls. Although most of them were not contributing directly to the battle, their presence was a great comfort to the defenders.
They realized they were not isolated warriors fighting to death; they were part of the most powerful army in the world. They had the strongest support in existence; they were Tang People!
With the Three Races Alliance's assault slowing down, many civilians began to do more than just cheer from atop the walls. They started to lend their modest efforts by helping transport supplies, relay military information, treat and carry away severely injured soldiers from the walls. Most importantly, many civilians brought food for the defenders and took turns replacing them in defense so they could rest.
The defensive situation on Yongan City's walls looked promising; there seemed to be no concern about enemy forces breaching Eternal Peace.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The alarm bells rang out across all three sides of the city walls. Almost simultaneously, the Three Races Alliance launched a sweeping death assault on Eternal Peace's three-sided walls.
"Fire!" The generals in each section calmly commanded their soldiers. However, they soon discovered a problem: this wave of attacking dragons showed no fear of Feathered Arrows!
“Dragon Court Royal Family! Report immediately!” The generals' pupils dilated, a deep-seated fear gripping their hearts.
The Dragon Court Royal Family is a powerful race within the Dragon Court. This group is extremely rare, yet their combat strength ranks among the world's best. However, they have never appeared in the military, so their power has not been accounted for in the army's strength.
In terms of physicality, the Dragon Court Royal Family is over three times larger than ordinary dragons. They can easily fly at altitudes exceeding hundreds of meters. Despite their massive size, they are surprisingly more agile than regular dragons. Their bodies are covered in dragon scales, rendering ordinary Feathered Arrows completely ineffective against them. Furthermore, they possess a high resistance to magic, far surpassing other dragon species; spells from beings like Half-Elf Mages cannot inflict significant damage on them.
The iron arrows equipped by the Heavy Cavalry were specifically designed to target this race. However, due to the high cost of iron arrows, Eternal Peace has very few in stock, and all remaining supplies have been taken by Li Li.
Currently, the only means for Yongan City to inflict damage on them is through catapults, but these can only target ground-based foes, making precision strikes against aerial targets utterly hopeless.
Thus, at present, Eternal Peace has no weapons capable of dealing physical damage to them!
No one had anticipated that such a noble race would be willing to take the lead for the allied forces; it must be that the war had reached a critical point where such tactics were unavoidable.
However, this strategy, traded for dignity, yielded significant results. The defending forces could not inflict any damage on them and were soon pushed back to the city walls. The Giant Race, leveraging their physical advantage, inflicted severe damage on the defenders stationed atop the walls.
In less than a minute, urgent news came from the South City Wall: the defensive breaches had grown nearly impossible to mend.
“Is it really going to end like this?” Your Majesty the Emperor set down his longbow and stretched his aching muscles before drawing his Tang Dao, which had long been strapped at his waist.
“B!B!B!”
Just as the West City Wall was about to descend into close combat, a violent explosion erupted from the south.
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