A sense of urgency surged in Gu Ning's heart. He took a deep breath."Looks like we need to take down Bloodhand Colon as soon as possible. But I'm curious—since the Duke is so powerful, why not eliminate Bloodhand Colon before returning?"
"Because we don't know Bloodhand Colon's exact location," Qin explained. "If we did, His Grace could easily stay a day or two, finish the job, and then leave. But aimlessly searching would only waste precious time needed to rally his army!"
"The northern Baltic coastline is too long. Even though the militias have organized search teams, it's impossible to locate Colon in the short term."
Gu Ning raised his hand. "What about the encrypted orders recovered from the three Blood Ring outposts we've already wiped out? Can I take a look at them?"
Qin gave Gu Ning a curious glance. Something about him felt different now—like a sword freshly sharpened, its edge gleaming for all to see.
"Lieutenant Zweig, please show Mr. Dio the encrypted orders. He's trustworthy," Qin said, suppressing the strange feeling in her heart.
If Qin hadn't liked Gu Ning, she wouldn't have helped at all. But now their relationship level had reached "Friend," so offering help was only natural.
Lieutenant Zweig, standing beside Duke William, nodded and handed Gu Ning three sheets of encrypted orders.
They were filled with obscure symbols, followed by neat Latin translations written in delicate handwriting.
"These are encrypted documents from Blood Ring's fortresses. Even if the enemy captured them, they wouldn't be able to understand them without the cipher book. Thankfully, Lady Yvette helped with the decoding," Qin said as she leaned in close. Her breath carried a faint, sweet scent.
"Judging by the wording, these three orders must have been issued by Bloodhand Colon at the same time—right when he first landed in the Brandon Territory."
Gu Ning looked up at Zweig. "Do we have a map? Could we mark the locations of these three outposts?"
Duke William, intrigued, motioned for Zweig to bring the map and hang it. He personally marked the three locations with an "X."
Gu Ning's eyes swept over the map. Mountains, hills, basins, clustered villages… Each terrain registered in his mind, forming a stream of parameters.
The difficulty of crossing mountains, the possibility of detours, additional travel time...
He then requested the daily intelligence reports from all local militia groups. A thick stack of reports was handed to him, and he flipped through them page by page at lightning speed, like counting money—so fast it made people doubt whether he could even read the words.
Credibility of intel, odds of militia encountering Blood Ring troops, estimated time costs…
A flood of data filled Gu Ning's mind, converting into cold, dry numbers rapidly calculated in his brain.
Finally, Gu Ning pointed to a set of coordinates.
"If Bloodhand Colon crossed the sea, then the most likely landing point is right here."
The local high command crowded around him.
"Bollheim?" Qin blurted out, surprise on her face. "That's so close to us?"
Lieutenant Zweig shook his head. "Impossible. Bollheim is very near Stettin. Since His Grace arrived, the local militia has submitted reports daily. There's been no sign of Blood Ring activity."
"Everyone, please take a look at Bollheim's reports. These documents are... quite interesting."
Gu Ning spread several pages on the table. Duke William and the others leaned in.
After reviewing them closely, several local leaders frowned.They saw it too.
The reports weren't flawed.On the contrary, they were too perfect—detailed data, comprehensive patrols, highly professional wording... Like a flawless artificial flower—beautiful in every way, but lacking authenticity.
Individually, delivered daily and filed with others, these reports wouldn't raise suspicion. But when isolated and examined carefully, the flaws became clear.
"Dio's judgment appears correct. Bollheim may indeed be the hidden command center of the Blood Ring vanguard," Qin said gravely. "From a pessimistic view, the village might already be under their control…"
"Control" was a gentle word. Given the Blood Ring's monstrous nature, the villagers were probably long gone—fed to the Dead Plague Army.
"Since Qin's judgment aligns, it's worth my time to investigate," Duke William said firmly. "There's no time to lose. We move now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Ning received an update from the Will of the Spirit Realm:
[Main Quest II: Sever the Blood Hand — Difficulty has been adjusted from S-tier to D-tier.][Because your analysis was the key reason for the difficulty reduction, your expected rewards will remain unchanged.]
Gu Ning was stunned. He had expected the quest's difficulty to drop with Duke William joining—but not this dramatically. The Duke's power was clearly beyond expectations. As the Brandon faction's final boss, it made sense.
After hours of trekking through snow, the group reached Bollheim.
Quick reconnaissance confirmed that Bloodhand Colon's command was indeed there—more precisely, inside a 50-meter-long sailing battleship!
The warship, named Pioneer, was Bloodhand Colon's flagship, anchored at the seaside village entrance.
Gu Ning's calculations had been spot on. He received another notification from the Will of the Spirit Realm:[Reputation +200 with the Brandon faction.]High-ranking NPCs now had increased favorability toward him.
Most valuable of all, Duke William's favorability increased by 100 points—a rare feat, given he was the faction's final boss.
Even more surprising, with Qin's rising affection, Gu Ning received another special message:
[Brandon Court Advisor: Qin's favorability toward you has increased.][Your relationship with a female Spirit Realm character (Court Advisor Qin) has surpassed the "Friend" level. You can now view your "Affection Level" with her.][Current level: Smitten.]
Gu Ning checked the Spirit Realm database:
Affection Level, mainly for cross-gender relationships, has five stages:Neutral → Admiration → Smitten → Affection → Devotion.Only upon reaching "Smitten" does the system issue a prompt.
Gu Ning felt a bit overwhelmed. He had no experience in romantic relationships in the real world.
But this wasn't the time for such distractions. With the Poison Sting squad, Awakening missions, and the Overpower Group still lurking, survival remained a pressing challenge.
He took a deep breath and chose to stay rational.
Qin was a crucial member of the local leadership—her words even carried weight with Duke William. Her rising favorability and affection gave Gu Ning more confidence in his upcoming plans.
The group infiltrated the warship, disabled the rudder, cut the sails, then launched their attack.
Qin chanted a spell and poured out a bottle of blood-red liquid. Before it hit the ground, it turned into a pinkish mist and spread through most of the Pioneer.
This was "Blood Magic" cast via a ritual medium: Mist of Cursed Blood—a large-area debuff that significantly weakened enemies.
The effect was immediate. Blood Ring mutants coughed violently. Even elite soldiers like the Blood Ring Heavy Hammers suffered, their combat effectiveness reduced by at least one-third.
Duke William, out of respect for his status, stayed out of the fight.
His guard, Lieutenant Zweig, was already formidable—sweeping through enemies like a storm. Even elite Blood Ring warriors stood no chance. Though the mist had weakened them, Zweig's strength was undeniable.
Court Mage Garan specialized in Blood Magic too. He could extract enemies' blood directly—creepy and lethal.
Gu Ning knew Spirit Realm powers were ranked: Normal, Elite, Enhanced Elite, Boss-tier, and so on. He suspected Zweig and Garan were Enhanced Elites—one level above the Blood Ring Heavy Hammers.
Yvette was likely Elite-level, roughly equal to a Heavy Hammer.
They fought all the way to Colon's captain's cabin. As the mist began to dissipate, they finally encountered serious resistance.
A mutated warrior with a grotesquely oversized right arm appeared, wielding a massive bronze pillar. With his first strike, he sent Zweig flying into the sea.
Zweig wasn't hurt, but came back up scowling and rejoined the fight.
However, the narrow deck gave the mutant an overwhelming advantage—his brute strength and enormous weapon left no room to dodge.
After Zweig was knocked into the sea a second time, Duke William finally stepped in.
"Stand back."
He refused to gang up on the enemy. Even when Garan tried to use Blood Magic, the Duke stopped him.
He walked forward slowly, drawing a sword engraved with a hawk emblem.
Swish!
With a single slash, a crimson light several meters long exploded from the blade, slicing off the mutant's prized oversized right arm!
Then the Duke calmly wiped the blade with a handkerchief and sheathed it, too dignified to deliver a finishing blow.
Everyone else swarmed in.
Gu Ning didn't hold back—he rushed forward and smashed the mutant into submission.
As it died, a deep blue treasure chest appeared above its corpse.
Just from its hue, it was clearly a grade above the usual blue chests from Heavy Hammers. Gu Ning guessed the mutant was also an Enhanced Elite.
Even better, his proficiency with blunt weapons (one-handed hammers) had reached Basic Level 3 after this string of battles.
Suddenly, a shout echoed from the captain's cabin:
"Who dares trespass on my flagship?!"
The thick wooden door burst open with a crash!
A giant over two meters tall stormed out, clad in black heavy armor.
His right arm was severed at the wrist—and in its place was a giant blood-red battle axe, its handle pulsing with vein-like patterns, seemingly connected directly to his bloodstream...