1000 Years Later, Even My Weakest Follower Has Become A Demon King

107 Fuse and Famine

Blood kept churning in his chest, and Rudolph felt as if his lungs were burning.

However, he knew that this was only an illusion. The Moon Realm spirit he had signed a contract with was dispelling the deathly aura brought about by the bizarre spirit.

At this moment, he was in a dead forest. Other than the remnant lightning from the teleportation nexus, everything was silent.

“Urgh…”

Rudolph held himself up with a piece of dead wood and spat out a mouthful of black blood. Then, sparks began to emit from his body like embers. Countless pitch-black cursed auras were expelled from his body before dissipating.

After a long time, he heaved a sigh of relief and sat down against the tree.

“Why did that b*tch suddenly attack us? Didn’t the intelligence say that she would be transferred out in a month? That there definitely won’t be any major movements recently?”

Beside Rudolph, a man holding a long sword with red patterns cursed.

“Who knows? Perhaps she suddenly went crazy,” Layton, the former adjutant of the Blackwater Province’s Mage Hall, replied.

He looked at the Gift Church upper echelons who had been arrogant in front of him not long ago. They were either spitting blood in a sorry state or cursing furiously. He felt both unease and relief.

After a long time, Prelate Rudolph, who was leaning against a withered tree, slowly said, “That spirit is either a Necromancy spell or a Summoning spell. In short, it can’t be that woman.”

Layton and the sword-wielding man instantly understood what Rudolph meant.

The woman’s constellation was undoubtedly Viper. Otherwise, she could not become the tower guardian of the Astral Lighthouse. The three spell types Vipers could learn were Shadow, Morph, and Metal. Therefore, the other party could not summon a Legendary creature that could suppress Rudolph and his contracted demon.

The sudden purge wasn’t just the Viper Astral Lighthouse’s intention. Someone else was behind it.

Rudolph covered the wound that constantly emitted black gasses and muttered, “Whom could it be?”

Vincent’s face immediately appeared in his mind.

However, he immediately shook his head.

Vincent’s constellation was Sage; it too didn’t include Necromancy or Summoning spells.

“Prelate, where should we go next?”

the man with the sword asked, interrupting Rudolph’s train of thought.

This place wasn’t very far from Blacklight City. If they stayed any longer, pursuers might arrive at any moment.

Rudolph fell into thought.

It was undoubtedly impossible for him to return to Blacklight City.

As an underground Moon Realm worship parish, they indeed couldn’t fight an official faction like the Astral Lighthouse head-on. Even though he previously felt that the difference between the two sides wasn’t huge in terms of high-end combat strength, that summoned creature that appeared out of nowhere taught him a good lesson.

With this in mind, he turned his gaze to Layton and said, “Then, let’s follow your previous plan and go to Thorn City. Let that useless son of the duke inherit the Thorn throne and…”

As Rudolph spoke, he stood up.

“Let me end the rule of that First Citizen.”

Layton heaved a sigh of relief.

The other party was finally willing to accept his plan.

Going to Thorn City to snatch the throne from the Chief Mage, who had usurped the throne, and support the puppet duke to take office was much easier than dealing with the strange spirit which couldn’t be killed.

…

“It’s fine. You don’t have to waste your manpower looking for them. They’ll head straight to Thorn City.”

William rejected Julianne’s suggestion of transferring troops to search for the Gift Church upper echelons in Nakuland.

“How do you know that they would go to Thorn City?” Julianne asked in confusion.

William waved his hand and dispelled the Death Spirit he had summoned. He replied,

“As the last bloodline of the Walde family and the former president of the Elementium Chamber of Commerce, he has been secretly meeting the Rose Palace’s finance minister and the Minister of Espionage’s envoys recently. As for the people in charge of the Bramble Guards and Spellblades, they have been constantly adjusting their staffing over the past week. Many of the soldiers who were sent out on missions in the report are fully armed and resting in a few hotels in Thorn City.”

“A coup? But how is that possible? Isn’t Vincent a peak Master-level magic chanter…” Julianne asked in confusion.

“He’s already at the Legendary stage, so this is where the key is. The entire Thorn City’s conservatives are waiting for someone who can completely suppress Vincent in terms of combat strength to light the fuse, so I’ll send that fuse to them now.”

William deliberately let Prelate Rudolph of the Gift Church off because, without such a person, those who were still on the sidelines wouldn’t dare to stage a coup.

Everything was going according to plan.

Everything else would be left to Vincent for handling.

This was his true coronation as the leader of the Blackwater Province—using the blood of the usurpers.

He would leave the secular matters to someone more suitable.

William had more pressing problems to deal with.

How should he stop Coles’s advancement ritual? Or rather, how should he minimize the disaster the other party might cause in Currere in the future?

The ascension ritual for the King of Hope and Despair required a huge amount of despair as fuel. Since Coles’s condition was to use the entire Blackwater Province as a sanctuary for the future plane fusion, the venue of the ritual he chose would naturally be here.

As for how a huge amount of despair came about, the best way was to stir up a huge disaster.

Including Thorn City’s Holy Sepulchre and Blacklight City’s Moon Realm rift, William marked a total of four locations where a large-scale disaster might happen shortly and instructed his subordinates to be on guard.

Of course, these measures were only a precaution. To put it bluntly, it was to prevent the other party from acting out of desperation.

William guessed that the method used to ignite despair was very simple—famine.

Before Valk left, He told William which ‘old friends’ supported Coles’s ascension as the 14th Void Sovereign—the Whispering Empress, the Lord of the Dark Tide, the Pale Poet, and the Lady of Starvation.

William had already guessed the first three. After all, the three of them were the ones who created the Crowman curse back then. In the past thousand years, They had plenty of opportunities to drag Coles down.

William couldn’t help but sigh.

Back then, he had completely sealed the negative effects of the Crowman curse in the Last Crowman quest. Unless Coles voluntarily removed it, They couldn’t affect Coles’s judgment through the curse. He didn’t know why he removed the seal after he left.

Other than the three Void Sovereigns who liked to secretly manipulate the fates of mortals, the reason why the Lady of Starvation joined this bet was easier to understand.

This was because it was the Lady of Starvation’s year. Only She could project Her strength in Currere on a large scale.

As for any drastic impact the other Void Sovereigns wanted to have on Currere, They could only do so through Her.

Within Her authority, the best way to cause a disaster was to spread famine on this land.