The battlefield at sea.
Aside from several hundred large warships, the rest were small vessels.
Even these had been hastily gathered and refitted many days ago.
Whether it was the continental races or the demons, their understanding of naval warfare remained at a very primitive stage.
Few ever waged war at sea, especially on such a grand scale.
A naval battle of this magnitude was a rare occurrence in history.
Now, these hundreds of large warships and over a thousand small vessels were incessantly firing heavy ballistae and a series of other weapons.
All the heavy weaponry was provided directly by the Dwarven Kingdom.
Although the Dwarven Kingdom often had minor frictions with the Kingdom of the Highlands.
Faced with the demon race, the Dwarven Kingdom had generously provided over ten thousand Dragon-Slaying Ballistae.
These so-called Dragon-Slaying Ballistae were giant crossbows massive enough to shoot down a great dragon.
Each one required over a dozen people to operate simultaneously.
The massive bolts even required special tools just to be moved.
With enough force behind them, these gargantuan bolts acted like shells flying over the ocean.
The moment they struck a demon ship, they could punch a massive hole right through the iron plating.
The Elven Queen looked up at the dragons in the sky.
Although it appeared the continental races held the advantage for now.
It was merely a case of bullying the demon race for their lack of experience in naval warfare.
By exploiting the demons' innate loathing and fear of the ocean, the alliance barely had to face resistance.
It was like target practice, as bolt after bolt was fired without pause.
They smashed relentlessly into the demon vessels.
Meanwhile, the demon ships were accelerating their escape without a single moment's rest.
They lacked effective means of naval combat, and even those ships equipped with heavy ballistae struggled to exert their full power due to a lack of systematic command.
Some high-level demons capable of magic would stand on the prows to chant.
But before the elements could even condense, they would be targeted by hundreds of elves at once.
In an instant, they would be turned into hedgehogs bristling with arrows, stumbling into the sea and vanishing in the blink of an eye.
The demon race had no chance at all.
They faced dragons in the air and elves at long range.
On the sea, they faced humans.
The union of these three races meant the demon fleet could not even mount a decent counterattack.
Thus, the demon fleet did nothing but flee, over and over again.
Fortunately... the demon fleet was immense, numbering in the thousands.
In contrast, the allied forces had fewer than a thousand ships.
But unfortunately for the demons, the sky was blockaded by the dragon tribe.
Dragon breaths rained down from above, and magic condensed moisture into massive blocks of ice that plummeted from the heights.
Any demon struck by them had their brains splattered instantly.
The force was even enough to penetrate the wooden decks.
Countless demons screamed in agony, yet they could only watch helplessly as they were pummeled.
Their ships lacked a sufficient number of powerful archers.
Faced with such long-range strikes at sea, they could do nothing but howl.
"Our forces are insufficient. What are the human sacred knights doing?"
The Elven Queen turned her head back toward the coast.
At this moment, although the human army was participating in the battle.
Most of those operating the giant heavy ballistae were ordinary soldiers.
Those knights had not boarded the ships at all; they had vanished to who-knows-where.
They had been visible on the shore just a moment ago?
While the Elven Queen was pondering, a sudden roar of battle cries erupted from the distant shore.
Her brow tightened, and her captivating eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed into the distance.
There, on the coastline, tens of thousands of demon elites had appeared out of nowhere.
These elites had somehow obtained over a hundred massive heavy ballistae and were already lined up along the shore.
The Elven Queen even spotted three dark, gaping muzzles within the army formation.
Those were mana cannons!!
Currently, the human fleet was only about a dozen kilometers from the coastline.
At this distance, once the mana cannons fired, the possibility of escape was practically zero!
However, those battle cries were clearly not coming from the demons.
The Elven Queen's gaze shifted slightly, landing on a spot not far from the demon elites.
Over ten thousand human knights had deployed along the coastline at some unknown point.
Faced with tens of thousands of demon elites, they initiated a charge in an instant!
The Wyvern Knights in the sky coordinated with the knights on the ground, and in a short time, they directly suppressed the heavy ballistae and mana cannons on the shoreline.
"I see. It seems His Holiness the Pope has calculated everything."
A heart-stirring smile graced the corners of the Elven Queen's lips.
She turned back, raising the Verdant Strike once more and aiming it at the demon fleet.
"In that case, as the Elven Queen, I cannot fall behind."
...
On the coastline.
The ten thousand knights had crushed the demon elites in an instant, and the primary reason for this was.
Sacred Knight Roland Feding.
Watching the situation on the sea, Roland saw that the battle was still ongoing.
He turned and returned to the temporary communication room.
"Your Holiness, the demons on the coast have been dealt with."
The moment the communication opened, Roland reported.
In the video feed, the Pope sat with a playful smile, fiddling with the scepter in his hand.
"So, she actually predicted it correctly?"
"Yes. The Saintess of the Moon was right. The demon race has indeed mastered a method to bypass the Great Wall. At the same time, there must be demon elites lurking within the Kingdom of the Moon."
Roland couldn't help but recall that young Saintess he had only seen once through a video screen.
"Moving such a large number of troops would inevitably attract the attention of those with intentions, especially with the demons' retreat."
"That Saintess predicted that someone would use mana cannons, and she was right. Three mana cannons appeared here."
"If she hadn't informed us in advance, the outcome of this war... would have been difficult to predict."
The corners of Diocletian's mouth curled even higher.
"Not difficult to predict, but a certain loss, wouldn't you say? Three mana cannons—it's impressive they managed to transport them to the coastline so inconspicuously."
"Very well. Since there are no more issues on the coastline, have the Wyvern Knight Corps continue to provide reinforcements at sea."
"Also, the warships from the Kingdom of the Sea have reached Seaview City and are about to head to the front. Remember to take command."
"Understood."
Roland nodded slightly to accept the order. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he hesitated for a moment and looked back at the Pope in the video.
"Um... Roland, is there something else?"
"Your Holiness, it is not a good thing for this Saintess to be so brilliant and calculating."
"I understand... go and attend to your duties."
"Yes."
The video cut off.
Diocletian sat in the empty communication room, playing with his scepter as he spoke slowly.
"I've finished the first of those two things. However, I truly hope the second thing never happens."
"Hopefully... you can survive."
...
Luo Li had no way of knowing the situation at sea.
However, the situation within the army was currently stable.
Although the demon army approached at regular intervals, the morale of the entire army had settled.
With her, the Saintess of the Moon, present, along with Lina, the Saintess of War.
The hearts of the knights in the army were completely at ease.
Meanwhile, the knights of the Kingdom of Flame and the Kingdom of the Sea had already moved away from the central command and were heading toward the extraction point.
From any perspective, this was a good thing.
Stable morale meant the army was at least secure for the time being.
Luo Li didn't have to worry as much about that.
What she was thinking about now was how to safely send the remaining tens of thousands of Snow Country knights out of the camp without alerting the demon army.
The problem was... the Snow Country knights were the main force of this expedition.
Once the Snow Country knights left, there would be a massive gap in the camp.
The demon army wasn't stupid; once they noticed something was wrong, they would surely launch a massive assault.
The remaining knights from the Kingdom of the Moon and the Black Armored Knights would have their true numbers exposed the moment battle began.
At that point, there would be no choice but to retreat.
But if they retreated like that, the Snow Country knights still withdrawing in the rear would be forced back to the central command.
The evacuation plan would fail.
She had to find a small trick to keep the demon army from noticing the movement.
"Dominica."
"I am here, Your Highness. What are your orders?"
"Order the Snow Country knights to remove their armor within the next half hour. Two men will share one horse to evacuate the central command."
Looking outside, it was already around four in the morning. In the early autumn dawn, there was almost no light.
This was the last window for retreat. If it got any later, the details would be easily discovered once daylight arrived.
By then, a retreat would be nearly impossible.
The demons would surely cling to her army and launch a wide-scale attack the moment they moved.
It was extremely dangerous.
"Kill one-third of the horses. Use their bones to prop up the armor. Have the knights of the Kingdom of the Moon handle this."
This was a desperate measure.
There were no decent trees on this island, and even stones were rare.
This meant it was difficult to find materials for any kind of stratagem.
So, out of necessity, she could only use the horses as tools.
"Your Highness, what is this for? Those horses are..."
"There are no 'buts.' I know a horse is like a second life to a knight, but if you lose your own life, what use is keeping the horse?"
After hearing these words, Dominica pondered for a moment before nodding helplessly.
"One more thing. Tell the knights of the Kingdom of the Moon to gather some personal items and start fires to cook. They will eat the meat of those slaughtered horses."
"Your Highness?"
"Don't ask why. Just go!"
"Yes."
Luo Li looked at the map in the carriage.
They were currently less than a hundred kilometers from the extraction point.
In the past, this distance would only take about three or four hours.
But now, she had to use such a laborious method to cover the retreat of the rear guard.
Killing and eating the horses was to prevent the demon army from realizing how many horses were left.
Propping up the armor with horse bones was to ensure the enemy didn't realize they were missing people.
But the sudden disappearance of so many people would inevitably cause confusion.
It seemed she would have to feign defeat once.
She would leave behind enough horses and armor.
The demons' peculiar habit of eating everything they saw would suddenly come in handy here.
Exactly. As long as they feigned defeat, even the Demon Emperor wouldn't be able to calculate exactly how many people had died.
Because of the demons' nature to devour all non-demon creatures.
They would surely descend upon those horses and the armor.
When that happened, the armor scattered on the ground would only prove how many people had vanished, but it wouldn't prove how many had actually been eaten.
Once the horse bones were scattered, it would be impossible to tell how many horses there were.
Since the demons had to keep pressing their advance, they wouldn't have time to count.
In this way, the departure of the troops from the army could be concealed.
This was the only reasonable idea Luo Li could think of right now that wouldn't easily expose the truth.
Now, it was just a matter of stalling for as long as possible until the entire army reached the extraction point and boarded the ice floes.
The remaining knights and beastmen.
They could simply abandon their armor and horses and take skysoar dragons to the ice floes.
At that point, the entire evacuation plan would be complete.
Once they were at sea, the demons, lacking absolute air superiority, could only watch helplessly as she led her victory away from this land.
"We'll do it like that..."
Luo Li nodded and immediately called out to the person outside the carriage.
"Aigie, please inform the Dragon King that I wish to see him."
"As you command."
The next second, a flash of fire shot into the sky as a massive fire dragon flapped its wings, flying into the group of dragons still confronting the feathered serpent tribe.
Currently, Aigie was the only dragon by Luo Li's side.
After all, Shalin, that frost dragon, could freeze the sea surface. Creating the ice floes relied entirely on the dragon tribe.
Three dragons were using all their strength to create the ice floes, while the remaining four took turns reinforcing them.
This ensured the ice floes would not melt in the short term.
The rest... was a patient wait for the rescue at sea.
Just as she thought of this, a sudden gale swirled outside the carriage.
Immediately following that, the Dragon King's voice came from outside.
"Luo Li, did you summon Us?"
"Yes, Your Majesty the Dragon King. There is something I need your cooperation with."
A feigned retreat of the entire army would naturally require the cooperation of the dragon tribe.
First, the dragons needed to pretend to retreat as well.
Second, the dragons had to maintain their grip on air superiority.
Thus, the dragons' role in this performance would be even greater than that of the humans.
"Oh? What is it?"
Luo Li glanced at the Dragon King, her brow furrowing slightly.
He was walking normally, but it was clear he was deliberately lightening the pressure on his right foot.
His physical constitution was so powerful that even a tiny bit of effort could support a normal gait.
Most outsiders wouldn't be able to tell.
But Luo Li knew the Dragon King's right foot was injured.
"Your Majesty, I need you to coordinate with the ground forces and feign a retreat once."
"You mean... You want Us to take a beating?"
"Er—that depends on your mood. Anyone can take the beating, but after the retreat, you can't go too far. You still need to be able to stabilize air superiority."
The Dragon King's brow tightened as he hesitated slightly, seemingly considering who was most suitable, before nodding.
"That is no problem. But why are you doing this?"
Luo Li patiently explained her thoughts. The Dragon King thought for a long time before nodding again.
"Very well. In that case, Us shall agree."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Watching Luo Li bow her head, the Dragon King's expression turned somewhat grave.
"To make the dragon tribe bow their proud heads... are you aware of the price?"
"Of course. If this plan is successfully implemented and I can return safely to the Kingdom of the Moon, there will certainly be a separate expression of my gratitude."
Hearing this, the Dragon King finally nodded in satisfaction.
"Very good. Then... when shall we begin?"
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