You promised to wreak havoc on the dungeon, but instead you've got Dragon Slime!

Armed only with fire armor and fire swords, one man and one soldier charged straight at the enemy.

"Release the talisman!" Captain Wang Gang roared urgently.

A dozen or so explosive talismans were thrown out, but before they could even touch Ron's body, the fire automatically exploded in mid-air, rendering the talismans ineffective.

"The runes have burned through!" shouted the commander in the back row. "He's carrying a furnace fire on him!"

The next second—

Ron swung his sword!

The fire pattern split open from the bone knife, and the entire ley line was shaken open and cracked.

They didn't stop, they continued their advance.

The fire soldiers followed behind, disregarding formation and advancing only according to the fire patterns. After rushing into the passage, they blocked the entire Imperial blast tunnel and then turned to attack the flank.

The imperial provisional army has completely collapsed.

They had never seen this style of play before.

I've never seen soldiers like this before.

Fire soldiers don't shout, don't yell, don't dodge, and rely on the synchronous advance of the fire pulses. Once they enter the burning zone, it's like pressing down on a human wall and rolling over with fire.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the entrance to the Grayscale West Mine was sealed off by a counter-bomb, and all three Imperial Steel Scout Teams were wiped out.

Ron stood on the ruins, his fire knife stuck in the ground.

The bone armor retracted into his body automatically, and his body was covered in blood—not his.

He looked up at the rock formations above.

"I'm here."

This message was transmitted directly to the listening array set up by the Empire via the Fire Emblem.

……

Chapter 176

That night, in the Xuanhuo Hall of the capital.

Soma slammed a letter with fire on the table.

"Ron personally led the charge, and the firemen advanced in full force, having already wiped out the steel scouts in the western mine and are now constructing a fire array at the mine's base."

"Is he... about to launch an attack?" The commander of the capital city frowned.

“It’s even worse than that.” Somo suppressed his anger. “He has already started burning fires to break through the surface. In as little as five days, he can burn fire wells under our ground camps.”

"Can you stop him?"

Soma remained silent for three seconds.

"Unless you immediately deploy your ground forces, along with air-fuel artillery, to surround the point."

"Didn't you say you could bring him back with his head?"

"I can bring it back."

"but not now."

"He is no longer a human being."

Soma looked at the map and said, enunciating each word clearly:

"He is the king."

The empire acted swiftly.

Less than half a day after the battle report was sent back to the capital, Xuanhuo Hall issued three military orders.

The first step was to seal off all the fire veins in the western mine area and establish a combustion pressure network.

The second route involved the three imperial armies coordinating a turn, bypassing the surface mine entrance, and cutting off the Fire Nest's communication route.

The third measure is to deploy ten air-fired artillery pieces on the eastern front, ready for day and night bombardment.

There is only one goal:

Fire King Ron.

Day 6 underground, Grayscale West Mine.

Just as the fire troops had stabilized their position, Viser charged into the camp with the fire map.

"coming!"

"What's here?" Claudia leaned against her fire armor, wiping her weapons.

"The Imperial Burning Force has moved!"

Ron looked up.

Which line?

"Above the West Mine, all three surface fissures were blown up. They used burning talismans to block the fire veins and prepared to smash down to burn and seal the openings."

"Have we lost our line of fire?"

"It hasn't stopped yet."

How long will it take to break?

Viser gritted his teeth, “If we don’t take action within five hours, the three armies above can use the rock belt to block the West Mine’s fire exit directly.”

Claudia tucked the bone blade back into her waistband and stood up. "They've really gone too far."

“They’re not just playing big,” Viser sneered. “The Empire has also brought in air-fuel cannons from the Eastern Front.”

"Cannon?" Claudia's brow twitched.

"The old-model Type III air compressor cannon can directly collapse fire veins up to 30 stories underground."

Ron remained silent.

He stood up and pressed his fingers on the fire vein diagram.

The image lit up automatically, and the fire patterns began to twitch.

Every line of fire was trembling, as if awaiting orders.

"What do you plan to do?" Claudia asked.

"A counterattack?" Viser looked at him.

Ron shook his head.

"We can't win," he said calmly. "It's not that we can't win."

"They weren't there to fight at all."

"They're here to seal it off."

"They can afford the cost."

"But I can't afford to lose now."

Fire Soldiers are still in the first phase of formation, Ashbringer Soldiers have not yet completed Fire Emblem training, and the throne has only been forged for less than a week.

Going out to fight now is not war, it's risking your life.

"Then let's retreat?" Viser was shocked.

"Withdraw? Where are you going to withdraw to?" Claudia retorted. "If Ron really withdraws, this battle won't be a siege and reinforcement attack, it'll be a city-wide annihilation!"

"So we won't withdraw."

Ron stared at the fire map for several seconds, then pointed to an old mining area that hadn't been opened yet: "Let's go this way."

Viser's face turned pale. "Are you crazy? That's an abandoned well where the fire hasn't been lit, the patterns haven't been refined, and the terrain hasn't even been surveyed—you're sending an entire army through there?!"

“That’s an abandoned well of the empire.”

“That was abandoned by the empire.”

"So they didn't expect me to come back."

Ron looked up.

"From now on, there will be no front or back underground."

"Fire does not travel along the ground."

"Fire turns to ashes."

He stood up, raised his hand and waved it, and the entire fire map was automatically reconstructed, with all the minions starting to move.

The fire zone in the Grayscale West Mine was voluntarily evacuated.

Claudia turned to look at him and tentatively asked:

"What do you want to play?"

"I want them to think they've won."

"and then?"

"And then, the moment they turned around—"

"I'll burn the back of their heads."

Half a day later.

The three armies on the western front of the empire successfully sealed the breach by pressing down on the fire.

The air-fueled guns were ready and began firing overnight.

Xuanhuo Hall received the report and submitted it to the entire staff: "The Fire King's western mine supply line has collapsed, the combustion pressure has been set up, and the Gray Scale Nest is being recovered."

Soma received the letter, and a twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"So smooth?"

He stared at the battle report for a long time.