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The events took place the previous day.

Nort Duchy , near the Falling Leaf Path.

“Move quickly! The master is watching you!”

“This is the will of the great red dragon!”

“For the Ember Kingdom!”

Dolo led an army of hundreds of hobgoblins and Bear Goblins, advancing rapidly along a specific route. Their mission: capture Nort Duchy ’s capital, Kenyaza City, as swiftly as possible.

Despite its title of duchy, Nort Duchy ’s territory was smaller than many powerful marquisates. The entire country had only three cities, with three-quarters of its population concentrated in Kenyaza City—a city built with the assistance of Bosk Duchy, its name in Skandian meaning “The Rising Place,” symbolizing the high hopes placed upon it by Nort Duchy .

The city housed nearly 20,000 people. Capturing it would signify the duchy’s collapse. The Ember Kingdom’s strategy was a “lightning strike,” targeting the capital to deliver a decisive blow.

To this end, they brought ten cannons—siege weapons hurriedly crafted by the Storm Armory players.

Fortunately, the dragon-blooded hobgoblins’ immense strength allowed them to carry the cannons without slowing their pace.

A bear goblin adjutant walking beside Dolo voiced his doubts:

“Sir, are these iron pipes really useful? I feel like my big club is more reliable.”

“Ignorant fool.”

“Hmph, you’ll understand soon enough.”

“These are the true symbols of blood and fire.”

Dolo grinned broadly, his tone brimming with excitement.

After experiencing several large-scale wars and witnessing the power of firearms firsthand, Dolo had become a staunch “reformer,” even forming a friendship with the Mechanist Guild leader, Iron Frenzy.

The defenders of Kenyaza City, having never encountered such weapons, were utterly unaware of the looming danger. The well-hidden Ember Kingdom’s army remained entirely unnoticed within the city’s blind spots.

The well-trained hobgoblin soldiers quickly positioned the cannons and calibrated them, completing preparations swiftly.

Hobgoblin skirmishers stood by, ready to advance.

Wiping his bloodied war axe, Dolo tore off a piece of flesh stuck to it before roaring an order:

“Fire the cannons!”

The hobgoblins obeyed, loading the cannonballs.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The cannons roared, sending thunderous echoes across the ground.

The bear goblin from earlier covered his ears in terror, collapsing to the ground and muttering incessantly: “What terrifying iron pipes…”

“Coward.”

“You’ll no longer be my attendant.”

Dolo cast him a disdainful glance, his tone full of contempt.

A bear goblin who feared cannon fire was unworthy of serving as the Ember Kingdom’s general’s bodyguard!

“Hahaha!”

“That’s it! Blast them to pieces!”

Dolo laughed heartily, savoring the marvelous scent of gunpowder in the air, his laughter rising even above the deafening cannon fire.

Nort Duchy

had sent most of its forces to join the coalition army, leaving fewer than a thousand soldiers to defend the walls.

The defenders atop the walls, having never seen such a spectacle, were thrown into disarray as explosions and fire engulfed their vision.

All they could see were blurry shadows streaking across the sky, followed by blinding flashes of light and deafening booms.

Many soldiers on the walls were killed instantly by the blasts, while the rest remained paralyzed by fear, struggling to comprehend the onset of war.

“Gods above… is this divine punishment?”

“What is this?”

“Ah!”

“Where are the enemies?”

After centuries of “assimilation” and “domestication” by Bosk Duchy, these once-fierce tribes had lost the warrior spirit of their ancestors.

Cannonballs rained down on the walls, and under the relentless bombardment, the city’s centuries-old defenses crumbled, leaving a breach several meters wide.

That was all they needed.

“Charge!”

Dolo raised his bloodfire war axe and roared: “Follow me! Crush them!”

Leading the charge, he leapt through the breach, spinning his massive axe in a devastating arc. The ten defenders blocking the gap were cut in half.

“Monsters!”

“Save me!”

“Gods, it’s the Mad Berserker, Dolo!”

“It’s the Ember Kingdom’s army!”

Hearing the ludicrous title, Dolo grew even angrier. He leaped tens of meters, smashing the speaker into pulp with the flat of his axe.

“I am Dolo!”

“The greatest general under the mighty red dragon!”

“And your eternal nightmare!”

Dolo roared furiously, swinging his axe in a frenzy.

Hobgoblin infantry followed close behind, cutting down the wall’s defenders and unleashing their pent-up thirst for bloodshed.

“Damn it! These monsters!”

“I can’t kill them!”

“Are those scales?”

Under the Ember Kingdom’s blitzkrieg, the defenders crumbled, fleeing in disarray.

Meanwhile, hobgoblin skirmishers raised their rifles. With their leader’s order to “fire at will,” they picked off fleeing defenders, sending them tumbling from the walls.

Within no time, the nearly thousand-strong garrison was completely wiped out.

At this point, the battle could no longer be called a battle—it was a one-sided massacre.

And it had only taken an hour.

To put it bluntly, slaughtering a thousand pigs might take longer than the Ember Kingdom’s forces needed to annihilate the defenders.

Dolo alone had slain over a hundred enemies, turning himself into a killing machine.

“Something’s wrong with the walls!”

“What’s happening outside?”

“There seem to be enemies!”

“I think I heard thunder.”

“Damn it, what’s going on?”

Within the city, the residents remained oblivious, trembling with unease. They hadn’t yet realized their city had fallen.

But soon, they would understand.

From the sky came a deafening dragon’s roar.

“Roar—”

A menacing fiery dragon illusion appeared above the city, its golden eyes scanning the ground. Its wings, like oceans of flame, seemed poised to incinerate the entire city.

“Gods above…”

“What kind of monster is this?”

“I… I know what that is…”

“It’s the legendary Hellish calamity!”

The residents, petrified by the dragon’s image, fell into chaos and panic.

“Greetings, residents of Kenyaza.”

The monster in the sky spoke, its voice heavy and commanding, filled with overwhelming authority.

“I have an announcement.”

“From this moment on, there is no Nort Duchy . Only the Ember Kingdom.”

“Welcome, one and all, to the Ember Kingdom.”

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