The long train traveled through the sky.
Below were the black waters of the Silent Sea, and above was the swarm of demons that blotted out the sun.
Those winged monsters circled in the air, sometimes diving and sometimes climbing, as dense as moving dark clouds.
The flapping of their wings brought a foul wind, which brushed past the train, carrying the stench of rot and blood.
The train wove right through them.
Sometimes it was only a few meters away from those demons.
One could clearly see the patterns on their scales.
Those patterns were of varying depths, like scars from being bitten by something.
One could see the viscous fluid dripping from their mouths.
That fluid hung from their fangs, stretching into thin threads that drifted in the wind.
But not a single demon discovered this behemoth.
The dwarves stood atop the cars, looking back toward Shield City.
That city-state, built into the mountain, was now completely covered in black.
The massive, originally grayish-white city gate was gone, replaced by surging blackness.
Demons crawled all over the walls and the mountain face, like countless ants devouring a dying giant beast.
They writhed in dense layers, one over the other, wrapping the entire city tight.
The lights of the magic crystal cannons ignited continuously, but every flash was quickly drowned out by even more blackness.
That light was like the breathing of the dying—once, twice—growing weaker and weaker.
Grom and the other dwarves silently clenched their fists.
That was the battlefield they had guarded for years, and it was also their home.
The train moved very fast.
The massive inertia of its several thousand tons of weight made it soar through the sky like a cannonball.
The wind whistled in their ears, and demons were constantly left behind in the distance.
Lin Gui could have actually asked the artisans who built this train to install wind pressure cannons to increase its speed.
As long as he spoke up, in such a life-and-death situation, the dwarves would never refuse.
But he didn't.
Because there were too many demons.
More than one could imagine.
He didn't dare climb to a higher altitude, not daring to enter those unknown skies.
No one knew what lay above the clouds.
Nor did he dare increase the speed too much.
Because the density of the demons no longer allowed him to control the shuttle at will.
If it were too fast, it would crash into them.
Everywhere his gaze reached was filled with demons.
Some were in the clouds, revealing only half of their twisted bodies.
Some circled at low altitudes, their wings almost brushing the surface of the sea.
Some had just emerged from beneath the sea, the water on their bodies pouring down like waterfalls.
The ocean surged and roared, devouring everything.
The demons on the sea surface were even more terrifying.
The black water constantly churned as demon after demon emerged from the depths.
When they rose, the seawater would bulge into a massive hump.
The hump would split open, and a demon would crawl out of the rift.
Some were like giant octopuses with tentacles dozens of meters long.
Those tentacles were covered in suckers, and each sucker was lined with barbs.
Some were like twisted mermen, holding rusted tridents.
Their eyes bulged out of their sockets, with no pupils, only a deathly white.
Still others had no discernable shape at all, being merely a mass of writhing flesh.
That flesh constantly transformed, sometimes extending tentacles and sometimes growing sharp claws.
Most terrifying was the fearsome aura they emitted.
Any single one of them could tear a High Rank mage like Lin Gui into pieces.
And as far as the eye could see, their numbers exceeded ten thousand.
Fortunately, as they distanced themselves from Shield City, the number of demons slightly decreased.
But the count was still horrifying.
Lin Gui urged the train toward the sea surface.
After flying for a short while, he saw that island.
With just one look.
He understood why Balin was so certain that as long as they controlled this island, they could pin the deep-sea demons into the Silent Sea.
The water of the Silent Sea was black, thick like ink.
And within this blackness, there was a long, narrow rift, like a wound carved open by a sharp blade, extending deep into the abyss.
The edges of that rift shimmered with purple light, as if something inside was glowing.
Countless hideous demons swam out of the rift.
They floated up from the dark depths, first revealing their heads, then their twisted bodies, and finally the tails dragging behind them.
They carried a purple mist, and as soon as they emerged, they swarmed toward Shield City.
That mist lingered around them for a long time, never dispersing.
And at the exit of that rift.
Shield Island blocked the middle of it completely.
Like a nail driven into a demon's throat.
The island was narrow and long, sharp at both ends and wide in the middle, perfectly wedged into the exit of the rift.
No matter how many demons swarmed up from below, they had to pass this island first.
It truly was... a textbook-perfect natural strategic location.
"That's Shield Island!" Barna shouted excitedly, his voice changing pitch.
His finger pointed at the island as he leaned forward, almost about to jump off the train.
Grom even leaped up, brandishing his fists.
His warhammer swayed in his hand, the head reflecting the dim light.
"I see it! I see it!"
"As long as we control it, the pressure from the undersea demons will drastically decrease!"
"Shield City might even be able to hold out until the day the Dark Tide gathers!"
He turned his head and roared at Lin Gui, the veins on his neck bulging:
"Hurry! Brother! Hurry!"
"Shield City won't hold for long!"
Hearing this, Lin Gui urged the train forward, flying at high speed toward Shield Island.
The train traced an arc in the air, diving toward the edge of the island.
Under Barna's guidance, the train rounded the edge of the island and headed toward the direction facing the deep-sea demon lair.
They flew close to the mountain peaks on the island, the jagged rocks on the mountain wall almost brushing against the cars.
The moment they cleared the peak.
Lin Gui's gaze narrowed.
On the back side of the mountain, in the area where the dwarves intended to build fortifications.
At this moment, it was densely covered with disgusting constructions.
It was a demon nesting ground.
Countless hideous, tumor-like structures were attached to the ground and hung on the cliff faces; some were even writhing, like living hearts.
The surfaces of those tumorous growths were covered in blood-vessel-like patterns that pulsed rhythmically.
Purple mist seeped out from the gaps in the buildings, permeating the air.
That mist was so thick it wouldn't disperse, hanging over the entire area like a layer of purple gauze.
Dense swarms of demon hatchlings crawled between the nests.
They moved on all fours, scurrying like lizards with agile and chaotic movements.
Some had just emerged from the tumors, still covered in fluid.
That fluid was viscous and transparent, stretching into threads upon them.
Even though they were just born, they seemed to hear some sort of summons and began to hiss toward Shield City.
They tilted their heads back, opening mouths with teeth that hadn't even finished growing, and let out sharp shrieks.
There were too many of them.
Incredibly many.
At a glance, there were already far more than ten thousand...
Lin Gui stopped for a moment.
The train hovered in mid-air, motionless.
Under these circumstances, how were they to build fortifications?
Though those hatchlings were weak, their numbers were simply too massive.
As soon as they landed, they would be overwhelmed.
There was nowhere to even set foot.
Barna patted him on the shoulder.
That hand was thick and warm, carrying a reassuring force.
"It's fine."
He pointed toward the nesting grounds.
"The Transcendent, Legendary, and Epic demons that used to prevent us from taking the island have all run off to Shield City."
His voice was calm, as if he were talking about a very ordinary matter.
"The greatest difficulty, which we couldn't overcome even after paying a tragic price."
"Because of the Dark Tide, it is no longer an obstacle."
He paused.
"Inside are only some newly hatched demons."
"Though their numbers are terrifying, their strength is very weak—nothing more than Low Rank."
"Existences that can be crushed at will."
His tone carried a hint of relief, and a trace of mockery.
It was as if he were mocking how the world-ending crisis brought by the Dark Tide had inadvertently solved their greatest difficulty.
Grom stood at the edge of the car and laughed savagely.
That smile opened on his bearded face, revealing two rows of neat teeth.
"Ha! Bullying newly born demon hatchlings is my favorite thing to do."
His voice carried bloodthirsty excitement.
He picked up that massive warhammer.
That warhammer was taller than he was, its head as large as a millstone and covered in runes.
"I'll smash them into meat paste, hammer by hammer!"
Finished speaking, he simply leaped down from the height of over forty meters.
Boom—!
Grom crashed onto the island's ground, creating a massive crater and sending stone fragments flying.
The crater was over ten meters wide, and the rocks at the edges cracked into countless fine fissures.
The demon hatchlings turned their heads in unison, looking at this uninvited guest.
Their small eyes were first blank, then bloodthirsty, and finally filled with madness.
Then they rushed toward Grom.
And then.
Grom moved.
He swung the warhammer, its horrific power smashing into the nearest nest.
Boom!!
That tumor-like structure exploded instantly, splashing purple juice everywhere.
Those juices sizzled upon hitting the ground, corroding small pits into the surface.
The demon hatchlings inside that hadn't had time to crawl out were crushed into meat pulp.
They didn't even have time to shriek before they turned into fragments along with the nest.
The massive shockwave made the very ground tremble.
That tremor radiated outward from beneath Grom's feet, like ripples on water.
The surrounding nests collapsed one after another like dominoes.
One after another, one pressing against the other, the rumbling sounds echoed as one.
Grom laughed loudly, like a lion charging into a flock of sheep.
His laughter echoed among the nests, drowning out the shrieks of the demon hatchlings.
With every step he took, the ground would crack.
Fissures extended outward from his feet like a massive spiderweb.
With every swing of his hammer, large swathes of nests and demons were pulverized.
Where the hammer's wind passed, those tumorous buildings exploded like they were made of paper.
Where the warhammer passed, only a mess of deep craters and shattered flesh remained.
That flesh was smeared on the ground, mixed with the purple juice, emitting a pungent stench.
Those demon hatchlings tried to counterattack, but their tiny claws and teeth couldn't even break Grom's skin.
They pounced on Grom, their claws scraping against his armor, leaving nothing behind.
They tried to flee, but Grom was far faster than them.
Just as those hatchlings ran a few steps, Grom caught up and smashed them into the sky with a single strike, turning them into meat pulp.
"Come on! Come on!"
Grom roared, his warhammer sweeping across, smashing a group of demons into blood mist.
That blood mist permeated the air, staining everything around them red.
He leaped up and smashed the ground, and the entire ground jolted.
The ground within dozens of meters collapsed, burying countless nests and demons in the rubble.
The dust kicked up by the falling debris hung in the air for a long time.
This was the strength of a Legendary rank.
A terrifying dominance caused by an absolute gap in ranks.
Below, the number of demons exceeded ten thousand.
But under Grom's iron hammer...
An infant against a robust adult?
No.
It was an ant against an elephant.
No matter the number, they couldn't injure him in the slightest.
At least a thousand demons rushed toward Grom, but not a single one could leave a scratch on Grom's armor.
Lin Gui stood on the train, watching the display of divine might below with a bit of surprise.
He had seen many Legendary battles.
On his journeys, in city-states, and in the wilderness.
But a one-sided slaughter like this was something he was seeing for the first time.
Those demon hatchlings were too many, squeezed together in dense swarms.
Grom didn't even need to aim; a random swing of his hammer would kill a swathe of them.
They were too weak, so weak they couldn't even break through Grom's protective qi.
If they pounced, they were bounced back.
If they bit him, their teeth shattered.
Lin Gui turned his head and looked at Barna beside him.
This Legendary dwarf mage was currently standing with his arms crossed, watching the battlefield below with great interest.
The corners of his mouth carried a smile, one filled with pure satisfaction.
Lin Gui believed that if he made a move, the power would definitely be even greater than Grom's.
After all, Legendary mages had a universally recognized name.
War Machine.
Once a Legendary spell was fully chanted and hit the ground, this entire half of the island might become the target of his attack.
The ground would split, lava would erupt, and fire rain would fall from the sky.
Those nests and those demon hatchlings would turn into ashes in an instant.
If he acted, the moment the magic chant finished would probably be the moment he landed.
"Aren't you going to join in?" Lin Gui asked.
Barna smiled.
That smile opened on his bearded face, carrying a hint of craftiness.
"If I act, the commotion will be too great."
He pointed toward the sea.
The black sea surface was calm, yet it hid endless killing intent.
"It might just attract those demons out on the water."
"Those won't be these newly born, weak runts."
His voice lowered, his tone becoming heavy.
As long as the Second Shield City wasn't established, those terrifying demons would continuously attack Shield City.
He paused and turned to look at Lin Gui.
In those eyes was a serious light.
That light was very bright, bright enough to be scorching.
"And..."
"I have to protect you."
He pointed at Lin Gui.
That thick finger almost poked Lin Gui's chest.
"You are too fragile. Any random demon out there could kill you."
His tone was flat, as if he were stating a fact.
That fact was laid bare, without any adornment.
"But you are also too important. Important enough that Shield City's life and death depend on you."
His voice deepened, every word striking against Lin Gui's heart.
He withdrew his gaze and continued looking down.
Grom was still slaughtering; with every swing of the warhammer, another swathe of demons fell.
"The Fortress Lord wanted to protect you himself, but other than him, no dwarf can face those few terrifying existences."
His tone carried a trace of helplessness.
"So, this task has fallen onto my head."
"And I will not let anything happen to you."
"Absolutely not."
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