Antos, Wens, York, Rosalind, Vanessa, Adelaide, Hall.
The names of the seven grand dukes were written on a piece of paper.
Ed wrote down three names in the "Sealed" column: Antos, Adelaide, and Hall (pending). The first two were already sealed, while Hall's sealing was based on indirect evidence from Luoli Adelaide's testimony.
Although he did not see Hall being sealed away, he had personally witnessed the Short-Eared Elf carrying the Grand Duke away into the distance, and saw the Blood Corpse of Hall Lineage dying in droves.
Although it was unclear why the Blood Corpse of the Antos and Adelaide Lineage, who were also sealed, did not die on a large scale, Ed still categorized Hall as "sealed".
He then wrote the names Wens and Rosalind in the " Demon Realm " column.
Grand Duke Wens was responsible for the death of the Willow's mother, while Grand Duke Rosalind had also participated in the early siege of the surviving liches, though she failed to secure the final kill.
In this way, five of the seven grand dukes now have a home.
The only remaining uncertainties are York and Vanessa. Once Ed can ascertain the status of either of them, he can gain a better understanding of the current situation.
If one of these two Grand Dukes is sealed away in the outside world, it proves that the Willow's statement is correct: the seven Grand Dukes should be distributed as follows: four outside the Demon Realm and three inside the Demon Realm.
If one of them appears in the Demon Realm, the ratio of people on both sides will become three against three again, making the situation of the last person very delicate.
Perhaps, that last person is the one Ed has been searching for, the "bug" he found after combining the accounts of the Graycast Corridor, the Eternal Domain, and the native inhabitants of the Demon Realm.
The fate of the Amber Dragon remains uncertain; one of the Grand Dukes may be lurking on the side of order; the true identity of the Grand Foundry Master of the Graycast Corridor is unknown; the Twin Kings don't seem to be benevolent either; and within the Tree Worship Church, there's a Fallen Cardinal causing division...
This doesn't even take into account the Southern Empire and the Skeleton Alliance, which are not yet bordering the Second Holy See; otherwise, the situation would be even more complicated.
well.
Ed couldn't help but sigh.
Life is tough, even the World Tree has to shut itself off.
Saving the world was already exhausting enough, but then there was this Mission Impossible subplot to unravel...
Having assigned each of the grand dukes to a faction, Ed then began to label their respective Authority and areas of expertise.
The two he was most familiar with were, of course, Antos, who controlled blood and flesh and was practically immortal as long as the supply of blood and flesh was sufficient; Adelaide, who wielded the Absolute Punishment and could inflict a whole host of debuffs with just a glance if she disliked him.
Ed already knew these two things clearly, and Willow had once told him that the Duke of Wens possessed Authority over the realm of " Vitality and revival," and could Drain life force from the external environment like a plant. Wens could maintain a certain level of combat power until he had drained an area into a wasteland.
Ed is unaware of the Authority of the remaining four Grand Dukes, but judging from these three alone, their abilities can already be described as extraordinary.
To defeat them, you must take them one by one; you absolutely cannot try to take on two or more at once, or you'll likely mess things up.
Moreover, even if they were to be defeated one by one, given Ed's current strength, he would still need to bring along either or both of Haji Dragon and Nige Ganhuo while using his full strength; otherwise, there is still a possibility of failure.
However, there is some good news as well.
Having been in this World of Disorder for so long, Ed has a comprehensive understanding of himself.
Dragons can strengthen themselves by killing other dragons, and vampires have a similar devouring mechanism.
One is either the vessel of the World Tree or the World Tree itself, and therefore possesses similar abilities, but with a wider coverage.
Not only plants, Ed can also collect animal genes for his own use. However, within the Second Holy See, the focus is mainly on Aberration plants, which is why he can collect far fewer types of animal genes than plants.
Therefore, if he can successfully defeat one vampire grand duke, it's equivalent to taking over an entire lineage of Blood Corpse and distributing their abilities to his players. In this way, the remaining grand dukes can be defeated one by one through a snowball effect.
This is the source of Ed's confidence, a mere Middle Tier weakling, in the face of seven potential grand dukes—
What kind of mechanics are these? I've been in this World of Disorder for so long, how come I've never seen any mechanics-based monsters?
With a hint of smugness, Ed quickly drafted a temporary quest and sent it to the players in Klaf City:
Temporary Quest: The Shadow of the Grand Duke
Mission Description: The seven vampire grand dukes have always been elusive, and to this day we still don't know how many of them are sealed away or how many wander the Demon Realm. As an old knight who has fought in both the Wilderness of Chaos and the Demon Realm, Silvis should know some secrets.
Mission objective: Inquire with Knight Silvis about the vampire grand dukes.
Mission reward: Depends on the importance of the intelligence, maximum 5 gold coins.
Five gold coins!
The sounds of monkeys calling echoed from the dark cave, startling Bruce the Vine Dog, who was resting on the ground.
What happened?
Silvis spoke up by the campfire, looking with a puzzled expression at the growing number of his followers.
He had now recovered most of his armor. These thick Psionic Energy armor pieces almost perfectly concealed his extremely thin body, making him look seven or eight tenths as handsome as he did in his prime.
A player vaulted over the obstacles near the fire and darted to Silvis's side:
"Old knight, could you tell me about your hunting experiences from your youth?"
"Whoosh!"
The player's neck trembled slightly as he reached down and pulled a small syringe from the side of his neck.
The player turned around in disbelief and saw [ Backstabbing Expert ] holding a strange launcher, who smiled and waved, saying:
"Hey, don't be so greedy. How about we, the two of us, take on this small intelligence-gathering task?"
"You, you hit me, what...?"
The player felt his tongue was tied in knots and his vocal cords seemed to have lost their ability to vibrate. He then collapsed next to the fire, emitting a steady snoring sound.
"It's just a common extract of Paralysis Flower, but the effect is better than I expected."
Seeing his junior brother getting carried away, [ Dawn Ah ] nudged him in the ribs with his elbow:
"Why didn't you dilute it? The undiluted solution is very expensive."
"Oh, I thought you diluted it..."
The surprised expression on the face of the " Backstabbing Expert " didn't seem fake:
No wonder it worked so well.