Beneath the Red Dragon

But the Frost Giant King merely raised his arm, his palm pressing down lightly, and the boiling royal tent fell silent.

”If the Frost Giants suffer heavy casualties in the war, what meaning does my conquest hold,” the king spoke thus,

”I have long sent a courier to invite the emperor of the Dragon Country to meet with me,”

”I want to gauge face to face whether the dragons possess the strength to resist me. If they cannot withstand my power, the heavy price we pay is worth it; if the dragons can resist my power, then it would be a needless loss for us.”

Nule, the chief of the Ice Wind Tribe, laughed loudly: ”Those Giant Dragons, how dare they personally come and meet the king? Even though the Ancestral Red Dragon is spoken of in the outside world as on par with the king, how could he not fear the king’s mighty power? Before the king, he is but a jester.”

The Frost Giant King’s cold gaze calmly swept over this Frost Giant, stopping his laughter abruptly, and he said lightly, ”If he dares not come, it proves he lacks the confidence and strength to oppose me. Yet the opponent is ultimately a determined ruler, and it is not for you to dishonor him.”

Inside the royal tent, silence fell.

From afar, the sound of drums and horns faintly approached, as a Frost Giant sentinel walked in from outside the camp, bowing to the many Frost Giant leaders and the Frost Giant King, saying, ”My lord, the emperor of the Golden Empire has not arrived, but the Blue Dragon Akzhi, known in the outside world as the ’King of Azure Thunder,’ and another female dragon have descended.”

The Frost Giant King frowned slightly, remaining silent for a moment before speaking, ”Then let Sakles go and meet this so-called ’King of Azure Thunder’.”

...

In the camp of the Golden Empire’s legion, accompanied by the deep sound of horns and the beating of giant leather drums.

The Blue Dragon Akzhi and Blue Dragon Carlette descended from the clouds, standing on the solitary lookout tower, overlooking the imperial legion.

White Dragon Sloraka and White Dragon Ronnie flew over, greeting the two Blue Dragons, and Carlette began conversing with the two White Dragons, leaving Blue Dragon Akzhi to watch alone.

The Golden Empire’s legion warriors, though uniformly armored, well-equipped, and their faces shrouded in face armor.

All lifted their face armor and raised their weapons in salute to this master of thunder, the King of Azure Thunder, upon Blue Dragon Akzhi’s descent.

Each dragon’s title often matched their character, such as the Blue Dragon Doss being known as the ’Thunder Lord,’ or the ’King of Azure Thunder’ Akzhi.

His fierce and brave character endears him to the respect and reverence of the imperial warriors.

This vanguard corps has a complete composition of five hundred War Lizardmen, with the rest being mixed corps.

Among them are Dragon Descendant Warriors covered with dragon scales, large, tusked Giant Demon Warriors, and Ogre Warriors, among various strong races mixed together.

Just like the many races living within the Golden Empire, the newly formed imperial legions are mostly mixed, emphasizing capability and adaptability rather than race.

Dragons have previously asked the Ancestral Red Dragon why these powerful warriors are not all converted into Dragon Descendant Warriors. After all, the empire now has the capacity to form a purely loyal Dragon-blood Corps.

The reply was that a singe race, no matter how forward-looking, cannot compare to the evolutionary and creative ability of multiple races.

”So, has Karon made these Frost Giants the target of his experiments as well,” Akzhi glanced in the direction of the Frost Giant encampment dozens of miles away, the powerful aura among them failing to elicit any concern from the Blue Dragon.

It was the adventurers watching from afar and some Wild Dragons drawn by the news near the Frost Giants and the Golden Empire that made the Blue Dragon furrow his brow.

The Blue Dragon shook his head and ordered the War Lizardman leader Reilly of the Commander Legion, ”Lead a thousand warriors and follow me out to meet that Frost Giant monarch.”

War Lizardman leader Reilly quickly assembled the War Lizardman Corps, along with one hundred from the golem legion, and three hundred Centaur Light Cavalry Corps known as ’Death Knights’, plus a hundred from the magic-constructed biological corps modified by biological alchemy technology.

These magic construct legions resembled agile and swift Wolf Beasts of the prairie, but their backs were equipped by Goblin Bang Bang with devices akin to Twin-Barreled Cannons, able to unleash powerful Fire God Cannons.

Even within the golem legion, besides the built-in Magic Beam function of these golems, they also had large canons mounted on their shoulders and back, resembling mechas, possessing two different strike capabilities.

Yet these golems were far mightier than mechas, not only because they don’t require human operators, allowing more space for energy storage and ammunition, but they also can carry thicker armor.

Unlike those entirely solid charge-and-break-through-type golems, this model of golem is somewhat more fragile but has far more explosive power than solid golems.

This model of golem functions somewhat similarly to tanks of a past life but is far more powerful and agile than tanks.

As for tanks and similar weapons from Karon’s memory, Karon never considered recreating them, even though Karon’s current ability could easily decode and master how to forge such weapons through his former memories.

Because Karon never thought another world’s technology would surpass the magic of this world in strength and efficacy, constructing tanks in his view was a dull endeavor.

Comparing the two weaponry, steel spent on tanks is evidently superior used in crafting golems.

The changes brought by the Ancestral Red Dragon in this world mostly influence culture and thought systems.

Unthinkingly transporting without adapting is not only arrogance from another civilization but also evidence of a significant lack of wisdom.

Even if science were to be climbed, creating aircraft, how could it compare to his deep research on magic, raising Floating Mage Towers and Floating Cities.

Yet Blue Dragon Akzhi is quite fond of these golems, his mighty body landing atop two golems, each Dragon Claw planted on a golem’s shoulder.

Without need of command, the legion already moved slowly under his wings.

Several giant dragons descended simultaneously, although just a thousand-strong legion, yet it advanced step by step as a wall of steel.