A month had passed since the fall of Sea God Island and the formation of the huge vortex.
Three ships followed the flagship Sea Horse, cutting through the waves. If one looked closely, they could see the shadows of mermaids flitting underwater in the waters before these ships.
In the gently swaying cabin, under the watchful eyes of the core members of the Spirit Tree Company, Nidhogg was performing the "Guidance of Blessing" ritual for Guts.
This wasn't the first time he had performed such a ritual in the past month. Guts was naturally neither the first nor the last to receive the "Guidance of Blessing."
However, Nidhogg had discovered that every time he gave someone the "Guidance of Blessing," he couldn't perform the ritual for several days afterwards. So he was very careful in selecting who would receive it.
Today, it was finally Guts's turn.
Nidhogg traced the golden brand, outlined by the golden holy light, with his fingers onto Guts's palm. It slowly vanished, like evaporating water droplets. Immediately, a shuttle-shaped pillar of light appeared.
"This is the 'Guidance of Blessing.' "
Guts looked at the Guidance of Blessing with curiosity and focus until Nidhogg reminded him. He followed the instructions, gently held the Guidance of Blessing, and silently spoke "Roundtable Hold" in his heart.
FWOOSH—!
In the cabin, before everyone's eyes, Nidhogg and Guts suddenly vanished.
Although this wasn't the first time everyone had seen such a scene, they still felt surprise and envy.
What was this "Roundtable Hold" that Nidhogg called it?
*When would they receive the "Guidance of Blessing"?
---
The Roundtable Hold.
FWOOSH—!
Nidhogg opened his eyes and saw that he was already seated at the head of the huge round table in the Roundtable Hold.
At this moment, many people were seated to the left and right of the round table. They had all received the key of the "Guidance of Blessing."
On the left and right were Ranni and Melina, respectively.
Ranni was currently reorganizing and managing the Raya Lucaria Academy. With the help of the "Guidance of Blessing," she could come from the Magic Academy to the Roundtable Hold at any time to exchange information with Nidhogg in a timely manner.
Melina primarily lived in the Roundtable Hold. She summarized and sorted all the complex information gathered by all the members of the Roundtable Hold for Nidhogg.
Besides them, the Roundtable Hold members also included the witch Flora, the spirit tuner Roderika, the blacksmith Hewg, the city lord Edgar, and Guts the Berserker, who had just entered.
They could represent the four forces currently surrounding Nidhogg: the Raya Lucaria Academy, the Spirit Tree Company, Stormveil City, and Castle Morne.
Level: LV 110 (High-Rank Apostle)
Moreover, the members of the Roundtable Hold continued to return Runes to Nidhogg. They had accumulated many. In this month, with almost no battles, Nidhogg had leveled up from LV 108 to LV 110.
Guts was still a little dazed, looking at the Roundtable Hold, and then at the members seated around the round table, just like him—some familiar, some unfamiliar.
The Roundtable Hold members who didn't know Guts also looked curiously at the newcomer.
"Guts has also successfully entered the Roundtable Hold." Nidhogg smiled. "It seems Flora's talisman mark still exists and didn't affect this otherworldly teleportation."
Flora explained with a smile, "This isn't entirely a function of the talisman. It's the same principle as the Spirit Tree Pavilion. The barrier of the Spirit Tree Pavilion isolated the harmful effects of the Eclipse brand. The Roundtable Hold is the same."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Nidhogg then asked about the current situation in the Raya Lucaria Academy, Stormveil City, and Castle Morne.
Ranni, Roderika, and Edgar said the same thing. Order in the three castles had been effectively restored.
However, Edgar brought some news about the Kingdom of Midland.
"Recently, the number of refugees on the outside has been increasing. We've had to reduce the time we spend outside, to prevent the outside world from learning about our passage through the barrier and the existence of Castle Morne."
"After brief contact with the refugees, the soldiers brought me accurate information. Currently, the Kingdom of Midland seems to be in the midst of war, suffering from a large-scale invasion by the Kushan Empire from the east."
"The iron hooves of the Kushan Empire have breached the eastern border of the Kingdom of Midland, causing heavy losses among its inhabitants. What's worse, a plague has spread from the west of Midland across the entire territory."
"However, the King insists on going his own way. He is still obsessed with sending the vast majority of his troops to search for the ethereal 'White Eagle' Griffith, instead of defending against the foreign invasion or stopping the spread of the plague."
Edgar shook his head and sighed as he spoke.
Guts frowned upon hearing this, especially when he heard "Griffith" —a taboo name no one had mentioned for a long time.
"I've seen that King a few times. He shouldn't be a mediocre or incompetent person. How could he be so obsessed with Griffith? Would he rather destroy the country than find Griffith?"
Guts was a little puzzled.
He knew that Griffith had indeed violated the King's most beloved daughter. As a father, it was understandable to hate Griffith. But there was no need to waste most of the country's troops searching for Griffith...
Even if it were only half his troops, they could resist the Kushan Empire and contain the spread of the plague.
Guts couldn't figure it out.
Nidhogg understood perfectly well why the King had done such an abstract thing.
Resistance to the Kushan Empire's invasion was minimal. He turned a blind eye to the spread of the plague.
He sat on the throne in Windham City, quietly waiting for the 70% of the country's troops he had sent to capture Griffith, whom he considered a terrible criminal. Everything else could be ignored.
This obsession arose from the King's twisted love for his daughter, his deep hatred for Griffith, and his fear of the prophetic dreams that were now rapidly spreading throughout the kingdom.
Yes, at this time of great enemy invasion and widespread plague, many inhabitants of the Kingdom of Midland, especially the common people, claimed to have dreamed of similar scenes.
Villages destroyed by plague. Countries ravaged by armies led by giants. Cities destroyed by earthquakes. Towns flooded by torrents. The sun hidden by black flames. Crowds wandering in hunger...
The bodies of fathers and sons. The bodies of neighbors...
All kinds of dreams pointed to one meaning—on different nights, people together in the true darkness covering the world.
And in the chaos, they awaited a shining eagle that would break through the endless darkness, fly, and land upon the blood-stained world.
Their intuition told them that this was what they wanted.
Under normal circumstances, the King might not have believed in such absurd dreams.
But when the foreign invasion and the spread of the plague, as seen in the dreams, came true one after another, and even he himself had seen this dream, fear from the depths of his heart arose spontaneously. His spirit nearly collapsed.
A "Shining Eagle"... wasn't that Griffith, the "White Eagle"?
Indeed, if he couldn't be killed, there would be endless trouble!
The completely frantic King hoped his soldiers could capture Griffith and put an end to this nightmare once and for all. But at this moment, he was completely insane.
And such a king, such a Kingdom of Midland, was exactly what the God Hand wanted to see.