Chapter 199

Chapter 199: The Battle of Three Towers

Boom!

Deafening explosions rocked the stone seats, sending dozens of Humanoids staggering. Their tight formation broke apart, disrupting their coordinated defenses.

The fully armored Dragonkin seized this moment to strike. They focused their innate magic attacks while thrusting ancient spears relentlessly. Within moments, the Humanoid ranks shattered. Most fell slain, with only scattered survivors fleeing.

Flames soon devoured the nearby undefended Humanoid settlements, reducing both warriors and buildings to ash. In their place rose newly constructed beacons by the Lightning Fire Wing tribe.

Crafted from refined iron with embedded magic arrays, these beacons outshined the crude stone structures of Sea of Three Towers. Their enhanced effectiveness created an invisible defensive wall.

The blueprints came from Hawk Brigade.

The initial explosions? Those resulted from the long-awaited power amplification rings wielded by Dragonkin chieftain Lucas.

Combining humanity’s finest alchemy techniques with the Dragonkin’s raw power created overwhelming force. Commanding it all stood Midi Asreks – the brilliant young tactician.

Thus collapsed Sea of Three Towers’ delicate balance.

Though Humanoids previously held advantage through numbers and rapid breeding, Dragonkin reinforcements with power rings and proper strategy changed everything. Against Midi’s rolling attacks and tactical penetrations, the small-group focused Humanoids stood no chance.

Like white cloth torn to shreds, their forces got split apart by Dragonkin squads. Isolated and communication-cut, they became easy prey.

Within days, Dragonkin captured territories that evaded them for ten years, seizing mines, magic veins, medicinal resources, and wildlife from Humanoids.

Yet Midi halted further expansion despite Lucas and elders’ eagerness. His true aim wasn’t Dragonkin domination, but securing stable rear bases for advancing through Sky City’s higher layers – Floating City and beyond.

With situation stabilized, Midi turned to securing Aether Stone sources.

While common in Sea of Three Towers, transforming Aether Stones to Aether Liquid required massive quantities. Dragonkin’s casual stockpiles couldn’t sustain Master Norton’s factory-scale experiments. Future Skyship development would demand entire Aether Stone veins for mining.

According to Midi’s past-life memories, such veins lay in Elemental Giant territories.

These earth-born magical entities guarded mineral-rich lands jealously. To them, veins meant survival – not trade goods. Battle became inevitable.

Three days later, scouts and Sky City alchemists confirmed:

The Gilded Valley held an Aether Stone vein.

Towering trees draped the rocky valley in green, ancient ruins peeking through foliage – collapsed arches, broken pillars, weathered temple remnants adding mystique.

Bad news for Midi: this valley housed elite Elemental Giants as old as the land itself, some predating West Coast’s history. Through centuries, they’d absorbed valley minerals, hardening their bodies to metal-like toughness while gaining strange powers. All reached peak level 50.

Worse yet, the terrain favored defenders – another disadvantage for attacking forces.

The terrain of the Sea of Trees had never been suitable for armies to deploy formations for large-scale battles, and the Gilded Valley’s narrow ends with a wide middle made it resemble a giant spindle when viewed from above.

It was nearly impossible to enter this spindle-shaped space without being noticed by the Elemental Giants.

Once detected, the giants could simply seal both exits and hold their ground with minimal effort. Since they required neither food nor water—drawing elemental power directly from the earth—they could guard the valley for decades, even a century, without issue.

Even if Midi led a surprise assault to breach the valley, funneling enough troops through the narrow entrances quickly would prove difficult, let alone organizing proper formations.

In the Gilded Valley, the Elemental Giants’ natural advantages were amplified beyond measure.

“How do we fight this?” Lucas, the Dragonkin chieftain, asked with visible worry.

All other Dragonkin elders turned their eyes to Midi at once. Even Xena and Tanius fixed their gazes on him.

The Dragonkin had initially allied with Midi out of convenience. But as the black-haired, black-eyed human repeatedly demonstrated extraordinary Personal Power, and as the Hawk Brigade funneled various equipment through the rift, leadership naturally shifted to him.

It began with suggestions.

Victories followed those suggestions.

Then Midi fought personally alongside Tanius, the Dragon Warrior.

His overwhelming strength brought easy victories.

With each triumph, the Lightning Fire Wing tribe increasingly followed his commands. Under his unprecedented tactical guidance, the Dragonkin achieved decisive wins.

Thus, Midi earned the Dragonkin council’s approval and warriors’ trust. Backed by Xena and Tanius, he became the tribe’s rightful military commander.

Yet despite this, the Dragonkin harbored doubts about the Gilded Valley campaign.

Midi was human, not divine. In terrain favoring their metallic foes, where his command brilliance couldn’t shine, how could this newcomer to Sky City succeed where seasoned warriors saw no path?

Yet Midi remained calm as ever.

He raised three fingers. “Wait three days. Then we strike.”

Two nights later, a fifty-strong team slipped into the Dragonkin camp.

Though composed entirely of Elven veterans from the Hawk Brigade, the group was led by two humans—Sigmund and Lilian. The fair-haired gunner and petite Blue Fist Saint had stood with Midi and Fina since the early days, enduring the noble war against the Sais family army and shaping the Hawk Brigade during Belmar’s civil war.

The Elves behind them, hardened fighters brought from Forest of Gran by Mist Sorceress Alice, proved their worth by reaching Sky City and mastering pure magic.

This reinforcement team from Belmar bore one striking feature:

No metal touched their bodies.

Dragon scale armor. Bone-crafted longbows. Even Sigmund’s massive crossbow contained no metallic parts. They carried crates of similar gear for the Dragonkin.

Most crucial was the heavy demon-sealing box guarded by Sigmund until delivered to Midi.

After removing every metal object—including the ever-present Black Sky sword—and clearing the area of metal, Midi unlocked the box.

Inside lay rows of precisely arranged arrowheads.

Scattering heads for crowd wounds. Armor-piercing spikes. Barbed tips. Heavy crossbow bolts. All jet black.

Forged from Magnetite Cold Iron—the bane of all metals.

For the “Elemental Giants” of Gilded Valley were essentially metal giants. Their legendary resilience would crumble like paper before these arrows.

Midi’s killing stroke gleamed coldly in the torchlight, edges thirsting for battle.