The Elven Cultivator

On the plains, a gray torrent began to advance toward the Silver Moon Forest.

Charging at the very front were Stone-skinned Giant Demons.

These burly behemoths wore no armor.

Because their rock-like skin was the strongest armor in itself.

Ordinary swords and blades could only leave shallow white marks on the surface of their skin, causing no real damage.

Even when shot by powerful crossbows at close range, the bolts would often get stuck in their tough muscles after piercing the skin, unable to penetrate deeply. To their massive bodies, it was no more than a mosquito bite.

In Kresol Dragon City’s Vassal Army, the Stone-skinned Giant Demons were the sharpest blade, serving a role equivalent to the Human Race’s heavy shock troops.

They took heavy strides, making the ground rumble. Like a series of moving, grayish-brown city walls, they pressed toward the Silver Moon Forest.

Following closely behind the Stone-skinned Giant Demons were vast numbers of Gray Scale-man infantry.

Compared to the disorderly Stone-skinned Giant Demons, the Gray Scale-men were clearly far more disciplined.

They formed dense phalanxes, advancing with uniform steps. Their gray Scale Armor formed an impenetrable iron curtain under the sunlight, pressing heavily toward the forest’s edge.

Further back were the Spined Serpent-man archers.

These creatures, with their humanoid upper bodies and serpentine lower bodies, moved not like infantry but like a throng of snakes gliding over the tips of the grass, their movements bizarre yet fluid.

The bony spines on their backs were as ferocious as halberds, each as long as an adult’s forearm and as sharp as a sword.

The Spined Serpent-men used a special kind of hornbow, its body made from the curved horns and sinews of a Giant Horned Beast, with a draw weight far exceeding that of an ordinary longbow.

Combined with the Spined Serpent-men’s superhuman arm strength, the range and power of their arrows were astounding.

The arrowheads were also coated in poison.

It was a mixed toxin extracted from the Spined Serpent-men’s own poison glands, possessing strong paralytic and coagulant effects.

Those struck by the arrows would often find their limbs stiffening and movements slowing within a few breaths, eventually becoming helpless prey on the battlefield.

On the flanks, farther back, the Poisonous Hyena cavalry were scattered to the army’s rear, like a pack of wolves waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The Hyena-men sat astride the saddles of the Poisonous Hyena Beasts, their stooped figures exuding a coiled ferocity. The scimitars in their hands reflected a cold, bluish-gray light under the sun.

They wore leather armor studded with iron plates, with thick sheets of iron covering vital areas like their chests and shoulders, enough to withstand most melee attacks.

The Poisonous Hyena Beasts resembled hyenas magnified several times over, their bodies covered in coarse, grayish-brown fur, the manes on their necks as stiff as steel needles.

Thick saliva dripped constantly from their snarling mouths. When it landed on the grass with a SIZZLE, the verdant blades withered and blackened at a visible rate.

These beasts were a mutated variant of the Firemane Beast. Although not as powerful, possessing only White Rank combat strength, they were incredibly fast and tireless, capable of carrying their riders on a continuous raid for over a hundred kilometers without rest.

On the main battlefield, the task of the Poisonous Hyena cavalry was to use their mobility to outflank and encircle the enemy, launching surprise attacks while the enemy was tied down on the front lines, or pursuing a routed enemy to expand their gains.

They never engaged in a direct confrontation. If a strike missed, they would immediately disengage, repeatedly tearing at their foe like a wolf pack until the prey collapsed from exhaustion.

Besides the four main forces, there were also dozens of other Vassal Races mixed in, organized in small squads.

There were the short, dagger-wielding Ratmen, skilled at exploiting gaps for sneak attacks in the chaos of battle.

There were the slime-covered Swamp Frogmen, who could spit corrosive acid from their mouths.

There were the half-man, half-scorpion Scorpion-folk, whose poisonous tail stingers could pierce steel.

They were not numerous, but each had its own bizarre abilities, like hidden reefs beneath the torrent, ready to deliver a fatal blow to their opponents at any moment.

Above the army, over a hundred Bat-winged Demons circled at a low altitude.

These humanoid creatures, shaped like small bats, had a wingspan of about two meters, with sharp claws lining the edges of their bony wings.

They possessed vision and hearing far superior to ordinary creatures and could also emit ultrasonic waves to survey terrain and detect enemies. They were Dragon City’s most outstanding scouts.

In times of war, they acted as messengers, flying back and forth over the battlefield to relay the commander’s orders to the various units on the front lines.

Their sharp screeches rose and fell, weaving an information network that covered the entire battlefield.

「At the same time, behind the battlefield.」

In a temporary command post set up on a low hill, dozens of Dragon Race officers bustled around a huge sand table. Flags were constantly moved across it, marking the latest positions of the various troops.

More than ten massive Water Curtains floated in mid-air, displaying real-time images of different parts of the battlefield from various angles.

The six consuls, including Aurion, all stood before the Water Curtains, their cold gazes fixed on the Silver Moon Forest in the images.

That lush expanse of green, set against the gray tide, looked particularly jarring.

Just then, the Silver Moon Forest in the image suddenly changed.

A cyan light screen abruptly appeared above the forest, like an overturned glass bowl, enveloping the entire Silver Moon Forest.

The light screen was as thin as a cicada’s wing and nearly transparent, yet it refracted a faint cyan glow under the sun. Countless fine patterns flowed slowly across its surface.

”So this is... that Array,” Walt muttered with a frown.

The other consuls also reacted instantly.

This cyan light screen had to be the Array mentioned in their intelligence reports—the one that even the City Lord himself could not break through.

Aurion said nothing, merely staring at the light screen with a grim expression.

In this campaign against the Silver Moon Race, the most troublesome thing for him, aside from Anton, was this strange, unprecedented Array.

Even the City Lord’s Dragon Breath and Power of Law couldn’t budge it in the slightest, let alone their own power.

’The only saving grace is that even the most powerful Array needs energy to operate.’

’Once its energy is completely depleted, the Array will naturally collapse.’

’And the Vassal Legion is the cannon fodder I’ve sent to drain the Array’s energy.’

’As for Anton...’

Aurion subconsciously touched the Dimension Ring on his right index finger.

’Inside is the trump card the City Lord gave me, specifically for dealing with Anton.’

’If Anton doesn’t show up, so be it. But if he does, this thing will at least give us the confidence to face him head-on.’

’Of course,’ Aurion felt, ’there’s a high probability this trump card won’t be needed.’

’Back in that battle, although the City Lord was grievously injured, there’s no way Anton escaped unscathed.’

’Otherwise, he would have surely pursued the City Lord.’

’Right now, it’s highly likely that Anton, just like the City Lord, is also recuperating from his injuries.’

’By the time Anton is healed enough to join the fight, the City Lord will probably have fully recovered as well. He’ll deal with Anton personally, so it won’t be my turn to act.’

At this thought, Aurion’s heart settled, and he turned his gaze back to the image.

Just then, the nearly transparent cyan light screen above the Silver Moon Forest suddenly moved.

It no longer enveloped the entire forest, but contracted inward, exposing a large, newly grown area of woodland outside the screen.

The consuls were slightly taken aback, but they quickly understood and sneered.

”Planning to use the forest as a battlefield? They’ve made a clever calculation.”

”I thought they were going to hide in their shell forever.”

”How foolish. If they had just stayed hidden in the forest, they might have held out for a while. Coming out on their own initiative now—how is that any different from suicide?”

The consuls saw through the Silver Moon Race’s intentions.

The enemy clearly didn’t want to passively drain the Array’s energy. Instead, they planned to use the exposed woodland as a battlefield, with the Array at their backs, to bog down the Dragon City legion and wear down its strength piece by piece.

But this idea was far too naive.

The Elves’ small population was a critical weakness. In a head-on war of attrition, they were no match for Dragon City.

They didn’t even need any grand strategy. They just had to send the Vassal Legion forward regardless of casualties. Once the Elves’ forces were sufficiently depleted, they could send in the Golem Legion and the Radiant Flame Legion, and victory would be within their grasp.

In the face of absolute power, all clever tricks were futile.

”Inform the front line to proceed as planned,” Aurion said indifferently. ”Since they want a war of attrition, we’ll give them one.”

The gray torrent continued to surge forward, constantly closing the distance.

Just as the gray tide was about to crash into the forest’s edge, the ground suddenly bulged in countless places.

Soil churned and gravel flew.

Innumerable thorny vines burst from the earth, growing wildly and intertwining. In the blink of an eye, they formed a wall over ten meters high.

Nourished by the energy of the Great Derivation Cyan Profound Array, these living thorns had swelled to several times their size in just a few short years, becoming even tougher.

Now, countless thorns crisscrossed one another like a mass of coiled pythons, encircling the edge of the forest in an impenetrable green barrier.

Behind the wall of thorns, the slumbering Sentry Trees also began to awaken.

Compared to a few years ago, these Sentry Trees had also grown taller and more robust.

They slowly pulled their roots from the ground. Face-like patterns appeared on their thick trunks, and their branches stretched out like arms, rustling softly.

At the same time, heavy footsteps echoed from the shadows deep within the forest.

One by one, Oakwood Guardians emerged from the woods.

These beings, animated from ancient trees, were even larger than the Sentry Trees. Their trunks were over three meters in diameter, and their canopies spread out like umbrellas, almost blocking out the sky above.

They were covered in a thick layer of bark-like armor, the surface of which shimmered with a faint cyan light—a protection bestowed upon them by the Spring of Life.

The combat power of an Oakwood Guardian was close to the Silver Tier.

In a forest environment, even when facing Silver Tier enemies, they could hold their own with their tough bodies and astonishing strength.

And between the Oakwood Guardians, Elves dressed in Rune-inscribed leather armor and Rune-inscribed robes moved out silently. Like mist seeping from the woods, their figures blended almost perfectly with the surrounding trees.

Their gazes were calm and resolute, their hands gripping their weapons as steady as stone, poised to strike.

The Stone-skinned Giant Demons paid no heed to the scene before them.

Or rather, they simply didn’t care.

These low-intelligence creatures had only one thought in their minds: crush every obstacle in their path.

Roaring, they brandished their warhammers and great-axes, accelerating their charge toward the forest.

When the first row of Stone-skinned Giant Demons slammed into the wall of thorns, the spiky vines immediately coiled around them like vipers, constricting their thick limbs and necks as thorns dug deep into their skin.

The Stone-skinned Giant Demons let out furious roars, struggling frantically. They smashed the entangling vines with their warhammers and tore at the thorns with brute force.

Shattered vine fragments flew everywhere, and milky-white sap splattered on the ground.

But the wall of thorns was simply too dense.

For every one they smashed, ten more would take its place. For every section they tore away, even more vines would sprout from the ground.

The endless, layered thorns forcibly halted the Stone-skinned Giant Demons’ charge at the forest’s edge, slowing their advance to a near standstill.

Seizing this opportunity, the Elf Casters behind the wall of thorns raised their Magic Staffs. A multicolored radiance of Magic bloomed instantly in the gloomy woods.

A storm of innumerable spells rained down on the Stone-skinned Giant Demons trapped in the thorns, reaping dozens of lives in an instant.

The stench of burning flesh mixed with the reek of blood, spreading along the edge of the forest.

The moment the war began, it immediately escalated to a fever pitch.