After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

Yang Hao simply couldn't imagine what kind of monsters a unit could be that could still fight under such circumstances, which made him very worried about what might happen in the upcoming military operations.

And more importantly... how exactly will our army land on that floating continent? If we rely on mages for teleportation, we'll need Eagle Knights to guide them to a safer location, and the more Eagle Knights there are, the longer the preparation time for the teleportation will be...

Transporting them up one by one by hawks wouldn't be impossible... but thinking about it, the efficiency is still too slow. It seems that this time, to reach the mainland, we must focus on quality rather than quantity?

Yang Hao recalled the "Hunters" within the current Bayerzens Empire, who wielded demonic weapons. In addition to using these weapons, each of them had acquired a rifle for long-range fire.

In addition, the elves will also be the main force in this attack. But as expected, if Golem can go up there...

Should we risk sending the Ling people up there?

Yang Hao frowned, and just then, the Black Dragon, who had been silent until now, suddenly said that if the concern was about transporting heavy weapons to the mainland, she could offer her help with her own body and even use her identity as the Black Dragon to provide assistance for the upcoming expedition.

"But the price is that Isgard also has the right to explore that floating continent."

Heilong Nia stated her conditions directly. And for Yang Hao, these conditions were acceptable.

After all, having a black dragon that is almost immune to magic will further enhance the quality of the landing force.

The only question is, what kind of enemy will we be fighting?

Yang Hao awaited the investigation by the Eagle Knights.

Two minutes later, the Eagle Knights brought news that they had discovered the footprints of a demon inside the continent.

Chapter Two: The Doll Girl in the Clouds and the Professional 8K

.....

Inside the last great library in the capital city of Eden.

After the citizens of Eden withstood the pressure of the continent crashing to the ground using the synthetic bodies of magical dolls and were forced to levitate through a buffer device to avoid contact with the seabed, they immediately left the carrying chamber and took out their weapons to prepare for a final battle with the demons.

As the last guardians, this force of magical dolls, composed of scientists and scholars, protects the last seed and weapon production depot. In addition, the last production line of magical dolls and the artificial magic reactor are also within their protection.

But they were not warriors after all. Although they knew how to use the weapons in their hands, everything about combat was still very unfamiliar to them.

“It seems we really are doomed to fail.” A magical puppet sighed, inserting a fully charged magical laser weapon into the slot in its right hand. “And the demons have long since evolved resistance to magical weapons during our war with us… It’s fucking damn bad! Our strongest weapon is magical weapons, even our current golems primarily use magical weapons rather than brute force…”

"Now, it's actually the primitive golems who only know how to hit and smash that are causing trouble for those demons. And then again, the demons' characteristics seem rather problematic..."

"You mean that after they evolve resistance to magic, their physical resistance will decrease accordingly?"

"This is Elena's deduction. And it seems to be true in reality—skin that could withstand spear thrusts hundreds of years ago, after evolving resistance to magic, can be easily sliced ​​by the blade of a nail clipper... Demons seem to be a race with a [growth ceiling]. Before the entire race evolves, what they can do is actually very limited."

The magical puppet opened the door to the outside world, and while reuniting with its companions, it set up a shelter made of bookshelves and other materials at the only entrance to the Great Library.

"They are unlike us; they are different from all normal life forms—our skin develops calluses from long-term wear and tear, and we develop resistance from prolonged exposure to magic, but demons are not like that... Their growth potential is locked in this era! Evolving intelligence leads to a decrease in brute strength, and evolving brute strength makes their minds dull... Damn it, if we had discovered the secrets of demons earlier, perhaps we wouldn't have ended up like this..."

"But we still discovered it too late. There was nothing we could do."

His companion sighed deeply, immediately moved to the third floor, and observed the approaching demons from the window. He then gave a bitter laugh: "There really is no other way."

The demons on the floating islands had long since evolved many unique abilities by robbing Peter to pay Paul.

For example, in order to counter the Edenians' magical weapons, they chose to enhance their own magical resistance, thus giving up some of their physical resistance. As a result, the demons' skin became more and more delicate, but they had transformed from honeycombs that would be riddled with holes by magic into tanks that could barely be penetrated by the strongest magical weapons.

Moreover, they evolved special organs to withstand the immense pressure when the floating islands fell—this directly caused most demons to lose their special abilities, but also ensured their survival rate on the floating islands.

After all, the demons' special abilities are easily countered by the Edenians' magic. The flames spewed by the fire-breathing demons can be reflected, and the petrification demons' conceptual petrification can be countered by the Edenians' magic and turn into friendly fire—in this situation, the demons' special abilities become a burden in the fight against the Edenians, not to mention that their only ability that cannot be reflected, the Titan demons, have already disappeared without a trace in the previous battle, turning into shooting stars that fell to the ground.

Rather than confronting the Edens head-on with their weaknesses, it would be better to increase their magic resistance and engage in melee combat with them. After the demons changed their thinking in accordance with this idea, the Edens quickly discovered that their proud artificial magic had lost most of its effect on the demons.

What makes the Edenians even more embarrassed is that there is no non-magical metal in their [block] at all—in the floating island block where the capital of the Eden Kingdom is located, even the stone bricks laid on the ground for people to walk on have been chipped with artificial magic circuits to lay the basic magic network.

It's not that they don't want to return to the era of cold weapons to launch a fatal attack specifically targeting the demons' current weaknesses; it's that they simply can't find any materials that don't contain magical energy...

It can only be said that the Kingdom of Eden was once made and now it is also destroyed by magic. Just as more and more magical dolls gathered at the main gate to establish the first line of defense against the demons, and more people began to try to weaken the demons' attack from higher places, a girl with a cold expression appeared here.

She didn't come from behind. She directly [downloaded] over using artificial magic to generate magic from the surrounding materials—a magic technology of the Edenians. Within the coverage of the [Magic Network], magical dolls can download their bodies into another area covered by the Magic Network by pre-decomposing raw materials into magic, and then transfer their consciousness into it.

But with the Magic Network almost completely ineffective, the only one who needs to do this is Elena, the synthetic doll who was originally in the core of the Great Library and was now the most powerful brain in the Kingdom of Eden.

"Elena—it's dangerous here!" the magical dolls cried out, but the aloof white-haired, red-eyed girl merely prepared a new weapon for her right hand. "You should stay in the back! You need to protect our [Seed]!"

“Denied.” The girl shook her head. “Judging from the loss of the main gate, the probability of any subsequent defenses failing is over 94%. All melee units have already been deployed to the main gate to assist in the defense, and all Golems and [Intrusion Sheaths] that are still mobile are on their way to the main gate.”

"But wouldn't that mean our rear would be in danger—"

"Demons cannot approach from the rear. The only way to invade from the rear is to destroy the defenses of the main gate. Now, the synthetic doll Elena is the supreme commander, and all tactics are the result of calculations. Do you have any objections?"

The magical dolls exchanged glances and then shook their heads.

Elena, the synthetic doll, is a life form created by the Edenites using artificial magic.

This is why she is extremely rational. She uses percentages to determine the plans with the highest success rate, and when expressing her emotions, she habitually states the results and emotional terms, and then expresses doubts in an unquestionable sentence.

It is precisely because of this that Elena has been able to lead the Kingdom of Eden to this point—after all, if humanity had been allowed to fight to the death with demons because of their emotions, the floating islands would have long since become a feast for demons.

Everyone was grateful for Elena's help, but they also knew that humans couldn't give up their emotions. This was the biggest difference between a magical doll infused with a human soul and a synthetic doll.

They watched as the white-haired, red-eyed girl stood before the main gate, then used magic to further reinforce the gate that was teetering before the demons. Her white and black dress made this petite doll, with her artificially fair complexion, look more like a maid than a monarch.

To strengthen the gate's defenses, Elena decomposed some of her "unnecessary" organs into basic magical particles, projecting the contained power behind the gate to create a barrier that allowed only Edens to attack with weapons, while demons could not penetrate. But how long this barrier would last... remains to be seen.

But that's a good question.

"It can last a maximum of 4 minutes and 17 seconds after the encounter. If the enemy has a [Shieldbreaker Demon] that specifically evolves to counter barriers, it can last a maximum of 20 seconds."

Elena coldly answered everyone's questions. Just then, the magical dolls observing from above transmitted an urgent message through the magical network:

"Everyone! Everyone!? In the sky! Eagles and elves have appeared in the sky?!"

"...What?"

The magical dolls looked at each other in bewilderment, and just then, one of them suddenly changed his expression drastically:

"A hawk and a knight?! And elves at that?!"

"Yes! It's the Falcon and the Elf Knight! Everyone, look at the screen I'm transmitting! Look!"

The magical puppet, which was firing obstructive shots from a high vantage point, broadcast its view across the entire network covered by the magic network. Everyone opened their screens in astonishment, syncing their vision with the viewer's.

Along with the tremors and blurring common after the magic network was damaged, everyone could vaguely see through the eyes of the magical puppet a creature hovering above the floating continent that was clearly not a demon.

That was the eagle described in the books—the magical puppets watched silently. As the image gradually became clearer due to the stillness, they could finally see clearly what creature was riding on the eagle.

"An elf?! An elf!"

"Great! This world wasn't conquered by demons after all?! After we ascended into the sky, this world actually developed its own civilization again?! That's wonderful!!"

Everyone was overjoyed. They realized that the world on Earth was not under demonic control, and that the Ice Calamity that had begun its activities in the north of the continent of Elusia might just be the last surviving demon on the Elusia continent!

Has the elves actually regained control of this continent? That's wonderful!

The crowd cheered—but at that moment, Elena disintegrated the magic spear in her right hand into the most basic magic.

"Confirmed... Elves, Falcons. They're carrying weapons that look like magic emitters. Assessment: They pose little threat to the demons attacking this time." The synthetic puppet said coldly, "Too few in number. They can't assist us, and we can't communicate with them—the distance is simply too great. Before elven reinforcements arrive, we are doomed to defeat."

"Don't say that, Elena! At least we can confirm that the surface world hasn't been completely taken over by demons, and that's enough!"

"Denial. That won't help us at all."

"But that's just how humans are—humans aren't rational beings; we have emotions, and with emotions, we can unleash power far greater than just data on paper! So, Elena, if you have the chance, you still have a lot to learn..."

The magical doll stroked Elena's hair, whom they regarded as their daughter. Elena, despite their joy, could only tilt her head blankly, unsure how to make judgments beyond the data.

But in any case, just as she had calculated, the distant elves did not have the ability to help the Edenites stop the demon invasion.

They could only watch, while the Edenites had to confront these demons that had been created specifically to fight against their evolution.

Regardless, the people of Eden, their hearts filled with jubilation, were in high spirits and awaited the demons' attack with a completely new attitude—a scene that Elena could not comprehend.

It is said that humans can unleash tremendous power through hope.

But the few eagle riders couldn't even kill a few demon larvae; they could only fly far away in the sky... Could this really be considered "hope"?

Elena couldn't understand.

All she could do was stand silently at the forefront of the magical dolls. Because she was now Eden's most powerful force, she had to protect her [parents] and the last seed.

Simply because she is the Queen of Eden.

............

At the same time, Heilongniya once again had to do hard work for her country.

In her black dragon form, she carried a group of elite Bayern warriors wielding bizarre weapons on her back as she flew towards the continent, while her claws gripped four well-equipped machine gun golems as she ascended. If there was any heavier burden, it was that, in addition to utilizing her aerial advantage, she also had to stand at the forefront when enemy demons unleashed magic, using her black dragon's magic resistance to create an advantage for her side.

"But what?! That's no reason for you twenty-odd people to go and die!"

As the black dragon roared, it looked down at the soldiers below who were also receiving teleportation from the archmage and preparing to log in.

"Even if you include the two thousand-plus soldiers below, it's still the same—you claim to be experts in fighting demons, but with so few people, it's really... damn?! Are those guys demons?! There are nearly ten thousand demons, how are you planning to handle this?!"

Although Nia was aware that the Bayerzans Empire had been waging a thousand-year war against demons underground, she was still convinced that they intended to rely on a force of just over two thousand men—half of whom were elves—to confront a demon force that appeared to number ten thousand in the distance? The numerical disparity was simply insurmountable! Had they gone mad?!

On the other hand, in the distance are clearly ruins of a destroyed city on a plain... Although it's not an unrestricted area, it's still a plain, isn't it?

Two thousand men against ten thousand on a plain?! And the enemy is a demon from a calamity thousands of years ago?! Do you think this is fighting Romans?!

Nia's roar made the Bayrzans hunters on her back shrug:

“Miss Black Dragon, you don’t know, so you may not understand—if there are no cities, the elderly, women and children to protect behind you, then most demon armies would be considered successful as long as they deal with those [high-level demons].

Not to mention, we don't need to protect the elderly, women, or children behind us; those coming up are all elite troops with heavy firepower and precise targeting capabilities—don't underestimate that big thing you're holding in your claws. Once it starts attacking, demon units below the high-ranking demon level have absolutely no chance of fighting them... not to mention, there will be a steady stream of soldiers teleporting over soon.”

"But in the end, you only have a maximum of three thousand people, right?!"

"We are professionals, you'll see in a moment."

The hunters of Bayrzans laughed heartily, but they knew perfectly well that a flank attack by three thousand men against an army of ten thousand demons was not a doomed attempt.

Especially now that the United Nations has acquired new weapons, new tactics, and, more importantly, abundant vitality and equipment supplies—with the main hunters and golems able to deal with the [high-ranking demons] in the demon army, the remaining juvenile demons are nothing to fear.

The only problem is that they don't know the true nature of the demons on this continent. Intelligence is the key to determining whether this surprise attack will succeed.

They watched from afar as the demons concentrated their forces to attack the only remaining entrance to the city ruins. And just as the black dragon Nia placed them and Golem on the ground, the eagle riders in the sky also swooped down.

"Those demons seem a bit different from those underground—their skin looks somewhat immature," the Eagle Knight shared their latest intelligence. "They appear capable of easily inflicting wounds with ordinary swords, yet their skin prevents us from detecting them with magic—does it seem like a demon subspecies specifically evolved to counter spellcasters?"

"Demons can have subspecies?"

Seeing the black dragon's utter bewilderment, the old hunter at the front, wielding the exotic axe, simply nodded solemnly:

"When constantly facing enemies with powerful physical attacks, demons, given enough food, can evolve armor to resist slashing and smashing blows. Similarly, when facing a nation skilled in magic, they could evolve skin specifically to resist magic—but according to records, demonic evolution seems to require sacrificing something else..."