Just as if it had been arranged, when the main force of the orc army turned north, the Restoration Army of the Storm Territory also began new movements.

The southern expansion army, with the Second Protectorate Legion as its main force, took advantage of the rare clear weather in winter and marched south in a mighty procession across the frozen Jade River, finally assembling in "Keene Territory," which bordered the Southern Territory.

Stone Crow Castle, originally constructed from crude stone walls and wooden beams within the territory, was expanded. Under the construction of Slime Engineers, taller and thicker stone city walls were erected, complete with battlements and arrow towers.

Log-built barracks, warehouses, stables, and workshops sprouted up like mushrooms after rain. A temporary legion garrison capable of accommodating tens of thousands of soldiers rapidly rose from the snowy border wilderness.

Soon, news of the Restoration Army's assembly at the southern border spread as if it had grown wings, swiftly reaching the territories of the major nobles and rebel knights of the Southern Territory.

For a time, panic spread throughout the Southern Territory. Especially the nobles whose lands bordered the Storm Territory found it difficult to sleep or eat.

The Border Corps had been strong enough, yet they still failed to hold Storm Fortress, ultimately breached by the Magical Creature Legion of the Slime Kingdom.

Although the Storm Territory now nominally belonged to Princess Louisa and her Restoration Army, anyone with even a little information knew full well that this Restoration Army was essentially a force propped up by the Slime Kingdom.

What was even more terrifying was that this Restoration Army not only incorporated magical creature units but also absorbed the remaining knights of the former Border Corps.

What they were likely to face was a new legion more fearsome than either the Magical Creature Legion or the Border Corps.

After several sleepless nights, the nobles and rebel knights of the Southern Territory, for once, temporarily set aside their animosities and old grudges. Through magical communication, messengers, and even personal journeys, they hurried to "Ronnan City," the second-largest city in the Southern Territory. There, within the most heavily guarded lord's castle of Ronnan City, they held a secret conference lasting several days.

Ordinary citizens and merchants didn't know the specific content of this meeting. They only saw the noble lords, who usually wore heavy fur cloaks, arriving in haste and leaving in a flurry of panic.

By the time the meeting's results were relayed back to Keene Territory, the Southern Territory had, in an extremely short time, assembled a fairly sizable army at various outposts, fortresses, and strategic passes near the border line.

Although most of the soldiers in this army were temporarily drafted from local militia units, with uneven equipment and limited training, its size of nearly one hundred thousand was indeed not small.

And as Louisa said: "Just relying on these wine-barrel nobles who usually quarrel over minor territorial disputes and these short-sighted rebel knights, it's impossible to assemble such a large-scale army in just a few days."

"There are no Extraordinary professionals in the Southern Territory capable of commanding an army of tens of thousands. Just the logistical problems alone would be difficult to solve."

"If it were normal interest negotiations and bickering, they could argue for months without reaching a result. The reason for such swift action is probably that someone is backing them."

As for who this backing force was.

Chen Yu felt it was complicated. Perhaps the northern rebels were involved, but the Misty Bay Harbor Trade Alliance was definitely in on it.

The stability of the Southern Territory and the smooth flow of trade routes directly affected the money bags of the Trade Alliance councilors, constituting their economic lifeline.

Once the Southern Territory was completely controlled by the Restoration Army, the Trade Alliance would lose its influence over this important region and might even face a reshuffling of trade routes.

Moreover, standing behind the Restoration Army was the Slime Kingdom, which had already shown an expansionist posture.

After losing Gold Lionheart Fortress, the merchants of the Trade Alliance had already become wary of this ambitious neighbor. They had long conducted extensive infiltration, bribery, and strategic arrangements among the nobles and rebel forces of the Southern Territory, precisely to deal with a situation like today.

Using "ambitious" to describe a group of Slimes indeed sounded strange, but that was probably the consensus these merchants had reached before suffering losses.

Therefore, the seemingly scattered Southern Territory was able to unite so quickly into a single force. Behind it, there was an extremely high probability that the Trade Alliance was secretly pushing, providing support to the rebels and attempting to build a wall to resist the Restoration Army's southward advance.

Since both sides had begun to lay their cards on the table, war required no further excuses.

Before the southern army could complete its deployment, Chen Yu and Louisa boarded the war chariot together.

Under the gaze of the legion, Louisa raised her gem-studded staff high, pointing the gem that shimmered with magical light directly at the gloomy southern sky. In a clear, firm voice, she delivered a brief declaration to the entire army, formally initiating this war named "Liberation of the South."

The heavy sound of hooves shattered the winter silence of the southern border. With the Protectorate Knight Order cavalry as the vanguard and the Slime Knight Order following closely behind, aided by magic such as "Resist Cold" and "Haste," they crossed the treacherous Spine-Crack Mountains in just one day, traversed snow-covered pine forests, and struck directly at the nearest territory of Baroness Edward.

This unexpectedly rapid march indeed caught the southern army off guard.

The defenders of Baroness Edward's territory never expected the enemy to launch a surprise attack by crossing the mountains in the harsh winter. In their hasty response, they lost several key outer watchtowers and an important ferry fortress.

It wasn't until the Restoration Army reached the walls of Eagle's Nest Fortress, the northwestern gateway to the Southern Territory, that the southern army, relying on the fortress's advantageous terrain and the Griffin cavalry loyal to the southern nobles, barely managed to block the Restoration Army's offensive.

The two sides remained locked in a stalemate at Eagle's Nest Fortress for several days.

What frightened the nobles of the Southern Territory was that the Restoration Army seemed completely unaffected by the winter gales and severe cold. Their logistical supplies seemed endless, the soldiers were in high spirits, and they showed no signs of fatigue from prolonged field operations.

On the other hand, they also discovered that the Restoration Army's offensive was not as terrifying as the rumors suggested. Their tactics were quite conservative and steady, relying more on magic and small-scale skirmishes for probing and attrition. While this indeed kept casualties extremely low, it also gave the defenders valuable breathing room and time to redeploy.

The Restoration Army's performance restored the confidence of many southern nobles and rebel knights, even leading some to doubt whether they had previously overestimated the strength of the Magical Creature Legion.

Perhaps their initial ability to breach Storm Fortress relied on the Magical Tides, not the legion's own hard power.

Moreover, the Border Corps also didn't seem as powerful as the kingdom's bards sang.

They had overestimated the intensity of the Storm Fortress campaign.

The stalemate in the southern battlefield was also observed by the orc overseers. Their observation reports were soon sent back via Gray Eagle messengers, traversing the blizzard, to the orc army marching across the Frost-Speaking Plain.

On the vast snowy plain, Karl rode a tall frost wolf at the forefront of the column. Taking the parchment report handed to him by an orc soldier and reading it, he couldn't help but frown.

"Stalemated?"

This didn't match his expectations at all.

From an orc's intuition, a kingdom capable of taming a Giant Dragon should have crushed the Southern Territory's ragtag human militia with overwhelming force.

Had he overestimated those Slimes?

Karl didn't make an immediate judgment. He decided to wait for more detailed follow-up reports.

In the following days, battle reports continued to arrive, and the orc overseers' reports kept coming back.

After being stalemated outside Eagle's Nest Fortress for several days, the Restoration Army finally breached the fortress, joined up with the legion that arrived later, and continued to advance slowly southward.

In Karl's view, this battle report undoubtedly conveyed another message—

These Slimes were utterly useless except for possessing a dragon.

Although the southern army's size appeared large, most of it consisted of temporarily conscripted militia. Many might have only held a spear to defend against wild boars or low-level magical creatures.

Some might have been mere farmers wielding pitchforks or shepherds swinging whips before this.

Even with Eagle's Nest Fortress and Griffin cavalry blocking them, the Restoration Army could actually be held up by such an army for several days. This was enough to prove their mediocrity.

Whether it was the original Border Corps or the Magical Creature Legion, they were just special armies, not as powerful as he had imagined.

The Slime Kingdom might be a troublesome opponent requiring some effort, but it absolutely couldn't be considered a true match for the Kargaron Royal Court.

To be honest, Karl was quite disappointed with the Slimes' performance. However, at the same time, he could finally let go of his wariness towards them.

...

Deep within the Southern Territory.

The Balrog Margath, as usual, stood on the highest main tower balcony of the castle, overlooking his "prosperous" territory.

The weather was very cold today, with strong winds and heavy snow outside, but the winter chill and ice had no effect on him. Instead, they made the lava-like patterns on his body appear even brighter.

Griffinburg. This castle originally belonged to a viscount loyal to the royal family, situated in the rugged area known as the "Soren Hills," controlling important roads leading to several grain-producing regions of the Southern Territory.

After being breached by Margath's Demon Legion, the viscount's family was wiped out. Now, this place had become his nest territory in the Prime Material Plane.

He was not a demon under Casaric's command but a demonic lord from the Abyss. He absolutely had no fondness for cunning demons like Casaric who only toyed with souls.

Taking advantage of the chaos in the White Horse Kingdom, he responded to the plea of a certain Griffin noble who craved power, descended to the Prime Material Plane, devoured the summoner, and occupied this sturdy Griffinburg.

Under his rule, Griffinburg and its surrounding areas had been completely Abyssalized. The land became scorched and barren, the few remaining plants twisted into grotesque shapes, and the castle's stone walls were covered with squirming, dark red, tumor-like tissues.

The original courtyards and buildings were transformed into incubation pits filled with viscous green pus and unformed demon embryos.

Lowly imps, Abyssal hounds, and corrupted human servants busied themselves inside and outside the castle, transporting supplies and offerings plundered from nearby villages.

Margath gazed upon all this with satisfaction.

What a perfect stronghold... sturdy Griffinburg, easily defensible terrain.

Before long, he would completely transform this area into a scorched land suitable for demon survival, hatching more legions... When that time came, whether those foolish human rebels or the demons from the north, all would turn to ashes under his flames.

This fortress was the starting point of his throne in this world. Casaric would become his stepping stone.

Just as he was immersed in his conquest fantasies, an imp flew up to the balcony in a panic, shrieking in a sharp, piercing voice: "Great Bone-Burner! Outside! A strange army has come outside the castle!"

Margath growled displeased: "A strange army? Those foolhardy human rebels? Or demons from the north?"

"No... no! They're wearing black robes, can't see their faces clearly. There are also over a dozen draft animals in their ranks, pulling a... a huge metal construct!" the imp gestured frantically in terror.

Suspicion rose in Margath's heart. He strode to the edge of the balcony, looking out at the snowstorm-swept hills beyond the castle.

Sure enough, amidst the vast snowfall, a group of figures entirely shrouded in black robes gradually appeared before them.

Their formation was loose. Behind them followed over a dozen northern draft animals, their steps heavy, seemingly dragging something enormous.

Gradually, the thing revealed its shape in the wind and snow—it was a massive, pitch-black, tubular construct.

Its thick cannon barrel was angled towards Griffinburg's sturdy city wall. Etched onto the cannon body were magical runes and energy-conducting circuits he had never seen before. Those runes were slowly glowing with an eerie blue light.

What is that thing?

Before he could react, among the group of black-robed figures, what seemed to be their leader made a simple gesture.

The pitch-black alchemical cannon shuddered. The eerie blue light gathered at its muzzle instantly became blindingly intense, as if devouring all surrounding light.

There was no deafening roar, only a low hum that made one's soul tremble. The magical projectile, like a spear of divine judgment cast by a god, tore through the air, ignored spatial distance, and struck the thickest section of Griffinburg's city wall.

Margath crossed his burning greatsword before him, and then was utterly swallowed by the light.

...

The next day, when a group of imps and human servants dragged plundered grain and shivering captives back to Griffinburg, the sight before them left them stunned.

The majestic Griffinburg, the demonic nest that had once inspired their awe, now had an enormous gaping hole in its front.

There, whether it was the thick city wall or the battlements and arrow towers upon it, had silently collapsed and vaporized as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, disappearing without a trace.

The sturdy stone and metal seemed never to have existed, leaving only a massive fan-shaped gap over twenty meters in diameter. The edges of the gap were impossibly smooth, the remaining rock shimmering with a glassy luster. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

They approached fearfully and only dared to search the ruins after repeatedly confirming the castle held no danger.

The castle interior was deathly silent, with twisted, charred demon remains visible everywhere.

However, whether it was the "offerings" or the gold and gems humans favored, everything had been looted clean. They only found a holy emblem without a jawbone on the ground.