Time is like flowing water, and a year has passed in a blink of an eye.

During this year, many great events took place in Dick's territory, first of all, eight thousand elven warriors joined the army, including four thousand elven archers, two thousand horned eagle knights, one thousand elven swordsmen, and one thousand elven mages. Dick appointed Landas as the leader of four thousand elven archers and one thousand elven swordsmen, two thousand eagle knights as sentinels to the demon hunters of Klender, and one thousand elven mages to Snar as the city's defenses.

Varne, recommended by Clond, succeeded in establishing an intelligence system, although it was still imperfect and limited to the Twelve Provinces in the southwest of the empire and the demon clans on the frontiers.

During the year, the cities in the territory successfully implemented a series of reforms, including the demolition of the inner city walls, the reinforcement of the outer city walls, and the formation of the Demon Hunter Knights. Each city is equipped with a team ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 Demon Hunters. According to Valne's statistics, there should be more than 56,000 Demon Hunters in the entire province combined.

Then, it was Dick who openly claimed to have discovered the Stygian Iron Vein on the outskirts of Orel City in the province of Otto, and the Stygian Iron trade began to change from underground to above board, and the profits obtained naturally increased greatly. At the same time, the trade in the Dark Iron also attracted some merchants from within the empire to settle in Otto, making Otto far richer than the other provinces of the Twelve Southwest Provinces, and the inhabitants of the other provinces sharpened their heads and drilled into Otto, and according to the statistics of the newly established intelligence system, the population of Otto Province increased by three to four percent.

Dick's cultivation improved by leaps and bounds under the influence of the magic array and divine charity potion bought at a sky-high price, and on the fifty-sixth day of using the new magic array, Dick reached the strength of a ninth-level magician and warrior, and on the seventy-second day, he reached the rank of a great magician and a high-level warrior. Now, a year has passed, and Dick's cultivation has reached the level of a ninth-level great mage and high-level warrior, and he is only half a step away from entering the realm of a mage and a knight.

At the same time, Dick also applied to Valkx Academy to graduate at the end of the academic year, and Dick won the championship again without any suspense in the year-end college competition.

Dick's one-year contract with Gold has also come to an end, but Gold still plays under Dick. There are many reasons for this, perhaps because of Dick's co-optation over the year, or maybe because Gold's domain, Boer, is in the province of Otto, and he should nominally be under Dick's jurisdiction. But Gold's own exact words were: "Joining the Demon Hunting Knights can fight the Demon Clan all day long, which is very good for improving cultivation." "In the past year, Gold's strength has indeed improved rapidly, and now he is a fifth-level great magician and high-level warrior.

In addition to the nobles and private soldiers of the towns, the military Liliang of the Miro Empire is divided into six legions, the Northern Legion against the undead, the Southern Legion against the Orcs, the Eastern Rees Fleet against the Kraken, the Southwest Legion against the Demon Clan, the Border Legion against the other two empires in the West, and the Miro Legion against the imperial capital Mirrok.

Martin is a four-year veteran who is currently serving in the Miró Empire's Southwestern Legion. The strength of a second-class warrior made him a squadron leader.

On this day, Martin's squadron was tasked with guarding the Arrow Tower, which was surrounded by dozens of towers built around the fortress of Good, each equipped with a heavy crossbow.

The arrow tower they were going to guard today was located in the closest part of the fortress to the southwest, but the dozens of soldiers in the squadron were not too vigilant, and they all sat lazily in the tower. There was a small talk without a match. With one exception, it was a young recruit who had just joined the army, and Martin vaguely remembered that his name seemed to be Andy.

Andy dutifully stood in front of the tower window, looking out at the horizon in the distance. But he was also chatting with the other soldiers in the squadron.

"Master Martin, it's been two months since I joined the army, when will we be able to fight the Demon Clan?" asked Andy.

"Boy, if you go outside the city for a few more battles, you'll understand how blessed you are to hide in a strong fortress like this. Martin said as he smoked a cigarette.

"However, how can you build merit without fighting the Demon Clan?" Andy replied.

Martin exhaled two smoke dragons from his nose: "The Liliang of the Demon Clan far surpasses us humans, and fighting with a large group of Demon Clans outside the city is simply a nightmare. The only thing I want now is to mix in for another two or three years and then be discharged. ”

"However, we humans have won many battles against the Demon Clan, and the Demon Clan has been defeated every time they attack the major fortresses in the southwest of our Miro Empire. Andy said unconvinced.

Martin slowly spat out a smoke ring from his mouth: "Boy, you must know that most of the high-level demons are lurking in the abyss between our country and the Faun Empire, and it is not the highest demons who attack us, and the demons who enter and plunder are even weaker. Moreover, there are more than 200,000 people in our southwest legion, and the demon clan will send tens of thousands of demons every time they attack the major fortresses on our southwest border. ”

There was silence in the tower for a moment, and suddenly, Andy shouted, "Lord Martin, come and see, what is that?"

Martin leaped from the ground with a thud, took three steps and two steps to the window of the tower, and looked out.

On the distant horizon, a few points of red faintly appeared, and then these points of red gradually expanded, zuihou joined together, turning into a red wave that swept from afar, closer, closer, and the blood-red wave revealed sharp fangs, sharp claws, and the hideous and terrifying face that had appeared in nightmares countless times.

Demons!

Demons were overwhelming from afar, and the air was filled with darkness and fire.

"Ring the alarm!" Martin yelled hoarsely, his face a little hideously twisted. The soldiers immediately jumped up from the ground and ran to the corners of the towers, sounding the alarm.

The shrill sirens echoed throughout the Ghoud Fortress, alarming all the soldiers who were drilling, patrolling, or garrisoning, and all of them looked in the direction from which the alarm came.

Province of Otto, Governor's House.

Dick stood in his luxurious study, looking up at a map hanging on the wall, which was a known map of the distribution of continents.

The northern ice field of the continent is the territory of the undead, and the wild land in the south is the domain of the orcs, and the three major empires of the human race are sandwiched in the middle.

The Miro Empire is located to the east of the continent, the Theseus Empire is located to the northwest, and the Faun Empire is located to the southwest. The Miró Empire and the Theseus Empire share a large territory on the northwest border, but the Faun Empire is bordered only on the Grells Plain. That's because south of the Grells Plains, there is an abyssal rift between the border between the two countries, which is the territory of the Demon Clan. At the same time, in the east of the Miro Empire, the waters of Rees are the territory of the Sirens.

At this moment, there was a sharp knock at the door of the study.

"Come in!" said Dick.

Then a short, sturdy man in his mid-thirties walked into the study, "See the adults," he bowed.

"Varne, what's the matter?" Dick asked, turning.

The head of the newly established intelligence bureau looked panicked: "My lord, something is wrong!" he wiped the sweat from his forehead, "The demon clan has sent more than 300,000 demons to attack the southwest border of our country for some reason, and the Southwest Legion of the Empire has been defeated on all fronts!"

"What?" Dick was taken aback, but asked calmly. "When did this happen?"

"It was this morning, and since this was important information, the intelligence officers used a teleportation magic scroll to relay the message. Varnet said in a deep voice.

"Well done! Dick added, "Then do you know how many people the Demon Clan lost in order to defeat the Empire's Southwest Legion?"

Varnet frowned and said, "This ...... The subordinates don't understand, but according to the subordinates, the Southwest Legion of the Empire is a hundred battles, although the Demon Clan has defeated the Southwest Legion, they must also pay a price, they will lose at least 100,000 troops. ”

"That means that at least two hundred thousand demon clans are invading the territory of the empire. Dick paced a few steps in place, then turned around and said, "Quickly convey the news to the governors of the neighboring provinces, and call Crand, Landas, Sna, and Gold to come to me." ”

A few minutes later, Crand, Landas, Sna, and Gold were all standing in front of Dick.

"My lord, may I ask you for summoning us?" asked Clond, standing up.

Dick briefly explained to his four favorite generals: "According to the information obtained by Varne, just this morning, more than 300,000 demon clans invaded the territory of the empire, and the southwest army of the empire has been completely defeated. At least 200,000 demons are approaching us right now. ”

Clender and the other three were shocked, and Sna immediately said, "My lord, let's report to the imperial capital quickly." ”

Dick shook his head and said, "It's necessary to report to the Imperial Capital, but it's not the most important thing right now. The Empire's Southwest Army has been defeated, and even if the Imperial Capital wants to rescue, it must be transferred from elsewhere, and I don't know how much time it will take to go back and forth, and the most important thing now is that before the Imperial Capital's reinforcements arrive, what should we do? ”

Clender was the first to say: "My lord, I think the first thing we should do at this time is to find out the details of the demon clan, investigate their attack, and whether they disperse or gather forces to attack after invading the territory of the empire. If they were scattered and plundered, although the empire would suffer some losses, it would be much easier to manage, and give the last general enough time to lead the Demon Hunter Knights to defeat them one by one. If they gather forces to attack, they will have to find another way. ”

"Well said!" said Dick, rising from his chair and approving.

"Clender, you immediately order the scouts under the command of the Demon Hunter Knights and the Horned Eagle Knight to investigate the invading Demon Clan, and make sure to investigate the whereabouts of the Demon Clan's army. ”

Dick pondered for a moment, then continued, "And just in case, you will send for the evacuation of the civilians in the southwestern part of the province, and let them move to the northeastern part of the province, or simply to the mountains of Gultius. ”

"As for Sna," said Dick, "I command you to gather the forces of the entire province, and to gather the defeated troops that have retreated from the front, and to reorganize them into our Demon Hunter Knights, and at this time, no battle power can be wasted." ”

"Yes, as you order!" the four bowed in unison, and then left to go on their own tasks.

Dick pondered for a long time, but suddenly his head sounded the voice of Demihera: "Boy, a good news or a bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

"Bad news. Dick thought for a moment and said.

"The bad news is that the demon clan that invaded you is probably coming for me. ”

"What?" Dick almost jumped, "what's going on?"

Di Mihera said leisurely: "You have enshrined so much magic and fighting energy to me, so my current Liliang has reached a critical point, as long as you break through to the strength of the Magister and the Knight, I will also break through." It may be that the lord of the Abyss Demon sensed my breath and wanted to destroy me. ”

"I don't think you're strong enough to threaten the Lord of the Abyss Demons. Dick said politely, he had borrowed Dimihera's liliang, so he knew Dimihera's strength very well.

"Among demons, Liliang is certainly a decisive factor, but the natural rank is equally important. Dimihera said coldly, "Remember when I told you that demons are also divided into three, six, nine, and so on? The Abyss Demon is one of the lower levels of the demons, and if I am given enough time, I will definitely be able to replace the current Demon Lord as the Demon King." ”

"I see. Dick pouted, "And the good news?"

"The good news is that I can lend you Liliang for free during the fight against the Demon Clan's invasion. Dimichra said lightly.