Haworth Avenue, in an unknown forest.
The terrifying sounds of battle and the billowing smoke caused the two armies, still locked in combat, to halt their actions. Immediately, some of the Red Robe Priests felt their powers waning, especially their connection to the Lord of Light.
This was a situation they had never encountered before, and it terrified many of the younger Red Robe Priests. Although Marco's battle with the Lord of Light was far away, some perceptive Priests had still noticed it.
"Whoosh..."
Just as the Lord of Light's Priests were feeling utterly bewildered, the Abyssal Hydra joined the battlefield with the sound of a horn. Upon seeing these terrifying creatures, many of the Lord of Light's Priests instinctively prepared to launch a magical attack.
But soon, they realized that their powers had completely vanished. The deity was no longer answering them, as if it had disappeared.
Many Priests could now only use the magic sealed within their gemstone necklaces. Some Priests even felt death approaching, as many of them had relied on magic to sustain their lives.
Once they completely lost the protection of magic, they would rapidly age, or even die from illness. This left many of them at a loss, and they fell victim to the Imperial Army soldiers' blades due to their inattention.
Only the more powerful Red Robe Priests, like Melisandre, understood. Their god, the Lord of Light, seemed to be wounded. His power on the Westeros Continent had plummeted.
Some of the weaker Priests thought they had completely lost their powers. They fell to their knees and began to wail, unable to believe what was happening. They thought they had been abandoned by their god.
But for the Abyssal Hydra, this was excellent news. The charging Abyssal Hydra slammed into the Stannis soldiers blocking their path.
A shield wall of over ten Stannis soldiers was like paper. The first two soldiers were turned into a pulp of flesh and iron, their shields and armor fused together.
Then, the Ancient Treants charged into the enemy ranks through the gap. The Treants' massive branch-arms, like rolling pins, flattened the soldiers.
The powerful Flame Lords and the Rakshasa King reaped the soldiers' lives like war machines. A storm of flames and blades unleashed their terrible power. After breaking through the defenses, the four of them completely disrupted Stannis's army.
"Roar..."
With a roar from Orc Chieftain Gorth, blood-red energy coalesced around him and his soldiers, making them look like demons from hell.
Orc Chieftain Gorth charged into the midst of the soldiers, his massive battle axe raised high. He then brought it down with a mighty swing, cleaving a fully armored soldier in two.
"You rabble, prepare to meet your end!"
Gorth roared, covered in blood, and continued to cut through Stannis's forces, each attack claiming a soldier's life.
Led by five high-level system soldiers, Marco's troops crashed directly into the vanguard of Stannis's forces. Although he had been continuously deploying troops, desperately trying to maintain his own lines, he couldn't stop the retreating soldiers.
At this moment, Davos Seaworth (Onion Knight) led a group of soldiers and charged to Stannis's side, grabbing hold of Stannis who was preparing to personally enter the fray.
"Your Grace! We must retreat. The enemy has routed our soldiers; we cannot continue like this."
Davos pulled on his liege's hand, quietly standing in front of him, speaking each word with urgency.
Stannis, upon hearing this, said angrily to Davos:
"You want me to run? Run again? No, I won't run this time. How can we fight the enemy's dragons if we lose this mountain? By sacrificing lives?"
"Your Grace! We still have White Harbor, and two powerful fleets. And those are just small dragons. We can definitely find a way to deal with them. The Dornish can kill a dragon, and so can we. You must know, we have a very powerful army, and those excellent equipment from the Eastern Continent."
Hearing Davos's advice, Stannis's mood gradually calmed down. He was a veteran of many battles and naturally understood these principles.
Ever since Stannis learned that the Valyrian Empire possessed dragons, he had been studying how to deal with these behemoths, even spending several days in the library at White Harbor.
To combat the dragons, Stannis didn't hesitate to spend a fortune, purchasing a batch of crossbows from Myr, intending to suppress the Valyrian Empire's fire dragons on the battlefield.
Furthermore, this time Stannis met five powerful water mages in Braavos. Although he hadn't truly witnessed their strength, Melisandre said it was the will of the Lord of Light.
Therefore, Stannis spared no expense to hire them into his service, preparing them to deal with the dragons. The Rhoynar's water magic was world-renowned, and they had a history of killing dragons.
After calming down, Stannis completely regained his former composure. He lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and then commanded loudly:
"Retreat..."
With the commander's withdrawal, Stannis's army began to fall apart. Knights and lords from various houses started leading their soldiers in retreat as well.
This retreat quickly turned into a rout. The well-trained soldiers ran fast, leaving the hastily conscripted militiamen behind. The battle became a chase.
Deep within the forest, Dire Wolves and Shadow Lynx began their attacks on enemy leaders, as previously arranged. Their primary objective was to capture the enemy's commanders.
These creatures, transformed by the system, were incredibly intelligent and could effectively identify the enemy's ranks. With the guidance of the skinchangers, they could accurately target their objectives.
After these individuals were captured, Marco's generals would identify them. Except for a few key figures, Marco ordered the execution of the rest.
By Haworth Avenue, the Valyrian army camp.
Marco, exhausted from the long battle, had depleted his mental and physical strength. After the dust settled, he immediately lost consciousness.
However, Brynden still followed Marco's previous plan, driving his dragon, "Green Dream," to pursue Stannis's troops. Without Marco and Ying, he could only barely control his dragon, and its killing power was significantly reduced.
Just then, Stannis and his retreating forces arrived at their camp, which was set up in the forest. They changed horses, preparing to retreat.
"Roar..."
As the dragon's roar echoed through the forest, Stannis knew that they might not escape today. Moreover, in the earlier chaos, Melisandre, the Red Priestess, had been separated from them, plunging Stannis's mood to an all-time low.
"Great Lord of Light! Please bless me and my soldiers, so that we may leave this place alive!"
Stannis silently prayed in his heart. Seeing his soldiers already trembling somewhat, Stannis could only sigh helplessly and prepare for his final pre-battle morale boost.
"Warriors of the Lord of Light! Our true god will surely protect us. The enemy's dragon cannot scare us. We will definitely break through successfully, long live!"
"Long live..."
The soldiers' excited and fearful roars soared into the sky, making it feel like the entire heavens were trembling. Many who had lost their courage gradually regained their morale due to their lord's encouragement.
Then, as if responding to Stannis and the others' shouts, a series of thunderclaps suddenly echoed in the sky, followed by a massive dark cloud drifting over from afar.
First a few drops, then more and more rain, until it turned into a torrential downpour. A terrifying storm raged from the west, affecting even Brynden as he rode his dragon.
The rain made "Green Dream" feel extremely uncomfortable. After exhaling a blast of dragonfire, the dragon began to squirm restlessly. After several attempts to soothe it proved ineffective, Brynden had no choice but to urge "Green Dream" back to the main camp.
Meanwhile, hundreds of meters away in the Valyrian army camp, Marco, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes and sat bolt upright, startling the four women who were caring for him.
"Marco! How are you feeling now? Do you feel unwell anywhere?"
Moonshadow's small hand gently caressed Marco's cheek, asking tenderly, her heart filled with concern.
Marco then grabbed Moonshadow's small hand and kissed it lightly, comforting her by saying:
"Don't worry, I feel great. Never felt better, actually. I finally understand some things that always puzzled me before."
Then, a series of system notifications flooded Marco's mind. He checked the mission log and saw a mountain of rewards.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for completing the hidden quest, 'Challenge of the Gods.' The Host successfully challenged a god and gained the upper hand, inflicting damage. Rewards: 100,000 Gold, 1,000 Level 3 Troop Conversion Slots."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for successfully injuring a god. You have obtained a portion of divine blood energy. The system is currently analyzing and absorbing it. Ding... an unknown error has occurred..."
"Re-loading, analyzing... Life energy composition: 30%, Demon energy composition: 50%, Unknown energy composition: 20%, extracting and converting..."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have received a portion of demon bloodline energy. Due to its potency, it is recommended you use it in portions!"
"Ding! A suitable bloodline has been detected, and a bloodline evolution is possible. Would you like to use 50% of the energy for conversion? Target: Level 5 Orc Chieftain Gorth. Proceed?"
Marco was overjoyed when he saw this. Gorth's strength was undeniable. If his bloodline could advance further, he might even evolve into a Cyclops or a Behemoth.
Either one could be called a meat grinder on the battlefield. You have to remember that a level 5 Cyclops has the bloodline of a level 7 demon, and the level 3 and 7 Behemoths can tear apart dragons with their bare hands. (The dragons in the Ashan world definitely wouldn't engage in close combat with such monsters on the ground.)
For this matter, Marco even gave up on continuing to receive system rewards, just to ask Gorth for his opinion and, at the same time, witness the immense power of these two super war behemoths.
After using the Message Technique to communicate with Gorth, the iron-blooded strong man ran towards the direction of the Valyrian camp, jumping and laughing, making the soldiers around him, who were cleaning the battlefield in the heavy rain, stare blankly.
About 10 minutes later, Marco, who could already walk, sat on the throne of his own royal tent. He could have gotten out of bed, but Moonshadow and the others, for the sake of his health, kept him in the tent.
When Gorth and his forces appeared in the North, many people in the Valyrian Empire regarded Marco's high-level system soldiers as the legendary races.
Especially when the Goblins and Sprites appeared, many people believed that these creatures came from beyond the Great Wall. Especially after knowing Marco's identity, the common people regarded Marco as a being like the ancient kings.
The kings of the First Men era all possessed great power; they used magic, had extraordinarily beautiful foreign wives, and had a large number of talented individuals under their command, and Marco just happened to fit these criteria.
Moreover, there are all sorts of strange and bizarre legends in this world. Ancient races are too numerous to count. In the eyes of some Northerners, their bloodlines flowed with the blood of Giants and the Children of the Forest, so there was naturally nothing to be surprised about when they saw Rakshasa King Xun and Orc Chieftain Gorth.
And, some Northern women who loved a challenge specifically sought them out for "debates." It was because the giants' swords were too large; otherwise, even the giants and the Lord of Flame would have been challenged, it was estimated.
However, just a few days ago, Marco had heard a rumor that a few small giants, only a little over 2 meters tall, had already been "challenged" in advance by some fierce Northern women on a dark and windy night, which left Marco completely dumbfounded.
Just as Marco was lost in thought, the door curtain was suddenly pulled open. Then, the tall and armored Gorth, drenched, walked in. After bowing to Marco, Gorth asked excitedly:
"Your Majesty, the Great Emperor! When can we start? I can't wait to complete my bloodline evolution. I can feel it; my blood is boiling, as if calling out to something."
Marco heard this and glanced at Moonshadow and the others, signaling that he wanted to go out, but they stopped him with their eyes. So, Marco could only helplessly open the system interface and clicked a certain confirmation option.
Following this, a giant red ball of light appeared in Marco's hand. With the appearance of the light ball, an aura filled with evil energy also spread outward.
Meanwhile, among a certain group of captives outside the main camp, the Red Robe Priest Melisandre, looking exhausted, felt this powerful energy aura. Her heart also twitched violently, and her entire body's blood began to boil.
A glimmer of hope flashed in Melisandre's eyes, and a trace of determination appeared on her haggard face, as if she had made some kind of awakening.
Inside Marco's command tent, the blood-red orb in his hand shot into Gorth's body at an incredible speed, enveloping him entirely.
The energy sphere transformed into countless arcing lines, gradually merging into Gorth's body. His body began to swell, and the cracking of bones and the bulging of muscles echoed throughout the spacious tent.
During this transformation, Gorth didn't let out a single cry. Perhaps he viewed this as a sacred event, and any transgression would be a desecration of his bloodline's evolution ritual.
As the light gradually faded, a gigantic humanoid monster appeared in Marco's tent, a terrifying aura wildly surging outwards, causing the tent to flap violently.
It had massive hoof-like feet, solid muscles, and huge palms thicker than a man's thighs, seemingly capable of easily crushing an adult human into a pulp.
Three terrifying bony horns sprouted from its enormous head, and the most distinctive feature was its blood-red eye, which seemed to accumulate a surge of violent energy.
Marco's tent was over four meters tall. After Gorth completed the bloodline evolution, his massive head almost pierced through the tent's top. Realizing this, he slightly bent his body, lowering his head…
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