Chapter Eighty-Four: bl**d of the Unicorn
2015-10-08
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
The Predator Camp.
When Soren arrived here, he clearly felt several hostile gazes directed at him. However, when they spotted the insignia he wore—a bloodied beast claw—their hostility significantly diminished. At this moment, Soren appeared to be a rugged and strong hunter active in the wilderness, exuding a fierce and wild aura. The faith of the God of the Hunt—Mara—was also spreading among humans, but it was limited to those evil hunters.
In addition, only a few humans chose to worship the God of the Hunt.
“Lundkorr!”
A burly half-orc appeared before Soren and the others, a trace of bl**d on him. After coldly glancing at Soren, he asked, “Why did only the two of you come back? Who is this human?”
Lundkorr was the ogre predator.
He glanced at the half-orc who seemed to be the leader and said in a deep voice, “We were attacked by the Elven Patrol! The others are all dead.”
“This is Soros!”
“A hunter from near the Misty Forest, also a companion serving my lord! If it weren’t for his help, we probably wouldn’t have made it back.”
Soros?
The burly half-orc looked at Soren, his expression softening considerably, then said, “Alright. You can come in. We have important matters to discuss.”
The church of the God of the Hunt—Mara—was spread very narrowly, with locations scattered and races mixed.
This was its greatest drawback!
The church serving Soren had a strict order, and basically, the priests and core members were very clear about it, but the church of the God of the Hunt could not achieve this. Therefore, its belief transcended races, and the church mostly functioned as dispersed small groups. Even now, when gathered, the predators could not completely verify each other.
Even more so.
Due to the desire for ‘legendary bl**d’, even those who were not prior followers of the God of the Hunt could be accepted as believers if they made a legendary-level offering, and the God of the Hunt would even grant a bit of divine power as a reward.
The granting of the evil god could be of two kinds.
One is power; very few deities grant divinity, most just grant a bit of divine power. This bit of divine power is already a powerful force for mortals.
The second is wealth; money is insignificant to deities, and most evil gods are quite generous in this regard.
There were about a dozen people in the camp.
Soren also saw the corpse of a dead male elf, with the insignia of the Forest Queen—Merike—on him, a unicorn facing left, with a golden horn and blue eyes. She is a member of the Nature Deity, a powerful deity of neutral good alignment. The Unicorn Goddess was her mount in battle, and the Forest Queen was also an enemy of the God of the Hunt, but the Nature Deity had a clear characteristic: its church was quite decentralized.
This goddess didn’t even have a proper temple; her believers often prayed in sacred groves or other altars.
However, she had many rangers as followers.
Because her divine profession is the Goddess of Forest and Rangers, Merike is a humorous and good-natured deity who always has a confident smile on her face. She is very cautious about making friends; however, once someone is deemed a friend, she will wholeheartedly and faithfully protect them. Although she understands that d*ath is part of the life cycle, she is not as indifferent as Father Oak. Instead, she often intervenes out of compassion to heal the wounds of creatures. Her avatar is often portrayed as a beautiful woman with brown hair and brown eyes, strong and elegant, wearing a set of green-brown leather armor.
The church of the Forest Queen is very concerned with wilderness areas; in these regions, rangers are often the only line of defense against danger. Many believe that her priests are far more willing than elves hiding in the forests to find a balance between civilization and nature. Furthermore, her church is seen as an indispensable force against the fierce and brutal followers of Mara.
The Forest Queen maintains very friendly relations with the God of Travel and the Lord of Radiance, working hard to combat the evil gods—especially the God of the Hunt, Mara, the Lord of Storms, and the Lady of Poison.
“What is this?”
Soren pretended to be surprised and slowly said, “A follower of the Forest Queen?”
The burly half-orc glanced at Soren and calmly replied, “That’s right. This ranger wanted to spy on our camp. But our lord holds the power of tracking divine profession, so to us, he is merely a prey.”
“You’re called Soros?”
“You seem quite capable! Good! We are preparing an important plan, and perhaps your strength can help us execute it more easily!”
Soren nodded expressionlessly.
It seems that choosing the God of the Hunt—Mara—as the target is the right choice. First, it is sufficiently evil, and secondly, it has many enemies. Killing other deities is likely to anger their pantheon or provoke the hatred of their friendly deities. However, the God of the Hunt—Mara—was different; he has many enemies but few allies, and killing him would have the smallest consequences, potentially even earning some goodwill from certain good-aligned deities.
However, the more Soren learned about the God of the Hunt—Mara, the more he became wary of his power.
So many enemies, and yet he still hasn’t fallen.
In terms of combat power, he might be stronger than Soren had imagined; deities associated with the category of slaughter often represent very high combat abilities.
Nightfall.
A group of predators quickly gathered around the campfire. The leading half-orc glanced at the others and said in a deep voice, “Our lord requires more sacrifices of prey! This is the oracle he has conveyed to us!”
“Only legendary bl**d can satisfy our lord, so we must hunt down a sufficiently hefty enemy.”
“Here!”
The burly half-orc pulled out a crude map and pointed to a location in the southern forest with his dark finger, saying, “There is the prey we need.”
“A holy unicorn!”
“A beast blessed by the Unicorn Goddess! This will be a challenging hunt for us! But if we succeed, I believe everyone present will be rewarded by our lord!”
“The bl**d of the unicorn.”
“The last unicorn we offered satisfied our lord greatly; I believe everyone knows its benefits; soon, more power will come to help us!”
“We’re going for a big score this time!”
………………(To be continued ~^~)
