Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
It was getting closer and closer to the New Year.
But this year seemed doomed since there were continuous disasters. The whole southern region was depressed. An adult red dragon appeared in the vicinity of Whiterun. Although Soran had long known that there was an ancient red dragon there, it was not until now that other people discovered its existence. The dragon caused great chaos, attracted many adventurers who tried to slaughter it, and threatened the surrounding cities.
Red dragons were an evil existence.
Aristocrats began to raise taxes because of the dragon’s existence, saying they would need more funds for defenses. They could always find various excuses to collect extra taxes. There also seemed to be a migration of the half-orcs in the south near the mountains. Because of conflicts in the region, war was more likely to occur.
There wasn’t much news about the desert region.
However, it seemed that the road to the East had been cut off by someone, and it seemed that chaos in the desert was spreading. No new cities had been destroyed, but turmoil was still brewing. To the north of the City of Wealth, there seemed to be traces of devil believers. The demons had just been cleaned up but the bewitching devils seemed to have begun to appear. Almost every city had some strange faces. Even the Elven Courts seemed to have been divided; there was a fierce dispute between the Ancient Tree doctrine and the Spiritual doctrine of Druids.
It was rumored that some of the high-grade druids who believed in the Tree of Life had gone away, and even the legendary “Earth Walker” felt a little dissatisfied with the Elven Courts.
As the balancers and defenders of nature, their beliefs were more inclined to the Tree of Life than to the elven gods. This matter was still brewing, the conflict was still escalating; if there wasn’t a strong force intervening, it was likely to lead to an internal split of the Elves. Ultimately, the Druids would break away from the elves, abandoning the beliefs of their gods and turn to the oldest Tree of Life.
This belief had been gaining support from other druids, as well as spreading among the other races.
They called this the ‘Reincarnation of the Druids’!
The vagrant Druids among the humans, half-elves, orcs, half-orcs, and many more were inspired and seemed to support the restoration of the ancient belief of the Tree of Life. This had led to deviations in the Druids throughout the world, with more than 60% of them switching their beliefs to the Tree of Life. The influence of the elves in the Druids had greatly diminished, and the various Druids seemed to be preparing for some conspiracy.
The elven gods had become weak!
Even before the Time of Troubles, their strength had declined. This seemed to be something that someone was very happy to see; something she had been waiting for thousands of years.
A web that has been weaved awaits its prey!
In a dark canyon.
A handsome, tall figure was advancing. He wore a noble robe and played the flute in his hand. In this seemingly gloomy and terrible canyon, he walked leisurely joyously. A strange sound, which seemed a little sharp and harsh. He listened to the sound intently, then raised his hand and summoned a glow. Dense shadows surrounded him; they were palm-sized vampiric bats.
“Huuuu!”
A gust of wind came, and the vast number of bats flew up. They had sharp fangs and dark red wings. There were probably hundreds of thousands of them. After flying, they almost covered the sky in the canyon. There were so many bats that it was dangerous even for a legendary profession, but the man was not worried at all. He gently picked up the flute and played the notes from hell. One by one, the bats fell to the ground in black, and their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses overflowed with a trace of blood.
“Pa!Pa!Pa!”
A burst of applause as the vampiric demi-god in a delicate suit appeared. He looked at the man in front of him and smiled, “The Hellpoemer indeed! Daring to come here alone to find me!”
Hellpoemer.
A name that was forbidden in many places.
The man’s face did not seem to be true. He glanced at Rhinehart indifferently and said slowly, “The god of vampires? Is that the only trick you have after becoming a god? Looks like you’re having it hard. I heard you were chased by a group of people like a lost dog! ”
Rhinehart’s mouth twitched slightly, but still had an elegant smile on his face. He said slowly, “It’s only temporary. After I became a god, I saw a wider world. An unprecedented opportunity is coming, so long as I seize this opportunity, I can stand on the top of the gods, at that time no one can stop me from ascending the throne! ”
The Hellpoemer giggled and had a sarcastic expression. “Really? Well, you’ll have to run from me first,” said the Hellpoemer.
Rhinehart frowned at him and slowly said, “Are we really going to fight? Why are you on their side? What they can give you, I can give you the same thing, I would even share everything with you.”
The Hellpoemer showed a sarcastic smile and said, “What you see is just the tip of the iceberg. Even if you want to cooperate with me, you would have to show your value. There are countless weak gods like you in the Pantheon!”
The Hellpoemer disappeared suddenly.
As if there was an expanding sound wave, the surrounding bats fell to the ground one after the other.
Snake Island.
Soran stood on the dock and looked down at everything. Within three days, he had recruited hundreds of pirates, and now he had more than 300 under his command. Adele stood at the bow of the boat, beside the first mate promoted by Soran. Now that he had enough strength, it was time to clean up the other enemies. Pirates needed no training as this was a profession in which the strong survived and the weak were eliminated.
“Set out!”
Soran landed gently on the head of the killer whale, facing the awe of the other pirates, his eyes had only slight anxiety.
That was because he had heard a piece of somewhat bad news.
It seemed that the rumors of the Throat-Cutter had had a greater impact than he had expected. It even startled one of the pirate kings who ruled the South coast.
Pirate king ‘The King of the Swamps’.
He was not human, but a mixture of the Swamp Giant and the Lizardman. The intelligence of the Giants had always been low, but this pirate king was an exception. The chances of cross-creature fertilization were very low; it was said that he was born because of some taboo spells. Lizardman were amphibians, and they could move on land as well as in water. The King of the Swamps was one of the pirate kings who ruled the South coast. Pirates under him included humans, Lizardman, Kuo-toa, mixed-race creatures and so on.
The three pirate kings all had their backgrounds.
Behind the pirate king of the Amazons stood the Storm temple; she was the pirate king who believed in the Storm Lord. Another pirate king of half Amazonian descent was an inhuman creature, supported by the Naga Sirens, who believed in the sea goddess. The last pirate king was the King of the Swamp; he did not believe in any of the gods but gave his faith to the devil in the abyss.
The Prince of the Depths ‘Dagon’!
There was a doctrine that said, “In the mortal world, Dagon’s cult prevails in the coastal areas. Its followers shall mate with half-fish creatures in exchange for the power from Dagon, a blessing of fishes and exotic treasures. All of this given to them by the Demon Lord at the cost of polluting their own blood.”
Indeed.
The King of the Swamp was a monster born for some reason. The product of a failed ceremony. The person in charge of the ceremony had not pleased the evil abyss lord thus he did not gain much power. On the contrary, the unexpected product of the ceremony, now the King of the Swamps, gained the power bestowed by the abyss lord, Dagon.
That was how a mixed-blood creature was born.
He had not only great power but also the intelligence of a demon. Although he was slightly crazy, he still had become one of the three pirate kings on the South coast.
This pirate king controlled the deepsea regions of the South coast.
His lair was at a place called Demon Island; a place where only the evilest pirates would go.
He was also a pirate that didn’t make moves logically!
Although the pirate kings had great power, they also had a close relationship with the temples, almost all of them did things for their own interest. Only the King of the Swamps liked chaos. If he was not satisfied with the rise of a powerful pirate on the south coast, he might just attack Soran.
If that happened, Soran wouldn’t be able to win; by then he would need Vivian’s power.
Although Soran could turn to the Sea temple for help, getting help also meant giving. Furthermore, he recalled the news that the Naga Siren priest told him.
Until now, Soran still could recall the expression she had when she told him the news!