Mystic Calling：Stone of Glory
Chapter 328: Yeah… that gap was way too big.

Chapter 328: Yeah... that gap was way too big.

One hour later.

In the massive plaza beneath the central council hall of Emerald Castle, every Hero Unit and Ace Unit within the castle had gathered. The lineup was nothing short of jaw-dropping:

Elven Unicorn Knight Elynn,

Unicorn Hero Elyra,

Treant Eldorin,

Treant Bromir,

Bronze Golem Karnak,

Gold Golem Arbachel,

Mana Crystal Dragon Zyraxis,

And the four powerhouse Ace Units:

Ancient Behemoth Balthazar,

Green Dragon Orryn,

Ancient War Tree Oakenmaw,

Gem Dragon Seran.

That wasn’t even everyone. Still missing were Seraphina, Cicero, Auremax, Kyros, and others like the Dragonblood Elf Lilith, Tideborn Spirit Thalassa, Merfolk Seer Mareth, and The Tidebreaker Paxton...

Even so, just counting the Hero Units present, Emerald Castle had—what? Fourteen, maybe fifteen of them?

And here’s the kicker—

Aside from Treant Bromir, Thalassa, Mareth, and Arbachel, every single one of the Hero Units here was at least an orange-tier Legendary hero.

Let that sink in.

In the world of Glory Lords X, an orange-tier Legendary hero—even a basic one—was considered the backbone of a nation. Just one could tip the scales in a kingdom’s favor.

If a country had three to five of them? Even if they were all combat or defense types with poor synergy, that nation could still rise to become a major power.

But over a dozen orange-tier Legendaries?

That was insane.

Even the Greenwave Empire, the dominant naval superpower, only had about that many orange-tier heroes worth mentioning.

Granted, Greenwave’s real trump card wasn’t in numbers—it was their Crimson Ultimate hero.

But still, just based on orange-tier strength alone...

Emerald Castle was already standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Greenwave Empire.

And that wasn’t even the full picture.

Because right now, Emerald Castle had not one, not two, but three Crimson Ultimate heroes.

And in this world, even the weakest Crimson Ultimate was enough to serve as the ultimate weapon of a superpower.

Three of them?

Honestly, it was hard to even wrap his head around it.

Somewhere along the way, without even realizing it, Ethan had built up a force that could rival the top-tier nations in Glory Lords X. The realization hit him like a wave—part pride, part disbelief, part awe.

But he didn’t have time to dwell on it right now...

"Master, I’ve compiled the intel on the Dungeon Lords," Elynn said as she approached, unrolling a thick scroll in front of Ethan. "Everything’s here."

"Let me take a look..." Ethan scanned the scroll for a few seconds, then without hesitation, crossed out the top three names: Skarvex, Xenodrath, and Drexon.

"These three are already dead. No need to worry about them."

"Seriously?" Elynn blinked in surprise, then her eyes lit up. "That’s amazing news, Master! Skarvex, Xenodrath, and Drexon were hands down the strongest of all the Dungeon Lords. If they’re gone, the rest—while still dangerous—aren’t nearly on the same level."

"Any of the remaining ones we need to be especially careful about?" Ethan asked, eyes narrowing as he scanned the rest of the scroll.

There were eight Dungeon Lords left. Three were Venomspike Manticore heroes, three were Dark Hydra heroes, and two were Shadow Matriarchs. None of them seemed particularly terrifying at first glance.

"Special attention..." Elynn frowned slightly, thinking it over. "Honestly, the real threats were those three you just crossed out. With them gone, the rest... well, the only ones that might give us some trouble are Venomspike Manticore Vhydrakk, and the two Dark Hydras—Skorvex and Ophyst. From what Princess Seraphina told me, even they’re still weaker than Drexon."

Hearing that, Ethan set the scroll aside, his eyes gleaming. "So our only real disadvantage now... is in regular troops?"

"Exactly," Elynn nodded, her expression turning serious. "Each Dungeon Lord typically brings at least 20 to 30 units of 14-Tier Black Dragons, 50 to 80 units of 13-Tier Red Dragons or Shadow Dragons..."

"And on top of that, they’ll have 200 to 500 units of 11-Tier Manticores, 12-Tier Venomspike Manticores, or 11-Tier Cave Hydras, 12-Tier Dark Hydras, 11-Tier Shadow Witches, and 12-Tier Shadow Matriarchs."

"And the stronger Dungeon Lords?" Ethan asked.

"They’ll have even more troops than that," Elynn said grimly. "Significantly more."

"In other words," Ethan muttered, "if we add up the forces of all eight remaining Dungeon Lords, we’re looking at... what? Three to four hundred Black Dragons, eight hundred to a thousand 13-Tier Legendary Units—Red or Shadow Dragons—and several thousand 11 and 12-Tier units?"

Elynn gave a helpless laugh. "Exactly. The thousands of 11 and 12-Tier troops aren’t the real problem. It’s the sheer number of 13-Tier Legendary Units—and those 14-Tier Mythic Black Dragons—that are the real nightmare."

"Even if we’ve got the upper hand in Hero Units, thirty to fifty 14-Tier Black Dragons, and a couple hundred 13-Tier Red or Shadow Dragons... that’s more than enough to overwhelm—or even kill—some of our weaker orange-tier Legendary heroes."

Ethan’s expression darkened.

When you broke it down like that...

Yeah, they were still at a serious disadvantage.

"And what about us?" Ethan asked, rubbing his temples, the weight of the situation starting to press down on him. "How many troops can we actually deploy right now?"

Elynn nodded, already prepared with the numbers. "Emerald Castle currently has about 85 units of 14-Tier Mythic Gold Dragons, and 7 units of Ancient Behemoths. For 13-Tier Legendary Units, we’ve got 150 Green Dragons, 60 Gem Dragons, and 20 Behemoths."

She paused, then added, "As for 11 and 12-Tier Royal Units... we’re actually pretty short. Even counting the Naga Swordsmen and 12-Tier Naga Swordmasters you brought back last time, we’ve only got around 800 units total."

"I see..." Ethan muttered, frowning as he started doing the math in his head.

Eighty-five Gold Dragons, seven Ancient Behemoths... that’s about 90 Mythic Units at 14-Tier.

Then 150 Green Dragons, 60 Gem Dragons, 20 Behemoths—so just over 230 Legendary Units at 13-Tier.

Even if he factored in Cicero’s forces—around 40 Sacred Kirin at 14-Tier and nearly 80 Kirin at 13-Tier—that only brought them up to roughly 130–140 Mythic Units and just under 300 Legendary Units.

Yeah... that gap was way too big.

Unless he could hold out long enough for Isaryne to arrive with her Firebirds and Phoenixes, they were still going to be seriously outnumbered. And even then, it’d be cutting it close.

Holding out that long... wasn’t going to be easy.

Which meant one thing—

This time, he had to go all in. No holding back.