Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 462 The Lizard Demon
Bad news always arrives fastest; the interdimensional war broke out in a way no one expected.

Rean originally thought it was still a long way off, at least a few years or a dozen years later, based on the rate of increase in elemental power. But he never expected that some people, some races, couldn't wait and started a war ahead of time.

"The Bottom Lizard Demons call themselves Titans, but almost no one calls them that. They are a type of half-elemental life form, with elemental genes making up the majority of their being. They lack sensory systems like eyes, which is considered a standard feature of elemental creatures."

This is probably bad news; a list of the negative statuses and abilities of elemental life forms' immunity can now be compiled.

Their extremely high physical and magical resistance makes them incredibly tough, and their massive size, fighting style, and outstanding physique make them undoubtedly the most troublesome "living tanks."

"Based on current intelligence, most of them live in the shallow layer of the Earth Elemental Plane, in the middle layer between the Elemental Plane and the Material Plane. There have been sighting reports, but most residents of the Prime Plane regard them as primitive people. In fact, they once had a kingdom in the Prime Plane, and the current Kingdom of Hadur is their former home."

"As half-elemental beings, they return to the earth after death, and their flesh and blood may be less than 10%. It is said that they are hunted by many plane hunters because their flesh will turn into chaotic metal blocks after death, which may be refined into very high-quality magical metals."

"Uh, doesn't this mean that the magical metals mined by the Kingdom of Hadur are very likely the burial grounds of their ancestors?"

"It's not just very likely, it's that magical metals that could never be found locally can be mined there, such as deep-sea magical alloys, and even many derivatives of elemental life, which are clearly the remains of those monsters."

These matters are too complicated to calculate, and most decision-makers who have access to intelligence don't actually care about their historical investigations.

After all, if you really want to trace the previous owner of the same piece of land, you might find more than a dozen different races.

The current situation is still about how to deal with them, and how exactly they managed to launch the surprise attack.

"Recently collected data indicates that the local elemental tides are not right."

"The concentration of earth element is terrifyingly high, but the earth veins have been dug through, and too much earth element is floating in the air. To be precise, because the concentration of earth element is too high, the earth vein energy flows directly in the air and does not need to go through the 'earth line' at all."

"So, this is also the cause of the anti-gravity situation?"

"No, it should be that it used this energy to forcibly reverse gravity."

A lot of intelligence has arrived, some good and some bad.

Living in the semi-elemental plane, they seem to have dug a passage through it, connecting it to the main plane, which is why there are those large holes that seem to lead to the abyss.

This resulted in a massive overflow of earth element, which significantly increased the local elemental concentration and caused a surge in the demonic tide.

"The good news is that they probably can't dig into our side. The specific locations of those dimensional gates are often relatively fixed, and this level of opening might have been prepared for decades."

It is obvious that the Kingdom of Hadur has not only been under long-term surveillance, but has also been thoroughly infiltrated, and its intelligence has been leaked long ago.

"The bad news is that this is probably just the beginning. The Demon Tide War has already begun. The attackers have used their own methods to greatly increase the concentration of the elemental tides. They won't give us time to prepare."

Those bottom-level lizard demons had been planning for a long time. In their calculations, as the True Elemental Tide gradually rose, they might lose the initiative, and their opponents would be on guard.

The hole dug through the elemental plane, forcibly connecting the two planes, not only allowed the people to enter the main plane, but also provided them with a better living and fighting environment.

However, this also directly and significantly increased the elemental concentration, causing the Demon Tide War to naturally arrive earlier.

"No, war has already broken out. The capital of the Hadur Kingdom is gone, and it was an undeclared war."

The monarchy in feudal times was a clear system of centralized power. When it was ruled by a wise ruler, it had many advantages, such as high efficiency. However, when it was ruled by a foolish ruler, it was precisely because of this monarchical system that a situation almost impossible to occur in modern states could arise.

"The Kingdom of Hadur perished in a single day?"

The news came quickly; the last king's announcement of the kingdom's demise spread rapidly throughout the entire continent.

"The king is gone, the royal family is gone, the nobles, the knights, and the mages are gone. Even if it still has some cities, it's as if it's already declared dead."

The snake's head is dead, but its body is still stiff; it's no longer of any use, just waiting to be devoured by wild beasts.

If the residents of other cities were more rational, they should have taken advantage of the fact that the invading alien races were still digesting the capital and considered migrating as soon as possible. This war for the survival space of the races is more brutal than expected, and those bottom lizard demons don't seem to be willing to leave any survivors.

Being a refugee is better than being slaughtered or enslaved.

"No further information?" The sudden news shattered everyone's plans.

There seems to be a neighboring country there. But everyone knows that if a full-scale war really breaks out, it's hard to say whether those surrounding small countries can withstand it.

"Yes, those lizard demons didn't completely wipe out all the residents. They sent some as diplomatic envoys to us, extending a friendly invitation to establish a diplomatic alliance. I suppressed this news, but it probably won't last long." A dragon arrived in Radiant City and directly delivered formal diplomatic documents, hoping that this neighboring country would recognize the new nation.

"What?"

The news that Dania received shocked Rean himself.

Although the images clearly showed a group of "wild beasts," no one expected them to pull this stunt.

They seemed to have planned all sorts of schemes long ago.

"We haven't received an invitation to establish diplomatic relations from the Fasley Federation." This is their neighboring country, a small to medium-sized nation.

Incidentally, the Federation and the Kingdom of Etherin have a terrible relationship because the Federation effectively controls several of the Kingdom's cities.

Even Aiselin, who is further away, has sent a dragon envoy, but has not proposed establishing diplomatic relations with the neighboring Federation. Is this because they plan to take direct action next? It seems that the territory of the Hadur Kingdom is not enough to satisfy their appetite.

Close-range diplomacy? It's an old trick, but it's really effective.

But does this tactic actually work?
These people aren't stupid. If you kill off our neighboring country, won't we become the new neighboring country, and then they'll come after us?

"useful"

Dania gave a wry smile.

She had tried her best to suppress the news, but the other party still managed to spread it, and then she was pressured by a group of church bishops and nobles.

Don't they realize they're playing with fire, and the other party will turn on them sooner or later?
"As long as there's no war now and their interests aren't affected, they'll accept it. It's just playing dumb; anyone can do that."

"You can stall for time like this?!" Racial competition is something you can't back down from, but it seems like you can buy yourself some time.

"They have their reasons. Now they're all pointing at the ruins below, saying we have our own problems to deal with. Ha, they usually pretend not to see the trouble with the underground ruins, but now they've all opened their eyes."

This is indeed a trick, but it's also the truth. Those demons might not attack Radiant City within two years, but that "deer" will definitely seek revenge after two years.

"What they said wasn't entirely unreasonable. After all, we're just a weak country that can barely protect itself, so there's no need for us to take the lead. Even if a coalition of countries organizes a campaign against us later, we can only provide some logistical support, which won't really concern us much."

Look at the dark circles under Xiao Dania's eyes that even foundation can't cover; she probably hasn't had a proper rest these past few days.

"I plan to wait and see how other countries around us react before following suit." This is a relatively conservative strategy.

Admitting it is impossible; that would be tantamount to betraying one's race. At most, it's tacit agreement.

It is estimated that among other countries, there are those who directly hurl insults, those who tacitly accept it as non-existent, and those who will inevitably fight in the end. However, sending troops alone is not something that can be done in a short time; in the end, a coalition should be formed.

If Dania directly rebukes the envoy and declares war, it would be tantamount to completely offending those demons, and she might become their primary target.

"Uh, if we don't declare war, won't we become one of the priority targets?"

Rean pointed to the map, where the sea outlet in Etherin was clearly visible; this was the closest sea outlet area.

If the opponent can take it, then they can advance or retreat as needed.

If the other side's next target is the Federation, is it really that easy to stop?

More importantly, all countries will definitely organize a coalition to fight against this alien race. At that time, the surrounding countries will declare war on them, and Aetherine will definitely participate in it. Even if she cannot send combat forces, she will send some logistics and observers as a token gesture.

According to the procedure, a powerful country should declare war first, and other countries should then use their influence to call for action and form a coalition to encircle and suppress the enemy.

The countries that actually make the first move will definitely be the real neighboring countries.

"Since war is inevitable sooner or later, I think it's more worthwhile to declare war directly and gain political prestige. In this era, reputation is power and strength. The royal family has been in decline for too long, and this may be an opportunity to rebuild its authority."

Since we're destined to fight and curse, let's start by cursing and gain some fame.

(End of this chapter)