Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 256: The Hundred Refinements of the Heroic Spirit

Desolate and passionate spells resounded in the dim space. The rustling sound of the wind began to roll up the tattered and blood-stained flags, as if dead ghosts were wandering here, whispering in the wind.

The continuous sounds of battle echoing across the sky became distant and boundless, like a strange echo coming from across time and space.

The sound of the spell gradually became lower and more solemn.

"Pure silver and stone, a contract with the cornerstone,"

"The sighing wind is blocked by a strong wall, and the gates are firmly built on all sides."

"Released in the temple, descended on the road to the empire,"

"Called here,"

"Your body is under the Emperor's command, and our fate rests on the Sword of the Heroic Spirit."

"If you are willing to follow the call of the heroic spirit, obey this intention, and comply with this principle, then you will respond to the call!"

The pale-faced wizards had tattered robes floating on their bodies, but their worn staffs were steadily outputting a steady stream of magical power. With the power of the spell, they were able to blow the wind of sighing to far away places.

In front of these spellcasters stood tall, crude golems cast from rock and iron, with flat faces and only eyes and mouths.

The structure is simple, with only flexible limbs and nothing else.

The tall figure of Gilenes, a former royal guard, stood in the shadows, his back against a rock wall. The rough surface of the wall was a dark crimson color, like dried blood.

As long as he raised his head, he could see the hundreds of meters long silent body of the black dragon king Rosani in the sky.

The statue, which seemed to be sculpted from clay, with its claws and wings spread, hovered over the entire city, with its dragon head held high, looking into the distant horizon.

Gillenis was as silent as the statue of a black dragon, watching the wind blowing across the broken limbs and bodies of his fellow warriors lying on the ground, across the shattered armor and cracked heavy swords of the legionnaires, and across the cloaks that were completely dyed black and red by blood.

The broken limbs, shattered armor, and cracked heavy swords snatched from the battlefield embody the beliefs of those powerful warriors and are the final echoes of their deaths in the world.

In the wailing wind, the shouts and roars of the soldiers in the last moments of their death were carried far away, drifting past the ruined city with flickering lights in the shadows, drifting past the sacred and solemn cathedral, and drifting past thousands of homes.

Crossed the front line of war and came to the dark land.

There were corpses everywhere. Wherever you looked, you would see the corpses of countless demons piled up like a carpet, forming a tower-like mountain. Many deformed and strange heads were chopped off and soaked in the smelly blood that had not yet dried up.

The Changxia land, which was once rich in grass and fertile soil, has long been infected by the devil's foul blood and turned into a barren land with no grass growing.

Even the earth, which was good at absorbing blood, could not bear this endless sea of blood and corpses. Under the corpses, the thick blood had already solidified into blood clots covering the soil, allowing the upper layer of blood to accumulate day after day and spread to the surrounding land.

There were also huge dragons, ranging from tens to hundreds of meters, lying on the battlefield. Although the dead dragons' broken bodies were still huge, they were like a drop in the ocean in this endless sea of corpses and blood, and were not noticeable.

Among the countless corpses of low-level demons, under the almost submerged banner of the ruined and blood-stained dragon king, there were fallen soldiers of the Burning Hoof Legion and warriors from this world.

Each of these Burning Hoof warriors fell on the way to the charge. They did not fall under the claws and weapons of the demons, but fell under their own broken weapons, damaged armor, and exhausted physical strength.

In front of every dead body of a Burning Hoof warrior, there fell hundreds of low-level demons, as well as many mid-level demons, and even the corpses of high-level demons mixed in.

The resentful spirits of these dead demons howled in the sea of corpses and blood, but they did not dare to approach the heroic spirits of the legionnaires lingering in front of their broken bodies.

The souls of these heroes still retain the boiling fighting spirit they had in their lifetime. Their bodies are covered with blood-stained and shattered armor, and the broken heavy swords are still held by the heroes. Huge wings like those of demons, devils and dragons are spread out, and countless blood and phantoms of broken flesh are hanging on their broken wings.

And mental energy, which comes from the power of the soul and spirituality, maintains the last bit of immortal will of these dragon heroic warriors, allowing them to linger on this battlefield where wailing and resentment turn into dark clouds rising into the sky, lingering as if waiting, as if guarding.

They didn't know where to go, but they stubbornly waited in front of the broken royal flag, repelling all the evil spirits and chopping up all the invading ghosts.

Until the sighing wind from afar blew across this land, blowing up the royal flag with a giant dragon fluttering.

The king's flag fluttered loudly, like a horn being blown. The roar and echo brought by the whistling wind brushed over the dead bodies of the soldiers, gently lingering around the souls of these soldiers, and brought them the direction they should go.

The souls that were still wandering in confusion raised their heads, the memories of their lives returned, the shadow of death was swept away, and the thoughts of the past were brought back.

So the souls followed the guidance of the whistling wind and drifted in the predetermined direction.

Then in the dim space, the whispers of countless ghosts disappeared, as if they were afraid.

The dull-looking rock and steel golems suddenly came to life, as souls from distant battlefields moved into them. The golems' eyes opened one after another, emitting blinding light and an indomitable will to fight.

Then the golems used their arms made of rock and steel to beat their chests, making a deafening sound.

"Warriors of the Empire, the sharp blades of our Lord, are here at the call!"

The mages dragged their tired bodies, abandoned their arrogance as spellcasters, and saluted the warriors with the military salute of the Golden Empire.

"Loyal warriors, welcome back!"

Gillenis's resolute face hidden in the darkness could not help but be moved. He stepped out of the darkness and came in front of these golems.

This former soldier of the Imperial Guard, now the commander of the legion, is wearing a magical heavy armor made of hard mountain steel mixed with magic alloy from the world of Ekania. It is also covered with scratches and marks of claws, swords, spears and halberds.

The part of the heavy armor near the heart where the dragon emblem was worn on the chest was sunken, and the slow healing ability of the automatic healing magic alloy could not completely heal the armor.

The dragon-faced helmet that was the symbol of the legion commander and the imperial guards had already been chopped off and was held in the hands of the tall warrior.

The meticulously combed thick black hair and the dense but well-groomed short beard indicate the character of this warrior. Although the years have left some barely detectable traces on his face, the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes and his clear, deep red eyes give this warrior a unique charm.

"Lord Gillenis, you are still alive, how great!"

When Gillianis stood up, the heroes in the Golem Legion responded to him enthusiastically. They came forward one after another and hammered the chest of the warrior who was taller than the three-meter-tall Golem, forcing Gillianis to take two steps back.

There is no other reason, because all the warriors know Gilennes and respect Gilennes as they respect the legion commander, the dragon-born werewolf Saha.

This was not because of Gilenes's status as the head of the legion and the emperor's guard, but because of his strength and bravery.

In the first few years of the Golden Empire, the black dragon Rosani led the Golden Empire's army to sweep away the haze brought by the plane gods, fought north and south, conquered the entire continent of Essos, and established a powerful vassal kingdom. Although the followers of R'hllor, the Lord of Light, adhered to the will of their gods and made trouble everywhere.

But under the secret sweep of Sakaro, the red-robed monk who rebelled against the Lord of Light R'hllor, and Nalia, the former red-robed witch, the Red God Sect that believed in the Lord of Light was also wiped out from the entire continent by the power of the Golden Empire.

At this point, the Golden Empire has taken deep roots in this world, and all the free trade city-states have surrendered obediently under the power of the giant dragon and the magic dragon. The empire's legions are powerful in all directions and are ready to expand into other continents.

But in the far north of Westeros, the God of Cold, who had been secretly fighting against the Red God R'hllor, rose up and his power was unprecedentedly high. The believers of the God of Cold blew the Lost Magic Horn, causing the Northern Wall to collapse.

The King of the White Walkers, a minion of the power of the God of Cold, led his dormant army of White Walkers and began to move south from the north.

With the unprecedented surge in the power of the God of Cold, the entire continent of Westeros is no longer strong enough to resist the minion of this God of Cold - the King of the White Walkers.

The civilizations and cities built by the ancestors and the Andals were all destroyed by the army of the dead led by the King of the White Walkers. Countless people died in this disaster, and their bodies and souls still could not rest in peace, and were turned into an army of the dead by the King of the White Walkers.

The entire continent of Westeros fell into the hands of the White Walkers. Except for some creatures in remote corners and many people who fled to the Golden Empire, all other lives were turned into servants of the God of Cold by the King of the White Walkers.

The King of the White Walkers led the army of the dead, which was transformed from all the living creatures on the entire continent, stepped on the sea ice, crossed the strait, and prepared to wipe out these outsiders who invaded the world on behalf of their god.

Although the source nodes of magic and magical power in the continent of Essos were destroyed by the Lord of Light, R'hllor, and it gradually became a magical desert, the strength of the Golden Empire's legionnaires and spellcasters exceeded the imagination of these indigenous creatures.

When hundreds of dragons were harnessed and lifted into the sky at the same time, attacking together with the legion warriors of the Golden Empire, the King of the White Walkers, who could not be destroyed or damaged by mortals and earthly weapons, was crushed into ashes by the poisonous fire and claws of the black dragon Rosani.

The entire army of the dead was completely destroyed by the legions of the Golden Empire in one battle. No one in the world could resist the empire's military force anymore.

But the gods of the planes opened Pandora's box and removed the barriers of the world.

The passage leading to a certain demonic plane from the Shadow Land of Asshai was actually opened by the gods of these planes themselves, and thus destruction and war came again to this world.

Several other continents are areas with abundant magical power and were originally within the plans of the Black Dragon Lord Rossani to conquer.

But when the empire's warriors discovered that countless demons were beginning to enter this world, the wise Rosani decisively gave up his goal and withdrew the power of the entire empire to the vicinity of the Valyria Peninsula where the flames had subsided.

In other places, when there is sufficient magic power, although the Imperial Legion is not afraid of these demons, the indigenous warriors in this world are unable to fight against the overwhelming demons.

Only in this magically desolate area do the people of this world have the opportunity to face those demons face to face. Only in this way can the strength of the Golden Empire be preserved to the maximum extent.

However, although the idea of the Black Dragon Lord Rossani was very clever, both the Black Dragon and the Golden Empire underestimated the number of those demons.

No one can count how many demons have poured into this world through the plane channel. The demons are like locusts. As more and more of them die, more demons will come out from the other side of the channel.

So after some research, the Empire's spellcaster corps came up with a fantastic idea.

From the fortress of knowledge preserved in the ancient magic empire lies the analysis and fragments of a spell left behind by a mysterious and powerful wizard from ancient times.

It is said that the wizard once used this forbidden magic to challenge the gods and deprive them of their authority and status. The specific circumstances are unknown.

However, the Empire's mage corps used this spell model as a reference and made changes, allowing the black dragon lord Rosani, who had obtained the secondary spiritual authority of the ancestral red dragon,
With the carrying capacity of a perfect creature like a dragon, and using this improved 'degod spell', through the newly excavated Fourteen Fire Peaks, the source of magic, he competes with R'hllor, the Lord of Light of the Planes, for the original authority of the world and the control of the planes.

So that the passage leading to the demonic plane can be completely closed, and then rebuilt, connecting the Golden Empire's homeland and leading to the trans-temporal and spatial beacon of the Ekania world.

So the Black Dragon Lord Rosani transformed again into the elemental earth body that enveloped the city of Valyria, and with the help of the Empire's legion of high-level spellcasters, he began to fight against the Lord of Light R'hllor day after day in silence.

Under the protection of the Black Dragon Lord Rosani, wherever the Black Dragon Rosani exists in the city of Valyria, the magic power overflowing from the origin of the world can be used to replenish itself.

It is also because of this advantage that the Golden Empire has been able to hold on for countless years in this world despite facing countless demons.

But the empire's lords and high-level spellcasters were caught in a battle with the gods, so the safety of the empire depended entirely on the hands of the legionnaires.

And Gilenes is the best among the warriors of the Imperial Legion.

This powerful warrior and wise legion commander spreads the emperor's thoughts in normal times and is gentle and calm, but on the battlefield, he is like a bloodthirsty dragon.

In every battle, he rushed to the front like the dragon werewolf Saha. Countless low-level demons died under his hammer, and as many as thousands of mid-level demons were beheaded by this warrior, who then built a Jingguan to deter the demons.

The number of high-level demons who died at the hands of Gilennes was already more than two hands.

Therefore, the respect these heroes have for Gilennes is due to his powerful strength and courage.

But Gillenis did not become arrogant because of these honors and his own strength. He knew very well that although the spirits of these imperial warriors could reside in the golem, if the golem was broken again, the essence of their souls would be consumed.

Without the protection and nurturing of the dragon's temple to their souls, if this happens again and again, these loyal warriors will be completely wiped out, without even a trace left in this world.

Therefore, Gillianis respected these warriors as much as the warriors respected him.

A faint smile appeared on his resolute face, and he chuckled: "Yes, I am still alive because of the sacrifice of you warriors!"

"Why are you saying this bullshit to us?"

A golem spoke in a muffled voice, but there was a heroic and hearty aura emanating from this stone-like body.

"We have never feared this outcome. We are just a little disappointed that we still cannot sense the will of our Lord. Perhaps we will never see the Empire again. I just want to see what the Empire looks like now."

"I also want to be able to return to the Dragon Temple that stands tall on the top of the mountains, drink happily with my former comrades, and enjoy peace together!"

Gillianis was silent after hearing this.

The continuous wars had already made the impression of the empire fade in the minds of these soldiers, but deep in their minds, the memories of the empire were condensed into two words: beautiful.

However, the current situation in this world is not optimistic, after the loss of countless low-level and mid-level demons and a large number of high-level demons.

The war in this world has attracted the attention of a great demon, who has now come across the world.

Even Gillianis himself was not sure if he could survive the upcoming war.

The words of these warrior spirits made Gilenes feel a little hot in his eyes. He quickly raised his head, looked at the huge black dragon, and said softly: "There will be a day when we can see the empire again. As long as we persist, Gogmora's promise will never change!"

(End of this chapter)