Divine Kingship

Chapter 642 Excalibur... or something like that?
Spring of the 342th year of the Holy Calendar.

That is, the spring of the second year after the Torch Church was reunited.

The ratmen's city has already reached a considerable size.

This was originally an abandoned city. After Quiro led the ratman tribe here, he began to arrange for people to repair it.

Skaven are not a race with much architectural talent, but their long years of enslavement and employment have allowed them to accumulate a lot of engineering experience.

This gave them the ability to build the city that Rand had arranged for them.

The people of Rand also arrived at this time to help the ratmen establish their city.

Meanwhile, the ratman Quirrell was chatting with Rand's messenger.

The messengers who came here were Morin and Dazhuang.

After completing their mission last time, these two people were accepted as official members of the Sanctuary.

They volunteered to come to the Ratman City to carry out a mission.

"Did His Majesty Rand know all along what kind of harm the plague would cause, just as he knew all along what I would do?" Quiro and the envoy stood atop the city wall, gazing at the wilderness outside the city.

At this point, scattered undead could already be seen wandering in the wilderness.

“Well, we haven’t been here for very long, so we don’t know what happened before. But there were actually clues about this plague a long time ago. His Majesty Rand warned the southern countries long ago, but unfortunately they were destined not to believe him.” Morin was also looking out of the city at this moment.

Kui Ruo remained silent.

Many questions in this world have no answers.

But he guessed that Rand must have some special means of obtaining information, such as listening to divine prophecies.

If Rand really had the ability to hear God's prophecy in person, what would the future of the Ratmen be according to that prophecy?
He had already obtained the Skaven's artifact because of Rand's advice last time, but now, can the Skaven survive this plague?

Hopefully, this crisis can be weathered smoothly. The ratmen finally gained some breathing room for survival, but they didn't expect to face such a test right away.

Fate is never fair.

"Now we can only hope that His Majesty Rand's great talent and strategy can minimize the disaster brought by this plague," Quiro sighed.

……

Soon, Rand received information about the Skaven city from the report.

The establishment of the Skaven city went very smoothly and should become a very useful piece. Hopefully, the Skaven's sacred artifacts will come in handy later.

Rand was unsure whether he possessed any great talent or ambition.

However, he was indeed closer to the affairs of the gods, which allowed him to obtain some information in advance.

Rand also hoped that the crisis could be resolved soon with minimal losses.

His industrialization plan is still in the works. If too many people die, it's hard to say how long it will take before he has enough people to start his dream of magical industrialization.

Rand was quite looking forward to the future, but the evil gods of this world were truly persistent in their evil goals.

“Our defense plan is gradually taking shape, but that should be all the good news, right?” Rand said with a smile.

Olena, who was standing to the side, pushed up her glasses helplessly: "Your Majesty Rand, that is indeed the case."

Because of this plague, even the lazy Rand has been working on the throne for several months now.

Through these efforts, the Northern Union's allied forces are gradually taking shape, and the defenses against the plague are also gradually taking shape.

The Champs-Élysées Kingdom and the Lionheart Kingdom in the south no longer maintain a cooperative attitude of merely valuing it as before, but now want to directly join as allies of Rand, sharing its fate.

The allies are gradually strengthening their resolve to resist and are increasingly convinced of Rand's judgment.

Even some of the countries that were originally hostile to Rand and did not want their nations to be too influenced by the Church of the Goddess of Harvest and Health have begun to change their attitudes toward Rand.

But this isn't entirely a good thing.

The reason behind this shift is, of course, because the situation is getting worse.

“Some major cities in the south have already fallen, and I even suspect that some smaller countries have entered into a battle to defend their capitals. However, more specific intelligence will need to be sent back by Elsa or Luca,” Olena continued.

“Okay, tell Elsa and Luca to know when to stop and not to go too far in alone. There might be a god among the enemy, and if they go too far in, they might not be able to get out unscathed,” Rand said.

Olena nodded to indicate that she understood and would get on with it soon.

"Is Lysa making some preparations to target the Cataclysmic Apostles?" Rand asked.

Olena shrugged: "I don't know about that. You're probably the only one who knows the most about Lady Moon's situation."

Rand found Olena's shrug amusing; now she was even mimicking Ellie's or Rand's less-than-dignified gestures.

“Alright, then let’s leave Lysa’s matter alone and wait for her good news. Let’s make some preparations and head to the front lines. What follows is the real war, our war against the plague,” Rand said slowly.

……

Luca and his adventurer party had already ventured deep into the heart of the territory.

Thanks to Rand's intelligence and political support from the rear, as well as Luca's personal strength, no noble in the south dares to cause him any trouble now.

"What is this?" The dwarf in the group slung his battle axe over his shoulder and looked at the magnificent building in front of him.

It was a colossal object made of corpses, wood, and some sheet metal, and its shape resembled a giant toad.

"The undead are inlaid with wooden strips and iron plates, which looks like reinforcement. Are they siege units?" said the more knowledgeable half-elf in the group.

"What's the nearest city?" Luca asked.

"It should be Blackrock City nearby," the half-elf mage said, pointing to the map.

“Let’s remind them after we finish the task,” Luca said.

The Sunburst Adventurer Team had no objections.

Although Blackrock City was previously the village that massacred people and sided with the Scourge, it was threatened by Rand and is now part of our faction.

When the six-member adventurer party led a few children and broke through the guards' encirclement to escape, the Duke of Blackrock realized the difference in strength.

The Scourge might be able to easily destroy the Duchy of Blackrock, and Rand seems capable of doing so as well.

So he's been much more well-behaved lately.

“Let’s focus on our mission now,” Luca said.

Their task was very simple: to investigate the density of the dead.

At present, the Holy Land only knows in a very general way that the plague came from the south, and that the Apostles of Calamity may also be personally doing evil things in the south.

The Sanctuary needs to know more precise information.

This led to many adventurer teams and warriors from the Sanctuary working together to get a rough idea of ​​which cities had a large number of undead and which had a small number of undead.

If there are no problems with normal logic, the location of the Scourge's core can be roughly determined based on such a difference in quantity and density.

This core may not be a "god," but it is certainly very important.

This means it will become a strategic target. This time, a large undead army appeared in the south, but no obsidian towers appeared to supply the undead with energy.

So if the Apostles of Calamity don't directly supply the power of death from the divine realm, then they are very likely relying on the "core".

After advancing a certain distance, Luca's Sun-Dwelling Adventurer Party marked the area on the map and prepared to retreat.

The undead here are of high quality and in large numbers; powerful death knights and howling banshees are everywhere.

This density is a bit beyond what is needed for a siege.

Luca didn't know what this meant, nor whether it was a coincidence, but it didn't matter. The task of making judgments was not done by these adventurers; they only needed to pass the information to His Majesty Rand.

The next step is to go to Blackrock City to issue a warning.

“Let’s go,” Luca said.

When Luca arrived in Blackrock City, it was no longer a peaceful place; many guards were patrolling the city's streets with serious expressions.

The sky was bluish-gray, and many people in the city looked at the guards with fear; the atmosphere was already somewhat heavy.

Luca frowned; it was quite possible that there had already been cases of plague infection here.

Walk forward through a collapsed street, littered with rubble and broken wood—the very work of the Sunburst Adventurer Squad when they fought their way out.

Luca still remembers the astonished expression on Duke Blackrock's face after the light waves from his Moonlight Greatsword cleaved through several brick houses.

Luca soon met Duke Blackrock.

Duke Blackrock's attitude towards Luca wasn't very good, but he's being quite rational now.

"What are you doing here again?"

"Hurry up and prepare the defenses. The Scourge's undead army is about to arrive here, including many high-ranking undead and giant monsters we've never seen before," Luca said.

"Damn it." Duke Blackrock's face was already grim, but now it was even uglier.

Ever since he met that madman Luca, he's been having a run of bad luck. Not only did he fail to reach an agreement with the Scourge, but now he's even being attacked by the undead army.

"Don't make that face. We'll help you, of course, but it won't be for free. Remember to send the payment to His Majesty Rand." Luca smiled.

Duke Blackrock remained silent.

Luca then asked, "Is there a plague outbreak in the city?"

Duke Blackrock nodded in agreement.

"Follow the health code, then clean up any suspected infected rats or humans in the city to ensure a clean living environment. These methods won't solve the plague, but they can effectively slow its spread." Luca seemed to have memorized the health code quite well.

Generally, the problem is solved when the rate of transmission is less than the rate of death. Of course, the premise for solving this problem is that the corpse will not stand up again to kill people or spread the plague.

This is the seriousness of the problem now.

When the god who governs the dead begins to spread plague...

What Rand really wanted to say was that this kind of thing really gave the Scourge a bug in the world. To have the undead spread a plague, and it's even at the level of the rat plague, is just too cheating.

A plague that could normally be resolved simply by killing enough people is no longer so easily solved.

Duke Blackrock was somewhat displeased that a commoner was giving him advice. He knew what to do, but thinking of Luca's Moonlight Greatsword, he didn't give Luca a hard time.

Seeing that Duke Blackrock didn't say anything, Luca left with the Sunrise Adventurer Team.

Soon, the Scourge's undead legion arrived as expected.

The enormous undead toad, its body inlaid with wooden planks and iron, also appeared before the defenders.

This undead toad is already much taller than the walls of Blackrock City.

This caused the morale of the defending troops, who had almost no experience fighting the undead, to collapse.

Luca was now standing atop the city wall.

The situation was anticipated.

So he was somewhat prepared.

“Balablaba… Goddess of harvest and health, bless me.” Luca raised the Moonsword.

A fierce wind arose above the city walls, and giant crows glided across the sky.

This is naturally Crow Cola.

Crow Cola was followed by a large number of flying creatures.

These are dragon-blooded eagles that cannot carry people but can fly on their own, and they look somewhat like a formation of migratory birds in the sky.

The power of oxen and horses can suppress the power of other gods.

The Dragonblood Eagle, however, will have an even stronger suppressive force.

The arrival of a large number of Dragonblood Eagles immediately weakened the giant siege monster, which was built from countless corpses.

Meanwhile, Luca's Moonsword shone even brighter.

Many magicians who came here at Luca's request poured their magic into the Moonlight Greatsword.

The radiance seemed to extend the greatsword by hundreds of feet.

The surging power seemed to pierce the sky.

Luca strained his entire body to control the power of the Moonlight Greatsword.

Then he roared, "Take this!"

The Moonlight Greatsword shot out a beam of light, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of the giant siege undead, then sliced ​​a gash in the massive undead's body.

The core of the enormous undead body was exposed to the outside world.

At that moment, Luca jumped off the city wall without hesitation, his moonlight greatsword, still glowing, piercing the giant toad undead that was now unable to move.

And Rand, of course, also saw this scene through the perspective of Crow Cola.

It seems Luca really has some talent. Rand examined that Moonlight Greatsword back then and it was just an ordinary magical weapon. Now, Luca has done some kind of upgrade to it, and it can actually emit such light waves.

However, if he were in Luca's position, he would definitely shout some slogans, such as: "Excalibur..." and so on.

Unfortunately, Luca doesn't have the habit of shouting some mysterious, impressive-sounding slogans before unleashing his ultimate move.

Luca successfully killed the giant undead.

The enormous undead collapsed after losing its core, turning into countless chunks of flesh and writhing corpses trying to stand up.

Having witnessed such a scene, the defending soldiers were no longer as fearful as before.

Duke Blackrock, who had already fled, returned to Blackrock City with his army.

(End of this chapter)