Extraordinary Rise: Starting Contract with the Silver Dragon Countess

On the distant horizon, countless black ship shadows had appeared.

The ships had bizarre shapes, like ghosts, and sailed at breakneck speed, their hulls shrouded in a faint gray mist.

It is the ghost ship that strikes fear into the hearts of all!

The entire ghost ship fleet of the Crimson Raiders, like a nightmare emerging from the abyss, is pressing towards the Ceylon fleet with an encircling force.

"They're one of the Pirate King's people!"
They've finally arrived!

Charles stared wide-eyed, gripping the porthole in utter horror, his fingernails digging almost into the metal frame.
"But why are they attacking us?"

Didn't we sign an alliance agreement?

"Has Yann Hughes gone mad?"

He turned around abruptly, his voice hoarse and distorted with extreme shock and anger.

Just then, a legendary-rank guard responsible for his safety suddenly grabbed his arm and shouted urgently:

"Your Highness! Now is not the time to press for answers!"
Order a retreat immediately! We cannot allow ourselves to be completely surrounded here!

This is the kingdom's last remaining naval force.

If we are destroyed, forget about counterattacking Florence; the Scarlet Raiders could land on the coastline in an instant.

They'll strike right behind our Quesaon!

Charles felt his mind buzzing and go completely blank.

All strategies and plans collapsed completely at this moment.

He looked around blankly, as if searching for a lifeline, and shouted incoherently:

"Where is Commander Gaston?"

Go find Commander Gaston!

"Tell him to immediately organize the fleet, break out, and retreat to Ceylon!"

However, he was met with a desperate and furious roar from another general:

"Your Highness! Gaston Davenport, that traitor!"
He betrayed us long ago!

It was he who led his elite fleet, turned his cannons around, and joined those ghost ships in attacking us!

These words struck Charles like a final, devastating blow.

His body went limp, as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant, and he staggered backward, almost collapsing to the ground.

He was only able to be supported by the quick-thinking guards beside him.

“No… Impossible…

Gaston is the vice admiral of the navy, a hereditary nobleman of Ceylon, how could he... how could he possibly betray me..."

Charles muttered to himself, clearly having lost his senses.

The general standing nearby said with great distress:

"Your Highness, haven't you figured it out yet?"

This was a scam from the very beginning!

Gaston probably betrayed us the moment he was captured by the Pirate King!
They colluded with both insiders and outsiders, completely hollowing out our navy's strength!

Charles coughed up a mouthful of blood, then, as if grasping at a last straw, he grabbed the officer beside him.
"quick!

Go find Marin!
Tell Marin to immediately contact his father using the highest-secret communication array!

quick……"

However, his cries were destined to go unanswered.

At the very moment the ghost ship appeared, Marin Paxson, the trusted personal secretary, had already vanished without a trace, leaving the Royal Lion as silently as a ghost.

Outside the window, the cannon fire of the Crimson Raider Ghost Fleet and the Gaston Fleet had already intertwined into a devastating web of fire.

The Kingdom of Ceylon, a nation that was the most powerful kingdom on the continent just ten months ago, possessing an army and strength that inspired fear in all who heard of it.

They are about to lose their last elite force!
……

Although Prince Charles was unable to locate his personal secretary, Marin, who seemed to have vanished into thin air.

But the last encrypted message sent by the Royal Lion before its destruction was ultimately like a blood-stained arrow.

It traversed a vast distance and plunged deep into the heart of the Quissaon Palace.

The crystal that recorded the devastating news shattered in the center of the council hall.

When images and information about the annihilation of the main Ceylon Navy, the open betrayal of Vice Admiral Gaston Davenport, and his collusion with the arch-enemy "Crimson Raiders" were projected before the ministers.

The entire court fell into a deathly silence in an instant. The ensuing chaos and terror were like a devastating tsunami, sweeping through the power core of this ancient capital.

King Gaius, seated high on his throne, saw the message the instant it was read.

The majesty and composure on his face, befitting the monarch of the most powerful nation on the continent, completely crumbled and shattered.

He was struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, and sprang up from his throne.

His body swayed, his eyes wide open, and the horrific scene of the burning and exploding fleet in the crystal was reflected in his pupils. He was in a state of frenzy, as if the sky had collapsed and the earth had caved in.

He shoved aside the eunuch who tried to help him and rushed down the steps like a madman.

He grabbed the collar of the palace eunuch who was kneeling on the ground, trembling like a leaf.

Spit nearly landed on the other person's face, and his voice was distorted by extreme anger and disbelief:
"Nonsense! This is spreading rumors and misleading the public!"

You damned spy, how dare you fabricate such a colossal lie and sow discord among our troops!

Someone come!

"Drag this mind-altering creature away and execute him immediately!"

Just as the guards hesitated to step forward, the entire hall was enveloped in the king's rage and despair.

Prime Minister Merrick, who had been trying to remain calm, a seasoned veteran, shouted with all his might:
"Your Majesty! Wake up!"

The shout was like a splash of cold water, momentarily freezing Gaius's frenzied movements.

Gaius stood frozen in place, his chest heaving violently. He stared intently at Merrick, then abruptly turned to look at the now-dimmed crystal shards.

It was as if they wanted to erase that cruel scene from their eyes.

Extreme anger, the sting of betrayal, and utter despair for the future burned within him like poisonous fire.

Finally, he felt a sweet taste in his throat, and with a "pfft," a mouthful of blood gushed out, staining the luxurious carpet in front of him red.

Unable to hold on any longer, his body went limp and he collapsed heavily back onto the throne, his face ashen, but the mad rage in his eyes burned even more fiercely.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and pushed away the eunuch who came forward to check on him.

With the last of his strength, he let out a wounded roar like a wild beast, the sound echoing mournfully through the hall:

"why?
Why do they all betray me?!

I am Gaius Cromwell!
I am the king of the most powerful kingdom on this continent!
He, Yann Hughes, is a despicable pirate captain!

He was Gaston Davenport, a general I personally promoted!

How dare they!
Why would they betray me!

Gaius slammed his fist hard on the armrest of the throne, making a dull thud.

Then, as if he had thought of something, he suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes sweeping over the assembled officials in the palace.

He issued a hysterical order:

Gaston!

That shameless traitor!

I want his entire clan to be buried with him!

"Men, immediately, without exception, uproot the Davenport family completely, leaving not a single one alive!"

Prime Minister Merrick's eyes were bloodshot as he forced himself to ignore King Gaius's final, violent, and desperate order.

At this critical moment when a massive army was pressing in and the capital was in imminent danger.

Where would Quissaon find extra troops to wipe out the Davenport family, who were deeply entrenched in the army and must have already made thorough preparations?

At this juncture, taking action against the nobles within Quessaon would be tantamount to cutting off one's own arm, and could even trigger unpredictable internal strife.

He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the surging blood in his throat, and used all his strength.

Holding onto the last shred of reason, he spoke in a somber voice to the king, who had collapsed on his throne:
"Your Majesty, the matter is crystal clear."

We...we were all deceived, completely and utterly fooled!

His voice began to tremble, filled with a tearing pain:
"I'm afraid that Pirate King Yann Hughes is not our ally at all!"

From the very beginning, he secretly colluded with Cohen Corleone, that guy from Effie.

This is nothing short of a meticulously planned, elaborate trap that has been in the works for who knows how long!

Merrick's body swayed slightly, as if the bones supporting him were cracking one by one. He stretched out a trembling finger, pointing into the void, as if to pierce the suffocating lie:

"It started when they proactively expressed their willingness to cooperate with us and use our funds and technology to build ghost ships."

It's all a scam!

They used the gold coins from the treasury of our Kingdom of Ceylon and the most advanced shipyards in Quessaon to build themselves a terrifying ghost fleet!

They are using our resources to train their own soldiers!

At this point, extreme humiliation and anger made him almost breathless:
"And now they have turned their guns on us, using the very blades we raised to pierce our own hearts!"
How could they... how could they do this... Waaah..."

The words stopped abruptly.

This old prime minister, who had weathered two dynasties and witnessed countless rises and falls of the kingdom, could no longer maintain his composure.

The thought of the Kingdom of Ceylon, once the most glorious and powerful nation on this continent, is not only a reminder of its defeat on the battlefield.

Instead, they are manipulated by the enemy like fools, pushed step by step into the abyss of destruction by the money and resources they provide.

An unprecedented sense of shame and despair, enough to destroy all beliefs, washed away the mental defenses he had built up throughout his life, like an icy tide.

He could no longer hold on, tears streaming down his face, and in front of the entire court, he looked like a child who had lost everything.

Unable to contain herself, she burst into tears.

The cries were not only for the immediate defeat, but also a lament for the complete collapse of an era and a belief.

King Gaius slumped on his throne, his eyes bloodshot and staring intently into the void.

It was as if they wanted to stare through the cruel truth that Prime Minister Merrick had revealed.

He shook his head violently, his hair disheveled, looking like a madman, a low growl like that of a trapped beast escaping his throat, stubbornly refusing to believe this heart-wrenching truth:
"No...impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

He waved his arms and roared in a hoarse voice:

"That pirate captain, Yann Hughes."

He was so badly fooled by Cohen Corleone back then!

Along with Qiao Lun of the Central Empire and Xia Zuo of the Eastern Empire, they were manipulated by Cohen, lost face, and became a laughing stock on the continent.

No man could tolerate such a humiliation.

How could he possibly swallow this insult?

How could he possibly still work with Cohen?
This doesn't make sense! This must be fake!

Prime Minister Merrick was already in tears; he knelt on the ground and cried out with all his might:

"His Majesty!
Wake up! Please see reality.

Who is he?
He is the son of a demon god, a jinx with demonic blood flowing through his veins.

He was a lawless pirate captain who only cared about profit!

What does a pirate care about face?
For them, dignity and shame are not as valuable as a shiny gold coin.

They only care about tangible benefits and the thrill of revenge!

The former prime minister pounded the ground, tears streaming down his face.
"And have you forgotten?"

His fiancée, Princess Grace of the Eastern Empire, and Princess Isabella of Effie were close friends for many years, like sisters.

It must be this line.

It must be that the Pirate King, relying on this relationship, had already secretly bowed his head to Cohen Corleone and offered his pledge of allegiance.

"They had already reached an agreement and orchestrated this grand scheme to annihilate Ceylon!"

This last sentence was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

It was like a red-hot iron, fiercely burning onto the scar in Gaius's heart that he least wanted to touch.

The last shred of hope in his mind, the faint wish to find an excuse for this absurd betrayal, was utterly shattered at this moment by Merrick's bloody analysis.

The truth, like cold venom, instantly filled his entire body.

He felt as if countless red-hot steel knives had pierced his chest at the same time, and a heart-wrenching pain suddenly exploded within him.

Suddenly everything went black, and all sounds and sights rapidly faded away. Overwhelmed with anxiety, this once invincible monarch of the strongest kingdom on the continent...

He lost consciousness without even uttering a groan, his body went limp, and he collapsed completely unconscious on the throne that symbolized supreme power but was now chillingly cold.

The entire palace was instantly plunged into utter chaos.

The attendants and ministers were in a panic, like headless flies, watching the king lying unconscious on the throne and the prime minister collapsed on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

The core of power seemed to collapse in an instant.

It was Prime Minister Merrick, who had weathered many storms, who first suppressed the despair and humiliation that were almost crushing him. He struggled to his feet and, in a hoarse voice, sternly rebuked the flustered servants.

He ordered them to immediately summon the palace physician and bring back the sacred fruit of the spirits, which contained powerful life energy.

When the fruit, radiating a soft glow, was placed in Gaius's mouth, it transformed into a gentle life force that flowed through his nearly depleted meridians.

The King of Ceylon finally let out a weak groan and slowly awoke.

When Gaius woke up, his face was still as pale as paper, but his eyes once again held a hint of the fierceness that belonged to a king.

He pushed away the arm that was supporting him and forced his back to straighten.

He knew very well that he could not fall at this critical moment when the kingdom was on the verge of collapse.

He must immediately stabilize the situation, organize a defense, and even... consider a way out.

However, just as he took a deep breath, preparing to issue his first command...

A series of hurried, almost frantic footsteps, accompanied by the clanging of metal armor plates colliding, approached like a death knell.

It abruptly shattered the brief and fragile peace in the court.

Marshal Orfion Barrett, the Chief of the Army General Staff in charge of the defense of the four gates of the capital, rushed into the hall in a panic before he could even give an announcement.

He knelt down on one knee with a thud, and when he looked up, his face was filled with disbelief, despair, and fear.

The voice trembled so much it almost changed tone:

"Your Majesty! No...it's terrible! The East Gate...the East Gate has been breached!"

"what?"

King Gaius felt a sudden dizziness, his vision blurred, and he almost collapsed to the ground again.

He grabbed the gilded pillar beside him to steady himself, and uttered a question filled with shock and anger:

"How can it be?

This is absolutely impossible!
The Red Dragon Duchess's main force has only just begun its siege, hasn't it?

The east gate has the strongest defenses and the largest garrison, including my most elite 'king-level' troops.

How long has it been?

It didn't even take an hour!

How could they not even hold out for an hour?
"Aufien, have you lost your mind? Are you giving a false report?"

His roar echoed in the hall, but it could not drown out the increasingly clear shouts of battle and explosions coming from outside the hall.

The sound was like a cold tide, instantly engulfing everyone present.

Field Marshal Barrett's voice trembled violently, almost breaking into a sob:

"It's...it's true!"

Your Majesty! A 'King-level' legion bearing the banner of Effie suddenly appeared outside the city gates.

That equipment, that aura—it's absolutely undeniable!

Moreover, the numbers are overwhelming; at a rough estimate, they are at least three times ours!

"three times?"

The news struck like a thunderbolt from the heavens, exploding in the deathly silent court and leaving all the ministers terrified.

Even King Gaius, who had just managed to muster his strength, sprang from his throne, his face drained of color, his voice shrill and distorted with extreme terror:
"impossible!

This is absolutely impossible!

What is Cohen Corleone anyway?!
A nouveau riche! The king of a small, remote country!

How could he possibly possess a 'king-level' army?

Or three times our number?
Could it be that the Central Empire itself has intervened?

He seemed to have grasped at the last straw, or perhaps he was gripped by an even deeper fear, his gaze sweeping anxiously over the silent, trembling courtiers below.

Don't blame him for being so out of sorts.

A "king-level" army is a strategic deterrent force recognized by the mainland as belonging to the top power.

Every soldier must be a genuine Gold-rank expert; and that's just the basics.

More crucially, and even more despairingly, each of them must be equipped with at least three pieces of standard equipment forged from god-level materials and enchanted with powerful laws.

The Kingdom of Ceylon was able to assemble that "King's" legion of three hundred men because of the accumulated resources of the family over thousands of years.

It was the result of countless sacrifices made by our ancestors to painstakingly extract and acquire this wealth from the clutches of the five great empires.

In theory, such a legion, in a siege, could rely on its advantageous terrain to withstand an ordinary elite force several times its size, truly achieving the feat of "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand."

But now, Effie, which has only risen to prominence for a few years, is seen by these established powers as nothing more than a "nouveau riche" who rose to prominence by chance.

How could they have acquired such a terrifying elite army, far exceeding their expectations, without making a sound?
This has completely overturned their understanding of the balance of power on the mainland!

Marshal Barrett's voice was filled with bitterness. He had personally fought a bloody battle against the Effie army on the Ash Plains and knew how terrifying they were.

At that moment, he cried out in a sorrowful, hoarse voice:

"Your Majesty, I saw it with my own eyes, and there is no mistake about it."

The attacking force was an orc legion, all of them Gold rank.

This was already terrifying enough, but what was even more frightening was that each of them was actually equipped with three complete pieces of god-level equipment.

Aside from the 'Star Guardian Armor' and the eerie 'Phantom Dragon Wing Cloak' that we experienced in the Ash Plains.

They...they each had an extra black crossbow that exuded an ominous aura.

That's definitely another piece of divine and demonic equipment that we've never seen before!

New divine and demonic equipment that even the five great empires don't possess!

Field Marshal Barrett's face was filled with incomprehensible despair, as if he were crying out to some ethereal deity:
"By the gods above!"
This makes no sense!
Which piece of divine and demonic equipment isn't a legendary item that requires the combined resources of an entire nation and countless hardships to obtain?

Why is it that for Effie, it seems like an inexhaustible supply of standard equipment?
This...this is completely illogical!

He gasped for breath and uttered the final straw that broke the camel's back, his voice chillingly cold:
"Moreover...moreover, the East Gate was breached from the inside!"
There is a traitor in the city. While we were doing our best to resist the fierce attack from the outside, someone secretly opened the city gate!
The enemy knows everything about our troop deployment!
That's why we couldn't organize any effective defense at all, and we were breached in just one hour!

The black crossbow that Marshal Barrett did not recognize, exuding a dark aura, was the very one that the prophetic god Madora had discovered after she glimpsed Cohen Corleone's true identity.

To prepare in advance, they utilized the divine and demonic equipment—the [Shadow Annihilation Crossbow]—given to Cohen by the Pale Wings. (See Chapter 222: Bayonetta's Identity Exposed!)

This long-lost artifact has resurfaced and was secretly deployed to the troops by Cohen.

It was precisely for the purpose of building this truly "king-level" legion, composed entirely of the three divine weapons.

This force has always been hidden deep within, patiently waiting to be unleashed.

This was all for the purpose of delivering the most fatal and unexpected blow to Quisson, the ancient capital, at this crucial moment of the final battle.

The fall of the East Gate was merely the first note in the chord of this fatal blow.

Upon hearing this, King Gaius felt a sudden tightness in his chest, and another mouthful of scalding blood gushed out uncontrollably, staining the luxurious carpet in front of him.

But this time he gritted his teeth and stubbornly held on, refusing to faint.

The excruciating pain and extreme panic unexpectedly struck him like a bolt of lightning amidst his chaotic thoughts.

It instantly reminded him of something he had long overlooked, yet which was crucial enough to determine his life or death.
If... if Pirate King Yann Hughes was never an ally of Ceylon in the first place.

So... then the three so-called saints of the Eastern Empire that Princess Grace of the Eastern Empire sent over, who are currently on the deserted island with the six hidden saints of Ceylon...

A chill, like a cold wind, pierced directly through Gaius's chest! (End of Chapter)