Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 854 - 732: Cholera
Hilus Empire, St. Cruz.
For some reason, the lavish Dome Palace still appears somewhat gloomy even in the bright spring sunshine. Philip II is slumped on his throne, his eyes slightly unfocused, and his spirit seems greatly diminished.
Originally.
The Hilus Royal Family's generations-long dream was realized in his hands, crowning him as the first emperor in Hilus Kingdom's history. The religious reform was also completed under his reign, making him the most powerful monarch in the Material World.
It should have been the time to expand his great plans and achieve the "eternal legacy".
However, this unprecedented glory lasted less than a month before Philip II was dramatically dethroned, becoming the Hilus history's king who lost the most territory.
In the "Battle of Benin," he nearly lost all the Southern Continent territories, while in the "Dierben Castle" sea battle, he lost the entire northern New Continent. Even the Frisia Kingdom, the most important tax source area, is stirring for independence...
To make matters worse, in this crucial moment for personnel, the chief Great Wizard of his think tank, Anduin, came to confess.
Saying that due to the empire's consecutive setbacks, the [Golden Olive Triple Crown] has issues, and the "Curse School" collectively suffered backlash, possibly being unable to help in the Frisia campaign (not a word of lie).
The rapidly deteriorating situation makes Philip II almost doubt if he is in a dream, and moreover, a nightmare from which he can never wake.
If not for the powerful forces of three Titled Knights and four Legendary Battleships, he might have already despaired... His grand empire is on the brink of collapse.
Suddenly, a "good news" from Prime Minister Bartlett finally somewhat revived his spirit:
"Your Majesty, although the New Continent is significantly affected by the Spirit Tide, the Great Treasure Fleet has ceased sailing for several years, with most gold and silver left unshipped.
Combining the inventory from the remaining three Vice Royal Districts and mobilizing the Royal Family's private treasury, a total ransom valued at three million six hundred eighty thousand Golden Lions has been paid to them.
The personnel from Galliot Duchy have also been relocated to Vice-Kingdom of New Granada, and the first batch of soldiers is expected to depart for home in one day."
Philip II on the throne sneered at the words:
"Hehe... Duchy, Duchy, Duke Galliot, truly underestimated that little figure. But is my New Hilus so easily claimed? Lord Bartlett, have you established contact with the Wizard School of Broken Star Islands?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, we are in contact with the 'Elemental Breathing School' on Celebes Island, which is the most powerful and has the largest population. Especially the Fire Element branch's 'Flame Dragon Curse Seal' and the Wind Element branch's 'Hurricane's Nest' are quite interested in our conditions, just it requires more time.
However, our Intelligence Department reports that the Duke seems to have encountered trouble, with signs of Evil God's Followers appearing on the original New Hilus lands. Perhaps in urgent need of money, they even accepted our two ships of high-purity raw gold ore, yet to be refined."
Hearing about that annoying figure's misfortune, Philip II instantly cheers up:
"Since the fertile Northern Continent no longer belongs to Hilus, and the Church's Fire Bathed Angel won't protect it anymore, let it become a breeding ground for Evil God. The more Evil God's Followers, the better! Hahaha..."
The Prime Minister slightly lowered his head, not daring to mention that the rampaging Evil God hadn't shown mercy on the Hilus People, though mainly targeting Galliot Duchy, yet also impacting the Vice-Kingdom of New Granada.
...
At the frontline a hundred kilometers south of "World Bridge," which completely divides the northern and southern New Continent, Galliot Duchy confronts Hilus's New Granada Vice Royal District.
"Roar——! Take back what's ours!"
"Drive the Tulip People into the sea!"
"..."
The first member to have rallied behind Aiven, Samuel, an Official Wizard from "Mechanical Immortality School," now stationed here, with a pair of alchemical eyes gazing at the southward dark crowd of guards and civilians, a cold smile hung at his lips:
"This guy trying to cause trouble for the Duchy uses every trick in the book. Stirring internal ethnic division in the Duchy, provoking neighboring nations into war.
Well, let's see if the so-called 'hormones' that can control people's hearts can surpass the blazing artillery. Ready!"
Click... click... 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
In the mechanically-driven sound of gears turning, three steel slopes rose from the hastily constructed granite fortress, consisting of a total of over forty twin-barrel turret arrays.
[Mechanical Tower: Modo Sage]
Sss——
Amid the billowing white steam, forty turrets slowly rotated.
Created as [Activated Guard] by Aiven, possessing auxiliary fire control systems, the [Modo Sage] independently completed the calibration of all turret muzzles, collectively aiming at the Hilus military and civilians encroaching from two kilometers away beyond the buffer zone.
Simultaneously, via mechanical transmission devices, the turret arrays, powered by a mix of steam and Philosopher's Stone, had finished loading, thoroughly entering an excitation state, and destructive aura fiercely dispersed.
Samuel swung his golden mechanical arm vigorously.
```
"Fire!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!...
Cannon fire shook the sky.
Amidst blinding fire and shrapnel, terrifying shock waves hurled shredded human bodies hundreds of meters.
These alchemy fire cannons, with a maximum range of up to twenty kilometers, seemed to have instantly thrust the world from the era of sailing battleships into the era of giant ship cannons.
Beneath the cannons, any number of soldiers were simply cold numbers on the casualty lists.
Since the Saint Angel said they could act freely in the New Continent, Aiven naturally held nothing back, whether or not the means were extraordinary; as long as they were effective, that was enough.
And the facts proved that before the Crawlers completely replaced their hosts, they couldn't be made to sacrifice their lives for impossible goals.
"Retreat!"
On the Galliot Duchy's northern side.
Scree—
A squadron of Sky Knights circled continuously in the air.
On the ground, the light of the Bloodline Curse had just dissipated before Aiven. A rescue team composed of doctors and priests rushed into the small town on the shore of the Golden Sea at the first opportunity, starting to treat those hosts previously parasitized.
Dr. Taylor's Vesalian School had long verified that as long as a Tier 2 Crawler had not parasitized for more than a week, they could fully recover.
From the slave revolt until now, three days had passed, leaving only three days until the final deadline.
Lowering his head, Aiven looked at the witch fiddling with a few black goat skulls on the ground:
"Nara?"
"In this land, the Tier 2 Crawlers no longer have any reaction.
The answer I received from High-Rank Spiritual Being is that no Tier 3 Crawlers have ever set foot on the duchy's territory, and with any further extraordinary levels, I'm entirely out of options."
Leonara spoke, spreading her hands.
From the first day, as soon as they discovered the territory's tumult, they began a large-scale slaughter of exposed Crawlers; the hidden entities quickly realized Aiven possessed an uncanny ability to "pull one thread and move the entire body."
They immediately ordered the unexposed Crawlers to maintain silence to evade Aiven's pursuit.
But for Aiven, the more Crawlers found, the more common genes extracted belonged to this race, and the more complete their genetic mapping became. As long as he divined the presence of similar species, he would find them without fail.
Today, they finally killed all the Crawlers that had only parasitized human bodies without showing any anomalies.
Yet, Aiven rubbed his brow; what troubled him was not merely the cautious, cunning adversary who had yet to show any flaws, but also...
"Shouldn't 'World's Favor' at least keep me from being overly unlucky, even if it doesn't guarantee success?"
The Mind Network had already projected two scenes before Aiven's eyes.
One was the southern side of the World Bridge, which completely separated the northern and southern New Continent, where fighting ignited by the Crawlers infiltrating Hilus territory raged—those defeated weren't a big problem; he could accompany them to the end.
The other was the battleground of Frisia Kingdom's independent war on the Source Continent.
After comparing notes with the Snake Witch Serra, it turned out that some of the personnel who initially disappeared in the Broken Star Islands were present here, fervently serving the asset-holder.
Though aware of the peculiarity, Aiven indeed lacked the energy to intervene in Frisia's war during this period; the asset holder had successfully given Aiven a significant headache, achieving the initial purpose.
At present, even slaying normal Crawlers was pointless; unless he dragged out the entity behind, everything was futile.
Feeling the Divine Artifact: Celestial Balance Holy Sword hanging at his waist, it had been eagerly waiting since receiving that ransom of three million six hundred thousand.
"Wouldn't it be nice if it obediently jumped out so I could kill it with one strike? Whether it's a Crowned Demon, a Divine Creature, or even... a demigod's projection!"
Having advanced to Tier 4 Badge Knight with the divine artifact in hand, he was confident in matching any Titled Knight who had condensed Sacred Artifacts, even daring to face a demigod's projection head-on.
"As long as I can grasp its tail...."
Suddenly, a scream came from the town:
"Your Majesty, this is bad, it's cholera! Most of the town has already been infected with the severe infectious disease cholera!"
