Song Zining’s attention for the Nineteenth Princess shifted away as he focused on arguing with Qianye. Noticing that she had been forgotten, the princess began to listen intently, but how much she had absorbed was evident from her drooping lashes and bewildered expression.

Finally, Song Zining pounced over and grabbed Qianye by the neck. “Enough! Let’s go down together! The role of Martyr’s Palace is to guard the aerial passage. Our mission on the continent is to defend the outpost until we rendezvous with the main forces, not to escape.”

Qianye found that the argument made sense. The Martyr’s Palace was there as a deterrent and to prevent the aerial pathways from being locked down. They didn’t have a complete fleet despite the accompanying corvettes—it was fine as an ambush force, but fighting an enemy fleet on its own would be a struggle. Cutting off Evernight’s retreat and fighting their reinforcements was the Imperial Guard’s duty anyway.

Their squad’s next duty was mainly on the ground, uprooting the enemy’s strategic strongholds and scattering their defensive line. They would then rendezvous with Zhao Jundu’s central army and push their area of control outward. Only then would they gain control over the void continent. It was probably too early to divide the forces between the two at this point.

Seeing Qianye nod, Song Zining said with a smile, “Princess, you’ve had to endure the long journey here. Why not go freshen up and rest?”

The Nineteenth Princess stood up calmly and agreed obediently. Song Zining summoned some maids and ordered them to settle the princess in.

Once the war room doors had closed, Song Zining’s lazy smile disappeared from his lips.

Qianye glanced at him. “Is there something wrong with her?”

Song Zining rubbed his head in frustration. “It’d be a wonder if there isn’t.”

Qianye smiled. “You intentionally fought with me over the clean-up period deployments. That act was for her to see, right? Unfortunately, she never understood a thing and even dozed off.”

Song Zining cried out in surprise, “A barbarian like you actually saw through my plans?”

Qianye nodded seriously. “I even played along.”

Song Zining didn’t know what to say. He paused for a good while before saying, “Qianye, you’ve become bad.”

“She’s not a champion yet, is she?” Qianye continued looking at the new markings on the map. “A fighter-rank lady on the battlefield, with no knowledge of war and no attendants, does Empress Li trust in our fighting power or does she not?”

Song Zining recalled the Nineteenth Princess’ disguise as he meditated on Qianye’s words. “She’s only seventeen, so she shouldn’t be a champion yet, but what you said reminded me of something. The Imperial clan has a secret art to produce human-shaped weapons.” He explained further, “It’s the same principle as how the dark races activate blood seedlings on the Evernight Continent.”

Qianye thought back to it. “There must be a big price to pay.”

Song Zining nodded. “I think they cannot break through again, nor can they reproduce, but their lifespans remain unchanged.”

This sacrifice was nothing compared to survival.

The two paid little attention to whether the little girl was a human weapon, only about their potential response.

Song Zining had heard much about this art. “She’s too young. Using that secret art on her will only bring her to rank ten or eleven, and the chances of failure are quite high.”

“Then let her stay at the Martyr’s Palace. Caroline should suffice to keep watch over her.” Qianye decided.

Low-ranking champions couldn't do anything on the Martyr’s Palace, but the same couldn’t be said for land battles. Judging from how the enemy vanguard fleet consisted of dukes, it wasn’t too hard to guess that the ground battles would not be easy. Bringing someone suspicious along at such a time was not wise.

Song Zining nodded in agreement, and thus, the matter was decided.

The Martyr’s Palace was so important that either Qianye or Caroline had to be aboard the vessel at all times. Hence, this was the best arrangement both in terms of tactical pairing and safety.

The Martyr’s Palace itself was highly powerful, so there was no need to worry about her safety with Caroline around. Qianye would not be on board, so all abilities and attacks related to the Earth Dragon’s innate strength could not be utilized. The palace could only serve as an ordinary warship for now, but at the very least, the Evernight airships wouldn’t dare approach on their own.

Qianye and Song Zining were used to fighting together. They were also more familiar with the troop distributions and the situation on the void continent. Putting Caroline in the field might not increase overall fighting power by a lot.

After reaching an agreement, Song Zining returned to the battlecruiser, while the Nineteenth Princes remained at the Martyr’s Palace. Moments later, the fleet slowly began to move toward the depths of the void.

After an entire day of traveling, the fleet eventually reached its destination, where it waited silently for three days. At the designated time, the Martyr’s Palace led the squadron to a point in the void right above the assigned location.

Only when the battlecruiser appeared over the small city did the dark races realize what was going on, and over a dozen small airships scrambled to intercept the incoming enemy.

The warships in charge of protecting the city were old models, the biggest among them being corvettes. The new vessels were all serving the mobile fleet, so there was no way they would be here to defend the rear. The ten or so warships were like a group of hunting dogs pouncing on a truly ferocious beast.

They were only mid-charge when four of them were destroyed by the concentrated firepower of the battlecruiser, and none of them could withstand a single hit from the main cannon. The remainder drummed up their courage to continue the charge, but only when they reached the void did they see the real monster lying in wait for them.

A single volley from the Martyr’s Palace’s side cannons was enough to destroy two small airships, and two more with another round. The other smaller vessels lost their will to fight and began to scatter. The corvettes around the Martyr’s Palace swarmed out like a pack of wolves that had smelled blood, overwhelming the Evernight warships with their superior speed.

After the short battle, only two warships from the defending army managed to escape. They didn’t dare reduce their speed or turn back as they scuttled into the depths of the void.

After defeating the defending fleet, the Martyr’s Palace remained hovering in the void while the corvettes and the battlecruiser patrolled the area in search of enemy squadrons.

Qianye never saw the Evernight mobile fleet even as their massive landing party entered the battlefield. It would seem the Imperial Guard had accomplished their mission of restraining the mobile unit, preventing them from sending reinforcements even when an important location in the rear was being attacked.

Since the dark races were surrendering their aerial dominance, Qianye had no intention of letting this opportunity go. On his order, a large number of modified gunships rushed into the void continent and entered the airspace above the city.

These gunships were modified from neutral land airships. They were crude but quite durable and sturdy. After modification, they had thick armor along their hull which added to their defense.

Dozens of gunships blotted out the skies as they bore down upon the city. Things were already in chaos at that point, with hordes of people running about in the streets.

In the blink of an eye, a volley of scattered flames shot into the sky as soldiers with quick reflexes opened fire with origin guns. There were a number of hand-cannon shots mixed in as well. It would seem the ground forces down there weren’t lacking in experts because the firepower quickly became fiercer and fiercer. Numerous ballista bolts climbed into the air, leaving bright trails behind them as they blasted gunships.

Flaming flowers blossomed on the warships, and those struck by the ballistae were severely shaken. One of the warships caught fire from its rear and crashed into a corner of the city below, followed by a violent explosion that left half the street block in flames.

The gunships also began to attack. Several cannons stretched out from their undersides and rained down a hail of bullets into the city below. Many of these airships were equipped with rapid-fire cannons. These old gunpowder weapons were fairly useful against city targets. Although the shells couldn’t kill experts, they managed to quickly silence the enemy’s stationary firepower. They chipped at the turret walls layer by layer, until finally, the ballista inside was blown apart.

The town trembled as balls of flame rose up in various places, along with flying human silhouettes. The temporary buildings were blasted into pieces, and the casualty rates climbed rapidly. The dark race’s defensive structures were fairly weak compared to the empire’s.

The low-flying gunships fired with greater ferocity, almost as though ammunition didn’t cost any money. Compared to origin cannons, these old gunpowder weapons were indeed a lot cheaper.

The modified gunships soaked up the attacks from the ground while retaliating with greater ferocity. The effectiveness of their thick armor became evident at this point—ordinary origin guns couldn’t punch through them with just a couple of shots. Only the ballista turrets could pose a threat to these airships, but it wasn’t an easy feat to hit moving targets. Chances of hitting a target were slim unless they used homing ballistae.

It was much easier for the gunships to hit the ballista turrets, and almost all of the gunships would concentrate their fire on them.

By the time the turrets had been destroyed, the town had lost all anti-air firepower. All they could do was watch as the gunships ravaged their base.

At this point, more and more airships appeared in the air. It was easy to tell at a glance that these were troop transports. These big, clumsy airships were slow, but they represented a large number of soldiers, supplies, and arms being shipped.

The gunships in the air dispersed to the edges of the town and set up a network of firepower to cover the transports’ landing.

The transports hadn’t even landed firmly when the cabin doors opened at the same time and countless soldiers surged out from within. They were clad in very different warrior-attires, roaring and shouting as they charged into the town.

The upper parts of the tall buildings had been blasted into pieces. Several dark race experts, including a demonkin, appeared beside a window at this point. The man was livid and seemed hardly able to contain his powerful aura.

A werewolf count said, “Sire, we can’t hold on anymore. Let’s retreat!”

The demonkin marquis breathed heavily as he gazed at the Dark Flame mercenaries charging in, a thunderous sound echoing from his nostrils. He was clearly unable to suppress his anger and looked like he would rush out at any moment.

The werewolf count dragged him back and said while shaking his head, “Sire, the other party surely has experts among them. Look at their attire, they look like mercenaries from the neutral lands, which means that they’re part of Qianye and Song Zining’s unit.”

Hearing these names calmed the demonkin marquis down immediately, almost as though he had been dunked in icy water. No matter how arrogant he was, he knew full well that he wasn’t a match for Qianye and Song Zining, especially the former. The rumors in the Great Maelstrom had proven that the man possessed the power to kill marquises.

The werewolf count said, “This isn’t our problem. What is the mobile fleet doing? They actually allowed an enemy fleet of this scale to arrive here. If we are defeated, they must take half the responsibility!”

These words were evidently effective. The demonkin marquis’ face twitched a couple times before he finally said, “Retreat!”

Even the sound of cannon fire couldn’t suppress the bugle cry. Many dark race warriors jumped out from behind cover and made to retreat. However, they soon realized a difficult problem—where to?

The town was surrounded by troop transports. The only direction with weaker troop strength was toward the edge of the continent, and that was a natural breakthrough point. But anyone with basic military knowledge would know that the edge of the continent was a path of no return. Even without the Imperial forces in pursuit, just the adversity of the environment there was enough to kill most ordinary warriors.

Realizing this issue, all the powerful experts turned to the demonkin marquis. He was the one who issued the order to retreat, so he should be the one to decide the direction.

The demonkin marquis clenched his teeth and said, “Retreat to the town of Ze’er!”

Ze’er was Qianye’s original target, where one of Evernight’s three biggest airship ports was located. As one of the biggest transit stations, there were also numerous military supplies and resource warehouses in the town.

They would be safe if they could reach that location, but it was evident that Qianye and Song Zining weren’t going to let them.

There were evidently more transports in the direction of Ze’er, but for some reason, the intensity of the attack wasn’t that great. Apparently, Song Zining and Qianye had a contingency plan, and the strategy was quite evident. Instead of joining the battlefield immediately, the soldiers began constructing fortifications once they had landed. They were preparing for a drawn-out battle, completely cutting off communications between this town and Ze’er.

Attacking and constructing defensive structures at the same time was a fairly brilliant move, and that was bad news for the Evernight experts.

Breaking through toward Ze’er would involve a steep price, it seemed.

The other Evernight experts looked toward the marquis but didn’t make a move. Apparently, they understood that charging toward Ze’er was highly dangerous, and it was very possible that they would bump into Qianye.

Experts didn’t really think too much about the fate of cannon fodder, but they couldn’t remain indifferent about their own life and death. No one was willing to face Qianye, that terrifying harbinger of death.

The demonkin marquis said in a gloomy voice, “There’s a chance we’ll run into Qianye in any direction, just think about that legendary spatial power of his. Don’t think too much, just follow me as we charge toward Ze’er. We’ll be safe once we’re there.”

He hadn’t finished speaking when a voice echoed behind him. “There’s no need to go anywhere.”

Just as the voice entered their ears, their vision was filled with interweaving red threads.