Chapter 292

"Death... gave her the name Hera. On August 12th, Hera was very moist."

Ryan: "???"

Chapter 178 Witch K: Balshatt responded to me?!

"Balshatt is truly a man of strong emotions."

After looking at the two stone slabs, Ryan had a thousand words in his heart, but in the end, only this one sentence came out.

What else can be said?

If the information we have so far is correct, then Balshatt, the Lord of All Gods, is a pervert!

No wonder, it's human nature. Even the creators were SPs, so wouldn't all humans be SPs too?

Thinking about it this way, Ryan felt like he was truly a Pure White Dragon.

"However, it doesn't seem to be of much use to me. At most, I'll know some secrets that others don't know, and then what? Balshatt, let's get practical, like how to easily become a god?"

After flipping through the stone slab and confirming that it was simply kept intact and clean by magic and did not possess any special attributes, Ryan casually tossed the slab into his storage bag.

Then he took out the Soul Jade and began cultivating.

As Supernatural Being, we should cultivate whenever we have free time.

Although he's been practicing dual cultivation with Kachia these past few days, it's Kachia who's enjoying herself. Not only does she get pleasure, but she also improves her cultivation level, while he's just doing all the work for free.

Now that I've got the Advancement Fragment, I naturally need to quickly raise my Magic Power to the third tier of Great Perfection.

"Speaking of which, the Moon God Temple and the Earth Temple both have Advancement Fragment, so could the Sun God also have them? Logically speaking, Augustus once worshipped the Sun God, but there was a break in the faith... The Sun God must exist within the Augustus Empire."

Ryan opened the game and had 'Vainay' search for the treasury of the Augustus Empire to see where the sacrifices to the Sun God were actually performed in the empire's history.

After giving the order, Ryan began to focus on his training.

Time flies, and an hour has passed in the blink of an eye.

"Phew~ Great, another day of diligent cultivation."

Ryan got out of bed, walked to the balcony outside the room, stretched lazily towards the setting sun, and reflected the fiery red sky in his dark eyes.

Although it was only a short hour, his current cultivation speed was better than that of an ordinary Supernatural Being worked hard all day.

Ryan had his maid make him a cup of black tea, then lay back on a chair on the balcony, enjoying the sunset. He also took out a mirror from his backpack to contact Magana.

However, when the mirror was connected, in addition to Magana, Haino also appeared in the mirror. The two were in the tent, standing in front of the table, seemingly studying something.

"Ryan."

Upon seeing Ryan appear, Haino's eyes lit up with joy. "It's so good to see you're alright."

Magana pouted in dissatisfaction. "How long ago was this? I, the Grand Duke, already said that Ryan is fine, I wouldn't lie to you, would I?"

Haino glanced at the short man but didn't reply, thinking to himself, "If I didn't have any relics that directly connected me to Ryan, why would I be asking you about him?"

Because Magana always gave off an unreliable vibe, Haino was still a little worried until he saw Ryan himself appear.

"Your Grand Duke, Lady Haino, how is the situation on your end?" Ryan asked with a smile.

"What else can we say?" Magana put her hands on her hips, tilted her head back arrogantly, and it looked like her nose was stretched long. "After the Iron Blood Legion evolved, these Western Barbarians are no match for us at all. They retreated after their great defeat last time, and now they don't dare to confront us head-on anymore."

Haino interjected, "The problem is back to the same old issue: the Western Barbarians are too scattered, and they'll retreat immediately once we attack. Even if we manage to kill some, it won't make a difference. They can keep fleeing west and north, but the army can't do that."

So, what's the conclusion you reached after discussing it?

The Western Territory is an old problem. Although the Iron Blood Army has evolved and its combat power has greatly improved, it cannot play a key role in solving the Western Territory problem.

You attack, they run away. The Western Territory grasslands are too vast, and some places have harsh environments unsuitable for the army to enter, but those Western Barbarians can thrive there.

If we venture too far into enemy territory, we risk stretching the battle lines too long, as the fighting strength of the Western Barbarian Army should not be underestimated.

Ryan wanted to resolve the Great Plains issue as soon as possible so that the Iron Blood Army could free up its resources. Soon, the Holy Blood Army would be crossing south into the Southern Continent, at which point the Iron Blood Army would have to guard the borders.

Or perhaps a portion of the Iron Blood Army also marched south. In any case, it would be a waste to leave such a powerful main force to fight the Western Barbarians on the grasslands. If the Grand Duke hadn't been so obsessed with unifying the Western Barbarians, Ryan would have even considered withdrawing the Iron Blood Army and letting the Imperial Army slowly wear down the Western Barbarians.

"Just like you said, the merchant caravan has already made contact with a Western Barbarian tribe. However, those people are very cautious. After all, the Iron Blood Army has sealed off the Western Territory, and our presence will naturally arouse suspicion."

"Right now, the merchant group is talking to the Western Barbarians. I plan to go there in a couple of days. With my strength, I should be able to convince them. As for what comes next, we have two ideas. One is to induce them to establish a kingdom, which is very likely given the appearance of that Western Barbarian hero. The other is to use a sufficiently tempting trade to gather the main force of the Western Barbarians, then annihilate them in one fell swoop, and deal with the rest slowly."

"The first method is too troublesome." Magana crossed her arms and said, "Those Western barbarians are weak now. It would take who knows how long for them to establish a kingdom. I, the Grand Duke, don't have that much time to waste. The second method is better. After I take out their main force, I'll have that girl Vainay send the Imperial Army to slowly deal with the rest. She's not good at fighting tough battles, but she can handle whitewashing, right?"

Haino shook her head but didn't say anything; it was clear she didn't approve of the method.

After all, the Western Barbarians aren't fools. It's already difficult enough to lure the main force here, let alone wipe them out. The Western Barbarians will be scattered across the grasslands, and how will the Imperial army deal with them? In a few decades or a hundred years, they will be able to slowly develop again.

Therefore, it would be better to establish a state, then infiltrate and subjugate them, forming a top-down rule that oppresses them without driving them to despair and revolt. The Western Barbarians only need food to eat, and their warhorses are also a rare resource.

This actually coincided with Ryan's thoughts, but the Grand Duke was clearly unwilling to do it, so even though Ryan agreed with Haino's idea, he couldn't say it directly. To win over the Grand Duke, you have to go along with it.

"Your Grand Duke is right! Those Western barbarians are indeed not worth Your Grand Duke's time." Ryan stroked his chin. "But Your Grand Duke, the Western Barbarians have been harassing our borders for so many years, isn't it too easy for them to be wiped out?"

"And what do you think?" Magana tilted her head, her eyelashes beneath her white hair trembling slightly.

"I think we should just take them in and make them our dogs."

"Accept them as dogs? What does that mean?"

"It means making them submit, to serve us as our servants for life, and from now on, the western barbarians will be the ones guarding the Western Territory."

Magana's eyes lit up. "As expected of Ryan, what a brilliant idea!"

Hainuo: "???"

No, wasn't that exactly what I meant by my suggestion? How come when I said it was a rubbish idea, Ryan said it was brilliant?

However, Ryan's ideas were somewhat different from Haino's. Haino was thinking about Ryan's previous plan, but now that the Ironblood Army had evolved and its strength had increased dramatically, if the Western Barbarian Army still had the leverage to negotiate with the Empire before, now it was simply being utterly crushed on the front lines.

Furthermore, this wave of the Western Barbarian Army failed to seize any food during the winter, and the entire grassland was already starving and howling. Although not many people would starve to death, their situation was precarious.

At this point, it's possible that the empire would offer conditions for the Western Barbarians to unify, establish their own state, and then submit.

The biggest destabilizing factor is undoubtedly the hero who might inherit the name of the Race God, but Ryan can easily guide them along the development path of Veldria with a little trickery—lay low and develop quietly. You have a candidate for Race God, right? What's the rush? First, agree to submit to the Augustus Empire. Once your hero rises to the Eighth Tier, won't you be able to turn the tables and destroy Augustus in no time?

Whether it will ultimately succeed depends on the extent of the pressure Magana exerts on the Western Barbarians.

Everyone knows that the Grand Duke and Empress Augustus are at odds. As long as the Grand Duke shows enough determination to exterminate the Western Barbarians, and 'Vainay' extends an olive branch at the crucial moment, then Haino can lead the merchant group to reveal their identity. "Hey! I'm here representing the Empress! Don't panic, the Empress will stand with you against the Iron-Blooded Grand Duke!"

"Hmm, taking the Western Barbarians as dogs isn't bad, but those guys are ungrateful wretches; they'll turn on you at the first opportunity," Magana said.

"That's something the Empress needs to think about. We've pushed things this far; if Empress can't handle the remaining issues, she doesn't deserve to sit on the throne." Ryan curled his lip. "If the Empress is useless, then the throne might as well go to you, Grand Duke. But for now, let's give her a chance. Afterwards, let her bestow Grand Duke you the title of King of the Western Territory, and nominally, the Western Territory will be under our control."

Are you kidding me? As long as the Western Barbarians submit, would Ryan ever give them a chance to rebel?

"Your Grand Duke, please go ahead and do it. I'll handle things with the Empress regarding the Empire. If she doesn't agree, I doubt she'll dare to."

"Okay... By the way, Ryan, how are things going over there?"

"Everything went smoothly. I'll return to the Empire once this is all done."

Magana opened her mouth, but she really wanted to say, "Ryan, stop running around for the Empire, come back to the Western Territory and I'll take care of you..." Although she didn't say it, Magana still missed the days when Ryan was by her side. However, after spending so much time with Ryan, she understood that Ryan was careless.

As citizens of the empire, we must strive for its benefit.

Magana didn't dislike this; on the contrary, she appreciated it, and it didn't conflict with her desire to seize the throne.

However, with Augustus currently thriving and the empire growing stronger, she recently felt that it wouldn't be bad to let 'Vainay' continue as emperor. After all, it's just a title. As long as everyone knows that she, Grand Duke Magana, is very powerful, whether she sits on the throne or not, she will still be that Iron-Blooded Grand Duke.

Of course, if 'Vainay' is incompetent and foolish, she'll definitely kick her out of the house.

Well, the main thing is that once I become emperor, there will be so much more to do, and I won't have as much time to freely communicate with Ryan anymore.

Magana missed Ryan a little, but she didn't say it, since Haino was with her. Haino, however, laughed heartily.

"Ryan, I'll be waiting for you to return to the Empire."

Magana immediately bristled. "What do you mean by this?"

Haino pretended not to hear and continued, "Caslathdi sent word a couple of days ago that she has made contact with the dwarves, and she also told me some things about you and that dwarf."

"Hmm. Leave the dwarf situation to her. You tell her how to utilize my identity, and let her decide for herself."

"Good."

The long-awaited chat ended with Magana's glare. As Ryan put away the mirror, Ryan couldn't help but miss the Grand Duke's delicate and supple body. The pleasure of carrying her and thrusting into her was unparalleled, an emotional value that no one else could provide.

"Once we've dealt with things here quickly, I'll definitely have a thorough discussion with the Grand Duke when we get back."

With that in mind, Ryan opened the game, first creating a new character named 'Melissa', and choosing the Wilder region as his spawn point.

In fact, Wildea was born into the territory of the former Northern Coalition, just like Aisha was born in the Kingdom of Lotte.

Although he's more of a utility character, Ryan was still crafted with great care. Spending a few more minutes gives you another eye-catching wife, isn't that much more worthwhile than gacha pulls in games?

As usual, 'Melissa' is a mature and sexy older sister, the kind that exudes charm, but her figure isn't outstanding. However, it doesn't matter, since she's in charge of political affairs, a secretary role like 'Ina' is enough for her.

Afterwards Ryan also planned to create some loli girls. This was not due to Ryan's awakening of his fetish, but mainly to comprehensively cover all areas of the empire. Different characters play different roles. Big breasts and big butts are of course the main focus, but sometimes just being big isn't enough.

After creating the new character, Ryan sent Motis to pick up the person. Once the character successfully levels up and changes jobs, he will Create New Character. It shouldn't take much time.

If it were in Veldria, where there's a consistent supply of Moonlight Knight, this process would be even faster.

"Um?"

When Ryan switched to the 'Adele' character interface, he was no longer shown in the tower floor belonging to Witch K, but in an endless gray and black land.

Just like outside the Babel Tower, this place was filled with a hazy gray fog, but the fog was thicker and seemed to stretch endlessly. Ryan checked his AFK logs and realized that 'Adele' was still in the world of the Witch Society, and that Witch K had sensed something and brought her here.

Then, something shocking happened.

Through Adele's gaze, Ryan saw what appeared to be an endless black tide surging madly toward them from the horizon. These black tides clearly did not belong to this world; they spread toward the gray space like a virus invading it, and the unknown energy bodies of the black cubes spread rapidly like cancer cells.

Before the black tide, Witch K pressed her left hand against the brim of her hat and raised a magic staff inlaid with black crystal high. The staff emitted a dark light, and the terrifying Magic Power it released clashed with the spreading black tide. For a moment, Ryan even felt that this power could overturn the world!

The gray space trembled slightly due to the collision of forces. Ryan was unable to tell what had happened for a moment, as the game system offered no explanation.

He only saw Witch K supporting the power to protect the gray space and resist the black tide's invasion, but he could tell that Witch K wasn't having an easy time either.

'There is a Chaos Space's Power.'

At that moment, Adele's inner thoughts popped up on the screen.

Ryan was slightly taken aback. Chaos Space? The essence of these black tides is the same as Chaos Space?

"Could this be the origin of the Four Great Outer Gods?" Ryan stroked his chin. "That's not right. Logically speaking, if the Four Great Outer Gods are all sealed, then who could launch such a powerful invasion? Or is this just a natural reaction of the Chaos Space's power expanding outward?"

With not much information available, Ryan could only continue to wait.

Witch K is very powerful, definitely at the Eighth Tier, but Ryan doesn't know just how powerful she is.

Even so, the Black Tide's attack seemed endless. After nearly an hour of stalemate, Witch K's power was finally almost exhausted, and the Mana Shield she released began to crumble.

"Etc!"

Ryan suddenly realized a very serious problem.

If Witch K can't stop the Black Tide and allows it to continue spreading, wouldn't Adele be in danger?!

He didn't think these dark, grimy things were anything good; they were sure to kill people!

"Adele, go to the first level of the Babel Tower and activate the array inside!" the witch K suddenly shouted.

Formation?

Adele quickly turned back and soon returned to the Babel Tower. The array was located at the innermost part of the hall, directly above the conference table. Inside was a mysterious statue wearing a hat, obscuring its features, but based on the Witch Society's principles, it should be the so-called Balshatt.

Adele arrived in front of the array. The witch K had told her about this array before; it was the array to activate the power of the Babel Tower, but it hadn't been used for many years.

This gray fog world has always been safe, at least under the protection of Witch K, but now it's clear that Witch K's power alone is not enough.

The array's shape is a classic pentagram, with each point holding an item symbolizing a righteous god— the Hourglass of Time, the Gold of the Earth, the Scales of Order, the Stone of the Sun, and the Silver of the Moonlit Night.

In the scene, Adele twists the mechanism in the center of the array, aligning the lines of each star with the positions of the five symbols. But when she correctly moves the last step, the entire array suddenly emits a dazzling light.

Swish!

Five colors—white, gold, gray, red, and silver—intertwined and converged to form a beam of light that shot into the sky, passing through the towering buildings of the Babel Tower until it reached the golden winged beast with outstretched wings at the very top!

Boom!!!

Multicolored light pierced through the mist, dispelling the gray fog surrounding the Babel Tower.

Upon seeing this, witch K immediately began chanting—

"Baalshatt of the Gods, the true master of this world, the sun is your heart, the moon is your eyes, time and space flow around you, the earth is measured beneath your feet, and order is the scales you have set for all things..."

"At this moment, your devout followers yearn for the power to repel the encroachment of the outside world!"