“Invader scum! Know your folly for facing a Knight of Latias in combat!”

Viers saw a Level 3 knight killing a Level 3 enemy with a lightning sword. As the battlefield was high up in the air, the fate of the fallen was to literally fall. Viers found there was something funny about the random thoughts that just appeared in his head.

After the fleeting fancy passed, Viers analytical mind began to work.

In Latias there was a thing where they bestowed knighthood to Pathseekers. It wasn't merely a rank of nobility, it also gave a strength upgrade. For some, the former was more important than the latter.

To get knighthood, these Pathseeker usually offer their loyalty to noble houses. In exchange for vassalage, they gained power, stability, income, and usually a Profound Codex to further their Pathseeker journey. On the other hand, the nobles got stooges to do their dirty work and fight their wars. With a large swathe of the Pathseeker population firmly under the nobles’ control, the cities of Latias Kingdom were orderly and safe.

Of course, with the culture that romanticized knights, the ignorant masses were blind to the dark side of the system that exploited them.

Nevertheless, the Latias Knights were in fact stronger than average Pathseeker in their Level, it was a statistical truth. The stronger and the higher rank nobles they swore their loyalty to, the stronger they got.

The Harkelan Empire used a different playbook for handling the Pathseekers in their population: they drafted them to the national military, making them into soldiers. According to what Viers knew, the Empire used a system where they raised their Pathseekers cheaper and weaker. However, because of their huge territory and population pool, the numbers of their Pathseekers were greater than the other three great nations.

In other words, the Latias Kingdom preferred quality with their knights. Those with the lesser talent were left in the back, forever low-leveled, while the good seedlings were elevated to loyal hounds known as knights. Meanwhile, the Harkelan Empire wanted warm bodies by the thousands or millions to throw at their enemies. Their superiors gave them the bare minimum of supplies and power and told their soldiers to fight like hell if they didn't want to die miserably at the hands of their enemies.

So which was superior in battle?

Viers saw this firsthand in the middle of the Battle of the Gryphon's Reach.

The opening stage of the battle was overwhelmingly in the strike team’s favor. The Empire fielded an impressive number of Pathseekers but they were like mooks in a Dynasty Warrior game. However, if it went on long enough, the invisible guillotine would fall on the knight’s neck.

The name of the guillotine was Victa Shortage.

Without Victa, even the greatest Pathseekers were no different than ordinary humans. Viers himself managed to kill a strong Level 6 Pathseeker because she was dying and out of Victa before getting the Rank 7 Bull’s mysterious power.

Furthermore, even an elephant would die if bitten by enough ants. Weak the enemy's attacks might be, in great enough numbers, the force would be as great as an Arte launched by a higher leveled Pathseeker. The military leadership of the Empire weren't fools, they had polished the art of overwhelming their enemies using numbers and human wave tactics for centuries. The magical battle array and formations the soldiers used also bridged the gap of power somewhat.

But such facts were not lost on Croix and the other princes. They knew they had to break through the cannon fodders before their own strength was spent. The plan was to enter the flying fortress and bring it down from the inside. Once inside, the enemy's numerical advantage would also be limited to some degree.

The battle was going well. The strength of the Grand Prix contestants was much greater than the average Latias Knights’. They managed to reach the doorstep of the flying fortress with a lot of Victa and stamina to spare.

So the enemy made a new move.

“Things are going according to plan,” said one knight.

“Without trouble, since we are strong,” said another.

A huge face appeared on top of the cloud-shrouded fortress. The clouds molded itself into the face of a man in his thirties.

“Having fun, chickadees?” The face said with a mocking expression.

The strike team’s halted their flight in an emergency brake. Falmerion let out a challenging roar, eager to tear the face to bits, but Croix told him to hover in place.

“You are...”

“I am the leader of the Valentine Invasion Front, one of the Ten Tundra of Harkelan, Rostov the Blanket!”

The self-introduction of the giant face created a stir among the strike team.

“One of the Ten Tundra!”

“Aren't they the mightiest ten people in the Empire!?”

“The one in Fort B is him? Hells and Damnations!”

“Are we fucked?”

“Compose yourselves!” Prince Vadym’s voice cut through the chatter. “He’s just a powerless projection. If he makes a move and shows an opening, the duchess will strike! Don't be fooled!”

“Indeed. And is he even who he claimed he is? According to my intelligence, there is no Rostov among the Ten Tundra, certainly not with a weakling moniker like the blanket!” Prince Cassian said loudly and fearlessly.

“O shortsighted youths with too much ego, my inclusion into the Ten is what makes this invasion possible. Soon, the duchy will fall, and your rogue kingdom with it. You all will return to the fold, willing or otherwise.”

“Not as long as I breathe!” Ciel rebuked.

“Hehehe,” the giant cloud face made an amused expression. “Your primitive strategy of taking down one of our flying fortresses will not work. I heard you Latiasi like dragons. I have prepared a welcome party just for you guys. Accept it with boundless gratitude.”

From the fortress in front of them, a horde of dragons came out. From the main gate, from the sides, and from multiple hidden openings in the floating iceberg. Ice-aligned dragons in their white and blue scales began attacking the Croix and the others.

“Counterattack! Don't let them flank you!” Prince Lutz ordered.

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The dragons, they were lesser dragons but they were dragons nonetheless. They were stronger compared to other monsters, saved for the highest degree like the Deva-class. Even if there were no Level 4 dragons, the sheer number of the winged drakes gave the strike team troubles.

Compared to the weaker and regular Empire soldiers earlier, these dragons were more vicious and sturdy. Their draconic constitution negated quite a bit of damage from the strike team’s Artes. The blizzard-like weather, the low temperature, gave them a terrain advantage. Last but not least, the humans had to fight in the air, an arena that was unfamiliar to them. Meanwhile, the dragons were born with wings.

“Watch each other’s backs!” Lutz said again as he saw that the dragons were focusing on two targets, Falmerion and Serena. “Croix, Selestine, they are after your dragons!”

“I know!” Croix grappled with a dragon that tried to snatch him with its talons on top of Falmerion’s back.

“Leave her alone!” Serena came to aid her dragon. She severed the head of an ice dragon with a spatial tear.

Lesser dragons normally wouldn't dare to attack True Dragons. Viers bet the Empire must have done something to make them in such a battle frenzy.

The scene reminded him of the climax of the Valkut arc. His trip there to search for Paina’s lost family later involved the Tower of Doom, the Fae, the Angel-blessed, and the Cultmaster. At that time, a horde of dragons attacked the city too. It was Viers himself who lured them to counterbalance the Fae forces.

He didn't stick around back then but now he was in the thick of it. Even the Level 4s had to cast several Artes to down a Rank 3 lesser dragon. It was how tough they were.

The first casualty of the strike team occurred here. She was ripped apart by a flock of dragons in the air.

“Hahahaha! Dragons live in the Empire too. Harnessing them for the Empire’s cause is an easy matter for us,” Rostov said with glee. “You dragon-lovers can become dragon food. Poetic, is it not? Brood of Yoleskashya, leave none alive, especially the eyesore red dragon!”

While Falmerion was in an aerial dance of fang and claw with six other dragons, there was a seventh that sneaked from side and was about to chomp his rider. Croix realized it too late.

Ah, this is bad, Croix thought as everything slowed.

Just as he braced himself for the pain and damage, something hit the dragon from above, making its attack miss Croix.

Croix saw a small shadow on top of the ice dragon for a second but it was gone when he blinked. He thought he was seeing things until the same thing happened to another ice dragon.

One by one the ice dragons began to fall. Something struck them from above, and then it moved on to the next dragon. After tasting how sturdy these lesser dragons were, the people in the strike team wondered how one was able to do this. Was a Level 5 coming to help them?

“Hm? Who dares to interrupt my execution!?”

The shadow landed on the top of the fortress’ spire, one among many. It was shrouded by clouds at first but its figure was coming into view thanks to wind unraveling the natural curtain.

It was a person. A human in dark-blue armor. The armor was strikingly themed after a dragon motif. Even though the face was covered by a helmet save for the mouth area, based on the feminine body shape and exposed midriff, it was a female. The mysterious warrior wielded a glowing long spear with an intricate magic pattern.

Viers put one hand in front of his mouth like a fangirl. Farley’s Estinien pose looked just like the Heavensward trailer. She pulled it off perfectly!

“Everyone, leave these dragons to me. Enter the fort in haste.”

***

“That voice... White Swan, is that you?” Croix asked.

“Yes. I alone here is enough. I’ll leave the task of disabling the fortress to all of you.”

“Bold words!” The giant cloud face of Rostov scoffed.

As if on cue, the dragons swarmed to Farley and the strike team from all sides.

Farley brandished her spear and jumped straight at a dragon in front of her. She jumped at it head-on with her spear in front.

In front of everyone’s eyes, Farley pierced through the dragon’s body. After a human-sized hole was created, the dragon unsurprisingly died.

Arte - Moonreacher Jump!

Another Arte that she developed with Viers. With this, she could jump really high. Depending on the direction, it also gave her a powerful penetrating power. But most importantly in this situation, was the secondary ability to make multiple mid-air jumps. For a short time, she could make a platform in the air for her to make aerial maneuvers. Jump again higher or farther, change direction, brake, she could do it all after excessive training.

Farley pierced dragon after dragon with her spear. Most died from a single strike. She aimed for the head or heart or wings when a killing blow was not possible, she was taking a dragon's ability to fly and removing it from the battlefield.

Even she was surprised by how deadly she was.

“A dragonslayer...” Tinade said softly.

Some people wielded secret arts to effectively fight dragons. It was a very rare art. Seeing Farley’s ability, Tinade thought she was one.

Yes, Lord Viers made me into one. Truly extraordinary.

He said the Empire would be using ice dragons. Soul search was such a convenient ability. All your enemies’ plans were laid bare.

Anticipating this, Viers gave Farley extra power tailored to this situation using the Arcana Card.

“I will give you special permission to unlock the third level of the card’s power. The first is an all-around boost. The second is armament. The third is an attribute. When you invoke this, you’ll become a Dragoon. You’ll slay dragons using the power of dragons.”

When the Empire mobilized their dragon brood, Farley transformed in the confusion. The magic of the card endowed her with armor. A pretty sick armor, if she was being honest. However, she questioned the design choice of having her abdomen area exposed. At least she wasn't cold because of the magic.

After two dozen dragons fell to her spear, the strike team had the opening to punch through. After they gave her thanks and encouragement, the team was on the move again. The rest of Team White would be fine even without her. Lord Viers looked happy and proud. She was glad she was able to perform the opening act well.

“Oh no you don't.”

The dragons tried to give chase, but Farley didn't let them.

Arte - Dragonswan Dive!

After a jump, Farley performed a diving stab on one of the bigger dragons. The impact created a wide magical explosion that wounded the surrounding dragons.

“Don't get cocky!”

While she was busy with dragon disposals, some of the Empire’s soldiers that retreated after the dragon horde’s appearance had returned.

Now that Farley was endowed with magic geared toward dragon-slaying, how would she fare against humans?

The answer was: she wiped the floor with them.

Since she was strong against dragons, why would it not be effective against beings weaker than dragons like puny humans?

The power that she currently wielded was not entirely because of Viers. Her own power played a huge part so it wasn't fair to say her stellar battle performance was all thanks to Viers. What Viers did was give the dragon-slayer attribute on her through the card, temporarily.

Dragoon-mode Farley was currently under two strengthening Artes. Specialized Arte designed solely for her by her liege. Design was one thing and realizing it was another. Farley did a lot to actualize the Artes from the realm of imagination.

The first was A Spear Reborn Arte.

The second was Skyward Arte.

Like Jessica’s Seven Chakras, it was a multistages buff. Farley noticed Viers’ fondness of chaining multiple Artes to work together.

She looked forward to mastering the third stage of her personal technique: Braveblood.

Lord Viers said there were still two stages after that in his designs. Incredible. How strong would she be at that point?

With the corner of her eyes, she saw the strike team had successfully entered the fortress. The cloud-face of Rostov was spouting angry words. She didn't care. If the Level 5 was really here then it was worth minding. With Lord Viers inside, the fort would fall shortly. Farley had no doubt.

Now just need to keep the outside enemy occupied. There was no lack of enemies around Farley. She was a Level 3 peak, knocking on Level 4’s door. The enemies might be numerous but they were weaker. Dragons or humans, none could match her.

They were outmatched and outclassed.

She landed on a spire again and pointed her spear at the airborne enemies. The Devawi Swan’s shadow appeared on her back.

“Face me if you dare.”

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Chapter 471 - Dragoon-mode Farley