Zither Emperor

Chapter 33 – Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar << Soaring Dragon’s Cry >> (III)

At this very moment, it had already become an ocean of blood in front of Konya City’s walls. It had become an underworld of blood. Tens of thousands of lives had disappeared in an instant. Below the walls, the Dragon Cavalry Knights were frightened and dumbstruck by this bloody scene before their eyes. Several of them were even unable to prevent their bodies from quaking in fear.

Atop the city walls, because the mages’ spiritual force was being drained dry, they had already lost awareness. The last vestiges of their spiritual forces were still being sent to Ye Yin Zhu’s Spiritual Imprint through the silver threads. As for the original five hundred defenders of Konya City, they had long since been shocked into unconsciousness by Ye Yin Zhu’s Profound Violet Zither Heart. Even if << Soaring Dragon’s Cry >> only influenced the dragon race, the tremendous spiritual force was intimidating; how could these commoners possibly resist it?

Those amongst the three beastmen races that had survived the exploding dragons numbered less than a third of the original force. Those that still had the capability to fight was even lower, less than ten percent.

The Behemoth Legion’s strength emerged once again. As the powerfully crazy bombardment of exploding dragons came to an end, apart from several light wounds appearing on the Berserk Behemoths, they hadn’t received any fatal injuries. Still, the ten or so Behemoths furthest from the circle bore the barrage of the extremely violent draconic explosions and had already lost the ability to fight.

Oliveira’s pale face watched this scene happening before him and murmured to himself, “Ye Yin Zhu, you are a bit too fierce. Those were five hundred and sixty tamed dragons!” Now he finally understood why Ye Yin Zhu had asked him about the cost of victory before he left the city walls for the frontlines and about which strategy to use.

The Dragon Cavalry Knights held their dragonspears, their eyes brimming with tears as they stared at the bloody battlefield. As a Dragon Cavalry Knight, they had a profound bond with their dragon mount, but now, their tamed dragons didn’t even have complete skeletons left for them to bury. In their eyes, that originally white-clothed, black-haired, simple and youthful mage seemed to have become the devil incarnate.

Outside of Konya City, the battlefield’s thick stench of blood resembled hell. Destroyed limbs, shattered arms, blood streaming out of internal organs… the chilly northern wind whistled, carrying this bloody mist around Brenner Pass.

Even if the exploding dragons didn’t kill all the beastmen warriors of those three races, at this moment, they had already lost all their courage and fighting spirit. Some beastmen just sat paralyzed on the ground, violently gasping for breath. Others were near-crazily rushing back to the nearby mountains, and there were even others who forgot that the enemy was in front of them, running directly toward the Dragon Cavalry and piercing themselves on the heavy dragonspears.

Forty thousand troops! That was forty thousand troops! Although they weren’t completely wiped out, after the draconic explosions, they had completely lost their ability to fight. Even the last vestige of fighting spirit was obliterated completely by this hellish scene before them.

The Behemoths straightened their bodies, the shock in their hearts gradually replaced by extreme anger. Their bloodthirsty, bitter, and resentful gazes were cast toward the top of Konya City.

Suddenly, loud and clear dragon cries could be heard from the distance. In the distance, black clouds trailed through the air, heading toward Konya City. At the very front was a huge, earthen-yellow Gigantic Dragon.

Following this huge, earthen-yellow Gigantic Dragon were creatures with a dragon head and falcon body, a height of approximately four meters, and a wingspan of five meters. They had a keen gaze, wings that flickered with the metallic luster of blades, and sharp claws coming from their stomach that amply illustrated their powerful destructive power.

“That’s second elder brother leading Falcon Dragons over here,” Oliveira shouted, pleasantly surprised. His heart immediately sunk, however, because he realised that Ye Yin Zhu’s song, << Soaring Dragon’s Cry >>, was far from over.

✶

Maldini had received the magical summons from Konya City while warding off an especially fierce attack on Sacred Heart City. With this sort of situation, even if he knew that Konya City was essentially defenseless, even if he knew that his grandson would probably die at the hands of the beastmen, he couldn’t immediately rush over upon reading the missive. After all, according to the numbers, even if he were to immediately dispatch the fastest Earthbound Swift Dragons to rush to the rescue, it would already be too late. Not to mention, the beastmen’s plundering legion composition was very strong.

When Oliveira’s second summon reached him, however, Maldini panicked. Regardless of if he would lose his grandson, the Imperial Crown Prince was unexpectedly at Konya City. Naturally, he couldn’t not act! Emperor Silvo only had two children, and these two children were currently in danger at the doomed Konya City. If something dangerous happened to them, then there would be no way for him to take responsibility. Thus, he had immediately transferred, by force, five hundred Falcon Dragons from his legion. Placing his second eldest grandson, Gold Star Dragon Cavalry Commander Okafur, in charge, he sent the reinforcements to Konya City with haste.

Regardless of whether it were Milan Empire’s Dragon Cavalry Legion or Falan’ Dragon Cavalry Legion, both had extraordinary Dragon Cavalry weapons. Of the Milan Empire’s tamed dragon species, it’s greatest pride was its Falcon Dragon Regiment.

The Falcon Dragon Regiment consisted of five hundred troops. On Longinus Continent, this was the only flying tamed dragon army. Its fighting strength was exceedingly high as they were rank 5 magical beasts. Possessing the greatest flexibility of the entire army, they had contributed a myriad of achievements in past wars for the Milan Empire. Even if they faced the Behemoths, by relying on their flexibility, the Dragon Cavalry Knight could work in concert with their dragon mount, allowing the pair to tangle with the barbarians. The requirements to be a Falcon Dragon Cavalry Knight was thus much higher than an ordinary Dragon Cavalry Knight. They must be Intermediate Level Yellow Rank or higher. In addition, they had to pass all kinds of assessments before they could join the ranks.

Of course, Maldini held no hope that the Falcon Dragons could possibly defeat the beastmen plundering legion. It simply wasn’t realistic. The only mission he gave Okafur was to rescue the prince and princess hidden among the hundred Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts students. As for Konya City, he could do nothing but give it up for the time being and wait for internal reinforcements to arrive later before thinking of a means to deal with the issue.

Traveling five hundred kilometers, Okafur’s Earth-attribute Gigantic Dragon had led the Falcon Dragons, taking an hour to hastily arrive. In the distance, they could hear bursts of thunder-like booms. Okafur was baffled as to why the Falcon Dragon Regiment he was leading had begun to stir restlessly, agitated, when they flew above the plains near Konya City.

With Indigo Rank strength, Okafur’s eyesight was very good. From this distance, he could see a wide expanse of land shrouded with a bright red fog. That somewhat ear-piercing, brimming with bloodthirst zither melody wasn’t aimed toward his direction at all, so in the sky, he and the Falcon Dragon corps could only hear a haunting tune.

The Earth-attribute Gigantic Dragon restlessly roared and struggled to fly away from this area. Internally, Okafur was greatly alarmed. He and this Gigantic Dragon had signed a contract. This was the very first time it wanted to go against his command.

“Rhubarb, what’s going on with you?” Okafur asked in shock.

At this time, in Konya City, Oliveira had already used the loudest volume he could to yell, “Second Elder Brother, quickly leave this place! No matter what, do not land here!”

The explosive tragedy of five hundred and sixty tamed dragons had already made Oliveira clearly understand a lot of things. Although he wasn’t certain of the effects of Ye Yin Zhu’s zither song, when all was said and done, he was certain that it had done something to the dragons. With the effects of Voice Magnification and the gigantic mirror of ice, the zither music had concentrated to the area in front of Konya City. Oliveira suddenly realized that if the Falcon Dragons Okafur was leading were to land, wouldn’t they also be affected by the zither song?

✶

The violet radiance surrounding Ye Yin Zhu’s body had already reached the highest level of power it could, unexpectedly reaching Profound Violet Zither Heart Level 2. As they had sent their spiritual forces to Ye Yin Zhu through the silver threads, the overall consumption was too great, so everyone had now fallen unconscious. Ye Yin Zhu’s << Soaring Dragon’s Cry >> was also releasing its last peak surge of spiritual force influence.

The Voice Magnification spell’s effectiveness upon being activated by the Spatial silver crystal formation was indeed great, but Xiang Luan had never thought that she would fear the Voice Magnification being too effective. At this moment, << Soaring Dragon’s Cry >>’s influence had already filled the sky.

Oliveira’s strength was currently at Primary Level Cyan Rank, and he had used a vocal-oriented technique to transmit his voice upwards into the sky, causing Okafur to hear it the next moment. Although he didn’t know why he was told this, he unquestionably believed his younger brother wouldn’t deceive him. He immediately prepared to lead the Falcon Dragon Cavalry Knights to withdraw for the time being, but the warriors on the backs of the Falcon Dragons were aghast to discover that they could no longer control their Falcon Dragons. The dragons’ breathing had become heavier, rougher, and the flapping of their wings slower, more sluggish.

“Not good,” Okafur bellowed. His Earth-attribute Gigantic Dragon, Rhubarb, had already reached rank 8. Because the zither music was too scattered, his dragon had yet to receive its deadly influence. As a Sentient Magical Beast, it had felt the intense crisis and forced Okafur to fly off in another direction.

The first Falcon Dragon began to fall, its huge body, in correspondence to the earth’s gravity, along with the added weight of the tall knight on it, descended to the earth like a meteor overtaking the moon.

As if it had smelled a foul stench, the Falcon Dragons went berserk, its gaze resting upon the tall Behemoths. Dragons and Behemoths were natural enemies, and it used the last iota of sentience to spread its wings and adjust its flight angle, powerfully rushing straight toward the Behemoths.

The Behemoths were still concentrated together, as it had been the best way to defend against the prior explosions from the tamed dragons. Now, they became the clearest target on the plains. The Falcon Dragon dropped toward that target.

As the first fell, the second followed. Like meteorites falling down from the sky, the five hundred Falcon Dragons became extremely terrifying bombs which the Behemoths were unable to endure. Numerous five hundred kilogram weights fell from an altitude of a kilometer, and with the explosive force from the draconic explosions propelling them even faster towards the ground, how terrifying would this scene be?