Chapter 119: A War Looms Nigh
Within the Scarlet Valley.
In the Vampire Demon King's castle.
A peculiar meeting was being held at the moment.
The meeting participants included: the 12 great Demon King and 20 representatives of the empire.
Among these representatives, nearly half of them were Divine Sword Heroes, whereas the 12 Demon Kings were those who had successfully joined the empire's ranks through negotiation.
These Demon Kings were qualified to be enlisted by the empire.
Though they might not be so strong as to dominate and tyrannize a region.
They were not mere fodders as well.
Among the 12 Demon Kings, there were 11 Level 3 Demon Kings, while the Vampire Demon King Bai Hongzhuo, had just succeeded in ascending to Level 4.
With such strength.
Forget Chaos Forest.
If he were ranked amongst all others Demon Kings.
He would be one of the top.
These 12 Demon Kings were meticulously selected from among hundreds of other Demon King candidates. Their race, talent, strength, potential and abilities were all superb.
With the empire's enlistment.
They had received support from the empire.
And were constantly given various resources.
Including materials, gold, and even Hero's Souls.
It was impossible for the 12 Demon Kings to not grow and develop under these circumstances.
It was believed it would not take too long before the Demon Kings would reach Level 4 one after another.
When that moment arrived, taking over the entirety of Chaos Forest would be a breeze.
Today's meeting was related to this very matter and two major issues were brought up.
The first was the distribution of forces and territories.
Nothing could be accomplished without rules and regulations.
For the empire, the Demon Kings under it must be neither too strong or too weak.
In order to better balance and distribute the forest region, there must be a clear segmentation of power and territories, so that the 12 Demon Kings could each occupy a large area of territory. This was to make sure the Demon Kings would not invade each other, while keeping each other in check.
The second issue, eradicating the threats.
There were still many existing threats in the Chaos Forest.
The Dragon Demon King of the Darkness Valley was the most concerning of all.
Without receiving any backing or support from external forces.
Not only did his influence expand.
He had even taken control over two large forest cities.
This Dragon Demon King had naturally become the highest priority as he constituted a tremendous threat to other forest forces, as well as the empire's plan.
He Tianzong began to brief, "Based on our investigations, the Chaos Forest has a total of 62 cities. Among them were 16 large cities with a resident population of a hundred thousand and a total population of around two hundred thousand, the rest are all small or medium cities."
"In accordance with the empire's plan, we divided the territory of Chaos Forest into 18 parts. Each Demon King present can seize at least one share. Bai Hongzhuo, as the head of the Alliance of the Empire and the Demon Kings, also simultaneously being the strongest, can take an extra share or two."
"As for the rest of the shares, they will be discreetly occupied by the Divine Sword Heroes Guild on behalf of the empire. Any opinions regarding this arrangement?"
The 12 Demon Kings reviewed the detailed scheme.
They were all content with it.
Afterall, by following this division plan, each Demon King would be given at least a large forest city, along with two to three small or medium sized cities.
To them.
It was simply irresistible.
Without the support of the empire and its large amount of gold and materials, these Demon Kings would not be able to easily seize such a large forest city with their own capabilities.
For these Demon Kings.
Their priority was to gobble up the meat that was about to be delivered straight into their mouth first.
As for whether to find an opportunity to turn against the empire, that would be something to be considered later. There was no hurry at all for now.
"Very well!"
"No objections from anyone."
"Then this matter is settled for now."
"Next, let's proceed to discuss the Darkness Valley as well as the Dragon Demon King."
Upon hearing this topic.
The atmosphere of the room turned serious.
This was the most crucial topic for today's meeting.
The news regarding the Dragon Demon King occupying two large cities in a row had now circulated in the Chaos Forest. Most of the hundreds of thousands of the Demon Kings scattered in the forest had now received this information.
As for the 12 Demon Kings on the scene.
Naturally, they were all well informed about this without exception.
Bai Hongzhuo had just risen to a Level 4 Demon King. Currently, his ego was fit to burst with confidence, "What's there to be afraid of? He's a Level 4 Demon King, I'm also a Level 4 Demon King! And we are numerous! There's absolutely nothing to be worried about."
As he spoke.
The other 11 Demon Kings nodded in agreement.
However, He Tianzong asserted, "The Dragon Demon King has a solid and substantial foundation. We cannot afford to be careless. We must launch an assault immediately to stop him from growing bigger and stronger."
Bai Hongzhuo asked, "How do you suggest we fight?"
He Tianzong replied, "Whether it's the Berserk Beast City or the Giantree City, they both possess a large number of elite garrisons, as well as solid defenses. Especially the Giantree City, which has a history of over 300 years, boasts a very well established city defense system."
"For us, not only are these 2 cities tough nuts to crack, but even if we do manage to conquer these cities, all we did was capture them. That is not in line with our goal of eradicating the Dragon Demon King."
"So, instead of assaulting these 2 cities."
"We should take Darkness Valley by surprise and attack it directly."
"Once the Dragon Demon King's main camp falls, be it Giantree City or Berserk Beast City, we won't even have to fight to capture them."
Both the Demon Kings and the Heroes nodded their heads.
What He Tianzong proposed made perfect sense.
The difficulty in sieging either Berserk Beast City or Giantree City were not to be trifled with.
Although it was still very possible to capture them by force, it would have cost a huge price.
Furthermore, it would delay the extermination of the Dragon Demon King.
As opposed to assaulting the forest cities with a fully developed city defense system, it would be better to simply invade the Darkness Valley. The construction period of the latter was far more shorter, it was bound to have a few defensive flaws in it.
As long as the invasion was sufficiently quick.
They could take down the Dragon Demon King's base camp before the two forest cities could even react.
By then, the Giantree City and the Berserk Beast City would no longer pose any threat. It would be a matter of time and course before the two cities joined their ranks.
This was when one of the Demon Kings suddenly remarked, "But the terrain of Darkness Valley is treacherous, and its location is way too far for us. Once we make any movement, it is nearly impossible for the Dragon Demon King to be unaware."
The other Demon Kings also frowned upon hearing these words.
"That's true. If the Dragon Demon King notices us in advance, he could make use of the terrain to hold us back."
"Once the invasion drags out, the reinforcement from the Giantree City and Berserk Beast City will pin us in."
"......"
In regards to everyone's concern on this matter.
Naturally, He Tianzong had already thought of it long ago.
He spoke calmly, "That's why we can't use conventional troops. We have to assemble a large army composed entirely of flying combat units!"
As the statement was made.
The crowd's expressions changed once again.
An army composed entirely of flight units?
If that was the case.
Then it would be a sure victory.
Flight units had high mobility.
Such units could arrive at the Dark Valley within a day, ignoring the treacherous terrain and its defensive advantages, and launch an attack on its core facilities at the first opportunity before the Dragon Demon King could react.
The regiments of Giantree City and Berserk Beast City would not even have time to react.
Even if the worst case scenario occurred.
And they were unable to completely take down Darkness Valley.
With the mobility of flying units, they could also withdraw in time to minimize their casualties. By making Darkness Valley suffer severe losses was sufficient to significantly weaken the strength and influence of the Dragon Demon King.
Bai Hongzhuo agreed, "This is a good approach, all of my vampire troops have the ability to fly. The Demon Kings present can also more or less provide some of their flying troops."
The 12 Demon Kings did some calculations.
Just by combining the flying units of these Demon Kings.
They could assemble a flight unit army with the size of over 30,000 in number.
With this army alone.
Against a mere Dragon Demon King.
It was absolutely more than sufficient.
He Tianzong continued, "The Divine Sword Heroes had taken control over several winged-kin tribes, as well as a few harpy tribes. We could mobilize at least 5,000 winged-kins and harpies. Furthermore, I will be borrowing more troops from various forest cities."
With those additional troops.
That had to be nearly 50,000 in total.
Although the army was a motley crowd, and most of them were just normal units. But, as flight units, they already had the advantage of aerial suppression.
The number was so large.
It was nigh impossible to defend against.
No matter how strong the Dragon Demon King was.
No matter how good the defense facilities of Darkness Valley were.
It was absolutely not possible to repel such an overwhelming blitz assault, especially when it was a surprise attack where the Dragon Demon King would be unprepared for.
The scene during the invasion raid.
Just by imagining it was appalling enough.
It would not take more than a few minutes to raze the entire territory to the ground!
Even if the Dragon Demon King was formidable, once his territory and his Demon King Altar were completely demolished, he would not be able to stir up any troubles.
"Since no one has any objection."
"This matter is then decided."
"This time, the Divine Sword Heroes Guild will also go all out on this assault."
He Tianzong asserted, "I intend to send two Level 4 Heroes to join the raid."
"In addition, half of the members of the elite group stationed at Bloody Fortress will also be sent out."
"Hmph, even if the Dragon Demon King truly is all powerful. We will crush him completely this time!!!"
Two Level 4 Heroes?
The Demon Kings were horrified and shaken.
Level 4 Heroes were very rare nowadays.
He Tianzong had actually planned to send out two at once. Half of the Divine Sword elite members would also join the battle, hence there must be at least twenty to thirty Level 3 Heroes!
Such tremendous force.
Was enough to deal with any of the Demon Kings in the room.
Even the Level 4 Vampire Demon King Bai Hongzhuo should be extremely wary and afraid.
He Tianzong already plotted to deploy such a huge flying army, and yet he still intended to send out numerous elites and powerful individuals of the Divine Sword guild.
The commitment and determination shown here was extraordinary.
Remarkable.
Such unrelenting power.
Such overwhelming force.
Such a ferocious invasion raid.
The Dragon Demon King would not have any opportunity to turn the tides.
He Tianzong just wanted to take control over the Chaos Forest as soon as possible.
Once he set a goal, he would spare no efforts!
The operation was undoubtedly top secret.
Su Yan, however, discovered the abnormality that night.
There were all kinds of Demon King affiliates.
They kept arriving from every direction.
They did not enter the Bloody Fortress and draw any attention to themselves.
Instead, they went straight towards the Scarlet Valley.
It was assumed that they were heading to the lair of the Vampire Demon King to rendezvous.
And these units were of different types and species, obviously hailing from several different Demon King territories.
"What's going on?"
"Why are the Demon Kings bringing in troops?"
Su Yan also noticed.
All of them were flight units.
She immediately suspected that the Demon Kings were secretly forming a flying army.
Needless to say.
This must have been planned by the Divine Sword Heroes Guild.
Su Yan was well aware that the Demon Kings would not have brought in so many troops without any reason. They were certainly about to have a major movement.
Currently, within this Chaos Forest.
There were not many places who were worthy of such drastic efforts.
Su Yan had a bad premonition.
This time the scale of this operation was too big, too overwhelming!
Not to mention, they were all flying units.
Not even Darkness Valley could withstand such an invasion, it would be exceedingly difficult to repel.
Even if the Boss was truly so mighty and somehow managed to hold off the assault.
Both the interior and exterior of the Darkness Valley, its infrastructures and facilities would all inevitably suffer severe damage. It would be such a devastating blow, thus causing a rapid decline on the territory's construction progress.
Su Yan hurriedly sent out her transmission bat to relay the information, so that the Boss could be prepared in advance.