The demons who had long seized the four cities should have erected a new group of Red Mist storage towers, in order to prepare for taking complete control of Wolfheart, and invading the Kingdom of Dawn. But what was really happening was that they were constantly stopped by the attack of the First Army's mobile forces. Apart from Sedimentation Bay which was on the coast, they did not construct Red Mist storage towers in the other three cities.

After suffering the repeated attacks from the Aerial Knights, the n.o.bles originally responsible for transporting the Red Mist began to waver, forcing the demons to have no choice but to allocate part of their troops to supervise and control the normal operation of the Red Mist supply line. Coupled with the forward expansion of the defense, the shortage of manpower was becoming increasingly apparent.

As for the First Army, who felt that being able to rain artillery was enough of a success, they did not insist on launching an attack on the four cities. The demons who patrolled the outermost perimeter of the defensive line were also their targets to be hunted. Several steam-powered trucks arrived at the preset positions quickly, unloaded the Longsong Cannons, fired two rounds at the place where the demons gathered, then loaded back up and left. Skirmishes like this basically happened several times everyday.

The demons did not only pa.s.sively defend under the continuous pincer attacks by the biplanes and Artillery Squad. They had organized a number of attacks, and even when their vanguard attacked Cage Mountain.The rear even organized a mixed force of humans and demons, and took this chance to destroy the road near Cage Mountain, using black gunpowder in the process.

But by this time, the road connecting the north and south had been completed. The cement produced by the Kingdom of Dawn could be transferred to the frontlines at any time The simple roads that had been destroyed by explosion could often be completely repaired the following night under the joint efforts of Lotus and the engineering team. Even though the low temperatures, wind, and snow greatly lengthened the cement solidification time, in the end it was simply a question of cost-benefit ratio. If the stabilized gravel surface layer was crushed, all they had to do was fix it immediately. After the completion of the main road construction project, a large number of idle construction teams were gathered in the Cage Mountain area. As such, the First Army was not short of manpower in this aspect at all.

As the seesaw struggle continued, the demons' a.s.sault became increasingly slower, and the oppression and power that all their forces had at the start was gone. At this moment, both sides of the frontline came to a pause.

…

"My lord?"

Hackzord raised his head, looked at Siacis and was about to say something when he stopped. He slowly closed his eyes. "Speak."

It was evident from Siacis' expression that it was not good news. But there had been so much bad news lately that he was no longer in the mood to express any fury or disappointment.

"Totolock personally led the attack on the headquarters of the humans at Cage Mountain, and died heroically on the front line," Siacis said with his head lowered. "… He has lived up to his promise."

He had fulfilled his own commitments, yet did not complete his mission. Hackzord did not show much reaction to this result which he had long expected. He didn't even want to ask his subordinates the exact details of his death—in the war against The Union, the fall of every higher ascendant meant that the challengers were dangerous, and gathering intelligence about them was essential. However, now, when fighting with the humans, one little misstep would lead to death by those strange firearms. He could completely imagine what had happened to his subordinate in the end.

The fact that Totolock had led the troops himself meant that it was the last fighting unit of the Western Front. He died in glory, but it was meaningless to the race. If this underling had not transformed from a Lord of h.e.l.l, and was only good as a vanguard at the frontline and not at manipulating magic stones, he might have been more useful to be transformed into a high rank Parasitic Eye Demon than being killed by a human firearm.

But the Sky Lord could not utter these words in the presence of another underling.

Moreover, Totolock was not the only problem in the current situation.

No matter how brave and wise a general is, they would not be able to do much without enough troops under their command.

It was he who ordered the immediate attack.

And the person who limited the numbers on the Western Front was… the King.

No, no, the King had given him enough support. Blood Conqueror and Mask were the most deserving of hate. If the Blood Conqueror gave more outposts, and Mask provided enough Symbiotic Demons as he said he would, the result would have been completely different—

Hackzord squeezed his newly grown hand into a fist.

But… would it really have been different?

The next moment, a haunting thought came to his mind.

If they doubled their numbers once more, the Western Front army would indeed be able to occupy the entire Kingdom of Wolfheart, but then there was still Dawn and Graycastle, how many more soldiers would he have to add for it to be enough?

"All of them…" The Sky Lord could not help but utter.

"My Lord," Siacis asked in confusion. "What did you say?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. Indeed, Ursrook had already given them the answer.

"Abandon the cities where we've exploited all the G.o.d Stone mines, let the Sky-sea Realm have half of the continent… Direct all our forces to the Land of Dawn. I mean all, including old and new troops, until the human race is wiped off the face of this planet."

This was the conclusion drawn by his best subordinate.

Back then, all the grand lords had thought it was an unrealistic idea, but now he could sort of understand what Ursrook had been thinking.

After a long hesitation, Hackzord made up his mind.

He looked deeply at the motionless Nightmare Lord, got up and walked out of the Red Mist Pond.

"My lord, where are you going?"

"The top of the Birth Tower," the Sky Lord replied with a deep voice." I'm going to request the King to commence a Holy See meeting!"

…

The sea of mist that billowed beneath him and the Birth Tower that was covered in enormous eyes in the middle gradually appeared before his eyes—seeing this, he felt a slight sense of relief. Holy See meetings were usually commenced by the King. Actions like requesting one wan not only sort of overstepping his place, it would also displease the other grand lords. After all, not everyone was willing to enter this domain in the Realm of Mind where the King had complete control.

In the past Hackzord also had an instinctive resistance to entering the Presiding Holy See, but now, he had no better option. Only in this way could he tell the King and all the grand lords what he thought.

Fortunately, the King did not reject his request.

About fifteen minutes later, the other grand lords appeared in overhanging seats one after the other.

"It's you again… Hackzord." Blood Conqueror said. "I don't know what's so important about the Western Front that you need to get the King to hold the Holy See. Could it be that what you're about to report is more important than the Nightmare Lord becoming lost in the Realm of Mind?"

"Indeed, when Valkries lost consciousness, you only reported it to the King alone," Mask followed. "Now you have requested a Holy See meeting as if you have something urgent. Don't tell everyone that your Sky City is about to be captured by those lowlifes—it had been hard enough for me to divert a large amount of resources to cultivate Symbiotic Demons for you."

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d… He's beating around the bush and pus.h.i.+ng all the responsibility on me again. Hackzord cast a cold glance at him. Of the five times the number of Symbiotic Demons that they had agreed on, only half of had been delivered so far. It was true that the Sky-sea Realm's offensive had intensified, but it was also true that the agreed amount had not been reached. If it had been in the past, he definitely would not have missed this opportunity to attack him.

But right now, Hackzord did not have the slightest interest in engaging in a battle of tongues.

"Enough." The King's voice sounded in everybody's minds. "I believe the Sky Lord must have his own reasons for requesting a Holy See meeting, it wouldn't be too late to voice your opinions after you hear him out."

"In addition…" All the pupils in the eyes of the Tower of Birth looked at Hackzord. "It was not your fault that the Nightmare Lord got lost. I had granted your request to send Silent Disaster to support you in battle, so I do hope that you'll not be grieving and complaining in your report and asking for more troops; otherwise, you will be wasting both of our time."

Hackzod felt tremendous pressure.

He swallowed, bit the bullet and answered, "Your Majesty, it is true that I want to talk about a.s.sistance on the Western Front, but it is not simply about one or two more troops or more outposts, it's…"

The Sky Lord paused and looked into the King's bottomless eyes. "—Deity of G.o.ds."