Chapter 277: Chapter 271, Ruined Temple_l
Translator: 549690339
The news from the Faceless Cottage answered two questions raised by Fang Hao.
The first referred to the military strength of the forces on the Crescent Heights.
Having an army of 50,000, the number might not be completely accurate, but it wouldn’t deviate much.
Such a quantity of troops was not significant in Fang Hao’s eyes since the forces he stationed at various strongholds were all above a million.
The numerical disparity between the two sides had already determined the opponent’s defeat.
What was truly worrisome was the Red Duke, Clement, who as the leader of the Blood Clan on the Crescent Heights, had reached the power of the 8th order of orange rank five years ago.
Fang Hao worried that he might have advanced to even higher ranks now, possibly becoming a dark gold-level hero.
If he had reached the dark gold level, that would be somewhat difficult to deal with.
The second piece of news indeed confirmed Fang Hao’s speculation.
The Red Duke and the ‘Chester’ referred to in the notes were indeed the same person.
Clement was the name he adopted after becoming a member of the Blood Clan.
The intelligence also mentioned that a temple had been set up southwest of Pruell City, and a map was included with it.
Using the Book of Lords, the map was collected, and the location of the temple was instantly displayed on the larger map.
It was indeed southwest of Pruell City, though the location was somewhat off.
“Alright, the Faceless Cottage won’t have anything for the next few days, you may take a few days off.” Fang Hao said to the maid.
There was no point in her sticking around, as it would only update a few days after the order had been used.
“By the way, go find Demitrija and tell him to wait for me at the Lord’s Mansion.”
“Yes, my Lord.” The maid agreed and went to find Demitrija.
She then left the Faceless Cottage.
Fang Hao en route passed by the Trade Alliance to take a look.
By the time he returned to the Lord’s Mansion, Demitrija was already waiting in the hall.
“My Lord, do we have news of the Blood Clan?” Demitrija stood and asked.
Fang Hao nodded, handing over the intelligence letter sent by the Faceless Cottage to Demitrija.
The latter took it and began to scrutinize it carefully.
“My Lord, I am willing to lead the troops to the Crescent Heights,” Demitrija stood and declared.
The letter mentioned that the enemy only had 50,000 troops.
This number was simply incomparable to the forces within his lordship territory.
“Alright, tell me what you need, and I will prepare it for you when the time comes,” Fang Hao said.
He had Demitrija come over because he had decided on an attack plan.
Even if the strength of the Red Duke was still uncertain, his approach has never relied on personal strength to win.
Human-wave tactics are his core strategy.
No matter how strong the opponent’s individual strength is or how capable their strategic mind might be,
he simply overwhelms with sheer numbers and piles up bodies on the enemy’s side.
Demitrija pondered for a moment, and told Fang Hao what he needed to prepare.
“Alright, I will have everything ready for you when the time comes,” Fang Hao thought for a moment and continued, “The second piece of intelligence mentioned a temple. I suspect it has something to do with that heart. Arrange some people, we will go check out the temple first.”
Today, Demitrija could not leave, so they might as well explore the temple first.
With Demitrija present, their strength would be significantly improved.
“Yes, my Lord.” Demitrija agreed and left.
Ten Bone Dragons, fully loaded with Barren Tomb Guards, were standing by at the entrance of the Lord’s Mansion.
Fang Hao with Anjia, Lorrey, and Demitrija, all boarded the Bone Dragon.
“Let’s go!” Fang Hao commanded.
At the command of the Bone Dragon, it sprung up into the sky and flew towards the direction of the temple.
Fang Hao still remembered the clue ‘The City Lord and the Tomb Dweller’ he acquired back at the tavern.
The landlady narrated an emotionally touching love story.
It originally seemed that the City Lord had built a tomb in the mountains for his lover.
But who would have thought, through the description of the items and the records in the diary,
the course of the story was just the opposite.
This City Lord, who is now the Red Duke, had gained the trust of his Blood Clan lover,
killed her in a special way, and used his lover’s blood to turn himself and all the town’s people into the Blood Clan.
He then dismembered her body and buried it in various locations.
While exploring the ancient tomb, he obtained a beating heart and received a task.
To help the owner of the heart find the rest of his body for a chance to earn the loyalty of a dark gold-level hero.
That’s why Fang Hao used an order separately to inquire whether the Red Duke had any construction work done since this might be part of the follow-up task related to the heart.
The Bone Dragon flew in the sky, quickly approaching the location of the temple.
The howling wind was in his ear, and through the clouds below, one could see the matchbox-sized human villages and the ant-like hustling villagers.
After over an hour of flying, they were already nearing their destination.
As they dived, they saw the abandoned temple in front of them.
The position of the temple was very conspicuous; nothing grew within a range of a hundred meters centered around the temple. The soil seemed to have lost its nutrients and was dry and loose.
However, just a hundred meters away dense forest grew lushly.
This stark contrast was particularly distinct from the sky.
“Damn! This temple isn’t poisonous, is it?” Fang Hao muttered.
Seeing the Bone Dragon rapidly approach, he quickly patted the Bone Dragon, prompting it to change direction and land within the dense forest a hundred meters away.
The ten Bone Dragons landed, and Fang Hao led a few people off the dragons.
They observed the temple from afar.
The temple was built of stone bricks, its design somewhat resembled the architectural style of ancient Rome.
Looking inside through the entrance, one could see the deity idols being worshipped inside.
“There’s someone over there,” Anjia suddenly said.
Following in the direction Anjia pointed, they saw a middled-aged man dressed like a villager carrying a wild pig from behind the temple.
He must be a hunter from a nearby village.
He passed through the empty section of the temple without encountering any poisoning situation like Fang Hao had imagined.
“Anjia, come with me.”
Fang Hao led Anjia out of the dense forest and followed the villager.
“Brother…,” Fang Hao called out.
The hunter turned around in confusion, his face showing caution as he put down the wild pig and drew the dagger at his waist.
“You calling me?” The hunter furrowed his brows and asked.
“Yes.” Fang Hao looked at the hunter’s actions but didn’t approach him. He directly asked, “Brother, I want to ask what god is worshipped in this temple? Is it effective?”
“Which village are you from? I’ve never seen you before,” said the hunter.
“Oh! I’m from Pruell City.”
“Pruell City?” The hunter exclaimed in surprise.
They were far from Pruell City.
For a normal person, it would probably take a day and a night to reach here.
“Yes, we came here to see if the temple really works.”
It seemed that the two were young and didn’t look like they were lying, so the hunter put away the dagger in his hand and said, “You’ve run so far to find a temple. It seems like something happened at home.”