Inside the grand palace, Heji Stone and Hoffman Ironfist sat facing each other, cups before them filled with blood and fine wine that looked just like blood.
Though their races, tastes, and social standings differed, none of it prevented the two dwarves from being friends.
Hoffman Ironfist raised his cup and said, "May we avoid needless sacrifice this time."
Heji Stone lifted his cup as well. "Of course. Rest assured, my friend will arrange everything properly."
They emptied their cups in one draft, a trace of crimson lingering at the corners of both their mouths.
Halfway into their drinks, Heji Stone asked, "The frontline... I hear it's not looking good."
Hoffman Ironfist made no attempt to hide it. He nodded and said, "Indeed. That butcher of Ryan took to the field in person, and we couldn't hold him back. We had to accelerate our original retreat plan; we've abandoned much, and lost much."
Heji Stone's hand trembled on his cup. In a shaking voice, he asked, "You mean... that Silvermoon Knight?!"
Hoffman Ironfist sighed and explained, "Not just him. There's also Ryan's Imperial Guard. They suddenly appeared on the main battlefield and routed our army in a single day. If a sudden sandstorm hadn't halted their advance, their troops would probably already be at our city gates.
"In two more days, we will evacuate the royal palace and enter the other half of our territory through underground tunnels. Hopefully, the Death Line will hold them back."
Heji Stone suddenly felt the blood in his cup turn completely tasteless.
The Silvermoon Knight combined with the Ryan Empire's Imperial Guard formed an indestructible blade—one that likely no nation on the continent could withstand.
Heji Stone had witnessed the Silvermoon Knight's terrifying prowess once before.
There had once been a city devoted to an evil god, home to nearly thirty thousand people who were all fanatical cultists. At the time, Heji Stone had only recently been turned into a vampire and was hiding everywhere; only a place where such cultists gathered was suitable for his survival.
As ill luck would have it, he ran into the Silvermoon Knight.
All Heji Stone saw was a crescent of bright, clear moonlight, and then half the city was gone.
That terrifying Holy Light cleaved the great city of tens of thousands in two—and this was the half the Moonlight Knight had deliberately spared, for what he sheared away was the evil god's temple and the army of cultists gathered there.
Even after Heji Stone later ascended to a legend, that moonlit sword strike still filled him with lingering dread.
Hearing Hoffman Ironfist speak of the Moonlight Knight now, he couldn't help asking, "He must be at least a hundred and fifty years old by now. Don't the Ryan people forbid potions that prolong life?"
This was a rule established by the founding emperor, Arthur Ryan, who believed that if humans blindly pursued longevity, it would inevitably plunge the entire nation into chaos. If an emperor never wanted to die and his ministers never wanted to die, all their minds would be consumed by prolonging their lives.
The effects of life-extending potions diminished with each use, and extending life through magic carried immense costs.
If Ryan's nobles devoted themselves entirely to prolonging their lives, the burden of all those costs would fall upon the people of the Ryan Empire. Arthur Ryan was therefore determined to prevent such blind pursuit of longevity. He himself ended up living only about a hundred years—a truly short lifespan for such a powerful paladin.
Because Arthur Ryan led by personal example, the Ryan Empire had no unnaturally long-lived individuals for a very long time.
Perhaps precisely because of this piety and benevolence, everyone in the Ryan Empire, from top to bottom, was a true believer in the light, unlike those hypocrites who paraded under the banner of light while serving selfish ends. This also earned the Ryan Empire the favor of the Lord of the Dawn, bringing forth a vast number of paladins and clerics of light within its borders.
The number of these holy practitioners far exceeded that of any other kingdom many times over.
It was precisely because even the emperor lived by the tenets of faith that this nation grew so powerful.
Forbidding the use of magical means to prolong life was a rule of the Ryan Empire upheld by every generation of emperors. This Silvermoon Knight was also a paladin, so he could not possibly have violated it. By that logic, he was already at a twilight age. That he could still take to the battlefield like this and crush the dwarven kingdom's legion in direct combat made the old man utterly absurd.
Hoffman Ironfist felt equally helpless. Against such an opponent, you couldn't even find an excuse for losing.
"In short, we no longer pin our hopes on the direct battlefield. We can only place our hopes in the sandstorms of the Death Line, as well as the migration effort to the City of Alchemy. Hopefully, no trouble arises there."
Heji Stone quickly replied, "It certainly won't. As far as I know, that friend of mine has already found a way to deal with the elves."
"That friend of yours truly is remarkable," Hoffman Ironfist remarked with emotion. "To be able to solve the elven problem—that achievement alone would easily earn him the title of duke. However, he seems temporarily unable to attend to local trouble."
Heji Stone asked in surprise, "Oh? What trouble are you referring to?"
"From what I know, freedom of belief within the City of Alchemy seems to have gone too far. Worshiping gods of the evil alignment is one thing, but how can there even be worshippers of Hell?"
"Hell worshippers?" Heji Stone furrowed his brows, then said, "Let me look into it. That truly is a major issue."
The Lords of Hell were not gods, but in terms of pure power, the difference was not particularly large. If the Lords of the Nine Hells united, slaughtering mighty deities wouldn't be much of a challenge.
However, getting these lords of Hell—who embodied all manner of ultimate evil—to unite was unimaginably difficult.
And the greatest issue with Hell worship was that they harbored nothing but malice toward everything in the mortal realm.
The evil practiced by deities of the evil alignment still required living beings of the mortal realm. Concepts such as deception, murder, suffering, and the like—the vessels for these concepts were still mortal creatures. They committed evil and caused great disasters and trouble, but in the end, they were still placing pieces on the chessboard of the mortal realm.
Hell was different; it was an entirely separate plane.
Their only desire toward the mortal realm was destruction—hoping all mortal beings would die out, turning the mortal realm into a part of Hell.
Devils of Hell preferred subtler means to tempt people into corruption, whereas demons brought pure destruction, impatient to annihilate everything in the mortal realm.
Thus, Hell worship was an extremely destructive faith, tantamount to hollowing out the very foundations of the mortal realm.
Although the Golden Kingdom also observed freedom of belief, it strictly prohibited Hell worship.
Among the Nine Kingdoms, only the City of Alchemy tolerated the existence of Hell worship. That was likely because this bunch of alchemists were true faithless, believing that knowledge reigned supreme over morality and faith. In their eyes, all fools—no matter what they believed—were the same.
Therefore, these Hell cultists were the greatest trouble. No matter how Anbaixiu sought to avert war, neither dwarves nor elves could tolerate the existence of Hell worship.
Hoffman Ironfist said to Heji Stone, "Hell worship must be eradicated. Speak with your friend again. This is a non-negotiable bottom line. Besides, even if we leave them alone for now, I suspect those Hell cultists are already preparing to strike back."
Heji Stone agreed verbally, but did not take the matter to heart.
Hell cults were exceedingly rare to begin with, universally despised like rats crossing the street. Perhaps they wouldn't even need to intervene before nearby lords seized the opportunity to send the scum back to their infernal home.
The Silvermoon Knight of the Ryan Empire, however, left him deeply unsettled. After finishing his drinks with Hoffman Ironfist, he hurried back to his underground palace, opened the Necrotic Codex, and began alerting the members in the group:
[Dislikes Humans: Breaking news! The Ryan Empire's Silvermoon Knight isn't dead after all! The old bastard has to be at least a hundred and fifty years old, yet he can still fight on the battlefield and easily wiped out a legion of desert dwarves!]
[Rose of Decay: The Silvermoon Knight? Impossible. He couldn't have lived until now unless he broke the rule against using magic to prolong life.]
[Dislikes Humans: My intel is absolute fact. The Hand of the King told me personally. If a sudden sandstorm hadn't halted Ryan's advance, even their royal palace would have fallen. Now they have no choice but to speed up the relocation plan, with a full evacuation in two days. Gareth, you're a wanted criminal in Ryan. Have you ever fought this Silvermoon Knight?]
[Crown of the Headless Horseman: Never heard of him. When I broke out of the Ryan Empire, this so-called Silvermoon Knight probably wasn't even born yet, was he? Still, since you make him sound so formidable, I wouldn't mind seeing what he's made of.]
[Rose of Decay: Gareth, don't be reckless. The Silvermoon Knight is without question the strongest paladin in Ryan's history, even stronger than Ryan's founding emperor back then. If he didn't lack royal blood and couldn't wield the Dragon Tyrant Armament, my underground undead empire would have been destroyed by him long ago.]
[Crown of the Headless Horseman: That exaggerated? Arthur Ryan slew the Demonic Dragon Tyrant with his own hands and drove out every last dragon. Even though I'm undead, I have to admit he was a truly great hero. Yet I've never even heard of this Silvermoon Knight.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: If she tells you not to be reckless, don't be reckless! Don't go looking for trouble with this Silvermoon Knight for no reason. It's not like he's going to come to the Dragon Tomb to pick a fight with you anyway, so who cares how strong he is? He's already a hundred and fifty years old. In a few more years, he'll be nothing but a pile of bones. We have limitless lifespans, so there's no reason to risk our necks against him.]
Once the young bone dragon mistress spoke up, Gareth went quiet. Though somewhat vexed, Gareth knew his wife was right. The undead possessed infinite lifespans, while another so-called strongest paladin might appear in a few decades anyway; there was no need to take it to heart.
If he had to fight the strongest paladin of every generation, it would simply be too tiresome.
[Dislikes Humans: By the way, where's Brother Diga? Why isn't he around today? I just sent him a private message, but he hasn't replied. What's he busy with?]
[Rose of Decay: The trouble with the elves, naturally. He seems to have found the key and is probably busy running experiments right now.]
[Dislikes Humans: Then he'd better hurry. The dwarves moved their migration plan forward and still need his cooperation. Otherwise, things might go wrong.]
Chapter 118