Raylo’s gaze pierced through the thin clouds and mist.

He saw more than just one force of Demons.

From a stretch of hills to the west, a mixed force of Lizardfolk and assorted swamp races, about five or six hundred strong, advanced along a dry riverbed with chaotic banners and a loose formation.

Further south, countless dark figures churned the murky river ponds. It was the main force of the Frogman Tribe, kicking up so much mud that the entire river was dyed a murky yellow.

In the eastern forest, shadows flickered among the trees, revealing the vague silhouettes of massive Swamp Giants moving through the woods. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The target of these Demon forces was the very same high ground where the Black Stone Army had previously stopped to rest.

They came from all directions like sharks that had smelled blood, attempting to encircle and tear the human army that dared venture deep into the swamp to pieces.

Sun turned his enormous head, the scene below reflected in his golden eyes. His voice boomed like a great bell.

"These guys are swarming like ants from a kicked nest. Will Ed and his men be alright?"

"They’ll be fine."

Raylo’s tone was calm.

Of course he wasn’t worried.

For this expedition, the Black Stone Territory had deployed every warhorse captured in previous wars. Now, every Black Stone Knight, even those specializing in combat, was mounted on a fine steed for travel.

Mobility was the soul of the Black Stone Army.

These disparate Demon tribes, fighting on their own, had no hope of catching the main Black Stone force at a full retreat before they could unite.

All Ed had to do was crush any small enemy groups that got in their way along the retreat route.

Given the elite quality of the Black Stone Knights, this was not a difficult task.

Raylo could even picture Ed’s expression at that moment: probably cursing and complaining about the swamp mud while mercilessly commanding the Earth Dragons and Mammoths to overwhelm the enemy.

Flying was tedious, especially over the unchanging landscape of the swamp.

Time flowed by with the whistling of the wind. Two hours later, a change finally appeared on the horizon ahead.

It was a stretch of high ground, like an isolated island in the vast swamp.

In the center of this "island" stood a grand and rugged structure.

The Temple was built entirely of massive black stones in a rough, primitive style. Its walls were carved with countless twisting, coiling serpentine reliefs.

Nine spires soared into the clouds. Their tops were not pointed, but were instead nine hideous, sculpted serpent heads, their open maws seeming to let out silent roars.

This was the Demon Serpent Temple.

Raylo’s eyes were like a hawk’s as he surveyed the high ground from above.

Just as his Pegasus Knights had scouted, the main force of the Demon Serpent Legion guarding the Temple had been lured away. All that remained were a hundred or so Tiers Two and Three Snake-man Warriors patrolling the Temple’s perimeter.

"Begin," Raylo ordered.

He wasted no more words, because Sun, beneath him, had already responded with action.

"ROAR!"

A dragon’s roar that shook the heavens and the earth exploded forth as the Golden Dragon no longer concealed his form.

His massive, hundred-meter-long body unfurled in the sky. Every scale was like molten gold, burning with a dazzling radiance in the sunlight.

He plummeted like a falling sun, diving with an unstoppable aura.

The Snake-man guards in the Temple looked up in terror. The pale golden dragon pupils expanded rapidly in their vision, and a primal fear rooted deep in their bloodlines made their bodies go stiff, unable to even hold their weapons steady.

Sun paid no mind to these small fry.

His enormous Dragon Tail, whistling as it tore through the air, lashed out like a gigantic battle hammer from the gods, viciously striking the dome of the Temple’s main hall!

BOOM!

The black stone dome shattered like an eggshell, disintegrating in a thunderous crash.

Countless shards of rock and clouds of dust shot skyward. In an instant, a gaping skylight had been torn into the magnificent Temple.

"For the Lord!"

The Griffin Knights roared in unison, guiding their mounts in a dive. The light of their Fighting Spirit coalesced on their long spears, piercing the Snake-man guards who rushed out from the Temple ruins.

Six Sky Dragons swooped down, using their claws or their massive jaws to claim the lives of the Snake-man guards one by one.

The battlefield instantly devolved into a chaotic meat grinder.

At almost the same moment, a sinister, cold, and powerful aura erupted from the ruins.

"Who... dares to desecrate my master’s Divine Hall!"

a shrill voice cried out.

The dust settled, and a figure slowly rose from the ruins of the main hall.

It was a Demon Serpent Priest. His lower body was a thick serpent’s tail, while his upper body was humanoid, though his skin was covered in fine, black scales.

He held a Magic Staff made from a giant spinal column, its head inlaid with a ghastly green skull whose empty eye sockets burned with Soul Fire.

He was the Domain Level Powerhouse guarding this place.

Sun let out a booming roar.

Without a moment’s pause, his massive body crashed directly into the Temple’s remaining structures.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Towers toppled and walls crumbled.

The Golden Dragon, in the most savage and direct way possible, reduced the Temple that had stood for centuries to a pile of rubble.

His goal was clear: destroy the Temple and clear out a large enough battlefield.

Flames of fury ignited in the Demon Serpent Priest’s serpentine eyes. He raised his Bone Staff, unleashing the power of his Domain without reservation.

"Skeleton Domain!"

VMMMM!

A ripple of grayish-white energy spread out from him. Wherever it passed, the world lost all its color.

The sky turned a deathly gray, and the ground transformed into withered bone.

The earth cracked open, and one by one, enormous beasts made of bleached white bone crawled out from underground.

There were the skeletons of Swamp Giant Crocodiles tens of meters long, the dried bones of Giants swinging bony claws, and the skeletal remains of Giant Lizards twisting their spines.

Their eye sockets burned with the same ghastly green Soul Fire as the one on the Priest’s Bone Staff, and they radiated an aura of frenzy and death.

In an instant, the entire battlefield had transformed into a Purgatory of bone.

Sun let out a disdainful dragon roar.

Although he had yet to create his own Domain, his Tier Five Domain Level power and the formidable physique of a Golden Dragon made him fearless in any Domain.

He charged a rushing crocodile skeleton head-on, not dodging or evading, and slammed directly into it with his Dragon Horns.

CRACK!

Before the Golden Dragon, the hard skeleton of the giant beast was as brittle as rotten wood. It was instantly smashed to pieces, sending Bone Shards flying everywhere.

Sun rampaged through the Skeleton Domain, using his claws, Dragon Tail, and Dragon Horns to easily dismantle the Skeleton Giant Beasts one by one, like a golden god of war.

But the Skeleton Giant Beasts were endless, regenerating as fast as they were destroyed.

A lightning raid’s success hinges on a swift and decisive battle.

Raylo didn’t delay for a second. He took out an ancient-looking Horn.

The Soul Horn.

He brought the Horn to his lips, infused it with Fighting Spirit, and blew.

No sound came out, but an invisible ripple of soul energy transcended the barrier of space.

The next moment, the Demon Serpent Priest’s Skeleton Domain began to tremble violently.

A ray of blue starlight appeared, and a Knight clad in star-blue full plate armor and wielding a Sapphire Giant Sword emerged silently from the light.

The Starfall Knight!

The instant he appeared, a tyrannical Domain Power unfurled along with him.

"Meteor Domain!"

A deep, starry sky replaced the deathly gray canopy. Burning meteorites, trailing long tails of flame like an inverted river of stars, filled the entire sky.

The chilling, oppressive feeling of the Skeleton Domain was instantly swept away.

The Meteor Domain and the Skeleton Domain collided violently, and space itself groaned as if under an unbearable weight.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Countless meteorites rained down from the sky, precisely smashing into the Skeleton Giant Beasts that had just crawled out of the ground.

The fall of every meteorite was accompanied by the complete annihilation of a Skeleton Giant Beast.

The pressure on him suddenly gone, Sun let out a gratified roar. He could finally focus all his attention on the Demon Serpent Priest.

Golden Dragon Flame brewed in his throat, scorching the air and causing it to twist and distort. Finally, it erupted as a devastating torrent of gold, spewing forth toward the Demon Serpent Priest!

The searing Dragon Breath covered a space of dozens of meters around the Priest, turning everything to Scorched Earth.

The Demon Serpent Priest’s expression changed drastically. With a shriek, all the remaining skeletons instantly converged on him, forming an incredibly thick, spike-covered, giant bone shield in front of him.

At that very moment, Raylo saw his chance.

He spurred the Storm Griffin King, Baofeng, into a dive like a bolt of lightning, leaving a brownish-yellow afterimage in the air.

In the instant he brushed past the bone shield, he drew the Divine Weapon, Broken Flow, from his waist.

As the blade left its sheath, a faint, almost invisible ripple flashed through the air and vanished.

The next second, the indestructible bone shield silently split down the middle, the smooth cut surfaces like a mirror.

Behind the shield, the Demon Serpent Priest’s serpentine eyes filled with incredulous horror.

He had no time to react at all before the devastating Dragon Breath completely engulfed him.

"HIIISSSSAARGH!"

A blood-curdling shriek pierced the clouds, only to be completely suppressed by the roar of the Dragon Breath.

Sun’s Dragon Breath lasted for a full minute until the shriek finally faded away completely.

The golden torrent finally ceased, leaving behind a huge, vitrified crater in the ground.

In the center of the crater, a charred black figure remained standing.

His flesh and blood had been completely carbonized, but his serpentine eyes still gleamed with a crazed, venomous, scarlet light.

Evidently, he had used some powerful, life-saving last resort and paid a terrible price to survive.

But he wouldn’t get another chance.

Raylo’s figure appeared before him again, and he swung Broken Flow a second time.

It was the same invisible ripple, which drifted lightly across the Demon Serpent Priest’s charred neck.

PFFT.

A large, scorched serpent head flew into the air, tumbled a few times, and fell heavily to the ground.

Sun folded his wings and landed with a thunderous crash.

He lifted his massive dragon claw and, without any ceremony, stomped down, crushing the head into a paste of brain matter and Bone Shards.

The battle was over.

Raylo leaped down from Baofeng’s back. Moonlight and Coal Ball landed lightly on his shoulders, one on the left and one on the right.

He strode over the rubble and skeletons littering the ground and walked into what was left of the main hall—a single, lonely, broken wall.

Upon the high platform, enshrined for all to see, was the goal of their expedition.