Sovereign of the Ashes

Sein was right—ever since the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring entered this low-level interplanar battlefield, the density of magic elements in the skies over the Thunder Domain battlefield had increased tenfold.

The command center recognized the critical importance of this location, deeming it even more vital than the Thunder Pool battlefield.

This was primarily because the elite Garth legions had converged here, awaiting orders from the King of Garths.

In contrast, the Thunder Pool battlefield drew mostly lesser creatures of Thunderfall World.

Given its proximity to the planar barrier, the Thunder Pool was difficult for the Magus World Army to “cleanse” effectively.

Should any harm come to Thunderfall World’s navel, it could disrupt environmental laws, triggering a catastrophic event that would significantly diminish the post-war earnings of the three orders of the knights.

Consequently, out of the fifteen hundred mages Lorianne had brought from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring, over eleven hundred were deployed to the Thunder Domain battlefield.

Only about three hundred mages were assigned to the Thunder Pool, with the remaining hundred spread across various territories of Thunderfall World to engage scattered enemy troops.

Unlike the three knightly orders who had been fighting in Thunderfall World for decades, the mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring were relatively new to the conflict.

Nonetheless, each mage was well-prepared, equipped with a substantial supply of magical potions and alchemy tools—underscoring the high value placed on mages by the knights of the Magus World.

Indeed, the equipment carried by a single Rank One mage was often worth as much as that of two or three Rank One knights.

Just two days after Sein and his team arrived at the Mount Thunderstone camp, the Thunder Domain battlefield witnessed an uptick in area-of-effect elemental spells.

The Order of the Steel Fist’s command center even suspended Gould and his team’s mission, opting instead to bombard the area for several days before reassessing the situation.

The skies were ablaze with various types of magic elements.

As participants in the war, Sein led Grimm and others to launch a long-range spellcasting bombardment.

This tactic showcased the strategic prowess of the Magus World Army in foreign conflicts.

The impact delivered by these thousand or so mages was so profound that it rivaled, and perhaps even surpassed, the havoc wreaked by tens of thousands of elite knights on the battlefield.

The barrage of violent elemental strikes continued for seven days.

On the eighth day, over a hundred thousand knights, along with millions of enslaved creatures, surged forward into the heart of the Thunder Domain battlefield.

After returning to Thunderfall World, Sein gained a detailed understanding of the situation on the Thunder Domain battlefield through Natalya and others.

Of the more than a hundred thousand knights engaged in battle, only about forty thousand were from the Order of the Steel Fist; the rest were registered with the Order of the Thunder Knights.

Throughout the Thunderfall World War, it was the Order of the Thunder Knights, led by a Rank Five knight, that bore the brunt of the conflict and sacrificed the most.

The three knightly orders were unwilling to let the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring claim a significant share of Thunderfall World’s post-war spoils, likely due to conflicting interests with the Order of the Thunder Knights.

The sight of over a hundred thousand knights and millions of enslaved creatures charging into the depths of the Thunder Domain was nothing short of spectacular.

The already charred landscape suffered further damage from a week of intense magic bombardments.

Facing a full-scale assault from the Magus Civilization Army, the natives of Thunderfall World, who had endured intense bombardment and elemental onslaughts, gradually emerged from the caves and crevices beneath the surface.

Lacking advanced civilization, they relied on the earth’s crust as a primitive shield against the elemental powers wielded by the mages from the Magus World.

It remained unclear how many of Thunderfall World’s creatures had been buried alive during the previous week’s assaults. Some were even obliterated by the relentless elemental energies.

The native creatures of Thunderfall World were merely more willful than others; their lifespan and defensive abilities were no stronger than those of other creatures at the same life level.

The overwhelming area-of-effect spells had dealt a severe blow to the legions of native creatures.

In response, the King of Garths rallied the best of his army and the most loyal of its followers in the Thunder Domain, determined to confront the Magus World Army in a final, desperate stand.

This strategy showed their determination to fight to their very last breath, but it also allowed the mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring to eliminate them effortlessly.

Even blindfolded, they could launch large-scale area-of-effect spells into the depths of the Thunder Domain, decimating numerous creatures.

Furthermore, these mages possessed strong mental focus and spells like the Elemental Eye to enhance their vision.

Above them, two towering space fortresses provided morale and power suppression, making this no ordinary battle.

After a week of relentless elemental strikes, the Garths’ legions had suffered severe losses yet surprisingly retained much of their morale.

For these native Garths, the will to fight persisted as long as their deity, the King of Garths, remained undefeated.

The newly arrived mages from the Divine Tower of Verdant Spring were astonished by the Garths’ fierce demeanor and tenacity.

However, the knights from the three orders had grown accustomed to, and dismissive of, such resilience.

Even the enslaved creatures, once considered mere cannon fodder, had hardened into veterans of countless battles.

After the war, these surviving legions could discard the “cannon fodder” label and be rightfully termed “elite”.

These elite legions would then form the core from which the knightly orders would rebuild their ranks. They would be supplemented by new, less experienced enslaved creatures from allied planes—the true cannon fodder.

Only those enslaved creatures who survived numerous battles could aspire to a better fate.

For instance, three weeks after Sein and his team engaged in the deeper parts of the Thunder Domain, they encountered a demigod-level enslaved creature—a Giant Fanged Porcupine from the Order of the Thunder Knights.

Despite having five of its eight fangs broken and one eye blinded, it remained formidable on the battlefield.

According to Natalya and the others, this Giant Fanged Porcupine had garnered fame fighting in the Thunderfall World alongside Thunder the Rank Five knight for many years.

Rumors within the Order of the Thunder Knights indicated that should the Thunderfall World war end in victory, the Rank Five knight, Thunder, had promised to grant the Giant Fanged Porcupine a tract of land in the southern reaches of Thunderfall World.

This land would serve as a sanctuary, providing the porcupine and its kin an opportunity to reestablish their roots in a new home.

With such a promise hanging in the balance, how could the Giant Fanged Porcupine not fight to its last breath?