All Chapters of Rise of Aretian: The Roman War Priest: Chapter 31
- Chapter 40
116 chapters
Chapter 31: The Fox-Wolf Divine Guard Part Two
Bang.Bang.The explosions tore through the study with brutal force, the kind that did not just reach the ears but punched straight through the skull. For a split second, the sound seemed to freeze everything in place, as if the world itself had stumbled.Then came the aftermath.It was not just noise. It was violence made audible. The sickening crunch of metal collapsing inward. The wet, horrifying sound of flesh giving way. The kind of sound that crawled into the stomach and stayed there.A heartbeat earlier, two battle-qi knights had been charging toward Ares Valen, faces twisted with resolve, weapons raised, certain of victory.Now they were gone.A massive steel fork ripped through the air, spinning wildly like a falling star dragged down by fate itself.It was enormous.Nearly five meters long.Thick enough that a grown man could barely wrap his arms around it.There was nothing refined about it. Nothing elegant. It existed for one purpose only.Destruction.The weapon did not s
Chapter 32: The Skyflame Continent (Part One)
The Marchioness had dealt with countless men in her long life.Kings, nobles, generals, merchants, priests. Some were arrogant, some cautious, some desperate enough to embarrass themselves at the mere sight of her. They all shared one thing in common. They were predictable.This boy was not.Barely past boyhood, she reminded herself. That was what he looked like at first glance. Young. Sharp-eyed, yes, but still young. Someone who should have been easy to guide, easy to pressure, or at the very least easy to distract.Yet from the moment she stepped into Gronva Fortress, everything had gone wrong.For centuries, beauty had been her most reliable weapon. She had wielded it with precision, never carelessly, never without intent. Most of the time she did not even need to speak. A glance held half a second too long. A smile softened just enough to feel personal. That alone had bent wills.Men folded quickly. Kings became generous. Generals hesitated at crucial moments. Even priests, men w
Chapter 33: Tianyan Continent (Part Two)
What Ares Valen learned from The General History of the Tianyan Continent stayed with him long after he finished reading.It was not the kind of knowledge one could simply close and forget.He rested a hand on the thick cover of the book, then slowly shut it, careful and deliberate, as though moving too fast might disturb something unseen. The lamplight on his desk flickered, casting soft, uneven shadows along the stone walls. The study felt unusually quiet. Not peaceful. Just heavy.According to the history recorded within those pages, the Yellow Sand Plains where Yarettien now stood were barely worth mentioning. They were not a region of importance. Not a place of power. On the vast map of the human world, they were little more than a mark so small it could be missed entirely.And humanity itself was no better.Across the entire Tianyan Continent, humans occupied only one fifth of the land.One fifth.The number echoed in Ares’s thoughts longer than it should have.That meant four f
Chapter 34: The Long, Cold Night
“Meibao is here?”The question left Ares Valen’s lips before he had time to think about it. It was not planned. It was not deliberate. It simply slipped out, quiet and startled, like a truth he had not meant to admit.He stood just outside the iron gate of Emias’s residence. His dark cloak stirred softly in the night wind, brushing against his boots. The street was silent. Not peaceful silence, but the kind that felt rehearsed, as if the city itself was holding its breath.Ares narrowed his eyes.He had lived long enough to know that silence could lie.Something was nearby. Something familiar. Something carefully hidden, wrapped in restraint and discipline.A divine presence.The God-Hidden One.Before he could focus further, a sound drifted out from within the house.Laughter.It was light, clear, almost carefree. It carried warmth, like sunlight on glass, bright enough to cut through the cold.Ares stopped walking.That voice.He did not need to hear it twice.Meibao.His feet carri
Chapter 35: The Dionysian Rite
Morning arrived in Aretien without ceremony.It did not announce itself with thunder or blazing brilliance. It simply slipped into the world, slow and quiet, as if unsure whether it was welcome. The sky shifted little by little, layers of color settling into place. Violet faded into deep blue, blue softened into pale green, and finally a thin veil of cyan stretched across the heavens.When the sun finally broke free from the horizon, it felt sharper than usual. Almost intrusive.The red light was especially striking. Too vivid. Too alive. It painted rooftops and stone walls with a warmth that felt new, like the city had been scrubbed clean overnight and left to dry beneath an unfamiliar sky.Ares Valen woke with a headache.It pulsed behind his eyes, dull and stubborn, the sort of pain that did not come from wounds or exhaustion of the body. This one had been born from thought. From tension. From a night spent awake when sleep should have come easily.He sat up slowly and pressed two
Chapter 36: The Expedition (Part One)
The sky overhead was pale and thin, almost bleached of color. It looked unfinished, like a blank page waiting for history to be written across it. There were no clouds worth mentioning, no birds in sight. Just quiet blue stretching endlessly above.At the Plaza of the God of War, nine thousand Roman soldiers stood in perfect formation.Their armor caught the early morning light and reflected it in dull flashes of steel and bronze. Rows upon rows of men stood shoulder to shoulder, shields aligned, spears upright. Not a single voice broke the silence. No one shifted their stance. No one coughed or cleared their throat. The stillness was not peaceful. It was heavy. Disciplined. Tight with anticipation.This was the kind of silence that existed only before bloodshed.At the very front of the formation stood Ares Valen.A fresh crimson cloak rested on his shoulders, its color sharp and vivid against the washed-out sky. It marked him clearly as the commander. The fabric moved gently with th
Chapter 37: Setting Out for War
Part TwoNine thousand Roman soldiers poured through the hardwood gates of Aretine, filling the road beyond the walls like a living flood. Steel gleamed everywhere. Shields brushed against one another. Armor plates tapped and scraped in a steady rhythm that echoed far into the distance. Spears caught the sunlight and hurled it back in blinding flashes, as if the army itself were aflame.The march never slowed.With every synchronized step, the ground groaned under their weight. It felt as though the earth itself sensed what was approaching and had no choice but to endure it.The soldiers wore black striped headscarves tied tightly against the desert wind. Their golden scale battle skirts shimmered with each movement, flashing light and shadow as they advanced. Upon their heads sat crested helms shaped like snarling fox wolves, mouths open in silent roars, fangs bared in eternal threat. Half beast. Half god. Symbols crafted to break an enemy’s courage before the first blade ever struck
Chapter 38 :Gnollmen
“Keep up.”Ares Valen pressed his heel gently into his horse’s flank. The animal responded at once, lengthening its stride as it carried him forward across the Yellow Sand Plains. Behind him, the Roman legion stretched far into the distance, a moving tide of iron, leather, and human will. Shields glinted under the sun. Spears bobbed with every step. Tall banners snapped and rustled in the dry wind, their colors dulled slightly by sand and dust.Most of the legion was made up of Rune freemen. These were not men who had grown up behind stone walls or trained on parade grounds. They were frontier folk, raised among harsh winds, poor soil, and unforgiving terrain. They knew the land the way a man knows an old wound. They understood where the ground was solid and where it would betray you without warning.To outsiders, the Yellow Sand Plains were a nightmare. Endless heat, shifting sands, hidden dangers that waited patiently for a careless step. To the Rune freemen, it was dangerous, yes,
Chapter 39: The Gnollmen (Part Two)
The slaughter of the fishmen left Ares Valen with a little over one thousand points of War Glory.He noticed the number immediately.Not because it was impressive, but because it confirmed something he had long suspected. War Glory was not a gift. It was not random. It followed a simple and merciless logic. The stronger the enemy, the greater the reward. Weak foes barely registered. Strong ones filled the tally fast. It was a system that did not care about justice or mercy. Only results.War, stripped down to numbers.“First Infantry Legion,” Ares Valen said, his voice calm and cold as steel, “secure the riverbank. Defensive formation. No gaps.”The order moved through the ranks instantly.Shields came together with a heavy, unified clang. Soldiers shifted with practiced efficiency, forming a solid barrier between the river and the supply wagons. Every movement was controlled, deliberate, almost mechanical. Behind the shield wall, quartermasters shouted commands as troops dragged barr
Chapter 40: Wind-Sand Fortress (Part One)
“Selling weapons to the orcs is an incredibly foolish thing to do.”The words escaped before the Marchioness could stop them.Leticia realized it the very instant they left her mouth. Too quick. Too sharp. The kind of sentence that could never be pulled back once spoken.She had not planned to say anything. Not yet. Her intention had been simple. Listen first. Observe. Let the other side reveal their hand. She had always trusted patience more than impulse.But the moment Ares Valen mentioned weapons and orcs together, something old and raw stirred in her chest. It felt less like a thought and more like a reflex. A scar remembering pain.Ares Valen paused.Only for a heartbeat, but it was enough.“Oh?” He turned toward her, eyebrows lifting slightly. His tone carried mild curiosity, as though she had merely commented on the weather. “Is that so?”Leticia inhaled slowly. She straightened her back and forced her expression into calm neutrality. Hesitation now would make her appear weak,