The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

The soldiers observed with horror as the Mourning Deathcap slowly enveloped their bodies. In a desperate attempt, one soldier yanked a mushroom off, only to be startled when it detonated unexpectedly.

The ruptured Mourning Deathcap released even more viral spores, which swiftly re-infiltrated her body. The very spot where she had ripped off the previous mushroom darkened almost immediately, and a new one slowly started to sprout.

This wasn’t merely a few scattered cases; soon, every member of the allied army found themselves facing the same condition. The members of the church worked tirelessly, attempting to purge the virus, but it was futile. Soldiers would just get reinfected if they remained in camp.

The Deathcaps relentlessly drained away the soldiers’ life force, and any attempt to forcibly remove them would trigger an explosion. The soldiers were utterly stumped, as they couldn’t afford to keep the Deathcaps on their bodies—they were still in the midst of a war, too—but couldn’t safely take them off either.

The soldiers’ morale rapidly dropped, and their combat capabilities reduced drastically. Seizing this opportune moment, Han Wu ordered his skeleton army to move forward. Millions of skeletons clashed with the afflicted soldiers—already greatly weakened by the Mourning Deathcaps’ torment—leading to an inevitable and crushing victory for the skeleton army.

The war spanned three days. By its conclusion, Han Wu had utterly broken and scattered the allied army. The skeleton army grew yet again, now commanding a force of 15 million skeletons alongside 2 million Unique undead. He had even managed to summon five mutated Heroic undead from the allied factions.

Among the new summons was the human skeleton Greatsword Osteomancer. This mutated Osteomancer variant possessed the unique ability to form a massive greatsword constructed entirely from bone fragments.

Additionally, there was the Radiant Reanimator, a mutated Skeleton Reanimator summoned from the remains of a church Saint. It possessed the unique ability to heal skeletons using light attribute magic.

Finally, there were the Osteoarcher, Osteotearer, and Osteocharger, summoned from the corpses of an elf, werewolf, and minotaur respectively. The Osteoarcher could shoot countless bone arrows and even enchant them with the wind, earth, fire, or water attributes.

The Osteotearer could instantly form large bone claws during combat, while the Osteocharger could form a massive bone armor boasting incredible defensive capabilities. The three new units were all considered mutations of the Osteomancer due to their shared ability to control and manipulate bone fragments.

With the addition of the five Heroic undead, Han Wu’s army grew even more powerful. In just three days after his victory over the allied forces, he conquered ten more cities. Their inhabitants were swiftly converted into part of his skeleton army, and the cities’ treasures were thoroughly plundered.

The human king was finally genuinely terrified—he had lost twenty cities in a mere ten days! Considering the kingdom possessed a total of only fifty cities, it became horrifyingly clear that his domain’s collapse was imminent if the skeleton army’s advance continued.

The threat posed by the skeleton army extended to the other kingdoms. With no hope of victory or escape, their only remaining option was diplomacy. They preferred to pay tribute to safeguard their citizens and their own lives rather than perish in a futile confrontation against the seemingly invincible army.

However, a new issue arose: the kingdoms had no idea who to approach to initiate a truce request. The identity of the skeleton army’s leader was, so far, a complete mystery to them.

While they were still racking their brains trying to figure out the identity and whereabouts of the skeleton army’s leader, Sun Qingnian, who was both Princess Jade’s lover and, more recently, the elf queen’s new mate, spoke up. He claimed he could find the leader of the skeleton army and request a truce.

The werewolves, minotaurs, and the church found it hard to believe that a young, unseasoned man like him, who had probably never even seen a battlefield, could find the leader of the skeleton army. Nevertheless, given the human king’s and the elves’ willingness to grant him an opportunity, the other three factions ultimately consented to his plan.

Completely clueless about the situation, the factions had no choice but to agree, after all. The five factions gathered some treasures and requested Sun Qingnian to deliver them to the leader of the skeleton army. Their desperate hope was that this act of diplomacy might somehow secure a truce and spare their lives. With the gifts in hand, Sun Qingnian cheerfully set off towards the skeleton army.

Unfortunately, most of the skeletons were simply dumb and sought to kill him, and even the little skeleton had to emerge to prevent the other skeletons from assaulting him. Thankfully, Sun Qingnian’s powerful presence indicated he was stronger than a Lord life form, so none dared to attack.

As a Skeleton Lord, the little skeleton possessed intelligence and therefore naturally understood Sun Qingnian’s message. At the same time, it also sensed that Sun Qingnian shared a similar nature with Han Wu. Without delay, it quickly relayed the news of Sun Qingnian’s arrival to Han Wu.

Han Wu naturally welcomed him, and the two celebrated their reunion, sharing updates and information. Sun Qingnian proceeded to reveal the reason for the visit. Upon learning of the five factions’ desire for peaceful negotiations, Han Wu grew serious.

This is a golden opportunity to extort considerable wealth from them! he thought.

As long as the factions agreed to his terms, he would immediately cease his skeletons’ assaults on their respective kingdoms. Han Wu first requested for the prized Runic Lexicons of each faction, along with a large number of base runes. Furthermore, he specified that he also desired any unique or rare treasures they might possess.

At the same time, Sun Qingnian also suggested demanding reduced reparations from the human and the elven kingdoms, given his relationship with their rulers. He had, after all, promised to speak favorably on their behalf. Han Wu agreed, choosing to acknowledge Sun Qingnian’s efforts.

In the end, they agreed on a special reparation package. The human king, having suffered the most losses, would pay the least amount. They only needed to give 20 Runic Lexicons, including one Advanced Runic Lexicon, 20,000 base runes, and several treasures.

The elf kingdom would be required to pay 40 Runic Lexicons, with at least two being Advanced Runic Lexicons, along with 40,000 base runes, and several treasures. The other three factions, however, would each have to provide 60 Runic Lexicons, including three Advanced ones, 60,000 base runes, and several treasures.

Should they refuse to pay, Han Wu would not hesitate to invade their cities and turn their citizens into skeletons. Sun Qingnian nodded and hurried back to relay the agreed-upon terms.

The five factions eagerly listened to the demands of the skeleton army’s leader. The human king readily agreed, while the elf queen hesitated before finally nodding. She still found the terms unacceptable but realized she had to sacrifice her wealth to save her kingdom.

The other three factions, however, flat-out disagreed. Runic Lexicons were the foundation of any kingdom, and they would never reveal them so willingly, especially since Han Wu had demanded 60, including at least three Advanced Runic Lexicons! Among those three factions, only the church could possibly afford it—the werewolves and minotaurs didn’t even collectively possess three Advanced Runic Lexicons.

The werewolf king and the minotaur king quickly sought out Sun Qingnian, hoping he would put in a good word for them. They went as far as offering their daughters in marriage to him if he could lower the price. He immediately refused, however.

While he might rely on wealthy ladies for his survival, he still had personal standards to live by[1]. At the very least, he needed to be willing to sleep with the lady—she didn’t necessarily need to be attractive. However, the werewolf princess was covered in fur, and the minotaur princess was more muscular than a regular man! He couldn’t stomach the idea of sleeping with either at all.

Still, he noted their desperation and offered an alternative. If they lacked Advanced Runic Lexicons, they could offer information related to their Gods, such as ruins, ancient sites, or sacrificial altars instead. If even that wasn’t possible, they could also pay with Divine Essence.

Neither the minotaur nor the werewolf kings had Demigod-level beings in their kingdoms. However, many brave individuals had attempted to clear the ruins, and though they failed, they still managed to obtain some Divine Essence from those ruins. After their deaths, their respective kingdoms would cremate their bodies and refine the Divine Essence to boost their families’ strength.

The Divine Essence would now serve as payment. The two kings, though reluctant, had no choice. They were currently powerless against the undead.

Sun Qingnian was pleased, having concluded his negotiations with the two kings, when, unexpectedly, the church revolted. The pope declared that the righteous church would never submit to the undead, refusing any tribute to the skeletons.

Hearing this, Han Wu decided to teach the church a lesson: he would invade and destroy their holy site, the Radiant Harbor!

1. A man of standards indeed ☜