Section 113: Revenge

Slaanesh's words were like a bolt of lightning, instantly splitting the cloud of doubt in Ashrufat's mind.

“...... My knight, I have more to offer you......" Perhaps sensing the moment of shock and hesitation in Ashrufat's heart, the power in Slaanesh's words suddenly increased a lot. Passion, excitement, and promises for the future. “...... Dark secrets, powers rivaled by gods, pleasures that cannot be obtained in dreams......"

Ashrufat struggled to remove the ring from his forehead. It was the shortest (and most difficult of all his interactions) with Slaanesh. Because by the time he finally put his stiff arm on the table, he felt a chill run down his spine.

For a time he thought that by concentrating he would be able to resist the temptation of Slaanesh—at least for a long time. But now he finds that perhaps he is overestimating himself. Every spiritual exchange with Slaanesh further eroded the walls of his will that he thought were strong. Perhaps next time, he will succumb to Slaanesh's voice of lust and temptation, and acknowledge the supremacy of the Prince of Rejoicing like other Slaanesh believers.

But at the very least, he solved the mystery of Nurgle.

In fact, the mystery is also very simple - so simple that it can be explained in one sentence. In fact, the reason why he couldn't see through it was all because his mind had gotten into a dead end.

Tzeentch and Nurgle are vying for control of the swamp, but because of their different strategic positions, their goals are different. Tzeentch loses as long as he doesn't win, and Nurgle wins as long as he doesn't lose.

The significance of this swamp is that it serves as a natural defensive zone to prevent any non-Nurgle believers from entering his "core area of faith." So, for Nurgle, it didn't really matter if his subordinates controlled the swamp or not - as long as he could make sure that no one else could pass through the swamp, he had reached the lowest goal. Although Ashruphat was sent by Tzeentch, but, as mentioned earlier, Ashruphat was not a true follower of Tzeentch, at least not the type that Tzeentch could manipulate and control at will.

If it is difficult to stop Ashrufath's existence, why should he stop it? simply handing over the rule of the swamp to him will ensure that Tzeentch's forces cannot reach out.

Of course, on the other hand, Tzeentch also won his most basic goal - that is, to exert pressure on Nurgle to join the war. Nurgle's promise to Ashrufa made it clear that the Father of the Plague was determined to join the chaotic civil war. Behind this decision, there must have been other negotiations, plans, and plans among the gods that Ashrufat did not know—and he did not need to know them.

It is also thanks to the intrigue between the gods that Ashrufat can now have a greater initiative. But he also knew that he was by no means the first to take advantage of the intrigue between the gods for profit. As early as when he first arrived, he had heard many stories of high-level Chaos cultists in the Assowen tribe who took advantage of the gods' rivalry with him to the greatest advantage—a realm that Chaos believers revered and aspired to. Think of the gods drawn to your power, and the gifts and promises made to you just to keep you on his side—what a great honor. However, if there is a legend about his ending, there is no good outcome in that legend.

Now Ashruphat could clearly see the game between Tzeentch and Nurgle. The Chaos Lord Astiana was sent by Tzeentch to take control of the swamp (he was certainly not the first to fail) in order to have a passage to infiltrate and invade the core realm of Nurgle. But as Nurgle's watchdog (a fitting metaphor), the Immortal Juggernaut ultimately failed Astiana's plans.

Tzeentch undoubtedly wanted to get his hands on the swamp - not even to control it completely, but to have a path to infiltrate. Because this is equivalent to putting a knife on Nurgle's head, it will undoubtedly have an advantage in the future game. So he simply used this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He had three advantages, first, although Astiana had failed to complete the mission, he had already completely controlled the city of Dangerous Peak, so the Tzeentch side of this war had a solid base. Second, Tzeentch can use the power of Eshurufat, who came from the south and had a wealth of military experience. Third, because this action was in the name of "oppressing Nurgle into the League", it was able to get the support of Slaanesh. Perhaps it is precisely because of the combination of these three advantages that the success rate is very high, so Tzeentch boldly pulled the hind legs of Eshurufat and fought for more initiative for the next step.

Tzeentch was not wrong in his calculations - any of them were true. The only thing he didn't take into account was time. Using magic to condense water into ice, Ashruphat launched a surprise assault that killed the Immortal Juggernaut in one fell swoop. There were only more than ten days before and after, so that he did not arrange the chess pieces for his next move. Nurgle was equally smart, and he realized that it was dangerous to fight Ashrufat, and that he might further lose useful pieces, so he simply satisfied Ashrufat's goal and turned him into neutrality.

Tzeentch is losing if he doesn't win, and Nurgle is winning if he doesn't lose. So in this game, half of Tzeentch's plan to kill two birds with one stone was lost, but the other half he still won. Nurgle finally agreed to join the war.

Now, everything can be distinguished. Ashrufat thought carefully about the whole process, Tzeentch's little abacus had nothing to do with him, at least his goal had been achieved. In any case, the three gods have finally reached an agreement to use the hand of Aeruphat to defeat the Sadists who have upset the balance of chaos.

Of course, on the other hand, the efforts of the three great gods to control Ashrufat and bring him under their command are also continuing. Now, all three seem to have made progress, but none of them have been able to achieve their goals. Everyone's hole cards are different, so the conditions for preparation are also different. Tzeentch has the bait of "recovering the lost memories of Ashrufat", and Slaanesh has the means of "completely controlling Ashrufat with psychic communication". Nurgle didn't seem to have what Aerufat desperately needed, nor did he have the subtle ability to change people's hearts like Slaanesh, so he had to offer the most generous offer to compete with the other two gods.

From this point of view, it is understandable that Nurgle offered such generous terms.

Ashruphat carefully sorted out the whole cause and effect of the matter. Now, he thinks he's finally in the grip of the whole story – and at a heavy cost, of course. At the very least, he didn't think he could take the initiative to summon the Prince of Joy again. Slaanesh's power was stronger than he expected, and the next time, maybe the next time, he would be completely controlled by Slaanesh.

He turned his head to look at the table, which always had a full pot of drunken blood on Ashrufat's table because of Raphinia. During this time, he had not drunk properly.

Now, one more thing, one last thing...... Take care of Astiana. If he wants war, then give him war!

Then he heard a jumble of voices outside. The sound should have come from the edge of the camp, and at this time, now that he had put the barracks in order, it should not have been heard.

A short time later, on the outskirts of the camp, Ashrufat figured out the source of the noise.

It was a group of sneak attackers—about thirty of them, half of them wearing Chaos armor. The color of the armor is easy to tell that they are followers of Nurgle. They were discovered by sentries arranged by Aeshurufat as they infiltrated the camp. Naturally, a battle broke out.

A battle without suspense.

Now, half of the thirty or so invaders were killed or wounded, and to make matters worse, they were completely besieged. Enemies surrounded them on all sides, and more were coming. Dozens, if not hundreds, of torches were held in people's hands, illuminating the surroundings.

The disparity between the two sides was so great that the battle was meaningless at this point. The invaders formed a circle and stood still, and the soldiers in the camp were in no hurry to launch an offensive - with each additional hour, their strength grew by a point. However, the stalemate did not last long. A patrol arrives, led by a wizard. He stepped on the magic disk and had a wide field of vision. It was immediately clear that the enemy had no reinforcements, so he casually ordered the soldiers to prepare for the attack.

Thirty or so daring little worms, what is it worth all the fuss about? Speaking of which, although the whole swamp is now under the feet of Master Ashrufat, it is not surprising that a few uninteresting little worms have emerged.

"Kill him...... Ah, Lord Ashrufat?!" The wizard saw Ashrufat in the crowd. The delicate Chaos armor of the latter shone under the torches, making it particularly eye-catching.

The soldiers automatically split a path and let their general come forward. Ashrufat saw the situation at a glance - the attackers were all Nurgle's followers. The one in front is a Chaos Champion. However, even the Chaos Champion could not withstand such a disparity in numbers. On his armor were two broken black steel spears, and although they were not critical hits, they were not lightly wounded.

"Who are you?" asked Ashrufat, his gaze swept over the injured sneak attackers who were still in a fighting stance. "What are you doing here?"

"You're Ashrufat?" the Chaos Champion said through gritted teeth. His voice was filled with undisguised anger and hatred, like a mixture of burning grit and vague screams, "You must have been a natural fool to come here." Don't you know that shameless followers like you are never on the front lines of battle, even in the most disparity battles. Have you reached such a point in your quest for the wonderful taste of death? I was about to come to the door to 'say hello', but you came by yourself, and it was good. We're here for you. ”

"Stupid intimidation. Ashrufat didn't even blink an eyelid. "You're coming to me, who are you?"

"We are Lord Jakes's subordinates, and we have come to avenge him!"

"It's funny," Ashrufat laughed, the banter in his eyes starting to thicken, "You've come to me in search of a just vengeance?"

"Killed Lord Jakes for you. ”

Ashrufat shrugged. "Of course, I killed him. I originally wanted to pluck out his filthy and weak bones to make soup. Ashrufat said. "Perhaps you can take comfort in the fact that his childlike whimpering and stupid pig-like screaming didn't last long, because he didn't have any bones in him to boil into the soup. His gaze was fixed on the unknown Chaos Champion. "Who told you to come? Sue me, it will be good for you. ”

"Oh, I know a lot of things, Ashrufat, a lot of things, but I don't seem to have a reason to sue you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you and I are mortal enemies. Chaos Champion said defiantly. "Come and duel me, and if you win, I'll sue you!" his gaze was intense. The odds of a Chaos Champion duel with a Chaos Lord are small, but it's no bigger than a battle between thirty or so men and tens of thousands of troops.

A well-woven trap, or was it just a reckless impulse? Before he knew it, he was already thinking and judging from the position of a Chaos Champion.