Game of Divine Thrones

Chapter 106: The Rhine Kingdom's Peril 2

Inside a dark and humid cave, Gwak Seyoung was gasping and running at full speed.

“Fuck… Fucking hell...”

It would’ve been a perfect plan, if only Woohyuk hadn't appeared at that exact moment.

'What the hell happened while I was unconscious?'

Thinking that he might have been hypnotized and revealed all of the plans, his thoughts got murky.

Luckily, he managed to escape, but it was unclear whether Priscilla would forgive him.

He was like a dog who lay down and showed her his stomach to pledge his allegiance, but in the end, he was just a measly dog to her.

'I have to prove that I still have value to her.'

After making a contract with Priscilla, he gained abilities that he couldn’t have dreamt of before. He could now temporarily neutralize an opponent and to pull out black monsters from the darkness by borrowing the power of sloth.

Although he was unlucky and had to lower himself to serve her, he was still useful as a minion.

While Gwak Seyoung was thinking of a suitable excuse, an angry female voice resounded from a hidden location.

“You have quite the balls to return after the mess you created.”

“Lady Pr-Priscilla…”

Gwak Seyoung fell flat on the floor and couldn’t move from the spot for a while. His face was as white as a sheet.

A black portal soon appeared and Priscilla showed herself.

“Because of your mistake, The Rhine King has noticed my existence. So now I have to have a battle of wits against him.”

“Please give me one more chance! I will do anything to correct things. I’ll even put my life on the line, so please trust me!”

“Hmph, such an annoying bug. I really want to slit your throat right now and sacrifice you as an offering. But we need to buy time until we summon the demonic beast Charybdis.”

By cooperating with Demon King Amii, Priscilla was able to obtain numerous human sacrifices in the Lydia Kingdom.

However, those were not enough to call out the legendary monster Charybdis, and naturally her interest turned to the hostile Rhine Kingdom.

“Please give me a monster army. I will go to Trevis and make more offerings while avoiding the forces of the Rhine King and Marquis Nelson as much as possible.”

“I was about to order you so myself.”

In Sirien, the northern region of the Nelson march, there was only one feudal army. Meanwhile, where was the Eastern Guard Camp in the central region, Trevis.

Priscilla had deliberately begun to create a fuss in Sirien by attacking the civilians.

In simple terms, it could be called a ruse.

“I will make sure to live up to Lady Priscilla's expectations. So please wait for good news from me.”

“You’re really good at twisting your words considering you’re Demon King Volak’s subject.”

Although they were allied with each other as they shared the same interests, the 72 Demon Kings and the Witches of the Seven Sins had different tendencies.

The purpose of the demon kings was to increase their own power through conquests, while the witches wished for the advent of the demon god through the destruction of the world.

So, despite being in the same demonic camp, the two sides were in conflict.

“I didn't know anything back then. If I had known of Lady Priscilla's existence before, I wouldn't have decided to serve Demon King Volak. Please do not doubt my loyalty.”

Gwak Seyoung tried to kiss Priscilla's foot with a dark expression.

Then Priscilla frowned and kicked his head away.

Thump!

“Argh...”

“Don’t you dare try to bring those dirty lips near my body again. It’s disgusting.”

“I, I apologize, Lady Priscilla...”

“The Rhine King is almost at the target location. Get moving already.”

Priscilla could no longer be bothered to speak to Gwak Seyoung, so she pulled out a purple monster and had it throw the man towards the entrance.

If he were an ordinary human, his entire body would’ve be shattered by shock, but since he was a demon, he only ended up suffering minor wounds.

'The decisive battle is approaching, Asura.'

As the surroundings became quiet, Priscilla took out a crystal ball and observed a certain village in the Sirien region through the transparent item.

Woohyuk could be seen leading his soldiers against a monster army.

'I will definitely get revenge for Kriemhild.'

She had already received permission from Lady Lilith.

It would have been easier if Angrboda, the Witch of Greed, were with her. However, she was currently in the Dane Kingdom to fulfill a mission Lady Lilith had given her.

Nevertheless, there were a few demon kings of the Ars Nova circle, so they would be enough to face their common enemy.

For some reason, even Aleister Crowley, the Witch Cult’s leader, was actively helping her.

Imagining the bloody end of Asura, Priscilla headed back to the place where the summoning ritual was taking place.

***

‘As I thought, they’re planning to do a two-front war.’

Woo-hyuk nodded as he looked through Gwak Seyoung's vision with the Messenger's Wing effect.

The Nelson March was large enough to consist of three regions, so that strategy would normally be effective.

However, Woohyuk has experienced numerous battlefields over the past 40 years.

Like the genius strategist Klaus, it would be difficult to deceive him unless he had to deal with an extremely tricky ploy.

‘Marquis Nelson will do it well on his own probably.’

As of currently, there was still an agreement that the Dane Army would not invade the Rhine Kingdom.

They were only fighting an unofficial war.

It was a secret conflict hidden away from the eyes of the Holy Apherian Emperor Tiberius and Pope Ignatius.

In other words, not all of Marquis Nelson's troops had to stay on the walls of Doria Castle.

Of course, if the demon kings were to create trouble, there was still a possibility that an all-out war would begin, but Woohyuk had already made preparations against that.

While Woohyuk was sorting out information in his mind for a moment, Leifina galloped towards him to report the current situation.

“My Lord, we’ve finished cleaning up this area.”

“Then let’s head to the next village.”

The Nelson march was a marginal land, so the population was small, with most people living in small villages.

Therefore, it was best to fight the monsters by spreading out their troops as much as possible.

Woohyuk had brought with him his own elite troops, so even if they were to get separated from one another, they would be able to overcome a certain degree of difficulties.

While Woohyuk was gathering the cavalrymen, a high-pitched scream rang out.

“Kyaaaa!”

A woman was getting attacked by monsters on her way home from work outside the village.

Aiden, who saw the crisis, galloped towards the lady without any hesitation.

Slash!

A dark red liquid splattered around, and the forearm of a large ogre fell to the ground.

Once Aiden had made his move, the other cavalrymen came to his support.

Cla-clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal hitting against metal echoed everywhere.

When the corpses of monsters began piling up, new soldiers appeared accompanied by the ringing of trumpets in the distance.

The main unit that was following Woohyuk and his group had arrived.

“Krrrr...”

Once they were outnumbered, the monsters began to fall back one by one.

They had only descended the mountains to destroy and pillage a few villages, so they didn’t number many in the first place.

“My Lord, what should we do?”

“Let them escape. We won't pursue them.”

There was a risk of being caught in a trap while chasing after them proactively, as he didn’t know when the demon kings of Ars Nova would make their move.

It was better not to get too close to the Corcas Mountains until the Spiritual Society arrived as reinforcements.

“Then should we camp here?”

“That seems like a good idea for now.”

They didn't know when the monsters would come down and create chaos again.

Moreover, he didn’t find it necessary to go to the central region of the Nelson March to kill the monsters personally.

“Thank you, Commander. I owe you my life.”

Once the battle was over, a woman hiding in the stables came out and expressed her gratitude to Aiden.

Aiden was a person who had been defending the Sirien region since a long time ago and was highly popular amongst the residents.

He was the person who could best reassure the civilians and erase their unease.

“Aiden, we need to talk for a bit.”

As the preparations for the camp were starting to be finished, Woohyuk took Aiden and headed to the commander’s barracks to listen to the reports about the local situation and to discuss a few tactics.

“What is the matter, Your Majesty?”

“If the monsters in the Corcas Mountains make a surprise attack tonight, what route do you think they will use to attack?”

On the table was a map of the Sirien region.

Aiden pondered for a moment and then touched the border between Sirien and Trevis.

“If I were their leader, I would use our blind spots to the fullest. The borders are generally somewhat neglected, and depending on the situation, they may move to another region.”

“That's right. If so, what would be the best solution to fight against monsters executing this plan?

Woohyuk had already made is own decision. However, he was asking Aiden for his opinion to test him.

Aiden stared attentively as if he had realized the objective behind Woohyuk’s questions.

“As you may already know, the number of residents in the Sirien region is not very high. Therefore, it would be best to send the soldiers and gather all of the residents here.”

For a commander with nerves of steel, this was a wise answer.

Woohyuk nodded in satisfaction.

“Excellent. But is someone as talented as you merely a captain of the guard camp?”

“This region is my homeland.”

Aiden's wife and son lived in Sirien.

Woohyuk, who heard the story, looked puzzled.

“Isn't Kallenoa much safer than Sirien since it has the Doria castle?”

“Our house cannot leave Sirien.”

It was a tragedy that befell upon their family in the past when one of Aiden's ancestors was framed by his political opponents. One of the punishments the house had received was being unable to leave their homeland.

Woohyuk wrote a pardon on the spot and handed it over to him.

“When this incident ends safely, I will entrust you with a serious responsibility. Instead, I will help you bring your family to Heidelberg, a safer city.”

He hadn't spoken of it yet, but Woohyuk wanted to appoint Aiden as the next commander of the 5th, since it was impossible to control Gaius forever.

Aiden's eyes wide open when he heard of the favor Woohyuk was about to do to him.

“My sincere gratitude, Your Majesty.”

“I look forward to your performance in the future.”

Aiden was definitely a valuable person that couldn’t rot in such barren lands.

Moreover, once they were to win this war, they would get both the Lydia Kingdom and the Dane Kingdom, and the Northeastern Guard Camp would significantly decline in importance.

Right now, it was more important to gather geniuses in the capital Heidelberg to cultivate their talents.

Suddenly Lee Jaesung's report arrived when Woohyuk was reviewing the strategy with Aiden in detail.

[Your Majesty, We have received the intel that the Witch Cult has infiltrated the free city of Media.]

[Did the 3rd Corps discover this fact?]

[The very first witness is part of the Rossio Merchant Group. The 3rd Corps was informed by Adorno, the head of the group.]

The Rossio Merchant Group was hostile to all forces related to the Golden Rose Society.

In the past, Bruno of the Cohen Merchant Group had tried to get rid of Adorno by joining them.

'Then I guess I’ll be receiving a report from the Free City of Landium as well.'

There was the Erica Merchant Group as well as the violent sea serpent led by the Barbarossa Pirates, so he didn’t worry about that city too much.

Woohyuk warned each of the clan members that were dispatched around the country and continued his conversation with Lee Jaesung.

[Those guys will be aiming for you first. So try to strengthen the barriers around the Ludwig County as much as possible.]

[Do you think the Witch Cult could actually reach this far? They’ve already been discovered.]

[We mustn’t underestimate them.]

Judging from his experience in the past 40 years, it was difficult to stop the Witch Cult with just a single legion if they were moving and fighting seriously.

Woo-hyuk pulled out a map of the Rhine Kingdom from his pocket and tried to picture the ideal path the Witch Cult would try to take.

'I'm sure they’ll try to focus on regions where the lord has recently changed.'

I had to think about the possibility that the daughter of Baron Ludwig, whose whereabouts became apparent, or the son of Count Ethan, would move with the Witches Church.

He had to keep in mind the possibility that the daughter of Baron Ludwig or Count Ethan’s son were working with the Witch Cult. Their locations were currently unknown.

They were the children of the former lords, so they were well aware of the local areas and could have bribed some nobles in the area to make them their accomplices.

'But their final goal will be Blackburn.'

An impregnable fortress built by the Black Dragon King Drakia.

The Witch Cult and the Golden Rose Society knew of a method that would allow them to take over the fortress with ease.

As he thought of Joanna, who was currently watching over the state affairs as the regent, Woohyuk secretly sent a message to Irene.

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