The Experimental Log Of The Crazy Lich

by Stayrr

This is the story of a crazy lich who possesses an internal game system and brings catastrophe to the entire world. “Let’s look at the daily quests today… it’s the damned choose one-of-two-options-type again. Destroy a town with a population of 30,000 people or above; reward: 10,000 evil points. Steal lollipops from 3 children; reward: 1 evil point. If neither of the quests is com

8. 168 - 199

Read The Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich - Chapter 168 online free - Light Novel Full

Chapter 168: The Cambions

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

What are cambions? Perhaps the Templar Cathedral have the most say in this matter.

"Those hybrid scums are born for destruction and conspiracies, they should all be dragged to the square and burned at the stake!"

Alright, I asked the wrong person, this generous and passionate pastor was obviously from the old-school "retro group". Until modern centuries, for some reason the Templar Cathedral had undergone an internal reform, afterwards, whenever they were seen, the cambions would just be condemned to life imprisonment, instead of getting burned to death.

The steps of improvements taken by the Templar Cathedral were nothing better, but I have to say that this move was correct in a sense.

Just as the name implied, cambions were the descendants of devils and demons. Carrying miraculous power in their blood, along with ability to manipulate peculiar supernatural power, they were natural warlocks. Allegedly, half of the existing demon warlocks were cambions of mixed parentage in the under plane.

If the recessive blood of the other race was under control, they could be natural warlocks. However, if it went out of control and manifested traits of the devil, perhaps demi-devils or demi-demons best described these beings which were not supposed to live in the main plane.

Unlike the bloodline of upper plane (angels) which people embraced and yearned for, the cambions had always been a big trouble, not only did the sucking of blood and the inclination for chaos faction was in their blood, but the bigger trouble was, the ancestors of their bloodline had committed all sort of outrages in the under plane.

The angels resorted to orders and worshipped the Gods, their wills were not that strong to interfere with the lives of their descendants, and even then they were highly restrained. But in the eyes of the devils, their hybrid descendants were living treasures split off from their blood, the blood and strength derived from them were the best mark and linkage.

The cambions might be born kind, or a brave fighter, but with their devil ancestors whispering incessantly beside their ears, they would imperceptibly lean towards the chaos faction.

In the eyes of the devils, the descendants who carried their blood were but good seedlings on the battlefield. They would call upon the innate devil of the descendants through the blood, the moment they crowed over their growing strength, was the time they lose control of their demonic impulse, and grow into demi-devils, in the end, they had no choice but to return to the under plane, serving as the new backbone of the devils.

In the abyss of endless war, the "young men" whom they influenced, were undoubtedly the best pawns and war elites.

The world had given cambions the moniker of "mongrels fated to be corrupted".

Amongst all the planes, the reputation of these half-castes had never been good as they had been mere pawns since hundred years ago. A cambion might be kind at first, and carried out good deeds for half of his previous life, he was praised by all the people. However, his soul might be manipulated when the crunch came.

Indeed, until here, the ins and outs of the matter were pretty clear now, meanwhile, Elisa brought back news from the abyss — the Mist descendant in the North was the lineal descendant of a devil mogul.

The Mist Kingdom was divided into several pieces, with East Mist and Sleuweir being the biggest, that cambion should reside in one of them. Previously, it was unknown as to which one was it. Therefore, I had no choice but to exercise vigilance further on Reyne and suspended her from her duties.

And now, it was obviously the royal member of Sleuweir, I had breathed a sigh of relief deep in my heart, despite that the situation was still unfavourable. And then, I kept my face straight again.

"Karwenz, what do you want!"

My roar echoed to the skies, even if Fismer Caso had twelve wings, but still, he would never escape from me, right now, he was impaled by a sacred sword on the wall, clutching his chest in disbelief.

"No, no, I can't go back yet, I don't want to go back! I've yet to relish the beauty of this world, too many beautiful women and delicious food in the main plane, I don't want to go back yet! I'm not satisfied! I still want to be King, I don't want to die!"

The scales all over his body was emitting an uncanny white aura, his red pupils were gaining slight sign of pale yellow, This, was the mark of the prime devil, Fismer had unknowingly transformed from cambions to half-devil.

The prime devil could prevail upon their descendants through the bloodline and the linkage of souls.

Perhaps in those simulated nightmares brought by the devil, Fismerr had fallen to the under plane for countless times, he had even harboured an illusion that he was part of the devils.

Looking at the pale yellow pupils which were utterly demonized, I knew he could be saved no more, the corrupted soul such as him had nowhere to go than the styx.

"Devil! The king…no, the puppet king was a devil!"

The royal guards had put down their weapons under the exclamation of the people, nobody was willing to fight for Fismer anymore, after all, the name of the devil had always been the common enemy of everyone.

"Answer me, Karwenz, what do you want!"

Fismer was dead, but I was still clutching his neck to interrogate, but the target I interrogated, was the person hiding behind him.

"Haha."

Along with the familiar laughter, dark flames were being radiated from Fismer's body. Sensing the rage within me, the will of devil lord had finally descended.

Along with that eerie laughter, suddenly, the sky was overcast by dark clouds, which had blotted out the sunlight, the rising sun could be seen no more, it seemed that even the Gods were getting sick of this sight.

This was not any magic, but just the influence of the descending will of devil prince towards the world. To witness such a wrath, I was a little surprised, Karwenz was much stronger than expected.

"Just the descending will is enough to change the weather? I'm afraid this is already a God-level existence".

In my perspective, Karwenz's prowess had gone beyond imagination, and would not be inferior to any God-level people in Chaos faction.

"Roland, I never thought we would meet this soon. How dare you ask me what I want?"

Fismer's body started to burn, albeit demonized, his body still couldn't bear the tremendous power of the devil prince.

Nevertheless, Fismer's distorted face had given a familiar expression. That was a mischievous prank with innocence.

"Since you are so sincere in asking, I shall tell you benevolently…oh wait. Did you really think I'm actually benevolent? Really wanna know? You guess."

"Guess your sister!" [1]

"Haha, isn't your sister mine too? Unfortunately, I would prefer an adorable sister to a brother…and if I answer you so easily, how disgraceful is that! And I'm a devil prince, if that is known by the rest, how could I be the leader! Let's be like always, leave the good play behind, the puzzle is meant to be solved in the very end…"

Burning vigorously in the demonic flame, the remaining body of Fismer turned to ashes, leaving a message behind.

"Roland, we will meet again very soon. Whoops, should I start calling you brother? Seems that I still can't do that in your face. Ah, the time has come…I'll forget about this time, the sacred war had just begun. We have a lot of chances to play together, slowly."

Following the dissipating ashes, Fismer's ghost could be seen. As the devil mogul who had spoken his heart lost his medium of communication, everything quieted down again, and the dark clouds started to disperse, the sunlight shined in again, the peace was restored.

"Damn it!"

Breaking the ground with my heavy fist, however, my unreasoning anger was meant to not receiving an answer.When the war in the north had just begun, the civil war of Xiluo had finally reached its end.

The winner? There was no winner, although the crown faction who had always been in the middle, suddenly chose to side with Omar, the situation of this war remained miserable.

Miserable, was the best word to describe it, because in this situation, if both sides continued fighting with all their power, in the end, it would be a mutual destruction, and there's certainly no winner.

No matter what was the ending, both side would suffer severe casualties, the war between undeads always went to the extent of obliterating the souls of each other. After losing myriads of its cadres, Xiluo Empire was bound to be reduced from a super kingdom to just another strong country.

Nevertheless, with the sudden arrival of a small troop of knights in the battlefield to ambush the headquarters of the Council of Dark Night, the scales were leaning towards victory.

That wasn't because of how incredible they were, but now, the rising flag of Mist now represented this man, and those red hounds were fighting as well, just for their owner — Emperor Yongye.

At first, fellow undead warlords took them as the fake ones, as the history had indicated that the Red Hound Army had miraculously disappeared during the civil war. With the presence of the dreadful and gigantic black hounds amongst the skeleton knights however, all the doubts were now meaningless.

"The Demonic Spatial Hellhound, Bastian is back, only his lordship could ride on it!"

There were even conspiracy theorists, speaking as they had seen through everything.

"All of these was the conspiracy of that person, Omar, Lionheart, Ah DangCarnivore, Gria was once the retainers of his lordship, it must be he who urged the second senator to break the seal, and relied on his capability to stir up the civil war. The crown faction retrieved the crown when the time called for it. There's only one truth, and this must be the plot!"

Alright, not to discuss further on how these theorists could classify everything as part of the conspiracy, the emergence of the red hounds were undoubtedly a big deal, for after all, the return of Emperor Yongye had spread like wildfire, and if he really had returned, perhaps everyone should reconsider whom to side with.

The only demigod-level undead emperor in recent history, if this banner hadn't instilled enough fear, he actually carried the dazzling ring of the mightiest necromancer of the time, nothing was more concrete than this.

There was an upper limit to the power of a necromancer or lich, perhaps to compute the combat power of a necromancer, one must take account of his or her undeads warriors, the limit of the Red Hounds of Emperor Yongye was never known, as they were never defeated, in other words, nobody had known how far the power of Emperor Yongye could go.

The truth was, "the infallible Diffindor" was one of the trump cards that had been hidden by Roland. Keeping it secret deliberately, Roland had only used it twice, and the opponents who had seen it were dead.

The standard tactics of the necromancers were to use his very best undead warriors as the bodyguards as well as the vanguards in battle, diverting attention from their enemies. And then, they would cast the most powerful magic to blast the entire battlefield, seeking to end everything in one blow.

Emperor Yongye was doing likewise. With the Red Hound being the bodyguard as well as vanguard, and with "Ice Aeon" being the most powerful and victory-decisive magic, that would be unstoppable for one.

There weren't a lot of semi-god sorcerers, and the ones who could manipulate such level of destructive forbidden curses, could be counted on just five fingers, but to cast the forbidden curse was like throwing vegetables, regardless of its consequences and damage towards himself, there was none other than Emperor Yongye, even after all these years.

More than ten fallen kingdoms had witnessed the strength and slyness of this tactics. Should one not break the seal of Red Hounds before Emperor Yongye completed his forbidden-taboo casting, it was feared that even entire cities and armies would fall into an everlasting slumber.

In those years, the Yongye's army wasn't even required to attack the castle, once Emperor Yongye started to wield the curse, the fate of the war was pretty much sealed, and the aftermath of it would include dozens field operations in which the survivors attempted to launch insane attacks upon the defending undeads.

To fight an attrition war with the endless undead army, was none other than a time limited combat where death awaited… Those formidable armies with profound history had always fallen under the hands of skeleton soldiers due to exhaustion, and this cunning combination of tactics was indeed the best example.

Some cadres in the Council of Dark Night were the main forces of Yongye's army in the past, would they not know the habits of Emperor Yongye to give full consideration before making any move?

"The decisive battle should not be avoided without having more than 60% chances of victory. Victory or defeat should already be decided before the war begun, and then, the enemies would be wiped out aggrievedly."

This battle style of this emperor had always been such dreadful. The moment Red Hounds charged into the battlefield, was the time Emperor Yongye was going to harvest the victory of war with his own hands.

The fellow undead warlords had always derived pleasure from seeing how their enemies vanished, but to stand in front of the emperor, who was probably in the preparation of forbidden curse…

"I'm having a little stomachache, I must answer the call of nature now."

Hey hey, you were skeleton sorcerer, since when did you had a stomach.

"My wife is about to give birth, I've to go back now."

A death knight had said so, it was a short sentence, but carried a big hidden message, the spectators were startled.

"My lover is about to give birth too, I also want to go back."

Alright, another death knight was getting shameless too, but afterwards, the two who should fight each other had given a look of Freemasonry.

"How could you be so shameless?"

"I'm learning that from you."

Alright, the situation was clear without needing any more explanation.

In the end, feeling the heat of Emperor Yongye again, the influence which was established by the Council of Dark Night after toils and moils, was completely extinguished. When the Red Hounds had reached the headquarters, it was an empty building.

The civil war of Xiluo Empire had come to an end, the news about the second consuls, Feyman fleeing far with most of the armies from the undead plane, had very soon reached the ears of the whole world.Just when Roland was getting so bogged down on the chaotic scene before him, in another plane, there was somebody laughing gleefully…

"What I did? Hehe, I did nothing, I was just playing. Fismer is my descendant, of course, he's a cambion. Sigh, thought he would be a good part, to think that he would become like this after just a few rounds of game. Mortals, so fragile."

The laughing young man was rather handsome, and his laughter was natural too, but to behave like so in a situation like this, that was certainly abnormal.

"Ha, to think the expression of a brother at that time, I had no words. Guess? I myself haven't figured out the answer, how would you guess it?"

He was lying on the void, and the void had nothing at all, the only thing which caught the eyes, was the huge chess board, with all his chess (pawn) above it, that was quite a spotlight.

The chess was lives, which were all souls wailing in agony, and amongst them, with the power which could match the legends, they were probably the very heroes in the secular world.

And opposite him across the chessboard, there sat nobody, but the chess pieces were moving on their own.

"Northland? The Mist Country? Conspiracy? Nothing to do with me! I'm just looking forward to some happy games. My fellow cuties, show me what you got, don't disappoint me like Fismer. Hope so."

Perhaps, due to his willfulness, Karwenz could be promoted to his level in such a brief time.

No goods, no bads, everything was whether fun or not fun. Should the mood be good, he would put down a few chess pieces, and dispatch several cadres of his to rebuild the Mist Kingdom, should the mood be bad, he would flip the table and do nothing, in a sense, this trait of Karwenz was, in fact, the nature of Chaos.

"The flawless Chaos devil", "the blue-eyed boy of the Chaos", "the loved child of the Goddess of Chaos(whoever dared to call him so had been dead for long)", all of these were the monikers gained by the Karwenz in the under plane.

Doing things in a capricious style, yet able to smile like an innocent kid when creating disasters of which even the devils couldn't bear the sight, this son of the abyss who was completely in-character for Chaos, had made tremendous feats in just three hundred years. Stepping over countless corpses, he ascended to the highest sanctuary.

He had now earned an, even more, resound name — the supreme ruler of the Chaos, the 14th existence of God level in Chaos faction.

Roland's prophecy was absolutely wrong, to think that even Karwenz didn't know what he would do next.

And now, Karwenz listened to the commands of no one except the Goddess of Chaos who was asleep, when the will to play surged within him, there was no one who could stop his game.

"This time, brother is playing with me, what a pleasure. Haha, defeating brother in a strategic game, this has been one of my dreams. Brother, you are a good guesser, so guess what's my next step, even I haven't thought of it." (to be continued…)

TL Note

1. In chinese, "your sister – 你妹" is rude way of retorting one's sentence which you consider silly, done by appending sister behind the key word said by that person.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

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Chapter 169: Pride

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Foolish apes, how dare you despise my existence, I am the omniscient magic mirror."

"Is that so? What's the answer for 1692321 times 768392, answer that in 3 seconds!"

"Ten trillion and three hundred billion three hundred and sixty-five million nine hundred and seventeen thousand eight hundred and thirty-two. Impressed, kid? You thought that my almighty creator will forget to equip me with a calculator?"

After hearing that, the silver-haired muscular guy was stunned, but he did not answer, he was still counting.

"… Let's assume that you are correct, let me tell you, it's not because I can't calculate it out, father taught me multiplications before."

Just from the looks, this good looking muscular guy was behaving like a living hero from a classic mythology, he was tall and fit, thickly built and had delicate features on the face… Well, this may be contradictory, but isn't there something strange known as Lee Gou Dan[1] in this world?

"Now, the next question, besides my dad who is the most beautiful in this world."

"Of course it is you, our honourable Lord Omar, your beauty comes only after Lord Roland."

"Haha, you are really very honest, I kinda like you now. Have you eaten lunch yet? Want to have it together later?"

"Haha, although you are exceptionally handsome, seems like there is something wrong with your head. I am a mirror, how am I going to eat?"

Looking at the half naked thick built guy who was counting his fingers, while making various bodybuilding posture facing the mirror caused Reinhardt to feel nauseous even though he did not possess a stomach anymore.

"… This… is just a perfect match. I'm impressed of King Roland, just a small present and he managed to tame this stubborn Omar."

That muscular body shone with an oily gloss, but then the face had the delicate features of a cute girl, furthermore, it was seventy percent alike to Roland, in a sense, Omar's existence was the dark past of Roland.

Yes, the "Lee Gou Dan" before the eyes was the Pride of Seven Deadly Sins. It couldn't be blamed that he looked like this.

Roland used the standard template of spectres to create his own Seven Deadly Sins, Envy and Gluttony were made using sewed-up abomination as a base, while Pride from the Seven Deadly Sins was the same as Gluttony, a mutated spirit based on Banshee.

According to the initial design, he was an artificial soul who had no face, body nor gender, but as he grew, surprisingly he selected this as his appearance. Actually, it was caused by Roland who talked nonsense during his birth.

"As a man, only a muscular body is the true beauty."

Well, as a result, the muddled Pride viewed it as his gospel. And as the instinct of every life sees the mother as the most beautiful existence, without any doubt he used the face of Roland, and as everyone knew, Roland died too young, and the portraits he left was mainly from 11 to 12 years old. And in the end, this is how a child with aesthetic deviation was born.

Originally, if there were some slight misunderstandings, it was still possible to rectify, but in those years Roland was too busy (busy to start a war), Omar would not listen to others, and as a result it got worse and worse, and finally ended up being the most beautiful form of himself.

Parents understood more than the children themselves. Nobody understood Omar more than Roland, that was why by customising a flattery magic mirror, he could easily manipulate the few year old child.

Yes, only a few years old, only after a few years from birth he got sealed for rebelling, and during the sealed period he did not age. When he was released, his temper was just same as he was before sealed.

While the civil war of Shilo ended, as the only victor, it seemed that Omar would be in control of this country very soon, and with his ability, he would bring this country and himself to greatness.

The ability of Pride, Omar? Actually, it would be very complicated to explain that, it was actually a very peculiar ability system, not only a sole ability.

"Pride" originated from different levels, based on the understanding of Roland, as a superior that dominated the life and death of the inferior, they often did not reason with the inferiors, thinking that they can look down on the inferior like ants from above, this was the root cause of how Pride became one of the Original Sins.

There were ranks for spectres too. If so, wasn't it possible to create an innate ruler of the dead who was born with the ability to rule over the immortal spectres?

Undoubtedly this was a queer topic, but Roland got his inspiration from the natural domination of queen bee and queen ant. They used a peculiar pheromone to build a network and used an intriguing method to take control of the whole group, causing the group to be dedicated to sacrifice themselves for their queen, even until death.

And the reason of selecting banshees as the standard template was because banshee was the few rare spirits which did not have low levels of existence, and the fact that they were composed by pure spirits was also very suitable to create a spiritual network.

In the end, the final result of the research was Omar, he was the only one who did not use any additional materials, a spectre entirely created by Roland himself, in a sense, calling Roland as father was not wrong at all.

"The supreme power of spectre network", this was what the combination ability of Omar was called. He could use the spectres under him to construct a spiritual network to exchange information constantly, and as the supreme power of the network administrator, he could control every spectre under him.

This is the only ability of Omar, it did not sound so powerful, but it was unexpectedly powerful when used.

Low level spectres did not have any intelligence, while he could grant them fake intelligence, in a battlefield, he was like an invisible hand of command, which could even command the spectre under him to perform minor movements, such as moving the fingers slightly. To gain consciousness, a normal spectre needed to be at least silver ranked, while he could let countless spectres to possess fake consciousness, it could be said that under his control, the battle power of low level spectres which was only capable to be used as cannon fodder will at least be tripled.

And this was just the beginning, Omar's powers were not that simple.

Spirit is power, the spirit of low level and high level spectres will be connected to the spectre network, and how would someone such as him, who controls other spectre spirits, be weak?

Granting fake consciousness will not increase his burden, on the contrary, this lets him extract spiritual power to strengthen himself further.

With 300 low level spectres under him, Omar would have around bronze rank battle power, with 3000 spectres, Omar would be able to match Silver rank warriors, with 30000 spectres, he could crush Gold ranked humans easily… When there is a spectral empire, his strength would be immeasurable, even for his creator Roland himself.

From this, one could tell that Omar's power was leaning towards army battles, from the beginning, "Pride" Omar was designed as the commander of spectre army, the effort Roland spent was also a few times more compared to other Seven Deadly Sins, his expected design did not fail, and the reason it had some issues was affected more by the problem of his personality.

"I was born to be the top amongst those under father, why should I be listening to you old folks? How is that dumb mutt qualified to sit in my place, and command the army which I should have controlled! I'm gonna take back my spectre army and build a nation that belongs to spectres. This is the duty I was born for, and it is also father's expectations. We were born to be kings!"

Well, to a spectre formed from grudge, the crankier the soul the, greater the potential. But if the personality was too extreme, naturally there would be no way to discipline them, and in the end, it will end up to be the rebellion of naughty brats.

But in a sense, in those years Roland did not leave any room for manoeuvres, therefore it was still possible to communicate.

Only the Seven Deadly Sins and Roland himself understood the true power of Omar, the other Spectre Lords only thought that he had very powerful undead control ability. The Shilo civil war was meant to happen the moment Fitterland, who underestimated him, handed him the spectre army.

He could even his accept his own brother Bastian to have a higher ranking than him, for Omar who was arrogant, how could he accept an old lich above himself, hence as predicted by Roland, when Omar was released by Fitterland, the second archon of Shilo, it was as if they have set a time bomb for their own destruction.

Apparently, as the Civil War in Shilo came to this extent, a choice was needed to be made.

So, Roland made a choice in advance, letting Omar ascend the throne, and sent Fitterland into the spectre plane.

At this moment, it was time for Omar to repay him.

"I understand father's intentions. And I loved his present. After I reorganize, I will fulfil my promise, and send armies to the northern lands to help father with the war."

Originally it was Roland who sealed Omar, Reinhardt thought that this would be hard to deal with, but surprisingly it seemed to be going smoothly.

Hearing this, Reinhardt hesitated instead, he was worried if Omar will plot something.

It seemed like Omar sensed Reinhardt's hesitation, so he added.

"When I was sealed, I had time to think, and maybe I went too far indeed, in those years. And for father, who was all along unforgiving for betrayers to spare me, I should appreciate that."

Spare him? Didn't King Roland say that with the special ability of Omar, he could only be sealed, but cannot be killed? Reinhardt was filled with doubt.

"Could only be sealed but cannot be killed? Hehe, for the almighty father there is no such thing. The Seven Deadly Sins were all created by him, he would have left something up his sleeve. At least being unable to control other Seven Deadly Sins is one of my weakness. And…"

Although speaking of his own weakness, but the smug look on face was as if he received blessings, and suddenly Le Gou Dan… Ahem, Omar turned shy.

With a big muscular body, but blushing like a girl, the pretty face showed some mysterious blush.

"… And, I also needed father's help, to create another of my kind. I just entered puberty stage this year, and I also want to fall in love!"

Furthermore, while speaking, Lee Gou Dan shook his body vigorously, twisting his huge body, with the blushing face, and started daydreaming while closing his eyes, as though he had thought of something embarrassing.

"My request is not much at all, as long as they are not short like dwarves, if they are as tall and strong and pretty like me, that would be enough, yes, they can be stronger than me by all means, but their looks mustn't fall too far, a thickly built body plus a pretty face would be lovely!"

"Pfft!"

At that moment, Reinhardt was so envious of the weak humans, at least they had the ability to die from spitting blood, while he could only endure the rolling thunder before his eyes.

"Although feeling shy, but now that I'm the king, having a few more choices seem to be fair. I had dreamed of organizing the "I'm proud, I have posture," competition under the moonlight. Ahhh, to say this out makes me really shy."

For a moment, Reinhardt extremely regretted his outstanding imagination, he imagined that if this request is granted, every day, there will be a bunch of pretty muscular brothers making bodybuilding postures under the moonlight, Reinhardt had an urge to bang the wall to death.

"Burp!"

An understandable nausea and the colleagues behind who were starting to fall to the ground retching proved that even for spectres, there were thresholds for disgust!

"I… I will inform the king. And, kindly stay away from me, Lord Omar!! I have no interest in muscles!"

TL Note:

1. 李狗蛋 (lee gou dan) is also 哪吒 (Ne Zha) in a chinese anime, featuring a cute girl with muscular body.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

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Chapter 170: The Elf Outcast

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Situated in the Northland, sparse of resources, Tassel Kingdom of the Elves was nevertheless a great place, which was hard to come by.

The renovated cliff and magic-crystal wall became the artificial barrier of the capital, Santander, the endless hardy old pine trees served as the best shelter from wind, the ancient spirit of the Elves contained magical water, which flowed into streams, bringing warmth and vitality in this land, and also turning it into one rare green vitality in Northlands.

Just as Humans in the north were getting upset of the winter beasts in hunger, the Elven natural priests and hunters had tamed them into tractable livestock. Just as all countries in the north were endeavouring throughout the year to prepare the winter rations, the fruit trees under the manipulation of Elven Ancient Tree, were able to produce fruits thrice a year, producing all sorts of the sweet and delicious fruits that grew regardless of the seasons. These fruits were not exported and traded for mineral resources. In time, they would rot away.

A centipede does not topple over even when dead, the Elven kingdoms which had inherited the legacy of the Elves were contemptuous of the Humans as they had the background of nouveau riches. For them, a hundred years was just an instance due to their longevity. Having tremendous time and skills, had they not improved their living environment, those wild Elves in the Knight novels who lived above the trees, were merely an artistic ornament.

Just when the main forces of the Tassel were galloping amongst the snow land, their territory was as peaceful as ever. The young unicorns and flying horses were playing in the forest, the Elven civilians still had the leisure time to carry out their winter ceremonies, so what about the battle at the frontline? They were confident that the mighty alliance of the four Elven Kingdoms would never fall to the ordinary Humans, not to mention their very elites were going all out this time.

The truth was so, the hundred thousands of Elven armies were a small number, but due to their very high average combat power, just an elite troop of theirs could match the royal guards of the other countries, even their ground force was of formidable soldiers and should not be underestimated.

This was the foundation of the Elves, even today, the weakness of the Elven kingdom, which had inherited the ancient magic and arts, was none other than their population. It took an Elf two hundreds to reach adulthood, and this period was enough for Humans who married relatively earlier to come up with six or seven generations.

A war was fought with comprehensive country power, the population and resources were one of the important factors, as casualties were unavoidable, for even the mightiest sorcerer, would perish in combat or under friendly fire, and such a loss would take almost two to three hundred years to be regained.

The Achilles' heel of the Elves was none other than their inability to fight in a war of attrition.

And this time, if the main forces suffered tremendous casualties, the Elves would have to undergo a very long time of recuperation. It could be said that the northern Elves would go to any length as they had cast all their lots on the victory of this battle!

In the absence of their main forces, the role of city border patrol was transferred to the rangers who had formed a second class army, or an adventure squad.

A Wild Elf ranger, two to three Centaur archers, one to two Elven warriors, were the members of a typical Elven patrol squad. If it was a first class battle squad, one to two Elven Ancient Trees, natural priests and flying horse knights would be added, and the strength of those units was certainly on another level.

Even amongst the Elves, there weren't many Druids who prefer to live on trees, compared to the cities.

In any place, as long as there was the presence of intelligent beings, the trees would always be one of the most important resources. Not only they could achieve the basic functionalities of construction and furniture, they were also the basic ingredients of the artwork of the Elves. Furnished with precious forest regions which were unusual in Northlands, the exported exquisite wood produced by the Elves had earned a lot of foreign currency.

If the Druids who treated forest protection as the most sacred duty were easily amenable to reasoning, they would not be classified as terrorists by all the other countries. The Druids were bigoted, the Elves were bigoted too, it was inconceivable how bigoted the combination of both, the Elven Druids was capable of. Their extreme nature protection organisation was the origin and mentor of the other Green Terrorists, all sorts of their secret acts were even graced as the epitome to take an example from.

The moniker of "Anti-Lumbering Little Bear Alliance" would sound adorable, but it had been there for more than ten thousand years. They had been referring to the Druids Terrorists which brought the Elves much headache, they had the esoteric bear transformation arcane and beast training arcane, perhaps any grey bears within the forest could be one of them spying on you, while you hummed a song, chopping wood.

In the end, the Elves were not only the source of the Druids, but also made up most of the Druids, however, most of the Druids would still have an outward occupation which was acceptable by the world.

At this time however, within the temporary campsite, Tasia the Elven ranger who was humming her little tune while preparing dinner, was actually a hidden Druid master, and was also a member of the "Little Bear Alliance", but lately, she had not been fulfilling the sacred duties of "natural protection".

The feeds that those pets Tasia had domesticated cost money, she had thus put earning money first, sacred duties second.

To be recruited by the Elven Kingdom to carry out some not so perilous military tasks and fill the spot of Kingdom armies, was indeed a bargain. At this crucial moment, the Elven kingdom would no more be niggardly, the doubled recruitment fee during the war was alluring for countless mercenaries.

"Ha, this time we are really making money, to think that merely patrolling could make so much money, I hope the war would last longer, I still expect the cowards within the city to increase the recruitment fees. Should the war be elevated, the recruitment fee would increase threefold, or even tenfold."

Tasia spoke something uncharacteristic of the Elves, but the Centaurs amongst her troops had already gotten used to her personality, and on the contrary, they who held a lower stand in the Elven kingdom, would prefer her straightforward and amiable character, compared to the other arrogant Elven aristocracies.

"Don't speak such a thing in the city, those self-important Elves would be displeased." Centaur Boll chucked after counting his recent soaring stipends, he was in a good mood.

"In the past few years, the army on duty was not so relaxed, they had to venture into the wild across the mountains in pursuit of the slave hunting groups, it was not an easy task, in the case of running into any sword saint or senior magic automaton instructor sent by the big Human countries, the pursuer might become the prey. Also in that time, quite a number of patrol squads have gone missing."

Tasia laughed even more happily.

"Indeed, those slave hunters will bother me no more, they created so much trouble… Pitiful, Princess Suana. How pitiful, how could a good person not end well?"

Recollecting her figure which was as tender as water, even Tasia, who was sick of the Elves, had nursed a grievance.

"…About that matter, I heard a rumour. Erm, just a rumour."

Grover, the silent Elven warrior popped out, but his words had caught the attention of the comrades.

After a moment of hesitation, Grover finally spoke up.

"The rumor says, there a few doubtfulness about the kidnapping of Princess Suana, the Elven troops who were supposed to safeguard her was pulled over for military training, and the rangers had started to undergo a closed training, even the Moon Glaive royal guards was transferred to the border to take care of some disputes, all of these had given the chance for the slave merchants, who were not particularly strong, to capture the Princess Suana…"

Hearing this, members of the small squad had sunk into a peculiar silence, of course, they knew this rumour, for the past few weeks, this topic had been circulating around any restaurant or market.

The implication behind the rumour was quite evident, the demise of Princess Suana was but within the scheme of Elven King and the Council. Rather than saying that Suana was dead in the hand of Humans, in fact, she was offered by the ruthless Elven King as the sacrifice of war.

"Let's avoid words without proof, or else we would get into trouble."

To think that Tasia who had just spoken uninhibitedly, turned out to advise Grover to tread carefully, and just when her words faded, the amiable Elven warrior cracked a laughter.

"No proof? The two legendary warriors in royal guards were suddenly transferred, isn't that proof? Anrode the "Hand of Kashmir" who had an intimate relationship the princess, even created a havoc in the army because of this, he had allegedly smashed the signboard of the army."

Grevor was obviously one who supported the Peace-pursuing faction of Princess Suana. They who went through an outrage, in the beginning, had now cooled off to think about the root cause of the death of the princess, and also discovered the few dubious points.

"According to what that was spoken by the Humans, the brains behind the political schemes are always those who would benefit the most from these events, and in this event, the Humans had derived no benefit at all, the only one who benefited from this were none other than the War-pursuing faction of the Elves. That man is incredibly ruthless, Princess Suana was his daughter…"

Alright, these words were blunt enough, when it came to rebuking the Elven king directly.

In an instant, the temperature of the campsite fell drastically, and everyone became silent, after all, it was not good for the civilians to participate in such matters, the spies and scouts were not exclusive to just the Humans. To be imprisoned due to loose tongues was quite a misfortune, and all sufferings could be spoken to no one afterwards.

Not to mention, Tasia who was actually a Druid, would not be intrigued by this matter. Despite her pity for the princess, she would not go out of her way to fight for her.

And thus, she was trying hard to stop his words.

"Ah, there is a Dark Elf!"

Alright, would Dark Elves appear within the Elven Kingdom? That was obviously a bluff but had unexpectedly amused Grevor.

He laughed while shaking his head.

"Just don't talk about it if you don't want, at here, where would you find dark…"

Before he could finish his words, he had fallen on his face with his eyes rolled back, a dark green dagger was stabbed in his back.

"…Though I don't know how you discovered me, since you have, I shall not let you go back alive."

A figure wearing dark armour emerged from Grevor's shadow, the dark skin sufficed to explain everything.

"A Dark Elf is here for real? Perhaps, I should consider being a prophet."

Just as Tasia was regretting her bad mouth, the Dark Elf scout in front of them who was about Silver rank, again flashed his dagger which was coated with paralyzing poison. In her eyes, that was possible to wipe out an ordinary patrol squad, but taking account of her hidden legendary power, the scout before her was merely a trash with a combat power of 5.

"Aha, take my rolling pin"

The truth went on like the expectation, the Dark Elf who was confidently moving was struck down by Tasia's rod after just saying a hello. Never would he imagine that an Elven ranger with a crossbow possessed such marvellous skill with the rod, with this paralysing thundershock that came from that wood rod.

"Little lad, you dare to flaunt yourself in front of me. Guys, let's move, the situation doesn't look good, he might have accomplices…"

The words left were unnecessary, as a number of shadows surging out from the forest had revealed the truth, again, it had proven the prophetic talent of Tasia.

"…Tasia, please talk less."

Now, the party was running at full speed. Considering that she in the past had always spoken ill of the Elves, the centaur running in front of them all was filled with a grudge.

However, his words were not answered, turning to look back, Tasia had vanished, what remained there were some grey bears which were dozing off.

And all his comrades had fallen to the ground except the vanished Tasia.

"Law: Faint!"

Right after hearing a voice, a dark grey light flashed and he had lost his consciousness and tumbled down too.

At this moment, a Dark Elven priest riding on black-armoured War Scorpio, approached the fallen bodies. Behind her back, there were tens of Elven scouts with bewildered faces.

"Stupid males, couldn't even take care of such a weak sacrifice, should the great plan of Spider Queen be affected, I will cut you all into pieces and feed the poisonous spiders!"

Before the eyes, it was the Dark Elven priest delivering rebukes, but in far away, there were sounds of bang-bang percussion. Apparently a ranger but having a great identity, Tasia whose adventure experience was vast, knew that it was the marching sounds of a massive horde of Sceptile Riders, which could only be afforded by powerful clans. There was only one possibility of using such an amount of Sceptile Riders.

"The superior priest of Lorci and Grey Sceptile Riders? Damn it. This is certainly not the hunting troop looking for sacrifices. This, is the entire army of the Dark Elves. To attack the Elven Kingdom at this moment, is Lorci insane?"

Obviously, it wasn't the time for any laments, just as Tasia, disguised as a grey bear, was about to leave, was spotted by the female priest.

" Humph, it's not my first day mimicking an animal, I'm a professional."

But straightaway, she realised the dark grey light was being concentrated around the Nine Head Whip of the priest, she started to be panicked as if she had discovered something.

"Forgive me, sister, I will repay you in the future."

She clenched his teeth and started biting her fallen comrade, closing her eyes.

"Humph, this is exactly how my little Hooi took its food, witness my god-like acting… They should have gone away."

When she opened her eyes, however, not only had those Dark Elves remained or turned away from her, but on the contrary, they were actually staring at her.

"Puke, Wahaha, there's even a vegetarian bear! This Druid is amusing."

The lady priest was rolling with laughter on the back of the armoured War Scorpio, and now, Tasia just realised she wasn't eating the right thing, and subsequently, she looked forward and realised that Grevor had awakened and was staring at her in astonishment.

That was a close call, when Grevor had gotten rid of the effects of the paralyzing poison, dodging the big bloody mouth, Tasia had bitten off a stack of grasses and started swallowing.

Obviously, she who tried to hide her gustation wouldn't taste anything, and so she had bit off the grass twice.

"Humph, I'm just a bear who loves eating grasses, why, is there any rule restricting bears from eating grasses, take my sky flipping bear paw!"

Alright, Tasia who always came up with disgraceful acts at the critical moment had again proven that fact correct. She flew into a shameful rage.

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Chapter 171: New Mission

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Watch your back, the poison fangs of spiders may fall upon us at any time."

The Grey Elf rangers who had defected from Lorci greeted each other like so during their farewells, to remind themselves and their comrades, that the incredibly vindictive Lorci would never let go of a single grudge, and at any time, she might send her dangerous fangs to obliterate her traitors.

Despite the formation of a strong alliance, the Underworld remained as it was, the war between each other is inevitable, but due to a certain reason, the recent power of the Dark Elves who served Lorci was getting weaker.

Due to trading under an underground contract, Aruhr, the Demon Messenger in the Underworld had disappeared abruptly, and thus, the Underworld cities of his human servants had gradually surrendered themselves to the Sulfur Mountain City. As more and more Underworld cities sought refuge or alliances, Annie's autarchy status was gaining a firm foothold in the Underworld.

The three new autarchs, Ein Mezus the Dragon Queen, Annie the Fire Phoenix, and Centaur Anya the Underworld Beastman Sovereign had an intimate relationship, and their forces had always been banding together, and thus, the influence of Dark Elves had been significantly curbed.

This was just like in any market trade, if a few mega companies held above 70% of the market shares, they would possess the pricing power and would be capable of monopolizing the market, and the small businesses would easily go bankrupt. As the situation had progressed to this state, when all sorts of treaties for lowering tax on sales had been signed, many business entities would disregard the city of Dark Elves and play their own games, which would evidently lead to a fatal hit on the Dark Elves' economics.

In this situation, the Dark Elves would have made their move.

"You are not selling me anything? I will rob the headquarters, you dare to hinder the market trading? Believe it or not, I will kill your whole family! We are the Dark Elves. Not just charcoal heads with long ears!"

Nobody ever mocked the Dark Elves' threat. Being one of the few fanatic races that would embrace burglary and trickery as their virtues, the Dark Elves had always been easily offended. At times, they might not speak out, but one must still be aware of their deadly grudges and ambushes.

"The Underworld Oath of Alliance was established for the sake of the world peace, anyone who declares war will be the common enemy of all the ally members, with no exception even for the Underworld autarchs! In fact, the Underworld Autarch should abide by the peace accord even more strictly, or she would have to endure the hostility from the other autarchs."

If anyone would have shouted this sentence one year ago, everyone would take him as an imbecile. However, when it was spoken by Annie who had won the support from almost seventy percent of the forces, no one dared to take the peace accord as a joke anymore.

Besides, it was self-evident that which Underworld autarch that sentence was directed at. Meanwhile, some Grey Dwarfs who were serving the Dark Elves due to military pressure, and the Underworld Dwarf City, had realised that the Dark Elves stopped resorting to violence. Without squandering this golden opportunity, they changed their allegiance and escaped the tyranny of the Dark Elves.

With its economics, politics and military comprehensively suppressed by the other forces, the influence of the Dark Elves was diminishing. Moreover, there were Dark Elves who had embraced the other Gods and started following new leaders. The authority of Lorci was facing an extreme comprehensive challenge.

To be faced with such circumstances, would Lorci not feel miserable? After the peculiar death of her divine-descendant illegitimate daughter a while ago, before the new heir could be decided, the Dark Elves power was heavily suppressed out of a sudden, and now, even her influence and followers were diminishing. All of these were beyond what she could bear.

Following the lessening of her vast followers, her divine force was weakened, out of fury, Lorci briskly executed the Mother of several big families. In the end, the silent hostility between the multiple Dark Elf cities to compete for the Underworld autarch status grew more intense. Meanwhile, in a series of turbulences, Mother Victoria from the Morsblight City turned out to be amongst the three autarch candidates.

Aside from that, due to some historical connections, should Lorci eventually opt for coexistence with the other autarchies, Mother Victoria would become the best candidate as The High Priestess of Lorci. And now, this reason makes her a new superstar in the Dark Elf tribe.

In this situation, my letter has to be delivered to Annie through Elisa, then Annie will deliver it to Victoria by the special communication method. In this way, the letter would not be taken lightly, despite the absence of my signature and stamp.

Lorci the Spider Queen was notorious for her slyness and greed, persuading her to join other camps wouldn't be a simple task.

"… In this sacred war, if the Gods of Order are victorious in the end, all existing Gods of Elves will fall. Hence, in preparation for the future, the Elf divine system desperately needs one skilful and experienced God of Elves to lead the crowd, you are undoubtedly the best candidate!"

"Please think twice, if you insist on remaining with Chaos, would you really want to fight alongside those people who once banished you? Do you think you can rise above them single-handed? If they become the leaders, would you be banished again? Not likely, learning from the past experience, they will definitely eradicate any root of misfortune, and seek an excuse to wipe you out."

I offered Lorci to be the Prime God of the Elves, as the outcome of remaining with the Chaos would never be pleasant, whether they win or lose, that was my speculation.

I never told lies, and it was these "truths", which were able to touch the heart of the sceptical Lorci.

"Besides, I didn't expect you to raise the flag of rebellion, you see, at present, the Elven Gods still side the Order faction, they expect you to attack them, not to mention the bitter grudge between you, letting go of any grudge is certainly not your style."

"The situation now is in such turmoil, without raising a flag or taking a stand, you can always make a second choice, this is free of risk and a better opportunity for vengeance. Should you miss this, even I will feel regretful for you, this is a golden chance that appears once per thousand years, should you miss this, and wait for another thousand years?"

In Dark Elf language, betrayal is a virtue, and one could easily picture the characters of Lorci. This proposal allowed her to bend with the wind, and also be the Prime God of the Elves if things succeeded, and so it definitely touched her heart.

To added more authority, at the back of the letter, I had added the mark of the Divine force of Ayer and Lord Wumianzhe.

These two marks served as the justification by two Gods of Order, not to mention one of them was Ayer the mogul, perhaps in Lorci's eyes, the authority of this letter was significantly elevated, it had even become the official poaching of the Order camp.

Alright, this event was in fact, not known by the Gods of Order, and to ease things, Ayer had left me fully in charge of this matter.

Upon receiving the letter, Lorci gave no response, but this silence had notified me that she was touched. After some hesitation, she appointed Victoria as the highest priest, this had answered me in a different way.

As Lorci was willing to join the game, the subsequent events wouldn't be within my control.

"Humph, everything you do will come back to you sooner or later, the Dark Elves would go even further than the sins committed by Elves in Sleuweir, I don't believe the Elven army will continue to fight the Humans if they were hauled into a civil war. You should go back, and let the dogs bite the dogs."

Nevertheless, there were still a couple of problems in my hand.

"Being a black sheep to this extent, Fismer Caso was indeed an unparalleled genius!"

Not to mention the internal strife owing to the long-term of willful neglect of government affairs, the invasion of the Beastmen's main force on the Maple city, had prevented Antoin from suffering irresistible tension.

Seeing the financial report of the royal financial advisor and the military report of the army, I realised that Fismer had led Sleuweir to the verge of bankruptcy.

"Stop all the new entertainment facilities temporarily, seal the project of the imperial garden, release all slaves as the civilians, as for the concubines in the imperial harem…

"They are all mine!" I would surely like to speak such dream words of every man, but to retain a semblance of my humanity in the eyes of the world, alright, not to mention the dazzling silver ring on my finger, I could not help but to shake my head.

"Dismiss all of them, send those of wealthy families back home, appoint those of poor family as the nurses in hospitals, community service workers, tailors, etc, let them all earn their own livings. As for those who can't do anything, appoint them as the dishwashers of restaurants. Alright, give them all a sufficient dismissal fee, but tell them, the imperial can no longer take care of them."

In fact, these financial and government problems were of little trouble, they were but the awful mess left behind by Fismer, who cared nothing but drinking and heeling around, the real problem was the feudal lords of the country.

In this feudal era in which sorcery and swords intertwined, due to the harsh living environment and the presence of demonic beasts, most civilians would prefer to stay in the safer, big cities, and the inconvenient traffic system had led to communication and transportation problems between city-states, the best example was none other than Emperor Hill Height, as it was common for the imperial authority to extend only across several city-states.

Of course, the rights and obligations were always contradictory, it was never a cinch to protect the people from all sorts of threats, natural and unnatural.

In my own territory, the authority and voices of the aristocracies could be even higher than that of royalty, as this wasn't something unusual in this era, the Royals had always been compromising, but to offend the aristocracies to the extent that a few aristocracies had utterly disregarded him, and didn't have audience with him in court for ten years. There was no one but Fismer Caso. And all of these, was not a trivial matter,

"Just for a famed beauty, to think that he could send the guards to kidnap the wife of the aristocratic feudal lord, yet leaving behind evidence all the way. So fortunate of this bastard to not yet have been overthrown by any aristocrats."

Actually, if it wasn't for the sudden north invasion of the Beastmen, perhaps not even more than two years, there would be a lot of feudal lords conspiring against him.

From the perspective of this decadent king, he was but devil who escaped from the hell and would be banished back there anytime, and since the wealth of this country would not belong to him forever, would he not seize the time for enjoyment, as for how terrible the consequence would be, he would care less as those would happen after his death, why was he even worried?

The situation of the current Sleuweir was not just so, the imperials were supposed to stand out and gather all the feudal lords to form an alliance army to engage in this full-scale war, but the Beastmen had taken away that authority from the Humans, as they gave no chance for Fismer to fulfil his kingship.

But even if Fismer could fulfil his kingship, how many feudal lords would respond to his call of the expedition?

The main force of the imperial was divided into two, the main force at the border was stuck in the border fortress, meaninglessly, while the royal guard army and reserve army had suffered a big casualty just to confront the siege on Antoin.

As for the armies of feudal lords, they were mostly pinned down within their own territories due to Beastmen's strategy of a sudden invasion from all sides. Not only did the nonfeasance of the imperial shatter the loyalty of some loyal retainers, but it also prompted some people to be more cautious, if any feudal lord was willing to assist the imperial, that was equivalent to him seeking demise.

Fismer had gone too far, and even if I was the temporary king, this throne was still unstable.

Even in the times when sovereignty was dispersed across the feudal lords, rebellion was still technocratic, the legitimate kingship was always the last reason the civilians could use for toleration, and if it wasn't Fismer showing his devilish nature when his life was endangered, if it wasn't because I was a legitimate Mist descendant by law, I couldn't have taken over Antoin this easily.

However, this was still a taboo, which wouldn't satisfy the feudal lords, and this situation was unpleasant for me.

"Today, taking over the kingship of Sleuweir with such an excuse, aren't East Mist and Sharal both Mist descendants, they will probably take everything in the end. If the imperial kingship can be deprived of such, what about the rights of us feudal lords?"

Evidently, if this situation persisted, if I was accused of being an aspirant, I would definitely be categorized as taboo, if so, my blueprint would come to nothing.

Blueprint? Indeed, I had a series of proposals on the Northlands, but being a king was absolutely not part of it, as that would bring deadly harm to me and arouse caution of a lot of people against me, the losses surely outnumbered than benefits.

"A Sleuweir royal member was needed, even just as a puppet, would be more legitimate than me, to deputize the kingship."

But obviously, here came a new problem, Fismer had been very ruthless in order to climb up to the throne, amongst the three siblings, the crown prince of the old king was allegedly murdered by him, while the younger brother and his entire family had encountered "misfortune" too, they were caught in a carriage accident.

And now, I couldn't even find a candidate for the puppet I needed.

A sudden news, however, had lifted the spirit of mine.

"The old king used to have a love child, a daughter named Glina, thirteen years ago before the enthronement of Fismer, she couldn't be found during the extermination of his family, she might still be alive.

"The lamp of life?"

I suddenly recalled the dagger with two pearls, a Sleuweir royal should possess this arcane.

"Besides, the lamp of life which was always dim, has brightened up since three months ago, it seems that the princess has returned to the Northlands, if she's back for revenge, most likely she has been concealed her name and identity."

The words of imperial household had lifted my spirits, hence, I immediately made an announcement, and the patrolling knights had been running across the whole city, shouting themselves hoarse, but still, no one stood up.

" If she is really in this city, she must be taking precautions against me. Forget about that, just look for her first, any other defining descriptions?"

The old man pondered with a frown for a long time, then started speaking again.

"She was still a kid that year, what traits could she have, she is just a quiet ordinary girl. Oh right, she has two moles on her chest and one more on her left butt, these could be the traits!"

I covered my face just as I heard these words, I could easily guess what would happen next.

[ Ding Ding, congratulations master for unlocking the special mission – a spectacular welfare plot, mission target: Look for Princess Glina, don't hesitate, she is somewhere within your reach. Mission reward: Through her, you are able to take control of this country, serving as part of the restoration of Mist Kingdom, Roland's sword can perform the first stage of evolution for a divine weapon. Mission fail: the evolution reward is permanently forfeited, the spectacular welfare plot will be replaced with another spectacular but blood-and-slaughter plot.

"Bang!" I abruptly punched on the table, indeed what I feared, was what it came. To think of this reward and punishment!

"Does that mean we need to take off the clothes and dresses of all girls of fifteen to sixteen years old, and check their chests and butts? This is too wicked, this is too vulgar, this is too erot… cough, too immoral."

The old man shook his head with a wry smile.

"Considering that she would be pursued by the puppet king, she would disguise herself, whether it's her age or gender, she had probably made herself as an adorable boy."

I gaped at him, should I give the order to strip all the young girls and boys, I was afraid I would again step into history – with the name of a Lewd King which even surpassed that of Fismer.

Finally, after half a day of profound thinking, I activated the communication feature on my ring, making a clean breast of the ins and outs of my matter.

"…If you decide to give the order of stripping, I will pretend that I do not know you from now onwards. Lewd Lord, why did you even tell me all of these crap, is this your new way of sexual harassment, or did you actually plan to frisk me first?"

I shook my head.

"No, I'm just asking for your help."

"Help? How could I help you do these things… Oh, I understood, you mean her?"

I nodded my head heavily, if possible, I wouldn't look for her too.

"Indeed, we need the help of expert, but this is beyond my capabilities, please help me inform that expert."

"…I understood, but suddenly think it's better to ask everyone in the city to strip. If that guy makes his move, perhaps all of you will be hung on the pillar of humiliation in the history."

"You think likewise too? Sadly, we have no other choice, I made up my mind… help me, help me contact that man, contact Beifeng! We need the assistance of him, and his comrades! In this situation, only a true gentleman can help us!" (to be continued…)

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Chapter 172: Reinforcements

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Name?"

"Albert.Lain."

"Job?"

"Freelancer knight, unaffiliated, but I've been hanging out with the Gentlemen Alliance recently. Everyone there treats me kindly, and they call me the Flower-dicing Swordsman of the Three Swordsmen."

I was a bit shocked at the rather open and free-spirited black-haired knight in front of me. I had already prepared myself for any kind of wretched "expert" that the Gentlemen alliance would send me after I contacted them, but what was with this extroverted handsome guy?

He had a squarish face that gave off a heroic spirit. His face was also clean and clear with a hook-shaped nose and bushy eyebrows. His black-colored knight attire gave him an aura of heroic coolness, while his long hair that reached his shoulders didn't seem feminine at all. I had the mysterious urge to punch in his handsome face, cough cough, I don't have any personal grievances with him though.

Wasn't he simply the classic enemy of all men – a mega handsome guy? Why was he a member of the Gentlemen Alliance?

"…Do you know what you're here for? Was there a mistake with the orders?"

Albert smiled wryly as he shook his head.

"There was no mistake with your message. The moment your message reached us, all my companions came looking for me first, as they believed I was the most suited for the job."

I was even more shocked upon hearing this. Just the maid outside the door who kept peeping in was evidence enough that this mega handsome guy wouldn't lack women. Rather than him needing to chase after women, it was far more likely that women would chase after him.

"…It's a long story, talking about the distant past."

Albert lowered his head in a manner that indicated it was humiliating for him to recall it.

"It's all due to a mistake I made when I was young, back when I was still a child, I had a younger sister, she was my angel, my everything…"

Albert's story was a common one in this day and age. Both his parents had died young, so he supported his family by himself, with his only living relative, his younger sister, being both his angel and his mental support. But when she was three years old, she was kidnapped by human traffickers.

"And so, I singlehandedly walked the continent in search of her, and I can't remember my childhood memories anymore. The only special mark on her body is that she has a red birthmark on her waist. That's why I practiced a highly refined sword style that especially aims for people's clothing but won't harm their skin, which is why I'm also known as the Clothes-slicing Swordsman of the Three Swordsmen."

The complex expression on his face showed how pained he was by all this.

I instantly nodded while expressing my sympathy. He was clearly an ordinary person who was misunderstood as a pervert, something I empathized with completely.

"You've had it rough. Relax, after you're done with my affairs, I'll use my power to help you find your younger sister."

"Really? Thanks so much then, I really want to hurry up and carry out your mission now, please give me the specifics, and I'll begin immediately!"

Albert was so excited that he stood up immediately and bowed to me. I was also joyed, since this was much better than I expected. There was actually someone normal in the Gentlemen Alliance? It seemed like that Gentlemen Aura wasn't too difficult to deal with, so I was filled with anticipation at the upcoming magnificent future.

"Hm, she's probably about 14 to 18 years old today, with blonde hair… no, hair color can be changed with dye, so don't let any girls of this age group slip under your radar, and since she might be disguised as a boy, don't let any cute boys past either!"

"My lord, rest assured, I'm an expert! Not a single female can escape my eyes or my sword!"

His rapier sliced an arc through midair with the killing intent in his eyes appearing and disappearing instantly. This moment, I discovered that the person in front of me was actually a top-level fighter halfway to a legend's level.

I immediately became overjoyed now, was I actually getting lucky? Not only was he a normal person who had morals and common sense, he was also a top-level fighter?

"So reliable!! Too reliable! …"

"Brother, I bought a Beast Fang sword pommel for you, you'll definitely love it!"

A lively girl suddenly opened the door and jumped inside.

Wait, what did she call him? Brother? Since she obviously wasn't addressing me, she could only be calling out to Albert, but wasn't his younger sister still missing?

Right then and there, my smile froze solid. Thanks to my many years of experience in being fooled, I was already beginning to detect what would happen after.

"Lina? Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to be at the mercenary headquarters?"

Albert obviously seemed surprised to see the ponytailed girl here.

"Big brother Beifeng told me to follow you here, since he said he didn't know what you would get up to if I wasn't around. He's such a good person, he was worried that Brother wouldn't be able to finish the mission, so he had many companions come over together to help. Brother, what's this really important mission? That even you had to come here for."

Ok, why was I fooling myself, I should have guessed long ago that the Gentlemen Alliance wouldn't have a single normal person, but he actually managed to fool me by acting all sincere, which meant he was skilled in his own way.

"Brat, how brave of you…"

"No, no, Milord, listen to me explain, everything I just said was the truth! I really was searching for my sister all this time, which was why I received my nickname."

Suddenly, the black-haired girl interrupted him angrily.

"Brother! Did you slice off some girl's clothes again!? There's already so many girls waiting for you at home, yet you're still doing such things. Forget about the reason why you began doing such things; even though you found me three years ago already, you're still using the excuse about my story to pick up girls, so how am I supposed to face everyone? I'm the younger sister of the Clothes-slicing Playboy? That's so humiliating, how am I supposed to get married?"

Playboy? Many girls waiting at home? Pick up girls? Every term I heard caused my eyebrows to twitch, but as a veteran of the FFF group, I knew what I should do.

"Young lady, I'm currently having a serious discussion with your brother, so would you mind waiting outside for us? Oh right, please close the door for us as well."

That girl nodded energetically as she seemed to understand I was an important personage.

"Okay, Brother, I'll be waiting outside for you."

What a nice sister she was, so understanding. Compared to my completely lawless younger brother, as well as all those rebellious kids at home, I was almost about to cry! Thinking about how I've been single for more than three hundred years already, while he had a harem when he was only in his twenties, plus the fact that he was still hunting for more girls to add to his harem, it truly made me want to cry.

"My finger is currently burning up with power, you winner in life that deserves to die, harem-collecting man, taste my Personality Fixing Heaven Crushing Fist! Take this!"

"Milord, listen to me explain! It definitely isn't what you think it is!"

Explain? Yes, of course I'd listen to him, but only after an enjoyable beating did I finally stop hitting him and allow him to explain.

"Pfft, your greed knows no bounds, scum!"

"Wahh, it's not like that, I don't want to either, truly."

It seemed that my condescension touched a weak spot in him, and he actually started crying. Such a manly-seeming young fellow began crying like he was still a child.

Well, his painful sobs sounded real this time, so I temporarily held back my desire to rub salt into his wounds.

"I don't want to either, it's just that I got so used to shredding the clothes of women in that age group that I'll keep doing it instinctually. And, all I'm doing is looking at their waists for birthmarks, why do I have to take responsibility for all of them? Harem? Have you seen harem members with hippopotamus bodies and monkey faces? All those that want me to take responsibility have such appearances. Even the few good-looking girls that wanted to be with me were chased away by them."

"How luxurious your worries are; are you bragging to someone who's been eternally single (and a virgin)?"

"No, no, milord, you don't know at all, the moment I leave, they'll be fighting with each other either openly or secretly, it's so chaotic, they'll use any underhanded plots or techniques. Last month, I was poisoned by my food five times in a row, I kept finding poisonous needles in my shoes, and glue all the time in my clothes, I can't take it anymore! Women are so scary! I'm already at the point where I begin shivering every time I see a woman! If I think about them, it scares me out of my mind!"

He actually did begin shivering as he said so with his teeth chattering as if he had gotten rabies. Judging by his sudden drop in body temperature and pale white face, he was actually telling the truth.

"You have androphobia? You're a harem character with androphobia? That sounds like a cliché manga setting."

Fine then, since Albert was currently at the extent of foaming at his mouth, I finally had some sympathy for the young brat.

"Two people come here and help to call for a priest."

But the moment I opened the door, some familiar faces came in.

"Boss, Brother Beifeng asked us to come over and help out."

Those that entered were all familiar faces from the Gentlemen Alliance: Beyar, Jinya, Casio, and… wait, why was Xueti here as well, just casually coming over here, you're supposed to be the highest-level priest.

"Lily is here."

The question I showed in my eyes received the answer I was waiting for. I understood immediately. With the Undead's announcement and as a member of the Blood Tribe, of course Lily could become more active in the East Mist Communal Country. And if Lily who was so skilled at internal logistics took over all the work, this dumb ox would indeed become rather idle and have the free time to just do things as he pleased.

"That guy Beifeng was actually being quite considerate, where is he? Did he not come?"

"No, he came."

Beyar nodded but his smile was rather vulgar as he made a gesture with his hands that any man would understand.

"He saw a huge lion's head, so he went off first by himself, and asked us to report in to you."

I instantly understood, but this wasn't exactly a good thing!

"A huge lion's head? What the hell, that guy's trying to kill himself!"

Simultaneously, a sky-splitting roar came from outside the window.

"Unbelievable! There's actually such a twisted soul in this world! And it even dares to set its sights on me, take my soul-correcting kick!"

Fine, that person outside the window on the clouds happened to be the vice-captain of a certain Gentlemen Alliance. From a certain angle, he really was unbeatable, as that lion's head was more than two thousand years old, and even I wouldn't dare to provoke it.

"Ah, it's big bro."

Apart from Casio's sounds of panicking, everyone else in the room seemed calm about it all.

"Relax, the good die young while calamities can live for thousands of years, so it's quite a simple matter for Beifeng to live for millions of years."

Everyone nodded at this remark.

"I always feel like even if the entire world was destroyed, he'd still be fine."

The uniquely low and thick voice belonging to that man who descended from the sky right after only proved the truth of that statement.

"Ah, I almost died… Don't be embarrassed, let's chat a bit…""My sharp sword can slice through anything!"

With cool words and a shining trail through the air, the invisible wind emanating from his sword turned into a cold wind that passed by.

"Clang!"

As the handsome swordsman stood up straight with a steely face and returned his longsword to its scabbard, that's when the swishing sounds of clothes ripping and falling to the ground finally happened.

"Ahhh, there's a pervert!"

This was the moment with that noble daughter finally discovered that her clothes were completely shredded, while Albert merely scanned her over quickly but only chuckled coldly before continuing onwards by herself.

"Hmph, I cut something useless again!"

Right then and there, that girl went into a crying fit at the incomprehensible act that had just occurred, and her guards hadn't even had a chance to take action yet.

Another tall figure suddenly appeared beside the girl as he covered her with his cape.

"…We're currently in the midst of pursuing the criminal who intentionally shreds girls' clothes, but we don't know where he's escaped to."

From a certain viewpoint, it could be said that Clint who was wearing heavy armor indeed seemed rather dignified, and as for him being the one who gets to act like a good individual, it's doubtlessly because he's also a human, so he wouldn't attract too much attention.

"Progress is too slow."

On the platform to the side, I was unsatisfied with our current rate of progress. This morning we've only managed to check 40-ish girls, how long would it take to finish at this rate?

"…This is already pretty quick. Fortunately for us, the Lantern of Life's reaction narrowed down our targets for us, we only need to check those that recently returned to the Northlands in the past three or four months, otherwise this really would take forever."

The Lantern of Life's functions were limited. It discovered a reaction a bit over three months ago, which only told us that Princess Glina returned to the Northlands at that time, but as for her specific location? If it was capable of following even her specific location, how would the royalty ever have any privacy?

Its area was so wide, if only it was more exact, Kelly would have discovered me much sooner as well, at the very most it was only evidence whether or not a royalty member was authentic as well as still living.

"Milord, how about making everyone in this city naked?"

"…It's winter right now, people will freeze to death, besides, how will we possibly deal with the aftermath?"

I felt helpless about dealing with Albert who was currently wielding his sword eagerly at a distance from me. Why was this androphobic swordsman so enchanted with clothes-slicing swordsmanship?

"It must be hard for him, since he has androphobia."

"Heeheehee, hahaha."

Just as I stated that, everyone around me started guffawing as if I had said something wrong.

"Is his androphobia just an act as well? This brat's acting skills are really that amazing?"

"No, he's not acting about this, but, take a look, the way his expression changes after slicing some girl's clothes."

I focused on Albert, who sheathed his sword as he stated he sliced something useless again, but there seemed to be a sliver of joy in his mouth, and his expression was filled with delight, as if he was enjoying the process.

"He's… enjoying this?"

"Yes, he does fear women to the point of death, and any woman touching him will cause him to scream, but precisely because of this, he especially enjoys the screams of women, which is why he's unable to stop himself from acting as the 'Clothes-slicing Demon,' doubtlessly because this is the greatest joy in his life."

"Sigh, for such a young man to turn out like this, with his sword techniques, what a pity."

"That's not quite so, Adam said before that Albert's typical sword techniques are only ordinary, only when Albert's in the midst of slicing clothes will he be at the level approaching that of a Sword Saint's."

I was momentarily stunned at hearing this. Sword Saints are extremely rare, and require both incredible talent and an extended period of time to polish their skills. They definitely have the ability to take on intense challenges.

But analyzing things more closely, I found that this didn't seem right.

"After his unsheathing slice, he'll slice 100 times before returning his sword to scabbard, normally he'll emit zero killing intent, but when he unsheathes his sword, his sword energy is so imposing that it can kill people formlessly, how is this approaching that of a Sword Saint's level, he's clearly already at a Sword Saint's level, this guy is actually a Sword Saint!?"

"No, he can only reach that level when his target is a woman that he's slicing the clothes off of, which is why Adam said he's only approaching the level of a Sword Saint."

"As expected, there's not a single normal person in the Gentlemen Alliance. Are the other two members of the Three Swordsmen similar to him?"

"Three Swordsmen? That's what they call themselves, everyone calls them the Three Vulgar Swordsmen."

I shook my head while feeling rather helpless, but at this moment, someone spoke up from behind me.

"I found the Princess's milkmaid from her younger days, there's new information!"

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Chapter 173: The Weight of a Sword

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

[Roland Sacred Sword: with this regal sword having to bear more and more weight, it is now closer to evolving and becoming a true God Equipment. When it awakens, you shall receive your first true God Equipment.]

[Kingdom-Class Treasure's Effect: As long as the East Mist Communal Country exists, this sword shall be indestructible. If the country perishes, this sword shall self-destruct. Feel free to exchange blows with any weapons using this sword, as even Ayer's Reaper's Scythe will fail to leave even a single scratch on this sword.]

[System Reminder: For Master who's in dire straits currently and becoming more and more unseemly every day, this Sacred Sword is crying out… it's already been crying. I said it many times already, it's a Sacred Sword, not a barbeque rack! Just try seeing what happens if you take advantage of its indestructibility to bake some sweet potatoes one more time! Also, as for cooking food, you should use a kitchen knife, don't you know how to value and respect such Sacred Equipment? No matter what, it's an artifact left behind by your grandfather's generation.]

The Legendary Quest regarding the Revival of Mist that descended upon the Roland Sacred Sword has been with me for quite a while, but ever since I entered the northlands, the Sacred Sword has entered an abnormal hibernation period.

Its original extravagant to the point of opulence characteristics had completely disappeared, and the only explanation about it remaining was that mysterious Kingdom-Class Treasure's Effect. According to the system, the Sacred Sword seemed to currently be storing energy in order to truly transform into a God Equipment.

Perhaps when I finished the Revival of Mist quest, this Sacred Sword would truly awaken as a God Equipment. Well, as for the system's comments on how I had used the sword as a barbeque rack and to bake sweet potatoes, I was merely making the best use of its newfound trait.

Now that it was indestructible, it didn't even require maintenance anymore. Not even dust would adhere to it, for it to be so handy, of course I would try finding some extra uses for it.

Yep, it was quite normal for me to do so, I definitely respected the sword, at the very least, I didn't use it to hang clothes on.

[Additional System Reminder: You did do so, you bastard! The only problem was that any clothes you hung on it were automatically sliced in half by its keen edge.]

Okay, let us ignore this system that's getting more annoying these days, and return to the main topic.

"God Equipment? I've actually never used God Equipment before, and I don't know just how strong they are."

It seemed inaccurate, but I was telling the truth.

Just like the name, God Equipment meant equipment that was godly in power, typical with a god's soul or power within, so they would definitely be rare and precious. I came into contact with some false God Equipment before that merely had the title, but it was certain that they still couldn't match up to true God Equipment.

As for the original form of my Sacred Sword, it only began its transformation into God Equipment after I ascended to godhood and received power from the Law Gods, it still needed time in order to accumulate the divine power injected by real gods in order to truly transform, but unfortunately, I don't have any more chances to do that currently, and as for that other so-called God Equipment – the Scepter of Eternal Night, yep, everyone knows about what that is already.

In this aspect, I was quite envious of Harloys. She personally came into contact with God Equipment before, and understood just how strong they were. I also asked her in the past just how much of a difference my items were from true God Equipment.

"Below True Gods are the SemiGods, and you know the difference between them as well. Beneath God Equipment are those with partial God powers known as SemiGod Equipment, but those random assortments of abilities SemiGod Equipment possess aren't actually all that different from Legendary or Epic Equipment, apart from the number of abilities. God Equipment however is on a completely different scale; perhaps they might not have as many abilities as SemiGod Equipment, and some might even have zero attack power, but they'll definitely have various unique abilities that are the overwhelmingly best in their fields, at the top of their class."

After I came into contact with the Ancient Sea God's Bottle, I was faintly able to detect the true uniqueness of God Equipment. Even if it was an insignificant-seeming ability like returning a water source to its original form, even if the God Equipment itself was completely tattered, even against a True God's curse, it was still able to use its ability as normal.

I'll skip over the obvious ones such as how Fire Gods' Equipment would have something to do with flames, or how War Gods' Equipment would have enormous effects in battle. These days, I've been considering just how the Roland Sacred Sword would end up when it finished its evolution.

Based off of my understanding of the system, due to the limitations of karma, it never gave me any rewards that materialized out of thin air, instead, it would give me what I would have received anyways. Its biggest use was to skip over the needlessly detailed or complex parts for me, and use already twisted karma to twist karma even further, rather than creating miracles out of nothing.

The system's rewards almost always had a relation to the cause and effect as well as karma of the mission as well, for instance, that one Epic Quest rewarding me in the end with points based on my influence to "history," and when I defeated the Hydra in the Epic Challenge, I was also rewarded with something from the Hydra itself.

That's why I deduced that since this quest was for me to revive the Mist Kingdom, and the reward was the Roland Sacred Sword's evolution to a God Equipment, and also taking into consideration that this Sacred Sword was the representation of the Royal Seal of the Mist, then the final strength of this Sacred Sword most likely depended on how well I completed the quest to revive the Mist Kingdom.

The higher-quality the end result, the stronger that the newborn Mist Kingdom was, the stronger that the Roland Sacred Sword would become.

And with many events simultaneously developing, I also constantly adjusted my plans. With our combined efforts, a brand-new Mist Kingdom was gradually beginning to form.

Perhaps it was still currently rather fresh and tender, but it was currently growing through battle. Perhaps it was currently still weak and small, and in the midst of danger, but when it finally matured as the king among wolves in the north, it would definitely shock the world.

Just as how I would have definitely regretted it if I only fulfilled the most basic requirement of the Epic Quest, I had no intention this time of merely stopping at fulfilling the basic requirement this time either.

"A country's power will always be limited, perhaps an alliance with the same goal will be more suited for pursuing my long-cherished desire."

The East Mist Alliance was the name I secretly wanted to call it. With the East Mist Communal Country at its heart, plus the Sleuweir Kingdom, the Shawen Free States, the Barbarian tribes, and so on, they would worship the Law Gods as their religion, and have "non-aggression" as their basic tenet, they shall come to each other's defenses and fight strong enemies while united, and gradually form into a simultaneously loose yet tight alliance through difficult holy battles.

This Alliance would perhaps become the foundational block for me to overturn everything.

In the past, I believed that I was sufficient by myself to take care of everything, and that friends and companions would only make me soft and show weaknesses, but numerous defeats woke me up to reality.

Personal strength was meaningless in front of the waves of history, which was why this time I had trustworthy companions and friends at my side, whose strengths and intelligence were more than enough to make up for what I lacked, and of course, there were also my allies in the heavens.

In the past, I believed that battle would wipe out battle, but endless amounts of death and screaming woke me up to cruel reality again – any battle without benevolence, justice, and limitations would only bring death and destruction.

Warriors without beliefs would become nothing more than butchers sooner or later, which was why this time, I decided to use the various complex teachings of the Law Gods in order to limit our actions. Even if it seemed rather inconvenient due to having to adhere to so many rules, it was actually a path we must take in order to receive even more support down the road, as well as a yoke upon ourselves for us to not fall to limitless insanity.

In the past, I believed that a terrifying autocratic government was the sharpest sword available to me, but reality proved that this was nothing more than a shortcut to craziness.

Allies that fought for the same purpose would give you unexpected assistance, while subordinates that merely followed your orders would only think about how to replace you and take over your position. That's why I no longer considered making an authoritarian Empire, a loose alliance would be sufficient, while the young leaders and kings could lead their own countries by themselves as the vanguard, and fight together under the same banner, with me silently and secretly making the plans behind the scenes, taking hidden actions, and doing the dirty work.

"Love and justice? Of course not, that wouldn't fool anyone in this generation, but based on consideration and logical deduction, while something to believe in and a mutual goal to strive for seem rather empty, it's actually quite important. The larger the gathered forces, the greater the chances to overturn the twisted fate, which was why I chose to do this."

Reality proved that my choice was correct. The Gentlemen Alliance, the Underground powers, the Church of Law, the East Mist Communal Country and all the other powers, while they definitely had many connections with my previous self, but technically speaking, they didn't have formal subordinate connections to me, but not only did they still follow my orders, even if I wasn't present, they would still be able to operate on their own, and support and help each other, creating a cooperative power that wasn't ignorable.

"In order to deal with the future, I have limitless expectations for our allies and their support, even if they only hope to be carried by us, even if they want to personally benefit, that's acceptable as well."

By now, it was obvious that this Epic Quest recognized the New Mist Alliance that I created, and the Roland Sacred Sword's hibernation and newfound indestructability were doubtless evidence that it received enough power from the gradual growth of the newborn Mist Kingdom.

But the system suddenly gave me a quest to find a specific person, which would give me the reward of evolving the Roland Sacred Sword even earlier. Perhaps this meant that it was almost time to use this sword, or in other words, there was a difficult obstacle ahead of me that I would be unable to surpass without using the Sacred Sword. This was definitely terrible news.

But the next piece of information I received sunk me into confusion as I faintly felt like that damned system had gotten me good yet again.

"Glina.Caso, she vanished several years ago, and she was supposedly last seen near the entrance to the Underground cities…"

[She's right by your side…] I recalled the system's notification for me, causing me to think of a certain person, who just happened to fulfill the requirement of having returned to the Northlands approximately three months ago.

"Clint, take off your armor! Immediately! Damn it, you dare to run!? Catch him for me!"

Nobody expected that even if the Holy Battle was to involve even the gods, that the first God Battle in this Holy Battle would come so quickly and ferociously. Not only that, it was even due to an internal conflict between what should have been the neutral Elves.

Until the black magical mist enchanted by the Spider Queen dissipated, the sun would no longer be able to act as a threat anymore to the Dark Elves.

And under the protection of various guardian gods, the Elf Forest under this black mist was now a chaotic battlefield, with Elves and Dark Elves fighting everywhere.

"Impossible, how did they possibly pass by the border guards? Wasn't the underground tunnel being guarded?"

"They didn't come through that tunnel, they came through the imperial mausoleum, there must be a new tunnel inside there!"

There was no way that the Elf Kingdom wouldn't be on guard against its mortal enemy, having every entranceway heavily fortified was already a longstanding habit of all the Elf countries. But this time, the Dark Elves' attack was too sudeen.

The Tassel Elf Kingdom's imperial mausoleum's underground tunnels weren't a natural occurrence, they were the secret escape tunnels as a last resort for the royal family, an artificially constructed passageway that could help them escape to the main portion of the Underground world.

From a certain perspective, Annie and Anya were favored by fortune, not only did they manage to reach that critical intersection when they were lost, even more luckily for them, they met Suana who had escaped into the tunnels in order to protect herself, which was how they coincidentally managed to learn about this shortcut reaching to the Tassel Elf Kingdom.

When Annie and her army learned about this passageway, they didn't think too much about it, they were merely pleased to learn that there was a shortcut available for them to take, but when her army camped nearby this passageway, the secret naturally spread through certain channels to Roshe, causing this completely unexpected ambush.

Perhaps it was the Elves' fate to meet with such a disaster. If you looked at it from a certain way, if it wasn't for the fact that certain people forced Suana to her death, the Banshee would never have met up with the Underground Lord, nor would Roshe ever have learned about this secret passageway, so this ambush wouldn't have happened. Perhaps this was all fated by karma.

The guards at the imperial mausoleum were novices that had never experienced combat before. The guards were in the midst of yawning and complaining about how it wasn't time for the next shift to take over; they never anticipated that the shadows behind them had begun to twist in form as life-rending green daggers stabbed towards their backs.

All the imperial mausoleum guards were slaughtered in just a few minutes by the Dark Elves' elite scout forces without even a chance to raise the alarm. When the main Dark Elf forces poured out from the underground tunnel, even they didn't expect just how loose the elves' defenses were in this area, and how easy it was for them to go through this path.

Of course, Dark Elves didn't care one whit about the concept known as politeness. After a brief momentary period of shock, they obviously took advantage of the surprising situation and proactiveness to make their ambush as brutal as possible.

The Dark Elves used the highly mobile Lizard Cavalry as their vanguard. Perhaps this high-tier troop type wouldn't have been as useful in a direct confrontation on the battlefield, but the Lizard Cavalry were outstanding in chaotic battles. While the Elves were busy defending against the Dark Elf Knights' poisonous arrows and long spears, the Gray Lizards' bites and claws were actually even deadlier.

In small contained battlefields, Lizard Cavalry became a nightmare for the Elves that lacked close-combat capabilities. Even against strong mages, they were able to use extraordinarily strong leaping abilities and flexibility to pass over the mages' cannon fodder summoned creatures and tear the mages to pieces.

With these cold-blooded Dark Elf Knights' and Lizard Cavalries' arrival, the Elves that weren't prepared suffered enormous losses. Many villages and cities were instantly lost, and the cold-blooded knights that had satisfied their bloodlust hadn't even had time to dedicate their sacrifices to the Spider Queen when the anxious Priest Roshe wielded her Hydra Whip to indicate the next town for them to attack.

Due to the ambush, those small scout squads in the backlines suffered losses of over 90%. For someone like Tasia to have lived and even counterattacked was something that was less than 1%, which made the other Elves even suspect that she turned traitor.

Just like the Elf Army freely roaming around the Sleuweir Kingdom previously, the Dark Elves' army entered the Elf Kingdom and opened holes in its defenses everywhere, and the Tassel Kingdom that didn't have most of its soldiers sunk into a huge disadvantage of only being to passively react.

If this was an ordinary war, perhaps the Tassel Kingdom wouldn't even survive until its main forces returned, but this was the prelude to the Holy Battle involving the personal benefits of True Gods on both sides. While the order forbidding True Gods from directly intervening in lower species' wars still had some effect, there were still actions taken that were in the gray areas and barely touching upon the boundaries of that rule.

"My children, awaken."

When nature's low roar of anger emerged together with High Priest Prescott's angry shouting, ancient trees that were thousands or even tens of thousands years old transformed into tall Dendroid Warriors, the combat situation began tilting once more.

"Forest Guardian Clareladin! Do you really think that attempting to hide behind a SemiGod descendant playing at using Gods' powers, I wouldn't be able to detect the scent of your rotten wood God Power? Since you were the ones to break the rules first, then you won't be able to complain about me! Descend, my children! Tear down these rotten branches, and bring me the head of that High Priest descended from SemiGods."

Just as the Elf Warriors were getting all excited over the Dendroid Warriors joining their side, the Spider Queen's screeching threw them into the depths of despair again. Before nature's angry roars even stopped echoing on the battlefield, a large portal leading from the lower dimension suddenly appeared.

Dozens of huge black spiders that were more than ten meters tall crawled out of the portal, and easily tore through the ancient Dendroids' branches with their spider limbs that were thicker than steel pillars. Even the strongest warriors took deep breaths of worry at this scene.

And so, while the ordinary Elves were fighting amongst themselves, the far more powerful Gods began their conflict as well.

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Chapter 174: Queen Glina

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

From the very start, my search had been doomed to failure. This was because I had misconceptions about my target's outer appearance and characteristics.

Glina.Caso, descendant of the Mist, and the future Queen of Sleuweir. She was currently fifteen years old, but if you went by her physical appearance, she didn't seem that old at all.

She was about 1.4 meters tall, and her short golden hair was combed into a simple bobbed haircut. Her skinny limbs weren't suitable for wielding swords or other weapons at all. From a first impression, it was easy to think that she was still only ten years old.

As for why her real age and perceived age were so different? It was due to that dark yellow demonic pupil under her right eyepatch. Thirteen years ago, when she had almost reached the point of death thanks to her enemies' pursuit, the demonic blood in her awoke. Even though it saved her, she also became no longer completely human from that point on. The most obvious result of this was the fact that her rate of growth ended up slowing down.

Unlike Fimor.Caso who was unable to resist the bloodline, Glina who lived in the Underground World saw many fallen demonic descendants, so naturally she knew that there were no free lunches in this world. Using demonic power usually cost one's soul as the price, so before such a tragedy befell her, she resolved herself to seal away her own demonic power.

"Magical Seal Armor Clint #1."

That was the name of the magical armor mechanism that "Clint" never took off. While it appeared like a shabby piece of heavy armor on the outside, it was actually an exquisitely created magical mechanism shaped like a piece of armor, and the real Glina had always been hiding inside this armor while controlling the mechanism.

Not only was the armor a weapon, it even had various anti-magic items and chains inside that chained her up quite tightly. Not only was it impossible for her demonic powers to leak outside, even moving her body was extremely difficult. She had used both physical and magical seals on herself in order to completely suppress her own demonic powers.

And since she had decided to seal away her powers, Glina who was an expert engineer gave up on her past close-combat fighting style, and chose instead to use explosives, gunpowder, and Dwarven Firearms as her main weapons, causing the rise of the famously terrifying Clint the Explosive Demon.

As for her abnormally high sense of caution, not only was it a result of living in an environment of endless battles, even more of it came from her uncle's assassins and spies sent out to find her.

Even now she was unable to completely accept that the person she trusted the most was actually someone out to assassinate her, and after she matured, the bother of her demonic power caused her to go into self-imposed exile.

This girl used her own method to put up a barrier between her heart and the world, and hid her soft real body within a rotten metal can. She used small openings and sensors in place of her eyes and ears; she used cold steel in place of the warmth of human contact. Perhaps she was still interacting with humans, but her soul was in self-imposed exile.

"As long as I don't have any feelings for others, I won't be hurt. As long as I don't trust anyone, I won't be betrayed. I've had enough already."

I'm not the type to comment on other people's way of life, but this eyepatch-wearing girl had clearly been through a lot.

Even now, looking at the girl who remained expressionless and silent despite being tied up so tightly, I didn't even know how to deal with her.

"Since you came back here together with me, you must have had your own plans, don't you plan on saying anything? Even though you knew that we were searching for you, why didn't you come out and tell us?"

"I'm not Glina…"

"Hm?"

"I'm Clint, not Glina."

Her single eye was filled with self-belief as she said so. She truly believed in this.

"…You reject your royal heritage so much? Do you feel that people will treat you differently due to your identity?"

"They're already behaving differently."

Turning around, I saw that the gentlemen behind me had their eyes popping out as they were all staring at her. The fact that Clint was actually a girl probably shocked the members of the Gentlemen Alliance she hung out with more than anyone else.

"Impossible, how could Clint be a little girl! Just yesterday we talked about so many male topics, he said he was one of the staunchest members of the blonde beautiful girls faction! How could he possibly be a flat-chested loli!"

"Yeah, we even showered together with no problems… By the way, has nobody ever stopped him from wearing armor in the shower?"

"Everyone got used to it, isn't there a sentence saying that armor is a man's true body!"

Upon hearing this sentence, the fact that every one of them nodded rendered me speechless… Even though I believed it as well, but it was still embarrassing to say it out loud.

"Yep, I even saw him wearing some large bear-print pajamas on top on his armor, I thought it was rather normal."

"Yeah, and I even witnessed him drinking alcohol straight out of the barrel."

Alright, Glina was beginning to chuckle proudly at the gentlemen's shock.

"Ahaha, I'm a combat expert, a master of disguise, I've undergone assassin and anti-assassin training, and I'm an expert in male psychology; I even know how to make perverted jokes in sixteen different languages. My Clint #1 armor is absolutely perfect, not only can it imitate how normal people eat and drink, it can even enter showers, absorb water, and wash my body. I can hide inside it for more than one year without ever needing to come out. As for what I shouldn't see, do you really think I want to see a bunch of stupid foolish men flashing off their muscles? I always turn off my sensors when faced with such blinding sights."

This cold-faced loli's laughs made me speechless, she was truly so proud of herself at her skills in concealing her identity, was there indeed a problem with the Mist bloondline after all? Just what was with everyone from this family?

But there was obviously no time to waste, so I went with the direct approach with her.

"Glina… Okay, I know that you don't like that name, so I'll keep calling you Clint. You're also familiar with the current situation; I need your assistance. Your uncle should have been your mortal enemy, and now that he's dead, it sort of counts as me having helped take revenge for you. Now, I'd like to request for your aid in stabilizing the situation, is that alright?"

"No."

"…Why not, at least tell me the reason."

"That guy has nothing to do with me. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't even return."

Glina had no intention of taking revenge in the first place. Having left home at two years old, and experiencing countless betrayals and impacts from her demonic blood awakening, the current her didn't have any memories of her homeland anymore, nor did she have any memories about her parents.

Perhaps the deepest part related to her homeland in Glina's memories were those of the shiny edges of assassins' daggers. If a person had nothing but negative memories of her own homeland, it was only natural that she wouldn't desire to return.

Perhaps the only person she viewed as a relative was the Lord of Iron City that raised her as his own son. After experiencing so much slaughter in battle and all those betrayals, she had no interest whatsoever in obtaining power.

But, even if Glina was the type that seemed like she had no desires, she still wasn't difficult to deal with for me. Perhaps Glina was indeed difficult to deal with, but the Clint that I was familiar with was a piece of cake.

"Cough, I have the newest explosive formulas here that I deceived the Auland Empire into revealing, are you interested? They're actually quite skilled in alchemy and engineering, it can be said that this formula doesn't follow common sense at all, they actually thought of the method of using high pressure in place of high temperatures… Darn it, this explosive formula's so complex, are there any experts that can help me research it?"

Hearing this, her ears and lips seemed to tremble slightly. She was slightly moved at this, but considering all the troubles that would come with promising to help me, she fell silent again.

"…While your Clint Armor isn't bad at all, it's still technology from several years ago. Don't you want some engineers to help you upgrade and improve it? Such a tattered piece of armor is so unseemly, girls' clothes should at the very least be clean if not pretty. Regardless of anything else, Sulfur Mountain City and Iron City are solid allies now, and your adopted father even has a seat at the alliance's conference. We've treated you kindly, don't you agree?"

This time, I definitely noticed how moved she was by the expression in her single eye.

"Every day you only need to appear for half a day, and act your part. You can do whatever you like during the rest of your time. If you promise to work with me, you can also have first dibs on using any new equipment, and you can also have the new alchemy explosive formula that Olivy researched."

"…Does this include the Roland line of titan robots and Timlet's new toys?"

I immediately nodded as I was overjoyed inside. I wasn't afraid of any request she would make, I was worried that she wouldn't have any requests. I was afraid that she wouldn't speak up at all, but since she said something, that meant that she was definitely considering it.

"Sure, if you're willing, you can become the test pilot at any time. Since you can control such a tiny armor mecha and make it seem like such a real person, I believe that there's few out there who are above your piloting skills."

"No, there's nobody out there at all who can surpass me, I'm an expert!"

Her green eye was filled with confidence. Thanks to her countless accumulated experience, Glina would never believe that anybody out there had more experience piloting mechas than her.

"It's a deal."

When my large hand shook her small hand, there was a sudden notification from my system.

Ding!* Congratulations to my master for finding the final Mist descendant. The Roland Sacred Sword has now completed the first step in its evolution ahead of time. Please continue working hard for it to become stronger. System reminder: bastard, do you dare to tell Elisa that you always shower together with Clint?]

I broke out into a cold sweat upon hearing this. As one of the very few normal people (well, people I could talk to) in the Gentlemen Alliance, and also considering the professor's juniors, I definitely used to always chat with or make Clint work for me, and seeing how he was trustworthy and strong, I always had him help me wash my back. If word of this got out, it would be quite troublesome for me.

"Um, since from a certain standpoint, we're also related by blood, are you willing to become my adopted daughter? Relax, it won't have anything to deal with your father, it's just in name for political purposes."

Alright, I lied here. While it was also for political purposes, I had more personal motivations. If it was an adoptive father washing together with his adopted daughter, that wouldn't seem as bad for me.

"If you give me spending money at fixed periods, okay."

Alright, judging by how her left eye was sparkling, she wasn't talking about a small amount, but it was worth it!

"Deal."

In the public square, the young princess put on the golden-purple crown, and the new Queen of the Sleuweir Kingdom was thus born. When she received the golden staff that represented royal power, her first proclamation already shocked the world.

"I, Glina the First, declare in my name as the Queen of Sleuweir Kingdom that the Sleuweir Kingdom shall be a solid ally of the East Mist Communal Country, and rebuild the former Mist Kingdom together. We shall also worship the Law Gods as our national church, and from now on, the Sleuweir Kingdom shall obey the tenet of 'non-aggression,' and never start any wars ourselves, however…"

The Queen that had just taken up her position lifted her golden royal staff and slammed it back down against the ground, with the echoing metallic sound filled with her thunderous anger.

"Our lands are currently being pillaged by the fires of war, our citizens are being slaughtered; the current situation isn't one that we chose for ourselves, if we don't want our country and our citizens to die off, then we have to battle!"

Glina paused here as her fair complexion revealed a sign of discomfort.

"In over two thousand years of history, the Mist family had never lowered its head to anyone. But, my uncle Fimor.Caso did such a vulgar, unsightly action for his own life's safety and for the sake of power. How saddening. But I already investigated the cause for his rotten depravity, which all came from the demons' machinations, the Evil Gods of Chaos and the Great Demons corrupted his resolute will that used to be so noble, turning a heroic prince on the battlefield into such an evil bastard that would stoop to anything."

All the citizens in the public square were murmuring to themselves at this. The news about Fimor revealing his demonic form had already spread throughout all of Antuen, and his crimes were all being exposed in broad daylight for everyone to see, which was why I was able to take the reins of power so quickly.

"Everything was the demons' plots! My Mist family has never ever surrendered to any invaders in the past, there have never been any precedents, nor shall there ever be any precedents! In my name as the Queen of Sleuweir, I declare Fimor's surrender to be ineffective, and we are still currently at war! We are grateful to the neighboring countries' support, but we ourselves are still the main forces that will resist invasion, we must evict the invaders from our own lands!"

This proclamation seemed quite normal, but it was actually quite important. Due to Fimor's previous declaration of surrender, it basically turned the invaders into the new masters here, and the supporting armies became the new invaders. If we didn't turn around this twisted relationship, then the political messiness would cause endless new dangers for us.

"Our Mist Family has never enjoyed battle, but we won't shy from battle either! Since they chose to attack us, and perhaps we're still currently as a disadvantage, but just like the past thousands of years, we shall be the final ones to stand victorious!"

Glina paused as she lifted her royal staff and spoke a proclamation that had been repeated endlessly throughout the ages.

"The will of the Mist shall never surrender!"

"The flag of the Mist shall never fall!"

The citizens below her in the public square all lifted up their fists, with their suppressed passion finally reigniting after a Mist descendant waved that familiar battle flag in front of them once more.

"The citizens of Mist shall never be slaves! We have not been defeated yet, our country has yet to perish! As long as that flag still hasn't fallen, we shall rise again!"

At this moment, I was merely standing there silently on the platform. When Glina rose up her golden royal staff, I also lifted the Roland Sacred Sword, which was currently shining with a bright silver sheen.

"Wuuuu!"

With the battle horn sounding for the counterattack, the ancient Sacred Sword from epic stories transformed into a pillar of light that reached the skies.

Under its might, all the clouds in the sky were torn apart as the light revealed what was hidden behind the clouds.

A floating castle, and floating platoon were gliding among the clouds, and what stood out the most of all, was a tremendous Tornado Wind Elemental. At this time, the Tornado Lord had finally come through on his promise, and had the members of his tribe begin their attack on his mortal enemy.

"Knights, our reinforcements have finally arrived, and it's time to take back our land that should rightfully be ours! Open the door, and charge after me!"

The Queen proceeded right away after jumping onto the Ice Lion King, and right behind her were the knight squads that were already prepared for this beforehand. Countless battle flags were unraveled as threatening cold steely lights emanated from their sharp pikes and spears.

Today was the inauguration ceremony for Glina the First, as well as the formal declaration of battle by Sleuweir.

"It's finally time to take back everything that belongs to us."

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Chapter 175: Start of Battle

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Danna

Every Holy War would reset the balance of power between the various races. Not only would the power balance be reset among mortals, it almost always included the True Gods as well.

Nobody was truly immortal. Not only humans, even beings as powerful as the True Gods had their own mortal enemies and insurmountable obstacles. They were fated to fall one day as well, although they would take many lives with them when they fell.

With the fires of the Holy War stoked, order almost completely collapsed, and the suppressed feelings of anger and revenge finally exploded. There were those that hoped to benefit from the war, or those that cursed their enemies and swore revenge. When these "divine" existences began encouraging their own forces, it was only natural that chaos would reign.

The Wind Elemental God Camdian was one of them. He was currently rather frustrated. Even if the Four Ancient Elemental Gods weren't the main Gods of Chaos, they were the direct subordinates of the Chaos Goddess and weren't far from being the main Gods themselves.

"Your mission is to cooperate with the Blackwing Tribe and create chaos, understand?"

He was finally released from his seal, and not even mentioning the fact that people were different from how they were, those insignificant ones that should have been below him were actually above him! This was unacceptable for someone as prideful and arrogant as he was.

As the most ambitious of the Four Ancient Elemental Gods, he was highly unsatisfied with his current situation.

"Damn it, that damned Bodwin, even a mere Centaur guardian dares to be so disrespectful! I, Camdian, am the highest existence, how dare these insignificant existences give me orders."

Even after being unsealed, the position of the Elemental Gods was still rather precarious. As the direct subordinates of the Chaos Goddess, they should have been on the level of the Main Gods, but that was nowhere close to the truth, as even the guardian of such a weak race didn't respect them.

Unlike the other Elemental Gods that simply became allied to the mortal residents of the land, the powerful Camdian used some tricks and caused the Winged Tribes that had lost their ability to fly to completely subordinate themselves to him. With the ancient floating airship and floating castle within his possession, Camdian had his own ambitions. When he gradually discovered the lack of respect given to his own position, he began having his own ideas about the situation.

"Giving someone as divine as me the order to be the leader of some bandits? If I actually do that, I'll make enemies out of every country along our path, and as the war drags on, I'll become nothing more than cannon fodder sooner or later in this Holy War."

When the hooded stranger came to visit him and gave him an opportunity, his cautious personality made him continue to observe the situation. Roshe's message was what finally gave him his determination.

"I've already received Ayer and Wumianzhe's promises. Perhaps there will be a new system of Gods born in the Northlands, that's all I have to say, do as you see fit. But no matter what, the Northlands' elves belong to me, don't you dare touch them!"

This twisted and confusing short message still managed to help the Wind Elemental God understand the conflicting feelings in his fellow ancient God that was also experiencing dejection.

"Even if I fail, at the very most I'll just be sealed and have a nap again, which won't be any worse than currently. But if I succeed, I can have my revenge on that disgustingly big piece of dirt, and also help the Winged Tribes obtain some territory, which will also help me on the path to becoming a Guardian, gathering belief that can help me raise my rank to a True God, such a great deal… I'll gamble on it!"

And with the Thunder Lord's ferocious anger, the ancient battle between elementals restarted in the modern age. The earth elementals that had been in the midst of constructing the dimensional bridge met with their old opponents once more. The thunder and tornadoes that descended from the sky intended to rip apart the earth.

"Boom! Boom!"

The first to open fire was actually the wind elementals' subordinate Winged Tribes. Cannon fire from the black floating airship set fire to everything before it, and the floating castle in the sky became the Wind Tribe's fortress and center of command.

While the castle descended, countless black-winged "angels" flew out from within and slid down together with an armada of floating ships as they followed their hunting instincts and joyously roared as they attacked. They chucked their thunder-infused spears that transformed into countless bolts of deadly thunder.

The Wind Tribe's first attack didn't have much of a result, as the highly durable earth elemental army emerged from within the ground's cracks and fought back with their giant stone hammers.

When both sides' elemental warriors exchanged blows, the battlefield sunk into utter chaos. Countless numbers of earth and wind elementals began close-combat fighting, with tall rock giants grappling against whirlwind tornado giants, and the gigantic children of earth tossing huge stones at the children of the sky in response to the thunder that kept crashing down even though there were no clouds in the sky.

Just at the combat was reaching its apex, a horrendous scream was heard by everything living as they all instinctively looked to the northern sky where a humongous fiery meteor was slowly falling.

"A God has died! A True God has died!"

All the living creatures instinctively knew that the death of a True God had occurred. As for the northern Elf Kingdom, the Elf Warriors who were still battling with their utmost looked on in shock at the sight before them, as they couldn't believe how the Forest Guardian Clareladin that they believed in was actually defeated by the Evil God Roshe.

There was nothing but scorched earth remaining now at the places where the battling was the fiercest. Nothing mortal could possibly withstand such a destructive battle.

But at this location, people saw gigantic black spiders that would later give them nightmares. These spiders were feeding together with their children, and they were devouring a rainbow-colored half human and half deer Semigod. Judging by the remnants of the trees being devoured by them, even the SemiGod descendant accompanied the fall of the Semigod.

And so, the Forest Guardian Clareladin became the first True God to fall in this Holy War, and Roshe used her successful battle achievement to send out a convincing blood invitation to various existences.

"Coo coo!"

One of the strongest-appearing spiders absorbed enough energy as it transformed into a dark shadow that covered the skies while laughing abnormally, before finally transforming into a human-shaped figure that turned out to be a male Dark Elf.

"Heavens! It absorbed the Dendroid God's divine power and right to be a God!"

Right in front of the unbelieving Elves' eyes, the Dark Elves' new Poison God Felix was born, and the northern Elf Kingdom was about to face their destined nightmare.

From a certain standpoint, even though they were both Queens of their own countries in the Northlands, Glina and Reyne were complete opposites.

Reyne was supremely self-aware of her own status as a Mist descendant. She took her job and responsibilities quite seriously, and always worked her hardest. However, she was limited by her natural talent and abilities, and her growth never reached the goals she set for herself, so sometimes she worked herself way too hard and tried too much, which also gave difficulties to the people around her and made them worry.

And the fact that Glina was a master engineer at such a young age already made many things rather clear. This job was no golden combat job, a non-combat oriented job like engineer needed knowledge and wisdom instead, which doubtlessly meant that her talent and ability were both top-notch.

Also, judging by Clint's occasional shocking ideas before, Glina was even talented in combat strategy and plotting which Reyne was a complete loss at.

But the current Glina still gave me an odd feeling. Even though I didn't have too much contact with her every day, she never said anything unless she had to, and when she didn't have to do anything, her personality would naturally curl up into a ball. It always reminded me of hikkikomoris that were afraid to see the sunlight.

"Ah, the sun is so blinding! Ahh, there's too many people, it's really annoying! Ahhh, I'll be defeated if I go to work! Let me go back into hiding, just ten minutes will be enough!"

"You'll come back out after ten minutes?"

"Nope, I'll fall asleep within ten minutes, and lock the door. No matter how you shout for me, I won't be coming outside. Don't even think about making me work."

Fine then, after hearing such a sentence in this game world, I began to suspect if she was another transmigrator from my world who happened to be a complete worthless NEET and otaku.

Even though she was talented to the point where she could memorize her lines after looking them over just one time, the fact that she put no effort into anything whatsoever still took up a large amount of my time and energy.

And currently, right after she finished her performance, it was obvious that she had no motivation or self-awareness whatsoever as a queen, with her old problematic habits acting up again.

"Hey, I already completed your request, hurry up and let me go back into hiding!"

Right after the speech and as the battle horn was being blown, Glina was already requesting to go hide back in her shell.

"Hey hey, you're going overboard. All the citizens are still watching you. Even if you're just acting, you're still the person that they trust in and swear loyalty to, so just bear with it a little."

The main forces were about to depart, and according to the original plan, Queen Glina was supposed to visit and surveil the new armies, so how could I possibly allow her to escape at this time? I'm going to drag this deadbeat NEET under the sun to work!

"I can't do it anymore! I've already been outside for too long; hurry up and allow me to return to Clint #1 already."

She seemed like she was trying to suppress something, and her pale-white face was beginning to turn suspiciously red.

"Are you really that uncomfortable? Will you die if you're in the sunlight? Are you a member of the Blood Tribe? Just what are you supposed to be?"

Just as I was hesitating, she kneeled down while clutching onto her right eye. There was a dark yellow glow leaking out from her eyepatch.

I noticed that something was wrong, and tore off her eyepatch. That familiar dark yellow glow instantly helped me to understand what was going on, so I immediately put the eyepatch back on her.

"Call for some priests and doctors… no, don't call for priests, go find some alchemists and apothecaries, and might as well call for the guy who doesn't want his soul anymore as well. Yep, I'm talking about that idiot Beifeng."

Before long, people would be here to help treat Glina. Even though there was no final report ready yet, I already had an inkling of what had happened.

"Karwenz, you bastard! Making more trouble for me at such a time."

While holding on to Glina's petite body, I could detect that her demon's blood was boiling, which obviously wasn't a normal situation. There was only one explanation – the Demon Prince Karwenz was summoning his descendants!

However, the struggling girl stopped me from calling for any medical personnel to come treat her. While pulling on my hand, she requested me with a begging look in her eyes.

"Just put me in my armor; there's mechanisms inside that can help suppress my demonic blood from acting up."

"What a mess… sigh."

Well, there weren't any better ideas. There was no way that the public could be allowed to find out that Glina was a demonic descendant, so while feeling helpless about it, I opened up her Clint armor. Inside its finely crafted interior was a space that was just right for placing a petite child within.

Apart from the half-finished instant noodles and cookies inside it, what caught my attention the most were all the anti-magic chains and magic-sealing talismans on the driver's seat.

Just as I placed Glina inside, the armor's metallic shell automatically closed. This was followed by various clinks and clangs as she was locked up tightly, while the black heavy armor's eyes showed a steady late accompanied by a large amount of steam coming out of the armor's back. Finally, the metallic giant that was over two meters tall stood back up again.

"You even have a steam exhaust valve, which is such an obvious sign that Clint is actually a mecha. Why didn't anyone ever discover the truth?"

"I witnessed it once before, but I thought it was just brought on by bad digestion… It's something that most people would be embarrassed to ask about."

"What about the light for the eyes? It's clearly unnatural, they're red light bulbs, right?"

"There's more than one person with scary eyes in our team. Who knew what bloodline he came from? Since Clint always met people directly, it seemed normal that he was a halfblood. Sigh, not being a Blood Tribe or a Werewolf though caused me to lose so much money."

"Oh, you also placed a bet? I bet on Half-Dwarf, and also lost all my money. Damn it, just who is this GL001, that actually bet on a blonde-haired loli and won all our money last night when the gamble concluded, my poor money."

"GL001? Isn't that Clint himself? Damn it, that guy cheated all of us by betting on himself!"

Fine then, let us ignore these unimportant mysterious ramblings. No matter what the fact that Clint had now revived before us was a good thing… probably.

"Clint #1, revived! Ahhhhh, I'm finally comfortable now, let's have a blast to celebrate!"

The revived Clint instantly pulled out several Dwarven guns and shot an array of bullets into the sky as the Gentlemen Alliance members behind us commented.

"Ahaha, how could one round of blasts be enough, go for several thousand."

The armor began transforming quickly as a swiveling gatling gun was assembled. In some regards, a human identity had always been a limiter on Clint's true abilities.

"Pop pop pop!"

Together with the joyous sounds that Clint made while shooting everywhere, he began dancing a dance that nobody understood. And after he finished using up his bullets, he began cackling maniacally while using spare parts to assemble a new weapon.

"So scary, his entire personality has changed."

"The armor must be the true body after all. Something like a quiet little girl? Just a hallucination."

Unlike those guys who were merely enjoying the show, I knew that Glina was still resisting the summoning of her demonic blood. Thinking about how the inwardly resolute girl was currently tossing and turning in her pilot's seat caused me to have a mysterious pain in my heart.

'Had she always been tying herself up like that? At the same time as controlling that mecha, she even locked herself up with chains and injected herself with various magic-sealing needles. This isn't even at the level of painful anymore, it's basically torture.'

Not to mention, I knew that this wasn't a good plan for the long-term. A crack in her defenses would appear someday no matter how much she denied her own demon blood, as human willpower was limited, while the demon's summoning would never cease. Forcefully blocking it out would cause a problem sooner or later.

"…The only method is probably that one then."

Beifeng who hurried over here as well, probably to check the situation, exchanged knowing glances with me that we must have arrived at the same conclusion.

"Is that really the only method left to us? Its success rate is quite low. But with how strong Glina's willpower is, she should be able to endure it."

Just as we were concerning ourselves with how to cure her, a familiar and nostalgic abnormally stimulating scent entered our nostrils.

"…Gunpowder?"

"Adopted father, what do you think of my new fireworks! I created this using the new formula you gave me, and I call it the 'High-pressure Goblin Mine."

The clinging and clanging sounds finally ended as a large High-pressure Goblin Mine with a lead wire coming from it appeared. Feeling the fearsome amount of energy emanating from underneath that iron shell, I started breaking out into a cold sweat.

"Hey there, are you planning on killing your own father already? I already said that it didn't need to be for real, don't take it so seriously."

I thought that she was going to use it on me, but after witnessing her rubbing Clint's iron face against that explosive's outer shell, I knew that I had been mistaken. Rather than wanting to explode it on me, she was clearly bragging about her new invention.

"You've barely recovered slightly and you're already so eager to make a new explosive? As expected of the Explosive Demon Clint."

"Guru guru."

A small black rolled over and crashed against my feet. I was no longer able to remain calm after I picked it up and saw what it was.

"…This seems like a safety pin."

"That's right! Ah, without this, it'll explode immediately…"

"Boom."

No need for any more details. I could only sigh as I watched Clint spiraling away through the air while also secretly being amazed at how strong the Clint armor's anti-explosive properties were.

"As expected, this is just like Clint."

Just as I finished my statement, everyone was already nodding in agreement.

"The armor is the true body, and the sound of explosives is only the accompaniment. A true man never turns around to watch his explosion. The legendary man that leaves together with the sound of his explosives is simply that cool and confident."

Alright then, a certain idiot's wistful comment received everyone's praise once again, but I was rather astonished.

"Weren't you occupied with battling that lion's head? You gave up? That's really not like you."

"Sigh, don't mention that, I truly lost this time, I give up, I admit defeat!"

There was actually an existence in this world that Beifeng was unable to conquer? I was no longer the only one shocked now, as everyone was looking at him with surprise written all over their faces. They were all unable to imagine that he would actually give up, since he was always using "true love would never be defeated" as his trademark phrase.

"It doesn't matter how strong they are, or the age difference, since true love doesn't have too much to do with outer appearances, but, but, he actually…"

Beifeng with tears in his eyes? This was my first time seeing such a sight; was a failure in love that depressing for him?

"…He actually turned into a Snow Girl, and even a humanoid, a humanoid. How are you supposed to have love with humanoids! This is the greatest failure and regret in Beifeng.Herault's life! I actually fell in love with a humanoid! My love isn't pure anymore!"

I clutched my head as I deeply regretted wasting my time on this bastard for the umpteenth time. If he could feel sadness at a normal type of failure in love, then he wouldn't be the extraordinary gentleman known as Beifeng, with the sin known as "Sad Wind."

"Well, we should have made him into the experimental test subject for that Goblin Mine. It's not too late yet, let's have a cannoneer, we have a brave warrior who's volunteering to go out and scout the enemy's situation."

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Chapter 176: New Era

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: imperfectluck

With the fires of battle stoked in Antuen again, there was not a single place in the Northlands that was able to remain peaceful and quiet anymore.

As the Elves hurriedly escaped to their ancestral home as they received the nightmarish news, the Beastmen were the ones who blew the horns for a final battle to determine the outcome. Their free-roaming Wolfrider soldiers gathered together again, as the Beastmen needed all their strength to attack humanity's final castle – the Maple defense line.

Maple Castle – this originally isolated and quiet town in the north had transformed itself into the hotspot where the entire continent gathered.

By the time news of huge changes in the Sleuweir Kingdom's capital of Antuen arrived through the special communication channels between the churches, the Beastmen were already unable to change the target of their prepared attack. They had gambled every option and available resource they had on the Maple defense line.

Even without being expert strategists, the Beastmen tribe leaders still knew that unless they were able to get rid of this annoying thorn in their sides and completely wipe out any hope of resisting that the humans had, there would only be unending rebellions in the territory that they had already conquered.

They summoned their free-roaming Wolfriders back together, one of their mighty Beast Behemoth squads had already perished in battle, their disorganized Mammoth combat squads that trampled all over the lands had already lost more than half their numbers, their precious aerial knights had been decreasing in number as if they were perishable food. The Beastmen sacrificed so much of their own flesh and blood, transforming the defense line into nothing more than a meat grinder.

The humans weren't having it easy, either. In front of the strong Beastmen alliance's armies, every life became nothing more than combat statistic casualties. Thanks to differences in overall strength, each Beastman that managed to pass the defense line required at least three human lives to take down.

With defenses stretched thin across the entire defense line, the fact that the commander in charge of defending the western castle door still had the ability to help support other areas was something eye-catching.

"Princess Knight" Reyne, this laughable nickname that was originally nothing more than a made-up name for the sake of popularity, started becoming recognized by all as the battle progressed.

But, this female leader who was recently increasing in popularity had her own frustrations, and as for the reason? Due to those Auland folks that kept overreacting to everything and pestering her.

"Your Highness, why do these warriors' equipment look so familiar, it seems so similar with our White Wolf squad's equipment, no, it's exactly the same! That's a special alloy from our country."

From a certain standpoint, the fact that Darsos sent Hemet, one of his most trusted advisors here to the Northlands, was evidence of how important he viewed this place. But currently, this long-time acquaintance was being a bit of a pest.

"Oh, that was information we obtained while exchanging technologies. We created it for our warriors according to the model used for your squad. As for the materials, they're actually quite different. It's just that they've been painted with similar colors. You can inspect it more closely if you want, there's actually plenty of differences in the details."

"You can create actual products right after obtaining the technological information so quickly? That doesn't seem right! And this armor still has the mark of the White Wolves!"

"Oh, that must be a misunderstanding, these are our new 'Winter Wolf' emblems, which are quite different. See, there's three additional hairs standing up on this white wolf's head, yep, these are our Winter Wolf emblems, which you can also call three-hair emblems; that's what Brother Roland calls them."

'Just adding three hairs to the old emblem counts as a new emblem? Do you have any shame? Even if there's no copyright or suing in this world, people still have embarrassment, don't they? If you want to plagiarize, at the very least you should give the wolf three whiskers on each cheek!'

Hemet opened and closed his mouth without speaking up about those doubts that flashed through his mind.

Reyne finally somehow managed to unconvincingly make Hemet accept this, when a new problem arose.

"What we used on that day? Are you talking about our floating battleship?"

The newest arrival that stood out the most in the midst of battle was the floating battleship Borealis. Its existence perfectly patched up the few weaknesses that the western castle's defending army had.

Heavy cannon fire as support, transporting the injured, and the ability to give the finishing blow at the critical moment. The enemy Beast Behemoth that died was first injured then surrounded and killed with the Borealis' assistance, so just this accomplishment alone ensured that it would become known to everyone.

"No no, we borrowed that ancient floating battleship from our Winged Tribe allies, you see, it's already a semi-biological existence, completely different from your one hundred percent mechanical battleships."

'How do you know that our battleships are one hundred percent mechanical?'

Those words were right on Hemet's lips, but in the end he didn't counter with this question either.

He already knew what was up just by seeing the situation. It was ridiculous to believe anything that Reyne said, but since there was no evidence for this type of thing, nor did he intend to ruin the relationship between the two countries, there was no use in saying it out loud.

Reyne secretly wiped her cold sweat. Even if she knew that Hemet wouldn't bring everything out to the surface, the action of plagiarizing right in front of the original owner was something that only Roland could pull off as if it was only natural with such self-assurance.

"…Our Auland Empire is deeply interested in this research area, and hope that we can exchange information. Of course, we can pay the additional price necessary."

Kagersi wouldn't be able to recover the information for quite a while, and the battleship was currently locked away in the underground base, so the next best thing would be to at least obtain some information and restart Auland's research.

'No wonder Brother Roland asked me to use these in front of them, everything happened exactly as he expected.'

There was probably also only one person that could so openly steal someone else's work and then sell it back to the original owner like this.

Of course, since the Eastern Mist Communal Country already expected this response, Reyne was naturally prepared.

"Of course, please discuss the specific details with Big Sister Elisa. She opened up a merchants' guild in Maple Castle called the Cindler Merchants' Guild, and deals a great amount of business in military arms."

Hemet felt a stomachache coming upon him at thinking about that sharp-fanged, sharp-tongued woman. He'd already been to the Cindler Merchants' Guild before, and knew just how difficult it was to haggle there. He would probably have to pay a painfully large price for the information he wanted.

But, it wasn't a bad deal for him, since the Auland Empire was ridiculously wealthy and could afford it. Restarting research on the floating battleship was the most important task at hand, since the Holy War had restarted and there wasn't much time left. It was vitally important to begin training personnel for this technology as well people to operate it.

And just as the upper ranks were discussing the exchange of military arms information, there was a new change in the combat situation.

The Beastmen began a new wave of attacks, catapulting countless burning boulders at the castle walls that arced downward from the sky like a meteor shower.

The burning boulders had such great force that each and every one of them not only damaged the castle walls, they would each kill several humans with their impacts. However, these boulders were only the preludes to each new Beastman attack on Maple Castle.

With the support of heavy boulder fire raining down from the skies, the various tribes of Beastmen equipped themselves with heavy shields as they began attacking Maple Castle again. The air cavalry that descended from the skies together with the Beastmen attack proved that this was no mere testing of Maple Castle's defenses.

Air cavalry that weren't limited by terrain and siege weapons that could possibly break through a fort's defenses would always be the main actors in a siege battle. With Wyvern Knights, Thunder Roc Knights, and Harpies as their main aerial forces, the quality was quite high, but their numbers had decreased noticeably after so many days of harsh battling.

"Dragon knight! That dragon knight's here again!"

The young green dragon named Osmenya and his Wolf Tribe rider Kakaji had become infamous through this battle. Even when facing off against overwhelming odds, he had already defeated more than one hundred, which was plenty for him to become the aerial ace of the battle.

Everything was now utter chaos atop the castle walls. The wyverns were furiously spitting poison from their poison sacs, the Thunder Rocs were killing off groups at once with Chain Lightning spells, while the Harpies' spears aimed specifically for the archers and commanders. The Beastmen air cavalries' strategic targets were quite clear: they were attempting to clear the way for their infantry to climb over the castle walls, while the dragon knight acting as the aerial commander was currently roaming at high speeds and destroying the castle's defenses.

In the past, the ordinary human defenders' only tactic had been to use human walls to block the elite Beastmen air cavalry, and sacrifice many lives in order to force the Beastmen's retreat.

But this time, the situation was different.

"Inform the Silver Cross squadron that it's time for them to begin."

With the Princess Knight's command, the Borealis (Envy)'s belly suddenly opened up while it was covering the humans with supporting fire, with countless figures jumping out of its belly from midair.

"What a joke, they're jumping down from that high? They're suicidal!"

This general's shouts doubtlessly said out loud what everyone had been thinking. For any ordinary warriors, that height would be suicidal unless they knew how to fly. And if all several hundred of these warriors had the ability to fly, that would be even more unbelievable.

Sometimes, the previous generation's experience was a type of limitation. As eras changed and technology improved, the common sense of battle was bound to be swept aside. These warriors truly did know how to fly!

"Awaken, Azure Dragon!"

"Azure Dragon Sword Seal!"

Together with the fierce roars of the Four Elemental Swordcasters, each of their magic swords shone brilliantly, and the Azure Dragon Sword Seal that was activated in this emergency situation began rotating around the Four Elemental Swordcasters. The Wind Elves were summoned here by the seal, and they in turn summoned whirlwinds to give these warriors the ability to fly and fight in midair.

Of course, the Azure Dragon Sword Seal's whirlwinds were limited in power, and they were merely now falling down slowly rather than truly being able to fly, but this was more than enough to prove that they had the ability to fight in midair.

"Several hundred magic swordsmen? How is this possible?"

Metal had the ability to cancel out magic, so for warriors wearing heavy armor to actually be able to utilize magic was already far beyond common sense. But, the indisputable fact before everyone's eyes was a testament to this fact.

After a short period of shock, the Beastmen air cavalry hurried to this area, since of course they wouldn't allow these obvious enemy reinforcements to land.

"Odd numbered-warriors, Sword Seals overload!"

The warriors hovering in midair weren't defenseless however, so with their commander's order, all the warriors lifted the magic swords in their hands and all the Azure Dragon Sword Seals were overloaded with magical energy this time as pale white streaks of lightning crawled around their magic swords.

"Odd numbered-warriors, target: the enemy air cavalry before us, Sword Seals explode! Prepare, three, two… one! Wield your swords!"

All the warriors slashed their swords forward in unison, causing hundreds of lightning bolts to erupt from their swords.

It had been a clear sky just a moment ago, and now the sky became filled with lightning and thunder. The hundreds of lightning bolts lit up the entire sky, blinding the eyes of everyone who lifted their heads to see the spectacle.

Thud!* *Thud!*

When the viewers regained their senses of sight again, all they saw were the Beastmen air cavalry falling from the sky like dumplings, with a minimum of two air cavalry squads having been eliminated.

"What type of forbidden spell is this? It's so terrifying because those magic swordsmen didn't have a single sign of magical waves on them."

The other countries' residents could only watch it unbelievably, but it wasn't difficult to understand for those in the know. At that instant, the countless Wind Elementals within the Azure Dragon Sword Seals transformed into thunder that wasn't individually strong, but the thunderbolts attracted and fed off of each other before finally becoming an inescapable electric net.

Its actual force wasn't nearly as formidable as what the viewers perceived, thanks to the lack of ability in the spell's users and the thunderbolts draining energy from each other. The spell's attack power was already incredibly low.

But for aerial battles, attack power was never the important part, just having the stun effect from thunder was enough.

The air cavalry that had fallen from the sky weren't actually electrocuted to death as the viewers believed. They were merely paralyzed to the point where they couldn't move anymore by repeated electrical shocks, but looking at it from another angle, falling out of the sky from such a height didn't really have much of a difference compared to being electrocuted to death.

As the Swordcasters expected, apart from the very few incredibly strong individuals that were able to regain control of themselves and fly upwards again, most of the enemy air cavalry didn't even have time to shout in surprise before crashing to the ground and becoming nothing more than crushed meat.

The Swordcasters that just used their Sword Seals' explosions lost the protection of their whirlwinds, but their even-numbered companions that were prepared beforehand caught on to them. These odd-numbered warriors only fell a slight distance before summoning new Azure Dragon Sword Seals for their next tactical move.

"Even-numbered warriors, Sword Seal overload!"

The commander gave the exact same order on the midair battlefield again, with many of the smarter air cavalry members hurriedly escaping for their lives. Meanwhile, those "courageous" ones that had decided to rush the magic swordsmen in the downtime between spells were destined to crash into a new electrical net.

"Sword Seals explode! No countdown! Pick your targets freely, wield your swords!"

The blinding electrical net appeared once more in the sky. Apart from all the *thud* sounds of the Beastmen air cavalry falling against the ground, the sky had now been completely cleared. There were no survivors left by the electrical net created by several hundred magical swords.

Now it was the odd-numbered warriors' turn to catch their companions. *Pound!* *Boom!* When the armored swordcasters finally landed safely on the ground, everyone on the battlefield shouted out joyously in celebration.

It had been a short exchange that lasted less than three minutes, which was more than enough to completely wipe out the Beastmen's strongest air cavalry troops from the previous generation. This was seemingly no more than a small battle in the overall campaign, but it actually represented that apart from high-level mages and high-tier aerial troops, there was now a third method to deal with air cavalry – organized magical swordsmen.

No small human kingdom would be able to raise griffins. Only human kingdoms that were medium level and above could afford to raise an organized platoon of air cavalry, while in the poor Northlands, the Northerners could only use bows in place of the expensive air cavalry.

For so many years on the battlefield, the air had always belonged to the enemy, with air cavalry ambushes being the enemies' ace tactic usable in every situation, but the warriors' cheers were clear evidence that the situation had now changed.

"Tell those sons of bitches that the northern skies belong to us as well!" One man shouted out what every northerner had been thinking. Even the newly-minted Swordcasters were hardly able to believe that they had just achieved such a shocking victory.

This was just the beginning. With organized magical troops appearing on the battlefield for the first time, the entire world's strategies and tactics would become revamped. Having brought out this new type of troop doubtlessly proved that the East Mist Communal Country was already at the forefront of the current era. And from today onwards, nobody would ever treat the East Mist Communal Country as an easily bullied small northern country ever again.

"…What." This time, Hemet was unable to say that it belonged to the Auland Empire. Magical ability required talent, and even the very concept of an organized magical swordsman squadron was difficult to imagine based on the theories of magic. The obviously well-practiced tactics and command system were evidently the result of long practice. In Hemet's eyes, this was probably the ace trump card up that person's sleeve out of what he brought back from history.

Reyne smiled in delight at Hemet's reaction. From her first meeting with him, this emperor's special envoy had always remained high and mighty with his attitude, as if he was facing a subordinate that he could command at will. At this moment, in front of brand-new tactics and jobs, in front of this astonishing battle achievement, the haughty Auland people finally began lowering their proud heads.

"Would you like it?"

Even if Hemet didn't say it out loud, just from his expectation-filled eyes, it could easily be seen that this emperor's trusted envoy had a desire for this information that was raging like a wildfire. This wasn't even at the extent of wanting it anymore, he wanted to swallow it down whole.

"It's quite expensive!"

Even on the battlefield, the Princess Knight's exquisitely beautiful smile attracted countless passionate gazes. Only, nobody could guess that her delighted smile was due to a base desire to take revenge by viciously jacking up the price.

"I'll buy, buy, buy! No matter how expensive it is!"

Hemet was overjoyed at hearing this news. For such an ace weapon, as long as Reyne was willing to sell, Hemet was willing to sell even his family treasures for it. There wouldn't be another opportunity like this, he would only regret it if she wasn't willing to sell.

However, Reyne flashed a rather mysterious smile upon hearing Hemet's response.

"As long as you're willing to pay, there's something even better and more expensive, you know. Timlet, it's time for your little toy to appear."

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Chapter 177: Crazed Stones

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: imperfectluck

From the very start, I wasn't worried about the Maple defense line's battlefield, as I had made plenty of preparations there.

An organized squadron for the Four Elemental Swordcasters, the Borealis and its supporting new era battleships, and the various new inventions by our engineers for defending the castle. Imperceptibly, I had already acquired so much strength, and I left them all at Maple Castle. With them there, I believed that it would be quite difficult to break past the Maple defense line.

Okay, apart from the above, I also prepared plenty of other things, as the more trump cards one had, the better. The side that was able to keep his trump cards until the final moment would always have a much greater chance of victory.

'The Maple Castle defense line isn't allowed to fail.' That was something I absolutely wouldn't allow.

After all, that was the most critical location of this entire battle. If they failed, that meant that order and balance of power itself would collapse in the north, which could only result in the humans retreating towards the south and giving up the Northlands. In that case, even if we won here, it would still be an overall defeat where we could only struggle to survive and wait for the enemy to encircle us and defeat us at their leisure.

Of course, if there was some sort of unexpected sudden situation, such as some Evil God of Chaos risking his own demise to personally descend upon the mortal realm (the current Elemental Tide wouldn't allow True Gods to descend, so any that dared to personally descend basically wouldn't be able to return,) which would make it impossible to defend the Maple defense line.

If that type of situation occurred, I also gave them instructions to simply board the Borealis and escape as quickly as possible. If a veteran God of Chaos personally came out, then it would take another veteran God of Order to deal with him. If the Chaos side was willing to make such a sacrifice, the True Gods of Order would surely send out one or two cannon fodders to play the game of dying together in unison.

At the current moment, with the combat situation still unclear, the most difficult part was left up to us.

The Antuen defense army's elimination of the remaining Beastmen squads was rather successful, as we easily recovered the enemy's temporary battle camps outside the castle with our advantage in numbers and the Winged Tribes' ambushes as protection. But right after that, we met with an obstacle – the Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan.

As the most ancient of the Four Elemental Gods, I knew that the Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan would be a ridiculous one, but I never expected how truly ridiculous he was.

As the lord of all earth elementals, his body wasn't as large as I expected, nor did he have their strange features. He merely resembled an enormous stone giant, and he even appeared slightly smaller than the Wind Elemental God. But when he truly began fighting, he proved the old adage about how "fighting isn't about how big you are, but how hard your fists are."

As the Earth Elemental God roared, just one light swing of his fist would be able to crush a huge wind elemental. When a thundering Wind Elemental Lord came over to assist, he easily smashed it between his fingers, and when a floating battleship attacked him with its cannons while being covered by support fire from the floating castle, he jumped up and turned the floating castle into nothing but dust with a triple kick.

Anything below the power of an Elemental Lord, he could deal with using a single kick. As for the annoying Winged Tribes and tiny battleships, just the blast from his roar's soundwaves were enough to crush them to pieces.

"Monk? This bastard's actually a top-level Monk! How outrageous."

Yep, Emordilorcan was doubtlessly an expert barehanded combat Master Monk. There were no rules saying that elementals weren't able to practice martial arts, but rather the opposite, for the Earth Elemental God whose body was far harder than steel, his physical characteristics only vastly improved the explosiveness of those martial techniques. Just one shoulder press would easily crush many mountains, and if he tried to transmit his force through a mountain to a cow, I don't know how the cow will end up, but the mountain would surely be eradicated.

Emordilorcan's steps were steady and agile, and it was quite easy for him to make Camdian dizzy before suddenly ambushing the Wind Elemental God Camdian with a heavy blow.

Compared to the dexterous Emordilorcan, the gigantic Camdian actually seemed like a slow fatty that could only take blows without even a chance to get in any of his own. Camdian was a typical mage-type Elemental Lord, but the thunder he gathered was unable to lock on to any target, since he wasn't even able to see his enemy Emordilorcan clearly, so how could he possibly hit him?

The ancient battle between elementals repeated itself in the modern day, but unfortunately, Camdian learned to his despair that while his own strength had indeed increased greatly, Emordilorcan had already changed his entire battling style, and Camdian was not even able to get a single hit in. This strange style caused the gap between Camdian and Emordilorcan to widen even further.

"Hurry, we don't have much time left."

Just by seeing the situation, I knew that it was impossible for Camdian to win, and even how long he could last was a problem. For such an old fox like Camdian, it was all too normal for him to run away if he couldn't win, there was zero possibility at all of Camdian fighting to his death.

After hesitating for a moment, I still decided to send him a message.

"Hang in there, we're currently closing the Earth Elemental Door, after it's closed, Emordilorcan's power will be reduced greatly, so that you can grab your chance to take your revenge. If you miss this opportunity, you'll never defeat Emordilorcan for the rest of your life."

In order for him to not retreat when he hadn't been truly defeated yet, I could only give Camdian a strong motivation, and just as I expected, Camdian who had begun to cower worked up his courage again at hearing there was still a chance.

At this moment, under the cover of the chaotic battle, our knights were riding in the snow. Now, we had already entered the Earth Elementals' Labyrinth, and our target was of course the currently opening dimensional door.

Our combat strategy had been clear from the start. The Wind Elementals and Winged Tribes and even the brave warriors (cannon fodder) that were rushing as the vanguard were merely a smokescreen to disguise our true motive.

Antuen's defense army had been through too many long bitter battles, so it was heavily fatigued and injured with severe losses to their elite troops. Having them participate in this high-level battle between elementals would basically be akin to having them suicide, which was why I gave them the task of cleaning up the remaining roaming Beastmen squads, while I took the elites and rushed for the Earth Elemental dimensional door under cover of the battle between elementals to destroy the most critical strategic target.

If the Earth Elemental dimensional door was allowed to completely open, no matter what happened next in the combat situation, the side of Chaos would most likely have obtained enough strength to win overwhelmingly, and everything else that we did would be nothing more than mending the fence after losing the sheep, with irreversible damage having been done already.

"Hah!"

I shouted in a low voice and defeated the enemy in front of me with a single blow. This small earth elemental was barely worth mentioning, and didn't even require my sword.

But the deeper we went into the Earth Elemental Labyrinth, the more tiny earth elementals that appeared. They were nothing more than token creatures generated by the Earth Elemental dimensional door, and they didn't even have self-awareness, so spending time on them was pointless.

"Just how long are we going to have to kill these for?"

There were so many walls before us, and we kept hitting dead ends. Doubtlessly, the earth elementals had constructed this into an intricate maze during the interval between fighting with nothing else to do. Our target was naturally located in the deepest part of the labyrinth, and all the guardians that we passed on our way was evidence that my inference was correct.

"Underhanded mortals, my master has long since anticipated your plot. I'm the guardian of this door, the Earth Elemental Lord Alidos, don't… Ahh!"

With Adam as the vanguard, everything was easy. This Alidos fellow didn't even finish giving his speech before he instantly bit the dust. Alidos was the twelfth guardian that we met already; this was just like a dungeon-exploring game, with the mini-bosses coming at us one at a time. It was a pity that we received no experience from this, though.

Since Emordilorcan could return here at any moment, time was of the essence. That's why I looked questioningly over towards Margaret. If my memory served me correctly, this Great Saint was the most skilled in time and space magic, so perhaps she would have some method to help us.

"Teleporting everyone to the central location of the labyrinth? Impossible, there's not a single mage that can teleport people to an unknown location, and this type of irregular structure is the worst for teleportation. If there's even the smallest miscalculation with the distance, we'd be teleported into the walls…"

Then could we only continue onwards one level at a time? We still had to listen to those large rocks and stone giants give their boring speeches? This was evidently not a good idea.

"Hah, I'm the Worm King Kasolai, don't even imagine that you can pass the door that I guard…"

Okay, fine, I actually did want to hear this guy's speech, since a large worm that was over a dozen meters long was quite a rare sight. But the SemiGod mage who seemed quite anxious evidently didn't have the patience for that, since right after the self-styled Worm King crawled out of the dirt, he was sliced into seventeen pieces.

The Earth Elemental Door still hadn't opened fully, so the only earth elementals and other earth attribute creatures that were able to come to this dimension were limited in power, but this definitely wasn't their upper limits. We could take care of these guys easily, but just recalling back to that megaton rock who was currently beating up the Wind Elemental God while playing at triple kicks in midair, I knew that I definitely had zero chance of victory against the Earth Elemental God.

This was a race against time. If the Wind Elemental God decided to run off on his own, I didn't have the ability to fool such a useful cannon fodder anymore.

"Glina…"

"It's Clint!"

"Okay, Clint, it's up to you now, we're the demolition crew! You understand, right?"

From long ago, when I was stuck in an irritating maze in some video game, I had always imagined that if I met an underground labyrinth in real life, I would definitely use a different method to go through the maze.

"Goblin Engineers have an old saying: 'Explosions are an art form,' so allow me to witness your artistry. Come, give me a good explosion! Everyone get back, Clint, explode everything for me! We're not going to take the door, we're taking the window!"

Yep, I should have done this much earlier, the exit was right before us with only a thin wall in between, why did I need to circle around all over again instead of using a hammer to crash through the wall?

"I'm tired of these damned mazes, as well as all those maze designers with nothing better to do, why do I have to play such a slow pathfinding game with you? If there's no path, just open one up through the wall, if there's no staircase, I'll just go right through the floor. Just watch, even if this maze has 999 floors, I'll pierce through all of them with this one explosion!"

Clint's comments just now as he gave me a huge thumbs-up and viciously pressed down on his explosives button were indicative that he agreed with my attitude, as expected of my relative.

"Boom!"

The rest was simple, as the Elemental Tide would show us the way. The closer we got to the Dimensional Door, the thicker the elements became, all we had to do was follow the trail.

"Boom!"

Yet another hole appeared in the wall before us. Using such a high-speed tactic to conquer the maze, all we had to do was continuously sweep away the broken stones, then jump down to the next floor. We were rapidly approaching the center of the maze. Judging by Margaret's crystal ball that was aiding our pathfinding, we were close to our target.

"Tsk, let me do it, I promise we can go through three or four floors at once, it'll be much quicker."

The Goblin Engineer Jinya.Beyar saw how cool Clint was acting, and seemed to get jealous. He wanted to help out as well, but we prevented him from doing so.

"So you want all of us to be buried alive?"

At this, Jinya fell speechless.

After all, having Clint using explosives in the first place rather than Jinya who had even more powerful bombs at his disposal was doubtlessly because Clint was far more adept at precision. Clint wouldn't bury us while opening up the path to the next floor.

Clint became more and more practiced with each explosion, causing less unnecessary broken rocks to be exploded with each one, so our progress kept increasing in pace.

"I've never thought you were so reliable before, good job!"

Just as I gave Clint a big thumbs-up as well, the entire ground began shaking violently.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Continuous exploding sounds came from all around us as the ceiling began to drop dirt pieces, with one large piece almost hitting my face.

"I really can't praise you… oh, it wasn't you? Then who was it?"

"Roland, I'll refrain from asking what these strange hand gestures mean, there's a reaction of Godly energy right above us, let's prepare."

Margaret's words immediately solved the puzzle for us. For a SemiGod mage like her, the Elemental Gods' energy waves were just like bright lights in the darkness that were impossible to ignore.

At this moment, Camdian's message suddenly arrived.

"Flesh allies of mine, my apologies… I hope that we still have a chance to work together again in the future."

Should I say that guy was supposed to be nice after all? At the very least, he still passed along a message, but even though Emordilorcan and Camdian were both Ancient Elemental Gods that had just awakened from being sealed, Camdian wasn't even able to last twenty minutes, how incredibly weak.

"It's not that I'm weak, Emordilorcan's just too strong."

Okay then, this guy even remembered to add one more sentence to give himself an excuse."

"Pound!"

The current booming sounds and trembles coming from above us told us that this was no time to be blaming Camdian, as the Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan was probably right above us already. Just recalling that figure who was brutally beating up the Wind Elemental God from earlier gave me a headache.

But we were already in the enemy's home territory, and it was quite possible that Emordilorcan had abilities like "move through the earth" or "walk through walls," so attempting to escape now would be impossible.

"Damn it, Adam!"

"Margaret, take everyone with you, your knowledge is needed there."

It was great to be working with old partners. Margaret knew that this wasn't the time for words, so she merely waved her staff and cast a few buffs on us as she nodded and took everyone on to the next floor beneath us.

Meanwhile, Adam and I drew our swords and prepared for that guy to come find us.

"Hey, how's your strength these days, don't be a dead weight here."

"Hmph, do you see this sword in my hands? The Roland Sacred Sword, forged 14 times, enhanced to 7, with power that almost matches the 13 Godly Artifacts. Heh heh heh, take a good look at that rusty metal in your hands, it looks like it's only Superior quality, with no enhancements. I'm your granddaddy, and the difference between us is like that of a pay-to-win player and a starving refugee player, who cares if your level is high, can you one-hit-KO everything in sight, if you can't take it then come PK with me, your granddaddy will instantly defeat you."

Adam didn't even know how to respond to this. Every time they met a similar situation, Roland would always enter his crazed state and say all these incomprehensible things.

But since Adam also knew long beforehand that they would meet such a strong enemy, of course he would be prepared. So, he silently put away his cheap Superior quality sword, and shook out a shortsword from his sleeve, then suddenly infused it with the power of thunder and caused a one-meter long Lightsword to appear.

"A rechargeable Lightsword? That's at least a legendary weapon, it must be famous in history, this Elven-style carving on it, is it Xiler's Banshee's Sword? So you were a pay-to-win player as well, why didn't you bring this out earlier? Were you planning on using the trope of 'I am not left-handed'?"

Adam lightly touched his sword's tip, causing that clear crystal sword to seemingly become far more intimidating after it was infused with the fury of the wind. He felt quite fortunate that he was able to find a weapon which matched his characteristics.

"I gave the Sentiment of the Wind sword to Annie, but since I still needed to be on the battlefield, of course I would go find another sword. I don't know this sword's name, but it seems to fit me quite well. However, I 'borrowed' it from the Cloud Tower, which was an unseemly action, so it would be best to not let Margaret see this sword."

Not only was it unseemly, in a certain personal mage tower in the Cloud Tower, the original owner was already howling in despair. And far before Adam even left, complaints about him had already filled the Truth Research Society's desk. If it wasn't for his connection to Margaret, Adam would have been blacklisted forever by the mages long ago.

"Oh, you as well, actually I profited quite a lot from Auland last time. That strong human kingdom truly accumulated so much after so many prosperous years, it would have been a waste to not take something from them."

"Yep, yep, it's just that even though they're so rich, they're really stingy, the last time I placed my sword on someone's neck…"

Okay then, just as the two of them began focusing on exchanging stories about how they stole from others, the tardy guest of honor finally arrived.

"Boom!"

What came first was the violent shaking of the ground, followed by countless sharp stone spears that suddenly pierced through the earth.

"It's here!"

The gigantic stone spears pierced through the floors with such force that the entire labyrinth shook from the impact, as that stone giant finally reached where we were.

And when the stone pillars from above were retracted, huge eyes filled with killing intent blocked the holes that the pillars made. That's when we discovered that those "stone spears" had actually been part of his finger.

"Hmph, you're actually using such a cliché scene from a horror movie? You think your granddaddy is afraid? No matter how strong the boss, aren't they all just to drop equipment for the players? Come, have fun fighting with your granddaddy!"

At the same time, the silver Sacred Sword was currently letting off an abnormal silvery glow. With the silvery glow becoming tangible, the God Equipment Roland Sacred Sword was about to face its first enemy since its birth.

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Chapter 178: Royal Protection

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: imperfectluck

Elemental life is typically formed by the gathering of basic elements that lack consciousness. While they appear to be the same as other living creatures, there's actually a big difference, as low-level elementals don't have any feelings or consciousness. However, top-level elementals are the same as other living beings, as not only do they have emotions and wisdom, they even have humanoid forms and the ability to reproduce.

But due to the differing structures of their bodies, their deaths will simply scatter their basic element. These elementals are typically able to return to the elemental plane and reform themselves, which was why it was so difficult to truly kill them outside of the elemental plane. Still, losing their elemental power that they could use at will also made them unable to use their true strength.

It was both a talent and an attempt to mitigate this weakness that the higher-level elemental lifeforms were always skilled at modifying their surrounding environments. Huge whirlpools deep in the ocean, maelstroms high in the sky, magma hells in the midst of volcanos, and stone labyrinths deep underground were their favorite environments. They had the ability to change these locations into a different artificial world entirely without anyone knowing, so that they could wield a power similar to what they had in the elemental plane.

Currently, this underground labyrinth was far above the level of a simple artificially constructed microcosm. Thanks to its successful connection to the Earth Elemental Plane, this labyrinth was gradually becoming part of the elemental plane itself. Those minor earth elementals that suddenly awakened their own senses of self were the best evidence that this location was gradually turning into the earth elementals' home turf.

"Never battle with the Undead in the Death Plane, never battle with demons in the Hell Plane, never battle with elementals in the Elemental Plane, they'll be ten times more difficult to deal with!"

But, I had a different opinion.

"Home territory? Foolish earth clods, this was never your home territory! Right? Roland Sacred Sword."

With my soft words, the silver Sacred Sword began glimmering even brighter than before. I could detect that it was currently the same as me: feeling rage at all the scum that had come over to our land without being invited.

"You unwelcome guests that just do whatever you want, you really believe this to be your dusty, filthy world? Dust to dust, earth to earth, go back to where you came from!"

The Sacred Sword's brilliance was at the point where entire the pitch-dark floor was being lit up. With a mighty shout, I viciously stuck the silver longsword into the ground as the silver king answered my summons and his soul began materializing.

The Roland Sacred Sword was a royal sword that's existed for eons. At first, it was the personal sword of the first King of Mist. It's already experienced more history than can be recounted, and in this kingdom that's experienced many disasters and wars, numerous kings throughout the generations have cut down various obstacles as they led their knights to fight for their country's land.

Royal sword, guardian sword, hereditary sword, were all new names that this sword acquired over the years with the sacrifices of various past Kings of Mist and their loyal knights, despite the fact that it didn't have any traits apart from being sturdy. This Sacred Sword was gradually bearing more and more responsibilities.

As it evolved from a normal weapon into a guardian Sacred Sword, it accumulated the power of a soul – the ancestral kings' understanding of what royalty was. Royalty was the guardian, guardian of the people, the country, the home, the family.

The Mist clan that would never surrender forged this unbreakable Sacred Sword of Mist, and now that it's finally accumulated enough power within my hands, it finally began its next stage of transformation.

In the past, I wondered about what characteristics it would have after evolving into a God Equipment. But truthfully, this didn't require any consideration at all, as its power was only one from the very start – protecting.

"The royalty are the guardians. We're born here, and never leave this place, and will be buried here. And even if we transform into decayed bones or nothing but a spirit, we will still protect this land. Isn't that right? My inflexible, archaic ancestors."

"You actually need this old fellow to come out, what a useless and unfilial descendant."

The hazy figure materialized in a silver flash. The summoned king returned to the physical world from being a soul while complaining about how useless his descendant was, but answered the call of his bloodline without hesitation while riding a bull as his steed and holding his war spear at the ready for charging into battle.

Atwood.Saint.Mist, nicknamed the Eagle of Glaso, lived from AD 234 to AD 298, dying in the prime of his life. Almost his entire life was peaceful. He was viewed as mediocre in his early years, and derided as senile when he passed fifty years of age. He was always smiling and never seemed to anger, but when he was sixty-four, the northern barbarians happened to invade. Atwood fought a bloody battle with them for seventeen consecutive days at the Glaso Plains, slaying several hundred enemy leaders.

"If only I was born thirty years earlier. This old warrior wasn't did yet, but my hair turned white already, and my body was so weak and tired, even though the enemy leaders were still alive with tens of thousands of enemies invading, and my people being affronted by them, if I can't return home with a coffin filled with enemy heads, I won't be able to reconcile myself with the idea of dying like this!"

The ancient king Atwood was riding his heavily armored bull, and behind him were several shadowy figures of old soldiers carrying a coffin that had a big "Death" written on it that stood out and drew attention.

In that year, this "senile" king that people looked down upon went to battle exactly in this fashion. He even had a coffin prepared for himself and brought out in front of his relatives that tried to convince him against personally entering battle. In the end, this old eagle that hadn't shown his mettle in more than ten years filled this coffin with the enemy leaders' heads, winning the glorious title of the Eagle of Glaso.

He narrowed his eyes and seemed to be waiting for something when he suddenly lifted his dark black spear and chucked it forcefully.

Boom!*

At that exact moment, the gigantic Earth Elemental God had reached his head down here, with his round gem eyes filled with vicious killing intent. But before he was able to take any actions, a dark black spear silently flew and embedded itself in his jeweled eye.

Boom!*

This unpredictable attack was completely impossible to defend against. Only after the sharp spear stuck itself in his eye did Emordilorcan discover that he was under attack. Immediately following after, the spear's sudden explosion turned his gem eye into nothing but broken shards. Only a single attack caused the powerful Emordilorcan to go blind!

"Ahhh! It hurts! Stupid insect that deserves to die! Who, who dares to harm the mighty Emordilorcan!"

"Oh my. Hey big guy, this isn't a place for bastards like you to be building a nest, take another spear from this old fellow!"

The squinting elderly warrior finally opened his ferocious eyes as his killing intent spilled out everywhere together with his charge.

Giant bulls were a rare species to begin with. Its dragonskin, thick armoring, and weight were all astonishing. It was about four meters tall, and its charge resembled that of a wingless SemiDragon, with a terrifying momentum.

Its horns were already reaching the roof of this floor in the labyrinth, and the ground shook with every step it took. Borrowing his steed's momentum, its elderly rider didn't hesitate to rush Emordilorcan as his long dragonspear pierced through the Earth Elemental God's freshly injured eye once more.

The dark black dragonhorn battlespear pierced deep into Emordilorcan's head, causing him to panic as he had never experienced such pain before.

"Ahhhh!"

The Earth Elemental God's shouting of agony reverberated through the entire floor we were battling on. This entire area above us began quaking mightily, also causing all living creatures aboveground to panic at the anger of the earth.

The narrowness of this labyrinth limited his highly agile body, and his ridiculously high defense that he was so proud of wasn't worth a thing in front of this ancient king. He had never experienced such humiliation in thousands of years.

The older a creature was, the more it valued its own life. After finding out that this location wasn't the best for him to fight at his full abilities, Emordilorcan escaped in a manner unbefitting that of an Elemental God.

"Phew, what a ferocious old guy."

Adam whistled in amazement. He never expected that this elderly warrior would be so strong, without even giving him a chance to go out and do battle.

"Hmph, such a glib-tongued junior."

The Eagle of Glaso disappeared into a shadow once more after completing his role that the Roland Sacred Sword had summoned him for, returning to his slumber.

As for me, I was sweating all over and half-kneeling on the ground. Just summoning this ancient king for that one attack had drained much of my energy.

"Hey hey hey, it couldn't be that you're already about to collapse? Just looking at the way that huge rock was glaring at us, he'll definitely be returning."

"What garbage, I'm afraid that he won't come back."

Adam was surprised for a moment, but his intelligence was quite high when it regarded a battle. He quickly realized what I meant.

"You're saying he's going to go around us, and chase after Margaret?"

"That's what I would do in his place. Is there any point in wasting time with the warriors like us behind the main objective? The obvious thing to do is go straight for the Dimensional Door, and once that place is secured, all he has to do is trap us here and capture us at his leisure. I think that rockhead's intelligence is much higher than yours."

There was a rare sign of worry that flashed on Adam's face upon hearing my words. Master Monks were already reputed to be the perfect counter to Mages, so even Margaret would likely find it difficult to deal with this monster's explosive ambush.

Earth Elementals were thick-skinned and had astonishing endurance to begin with, and any injured wild animal would go berserk. Emordilorcan was certain to be far more dangerous than earlier.

"Then what should we do? I can detect his presence, but I don't have Clint's control. If I break through the walls to chase after him, there's a ninety-nine percent chance that the walls will collapse on us. Oh, by the way, I noticed that you're insulting me by saying I'm worse than a rockhead."

"Tsk, only being perceptive at such a time. Relax, I have a method, just go in the general direction. Glina, I leave breaking through the walls up to you."

"Isn't Glina together with Margaret? Are you finally going senile in your old age…"

"It's Clint, not Glina!"

His insult was only half finished when it was interrupted. There was no mistaking that familiar voice, but when he looked over to see where it was coming from, there was only an immaterial floating silver armor in midair.

"…Even this awkwardness was completely copied. Okay, Glina, hurry up and blast through the walls."

"It's not Glina, it's Clint!"

"I know you're called Clint, hurry up and begin, Glina."

"It's not Glina!"

"Okay, Glina."

"Glina!"

"Yep, Clint… damn it, I'm losing track of what I'm saying. So you weren't naturally a ditz, you were naturally black-bellied."

Adam standing beside me was already stunned in amazement, but Glina was already filled with self-satisfaction as she began blasting through the walls. I also gave Adam an explanation as we rushed on our way.

[God Equipment: Roland Sacred Sword]

[Type: Two-handed longsword, attack power: 100-100, indestructible, usable only by descendants of the Mist.]

[Unique characteristic: Eternal royal protection. The royal ancient spirits have never left this land. While you are in the northlands, as their successor and descendant, you can summon them to battle for your cause.]

[There are two types of summons. The first is to summon a random king from the past to give a single full-strength attack, and the second is to summon a cloned spirit of someone currently living. Both types of summons are limited to Mist royalty members only.]

"In the past two thousand years of history, even the Gods have come and gone so frequently, and the newly born Mist Kingdom is already an ancient country, with countless epic battle campaigns. There were so many powerful kings in the past, that no matter which one you randomly summoned, none of them would be too weak. The only part is that the ten minute cooldown and limited usage of three times a day is really annoying. I hope that the next step of the Sacred Sword's evolution can upgrade this. As for the second type of summons, if the royalty is abundant and powerful it should be quite the ability, but there are too few options right now, so it's only an ordinary skill. However, it just happens to be useful right now."

The Clint in front of us was basically exactly the same, and his speed in setting up explosives was quick, decisive, and precise. Our overall speed was quite fast. According to Adam's senses, we were almost about to pass in front of Emordilorcan.

We stopped in a spacious cave. This was a wide enough place that it was perfect for battle.

I nodded at Glina and her clone spirit immediately disappeared and returned to the Sacred Sword.

"As for me, I also discovered an incredibly cheat method of summoning."

I purposefully sounded as mysterious as possible with my raucous laughter. This type of rule-breaking summoning definitely surpassed my expectations for the God Equipment's main ability.

"Take a good look, and don't blink… Fight for me, twin stars, awaken, Roland, Karwenz!"

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Chapter 179: Chaotic Situation

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: imperfectluck

"A True God has died; the Forest Guardian Clareladin has died. The SemiGod Prescott has also died in battle!"

The Guardian God of the northern Elf Kingdom was the Forest God. This True God's death made all the elves feel as if the sky was falling down on them.

"This is impossible! Gods are indestructible, how could they possibly die! How could the victim be the mighty Forest Guardian Clareladin!"

This was the feeling that all the northern elves had right after the news spread to everyone. For the past thousand years, the True God of Elves had been protecting them, causing them to become distant from the main events of the Northlands – the cruel competition for survival.

The warm environment and peace that was the stark opposite of the battlefield caused them to get accustomed to life under the protection of a God. They viewed it as a maxim similar to how the sun rose from the east. Now that the sun was no longer rising, it was only natural that they would panic to the extreme.

"We're finished, the northern Elf Kingdoms are all finished."

Those that lost all sense of reason and spread rumors out of fear were directly suppressed by the Elf Warriors, but fear and unrest were already spreading throughout the entire Elf population in the north. While rumors could be denied, some things were indisputable.

Due to the Forest Guardian God's death, the utopia-like Elf Kingdom was now re-entering reality after no longer having its God's protection. After returning to the circle of life, nature started showing off its cruelty that treated everyone equally!

Currently, the streams in the forest were beginning to freeze over, and large amounts of trees began wilting. The forests that didn't belong in the Northlands were heading for death, and the outermost protective forest transformed in just a few minutes in a process that would normally take decades, losing all their leaves almost instantly. The anti-decaying protection from the True God had expired, leaving nothing but wilting death for the trees.

Without the Forest Guardian's forest barrier to protect them, the Elf Kingdom's average temperature was now a stark contrast with the Northlands' average temperature, causing nature's natural balancing to forcefully recoil against it.

According to the Elves' poetic description of what happened, the explosive northern words transformed itself into a brutal Seasonal God, and crushed the isolated Elven paradise into a place resembling the rest of the cruel Northlands with just a single turn of its body.

When frigid winds injected themselves into the Elven lands that used to be spring in all four seasons, the shivering Elves finally learned that it was finally winter. The brutal winter especially made for the Elves by the ferocious forces of nature was particularly unpleasant.

Just as the Elves were sinking deeper into panic, their "relatives" were in the midst of a mysterious frenzy. Becoming fiercer after each battle wasn't an adequate description of their fervor anymore. In the midst of their major blood festival, the newly born Dark Elf Poison God had added a green poisonous snake emblem next to the Spider Goddess's spider emblem. The Dark Elf Gods were no longer Lorci all by herself, and the ambitious Lorci was already considering the ranking of newly born Dark Elf Gods in the future.

The Dark Elf armies were gathering under the flag of the black eight-clawed spider. The Elven armies defending their homeland had lost most of their main forces and were no match for the Dark Elves at all. All the Elves could do was watch as the invaders constructed endless bases and siege weapons in the Elven territory. The Dark Elves weren't even trying to conceal the fact that they intended to be here for a long time.

The Tassel Kingdom's mausoleum had been completely dug up, with all the passages leading to the Underground Kingdoms completely opened. Every day, countless eager Dark Elves would arrive from the Underground world, as if they were bloodthirsty sharks that had detected the delicious scent of fresh blood from their tasty prey.

The Dark Elves that had generations of grudges against their Elven cousins didn't begin a racial slaughter as quickly as people expected, but their casually apparent preparations for all-out war and that arrogant attitude that treated the Elves as lambs for the slaughter caused even the Elves that still believed in the possibility of victory to begin despairing.

"They're waiting, they're waiting for our campaigning armies to return. They have the assurance of definite victory, they have the protection of Lorci, and our armies have zero chance of victory without another Elf God's protection. Just what is the venerable Anslo thinking? Why did he allow the Forest Guardian to be killed off by the vicious and evil Spider Goddess! Why aren't our prayers being answered?"

The Elf Gods had no time to respond to the northern Elves' prayers, as the Human Gods had already detected their betrayal, making things difficult for them to even survive as it was.

From a certain viewpoint, it could be said that the Elves lacked someone with leadership abilities who could organize them and take charge. Compared to the major Human Kingdoms that were treating their Guardian Gods more and more like lucky mascots, the Elves relied far too much on their Gods and even viewed the Gods' protection as the most important factor in battle.

"No, they're also waiting for their own reinforcements. The Dark Elves are increasing in number every day, damn it! Just how many of those Dark Elf bitches are there?"

Just how many Dark Elves were there in total in the dark Underground world? Lorci herself likely didn't know either. She used her own power to help the Dark Elves possess fertility far beyond that of regular Elves, but Lorci was called depraved for this action and exiled to the Underground world.

"Damned Anslo! You're calling me depraved? Fine, I'll show you what depravity is, I shall allow you to witness true evil!"

It could be said that Lorci's self-destructive actions caused the entire Dark Elf tribe to fall into true depravity and darkness. Killing each other, betrayals, and scams became the entire lifestyle of this whole tribe, and even the Underground demons wouldn't dare say that they were better at scamming others in comparison with the Dark Elves. But at the very least, it was indisputable that these fallen Dark Elves were incredibly strong. After they broke free from the curse of low fertility, their true potential was far stronger than what everyone expected.

There was no race in existence that was evil from birth, as each individual's sense of good or evil was determined by his or her own experiences. Lorci's tainted dark waters didn't stain the entire tribe. The Gray Elves protected by the Moon God and the Dark Elf Rangers that lived in isolation publicly disobeyed the Underground lords summoned by Lorci. Even the Dark Elves had countless different beliefs and ways of thinking within themselves; Lorci had long lost control over the entire Dark Elf tribe.

But take a look at the current Dark Elf battle camps, the largest continuous campground indeed belonged to Lorci's flag. Symbols of the moonlight, the blood sword, the icy twin swords, and various others were scattered among as well, with all these numerous scattered camps representing the countless number of traitors to Dark Elf society. Adding them all together, they far outnumbered Lorci's forces, which was one type of evidence that this tribe contained a huge number of inner factions.

However, all of these Dark Elves that resented and killed each other while Underground had gathered here for the sake of a unified purpose.

"There's no justice in this judgement against our ancestors! Even if our ancestors were in the wrong, us descendants have the right to live under the blue sky, under the sun, together with the living! We have the freedom to roam in the comfortable open lands! We will prove that us Dark Elves are the strongest among all Elf tribes, that we're the upper-class Elves that deserve to rule!"

Under Lorci's flag, the Dark Elves that had severe differences temporarily banded together. With Lorci spending great amounts of Godly power to summon a magical dark mist, they were able to avoid being burned by the sun. The Dark Elves patiently sharpened their knives in the darkness, waiting for the fated brutal slaughter that was about to occur with their close cousins.

Since the Dark Elves had invaded earlier than the others, it was only natural that they began separating out from the other Underground forces. Their only target now was to carve out a piece of the blue sky for themselves.

"This part of the Northlands is enough for now, there's the Elven Spring here, and forests, we can rebuild a kingdom that belongs to us here; there's everything we want!"

Looking at it another way, as long as the wardrums of the Holy War sounded again, the Dark Elves and Lorci who were grinding their poisonous teeth were certain to return to the surface. Roland and Ayer's invitation letter was what ended up giving Lorci the best excuse and time to take action.

Currently, countless tents had been erected outside the Elven cities, and the Dark Elves were anticipating the joy of revenge and bloody victory. The Dark Elves whose greatest characteristic was betrayal actually managed to come together for this one goal.

As for the northern Elves that had lived here for so long, this was naturally a nightmare to them.

The Elf King Adrian that just returned to his capital city stared blankly at the scenery of despair in front of him. Was this what he had sacrificed his own daughter for? Was this the Elven strength to rule the ages that the Elven Gods had promised?

'I should have expected that the first to stand up in the Holy War would definitely become nothing but cannon fodder.'

At this time, he couldn't help but remember that person's assessment of him in his regret.

"You care too much about gains and losses, and calculate too much. You're actually only seeing small benefits, but you miss the big picture. Always calculating gains and losses every day, you'll eventually lose yourself in it as well."

"I'm not wrong! I'm definitely not wrong!"

But the current combat situation didn't permit for his wallowing in self-regret. The other three allied countries' armies had already complained so much to him, and there were plenty that wanted to dissolve the allied armies and take their own troops back to guard their home countries.

"Foolish, you're even more shortsighted than the useless humans. You think that those Dark Elf bitches will be satisfied with conquering only the Tassel Kingdom, that they won't go to the other countries? My Tassel Kingdom will hardly satisfy them, they want the entire Northlands Elf Kingdom!"

After returning, the devastation wrought upon the Tassel Kingdom had the opposite effect of making the other Elf armies want to separate from the allied armies even more. If they continued being unable to come together in unison, the Elves were quickly about to lose the war without even fighting.

"Invite two generals and Prince Kazlo to a meeting, just tell them that I have something private to tell them… Have Alwin take the Moonblade Elites and get ready for my orders."

The king clenched his teeth and made a gesture of slicing his hand across his throat to his shocked trusted retainer. The king had resolved himself to sacrifice everything in order to protect his own kingdom.

Nobody could have expected that this winter would involve so many factions at war. The Elves' battle, the Maple defense line, and the Elemental battle formed the most eye-catching opening acts of this Holy War.

All three battles affected and tangled with each other. At this point, any tilting towards one side or the other for any battle could cause a snowball effect, eventually ending in an avalanche.

The "Traitors' Battle" was the name later given to this war by history, but for those involved in the current era, the future generations' evaluations were unimportant. This frustrating situation where it was difficult to tell enemy from ally was the biggest headache for everyone.

There was so much betrayal between the two major sides of this conflict, to the point where even fooling your own tribe became a daily occurrence. Enemy today, friend tomorrow. Yesterday an ally, tomorrow a mortal enemy.

This type of fluctuation didn't even spare the venerated True Gods. When the Holy War restarted, those who tried remaining ambiguous were forced to stop sitting on the fence by the respective elder Gods of each faction and had to make their choices clearly for which side to stand on.

In a way, this was the critical time and point that allowed Ayer's letter, coming from one of the foremost Order Gods, to have such convincing power to Lorci for her to reselect the side she stood on.

Also, as one of the biggest losers in the previous Holy War, the Beastmen that didn't have any Gods to protect them were aiming to recover all their previous losses in this war. Their earlier ambushes were indeed outstanding, but they had now met with some small problems.

"Our spies have been completely eliminated? How is this possible, I remember there were 2376 different groups, with seventy percent of them being human mixed bloods that are impossible to determine from physical appearance, nor do they even know each other, how is it possible for all of them to be discovered? Some of our deeply embedded spies have been planted within the enemy for one or two hundred years over several generations, that we never activated, why were they discovered?

As the side with the advantage of being proactive on the attack, the current Beastman Chieftain Amon.Bloodaxe was currently dealing with a huge headache. From the start of war to now, the lack of a complete information network had always been one of the biggest obstacles for the Beastmen.

The most important thing in war was information. Thanks to Sleuweir Kingdom's policy of "peaceful trading," the past one hundred-plus years of interaction were more than enough for the ambitious Beastmen tribes to fill this kingdom with spies like a worm-infested apple.

But when the war truly began, not a single one of their planted "seeds" ended up sprouting.

The Tortoise Tribe Beastman making the report was sweating all over. He was the main leader of the information network, as well as a tribe leader himself, but he was currently fearing for his life instead of this group of major Beastmen leaders.

It couldn't be helped that all the leaders were so angry, as they had raised these soldiers so long to be used when the day came, with war being the most active time period for spies to be used. This was the time for spies to show their stuff, but the Tortoise Tribe Beastman basically handed in nothing but a blank test paper.

"There should be thirteen groups in Red Maple Castle, but… they were all discovered, they're the ones hanging on the eastern castle door. And, I…"

"You told us that the western castle door's female commander was nothing more than a flower vase, so we concentrated our battle power to attack the western door, and we ended up taking heavy losses. The aerial cavalry that we lost were accumulated over so many years, and you're actually telling us that you didn't know about those magic swordsmen and war machines? You're telling us that you didn't see anything as huge as a floating battleship? You're all so useless, why are we even paying for your upkeep!"

The raging Beastman King lifted up his battle axe while shouting angrily at hearing the information network's mistaken and inaccurate information yet again at this critical juncture. He intended to personally cut off these useless Beastmen's heads.

"Wait a moment, how did our spies get discovered? Setting aside those that were obviously Beastmen, as they were just decoys, how did the human spies we bribed and the mixed bloods get exposed, that's illogical, unless…"

Compared to the raging Eagle King, the Bearman Londe seemed far more composed. But judging from the jade he accidentally crushed in his hands, he wasn't as composed as he appeared on the surface. The loss of a behemoth was something irreplaceable that had already given him many sleepless nights of sorrow.

At this moment, when he spoke his final word "unless," he looked around him suspiciously at each tribe leader.

It was quite obvious what he meant between the lines. For such a deeply hidden information network to be completely discovered, the only possibility was that there was a spy, an incredibly high level one.

"…No, it's not a spy."

Even though the axe was already on top of his head and he was scared witless, the information network leader still needed to say what he should say.

"It's nothing to do with a spy, it's actually due to a problem with our logistics that caused all our spies to get revealed."

"Hm?"

What logistical problem could possibly expose all the spies at once? The tribe leaders present all had looks of disbelief.

"If we look at the root cause, I have to talk about thirty years ago. Since we have simple lifestyles, us Beastmen have difficulty making livings in the human world. For the spies that weren't adept at business to be suddenly sent to a foreign country, many spies were cheated out of their money in a short three months, and were forced back to the highlands by starvation."

Everyone nodded at this. It was public knowledge that Beastmen weren't adept at business. Not only these spies that didn't know a single written word, there were quite a few "wise" witch doctors and shaman that had the experience of losing everything through being cheated by human society.

For the Beastmen that still had the traditional bartering system in place, the human world was far too complex. Even if they didn't meet a scammer, most Beastmen would quickly use up all their traveling funds and helplessly return to their homes.

"We never knew when the day to counterattack would come. If we kept continuously sending out new spies, this would become a bottomless investment. Our tribe isn't wealthy, so we can't afford it. Finally, a coincidence helped us to obtain a legendary treasure."

"Treasure?"

"Yep, it came about out of a lucky witch doctor experiment. A witch doctor from my tribe accidentally mixed his cooking spices with his prophecy herbs, which was how he managed to coincidentally create the famous legend – Orion fried demon meat!"

All the tribe leaders swallowed their saliva in unison upon hearing this. They'd all tasted this red and delicious fried meat before as well. It was indeed savory to the point of tantalizing.

"Everyone here surely knows about it already. With that as the foundation, we opened up a series of fried meat shops using the Orion brand selling fried meat and hamburgers, causing the Orion name to become famous. Hmph, those damned humans that deserve to die actually stole our formula, and created some McD hamburger restaurant chain, competing with us everywhere, shameless to the extreme!"

"What does this have to do with our spies being discovered?" Amon was rather shocked at this sudden change of topic. Wasn't this supposed to be about the information network? How did competition between fast food restaurants have anything to do with this?

"As you know, our spies aren't skilled at business, while the Orion fast food restaurant is one of our only profitable businesses, resulting in… the result was that all the spies opened up Orion fast food restaurants! After one spy was discovered, every single spy was revealed!"

Ok, fine, since the Orion fast food restaurant was too profitable, there were even Beastmen that voluntarily became spies in order to open up restaurants in the humans' fancy world to enjoy their lives.

"Fuck! Isn't that just looking for death!"

"Foolish to such an extent! Who gave such an order! Which idiot did such a moronic thing? I'm going to hang him to death on the flagpole!"

The Beastman King Amon's angry roar reverberated through the tent, and his sharp voice caused the guards outside to shiver in fear.

The information network leader sweated even more profusely at seeing how angry Amon was.

"It was you…"

His reply was in a soft voice, but there were no ordinary people present that could not hear him. The tribe leaders were momentarily stunned at this, then the tent fell eerily silent, with Amon being the only person to clumsily continue speaking.

"What?"

"It was you. My Blackrock tribe was originally a subordinate tribe to your Bloodaxe tribe. Since information and scouting had always been the realm of the Eagle tribe that excelled in flying, and you're the master of all Eaglemen, and I've always been your loyal retainer. When you first succeeded your position, you said 'who knows when those useless spies will finally be useful, it's impossible for it to be my generation, so we might as well take the chance to earn some more money, and let our tribesmen participate in the most profitable business! We're going to fill the entire world with Orion fast food restaurants! We're going to become the fast food kings!"

Amon did his best to remember. He seemed to vaguely recall that thirty or forty years ago, when he first inherited his position, he had indeed said something similar, and even had it recorded in the tribe records as a wise saying.

As the Bloodaxe tribe chieftain, what he was most proud of wasn't his martial arts ability or prowess in combat strategy, but rather his ability to help his tribe get rich. It was precisely because of the flourishment of the Bloodaxe tribe that they were chosen as the representatives to cooperate with the Earth Elemental God.

"This can't be blamed on you, humans are just too devious. You see, we just found out that those McD hamburger restaurants were actually spies sent out by San Antonio. Our captured spies were all reported by those clowns wearing red wigs!"

That Tortoise tribe Beastman was all teary-faced as he talked about this painful memory.

"Those, those mascots that were singing blue blue road! They even hit us with their ingredients, and tossed those disgusting red wigs at us. They were underhanded to the point of putting rocks in their hamburgers, our fellow Beastmen were so pitiful. Our mascot the white-bearded old Beastman was completely unable to defeat them with the demon bone staff. The scene was unbearable to witness."

"White-bearded old Beastman? Mascot? Isn't this just looking to die?"

Some tribe leader finally pointed out another obvious flaw. This time, it was a certain Bearman tribe leader's turn to sweat profusely, as he also recalled the foolish decision he made twenty years ago when he inherited his position.

The information network leader saw this out of the corner of his eyes, but he figured that if he didn't say anything, he was certain to die. Saying it out loud might still give him a chance at living, so he ground his teeth and continued speaking.

"A certain person wanted to have a remembrance of his grandfather that passed away, and made this extra request… The white beard would represent wisdom, and the staff represented the willingness to never give up, and the white clothes and white apron represented the progress of shamanic culture. He said that it was necessary to make humans understand the beauty of the rough Beastman culture!"

Okay then. The information network leader kept staring at a certain Bearman while saying all this. His intention was obvious: let's not blame anyone here.

"Cough, I recommend, something else. We can actually fight on even without information." The Bearman tribe leader Londe pretended to remain composed as he spoke.

"Yep, I agree. We Beastmen are number one in the world at combat ability; there's no need for us to imitate the weakling humans and use spies or whatever." The Beastman King Amon relaxed slightly as he said so.

With the two strongest leaders agreeing with each other, what else could the other tribe leaders say, they could only nod.

"Notify all Beastmen, from today on, McD Hamburgers are our mortal enemies! Orion fast food is our pride! From today on, you're no longer our information network leader, we shall give you the new job of fried meat business consultant, and manage the economy of fried meat for all Beastmen!"

The information network leader was overjoyed beyond his wildest dreams at hearing this.

"Wonderful, this is my dream job! I'm the Chairman of the Board for the Orion Fried Meat Association, as well as an executive-ranked chef, this will be no problem for me. It's so much better than this annoying information network job. You're the best at picking the right person for the job!"

Apart from Chief Amon who was smiling delightedly from being sucked up to, all the other tribal leaders had strange looks on their faces.

'Something seems wrong here from the very start, this job was given to the wrong person to begin with! You're making a chef into the spymaster, so of course there would be problems! We're currently at war, is there any necessity to make some chain fast food restaurants? Didn't you make a mistake from the very beginning? Forget about using a spy as a chef, don't use chefs anymore as spies!"

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Chapter 180: Cooperative Battle

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

In the current generation, there were only four descendants of the Mist—Karwenz, Glina, Reyne, and myself. What I originally expected was that I would be able to summon only Glina and Reyne.

However, when I decided to try my luck, I got an incredible result.

In a way, the summoned spirits of the Roland Sacred Sword could be said to be the exact copies of the person from when they were living, but Karwenz and I were obviously special cases. You could say that we technically weren't descendants of the Mist anymore. At the very least, I've reincarnated several times, and Karwenz wasn't even a human.

But the Roland Sacred Sword still managed to summon them, and the sight of those nostalgic figures caused me to catch my breath.

The blonde-haired, young Holy Knight bowed to me with a brilliant smile on his face, but I knew that deep inside he was secretly plotting in his heart. Karwenz had an expression filled with displeasure and his eyebrows were furrowed as if he was thinking about something important, but he most likely wasn't thinking about anything more important than what to eat for lunch. Even though the two of them appeared identical, they radiated completely different auras.

It was quite obvious that the summoning of these twins must have been some type of bug caused by our special circumstances. Even though I had died in battle at fourteen years old that year, I'm still alive and kicking, which was why this Sacred Sword summoned the legendary Holy Knight Roland from the generation who had entered Armageddon together with Diffindor.

As for Karwenz, this land recorded his final moment when he had discarded his Mist Bloodline and turned into a demon. The current Karwenz in front of me was the youth from before he had abandoned his humanity.

"Roland, don't be a burden for me. Just go ahead and hide behind my back and shiver." The arrogant and strong younger brother had sharp words as usual, but this was his way of caring for his older brother who wasn't similarly skilled at fighting.

"Brat, I'm your older brother, so remember to be polite. Otherwise, the next time we have a group date, I'll tell that bearlike girl from the Dino Family that you like her. You know how persistent she can be." The brilliantly smiling Holy Knight used a malicious threat, and as expected, his younger brother revealed a shred of fear underneath his icy gaze. That was Karwenz's typical expression of surrender.

I felt like I was having a nostalgic dream as I watched the twins in front of me.

After passing through the long river of time, the twins have met once more. Their conversation made me feel as if I returned to those final days more than three hundred years ago; a difficult yet joyous period of both fortune and bitterness.

"Oh my, this guy seems quite difficult to deal with. Karwenz, it's all up to you."

"Hmph, I knew you would say that. You always run away the moment you face a direct battle—I have no idea how you became a Sword Saint."

Back in the day, we also bantered in a similar manner as we confidently walked off to our own battles. It was regretful, however, that even though we always knew of each other's existence and trusted that the other could change everything, we never met again until the final moment.

At this moment, though, the Northlands' skies were just as blue as always, while the frigid, bitter winds pierced the bones. However, some things would never return to how they were. At the very least, it was impossible for the twins to have such a peaceful meeting for their next reunion.

The next time we meet, we'll probably draw our swords upon each other…

"Roland, what are you daydreaming about? It's coming!"

Adam's angry roar snapped me back to my senses.

How foolish was I now? Becoming nostalgic on the battlefield was one of the best ways to a quick death.

Without any hesitation, Emordilorcan had begun to attack us with a furious barrage of rocks, while my two summoned spirits had already begun blocking the attack.

Clang!*

Adam's sword of light was knocked away and he kept spinning around from the impact, while the twins blocked off Emordilorcan.

Roland from that year had barely managed to reach the realm of Legends right before dying, while the Karwenz from before who had abandoned everything had also become a Legend. In human society, this was, perhaps, an astonishing achievement as their accomplishments for their ages meant that they were super geniuses. However, for the Earth Elemental God who had experienced countless eons and even participated in ancient battles where the Gods were no better than lapdogs, ordinary Legend-rank strength was nothing more than slightly stronger cannon fodder.

Yet some people were destined to be extraordinary…Roland and Karwenz were never ordinary Legends to begin with!

"Sacred Sword Blessing! Angel's Descent!"

Holy Knight Roland casually tossed out several Divine Art support spells and pushed his younger brother to the front, while he unhesitatingly hid far behind the scene of the battle. It was obvious that he was refusing to engage in close combat.

"Haha! This is you from way back then? What a beautiful scene."

"Hmph, just how old do you think I was back then? For me, who was such a slacker with an unhealthy body, my title as a Sword Saint was partially nominal. Besides, I'm a commander, which means that hiding in the rear is the right thing to do. Physical fights are work for the barbaric."

"…You're still supposed to be a Sword Saint; how shameless can you be?"

However, the following scene managed to shut Adam up.

Holy Knight Roland lifted his longsword as a blinding light gathered on its blade. The next moment, a miniature sun that was too bright to look at appeared in midair.

"Bullet of Light!"

Just as the teenager's youthful voice sounded out, that sun-like ball of light finished its magical compression and crashed into Emordilorcan like a falling meteor. When the ball of light exploded, everyone was temporarily blinded, while the pitiful Earth Elemental God was forced to take several steps backward from the impact.

"This is Bullet of Light? The most basic spell that every single knight knows? Are you kidding me? Even Light's Judgement isn't this ridiculous."

"Heh heh, this is talent for you. How could I otherwise have become the Son of Light? My Light Magic has at least five times the power of normal Holy Knights, and with the Soul Imprint of Light further increasing my power, it's at least ten times stronger than normal!"

"Then why don't you just use a higher-rank magic? Bullet of Light's basic power is too low, and even if you multiply it by ten times, it's probably quite limited."

"…I didn't know any other spells. Back then, I only knew the most basic divine spells, and Bullet of Light was the only one I could insta-cast."

"What? What are you talking about? Weren't you a Legend-rank Holy Knight?"

"For someone who slacked off so much on practicing divine magic, how far do you think I could get? Relax, even though I only knew Bullet of Light back then, it'll be enough!"

As I expected, the battle was now in utter chaos and the blinding light of miniature suns kept materializing in midair and rushing towards Emordilorcan.

"One, two, three… fifty! Hey, hey, isn't this too much of an exaggeration?"

"Hmph, now you know about my power."

"…Indeed, but does this have any difference to your later 'gather magic, compress, and shoot' strategy? So, you were already acting as an artillery from way back then. You actually made zero progress in the past two, three hundred years."

"Nobody will think that you're mute if you don't talk." Fine, this was an eternal pain buried deep within my chest. After so many years, my only progress was probably that I was now throwing ice balls instead of bullets of light.

But currently, bullets of light were more useful than ice balls.

The original property of Holy Light was to "cleanse," and in that sense, Holy Light could be said to be the natural enemy of unnatural existences. It would deal additional damage to anything that twisted the natural order of things. Even if elemental creatures weren't as countered completely by it compared to the undead or demons, Holy Light also had the ability to reverse the unnaturalness of those elements that came alive and return them to their natural state.

"Get the hell out, evil from a different dimension!"

The furiously roaring Holy Knight Roland tossed out stronger—fine, even more Bullets of Light, causing Emordilorcan to actually be temporarily suppressed.

Emordilorcan would surely be able to ignore an ordinary Holy Knight's Bullets of Light, but this time, his enemy was incredibly difficult to deal with as the Holy Light was far too dense, and he now felt as if he was in an entirely different dimension filled with nothing but light!

"Impossible, this is almost at the level of the Light God's purest light! Son of Light? An existence favored by the Holy Light? Damn it, how could there be a descendant of the Gods here! It's not possible for you to be a descendant of the Gods!"

The earth clod's angry shouting caused everyone to pause in surprise for a moment, but now wasn't the time to be standing around—the large piece of dirt immediately came rushing at us while withstanding the endless number of light explosions.

And then it suddenly went flying sideways…

Karwenz proudly showed off to Holy Knight Roland after retracting his leg that had just performed a swift kick, only to see little Roland preparing his crystal sunglasses to prevent his own eyes from going blind. Fine, I understand him pretty well, and there was an eighty percent chance that he pretended not to see it.

"Did I see that correctly? He kicked away the Earth Elemental God with a single kick? Just how strong is that brat?"

Adam was the most shocked instead.

"At the very least, it's more than thirty? If you can't understand it in numbers, it's probably one and a half times your strength, since he's never lost in strength—not even to dragons. I've heard that he managed to defeat a behemoth as well as an Efreet Lord with one punch before."

"Is he really a human? Why are both of you so ridiculous?"

"…it should be like that, at least at that time. Oh right, since the me from that time was playing with such things, be careful… looks like I'm too late."

"Take this!"

Holy Knight Roland shouted fiercely as he lifted his longsword, and Holy Light that was dense to the point of materialization began gathering upon it—it was as if he was about to launch some sort of ultimate attack. After everyone's attention was drawn to it…

Flash*

An eye-blinding brilliance turned everything snow-white, and everyone watching it lost their sense of vision.

"Ahhh!" This actually wasn't Emordilorcan shouting, although he probably wasn't feeling too good right now either.

The most pitiful scream came from Adam, who was completely blinded since he had been watching the combat situation. He, too, had believed that Holy Knight Roland was about to begin some ultimate attack due to his fierce shout, but he was completely blindsided.

"Relax, the Sunlight Fist doesn't last that long, nor was it a direct hit. It'll probably be a maximum of thirty seconds before it wears off."

Yep, this was the combat technique that the me from so long ago invented based on the rather blinding quality of Holy Light. If there were servants present, I would have had them hold up some mirrors, making it even easier to blind all my enemies.

Well, when I noticed little Roland preparing his crystal sunglasses, I had already guessed that he was about to use this technique.

"Ultimate technique! Your dog's eyes shall be blinded!" Little Roland finally said the technique's name so casually, but judging by how slowly he said it, he was trying to torture everyone on purpose.

Karwenz's shouting proved that this definitely wasn't the first time.

"How many times have I said it! Before you use your ultimate attack, shout the name out first! Is it fun for you to accidentally injure your allies every time? If you're a real man, then shout out your ultimate attack's name, fair and square! Aren't you just dragging everyone else down like this?"

The furious Karwenz suddenly punched out with his accumulated dark demonic energy and brute strength. The rock wall that he hit shattered into tiny pieces, and even the space behind the rock wall distorted. After witnessing the fearsome power of Karwenz's punch, even the martial arts expert Emordilorcan resolved to himself that he definitely wouldn't let this brat's fists touch him.

"Demonic descendant? Are you two truly brothers?"

Emordilorcan who recovered first was wondering in doubt, but he was destined to never receive an answer. Since he exposed his location by asking that question, the raging Karwenz found a target to vent upon and gave a vicious sword slice in Emordilorcan's direction.

Adam, who was also a victim of the flash to the extent where tears were pouring out of his eyes, nodded silently in agreement with Karwenz's reaction. In my opinion, since they were both the hot-blooded idiotic type, they would definitely find many common topics to talk about—especially the part where both of them had suffered under a black-bellied older brother repeatedly.

"Oh, sorry, it wasn't on purpose. It was all to give the enemy a sudden surprise."

It wasn't on purpose? It was definitely on purpose. I inwardly thought the truth to myself.

Even if that Roland was smiling so humbly and sincerely, and he seemed like he was honestly apologizing from the bottom of his heart about accidentally injuring his allies, I knew that he was probably laughing inside, thinking to himself, "Wonderful, I pranked those hot-blooded idiots yet again."

"Sigh, it doesn't seem like now's the time to be watching a show."

I shook my head as I took my sword and prepared for battle. Even if it was rather confusing that the twins counted as a single summoning, I had already used the maximum number of summons for today. If we weren't even able to at least make it an even match, this battle would be next to impossible.

But, before I personally took the field, there were some things I needed to try. If I were to be successful, our chances of victory would be greatly increased.

"Wind Elemental God Camdian, stop pretending that you're dead! I know you're right here! Do you really think that simply watching the show will give you an advantage? Foolish, still trying to play both sides at this time will only turn you into cannon fodder for both sides!"

My fierce shouting reverberated in the underground passageway, causing everyone to stop in stunned surprise. Emordilorcan reacted by breaking out into a fit of laughter.

"That cowardly worm, do you really believe that moron would still dare to appear before me? He has already escaped with his tail between his legs; that coward doesn't deserve to have status equaling ours!"

Emordilorcan's laughter echoed throughout the hollow labyrinth. His continuously reverberating laughter seemed to both prove the veracity of his words as well as mock the weakness and cowardice of the Wind Elemental God.

Even so, I didn't stop my own mocking words.

"Camdian, as long as we manage to hold this guy here, our people will be able to destroy the Earth Elemental Door, and Emordilorcan will be greatly weakened. Perhaps you alone won't be his match, but what if we're included? If you miss this chance that only comes once in a thousand years, no, once in ten thousand years, do you still think you'll ever truly be able to become the top of all elementals? If you still want to be a cowardly tortoise hiding inside its shell, we can just cancel our agreement right now. You know that I have this power. Are you certain that you want to face Ayer's rage by yourself?"

"Are you losing your sanity? As I expected, mortal lives are so weak, in both body and mind—"

Emordilorcan's taunts suddenly paused halfway through because a raspy voice suddenly spoke up from not far away.

"…How did you know I was here?"

I laughed aloud in delight at hearing that familiar sound.

"Perhaps wind elementals don't have the attack power of fire elementals, nor do they have the astonishing defense power of earth elementals, but wind elementals are the quickest of them all. Their innate nature to go in every crack makes them the best spies, and as long as they change their form slightly, even becoming completely invisible shouldn't be too difficult. As long as you weren't willing to accept defeat, you'd definitely follow Emordilorcan."

"That's not enough of a reason…"

"What's more, I believe that the wise Wind Elemental God isn't stupid enough to waste this excellent opportunity. Is that enough?"

A humanoid life form walked out from the shadow of a nearby corner. He didn't appear physically strong, but the glowing thunder runes on his skin, the silver hair that was flowing even in the absence of any wind, and those eyes that seemed to emit lightning all made it impossible for anyone to ignore his presence.

"Yep. I love having intelligent allies. Then, let us forget about any past small grievances we may have had, and let's work hard together to keep this foolish piece of rock here."

"Camdian!"

"Oh my, isn't this our esteemed Earth Elemental God? Why are you blind in one eye? Would you like for me, as your junior, to send you on your way?"

Emordilorcan shouted out his old acquaintance's name in surprise. Yep, this person right here was the Wind Elemental God that had tucked his tail and run away. But the current him seemed to be in top condition in both mental and physical states.

Judging by how Camdian currently seemed completely uninjured, it was quite obvious that Camdian didn't use his full abilities earlier. It was even possible that it wasn't Camdian himself that was battling earlier, but now wasn't the time to care about that.

"Of course, some people always focus on the process, but isn't a difficult process for the sake of allowing people to be satisfied with the results? In that case, only a satisfactory result is the most important thing, is it not?"

I smiled as I joyfully watched the person in front of me transform into the essence of wind itself once more. Camdian unhesitatingly faced straight off against his mortal enemy, giving us the best cannon fodder again.

I still pretended to act mysterious and composed on the surface, but I secretly heaved a sigh of relief inside.

Ha, how lucky. This guy really was around after all.

Yep, I was bluffing from the very start. I didn't have the ability to detect the presence of the Wind Elemental God who would be the best at hiding his presence, nor did I have the ability to perceive if he had truly lost or had only faked losing. However, just a single bluff had brought him out again, so of course I was quite fortunate.

What? I bluffed more than once? Well, in order to fool such a sly old fox, one had to pull out all the stops or it would all be for naught.

"Foolish one, you could have lived a few more years if you escaped. But now, even if you're added to the mix, none of you weaklings are even worth mentioning!"

The crazed rock unhesitatingly faced off against the Wind Elemental God's sudden appearance. Under his thick stone plating, Emordilorcan's single remaining eye was still filled with viciousness, and even though the numbers were overwhelmingly disadvantageous for him, he didn't even hesitate to attack first.

Boom!*

But when the two Elemental Gods began fighting, the chain explosions coming from beneath us caused Emordilorcan's expression to change significantly, as he was no longer able to remain composed.

"Emordilorcan, today shall be the day of your death!"ED Note:

Hello, everyone! I'm Pranav, and I'm the new editor for The Experimental Log of the Crazy Lich. (This is my first chapter!) I'm really excited to work on this novel with imperfectluck, but I'd like to tell all of you a few things so that everyone's up to speed.

First, I know that there are a lot of inconsistencies throughout the chapters, especially with the number of translators we've had, from Starve to EndlessFantasy Translations to imperfectluck. It's one of the most important things for me to fix—especially in a novel like ELCL—so from this chapter onwards, we have established a proper, overarching glossary (that's ever-expanding), and we'll be trying our utmost to remain consistent with Starve's terminology—the terminology that we're all used to and have come to love. However, you may see some terms that are different from the previous chapters, and those terms have been changed after deliberation with imperfectluck. But they will remain consistent in the future, and after I get back to the previous chapters, then in those as well. Most of these changes are also easily recognizable. We're going to be using all the old names and terms for the most part, so nobody should worry.

Second, after building up a sufficient stockpile for the current chapters with imperfectluck, I'm going to go back to Chapter 1 and start re-editing all the chapters, fixing any inconsistent terms, tenses, and grammar that Starve may have missed in his otherwise excellent translations, especially in the beginning.

Third, I implore all of our readers to help me point out any mistakes you may catch. I'll fix 'em up as soon as I can, and I'd also like to say that I'm learning as well! Your suggestions, comments, and constructive criticism will all be heard and will help me grow! I, as well as imperfectluck, plan to keep in contact with everyone through here, the nifty little Translator's Thoughts section, the comments section, as well as the Jianghu Forum, and we'll definitely do our best to fix anything as soon as possible.

Well, I guess that's all for now! I really hope that we can give this gem of a novel what it deserves, and with imperfectluck's super-duper, top-notch translations, I'm confident that we truly do have a shot.

Thanks, and have a great day!

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Chapter 181: The People of the Mist

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

It had already been almost two months since the first ambush that began the battle of this ongoing northern war. The frozen earth of the Northlands was drenched in blood that belonged to not only the human hosts but also the uninvited beastmen and elves.

"Conquer all of Sleuweir within ten days, conquer the Northlands within a month, and slaughter all the way to San Antonio within three months!"

The arrogant words that the beastmen had said after the success of their first ambush were now never to be brought up again. The tribe leaders had never expected the human resistance to be stubborn to this degree.

The abnormal success of their first ambush had pulled the wool over their eyes. The dullness of the Sleuweir Kingdom's higher-ups had given them the mistaken impression that the battle would end quickly.

To nullify the humans' resistance, the beastmen chose to completely slaughter every resident of any city that fiercely fought back against them. They had used the Wolfriders to massacre all the villages and had adopted a scorched-earth tactic, but this decision had now proven to be the most foolish tactic of all.

The massacre hadn't wiped away the humans' will to resist. On the contrary, the cries of their relatives and the vicious manner in which they were slaughtered had helped heat the Mist People's blood and rage to the boiling point.

"Can you watch your newlywed wife be tortured to death right in front of you? Your elderly father being hanged to death because the invaders wanted to save on food? Your baby being impaled on a spear by those beasts just because of crying? All of this is happening right now! Are you all still men? If you are, then take up your weapons and fight to the bitter end. What's there to be scared of? It's just death! Will that really be worse than living like this in such suffering?"

After the awful news about the slaughters in the conquered areas spread, the fires of rage hidden deep within the Mist People's hearts were finally stoked. Even without their lord and king's summons, the Mist Tribe would have gladly sacrificed their lives to protect their families and friends.

"The Mist shall never surrender" may only be a saying, but it was an indisputable fact that the People of the Mist had never been conquered by foreigners in the past thousands of years. Even in front of butcher knives dripping with blood, the Mist People were just like their ancestors who had never bowed to invaders, with their thousand-year-old bloodlines awakening instead.

The young husband Aima kissed his newlywed wife goodbye as he joined a citizens' brigade without actual combat ability or guarantee. Armed with only a dull woodcutting knife, his only reason for fighting was so that his future children wouldn't have to grow up filled with the worry and fear that they would become the enemy's "glorious" sacrifices, impaled on their spears.

The elderly soldiers held their spears as they marched towards the frontlines. Perhaps it was true that their bodies had already weakened and that they had retired for many years, but their wisdom and experience helped the newer soldiers to avoid the most dangerous traps, helping them quickly increase their skills amid the constant battling. They weren't as ridiculous as that legendary old king who took his own coffin to battle, but they had already resolved themselves that there was a chance for death on the battlefield.

"…I'll be satisfied if my experience can help a few young fellows stay alive and return. If I'm slowing everyone down, please don't hesitate to abandon me. I'll let those beast bastards know what the will of an old soldier really is!"

If the Red Maple defense line and Antuen could be considered the two lighthouses of hope, then the countless number of resistance organizations and citizen militias were the wildfires burning brightly on the plains. And when all these fires were lit, it would be next to impossible to extinguish them.

"Who's afraid? It's just death; it's f*king worse to live under such suffering." Perhaps this sentence was rather vulgar, but it was a testament to the hardiness of the northern people who were used to living in a meat grinder.

"Damnit, there's resistance organizations and guerrilla troops everywhere! Those guys are insane!"

In the cities that the beastmen had taken over, any beastmen soldiers that went out by themselves would never return. Even the strong Wolfrider teams were gradually beginning to vanish.

Those citizens who didn't have any armor or sharp weapons learned how to ambush their enemies using the terrain and lure the vicious beasts with bait through the continuous battles. Not only did the vicious slaughtering not scare the People of the Mist, but it did the opposite instead, adding fuel to the flames of the desire for revenge.

"They're literally insane! Have you ever seen a head that would still keep staring at you after you cut it off? Have you ever seen a legless beggar suddenly cling on to your leg and tell his comrades to pierce through you together with him? They're basically a bunch of crazy bastards!"

The beastmen that were so fond of battle had now become afraid. After witnessing the humans' maniacal and suicidal attacks just so that they could perish together with the beastmen, the beastmen that had viewed dying in battle as the greatest honor had now become afraid. The humans' blood-red eyes and stares even after death caused the beastmen to become frightened!

The beastmen finally realized why those weakling humans had successfully blocked their invasions for thousands of years and even forced their strong ancestors back to the northernmost plains countless of times.

"…We can't keep going on like this! We have to destroy any hope they have for resisting and hit their most critical spots with one attack."

The beastmen abandoned their original combat strategy of steadily conquering all the areas, and quickly gave up on the outer cities. Instead, they focused all their energy on destroying the two "lighthouses of hope."

And so, the Sleuweir Kingdom's capital, Antuen, met with an emergency situation, and the human's allied forces' main headquarters, the Red Maple defense line, brought up the rear. The beastmen tribe leaders knew that unless they were able to take out these two annoyances, this battle might never end.

"Antuen has surrendered; King Fismer has surrendered!"

After this astonishing news began to spread, there was disbelief at first, which was soon followed by painful howls of crying throughout the entire country.

An old soldier in the last years of his life had lost his son, grandson, and son-in-law in this battle but didn't shed a single tear. He would always feel his mustache and smile in pride when talking about his family members that died in battle.

"They're all very fine people; they didn't shame Old Philly's name. Since they're now dead, this old fellow shall continue fighting in their place, and when I'm dead, my granddaughter and daughter will continue fighting! I refuse to believe that we can't get rid of those goddamned beasts!"

But when he heard this piece of news, he ended up crying like a little child, collapsing on the floor as he pointed with a trembling finger towards the north and began spewing insults.

"My sons, what did you all die for? Such a bastard country is not worth us sacrificing our lives for. Your deaths were worthless."

This was also why Roland had been in such a rage. Even when the country's citizens hadn't given up, why was the king, who was supposed to be their protector, giving up?

At the very least, the Roland from that year long ago would have performed his duty of royal protection—even from the grave, like a skeleton or a ghost carrying a grudge from hell.

Along with their unyielding battle spirit, the story of the twin brothers helped the People of the Mist remember that their people would never give up! They only recognized kings who also never surrendered!

"False King Fismer! He doesn't deserve to be king!"

Although there were angry denunciations and doubts among the people when the news of the surrender had started to spread, the beastmen had indeed achieved their goal of landing a vicious blow to the Mist People's morale.

Right after that, there were much fewer resistance movements than before. Fismer's surrender represented the first time in history that the Mist Royalty had ever submitted, and it was as if the people's backbone had received a massive blow.

Snap!* The backbone that represented the unyielding nature of the citizens was cracking pitifully, and it was almost to the point where it seemed to be broken. The people's spirit of bravery and resistance was almost at the breaking point as well, but luckily…

"The previous King Roland appeared and executed Fismer Caso right there on the spot, as he declared the surrender to be invalid. He then passed the kingship on to the only daughter of the previous generation's king, Princess Glina Caso! The Mist Royalty hasn't surrendered after all, nor has our flag fallen! Antuen's battle still continues, and our king is still battling!"

Fortunately, Roland's appearance re-ignited the sparks of resistance into flames that were even stronger than before. His oath also brought a new era upon the People of the Mist.

"…Our Mist Tribe never enjoys war, so we swear that we shall never start a war of our own volition!"

Old Philly also shouted that very oath as he jumped off a cliff together with an enemy. He had already learned of his daughter's and granddaughter's deaths, but this time, he did not shed a tear, and instead nodded while smacking his chest proudly.

"They did in two beasts before they died? Excellent job, as expected of Old Philly's family! Go ahead first, I'm coming soon. We promised to meet each other again in heaven!"

"…But if war comes to us, we're going to teach the invaders how sharp our swords are!"

Aima was now at only the combat level of an ordinary soldier, and he had written that sentence in a letter to his wife. After Aima's death, a fellow soldier would pack up his belongings and mail out this final letter to his wife. Aima had already carried out his promise.

"We don't like war, nor do we enjoy war, and we now declare our national church to be that of the Law God! We swear that we shall never start any war of our own volition, but if war is truly unavoidable, then we shall spend every last breath to protect our home! We swear that our tribe shall forever exist in the Northlands!"

Such a short oath carved a brand-new path for the entire People of the Mist. Not only in the Sleuweir Kingdom, but even those in the nearby East Mist Communal Country who were also descendants of the Mist Tribe were repeating this oath over and over again.

"…We shall spend every last breath to protect our home! We swear that our tribe shall forever exist in the Northlands!"

One hundred and seventy-four knights were riding on young Frigid Nightmares. Under the guidance of the senior Lion King, those young Nightmares, which had hatched prematurely, had already signed new contracts with the young knights, and the new generation of Aurora Knights had completed their final training under the flowing battle flag of the Mist. Today was the day for these young knights to head to the battlefield to assist their fellow Mist People.

Under the watchful eyes of their family members and with the guidance of the undead veterans of the Aurora Knights Order, each silver-colored battle horse had begun their long flights. Although there were still traces of naivety in the expressions of the young knights, their arms were as solid as rocks as they wielded their spears and looked towards the distant sky. In the distance, they could see their fellow Mist People bleeding fresh blood, and they all wanted to rush there as quickly as possible to end this war.

"Let them witness the strongest aerial cavalry unit on the continent! Allow them to see the pride of the Mist People!"

When they finally entered the northern battlefield, they were destined to become the new center of attention. Without a doubt, the Aurora Knights, who were the pride of the Mist, would stoke the fires even further.

And when all these oaths connected together and the oath to "never start a war of their own volition" awakened the Sacred Sword that carried the will of the Gods, the Mist People's oath finally received a response.

"I, the Law God Wumianzhe, declare that I shall protect the People of the Mist."

When holy, silver light descended from the clouds, the Mist People finally received the protection of their own True God. And with the increasing number of believers, Wumianzhe also underwent an evolution, and he received a new divine job title—the Guardian God of the Northlands.

"As long as the masters of this land obey the principle of 'never starting any wars,' I shall protect them. I bless them that they shall never be conquered, and I bless them that they shall…"

With the descent of a guiding path of light, the souls of the People of the Mist Tribe now belonged to Wumianzhe's domain. The brave warriors who had sacrificed themselves for the Mist would become heroic spirits, and not a single True God would be able to steal the Mist Tribe's souls away from Wumianzhe—not a single one!

Why was I so certain? That was because…

"Roland, that big rock's too difficult to deal with!"

"Just do the best you can; I have something more important over here! Ah, where was I? Right… I bless them that they shall walk towards the peak together with victory; I bless them that they shall enter the Hall of Valhalla after death! May a fair sky forever stand above the Northlands!"

My voice synchronized with the voice in the sky as we finally took this step after oh so many sacrifices!

"I, the Law God and Guardian God of the Northlands, Wumianzhe, swear to remove all invaders! You don't accept it? Then, let's battle!"

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Chapter 182: Willpower

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The protection of a True God? Mortal battles didn't need it thanks to the fundamental laws of the world; it was impossible for True Gods to directly intervene in mundane matters.

That Forest Guardian True God of the elves? The fact that he was now dead was plenty of evidence of what would happen if one broke the rules.

But it was enough for the brave warriors who fought to protect their tribe.

The mortal Mist King Roland announced their glory while Wumianzhe from the heavens above announced that their heroic deeds would be recognized by everyone. Even if they died and their souls slept forever, it would be fine—it was fine as long as their glory existed in the hearts of the true warriors of the north.

For the beastmen, however, it was devastating. Perhaps a True God's protection seemed rather ephemeral, but it was actually supremely dangerous when they witnessed it for themselves.

"What will Wumianzhe do? Will he make the Church of Law participate in battle? Or will he personally give out divine punishment?"

This was especially so because the beastmen's original True God had already perished in the previous holy war. Due to this unbalance in power, they were now even more afraid of the intervention of a True God.

"We can't afford to hide our full power any longer. Londe, send out your best forces; Kagra, let's combine your Blue-Feathered Harpy Division with my Bloodaxe Tribe as our warriors lack the protection of air cavalry and casters. Hamar, Sostilo, stop your brave warriors from wallowing in regret. Even when they're off their steeds, they're still our most elite warriors, and our castle-scaling warriors lack the command and leadership of the elite."

All the tribal leaders who were mentioned nodded in silence. As the highest ranks of the allied forces that constituted the beastmen armies, they each had strong tribes but had been avoiding sending out the best of their troops to prevent their own tribes from becoming frontline cannon fodder. However, when it truly came down to it, they would send in everything they had.

"We must conquer Red Maple Castle within two days! Sound the battle drums; I'm going to fight personally!"

The Bloodaxe Tribe Leader viciously pounded the conference table with his fist. The crushed sandbox that represented Red Maple Castle seemed as if it was indicating its eventual fate. At this moment, this Beastman King, who previously seemed to be more like a merchant than royalty, was finally showing off his own pride as a beastman.

The snow was falling intermittently, but the temperature never once rose above zero degrees. The damned weather would freeze any skin directly exposed to the elements.

The sun had already set, but the number of beastmen surrounding the walls of Red Maple Castle didn't decrease in the least. It was the opposite; with the return of the Wolf King's troops, the beastmen army had increased once again and now included countless of hordes of the famously dexterous Wolfriders.

Several hundred large torches acted as temporary lighting and heating. After the beastmen discovered that there wasn't enough wood to burn, they tossed all the valuable books and artwork that they had pillaged into the fires as if they were worthless lumber. The humans could even hear the beastmen's unique roughshod singing and the beat of battle drums in the distant beastmen camps.

"Damned beastmen! They're looking down on us!"

To be honest, it was actually the opposite of what the furious humans were thinking. The beastmen were now treating the humans before them as warriors on an equal level to themselves. They were venerating their ancestors on the glorious battlefield to console the souls that had died in battle, and they were also conducting this ritual for the sake of prematurely honoring those of their tribe members that would die in battle.

For the beastmen who believed in the War God Holadis, dying on the glorious battlefield was easy to accept. If they could meet their deaths in an epic-level campaign, it would be considered as the blessing of the War God. This was why they kept chanting the War God's name as they bravely fought to their deaths, only hoping for a major battle that would please their ancestors' spirits.

Of course, since Holadis had already died in the previous Holy War and the current War God Kalonpis was a Human God, there was nothing that would answer the beastmen's prayers. Their prayers were more like gratitude and idolization towards their ancestors as they thanked fate for giving them a glorious battlefield where they could challenge their own fates.

"If we win, we can finally return to the Great Bianluya Plains, the place of origin of all beastmen! It's supposed to be inconceivably beautiful! After this battle, I can finally return to my ancestral home and get married!"

In their eyes, the battle was already nearing its end. As long as they got rid of those pesky humans, they would only be one step away from completing the grand mission of their ancestors.

Those beastmen that belonged to the first wave, which was acting as the vanguard, made preparations for the possibility of their deaths as they charged onto the battlefield. Since their ritual was now over, they believed that their souls would forever accompany their own tribe. They weren't afraid of any sacrifices on the battlefield.

"We admit that these northern humans are brave warriors as well. Only cowards are afraid of death! This is a grand battle where only one side will live in the end! We fight to the death!"

Battle drums and bleak horns sounded from everywhere around Red Maple Castle's walls. War songs were continuously sung as the beastmen kept up their current attack for more than ten hours.

Due to the castle walls acting as an obstacle, the siege battle became a bloody and cruel meat grinder. The warriors of both sides were only going to the frontline in limited numbers and could only become a part of the endless amount of sacrificial cannon fodder for the attacks of the mages and mage towers.

As midnight arrived, the number of combined beastmen troops totaled more than 120,000. The beastmen had Red Maple Castle surrounded so tightly that even a fly could not escape. But even though the beastmen had the advantage in numbers, as well as a higher individual combat strength for each unit, the humans made use of the castle walls for protection, and nobody could change the fact that this was a desolate meat grinder.

The castle protectors weren't having an easy time either. With the protection of the beastmen's air cavalry combined with the charge of various colossal creatures, the beastmen were succeeding in scaling the castle walls every minute. Even though they would be tossed down quickly, the sacrifices of the human armies were always several times that of the beastmen.

The outermost castle wall's defenders were already in utter chaos when faced with the unstoppable flood of beastmen who were superior in both numbers and quality. Platoons were being devastated in the blink of an eye.

The vast attacking forces of the beastmen had an inconceivably high morale. The innumerable beastmen forces swarmed the castle walls like ants, and with the major tribal leaders' elite forces that had been saved for last exploding with astonishing power, this battle quickly turned into a living nightmare for the humans.

Finally, the first layer's low-quality castle wall, created by the Earth Mages using Transform Stone to Mud and Sculpting Magic, was finally on the verge of collapse, despite the fact that the beastmen army had also lost many troops to the defending army and their defensive mechanisms.

"Die! You butchers!"

Reyne sliced through a beastman general's defenses with her silver longsword, piercing through his body and stealing away his life. She unhesitatingly kicked him down the castle wall as the beastman general's pitiful wails echoed out as he met his end.

"Your Highness Reyne!"

"Knights, clear this area and toss down all the beastmen corpses! Watch out for archers. The next attack wave will be here soon; hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Her youthful voice now contained an unmistakable regal bearing. The magical ability of battles in helping people mature was always astonishing, and after experiencing the bitter struggles of battle as well as the endless amounts of blood and sacrifice, the cruel burden and responsibilities helped the new soldier Reyne to quickly mature. The current Reyne was already an experienced battlefield leader who could take charge by herself.

"Your Highness Reyne, all the beastmen's mammoths are on the attack now. The command center's order is to abandon the first castle wall and retreat to the inner layer!"

"Retreat? You're telling me to retreat? Just look at this battle and all those brave warriors who have sacrificed themselves already! We haven't even been able to retrieve their corpses yet, and you dare to tell me to retreat?"

The messenger was also very familiar with Reyne. Even though Reyne was angrily shouting at him, he was the sub-commander of Antuen; he knew that now wasn't the time to cower to her.

"You think I want to retreat? I f*king want to fight those beastmen bastards to the end as well! Our main forces have suffered and lost so much. The Earth Mages have depleted their mana and can't keep up with the speed of repairing the walls compared the beastmen in destroying them. If this keeps up and the beastmen break through our defenses, it'll be nothing but a meaningless slaughter. There's no other way but to retreat and guard the inner castle."

"Fine, you guys retreat. I shall show you once more the pride of the People of the Mist. Dimlet, is the Train King ready yet? If it takes any longer and isn't ready for combat, I'm going to cut off your head!"

"…It's currently undergoing a full self-checkup, and it'll be ready in five minutes. But it can't be used for any longer than ten minutes, or it'll self-destruct!"

"Ok, Borealis, toss down the Titan Warriors from a long distance! Help our allies stand firm."

When the beastmen's mammoths began their next attack, the castle walls were nearly knocked over by their heavy impacts as dense amounts of beastmen scaled the castle walls. Just as all the walls were entering their largest emergency situation yet, the Princess Knight finally gave the order for the Eastern Mist Communal Country to reveal its ace secret weapon.

The gigantic battleship began operating once more as its cargo hold opened up. What flew out along with its rockets were prototype Roland Titans. As experimental subjects, these Roland Titans had already completed their tasks for history and would end the final moments of their lives explosively on the battlefield.

Boom!*

Five titans landed directly on top of the beastmen that were in the process of scaling the castle walls. The beastmen stared in amazement at the gigantic beings before them. Even the tallest and strongest Elephantmen reached only the shins of these titans, and they were completely unable to be of any threat to the steel titans at all since they were unable to carry any heavy weaponry.

The crazed steel titans stomped with their feet and slapped with their hands. These accidental products of the Underground World finally revealed their true natures as heartless war machines!

"You beasts! This is for my son who wasn't even ten years old!"

A furious mecha smashed the beastmen in front of him to pieces.

Inside the cockpit was a furious volunteer pilot who was doing his best with the complicated controls of the mecha. Inside a pendant around his neck was his family's portrait, but he was the only one alive now. Even he himself had lost his left foot, so this was the only method by which he could take revenge for his hometown.

A red warning light within the cockpit began flashing. From the very beginning, this titan mecha was at the end of its time, and overloading it had given it astonishing battle power, but it also turned it into a super explosive that was in danger of exploding at any moment.

"Camut, hurry up and get out! It's about to explode; activate your rocket chair already!"

He ignored the Borealis' command center. He had just discovered a large centaur wielding a massive war pike while killing human soldiers. This centaur was a monster who was more than three meters tall, and each swing of his war pike would kill many human soldiers.

"Hamar! Hamar the Butcher! I finally found you!"

These easily spotted characteristics just happened to belong to the butcher who had slaughtered his entire hometown.

The furious mecha pilot smashed every beastman in his way to pieces. Even when the beastmen climbed all over the mecha in swarms and the battle axes smashed onto the cockpit's door, he didn't slow down even a little bit.

However…

"Foolish hunk of metal! The weak humans can only rely on such useless things."

Every beastman tribe leader was at least of Legend-rank strength or higher. Hamar was famed even among the tribe leaders for his combat strength, so there was no way he would be easily dealt with. When he jumped, Hamar's height was even taller than the titan.

Slice!*

With one swing of his war pike, the gigantic golden arc brought death along with the explosion of the cockpit and half the mecha.

Hamar didn't even intend on watching the explosion behind him and was only focusing on continuing his slaughter, but he didn't expect the already fallen mecha to reach out with its only remaining hand and clutch onto him.

The prideful centaur tribe leader began roaring in anger. His frightfully powerful strength caused even the steel arm to start shaking.

"Only weaklings need to rely on these foolish objects, while we beastmen can stand on top of the world with only our bodies! We are the high-class species that deserves to be at the center of the world!"

In the demolished cockpit, the blood-covered Camut was still biting on to the control lever with his only remaining tooth. He was also smiling while the gigantic centaur made fun of him condescendingly because he could see the red warning light that indicated that the Roland Titan's engine was right at the limit of exploding.

"Really? Heh, heh, then see the weak human race's willpower for yourself… See you soon in heaven, Elsa, Nini! Your papa's taking revenge for you!"

Camut opened his mouth, which was filled with blood and broken teeth, and viciously pressed his chin against a red button. Finally, a red explosion covered everything as a mushroom cloud rose up by the castle wall.

"Impossible…"

That was the last word that the haughty centaur warrior had said. The weak human had used his own life to prove his bravery. At the very least, they both died together.

"The tribe leader Hamar has died in battle! The Centaur Tribe is beginning to flee!"

"The tribe leader Barthlo has died in battle!" The beastmen's attack on the northern castle door failed, and their siege weapons were destroyed. Their reinforcements were no longer able to press the attack.

"The tribe leader Elosion has died in battle! Both the northern and southern attacks on the castle have failed!"

"The strategist Wen has died in battle at the southern castle door!"

For the tribe leaders, who were still in the midst of patching up their own injuries, every single news of a tribe leader's death was like a lightning strike on a clear day. But what could they say? Could they blame their fellow tribe leaders and point fingers by saying they were nothing but words? Honestly, it was difficult enough for the remaining tribe leaders to survive the field of battle against the maniacally resisting humans. If one of those terrifying red mushroom clouds exploded near them… heh, wasn't the mighty Hamar a perfect example?

"Hamar, what a pity. Treat his family well."

After a long silence, Amon could only give his condolences as he shook his head and continued cleaning his weapons. Now wasn't the time for needless sympathy; who knew if he would be the next one?

"Camut, what a pity. Treat his family well… Oh, he has no more family left? Then let's put his hometown's reconstruction at the top of the list for cities to be reconstructed."

At the same time as Amon, Reyne could only sigh and give her own condolences when she learned that only two out of the five titan pilots had returned alive. Camut didn't even attempt to activate his rocket chair for an escape.

"Dimlet! Are you still not f*king ready yet? I'm going to shoot you out of a Gnome Cannon if you aren't ready!"

"It's ready! You definitely can't let the Train King overheat! Otherwise, we're the ones that will explode! Its energy source has thirty times the power of the Roland Titans! The entire castle wall will collapse from the explosion!"

The floating battleship finally landed and opened up its cargo door to allow an even more terrifying war machine to walk out. Just its appearance caused every beastman warrior to tremble in fear.

"What kind of monster is this? Those East Mist humans are insane!"

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Chapter 183: Princess Knight

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The maxims of battle dictated that practical functions were the most important on the battlefield. Something like a beautiful outer appearance wasn't even worth considering.

While a humanoid mecha may seem awesome, its attack methods were actually rather simple. Since it imitated the attack patterns of a human, it was easy to predict and defend against, and since it needed to maintain its balance while walking, a great amount of development resources and parts would be spent on balancing the mecha.

This was doubtlessly a critical amount of waste, especially when the technology was still immature.

But then what type of combat mecha was the most efficient?

"It needs plenty of space for firearms, so the best way is to have many individual sections that can contain more weapons and parts!"

"Let's abandon the walking mechanism that's just a waste of resources. As long as it can kill, it's fine even if it crawls on the ground."

"I feel that it needs as many individual parts as possible so that it can even let go of broken parts, reorganize itself, and still be able to do battle. This way, our logistical ability will go up an entire other level."

"If the enemy consists of mages, then the larger the combat mechanism, the bigger the target. This absolutely can't be too big, yep, the most important part is to not be too tall."

After gathering each other's opinions, the maniacal engineers abandoned all common sense and created this fearsome combat beast—Train King, prototype zero!

The name undoubtedly came from Roland. The shape of the connections between its parts reminded Roland of a train.

And now, what currently appeared in front of everyone was such a metallic monster. This metallic monster had many parts connected to each other just like train carriages, and its metallic legs, which imitated that of insects, firmly pierced into the ground. This giant centipede-like metallic monster attracted everyone's attention the moment it appeared.

"Train? Isn't it just a centipede?" Hemet's astonishment was virtually identical to Roland's the first time he saw it. Yep, when this combat mecha was constructed in reality based on its blueprint, its original train-shaped outer appearance became more like that of a metallic insect. It was basically a metallic centipede prancing about on the battlefield!

And so, taking into consideration the possibilities on the battlefield, its designers, who had already abandoned all common sense and aesthetics, were also inspired from this. They directly abandoned the inconvenient method of using wheels and instead gave it metallic blades as feet, which would be more suitable for a wider variety of terrain types. Each "foot" was a blade that could attack by itself as the Train King's entire body was filled with weapons from head to toe.

Hemet's astonishment was soon received by a display of combat effectiveness. The centipede monster climbed past the castle wall at high speed while spraying flammable oil from pipes on both of its sides, and with a spark, all the castle walls it passed by turned into seas of fire.

Those seas of fire along its path caused the beastmen to begin shrieking in agony, but only when it reached its destination, stuck its metallic feet into the ground, and transformed into a steel barrier, did it show its true form.

All its train-carriage-resembling parts opened up to reveal the newest Gnome Cannons in each of them. As a divine artifact that belonged to the cult that believed in "as many cannons as possible," the Train King used its actions to show off what the phrase "more cannons equal more power" truly meant.

"Odd-numbered engineers! Fire your cannons!"

Boom! Boom!*

The entire battlefield outside the western castle door transformed into a sea of fire. Countless beastmen were gifted explosions as each cannon shell landed.

But at the same time, the beastmen vanguard that was already on the castle wall was approaching the Train King. They wore vicious grins and let out angry roars as they intended to use their own fresh blood to battle with this hunk of steel. They wanted to let those weak humans know just what true and reliable strength was supposed to be.

They had the self-confidence that as long as they were able to get into close-combat range, the engineers controlling the cannons wouldn't be an adversary at all. They only needed an instant to break this expensive toy into pieces.

But since Dimlet had a reputation for demonic intelligence, how could he possibly leave in such a glaring weakness?

"Close-combat mode, activate! Blades extend!"

In an instant, all the metallic feet of the centipede rose up again, as its sharp ends transformed into sharp blades for the purpose of slaying the enemy! The sharp blades then began spinning crazily at a high speed!

That wasn't all…

"Even-numbered engineers, ignite your flamethrowers!"

This time, the train carriages opened up to reveal shocking amounts of high-powered flamethrowers operated by sweaty engineers who had been waiting for this precise moment.

"Fire! Maintain the flamethrowers for twenty seconds!"

"Ahhh!"

The flames that could shoot to a distance of several dozen meters created a corridor of despair. Although there were a few incredibly strong individual beastmen who made it past the flames, the rotating blades would unhesitatingly deliver a killing blow.

"Ahhh! Those damned humans…"

Now, the beastmen attackers were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either they could be impaled on the blades or be turned into barbequed meat.

And killing was only one of the Train King's purposes. Its mega-long mechanical body itself was one of the best barriers and makeshift castle walls, so the incredibly fatigued defending army could finally find some time to breathe and rest.

After this movable steel wall started acting as a battlefield barrier and cleaned up everything before it, it took the opportunity to send out large amounts of scalding-hot steam through its ventilation pipes.

The Train King's energy consumption was far too heavy. Just a few short minutes caused all its parts and engines to overload and overheat, with engineers tossing cold water at the overheating engines as an emergency cooling method.

The beastmen noticed this short cooling-off period. Just as they were hesitating about whether or not to charge forward again, an even scarier scene was awaiting them.

"Gun squads, fireball squads, prepare!"

The most despairing scene was now in front of them. The engineers lifted up their guns, and the magic swordsmen actually jumped on top of the Train King's carriages and started preparing their magic. The brilliantly flashing fire birds started gathering numerous fireballs that perhaps weren't all that high in level, but who would be able to dodge several hundred fireballs being fired at once?

Pew!* *Pew!* *Boom!*

Every fireball and deadly gunshot added onto the beastmen's despair as they faced this new generation's firepower and technology. The short, approximately twenty-meter distance between them and the humans were akin to the difference between life and death, and the regret of "just one more step" accompanied them to their deaths.

The continuous explosion of each fireball drew all the attention on the battlefield as more and more areas were cleared of beastmen. As the rulers of the battlefield and with the mages gathering together, the deadly force was drastically improved.

Finally, the beastmen tribe leaders were unable to stand for this any longer.

Under the tribe leader Kagra's lead, a large number of harpies covered the castle walls, resembling the clouds. Along with them was the dragon knight who had luckily escaped last time; the green dragon Osmanya and his Wolf Tribe Dragon Knight Rider Kakaji had returned. The beastmen army had gambled everything on this battle and sent out their few remaining aerial troops.

"Shoot down that dragon knight!"

If this combat beast had any other weaknesses apart from its unresolvable lack of ability to fight for an extended period of time, they would be that it was far too focused on ground units and that it lacked anti-air capabilities.

Reyne instantly figured out the weakness of the harpies. They lacked physical strength since most of their throwing spears were made of wood. Even though they could kill humans easily enough with wood spears, they lacked the ability to threaten the steel-bodied Train King. As for aerial spells? Did they really have the focus necessary for casting spells while flapping their wings and not falling out of the sky? If they actually had such skills, they might as well be archmages to begin with.

"That dragon knight's the only threat; kill him!"

The current Princess Knight was no longer simply the commanding officer at the western castle door. Although she hadn't been promoted yet for her numerous accomplishments, battlefield achievements were far more effective than any rank or title on the battlefield. In truth, she was already the leading commander in charge of the entire Red Maple Castle defense line.

But currently, nobody was able to carry out her orders. That green dragon knight was far too cautious and flew so high in the air that no arrows or magic could reach him.

According to that dragon knight's past tactics, whenever a combat situation got tense, he would attack in an aerial ambush, with his dragon's poison mist being abnormally fatal. Perhaps his single efforts weren't critical in affecting the overall combat situation, but he would definitely give serious blows to the defending army's morale. This time, it was obvious that his target was the Train King.

It was also obvious that he intended to use the harpies as a smokescreen to create another opportunity for an ambush in the chaos.

All these days of battle had also inflicted heavy casualties upon the humans' griffin knights. Those that could still fly were already participating in battle, as after so many days of warfare, both the sides were fighting based on mostly willpower and stamina.

"Argh!"

But this time, the green dragon knight's ambush was blocked.

"Timier!"

That's right, a gigantic bone dragon suddenly flew up from the castle and shot like a cannonball right at the green dragon, causing the green dragon to lose its balance in midair.

But immediately afterwards, the bone dragon that was riddled with injuries fell right back down again. As the overall aerial commander, Timier had always fought at the front of his soldiers and both he and his bone dragon were now in bad condition. Just making such an attack had taken all their effort.

But while that beastman dragon knight was still catching his balance, death came looking for him, as the Princess Knight was now behind him.

Although she was one of the few who had an aerial steed, Reyne wasn't self-confident enough to believe that she could win a direct battle against such a strong dragon knight, but finding the right opportunity during battle for an ambush was one of her strongest skills.

"Die!"

There was no such thing as luck on the battlefield. The chaotic situation would always prove who was truly stronger or weaker. The dragon knight Kakaji didn't even have time to turn around and see who it was before Reyne's longsword came slashing down.

The head that went flying was dripping blood in midair and an expression of disbelief was frozen on its face. The powerful Kakaji died just like that with his eyes, which were glaring angrily, still filled with shock.

"Rargh!"

The young green dragon Osmanya started howling painfully as it discovered through the contract that its master had died and received its master's pain. But it didn't suffer for long, as Reyne's bloody hands pulled out the spear on her back and gathered a cyan colored aura. The Dragonslayer Spear from the Dragon Slayer Bastlar was then suddenly struck into the green dragon's head!

"Awoo!"

The green dragon howled pitifully as it helplessly flapped its wings, but its counter, the Dragonslayer Spear, kept piercing deeper into its brain, and it could only meet its unavoidable demise. With the dragon blood spraying everywhere, Reyne completed her own achievement of slaying a dragon!

"Dragon Slayer Reyne!"

"Princess Knight!"

In everyone's eyes, whenever the Northlands met with danger—just like countless times in history past—a young ruler stood up for their sakes.

The joyous cries of the human soldiers helped the young female knight completely shake off the impression of a delicate flower. Now, the Princess Knight's name was known to all as a true knight.

Reyne jumped back from the green dragon in midair and her Frozen Nightmare steed caught her. She herself could barely believe what was happening as she watched the green dragon fall out of the sky.

"Father, I did it! I'm no longer a useless flower princess; I can protect my own tribe and the Mist Country as well now."

For some inexplicable reason, Reyne suddenly thought of the man who wasn't on this battlefield at this moment.

"If he knew about this, would he praise me or lecture me on my recklessness?"

"I think that His Highness Roland would probably lecture you first, then nonchalantly find some reason to reward you. But, I doubt it's the type of reward that you want."

Her Frigid Nightmare's words caused Reyne to blush. She suddenly found how inconvenient it was for her mind to be connected to her Frigid Nightmare.

"Danger's coming! Be careful!"

There would always be inconveniences attached to being famous. Another dragon knight was attempting to ambush her, and even across all this distance, Reyne could feel the bone-piercing hatred.

But even Reyne didn't expect that her mouth would arc upwards in a smile with the danger right in front of her. She was licking her lips in anticipation and enjoying the stimulation from being on the verge of death in battle. She was enjoying this war.

But she was also filled with doubts in her heart at how she felt excited and more clearheaded for no apparent reason as the battle progressed. The beastmen's death cries would honestly make her feel pleasure in her heart, as if she was born for battle and this slaughter was helping her awaken her sleeping talent.

She enjoyed this place, she enjoyed hearing her enemies' cries, she enjoyed seeing fresh blood flow. That mysterious excitement made her feel like she was burning.

Even if all of that could be explained as the excitement of a newcomer to the battlefield, the fact that her own strength was obviously increasing could not.

"Forget it, let's stop thinking about it; it's a good thing anyways… That idiot over there—is the burning-hot oil still not ready? Toss it down to me and burn those beastmen to death!"

During the intermittent breaks between battle, the knights excitedly gossiped with each other about what they saw, admiring the fact that their princess was indeed a descendant of the Mist as she changed so much in battle. But in the eyes of a few who showed concern, there were obvious changes in Reyne that weren't so apparent on the surface.

A blood-red light kept flickering in Reyne's eyes. The souls of the dead weren't able to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and were instead sucked into Reyne's body as they wailed before death. With Reyne's continuous "feeding," huge black wings that mortal eyes couldn't perceive grew larger and larger on her back.

In this darkness, there was one pair of worried eyes that looked at her. This person's expression was filled with an obvious hesitation. Perhaps it may be unnoticeable to other people, but those black wings were more obvious than anything else in Elisa's vision.

"She's also a demonic descendant? Damn it. Roland, it's just as you expected; Reyne is a demonic descendant as well. This is the worst possible outcome. Looking at her fierceness and natural talent in consuming souls, she has to be at the very least the descendant of a Demon Overlord. It's quite obvious now; both living descendants of the Mist are the descendants of Abyssal Prince Karwenz."

"Karwenz! What have you done?"

In a distant labyrinth, I roared out in anger as I was filled with rage from hearing this news, but my summoned spirit version of Karwenz only shook his head in innocence.

"What? I didn't do anything! I'm just helping you attack people!"

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Chapter 184: The Seal of the Four Elements

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The harsh climate of the Northlands was overtaking the elves' territory. The originally warm temperature that was abnormal for the season clashed with the cold front and caused a natural reaction of thunderstorms, the like of which had never been witnessed in elven territory.

The rain fell in torrents, making it impossible for people to even see themselves. It was only natural that there would be many troubles in such an area, especially in one that was used to dry and comfortable weather. It suddenly experienced such a rainstorm, but this was actually just the beginning.

When the chilly grasp of winter staked its claim on this land, the torrential downpour transformed itself into life-threatening hailstorms and blizzards. After its natural climate had been twisted for thousands of years, the entire Elf Kingdom received the cruelest retribution from nature.

Unlike the other Northland countries, the elves had no ability or experience in withstanding the cold weather. They didn't have the necessary thick clothing and firewood supplies for defending against the cold, and solely relying on magical flames would make the mages quickly run out of their already short supply of mana.

The hail and snow made this winter a hundred times more difficult for the elves and their light clothing. They were now facing the cruelest test of their abilities; if the Elf Kingdom remained chaotic and didn't change in time, it was entirely possible that less than ten percent would survive nature's test.

And currently, the leaders of the elves didn't have any time to pay attention to the preparations for the disastrous weather. On the increasingly cruel and frigid battlefield, an incredibly vicious internal battle was raging among the elves.

After imprisoning a prince and killing two generals, the king of Tassel Kingdom succeeded in grasping the commanding leadership position of the combined armies of four countries. Of course, it was impossible for him to deal with every detail of the chaotic situation, and there were still plenty who continued to plot his downfall.

"…It's meaningless to think too much. If we don't win this next battle, there won't even be anything to think about."

Resolution was fine, but reality was brutal, and this battle was most definitely not going to be easy. Bad news arrived like snowflakes in succession right at the beginning itself.

"The Moonblade Squad was ambushed by the dark elves' Bloodsword Squad and lost over half its members. It can no longer function."

"Our Pegasus Knights and Hippogryph Knights aren't a match for the enemy's black dragons at all! We need support from higher-tier aerial cavalry."

"Those accursed dark elves should have been exiled for ten thousand years! All their members are elites, damn it. We need high-ranked mages! They can just ignore our acolyte mages' spells!"

"Archmage Maladis and all his disciples died to those damned dark elf assassins, and the other three countries' royal mages all refuse to participate in battle. We're being suppressed in magic by the enemy's priests and mages. We encountered a complete one-sided loss in terms of mage strength."

"Tell those mages to stop using low-level spells; did they forget about the dark elves' magic-resistant skin?"

Morale, numbers, battle preparation, battle equipment, and high-tier combat strength. The elves couldn't match up to the dark elves in any of these aspects, and compared to the dark elf armies that were well rested, the elven allied armies were fatigued from their long travels in the field. The elves were crushed right from the beginning of the battle.

Yet greater trouble still lay ahead of them.

"The second St. Lawrence army refuses to carry out your orders. They request to see their prince."

"The SemiGod Priest Samana wishes to meet with you. It's probably about the assassination of their general. Your Majesty Adrian, would you like to meet with him or refuse?"

Adrian hadn't even finished taking care of securing his own position of power. Rumors were already spreading everywhere. If it weren't for the fact that this was an emergency situation, and that the elves were facing their mortal enemy on the battlefield, the other three countries' armies would likely have turned against his.

"Why can't you all understand? Do you think that I enjoy using these dirty methods, or that I wouldn't be heartbroken at Suana's sacrifice? She was my only precious baby daughter! Why did I sacrifice so much? I was doing it for the sake of all elves; why don't you idiots understand! Why?"

The furious Tassel Kingdom Elf King Adrian was shouting in his royal tent. He had already broken the various decorations and ornaments around the tent, but even after venting his anger, he could only watch blankly as the situation continued to worsen in front of him.

There were endless internal conflicts, a vast enemy army outside, and he was forced to the brink by both internal and external problems, but…

"I wasn't wrong; I definitely wasn't wrong! It's all those idiots' fault!"

Even now, he still believed that he hadn't made any mistakes. Suddenly, however, one of his closest retainers brought him a short message that caused his expression to change greatly. After a brief pause, he began laughing.

"If you all won't fight with honor, then I'll do the same. I'm doing everything for the sake of the elves; it's all your fault for not understanding me. Don't blame me even if we meet at the River Styx!""By the way, Roland, I recently fell in love with playing chess. That's why I'm giving you a small present that I hope you'll enjoy. — Karwenz"

I was shocked when Elisa suddenly sent me this message.

Apart from being shocked at its contents, I was more shocked at the source of the message. It was evident that Karwenz understood quite a lot about me through certain channels.

"Karwenz directly contacted your main body? He knows that you're on my side? Are you still safe over there?"

"The side of Chaos is rather disorderly. More accurately speaking, apart from a few at the top, the others don't have much interest in this Holy War. Of course, they'd be more than happy to have a go at slaughtering the upper dimension, but having them concentrate on plotting and separating allies from enemies is much too difficult for those demons with muscles for brains."

"Most of the demons are still currently preoccupied with fighting their own kin. Relax, I'm fine. Rather, since I just completed the Will of the Abyss's direct task for me, I even have the possibility of raising my rank."

As they were of Chaos to begin with, it was only natural for the side of Chaos to not have any order or organization among themselves. The norm was for each Chaos leader to have their own faction, while demons ranked Baron and above had their own territories. This was just as expected, since this was the only reason for the strange balance between the sides of Chaos and Order, despite the fact that the number of Chaos Gods outnumbered the Order Gods two to one with the Chaos side's battle power far surpassing that of the Order side.

The strong would be the leaders. This was a maxim, but since they were strong already, why should they have to obediently listen and fight a war? To the Chaos side, internal struggles for personal benefits constituted the real prize.

Since that side still hadn't come looking for Elisa yet, that meant that she was still safe—at least for the time being. Even a demon prince like Karwenz wouldn't be able to declare battle against a female demon Earl without making any preparations. Elisa's words helped reassure me, but closer consideration of the message contents made it seem all the more difficult to comprehend.

"A small present? What could it be? Since the demon prince is personally involved and is bragging with such swaggering delight, it definitely won't be small. It's probably something that will turn the tide of the battle in the enemy's favor. There is some sort of problem…"

"The elves? Red Maple Castle? Antuen? Diffindor? Somewhere inland in the human territory?"

There were too many choices and possibilities for me to think about, but someone was unable to tolerate me any longer…

"Roland! Stop dazing off; we can't hold on any longer!"

Alright, I suppose that's true. Adam finally got tired of my antics and barked at me to remind me of the fact that we were in the midst of a difficult battle.

Currently, the gigantic black stone hulk in front of us had transformed himself into a heavily armored black battle scorpion, and he had buried his massive body directly into the earth. His single, viciously glaring eye was flickering with a dark green light, and those menacing stone spears of his were still searching for victims on the ground.

"…This guy is too ridiculous. Just how many times can he transform?"

Battling with Emordilorcan was an endless nightmare. Each time we became slightly accustomed to his combat style, just as we were about to gain a slight advantage, he would immediately transform again and attack anew.

A stone giant wielding a shield and sword, a high-speed flying stone eagle, a stone Sword Saint who brandished a dozen lightning-fast weapons simultaneously, a stone guardian that was slow and strong—Emordilorcan used various different forms in succession against us. He could be said to be at the ultimate pinnacle of physical attacks.

"You tiny, short-lived creatures, I have experienced countless eras and battles, and have witnessed endless amounts of ferocious battle techniques. My special structure can imitate any combat technique imaginable, and my body will never fatigue! No matter how hard you try, you all shall still be defeated by me!"

Emordilorcan's heavy roar contained an indescribable emotion that sounded like frustration, as he was unable to defeat us even after such a long time in combat.

"Relax, my lovely mortal heroes, I can sense that the Dimensional Door is in the midst of closing and that his elemental power is beginning to weaken. He won't be able to resist for much longer! My powerful mortal allies, victory is right before us."

"At the very least, if I die, you all are coming with me!"

The two raging Elemental Gods gave me two completely contrasting depictions of their furious battle, but I knew that the truth wasn't how either of them described it. It wasn't true that Emordilorcan was about to be defeated like Camdian claimed, nor was it that Emordilorcan was truly undefeatable like he claimed.

The closing of the Elemental Door meant that Emordilorcan's investment in it had been entirely wasted, and he was indeed currently weakening, but as the strongest and oldest existence among the four Elemental Gods, he was far from being pushed to his limit. This was definitely going to be a long, drawn-out battle, where any small mistake on our part might result in our deaths.

But some things were impossible to conceal. Every time Emordilorcan changed his form or took a blow, he would lose part of the earth element that made up his body. The current him was no longer able to take elemental power from the Dimensional Door, so he was destined to only become weaker and weaker.

We had suffered significantly on our side as well. As the main tank, Adam was battered all over, and the spirit versions of Karwenz and Roland had long since disappeared. It wasn't because the time limit was up—it was because they had been defeated.

The ironic part was that the spirit Karwenz had been attempting to protect the spirit Roland when he was crushed by a gigantic boulder, which had also caused the spirit Roland to automatically be recalled, while at the current moment Roland was currently frustrated about what to do about Karwenz.

"If I'm frustrated, let me make the others get in a bad mood as well. Maybe seeing others in a bad mood will help make me feel better."

I suddenly recalled a random sentence I had heard in my past life, causing me to suddenly speak up.

"Emordilorcan, are you truly proud of the fact that you can use so many forms? The truly strong all have their own distinct style, but what's your style—just transforming all the time? Perhaps you should be called the Slime God instead of the Earth Elemental God."

"You coward that only knows how to talk a good fight! I shall definitely rip you apart!"

"Oh my, according to this reaction, I must be on the mark. Do you only know how to say these empty words? That's right, your Master Monk form was quite powerful, just which master did you imitate? I wonder if you have the confidence to defeat the real one? Could it be that you perhaps chose to imitate him because you couldn't defeat him?"

Emordilorcan's single remaining eye was emanating a bone-piercing killing intent, but judging from the fact that he didn't reply, it was apparent that I had touched a sore spot. The attacks of his stone scorpion form increased in ferocity.

"Hey, hey, stop adding oil to the fire; I'm the tank here!"

Adam was too good a tank—even Camdian was using Adam to block attacks. My "idling," though, was finally at an end as all my preparations were now in place.

"Activate, Seal of the Four Elements!"

The elements all countered each other—this was one of the fundamental maxims of this world. The most powerful seal in this world was a spell array which imitated the bodies of the elementals themselves. As long as this seal activated, and the four elements within it began circulating, it would emulate a sealed world with no exit.

Since we were already aware that we were dealing with the Elemental Gods, we would, of course, be prepared. However, when Margaret had discovered this ancient seal in an archaic, old book, we had met with some small problems.

"To seal a powerful elemental or magical creature, we need to find three Elemental Power Sources that are equal level to it? Emordilorcan's an Elemental God, so where are we supposed to find the other three Elemental Gods?"

Honestly, though, perhaps it was Emordilorcan's unfortunate fate to be doomed. Coincidentally, we had quickly discovered the three keys we lacked.

"The Flame Seal of the Flame Sea Earl!"

Elisa, who had obtained the power of the Fire Elemental God, gave the source of her power to me. While it was the only source of God-rank fire elemental power we had, it was definitely a fire elemental power source on the same level as Emordilorcan's.

"Sidunwar's Ocean Bottle!"

The power of the Ancient Sea God Sidunwar was unimaginable, as even the Water Elemental God was only his wife and follower God. Even though the divine power residing within it wasn't much anymore, it was actually even more powerful than Emordilorcan's.

But the final key was rather troublesome. The Wind Elemental's power was quite challenging to obtain, and I had initially intended to make do with Adam's Titan Thunder. Now, however, we had a better option.

"Camdian, it's all up to you now. Help us complete the Seal of the Four Elements and send Emordilorcan to his grave!"

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Chapter 185: The Earth Elemental God's Death

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The numerous magical markings on the floor lit up, and the fixed tracks, which had been etched into the stone walls by the sword energy, were for its preparation. With the two elemental magical items prepared in their respective places, the entire stone cavern became flooded with light.

After hearing my proposal, Camdian's first reaction wasn't of praise or happiness. His eyes, which were flickering with streaks of lightning, stared at me with such an obvious panic that I instantly understood.

"Relax, we're allies. How could I possibly seal you? Besides, I would need God-rank Earth Elemental power in order to seal you; where would I get that from?"

Camdian turned to look at his mortal enemy. His meaning was obvious; wasn't Emordilorcan right before us a perfect source? He definitely had God-rank Earth Elemental power in him.

"Sealing two Elemental Gods at the same time? You overestimate me. If we had that level of power, we wouldn't have asked for your help. Do you think that we'd be foolish enough to ask you to seal yourself? How illogical!"

Okay, I tried everything I could and swore on every oath I could think of. After considered the fact that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, Camdian managed to nod and agree in the end. And while I was convincing him, poor Adam was being beaten up by the furious Emordilorcan.

No, it should be said that Emordilorcan was trying to escape, but our primary tank was sticking too close to him—it was as if Adam was a ghost haunting Emordilorcan and annoying him at every step. Since we'd already reached this point, though, how could we possibly let him escape?

And, to be honest, when all the magical markings in this location lit up, he had already lost the ability to escape.

When Camdian, prepared the final key for me and gave me a transformed Thunder Tear with apparent hesitation, a clear sound rang out that was rather uncomfortable to our senses. And as it rang out, the entire space began to transform into a forceful dimension.

After the three God-rank elemental items synchronized with each other, Emordilorcan was trapped in the middle of the triangle formation they formed. His Elemental Heart was currently synchronizing with the other three elemental items, creating a self-circulating elemental pocket dimension within.

According to the explanation in the ancient scroll, this seal merely borrowed the basic structure of the elemental world. For the lives of elementals, their structures were their foundations; it constituted a basic instinct just like breathing. It was completely unavoidable, unstoppable, and even irresistible for them!

That was also why Camdian had been so terrified. If we wanted to take this chance and seal him, it would definitely be possible. Needless to say, extra preparations were never wrong, and I was indeed prepared with a backup plan to seal him as well.

But, of course, there was no need to make him into our enemy now. If it weren't for his help, we wouldn't have been able to stall Emordilorcan for such an extended period of time, but scaring the Wind Elemental God would be beneficial for our future cooperation. If he wanted to betray us in the future for some personal benefits, he would, at the very least, consider the potential consequences.

Okay, I digress. All the magical markings were lighting up, and the naturally synchronizing elemental forces were creating a self-contained new world of its own. Now that it's come to this, I felt somewhat sad to lose two God-rank elemental items, and I was even more depressed at not having finished my system's missions—but it was all definitely worth it. At the very least, I was unable to think that Emordilorcan would be able to do anything else anymore.

As for any losses to Camdian? Who cared; he deserved it. It was his own fault for following us.

"Emordilorcan! Such a day has come to you as well; I've finally witnessed this day! Allow me to watch you be sealed."

However, judging from Camdian's jeers, I knew that I had overthought. As long as he could defeat Emordilorcan, no matter what price he paid, it was obvious that Camdian was willing.

It was then, however, that Emordilorcan broke out laughing.

"…You all want to seal me? Dream on! Even if I die, I won't let you off easily!"

That familiar, furious laughter caused me to recall certain existences, such as those gnomes that were forced to the limit by city officials, or those gnomes who were forced by their debts into not even caring for their lives, or those gnomes who liked to gamble money on explosive barrels.

That was why, in the very next instant, I pulled Adam in front of me and proceeded to hide behind Camdian's back.

"You intend to push me into the fire again?"

Okay, should I say that he's already gotten to me doing this to him? Even though he was complaining aloud, he didn't move at all, perfectly fulfilling his duty as a tank.

Boom!*

Right as Emordilorcan finished speaking, a tremendous explosion occurred, caused the entire labyrinth to begin collapsing. The duststorm from the explosion made it difficult to see anything, and the massive wind and stone shards caused Adam to wail in pain!

"I knew you didn't have any good intentions; always using me as your shield!"

Cough, I ignored that guy who always habitually complained as I turned my attention to the Wind Elemental God before me.

"Is Emordilorcan dead?"

"According to how you mortals would say, his body and soul have both been destroyed, so you could say he is dead. For us Elemental Gods, he probably just returned to the Earth Elemental Plane. However, for him to have committed suicide by exploding his own physical body would take him at least one or two hundred years to return to his original power. It won't mean anything by then when he finally returns."

The cackling Camdian transformed into humanoid form, with absolute delight plastered on his face at having killed his mortal enemy. It was worth any price since he was now one step closer to being the top of all elementals.

I nodded without saying much else, while I carefully recovered the four God-rank elemental items.

Four? Yep, four; apart from the Ocean's Bottle and the Emblem of Fire, Camdian's Thunder Tear and Emordilorcan's gray-colored Earth Elemental Heart were also recovered by me.

After seeing these God-rank elemental items, Camdian seemed to want to say something, but I shook them at him and pointed to the magical markings on the ground that were beginning to dim. It was obvious what I meant.

'It'll be quite easy to use this magical seal again; would you like to try it? Or, do you intend to explode yourself just like Emordilorcan?'

Okay, I could only think that to myself, but judging by how icy Camdian's expression had turned, it was obvious that he understood my threat.

Traitors could never be trustworthy. If he could betray someone for personal benefits one time, he could betray another for even greater personal benefits a second time. From the very start, I had been prepared against Camdian.

"Alright, my lord Camdian, could you please take us out of here?"

Yet sometimes, even if you knew, in your heart, that you had a grudge against someone, it was better not to have the relationship sour out in the open. That way, you could still act as allies on the surface. In my past world, didn't the leaders of each major country, who each had legendary weapons called nukes, still smile and greet each other politely whenever they met each other in person?

"Of course, I'm never stingy towards my allies. Come ride on me, my friends."

And so, Camdian transformed into a whirlwind and effortlessly took us out of the labyrinth. Above ground, near the entrance of the labyrinth, we met with Margaret, who had been waiting for us for a long while. She breathed an obvious sigh of relief upon noticing our arrival.

"Milord, Margaret used a teleport spell to help us escape. Unfortunately, she was unable to get a lock on your coordinates, so she was unable to support you. But since you came out successfully as she said you would, that must mean you have achieved victory."

I nodded as I took out the Earth Elemental Heart, producing deafening cheers from the knights. Even if the collapsing earth elemental labyrinth could act as evidence for Emordilorcan's defeat, only actual evidence of his defeat could release the pressure from everyone's minds.

"Good job. Without you guys closing the Earth Elemental Door, we wouldn't have been able to achieve victory. I shall reward you all after we return."

However, everyone reacted strangely to my praise. They all glanced at each other awkwardly, as if they had something to say, yet nobody spoke up. It was Margaret who ended up explaining.

"It's not that easy to close an Elemental Door. If I wasn't careful enough, I could have exploded the entire labyrinth or sent us all to a different plane. We just temporarily cut Emordilorcan's connection to the Elemental Door, but that seemed to have been enough."

I was surprised to hear this, but I instantly gave a wry smile.

"Emordilorcan's death was rather pitiful. If he had remained calmer, perhaps he could have seen through us, as not even Camdian could deal with him. Forget it; it's already over. There's no need to think too much about it. Then do we need to go down there one more time to close the Earth Elemental Door?"

Margaret smiled as she shook her head.

"That won't be necessary. The Earth Elemental Door was being supplied by Emordilorcan's divine power, and since he's dead, it will collapse by itself."

I nodded and was just about to introduce Camdian to everyone when the Wind Elemental God decided that it was time to leave.

"My human allies, let's have a good chat again after everything's over."

His way of addressing us changed from 'human insects,' to 'mortals,' to 'human allies'— for the Wind Elemental God to continually change was scary in its own way.

Nevertheless, since we had been successful and had the advantage over him, I wasn't worried that he would play any tricks.

And just as I slightly relaxed and was about to heave a sigh of relief, my ring shook and brought a new battlefield message to me.

"Roland, a sudden extreme earthquake has occurred in the area, causing all of Red Maple Castle's walls to collapse. Defending it has become almost impossible; do you have any emergency ideas!"

Hearing this sudden call for help and the sounds of crying and shouting from the other side, I knew that the situation was now extremely unfavorable.

"…You guys want to seal me? Dream on! Even if I die, I won't let you off easy!"

I thought back to Emordilorcan's mysterious dying message, and I now realized that this was his true revenge.

"Margaret, you have the coordinates for Red Maple Castle, right? Could you teleport me there? You only need to teleport me."

At the same instant that Emordilorcan's physical body was destroyed, a stone shard in the Bloodaxe Tent had suddenly transformed into a shining ethereal giant.

As it walked, this ethereal giant kept decreasing in luminosity. Camdian's judgment had been correct; Emordilorcan had already been heading for death, and his current form was merely the final remnant of his soul.

From the very beginning, the Earth Elementals were Amon's Bloodaxe Tribe's allies, which was why Emordilorcan had cut off a small piece of his arm and transformed it into a stone shard for Amon to hold on to as the ace up their sleeve.

"In the final, critical moments of the battle you can summon my power, but remember, you're only allowed to summon me at the final critical moment! Otherwise, I'm going to take my anger out on you first!"

Currently, as he watched his divine power gradually diminish, Emordilorcan, who had temporarily returned to life in his last vessel, knew that he didn't have much time remaining.

"Damned humans, since I'm fated to die anyways, I'm going to pull you all down with me!"

Boom!* *Boom!*

The incessant explosions caused substantial damages to the beastmen in the form of friendly fire, but no matter what, Emordilorcan aimed to self-destruct once more and take his final revenge.

"…Foolish humans, I, Emordilorcan, shall cause you all to tremble as you meet your deaths! Rage, oh earth, for I am your master! Pledge your loyalty to me and transform that damned castle wall to broken pieces under the fires of my rage!"

And that was how Emordilorcan finally lost his physical form once more and returned to the Earth Elemental Plane riddled with injuries, forced to hibernate there until the next Holy War. Yet his powerful final earthquake attack brought devastating destruction along with it.

Yet this was just the beginning. Countless hordes of earth elementals emerged from the ground, their target to destroy the enemy of the Earth Elemental God.

"Red Maple Castle's defense line is under enormous stress!"

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Chapter 186: Castle Defense

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

During the middle ages of my former world, fortresses and castle walls were considered the penultimate defenses of their time, but due to the eventual development of modern technology, they fell into disfavor and became nothing more than teardrops in history.

Aerial bombings, long-distance artillery, large-scale weapons of mass destruction, and iron tanks that could forcefully break through walls all caused these immovable barriers to become obsolete. That was why these historical places of legend, which had been so significant in wars of past, were opened to the public as scenic tourist spots in a relatively more peaceful era.

"The times will change, and with the emergence of new technology and species, the old maxims of battle will be nothing more than garbage. Even the strongest fortresses will become nothing more than scenic locations in the end."

I had always believed that. Even if the development of magic and technology caused many differences between this world and my previous one, with the people here not inventing weapons like tanks and air bombers, high-ranked air cavalry served a similar purpose. It could ignore castle walls and lob destructive weapons, and with the progress of the engineers' technology in this world, a magical mechanical monstrosity was possible already—since I had already based several magical mechanical monstrosities on the weapons from my previous world. As for weapons of mass destruction, weren't there already forbidden magic spells?

Even though few mages could use forbidden spells, and the ones that dared to use them were even fewer, with the development of magic it didn't seem impossible for strong attack magic—that could affect even wars—to become commonplace. At least, I also based several insane magical weapons on ideas from my past world as well.

For instance, undead carrying biological viruses, slimes carrying radiation, flying aerial fortresses of destruction, concealed biological poison gas weapons…

Cough, as a believer in peace, let's just seal those obviously anti-human ideas away until the next Armageddon. Now back to the main topic; according to my judgment, I came up with a conclusion that was against the norm of this world.

"In the future, wars will enter a new generation where castle walls are irrelevant."

That was why I took an entirely divergent path from the Sleuweir Kingdom, which had spent so many resources on building high-defense fortresses. No matter whether in the Underground of the past or in the East Mist Communal Country in the future, I unhesitatingly abandoned the system of castle wall defense, which takes much time and energy to build. Instead, I spent my resources on developing new technologies, soldier types, and so on for practical combat.

"Defensive battles with solid castle walls as the foundation might just become nothing more than garbage swept away in history during this Holy War."

But the time for change wasn't now.

Fortresses and castles seemed to be passive defensive structures, but in the era of limited weaponry, they were critically important. Whether it be for facing the cavalry attacks of nomadic tribes that were like the wind or defending against the beasts that would hunt prey in the darkness of the night, fortresses and castles were irreplaceable tactical centers.

Defending the castle, and attacking a castle. This was the standard of countless battles. Not only were they obstacles in real life, but they were also mental protectors. The citizens living in the castle would definitely feel safe as they looked at the tall castle walls that offered them protection.

Even if the era had already begun to change, castle walls weren't entirely outdated yet. Besides, humanity's stubborn habits were difficult to change, as most people still believed that the castle wall's destruction meant the loss of the battle.

Currently, the Red Maple defense line was being held entirely by the humans' morale. If their morale suffered a heavy blow…

"It's over! There's no hope anymore; we're all going to die!"

The person who was shouting out in such despair was no coward. It was coming from a general who had just killed dozens of beastmen in close combat, and he hadn't even had time to treat his injuries yet. But his shouts were just like that of a useless deserting soldier who didn't want to become cannon fodder.

The castle walls weren't entirely destroyed by the earthquake, but numerous large cracks in it allowed the beastmen to enter as they pleased to catch and hunt the humans. The castle walls were now meaningless.

"The castle walls are destroyed" is equal to "the battle is lost"—this was an iron maxim in the general's mind, and the subsequent mental breakdown caused this brave warrior to begin wailing in despair.

There were many warriors similar to him. Even the most resolute of warriors instantly felt that the battle was already lost.

Battle out in the open against the beastmen who had the numerical advantage? Each individual human couldn't match up to an individual beastman in strength already, and now they were also suppressed in terms of morale. This seemed suicidal.

Never underestimate the experience and wisdom of the long-lived Gods. Emordilorcan, who didn't seem to be much of a thinker, was actually a sly one. Even as a participant in the Holy War, he had not only paid attention to everything that was occurring without directly intervening, but he also had done his best to understand the combat situation.

That was why he had viciously attacked the humans at their most significant weak spot in a critical time when he was destined to die. He knew that the fall of Red Maple Castle would cause the most damage by far.

If Red Maple Castle fell, then there would be nothing else blocking the beastmen on the open fields, and it would definitely topple the balance of power between the two sides. The entire human allied army would be snowballed with continuous defeats, proceeding with the beastmen turning back, surrounding, and conquering Antuen. This would mean he would succeed in his revenge.

"Hurry up and run, the beastmen are coming!"

"I can't stand it, we've stood here and fought them to this step already!"

Luckily, not everyone had abandoned hope. Perhaps a certain princess's bravery seemed idiotic and gave many people headaches, but her personality of never surrendering until the very end was still quite popular.

The flag of the Mist had yet to fall, and the People of the Mist had experienced being pushed to the brink countless times. If even the slaughters of their cities couldn't scare them, then how could a simple castle wall's collapse scare them?

"Abandon the outer castle walls; everyone retreat to the inner city. The injured should go first, and whoever can still stand—block those bastards for me!"

Her roaring, angry voice, which still sounded quite young, sounded out from the top of the city, causing the warriors to wake up from their stupors and transmit her words. The dazed warriors soon began moving again.

"We've already endured countless bloodbaths; now's not the time to give up!"

They instantly abandoned the outer castle walls that were about to collapse. Most of the residents were in the inner city to begin with, and the most number of people that needed to be transferred were the injured. As for the defending soldiers below the collapsed castle walls, they had no spare time right now to clean up the mess of stone shards.

The more critical the situation, the higher the importance of an ace card.

Finally, the People of the Mist used their last trump card.

"Great Judgement!"

The God Equipment Book of Origins was activated, and a silver holy light instantly covered the entire city. As the beastmen were judged guilty of the crime of invasion, all the beastmen immediately felt a restriction to their freedom, and they suffered under invisible handcuffs, leg irons, weapon confiscations, and many other similar constraints.

Unfortunately, though, before Wumianzhe became the Guardian God of the Northlands, the Church of Law had no reason to interfere in this battle. The members of the Church of Law in Red Maple Castle consisted only of a few of Reyne's companions. There was minimal benefit gained from increasing their powers.

Yet even the effect of just restraining the enemy was enough. At a time like this, when every second was crucial, every minute that the beastmen were stalled would help more soldiers retreat to the inner city, where additional warriors were constructing new defensive structures.

"Notify the Borealis to attack with full firepower, we need aerial support… Overload the Train King, and give these damned beastmen a nice present!"

In this time of danger, Reyne showed her true leadership abilities. She didn't need a vast amount of wisdom or experience; as long as she could remain calm and think of ideas to deal with the situation, it would be enough to reassure everyone.

The chaos outside the western castle door was pacified under Reyne's leadership. As everyone watched regretfully, the overloaded Train King was tossed down the castle wall.

Boom!*

Yet another mushroom cloud rose up on the battlefield.

The violent explosion sent even the entire castle door flying and vaporized those beastmen who were in the midst of crossing through it. The massive hole could even be used as a makeshift moat now, but everyone had been taken away by the floating airships to reconstruct new defensive structures in the inner city. They were now at a distance from the staggering castle walls.

Finally, the castle walls collapsed entirely, crushing a significant number of beastmen with it. At this time, Reyne was silently cursing the beastmen as she stood inside the floating airship as she gazed at the pile of rubble.

"Damned beastmen! I'm going to make sure your souls eternally struggle painfully in the River Styx… Wait, what did I just say? What is the River Styx?"

If she could look at herself in a mirror right now, Reyne would be even more shocked. The current Reyne had blood-red eyes, and the ethereal black wings on her back were beginning to materialize… Behind her, a ghostly black figure could be seen cackling maniacally.

"Haha, the seed has finally sprouted!"Even though it was now late into the night, Antuen's mage guild was rather hectic.

In the field in front of the mage tower, hundreds of mages were busy etching innumerable magical runes into the ground. Large amounts of precious resources were being utilized, and dragon blood was being used for drawing the runes, which was a difficult and expensive material.

Their precious magical cup of flames was being used as lighting, and even the archmages were crouching on the ground, researching the incredibly rare magical rune arrays.

"Is it still not ready yet?"

"Do you think that mega-long-distance teleportation is supposed to be easy? Let me tell you, this precision has no difference from opening a door to another dimension. Just one small miscalculation will cause you to be tossed into another dimension. Sit there and don't move; I need to calculate your weight."

The women passing by kept covering their mouths and snickering, and even the mages seemed to be trying their best not to laugh. It was only natural because my current appearance was a fresh humiliation for me.

I kept shivering due to the cold winds as I was only wearing a piece of underwear… Wait, wait! Let me first explain that I was not infected by Xueti!

"Stop shaking; how am I supposed to measure your weight like this? Oh my, you're a bit overweight—a tad too heavy for my spell's power. You still need to lose weight!"

I was currently shivering on top of a large balance that was originally used to measure the weight of magical ingredients. Strange dragon blood runes could be seen drawn all over my body.

How else was I supposed to lose some weight? I hesitatingly reached to my final piece of clothing, but seeing as how more and more spectators were gathering around me and that those two women were covering their eyes but secretly peeking at my bottom half, I found myself unable to remove my underwear.

"You're overweight by too much; just your underwear alone won't be enough. Let's shave off all your hair and your eyebrows."

The cold Margaret adjusted her glasses as she made a pragmatic—yet fatal—decision.

I have to shave everything? For some reason, I thought of the smooth shell of an egg.

"Having a smooth round head will be cool in the summer. In winter, you can even reflect the sunlight and obtain warmth that way. How nice, you can even save money on the lighting at nighttime, and that blinding Bullet of Light technique will even have double its power."

"Adam, stop finding such stupid reasons for me to become bald! If you want to reflect the sunlight, go do it yourself!"

Adam, who was watching from the side, was already rolling on the floor with laughter. Those ridiculous words could only be said by someone like him, or perhaps I should say that only he was such a boring person.

Yet my hemming and hawing was causing Margaret's expression to become icier and icier. Her displeasure was evident.

"Is there any other method?"

"Hand."

Instantly, I felt an ache in my heart. Cutting off my hand to decrease my weight; that seemed like the only method left to me.

After some hesitation, I withdrew the Roland Sacred Sword, and measured it against my hand for quite some time… before finally chucking the sword to Adam.

"Adam, do it for me. I'm afraid of pain!"

I shut my eyes and waited for quite a while, but I only heard the sounds of giggling. When I opened my eyes, I saw that Adam and Margaret were exchanging strange looks with each other.

"Stop wasting time, we don't have much time to spare! Hurry up with the sword; I can just find a priest later to reattach my hand… wait, why are you guys laughing?"

"Hahaha!"

Hearing this, Adam began laughing to the point that he had difficulty breathing, while Margaret readjusted her glasses.

"Why are you trying to cut your hand off? It's not necessary, or were you intending to replace it with a hook and pretend to be a pirate captain?"

"Then what about the weight? Were you just having a joke on me! Can you teleport me already?"

"No, I never joke about anything related to magic." As always, Margaret wore a serious expression with that icy gaze of hers that would easily send chills through anyone's heart. She was definitely serious. "Your current weight is a bit too much, but when I said 'hand,' I was referring to the Age Ring on your hand."

I instantly understood. If the current me was overweight by just a little, the younger me definitely wouldn't be. Just removing the Age Ring would be enough.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? Did you just want to see me suffer? Hey, hey, wait a moment, I still have…"

I was quite angry as I hurriedly removed my ring, but before I could even articulate my complaints, Margaret's staff swung downwards and the light of the teleportation spell enveloped me.

Now, I could only hurriedly pick up my Roland Sacred Sword and prepare myself as I helplessly accepted the fact that I had been pranked.

After I left, the field fell silent again. Adam suddenly spoke up.

"Was that fun?"

"Of course. This bastard actually forgot about me again; what a terrible friend. It's annoying to be treated like a stranger."

The oracle, who always seemed so calm, actually had such a fiery, angry side to her. Immediately afterward, though, Margaret's expression turned dark as she burst out laughing.

"Well, it's not entirely his fault, so let's just let the past be the past. And even if he forgot the past, we just have to create new memories. This should probably give him a deep impression of me."

Adam could only helplessly shake his head before turning to look southwards. The final critical battle involving the entire fate of the Northlands would take place in that direction.

"I wonder if Roland will be able to deal with things by himself. It won't be easy."

"Hmph, he won't be there by himself. Did you forget about Amelia and that cat? Why do you think they disappeared for so long? That Roland brat is ridiculously cautious; he must have left several trump cards up his sleeve that nobody knows about."

And just as she expected, right then and there, in the market district of Red Maple Castle, a certain witch had finished her final pre-combat preparations.

"Oh my, I ended up using so many resources; I should ask my junior to pay me back for all this later. My babies, it's time to wake up and eat. Relax, this time your food isn't going to be those zombies that are difficult to chew. Let's play plants versus beastmen this time!"

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Chapter 187: The Feast of Traitors

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

It was currently night. Everything was blanketed with heavy snowfall, making this frozen area even more difficult to withstand.

Even the strongest warrior would be unable to do anything without the sense of sight. Yet that wasn't the most critical negative aspect of this battlefield.

"It's so cold! How many can even live through such a night?"

Even the Bear Tribe Leader Londe, who seemed like an immovable ice mountain to his tribe members, was not as emotionless and made of iron as he appeared. After all, in the frigid winter of the Northlands, nighttime was more than ten degrees colder than the already chilly weather, and it was now reaching the point where one's breath would freeze immediately.

Even if the beastmen on the battlefield all had strong bodies, they were nevertheless living creatures. They still had to pay attention to the cold during the fierce battling, and it was so dark that they needed their battle horns and flags to lead them. The most difficult of all was the alleyway battles, where, in the darkness, some would treat the enemy knife-wielding assassins as their friends while slicing off their comrades' heads with their own axes…

In such a situation, according to the unwritten rules of combat in the north, both sides should have rested and come to a temporary truce to prevent the most unacceptable outcome of all—the outcome where one side won but there was nobody left to celebrate.

Now, however, time was of the essence. Time equaled life itself; with each minute of hesitation, countless lives perished. Don't even mention a temporary truce; right now, both sides wanted to hurl every last possible weapon at their enemy. Only the utter and complete destruction of the enemy would allow the existence of more survivors.

Londe could already imagine the scene—a beastman warrior would defeat an enemy with great difficulty, but his blood, pouring from his injuries, would freeze into ice. He would lose large amounts of blood as his steps would grow slower and slower before he finally froze to death beside the desolate corpse of his human opponent.

To Londe, these dark alleyways resembled the vicious beasts from the abyss with their mouths wide open, as they grinned maniacally while they waited for food to deliver themselves into their mouths.

Londe suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He had an ominous premonition. Perhaps he wouldn't live to see the next day's rising sun.

This, however, wasn't baseless at all. Londe's sharp sixth sense had helped him overcome numerous life-and-death situations, but this time, he decided not to listen to his instinct's warning.

"Don't let the other tribes look down on our tribe's sharp claw! Everyone, press forward! We definitely can't fall behind the others. Conquer this castle, and the honor of having destroyed the northern humans' pride will be ours! The War God is protecting us! His heroic spirit shall keep spots aside for our warriors, and if we're destined to die here, then let us meet each other again while feasting in the Hall of Valhalla!"

He said something he knew was impossible. Yet his warriors still answered his summons.

They silently drank some rich alcohol to help them defend against the cold, before resolutely stepping into the pitch-black battlefield, into the maw of the abyss from which there would be no return.

There was no hesitation and no cowardice. This war had no justice; there was nothing divine, nothing evil. Everyone was fighting for their own species, fighting for resources and land. They were fighting so that their own species wouldn't have to fight in this cruel Holy War.

The castle wall was now meaningless. Every moment, at every place, warriors could be seen bleeding and fighting to the death. Human lives were now worthless. Humans were all flesh-and-blood mortals, after all; even a high-ranked battlefield commander may be killed at any moment from an ordinary shovel making its way through the crack of a house.

"We've lost contact with Kazlo's tribe. Twenty minutes ago, we also lost contact with Kagra. The air cavalry is requesting to go to battle; this is their letter signed in blood!"

"Londe is requesting reinforcements; he lost contact with two squads under his command, and he's met with an obstacle. Many of his warriors have gone missing. He needs more warriors to be able to surround the enemy."

"The Wolf King has been successful in advancing to the designated location as scheduled, but he's already lost forty percent of his warriors, and he still refuses to retreat."

Each fresh dose of bad news caused Amon's eyes to twitch. Humanity's stubbornness had far surpassed their expectations, and the damned snow created an even worse meat grinder for the cruel battlefield.

"Tell the air cavalry to not stir up any trouble for me right now. If they go out now, they'll fall right back down immediately without even a hint of what hit them. Even if they die, they need to die a worthy death. Reinforcements? Let the newly created tribe go support Londe…"

The messenger hesitated for a moment and was about to question Amon when he ended up swallowing his words.

Newly created tribe? That was the tribe consisting of the tribes that had lost almost all their tribe members; all those beastmen were injured losers. They had lost their tribe leaders, their tribe names, and totems, which was why they had banded together and formed a new tribe.

Perhaps they weren't strong enough, but they were still the seeds of the future. But when even the seeds had to participate in battle, that was evidence of the dire straits the beastmen were in.

However, going against orders would be insubordination, and everybody understood that this was no time for hesitation and that the decisive would be victorious. Whoever gritted their teeth and stayed in this until the end would become the new ruler of this land, and now was the time to compete in who was willing to sacrifice more and had the stronger will.

The beastmen were enduring tremendous sacrifices, but for the humans, this war was even more difficult.

This chaotic battle with no rules was an all-around test of people's abilities. After the defending human army lost the advantage of the castle walls' defense, their losses were magnified many times, to double, triple, and even ten times their original rates.

"We have nowhere to retreat! Other than us, there are only the weaponless citizens! If we lose Red Maple Castle, there's no difference from losing the entire Northlands, and we'll become the most vilified humans in all of human history! All our ancestors will be shamed!"

The humans were unwilling to retreat even more than the beastmen. This defensive battle for them wouldn't allow them to withdraw one bit; they were guarding their homes!

The snow would eventually stop, and the sky would eventually get lighter. But at that time, who knew just how many humans could survive. The side that ended up with more survivors would definitely be the victor.

But this night wouldn't pass quickly. The Frigid Nightmares were all riled up to move in the darkness.

"Ahhh!"

In a small alleyway, a beastman soldier only gave a shout of surprise before disappearing without a single trace.

In an adjacent alleyway, the exact same thing happened to his companions. With their shouts of surprise, they were also dragged into hell by the dark hands that suddenly reached out from below the ground.

"Ahhh!"

"Shamans, destroy this entire area for me!"

Londe was no longer able to watch his subordinates disappearing in succession. Under his command, the beastmen elemental shamans no longer tried conserving their already low mana, and they communicated with the elements to summon mighty thunderbolts and waves of earthquakes to flatten all the buildings in this entire area.

Of course, this helped reveal the true identity behind the beastmen soldiers' disappearance.

"Flowers?"

Right before them was a flower; in fact, it was an incredibly rare and valuable flower in the Northlands. Luckily, Londe had learned about such a flower in the south before. The flower stem and colorful petals matched the ones in his memory, but…

"Isn't this too huge!"

That's right, a flower garden could be seen before them. It was only that the flowers within it were rather abnormal. The magic spells that even destroyed all the buildings had zero effect on them, and the most common flowers among them were sunflowers that were growing larger and larger. They were at least the height of two humans, and these otherwise ordinary-seeming flowers were already more than three times taller than they should have been.

Even though these flowers before them were so beautiful, Londe, who had experienced hundreds of battles, sucked in a breath of cold air. The incredibly strange sight caused his sixth sense feel an indescribable amount of danger; it was to the point where he felt needles pricking his back. All he wanted was to run away.

"Hey, isn't that the missing soldier Katar? Those flowers are currently eating him!"

The moment these words were spoken, all the flowers suddenly turned around in unison. Those flowers actually had huge mouths growing on them, and they were currently chewing on the beastmen's missing soldiers as their fertilizer.

Each flower only had one huge mouth filled with teeth, and even though these flowers had no eyes, the beastmen quickly realized that the flowers had locked their targets—them. That was the instinct of prey that had met its predator.

"I'll be the rear vanguard!"

The incredibly abnormal scene sent chills through everyone's hearts, and Londe instantly gave his order.

But right at the next moment, his beastmen companions began wailing in agony. The vines on the ground had transformed into snakelike creatures as they hung the beastmen upside-down. The sunflowers opened their mouths wide and began devouring the unfortunate beastmen.

"King's Heavy Assault!"

The angrily roaring Bear Tribe Leader used his full force attack, with his two thick arms slamming into the ground with enough force to crush boulders. The wind from his attack ripped through the vines, helping create a gap in the plants' attacks as his God-rank ultimate attack destroyed everything before him. Even after his ultimate attack, though, he could discern nothing but his companions' deaths and heard only their cries of death.

"It's alright. Hurry up, this place is far too abnormal. We need to leave here quickly." He was kneeling halfway to the ground and was recovering from the usage of his ultimate attack when he noticed the strong hints of despair on the faces of his tribe members. When he turned around to see what they were looking at, he finally realized the reason for his instincts to have been continuously screaming at him that something was wrong.

A small mountain, which was not that far away from them, was rapidly closing in, while the place he was standing on was sinking. When he took a closer look, he realized that that wasn't a small mountain at all! It was obviously a frighteningly large mouth!

"We had been standing in this monster's mouth all this time?"

His final sigh was now meaningless. The sky was still dark when the Piranha Plant King finally closed its mouth. With a loud "crunch," the Bear King Londe, who was only one rank below the Beastman King, perished just like that.

"Humble of the Seven Virtues! Perhaps I should call it by another name—Blood-Filled Piranha Plant Garden might be a bit more appropriate."

Since the worst possible situation had already come to pass, and the time previously agreed upon had come, the black cat, which was destined to bring misfortune, had also woken up from its deep slumber.

"Ha, what a bunch of lovely children. They just need so much blood to wake up, though. If it weren't for the availability of so much delicious blood, they definitely wouldn't have grown up this well."

Humble? Seven Virtues? The most unbelievable thing of all was that this witch, who gave everyone such a headache, could really create such a positive, auspicious object.

Humble wasn't a single plant; it was the name of an entire flower garden that consisted of uncountable piranha plants as its foundation. Its only trait, perhaps, was its incredibly high attack rating.

From the very beginning of this war, Amelia had planted a single seed under Red Maple Castle. As for how well this seed would mature depended on the amount of blood and souls it could feed on.

Roland's Pride Omar Mist was doubtlessly the strongest combat unit—he functioned at the level of an entire squad by himself. Amelia had wanted to target Omar's capabilities and had hence designed this piranha plant garden, which was also on the level of an entire squad. She had even given it a name that directly opposed that of the Seven Deadly Sins.

These piranha plants had special digestive chemicals that could easily melt through bones, and the garden also possessed Soul Grass, which could consume souls and render the undead mages' soul summoning spells useless. The amount of nutrition gained from the war would determine the final rank of the Piranha Plant King, and the humongous devourer wasn't supposed to be ready until after the end of the war.

Even without an endless amount of battles occurring, this war, without a doubt, gave Amelia's "Humble" far too much nutrition. Several humongous devourers were already activated, and the dangerous flower garden had awakened itself and was waiting for new prey to deliver itself to its doorstep. The Bear King Londe's death was just one among many.

"Oh my, it seems that after all this, you're going to go up in the Calamity Rankings."

"Hmph. No matter how high up I go, I won't surpass Roland. I'm still far from being as crazed, inhumane, and maniacal as he is."

Harloys really wanted to comment on why Amelia was filled with a regretful expression—it was as if she was sad that she couldn't surpass him in the Calamity Rankings. Did Amelia and Roland really want to compete in who was more inhumane between the two of them?

"You really like to compete with him in everything; do you like him that much?"

"Who! Who did you say likes him? I hate him to death! Just wait until I receive information on his technology; I'm going to turn him into my fertilizer!"

The moment that Roland was brought up, the sly Amelia would become just like an elementary school student that had never even talked about romance before. Harloys still wanted to tease her a bit more when Amelia, who had been angrily jumping up and down, suddenly stopped and smiled as she gazed out the window.

"What is it?"

"How unexpected! It actually caught a big fish… but that berserk behemoth is still a bit of a problem. I'm going to deploy two small devourers there. Yep, let's not kill that behemoth off; it should be an incredibly rare undead material. Roland will definitely be delighted. Perhaps he'll even invite me to dissect it while it's living together with him. Ah, I'm really getting nostalgic about the past."

Okay, now that she was imagining things, Amelia smiled rather shyly, and Harloys didn't even know where to vent her comments.

Suddenly, however, Amelia's expression changed as she made an exclamation of shock.

"Devourers Number Two and Number Four were instantly killed! This feeling is from… the withering magic of nature magic, from those elves!"

Traitors could never be trusted—this was a maxim of the battlefield. If you could betray someone once, it was highly possible that you would betray another a second time if you were paid with even greater benefits.

No matter in whichever world's history, there would always be traitors who received high positions of power in the end, even if they could never gain true trust from the eventual victor.

The present from Karwenz?

It was just another letter, just like the one to Roland. However, the letter, which was personally sent by the Abyssal Prince Karwenz, was addressed to Lorci.

Okay then, there is no need to go into the details of the letter; it was basically just something like "We already know about the ideas you're having; didn't Roland simply promise that you could be the Main God of the Elves? We can give you a better deal. Since you anyways haven't openly betrayed us, if you return to the Chaos side, we won't care about your past transgressions, and we can even make the Elven Gods your subordinates." Well, it was something like that.

Of course, there was a threat at the end as well, reminding Lorci that her domain was in the Chaos Abyss and that she should be careful of the demon nobles organizing themselves and paying her a little visit. Something along those lines.

Lorci was, of course, the founder of the dark elves, but she was also the one they all imitated. In the dark elves' language, "foolishness" and "loyalty" were the same word; it is easy to imagine Lorci's personality from this itself.

And so Lorci, who had betrayed the Chaos side once already, unhesitatingly betrayed the Order side now that she was promised an even greater prize.

Of course, this was only part of the reason. On a deeper level, Lorci wasn't satisfied with receiving the title of the Guardian God of the Northlands' Elves. She wanted to be the Guardian God of the entire Northlands, which was the title that Wumianzhe had just received.

In that case, unless she forced the humans out of the Northlands, she would be unable to become its real ruler. And so, right after achieving victory in internal conflict between the elves and the dark elves, she unhesitatingly gave the beastmen a gift when they needed it most.

Perhaps it should be said that since she already reached her goal in allying with us in the first place, and now that there was something she coveted even more right in front of her, she decided to turn on us and directly fight against us for what she wanted. Karwenz's letter was only an excuse to help her firm her resolve to betray once again.

Currently, Lorci's new pet who had her favor, the high-level nature mage who had just wiped out the two humongous devourers, was standing beside Amon, sighing, as he gazed at everything before him.

"I never expected that we would end back here again after going around."

"Hah, it's just that the last time you were my ally, you still looked presentable. Now you're my ally's pet dog; you can only lick the bones she throws to you."

Amon Bloodaxe didn't hold back at all as he taunted the elf mage in front of him. Amon truly looked down on this untrustworthy and dishonorable elf, especially since this person had even betrayed his own species, despite the fact that he was once a king.

Yep, this long-eared elf mage was indeed once King Adrian of Tassel Kingdom, but now, his skin color had become a grayish black, and he was no longer a regal moon elf. Instead, he belonged to a new species that dedicated themselves to Lorci—the fallen elves.

He used to look down on the beastmen in the past, but Adrian was now faced with Amon's jeers. He could only turn around with a steely expression.

"I wasn't wrong, I wasn't wrong, this is all for the continuation of my species! I wasn't wrong! I wasn't wrong!"

It's just that his fingernails had already begun to imperceptibly overtake his hands. He didn't even notice the blood.

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Chapter 188: Descent

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

"The Seal of Unlimited Courage."

It was terribly named, but this seal had left a significant mark on history, if only because it was Karwenz's Soul Imprint.

"As long as you resolutely believe you won't lose, you'll become stronger? Are you the hot-blooded main character type? Also, what's with this terrible naming sense of yours that sounds like it was plagiarized from somewhere? Should I help you come up with a new name?"

"No need; precedents indicate that if you come up with a name, it'll definitely be a forever humiliating one. I'm not that foolish."

Back then, Karwenz had answered me like that, but from a certain perspective, I wasn't wrong. This ability was indeed just like one that belonged to the main character of a legendary story.

Never giving up and becoming stronger and stronger as long as he didn't give up in his heart. When he was pushed to the brink, when fate forced him to face armies by himself—this would be the most suitable ability of all.

If this ability was possessed by an ordinary person, well, humans had limited courage and willpower so the rise in strength would be limited. But in the hands of Karwenz, who didn't know fear and difficulty, this was the mightiest Soul Imprint in the world.

"God rank? Great Demon Lord? Won't they all die if I slice off their heads? As long as they can die and feel pain, what's the difference?"

As he proclaimed such, Karwenz was maniacally laughing on the battlefield with a mountain of bloody corpses behind him. In front of that insane bringer of death, even the demons who never knew fear became afraid, even the beastmen who still had a War God protecting them became afraid, and even the human allied armies that were attacking the Mist Kingdom became afraid."Legend-rank beastmen? Behemoths? Won't they all die if I slice off their heads? As long as they bleed and feel pain, how are they any different from ordinary humans?"

The young Princess Knight's solitary figure could be seen on top of the fortification as she single-handedly blocked the beastmen's charge; her silver armor was stained entirely red with the fresh blood of her enemies. Innumerable beastmen corpses surrounded her, making it troublesome to take even a step forward.

And right now, impaled on her longsword, was the corpse of the Wolf King! Inconceivably, not far away was the body of the beheaded behemoth.

"Next!"

The furious Princess Knight stood upright as she clutched on to her sword, while the beastmen warriors in front of her were beginning to hesitate about whether to retreat. Thirty minutes ago, this seemingly weak girl had shouted "Next!" and many beastmen warriors had rushed up to fight her, only to be slaughtered.

"Next!"

Twenty minutes ago, a behemoth caused earthquakes as it roared and rushed to her by itself; it had decided to crush the tiny human before it. Yet a single slice was all it took for her to crush its throat. It died a painful death.

"Next!"

Five minutes ago, the pride of the Wolf Tribe, the strongest of them all, the Wolf King Sostilo, had charged towards her along with his personal bodyguards. He was killed with a single swing of her sword.

"Next!"

When they heard the shout of the silver-armored Princess Knight once more, the brave beastmen finally retreated. While they weren't afraid of sacrifice, the sacrifices had to, at least, be meaningful.

"Our princess! The world's greatest princess!"

"Princess Knight, may you live forever!"

Reyne's vision was currently blurry, and her blood was boiling. The cheering from behind her seemed to be distant, and only one thought was coursing through her mind.

"I need more power; I want more power!"

She was seeking more power within her soul—for her Soul Imprint.

When the light of the Incantation of Law Great Judgement lit up the entire city, the Gold-ranked Law Knight Reyne was promoted in rank by the Forbidden Spell, but this type of forced promotion shouldn't have been able to aid her in creating a Soul Imprint.

But not only did she succeed in creating a Soul Imprint, it was a Soul Imprint of unimaginable strength—the Seal of Unlimited Courage!

Yep, Reyne's Soul Imprint was exactly the same as Karwenz's, in both name and power.

Logically speaking, this was supposed to be impossible. Soul Imprints were the accumulation of a person's experience and understanding and constituted the foundation for their future growth. It was impossible for entirely identical Soul Imprints to appear unless the two people had exactly the same lives, personalities, and souls.

Yet this theoretically impossible occurrence did indeed materialize, and something even more abnormal happened right afterward. After the effects of Great Judgement receded, Reyne's power level should have returned to normal, but the current Reyne did not only not return to the Gold rank, but her strength was actually increasing further.

"This definitely isn't an ordinary Legend's strength; perhaps not even divine warriors could be her opponents. Her battle experience and power level are perfect; I had never expected Princess Reyne to hide her power to such an extent!"

Many aspects went into a person's real combat power, such as experience, strength, combat wisdom, special abilities, and basic stats. An overall balance was exceedingly rare, yet not only were Reyne's basic stats growing at an astonishing rate but her combat experience and combat insticts—abilities that could only be accumulated over time—were also improving at a staggering speed.

"Oh, so continually swinging a sword like this must be the trick to becoming a Sword Saint. Identifying the location of the enemy's sight must be what Roland meant by anticipating the enemy's moves."

This type of growth had far surpassed the limits of human knowledge—it was as if Reyne's body already known all this to begin with and she had only forgotten it all. It seemed like her memories were re-awakening.

Amid the numerous cheers, Elisa was the only one feeling doubtful. Everyone believed Reyne to be showing off her true power, but Elisa naturally knew the level that Reyne's strength was supposed to be. Instantaneous growth to this extent was unexplainable.

"The Wolf King Sostilo was a wolf tribe warrior almost at the Saint rank. He's much more difficult to deal with than a dragon or a behemoth, especially on the ground, and even he was slain in a single blow."

Elisa already had her guess as to what was happening. She was hesitating whether or not to give this body up and kill the Reyne before her, to prevent Karwenz's malicious plot from coming to fruition.

Reyne suddenly turned towards Elsia as if she had noticed Elisa's thoughts. The killing intent in Reyne's eyes caused Elisa to tremble, while her dark yellow-colored eyes could only be explained by one thing.

"…This feeling—it must be the Demon Prince!"

The black wings were materializing, and the black demon was already laughing in midair as all his preparations had finally completed.

With the descent of Karwenz's will, Reyne's own consciousness became hazier and hazier. She felt like she wanted to just have some sleep.

"…I must protect this city! This place is critical to the safety of the entire Northlands… my body is getting hotter and hotter, but I feel like I'm becoming stronger. Right, I want more power, more…"

"You want power? Do you want enough power to overcome any dire situation? Would you like strength so powerful that it can destroy everything?"

Through the haziness, Reyne heard an intimate voice from the will residing deep in her bloodline. Even though she was half-unconscious, Reyne gave her reply.

"…Can I become stronger if I obtain power? Brother Roland always calls me an idiot. Maybe I don't have the talent to become strong."

"No, don't look down on yourself. The strength of your bloodline is that of the strongest. You have the ability to become even stronger. No, it should be said that you were born with the ability to stand on top of the world! As long as you sign a contract with me, you'll have the most powerful strength in the world!"

"…No, no, forget it. Brother Roland has said before that if anyone mentions signing a contract, I should directly refuse. I shouldn't listen to any advertisers' sales pitches as they're all a bunch of scammers that want to fool you into signing a contract. And I also think my current power level is enough…"

Even though her mind was already in a daze, her half-conscious reply caused Karwenz to be struck dumb. When he spoke up again, it was apparent that he was in a rush and was beginning to get angry and panic.

"As a descendant of the Mist, can't you have more of a backbone? With power, you can have everything! You can defeat those damned beastmen, you can protect your own people, you can become the hero of the world, you can control your own fate, you can have everything you want!"

"…Can I have Roland praise me? He always says I'm stupid, but Reyne isn't stupid at all."

Karwenz was stunned speechless again. His following statement was made out of helplessness.

"Yes, Roland will praise you. I promise."

"Okay, I'll sign the contract then."

With the agreement of her will, her bloodline transformed into the most robust connection of all, forming an indescribable link between the two souls. A tremendous will then descended upon this world.

"Oh my, it's so difficult to come here."

Reyne—no—"Karwenz" made his first comment as he returned.

There is no such thing as coincidence—there is only the inevitable. Many things that seemed like coincidence were actually "well-prepared" plans.

Looking exactly like an ancestor after countless generations of genetic inheritance? How could that possibly be a coincidence?

From the very start, Reyne didn't look like Roland but resembled Karwenz instead—that familiar figure was the result of the Abyssal Prince controlling his own bloodline from another plane. From the very start, Reyne was a vessel that Karwenz had prepared for himself!

From a certain standpoint, apart from the different gender, this body was genetically identical to the body that Karwenz had possessed when he was still a human. It was basically a magic clone, which was the best possible vessel for his soul.

"This body has grown to the Legend rank? This is much nicer than that Fismer's body."

The Abyssal Prince was far too strong, and even the descent of his will was capable of distorting the world. His previous descent had only been for a few short minutes, but it had utterly destroyed Fismer's body. If Karwenz wanted to control a physical body and roam around freely in this plane, the body needed to reach certain specifications.

"With this Soul Imprint, there's no need to worry about combat strength, nor is there any need to worry about this body over-exceeding its physical capabilities and collapsing."

Having Reyne reach Legend rank in strength and awaken the exact same Soul Imprint constituted the most critical part of Karwenz's preparations. The Seal of Unlimited Courage would vastly increase the growth potential of this body, to the point where it could truly host a strong will such as his own.

In a way, Roland's efforts actually created the path for Karwenz's descent.

Reyne would not have reached the Gold rank so quickly if it weren't for that system's speed-growth mode. She consequently would not have benefited from the Incantation of Law Great Judgement to such an extent, and she wouldn't have entered the Legend rank at this point and fulfilled the requirement for Karwenz's will to descend upon her.

Right now, the black mist around "Reyne" was swallowed up, and "she" stood back up as the space around her distorted.

When "she" opened her eyes, the entire world suddenly changed. The snow stopped, and countless clouds shrouded the clear moonlight. Thunder and lightning began lashing out from the skies, and the snow mountain in the distance started trembling. The fire on its mountaintop seemed to bear witness to its transformation into a volcano.

The hyperactive ground started trembling yet again with a new round of earthquakes. An untold number of birds and beasts escaped from their habitats—it was as if they were aware of the arrival of the apocalypse and that it would be difficult to escape with their lives.

Merely his existence could change the world. Even if this was only a vessel of will, it was power at the level of a True God.

At this moment, Karwenz pulled out his sword, lifted his head, and chuckled at the assassin coming at him from above.

"Roland, I said that we would meet each other really soon, but I bet you never thought it would be this soon."

The Roland Sacred Sword produced a lustrous arc in the air as the two silver swords viciously clashed against each other. The smiling "younger brother" provided a contrast to the naked older brother who started to shout angrily.

"Reyne, I told you not to believe the salesmen! Those combo deals are never good deals—they are just scams! See, now your voice is a man's, but your body is still a woman's—how disgusting! If you want to be a man, you can tell me; I have the secret medicine from the spring of a drowned man . It's painless, harmless, has no dangerous side effects, and will take effect in just one second!"

Okay, after hearing a response that he definitely did not expect, Karwenz's smiling face changed to one of confusion.

Note:

1. This is a Ranma (Japanese manga series) reference, not an actual location. The water from the mystical spring of a drowned man can turn anyone into a man. In Ranma , the main character falls into the spring of a drowned girl and turns into a girl.

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Chapter 189: Brothers and Misunderstanding

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

It was as if time had left no traces on them at all and the wheel of fate had completed a full turn. After three hundred and seventy-seven years, on the very soil of their homeland, the two brothers had finally reunited.

Yet, unfortunately, I had no intention of being nostalgic about the past—my longsword clearly declared my intentions.

Before my silver Roland Sacred Sword could even approach him, however, Karwenz merely waved his hand, creating a terribly strong gust that blew me far away.

"There's such a great difference between us…"

Even though I had been expecting the disparity between us to be vast, being swatted away like a fly was still rather depressing.

Even if Karwenz's vessel was only at the Legend rank, that cheat-like Soul Imprint would limitlessly increase his power—it was too ridiculous; it allowed Karwenz to utilize power far surpassing that of his vessel. With his true power level—which was above a True God's—combined with an appropriate vessel, even a True God who risked death to descend to the mortal plane might not be enough to deal with him.

As for me, I had just reached the Silver rank—and this wasn't even mentioning the fact that I had used up a significant amount of Fate Points to speedily increase my power to deal with Emordilorcan. I still needed quite some time to improve my foundation.

"Roland, have you still not realized the truth? Strength is everything. The current you is just like you in the past—pathetically weak. If I had as much power as today as in the past, I would never have ended up like that."

Karwenz was obviously proud as he bragged about his power. His attitude was exactly as it was in the past.

"…You're so old already; stop acting so immature."

But even though I was unsatisfied, I still returned the Roland Sacred Sword to its sheath. As for why? I already knew that I wouldn't be able to defeat him. Besides, I had many questions I wanted to ask him, and according to my understanding of him, he would probably respond to anything I asked.

"Is it really that fun to destroy the Mist Kingdom with the help of outsiders?"

This was just a test question, but Karwenz shrugged with a visible expression of indifference.

"Who cares? It has nothing to do with me and nor did I cause it. Did you think that I was the one behind it all? You were wrong."

Although I was rather surprised to hear this, it was still to be expected. Moreover, Karwenz was always one who looked down on lying, so if he said he wasn't the one, then he was most likely telling the truth.

"The current two living royals of the Mist are both my descendants. For a demon, blood-related descendants are treasures that are difficult to come by. Perhaps my next backup vessel will have to come from them as well, so why would I kill them off? Honestly, without my interference, the East Mist Communal Country would have been destroyed several times over already."

"How's that possible?"

"Two years ago, when the East Mist Communal Country was on the verge of destruction with enemies already invading the capital, they were still able to counterattack from the brink of destruction. Did you really think that little Reyne could accomplish that by herself?"

Karwenz rolled his eyes with a condescending expression. It appeared that he was displeased with the recent descendants of the Mist.

I was speechless after hearing this. I knew that Karwenz was referring to the previous beastmen attack.

At that time, the previous king had been killed, and Reyne had somehow managed to display exceptional talent in commanding the army, chasing the beastmen for thousands of kilometers and winning the beautiful title of Princess Knight.

I asked the soldiers who had taken part back then. While the previous Reyne was indeed incredible, she had not personally fought in combat and had only deployed expert military strategic techniques coupled with an extraordinary anticipation of the enemy's moves to send the beastmen packing.

But, unfortunately, it seemed as though her genius was all used up as the her after that was only ordinary in performance.

Of course, I had also asked Reyne herself.

"Ah, how we won? I don't really know either. I felt like my head was really clear back then, and various demonic ideas came into my head one after the other, and I just followed the ideas and won. Brother Roland, am I really talented after all? I'm a genius, right?"

"Yes, you're really talented and a genius."

Back then, I could only woodenly nod my head in confusion.

Looking back on it now, though, the truth had been unknown to everyone. In reality, through his own bloodline, Karwenz had personally guided the Mist Army towards victory, giving Reyne the chance to become famous.

Of course, the Demon Prince wouldn't do something for nothing. He probably did it for the sake of his vessel that he was now using.

"Then… what about the beastmen this time?"

"They came south by themselves to steal back their homeland. In their eyes, it's only natural—it's the will of their ancestors. It, of course, has nothing to do with me."

"…the elves?"

"That has even less to do with me. You know that I'm allergic to those long-ears who speak in such feminine voices. They went seeking death on their own; whose fault is that?"

"…Lorci?"

"About that, wasn't that just a small joke that I played on you? You wrote a letter to have her betray us, so I also wrote her a letter to have her betray you to see if I could make her betray someone again. I didn't expect that female spider to lack so much honor. Sigh, I even lost a lot of money gambling on her. Damn it; I underestimated the lack of morals of those damned dark elves."

"…The Earth Elemental Dimensional Door?"

"I admit I told my subordinates to do that in order to accomplish at least a little work for my boss. It counts as one of my future preparations. But that doesn't have anything to do with the Mist Kingdom, and it didn't matter if it succeeded or not since just the revival of the Elemental Gods met the requirements of the will of the Chaos Abyss."

I was dumbstruck after listening to all this. Karwenz was so direct that he told me everything, but he was too direct—I didn't even know what to say anymore.

"Alright, it's so difficult for us brothers to meet up. How about finding a place for a drink?"

As he said so, "Karwenz," who was smiling rather strangely, gestured as if he was downing a cup, angering me even further. We were having so much difficulty fighting this war while this bastard was acting as if he was just playing a boring game, where it didn't matter if he won or lost as long as he had fun. This comparison naturally made me furious.

"Fine, I only have one more question I want to ask you… what's with all these descendants of yours in this plane? Just what plot do you have?"

"Plot? Isn't that underhanded tactic your favorite? If I want something, I'll just take it by force. The current Elemental Tide's density is insufficient, so let's just talk about the main topic later. I'll plant some seeds, and when they sprout, I can borrow a vessel to come have some fun in the mortal plane. Besides, how could these small fights before the main battle possibly have anything to do with me? I am a veteran of the Chaos Abyss; it's below me to interfere in such a low-level battle. Relax, for the time being, I have no interest in any of the countries here. The best-tasting wine should always be saved for last. Perhaps we'll fight in the end, but definitely not now."

Karwenz's words undoubtedly infuriated me. He really was treating this like a game. The Holy War had just begun, and the truly powerful existences were unable to descend to the mortal plane. So his words did have their own logic to them, but his attitude of not caring either way made me blow a fuse.

"As for those descendants of mine; isn't it normal? You're so old already, but you're still a virgin—isn't that a little strange for a guy? Ah, I shouldn't have said that—sorry, sorry, it wasn't on purpose!"

Karwenz chuckled strangely as he gave an obviously insincere apology. He really knew how to get on my nerves.

"What's with being a virgin man! If virgin girls are pure and beautiful, then why can't there be pure and kind virgin men? This is the ugliest form of sexual discrimination, this is completely unreasonable logic! I strongly request for equality between male and female virgins! There's no fundamental difference, but why is there such a huge contrast in treatment!"

If it weren't for the fact that I was trying my best to remain serious, perhaps I would already be raging. It's been so many years now, and I thought back to how we looked exactly the same back then. I had a higher position, and I was the more handsome one, but I still had a slightly worse luck with women… fine, fine, don't slap my face, I admit that my luck was much worse! But that doesn't mean that what he said—about an almost four-hundred-year-old virgin male being strange—was true!

Karwenz shrugged. He probably understood my fits of craziness better than anyone else, and he knew that ignoring me was best.

"If it weren't for my assistance, then that Charles brat wouldn't have been able to successfully build his country. From a certain standpoint, I worked even harder than you. Our descendants can take care of themselves, and I didn't intend to meddle in their lives. But providing a vessel that can help me descend and have fun in the mortal plane is a price and duty that they must pay."

Apart from the fact that Karwenz just wanted to have fun, if there truly was a plot of some sort, it probably involved harvesting the seeds that he already planted.

"What? What daydreams are you having there? Leave Reyne's body behind, and I won't care about anything else!"

I finally found an excuse to vent my displeasure as I lifted my sword again and blocked him.

Karwenz had all sorts of reasons that made it seem like he was completely disinterested in the current world. Yet how could I possibly let the Demon Prince just roam freely?

"What, do you think you can stop me?"

Karwenz curled his lip disdainfully. He had instantly discerned my actual power level. I doubt I would be able to harm him even if he stood still and allowed me to hack at him.

"What about if you add me?"

Elisa's voice rang out from behind us. A flame dragon was twisting itself around the right arm of the Flame Sea Marchioness , while her left was covered by a patch of frost. Elisa had already partially unsealed herself when Roland had appeared and was now ready to go all out at any time.

"Marchioness Elisa? Hey, hey, don't be so serious, I really am here just for sightseeing. If you use your full force, my vessel won't be able to take the blow, and I'll have to return to the Chaos Abyss. But then it will be the end of the descendants of the Mist."

"Relax, if there are no more descendants of the Mist, then I'll do my best to give birth to a few more. My ideal family consists of one son and two daughters. My dear Roland, do you think three children are enough? If not, I can consider giving birth to a few more."

Elisa continued to unseal herself as she smiled ever so sweetly while saying such seductive words. One of her eyes was a red ruby gem while her other had transformed into a deep blue icy sapphire. Right now, she had almost completely unsealed herself, and Elisa was prepared to use a single attack to annihilate everything.

In her mind, the Demon Prince Karwenz was far too dangerous a threat to Roland. In that case, even if she destroyed her own physical body, she would give it her all and take Karwenz back to the Chaos Abyss together with her!

But I blocked her from doing so. I had a better option available to me.

"Do you see this sword? Do you know its use? If you know it, then be obedient, toss down your weapon, and surrender!"

"Heroic spirit summoning? It's limited only to Mist royalty, but even if you summon the first Mist King, I won't be afraid—wait, do you intend to summon who I think you are?"

When mentioning that king, even Karwenz, who wasn't afraid of anything or anyone, began to show signs of panic.

"Yep, I intend to summon that ancient king from four hundred years ago! He's definitely the only one who can counter you! In front of his grand power, even you, Karwenz, will be nothing more than a weak child!"

"He's also your counter! Stop it already; this is a battle with no winners! The result will be a loss for both of us!"

"Hmph, so what if I lose together with you? It's fine as long as you don't have it easy! Winners in life should die, popular men should all die! Summoning the king!"

A formless wheel began spinning in midair, and even though it was clearly supposed to be a random summoning of a heroic spirit, I could somehow sense that the king who would answer the summons to come here would definitely be a certain person.

"The descendant of the Mist, Bartholod, may perhaps not be the strongest of all the kings, and his military prowess and combat strategy may only be considered average, but Karwenz, he's definitely your greatest weakness, because…"

"I'm your father."

Yep, the middle-aged bearded man wearing the black cape was our father and the only person who could possibly rein Karwenz in.

"Karwenz! What are you doing? Why do you have a bosom and curves now—are you supposed to be male or female?"

Karwenz wore a dazed expression. This was such a familiar reaction, I suppose; it was to be expected of father and son. From the very start, they would never use their sharp observational skills to focus on the correct, important things.

Yet even as I was snickering, I became the next victim.

"Roland, where's your clothing? Since when did you start strutting around naked? How many times have I said so—as royalty, proper etiquette is more important than anything! Just look at you—you've even tattooed yourself! What's with those strange markings on your body?"

At this moment, I finally recalled that I was still naked—no wonder my lower half had felt so cold when the chilly wind had blown past!

"Roland, I told you this wouldn't be good for either of us! When this old guy begins lecturing, he won't stop for at least two hours!"

"Hmph, so what? It's fine with me."

Alright, to be honest, I was having a headache as well from listening to his nostalgic rants. But what else could I do apart from tolerating it?

The next moment, however, Karwenz vanished in a puff of smoke. Without a doubt, he had escaped.

"Honestly, it isn't fun at all anymore with that old guy coming out. I'm going to fulfill the terms of my contract with Reyne first before coming back to visit you to reminisce about the good old times."

I had shot myself in the foot yet again; I was forced to face my old father's angry ranting by myself… but from a certain perspective, my "strategy" had worked, since Karwenz had retreated in the face of our father.

Right now, on the Borealis' magic map, the symbol that represented Reyne could be seen rushing out of the city.

"Oh my, you want Roland to praise you? Just how much do I have to do to obtain his praise and fulfill this contract? What a troublesome junior!"

Note:

1. A woman who holds the rank of a marquess is called a marchioness .

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

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Chapter 190: Tassel

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

"The strong prey on the weak, and only the strong survive."

The main difference, perhaps, between the Order Goddess Astrya and the Chaos Goddess Cynthia was whether they agreed with this quote.

Astrya believed that personal strength was not the most important and that the weak and the strong could live together under the laws of the Gods. She believed that they would complement each other's weaknesses—this was her notion of a perfect society. Cynthia, however, believed in the competition between mortals for survival with only the strongest living on. Her notion of a perfect world was one where the best resources were provided to the mortals with the greatest potential.

The root of their enmity was this difference in their ideals, which had also made them develop their creations very differently.

The human society was an example for the side of Order. Most humans didn't have significant differences between themselves, and very few could survive without relying on society. Even the king would be unable to live without the farmer, and it was possible, perhaps, that if they actually competed in terms of strength alone, then the king, who was so widely venerated by the people, might not be able to defeat the farmer who wielded a hoe.

Humans, however, couldn't be considered the best representation of true Order—that label was given to the angels, the creatures of the top level of Order.

Their future jobs were decided from their births, and for all their lives, they would progress on predetermined paths as they continued to work for the benefit of angel society. While such a community may seem perfect, it lacked flexibility. Without questions about the future, there would be a lack of expectancy and anticipation, and even the unemotional angels had quite a few problems; otherwise, there wouldn't be existences in the lower planes that were known as the fallen angels.

The side of Chaos was completely opposite. Demons slew and devoured each other, and low-ranked demons followed the strict rule of the jungle—as long as they were powerful enough, they would receive a higher position. Everyone was always trying to climb up the ladder, and even though the bosses were not always considered to be smart, they were definitely strong.

"Weaklings should go die—the strong deserve everything. If I don't have a good life, that's because I'm not strong enough yet. It's fine as long as I'm happy; who cares about anything else."

It was possible that this was all that ran through most demons' heads. It was also why other intelligent species often ridiculed the demons as idiotic "muscleheads," but this wasn't quite the truth.

High-ranked demons typically had at least two centuries of memories, and their accumulated experience gave them plenty of knowledge; in fact, they weren't dumb at all, but they were just too lazy to use their brains. After all, they only ever needed to show brute force, and very few species were better than them at this.

"Idiot! Perhaps I can't beat you in a debate, but I can just kill you."

Whenever a person tried to use reason and logic with a demon, those demons would merely deal with it in their own way. It was likely that you would be dead and no longer able to debate them afterward.

From a certain standpoint, the always immature Karwenz was quite compatible with the side of Chaos.

Becoming fallen and demonized wasn't akin to brainwashing, so Karwenz still pretty much possessed the same personality of back then.

It was likely that he would only help his own descendants to create a country on a whim, and even the Mist Kingdom's destruction would completely follow the maxim of "only the strong surviving" that he believed in. He would probably only shrug and utter "how regrettable" before instantly forgetting about it.

As for him taking over Reyne's mind and defeating the beastmen two years ago, that was likely only because of the upcoming Holy War and because he needed to protect Reyne's body for his upcoming descent to the mortal plane.

For him to be able to take over Reyne's body now, it was probably just like he said—"the seed has sprouted," and Reyne's body could now host his will. He only came to see the sights.

I relaxed somewhat after figuring this out. After all, a person with the power level of a True God just idly roaming about would have far too much effect on the battlefield.

As long as Karwenz still cared even a little bit about our old ties, he wouldn't, at least, stand directly against us, and the old man's appearance would tie him down even more. After all, as long as he hadn't been brainwashed and controlled, not every prince was crazy enough to kill their father and destroy their own country.

In most cases, no matter how rebellious the child—even if, of course, that said child's abilities were already on par with that of a True God—he would still be instinctively afraid of his strict father from his childhood.

"Roland! Are you even listening to me? What were you even thinking going out like this? You are shaming all our ancestors! Your etiquette as a knight and royalty has all been wasted. You're also clearly the older brother; didn't I tell you to teach your younger brother well? Just how have you been teaching him? Karwenz didn't even discuss his gender change with you—why didn't you try to stop him…"

Fine then. Since Karwenz didn't care at all about leaving me behind as he escaped, the raging old man could only vent entirely at me. This lecturing that I hadn't received for over three hundred years made me feel nostalgic, yet it also made me be at a loss for how to react.

"Damn it, when the old man starts lecturing he won't listen to any explanations at all. That bastard Karwenz left me to suffer here alone!"

At the same moment that Roland was having fun while immersed in his father's "love," "Reyne" had exited the city and was considering how to fulfill the contract.

"So, what am I going to have to do to make Roland praise me?"

In a way, these vague contracts were the hardest to fulfill.

As a demon, Karwenz could easily break the terms of the contract. Countless souls had already lost everything after making deals with the lower planes, but he didn't feel it right, as Reyne's ancestor, to lie to his own descendant. Besides, Karwenz intended to stay in this body for an extended period of time, and having a good relationship with the host was quite necessary for him.

"Okay, I'll just slightly put in some effort and treat it as the rental fee for this body. I've decided that it's going to be you, Lorci! Heh, heh, this is my main task as well, to deal with those ignorant idiots. But even if I don't say it, Roland should have guessed it already."

In a way, time had left its mark on Karwenz as well. In the past, at least, Karwenz definitely wasn't as intelligent as he was now.

He didn't actually lie; he did come to the mortal plane to have a look around, but he didn't tell the complete truth either. He would accomplish some small tasks while having fun as well.

True Gods had to follow the rules of True Gods as well, such as not directly participating in mortals' battles, which had to do with this world not being able to withstand the power of the True Gods. It was to avoid the True Gods from simply destroying everything with their power, and during the Holy War, the True Gods intervening too early or even personally descending would cause the war to escalate in scale and go out of control.

In a way, if it weren't for the participation of the Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan, Lorci wouldn't have conducted her future ambush, nor would there have been the quick death of a True God. Without a doubt, that Forest God Clareladin and the Spider Queen Lorci both obviously broke the rules.

It was as if two kindergarteners were having a fight and the one who lost asked his older brother in elementary school for help. This caused the other side to be on the losing end, so that side invited his cousin in middle school, which was followed by both sides continually inviting more people to participate in the battle. The level of the sides would constantly be raised, and it would result in the two families becoming mortal enemies.

"Perhaps the final battle will come later, but it definitely won't be now. Disobedient children should be spanked."

The only way to stop this vicious cycle would be if a parent from either family discovered that their children were being unreasonable and misbehaving and decided to teach their children a lesson with a good spanking.

And the current Karwenz was the parent delivering the spanking. At least on the surface, Lorci was still on the side of Chaos, so the spanking should be administered by them rather than the Order side.

"Oh my, it seems that she's really quite angry. It looks like slapping her one time won't be enough."

If Lorci's betrayal was not quickly dealt with, there would, perhaps, be another traitor very soon. And her double-crossing not only did not gain her the forgiveness of the will of the Chaos Abyss, but it also made the Order side furious and abandon all thoughts of protecting her.

"There's plenty of fence-sitters and traitors, but a double traitor—especially at the very beginning of the war—is unprecedented. Lorci, do you really think the main Gods on both sides are blind or all dead? You attracted too much attention too early, so too bad for you. Originally, that foolish Elf God who had decided on his own to descend to the mortal plane had committed a greater crime than you, but it's too bad that he's dead already. I can only use you as an example for the rest."

Of course, Lorci was doubtlessly the current greatest threat to the Northlands and the Mist Kingdom, and it was unknown if there were any personal grudges or benefits involved in this official task that Karwenz was about to carry out.

A meteor streaked across the sky, and when this meteor crashed into the ground, the Spider Queen Goddess who was trying her best to obtain the position of the Guardian God of the Northlands from Wumianzhe was destined to meet misfortune.

"Oh, right; it's so rare that I get to come here, and I have plenty of time, so let's find a place to have some fun first. I'm already tired of playing with succubi and female half-demons, so why don't I find some new fun while I'm here? With those beautiful and slender female elves as well as the sturdy and cute half-blood female beastmen… beauties, wait for me, this old guy is coming! Cough, I made a mistake, let me try again… beauties, this lady is coming for you!"

Cough, perhaps Lorci would still be able to act as she pleased for some time before Karwenz decided to get to his main task at hand.

By the way, after a particular series of incidents, a certain princess's rumor of being a lesbian was destined to become circulated around by everyone.After night descended, the beasts in the pitch-black darkness began their final evening feast. This land had already bled enough, and this battle was nearing its end.

In the snowy Northlands, even though the ground was covered with snow, there was a strange team proceeding through the ice.

Although they were all elves, they were separated into two separate processions. The dark elves walking behind were in high spirits, while the gray elves walking in front wore depressed expressions.

Grayblood elves—this was the name of this new species of gray elves. These roughly thirty thousand gray elves had blank expressions as they trudged onwards—it was as if they were daydreaming zombies.

They followed their King Adrian to work under a new master, and that master had unhesitatingly sent them right out to fight against the current masters of the Northlands.

"Are we going to have to fight the humans to the death?"

They had returned to their starting point after going a full circle. But to use Amon's words: "You were allies equal to us in the past, but now you're nothing more than dogs."

If Lorci could be said to have lost the trust of both major sides due to her two consecutive betrayals, then these gray elves could be said to not even know how many times they had betrayed others by now.

Betraying their human allies and the side of Order? Yes, they did that at the very start.

Betraying the expectations of the Elven Gods? Well, that occurred when they had abandoned the northern battlefield and had hurriedly returned to their homeland.

Betraying the elves of the entire Northlands? Their gray-black skin color was the best evidence. They could still remember the looks of shock and immense hatred of the Northland's elves when they had suddenly betrayed them and changed sides on the battlefield.

And they had now betrayed their own species yet again despite the fact that they were on the brink of a disaster, in order to participate in an utterly meaningless battle whose results didn't even matter to their race. That was the reason for their fatigued expressions and why they were visibly tormented by guilt and pain with every step.

It was no wonder they were so exhausted. A warrior who had lost his conviction and desire to protect was no different from a zombie!

Suddenly, amidst the desolate silence, dozens of voices rose in a blending of song. They were singing what would be sung at the year-end celebrations in the Tassel Kingdom and signified the end of the year and the gathering of their tribe.

"Dajh da jd, ka su odd as da…"

[Our distant relatives, where did you go, we miss you here in the homeland…]

"Fre de ld, kad…"

[Are the ancient trees at home still verdant green, that familiar spring lake always reminds me of my childhood, the sky was so blue…]

Back then, there had been continuous internal conflicts among the elves, and the legendary moon elf bard Tassel had wandered the continent in order to find a place where her tribe could live.

After experiencing countless difficulties, Tassel finally settled on a piece of land in the north, where she signed a contract with the Forest Guardian God Clareladin before joyously beginning her trip to return home.

Unfortunately, the return trip was just too long, and Tassel, who was so worn out from her travels, died before she was able to return to her previous homeland.

Luckily, her message was brought back to her tribe by her messenger pigeons, and her tribe completed the promise she had made, transforming that northern mountain into an elf paradise.

Later generations of elves used the songs that she used to sing and created this classical song about the longing for one's homeland.

And in recent years, at every year-end celebration, it would be the princess who would perform this song for everyone as a celebration of their now pleasant lives compared to the difficulties of the past.

"Dda jd ad! Dal dada aty…"

[My relatives, I finally found a dreamland for us, our new home is in the north…]

And now, as that familiar, nostalgic song echoed throughout the mountains, the grayblood elves felt more pain than ever before.

The last time they had listened to this song, they had been celebrating with their relatives and friends, but after all the recent events, there was no one who hadn't lost a loved one.

"That song—it's the same voice! Impossible!"

As the gray elves' choking turned into crying, someone among them noticed that this familiar song was being sung by a familiar voice—a voice that belonged to someone who should have been dead!

"Her Highness Suana! Ah! No, this is impossible!"

A sharp-eyed scout had already discovered the truth. A solitary figure could be seen singing in the mountains, and judging by her translucent body, she was probably a banshee like in the stories.

The gray elves' faces turned pale as they faced the indisputable truth before them. They all came to a realization at the same time.

"Kill her!"

As the gray elves were still in shock and in tears, the dark elf general's angry roar woke them all up. His order was carried out by countless dark elves' magical arrows, which were about to destroy that lonely figure in a storm of arrows.

"N—no!"

Some gray elves were no longer able to hold themselves back and started fighting with the dark elves; they were doing their utmost to halt those life-threatening enchanted silver arrows.

Yet it was too late. The expert archers within the dark elf troops had already heartlessly released a storm of arrow fire, and it appeared as if the newly-born banshee before them would die again immediately when a miraculous sight suddenly occurred.

A flaming phoenix flew through the sky burning all the arrows to dust and blocking the several magic spells aimed at her. And when the phoenix landed on the ground, it transformed into a female warrior wielding a flaming divine sword.

Numerous figures instantly appeared behind the cliff. The familiar military squadron was obviously an elite squad from the Underground.

"Um, I didn't plant this tree or cultivate this mountain, but if you want to pass by, even paying a toll wouldn't be enough to make me allow you all to pass."

The red-haired girl spoke some confusing words, but not a single dark elf dared to speak up against her. After all, she was the famous figure who was the most likely person to rule over the entire Underground—Phoenix Annie Layde!

And the other familiar voice caused the gray elves to tremble in fear. Perhaps a shocking tragedy was about to be exposed to the world.

"My fellow tribe members, you were all fooled; my death and the sudden declaration of battle was all an underhanded plot by evil, ambitious individuals…"

Note:

1. According to Wikipedia, a succubus (plural succubi) is a Lilin-demon in female form or supernatural entity in folklore (traced back to medieval legend) that appears in dreams and takes the form of a woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual activity.

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Chapter 191: Frigid Winter

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

Even the longest and darkest of nights would end, and no matter how cold the winter was, there would always be the spring, where life would be restored.

Yet sometimes, the morning following a long, dark night would bring not hope but despair. A snow-covered world wasn't always as beautiful as it sounded—it instead made the frozen corpses even more frightening to behold.

When the first rays of dawn burst through the skies, the people who had been fighting through the entire, difficult night noticed that it had finally reached a conclusion. The few that who had survived to witness the dawn were definitely lucky enough to be called "favored by fate."

With the beastmen army not caring about sacrifices and insanely sending more reinforcements, the inner city district had already been lost, and all of the defending human armies had retreated to the final third defense line, which consisted of temporary defensive structures crafted from sandbags and earthen walls. It was also the last lifeline of this city.

The catapults outside the city had already stopped firing. In front of such a long distance, the catapults wouldn't be able to maintain their accuracy, and the restoration of the light and the halting of the snow caused the beastmen's air cavalry to fly into the blue sky once more.

It seemed that the beastmen had their victory in the bag, but the current Beastmen King Amon Bloodaxe didn't have any joy at being on the edge of victory. His face, instead, was incredibly fatigued.

"…We've lost over seventy percent of our warriors, and countless are seriously injured. Only two of the major tribe leaders have returned, and they're both gravely injured as well. Among the others, Hamar lost his life in the previous castle siege, and now, Fox King Wen, Wolf King Sostilo, and Bear King Londe have all died in battle. Kagra has disappeared, most likely also…"

Each wave of bad news increased the burden on Amon, but nobody could blame him—the stump of his severed arm, which had been cut off right at the shoulder, was still bleeding. Amon was severely injured from having lost an arm.

As the leader of all the other tribe leaders, he didn't avoid the battlefield. The reason that he was able to survive, apart from his outstanding personal combat capabilities, was more reliant on luck.

No matter what generation it was, cruel guerilla warfare battles in cities were the most fatal and dangerous of all. Legend-rank warriors could die at any moment in such chaotic battles, and a single sudden surprise arrow or flying rock could kill off a Saint-ranked mage. The pitch-black night and the pounding snow all over added to the chaos and increased the likelihood of such events occurring.

"We finally made it to morning."

Amon's sigh caused all the survivors to nod in agreement. During the battle of last night, the unlucky had died before even knowing what happened while the slightly luckier had at least seen their opponents before dying under their swords.

The sly and clever Fox Tribe Leader Wen was the classic example of an unlucky person. He had been killed by a stray catapult shot from his own side, and two of his personal bodyguards had died along with him, creating a scene that was simply unbearable to look at.

Yet actually, without them realizing it, the beastmen, who had lost themselves in the fervor of battle, had broken one of the most critical maxims of castle sieges—to never force your opponent to the brink of no retreat.

Surrounding the enemy on three sides and leaving one side open as a path of escape was a tactic in this world as well. Giving the opponent a chance to escape would also mean that your own armies wouldn't be forced to the brink. Fighting against people who had given up was undesirable, as they would furiously fight to their deaths or at least take you down with them.

On that night, the blizzard and the surrounding beastmen had blocked off all avenues of escape, giving the humans nowhere to retreat. And when they had no chance of escaping with their lives, even a cornered mouse could defeat a cat—so how could those trained military soldiers possibly allow themselves to die worthlessly without fighting back?

"If we can't escape death in the end, then we have to at least die like warriors; we must take an enemy with us as we die!"

The allied human armies, who were forced to the edge, exploded with incredible combat potential as their fear of the falling of the castle walls transformed into hatred for their mortal enemies. Their spirits, which didn't fear dying together with their enemies, coupled with the terrain advantage of the city finally started changing the rate of losses on both sides, making the beastmen suffer significant casualties.

Amelia's flower garden of death named Humility was the rear support; it acted as a death trap again and again, and the sudden ambushes from human warriors within the houses succeeded in killing many beastmen. What happened to the Bear King Londe wasn't the first example, nor was it the last.

But the beastmen's rear support had already stopped arriving. When the night turned pitch-black and the combat situation became chaotic, their roughshod siege weapons turned into massive killing machines that wouldn't separate friend from foe. No matter in any generation, dying via friendly fire was one of the most unacceptable methods of death to anyone.

Large-scale hexes and combat magic? If they tried using these in a situation where they couldn't even see ten meters in front of them, then there was a fifty percent chance that they would kill their own armies.

And the most fatal was all was that life-stealing winter chill which imperceptibly crept up on them. In this damned weather where any drop of water would freeze instantly, any cut in their anti-cold weather clothing was fatal, and this wasn't even mentioning any injuries.

The freezing cold numbed the warriors' sense of pain, and although those easily unnoticed small injuries wouldn't become infected in the freezing cold, losing blood and energy because of those tiny injuries would end up being the most fatal of all. There were far too many beastmen who didn't notice their own injuries and ended up collapsing and dying due to them.

When the beastmen forced the northern human allied armies to the brink, the beastmen also thrust themselves to the edge. The long, long lists of the deceased were shocking to look at— every family had lost some members with the serious amounts of injuries and deaths, and probably over seventy percent of the tribes would need to undergo restructuring after the war.

Even their current losses were enough for the beastmen to have basically lost in their goal of returning to their original homeland. Even if they won in the end, they would need several generations to rest and recover.

But if Amon and the other beastmen were given a choice right now, even if they knew about the unacceptable number of losses beforehand, they would probably still make the same decision.

"Victory is before us! Defeat them, and we shall be the new masters of the Northlands!"

With what they viewed as victory right before them, how could the beastmen possibly give up?

But their current goal of becoming the masters of the Northlands would have been laughed at as lacking willpower and courage three months ago. After all, back then, the beastmen had fully been intending to conquer all the way back to their homeland and take the war to San Antonio.

Without them realizing it, the cruel reality had woken the beastmen up, and their current combat goal was only to conquer the entire Northlands.

The current beastmen no longer had the willpower to say that they could conquer all the human countries. Only the poor-seeming northern countries and San Antonio's reinforcements had forced them to such a degree—this caused them to lose the courage to fight against the human mega-empires.

Of course, there was still some misunderstanding here. After this battle, perhaps each country would have to re-evaluate the Northlands' combat strength, especially the astonishing performance of the East Mist Communal Country in this war. Perhaps even military analysts with the highest standards would no longer dare to call the East Mist Communal Country a weak country.

Princess Knight Reyne, the new generation of magic swordsmen and the Four Elemental Swordcasters, the large self-destructing Roland Titan mechas, the floating airship Borealis, and the cleaner of the battlefield known as Train King—all these new concepts and technologies would definitely help the Mist Kingdom rise to its former status in the Northlands.

Military might also represented diplomatic power. After their solid performance in this war, Roland's Alliance of the Mist was also pushed one step to actualization.

And on another level, when the news about the veteran Earth Elemental God Emordilorcan being killed off in his own home turf started spreading, this familiar name of Roland Mist started drawing attention after remaining unnoticed for several hundred years.

Of course, they had to first get past this obstacle before them.

"The beastmen are coming again, aren't they…"

I could see my own breath in the chilly air as I casually swung my Sacred Sword around to flick off the blood drops from it. This indestructible sword could basically clean itself.

For the northern allied armies that had been struggling all night, the sky's lightning and the snow stopping were both bad news. This would mean that the beastmen could reorganize themselves again, and those damned air cavalry and siege weapons would be usable. While the humans might be able to have a temporary reprieve, the beastmen would surely come again with a destructive force for a final battle.

The movable medium-sized catapults were slowly pushed into the city, as the bloodied elite beastmen soldiers that had survived over a hundred battles treated their own injuries and watched their surroundings with a high degree of vigilance. Even the wind blowing some old tattered curtains would cause these veteran soldiers that had survived the bloody knight to chuck their spears.

And right now, the allied armies' general commander "Black Bear" Anslo was right behind me, or perhaps I should say he was lying on the ground not far behind me.

Beastmen knew more than just to rush in head-on, but the Cat Tribe's assassins had found the general command center and had ambushed Anslo. Even though he received assistance in time and managed to luckily survive, the one-eyed general had become completely blind. After receiving three stabs to the right side of his stomach, he was seriously injured to the extent that he was no longer even able to stand.

But luckily for him, he no longer needed to give any particular commands. The only thing he needed to do was shout a single word with all his might.

"Defend!"

"Defend! We have no path of retreat! If you want to live, the only way is to kill all these barbaric beasts!"

"Defend! There's only injured soldiers, the elderly, the widows, and the young behind us!"

"Defend! If we lose this battle, our country isn't even prepared for war—they'll lose their territory! Our families will also get involved in this endless warfare."

Yep, defend. With the battle proceeding to this point, no tactics or arrangements of any kind were necessary any longer; resolute willpower was all that was needed.

"Defend!"

If a street block was lost? The next street block was already prepared with a new defense line.

A temporary defense wall was knocked over? The next wall had already been constructed.

A squad was slaughtered, and there was an opening in their defense line? The elderly and women that had been ordinary citizens just a moment ago picked up the weapons laying on the ground and filled the gap without saying a word.

"Perhaps it's the end of humanity and we will be defeated, but you barbaric beasts! You want to conquer this city and have a path to every northern country? You'll have to wring every last drop of blood out of each warrior in this city first."

The young humans with tense expressions didn't say much, but they used their actions instead to tell those proud and arrogant beastmen just what the northerners and the People of the Mist were like.

"The frigid winter is here, but us northerners have long been used to such winters! Even the coldest winter isn't that difficult for us. Just tolerate it for a little while, hug each other for warmth, and play with our doggies—won't spring come right after?"

Even though he was now blind, Anslo was making dirty jokes as always. The "doggies" in his joke earlier was actually referring to something perverted, and judging by the loud guffaws coming from the warriors, everyone understood what he meant.

When the sun finally rose slightly, the arriving sounds of footsteps and catapult wheels seemed to proclaim that the final battle was coming.

At this moment, even I had nothing else I could do. I had used every one of my cards. Antuen was too far from here to be of any help, I had used Annie's squad to block those dark elves, I couldn't control Xiluo's forces to begin with, and I had used all of my newly developed war weapons. I had no more moves I could make.

"That damned Emordilorcan! If it wasn't for him…"

Emordilorcan's final attack had indeed hit us in our weak spot. If Red Maple Castle fell, then there would be nothing I could do.

"Sigh, if only the battle could take ten extra days…"

But there were no ifs on the battlefield. Innumerable famous generals had met their demise in the past due to "what ifs," as accidents and misfortunes were the favored companions of failure. There was only a small difference between who went to heaven and hell.

I supported myself against the Roland Sacred Sword and stood up again. Ever since "Reyne" had left us unexpectedly, I had temporarily taken over her mid-level commanding position, but by now, I had already used up both the remaining summons of my Sacred Sword for today but still couldn't overturn the situation.

"My Diligence and Temperance have both died; those damned moon elves! Only they can have such a disgusting control over nature!"

The green-haired witch wasn't doing all that good either. She had used up all her mana in this battle, and two of her treasured Seven Virtues (well, she had only created three up to now) had died in battle, leaving only Humility alive. It seemed that she was at her limits as well.

Moon elves were the priest-type tribe of the Elf Kingdom to begin with, and they excelled at communicating with the Gods and even True Gods, borrowing their powers to use various high-level Divine Arts.

And since the moon elves' original Guardian God was the Forest God, the nature priests who had used the Forest God's divine magic for thousands of years naturally excelled in planting and controlling forests. It was only to be expected that eradicating unnatural plants was in the nature of their job.

That was why Amelia had met her natural counter against a nature priest like Adrian and suffered greatly.

"Senior Amelia…"

Her typically neat hair was now messy, and her eyes were filled with bloody red streaks. The witch who hadn't slept all night was now even scarier-looking than before.

"If the beastmen come up here again, go ahead and leave. I don't believe that you have no way to escape."

"I can leave any time I want, of course, but what about you? Don't tell me you intend to be like a certain idiot knight and die together with the city?"

"Me? I'm the indestructible Roland; how could I possibly die here?"

"Hmph, I'm the 'super willful witch of tempest emotions.' How could I possibly listen to your orders? I'm really feeling like giving it my all against those barbaric beasts today."

"Heh heh, you think that I'm garbage without my summoned pets? I shall allow you to witness the greatness of a melee combat grandpa mage like me!"

From this angle, Amelia with her sleeves rolled up really did seem like that hot-headed senior from long ago, but I shook my head and decided not to say anything.

"Elisa?"

"Harloys has finished her preparations, but she told me to tell you to not use it unless you absolutely have to, or else all your efforts will have been wasted."

I did prepare one final trump card. The only magic I had which could overturn the situation from the utter edge was the highest-level forbidden undead magic spell—Undead Calamity!

But if I used this mega-forbidden spell that every country on the continent had banned, all the corpses around here would transform into brainless low-level undead, which would be something completely different from when I had summoned the dead previously. Back then, the ones that answered my summons were those who were unwilling to remain silent in death, but the ones under the control of Undead Calamity would forever become brainless, bloodthirsty undead.

This was a forceful and eternal servitude that was utterly disrespectful to all warriors. Perhaps all the warriors on my side would instantly change their attitudes towards me and attack me as an evil necromancer.

The moment I used this spell, then the saying that "undead doesn't equal evil" would no longer apply to me, and perhaps my Mist Alliance plan would go kaput, and the East Mist Communal Country would then be viewed as a new hub of evil and will be isolated diplomatically.

At that time, even if we won the war, we would have lost more than we gained.

"Anything is better than completely being destroyed; if all these people die here, then there truly will be no more hope."

Hearing these words from me, Elisa merely adjusted her eyeglasses without saying anything, but judging from her downcast expression, she seemed rather displeased and spiritless.

"What's the matter?"

"Why aren't you asking me if I can escape or not? Why aren't you trying to convince me to leave?"

Okay, Elisa, who was pouting as she complained, was actually rather cute. Of course, she didn't want to escape by herself; she was merely complaining about not receiving any attention or care. At the very least, Roland was still Elisa's boyfriend in name.

I shook my head. According to my understanding of Elisa, I wouldn't have to waste time telling her about such things.

"Why are you asking? Didn't you tell me that you would follow me whether it be to the River Styx or to hell? What, are you regretting it?"

Just as I finished speaking, it was as if dark storm clouds had suddenly cleared as she smiled ever so sweetly.

"Of course not; I'll never regret it. Then, let us fight alongside each other to the death. I'll pick your corpse up from the River Styx."

The abnormal conversation sounded somewhat illogical, but it may actually happen. Perhaps the emotional relationship between the undead was just that strange after all.

Seeing her emotions turn sunny again, I secretly wiped my sweat.

But looking at how Amelia was evidently unhappy and feeling Elisa's eyes staring at my back, I suddenly realized that perhaps my luck with women was finally changing. Was I really starting to become a winner in life? But… why was it that I only started getting luckier when I was almost about to die? Was I the type of person who was fated to shout, "After this battle, I'm going to get married in my hometown" and then die right away?

Hey, hey, hey, I don't want beautiful women to only confess at my funeral as they cried and admitted that they liked me…

But the familiar footsteps from not far away interrupted my thoughts. The final battle was upon us.

The most surprising part was that the person leading the way wasn't a beastman; it was, instead, a familiar figure. That long, slender physique and light footsteps could only belong to an elf.

"Adrian!"

Yes, even though he transformed into a grayblood elf, even though the years had left their mark on his body, I would never forget his familiar face. After all, back then, this arrogant elf species lover who would never admit he was wrong was one of the ones who had given me the final blow.

But at this moment, this cheap brother of mine didn't seem so well, as two ax-wielding beastmen were holding on to him. Adrian kept muttering to himself as if he intended to do something.

"Convince us to surrender? Is that even worth their time?"

This guess seemed reasonable, but there could only be one master of the Northlands, and the grudge between us now ran so deep that it could only be washed away by fresh blood. Trying to convince us to surrender was impossible from the very start.

But I shouted out in shock when I read the beastmen's lips and noticed what Adrian was trying to do.

"Hurry; kill him!"

Yet in the sky, a dark, divine light was already descending as the forbidden ritual finished its final phase.

Those beastmen had said, "It's time to prove your worth, elf."

And Adrian had only said two words in response.

"God's Descent!"

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Chapter 192: God's Descent

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

What is a God? There was no way to actually answer this question since this colorful world contained too many existences known as Gods that really did reach the level of Gods in the eyes of people; however, in actual fact, Gods consisted of many varying levels.

The Elemental Gods, the True Gods of Order, the Evil Gods of Chaos, the Original Gods, and the others—they had all created their own organizations, and everything about their abilities and personalities was different. Not a single person could give an exact definition of a God, and even the veteran demons in the Chaos Abyss were able to become Gods, recruit believers, and bestow divine powers upon their followers.

And, to tell the truth, there were quite a few major demons that did this, and their believers usually hid in the shadows. Those dangerous demon worshipers were usually at the top of the most wanted lists.

As a matter of fact, there was actually more information on the Order Gods, the victors of the previous Holy War.

From a certain standpoint, since Lorci was an exiled Order God, she was still similar to a True God of Order as she had her own Divine Country and teachings, and she even protected the dark elf species.

In order to understand these undying existences, one would first need to understand the differences between the True Gods of Order and the other Gods. Most True Gods of Order had a direct connection with a particular divine task, and their existences were representations of certain Concepts.

First, Gods should never be treated as individuals. Yet while they were indeed high above mortals and would never naturally die, they had quite a few limitations as well.

They were on a divine plane, but their main bodies were also trapped in the divine plane. They combined with their Divine Tasks and Concepts and became incredibly powerful, but, because of this, they were partially assimilated by the Concepts and had lost their senses of self.

The side of Order was orderly, after all, and their God system was like a tree with many branches and leaves, with all the Gods being a part of the overall tree, and each Divine Obligation and God had various connections with each other.

Low Gods, Middle Gods, High Gods, Main Gods—this was only a rough separation of their ranks, but in a way, it was indeed the current situation of this world tree.

If each Main God were said to be at the top of the divine tree, then the strongest Gods would be the tree's branches, and the countless souls and their worship that could be seen down the ladder constituted the source of nutrition supporting this tree.

From a certain perspective, Lorci was still the same Elf Order God from before; she was creating her own world tree so that she could become an actual Main God of the elves, and her first step in accomplishing her goal was to construct the Dark Elf Gods, with the Poison God Felix being the first.

After they became a part of the world tree and lost a part of their self-consciousness, these Gods could be considered to no longer be individuals. The closest analogy to their existences would be a country.

Each God had their own Divine Country, which was the combination of a Concept and group benefits, and these Gods would obtain the powers of administration. However, they were also tied down by the very same administrator powers.

Leaving their own divine countries? That was strongly forbidden, and as long as the Gods did not leave their divine countries, it would be impossible for them to truly perish. If their physical bodies that they sent out were killed off, then the only thing that would happen would be some loss of divine power.

And now that the Elemental Tide wasn't very active in the current generation, the Gods' physical bodies were rather limited in power, and perhaps a SemiGod-level physical body would be able to deal with normal situations. But when faced with veteran SemiGods who had been through hundreds of battles, they would typically end up as part of their enemies' experiments on researching divine power.

Yet in order to allow their Guardian God to truly be able to assist them, the ancient Elf Kingdom—in this aspect, at least—was far more advanced than other kingdoms.

"God's Descent!"

There were certain standards to be fulfilled for a True God to perfectly accept a body as a vessel—the body needed to be customized, and their soul's wavelength needed to be adjusted in order to adhere to the True God's soul's wavelength. This way, the True God could use a power closed to their maximum.

If a God's Descent succeeded, and the True God's will perfectly aligned with the vessel's, then its willpower and soul would transform into strength. And if the alignment ratio was over ninety percent, then with the vessel and will combining into one, the True God's host would be able to wield power far surpassing that of a God's physical body, and their combat strength would be almost at the level of a True God.

It was worth mentioning, however, that God's Descent was a double-edged sword. This soul contained much of the God's power, and if this vessel, which contained pure willpower and force, ended up being killed, then the True God's divine power would take a huge blow. It that God was only a weak God to begin with, then there was a high chance of the God directly perishing.

The Forest Guardian God Clareladin had personally descended with his SemiGod descendant as his vessel and had indeed managed to draw out tremendous power. He had even managed to force Lorci into descending into her main physical body, but it was precisely because of this that Clareladin had met his end when his vessel SemiGod Prescott died.

These requirements were incredibly high, especially regarding the willpower of the original vessel. And, of course, the closer the person was to the God, the better. If there was a bloodline relation or a synchronized soul wavelength, then it would be all the better. In a way, Karwenz's descent was the Chaos Abyss' version of a God's descent, and it worked almost exactly the same as that of True Gods of Order.

But there were also professionals at summoning the Gods into themselves, and the human witches in the far west, the soul shamans of the beastmen, and the moon elves' soul priests all had bodies specialized for Gods' descents. Among these groups, the moon elves had the oldest traditions.

The moon elves had always been the tribe of priests, which was an important role in the Elf Kingdom. Throughout the great history of the Elf Kingdom, the greatest priests would always come from the moon elf tribe.

Their innate body structures were the most suitable for communicating directly with the Gods, and their high-level Divine Arts that borrowed divine power aligned with their racial talent to begin with.

And after Adrian had joined Lorci, the Spider Queen had unhesitatingly designated him as a future vessel for the Poison God Felix. Amelia had also been countered all the way up until now because she had been facing against Adrian, who had been borrowing the Poison God's divine power that naturally countered her plants.

"God's Descent!"

With Adrian's muttering, a dark-black light fell down from the skies, and a mysterious black mist wrapped itself around Adrian.

Abnormal magical runes appeared on Adrian's skin and caused him to moan in pain as he knelt to the ground, but all the human spears and arrows tossed in his direction were blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Poison God Felix!"

The already corroding ground around him was evidence of the identity of the descending God. It was the lucky God who had recently just ascended.

Felix, who had been born as a dark elf, had long since reached the pinnacle of a SemiGod. When Lorci had helped him steal the Forest Guardian God's divinity, a change had occurred in his Divine Obligation of planting and guarding forests, which then combined with the poison assassin Felix's original body's specialties and transformed the Obligation into that of the Poison God.

Yet I didn't even need the sight before me to confirm my opponent because my system wouldn't possibly remain idle at such a critical time.

[Epic Quest: Slaying a God.]

[Quest Description: Kill the Poison God Felix, and make the foolish Lorci taste the feeling of losing her children again. Let her know the consequences of a double betrayal.]

[Reward: Depends on your performance, but a minimum of 50,000 Fate Points.]

[Punishment for failure: Believe me, if you fail, you won't even need a punishment. Felix is such a weak God. You wouldn't actually fail, would you?]

"Slaying a God?" What an overestimation of my capabilities. Even if Felix is a super-weak God who just rose up to the level of a True God, I'm still not certain of being able to defeat him."

The Adrian before me was no longer in a humanoid form. The True God's power had begun changing him, and with the distorted boundaries of reality, he soon transformed into a gigantic black spider.

He was more hideous than a demon lord from one's worst nightmare and was fiercer than a colossal dragon. The eight eyes of this gigantic black spider were filled with looks of greed as its disgustingly large mouth was already spewing digestive fluids that corroded the ground in front of it, and poison kept leaking out of its tail. The ground where it stepped with its poison-needle-studded feet would transform into a poisonous swamp.

Divine power gave him powers far above the norm. Just its stare would cause people to feel despair, and just looking upon him would cause the weak-willed to go insane.

But…

"Fight him to the death! We have nowhere to retreat! At least we shouldn't die like cowards!"

Yes, this wasn't the time to be wasting words repetitively. We had long since had nowhere to retreat to.

"Hmph! Lorci, I'm definitely going to remember this!"

I spat some blood as I lifted my Roland Sacred Sword again and led the charge. I was prepared to finish my Epic Quest.

With a descended God as our opponent, the battle pushed us to the brink right at the very start.

The gigantic spider was incredibly dexterous despite its size, and its enormous legs resembled an exquisitely well-controlled mecha as it moved. It easily tore through our defensive structures over the entire defense line.

Under the Poison God's control, a black mist surrounded its body, which directly destroyed all magic spells and arrows before they could even reach him.

But the biggest headache of all was the poisonous mist he was emanating, as anyone who so much as touched it died on the spot—there was not even a single survivor.

"I've analyzed the divine power; it's not just a simple poison. It's the Concept of Corrosion and Withering! He's distorting life into death! Definitely don't touch that!"

Just as Harloys finished speaking, one of Felix's gigantic eyes fixated on her as he spat a black gob of poison in her direction.

Felix was no mindless beast. He had senses far surpassing that of others, so even if Harloys only had the physical appearance of a black cat, he immediately classified her as the number one threat since she could point out his divine power's nature.

And while the battle was raging on ferociously, not far away on an observation tower's deck the beastmen tribe leaders were watching this scene with cold eyes.

"…Shouldn't we send our forces to help out? Isn't that our ally?"

The Boar Tribe Leader seemed somewhat confused. He believed that they were supposed to be the main characters on the battlefield, so why were they simply watching their ally fight while watching from behind? This wasn't how beastmen would typically act.

"Help? Hmph, after that spider kills off the humans, if it doesn't turn around and kill us next then I'll thank the War God for protecting me."

"Ally? Even though our ally has such strong combat capabilities, she watched us lose so many after last night's battle and only now she sends Felix to fight? Isn't this just trying to steal the battlefield achievements?"

Beastmen preferred using their fists instead of their brains, but that didn't mean they were idiots. Lorci's intentions were so obvious that even they could see them.

Amon reached out with his single remaining arm and collected a few snowflakes in his hand. They began to melt due to his body heat.

Crack!*

Amon clenched his fist tightly as a ferocious light emanated from his eyes. The current him was the unmistakable Beastman King. "Everyone, prepare for battle. We must reorganize our squads before the snow gets heavier. In this battle, nobody—no species—is worthy of our trust. Warriors, prepare to die in battle. For our honor and for our ancestors' land, even if we're destined to be buried here, we must let this cruel world understand the courage of the beastmen!"

Suddenly, an ancient horn sounded out from far away—a summons from a true ally of theirs.

"They're finally here!"

All the beastmen tribe leaders had joyous looks, and when I received my scout's report, I was shocked.

"How are there still more beastmen? Haven't they already used all their main forces?"

But the direction the beastmen reinforcements were coming from, as well as the tribal flag that the air cavalry scout described to me, instantly helped me understand the situation.

"The beastmen of the plains? That damned Emordilorcan!"

Since the plateau's beastmen could directly reach the human territories through the Earth Elemental God's tunnels, then the beastmen from the plains could surely do the same thing. Perhaps this was Emordilorcan's true final trump card!

But right now, I was unable to do anything, because the highly venomous spider before us was already difficult enough to deal with!

"Harloys, make your preparations! If we must die here, we need to at least take these bastards with us!"

Yet, suddenly, another combat drum's sound rang out in a familiar elven song, which actually made that huge spider reveal an excited and happy expression like a human.

However, when I listened to it carefully as well, I, too, smiled.

"It's finally here!"

Note:

1. The Divine Obligation refers to a God's area of specialty/Concept—like how Wumianzhe's is Law, Felix's is Poison/Withering, and Clareladin's is the Forest.

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Chapter 193: Silver Dignity

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

Iron Bloodline, Bronze Body, Silver Dignity, and Golden Will were the separate ranks the humans had created for each power level, and each rank contained endless amounts of hard work, blood, and tears.

The Silver and Gold species didn't have any need to classify ranks in such a manner as they were innately born above the so-called Silver and Gold. In their eyes, possessing such low-ranked power classifications was no different from giving their children power classifications, something which was deemed entirely unnecessary.

Yet, for humans, each rank represented a foundational change in the warrior's power level.

Iron Bloodline and Bronze Body—these names were already self-explanatory. Human mages at these levels could create mana circuits within their bodies, while warriors could utilize their bodies' potential. "Bronze Body" was synonymous with "perfect body."

Of course, this didn't mean their bodies were actually perfect—it meant that after reaching this level, ordinary humans would no longer be able to drag any more power out of their bodies.

On the contrary, the definition of Silver Dignity was worth wondering about.

After all, it was entirely distinct from the other ranks; the description of "dignity" for a power level was incomprehensible.

"Incomprehensible? After reaching this level, humans can finally have some dignity in front of other species; only this level can help humans be comparable to them."

"If you only look at the power level, then Bronze and Silver have very little different from each other, but some things can actually be felt when you're at a certain level. The difference between Bronze and Silver is the difference between the highest level that an ordinary person can achieve and the beginning of an extraordinary person's path. While the difference doesn't seem big, they're actually as far apart as the sky and the ground."

While this was all rather a vague description, but for the truly strong in Silver, this was as natural as breathing or eating.

Think about asking a person how to breathe or how to use more strength and if there were any techniques to it. Perhaps everyone knew how to breathe, but nobody could say how they knew it or why.

"After reaching the Silver rank, you won't have to worry about incomprehensible deaths."

For the strong of the Silver rank, life force and mental spirit were both actual foundational strengths, and they could generate the Qi of a martial artist or the magic ring of a mage to create formless barriers.

They had different effects, but all of them could block outside impacts. The strong of the Silver rank had bodies that were their own domain and could resist against outside forces.

"At the very least, if you can know how you die, then it's enough to be at a cannon fodder's level. You can die with some pride."

"On a true, major battlefield, without being at the Silver rank, it's not even enough to be cannon fodder. Under major spells cast by Legends, ultimate sword techniques, or a Divine Domain, people would be just like an inanimate rock or a tree with zero power to resist. Just one thought or one look from these high-ranked existences could kill you—and there would be a zero chance of survival. How could I even win?"

In the generation where many species chaotically fought with each other, a young Silver-ranked genius of his tribe had said that helplessly and sardonically about himself.

"And if the enemy is a God, even if it's only a Low God who just ascended…"

I shouted loudly as I turned my will into a formless barrier to keep out the purple-gray Divine Domain of Withering.

"…If you aren't even at the Silver rank, with Divine Domains most likely soon to be everywhere, you probably wouldn't even see your enemy before you die without realizing what's going on."

And when I knew that I was about to face God-ranked opponents of Karwenz's level in the future, I unhesitatingly used all my saved Fate Points, so that at the very least I wouldn't die without knowing what happened against opponents who possessed their own Divine Domains.

And now, Karwenz had left, but Felix doubtlessly possessed his own, true Divine Domain as well.

From the moment of Felix's descent, a formless yet still-present Domain already enveloped half the city, and if anyone used any prophecy or detection-related abilities, then they would notice gray-purple smoke present everywhere.

And it wasn't the doing of Felix's conscious efforts; it was the side effect of his Obligation as the Poison God, but just this "side effect" was more than enough to kill off the weak.

"Cough—cough!"

The injured behind us were coughing unstoppably, and this was followed by vast amounts of people spitting up blood. The fact that their blood was blackened was evidence of their worsening injuries.

"Mom, I feel so terrible! I can't breathe."

In a shelter, a yellow-faced girl with lips turning pale-green was requesting her mother for help, but she wasn't the only one.

Most of the commoners taking refuge from the war were coughing in the shelters, and the sick were becoming sicker while the healthy suddenly fell ill. The infectious diseases were spreading as they pleased; the Poison God's Divine Domain of Withering was herding them towards death.

This was also one of the reasons why True Gods were forbidden to descend. True Gods that embodied a concept were always frightening; if they walked about on the mortal plane, they would naturally distort their surroundings.

For example, if the Tempest God descended, then waves as high as the sky would cause destruction in all directions; if the Sun God descended, a terrifying heat would transform the mortal plane into hell—even the descent of the Law God would probably create a strange Divine Domain where any crime would be immediately punished.

Felix was a half-spider, half-elf Poison God, and his new divine job included "the ending of nature (withering poison)," so within his Divine Domain, all living creatures would become distorted, and the chances of acquiring a disease would be vastly increased. Even the healthiest person would become deathly ill if they stayed within Felix's divine domain for too long.

It wasn't that all the Gods wanted to cause wanton destruction; it was simply unavoidable for them.

So, no matter if it were the Order Gods or the Chaos Gods, they would try, as much as possible, to avoid descending either in a vessel or with their true bodies. But since Lorci had already descended in her true body, the rules had long since been broken, so it didn't matter if Felix, who was under her command, broke the rules again.

"…If we don't defeat him quickly, all of us will die."

Perhaps this newly-born rule-breaking Poison God would eventually be punished by the other Gods, but if we weren't able to take care of this God-ranked enemy right before us, we wouldn't live to see that anyways.

The only part worth celebrating was the fact that the gigantic spider God before us was not very skilled at controlling his Divine Domain; it only spread out naturally from him, weakening the effects to the point where the warriors facing Felix wouldn't instantly perish just from his Divine Domain.

"Everyone that's below the Silver rank, retreat together with the citizens, and get as far away as possible from his Divine Domain! It doesn't matter what your overall rank is, your body has to be at least of the Silver rank."

Yet even the strong ones of the Silver rank were nothing more than cannon fodder that could last a few seconds. Just being stared at for a few seconds by this gigantic spider would cause many to spit blood and die, but what surprised even me was that my condition was surprisingly good. It seemed that Felix's Divine Domain had no effect on me, which was something not even a Legend rank could claim to be able to pull off.

The domain of my physical body seemed to have completely cut me off from the Divine Domain's influence. It didn't seem to be some simple coincidence; rather, it was the special ability of my bloodline.

[Host's willpower is over 20; Host is at the Silver rank. Now that you are under the suppression of a Divine Domain, I would like to congratulate the host. You have awakened your racial talent: Chaos Barrier.]

[Chaos Barrier: Protect your mind from being suppressed by divine or mental realms. Reduce the effects of anything that attempts to reduce your willpower or vision.]

Although the explanation was rather vague and straightforward, it was doubtlessly one of the most practical abilities suitable for my current situation. At the very least, with its assistance, I was able to calmly assess the circumstances, make adjustments, and take command.

What? Go fight in melee combat? With the current me, unless I used some forbidden techniques, I doubt I would cause any damage to Felix. I would prefer to not be suicidal.

"Borealis! Cover us with cannon fire!"

In this long, snow-filled, and back-and-forth battle, the Borealis was pretty much useless during the night when it had no way of seeing anything. However, it still had plenty of remaining ammunition and energy, and as I gave the command, Envy, who was rearing for battle, instantly turned on all the cannons.

Boom!* *Boom!*

Numerous explosions popped up like fireworks all over Felix's body, as the mage towers didn't rest with their continuous thunderbolts and fireballs. When combined with the sound of explosions, it was truly a grand scene.

Unfortunately, in front of the astonishing defense of a True God who had descended into a vessel, these mortal technologies and spells couldn't even break through its defenses.

However…

"This is enough for a smokescreen—Amelia!"

"Hah!"

With a shout, the green-haired witch flew up into the air like a meteor, and when she suddenly changed direction downwards, she was coming down at a far greater and more frightening speed than an actual meteor.

For the gigantic Felix, that was only an ignorable human the size of a grain of rice, but Amelia's sudden, tremendous punch made him cry out in pain as he shook all over.

Judging from the dark-green poisonous liquid spurting out from his wound, this punch had pierced through his heart.

Amelia had used her strength to demonstrate that experience trumped power. Even if her ability was naturally countered by Felix, she was a veteran SemiGod; she still had her way of battling.

When the elite warriors of the allied armies rushed over to the spider's side, they all stopped suddenly.

"There are sticky substances on the ground! Be careful; there are also invisible webs!"

That was, unfortunately, their final words. Felix, who had just received such a heavy impact, angrily activated his Divine Domain at full force, causing a gray-black poisonous mist to spread everywhere. The closest warriors to him were the first to fall victim to it with strange rashes appearing all over their bodies. And just like that, they fell over while still staring in angry disbelief.

Seeing the way those warriors had died so pitifully, the warriors behind them began hesitating. Since it had come to this, none of them were afraid of sacrifice, but the sacrifice had to have meaning.

What was most fortunate, however, was that the interference of a God was sure to bring another God's intervention to balance things out. When Felix descended into Adrian, some existences could finally have an excuse to interfere; our reinforcements eventually arrived.

A familiar, brilliant silver light descended. Wumianzhe's will had always been watching this battlefield, and when the enemy's True Gods ignored the rules and did as they pleased, it was time for him to interfere as well.

When that light dissipated, an entire military squad appeared before us. Those various flags were rather nostalgic, and the familiar faces caused several shouts of surprise.

"Dragonslayer Bastlar! That's a Legend-rank hero's spirit!"

"Isn't that General Lololer? She died just two days ago on the battlefield, and General Bastlar is dead as well! How are they alive?"

"Idiot, they're heroic spirits now; didn't the True God make a declaration earlier? Any warrior that died for the sake of defending this land would be able to become a true heroic spirit."

This cruel war had caused countless brave Northland warriors to die on this piece of land, but it also allowed the newly born Guardian God of the Northlands to open up his own Hall of Valhalla for heroic spirits. And, right now, under Bastlar's leadership, this newly born heroic spirit squad re-entered the mortal plane.

Each thrown spear transformed into a bolt of lightning as the sword-wielding heroic spirits began slicing the spiderweb. They now had the advantage, and Felix was forced to retreat, but a fierce look gleamed from his eight eyes as he once again sent more power into his death-inducing Divine Domain.

This time, however, the effect was minimal. The heroic spirit squad before him actually ignored the threat of his Divine Domain and even took the opportunity to unleash a fresh round of attacks on him.

Just a little thinking helped me understand the reason for Felix's pitifulness.

Heroic spirits were of the undead to begin with, and they were only souls, without physical bodies like living creatures. Of course they wouldn't become distorted from Felix's life-altering Divine Domain, and it was obviously impossible for them to become poisoned. This was the natural counter to Felix's powers.

Perhaps the most attention-grabbing person on the battlefield was Dragonslayer Bastlar. Innumerable sharp weapons appeared in midair as precious mystical weapons rained down upon Felix like a storm, with ancient elven magical rune scrolls spreading across the entire area. From the very start, Bastlar was going all-out.

During the dragon-slaying battle, he had temporarily reached the boundary of a True God's level through the help of the power boost provided by the Great Judgement. Now that he understood this power, which was as unstoppable at the ocean, and with the Elf God's Divine Obligation and Divine Authority right before him, he would, of course, give it his all. The master he had sworn loyalty to had obviously indicated that Bastlar could proceed in increasing his rank.

Huge spears kept piercing into Felix's body, the cannon fire kept raining down from the Borealis without a break, and the witch's ambushes were deadly with every punch. The Poison God found that he was actually forced to the brink as the injuries on his body kept increasing.

But even so, just the heroic spirit squad's combat power by itself was insufficient to deal with a God.

"Spider's Gray Forest!"

For Felix, the opponents before him were a bit difficult to deal with, so he was forced to use his power—the power that he had just barely learned how to use. The Concepts of Nature, Elves, Corrosion, and Withering all melded together as the Spider Prince Felix transformed nightmares into reality.

In his Divine Domain, countless strange plants suddenly sprouted; those plants were twisted and ugly, and these stinky trees were growing at a tremendous pace before soon transforming into a bizarre, thick forest. In the darkness of this forest, there were many massive magical beasts with eight legs and multiple eyes, and these nightmares then came to life and entered the battlefield.

Everything before us was now a scene of utter chaos. It didn't seem to be a many-against-one battle at all; it had now transformed into something resembling a battle between two armies.

But this wasn't the only chaotic battle at the Red Maple defense line. At a place not far from here, two real armies were testing each other's mettle.

On one side, it was the beastmen of the plains that had come through Emordilorcan's tunnels. At the very beginning, the Earth Elemental God had come to an agreement with Amon Bloodaxe to not complete the tunnels, as they didn't want the beastmen of the plains to take away their combat achievements.

But when the battle reached a stalemate, Amon and Emordilorcan finally resolved themselves to summon new reinforcements.

As for the forces fighting against them, apart from the diverse species of Underground "demons," there were even more elves.

But Felix's delight was destined to go unanswered, as those elves weren't his reinforcements.

Apart from the quiet Underground allied armies, there were also thirty thousand elves of a new species. Their gray-black skin was very similar to the skin of the dark elves, and they had also accepted Lorci The Fallen Goddess' power at one time. Now, however, these elves had a slightly lighter skin tone, and under the leadership of a banshee princess, they had broken free from Lorci's control and stood against the dark elves.

The Underground armies combined with the grayblood elves were on guard against the beastmen from the plains that had arrived after traveling a great distance. Both armies remained vigilant against each other, but neither army seemed to have the resolve to bring it to direct combat.

And in the military camp, as Suana gazed at the gigantic spider in the distance, which was the size of a small mountain, she had an expression filled with worry. After all, she knew that that was her father—the person she used to trust the most, the person she used to respect as a perfect king.

"Humans, who are innately such a weak species, are fighting to protect their home, but our elf tribe is still suffering from disasters. Our entire army and tribe have turned into fallen elves, and even our king has transformed into a monster. Perhaps nothing can save us now that it's come to this. Father, is this what you wanted? Is this your so-called pride as royalty?"

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Chapter 194: Unwelcome Reinforcements

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The unnatural amount of divine corrosive power was beginning to infect the world. As a True God, Felix had already stayed in the mortal plane for too long, and his divine power had started to rewrite the natural laws of this world. The space itself was transforming into his Divine Country.

Grayish-purple clouds began gathering in the air, and the snowflakes that fell from them were actually dark purple. The fierce winds had a faintly sweet smell to them, but anyone that accidentally inhaled this air would feel dizzy in their heads.

With Felix as the center, a large area was now devoid of all plant life; all the plants in a circle had withered to death. As for small animals, if they hadn't died already, they would have become distorted and transformed into frightening magical beasts that preyed on humans.

The battle between the humans and the True God continued. Even against the True God's descent into a vessel, the defending army still didn't give up, and they kept adding more members to make up for the ones that had fallen. Perhaps it should be said that they were stalling for time and surviving the best they could…

This was a battle where victory couldn't be seen, or if I described it more directly, then this was a suppressive slaughter.

In the increasingly distorted world, the poison had already infected the very air itself; every moment someone would suddenly fall over and die.

And the brave warriors of the vanguard fighting against this humongous spider were dying even quicker in front of Felix's sharp claws and God-level poison.

If it weren't for the heroic spirit squad that didn't care about sacrifices or Felix's poison and the Borealis' constant aerial bombardments providing enough of a bother to Felix, perhaps this battle would have been over already.

Yet merely stalling like this wasn't a good idea at all. Even if the heroic spirit squad was dealing with the brunt of Felix's wrath, for the northern countries' strongest warriors to simply die like this, without even a chance for a direct battle—it was only a chance for them to be sent to Wumianzhe's Hall of Valhalla together with the heroic spirits that fell again.

"Is this the power of a True God? How despairing—if such an existence appeared in Auland…"

Hemet, who had an expression of worry, could only shake his head as he watched the battle through his binoculars from a distant observation tower.

At first, the Auland Empire had sent him and a White Wolf Squad as only the in-name reinforcement guest army. Their goal was to collect information on the north—Darsos' ambition had always been burning—while also transporting goods, but nobody expected that yet another beastman assault to occur just like so many times in the past, transforming the place into a cruel battlefield.

"Is this a Holy War? Everyone has become red-eyed with bloodlust, and even those rarely seen Legend-rank heroes and True Gods have come out. Every country's most treasured Silver and Gold-ranked warriors have actually become nothing more than cannon fodder on the battlefield—oh? Another dozen or so have just died. It takes us a minimum of ten years to train a strong Silver warrior that doesn't rely on equipment."

Hemet sighed in his heart. Not a single person had expected the battle to escalate to such an extent.

Up until now in this battle, the northern humans, elves, and beastmen had given their all in order to obtain greater benefits and land for their own species.

In the short period of just two months, many undying existences had already perished. Not just the Elemental Gods but even a True God had died previously. Merely the ascension of the new True God Felix was major news that would shock the entire world.

And apart from the war fought out in the open, the Elemental Gods and the citizens of the Underground were also getting secretly involved. Countless new weapons of war were changing this generation, and now even the True Gods weren't caring about their appearances and participated directly in battle. There now wasn't a single person who would dare say that the battle in the north was just a small affair.

"If all Holy Wars are battles to such an extent, then even a mega-empire probably wouldn't be able to survive for long. It seems that I really need to have a good discussion with His Majesty and Her Majesty when I return. Heh—I need to be lucky enough to survive past this, however."

Hemet shook his head and got rid of his idle thoughts. He then proceeded to hand over a magic crystal that had recorded large amounts of information to a griffin knight who had been waiting for his orders for quite some time.

"Hand this over to His Majesty Darsos."

"What about you? Do you intend to stay here? I recommend that you leave together with me."

It was quite natural for the griffin knight to be worried about Hemet. If Red Maple Castle was lost, then the beastmen and the Poison God wouldn't spare Hemet just because he was from Auland. Hemet, however, shook his head at the griffin knight.

"I intend to watch his battle to the very end. It is worthy of me exchanging my life for firsthand information. And… I still believe that humanity can win!"

The griffin knight took off into the air and flew southward. Just as a feather from the griffin fell on Hemet's hand, heavy footsteps sounded out from behind him.

Hemet already knew who they belonged to.

"You guys want me to approve sending you out to battle? You saw it for yourselves; you are equivalent to nothing more than cannon fodder in a battle of this level."

Everyone behind him was silent and didn't respond, but this was evidence of the White Wolf Imperial Knights' determination. Even if they were merely a guest army, watching the deaths of other humans and the slaughter of ordinary citizens without doing anything was something they couldn't stand as knights.

They could only be cannon fodder? These knights were no greenhorns to the battlefield, so of course they knew the difference in level. Yet even though they were aware that they were walking a thorny path, the knights still had expressions of resolution and steadily held on to their weapons. From the start of battle until now, their desire to fight had been continually burning, and their blood had always been boiling.

"Knights fight for justice! We swear to sacrifice our blood in order to resist the injustice and evil."

"Knights fight in order to protect! We treat the weak with kindness, but when butcher knives are aimed at the innocent, weak, elderly, and ill, we shall transform into the most solid walls of flesh and blood."

"Knights fight for the royalty! We protect our homes and swear loyalty to our lords, but justice is what we listen to above all. If there's a conflict between justice and our lords, we shall choose according to our hearts."

At this moment, the ancient spirit of chivalry seemed to be in full effect. The silence was the choice that all these knights made even with their oaths of loyalty towards the Auland Empire.

Hemet shook his head; he had expected this outcome.

"…It seems that I said something unnecessary. It would only bring humiliation upon the White Wolf Knights to have you guys retreat; it would make these northern hick countries look down on the Auland Empire. Go and perform well, and don't let the northerners look down on Auland! Make the Auland White Wolf Knights proud!"

"White Wolves…"

"…victory!"

That was the angry roar of the White Wolf Knights. They all left with such a short battle cry, fully intending to not return. Hemet shook his head again as the knights left and returned to paying attention to the combat situation.

Knights had a knight's duty, while a tactician had a tactician's duty. The most important thing for Hemet to do right now was to obtain as much combat information as possible. Some information could be worth lives. Every minute was precious, and he wouldn't allow himself to relax and miss anything.

But, the next thing he saw through his binoculars confused him.

"That Roland; why did he stop? Hmm? Are they trying to dodge something?"

Karodian, the temporary leader of the Tiger Tribe, had been chosen by all the beastmen of the plains. He was also the one who summoned all his fellow beastmen for this attack.

In a way, he was also familiar with Reyne. Last time, during their previous invasion two years ago, he was among the beastmen that had been defeated.

Karodian was known throughout the entire beastmen society for being a tremendously aggressive war hawker. Every year, in the tribe leaders' conference, he would always shout "we should demolish the East Mist Communal Country and fight our way to San Antonio." Yet the beastman, who was always so decisive, now had an expression filled with hesitation; he seemed to have some regret.

"Fighting here with the elves for no apparent reason? This seems absolutely pointless."

Battle was the product of politics. Nobody would want to fight a battle in which there were no benefits. Amon had promised the beastmen of the plains that they would cooperate in attacking the humans and splitting the humans' territory.

Of course, if they won in the end, how much Amon's side and Karodian's side could obtain still depended on their strength after the war. If Karodian used up some of his precious military strength for no apparent reason against this enemy that he felt like he had no reason to fight, it wouldn't be worth it at all.

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a dragon knight! It's Superman—wait, no, it's just a naked muscular man wearing nothing but underpants! Pfft! So disgusting!"

Soon, however, Karodian didn't have to hesitate anymore, as the huge figure that descended from the sky happened to land right between the two armies.

Boom!*

When that person fell to the ground, he instantly moved himself into what he considered a dignified thinking pose. And when he realized that everyone was looking at him, he suddenly lifted his arms, flexed his muscles, and placed his fists against each other in a pose that was obviously to show off his muscles. Then, he smiled.

"Love and peace! Please stop; this world is so beautiful—we shouldn't fight! We should all love each other! Make love, not war!"

With his white teeth reflecting the sunlight, this muscular man was smiling like the sun. His words kept increasing in volume, and by the end, he was even singing the last few words.

But the most discomforting part of all was that even though he was obviously a ridiculously muscular fellow, he had a handsome and pretty face that seemed like it belonged in a shoujo manga . He even appeared to have an expression of embarrassment, and this tremendous contrast seemed to add to his ridiculousness.

"Kill that pervert for me!"

Okay, then, Karodian unhesitatingly shouted out what so many people were thinking, and his subordinates instantly attempted to carry out his order.

It wasn't only the beastmen who acted impulsively; at the exact same time, even Annie and Suana had ordered their soldiers to fire arrows.

Unfortunately, before any arrows could reach that man, they all fell to the ground as if there was an invisible barrier around him.

"Oh my, what disobedient children. Then, allow me, Omar, to teach you what is love!"

Omar flexed his frontal muscles, his back muscles, and his six-pack in a series of exercise fitness routines that made people feel like throwing up in disgust. He glowed brilliantly, and in the next instant, countless amounts of undead armies suddenly materialized out of thin air.

"My heart contains all my citizens, and as a king, wherever I stand is where my country is. My undead are beloved to me, and they love me as well. Come, this is my ultimate love!"

He gave an extravagant kiss towards those skeletons and wiggled his eyes seductively. The brainless skeletons under his control actually made embarrassed reactions in unison, and as for those poor undead that still retained their intelligence…

Annie learned, for the first time, that even the undead were capable of being disgusted to the point of kneeling on the ground and throwing up.

But strength was, by far, the most effective method to get people to listen to you. Even though Omar was obviously a pervert, the hordes of undead caused the beastmen who had been so furious to begin retreating.

"Is it Lord Omar? Those bones—er—Roland probably can't last much longer; please hurry and support him."

"Oh, are you the red-haired Annie girl? Small Lionheart told me about you; you're just like what I heard! So cute—have you ever considered joining me and becoming a star idol? I recently created many new beautiful poses and dances, and if we team up as a dance team, we'd surely shock the entire world."

"I think it would scare the entire world instead."

Okay, Annie at least knew that the person before her was definitely quite strong, so she merely retorted and complained in a tiny voice only she could hear.

"Why is he even more ridiculous than what I heard? I didn't hear that he had all these problems…"

However, in the next instant, Omar's response helped everyone understand.

"Relax, reinforcements have already been sent to help Father. That guy's such an interesting person; he helped me learn so much about love, and I definitely can't match up to him."When I noticed the black dot in the distance that kept increasing in size, I inwardly realized the truth and couldn't stop my eyebrows from twitching. It was definitely good that I had reinforcements, but if my reinforcements were that person—well, let's just say I would have preferred to fight without his help.

"Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a dragon knight! It's Superman—whoops, no, it's a Beifeng! Ahh! Hide!"

The black dot kept growing larger in my vision before it suddenly crashed into the ground, knocked over a small building, and created a small crater.

"What? Is he dead?"

The sounds of shock must have been from people who didn't know him; since, after all…

"No, no. Even if all of Eich is destroyed, that guy won't die."

Those who knew him were, of course, aware of this undying gentleman.

"Ah! I almost died."

As I expected, in the very next instant, that guy's head poked out from the building's rubble with an expression as if he had just barely survived a calamity. However, I knew that he deserved whatever he got.

"You bastard half-dragon! If you decide to tug off my scales one more time and touch wherever you please, I'm going to toss you into a volcano!"

From above the clouds was the sound of an angry roar. With a powerful gale, a purple magic dragon descended from the clouds. After landing, it transformed into a human that glared at the Legend-rank hunter who was attempting to look everywhere but at the dragon.

"Thunderspeed Dragon? This is your animal companion?"

I had heard that Beifeng had used his own dragon blood to ally himself and contract a contract with a Thunderspeed Dragon. The Thunderspeed Dragon was known as the swiftest among all dragons, and only it could have brought Beifeng from Antuen to here in just a single night.

"Well, it's not bad that you could come, but you won't be all that useful here. You might as well have let Adam come instead."

I wasn't looking down on him; our opponent was the Poison God Felix. A Legend-ranked hunter and a young dragon wouldn't help balance the scales by all that much so it would have been better if the dragon had brought Adam here.

But, right then, I heard a familiar foolish laugh.

"Heh heh, I didn't expect you to believe in me so much."

I turned around and looked behind me—wasn't that Adam, the most useful tank? The current him was completely naked except for his underwear and the magical runes that were scribbled all over him.

It turned out that right when the Thunderspeed Dragon had landed, it had unfurled the giant magical carpet it had been carrying—the carpet which had pre-prepared magical runes and spell formations on it. When this simplified spell formation synchronized with the larger, more complex one in Antuen, Margaret had been able to use her remaining magical ingredients to cast another teleportation spell. And of course, Adam, who was currently laughing like a fool, was the person who had been teleported.

"That's wonderful!"

I laughed raucously in delight as I kicked Adam away.

"Go be my meat shield; I need fifteen minutes of absolute safety!"

Okay then, I'm not going to talk any more about how that naked man went to battle with a face filled with displeasure. With such a top-level meat shield around, it instantly reduced the pressure on the other warriors immensely, and it also opened up the possibility for me to accomplish something else.

When Harloys pointed out Felix's characteristics, it immediately attracted his attention and enmity. Perhaps there was nothing that could be hidden from Felix in his own Divine Domain, and I would be unable to do anything significant without sufficient protection. However, now that the tank was here, I could activate a new type of trump card.

Cast a Forbidden Spell such as Frozen Age? First of all, it's a major spell that would require more than one or two hours to finish chanting, not to mention that even if I gave up my life, I wouldn't be able to cast such a high-level Forbidden Spell. Moreover, even without considering the severe side effects to the environment that such a spell would cause, I felt that such a large-scale Forbidden Spell would probably be unable to defeat Felix.

I also felt that the moment I started chanting such a high-level spell, the tremendous surges in the waves of mana it would generate would undoubtedly make Felix ignore everything else and attempt to kill me at all costs. In the past, I had the protection of the armies of undead, but that was no longer the case.

If my opponent had been an innumerable amount of beastmen, then I wouldn't have had any way to deal with them, but if my opponent was something like a True God, then I really did have an ace card up my sleeve—well, it wasn't exactly an ace card since it was a trump card that definitely broke the rules. It would surely cause me endless amounts of trouble, but I had still prepared it for this type of circumstance.

And it was also the existence of this ace card that gave me the courage to face Karwenz by myself. After all, with the passage of so many years, it was quite possible for Karwenz to suddenly turn on me, so I wouldn't possibly appear in front of him if I, at least, couldn't protect myself.

Karwenz was nice enough to only chat with me, so I still had this ace card to use right now.

And since my opponent had totally disregarded the rules, this ace card of mine, which was definitely on the borderline of the gray area, wouldn't cause any trouble for me either.

As I had thought, just the beginning of my casting attracted a large amount of sky-covering poisonous spit to be spat in my direction.

However, I didn't even glance at it, and I continued to focus on my preparations. I had full belief that someone would block that troublesome poisonous spit for me.

"Ahh—my underpants! It's over! I'm so humiliated!"

As I expected, Adam blocked the poisonous spit for me, but the corrosive, poisonous mist ended up destroying his only remaining article of clothing—he was now utterly naked.

"Time out! Wait for me to put on some pants! Hey, I even said time out; why aren't you obeying the rules? This lady over here, could you please loan your skirt to me? Hey—hey—don't run away, I'm not really a pervert! I just saw that you weren't wearing much to begin with, and it seemed easy to take off!"

"Pervert!"

Okay then, let us ignore this person who actually tried to borrow clothing from a female mage and ended up getting slapped—the fact was, however, that his presence gave me enough time to safely cast the ace card spell that I was determined to use here.

"God's Descent!"

Note:

1. Shoujo manga (少女漫画 shōjo manga) is manga aimed at a teenage female readership.

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Chapter 195: Judgement

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The battle before us was already difficult to the point of despair. Even though the warriors weren't afraid of sacrifices, the enemy was immune to ordinary weapons, and it was nigh impossible to scratch his defenses—any battle that was impossible to win would naturally lower the warriors' morale.

"In front of True Gods, all are nothing but ants." — Main True God of The Elves, Anslo Shusta Alderban.

Although I didn't approve of such arrogant words, I couldn't help but admit that these existences known as Gods were the most annoying types of entities, and it was all due to their undying natures and broad Divine Domains.

This, right now, was the perfect example. No matter how hard the mortals worked, they were unable to cause any life-threatening harm to Felix, and even if they somehow managed to injure him, Felix only needed to spend some divine power and would recover in the next second.

"What ants? Humph—it's just that divine power is too powerful and disables the mortals from landing fatal blows… but, it's not impossible to deal with."

"God's Descent!"

Yes, my method was God's Descent as well. This was the ace card I had left for myself when I had ascended to a God; it was my safeguard against any powerful beings that may come looking for trouble later.

True Gods couldn't be defeated? Even if this was treated as a maxim in this world, I had never believed it. However, I had to admit that the special concept known as divine power was incredibly difficult to deal with.

Since I wanted to reach my goal in this Holy War, I knew that I would be facing True Gods sooner or later, and the simplest method to deal with them was to also possess divine power. This was also why I had spent so much effort on creating a True God that was worthy of having believers.

What was the condition for a God's Descent? It was that the souls should be similar and the bodies should be compatible. And there was nobody else who would be more compatible with Wumianzhe—we were the same to begin with, after all, and we could skip all the rituals.

The moon elves were able to achieve a God's Descent with a synchronization ratio of about 60%. Karwenz had specially prepared Reyne's body so that he could synchronize with her at about 80%. However, between Wumianzhe and me, our synchronization was 100% from the very start. Moon elves needed to change their soul wavelengths in order to begin the ritual for a God's Descent, but for me, all I needed to do was make a connection with my other self in the heavens.

Of course, an overly high synchronization wasn't necessarily good either, as two entirely identical souls would create another problem. But now wasn't the time to be worrying about that.

With the two identical wills and souls connecting, a blinding, silver light descended as a lustrous balance appeared in midair. The judge's silver mask materialized together with a similarly silver Divine Domain that began clashing with the grayish-purple Divine Domain.

Through my body, the Law God and Guardian God of the North, Wumianzhe, had descended!

"Heh, is this the feeling of a God?"

My awareness was crystal-clear; I could clearly notice Hemet's shocked expression in the far-off observation tower as he dropped his binoculars. Falsity did not exist in a God's eyes; a God could see truth and souls for what they were.

I could sense the enormous amount of faith transforming into strength as it rushed to my Divine Domain through the pillars of heaven. Most of the chains of faith in the Northlands were related to me as I was the Guardian God of the Northlands. These many believers helped augment my strength.

"…Increasing my strength right now isn't a good thing. I don't have much time; I should hurry."

One body could only possess one soul. When two souls shared the same body for too long, they would instinctively begin trying to suppress and devour each other even if special methods were used to make one soul subordinate to the other. However, this wasn't a problem for me.

Wumianzhe was just an automated version of myself to begin with, and our souls were identical. It was just like two file folders that contained identical documents; no matter how much you overlapped them, they would still be the same.

That wasn't my problem.

"Damn it, we have already started combining…"

Yes, my problem wasn't about the God's Descent in itself; instead, it was about how I would separate from Wumianzhe after I was finished.

Let me make an analogy. A normal God's Descent was akin to the mixing of oil and water; they would have to work on making two completely different existences come together and synchronize to raise the compatibility rate. On the other hand, my God's Descent was like the mixing of water and water; the biggest problem was how to separate the two afterward.

Right now, I had already achieved a strategic goal, as vast amounts of knowledge and secrets poured into my mind and a tremendous amount of divine power filled my body. Even though I took a circuitous route, I was finally able to steal the knowledge and wisdom of the True Gods!

"The secrets of the right to become a God, the structure of the power of faith, reincarnation, the Hall of Valhalla—this was all worth it!"

Some things could only be seen upon reaching a certain level. I had been awaiting these divine secrets for quite a while, and now that I possessed them, the next step of my plan could finally be realized. My future personal development now became much clearer.

"I finally made progress. With this, I can focus entirely on increasing my personal combat strength…"

Yet now wasn't the time to rejoice, as my consciousness was already becoming blurry. Wumianzhe was like a vast ocean absorbing a small river—me. If this combination continued, perhaps we would never be able to be separated again.

"No matter if Wumianzhe is pulled down here or if I'm pulled up to the heavens, neither is an acceptable end. That would mean everything I've worked for and waited for was all wasted!"

All these thoughts flashed through my mind in a short instant. The bystanders only saw Roland floating in midair as a silver judge's cap materialized on his head and his divine power transformed into a Divine Domain.

The silver and grayish-purple Divine Domains clashed against and invaded each other; each tried to force itself above the other Divine Domain. The two descended Gods clashed against each other in an instant, using the most barbaric method of all to prove their strength.

Perhaps Roland as a host was far stronger than Adrian, perhaps Wumianzhe was simply stronger than Felix since Wumianzhe had two Divine Obligations, or perhaps Felix was still far too weak as he had just recently ascended to the position of a True God because it was obvious who the victor was at first glance.

The silver Divine Domain won overwhelmingly!

"A battle between Gods!"

The battle which would determine the master of the Northlands rose to the final level, as even the Gods began directly interfering in the fight. Although the current me seemed rather majestic, I actually had a severe headache, with my consciousness becoming hazy. I only wanted to go to sleep.

But I knew that if I slept now, I might never wake up again.

"Shadow!"

With a low roar, a hallucinatory shadow came to life and attached itself to my body as it greedily devoured divine power and grew.

This was the strength that I had obtained from that great snowy mountain. That Frigid Nightmare that just couldn't hatch had finally transformed—but it had transformed into a piece of ice named Shadow. Currently, it was just a newborn that severely lacked nutrition, and divine power from the same source was the best nutrition of all.

What did I mean by "same source?" Wumianzhe's divine power was from the same source as me, and this Frigid Nightmare was my companion and was also from the same source as me. As a result, the Frigid Nightmare and Wumianzhe had the same source of power.

Frigid Nightmares would grow together with their hosts and would absorb their host's emotions in order to evolve. As for this newly-born Frigid Nightmare named Shadow, it had already absorbed more than three hundred years of negative emotions from me. Perhaps growing up in such a crazed and twisted environment created its frightening power.

Even when it had just hatched, it could already easily toy with and kill Fismer. If it could absorb enough divine power in order to make up for its shortcomings of being unable to hatch for so long, its growth potential was unimaginable. I was greatly looking forward to witnessing his growth.

After being succored by the silver divine power, Shadow, who was formerly black, began changing in color, and its hallucinatory form also began to materialize. Thanks to the power of luck and coincidence, a brand-new divine creature was being born.

From far away, Shadow seemed only like a pair of wings of light belonging to Wumianzhe, as it was actually shining brilliantly and beautifully.

Lustrous wings kept spreading out as a silvery-white hooded cape blocked Wumianzhe's face, and Wumianzhe's silver mask materialized in the mortal plane along with numerous one-eyed emblems. He was watching everywhere, judging the entire world.

To tell the truth, all this customized equipment was the form that Shadow chose to take. As it was a part of me, Shadow was currently helping me bear part of Wumianzhe's divine power, and finally helped ease my burden so that I could spare enough attention to manipulate this unimaginably strong divine power.

"Target locked on Felix. Divine Art: Great Judgement!"

A silver light covered the entire world as the God of Law, with wings of light, reached his arms out to the sky and summoned a nameless massive Book of Law in front of him.

"Judgement!"

A silver-white gavel generated endless waves in the air as the masked and robed judge began judging the sinner before him. In the Law God's Divine Domain, there wasn't a single crime that would be able to escape his eyes.

Currently, under the Eyes of Justice, an untold number of crimes appeared as the Book of Law kept turning to the page with the punishments for crimes. In front of the Law God and the Original Book of Law, there wasn't a single existence that would be spared—not even a God!

"You are all judged to be guilty!"

The silver-colored Divine Domain began spreading. Since the beastmen were here as well, how could I possibly just let them go? They were still waiting at the scene of the crime to split their spoils, so I was going to judge them together as well!

Hiss!*

Unfortunately, the Spider God Felix's high-pitched screaming tore through my spreading Divine Domain, and dealing with its struggling took up much of my concentration, causing me to lose the chance to deal with all the troublesome beastmen in one go.

"Silence!"

I reduced the size of my Divine Domain and used silver chains to bind that gigantic Spider God. I had always believed in the maxim "better safe than sorry," so I used all of my divine power and concentration on the opponent before me.

"Divine Law, The Primary Sin of the Thirteen Sins: Those who purposefully take away others' lives shall be severely judged by the Law God; they shall suffer from impaling and fire torture even after death!"

The Divine Laws didn't have a limit on their targets to begin with. They were the laws created by the Law God, as well as his teachings and the meaning for the Law God's existence.

Yep, from the very start, I had never set targets for what the Divine Laws could and couldn't judge. It had always been my intention to judge the Gods!

"Judge the Gods? Are you crazy?" Ayer was shocked at the time.

"No, this world is the one that's crazy!" was my response.

"Just let someone as crazy as me to make you idiots high above us, you bastards who treat the lives of human—hard-working humans—as nothing more than toys! I shall teach you what the pride of the mortals is. If I don't pull you bastards in front of me to be judged, then how could I ever end this damned battle!"

"Divine Law, Execution!"

The silver chains binding Felix began materializing and dragged the Spider God into the mortal plane as Felix's purple divine soul started entering his body. This judgment was to take effect directly against the True God's actual body.

A silver rack transformed into sharp knives and the Incantation of Law turned into a viciously boiling sea of magma. The Spider God was currently tortured in both this world and the other plane.

But, this was only the beginning…

"Divine Law, The Seventh Sin of the Thirteen Sins: Those who fulfill their personal desires yet forget their original Divine Obligations, break the laws, act greedily, and play around shall be stripped of all their jobs and demoted to mortal status!"

"Felix, you willfully descended and created a bloodbath, caused a battle, and killed countless lives. Many grudge-bearing souls in the River Styx are because of you…"

Even though he was currently being tortured by knives and fire, the furious spider was still trying his utmost to struggle and escape from his restraints; he had a premonition that this was about to be his end.

"…You no longer deserve to be a God. I declare right here and now that I demote the Poison God Felix to become mortal!"

The complete suppression of Felix's Divine Domain helped the Incantation of Law Great Judgement be effective. At this very moment, Felix lost his Divine Domain, and now, no matter how much strength he had remaining, he was nothing more than a giant spider instead of a venerated True God.

I knew that after my Divine Domain dissipated, Felix would recover his status as a True God. I was still far from possessing the power to truly judge the Gods, and this type of power suppression wouldn't be able to last long.

But it was enough…

Something white viciously struck Felix's head and caused him to scream in agony. As my oldest and most trusted partner, Adam would never let such an opportunity slip past him.

The massive injury on Felix's head didn't heal instantly like before. Without his Divine Domain, and without his divine defense and undying attribute, Felix was now no longer anything more than a slightly larger-than-usual and more robust normal beast.

"Hurry! Don't waste this opportunity that Lord Wumianzhe has created for us!"

"White Wolves! Victory!"

"Silver Cross, charge! Don't let those southern hicks steal away the achievement of Slaying a God; this belongs to us!"

"Blackeye Squad, grit your teeth for me and hang in there!"

"Is there anyone else left from the Rhodes Imperial Guard? Damn it, even if I'm the only one left, I'm going to charge! I won't let anyone look down on me!"

The cannons on the Borealis had been overheating to the extent where they were almost unusable but were reignited once more as the heavily injured knights began their final charge. Amongst all the fatigued armies, the Four Elemental Swordcasters who could replenish their sources of power stood out most of all.

The other warriors had already used up all of their mana in this long, drawn-out battle, but as a product born in this new generation type of battle, the Swordcasters had already recharged their mana through the Borealis. They were currently tossing out Fireballs and Thunder Arrows, using the most basic elemental spells to deal irrecoverable damage to the former True God; Felix was on the brink of death.

"This isn't enough! We won't make it in time!"

I could sense that this wasn't enough. Felix had yet to receive a fatal injury, but I was almost unable to maintain this for any longer.

I was already beginning to lose my mind as chaos and confusion filled my head, and I felt dizzier and dizzier and wanted to sleep, but…

"…Is there really nothing else I can do? It was so difficult to make it to this step; was everything but a waste? I can't accept this!"

My soul and Wumianzhe's soul were on the verge of complete synchronization, and if I didn't cancel the God's Descent soon, I probably would never be able to do so. I wanted to grit my teeth and hold on, but my consciousness was becoming hazier, making holding on any longer seem meaningless.

"I just want to sleep; why do I have to hold on—no, this is no good!"

"Then, let me cancel the God's Descent; my soul is beginning to combine—I definitely can't do that!"

"Who—who am I? Wumianzhe? Roland? Blackhand? Rolo?"

Alluring words were trying to steal my consciousness away, and Felix's divine power was still struggling against mine and increasing the speed of the fading of my consciousness. My chaotic memories were affecting my mental stability, and I was almost unable to hold on for any longer, but…

"We Aurora Knights have returned!"

"Let these invaders taste the fury of the Mist!"

"May the Will of the Mist remain unbroken forever! We have returned!"

Their familiar battle cries snapped me back to my senses. Weren't those in the sky our imperial knights? They finally made it just in time.

"The Imperial Knights of the Mist Kingdom, all fifty-four members of the Aurora Knights have arrived, and we pay our respects to Your Highness Roland! Your Highness, we have returned!"

Ah, my knights, I knew you wouldn't disappoint me! After all, no matter if it was 378 years ago, 252 years ago, 132 years ago, or 1 year ago, you never disappointed me!

"The Aurora Knights of the Eastern Mist Communal Country; all one hundred and seventy-four members of the Aurora Knights have arrived! We pay our respects to Your Highness Roland! Your Highness, leave the rest to us!"

These new generation youngsters flew a circle around me with their teachers before putting on their iron helmets. They then began laughing maniacally as they charged towards the humongous spider who was still flailing around.

"Nice job, young one!"

The Lion King Frigid Nightmare who belonged to the first Mist King gave me his rare praise as he transformed into a colossal Lion King and pounced towards Felix.

But, he came up empty.

"Ah Dang is here! I shall beat up anyone who dares to bully my father!"

If it weren't for that familiar voice, perhaps not a single person would be able to connect that gigantic furious titan with Gluttony. The giant, who suddenly landed, directly smashed Felix to the ground, as a huge bone dragon, which suddenly descended from the skies, shrieked and emanated death with every breath.

This was a rarely seen scene. Undead Knights and Holy Knights had allied with each other and were charging together, dragon knights and bone dragons were actually on the same side, and the corpse-eating king was actually using a human holy sword. Imperceptibly, I felt as if I was getting closer to the utopia I dreamed of…

I was already losing control of my hazy consciousness, but I held firmly onto the chains of the beast that was in my cage.

"Felix! You want to escape? Stop dreaming! Pay some interest for the amount of blood that you've caused to spill on this land! Later, I'll go looking for Lorci to collect the principal !"

Note:

1. According to Wiktionary, principal —not to be confused with principle —refers to the money originally invested or loaned, on which basis interest and returns are calculated.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

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Chapter 196: Slaying a God

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

An ancient epic was re-enacted at this moment; an undying True God had managed to fall.

The chains that represented divine punishment had pulled Felix down from his status as a True God. And without that status, he no longer had the divine power that could regenerate himself from his injuries, so he finally began panicking.

After receiving the honor of becoming a God, he would never have been able to imagine that he would one day fall in battle. To him, battles were just games, and mortals were just the chess pieces on the chessboard. Yet this game had now turned fatal for him.

Panic and helplessness finally appeared in his eight eyes as he was now experiencing fear and despair for the first time, emotions which he had been giving to the mortals all this time.

He truly wanted to escape.

But it was already too late.

The Seven Deadly Sins had arrived…

"Damned Gods, have we People of the Mist offended you? What's with all this? Is it so hard to just live peacefully?"

The furious Ah Bas of Wrath ripped off one of Felix's long legs in a single movement, causing dark-purple poisonous blood to spray everywhere. The enormous three-headed hellhound had already become larger than the gigantic spider, and two of Bastian's heads kept injuring Felix while the other head angrily roared and spat death.

Without a doubt, he was venting his anger, but there was nothing wrong with him doing so—many warriors were also shouting at the ugly spider.

"Why us! Why can't we just live peacefully in this land?"

The northern people had already suffered so much, and they, too, wanted to ask why war had to occur in their homeland again! Was it too much to ask for to want to live in peace?

Yet Felix didn't answer, nor was he able to answer.

"Ah Dang, Ah Dang hates spiders!"

The huge titan, which was speaking in a low and muffled voice, had transformed into an enormous octopus, with its flexible yet robust tentacles curling around the vicious spider. Ah Dang used suppression techniques that no human could use to seal Felix's efforts at resistance, and his thickest tentacle had turned into a round hammer that continually smashed Felix's head.

To Ah Dang, values such as truth and justice were never of importance. The concept of peace that humans believed in was also meaningless, but there was one point he absolutely couldn't tolerate—if anyone dared to harm his family, then Ah Dang would go all out and viciously beat that person.

"Lock on to Felix's limbs! Fire half of all our remaining ammunition!"

This time, cannon fire and smoke covered the skies. Even though Felix's still outstanding defense helped him ignore these cannon shells, Envy's Borealis spun Felix around like a dragon before proceeding to brutally sink its horn into his forehead.

That was a cursed horn belonging to a SemiGod Single-Horned Whale. This strike, which contained some partial divine power, wasn't an attack that Felix, who had lost his divine power, was able to ignore.

"Hiss! Ahh!"

Felix's sharp wails sounded just like the cruelest type of curse magic, but unfortunately, he was being suppressed by two undead even larger than himself—he was utterly incapable of movement. Felix could only obediently remain as our living target.

But this was only the beginning. The newcomer to the Seven Deadly Sins wanted to show off its ability in front of its older siblings.

"Mine! All mine! I'm envious of your eight divine eyes! I'm going to take them for myself!"

With a dark glow enveloping Envy, Felix lost four of his eyes, and at this very instant, four dark green eyes appeared on the front half of the Borealis.

And Felix, who had lost half of his eyes, was worse off than having been blind, as the chaotic situation for him turned into twisted scenery. He soon lost his balance under the suppression of the enormous undead that had been causing him to continually shake.

"Ah, my younger siblings, your older brother has arrived."

That familiar magnanimous-sounding voice caused the two colossal undead beasts to pause simultaneously in surprise. This manner of addressing them would only be used by that fellow who causes everyone to feel discomfort when simply looking at him.

But after his light-sounding words came a thunderstorm.

"Million-undead armies!"

Countless undead armies suddenly appeared, and they furiously poured forth as if they had just erupted from a volcano. The low-level undead climbed over the gigantic spider—it was a magical version of a scene of ants swarming an elephant.

Yet this still wasn't over.

"Ah, my fist is beauty and justice! My justice is the will of my kingdom!"

The man in form-fitting clothes made a sliding movement while being surrounded by innumerable thin threads that were, in fact, soul connections, which gave this man that nobody could stand looking at an endless amount of power. His ridiculously exaggerated flying kick pierced through the humongous spider's stomach, causing large amounts of divine blood to pour out from Felix's wound and distort any plants that it touched. The Spider Prince had received a heavy injury.

Omar's attack definitely attracted everyone's attention, but what greeted him were his allies' complaints.

"What's with calling yourself the older brother? You're the youngest!"

"Ah Dang is the oldest brother!"

The arrival of four of the Seven Deadly Sins along with strong reinforcements from the fresh new undead army that didn't know the meaning of fatigue finally helped the defending warriors relax. Meanwhile, the true guardians of this land, the ace knight squadron that had the reputation of being undefeatable whenever they numbered over one hundred, had arrived once again in the present day.

Those beautiful silver-white arcs in the sky were, shockingly, strong warriors. The veteran knights among them were in no hurry, and they acted like a wolf pack surrounding its prey as they searched for their enemy's weak point.

And, at that moment, Felix, who was on the verge of collapsing, had already revealed his weak point.

"Everyone, prepare to charge! Use the 'death slide' tactic!"

The Aurora Knights that never numbered over one hundred actually had nearly three hundred knights now. This famous #1 ranked knight squadron in the Northlands had now revived itself from the ashes of the Mist Kingdom, and its classical combat strategy was now revisiting the stages of history.

The seemingly shining Aurora became beautiful silver meteors as they streaked through the sky. Their thrown spears and ice arrows froze Felix's critical areas and joints as the Frigid Nightmare steeds beneath them created paths of ice in the sky.

When the crystal-clear path in the sky was finally completed, the sleeping white dragon had transformed into a fatally sharp blade.

"Everyone, charge!"

At the beginning of the icy path in midair, the veteran knights were taking the lead as the newer knights loosened their grips on their reins and allowed the legendary Frigid Nightmares to carry them on this charge.

"Vanguard, ice blades! All invaders shall perish!"

As the Aurora Knights slid on the ice path, the accumulated power of the ice helped sharpen their icy blades as they kept enlarging and increasing in speed. By the time the Aurora Knights reached the ice path's end, their ice blades had transformed into fatal blades at soaring speeds.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Countless huge blades pierced into Felix's body at light speed, and when most of the ice blades had pierced into his body, the Aurora Knights themselves mixed in with their ice blades and used their own bodies as blades; they transformed into rainbows of colors as they tore Felix's body apart once more.

"Rear guard, reorganize for the second charge!"

After exhausting their ice blades, the knights flew back up to the beginning of the ice path to begin a new round of construction of the ice blades. Unless all the Aurora Knights' Frigid Nightmares used up every last drop of their mana, this ice blade attack would never end. This was the 'death slide' tactic that the Aurora Knights specially used for destroying mega-sized targets.

The largest 'death slide' tactic in history used thirty-six Aurora Knights, and they had managed to slay an Ancient White Dragon. But this time, their number was more than that by ten times! The endless ice blades were at the top of physical attacks, and they even contained magical attack power from death and ice magic. Except for Ah Dang, who couldn't feel pain at all, everyone—even Bastian and Omar—had to step backwards.

This time, it was the Frigid Nightmare Lion King's turn to transform into a huge beast and suppress Felix, as he was immune to his fellow Frigid Nightmares' ice magic. The Lion King, however, quickly discovered that this was completely unnecessary, as Felix had now lost all energy and was injured to the point where he couldn't even move.

Roar!*

The blind spider that had lost its leg pitifully roared in pain. It was no longer a threat; the Poison God, the harbinger of so much death, had its body pierced all over repeatedly before it finally collapsed with the ice blades still stuck into its body. Ah Dang transformed into a huge-mawed devourer and chomped the spider's head in a single bite, delivering the final, fatal blow.

When the gigantic spider finally lost its head and collapsed, I received a message from my System. [Congratulations to Host. You have completed the 'Slaying a God' quest, and your reward is a God Equipment…]. And it was only then that I finally relaxed my incredibly tense mind and immediately canceled the God's Descent.

"Finally…"

I was fully satisfied from the feeling of victory, and as I watched Wumianzhe's soul return to the heavens above, I gave up any resistance and sunk into a deep slumber."Congratulations; you did it."

After waking up, the first sentence I heard was rather surprising.

The next moment, however, all my fatigue instantly vanished, because I recognized the identity of the young-seeming person before me.

"Ayer."

The person learning against the window and gazing outside was precisely the Death God Ayer. It was only that this time, he wasn't wearing his signature black robe; the long white robe he was currently donning actually made him resemble a bookish scholar.

"What did I do?"

I was still suffering from the backlash of using God's Descent. My memories were still a chaotic swirl in my mind, and I had no idea what had happened after I had fallen asleep.

Ayer was surprised at my question, but then he chuckled.

"Felix died. Although it was with the participation of another God, he's still perhaps the first True God to die by a mortal's hand in more than two thousand years."

My memories gradually returned, and I recalled how the Poison God was finally surrounded and slain. It was very likely that the entire world was shocked—a True God was slain immediately after ascending. Lorci would definitely be infuriated…

"Right, did Lorci do anything? How did she react?"

"Lorci is dead."

Ayer casually tossed such a tremendous bomb at me.

"Dead? How did she die?"

Unlike Felix, Lorci had descended to the mortal plane using her true body. Although she wouldn't be able to return to her Divine Country for the time being, a True God in her complete form would definitely possess frightening strength—a completely different level from Felix, who was a fresh new God that had descended into a host's body. Lorci was a veteran True God with far greater strength than Felix. Who in the mortal plane could possibly kill her?

"It was the Abyssal Prince Karwenz. Not even Lorci's corpse remained."

"Karwenz!?"

"Yep. It is highly probable that her double betrayal angered the big shots of both sides. The leaders of Chaos wanted to kill her, and nobody on the Order side was willing to protect her, so she ended up dying. Hmph. This will scare those who are still undecided and sitting on the fence."

Ayer described it so casually, but with a little deduction on my part, I was aware that the death of the two dark elf Gods would cause a huge wave.

"Right, how's the battlefield in the Northlands? What happened to those beastmen in the end?"

"Ask her; she's probably anxious to see you."

At this moment, the door suddenly opened, and Elisa entered; upon seeing me awake, she had an obviously relieved expression.

"You're finally awake—you've been sleeping for six days already. If you didn't wake up soon, I wouldn't have known what to do."

Six days? My chaotic memories must have clouded my mind, as I felt like it was less than a day.

Following Elisa was a vast mob of noisy people. And they all had something in common…

"Your Highness, Her Highness Reyne is still missing, and our military reorganization needs you to take charge."

"The other countries' generals and leaders are requesting that you attend conferences for dealing with the aftermath of the battle, drawing of new borders, the division of the victory loot—all these require your presence. Our Eastern Mist Communal Country stands to profit greatly this time, but without your presence, we're unable to control the situation."

"The undead army is currently stationed outside the castle. Thanks to their performance during that battle, they haven't caused a panic, but we need an effective way to communicate with them…"

"The Rhodes Kingdom has mentioned the possibility of them accepting the Church of Law, and their highest-ranked priest Xueti is requesting a personal meeting with you to discuss the specifics."

"The man with the undead army actually started a contest to see who is the strongest and handsomest. He and Lord Xueti are currently competing in the finals. Their clothes have all exploded—that scene is too beautiful that I don't even dare to describe it! My lord, you're the only one who can stop them! Before they destroy this entire city, please do something to stop them!"

Before I could even react, countless chaotic affairs were dumped upon my head, and when I turned around to request for help, I discovered that Ayer had completely vanished.

After that, I was instantly overrun by the chatting babble before me, and my sickbed was piled to the top with tasks requiring my immediate attention and various official documents.

"That's right—Elisa! You guys can go find her; she has my full authority as my representative."

Where else was I supposed to find such a good assistant scapegoat? Yet before I could even look in Elisa's direction, that former Demon Marchioness, who had anticipated that I would push everything onto her, had also already vanished somewhere.

"Hey—hey, don't be so heartless! I just woke up, and you want me to do so much already?"

I wanted to escape, but the attendants and officials around me had already placed their own swords to their necks—a threat that they would kill themselves if I just ignored them.

I could only helplessly sigh and take a document as I begun the busywork that would make anyone feel powerless.

"If only that little brat were here; just where did Reyne end up? Karwenz should have returned to the Chaos Abyss by now, so why hasn't Reyne returned? Is it really true that girls won't return to the nest when they grow up and not care about their fathers anymore!?"

At the exact same time, Reyne was exclaiming out loud in shock as well!

"Where is this?! Why am I here; am I not in the Northlands anymore?"

In the center of human territory was the Bardi Empire. And on the biggest red-light district street in a certain city of this empire, in the most expensive facility named "Elven Night," Reyne suddenly woke up while being hugged by many women. She immediately discovered that it was quite crowded around her.

"Why are there so many women! Achoo! The perfume is too heavy in here!"

In such a small room, there were a dozen girls that seemed like flowers looking at her, and those women were all looking at her with romantic interest. Some were trying to press their bodies against her while some were even in the midst of removing their clothes.

"Milord, why did you stop singing? I was waiting for your song."

The golden-haired young lady's face was turning red as she said so, and her red face and the look in her eyes revealed the fact that she was seriously in love with Reyne—she was looking at Reyne as if Reyne was her first love. The large snow-white mounds on the blonde girl's chest were even more blinding, and she suddenly wrapped her arms around Reyne. Even though they were of the same gender, Reyne didn't have much experience in this matter, so her face instantly turned red. Next, however, the women surrounding her said something even more shocking.

"Milord, do you want more? Let my fellow sisters rest a bit; quite a few of us collapsed last night…"

While she was refusing on the surface, all the women's red faces and efforts at disrobing revealed their true feelings. Reyne was unable to take this any longer.

"Wait, wait, don't take off your clothes! Hey—hey—hey, why are you all taking off your clothes? I'm a girl as well!"

"Hehe, Milord just loves to play these games of pretending to refuse. Of course, we already know that Milord is a woman, but Milord is far better at this than those useless men. Hehe, none of us sisters can be without you anymore, and every one of us is waiting for you to purchase our debts."

This time, Reyne realized she had met with a huge disaster as she looked at those hungry, desire-filled eyes and the pile of snow-white bodies in front of her.

And one week later, a report was placed in front of me.

"What? Reyne had fun in the Bardi Empire's most luxurious red-light district street for half a month, won countless beauties' favor, received the wondrous title of 'King of Ten Thousand Flowers,' and even agreed to innumerable requests to purchase the women's debts, but in the end, she was penniless, and the red-light district has imprisoned her? And now they're requesting us to pay her debts and bail her out?"

After hesitating a moment, I ended up replying to the Bardi Empire messenger like this:

"You probably got it wrong! We don't have a man named Reyne here. Yep, definitely not! What? She's a woman? Then that's even more impossible since all of us Mist Royalty are normal people. Definitely no perverts at all! Yep, definitely not! I never lie."

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Chapter 197: Mist Alliance

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

Chapter 197 – Mist Alliance

"O that blossoming wild lily 1 flower, how charismatic she was! How beautiful she sung! How she danced extravagantly like a butterfly; she was the female emperor of the red-light district! The dream lover of all men and women…"

I intentionally hired several bards to sing Reyne's recent "praises" to her for our reunion.

Surprisingly, however, Reyne had no reaction at all. With bloodshot eyes, she seemed to be in a daze, and the instant after she saw me, her legs gave out and she almost collapsed on the spot.

Zzz!*

She instantly fell asleep in my arms, and she actually started snoring!

"This is…?"

All those punishments I had readied for her were wasted. It seemed Reyne must have had a tough time—while physical fatigue wouldn't be much for a Gold-ranked Law Knight to cope with, the mental pressure she had been dealing with must have been significant. After all, since she was a girl, her all-important chastity was now ruined, and it would be difficult for her to get married in the future.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel some sympathy and some regret at the punishments I had arranged; after all, this was all Karwenz's fault.

Otherwise, I could have still tried to explain myself. But now, this already existed: ["Legendary Lily Flower Princess Knight Dragon Slaying Chronicles" and "She and Her Eighteen Flowers" published as novels, book reviews, and plays, with a 12% discount for buying in a bundle! Buy three at once and you will even receive a free oil painting poster!]

"I'm so sorry… we old guys really overdid it…"

Thinking of all I had done, I felt even more regret.

"…Brother Roland, Rey-rey doesn't blame you…"

Hearing the gentle words coming from her as she laid in my arms, I was rather touched, but…

"…so, stop licking my feet, please. Rey-rey knows you like me, but acting like a dog out of love is no good, and also… don't take off your clothes—you're such a pervert. You actually want to wear my clothes? Fine then. If it's Rol-rol, it's fine… Stop sniffing! I'm so embarrassed… Stop licking… Are pantie-pants that wonderful? Directly licking there…"

My face turned white with anger right then and there. What was with all this!?

"Um, Your Highness, please don't be angry. Her Highness Reyne is under the effects of a Sweet Dream Curse from a succubus. These days, she's been pulled into strange dreams, which was why she didn't sleep on her way back at all. It wasn't easy for her to stay awake all this time."

A Sweet Dream Curse? What the heck was that?

"Inferno succubi have the natural talent to magnify a person's innermost desires. With a person's weakness, a succubus can cause their victims to sink into their desires and slowly fall into depravity; for example, a person in love with money would dream about taking a bath in a mountain of gold, a perverted person would dream about having countless beauties at his service, and as for Reyne… cough, Karwenz most likely left the curse behind so that she would have a tendency to follow her desires more often. This would cause her to fall more towards the Chaos side, and it would make his next descent more convenient."

Ok, fine then, as a demon noble, Elisa would naturally know plenty about the Chaos Abyss. When I heard all this, I laughed out loud with a look of delight on my face.

"That means Reyne's innermost desires are those types of things? That's what she secretly wants the most? My dark history of wearing female clothing? Treating me as some type of pervert with several strange fetishes? Hehehehehehehehehe! It seems that she definitely needs some correcting! No, just the Personality-Correcting Fist of Justice won't be enough—let's just brainwash her entirely and reconstruct her personality! At the very least, that dark history definitely can't be left behind!"

I was filled with smiles as I picked Reyne up and walked towards my room. It seemed that I would be rather busy today making preparations for the brainwashing forbidden spell…

"Her Highness Reyne is so pitiful; His Highness Roland must be so furious."

"His Highness Roland has turned into a darker version of himself; his smile is so scary…"

I suddenly recalled something as I turned around, flashing a smile at those officials.

"You guys didn't hear anything today, right? Or should I help you all forget?"

The both of them shook their heads nonstop in panic.

"I didn't hear anything!"

"I definitely didn't hear anything!"

Seeing those two young guys continuously shake their heads, I nodded in satisfaction. Compliance meant that they were obedient children; naughty children needed to be punished.

I chuckled as I glanced at Reyne, who was still in my arms.

"Where should I start from—oh right, I haven't played mud-wrestling or bungee jumping in so long, and the little dark room seems pretty good as well…"

However, a familiar sound of heavy footsteps along with the roaring of the wind caused me to react by helplessly closing my eyes.

Boom!*

The wall that had just been fixed now had a huge hole in it, and by the side of this huge hole were another three newly-added human-shaped holes.

Boom!*

Fine, I knew that these guys never knew how to use doors to begin with.

"Haha! You guys, come and catch me!"

"Stop running! Ah Dang is the oldest brother!"

This scene of siblings play-fighting before me was rather nostalgic. However, for the older brother dwarf wielding a stone pillar weighing a ton, smashing large holes everywhere, and the younger brother muscleman opening holes in the wall as he pleased—it was something I felt helpless about.

From a certain standpoint, they both possessed a very young mental age, and I could understand this type of "play" behavior, but if they involved me…

"No matter if it's Omar's brute strength or Ah Dang's huge stone pillar, I'd probably die instantly. Dying because of playing hide and seek with naughty children? That's just too scary to even imagine."

And so, I did my best to hide my presence with the full intention of leaving the scene secretly. But that was when I noticed that something was wrong.

"Wait a moment—where did Ah Dang get that stone pillar from? Why does it look so familiar, like I just saw it a moment ago?"

But when I recalled it in the next instant, it was already too late.

"Ahhh! Damned Ah Dang—that's the main pillar of this room!"

Okay then, the ceiling that was rapidly getting lower and the room that collapsed with a boom had already given me my answer.

"The Beastman King Amon Bloodaxe has died?"

In a way, this result was completely within my expectations. Before I lost consciousness, the situation had turned around and the beastmen from the high plains were once again forced into a dire situation.

They had acted as the other beastmen's reinforcements yet were completely blocked off by the Underground and undead armies, and when they discovered that even a True God was about to perish and that the human reinforcements were getting stronger and stronger, the beastmen from the plains, who had suffered a bitter defeat one year earlier, wisely chose to retreat.

When the Plains Beastmen Leader Karodian retreated together with all the beastmen tribes of the plains, the fortunate survivors among the plateau beastmen from that long bloody night discovered, to their astonishment, that they had actually lost all of their allies, while, unbeknownst to them, their opponents' strength had multiplied by several folds.

"We definitely can't allow Felix to die here! Otherwise, we'll all die!"

Even the seemingly undefeatable True God was now in such peril after descending, so the remaining beastmen were all forced back to the battlefield. They knew that the deep grudges held against them by the other species could never be paid back except in blood. When faced with the humans of the Northlands, the Xiluo undead, the grayblood elves, and the allied Underground armies, they had zero chance of victory.

They were trying to avoid unnecessary losses since the very start, and they had retreated to the outside of Felix's Divine Domain. When they finally started moving to help save Felix, they first had to deal with the interference of the allied armies of the Underground the undead.

Moreover, the reinforcements of Xiluo and the Underground were all fresh armies that were well prepared for battle—it was only natural that the beastmen's attempts at helping Felix were blocked. And when Felix had finally been pushed to the brink and had perished, part of the beastmen had chosen to put down their weapons and surrender, while Amon Bloodaxe and the few remaining beastmen tribe leaders had unhesitatingly chose to fight to the death.

They were aware of the fact that as the perpetrators of this invasion and the primary warmongers behind it all, they would definitely be executed if they failed in battle. In that case, they preferred to "gloriously" die in battle rather than be humiliatingly hung in public.

And that was how Amon's head became the trophy of some young soldier, and the beastmen army, which had been in such a fervor, finally ended up annihilated, with all the remaining beastmen either dead or having surrendered.

With Amon Bloodaxe's huge tribal flag finally fallen, the largest southern beastmen invasion in more than two hundred years had finally officially failed. Even if the humans didn't go exterminate the plateau beastmen completely, they would need at least one or two hundred years to recover their strength. Perhaps they had zero hope left in this Holy War, since without a Guardian God, they would only grow weaker.

And to tell the truth, the beastmen weren't the only species that suffered massive losses, nor were they the ones who lost the most.

The biggest losers were the dark elves that basically had no relations originally to the beastmen.

For the past several thousand years, Lorci had been leading the dark elves in surviving in the Underground, and their worldview, which used to be the same as the upper-ranked elves of the elven empire, had long since been distorted beyond recognition. Everything in the dark elves' society, from their culture, and religion to their social structure and atmosphere had been branded with Lorci's personal influence. It could be said that most dark elves were basically the personal property of Lorci.

Just like how the humans aboveground couldn't imagine life without the sun, the dark elves were utterly unable to imagine life without Lorci.

However, now that Lorci was dead, Lorci's priests and matriarchs that were at the top of dark elf society all suffered heavily in a single night. They either simply died on the spot or went insane, with the best result being a loss of all their power.

In the cruel dark elf world, weakness was the greatest sin, and since the weakest were those Lorci priests and matriarchs who were originally at the top, there was nothing but an even more pitiful end waiting for them.

In a single night, when Lorci's death was proven by the loss of power of all her priests, 90% of the underground cities within Lorci's domain fell into riots; the entire dark elf society sunk into chaos.

And the most dangerous part of it all wasn't simply the rioting society. Lorci had always been the highest and most venerated existence for the majority of dark elves, and her will was what this entire species strove to imitate and follow as law—families would slaughter each other all for the Spider Queen's favor. The entire dark elf species had been living for Lorci's personal benefit.

Yet now she ended up perishing. For the dark elves that viewed her as all-important, this was no different than the collapsing of the sky. The empty hole left by their former belief system's break down was the true trouble for them.

The collapse of their belief system gave rise to fearless criminals, while others chose to commit suicide. Most of them, however, instinctively went searching for a new existence to replace Lorci. In a single night, countless new belief systems of Gods, false Gods, and Evil Gods alike appeared, and several existences that had the potential to ascend to Godhood all locked their eyes on targeting the Divine Obligation that Lorci left behind.

Cough, actually, the Law God Wumianzhe moved rather quickly, and the silver-masked enforcers of justice were efficiently recovering order in each underground elven city at high speed. Of course, there was plenty of military might from Sulfur Mountain City involved. At the very least, the Red Hunting Hounds that had left the Underground were very effective at this.

If the current situation had been allowed to develop, before a new dark elf True God could be born, the entire species would probably collapse on itself and be swallowed by various factions. Of course, the one who would get the greatest slice would definitely be the most powerful person of the Underground—Annie. At the very least, the Church of Law that helped recover order in each city and bring judgement upon criminals and rioters was already becoming more and more welcomed by the dark elves. Perhaps, before long, the new order in the dark elf society would astonish the world.

It wasn't that the other True Gods didn't want to interfere, but this had been a battle between the dark elf Gods and the Law God in a way, and now the victor Wumianzhe was claiming the spoils of victory. Of course the other True Gods were unable to interfere.

In just half a month, not only did Wumianzhe recover the divine power he had used for the God's Descent, but due to the rapid expansion of his believer base and the Law God's area of influence, Wumianzhe even began the path of promoting in rank. If, through all this, he could successfully overtake Lorci's entire territory, then he might even end up as a Middle God like Lorci.

In fact, Wumianzhe was even beginning to consider setting up a follower God just like Lorci had done with Felix, in order to take over the Divine Obligation of Guardian God of the Dark Elves.

If this were a peaceful era, the path from a potential God to a Low God to a Middle God would be an incredibly difficult path.

A True God would typically require several thousand years of accumulated guardianship to increase in rank, but this was the time of the Holy War, which was a great opportunity for the True Gods. In every Holy War, there would be countless new Gods arising and old Gods dying. It no longer mattered who was doing good; the one who could laugh in the end would be the true victor.

I gave all the mundane tasks of the Church of Law over to Xueti and Lilith 2 with the intention of doing zero management of it myself, but since "Roland" had successfully pulled off a God's Descent—and didn't even die because of it—I was now solidly viewed as a divine messenger, and all the members of the Church of Law now viewed me with fervor in their eyes, causing me to recall the past from Wumianzhe's generation.

But right now, I didn't have time to pay attention to any of these things, as a bigger trouble was already in front of me.

"Cough—today, the main point of our discussion is about saving the northern elves. Right now, they're suffering from continuous natural calamities, with constant hailstorms and blizzards, and I heard they even had an ice hurricane a few days ago. Not to mention that they lack food and clothing for winter, and there's even a few crazed dark elves rioting there. If we just sit on our hands and ignore the situation, then the northern elves will likely go extinct."

However, nothing but silence greeted my words.

It was obvious that every country's leaders and generals significantly lacked interest in this topic. After all, each country had suffered many losses in this battle, and the elves were constantly changing sides—they were on the enemies' side for most of the time. Many people here had grudges against them. It was only natural that they wouldn't be willing to help save the elves now.

I chuckled at seeing this situation.

"Alright, if you guys won't help them, I will."

Hearing this, the leaders all had expressions of surprise. This time, the Sleuweir Kingdom should have the biggest grudge against the elves out of anyone, which meant my People of the Mist. Even though, I had a good reputation on the surface, everyone knew that in truth I was depicted just like an Armageddon-bringing demon king. I definitely didn't seem the type who would have no personal considerations and repay evil with kindness.

"Yep, I've had my eyes on Tassel City for a long time now. Their library, which has been maintained for over ten thousand years, has countless elven empire magical tomes and priceless artwork that shouldn't be lost to this calamity."

My explanation caused everyone to instantly understand. I wasn't going there to save the elves—I was basically going there to steal the elves' belongings, just like a looter.

However, many were thinking that I could have done all this in secret—why did I tell them about it? Just what was this living legend thinking and planning on doing? And why did he bring this topic up right here and now?

There was a moment of silence in the conference room. The only sound was the tapping of my index finger.

"The Holy War has already begun, and the entire continent will soon be dragged into it. There were many fortunate factors involved in us managing to deal with the first battle, but the next time may not involve a True God's descent. We need many external reinforcements to help us, so to deal with the ongoing Holy War, I intend to create an alliance in the Northlands—the Mist Alliance."

"First, the Mist Alliance will follow the principles of non-aggression. We will never be the first to declare war or start a battle with the intention of invading others' territory, and we will follow the Church of Law and Wumianzhe, the Guardian God of the Northlands. Nobody here needs to worry that this Mist Alliance will be a threat to any of your countries. Under the conditions of the alliance, each country has their own independent rights and won't be allowed to interfere in other countries' internal politics—this shall be the foundation."

"Also, as per Wumianzhe's Church of Law, unless someone commits a crime, each race in and of itself is guiltless and non-evil, which is why this Mist Alliance won't limit the races and countries that can enter. As far as I know, some remnants from Xiluo, some Underground residents that prefer the sun, the half-beastmen from the Shawen Free States, the Barbarian Tribes Alliance, the Eastern Mist Communal Country, and the Sleuweir Kingdom have all already applied to join the Mist Alliance."

Hearing this, all those present were incredibly shocked. This was not even at the level of out-of-the-ordinary anymore—to hook up with so many non-human species, it wouldn't surprise any of them if the Gods descend and call for the following battle of the Holy War on the very next day.

But if this Mist Alliance could truly be built…

Each of them couldn't help but shiver when they imagined it. Perhaps, if it really could happen, with so many powerful factions allying together, the entire Northlands would be under their solid grasp. Wumianzhe would truly become the Guardian God of the Northlands.

Without a doubt, the Mist Alliance was a military and political megaton bomb for them, and each of them felt they had to seriously consider the effects of its creation.

From a certain perspective, this Holy War had also acted as a melting pot, with many races that bore grudges against each other finally having communication and learning more about each other. It helped this gigantic alliance begin its path to realization.

"This doesn't seem appropriate—what about the Holy Church…"

"Hehe." I chuckled when I heard this, before I continued my explanation with a serious expression.

"Marquess Ash of the Rhodes Kingdom, have you still not recognized the situation? It's already the time of the Holy War, and we 'northern barbarians' can't rely on anyone else. If we don't help warm each other, then how else will we survive this bitter winter?"

Marquess Ash still seemed like he wanted to say something, but I shook my head.

"I know what you want to say. Relax. Soon, when the fires of battle appear across the lands, the Holy Church won't even be able to deal with their own affairs. Besides, this is also the will of Wumianzhe. As a True God on the Order side, do you really think that he would do anything heretical? We're only pitiful people trying to help each other stay warm, and the Mist Alliance will definitely never invade anyone else first. But are we northerners supposed to not even have the right to survive in peace?"

After some hesitation, Marquess Ash finally decided to not say anything, but, for me, this was just the beginning.

"The only legal successor of the Tassel Kingdom, Princess Suana, has also applied to join the Mist Alliance. After we help save the elves, perhaps the northern elves will also become part of the Mist Alliance."

All the generals sitting here in the conference room were shocked at my words. I said it quite frankly that it was obvious I intended to take over the entire elven species, and they were astonished at my ambition.

"Which is why I hope each country present here can consider joining this Mist Alliance and help save the elves. I shall open up channels to share technology among all the member countries of the Mist Alliance, including the magic swordcasters and floating airships from the last battle. This time, each elven kingdom suffered calamitous damage, and all their main military forces were annihilated, so perhaps there might not even be a northern elf kingdom in the future. It's not that bad of an idea for the elves to simply live as citizens of various countries, is it?"

Benefits were the most practical method of political discussions between countries. The allure of the Mist Kingdom's newest technology coupled with the generations-old esoteric elven secrets proved to be exceedingly difficult to withstand. There would be no second chance for them if they missed this opportunity. Without a doubt, this invitation was the most effective type of bait. I turned around to leave right after saying this.

I had already finished what I had to say, and if I didn't do a good job in helping save the elves, Suana would haunt me again in the middle of the night.

And, as my most trusted right-hand sub-commander, Elisa was already patiently waiting at the door for me.

"Aren't you afraid that you're forcing them too much, and that they'll struggle with all their might?"

"Relax, nobody here is an idiot. With the Holy War having begun, those mega-level empires won't have any time to pay attention to this area. If small countries want to survive, now's the golden time for them to be carried on someone else's back. And this time, the back that I showed them looks so comforting and reliable—once they think through this situation, they'll be jumping on me in droves."

"Sexual harassment…" Elisa adjusted her glasses and changed the topic in a rather strange direction.

But a servant suddenly walked past me and handed me a slip of paper with a note written on it.

"In two hours, I hope to have a private meeting with you. — Ash Jundor."

"Haha, see, the first person that wants to be carried by me is already here."

Note:

1. For those that read Asian novels and still don't know yet, "lily" is a reference to girl x girl love in Asian culture.

2. We're going to be using Lilith instead of Lily (the Lily from Sulphur Mountain City, for those who don't remember!).

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

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Chapter 198: The Continuation of Sleeping Beauty

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

Actually, I had been thinking about creating the Mist Alliance for a long time already.

It would be an alliance with a mutual goal, and each country would worship the Law God. Each state would have a similar legal system and would obey the premise of non-aggression to create a relatively peaceful area in the Northlands.

Yes, it would only be an alliance, not some legendary kingdom and definitely not an empire. I had no intention of reigning over others and declaring myself emperor in the borderlands or anything like that. In fact, I didn't even intend to be the leader of any faction.

"I want to reduce the scale of this Holy War and the death it will cause as much as possible. I want to gather more power and be able to survive this dangerous war."

My primary goal had never changed, and after all this perseverance, I seemed to have begun getting results.

First, one of the most important members of the foundation, Wumianzhe, increased in strength.

While this may not seem like a big deal, in my plan to break the cycle of reincarnation, unless Wumianzhe reached the level of a Main God of Order, the rest of my plans would be nothing but empty words. Only making this "boss behind my back" become stronger could help me survive at least a single blow from any veteran God who decided they didn't like me.

In a way, Wumianzhe was the true victor of this battle. He obtained his own Hall of Valhalla and Cycle of Reincarnation, as well as the Northlands. From now on, he had his own territory, and he was no longer considered to be among the ranks of the third-rate Gods, false Gods, and Evil Gods.

Currently, Wumianzhe was leveling up from a Low God to a Middle God. His Divine Obligation included Law, Contracts, and the Guardianship of the Northlands, but he still hadn't yet obtained a complete Divine Obligation. The Concepts of Law and Contracts were both new to this world, and contracts had only begun to popularize themselves in Auland. Although I felt that Contracts had endless potential, there were too few users and believers, so Wumianzhe hadn't received enough power from this source yet. It was still merely a potential source of power in the future.

And while the power of the law had even greater potential, Sulfur Mountain City was still the place where it was most popular. About the entire city was filled with believers, and this was only the result of me working hard for more than a century. While there were now quite a few believers in the Underground, as well as the small Eastern Mist Communal Country, the time had still been too short. Most believers were rather shallow in their beliefs and only understood the surface of the concept of law, so they couldn't provide much faith power to Wumianzhe.

But the Guardian God of the Northlands was something else entirely. As long as the Guardian God protected this species and this area, even non-believers would be protected by him.

Those various prayers mixed with gratitude could also give Wumianzhe a large amount of faith power, and this time, Wumianzhe even personally performed a God's Descent. This divine miracle that everyone could see was far more convincing than anything else. Perhaps the miracle of the Northlands' Guardian God's descent would soon be known by everyone in the entire Northlands, and the other northern countries would support the Church of Law and provide additional faith for Wumianzhe in two different Divine Obligation areas—Guardianship and Law).

To almost reach the rank of a Middle God in less than two years after becoming a God was unbelievable. This sides of both Order and Chaos were probably paying attention to Wumianzhe now.

But…

"Being at the center of attention means either becoming cannon fodder or getting slapped to death in a single strike—it's obviously not a good thing. It seems that it's time to lay low for the time being."

I definitely wasn't hoping for the appreciation of the veteran Order Gods, with their "praise" like "with great power comes great responsibilities"—I would be sent to the front lines as mere cannon fodder. And nor did I wish for the Chaos side to treat me as a thorn in their side to be removed early on.

"Since the battling here has stopped already, then we should be able to have a few days of peace. Heh, it's time to let loose and relax a little."

Thinking about this, I couldn't help but smile. All this tiring fighting was in order to have a peaceful, flourishing place where everyone could live happily after all. However, thinking about what I was worried about earlier changed my smile of satisfaction into a helpless wry smile.

"…I'm developing too fast. Even if Ayer is protecting me, I still need to be careful. It's easy for a Main God to protect a Low God who doesn't even have his own territory since there basically won't be any clash of personal interests, but now, Wumianzhe intends to take over the entire Northlands, which basically means becoming independent."

"Speedy development without a solid foundation will definitely make others red-eyed with jealousy. Those True Gods of Order may not be all that powerful in a direct confrontation, but they're experts at underhanded plots and backstabbing. After all, they just had over two thousand years of internal conflict, and quite a few of their veterans died without even knowing what hit them."

"…But the non-aggression principle is an excellent excuse. Since we will never be the first to declare battle against anyone, it's, of course, impossible for us to become cannon fodder. Then, unless an enemy comes to us… Yep, right now, we should focus on improving our defense, and we shouldn't blindly focus on increasing our territory, which will give the other True Gods and major countries an excuse—at least until the arrival of the Undead Calamity. The Mist Alliance countries will be limited only to the Northlands countries; this should at least make the mega-level human empires less concerned."

Of course, I knew that it was impossible to make a tiger change its diet and become a vegetarian. I knew that, at the very least, Auland and San Antonio had had their eyes on the Northlands long since, but as long as I succeeded in stalling them for a few years, they would probably no longer have the time to think about us anymore.

"So, the next catastrophe will be the Undead Calamity? I wonder if it will happen earlier or later."

The internal strife of the Xiluo Empire had never resolved their foundational problem. The Undead Lords that had escaped to the Undead Plane would definitely affect the Undead Emperors there. As long as the Undead Emperors still wanted to return to the mortal plane, with the increase in the Elemental Tide, the Undead Plane's invasion was likely inevitable.

The only part where I could relax a little about was that the Undead Calamity was unlikely to focus on the Northlands since the land here was wide with the people sparse. It definitely wouldn't be as attractive to the Undead Emperors as the densely populated human centers in the middle of the continent. If I was the commander of the undead army, my first target would be to ambush the San Antonio Empire and the Bardi Empire, and I would conquer the cities that had the highest populations immediately in order to cast Undead Calamity and Death Plague—cough—cough—I accidentally got carried away; problem of occupation.

But I was confident of my own expert-level prediction since I had been an Undead Emperor in the past as well, and my prediction was the same as past undead invasions in history. If the undead army wanted to become stronger, it was necessary to snowball their source of undead soldiers as much as possible, which meant that they had to first conquer those major countries with long histories and resurrect their graveyards' strongest legendary heroes as the undead army's main forces. They would have to use the commoners' skeletons as cannon fodder and create countless amounts of new soldiers from battles—whoops, I accidentally got too excited again.

"When the undead truly begins their invasion, probably the undead under my command will be viewed in a different light as well. Perhaps I should create a preemptive mood and change their brand, giving them a new name and a new organization so that at least people know they aren't those crazed, bloodthirsty undead."

Imperceptibly, the undead under my command kept increasing, with the remnants from Xiluo that Omar had brought back, my Red Hunting Hounds squad, and the undead originally present in Sulfur Mountain City.

"Anubis Squad? It seems that this world doesn't have a dog-headed God by this name, although it's regrettable for dog-head lovers, I'm going to have to reject this name."

"The Forgotten? This sounds plagiarized, and I'll probably have to constantly explain what was forgotten. Rejected."

"Undead Rock and Roll? Something strange seems to have gotten mixed up in here. Rejected."

"Guards of Hell? This sounds pretty nice, although it does seem a bit ostentatious. I still feel like it's lacking something. How about I combine it with my previous idea—Dog-Headed Guards of Hell, yep, this sounds harmonious and interesting! And we can use Bastian's face as the emblem, and even give him a dog-head helmet! Ahh, I like it more and more already—I'm a genius at naming!"

I was getting delighted and was talking to myself with a constantly increasing volume.

"My lord, please don't, otherwise Bastian and everyone will cry…"

The familiar confused voice belonged to the silver-masked Lilith Milan who appeared before me. Earlier, she had been in charge of work at Diffindor, but after the battle, she had returned here as well.

Just like how a certain naked tauren had exposed his own identity in the Shawen Free States where no other tauren lived, my identity was known by the people who knew me originally. Of course, some things were better left unsaid, with no need to directly ask, but I figured that the Four Heavenly Kings of Law probably knew my identity already as well.

Currently, however, Lilith wasn't in the mood to reminisce about the past. It was, of course, a joyous occasion for an old friend to meet an old boss, but hearing such words right from the start, which might end up with all the future Northlands undead having the nickname of "dog-heads," was something not joyous at all.

And according to her understanding of Roland, if this "dog-head" title was finalized, it would probably be incredibly difficult to get it changed.

Yet just voicing her opposition wasn't enough, so Lilith could only wrack her brains and try to come up with a better name.

"…How about 'The Guiltless.' It indicates their foundational differences from normal undead as well as represents how they choose to stand under the protection of the Law God and that they're guiltless citizens who choose to obey the law."

I was hesitating whether or not to accept her idea.

Yep, I was just "simply" considering the advantages and disadvantages of these names from a "logical" standpoint. It definitely wasn't because I felt that a dog-head emblem seemed really cool, and nor was it because I thought that seeing an undead army all wearing dog-head helmets would be really funny—I definitely wasn't biased at all!

Lilith seemed to discover I was hesitating and mulled it over before apparently coming to an epiphany as she added another few sentences.

"Even if you call them The Guiltless, they can still use a dog-head emblem and the dog-head helmets. We can even make Bastian into their entire species' mascot! As the leader of the Red Hunting Hounds squad, he should be delighted."

"Okay, nice idea! That's what it'll be then!"

Lilith mentally apologized to Bastian who was about to become a mascot as she inwardly heaving a sigh of relief. After all, in a way, she herself would also be a member of The Guiltless. As a female who loved beauty, it would be too difficult for her to be called something like a dog-head.

But right when she was starting to relax, she heard a nostalgic name.

"Fina!? Isn't this my cute little Fina?"

Amelia actually ran over here with an expression filled with surprise and joy, waving her hand as she rushed to us. It was quite rare to see her so happy, as her typical expression was grim and dark.

However, Lilith's expression rapidly flickered between surprise, disbelief, anger, and helplessness. After having known her for so long, this was the first time I discovered that she had such acting talent with the many different expressions she could pull off.

"You guys know each other? Fina? Lilith, is this your real name?"

I recalled that Lilith had come to Sulfur Mountain City by herself. Every Blood Tribe member with no family would likely have some unpleasant memories, so abandoning her original name would be perfectly normal.

"My lord, there's no Fina Milan here, only Lilith Milan."

All of Lilith's emotions finally quieted down as she spoke with only a calm expression, while Amelia still retained her expression of surprise and delight as she hugged Lilith.

"Fina, just where did you run off to? I've been looking for you all this time."

"Aunt Amelia, please don't call me Fina anymore. I am Lilith. Lilith Milan. Fina Milan disappeared from this world a long time ago."

"Stop being so silly! No matter what, you used to be the female emperor of the Bardi Empire, my cutest and youngest niece…"

I discovered for the first time that actually both of them had the surname of Milan, and they actually resembled each other in physical appearance. It seemed they were relatives. And so, I pulled over a chair, sat down, did my best to erase my presence, and prepared to watch a good show.

And through their words of astonishment, I rapidly figured out the incredibly tangled relationship between the two of them. Well, it was tangled because of how Lilith viewed Amelia—Amelia was simply happy to see her youngest niece who she hadn't seen in so many years.

And the story of their past was truly extraordinary.

"That ridiculous Sleeping Beauty story actually has a continuation in this world?"

Yes, Amelia was the evil witch in the story, and the Lilith Milan before me was the female lead of that very Sleeping Beauty story that ruined my childhood, Fina Milan!

"Fi—okay, Lilith. Relax, your aunt has already championed your cause. I tossed that ungrateful fickle man into a special plant garden, and he probably turned into fertilizer long ago. Sigh, I thought that since the corpse-loving prince wouldn't be interested in normal women, he definitely wouldn't be a playboy or a liar and at least be a good person. It's all your aunt's fault for not seeing through him. Hmph, Lilith, now you'll believe me, won't you? Your aunt is absolutely correct! There's not a single good man in this world!"

Fine, she even viciously glared at me while saying this for no apparent reason. I'm innocent! I swear!

At the very least, I was able to get a clear view of the picture through their discussion.

So, the true story of Sleeping Beauty wasn't all that romantic at all. The prince from another country, who was actually a necrophile, woke up the Sleeping Beauty, and the willful witch's curse was broken. However, the following developments weren't like a fairy tale at all.

When Lilith's father, the king, saw his daughter wake up, he was incredibly overjoyed, and he even believed this to be something like a legendary "kiss of true love." He delightedly deluded himself into believing that his daughter had discovered her true love, so he betrothed Lilith, who was still confused and didn't know what was going on, to that prince. Since that prince from another country wasn't in the line to directly inherit the throne in his country, he unhesitatingly agreed to marry the Bardi Emperor's only daughter, who would be the future empress herself.

The following was where the story completely derailed from the usual plot of a fairy tale. The prince, who had a rather unique personality, had no interest whatsoever in his newlywed wife, and instead spent all his time in the graveyards, until finally the prince, who had studied undead magic before, decided to turn his wife into what he loved the most. And so, he used the curse of the Blood Tribe on her, turning Lilith into a living corpse, and he also tried to use evil necromancy magic to enslave her.

But he didn't expect that Princess Lilith was also an excellent swordswoman, which coincidentally helped her to transform into a Blood Tribe noble who maintained her intelligence.

And so, in the royal palace, the two of them had a fierce battle, until the Bardi Empire's Holy Knights and priests arrived in time and exorcised the "evil queen emperor who bathed herself in evil magic in order to remain forever young." In the end, the scandal was hushed up, and that prince became the emperor.

But, according to Amelia's story, he didn't get to be emperor for very long, because the furious witch discovered this plot when she returned to visit her relatives and finally transformed the prince into fertilizer for her garden. Evil was punished and justice was served; it was a classic fairy tale with a happy ending. Congratulations, my condolences, congratulations…

"To hell with your congratulations! No matter how you look at it, this is all your fault, Roland!"

"What!?"

I took yet another unexpected blow. I obviously had no connection to this story whatsoever; back then during the time it took place, I was busy searching the world for clues for my revenge. How could I possibly have anything to do with it?

"If it weren't for your betrayal, causing me to lose trust in men, how could I possibly set such a strict test in order to assess Lilith's future husband? And in the end, such a pervert was the one who passed, harming Lilith to be befallen with such a terrible fate! In the end, all of this is your fault!"

I was instantly rendered speechless. It wasn't that I was unable to retort; I was angered to the point of not knowing what to say.

"Even this can be counted as my fault? Then I might as well be the root of all evil!"

"Aunt Amelia, there's no need to blame Lord Roland. I just had a tough life. Heh, I'm over it now; men are all ugly and untrustworthy. I only like women now. The me from that time was so foolish."

Okay then, so the legendary rumor that some people could change their sexual orientation after meeting with a huge romantic setback is true after all!

But when Amelia heard her niece declare that she was now a lesbian, she took two steps back, and her face paled. It seemed that she must have been a lot purer on the inside than what she appeared on the outside.

But I immediately discovered that I was wrong in my understanding, as Amelia actually started bawling out loudly.

"Waahhh! My poor little Fina, it's all your aunt's fault. Even if that bastard is dead already, your aunt will definitely find that bastard's undead teacher for you—waahhh—it's all that bastard teacher's fault, saying something like 'Don't mind what others think of you, and work your hardest at seeking true love. If the one you love doesn't meet your standards, you can try using your own way to change her and accept her.' That undead mage teacher, who didn't take any responsibility for teaching as he pleased, is the true culprit!"

Hearing her angry roar, I instantly dropped all the snacks I was eating onto the ground. Why did this phrase sound so modern and so familiar? It sounded exactly like a sentence I read in a Chicken Soup for the Soul on Earth. Could it be that it was popular in this world as well?

"A prince? Back then, in order to obtain more information for my revenge, I did take in several disciples from powerful families, including Suana's father, and I think there was a person from Som. Could he have been…"

"Eh? Roland told me this exact phrase before as well; he was encouraging me to follow my heart and seek true love, which was how I worked up my courage and determination and started discarding my bias in order to find my new happiness. Is this a popular phrase? Was it said by someone famous?"

Lilith's expression was filled with surprise, but Amelia had her head lowered as she mumbled, "I knew it, I knew it, only he—" She suddenly turned around and started laughing insanely at me.

"Heh! It was indeed 'said by someone famous,' but soon, it'll become the 'crazed words of a dead man!' As expected, you're the only person who could possibly be the culprit behind it all!"

There was a bestial look in her blood-red eyes, and her green hair was growing at a furious pace. Her killing intent and anger was exploding to the point where even the ground was trembling from her frightening power.

"I knew those so-called logical seeming Chicken Soup for the Soul books were completely unreliable! Following its advice can only lead to problems! Ahh! Amelia, don't hit my face! I still have to go to a conference in a bit!"

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Chapter 199: Descendant

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: imperfectluck

The Mist Alliance. With the birth of this new faction, some things needed to be settled.

And this was designating tactical combat areas and dividing the land of the Mist Alliance into several districts. If this wasn't drawn up immediately, there would probably be endless internal squabbles about it.

The first to be decided was the location of the headquarters, or perhaps I should call it the capital.

There were quite a few choices. Diffindor and Antuen were both excellent candidates.

The former was the Law God Wumianzhe's holy ground, the Crimeless Capital. It was also very appropriate for the Law God's special characteristics, and it could definitely serve as the new capital. At the very least, if it was chosen as the capital, I wouldn't have to worry about the citizens' popular support or how to defend the place.

"Just try attacking the Law God's holy ground. There will be ability users in Law classes awaiting you with powers magnified by several folds, and perhaps even Wumianzhe himself will descend to the mortal plane and deal with you."

If Diffindor was the capital, it would be almost impossible for others to attack it, which was quite attractive. Especially from a personal standpoint—I also hoped that Diffindor would be able to rapidly rebuild itself with the Mist Alliance's resources and become the glorious northern city it was in the past, but obviously Diffindor wasn't the best choice for a capital.

As for the latter choice, Antuen—it was the largest city in the entire Northlands. Business and engineering were both highly developed here, and thanks to a certain person's surrender, this city was mostly spared from the fires of war. Relatively little investment would help this city flourish again.

With our rise in political status, this long-famed business capital would surely improve, using its already well-oiled merchant and business trade systems. Add the no-tariff policy between the Mist Alliance member countries and Antuen would likely become a business metropolis in the future.

Even though there were many advantages to these two locations, in the end, I could only helplessly abandon both cities as options for becoming the capital of the Mist Alliance. I ended up choosing Red Maple City.

Yep, I chose this ruined city that was nothing but devastated rubbish. This was originally only a second-tier city in the Sleuweir Kingdom to begin with, with its most famous site being the Battle History Museum. After this battle, perhaps the Battle History Museum would vastly improve its collection.

After over two months of fighting plus the cruel guerilla warfare that had taken place within the city itself, with even two Gods descending upon this place, calling this city devastated rubbish was already praising it. Making this location into the capital was basically no different to creating a capital on empty land, but in the end, I still chose Red Maple City.

Why? This was the only appropriate location.

Even though the Mist Alliance would, of course, have the People of the Mist at the center, its final goal was to create a non-aggression alliance involving numerous species and many countries. If I chose Antuen or Diffindor as the capital, which was either the Eastern Mist Communal Country's or Sleuweir Kingdom's capital to begin with, it would seem too politically biased.

This would only result in the other countries having reservations about joining the Mist Alliance, and it wouldn't be helpful for the People of the Mist and the other species to live among each other with equality. And so, I could only abandon these two oh-so-tempting choices as a capital city.

Politically speaking, choosing this main battlefield location in the Northlands, where various races and various countries allied together to resist against the invaders, would at least give those who participated in battle a sense of intimacy about the place.

Perhaps it would even give the other countries the impression that the Mist Alliance would exist as a separate entity, and that there wouldn't be too much backlash against joining the Mist Alliance. Accomplishing that would be my greatest political victory.

Of course, since Sleuweir Kingdom and Eastern Mist Communal Country with the People of the Mist constituted the foundation of the Mist Alliance, it was, of course, impossible for the other countries to gain a complete independence, but at the very least it had to appear so on the surface.

However, even if I set Red Maple City as the capital, I wouldn't abandon Antuen and Diffindor. Diffindor, which was almost impossible to attack, may be relatively out of the way and poorer, but it could definitely become a logistical as well as military and technology center. And, its special status as the Crimeless City would help it become the headquarters of the Church of Law as well as act like Sulfur Mountain City in the past and create an example of a place where many races could live together in peace, attracting more believers to the Church of Law.

As for Sleuweir's Antuen, just letting it continue to develop as a business center was plenty. Of course, I still had a series of plans, but I'll talk about those some other time.

From the current development of Diffindor in the south, Red Maple City in the center, and Antuen in the north, I could already expect that they would become three major cities of the lifeline of the Mist Alliance. In fact, I was even beginning to consider creating scheduled floating airship transports between each city, since these three locations would be the first to become the People of the Mist's dreamland. The already destroyed Mist Kingdom was beginning to revive itself in this way.

Of course, ideas were beautiful but reality was always cruel. My plan was for ten years later, and the current Red Maple City before me was nothing but a pile of rubble.

Today, while the entire city was still bathed in the afterglow of joy from victory, in a certain three-story building that remained standing in Red Maple City, there were guards and hidden sentries posted everywhere. They were only three to five steps away from each other, and this building was heavily guarded.

This used to be a place that Red Maple City had given the Eastern Mist People to live, but now, it was given over to Olive, Dimlet, Amelia, and the other skilled technicians as a logistical and research base.

Intermittent explosions and sounds of agony kept sounding out from this place along with even the occasional large fire or mushroom cloud, and this why most citizens treated this place like the plague and didn't dare approach it, even though it was relatively peaceful now after the battle.

There was a reason for the current heavy guard on this place. An incredibly significant surgery was occurring, and all the characters involved were very important. No accidents would be permitted.

And since Amelia was the surgeon, it wouldn't be wrong to describe this as an experiment, either.

The large and spacious room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

There were no unnecessary people in this empty room. Even if this surgery's difficulty level was rather high, Amelia still trusted her own trained tentacle vine assistants rather than newbie assistants that would make many mistakes.

This was a classic witch's room, with voodoo dolls, scarecrows, live lizards in glass jars, various strange drawings that made people think of vicious magical curses, and of course, it had a huge medicinal cauldron, which was basically the hallmark of a witch.

Strange magical runes were etched onto that pitch-black cauldron, and the thick black liquid within it emanated a revolting stench that was almost impossible to withstand.

The things floating on top were even more disgusting; there were dead cats, some dark-green herbs, a strange assortment of gems, and living plants that were still shrieking in agony. Perhaps not a single person in this world would want to drink a single sip of this broth.

At the current moment, Amelia, who was all raring to go, wasn't using her typical tools. She was instead using a precision saw to saw away at some mysterious unidentifiable green creature.

"Hah! I finally finished it."

Amelia breathed a sigh of relief as she put down the precision saw; she had finally managed to slice off a bloody hunk of light-green flesh. She then immediately proceeded to toss that piece of flesh, which was still bleeding green blood, straight into the cauldron, causing a green mist to arise. A potted plant sitting close by the cauldron instantly withered to death.

"Hey, this isn't right. Isn't this clearly some toxic poison? Hey, Amelia, just what are you intending to do? Didn't I ask you for a surgery—what are you doing here creating a toxic poison?"

As the person currently undergoing this surgery, I felt endlessly regret for my decision. However, I had been injected with a large amount of numbing medicine and had a paralysis spell, with the strength to paralyze even a winter wolf, cast on me. I couldn't feel anything at all below my neck.

That was why even though I felt that something was off about Amelia's actions, I could only lie on the bed and not move even an inch. I was only able to shout at the top of my lungs, full of regret.

"I should have gone to find Margaret. Damn it, where did they run off to now? Hey, Amelia, how could these things possibly have anything to do with the surgery I requested? You surely don't intend to take revenge on me with this opportunity, do you?"

When I saw how the witch was foolishly grinning as she used that saw to stir the contents of the cauldron, my suspicions were stoked even further. After all, I seriously infuriated Amelia and Lily not too long ago.

After the matter, I had immediately apologized as sincerely as I could, and I even wrote a three-hundred-page essay on why that perverted prince's actions had no connection to me whatsoever, but sometimes women wouldn't see anything in their rage and would only look at the result they desired. At times like these, talking reason would actually be illogical.

But I was still in a better situation than someone else, since, at the very least, I could move my head after being numbed and paralyzed. The other person to receive this surgery was laying by my side, and she couldn't even move her head.

Clint (Glina) was chained and tied up tightly. Her always fearless eyes were now filled with terror, and sounds of whining could be heard from her tightly gagged mouth. Even though she was struggling, I knew that she definitely wouldn't be able to break free. Why did I know? Because I was the one who tied her up…

Cough, I did it at the time just to prevent her from escaping, which was why I used special tying techniques and an especially strong rope. Who knew that I would soon be in the same situation? By the way, even though this method of tying was supposed to be the best way to accentuate the breasts, she was still just as flat as always.

"Uuuu!"

Her face was filled with rage as she seemed to detect the regret and pity in my eyes, but right after that she suddenly began to blink rapidly. Judging from how she pointed her gaze somewhere down on her body, she seemed to want me to look there as well, but just a single look startled me greatly.

"You want me to look below your waist? Hmm? What are you lifting up? A red wire—you actually put explosives there! You're not afraid of exploding yourself to death?"

As expected of a natural-born explosives maniac. Under her long lace skirt, an array of yellow explosives was actually tied to her snow-white legs. A veritable armory of dangerous explosives lay under her skirt.

As the queen of a country, Glina was rather outlandish in her own way. She still spent most of her energy in her favorite hobby—creating new explosives.

However, the maids and officials in the palace wouldn't allow the queen to play with explosives every day, but she would never listen to reason as she lacked a feeling of safety without explosives. This was why she decided to simply hide the explosives in an obvious location; nobody would, of course, dare touch her.

"You mean I should pull the wire and activate the small bomb? Explode through the ropes?"

Glina nodded continuously. She was trying her utmost to lift her skirt, and she kept staring at the smallest explosive tied to her body, which was the explosive with only a tiny amount of power—perfect for this situation.

"Three mandrake grasses, two cursed demons, and these precious mushrooms. Hehe! This will be delicious."

And so, I could only prop myself on my chin and slowly move my head towards Glina's thigh. Why does this description sound so perverted? Okay, let's try again. I did my best to put my mouth against a certain place on a little girl's thigh… fine, this sounds even more perverted. I might as well not say anything.

When her snowy-white thigh appeared right before my eyes, I was dazed for a moment; I felt like I now had an entirely new dark history. But since I had come to this point, this was no time to hesitate.

If the action of me sticking my head up Glina's skirt just happened to be discovered by someone, and this action that appeared like me licking Glina's thighs was publicized, my reputation would be ruined.

"Roland! What are you doing!?"

I was instantly shocked to hear this. Wasn't this Elisa's voice? I brought my head out of Glina's skirt, only to see that it was my demon girlfriend indeed, but her countenance was filled with rage.

"I thought something terrible happened to you. I was always wondering why you suddenly took in an adopted daughter! So it turned out you were planning on committing incest with her!"

Boom!*

Okay, this sound wasn't caused by someone hitting me. Since Elisa was the one who saw me, I knew that I would at least live, but this was just far too humiliating. I didn't know how to explain my actions, so I decided to just smash my head against the wall and knock myself unconscious.

When I dazedly woke up from my deep sleep, I heard Elisa and Amelia having a discussion.

"…You think I'm making some magic medicine? Hehehe! Take a look, this is my recipe for magical cooking that I invented myself! See, isn't it really convenient? You don't need all sorts of complicated steps; all you have to do is add the ingredients, cook, and eat. This surgery will take a minimum of ten hours, and I can't stop in the middle, so I need to first prepare my dinner and midnight snacks."

"What's that green object? It looks really disgusting."

"Green dragon meat, of course. Although the meat's a little tough, it's still pretty good."

"…Is it actually delicious?"

"Incredibly so! As long as you cook it a little, its aroma will even overflow. Would you like a taste?"

"Poison Detection!"

Elisa mercilessly used a Poison Detection spell, and to the surprise of nobody, the spell's color turned pitch-black, indicating the highest, most toxic level of poison.

"Oh my, sorry about that. I forgot that you probably can't eat poison. To me, eating is just a habit now; only the most poisonous ingredients seem like delicacies to me. Heh heh, I can live just by photosynthesis alone if I want to, and poisons are completely unable to enter my system. This soup is excellent for the skin and complexion, but I temporarily forgot that you're a fragile living creature, and I almost poisoned you to death. Sorry about that!"

Even though Amelia was apologizing, judging from her expression that seemed to portray that this was all was only natural, she was completely insincere in her apology. Right after this, however, Elisa was unwilling to show weakness as she took a bowl of that pitch-black soup and downed it in one go.

"Ick! Disgusting! With such cooking skills, I think I know why you haven't been able to get married."

"Disgusting? You dare insult my cooking skills!? Hmph. It's obviously so nutritious and delicious; there must be something wrong with your taste buds."

"How about we find a third party to judge the taste then? What about that bastard lolicon who just poked his head under a little girl's skirt, or that pervert who obviously woke up but is pretending to be unconscious so he can eavesdrop? What about that bastard pervert who adopted a daughter only so he could molest her?"

If looks could kill, I would have died a thousand times. Judging from Amelia's expression, which obviously indicated she wanted me to try her soup, I was likely to be forced to chug this "nutritious and delicious" soup that was good for the skin and complexion. I didn't have the abilities of these two to not fear any poison, and although I would probably survive in the end, who would want to undergo a full intestinal cleaning like that?

Smack!*

And so, without any hesitation, I whacked myself in the head again, not holding back at all. At the very least, I didn't intend to wake up again until the surgery was completed.

"Would you like to become my adopted daughter?"

For someone like me who was used to taking action only after making careful plans, how could I possibly say something so casually? To be honest, I really did have some reasons for taking Glina as my adopted daughter.

"I definitely can't let Glina and Reyne become Karwenz's vessels anymore. I need to cut off any information leaks from them to Karwenz immediately."

Even though Karwenz ended up helping us this time, his main goal was to punish Lorci, who had broken too many rules. I had no way of knowing which side he would stand on next time.

And both descendants of the Mist were obviously important. If either of them were drawn into the Chaos Abyss, it would be an irrecoverable loss. Dealing with the problem of them both being demonic descendants was an urgent matter; otherwise, there would be a constant information leakage through them, and the success of any of my plans would then likely depend on Karwenz's mood.

"Powerful demons view their direct descendants as their personal property, and in a way this description is accurate. The summons of the bloodline is impossible to resist against, and Karwenz has a huge difference in power compared to Reyne and Glina, which can neutralize any efforts of resistance to begin with. But, that doesn't mean there isn't a way."

There were quite a few demonic descendants in the mortal plane, and mages had studied them extensively. There really was a rather clever method that could cancel out an ancestor demon's control over his own descendants.

"For demonic descendants, there's a Soul Rope tied to their soul that can't be untied unless they die. And even if they die, the soul will probably be tugged into hell by this Soul Rope. But, we can change the person holding on to the Soul Rope. As long as we use a source of demonic power that's equal or greater, then there's a way to overtake the original individual controlling the Soul Rope."

"For instance, a Flame Demon's descendant can be injected with a Demon Lord's blood, and this blood transfusion can turn this person into a double demonic descendant. After that, the stronger Demon Lord bloodline will naturally suppress the Flame Demon's bloodline, which is the same thing as canceling out the Flame Demon's control over his descendant. After that, as long as the Demon Lord is killed off as well, there will be nothing to worry about anymore."

I had to say, the mage who came up with this idea was a genius. This person perfectly used the nature of demonic blood where the strong would suppress the weak, but there was just a small hitch for us.

"I can't find any demons higher-ranking than Karwenz as he's the Abyssal Prince. From a theoretical standpoint, only the Chaos Abyss itself is higher ranked than him. Even if we find a demon stronger than Karwenz, it probably still won't work. Besides, we can't deal with demons stronger than Karwenz, either."

But, in a way, we still managed to discover a method that couldn't really be called a method.

"If we can't suppress it by force, then we can try using a roundabout method to trick the Soul Rope."

Karwenz and I had incredibly similar soul wavelengths. If I transformed into a demon, my demonic blood should be very similar to his, and if you only looked at our ranks, my Original Sin Demon form wouldn't be lower than the Abyssal Prince at all. And since my demonic blood was the same source as Karwenz's, it could possibly even fool the Soul Rope into believing I was the master. After locking on to the Soul Rope, I would never let go again, and Glina could be changed to become my descendant. Perhaps this would manage to cut off her connection to Karwenz.

This all sounded rather complicated, and there were many theoretical problems involved, but it was actually quite simple to accomplish. I just had to activate my Original Sin Demon form, transform into a demon of the Chaos side, and then supply my blood for a blood transfusion. If everything was successful, then this special magical ritual would change Glina from Karwenz's descendant into Roland's descendant.

Of course, since the two of us were twins, genetically speaking, there was no difference.

In a way, when my blood would be coursing through Glina's body, it would truly make us have a blood relationship.

This was also why I abandoned all my worries and suggested that Glina become my adopted daughter.

I couldn't help but faintly smile as I watched Glina, who was in a deep sleep beside me.

"Without realizing it, I suddenly have a descendant. Is this the feeling of family… Wait a moment, this scenario doesn't seem right. Why am I happy? I'm clearly still single, and I'm suddenly going to have a blood-related daughter out of nowhere, as well as a bunch of naughty children!"

Pop*

A bottle was suddenly placed right next to me against my ear. The black sticky liquid within it was rather familiar—wasn't it the 'good for skin and complexion' soup from earlier?

"Amelia worked so hard to cook this. Please don't waste her efforts and drink it while it's hot."

Pop*

There was nothing else after the pop. Before I could even knock myself out, I was already prevented from doing so. It seemed it would no longer be possible to play the same trick three times in a row.

Chef Amelia's face had already been stained black by the soup as well, but she was all smiles and seemed to be quite proud of her own handiwork.

"Um, no need to hurry. Drink up slowly; there's plenty more in the cauldron. Um, does it taste good? This thick soup that tastes like a dragon and tiger fighting is something I prepared specially for you."

Right at this moment, the cauldron happened to begin bubbling. A distorted skull floated up to the surface, and adding the black liquid before me, it created a scene that was disgusting to behold to the extreme.

"Master, the preparations for your intestinal cleaning have already been completed. Please don't make Miss Amelia wait any longer. Rest assured, after you die, I shall go ask you how it was at the River Styx."

"…Are you already assuming that I'm going to die? I'm so unlucky!"

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