Chapter 147
"I think the Grand Duke will still listen to what I say, right? But... I have a feeling there's a bit of danger in it."
Forget it, let's talk about this after we take over the Augustus Empire. It's still a long way off. Besides, the Grand Duke is so understanding, he should understand why he faked his death.
"The key now is to expose the Old Emperor's blood sacrifice. This is the opportunity to break the deadlock. Once this fire is lit, everything will fall into place."
Ryan was unaware that Caslathdi had volunteered to go and investigate the blood sacrifice. He was still thinking that 'Lin Qi' would be unable to move an inch in the Imperial Capital, which was quite troublesome.
However, the Gate of Janus always has its own methods, and Ryan doesn't intend to worry about these things. Compared to this, getting that piece of fat meat from the Kingdom of Lotte is the most important thing.
With this place as a base, if Augustus's plan fails temporarily, he still has the Kingdom of Lotte. If it succeeds, then using the Kingdom of Lotte as a springboard to further take over the Northern Coalition will not be a problem.
Once the Northern Coalition is breached, the entire Northern Continent will fall into Ryan's hands. As for Little Camilla like Kainter, we can simply send 'Shally' with the Holy Blood Legion to visit their home for two months, and they'll wipe out most of them.
Right now, 'Shally' has led the Holy Blood Legion to intercept Grand Duke Frank's army. The latter's army is now the focus of the entire kingdom's attention. Everyone knows that Frank is going to 'welcome' the king. Ryan has also had Angiya spread the news that the king is in Aster City and can't go anywhere else.
As long as Frank's army is annihilated head-on, the situation in the entire Kingdom of Lotte will immediately turn around. However, Ryan needs to recruit some manpower for the Holy Blood Legion first, and this matter is still entrusted to Angiya to handle.
That's the advantage of having a base. Otherwise, you wouldn't know where to recruit men. Anyway, Ryan doesn't force anyone. If they want to come, they get paid. They can eat and drink well and have money to spend. These conditions alone can attract a lot of people.
After all, no matter how well Aster City is governed, it is only on the border, and there are plenty of poor people and vagrants. After Ryan offered his terms, many people were still willing to join.
Moreover, the Holy Blood Legion has a large and convenient source of personnel: slaves.
The slave market is a huge industry chain, which Ryan experienced firsthand back in Berman City. The status of slaves is even lower than that of commoners or even vagrants, so being able to join the Holy Blood Legion is actually the greatest blessing for them.
Angiya didn't ask Ryan about his purpose in recruiting people, but she had some vague guesses. After all, the crimson power that the Holy Blood Legion used during the battle didn't seem to be normal.
But so what?
Methods are used by people, and their effectiveness depends on the person using them. She was on Amabena's side. If she couldn't even understand this, then Angiya wouldn't have been able to govern Ast so well.
So over the next two days, Angiya put a lot of effort into recruiting people, even bringing in a number of people from surrounding towns as a viscount.
A large workforce means the need for money, equipment, and food, and Ryan has none of these.
'Vainay' doesn't even have enough money to support her own army, 'Lin Qi' never earns any money, 'Shally' is even poorer, and 'Ina'? She's still waiting for the Grand Duke to pay her salary!
As for Motis, the newborn 'fifth wife', well, Bounty Hunter don't talk about money; talking about money hurts feelings.
Just as Ryan was thinking about how to make money, his adopted daughter, Amabena, suddenly pulled out a 'mountain of gold'.
"You should have said you needed money earlier! I have plenty of gold coins!"
Ryan was taken aback. "Where did you get these?"
"Of course, I brought it with me before I escaped from the palace. After all, I was fleeing for my life, how could I be without money?"
"Didn't you say that your father squandered the entire country?"
"Yes, so I exchanged the rest for money, and then emptied the treasury, taking everything I could."
Ryan: "..."
Well, the Kingdom of Lotte is truly blessed to have you two, father and daughter. If your ancestors knew about this, they would probably be so angry they'd flip up their coffins.
However, with this money, it's enough to assemble a Holy Blood Legion for the time being. Ryan was thinking about whether to create a separate Alts to make money, but then he thought that as long as he could take over the Augustus Empire and the Kingdom of Lotte, he wouldn't have to worry about money then.
As for the Gilded Group thing, Ryan is a bit interested in the God of Order. The extraordinary professions that come through this Faith Path are relatively rare. As far as he knows, there is one profession that is particularly popular, but Ryan forgot what it is called. Anyway, it is very powerful.
The path of the God of Order is all about the mechanics, unlike 'Shally' and 'Lin Qi', and it can be very interesting if you know how to play it.
Just as Ryan was busy recruiting the Holy Blood reserve army.
Meanwhile, in a forest ten kilometers east of Aster City, a great battle was taking place.
Where the Blood Mist spread, figures clad in silver armor were engaged in a frenzied battle.
The armor of the Holy Blood Legion is predominantly silver with blood-red stripes.
"Kill for Shally Shirley!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
Amidst the crimson light, an officer charged forward wielding a greatsword. With a roar, he unleashed a blood-red blade of light—BOOM! The blade exploded at its end, tearing apart the oncoming enemies. He then charged forward, wildly swinging his greatsword through the crowd. The Bloodlight- red blade was powerful enough to pierce through the armor of those enemies, cleaving them in two!
Soon, the Holy Blood Army was surrounded by corpses, broken remains and mangled flesh mixed together. The pungent stench of blood made the soldiers in Frank's army want to vomit, but the Holy Blood soldiers didn't even flinch. At this moment, they had only one thought in their minds: to follow Lady 'Shally' and kill all the enemies in front of them!
The strengthening of the 'war' will has a filtering effect. At the most basic level, those who cannot withstand the mental influence will degenerate into Blood God Demon, while those who withstand the pressure and transform into true warriors will be further strengthened in constant fighting and battles. The more outstanding ones will become stronger and stronger.
At this moment, the officer who had slain the enemy soldiers had not acquired a superhuman profession, but thanks to the enhancement of 'war,' he could still unleash attacks that resembled Magic Power.
'Shally' called it Holy Blood Power.
The source of Holy Blood Power is also the Faith Path of the Blood God, but it does not belong to any one person, but to the entire 'Holy Blood Legion'. Only those who join this team can gradually comprehend and master this ability through continuous battles.
Although very few people can use the Holy Blood Power, compared to the selection criteria for Supernatural Being individuals, this is one of the easiest ways for 'mortals' to obtain extraordinary power.
But the Holy Blood Legion does not tolerate betrayal. Those who waver for any reason will have their spirits extinguished and turned into monsters by the will of war, even without 'Shally's' orders.
In Ryan's opinion, the Holy Blood Legion is an army born entirely for war; their strength has no secrets, only their unwavering courage in battle.
Once in combat, the Holy Blood soldiers unleash their madness, using the most savage and violent aesthetics to show the enemy what true cruelty on the battlefield is.
Generally speaking, armies fighting the Holy Blood Legion will be unable to hold out for more than half an hour and will retreat, because even if they are not defeated, they will be psychologically broken by the unbearable cruelty of the battlefield and eventually go crazy and only want to escape.
If the Holy Blood Legion were to completely unleash their mental shackles, they would enter a berserk state similar to Supernatural Being of the Blood Cult. However, that would be extremely mentally stressful and dangerous. Unless 'Shally' was present, Holy Blood soldiers who went berserk could easily lose themselves.
As for the current battle, apart from the initial brief moment of euphoria due to Frank's overwhelming numerical advantage, they realized something was amiss less than ten minutes after the battle began.
A bloody mist of war billowed out, and 'Shally', empowered by Blood Intent and blood enhancement buffs, fought her way from the border between the two armies to the enemy's core, successfully killing the commander of that army.
Then, the rampage began!
What does it mean for Blood Knight to be invincible?
As it turns out, in a world where supernatural powers exist, numbers are sometimes just numbers. Although there are Supernatural Being hidden in Frank's army, they can only kill a few Holy Blood soldiers at most before being targeted and eliminated by 'Shally'. Even a few Holy Blood Army working together can kill these low-ranking Supernatural Being.
If we're talking about what can really cause widespread damage to the Holy Blood Army, it's the ordinary people wielding firearms. After all, no matter how powerful the Holy Blood soldiers are, they're still just mortals and can't ignore firearms.
Therefore, 'Shally' equipped the Holy Blood soldiers with mostly full-body heavy armor, crafted at great expense. Although this would affect their mobility to some extent, isn't the purpose of war enhancement to improve physical fitness for combat? On the battlefield, killing while alive is far more useful than killing while dead. Moreover, considering mobility, 'Shally' specifically separated a squad of Holy Blood cavalry to be responsible for charging into enemy lines.
Although she was a horseless knight, all of her men had horses!
"For Shally Shirley!!"
"Blood sacrifice in the wilderness, holy blood is invincible! Blood sacrifice in the wilderness, holy blood is invincible!"
'Shally' turned around in the middle of the fight. Who shouted such an awful slogan? Turn around and give him fifty lashes.
An hour later, the battle was drawing to a close.
This attack, which was overwhelmingly outnumbered, ended in victory for the Holy Blood Legion. The defeated Frank army began to retreat, but the Holy Blood Legion pursued them relentlessly. What does "don't pursue a defeated enemy" mean? 'Shally' didn't understand. 'Shally' only knew that she couldn't let experience slip away.
You have completed the Advancement Quest.
Congratulations on reaching Fourth Tier.
You have mastered the advanced skill 'Bloodthirsty Assault'.
You have learned a new class skill – 'Blood Armor'
[Bloodthirsty Assault: Draws energy from blood to heal injuries and increases damage by 10%. This effect also applies to allied units affected by the Blood Knight's power.]
[Blood Armor: After activation, increases magical and physical defense by 25%, and increases health by 25%.]
Bloodthirsty Assault is an advanced version of the 'Bloodlust' skill. Ryan had been wondering why he hadn't been able to advance it yet, as it's related to the character's comprehension.
Blood Armor is an essential skill for Blood Knight. Ryan had only read the information and remembered that there was such an ability, but he did not expect that it was learned at the Fourth Tier.
The Blood Knight is known as the Blood Bull Knight because of its high defense and health bonuses. Moreover, this is a passive skill, meaning the bonuses are directly stacked.
"There is no Blood God's Blessing to stack Blood Intent in the game, so my Blood Tank is the real Blood Tank."
Ryan smiled slightly, "Our Xia is truly amazing."
However, what he values even more is the Bloodthirsty Assault ability. In the game, it can only be used against Blood Minions, but now that he has grasped the War Domain and the uniqueness of the Holy Blood Legion, Ryan has discovered that he can cover all the Holy Blood soldiers!
What does that mean?
This means that the Holy Blood Legion's battlefield survival rate will increase significantly in the future!
Every Holy Blood soldier is a berserker on the battlefield, incredibly brave and capable of killing enemies, thanks to the enhanced Will of War. Therefore, Ryan's primary concern is their survivability.
"Once the Holy Blood Legion is fully stabilized and formed, it will be an invincible force."
Two hours later, the pursuit was completely over. Ryan didn't know exactly how many of Frank's troops had died, but it was definitely more than six thousand.
He ordered the main force of the Holy Blood Legion to rest and recuperate, and then sent Shally back to Ast to lead a few people. He had recruited a lot of new soldiers in the past two days, and Shally was still needed to select those who were qualified to join the Holy Blood Legion.
Beep beep beep~
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Ryan casually closed the game interface.
Amabena pushed open the door, squeezed her head through the crack, and blinked. "Prime Minister Excellency, someone is looking for you."
Who is it?
Prime Minister made Amabena call him "Ryan," because he couldn't help it; otherwise, he'd gotten used to calling her "Father" all the time, and he didn't have such a 'big' daughter.
Speaking of which, Hainuo is quite big too. So who's older between these two?
Haino is a bit more popular, mainly because he's a later-stage character, good-looking, awesome, and has a great figure... But Ryan still thinks Amabena is better because she's obedient.
"It's the one from Meld Town."
"Oh, Motis is here."
Ryan had called Mo back earlier, but it seems he went on some bounty mission and only just arrived.
And not only did she come back, she brought a group of people with her.
"Motis, this is the City Lord's mansion, what are you doing here?"
"Yes, or we should leave quickly. It would be troublesome if the City Lord got angry."
"I heard that His Majesty the King is inside as well."
When Ryan came out of the castle, he saw that Motis was accompanied by about twenty Bounty Hunter.
"They want to form Bounty Hunter Group with me," Motis said.
"The Hunter Group?"
Ryan stroked his chin, sizing up these people. To be honest, the Bounty Hunter were indeed a huge system, but there weren't any decent hunter groups in the Northern Continent. If Motis could create a Hunter King team, that would be great.
"Motis, who is this?" someone asked.
Motis tilted his head slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "Lovers of one heart?"
Wow! Motis, you actually have a lover?
"I thought you were the kind of ruthless bounty hunter."
Ryan's lips twitched slightly. He thought Motis was a bit dim-witted. Sure enough, his emotional intelligence was definitely lower than Lin Qi's.
"Lord Ryan."
At that moment, Angiya returned from outside and saw them.
"Lord of the City Lord!" The Bounty Hunter bowed respectfully. They didn't recognize Ryan, but they certainly recognized Angiya.
Who are you?
"Oh, a friend of a friend," Ryan said. "Viscountess Angiya, I need the men I recruited earlier. I'll have someone come over later. Also, Frank's army has been wiped out. Could you help create some momentum? His Majesty the King will be returning to the capital in a few days."
"Frank's army was defeated?" Angiya exclaimed in surprise. "When did this happen?"
Ryan chuckled, "It's normal that you didn't know just now, after all, this is Her Majesty the King's secret weapon, and she only just instructed me to tell you. Viscountess Angiya, our King is not as simple as you see him."
"I see!"
Angiya's expression was solemn.
She seemed to understand. It turned out that King Amabena's usual naivety and naivety were all an act. As expected of the king, he had been lying low for many years and then made a name for himself!
"I'll take care of it right away!"
Angiya ignored the Bounty Hunter and hurriedly left.
"Motis, your lover is amazing! He can actually speak with the lord." A girl next to Motis exclaimed in a low voice, "He just mentioned the king."
"I have a feeling..." the young man next to him scratched his head, "Did we hear something we shouldn't have?"
King, Frank, and all that—isn't that what's been all the rage lately?
"Everyone, you can go back first. Motis and I still have things to do. I'll have her contact you about the Bounty Hunter Group later," Ryan said with a smile.