System's POV

Chapter 1306: War Of Dominion [Part 2]

“Damn it!” Castor cursed as they retreated their airships twelve miles away from the city of Velgrande.

Despite their all-in attempts to overpower the shields, as well as the cannons that protected the capital city of Artem, they were still unable to do anything about them.

The first skirmish between the Defenders and the Rebel Army lasted for an hour, with both sides gaining more understanding of their opponent’s capabilities.

However, the rebels eventually lost in that exchange because Thirteen managed to shoot down two airships before the Rebel Army could retreat.

The first clash between the two sides ended with the Defenders as victors, which raised their morale drastically.

But Thirteen knew that it was just the beginning.

After experiencing a setback, Castor and Regulus would be more cautious in their attempts to lay siege on the city of Velgrande.

“Looks like we’ll need to use them earlier than we expected,” Regulus said to Castor, who only nodded in agreement.

“Release the Azothralls,” Castor ordered. “Let them dig their way under the city and destroy it from under the ground.”

To begin with, the Azothralls were created by Castor’s Researchers.

It was supposed to be a secret, but King Astrion’s spy found out about it, and Castor was forced to share his biological army with the King of Artem.

The perfect killing machines, which were meant to help Castor become King, had become the cannon fodders of the Artemian Army in their invasion.

However, he didn’t share everything with the King.

Castor had kept the ultimate secret of the Azothralls and created a much more powerful version of them.

Regulus watched in awe as four of the airships landed on the ground and opened the cargo hatches.

From there emerged hundreds of Azothralls, similar yet so different from the ones sent to Pangea.

These Azothrall weren’t completely pitch black. Some of them had gold markings on their bodies, some had red, while some had green.

Those with golden markings on their bodies, numbering around twenty-five, had the strength of High Archons.

Those with red markings had the strength of Archons, and there were fifty of them in the formation.

And the rest, numbering in the hundreds, had the strength of Monarchs.

This was a force that could easily conquer Pangea even if Cranky was there to protect it.

But these Azothralls looked more vicious than the Azothralls currently serving Thirteen.

They were Castor’s ultimate trump cards, which he had kept hidden from the King of Artem.

“With this, they don’t stand a chance of winning.” Regulus laughed. “So what if they have long-range cannons? Can they shoot them underground?”

Castor also looked very pleased as he gazed at his army, which was created with his people’s blood, sweat, and tears.

The Azothralls with golden markings immediately burrowed under the ground, and the rest followed suit.

They planned to create a vast underground tunnel network, which Castor and Regulus could take advantage of when their relics were usable again.

Tiona’s demons hurriedly relayed this information to their Master, quickly prompting Thirteen to issue an order to his own Azothralls, as well as the Jinns that were deep underground, to prepare for a defensive battle.

They were outclassed when it came to overall strength, but Thirteen was already informed that Castor was the one who developed the Azothralls.

As such, he had already expected that the Celestial would have his own army of them, which would definitely appear on the battlefield.

Since that was the case, he placed runic formations not only around the city, but deep underground as well.

He had fought Azothralls in the past and knew their capabilities.

Half an hour later, an underground battle was waged.

Rocky had also joined the battle, creating an underground sea of magma to help defend the city.

While the majority of the Azothralls could resist this dangerous environment, it didn’t change the fact that it slowed their movements.

As long as the sea of magma was there, Rocky could be considered immortal. But that didn’t mean that he could fight them alone.

Once his body was completely destroyed, it would take him a few weeks to recover as long as his core was surrounded by magma.

“This might be bad,” Thirteen muttered as he monitored the battle with the help of his Demons.

The Azothrall Army was more fearless than he imagined, and their ability to adapt was much faster than the regular Azothralls.

The Black Azothralls under Thirteen’s command were dying in the dozens, forcing him to give them the order to retreat.

Rocky also backed away, luring the enemies closer to the city.

When more than half of the Azothralls had entered the Runic Formation underground, Thirteen immediately activated it.

The entire region began to shake as the teenage boy’s formation triggered an earthquake.

The underground tunnels the Azothralls had made collapsed completely, trapping the majority of them under the Earth.

Those above ground were surprised by the sudden shaking of the earth, which made them realize that they might be under attack underground.

Rana immediately appeared beside Zion and asked if he knew what was happening.

“Castor sent his Azothrall Army to make underground tunnels,” Thirteen explained.

“Our forces ambushed them, but they were too powerful for our fighters. We have no choice but to use the runic formation to destroy the tunnels they’re making and help our forces retreat to safety.”

“That bad, huh?” Rana’s expression became solemn after hearing the truth. “What can we do about them?”

“For now, we should rely on the runic formation under the city,” Thirteen said. “Since it’s powered by leylines, we will be safe for now. But if they figure that we are using that as an energy source to power up our shields and formations, we will be in big trouble.”

Rana’s expression grew grim, wishing she hadn’t heard this piece of information.

“Don’t talk about it again.” Rana warned. “If someone hears our conversation, that may be the end of us.”

Thirteen nodded in agreement. Truth be told, he didn’t tell Rana everything.

While it was true that the shields that protected the city both above and underground were powered by leylines, it had another power source as a backup generator if the leylines were destroyed.

Right now, they were fighting a war of attrition, and Thirteen had made sure that they would be able to last for several months while defending the city.