The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

"Enemy attack!"

Muffled horn sounds rose from Egret Castle, as all knights busily donned their battle armor and surged onto the ramparts to observe the enemy forces and defend the castle.

Count Egret, who had hurriedly changed into his armor, also climbed to the top of the castle walls and gazed at the composite knight order rushing towards them in the twilight—Coral Island elite knights wore silver helmets and armor, Red Crab Island elite knights were in golden helmets and armor, and the elite knights from Golden Island sported gray helmets and armor, with the colors of their steeds varying as well.

Despite clearly being a mixed knight order, Count Egret's body tensed up as he saw the flag that fluttered high in the forefront of the knight order—a long banner with a red background, upon which an open Black Tulip was embroidered.

He had a deep memory of this pattern.

The defeat of the Roaring Knights three days ago had occurred under this very banner.

"It's him, it's him, it's him..." Count Egret's chest rose and fell with a hint of a tremor as he recalled that epic battle where the Marquis Nuta, encapsulating the power of an entire knight order, had ultimately been overturned and defeated by an excessively young Sapphire Knight.

Marquis Nuta was his landlord, one of the prominent Feudal Marquises of the Eagle Kingdom.

Therefore, he was well aware of Marquis Nuta's prowess. Since his youth, he had followed Marquis Nuta, and now in middle age, he had witnessed the magnificence of a Domain Knight more than once, especially during grand campaigns on the frontiers. Even the renowned Cloaked Bear-wearer, the Marquis of Boulder, held a position slightly below that of Marquis Nuta.

He had always thought that unless a Dragon Knight appeared, his lordship was an unbeatable existence. Yet, to his utter disbelief, he had been defeated by a Sapphire Fly.

Because of this, he had spent the two days since returning to the castle to recuperate in a daze, unwilling to accept this reality.

However.

"It's him... he has come, he has actually come to Egret Castle!" Count Egret forced himself to calm down and then shouted loudly, "Knights of Egret Castle, the enemy from Sapphire is formidable, but if we unite and fight together, no one can break through the impregnable walls of Egret Castle!"

"Defend the castle!"

"Repel the Sapphire Fly!"

The knights responded enthusiastically, and their cries helped Count Egret to fully regain his composure. Perhaps in a sword fight, he was no match for the knight named Liszt Tulip. But this was no sword duel, nor a cavalry charge across open ground; it was a defense of the castle.

The Sapphire knight order was not adept at siege warfare, their actions during Pioneer Mandates akin to locusts—seizing supplies and quickly retreating.

They neither besieged nor claimed land.

"If it weren't for that conceited fool Deborah Yuhua Stone, who relied on Marquis Nuta's favor and acted so arrogantly, refusing to defend the castle and instead charging out, the battle would never have collapsed so utterly! Even Liszt, that inheritor of the Ancient Warrior, wouldn't have been able to cause much of a stir!"

Once calm, Count Egret even had the spare time to blame Deborah. He himself was a Sword Saint, but he looked down on the overrated Deborah, the Clear Water Sword Saint with high esteem but low ability.

His gaze turned towards the approaching composite knight order.

Count Egret gripped his longsword tightly and stopped his idle thoughts. His expression was neither joyous nor sorrowful—Egret Castle was situated such that one side backed against a mountain and another was surrounded by water, making it easy to defend and hard to attack.

Repelling the enemy's assault would be effortless.

But in the next moment, his calm wavered. Before the composite knight order, he saw a person riding a colorful large bird—he recognized Liszt, the very one who had defeated Marquis Nuta—and following behind were nine Intermediate Magical Beast Blizzard Beasts that had inflicted heavy casualties on the Roaring Knights.

At this instant, Liszt had already taken out his Swift Shadow Bow, readying his arrow for the shot.

When he first relied on archery to target the Roaring Knights, ultimately reversing the battle and defeating Marquis Nuta, Count Egret had not forgotten a single detail.

"A mighty Ancient Warrior Inheritor actually has to join the siege in person?"

The answer to his question in his heart came in the form of three flaming arrows. Boom, boom, boom, the three arrows each hit three windows, exploding and blasting the wooden window guards to smithereens.

It was a greeting, as well as a signal.

Next, the mixed Knight Order each took out their bows and arrows, aiming at Egret Castle to carry out suppressive shooting. Douson, already familiar with warfare, took the Eight Tiny Ones with him, and without needing any extra instructions from Liszt, began to release Rock Grenades and Rock Spikes, attacking the walls of Egret Castle.

"The sword slashes the flesh, the heart slashes the soul!" Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

Liszt got too immersed in his role and, before actually beginning the attack, muttered a slogan to himself. Then, with a leap, he soared high into the sky, then gathered his energy and plummeted down fiercely.

Boom!

Amidst the barrage of arrows retaliating from the castle, he used his Dragon Dou Qi to forcibly open up a clear area and landed on the battlements of Egret Castle.

Spurt, spurt, spurt!

Immediately, countless Earth Knights thrust their spears through from the inner wall, aiming to turn Liszt into a wasp's nest. With a cold gaze, Liszt swung the Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword, conjuring up flames with each motion that instantly cut the Knight's Spears in two. The sturdiness and sharpness of Dragon Bone combined with Dragon Dou Qi were inexplicably formidable.

After cutting through the Knight's Spears, he swung the Ice Soul Dragon-Slaying Sword again, chopping down a few knights who attempted to retaliate. Without caring whether they were dead or not, Liszt immediately got up and leapt towards another part of the battlements.

His goal was clear: to remove all the battlements' retaliatory forces of Egret Castle, then let his elite knights scale the castle and swarm to take down this seemingly sturdy fortress. If he were a Dragon Knight, perhaps a single breath of Dragon Breath could roast the entire castle, but he had to do the hard work himself.

The difference between riding a dragon and not was obvious.

"If I could produce black gunpowder, the speed of the siege would definitely increase greatly... There's sulfur on Dodo Island, charcoal can be made on the spot, now all that's missing is a Saltpeter Mine. The formula of one part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, and three parts charcoal, I remember it very clearly... But it's better to wait until I become a Dragon Knight before inventing such a devastating siege weapon as black gunpowder."

As Liszt was clearing out the retaliatory forces of Egret Castle, his mind still wandered.

He had been paying attention to black gunpowder for a while and had always listed it on his invention to-do list. Unfortunately, when he had saltpeter, there was no sulfur, and after the discovery of Dodo Island and access to sulfur, the saltpeter was used up, hindering his research—this type of gunpowder might not be very useful in battle, as its destructive power could not compare to Dou Qi and magic.

But in present times, when materials resistant to magic were commonly used in castle construction, the physical impact of black gunpowder was definitely a powerful means to dismantle fortresses.

"In the future, I must seriously look for a Saltpeter Mine."

With his thoughts gathered, he continued to clear the area seriously.

As Liszt worked hard and exerted himself, the retaliation from Egret Castle completely died down, Count Egret didn't dare show his face, and neither did the other Earth Knights.

The large and sturdy castle was like an unconscious strong man who, no matter how strong, could not escape the indignity of fate.

Numerous elite knights from the mixed Knight Order began to climb up the outer walls of the castle. Led by Liszt, they were sent into the castle to engage in street fighting. He too mixed in with the troops, deploying his Eye of Magic and targeting Earth Knights with concentrated Dou Qi.

And he quickly pinpointed the location of Count Egret, leading the knights on a direct path, pushing towards Count Egret.

With Count Egret taken down, Egret Castle could declare its surrender.