Chapter 467: Chapter 3: Wings of Death
Following the roar, Westheid looked over as well. He saw a dense, shadowy mass outside the fleet, its sky-rending shrieks and roars echoing as it assaulted a Floating City.
Dragons.
Westheid’s eyelids lowered slightly. His superhuman dynamic vision captured the silhouettes of Dragons streaking past the Floating City. Even viewing their outlines from such a distance, he couldn’t help but be struck by their majestic grandeur. Their unfurled wings beat slowly, like a primeval wind blowing from ancient times, a tempestuous tide sweeping through the void.
These True Dragons, long absent from the Mortal World, looked nothing like the lizard-like Dragon Beasts with large wings from the Secret Realm Trials, nor like any other massive, ferocious beast.
Instead, they were more ethereal and magnificent beings. Their Scale Armor was the tangible substance of primordial elements—some were hazy like clouds and mist, others smooth like metal, and some were even formed of flowing gas. If one were to gaze upon them closely, it would surely be a breathtakingly beautiful and spectacular sight.
In the eyes of an Imperial Citizen, however, this visage brimming with the beauty of life was not the least bit appealing. On the contrary, it triggered a visceral reaction, stirring a hatred buried deep in their bones.
The Floating City the Dragon Group was ravaging looked like a massive metropolis suspended high in the sky. The Floating Cities of the Celestial Vault Kingdom were akin to the Thousand Laws Royal Court’s City in the Lake—they were the nation’s main population centers and cornerstones. A large Floating City could even be the size of an entire continent, a truly terrifying thought.
The defensive facilities of this particular Floating City had been almost completely destroyed. Above mountains of warehouses, the True Dragons were running rampant.
Boulders, trees, and heavy vehicles forged from Fine Steel and Mithril were tossed about like toys. A colossal dragon claw slammed down, and in an instant, crimson claw marks, so bright they dimmed the daylight, tore through the land like lightning.
"The Dragon Race has pushed this far in?"
Westheid frowned, looking at the Celestial Vault Person beside him in disbelief.
’I knew the Dragon Group was powerful and that a war with the Celestial Vault Kingdom would be a major headache for them. But this is supposed to be behind the Sky-Curtain, a core territory. How could they allow a band of Dragon rabble to wreak havoc here?’
However, Jing Mu seemed even more stunned than he was. He stared blankly at the scene before him, only shaking his head after a long moment to speak.
"This is a logistics base? Why would... No, this isn’t strange at all. Duke Qinghui, the first thing we should have seen after passing the Sky-Curtain was the welcoming fleet sent by the elders, along with the main garrison city. But now, I’m afraid..."
"I understand."
Westheid nodded in immediate understanding and sighed.
"So this is what it feels like firsthand. Is nowhere truly safe?"
The situation before them was a "charming" product of the temporal disruption, which had swapped the position of the Sky-Curtain fortress with a logistics base currently under attack. ’I guess this is that Temporal Chaos I’ve heard so much about,’ Westheid thought. ’Just as Chaos said it would be.’
"For the Celestial Vault Kingdom to suffer so many hardships... what a life," Westheid quipped, simultaneously opening the fleet’s communication channel. Instantly, a dozen or so projections appeared on the bridge.
He quickly explained the current situation, emphasizing the severity of the Temporal Chaos.
"So, instead of a welcome party upon entering the Celestial Vault Kingdom, we’re walking straight into a nasty fight."
"Perfect! We didn’t come here for a vacation, did we?"
"Duke Qinghui, you are the commander of this Expeditionary Army. Please give us your orders!"
Alexia’s holographic projection gave Westheid a slight bow, her face alight with fanatical battlelust.
Faced with their mortal enemies, the Dragon Race, any Imperial Citizen who could suppress their hatred for even a second would have to be a god.
"Relax. Why so tense?"
Westheid waved his hand. "Who do you think I am? Take us in!"
And so, before the Floating Fleet had even finished assembling, it advanced toward the Floating City. Ahead of them lay countless nerve-wracking Barrier Techniques and aerial fortresses. Weaving between these fortresses was a Dragon Group as dense as a black cloud.
"This is a Dragon Group’s hunting ground. When they decide to attack a location, they seal off the entire area with Portable Techniques."
Although Imperial Citizens hadn’t seen a True Dragon in a thousand years, their Dragon Slaying Techniques had been passed down from generation to generation. They were even more familiar with the habits of a Dragon Group than the natives of the Celestial Vault Kingdom.
"They’re protective of their food? All the more reason they can’t be allowed to live."
Naturally, the warship from the Celestial Vault Kingdom that had guided them was at the vanguard of the fleet. As the advance fleet drew near, the chaotic storm of the Dragon Group began to howl. Yet, carried on the wind were other sounds—what seemed to be the roars of some ferocious beast, but also pained cries laced with panic. They were the howls of Dragons.
This Dragon Group destroying the logistics base was a massive swarm. Besides the cloud of Dragon Beasts that were there just to pad the numbers, dozens, even hundreds, of True Dragons swarmed around seven Giant Dragons.
A terrifying Dragon Might radiated from the seven Giant Dragons before them. It was the pressure of ancient apex predators, an aura no other creature could hope to replicate. A powerful aura of fear, carrying the scent of a predator from the very top of the food chain, swept over them, threatening to drown everything in its path. This dreadful pressure locked onto the warships, weighing them down as if they were being crushed by mountains and impeding their every move.
Six were Legendary True Dragons, a terrifying force no matter where they appeared. And the last one... was no ordinary Legendary Giant Dragon.
The Expeditionary Army’s fleet, however, paid them no mind. Their response to the Dragon Group was a volley of macro-cannon fire that tore through air and sound, trailing a series of sonic boom clouds and eclipsing all other pressure and light.
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