The Milan Empire was the strongest human nation on Longinus Continent. To the north lay the Far Northern Wilderness. To the west was the Kingdom of Ascoli. To the east was the Kingdom of Flo. The Kingdom of Palermo bordered it to the southwest, while the Kingdom of Bolo touched its southeast.
Directly south of Milan lay the core of Longinus Continent: Falan. With four powerful nations around it and the Far Northern Wilderness at its back, the Milan Empire was fated to maintain a strong army and value military strength. Otherwise, how could it stand firm while surrounded by ambitious powers?
Konia City stood in northern Milan. The small city covered less than one percent of the area of the imperial capital, Milan City. Its population was only a little over twenty thousand.
In this cold land near the Far Northern Wilderness, most people in the city made their living through hunting.
North of the city lay a range of connected mountains. The range was not especially vast, but with peaks more than two thousand meters high and slopes steep enough to terrify travelers, it had become a natural barrier that required almost no guarding.
Because those mountains blocked most of the cold current from the north, Konia City's climate was more comfortable than that of other northern Milanese cities.
Past the Brenner Pass behind Konia City lay the Pria Plain. The Pria Plain could be called one of the Milan Empire's most important grain sources. Its soil was fertile, and it contained many large, commercially developed cities. Those cities formed the economic lifeline of the entire Milan Empire. If they were damaged, Milan's national strength would suffer heavily.
With such a critical position, Konia City should logically have been heavily guarded. However, because the surrounding terrain was so dangerous and the city had never suffered war for a very long time, the Milan Empire had never imagined that Konia could fall. Its military preparation was only average.
Because that gap existed, the city's response was inevitably slow when the unexpected happened.
Outside the city, countless orcs with human-shaped bodies and beast-like features were launching a fierce assault under the lead of dozens of gigantic orcs.
Orcs were an ancient race that survived and reproduced in the Far Northern Wilderness of Longinus Continent. They had forms close to humans, but appearances like beasts.
Orcs were naturally warlike and possessed astonishing strength. They resembled magical beasts, but they lacked the magical abilities magical beasts possessed.
And when speaking of orcs, magical beasts had to be mentioned as well. Magical beasts referred to extraordinary beasts on the continent, different from ordinary animals. They were similar to Soul Beasts on Soul Land. Many possessed magical abilities, and the earliest mages had created the magic system by studying such beasts.
On Longinus Continent, magical beasts were divided into ten ranks. Those below the third rank were low-rank magical beasts. The fourth through sixth ranks were high-rank magical beasts. Those above the sixth rank were called intelligent magical beasts, meaning they possessed enough intelligence to communicate with humans.
Low-rank magical beasts were usually mild by nature. Even the irritable ones did not possess too much destructive power. After reaching high rank, however, they gradually became powerful. As for intelligent magical beasts above the seventh rank, those were terrifying beings.
The two strongest known magical beast races were the Behemoth race of the Far Northern Wilderness and the dragon race that lived in Dragon Cities, hidden places among the eight human nations.
True dragons and true Behemoths were both extremely rare. Judging from continental history, neither race had ever reached four digits in number. But each individual was immensely strong, at least above the seventh rank.
The Behemoth race held an exalted position in the Far Northern Wilderness, but their numbers were small. The dragon race, however, had one advantage the Behemoths did not: it had many close-blooded offshoots.
That was closely related to the dragon race's infamous nature. Dragons could mate with almost any race of compatible size. Powerful dragons could even transform and alter their size, making that family tree even more complicated.
The dragon race's strength did not end there. Many high-rank magical beasts could mate with multiple species, but producing mixed-blood offspring across races was indeed the dragons' natural advantage.
After thousands upon thousands of years of reproduction, the number of true dragons remained low, but all kinds of lesser dragons had become numerous. Possessing dragon blood, these lesser dragons had at least third-rank strength, and the strongest among them could even rival true dragons.
The dragons were also intelligent. They cooperated with humans for mutual benefit, helping humanity suppress the orcs of the Far Northern Wilderness and prevent them from rushing out of that bitter cold land, thereby weakening the Behemoth race. By the present day, the dragon race could be called one of the strongest powers below the Seven Towers of Falan.
Of course, the dragon race mentioned here referred to western giant dragons. According to this world's true draconic origin line, they were only flying lizards. Their connection to true eastern divine dragons was still distant.
The strongest race in this world had been the eastern divine dragon race descended from the ancient Eastern Dragon Empire. Every divine dragon of that race was above the tenth rank. Back then, they had sacrificed themselves as the main force against the abyssal plane, and their remains were still within the seal even now.
High above Konia City, a rippling mirror reflected everything below. Hidden between the clouds, it went unnoticed by anyone.
Wu Ling, who had emptied the Dragon Domain and come here afterward, gazed into the mirror's reflection. Through it, he could clearly see that the outside of the city was filled with orcs: ape-men like wild monkeys pushed to their limit, tiger-men covered in yellow and black stripes, and leopard-men with yellow-brown fur and black spots.
Beyond them were especially eye-catching giants. They stood more than fifteen meters tall, their bodies glittering faintly in the sunlight. They were Behemoth giants, supremely powerful beings no matter the world.
"Behemoth giants that feed on dragons. The Behemoths of different worlds may not be exactly the same, but one thing is certain: no matter the world, this kind of creature stands near the peak."
"I think I once heard somewhere that the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear carries Behemoth blood."
"Damn humans!"
Outside Konia City, a Golden Behemoth roared in fury and charged forward. Its nearly twenty-meter body did not look clumsy at all. Both feet stomped the ground, leaving two deep footprints, and its body shot dozens of meters into the air.
This Golden Behemoth was furious. Because of the figure standing on the city wall and performing zither magic, more than eighty Behemoths under his command had been heavily wounded and lost their ability to fight. If those clansmen suffered fatal losses, it would be unbearable for the Behemoth race.
So even after exhausting a large amount of stamina, he still chose to storm the wall and kill the one who had ruined this orc raid.
As one Golden Behemoth leaped into the air, another Golden Behemoth erupted with a golden-yellow radiance like flame. The golden light concentrated on his right fist and formed something like an incomparably solid golden hammer as he smashed it toward the ground.
It was as if the entire Brenner mountain range trembled violently. The earth shook. The ground exploded outward in a half-arc. Whether it was soil or rock, everything was hurled into the air by the Golden Behemoth's savage force.
That terrifying explosive power spread toward Konia City at astonishing speed. The huge arc-shaped shockwave, mixed with enormous amounts of soil and stone, made the ground before Konia look as if it had been plowed. Its impact was horrifying.
As the main and deputy commanders of this orc invasion force, the two Golden Behemoths' strength was beyond doubt. Even the dragon rider unit's mad charge earlier had failed to inflict serious injuries on them.
Now, enraged, the two giants more than twenty meters tall rushed onto the wall and tore into the defenders.
Just as they were about to kill the one who had heavily wounded their Behemoth clansmen, purple light appeared. A huge purple sword blocked them.
"Amethyst. That is Amethyst..."
The two Golden Behemoths involuntarily stopped their attacks. In shock, they stared at the purple-haired figure standing before the culprit. He held a huge purple sword, and his body was wrapped in a pressure that made them feel bloodline suppression.