Chapter 1077 - 160: New Intelligence and the Rot Riders (Part 3)

Chapter 1077: Chapter 160: New Intelligence and the Rot Riders (Part 3)

Disease is a common encounter in Empire life. Many endure some form of disease torment throughout their lives, with nearly every household having at least one direct relative who dies from a terrible plague. Those who succumb to grief and despair worship Nagash due to the tyranny of disease and their survival, spiraling into madness believing it’s Nagash granting some form of redemption or that plague is the truth to understanding the world. Few realize their misguided faith only fuels Nagash’s power, creating an endless cycle of despair and disease.

The followers greatly rejoice in this transformation, believing they gain Nagash’s recognition by accepting the diseases tormenting their bodies, and mutations are seen as a blessing, thus deeming Nagash a "merciful" god. Considering the number of infected within the Empire’s borders, tracking them proves undoubtedly difficult, as they blend in low-key with the local populace and continue traveling. These followers chant secretly in the filthiest, foulest places, so disgusting that even the most stubborn witch hunters hesitate before entering. Once the Nagash Sect is discovered, the entire town will be burned to ashes, as fire purification is often the only method to halt the spread of their diseases.

Father of Decay, Nagash liberally bestows blessings upon his followers, his Chosen Ones’ bodies covered in festering sores, skin melting upon mere contact. The followers’ bodies swell due to unimaginable viruses, and to support their broken flesh, they are clad in heavy armor to prevent their viscera from spilling out, making them appear larger than typical Divine Chosen. Though tormented beyond recognition by viruses, they essentially lose all sense of pain, as Nagash’s viruses possess numbness and lifespan-extending effects, allowing the Chosen Ones to endure agonizing pain to serve the benevolent grandfather.

No enemy is as terrifying as Nagash’s Chosen Ones, their skin opening like cotton, yet beneath the fragile appearance lies deadly viruses. More frightening than Nagash’s Chosen Ones, these biochemical bombs explode after death, releasing viruses.

And Gor Gorg the Festering, is not a figure of insignificance; on the contrary, he is a notorious Demon’s Chosen One, even Su Li has heard of his deeds!

It’s said that the Nagor Warband, Festering Saddle, was originally the Empire border province’s elite heavy cavalry corps "Steel Mane Guards." During a bloody battle against northern desolate land barbarians, the entire group suffered severe injuries, trapped on the edge of a stinking swamp abandoned fortress. In despair, cavalry leader Gor Gorg prayed to divine spirits for survival, and the generous Father Nagash responded to their pleas—the corrupt rainwater seeped into the fortress, wounds festering into Father’s blessings, war horses neighed, swelling into giant beasts of rotten flesh and pus-sores. When the fortress gate reopened, the "Festering Saddle" was born.

This terrifying Chaos Legion, each knight’s saddle hangs living pus-sac bags on either side, continuously oozing scorching "red-hot blister fluid." The bags are sewn and tended by Nagash spirits, releasing clouds of decay flies when ruptured.

Empire warhorses and plague twisted hybrids, six-legged monsters covered in moss and scabs. Toxic mushrooms sprout where hoofs tread, nasal breath spreading sleepiness syndrome.

The knights’ plate armor is rusted by swamp iron, Nagash’s rotten flesh proliferates through cracks, forming living armor. Attacking the armor splashes corrosive acid pus-blood.

They consider themselves Nagash’s "mount," their mission to spread plague to uncorrupted "Desolate Land." Each settlement conquered, they paint septagram on walls with blister fluid and forcibly make survivors ingest pus-sores, called "Father’s Holy Communion."

And Chosen One: Gor Gorg the Festering is the army’s most brutal Commander-in-Chief, wearing a massive festering crown, helmet fused with skull, seven large sores like gemstones embed on forehead, flowing pus forming a curtain, veiling the decaying visage.

An enormous festering cavity splits the abdomen, housing a corruption stomach sac where Nagash spirits frolic, capable of spewing "Despair Breath" (inhale induces euthanasia illusion).

His weapon is a giant scythe of plague, blade forged from swamp hardwood and rusted iron, chains made from intestines wrapped around it. Those cut wounds bloom blisters, within 24 hours turning into incubation sacs for Nagash spirits.

Upon appearing, he and the army commit numerous atrocities, leading the war band back to homeland, sewing the lord’s whole family into the abdomen of war horse corpse filled with blister fluid. In the square’s center, piling rotten organs into "Tree of Fecundity," forcing citizens to dance and sing around the giant tree for seven days, until all contract "Joyful Rot Fever," dying amid high fever and manic laughter.

They soon became uncontrollable, in the Midland Territory’s Dracowald Forest and central swamp junction, they shattered a thousand White Wolf Knights, forcing captives to drink large amounts of Nagash broth, watching as knights’ bodies swell, many exploding dead, while a few knights whose will broke joined them. (Thus White Wolf Knights and Festering Saddle are greatest nemeses)

In Avallon Territory, Empire’s heartland, they razed over a dozen villages, looted hundreds of villagers, injecting vast amounts of corrosive primal solution into civilians, instantly nurturing hundreds of Pox Armor Attendants.

And the vilest outbreak occurred in Border Prince’s Territory, defeated by a Count with resentment, throwing the dead corpses into numerous wells and water sources, polluting hundreds of miles of land, causing thousands of civilians to contract plague, perishing amid bodily swelling and festering. Including many children and pregnant women.