Aldred raised the blade high above his head and then violently swung it down. Extremely powerful flame came out of the sword in a form of a wide arc that went straight towards the wall.
In that moment, the whole world seemed to be filled with bright light and extreme heat. It was so hot that their armor began to melt and their skin felt like burning.
All the soldiers screamed in pain as they hurried to take off their armor. Most of them were too late, and their armors melted into their skin. They desperately tried to push the melting armor away, but it was a futile effort. Slowly, they were cooked to death.
The six low Diamond Ranks grit their teeth in pain.
"Everyone! Let's use our power to cast a barrier!"
The six low Diamond Ranks raised their magic staff and casted a thick barrier enveloping the castle.
The temperature began to drop immediately, but the wide arc of flame was still floating in the sky, slowly inching towards them.
"When will that arc of flame disappear? We cannot hold this barrier for long!"
The barrier continuously consumed huge amount of mana. The more powerful the attack they defended against, the more mana it took to sustain the barrier.
But this was a rare case. They were six low Diamond Ranks, and the enemy was only one. How could he made them struggle this much just by himself!?
After a few seconds, the barrier shattered, and heat waves washed over them again. It was as if the sun was coming towards them.
The soldiers' eyes burnt charcoal as they screamed in pain.
And when the arc of flame arrived, it smashed onto the wall and exploded with three blazing typhoon of fire.
The typhoons only appeared for less than three seconds because Aldred did not want to damage the city too much.
After Aldred's attack, the survivor began to look around and trembled in fear at the destruction. The world was full of fire and charcoal corpses.
There were even bodies covered in hot melting steel. If Hell truly exist, this must be how it looked like.
However, it was not over yet. Thousands of golems and robots nimbly rushed in and brandished their weapons.
They sliced and diced anyone that was alive without mercy.
A Platinum Rank knight, wearing heavy armor and grasping a great sword, roared into the sky. A powerful life force erupted from him, and he charged at Aldred's army.
Raising the blade, he chopped off a golem's head, and sent it flying.
However, before the knight could do another move, the headless golem moved its four arms and stabbed the knight from four different direction.
The Platinum Rank knight was powerful. In fact, this one was considered to be one of the most talented in the army, but he didn't even manage to properly 'kill' a golem before he was turned into mince meat.
With the wall destroyed, Aldred's army entered the castle with ease.
The six low Diamond Rank magicians gathered again after drinking a bunch of potions.
After Aldred's army killed all the soldiers, they all rushed towards the six magicians.
"Dark Shards!"
"Mass Puppets!"
"Slippery Surface!"
"Rain of Spear!"
All kinds of spells blasted towards the robots and the golems. Many fell to the ground because it became slippery all of a sudden. And the never-ending-rain-of-spear kept stabbing onto the golems and robots.
The close-range units were in trouble.
That was when the long-range units came in. Hundreds of artillery robots and golems fired towards the six magicians.
Loud explosions rang in the air and the spells stopped. The golems and robots rushed into the cloud of smoke.
The six magicians were quickly overwhelmed. They managed to destroy a few thousands golems and robots, but they went down nonetheless.
Aldred's golems and robot were as powerful as a Platinum Rank.
In fact, Corduul even had a lot of robots that had Diamond Rank power. The gigantic aircraft for example had the cannon that could kill Diamond Rank with ease.
Aldred did not use it because he wanted to keep the city intact.
"Count of Waralia!" Aldred shouted. "I am the Grand Emperor Aldred. I come here to take your territory."
Aldred was never known as the Grand Emperor, but he thought it would be cool to have that nickname.
"Grand Emperor?" Count Heled flew out of his castle. "Did you just call yourself as the Grand Emperor? You are not even an Adamantite Rank yet, and you dare to call yourself with such title?!"
"Why should I be afraid?" Aldred smiled.
"Humph! Such arrogance! I can see that you are not from here. Leave this place at once. This continent is not for you. If you still insist to take my territory, the Kingdom of Withokere will deal with you. Many nobles will be happy to take my territory as theirs."
"That will be my problem. Now, will you die?"
Count Heled clenched his fist and an aura of high Diamond Rank erupted from him.
Aldred laughed. "Arise."
Shadows engulfed the dead body of the six low Diamond Ranks, and suddenly, they came out in their undead form.
Count Heled frowned. "You… did you just turn them into undead?"
"Is it that surprising?"
Zunescin suddenly appeared beside Aldred. He was the undead with lightning abilities.
And then Zehmud appeared. He was the demon summoned that Aldred had killed before.
In total, he got 8 Diamond Ranks undead now.
"Kill him," Aldred ordered.
"Yes, master."
They flashed and appeared in front of Count Heled and struck him immediately.
Count Heled struggled to fight against 8 Diamond Ranks at once, but he managed to hold them off for a few hours.
"Aldred!" Heled shouted. "We have no enmity with each other! Why do you do this?"
"In order to be stronger, I need more resources. It just so happens that I wanted yours."
"Resources… you think that is enough to increase your strength? All the resources in the world will not be enough if you don't have the talent."
"I believe I have the talent."
"Then how many territories will you take? How many enemies will you make? Sooner or later, you will be defeated by someone far stronger than you."
Aldred thought about it for a second. "You're right. After taking your territory, I will make a lot of allies. I am sure, I can offer them something better than you. In fact, they might even be grateful to have me instead."
"You cannot do that."
"I have powerful golems, I can turn Diamond Ranks into undead, and I am far more powerful than you. You think you are better than me?"
Count Heled gritted his teeth and rushed at Aldred. "I will kill you!"
"Didn't I just said that I am stronger than you." Aldred smiled, and suddenly his eyes turned gold.
A loud boomed reverberated inside Heled's head. He felt dizzy and his whole body seemed very heavy.
"What are those eyes…"
"It's useless to tell you anyway. Now, die."
Aldred's eyes lit up and suddenly Heled's body exploded.
Looking down, Aldred commanded: "Clean the city and rebuild all the destroyed buildings."
