Imperial Crown.

Chapter 325: Man-Eating Demon King
Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Book Friend 20181005215234324] for the 126 reward!

……

King Keynes XVI, who was far away in the royal capital, had just learned that the Wall of Sighs had fallen.

But the news of Duduo's defeat and death has spread throughout the land of Eivor.

The captives returned home filled with fear of Raven.

Fear amplifies a person's emotions, and losers often tend to exaggerate the strength of winners.

As a result, the image of Raven that was passed down among people gradually took on a completely different image.

He is 3 meters tall, with 3 heads and 8 arms. Each head has sharp fangs like a monster and devil-like horns.

His skin is as black as coal, with magma flowing in his veins. He rides a terrifying warhorse from hell. Every step he takes leaves burning footprints on the ground, accompanied by a lingering smell of sulfur.

What is most frightening is that Raven loves to eat raw human flesh and drink raw human blood.

He is also a very picky eater.

My favorite is the little boy who has not grown up yet. He sighs that tens of thousands of boys within the high walls were eaten up by him!

As for adults, he only eats the softest offal.

The leftover heads will be piled together to form an evil magic circle that pollutes the earth. This is a blessing to his demonic army, so they are invincible on the battlefield!
"Oh my God, won't the Lord of Light punish these demons?"

Someone asked.

Someone immediately answered in all seriousness: "Grand Duke Eivor VIII is addicted to pleasure, the nobles have long since abandoned glory, and the people have forgotten what faith is."

"Raven's appearance is a punishment from my Lord!"

“Let this man-eating devil punish the fallen principality! Only when blood flows all over the earth and faith returns to this land, will my Lord curb His wrath!”

These words are simply nonsense, and the "my Lord" in everyone's mouth is not pointing to the same target.

But Raven defeated Eivor's army twice in a row, which was unimaginable to many people.

Therefore, compared with rational analysis, this kind of mythological speculation is more popular.

As a result, the reputation of "Man-Eating Demon King" quickly spread throughout the entire Principality of Eivor, with the Bolan Region as its center, especially the capital of the principality, the Eivor Region, which was closely connected to it.

To the extent that if the child cannot be comforted, the adults in the family will use "Raven is coming!" as a threat, and it is said that the effect is very significant.

Sometimes the effect is so good that you can’t coax them back, and that’s another matter.

These rumors, along with the news of Dudor's defeat, reached Eivor VIII's desk, causing him to once again convene a royal meeting.

Compared to when he sighed over the fall of the wall, the Grand Duke behaved much calmer. At least this time he did not roar loudly.

She even has time to use a thin eyebrow pencil to outline her nails.

"One day, another day."

"3 against 1. They were destroyed in one day. A third-level magician died as well. Even Du Duo himself died!"

"I heard that the enchanted crossbow that was supposed to be on the Wall of Sighs appeared on the battlefield."

"I don't know what good things Du Duo sent to Raven after his failure this time."

"Are the nobles of our Principality of Eivor all Raven's logistics troops!?"

"I say, Mr. Prime Minister, didn't you say that Tudor was very capable? Do you want to explain this ending?"

Facing Eivor VIII's sarcasm, Gatugen remained calm and bowed:

"Your Highness, Earl Tudor did fail, but that doesn't mean we should belittle him."

"On the one hand, this is because we pushed him too far, forcing him to choose a decisive battle with Raven."

"On the other hand, it's also because of Raven's own strength."

A disdainful sneer was heard, coming from Marshal Quentin.

Gatugen glanced at him lightly, and the great marshal immediately sat up straight and turned his head away angrily.

Gatugen knew that Quentin's behavior was also an extension of the will of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke, so he emphasized:
"I have to remind everyone here that Raven has defeated and killed two earls of the empire!"

"If the Wall of Sighs and Raven's sudden attack were the factors, then the fact that Earl Dudu, who had already figured out Raven's background, still failed was enough to explain the problem!"

Seeing Gatugen's seriousness, Eivor VIII had to be serious and put away his eyebrow pencil: "Prime Minister, it's not that I don't value Raven..."

"You don't just disrespect Raven," Gatugen interrupted Eivor VIII, "you also lack sufficient respect for Count Tudor."

"According to reports from the front, Earl Tudor chose to commit suicide when he could have survived. He fulfilled all the obligations of a nobleman."

"He is loyal to the Principality of Eivor, and he is also loyal to your Eivor family!"

The corners of Eivor VIII's mouth twitched suddenly, and he gripped the armrests of the throne tightly, anger gradually rising in his heart.

If his sarcasm at the beginning was just due to his inadvertent resistance to Gatugen's discipline over the years, now he was really angry.

I am the Grand Duke. I haven't yet settled the score with you for your previous plan to lie about military intelligence, and now you are lecturing me like this?

But he couldn't refute it.

Over the years, Gatugen has accumulated enough prestige in his heart, and what Gatugen said this time makes a lot of sense.

So Eivor VIII turned his attention to Quentin.

The Marshal's heart tightened and his scalp tingled, but he still had to stand up:

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you are really going too far!"

"Your Majesty the King has no intention of disrespecting Earl Tudor, he is just too angry."

"Why is His Royal Highness so angry? Because some evil people are spreading rumors, calling Raven the Demon King and a disaster sent by the gods, in an attempt to shake the ruling foundation of the Eivor family!"

"At this time, as the Prime Minister, instead of trying to stabilize the government and solve the problems for the Grand Duke, you actually blame him. Is this what a minister should do?!"

These words were so powerful that Quentin's heart began to pound.

Not only is His Royal Highness the Grand Duke afraid of Gatugen, Quentin himself is afraid too!

It would be terrible if Gatugen's firepower was diverted to himself.

But to his surprise, Gatugen was not angry at all. Instead, he bowed his head and admitted his mistake:

"The Grand Marshal is right. I was too excited."

Eivor VIII was surprised. He didn't expect that the prime minister, who had always been tough, would admit his mistake.

But what Gatugen said next was not so pleasing.

"Your Highness, Grand Marshal." Gatugen said seriously, "It's not that I don't value the Grand Duke's reputation, but the reason why these rumors exist is all because of our successive defeats on the battlefield."

"The only way to eradicate the rumors is to defeat Raven."

"I said so much before because I wanted to tell you two that Raven should not be underestimated. The decisions we made before must be adjusted accordingly."

"First of all, I hope that Your Highness can posthumously confer the title of Earl of Tudor on him, elevate his title to Marquis, and provide him with an additional position of Earl of the Palace. This will be both a reward and a spur to other nobles."

"Secondly, we should dispatch surrounding troops, with the Grand Marshal as the unified commander, to station in Bolan City, just in case."

These two proposals surprised both Eivor VIII and Quentin.

Especially Eivor VIII, his feelings were even more complicated.

He knew that what Gatugen said made sense, especially regarding the posthumous title of Du Duo.

But the problem is that he has already thought about transferring the fief to the Chemanli family and wants to give this fief to Quentin to manage - after all, there is the Bolan gold mine there. The fact that the principality is rich does not mean that the Grand Duke is rich. Eivor VIII also wants to make some private money from it.

If Du Duo were to be posthumously honored at this time, it would be difficult to change the title.

Clearing his throat, Eivor VIII said, "The matter of posthumously conferring the title of Earl of Dudor involves many aspects. We will discuss this later."

“As for mobilizing troops to Bolan County…is it really necessary?”

Quentin also said, "Yes, Prime Minister, the plan is going on as planned. Why should we do this? Even if the army doesn't fight, it will cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins at a time!"

"Or do you have no confidence in your arrangements?"

Gatugen said seriously: "There is no perfect strategy in the world, and Raven's performance deserves a more serious response."

Seeing that Gatugen was so persistent and was not in a hurry to investigate even Duduo's affairs after his death, Eivor VIII and Quentin looked at each other and nodded at the same time.

Eivor VIII said: "In that case, I will issue an order now to let Quentin lead the guards to enter Bolan City."

"Your guards don't need to move." Gatugen said, "Just dispatch the nobles from the surrounding regions."

Eivor VIII's previous words were originally a test. Now that he saw that Gatugen had no intention of transferring the guards, he naturally felt more relaxed:

"Okay, let's do as the Prime Minister says."

Since the core members of the principality had reached a consensus, the order was quickly implemented.

After Gatugen left, Eivor VIII and Quentin got together.

Eivor VIII muttered quietly:

"What's going on with Gatugen today? I thought he had some conspiracy and was deliberately trying to transfer you out, but since he has left the guards here, doesn't he really have other intentions?"

Compared to Eivor VIII, Quentin himself does not have such a deep prejudice against Gatugen:
"Probably not."

Eivor VIII was still worried: "He has a history of asking Wanda to lie about military intelligence."

"Don't worry, Your Highness." Quentin whispered, "This time, the plan was not only presided over by Gatugen, but I also participated in every detail. There is absolutely no omission."

"Within half a month, Raven will surely die!"

……

In the southern part of Bolan County, Raven’s central army camp.

At this moment, in a secret room, Raven was staring at the broken Silent Stone Coffin, seemingly thinking about something.

Quarry's relics are now in Raven's hands.

Not only this silent sarcophagus, but also his space ring.

Although not as good as the one obtained from the necromancer, the capacity of this ring is also not small.

It’s a pity that there are not many gold coins in it, only more than 3000.

What is really valuable is the magic upgrade potion materials he left behind, with a total value of nearly 4 gold coins, and 9 of them overlap with the materials Raven needs.

Unfortunately, the most sought-after rock core flowers are still missing.

In addition to the above, what helped Raven the most was the notes left by Quarley, which consisted of 16 volumes and a million words.

As expected of a professional graduate from the Mage Academy, many of the theories were Raven’s first exposure to, and he gained a lot from them.

At the same time, I also understood why Quarley was wanted by the Mage Guild.

Because he studied a branch of necromancy - flesh and blood magic.

By using living creatures as materials, functions that ordinary enchanted props cannot achieve can be achieved.

And just like enchantment, only high-level materials can withstand high-level magic.

Only flesh and blood creations made from high-level life forms can exert more powerful functions - and are very cost-effective.

The effect of the human race is even more outstanding than that of the Warcraft.

According to Quarry's notes, the physical body of a first-level magician can amplify ordinary first-level magic to the scale of ritual magic, acting as a temporary magic circle.

The Silent Sarcophagus is such a creation.

以1头3阶魔兽、2名2阶骑士、30名普通士兵的生命精华拟造出核心，辅以各种魔法材料，让它能够将3阶魔法“静默结界”的范围，扩展到方圆2公里！

Now, the lid of the silent sarcophagus has been broken, revealing a pool of scarlet liquid as thick as glue, which is blood mixed with various magical materials.

Beneath the surface is a large heart-shaped mass of flesh, from which spread dense, root-like blood vessels that connect to various parts of the sarcophagus. The blood pumping through them carries a strong magical power.

"What do you think?" Raven asked.

William emerged from the shadows of the tent.

Although there is no sunlight here, it is still daytime after all. The vampire seemed a little tired: "Master... the way this thing works does have some shadows of our blood clan magic."

"But the principles and methods are completely different, and the ideas are extremely... annoying."

Raven nodded slowly. "So, if I make changes to this creation, you can 'heal' it?"

William's eyelids shrank slightly, and he said reluctantly: "Yes, Master..."

The reason for such resistance can be traced back to the roots of flesh and blood magic.

Flesh magic itself is the magician's creation and change of the vampires, with the purpose of pursuing eternal life without becoming a vampire themselves.

It can be said that this branch of flesh and blood magic is built on the corpses of countless vampires.

In William's eyes, this sarcophagus was not just a magical creation, but more like a created freak, and he felt disgusted by it from the bottom of his heart.

What's more, Raven now wants him to "feed" this freak.

Raven will not change his plan because of William's attitude.

Raven had personally experienced the effect of the Silent Sarcophagus and knew how powerful it was.

He himself would not continue to delve deeper into this path, or inherit Quilly's legacy and do such an unjust thing, but since there is already something ready, there is no reason not to use it.

Taking out an amulet from the storage ring, Raven handed it to William.

"Is this what you researched in the carriage before?" William took the amulet with both hands, a trace of blood energy penetrated into it, and then a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

"It turned out to be this kind of magic."

"This is much more complicated than the Silence Barrier, and how did you get it?"

Raven smiled slightly: "Come to think of it, this thing is related to you."

"But that's not the point. I want to ask, if I want to replicate this magic on this sarcophagus, and you are responsible for maintaining it, how much blood energy do I need?"

"Without causing death, at least 30, uh, no, 25 people are needed," said William.

"I'll give you 50 men," Raven said decisively. "Choose from the captives who are being used as laborers."

William was overjoyed: "Yes, Master!"

At this moment, the felt curtain at the door was suddenly lifted, and a ray of sunlight came in, burning William and causing him to immediately shrink back to the side.

Eric strode in, his eyes twisted together:
"Sir, urgent military situation!"

"The 7-strong army of the Principality of Eivor is approaching the Wall of Sighs!"

……

(End of this chapter)