Throne of the North.

Chapter 508: The consequences of the failure of the dragon spirit's blessing
It was summer, and the sunlight in the north was mild, reflecting off the snow-white earth with a dazzling effect.

More than a hundred years after the North covered the world, summer has become the happiest time for mankind.

However, this is not the case for Nidhogg.

The great being, the Lord of the Dawn, the God of Light, cast his gaze upon this world because the flower of dawn was blooming.

The gaze of a great being is not a good thing, especially in the world of Nidhogg. From ancient times to the present, there has been no habit of believing in gods. They only have the tradition of worshipping the dragon monarch. Gods and the like are unfamiliar to the humans in this world.

The Lord of the Dawn, the God of Light, cannot absorb faith from this world, so His power is no longer warm.

Instead, it was filled with cruel heat, the scorching summer, a word so unfamiliar to the Norris continent, but it was the most appropriate to describe Nidhogg this year.

He is trying to use the scorching sunlight to make the people of this world pray to the sun in the sky, become His believers, and become His glorious kingdom.

No one can stop Him, and the great existence of this world has disappeared.

"The noble dragon king has fallen, and He has left behind His punishment."

Hughes, whose eyes were already extremely blurry, grabbed the Braille board in his hand and shouted on the street. He captured more Braille knowledge from it. Many of the Braille words were telling about the ancient past, when the great Dragon Emperor favored mankind and protected the land destroyed by the evil dragon.

Hughes went crazy about this and started shouting and screaming in the street, and no one around him dared to stop him.

The fear and numbness of the humans of Nidhogg towards the Dragon Lord are instinctive. Ryan's arrival has only been less than a year, and he cannot eliminate the world's habitual submission to the Dragon Lord.

Moreover, the weather has indeed become worse. When humans were enslaved, they would think of the Dragon Chosen ones rebelling against the Dragon Lord. But now times have changed and without the Dragon Lord, they would also think that the sunlight is so harsh that it almost makes it impossible for them to survive.

Human beings are like this, always thinking about the past when faced with difficulties.

As long as they do not appear at the same time, the difficulties that have not appeared do not seem so difficult to accept.

Just like people miss winter in summer, and shiver and shout in winter that they would rather die of heat in summer.

"This is the punishment from the Dragon Lord."

Some people began to kneel on the ground and actually prayed to the dragon.

There is an invisible power of faith emanating from them, and no one knows who has fallen into their hands.

“What are you doing!!!”

The soldiers arrived.

On the back of the tall Northern warhorse, the burly knight's squire looked indifferently at those who were kneeling on the ground and kowtowing continuously, and started to scold them, swinging the whip mercilessly, beating these people until they wailed in pain and had to stand up under the knight's scolding.

"Who gave you permission to kneel? What are you serving?"

In a world with gods, faith is not casual. Otherwise, if faith in evil gods is attracted, the entire land or even the entire world will suffer a huge disaster.

"You are the people of the Frozen Territory, the people of Lord Ryan!"

"Remember your identities. No one is allowed to perform a sacrifice without Lord Ryan's permission!"

The knight roared, and the people around him naturally feared this terrifying knight who could chase and slaughter hundreds of them by himself.

However, the knight's majesty could not stop Nidhogg's people from secretly serving the dragon monarch.

There are no dragon monarchs in this world anymore, so their beliefs naturally drift towards a deeper level of existence.

That is... the world itself.

Under such circumstances, a vague will began to emerge in the world of Nidhogg.

Just like a dead tree coming back to life in spring, the birth of a new will on a dead corpse is much easier than the birth from nothing. It is hazy and chaotic, but it does not prevent it from having the instinct of a great existence.

"Sacrifice..."

At night, in the Purple Potato City in the south, which is close to the Blue Butterfly City, with the migration of population, there are 150,000 people living here and in the surrounding villages and towns.

In a corner of Zishu City, more than a dozen families, a total of more than sixty people, gathered together in a cowshed. They nervously but reverently formed a circle, and then cut their wrists with blunt iron knives.

Some young people were frightened, but were held down by the elders next to them. After covering their mouths, they also began to bleed.

"The Dragon Master will return, and we will become his most loyal servants."

The next day, the appearance of sixty-five corpses caused panic in the entire Zishu City. The soldiers were on guard not to let anyone approach, but the news still leaked.

Some said they were offering sacrifices to their former dragon master, others said they were asking for help from the dragon master. The weather was so hot that they felt a burning pain when they left the city.

For the former, people are afraid, but for the latter, they only feel resonance.

It was summer, and a lot of food outside the city had died. People were coming in and out, and there was no effective way to block the sun, so many people were sunburned. They were already in poor health, and many of them even died from the sun.

When the news reached Rhino Horn Mountain, Ryan's originally good mood suddenly turned gloomy.

It has been more than a month since the last inspection of the territory's development. I have been enjoying such a long time as a master, but something like this has happened.

"What do those government officials do for a living?"

Ryan slammed the table angrily. The group of people in front of him were afraid and didn't dare to look up, but they had no way of saying anything about this matter.

There are more than two million people. The young consuls trained by the Frozen Territory are too few in number and lack experience to manage such a large population. When they arrive at the place, except for a few hundred people around, the rest are all free to go.

Becoming a consul is already the minimum requirement, which is to ensure those people are alive, but even so, they are so busy every day that they look dizzy.

They didn't even notice that those people were holding sacrifices in secret, and they were cruel blood sacrifices.

In the previous sacrifices of the dragon monarch, the pain brought by the green flames was not even one percent of the pain caused by those people bleeding themselves with knives.

Even so, foolish people can still endure and continue to offer sacrifices.

“Why do they offer sacrifices?”

A middle-aged man stepped out from the crowd and said:
"Master, it seems that due to the weather, 20% of the wheat in the farmland outside Nidhogg was sunburned to death. The wheat in the farmland of more than a dozen households has all withered and died."

The weather is dry...

Ryan raised his head, and his eyes seemed to have seen the gentle sun in the sky through the window.

"Do you really have to go against me?"

No one knows how many years Nidhogg can live. The arable land there is what Ryan intends to use to store grain. Losing 10% or 20% of it would be enough to feed the current 200,000 people in the Frozen Land Territory for several years.

"Isn't it just the weather? Is there anything that can't be solved?"

Ryan appeared in Nidhogg and led hundreds of people to Purple Potato City, but suddenly raised his head.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and it actually... began to rain.

“Is this rain normal?”

Ryan instinctively felt that something was wrong.

He called the magician in the team, who was hesitant and unsure.

"According to previous astronomical phenomena, the clouds are not stacked enough to form rainfall."

This statement was only accepted with difficulty by magicians after it was improved by Ryan.

"There are no magicians in this world, so... this rain is not normal."

Ryan's expression was solemn. The abnormal rain, no matter whether it was a miracle from the gods or not, the timing was too inappropriate.

Sure enough, when Ryan arrived in Purple Potato City, the people of the city were partying in the rain.

They believed that the sacrifice had worked.

No one around Ryan dared to breathe loudly. They vaguely felt the terrible murderous intent emanating from the lord, and even the cool feeling brought by the surrounding rain was dispelled by the hot power.

Roar--

Ryan appeared in the sky, flames burning violently on his body, turning into a blazing flaming dragon that enveloped him.

He wore the Dragon Emperor's crown on his head.

In Zishu City, countless people looked up in shock and saw the shadow of the giant dragon above their heads. They instinctively knelt on the ground, their bodies trembling. The majesty that once brought by the dragon monarch awakened ancient memories in their bodies.

"Dragon Master."

People were calling out, their teeth were chattering.

In the sky, Ryan used his own blood power to transform into a giant dragon that hovered in the sky for a long time, making sure that everyone could see him clearly. Finally, he landed on his warhorse and turned his horse around and no longer headed for Purple Potato City.

This rain came at a very inopportune time. Its appearance made all of Ryan's previous suppression and appeasement tactics ineffective. Everyone would simply think that it was the sacrifice that brought the rainstorm to dispel the scorching heat.

This is the power of miracles.

"Since they want sacrifice, then give them sacrifice!"

Ryan turned around and gave the order.

"Arrange all craftsmen to build my statue in every city, as well as the statue of the giant dragon just now."

Ryan looked around, and his majestic eyes made everyone dare not ask why.

"You should have seen it clearly, right?"

The magician before was quite clever. He took out a stone and after infusing it with magic power, he actually captured the image of the fire dragon and Ryan in it.

This is also one of the trophies in Nidhoggr. These dragons always like shiny things. This stone also produces extraordinary properties under the radiation of the dragon's power.

"Then do it. Tell everyone that only the elders with high morals and prestige are qualified to be sacrificed to the Dragon Lord and the Dragon Chosen One. Every year, only ten people out of every ten thousand are qualified to offer sacrifices to the honorable Dragon Lord and the Dragon Chosen One."

"I am the Dragon Lord, and I am also the Dragon Chosen."

Ryan had gained the passive loyalty of everyone in this world because of the power of the Dragon Emperor's favor. He was the Chosen Dragon, the Chosen Dragon of the Dragon Emperor, there was no doubt about that. He could also be a dragon lord, after all, he had truly transformed into the form of the Dragon Emperor.

"Besides...never mind, I'll let Appia handle this."

Back at Rhino Horn Mountain, Apia came to Ryan, who had recently been training a new group of cat-man assassins and human spies.

After all, cat people are too short, and even if they wear cloaks, people can tell that they are not human beings, and their actions are too conspicuous.

Therefore, the cat-man assassins still need the help of humans, that is, the so-called non-staff members of the cat-man assassin group.

"Put some people in Nidhogg to investigate whether there are any supernatural powers in that world other than us and the dragons, especially those related to the gods."

The rain, coupled with his previous failure to control Nidhogg, made Ryan wary.

If the power of the Dragon Emperor, Dragon God, or Demon Dragon really still remains, it will be a big trouble.

"Follow your wishes."

Appiah left to select people, while Ryan was in the study thinking about how to solve the problem of the ignorance of Nidhogg's people.

Are they ignorant? Yes, they are. But in a fantasy world where gods exist, it seems particularly reasonable.

However, Ryan does not need such people.

"According to historical experience, the best way is to implement a literary inquisition first. This step is meaningless to Nidhogg. Those people don't know what knowledge is, and there is very little communication between them."

"Then we just have to wait, wait for one generation to die, and for a new generation to grow up. After two or three generations, the new population will basically forget the history of a hundred years ago and treat the legends as stories."

"But... I can't wait that long for them. To be precise, Nidhogg's life span is definitely not that long."

"Then we can only let nature take its course, respect local customs and become a part of them."

Ryan pounded the table. The rain forced him to do so, turning himself into an object of sacrifice by Nidhogg's people and becoming the dragon monarch in their eyes.

Of course, if you want to complete this process of taking over the magpie's nest, you still need the most critical step.

He also wants his own miracles.

……

Nidhogg.

Although there have been quite a few disturbances recently, the governors of the Frozen Territory still have no problem governing these people. Humans have been enslaved for too long and have no intention of resisting.

They could only passively follow orders, loudly proclaimed by the knights with weapons in hand.

"Hurry up, you damned fellows, take up your hammers and tools, and knock down all those best stones!"

"The honorable dragon monarch, Lord Ryan, the Dragon Chosen, needs you to build a statue for him! This is an honor that you will never get in your lifetime, and today you will get it!"

"Hurry up, no more wasting time!"

There is indeed no inkling of this, and it can even be said that in many places, people seem to be positive about this matter.

Especially the old people, who once gained the right to speak over other people in the village centered on sacrifices, are now of course regaining power.

Besides...

"Only the most virtuous and respected people are qualified to be the sacrifice of the Dragon Lord. That person can only be me. No one can compete with me."

Many old people are like this, not that they are not afraid of death, but for the past few decades, the Dragon Lord and sacrifices were their everything in life. After they lost these things, they don’t know what the meaning of survival is.

"But why are there Chosen Dragons?"

Many people were puzzled. They had heard of the legend of the Chosen Dragon, who should be the enemy of the Dragon Lord.

"The honorable Lord Dragon Chosen, Ryan, has killed the evil Dragon Lord and reached a deal with the remaining Dragon Lords. Because of this, there are no more Dragon Lords to destroy our houses and farmland!"

"Lord Ryan has made it so that we no longer have to go hungry and has given us endless food!"

The bards were spreading the word, and as the people of Nidhogg who could only follow the trend, they followed the majority in making their choices.

Whether it is the Dragon Lord or the Dragon Chosen One, they are the existences they care about most, so what's the point of building a statue.

Doesn't this prove that the Lord Chosen Dragon they longed for has succeeded?
So… in just over twenty days, statues of Ryan were erected one after another, and behind him stood a tall and mighty dragon. There were a total of fifteen cities. Ryan's appearance was fixed in each city, but the dragons behind him were either lying down, roaring, watching majestically, or…

The dragons all look different, and since their establishment, people have been kneeling and worshipping around them every day.

What’s particularly crucial is that Ryan actually absorbed a faint spirituality from it.

His spiritual balance thus increased slightly.

Standing in the spacious square, Ryan looked up at his statue and the giant dragon statue that was even larger than his own, and couldn't help laughing.

"No matter where you hide, I have received your faith."

He discovered that these statues were slowly developing extraordinary qualities.

Just like the spiritual plant Nastlund, these statues can also generate spiritual income for Ryan.

Spiritual statue? Nice name.

Ryan turned around, and at this moment, everyone could see clearly that his face was exactly the same as the statue's, so people knelt down again.

"Are you the slaves who are to receive the blessing?"

Ryan looked at the more than one hundred people in front of him, more than one hundred dying elderly people. They knelt on the ground excitedly, their bodies trembling. It was unknown whether it was because of fear or excitement, or if they were really too old and their bodies could not hold up.

"Dear Master Dragon Chosen, we are your loyal servants."

Ryan nodded and held out his hand.

"In that case, I acknowledge your loyalty."

More than 1,600 spiritualities were scattered in an instant, and the power of dragon spirit blessing was bestowed by Ryan on these old people.

In the entire Frozen Territory, only a few people like Brand can bear and absorb the blessing of the Dragon Spirit.

Are the more than one hundred people in front of him comparable to Brand, the guardian knight?
impossible.

"Look carefully, this is the price of failure in Dragon Spirit's blessing."

"I hope that each of you will come to me for blessings when you are most confident."

Ryan's voice was calm, and his words were addressed to the thousands of knights and attendants who followed him.

As he spoke, emerald green flames began to burn on the bodies of the hundred or so old men in front of him. They wailed in the flames and then were swallowed by them.

Finally, six hideous black monsters appeared in front of Ryan.

They were born for killing, their bodies were covered with fine dragon scales, and their hands grew bone-like dragon-tooth swords.

Seeing this scene... the hundreds of thousands of people around were completely shocked, and their bodies kneeling on the ground never got up again.

(End of this chapter)