"Nice has fallen," Hogg said softly.
In the Northern Court of the Blackwing Empire, almost all the lords of the Court stood in the hall. Their ferocious faces were illuminated by the flickering candlelight. At the top of the court, the huge Black Dragon was sitting with his head lowered.
"The situation is not optimistic. Until now, there has been no news from Nice."
Hogg continued, "We can only collect relevant information from the neighboring cities, but the other cities are also under attack."
"It's not that there is no news. When Nice was attacked, the local undead gave me some warnings," Lich Ryan added.
"We have many undead in the central region. If all of them were to be activated, it would cause a plague of death.
But in front of the enemy, their soul fire was extinguished before they could say anything. "
As he spoke, Ryan showed the only video data in the hall. The enemy looked like an ordinary human soldier, wearing a standard armor that covered his face. When he pulled out his sword, the video transmission was cut off.
"The empire has lost the port," Caesar looked around at the lords of the Court. "It was our most important strategic fortress in the south."
"When we were stationed in the central region, nothing like this happened. This is the negligence of the Beholder!"
Nero said. This point of view was agreed by Gall. The orc lord stood at the side and nodded.
"Now is not the time to shirk responsibility."
Black Dragon glanced at Nero. "The most important thing now is to solve the problem at hand. There is no doubt that the empire where the sun never sets is the instigator behind this attack. The war has come, and it will come in a way that we did not expect."
"The orcs can join the war at any time." Gall was the first to respond. "We will tear the mouths of those southerners."
"Indeed, we should fight back."
Black Dragon grinned, revealing his ferocious teeth. He looked out of the court, his gaze slightly distant. "Strictly guarding the intelligence, lightning-fast attacks on the port, and clearing out all the teleportation nodes as quickly as possible … Such an army definitely has the ability to sweep the central region and force Corgi to give up on the trading city and choose to retreat."
"But they didn't do that. Instead, they chose to launch a seemingly fierce but actually not fatal attack on the other cities after occupying Nice."
Garen, who had been curled up in the corner without making a sound, muttered softly, adding to Black Dragon's unfinished words. "The other party didn't even block the flow of information, allowing the garrison to ask for help from the Palace."
"Why?" Caesar looked at his brother.
Garen thought for a moment and shouted as if he had a sudden realization. "This is a trap!"
"The enemy's appetite is huge. They are still not satisfied even after clearing out the port. Attacking the other cities is just a pretense. In reality, they are just forcing the garrison to ask for reinforcements from the palace. Their target is the reinforcements sent by the palace to the central region!"
Garen spoke to the Black Dragon on the throne in a sincere tone, "Ortoron and Nice have already fallen. Since there are no other resources in the central region that we have to fight for, we can give up on the trading cities. There is no need to take unnecessary risks."
"Are you crazy?
We have invested so much effort into the central region. Ignoring other values, just the population of the central region is a considerable fortune. How can we give it up just like that? "
Prince Poisonfire's words attracted the angry glares of the other lords of the palace. This time, even Hogg stood on the opposite side of him.
Other than Caesar, Garen did not have such a good attitude towards the others. The dragon with dark grey scales stood up, revealing his twenty-meter-long body as he looked down at the lords who opposed him. "Foolish fellows. That is not wealth, but bait for fishing. Biting the bait will only bring about your own destruction."
"The words of the weak."
Nero replied bluntly. When they first met, the Demon Hound had even stepped on Garen and Blakesia under its feet, so it was not afraid of Prince Poisonfire's current power. It glared at Garen. "Only a fish like you would consider the bait on the hook. A lion will only swallow all the hunters who try to catch it."
"Looks like the palace did a good job of popularizing culture while I was asleep. Your level of metaphor has improved a lot."
The Black Dragon raised his claw and then lowered it again, causing the palace to quiet down. He muttered to himself for a while before saying, "This is indeed a trap. The fall of Nisdu is just a facade. I'm afraid the entire central region has fallen into the enemy's control."
"Blindly rescuing will only lead to the destruction of our forces."
The Emperor's affirmation calmed Garen down. He nodded in agreement and cleared his thoughts. "Minimizing losses is the wisest choice. What we should do now is to gather information and stockpile our forces …"
Before he could finish, Caesar interrupted him. "But there are indeed many things that are difficult to give up. The Blackwing Garrison, the Third Fleet, the big-eyed Corgi, and the Imperial Academy students, teachers, officials, merchants, and workers … We can't just abandon the central region."
"Ortoronso …" Garen froze for a moment before saying in a pained tone, "What lies ahead is the abyss of hell."
"My innocent brother, you should be cautious and careful in war, but you can't recklessly choose to give up, give in, and compromise just because of the gains and losses in front of you.
Your eyes should be able to see further. "
The Black Dragon gestured for Garen to come forward and patted him on the back. "Go back and think about this. Come back in two days and tell me why you're doing this."
In fact, Caesar was not willing to take such a huge risk to save the central region. But now that his daughter was about to ascend to godhood, saving the central region would be an opportunity for the Empire to publicize and increase the cohesion of the Blackwing Garrison to an unprecedented level. This would allow Odín to more smoothly harvest believers and fulfill the little dragon's long-cherished wish to ascend to godhood.
After comforting his brother, Caesar turned to the other lords of the palace. "Currently, the Unfallen Empire has sealed off the entire central region. The nearest teleportation node we can use is in Ayrsala. Inform the United Kingdom of Ayrsala that the north has entered a state of total war. The palace will requisition all the teleportation nodes they can use."
"Right away." The Manticore Lord in charge of diplomacy turned and left.
"Gather the Dragonmaw Clan. The Radiation Dragons will be the first batch of troops to be teleported. You will become my eyes and investigate the situation in the central region."
"Yes, my king." The four-winged dragon, Tia, who had once accompanied Luna when she was pregnant, accepted the order.
"Wait."
Caesar stopped her and suddenly remembered. "How many dragon eggs do you have?"
"Currently, there are sixty incubation pools in the Empire. There are about three thousand dragon eggs in total."
Tia hurriedly replied. She was glad that the Great Emperor finally remembered this. The Radiation Dragons were the only fully mutated clan in the Empire. Only a small number of powerful individuals with extraordinary talents had the ability to reproduce. As time passed, their numbers were decreasing sharply.
"Do you want to awaken them?" Tia asked hesitantly. "Or do you want to replenish the dragon eggs?"
"Hatch five hundred first."
Caesar ordered. Those were the dragon eggs that he had already irradiated. The Blackwing Empire had a mature process that could quickly catalyze the process. These mutated Radiation Dragons could be used in battle two weeks after hatching. "Add another three thousand dragon eggs to the reserve warehouse. Once we have five thousand, I will find some time to irradiate them."
It was worth mentioning that among the three thousand dragon eggs in the incubation pool, there was a batch that was not the mutated product of the Black Dragon's radiation. Instead, they were the dragon eggs blessed by Odín's oracle. However, there were very few of them. There were only about thirty of them. Caesar did not pay much attention to them.