Throne of the North.

Chapter 753 Calamity in the Depths of the North

In exchange for benefits, even the nobles of the empire could not completely refuse invitations to duels.

There will still be many nobles who, with their faith and loyalty to the Lord of Dawn, stand on the opposite side of the empire.

But don't think that this will make the nobles of the empire abide by the knightly duel.

Small-scale hunts broke out across this vast land.

After all, an individual's strength is limited; not everyone can be a legend.

Beneath the sky, beams of snow-white light shot straight into the heavens. After the fierce battle ended, the nobles discovered that these people had all been blessed by the dawn and gained the power of angels.

"Damn the Papacy, how could they be so insidious? Does Angel's Blessing want to kill our knights?"

"That damned empire has completely lost its integrity and is now shameless and cunning."

The clergy of the Dawn Church were equally furious, denouncing the shamelessness of the imperial nobles for rendering the ancient chivalric tradition meaningless.

One by one, the judges who had borne the power of the angels died on the road before they even got close to the Kingdom of Nantes. The imperial cavalry who arrived in the Kingdom of Nantes were eager to fight, but they were greeted with a warm welcome from the kingdom's nobles.

On the surface, this war of revenge seems to involve only a few thousand imperial noble knights, but in reality, the number of people involved is far greater than that. The entire southern land has become lively. No matter where the Papacy seeks believers of the Dawn to become spokespeople for the Angelic Judgment, the imperial nobles can always find hunting parties to hunt them down.

The agents of the Papacy and the Empire were killing each other in a frenzy on this land, so much so that even after the noble cavalrymen of the Empire enjoyed one banquet after another in the Kingdom of Nantes, they still did not see a single member of the Dawn Papacy appear before them.

"Weren't we here for revenge? Why is this so boring?"

Some noble knights were puzzled and asked questions, while others were even angry at the hospitality shown to them by the kingdom's nobles, believing that it had ruined their sacred and solemn atmosphere of revenge.

The noble knights beside him merely smiled silently at this hothead, inwardly mocking the baron's family for coming from such a small place.

Did he not know that his father had already found a way to kill the enemy he was supposed to face within the empire?

Outside, flowers were already blooming, and there were cases of hundreds besieging one person. However, as the center of the storm, this cavalry unit composed of imperial nobles had no worries other than enjoying themselves.

……

……

Frozen soil collar.

Looking at the news from the south, Ryan was also amazed by this war, which was different from the past. For the safety of their own bloodline, the nobles had abandoned the ancient knightly duels, and one-on-one knightly duels were gradually withdrawing from the stage.

This represents progress in human civilization, and is also an inevitable change brought about by the increasing prevalence of supernatural powers.

Why were knightly duels so popular in the past? Because no matter how intense the fight was, only a few people would die. After all, in an era when nobles couldn't even find a few knights, how many people could be killed in a one-on-one battle?

Back then, knightly duels were nothing more than a life-or-death struggle between two people in a cage.

Things are different now. Now, it's all about gold and silver knights. Their power can shatter mountains and split rocks, and their destructive force is astonishing. Even in a one-on-one duel, they can kill many people around them without any reason during the battle.

Moreover, the death of such a fighting force would have a huge impact on the noble territories. Considering all factors, one-on-one knight duels would naturally have to disappear from the stage of history.

"The Empire has the upper hand. As long as enough knights of those nobles who are loyal to the Dawn Church die, the cardinals on the Holy Mountain will be forced to come out and stabilize the people's hearts. At that time, it will be the time to hunt."

"It seems that Dawn Sacred Mountain has not yet reacted."

When discussing faith with nobles, the clergy are incredibly professional and can speak eloquently. In their presence, the nobles are only fit to sit at the table of heretics.

But when it comes to political struggles, the servants of the gods on the holy mountain are not even worthy of carrying the shoes of the nobles, who have plenty of ways to drag the clergy into their own games.

"Four cardinals, I wonder if we can kill so many. Pope Solarion is probably unkillable; he has power comparable to a demigod, and there is also the divinity of an unknown god within him."

"Once this matter is over, Emperor Volvo's prestige within the empire will increase significantly, though it still cannot compare to that of Columbus III. However, outside the empire, within the power circles of the Norris continent, it should become quite formidable."

Ryan simulated the aftermath of this event, which had little to do with his interests or the Empire's revenge, but that was not what Ryan wanted.

After all, following the current pattern, the nobles of the empire have begun to enthusiastically reminisce with the nobles of the southern lands about their past as family, and judging from the results, they have received a warm response.

The nobles of the kingdoms and noble territories in the southern lands recognized their relatives from the empire and engaged in friendly and close exchanges with them concerning their interests.

Their connections became closer, much like the relationship between Ryan and the nobles of the neighboring frontier provinces; they could be considered allies.

Ryan was unhappy because he hadn't been involved.

It's highly likely that he didn't form any alliances with any of the southern land nobles outside the empire, but these blood ties didn't belong to Ryan, but rather to the Earl of Clayton's family.

He couldn't enjoy the benefits of this, and seeing others become stronger because they had more allies was undoubtedly a sign of his own weakness.

Outside the empire, in the southern lands, Ryan's only ally is the King of Nantes.

However, after returning to his country, the king changed so much that he became a lonely figure.

While the imperial nobles were engaged in fierce fighting in the south, the world in the north remained as desolate as ever, which somewhat calmed Lord Ryan, who was expanding his power.

His base of support is ultimately in this northern region.

It was evening again, and Ryan was to bless a group of werewolves as promised, so that they would be freed from the control of the call of the wild.

The location was, of course, set in front of the Northern Wall fortress. Taking advantage of another large-scale attack by the orcs, Ryan was somewhat disappointed that he did not see the magic crystal cannons being used.

"Are these things really that difficult to analyze?"

Ryan tapped the fire poker next to him. If it couldn't unleash the magic crystal cannon's performance on the battlefield, then it was just a fire poker.

He vividly remembered how devastating the magic crystal cannons were when Earl Winter was invaded by a massive orcish invasion, and even the entrance to the earldom was torn open.

Furthermore, at Twilight Keep, Volvo used eight hundred magic crystal cannons and ten thousand magic crystal shells to decisively defeat the orcs' attack, bringing the war in Twilight Province to an early end.

He didn't see it, but he could sense Volvo's strong confidence from the Empire's war summary.

This thing, which seems to have never existed in this era, is the most powerful and impeccable first weapon of war in this extraordinary world.

The problem is that only dwarves can forge magic crystal cannons. After secretly acquiring a batch from Twilight Keep, Ryan handed them over to alchemists and mages, but there have been no progress reports since.

Even a genius like Rose was completely baffled. He even dismantled a magic crystal cannon, but what was the result? The magic crystal cannon turned into a pile of scrap metal, a pile of scrap metal containing magic power.

"It's not that it's difficult."

Rose, standing beside him, felt the futility of her own talent.

"I can only say... they're not on the same path at all."

Who knows how those dwarven craftsmen forged these magic crystal cannons, making Rose believe that another completely unfamiliar path to the extraordinary had been added to the world's journey.

Incomprehensible.

"I don't understand how these things can make the magic crystal cannonballs unleash such destructive power."

Ryan remained silent; he couldn't explain the answer either. The power of the magic crystal cannon even surpassed what he considered a cannon.

It is extraordinary.

"If you don't understand it, don't analyze it yet. I only got a few dozen of them. Alchemists can consider replicating those magic crystal bullets. As far as I know, magic crystal bullets are made from magic crystals."

Rose glanced at Ryan. If Ryan hadn't become a legend, she would have been no match for him and was even considering making a move.

Just from the name, he could tell what the magic crystal cannonballs were made of.

But if simply fusing magic crystals into a sphere could create a magic crystal cannonball, then that wild boar in the Frozen Territory that eats magic crystals all day would have long since become a mobile cannon.

"We might as well perform alchemical enchantments on those fuels."

Rose said this, and Ryan knew what she was talking about. The fuel in the Frozen Territory was no longer ordinary wood, but feather charcoal made from coal and several special resources.

"Then I'm looking forward to it."

Ryan didn't urge or say anything more. In his view, if things continued like this, these alchemists would eventually be able to change the world's technology. Ryan didn't know whether the arrival of such an era would be good or bad, so he simply didn't interfere.

……

Outside the Great Wall fortress.

The war was over. The soldiers from the Frozen Territory had once again bravely repelled the evil orcs of the North. On this turbulent battlefield, Lord Ryan passionately wrote a battle report to be sent to the Imperial Capital, proving to His Majesty the Emperor that he had not wasted the war resources provided by the Empire.

"It will take at least 30 to 50 years for the orcs to recover their size."

Ryan stood at the edge of the battlefield. The North was still filled with snow and wind, like a dragon stirring up a storm. After sending the message to the capital, his gaze fell on the werewolves not far away.

It was understandable that he felt sorry for Ryan, who hadn't had a large-scale spiritual gain in a long time. But now was not the time to be stingy. After blessing the werewolf in front of him, all the werewolves looked at him differently. This tangible feeling of power made them think that Ryan was being blessed by the gods.

After the spiritual blessing ended, the werewolf army began to retreat, and Ryan stopped the werewolf king Adun.

"I have a question I'm very curious about."

"Your last invasion of human lands wasn't that long ago, so why are you heading south again so soon? What exactly happened deep in the North?"

The orc invasion was undoubtedly caused by a massive influx of orcs from the depths of the North, which strained the already crowded conditions on the snowfields. But why did the orcs generally migrate south from the depths of the North?
Can't stand the cold of the North? But judging from those silly frost lizard orcs, they don't seem to be unable to withstand the cold.

"This is divine guidance."

The werewolf king Adun gave Ryan this answer, saying:
“This is a great oracle. We don’t know exactly what happened, but our priests have gleaned more information from it.”

“Deep in the North, a terrible calamity erupted, with storm surges and raging tides. They came south like giant waves of the sea, a catastrophe that would destroy the world, a twilight of desolation. They forced the orcish tribes of the North to flee and come to the South.”

"Under the great divine decree, the orcs must unite and conquer human lands, so that they may have a chance to breathe and survive in the southernmost corner of the world."

After listening, Ryan frowned deeply. What kind of god was this? Even a message he sent was so ambiguous.

However, he also realized that this might not be a problem with the gods, but rather that mortals were not qualified to face great beings directly. Mortals could not get clear answers from the pheromones of the gods, and could only interpret them through this kind of proverb.

After all, even when Ryan faced the ancient and great serpent spirit, he could only receive key information about the panplane, the World Tree, and the Rainbow Bridge from that vast amount of pheromones.

Those priests were already quite good.

"According to your explanation, a terrible disaster has occurred in the far north, deep within a place that has been covered by northern snow and wind for over a hundred years."

"And this disaster is heading south in a way that leaves no stone unturned. Your gods sensed it, so the orcs began a large-scale migration to the south, which eventually led to this tribal war?"

Ardon nodded.

"Yes, the great oracle guides us to the right path."

The path was correct, but the process was tortuous. The orcs failed once again. Since the interplanetary war of the gods, they were no match for humans.

What exactly was the disaster?

"I don't know. If I did know, those orc tribes deep in the North would not have had a chance to appear here alive."

This is true.

Ryan looked north. What kind of disaster was it? A snowstorm? A frost storm? Was the North active once again, this time preparing to submerge a third of the southern part of Norris?
Or is it neither, but a special kind of disaster that Ryan cannot comprehend?

Even the gods have given divine decrees, which shows that this disaster is definitely not simple and that even great beings have to take it seriously.

This is way beyond what's expected! What kind of difficulty would make the gods nervous? Moreover, it's said that after this, the orc gods stopped responding to the orc sacrifices.

Judging from the reactions of the orc gods, this disaster is destined to happen to humanity as well.

"Should we send someone to check it out?"

Ryan thought to himself.

(End of this chapter)