This place was an existence known as the demon island.
It was all because of a world-shattering war that occurred across the entire continent a thousand years ago.
In the end, all the races of the continent emerged victorious, and their enemies were driven to this island, where they had remained entrenched for a millennium.
Since then, no one had ever set foot on this island again.
Amir and Kiran, acting as the commanders of the vanguard, were the first to arrive on the demon island.
The moment he stepped onto the island, Amir looked up at the distant sky filled with dark clouds and couldn't help but sigh.
"It has been a thousand years... Am I the first person to set foot on this island?"
Beside him, Kiran joked with a smile, "Although I usually like to compete with you for fame, I'm willing to let you have it this time. You can be the first."
Amir raised an eyebrow but said nothing, looking back at the elites following behind them.
The two of them commanded the vanguard, and since the vanguard's role was crucial, they divided the army into two groups to avoid conflicting commands.
One group consisted of a thousand elites, all of whom were at the rank of Fidelity Knight or higher, meaning they were experts above level thirty.
The role of such a team in the vanguard was to act as scouts.
"Everyone scatter! Divide into ten-man squads and scout the surroundings! I want to know if there are any enemies within twenty miles in ten minutes!!"
"Yes, sir!!"
The thousand-man knight regiment quickly split into a hundred small teams, spreading out in a fan shape in all directions, while the knights behind them continued to advance.
With the tree roots serving as a road, the speed of travel had increased significantly.
This also allowed the rear guard to move much faster.
However, they had still been delayed for a long time.
At this moment, the distance between the vanguard and the central command was likely less than a few hundred meters.
At such a distance, if the vanguard encountered a battle, although the central command could react quickly, they wouldn't be able to mount an effective resistance.
Because the distance was too short, the reaction time left for the central command was far too brief!
"Kiran, I'm leaving this to you. Make sure to urge the vanguard to land as quickly as possible and clear the way for the central command."
"What are you going to do?"
Kiran nodded in agreement but still asked a question. To avoid any special circumstances, he needed to know what his companion was up to.
"I'm going ahead to scout."
He looked up. Not far ahead was a cliff that looked like a dragon's tooth thrust diagonally into the ground, extending outward.
It was an excellent high ground. Without any flight ability, it would be almost impossible to launch a frontal assault on that cliff.
Precisely because of this, Amir had spotted it at a glance.
As a knight who had participated in several wars, he instinctively sensed the strategic importance of that cliff.
They had to control that cliff; otherwise, someone could threaten the army behind them at any time.
Kiran followed Amir's gaze toward the distance and saw the cliff. His brow furrowed as he nodded.
"I understand. Be careful."
"Mhm."
Amir nodded slightly and squeezed his horse's flanks. The white horse beneath him let out a neigh and galloped into the distance.
"Fifty men, follow me to investigate!"
"Yes, sir!"
Behind him, fifty knights who had just landed didn't even have time to shake the mud off their boots before leaping onto their horses and following closely behind Amir.
This was a region where no human had set foot for a thousand years.
Everything nearby was shrouded in mystery.
On the ground, protruding special ores could be seen in many places, and all of these ores were pitch black.
These ores were so black that one couldn't look away, standing out prominently against the weathered earth.
Kiran watched the departing Amir and subconsciously looked at those ores.
"What kind of ore is this? Why have I never seen it before?"
The Kingdom of Flame was a coastal nation, and as a country at the southern end of the continent adjacent to the Kingdom of the Sea, the maritime commercial capital, its sea trade was highly developed.
While Kiran wasn't certain he had seen every type of ore and product, he had at least some exposure to various special minerals.
However, he had never seen this kind of ore.
These ores appeared almost entirely in clusters rather than small pieces.
Like the one in front of Kiran, it was nearly half the height of a person, a solid mass of blackness with no transparency at all.
Yet, it looked completely out of place against the color of the earth.
Walking forward, Kiran didn't dare touch it with his hands. He simply used his lance to gently poke the rock.
However, a bizarre scene occurred!
The moment his lance touched the rock, the tip actually pierced into it.
"It's not a rock?!"
Kiran was stunned, but in the next second, the rock suddenly softened into a pile of fleshy mush and quickly crawled up the lance toward the tip.
As a Guardian Knight and a level fifty powerhouse, Kiran's reaction was extremely swift. He let go of his lance and jumped back.
The black sludge-like substance quickly enveloped the entire lance. Seeming uninterested in the weapon, the black sludge that had covered it returned to its original position and regained its previous shape.
Looking at the lance lying on the ground, Kiran's face turned terrifyingly grim.
He turned and ordered the adjutant beside him, "Notify the entire army! If anyone encounters something they don't recognize, whether it's a mineral or a plant, no one is allowed to touch it!!"
"Yes, sir!"
The adjutant acknowledged the order and quickly passed it down.
Kiran walked over, picked up his lance, and sighed in relief after seeing that no black sludge remained on it.
"What is that thing?"
Kiran was puzzled, but after thinking about it, he didn't investigate further.
They were here to fight a war, not to conduct biological research.
This wasn't a scientific expedition; it was an army!!
However, judging by the form the black stone had just displayed, it was somewhat similar to a slime, yet not quite.
He then thought of the historical records regarding the demon race.
All races on the continent could be tainted by the black energy of the demon race, and creatures that were tainted would display incredibly intense reproductive abilities and desires.
Furthermore, these reproductive abilities would not fail due to species differences.
In other words, once they transformed into demons, they completely eliminated reproductive isolation.
If the thing in front of him was a slime... then its reaction just now was clearly trying to... do that??
At the thought of this, Kiran couldn't help but shudder and subconsciously clenched his buttocks.
"The hell, you actually wanted to mate with me!!"
Kiran raised his hand, and a burst of searing light erupted from his lance as he thrust it straight into the black stone!
"Gah—!"
With a scream, the black ore suddenly came to life, struggling incessantly as if it were being scalded by boiling water.
But as a Guardian Knight, his raw strength was something it couldn't resist.
In the blink of an eye, it was burned to ashes, sliding off the lance and onto the ground.
Looking at the ashes on the ground, Kiran disdainfully shook his lance.
"Tch! You wanted to stick it to me? I'll stick it to you first!!"
With his red cloak fluttering in the wind, he turned and stroded away.
The other knights who witnessed this scene looked pale.
This was a creature they had never seen before, and this time, many knights began to feel hesitant.
There was no helping it; if they knew what their opponent was, even if their strength was inferior, they would have the heart to fight and try.
But when facing such an unknown creature, fear would be magnified.
Kiran keenly sensed this feeling and suddenly let out an angry roar!
"What are you afraid of! It's just a lump of slime!!"
The knights were slightly startled and subconsciously looked at each other, suddenly feeling that their fear was quite ridiculous.
It was common knowledge that the weakest race on the entire continent was the slime race.
There had never been any powerful existence within that race.
Even a child could play with them at will.
If they felt fear when facing such a thing, wouldn't that make them worse than children?
In an instant, the fear in the knights' hearts vanished.
"Keep moving, don't stop!"
Kiran shouted with a relaxed smile on his face, but his heart was full of helplessness.
He knew exactly how strong a slime was; a normal slime wouldn't even be able to withstand a single thrust of his lance.
But this slime-like creature was different.
Its vitality was clearly much stronger than that of a normal slime.
It could even struggle tenaciously after he unleashed a fire-enchanted strike.
Thinking of this, Kiran became even more worried.
He had encountered such a creature just after entering the demon island. What kind of terrifying creatures would be further inside?
These creatures tainted by demonic energy had already evolved to a completely different level.
The ordinary creatures on the continent seemed like existences from a different dimension compared to them.
At least Kiran had never heard of any slime capable of such perfect mineral mimicry. Although the color was different, the external texture was almost identical to ore.
He gestured for his adjutant to come over and gave an instruction.
"Convey my words to the Saintess of the Moon and the Saintess of War, but do it quietly."
The adjutant nodded, took out a communication stone, and began to transmit the message to the distance.
...
"Your Highness, there is a communication."
Just as the Saint's Carriage was preparing to cross the sea, a knight's report reached my ears.
"Speak."
"Your Highness, it is a secret communication."
As he spoke, the knight knelt on one knee and handed over a piece of paper.
"Mhm. You may go."
Standing on the carriage, I dismissed the knight and took a look at the paper.
My brow furrowed.
The message clearly stated that Kiran had encountered an unprecedented slime-like creature at the front.
However, its vitality was much stronger than that of an average slime.
"Is there any news from the front? Let me see."
Lina was riding her horse right beside the Saint's Carriage. Seeing that my expression wasn't great, she leaned in and took the paper from my hand.
"This... what is this? A slime?"
Lina looked at me with a face full of confusion.
"Lina, you've spent years in the Kingdom of the Highlands dealing with the dwarves, so you might not know. The reason many races became demons is that they were tainted by demonic energy, and this demonic energy causes a fundamental change in a creature."
I looked down at Lina and explained to her, "Once a creature is tainted, it becomes much stronger than it originally was. At the same time, it completely eliminates reproductive isolation. You understand."
Lina was slightly startled, and her expression also turned grim.
"A slime... could actually withstand an enchanted strike from a Guardian Knight? Is demonic energy really that strong?"
Yes, it is that strong.
I wanted to say it, but I didn't. I simply gave the pale Lina a faint glance and continued to look into the distance.
In this expedition, we were betting that there weren't too many demon armies on the demon island.
But if we lost that bet, then all eighty thousand knights would truly be left here.
"Notify the entire army! Avoid contact with any creatures on the island unless absolutely necessary. If possible, eliminate every creature you see!"
This island had been occupied by the demon race for a thousand years. A thousand years was enough for demonic energy to permeate every corner of the island.
On such an island, ordinary creatures simply couldn't exist. Anything that survived would have to be a demonized creature.
Under these circumstances, making contact with them was definitely an unwise choice.
This time, my goal was to eliminate as much of the demon race's active forces as possible and achieve our initial strategic objective.
Now, before the first step had even begun, I had received such bad news.
It made one worry about what would happen next.
The first half of the central command had already begun to cross the ocean. This stretch of land was only a few hundred meters wide, with rapid sea currents on both sides.
These currents were blocked by the continental shelf beneath our feet, causing them to turn into turbulent eddies here.
I casually tossed a piece of paper down, and it was instantly sucked into the depths by the seawater and vanished.
There was no telling how deep the ocean was on either side.
No wonder the demon race had been blocked for a thousand years; such an ocean was indeed terrifying.
"Lina, take the Black Armored Knights and go ahead to stabilize the morale at the front. We can't afford any chaos at a time like this."
"Alright, I understand."
Lina nodded. In this situation, having a Saintess stationed at the front would clearly have a massive stabilizing effect on morale.
"Black Armored Knights!"
"Present!"
"Full speed march!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The ten thousand Black Armored Knights responded as if they were a single person, their movements perfectly synchronized.
They quickly followed the advancing Lina, heading straight for the demon island.
"Notify the entire army to accelerate! The entire force must cross the sea before dawn!!"
Once daylight arrived, the probability of being discovered would increase significantly.
The entire army was currently in a state of flux. We absolutely could not let the demon race discover the central command at a time like this; otherwise, this opening blow would surely deal a massive shock to morale!
Just as I thought of this, a red light suddenly rose from the cliff that looked like a dragon's tooth!
Whoosh— Boom!
Oh no!
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