Chapter 183: Gaze of Nurgle
Chapter 183: Gaze of Nurgle
The Celestial Eagle flew away, but Ash narrowed his eyes. He didn't care much about the threat from the Goddess of Dawn.
After all, when the time came for him to fight for the throne of God, he would definitely choose to drag down a true god and kill him, and then sit on the throne himself.
Although one may not care, it does not mean that one can be happy after being threatened.
'You'd better hope that your chosen one doesn't have a chance to fall into my hands.'
Ash regained his calm expression and headed north.
[Dragon Climbing Pillar] The strengthening is complete, there is no need to stay here.
The Principality of Longus was once a growing powerful principality three years ago, but it went downhill with the outbreak of a strange plague.
At first, people just felt chest tightness, then they started coughing, and finally they had fever, and a few people died from the plague.
This plague may not sound serious, but the real horror is not its lethality, but its speed of transmission and its sequelae.
The former spread throughout the country at a terrifying rate in less than three months, infecting almost everyone from high-ranking officials to ordinary people.
In the latter case, anyone infected with the plague, even if they survived, would suffer from various diseases, such as muscle weakness, tuberculosis, and susceptibility to illness.
The productivity of the people dropped sharply, but the demands of the nobles did not decrease. For them, this plague was just a minor illness that could be cured with some simple supplements.
The ever-increasing demand and decreasing production caused the internal conflicts in the Principality of Longus to become acute.
Later, the discovery of another problem further exacerbated this contradiction, because people were horrified to find that the plague had not passed and was still there.
Every newborn baby will be tested by this plague. The chances of healthy growth of newborn babies in this era are already low, and now they will definitely be infected with the plague as soon as they are born, which also results in a newborn baby's chance of survival of less than one in a hundred.
Among them, the vast majority are children of high-ranking officials. As they are powerful and influential, they can naturally hire capable pastors to treat their children.
Seeing their own children die tragically at birth while those of the nobles grow up healthily, the people's resentment grew more and more boiling.
In the second year after the plague, an uprising broke out among the people because they saw no hope of survival.
With heavy taxes from noble lords above and the loss of their descendants below, their lives are hopeless.
Even if they wanted to escape, they couldn't, because the surrounding countries were on high alert against the Principality of Longus, and even issued cruel orders that any living creature coming from the direction of Longus would be shot directly from a distance, regardless of nationality or identity.
Unable to escape, the common people also fell into madness. Since there was no hope, they decided to drag the high-ranking officials and nobles to death together.
Therefore, even when faced with war groups or armies that were far stronger than them, the civilians rushed forward without fear, risking their lives to inflict some damage on them.
By the time Ash arrived, there was no one living here for a hundred miles, and no roosters crowed for a thousand miles.
Because the plague not only infected humans but also animals, this was also one of the reasons for the great decline in private productivity.
Without food from the bottom, how can high-level predators survive?
After the plague, there was famine, which was one of the reasons that prompted the civilians to revolt. They really couldn't survive.
Ash looked at the body curled up on the side of the road and couldn't help but sigh.
"Damn it," Ash thought.
With a wave of his hand, endless fresh breeze blew up from around him, purifying the world.
{Activate achievement [No Disease]: Eliminate a plague from the root.}
Ash glanced at the achievements and felt a little more motivated.
The mighty wind swept across the world, purifying all the disease and epidemic air.
In a short period of time, the area of 100 miles became slightly different.
Standing in the sky, Ash looked down at the various air flows on the ground. In his sight, the dark green epidemic air was flowing towards this empty land.
Within a day, this hundred-mile area will probably be covered by the plague again.
'We must first find that favored Nurgle.'
Ash grabbed a wisp of plague air with his hand and began to use [Omens of All Things] to divine clues.
The activity of this epidemic is too unusual, it is obviously the work of Nurgle's followers.
If he is not killed, even if the purification speed is faster than the plague coverage speed, due to the fast coverage speed of the plague, some corners will inevitably be left undealt with.
If there are too many flowers by then, most of my efforts will be wasted.
Soon, Ash got a clue.
With just a few dozen steps, Ash arrived at a city.
At this time, the interior of the city seemed to be peaceful and prosperous, if one ignored the disgusting appearance of the residents.
Their bodies were covered with pus-filled sores, and yellow pus was visible dripping from them, but the residents did not care because it was a favor bestowed upon them by God.
Today, they are long-lived, healthy, and pain-free, which is much better than those useless bodies in the past. Even if they eat, they don’t need to eat too much.
The gift from the gods allows them to gain energy from the air even when they breathe it.
This made Ash feel uncomfortable, so he took action.
The wind of purification blew away the plague and the pus on the skin, causing the residents to begin to collapse.
"No, God, have you given up on your people!"
"God, please don't take away the gift!"
"Go to the temple and find Nurgle's healer!"
But the wind also brought Ash's majestic voice:
"I say, those who still retain their sane minds go to the East Gate, those who fall into the worship of Nurgle, please commit suicide immediately."
[The law] began to take effect, and people's behavior began to distort. Some people rubbed their heads against the ground, some hanged themselves, and some set themselves on fire.
But without exception, no one went to the East Gate.
"This is going to be built in a corrupted land."
Ash looked towards the temple in the center.
The Corruption cannot be built easily; it requires an anchor, and the best anchor is a devout believer.
The reason why the corrupted lands of the Heavy Dragon Empire could be expanded into four was due to the high reproduction rate of the barbarians there. The huge population enabled them to bring down the kingdom of Khorne in a very short time.
This is not an isolated case, as Nurgle's chosen ones have also done such things. Nurgle has the most corrupted lands now, and even Slaanesh, who has the strongest corruption ability, is far inferior to him.
Who can blame Nurgle for holding the power of life? Not only can the people under him give birth, but people from the outside world also often join Nurgle in order to seek longevity.
When it comes to extending life, Nurgle is a professional.
As for the side effect of becoming ugly, it is insignificant compared to the extended life span.
A tall figure slowly walked out of the temple, at least five meters tall. His entire body was wrapped in iron armor, and with every step he took, yellow or green water oozed out from the gaps in the armor.
"Horst?" Ash confirmed.
"Who are you?" the armored man asked.
"Answer my question." Ash said with a firm tone.
The armored man stiffened: "It's me."
"Are you the only one?" Ash asked.
"Just me." said the armored man.
Ash nodded slightly, feeling a little regretful, as he wanted more.
Although he felt regretful in his heart, his actions did not show any intention of trying to keep her.
As he finished speaking, the dark golden flame had already ignited Horst.
But this time the flames burned very slowly, and Ash didn't want this person to die too easily, otherwise it would be unfair to the skeletons he saw along the way.
"what--"
Horst let out a shrill scream. As a favored god of Nurgle, he had long since discarded the useless feeling of pain.
But now, he felt it again.
Like burning, like being stabbed by needles, like being shocked by electricity. All these pains acted on his soul one by one, making it impossible for him to faint.
Moreover, as a favored god of Nurgle, he had a very strong vitality, which further prolonged his painful sentence.
Feeling that his child was suffering, a higher-level being cast a glance at him, which made him a little angry.
Right in front of Ash, the epidemic energy in the entire city suddenly gathered and formed a huge body.
The vague threat made Ash immediately realize who it was, Nurgle.
Ash roared, and the most holy and strong power burst out.
With a shout, the figure immediately disintegrated.
This made someone even more angry, and his heavy gaze lingered on Ash, as if he wanted to remember him completely, and then he wanted to transfer Horst away.
Ash sensed His intention and punched forward instead of using a sword: "Get out!"
A dark crack spread from Ash's fist to the sky, disrupting the structure of space.
Horst's body, which had just become a little illusory, became solid again.
But Ash frowned slightly, because Nurgle was still not giving up and wanted to take Horst's soul away.
"You are indeed the most protective evil god." Ash grinned, "But you want to take him away right in front of me, don't you look down on me too much!"
boom!
A dark golden flame suddenly burst out and burned Horst into nothingness.
Although he didn't receive enough punishment, it was better than letting him run away.
His heavy gaze fell on Ash again. Even without saying anything, his gaze alone conveyed his meaning: you will definitely be punished.
After his heavy gaze shifted away, Ash clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. One or two of them were really arrogant.
The purifying wind blew, purifying the epidemic air and crushing the corpses into debris which merged into the earth, turning into fertilizer and replenishing the soil's fertility.
Although these Nurgle believers eat little, they still eat a lot. Their vitality is drawn from the earth. Over time, this land will become a completely dead place with no grass growing.
This is also one of the reasons why Nurgle is listed as an evil god.
It took three days, and with the help of his clone, Ash finally plowed the entire Principality of Longus thoroughly, even leaving the catacombs untouched, thus completely eradicating the plague.
Sitting upright in the sky, Ash began to check the information, from old to new.
{Achievement · [Five-sided victory over evil] achieved, reward: Strengthen inherent skill · [No evil]}
{Achievement: [Slay the Evil] achieved, reward: Divinity*1}
{激活成就·【五方斩邪】：分别击杀恐虐神选1/1，色孽神选1/1，奸奇神选1/1，纳垢神选0/1和憎恶神选0/1}
{Achievement · [No Disease] Achieved, Reward: Inherent Skill · [No Disease]}
[Wu Ji]: Greatly increases resistance to external abnormal conditions.
Ash received his rewards in turn.
[Innocence]: Your resistance to corruption is greatly increased.
[Divinity: 4-》5]
[Wu Ji] was solidified and merged with [Eternal Sword Body], because this skill was considered one of the lower-level skills of [Immortal Body], and [Immortal Body] was integrated into [Eternal Sword Body], so they would naturally be merged.
"As expected, the more unique skills you have, the fewer inherent skills you have."
Ash sighed.
Then he glanced at the requirements of [Slaying Evils in the Five Directions], and now he had already completed three of the five, with only Nurgle and Hatred missing.
Nurgle is easy to deal with, as the next place they are going to is Nurgle's base in the material world. Finding a chosen one to kill is not easy for him now, but it is not very troublesome either.
But the real trouble is the Chosen One of Abomination. He is the representative of lazy governance. Not only is he too lazy to select believers, but he is also too lazy to construct the land of corruption. So far, he has zero land of corruption.
Yes, zero.
Even Tzeentch had several corrupted places, but he had zero.
In this situation, it is extremely difficult to find his chosen one. Without any information, even the [Omen of All Things] would find it difficult to deduce clues.
Fortunately, the Hateful Chosen Ones are typical villains who become rampant when they succeed. Once they gain power, they will show up everywhere and then be wiped out by the Chosen Ones of the Orthodox Church.
This is probably one of the reasons why the Abomination's corrupted land could not be established, because there was simply no time to develop.
"Tell Karisan and Yelin to pay attention to the internal information of the church."
Ash thought.
After staying for a day and making sure that the epidemic was not spreading, Ash continued to move north.
The Melting Pot volcanoes are the most extensive volcanic zone in the world, with the most and largest volcanoes.
This is also the first line of defense against Nurgle's corruption.
Because of the large number of corrupted lands, Nurgle's power in the material world can be said to be the first among the evil gods.
In order to resist the expansion of Nurgle, the five major orthodox churches will provide a large amount of manpower and material resources to help the indigenous people here resist Nurgle's erosion.
There are two intelligent races living in the Crucible volcano group, one is the dwarves and the other is the Tifu.
There is no need to say much about dwarves, they are short and have thick hair; Tiv are a rare race, their legs have counter-kinematic joint structure, just like sheep, and in fact they do have the blood of sheep monsters.
They have purple skin and double horns on their heads. If they did not have magic cores in their bodies, they would probably be classified as humanoid monsters like ghosts.
Ash followed the mountain path and walked into a city dominated by Tifu.
Sitting in the tavern, Ash ate snacks silently. No one came to disturb him. Even though he was eating the snacks he brought with him, the bartender pretended not to notice.
Because Ash had already set up obstacles, most people could not see him, ignored him, and would not think about the unreasonableness here.
While eating snacks, Ash listened to the conversation between Tif and the alien intelligent species beside him.
Dwarves are a rather xenophobic race, as they are aware that they have a single-minded mind and can be easily deceived by people with more sophisticated minds.
In order to avoid being deceived, it is natural to make fewer friends with ulterior motives.
Therefore, matters dealing with outsiders are generally handed over to the Tifu tribe. When outsiders or dwarves have matters, they are generally communicated through the middleman Tifu.
Ash analyzed the information and had four things in mind when he came to the Crucible Volcanoes.
1. Kill at least one Chosen of Nurgle.
Second, dig for treasure and complete the [Treasures of the Earth] series of achievements.
The Furnace Volcano Group is the world's largest producer of magic gems. It is estimated that magic gems worth millions of gold coins have the highest probability of being produced here.
Third, find a forging technique, preferably one that leads directly to the master craftsman, because after completing the [Blacksmith] series of achievements, you will probably be able to forge a divine artifact, so it is best to get it all at once.
4. Find another owner of [Seven Sins: Gluttony].
However, Ash estimated that this task could be completed together with the first one, because he used the [Omen of All Things] to divine and found that the other person was on the other side of the furnace volcano group.
But that place has completely become Nurgle's territory, which means that the owner of the other Seven Sins: Gluttony should be Nurgle's favorite or chosen one.
Ash felt that he must be God's chosen one. After all, when he arrived, the other one couldn't wait to run towards him.
The only one who dares to run around so recklessly is probably God’s chosen one.
After collecting some information, Ash stood up and left. He had collected the information he wanted.
In the Crucible Fortress, Ogg Firehammer, the supreme general, received a message.
"You mean, the giant mountain demon Bogang is heading here?" Oger said to the scout Tif in front of him.
The Tifu people excel at speed and concealment, so it is usually the Tifu people who serve as scouts and gather information.
"Yes." said the scout Tif, who was wearing leather armor that showed off his slender figure.
"Damn the undead, what is this thing doing here?" Oger knocked on his goat-horn helmet with a headache.
The giant mountain demon, Bogon, is the largest demon under Nurgle and also the most difficult to kill. With a body as big as a mountain, ordinary attacks cannot cause effective damage to her because the mountain of fat will withstand everything for her.
Moreover, she has the ability to absorb and store external energy, so it is possible that she will become stronger as she fights more.
In addition, she also has the ability to counterattack.
High defense, high health, high endurance and a high proportion of anti-damage, which physical warrior would not have a headache seeing it.
"Please ask Lady Susanna to take action," Scout Tifu suggested.
"Susanna?" Og stroked his fiery red beard.
Susanna, from the Tif tribe, is a wizard-type demigod. She is considered to be a demigod that is relatively restrained against Bogang. After all, Bogang is a demon specialized in physics, and his resistance to spells is higher than that of ordinary people, but among demigods, it is indeed lower than that of the same level.
"Then ask her if she's free," Oger said.
As a rare mage demigod in the Crucible Front, Susanna is usually very busy. Her help is needed wherever there is repair or reconstruction.
"Yes." The Tifu scout retreated.
(End of this chapter)