Throne of the North.

Chapter 448: The Hideout of the Ghouls, the Power of the Kingdom
Is a legend created by gods still a legend?

In the war with Surtur of Dusk, Pastor Soto had already given the answer: some legends are legends, and some legends can only sit at the same table with wild dogs.

Behind the amber sword, a giant dragon descended from the sky. The moment the terrifying pressure descended, the body parts of the legendary corpse were shattered. As the giant dragon slapped its claws, the bloated corpse was torn into pieces and knocked deep into the ground.

Retracting the dragon claws, Areris raised his head along the deep pit under his feet. His long neck gradually became as bright as ice crystals. The moment he lowered his head again, the evening sky was illuminated by the icy white beam of dragon's breath.

The entire royal city was bathed in this icy white light, and the light brought by the dragon's breath did not dissipate until a long time later.

Ryan jumped down from the dragon's back. The height was a bit high, but fortunately he was a sky knight and did not fall freely like an iron ball.

Standing on the frozen edge, Ryan looked down and then at Areris.

"Is this the fiery energy that belongs to you?"

"Without a doubt."

The giant dragon walked gracefully on the earth. As it walked, tiny cracks appeared on the frozen ground beneath its feet, and then dense cracks appeared, and the corpses in it were shattered into finger-sized ice crystal fragments.

It was already dead, or rather, it had become part of the ice the moment the dragon's breath descended.

Fossil, Ryan thought of this word.

Although the outline of the fossil can still be seen, it has actually turned into stone.

"It's vulnerable."

Ryan felt that this Hobie should not be as good as Surter. The legend created by Hobie himself seemed not as tough as the legend created by Surter when he descended into Hernan's body last time.

His eyes fell on Daryl on the other side. The other party had no time to greet Ryan and the Frost Dragon. The two forces fighting each other in his body seemed a little frightening to the dragon.

"He can still survive like this, this guy deserves to be a legend."

Ryan was not surprised when the dragon said this.

"No kingdom wants to have a gap in legends in its royal family. He was originally the next legendary candidate trained by the Andara royal family to protect the royal family. He can still protect the royal family for at least a hundred years after the death of the previous legend. In a hundred years, the royal family will train another seed like him to realize the succession of legends."

“It’s just that this process went wrong for the Andara royal family.”

Ryan didn't look at Daryl, as he couldn't deal with the other party's condition. Looking at the chaos in the palace, Ryan rushed over directly.

In the sky above the royal city, the roar of the giant dragon brought shocking power, but the dragon was not a master of micro-manipulation. In the face of the dragon's breath, zombies died and human houses collapsed.

With one sword, Ryan tore apart the zombies rushing towards him, and kicked open the king's palace. There were many people inside. The knights were holding their swords nervously, and the nobles were huddled together.

"His Majesty."

Ryan saluted slightly to Adams, then frowned at the knights and shouted coldly.

"What are you doing here? Get out there and kill the enemy!"

The powerful aura pressed down on these knights, making it difficult for them to breathe. These knights were qualified to stay here because they were royal members like Daryl, who had stubbornly resisted the curse and had not been completely deprived of their extraordinary powers.

Of course, it is also because the curse has less effect on weaker people. In a sense, it can be said that these knights are the worst ones in the royal family.

But since they became knights, they abide by the knight's creed.

Ryan stepped forward, driving these knights out of the palace and letting them fight with the zombies outside.

Then, Ryan looked at the circle of royal members around Adams, and a brilliant golden light gradually bloomed in the depths of his pupils.

"court death!"

With a cold shout, Ryan thrust out the sword in his hand, piercing through several royal members who were rushing over. As they died, their skin turned an unnatural grayish white.

The remaining members of the royal family were in an uproar, looking at the other people around them with vigilance and fear. The group that had originally huddled together was now scattered especially clearly at this moment.

Ryan held the sword and killed one person at a time. After he killed the twenty royal members who had been corrupted by Hobie, the surroundings fell silent.

"Your bloodline actually has two curses."

Ryan couldn't help but marvel at the toughness of the Andara royal family. Even in such a situation, a group of people were still alive. It can only be said that the legacy left to them by the ancestors of the Andara royal family is indeed powerful.

The gift of light from God in Ryan's eyes disappeared, and he saluted Adams again.

"You look a little dishevelled, your majesty."

"I'm fine, Baron Ryan, thank you for coming."

Adams looked at Ryan with some fear, and then asked:
"Did the emperor of the empire send you here?"

"The people sent by His Majesty the Emperor are still on the way, but I think their arrival is not a good thing for you."

Ryan said that his arrival was good for the Andara Kingdom.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the empire may elect a new king."

Hearing Ryan's words, Adams' eyes widened, his whole body trembled, and then he became excited and angry.

"I am the king of Andara, no one can deprive me of my throne!"

The eyes of the surrounding royal family members flickered, and Ryan said directly:

"If you do something and let the people of the kingdom know of your existence, then even the emperor of the empire cannot change your authority."

"But you look a little disheveled lately, don't you?"

"I led the army to make you king, but perhaps it was too short a time and you haven't yet consolidated your power, which means the empire has the ability to replace you."

"Yes, the time is too short. That's all. I have been fighting against the orcs in the north recently. The war is just around the corner. As a king, how can I hold a king's parade and make my people kneel before me?"

Adams said nervously that he was indeed afraid of the empire, and now the entire Andara Kingdom was tied to the chariot of the empire.

"So that's how it is. His Majesty's achievements are just invisible, but you can't let the emperor catch you, right?"

"Yes, we can't let him find any evidence against us."

"We must get rid of these evil gods' followers before the royal family arrives. Even though Hernan Andara has been dead for so long, he still left such a huge hidden danger to the kingdom. He really should be brought back to life and killed again."

Ryan said this righteously, which made Adams a little confused and his eyes widened.

"What does this have to do with Hernan?"

He didn't want to hear the name, as it would bring back bad memories.

"Not Hernan? Could it be that Your Majesty Adams created these zombies yourself?"

Ryan asked in surprise, causing Adams to tremble all over, and after a shiver he finally responded.

"Yes, yes, it is Hernan. Damn Hernan who became the vessel of the evil god and brought such a great disaster to the kingdom."

There was no day when Adams enjoyed Hernan's presence more than now.

"It's all his fault. He invited the evil god. These damned zombies were all brought by Hernan."

The dragon's pressure made the evil god's followers admit defeat, and when night fell, the corpse ghosts hid themselves.

However, once bitten by a snake, not to mention ten years later, you will definitely be afraid the next day. Countless people are destined to have difficulty sleeping tonight. Zombies, monsters, and dragons have an extraordinary impact on ordinary people.

"did not find?"

In the king's palace, Ryan sat below Adams, frowning at the knight who came in to report.

"The royal city is so small, how come we haven't found it?"

"Even if we don't find them, you can still find out where they went by following the corpse ghosts' trails, right?"

The knight lowered his head and did not respond. Ryan probably understood the reason and snorted coldly.

"It seems that you don't even dare to chase after me."

Ryan looked back at Adams.

"Your Majesty, I need command of the army."

On the other side of Adams, Count Moses opened his eyes and wanted to reject Ryan on behalf of Adams, but Ryan continued to speak:
"Grand Duke Leta's army should be arriving soon. Or, you can ask Grand Duke Leta to deal with these zombies."

Lord Mercers sat back down, and Adams made up his mind.

Compared to Ryan, an "outsider", the royal family's majesty on the kingdom's land is the most important. The king can ask outsiders for help, but Adams finds it difficult to accept asking his own followers and nobles for help.

A typical ruler whose brain is filled with power.

"Baron Ryan, no, Earl Ryan, what are you talking about? You led the army of the Andara Kingdom to fight against the orcs. I did not take back your command of the war. It has always belonged to you."

Adams spoke up, causing Ryan to nod before getting up and leaving the palace. "Where are you going?"

Adams asked anxiously. There was no other knight as powerful as Ryan in this palace. He was a little scared if those zombies appeared.

"It only takes two hours at most for the envoy of the Empire to arrive here from the border of the Empire, so he can appear before you at any time. By then, it will be impossible to argue with him. We will not have the final say on what the truth is."

Ryan was talking to us, and Adams no longer tried to stop Ryan from leaving.

"Where's Daryl? Get him over here."

"Darryl... Lord Daryl is in a very bad condition."

The waiter next to him whispered that after telling Adams the situation, Adams didn't dare let Daryl get close to him.

If I turn into a zombie, it will be all over.

When they came outside, Ryan took over the command smoothly without any trouble, because the royal family could not find a suitable person to lead the army. Daryl was unable to take care of himself, and the army was leaderless and had no idea what to do.

"Tell me where you have been looking."

Torches lit up the darkness of the palace, and Ryan asked the knights.

"We searched every house, even the cesspools, but we found no trace of the ghouls."

"Lord Daryl searched the entire palace himself, but found no ghouls."

"Outside the city?"

Ryan frowned. The zombies shouldn't be so silent. Could they travel through the void?

"We also searched outside the city, but found no corpse ghosts."

The knights responded that they felt a little scared and couldn't find the enemy, which was enough to reduce their fighting power.

Ryan looked at these knights, his eyes gradually turned cold, and he pointed at the sky.

"Those evil gods' followers don't have wings, can they fly?"

"Even if they fly, can they escape our eyes?"

Ryan shouted loudly, causing the giant dragon flying in the sky to fall from the sky. The dragon's oppression was like a mountain falling down, and the army dared not even breathe.

"I didn't say anything about you."

Ryan didn't know as time passed and when the envoy of the Emperor of the Empire would arrive.

He was very nervous because what he was doing was to confront the emperor of the empire. He was trying to control Andara before the emperor of the empire took control of Andara and to undermine the emperor's authority in this land.

Therefore, he must solve the trouble here before the envoy arrives, tie his own interests together with those of the Andara royal family, and form a community to resist the impending pressure from Emperor Flor.

"The royal city is right here. The corpse ghosts rely on their own legs. The only way for them to leave is either to go up to the sky or into the ground. If the sky is not possible, then dig the ground for me!"

Those gray-skinned goblins in the icy and snowy North live in caves. Since we have looked everywhere, the sky is impossible, so what about underground?

"dig!"

After receiving the order, the soldiers did not dare to slack off and commanded a large number of slaves to start digging, since they couldn't sleep anyway.

Ryan inspected the area personally, but kept speaking to stop the slaves from digging.

"Why are we still digging? There's nothing but compacted rocks underneath, and even the soil is hard, and the zombies can't burrow underground!"

"Change to another place."

Without Ryan's obstruction, these people would just keep going down, without even thinking about the fact that nothing could possibly pass through the places they dug out.

The soldiers didn't think and could only follow orders and escort the slaves to other places to continue digging.

Along the way, the slaves did not dare to talk much, but the soldiers relaxed because they did not encounter any zombies.

"Have you heard? That dragon is Lord Ryan's mount."

"Of course I know. I saw it with my own eyes. Lord Ryan came here riding a giant dragon. The dragon is such a terrifying monster, but it actually allowed Lord Ryan to stand on its back. If it's not a mount, what else could it be?"

"You know, I once served as a soldier under Lord Ryan. It was because of that time that I learned so many ways to fight on the battlefield."

"Alas, what a pity! Knight was a soldier for Lord Ryan with me. He died at the hands of a ghoul yesterday. His family had to take back his body."

"It's a pity that he can't see Lord Ryan anymore. I heard that the body hasn't been buried yet. His family searched the cemetery, but all it had was new soil. There were so many dead people that they didn't even know where to bury them."

"You mean, new soil?"

The sudden voice behind him startled the soldier. He turned around and found Ryan, who was dressed in gorgeous clothes, standing behind him.

"Lai... Lord Ryan"

The soldier knelt down excitedly, and the soldiers around him also knelt in a circle.

"Answer my question, you mean new soil?"

"Yes, sir. Too many people have died in the past few days. Some people don't even know where to bury the bodies of their loved ones. The other lands belong to His Majesty the King, and they dare not bury them anywhere else."

After listening to this, Ryan turned around and looked at the knights who were following him. He didn't know whether they were following him to protect him or because they felt safer following him.

“How many bodies have been found in the past few days?”

"rare."

The knight replied that Daryl had already obtained this result before. Those corpses would turn into zombies in the new day and attack humans and kill all living things.

"If we can't even find the body, how can we bury it?"

"dig!"

Ryan's powerful command made many people hesitate. Death is the greatest thing, and digging up the grave after burial is an act that will be punished by the gods.

"What are you doing standing still?"

After Ryan's order, the soldiers had to do it themselves. Why not the slaves? What if the zombies were under the cemetery? The slaves' chaotic reaction would cause chaos in the army as well.

Not long after the shovel dug, a roar was heard and the soldier fell to the ground in fear. Fortunately, the flames behind him pierced the body of the corpse.

"Take up your weapons and kill it."

The zombies were wailing in the flames. Ryan's order made the soldiers grit their teeth and rush forward to chop off the zombies' heads. The army became completely nervous as they watched the monsters gradually turn into ashes in the flames.

"How many cemeteries are there in the royal city?"

"Yes, a lot."

The knight responded that he didn't know the number either, but he knew that after the previous war, the size of the cemetery had to be expanded, and this was because many corpses were burned directly.

"Gather the troops, dig up all the graves, and kill the wights inside."

The knights hesitated. They did not dare to refuse Ryan's order, but they also felt that the zombies were a little scary and they were no match for them.

"Do you know how to use fire?"

"These monsters can only be killed with fire. Don't be afraid. The dragon in the sky will help you."

Ryan's expression was gloomy. Are these new troops of the Andara Kingdom too weak?

After this is over, maybe we should all go to the battlefield in the north to practice.

On the third night, the roar of the corpse ghosts arrived as expected, making the people in the royal city nervous again, but this time, they didn't seem to see any monsters appear around them.

The flames rising into the sky were just like the decisive battle at that time, illuminating the Andara Royal City once again. The power of the dragon continued to pour down. It was unrealistic to rely on the army to kill all the zombies, so they still had to rely on the power of the dragon.

"Will this stop Hobie from coming?"

Ryan asked, at dawn, all the zombies died under the dragon's breath. Just in case, Ryan also set a few fires, and the flames are still bright until now.

The dragon Areris thought about it, then shook his head.

"His gaze has become a medium for this land. Unless all of his power is eliminated and he is forced to leave, these corpse ghosts will appear every once in a while."

"His power is connected through a medium. All matter related to Hobie is part of the medium."

After hearing this, Ryan's gaze was fixed on a corner deep inside the palace.

(End of this chapter)