Pillar of Yita

The southern side of Quistack has already turned into a sea of fire, with flames spreading along the buildings, collapsing soil and rocks, and igniting wooden beams within. The crackling sounds of flames and sparks rising with the heat stir up fierce winds, extending the blaze further north.

From an aerial view, you would see a dark mass of people fleeing from the fiery zone, their cries and screams momentarily echoing across the sky. These are just the residents of Quistack. They likely never expected that a calamity would suddenly descend upon them this night.

But this disaster is only just beginning—

Sand pirates follow behind, the flash of their gleaming knives followed by warm blood, heads rolling to the ground. In this catastrophe, women lost their husbands, children lost their fathers, and sand pirates were still laughing as they pulled women from their hiding spots by their hair, screams, whistles, and women’s sobs intertwined, forming a scene like hell on earth.

Amidst the fleeing crowd, there were also people moving against the tide.

Princess Rupert stepped out from the crowd, watching the scene from afar.

Behind her, the Royal Guards emerged from the crowd in heavy armor, holding war halberds, forming a line on the long street.

”Where is General Elpa?”

”Just past Patrick Bridge...”

”Princess,” a minister hurriedly spoke up: ”Reinforcements from other directions haven’t arrived yet, and we are outnumbered...”

The hellish scene was reflected in Rupert’s eyes, almost biting her lower lip until it bled.

She turned her head and questioned: ”The people of my father and brother are suffering, should I just watch the sand pirates rampage unchecked?”

”Who said our reinforcements haven’t arrived?”

”I am here—”

The Grand Princess drew her longsword with a reverse grip, like a flash of snow, pointing it forward:

”Soldiers, I will fight alongside you, advance, and purge the sand pirates—”

The voice was strong and resonant, reverberating among the crackling flames, enough to encourage people.

With a ’whoosh’, the Royal Guards lowered their long halberds in unison.

Tianlan held the Communication Crystal, staring at this scene, momentarily stunned.

Previously, it was probably the sand pirates or blind followers using some means, as communication within the city was completely cut off. They could only use the system’s built-in method, the squad’s communication style, to contact each other. Another method was the community, but both methods had limitations; the former had a distance limit, and the latter had a certain delay.

To maintain smooth communication on the Princess’s side, the Seven Seas Travel Group had to spread out, dispersing into various troops.

The reason she volunteered to come here was probably due to the sudden emergence of a sense of justice and courage in Xiaoxiao’s chest earlier, reminding her of the Big Cat People, Miss Atira, and that silly Captain, Brother Ade.

Before coming here, she never imagined such a scene. For a moment, Tianlan was somewhat dazed, her small reason for coming to this world, that little grievance, seemed insignificant compared to the real and cruel scene before her.

Compared to the courage of this Princess, her own small, ridiculous excuses seemed somewhat pretentious and delicate.

She bit her lip slightly, gently gripping the crystal in her hand.

This disturbance finally alerted the distant sand pirates.

They too evidently noticed these sudden defenders.

The sand pirates still bore a hint of astonishment on their faces, clearly having originally thought these noble lords would cower inside the Royal Palace trembling, but that was futile, for a mere inner city could hardly withstand the assault of the King of Sand Thief, Mahazar. Unfortunately, the palace treasures and the legendary beautiful Princess therein were destined to remain out of their grasp too.

Yet seeing the Princess among the crowd, the sand pirates couldn’t help but show surprised expressions, though they didn’t recognize the Grand Princess, they did recognize her beauty.

Many people stared directly in this direction.

But the aligned Imperial Guards, with their long halberds glinting with cold light, made the sand pirates hesitate for a moment. They had superior numbers, but their past experiences had never involved facing a well-trained regular army, and looking at this ’hedgehog’, they were a bit unsure of what to do for a moment.

But as the guards steadily advanced, the sand pirates gradually gathered and retreated. Only then did the desperate people get a slight chance and quickly fled back to the Princess’s side. Seeing their prey slip away, the sand pirates finally stirred, and someone lowly shouted:

”Break them apart!”

The sand pirates finally gave up what little discipline they had.

They drove their sand lizards forward in a horde, crashing solidly into the wall formed by the Royal Guards. With a booming sound, the sand pirates’ attack shattered instantly, scattered and disordered—as if, just like the judgement of the King of Sand, Barbaltan, these ragtag forces were no match for the Imperial Guard.

While lacking discipline, the sand pirates had a certain bloodthirsty courage; the death of their comrades did not make them timid but rather aroused the ferocity of those remaining.

Despite their lack of discipline, the sand pirates had the advantage in numbers. With repeated assaults, the Royal Guards’ formation finally loosened, creating an opening. Like a breached dam, the flood surged in, and the sand pirates stormed through that gap—