Fifteen days passed in the blink of an eye.
Deep summer had arrived. Without anyone noticing, dawn began coming much faster, and the trees were filled with the cries of cicadas.
Because of the scorching weather, the army's progress had slowed somewhat. Heat would drain a person's strength for no reason, so in order to take care of every soldier's condition, Luke deliberately slowed their pace.
At the same time, Noxus was doing everything it could to delay the army's offensive. They had now given up direct battles and focused mainly on harassment.
Every time they came forward, they would take one round of punishment and run. In truth, they had indeed delayed Luke's progress.
However, nothing unexpected happened along the way. The army continued advancing steadily.
Their current position was already some distance away from their first stop, Trevale.
In a straight line, the distance was roughly equal to the distance from Demacia's Terbisia to the Gates of Mourning.
If this stretch of road were viewed on a map, it might not seem far, probably about the distance of a spread hand.
But in reality, it required Luke to lead tens of thousands of troops forward for almost a month and a half.
Noxus's territory was indeed vast. In terms of proportion, it occupied one-third of the Valoran continent, while another third belonged to the Freljord.
As for Demacia, it occupied one-third of the remaining third, or perhaps even less.
The rest was made up of various small nations, tribes, and powers standing side by side.
This proved that they still had a very long road ahead.
But that was fine. Luke would help Demacia expand its territory.
The afternoon sunlight poured down fiercely, bathing the road ahead in gold. A cool breeze blew faintly through the mountains, easing the heat on everyone's bodies.
Luke rode a fine horse near the front of the column, advancing steadily.
Ahead, Quinn rode back on horseback. In the sky, an Azurite Eagle could vaguely be seen soaring freely.
"Your Highness, Groft's boundary river is not far ahead. Once we cross it, we'll be able to see Groft after another half day of travel."
After finding Luke, Quinn reported to him, "Noxus doesn't seem to have set an ambush at the boundary river. Valor and I investigated the area near the opposite bank and found no trace of the enemy."
Luke nodded slightly when he heard this and fell into thought.
Quinn's talents could be maximized only on the battlefield. By now, she had trained Stealth Arts even better than he had.
It was very likely that she had already trained it to LV9.
Luke was still only at LV8, though the main reason was, of course, that he had never really practiced it.
Quinn, on the other hand, not only had great talent but also knew how to train diligently.
Since she had already confirmed that there was no problem, then it was basically safe.
He had originally thought Noxus would set up a defensive line at Groft's boundary river. Even if that could not stop them, it would have greatly delayed Luke's time.
But in the end, they had not.
Clearly, they had retreated to Groft.
"Looks like they've made plenty of new preparations."
Luke murmured to himself, then raised his head and said, "No matter. Keep moving. We've made plenty of preparations too."
Their behavior could only mean that before the true battle began, they did not want to waste even a single soldier.
They intended to reserve all their strength to face Demacia's coming attack on Groft.
Quinn nodded when she heard him.
Luke opened the Secret Key and checked the messages. Tianna's battle in Shurima had been going smoothly, and she had basically encountered no obstacles.
Lev had also led his army forward and was about to reach Boleham's territory. Their progress was basically the same.
Right now, they were positioned above and below each other in parallel.
At the top of the chat list was a message Wenward had sent twelve days ago.
As Demacia's firepower support, he and Frey had not been idle either. The two had quickly begun cooperating. Every day, they worked on developing more refined versions of magic weapons, cannons, and firearms.
In particular, they had been trying to combine magic with gunpowder, and recently, they had finally made progress.
The new weapons were now being transported by extremely fast Dragonbirds. Counting the time, they should be arriving soon.
There was also a message that had been sent not long ago.
The transport team carrying the petricite colossus had already linked up with the follow-up troops. Luke had specially sent people to receive them, and the distance between the two sides was constantly shrinking.
Closing the Secret Key, Luke urged his horse forward and came to the very front of the army.
He looked back while calling out loudly, "After we move forward a little farther, we'll see Groft. This battle will also be the extremely important second battle in our campaign against Noxus! This is the necessary moment for us to truly shatter Noxus's confidence! The enemy has now come to its senses and made a great many preparations, but they will never be able to imagine our determination this time! Here, I want all of you to strengthen your conviction. For Demacia, we will win!"
He raised his fist high.
His voice naturally could not reach everyone at once, but the soldiers soon began passing his words from mouth to mouth.
In a short time, the army's morale rose.
Returning to the group, Luke looked at Lux, Sona, and the others, as well as the mages. "Get ready. This time, all of you will be going onto the battlefield as well."
This battle concerned whether they could crush Noxus's border defense in one stroke, so there was no need to hold anything back.
Everyone nodded seriously.
Lux was also riding a horse. She took a deep breath and whispered, "I think I'm a little nervous."
Previously, she had always served as support and had been protected very well, without needing to bear too much risk.
But this time was different. The next battle would be extraordinary, and they were facing Noxus after it had made even more preparations.
Every one of them had to contribute their strength.
Although Lux had prepared herself long ago, before it happened, feeling nervous was still inevitable.
Beside her, Luke asked, "What's making you nervous?"
Lux shook her head, her small face a little confused. "I don't know. A lot of things."
She had used magic to fight enemies before, but that was still far from true slaughter on the battlefield.
She already knew how cruel war was. Everyone was doing everything possible to survive, using every method they had without holding anything back.
And she was about to throw herself into that.
Although she knew that from the moment she decided to follow them, this day had been inevitable, when it was about to arrive, it still felt as though her heart had been suspended in midair.
Luke glanced sideways at her profile. Her face was fair, tender, and flawless, like an innocent angel, but during these days, a bit of that childishness had faded, replaced by a touch of maturity.
Her brows and eyes were lowered, and the light flickering in her eyes was still just as beautiful.
She was absolutely a strong girl, with her own thoughts and convictions. Once she made a decision, she would not be easily shaken.
Otherwise, Luke would never have let her be stained with blood. Not wanting to remain forever protected inside a greenhouse was her own choice.
This radiant blond girl would eventually shed the innocence of her youth, but that would not stop her from continuing to shine.
Because Luke would always support her decision.
After thinking for a moment, Luke raised his hand, and a watery blue light suddenly appeared in his palm.
The light drew Lux's attention. She raised her head and immediately froze.
What appeared before her was a beautiful gemstone flickering with blue radiance, the light inside gathered like crystal.
He raised his other hand, and an identical beautiful gemstone appeared there as well, reflected in Sona's eyes.
"They're for you."
Luke said softly.
"It's so pretty. Where did you find it?"
Lux accepted it instinctively, completely forgetting her worries from a moment ago. It felt faintly cool in her hand, and what had gathered inside it was actually mana.
Compared with the mana inside, she liked the gemstone's appearance even more.
No girl could resist a sparkling gemstone.
Including her and Sona.
Even Sona was conquered by the gemstone in an instant.
Luke said casually, "I found it by chance a few days ago. I named it aquamarine."
In truth, it was the Mana Crystal he had obtained from his monthly check-in last time. Back then, he had thought about giving them to the two of them, then forgot.
Now he had suddenly remembered.
Lux was not paying attention to Luke's words at all. A necklace had already been threaded through the Mana Crystal. She eagerly put it around her neck, then happily lifted her fair neck and showed it to Luke. "Does it look good?"
"Decent enough, I guess."
Luke gave it a symbolic couple of glances, then looked at Sona and immediately changed his expression. "It really suits Sona when she wears it."
Blue hair, blue eyes, paired with this blue gemstone. It could be said to be incomparably harmonious. Hanging on her crystalline neck, it added a touch of sacred elegance, like a beautiful painting.
"Thank you. I'm very happy."
Sona's delighted and slightly bashful voice came into his mind.
She held up the gemstone lovingly and began examining it carefully.
"Hmph."
Lux gave a somewhat sour little huff, expressing her disdain for the way this guy had brushed her off.
Then she began admiring herself all on her own.
She held the gemstone cheerfully, and could even see her own little face inside it. The corners of her mouth hung in a silly smile, making her look extremely self-absorbed.
At least she no longer looked nervous.
Luke's gaze returned to her, and a smile appeared on his face. "It actually looks pretty good on you too."
"Heh. Saying that now? Too late!"
Lux let out a disdainful laugh and proudly lifted her chin like a white swan.
But in truth, she could not stop a few more traces of happiness from appearing in her heart.
Luke smiled and said, "I discovered earlier that the mana inside this gemstone can recover automatically. If the two of you use up too much mana, you can use it to replenish yourselves. After a while, it will fill up again."
Lux's eyes lit up. "Really? It's that amazing? Noxus has treasures like this too?"
Many bold ideas immediately appeared in her mind, her eyes looking as though she were plotting something.
Noxus had occupied so many treasures for so long. That was too much. It was time for them to spit some of it back out!
They had only taken this much territory, and treasures like this had already appeared. If they kept fighting farther in, wouldn't they make even more of a fortune?
While Lux was thinking about all this, a boundary river slowly appeared ahead of the army. It was even wider than the last one, and this river was likewise connected to the Conqueror's Sea.
It was a full dozen meters or more across, with rapid water rushing through it. If someone fell in, who knew where they would be washed away.
Crossing the river would take some time. After all, they needed to build a bridge that could support tens of thousands of people crossing. Noxus would absolutely not be kind enough to leave a bridge here.
However, there was no rush. There were no enemies lying in ambush on the opposite bank anyway.
Demacia's resources along this journey had not been especially tight. They had used the same method as Noxus, sustaining war through war.
As long as something in the places they passed through was useful, they plundered it all.
Even now, their various supplies and resources were still very abundant.
At this time, the army sent out a portion of its soldiers and began building a temporary bridge across the river.
The rest used this time to rest where they were. Those who needed to eat ate, those who needed water drank from the river, all so they could face the coming battle.
At the same time, in Groft.
"General, barring any accidents, the Demacians should have already begun crossing the boundary river."
In the council room, sunlight shone in through the window as an adjutant spoke slowly.
Demir nodded with a grave expression and ordered, "Notify the whole army to prepare. Also, when will the reinforcements from the Immortal Bastion arrive?"
At present, after Groft had evacuated its civilians, only around seventy to eighty thousand people capable of fighting remained.
He had not arranged a defensive line at the boundary river to continue intercepting Demacia, because doing so would inevitably mean sacrificing a portion of their troops.
During these days, their main mission had been to delay Demacia and stop them from reaching Groft so quickly.
That was why they had been fighting through harassment. Even so, they had still paid no small price.
Now, after clashing with the prince's army many times, Demir understood deeply that the forces currently in the city were simply not enough to stop the prince's army's attack.
They needed more reinforcements!
The troops sent by the Immortal Bastion were their hope.
An adjutant replied, "We already received word earlier that they were almost here. They should be able to arrive before Demacia attacks."
As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier ran in quickly and reported, "General, the support troops have arrived!"
Hearing this, Demir's expression immediately lifted, and he stood up at once. "Quick, come with me to welcome them."
He led the welcoming party to the city's rear gate.
As the heavy city gate slowly opened, a large army behind it gradually appeared. Looking over, there were black-armored soldiers as far as the eye could see, their presence extremely powerful.
At the front were cavalry troops, and at the very forefront were several generals clad in heavy armor, their faces cold.
Demir recognized the leading general among them and rode forward to meet him. "Kabud, the Immortal Bastion sent you?"
Kabud nodded slightly when he heard this. "I was ordered to serve as your deputy general and resist Demacia together with you."
When Demir heard this, he knew what was going on.
They said deputy general, but in reality, because of his failure in the first battle, the Immortal Bastion had sent someone who could replace him at any time.
What Kabud brought with him was the authority of the Immortal Bastion. From the moment he arrived, his right to speak was already not low.
But right now, nothing was more important than defending Groft. Demir said, "Enter the city first. Demacia will attack soon."
"No rush. This is Omos, commander of the mage regiment. He is a high-ranking mage."
Kabud then introduced a white-bearded mage standing beside him.
"Greetings."
Demir still had some respect for mages.
Omos, however, was even more arrogant. Hearing this, he merely nodded faintly. "This time, I will fully cooperate with Kabud against Demacia."
These words were also like declaring a side, openly supporting Kabud.
Demir did not care, and the troops began entering the city.
This time, the Immortal Bastion had sent a total of one hundred thousand troops. As a result, Groft's defending force immediately expanded to more than one hundred seventy thousand.
This gave Demir a few more traces of security. During these days, the threat the prince's army had brought him had been far too great, making him far less confident than he had been at the beginning.
Seeing the entire city on high alert, Kabud let out a mocking laugh. "Demacia hasn't even attacked yet, and you're already this scared? Demir, it seems you took quite a fall because of that prince."
Seeing the arrogance all over him, Demir could not help saying, "Demacia is truly different this time. No matter what, it is better to be careful."
Kabud still looked arrogant and said calmly, "The Immortal Bastion sent this many reinforcements, including five cavalry companies, three artillery companies, one mage company, three thousand drakehounds, and three thousand basilisks. Used properly, a force of this scale would be enough to attack a small nation. Is there still any need to fear a mere prince's army? How many troops did they send? Even all three lines combined do not add up to one hundred fifty thousand."
With such a visible difference in combat strength, he completely failed to understand what there was to worry about.
Demir looked at him and said, "You know as well that showing off numerical superiority against Demacia is not wise."
The quality of Demacian soldiers was famous throughout Runeterra.
Every soldier of theirs had been carefully trained, while more than half of Noxus's soldiers had not undergone proper training.
Previously, he had also believed that greater numbers meant a bigger fist.
But now, he no longer thought so.
Unless the Immortal Bastion sent five hundred thousand soldiers as reinforcements, perhaps they could directly drown the prince's army in numbers.
But setting aside whether they could even recruit that many soldiers, could Noxus send so many troops to just one western border?
As for the one hundred seventy thousand they had now, he believed they could at most stabilize the situation. As for how to win, that would depend on how they fought.
Kabud knew that Demir did have some ability.
After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What are you thinking?"
Demir slowly explained his intention. "You haven't seen Demacia's gunpowder firepower before. My current thought is that we should charge directly and fight Demacia head-on."
Kabud froze for a moment, then raised his voice. "Have you gone mad, or have I?"
After confirming that Demir was serious, he laughed disdainfully. "Looks like Demacia really frightened the nerve out of you, if you can even say something like that. We have a city full of so many men, and instead of defending it, we run out and take the initiative to fight Demacia? Are you sick? Besides, they have gunpowder, but now we have it too.
"This time, the Immortal Bastion specifically sent three artillery companies with me for the sake of countering Demacia's cannons.
"Don't forget, we also have a mage company. With Omos here, we are not easy to provoke either. At the very least, we do not need to fear those Dragonbird Riders."
As he spoke, he glanced at Omos beside him. The other man was a high-ranking mage from the magic academy, powerful in strength. Aside from him, there were five hundred mages assisting them as well.
At that moment, the corners of Omos's mouth also lifted into an arrogant smile. He said flatly, "Rest assured. I will make my move at the critical moment."
At this time, the adjutants around Kabud also found it laughable.
Right now, they had more than a hundred thousand people defending a city. With such a huge advantage, Demir wanted to abandon it and run out to fight Demacia.
Wasn't that sick?
"I hope I'm overthinking it."
Looking at their confident expressions, Demir temporarily gave up the idea of leaving the city to meet the enemy. After all, they also had gunpowder weapons now, along with five hundred mages.
Their strength did seem to have improved quite a bit.
Ever since fighting Demacia once, he had known that defending a city would definitely not be easy.
Taking the initiative to meet the enemy was actually the better method.
But now, he could not make the decision alone. On top of that, he had not yet seen the Immortal Bastion's artillery, so for the moment, he did not know whether it could resist Demacia.
However, when dusk arrived, another inspiring piece of good news came.
"Generals, Admiral Kled has arrived!"
A soldier reported loudly.
When Demir, Kabud, and the assembled generals heard this, they all stood in surprise and delight.
They went to welcome Kled.
As the heavy city gate opened once more, in the direction where the sun was about to set, a tall shadow was cast up from below the slope.
In the next second, the clopping sound of hooves striking the ground rang out. The shadow drew closer and closer, and at the very end, Kled finally appeared!
A figure who was not tall, only about a meter high, rode on the back of a desert drakalops, swaying into everyone's sight.
The light of the setting sun spilled behind him, making him look incomparably towering at this moment.
This was Kled.
Looking at him, not a single person present felt even the slightest doubt because of his height.
When it came to Kled, this man was a figure in Noxus just as famous as Darius.
In fact, Kled had become famous far earlier than Darius.
In his early years, he had already been praised as a folk hero of Noxus. The stories about him were countless, such as "The Great Hussar Victory," "The Return of the High Major Commodore," and "The Mountain Admiral."
Without question, this was a classic Noxian hero who had lived a colorful life.
Everyone who had fought alongside Kled would say that Kled possessed a kind of magic. In battle, he could grant a person infinite courage, and fighting under him always meant victory.
Although that was somewhat exaggerated, it was enough to show the image Kled held in every Noxian's heart.
He was not a warlord.
But he could make warlords lower their heads and welcome his arrival.
Demir stepped forward and said respectfully, "Admiral Kled, welcome."
Kled seemed very satisfied with this title. He asked, "Tell me about the guy I'm supposed to beat this time."
And so Demir began slowly recounting Demacia's information.
"I've got a feeling, Skaarl. We've got ourselves a hard fight coming."
After listening to most of it, Kled rode atop the desert lizard and slowly passed through the crowd welcoming him, looking as though he were talking to himself.
Skaarl answered him with several squeaking cries.
Demacia?
It was a name he had some impression of. He remembered that he seemed to have fought those people a few times.
He no longer knew when that had been. His memory of wars was not particularly deep, because he had fought too many battles.
If he had to remember every single battle, wouldn't his head burst?
But in any case, the moment this name was mentioned, a fierce desire to fight surged within him.
That alone was enough to prove that the opponent this time was worth fighting with everything he had.
If this stupid lizard had not suddenly gone into heat and run all over the mountains chasing every kind of magical beast, he would have been back long ago.
He absolutely would not have allowed Demacia to fight its way here.
To Kled, this was an offense.
Because he regarded Trevale and this entire region as his own territory, and now the enemy actually dared to run wild on his land.
He would not tolerate it one bit!
Standing atop the towering city wall, Kled gazed into the distance, filled with excitement and anticipation for the coming war.
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