Chapter 83

Caslathdi's face lit up with visible joy.

"Ryan, with you and talented people like Shally, I feel I can definitely overcome this difficulty!"

"Yes, Your Highness, that's what I think too."

Ryan thought to himself, "You must persevere, otherwise I'll have no choice but to run away from the Southern Territory and start over."

He walked aside to observe 'Shally's' condition.

Dusk was falling, but the Lilta Mountains were now half-red in the sky. The mountain range wasn't actually that big, so it was hard to imagine how 'Shally' had used this terrain to burn down the Kainter's army.

But it makes sense. The 20,000-strong Kainter army was all high and mighty, just waiting to smash the gates of Berman City and take the Princess away. Who would have thought that the weaker side would actually come out to ambush them?

Right now.

The earth was as red as blood!

A thousand Royal Guards blocked the exit of the mountain range, killing anyone who came out, while 'Shally' led the Blood Minions deep into the mountains alone. In just a short time, Ryan had already killed about a hundred people.

Your Sword of Ares has been upgraded.

The swung Blood-colored Greatsword released a dazzling light, and the power of its advanced attack was unleashed by 'Shally'. The blood-red shockwave killed all the fleeing Kainter soldiers along the way.

"You've advanced?"

Ryan was delighted.

This sword was already on the verge of being upgraded last time.

[Sword of Ares - Class Binding]

[Quality: Tier 2, Legendary]

[Effect 1: Constitution +10, Magic Power +10]

[Effect 2: Increases attack damage by 20%.]

[Feature: Upgradeable]

[Attached Skill: Blood Sacrifice - Sacrifice a certain amount of life to activate the ability.]

First Stage of Sacrifice: Blood Slash

Nine Stages of Sacrifice: Blood Dragon Slash

[Description: The honor God-given has been sealed for a hundred years, awaiting its next master.]

The effects of the second-tier weapon remain largely unchanged, but the numerical improvement is truly impressive. Ryan noticed that all the classes along the Blood Divine Path seem to share this characteristic: pure and brutal.

Second-tier legendary quality weapons are inherently far more lethal than ordinary weapons.

'Shally' swings her greatsword, easily shattering the shields of Kainter soldiers. She uses Blood Slash as soon as it's off cooldown, killing her way up from First Stage of Sacrifice to level five. There's no need to use it at higher levels, since her health is too low and she might get caught out by a cunning old man.

After twenty minutes of fighting, Supernatural Being finally appeared to confront 'Shally'.

Two people, one a second-tier Path of Death mage, and the other a third-tier Sun God Path Melee Tactician, similar to the Son of the Sun.

'Shally' didn't linger in the fight. She raised her hand and used a level 6 Blood Pattern Break to instantly kill the Second Tier Transcendent. Then, while the Third Tier Transcendent was stunned, she quickly ran away.

With her current attribute bonuses, if Ryan were to control her, he would probably choose to kill that Tier 3 Transcendent, since the power of the Sixth Stage Sacrifice would be enough to severely injure him. However, the AI would choose a more conservative approach.

Don't be greedy, hit and run, and exchange enemy casualties for minimal losses.

The Game Character has one major characteristic: she never gets tired of killing. 'Shally' alone, once she rushed into the forest, killed almost as many enemy soldiers as the Royal Guards who were besieging the area outside.

Blood Minions!

Blood Minions are everywhere!

It wasn't until the fire had been burning for almost an hour that Kainter's army finally managed to escape in disarray.

Seeing this, 'Shally' decisively led the Royal Guards to retreat, ending the time for kicking a man when he was down.

Conservative estimates suggest that the casualties of the Kainter forces in this wave definitely exceeded three thousand.

"When in doubt, use fire to attack; the ancients were right."

As Ryan remarked on this, he noticed a new task popping up on 'Shally's' profile screen.

[Advancement Quest, Sacrifice: 1283/8888]

Ryan's lips twitched slightly.

Well, I was right, the third-tier quest really does have 8888 heads.

"Strange, Shally shouldn't have killed that many people just now."

Ryan checked the AFK logs and found that the number of people sacrificed was far more than the number of kills 'Shally' had made... It seemed that the game system was also counting the kills by the Royal Guards as 'Shally's'.

No, there's also fire.

Even now, the number of sacrifices still increases by one or two from time to time, probably because there are still Kainter soldiers trapped in the forest who haven't come out yet.

"It seems that the sacrifice mission is not just about killing people yourself. Any killing caused by the person who is the 'leader' should be counted. That makes sense. If we really had to kill them one by one, how long would it take? Even for Chosen of the Gods, this kind of dedicated efficiency is far too low."

Anyway, it's a good thing, so Ryan stopped worrying. The Blood Knight is truly invincible on the battlefield. Killing people, leveling up, and sacrificing to the Blood God. Even though it was Alts created later, it's already at the same level as his main wife, 'Lin Qi,' and is trying to reach the Third Tier Transcendent.

As for 'Lin Qi', due to the changes that occurred in the Inner World, she had to come out of it these past few days, and she still hasn't finished the Job Change Mission.

However... 'Lin Qi' is already very efficient, while the third wife 'Vainay' hasn't even reached the second-tier job advancement yet.

News of the fire that burned the Kainter's army quickly reached Berman City.

The initial victory boosted the confidence of the rookie recruits in Berman City and also delayed Kainter's attack.

But that wasn't the end of it. After suffering heavy losses, the Kainter army did not launch an attack overnight, but instead set up camp three kilometers south of Berman City.

The fire has dampened their momentum, and they need to rest and recuperate.

The next morning, 'Vainay' and her 1,500 men arrived at the train station.

To show his respect, Caslathdi personally led a group of people to the station to greet him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Viscount Vainay."

"It is my honor, Your Highness."

At the train station, Caslathdi looked at 'Vainay' with some surprise.

She hadn't expected the viscount to be so young, which was quite rare in the empire, especially on the border. Even those who bought their titles usually wouldn't choose such a place.

However, Caslathdi didn't ask any more questions. It was good enough that they came to help. In comparison, she was more curious about the relationship between 'Vainay' and Ryan.

"Mr. Ryan and I are good friends," 'Vainay' said with a smile. "In Mr. Ryan's words, we should be pen pals."

"A pen pal?" Caslathdi turned to look at Ryan.

"It means communicating through letters," Ryan explained.

"Although we have never met, we have long admired each other from afar."

"I see."

After a brief conversation, Caslathdi had a very good impression of 'Vainay'. She was beautiful, well-mannered, and a noblewoman... Wait, could Ryan have fallen in love with this Miss Vainay?

Falling in love with a girl you've never met but can talk to freely... isn't that just like the plot of those novels in the Empire? It's actually quite romantic when you think about it.

"Ryan, what do you think of Miss Vainay?"

On the way out of the train station, Caslathdi called Ryan onto the carriage and asked him questions.

Ryan was taken aback. "It's fine, what's wrong?"

"Don't you have any ideas?"

"Uh... what are you thinking?"

Caslathdi shook her head helplessly. "Of course it's about marriage. She's the right age, the lord of Kels City, and you even said she's Supernatural Being... Such an outstanding person, don't you have any thoughts about her?"

"..."

Ryan's lips twitched slightly. "Your Her Highness the Princess, could you please adjust your judgment of people?"

"Your Highness, you yourself said she's so outstanding. How could I possibly be worthy of Miss Vainay?" Ryan said, spreading his hands. "Right now, I'm just an acting mayor."

"It's my fault." Caslathdi realized she had been naive. "Don't worry, Ryan, after this I will ask my father to formally confer upon you the title of Viscount and appoint you to govern Berman City."

Although there are almost no cases of commoners being promoted directly to viscount, if she recommends him and Ryan makes a contribution, the emperor will grant the reward out of consideration for her.

Moreover, a viscount title doesn't affect the situation, since Berman City originally belonged to her. It's like Ryan only got the title, without even a fief.

Ryan did not comment.

What else could he say?

Whatever makes you happy.

Following the arrival of reinforcements from Kels City, Romagnil and Mist's two thousand men also arrived within the next two hours. Ryan distributed everyone, and a total of six thousand men gathered at the four city gates, ready for battle.

He assigned veteran soldiers to the south gate, while the new recruits were mixed in with the other three gates. Although the number of soldiers was the same, the difference in combat effectiveness was quite obvious.

"They're here! They're here!!!"

Smoke rose from the watchtowers outside the city, and on the horizon, the kingdom's armored army was rapidly advancing in this direction.

The Kainter army split into three groups: three thousand men each attacked from the east and west gates, while the main attacking force, consisting of six thousand men, converged at the south gate.

The remaining 5,000 men were there to guard against attacks from the Iron Blood Legion. This time, they were smarter and determined not to give the Iron Blood Legion any chance to launch a sneak attack.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The thunderous beat of the war drums was deafening!

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere hung in the air. Even Ryan couldn't help but feel a little nervous, as this was, in a strict sense, his first time participating in a large-scale war.

"Shally, you'd better step up your game!"

Turning our gaze back from the distance, on the character interface, 'Shally' was leading a thousand Royal Guards, sneaking up on the rear of the Kainter army.

Just as the Kainter army launched its siege of Berman City.

Somewhere in the Karla Mountains, on the vast grasslands far to the Western Territory of the empire.

Boom!

The flames of the battle axe erupted the moment it struck, its terrifying destructive power annihilating the surrounding Demon Legion! As smoke billowed, a figure gradually emerged from the crater—

The white-haired loli stood upright, gripping the axe handle in one hand, her delicate face now filled with murderous intent.

"Phew~ It should be almost there. The Mental Pollution here is weakening, and we shouldn't be far from the exit... Damn Creed, I'll tear you to pieces when I get out of here!"

As she spoke through gritted teeth, a look of worry quickly crossed Magana's face.

"We've been trapped here for so long, I wonder what's going on outside... Ryan, you absolutely mustn't fall for that guy's tricks."

The Western Territory is likely doomed; by the time she leaves, it will probably be a scene of utter devastation. Only the Southern Territory remains. If Ryan can stabilize the situation and seize territory from Caslathdi, then she will still have a chance to turn the tide!

Second update! Another 10,000 words a day! Let's go!