Divine Kingship

Chapter 544 You offer a sacrifice? Then I'll offer one too?
At the northern border defense line, the thirteenth son of the Black-Brown Marquis was sharpening his sword.

This period of time spent in the North has allowed the young man to witness many things.

His previous knowledge of orcs mostly came from his father's descriptions, books, his teachers' lessons, and some of his family's "collections".

He had been looking forward to it ever since Lord Rand Nicholas agreed to bring him to the North to kill orcs.

To this end, he diligently studied a great deal of military-related knowledge and honed his martial arts skills.

And now his sword is finally stained with blood.

He learned why humans hated orcs so much, and what the root of that hatred was.

Many things are different from what is described in textbooks, or rather, they are actually the same.

However, what we actually see and experience is vastly different from what we imagined.

Fighting in the cold lands of the North, he was always easily influenced by the warriors around him, and felt his blood boil when he drew his sword to kill an orc.

Killing an orc, any orc, is an honor and a merit recognized by all nations of the Northern Union.

Now he understood somewhat why his father had planned to come to the North to kill orcs in the final moments of his life.

If the orcs are not exterminated, the humans of the Northern Union will never have peace. Cultivated lands will be destroyed, produced food will be plundered, and villagers will be abducted.

The orcs here don't have much power to resist anymore. I wonder what the situation is like in the Wisteria Kingdom, which Lord Rand was dealing with on the other side.

……

In the Wisteria Kingdom, Rand was surrounded by corpses.

Countless demons never seen before surged forth like a tidal wave.

Rand had never really felt anything about things coming in waves.

But when his vision was completely overtaken by demons from all directions, Rand understood what that feeling was like.

Demons swarmed.

But anyone who gets too close will turn into a corpse.

Demons are not immortal, nor are they made of steel; their boiling blood cannot withstand the coldness of swords.

Swords and blades are ineffective against a very small number of powerful demons, but Land also has powerful frost representatives and powerful archmages.

Demons that swords cannot defeat will be dealt with by frost and magic.

As for Rand, he would occasionally wield his greatsword.

But most of the time, Rand spent his energy observing the enemy.

Compared to Rand's physical strength, which is only slightly stronger than that of a higher-level professional, Rand's observation skills and wisdom have a greater impact on the battle.

In fact, Rand is really strong. There are very few people present who can beat Rand in terms of individual combat strength. It's just that Rand's brains are needed more at this time.

Rand isn't exactly exceptionally intelligent; he's just a casual player of the game "Deep Moon" and, having lived a modern life, has more exposure to information, giving him a different perspective on things compared to this era.

And Rand also has the perspective of Raven Cola.

Previously, when the orcs hid an altar under their siege equipment, it was Rand who was the first to discover it and figure out the orcs' intentions.

The demons continued to surge in like a tidal wave.

But the human team is advancing.

Soon they would be close to the vampire king of the Wisteria Kingdom.

Rand did not question the King of the Wisteria Kingdom about why he betrayed humanity.

By now, he has almost figured it out.

Before entering the Wisteria Kingdom, Rand only thought that the Wisteria Kingdom was crazy, but now, Rand felt that the reason should be similar to that of the orcs.

Along the way, Rand observed the villages, castles, villagers, adventurers, knights, and nobles he passed.

Clearly, this country is heading towards its end.

Several years ago, in order to stabilize the situation, Rand, as the real voice of the White Kingdom's prince husband, the Shadow Minister of Military Affairs, and the King's Hand of the Frostmoon Kingdom, was responsible for making judgments and exerting influence.

Relax and ease tensions in the wisteria kingdom.

There are some issues with the execution below; there seems to be some looting involved.

However, on a large scale, small-scale raids would not be enough to force a Wisteria Kingdom with nearly two million people to the point of siding with vampires.

Looting is a problem, but not the decisive one.

The decisive issue is that this country has been gradually declining since the first betrayal.

The Wisteria Kingdom is a blacklisted nation, hated by all the Northern Union nations.

Although all nations agreed not to take further military action against the Wisteria Kingdom during the decision-making process, is it really necessary to simply forget the past betrayals and pretend nothing happened so that everyone can get back together as if nothing has happened?
This is obviously impossible.

Although, out of reason, various countries gave the Wisteria Kingdom room to survive, this does not mean that the Wisteria Kingdom is allowed to live well.

They can't just turn around and shamelessly become a babysitter for the Wisteria Kingdom, can they?
Trade, diplomacy, and so on will all be affected.

Then came the gradual decline.

This is what they deserve, and Rand even intends to launch a real punishment once the situation stabilizes.

However, many people who make mistakes don't realize they're wrong, and even those who know they're wrong don't think they deserve to be punished.

Subsequently, amidst the growing decline and falling living standards, they made an extreme choice.

These are, of course, all Rand's analyses and judgments, and not necessarily what the top echelons of the Wisteria Kingdom thought.

What if they just want to get themselves involved and trick Grand Prince Vladimir? The kind of thing where they risk their own lives and the lives of their country and its people?
If that were the case, Rand would have to praise the great human spirit.

Rand chuckled coldly, licking his sulfur-smelling lips: "Let's end this."

The king of the Vampire Wisteria Kingdom did not rush up to fight Rand and his men.

Clearly, this king lacked Queen Lenza's courage.

When the king of the Vampire Wisteria Kingdom saw Rand's group rushing towards him, he turned and ran away.

Rand did not pursue them, but instead carried out a destruction operation on any possible locations where an altar might exist.

As the air grew increasingly hot, Rand indeed discovered some altars and demons presiding over sacrificial rituals.

But the evil sacrifice seems to be slowly progressing.

Until the sky was truly crimson like blood, and the earth was as hot as volcanic rock.

Rand felt as if he were in purgatory, even though he had never been to purgatory.

Then the ancient vampire, Grand Duke Vladimir, descended.

Rand turned around and saw that many of the knights' swords were dulled from the blows, and Ellie was also panting heavily.

The White King, Berlan, had conserved some energy in preparation for the upcoming battle against Vladimir, but he still appeared to be out of breath.

The Wisteria Kingdom is a rather mediocre country. If Rand were given tens of thousands of troops, he would be confident he could rout the entire nation.

But this is a country with nearly 200 million people, and when the country's upper class does not hesitate to use these people as sacrifices.

Although limited by their power and the free will of the people of this country, they cannot sacrifice the entire population, but even sacrificing just 1% is a sacrifice that other cults can hardly match.

Even 1% is 20,000 people. How big of an altar would it take to hold so many people? Not to mention that they might have sacrificed more than just 1%.

The spiraling clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, revealing a clear night sky and a blood moon hanging upside down.

Spring of the 338th year of the Holy Calendar.

The ancient vampire, Grand Duke Vladimir, a demigod, descended at this moment.

As it descended, the crimson moon hung high in the sky, and the blood mist swirled and swallowed up thousands of miles.

Rand was not nervous about the situation, but he was a little puzzled.

“Theoretically, that’s not enough,” Rand said.

The demigod, who had somehow become barefoot, stood on the smooth marble steps.

The ancient vampire, hated by the world, clapped his hands lightly and said, "You're right, it's indeed not enough."

What they were saying was not understood by King Elliebe and the other humans.

Seeing that Grand Duke Vladimir did not intend to act immediately, Rand explained: "The sacrifice of tens of thousands of people is indeed exaggerated, but it is not enough to open the passage from the main world to Purgatory. It is at least not enough to allow a demigod to truly descend, even if we include those sacrificed by the orcs in the North."

Rand had been plotting to stop Grand Prince Vladimir's plan for a long time, and he had indeed accomplished a great deal.

Whether it was thwarting the invasion of the Infernal Orcs or preventing the Blue King from obtaining the two hand bones of the Scourge.

Rand reversed so many things that should have happened and thwarted so many plots.

This will certainly have an effect, the effect of which is that, theoretically, Grand Prince Vladimir does not have enough resources to arrive now.

The aura of purgatory here is insufficient to sustain a demigod of purgatory for long.

The power of the sacrifice was insufficient to truly bring a demigod down from purgatory.

Rand is probably one of the few people in the world who is most familiar with sacrifice.

Rand had made many sacrifices, including to many gods. Although he mostly sacrificed himself, this was enough for him to understand many details about sacrifice.

In theory, Rand's judgment is unlikely to be wrong.

Although, in Rand's mind, the figure before him seemed to be that evil demigod.

“You are not Grand Prince Vladimir,” Rand said firmly.

“Yes, I am not.” Grand Duke Vladimir looked at Rand with admiration. “What enviable wisdom! How could such terrifying wisdom be born from such a short human life?”

“I just know a little more.” Rand knew very well that he wasn’t actually that smart, and he didn’t feel anything about the praise of “Grand Prince Vladimir”.

“Indeed, I am not, all of this is not enough, but as long as I use you all, that will be enough! Yes!” Grand Prince Vladimir explained excitedly, “I am finally going to get rid of that place of purgatory, which is only filled with fly ash and lava.”

The ancient vampire's self-talk, oblivious to everyone else.

He probably had never heard of the saying that villains die from talking too much.

Perhaps in his eyes, everything is over by now?

Rand did indeed get him into a lot of trouble, turning what would have been a smooth plan into a complete mess.

Even now, He has no choice but to resort to this desperate measure, but in His eyes, everything is finally coming to an end.

I'm no longer patient with this crazy vampire's rambling.

Archmage Ellie and the White King Berlan have launched their attack.

The demigod vampire had half his body blasted off by magic, and the other half torn apart by frost.

But it recovered quickly.

Unlike Rand, whose physical healing was merely a recovery.

It's like turning back time.

"It's useless." The ancient vampire Grand Duke Vladimir sneered, "I'm not Grand Duke Vladimir, hitting me won't do any good."

"It's probably some kind of projection with a physical form," Archmage Ellie guessed.

“I hate fighting with these old fogies,” Rand sighed. Grand Duke Vladimir, who had lived for thousands of years, had too many trump cards and could do too many things that ordinary people could not imagine.

The usual procedure would be to observe why he was able to do this, then make a judgment, and then thwart the conspiracy.

That's probably too late.

Therefore, Rand intends to use some unexpected solutions.

For example... using an altar.

An altar fell heavily to the ground.

Because it is currently an advance operation, Rand has no opportunity to bring his power armor with him.

However, bringing an altar is still acceptable.

Rand brought an altar with him; it was an altar to the Mother Goddess.

An altar must be rooted in the earth to utilize the power of the earth's veins in order to be effective.

But there is only this one limitation.

The altar of the Mother Goddess is rooted in the earth.

Rand stood firmly on the ground.

Rand, like Grand Prince Vladimir, rambled on: "I would almost never sacrifice other lives. At least I don't think humans should be used as nourishment, firewood given to evil gods in exchange for something."

Rand has never sacrificed any human being, not even the most heinous bandit.

Because he knew very well that this was a path that would lead him further astray.

Today we sacrifice evil bandits, tomorrow we sacrifice some criminals who have violated the laws of the Holy Land, and the day after tomorrow strangers outside the Holy Land's influence may also become materials.

Sacrifices obviously yield some benefits, and the more sacrifices are made, the greater the benefits.

But Rand knew very well that if he continued to use the method of sacrifice, he would eventually become a true "cultist".

At that point, he was abandoned by everyone.

Rand remained fully conscious, so the only human sacrifice Rand could make was himself.

Although Rand himself wasn't sure whether he could still be considered human.

However, Rand is going to break his own principles today, and I'm sure Mrs. Ellie and Mrs. Berlan will forgive him.

“I felt it; all around me was an endless supply of prepared blood offerings, such sweet sacrifices.”

He was so skilled at the sacrificial process that he didn't need to speak; he could do it silently or even multitask.

Therefore, his talking and muttering to Grand Prince Vladimir did not affect the sacrifice.

Yes, since the real Grand Prince Vladimir has not yet arrived, it is clear that the offerings present have not yet been truly sacrificed.

They are dead, turned into materials to become the fuel for the coming of Grand Prince Vladimir.

But Rand was more skilled at sacrifice; at least he could recite the sacrificial prayers faster, even when he was reciting them silently.

(End of this chapter)