Griffin Knights were fast-moving troops.
In no time, they crossed the thousands of meters of water and successfully flew over Crescent Island.
From the air, Lin Chen could take in the full view of the island.
It was quite vast, densely populated with towering trees.
At the very center of the island, some buildings could be seen.
These were rough wooden and stone structures.
Lin Chen knew these buildings were actually the orc monster lairs inhabiting Crescent Island.
The ultimate treasure of Crescent Island was hidden within those lairs.
But to claim it, all the orcs on the island had to be wiped out.
That left no question—it was time for battle!
"Split into squads. Each of you take one," Lin Chen commanded.
With that single order, more than twenty thousand Griffin Knights were immediately divided into four teams.
Two groups had 5,000 Griffin Knights and 500 Windrunner Archers each.
The other two had 6,000 Griffin Knights and 500 Windrunner Archers each.
Four groups in total, each led by Lin Chen, Ina, Jia Lou, and Lilith respectively.
For better combat efficiency and safety, Lin Chen opted for aerial combat.
This meant that the heroes and Windrunner Archers would ride atop the Griffin Knights.
There was no other choice. The Windrunner Archers were too few—if they landed, they'd easily be overwhelmed by the orc horde.
In the air, however, they had safety and a wider attack range. That was definitely an advantage.
Of course, there were drawbacks.
For example, the Griffin Knights' stamina would deplete at an accelerated rate.
After all, carrying passengers was no small feat—if there was no cost to that, it'd be too overpowered.
So, during battle, they needed to carefully monitor the Griffin Knights' stamina.
If they ran out mid-air and fell, the cost would be too high.
Once all preparations were done, Lin Chen gave the order to attack.
The four squads quickly fanned out, flying to different parts of Crescent Island.
The approaching army had long caught the attention of the orcs on the island.
Many orcs were already pouring out of the lairs, gathering in open areas, roaring up at the airborne Griffin Knights.
But the only reply they got was a volley of arrows raining down on them.
And bolts of thunderous energy hurled by the Griffin Knights.
A barrage of attacks whooshed toward the orc ranks.
Massive damage numbers floated up in succession, and orcs began to fall one by one.
Meanwhile, the system notifications echoed in Lin Chen's ears.
"Your troops have killed Kobold*100. You have gained 5000 experience points."
"Your troops have killed Frenzied Troll*100. You have gained 5000 experience points."
"Your troops have..."
Waves of monsters were slaughtered, yielding torrents of experience.
Streams of radiant light flowed into every participating troop and hero.
In Era of Lords, experience was distributed like this:
The unit that dealt the final blow got 20% of the total experience.
All other participating units split 79.9%.
The remaining 0.1% went to the lord and heroes commanding the army.
It wasn't much—but every bit added up.
The orcs on Crescent Island ranged from Tier 1 to Tier 5.
Being slaughtered en masse, they offered massive experience.
Even the 0.1% shared with Lin Chen and the others became significant.
Lilith, who had just joined, was leveling up rapidly.
Lin Chen wasn't far behind. Now that he had transitioned into the SSS-ranked Elemental Archmage, he was eager to test his strength.
He took out his epic-grade Moon Devourer staff and hurled spells at the monster clusters below.
Wind Blades, Frozen Dominion—whatever was off cooldown, he cast it.
With the Mana Fountain necklace constantly regenerating his mana, Lin Chen had no shortage of energy.
Thanks to that, he received a decent chunk of experience.
In no time, his level rose from 11 to 13.
Of course, the pace would slow down over time.
The higher the level, the more experience was required.
The battle raged on fiercely.
The orcs below were utterly overwhelmed.
Suddenly, sharp screeches echoed from the orc lairs in the distance.
Lin Chen looked toward the source of the sound.
He saw a massive dark cloud rapidly closing in.
It was a flock of monsters—humanoid bodies with the heads of birds.
"Tier 5 Harpies! Everyone, stay alert!" Lin Chen shouted.
Harpies—orc-type, Tier 5 flying troops.
They were the strongest monster unit on Crescent Island, and not to be underestimated.
In his previous life, the alliance that conquered Crescent Island had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties.
Two-thirds of those losses were caused by harpies alone.
That should give you an idea of how troublesome they were.
Of course, that alliance had no flying troops.
They had to slowly grind down the harpies by brute force.
Credit to their determination.
But this time, the harpies were facing Lin Chen.
And that made all the difference.
Did they think Lin Chen's Griffin Knights were for show?
Also, it was only the second day since the server opened. The harpies on Crescent Island hadn't fully developed yet. Their numbers were under ten thousand.
That made things a lot more manageable.
"Focus on the air units first!" Lin Chen ordered.
Jia Lou, Ina, and Lilith responded immediately.
They led over twenty thousand Griffin Knights straight into the fray.
At the same time, the Windrunner Archers riding on the backs of Griffins unleashed a flurry of arrows.
A dense hail of projectiles rained down on the harpies surging toward them.
The result was devastating.
Within just ten minutes, a quarter of the harpies were wiped out.
Then, the rest managed to close in, engaging in melee combat.
But Griffin Knights were elite flying cavalry.
Tough and powerful, they smashed through the harpies with lightning spheres and shockwave charges.
It was a massacre.
In less than an hour, all the attacking harpies were eliminated.
The battle continued.
Without the harpies as air support, the Griffin Knights and Windrunner Archers advanced rapidly.
They split into four paths, moving inward from the edges of Crescent Island toward the orc lairs.
Riding on his Griffin, Lin Chen frequently glanced down at the island below.
In just this short while, he had already spotted several purple and even orange resource points.
Looks like this trip was definitely worth it.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。