I, The Dragon Overlord - Chapter 378

Chapter 378 – Money is Power

Outside the capital of Selar, the soldiers of Dragon City were marched doggedly through the countryside, banners unfurled, and spears sharpened for combat.

40,000 of its soldiers crossed to the foreign territory with the intention of enacting a slaughter. The campaign so far had been extremely successful, with them taking three cities smoothly and surrounding the capital of Selar on three sides.

War was fought with resources, food, weapons, and morale. If the whole city was surrounded on all sides, then the enemy soldiers would fight to their last dying breath, but as long as one path was left open, then when the enemy was placed at a disadvantage and morale collapsed, they would think of living. At that time, when the enemy runs away, they would be attacked by a hidden ambush and win.

This was how Earth’s cold warfare was fought, but in the magical world, there were many means to cope with the crisis. For example, the Holy Iris Order that Louie fought with before forcefully raised their morale with the blessing from the God of War. That said, Earth’s ways of war were still very useful.

Although the capital of Selar was not as big and majestic as Dragon City, it was still a considerably large city in San Soliel and had operated for more than a thousand years.

Even if the civilization of San Soliel was similar to the Middle Ages, San Soliel was magical in nature. The walls of the city alone were made up of magic and erected to be more than 30 meters tall, which would not have been possible in the Middle Ages.

With the city centered between hostile forces, the chilling wind that blow through its eaves, edifices, and squares left the inhabitants feeling anxious.

The commander and soldiers of the army of Selar looked at the distant forces that carried a majestic and imposing aura. Every one of them gulped their saliva and felt a chill in their hearts.

The soldiers of Dragon City were all full-time soldiers which was a rarity in the current era. At a time when material resources were scarce, it was impossible for soldiers to only focus on training all day. Only knights had the privilege to do so. Training knights would require a lot of material goods that were usually donated by the nobility, but this could only raise about a few hundred of them at a time. These knights and their relatives together form the elite branch of a country’s army.

For the Kingdom of Selar, these kings of elites only numbered a few thousand, and at the height of the Subila Empire, there were less than 100,000 of them.

Dragon City not only received material support from Earth but also raised its army with technical knowledge from Earth. It became one of the strongest cities on the main continent, and as a result, merchants and nobles from all over the world would visit it, resulting in increased economic strength. As a result, many people considered Dragon City as heaven on earth.

With money, soldiers did not need to farm. They could leisurely train, and after ten years, Louie had subjected his soldiers to harsh training, raising an army of more than 40,000 elites.

Moreover—

“Hey, take a look, those soldiers are wearing heavy armor!”

The commander of Selar poked his aide beside him and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

The world of San Soliel was still using outdated methods in mining. Even the dwarves who were its experts did not necessarily have a high yield.

Thankfully, their existence meant that San Soliel was not too far behind in the refining of mineral deposits when compared to Earth, and due to the existence of magic and the dwarves’ racial talents, the quality of smelted metal could be even better than on Earth. However, the world ultimately fell far short in terms of the scale of the industry.

Although the quality of the batch of steel that Louie obtained from China was worse in quality than those legendary armors in San Soliel, it was more than enough for ordinary soldiers. Moreover, those legendary grade armors were scarce and impossible to mass produce.

Dragon City had captured more than ten thousand dwarves to work for them. As a result, these armors that the soldiers were wearing were all enchanted, causing the weakness of steel from Earth to disappear. The black, heavy armor would serve as excellent equipment in a war.

If this was on Earth, not all soldiers could wear heavy armor, but in San Soliel, the existence of powerhouses made it possible to equip every soldier with one.

This was especially true for the beastmen. The heavy armor was thicker and heavier and they loved to use blunt weapons to attack. Anyone unlucky enough to be hit by them would have their skulls bashed in.

“These beastmen, why are they so quiet…”

The soldiers on the walls of Selar muttered incredulously. They knew that beastmen swarm people by rushing forward, unlike humans who were always in formation. It could be said that battles with beastmen were chaotic, but the beastmen of Dragon City seemed to have become unnaturally orderly.

The physical qualities of beastmen far exceeded that of humans, but the beastmen kingdoms were poor and had bad agriculture and mining abilities. Even having a decent weapon was rare for them, so they always relied on their inherent physical abilities to fight. Even so, humans and beastmen both suffered when the two sides were at war.

Seeing how the beastmen of Dragon City were all wearing heavy armor and were arrayed in neat rows, the Selarian spectators were astonished.

These beastmen with their powerful bodies in combination with the armament skills of dwarves were simply going to be unstoppable. Most likely, these soldiers would become the bane of many countries.

Moreover, this was not the end of things. Worst of all was the red dragon flying in the sky. Everyone knew that adult red dragons were the incarnations of destruction. Every time one flew over a city, it would strike fear into the hearts of the inhabitants and even soldiers. This might have been still fine if it was just a red dragon, but the red dragon was also wearing armor!

“I’ve long heard that Dragon City is extremely rich and even ordinary citizens can eat food fit for the lords…… but this…… this is too much. This is the first time I’m hearing about armor for dragons!”

Even the commander of the country’s army could not help but shout. His scalp numbed at the sight of the dragon.

Dragons were already strong as a species. Their scales alone were hard to penetrate and only truly strong people could pierce past them. And now, this dragon was wearing armor that was enchanted by dwarves. Other than legendary rank powerhouses and demigods, who could contend against it? Ordinary soldiers couldn’t even break past its scales let alone its armor!

No one expected Dragon City to be so rich in metal. Even the dwarven kingdom in the north couldn’t bring out that much.

The people of San Soliel did not know that this was nothing in the face of modern mass-production on Earth. China was originally the world’s number one steel-producing country, and they even had a surplus without much land to use it on. It was easy for Louie to exchange a large amount of steel with items from San Soliel any time he wanted.

The steel consumed by Dragon City wasn’t even a fraction of China’s monthly production.

With this steel, Louie had a sudden whim of letting people create armor for his dragon body. He originally wanted to play around with this armor, but now that he was a god, there was simply no use for it.

In this war, they by chance had a red dragon that could be sent to the frontlines. Alexia had taken out her Father God’s redundant armor and let him wear it. The dragon quickly grew quite fond of it and contemplated stealing it away once he regained his freedom.

Although the number of soldiers in Selar was more than twice that of Dragon City, and they had walls as tall as 30 meters as well as the support of legendary rank and demigod powerhouses, they still felt that they had little chance of winning. Even demigods would flee in the face of this powerful 40,000-man army.

Demigods were not stuid. They would not waste their precious divine power fighting these elite soldiers especially when the other side also had a god’s backing. By looking at the strength of both sides, the gap was enough to make them want to flee—

The other side was just too fucking rich!

This was the true way to fight a war. Compared to ambushes and plots, the most righteous way to win was to take the money and throw it against the other side. This was how the richest country on Earth played with war, by being rich!

……

While the forces of Dragon City and the forces of the Kingdom of Selar were confronting each other, Louie had crossed realms to the Elysium, the realm of bliss, and directly stood in front of the Goddess of Magic’s divine kingdom, the Heart of Magic!

He just stood behind the doorway and let out a provocative look.