The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

At this moment, a giant dragon from the continent of Soren was hovering over the border of Cape. Its wing had a large hole in it. Although dragons do not fly with wings, wings still play a relatively important role when landing, at least making the group of dragons more comfortable.

Because of the large hole in its wing, this already rather unfortunate-looking dragon looked even more "approachable".

As for why there was a large hole in its wing... the dragon stared intently at the fortress on the border of Cape.

The dragons had circled the border of Cape several times, but had not found any significant weaknesses. Information seemed to travel very quickly in this country; if any dragon attempted to enter Cape, the dragons from Cape's allies would immediately arrive. In addition, the weapons that seemed to be specifically designed to deal with dragons made the dragons even more vigilant.

There were no other dragons around at the moment, but this dragon was still battling with the fortress below.

At this moment, on the surface of Cape, observers were constantly reporting the height of the giant dragon.

"The altitude difference is 200 meters; they haven't entered effective firing range yet!"

Meanwhile, Darcy, who was standing nearby, also kept looking up at the sky along with the observer. However, unlike the observer's telescope, Darcy preferred to use his naked eye to calculate distances and aim.

He's gotten used to it, just like how the guns in the North only had iron sights at first.

"The enemy is descending in altitude and seems to be preparing to attack. Sir, should we activate the protective barrier?"

The observers were extremely nervous. The higher the dragon flew, the more limited the damage it would cause to the ground, but this limitation only applied to the protective barrier.

The dragon hovered high in the sky, its scales reflecting a faint light. Its enormous body was like a shadow that oppressed the heavens and the earth. This was a legendary dragon. Even the most battle-hardened soldiers of the First Army Group could not imagine that they were actually fighting a dragon.

But Darcy said, "No, wait a little longer."

Thanks to Capet's dragon allies and the help of the Northern Mathematical Academy, the military has calculated the attenuation relationship between altitude and the power of dragon breath. Although the destructive power of different dragons will vary, the attenuation coefficient remains the same.

At this altitude, dragon breath cannot instantly kill soldiers on the ground who have activated permanent enchanted defenses.

At this point, Darcy began to understand, to some extent, the allure of mathematics.

The enemy may lie to you, battle reports may lie to you, and even the battle lines cannot be completely trusted, but mathematics will not lie to you; if it doesn't know, it simply doesn't know.

Just as the giant dragon with a gaping hole in its wing descended to a certain altitude, Darcy shouted, "Launch!"

The surface-to-air missiles on the ground seemed to tear the sky apart, dozens of burning trails streaking across the horizon, flying straight toward the giant dragon with a sharp whooshing sound.

Even the Northern Army under Capet, the elite of the First Army Group, and the First Army Group itself, still faced immense pressure when confronting the dragon.

As mentioned before, during the First Continental War, humanity already possessed anti-air capabilities, but the initiative in anti-air combat was always in the hands of the dragons. If the dragons did not actively enter the attack range of anti-air capabilities, humanity could basically only fire blanks.

Therefore, human anti-aircraft capabilities can only be used as a deterrent, preventing dragons from wantonly causing destruction at low altitudes.

Because of this, the First Army Group is under considerable pressure from the dragon that has the upper hand.

Although they are called missiles, they are slightly smaller than the missiles Linde was familiar with in his previous life. After all, dragons are quite agile in the air, so the missiles in this world are designed for rapid deployment and saturation strikes.

Of course, things weren't easy for the dragons either. From the primitive anti-aircraft methods of humans during the First Continental War, to Anjou's Harmony Magic, and then to Cape's so-called surface-to-air missiles, humans' anti-aircraft range has been getting higher and higher.

Moreover, the dragons have yet to determine the exact altitude at which this so-called surface-to-air missile can strike, which is why, despite their rampage across other parts of the continent, they dare not make any rash moves against the Cape Elf Alliance.

The dragon roared deafeningly, accompanied by billowing smoke and scorching air as it charged toward the missile.

Although these missiles are called magic-guided missiles, in reality, there is not much magic-driven part. This is to minimize the impact of high-altitude magic disturbances on the missiles.

The missile itself doesn't become magical just because it's called "magical." It's more of a pure physical critique. Its real killing power comes from its powerful propulsion and the damage caused by the explosion. Apart from using magic for propulsion, it doesn't have much to do with magic.

Lind and Lena originally intended to design a segmented propulsion system, using magic propulsion at low altitudes and then using other physical methods in the chaotic magical environment at high altitudes, but this approach proved to be extremely difficult.

The dragon dodged the first few missiles with agility and even shot one down with its breath, but then more missiles came in succession, like an increasingly dense net.

Immediately afterwards, flames exploded in the air one after another, and the dragon scales shattered and scattered under the impact of the explosions, like falling stardust.

On the ground, Darcy let out a long sigh of relief, finally managing to repel the dragons' probing once again.

Cape's borders can be patrolled by its dragon allies, and missile defenses can be deployed in key areas, but the initiative remains in the hands of the attacking dragons.

Moreover, besides the dragon, other places in the surrounding area are also eyeing Capela covetously.

After all, with the technology that Capet possesses and the wealth accumulated through that technology, small countries could rise to prominence if they could get even a small share.

Meanwhile, those high-level professionals are constantly harassing Cape's borders.

If it weren't for Cape's convenient and well-connected internal transportation network, it wouldn't even be able to withstand the attacks from this long border.

Darcy returned to the command center, silently awaiting the next message. Several high-ranking officers in the Northern Army were extremely busy, patrolling almost the entire border. Darcy was the same; he hadn't been back to Grey Collar to see his sister for a long time, and even passed by several times without having time to go back and visit.

"My lord, we observed that the giant dragon disappeared after it fell. Should we send someone to investigate?"

Upon hearing the soldier's report, Darcy shook his head and said, "No need. Even an injured dragon is beyond our capabilities. It's already quite an achievement that we were able to repel it."

Darcy sighed. These missiles were expensive. Although Darcy didn't know the saying "when the cannons roar, gold flows like water," watching those missiles shoot out, Darcy really felt like he was seeing money flying in the sky.

Even with its highly developed industry, the northern Cape region can't withstand such daily saturation coverage, but there's no other way; only saturation coverage can hit the dragon.

However, the governor did not seem to be very satisfied with the missile, and even said that it could not be called a missile. It was just a big brick that could fly a certain distance and explode. It did not even have precision guidance. It was more appropriate to call it a missile than a missile. It was not feasible to solve problems by making big bricks fly every day.

Darcy didn't understand, but he thought that a big brick wasn't so bad, at least it could take a picture of those flying lizards.