Chapter 451: The United Kingdom of Celt and Sili

Thus, the royal fleet of the Han Celt began its campaigns, guided by intelligence provided by local forces. Centered around the Iron Bell Islands, it targeted surrounding regions and, with its overwhelming strength, conquered dozens of totem tribes, acquiring enough land to establish a small kingdom!

Unlike Celt’s purposeful, swift, and covert actions, the other invading forces from the mainland were more brazen and aggressive. Although they knew of divine powers on this new continent comparable to gods, the highest among them were merely two mid-tier deities who lost much of their strength far from their own territories. This time, among their various factions, more than one had the backing of higher-tier deities, so the forces from the mainland utterly dismissed the so-called gods of the Totem Continent!

Indeed, at first, their invading armies were invincible, conquering the territories of many golden and legendary totem gods. But just as everyone was celebrating and becoming complacent, the backers of those captured or killed totem gods united and came for them. Having learned from their own deities about the enemy’s strength, these totem gods did not charge head-on but instead launched surprise attacks through a few demigods allied with dozens of legendary totem gods.

Though the allied forces from the mainland were strong, they operated independently, with loosely organized troops—after all, they were all competitors, each eager to claim the first piece of land. This gave the vengeful totem gods an advantage, as they launched successive attacks on the forces of the two major factions, causing significant losses to the mainland coalition.

It wasn’t until the totem gods turned their attention to the most arrogant forces of the Dawn Kingdom that they encountered a real obstacle and were forced to retreat, temporarily hiding in the shadows. Perhaps due to repeated defeats at Celt’s hands, the Church of the Three Glorious Gods sent an unbelievably powerful force this time to prove its strength. Initially, it dispatched a demigod messenger and a true divine artifact, along with hundreds of high-ranking clergy members, each a warrior above bronze rank, plus thousands of elite troops from the Kingdom’s Glorious Punishment Legion. That was a legion where one soldier was as strong as three ordinary knights, one of the most formidable secular armies on the mainland!

And it was foreseeable that once the Dawn Kingdom established a foothold on the new continent, it would send more troops to join them there. This showed their great ambition for the vast lands of the Totem Continent.

When several semi-god totem deities, whose powers had declined, led a surprise attack, the War Messenger of the Judge Behistan, who wielded a true divine weapon, unleashed its immense power. Not only did it defend against the enemy’s assault, but it also killed one of the semi-gods in a single strike, forcing the totem deities to flee in disarray. Although this strike did not truly kill that semi-god—given a few days and the influence of worship and will of law, it could revive on its own totem altar—such a complete destruction would surely reduce its power by a significant tier. The overwhelming combat strength of the War God’s messenger terrified these totem deities, whose experience was far inferior to that of the powers on the main continent. Though totem deities sometimes waged wars among themselves, the vast territory and abundant resources of the Totoem Continent made it easy to establish a foothold there—unlike the main continent, where resources were nearly exhausted and competition among various factions was fierce. Thus, most totems were like wealthy second-generation heirs who, though possessing many resources, were no match for those elite classes who had risen through hard work. Since Sendel’s invading army pursued a policy of exterminating heretics among the barbaric natives of the New Continent—anyone who refused to abandon their worship of evil gods and convert to the Great Lord of Dawn became a victim of the blade, with blood staining every land the Glorious Punishment Legion set foot on—this genocidal invasion finally drew the attention of the totem deities. The previously scattered totem deities formed alliances of varying sizes to ensure mutual support in case one region was invaded. Several major totem deity factions also prepared urgently. Aside from the White Mountain God’s domain, which seemed to have been prepared in advance, and a few areas in the northeast of the continent that suffered little invasion, powerful tribal alliances led by lower-tier totem deities faced threats of varying degrees. This was especially true for the Grayforest God and the Storm God factions, which held many territories in the southern part of the continent. With the involvement of these lower-tier totem deities, although the main continent’s allied forces were strong, they could not expand their offensive on the enemy’s territory. Especially when those smaller noble factions acquired more land than expected, they became complacent and less aggressive in battle. This made all factions extremely dissatisfied with Sendel’s actions. Without expendable troops, the forces on the main continent did not want to waste more men here, risking losing even the land they had already seized. Once they lost the initiative, it would be difficult to regain it.

So, within just two months of the war beginning, as Donald had predicted, it quickly reached a stalemate. Compared to the brutal suppression of the Celts by the Sendelians in the southern part of the New World, the situation here on the western coast was much more peaceful. Under the banner of the God of Anchors, the Haltel army conquered the territories of seven legendary totem gods, with even more than twenty tribes of the Golden Totem gods falling under their control. These were totem gods deliberately chosen by the God of Iron Hammers—those without any backing—whose territories and divine positions were easily seized by the coalition of the Celts and the God of Iron Hammers’ tribes. Aside from over a dozen totem gods who refused to cooperate or were too weak to resist and were killed by the coalition, those who accepted their terms became vassal gods of the God of Iron Hammers. Thus, the totem god clan of the God of Iron Hammers gained five more legendary vassal gods and thirteen Golden Metal gods, in addition to the two major vassal gods, the God of Golden Sand and the God of Snowy Brook. Having acquired vast territories, the God of Iron Hammers finally merged that fragment of divine essence, successfully igniting the divine flame and becoming a powerful demi-god totem god. Although, due to the nature of totem gods, their path differed from that of true gods worshipped by believers, they could still exert power on par with lower gods within their own territories. At Donald’s suggestion, when his will reappeared, the demi-god God of Iron Hammers was officially renamed Ciri, his name from his mortal days. He established a vast kingdom on the western coast of the Totem Continent, including the Three Islands of Iron Hammers and Golden Sand Bay, named the Principality of Ciri. As soon as this kingdom was founded, it merged with the Celtic Kingdom on the main continent, becoming the United Kingdom of Celts and Ciri. This was modeled after the Western Commonwealth from Donald’s past life, only with even stronger control over secular affairs in this world where true gods truly existed. The kingdom adopted a federal system, with both regions maintaining independent sovereignty. The situation on the main continent remained unchanged, while the Totem Continent was governed by tribal chiefs as secular leaders, with spiritual authority resting with the gods of the kingdom. These gods of the kingdom consisted of a coalition of twenty-three true gods, led by the King of the North and the Guardian of Nature, with the God of Adventure and Seafaring, Ciri, and the twenty true gods of various tribes within the united kingdom as his allies.

The Celts also reaped a large share of benefits from this operation. In addition to the royal family and the Ansel family monopolizing vast fertile alluvial plains and basins equivalent to earldom sizes near Golden Sand Bay and Snow Creek Tribe, various noble descendants and adventurers from the Celts also received their own rewards. Dozens of them were granted territories and titles across the United Kingdom, establishing their own banners and becoming part of the local nobility of the Celts and the Sili United Kingdom.

The Sili Chiefdom enjoyed a favorable geographical location, far from the currently chaotic southern regions and close to the vast northern snow mountains—territory of the White Mountain God, one of the most powerful lower totem gods on the Totem Continent. As the lower totem god with the largest territory, the White Mountain God was gentle and impartial in his dealings. Moreover, Donald had a good relationship with him, meaning the Sili Chiefdom had the entire northern snow mountains as its backing. Even other lower totem gods could not compete with the White Mountain God in those areas. With this advantage, the rulers of the Sili Chiefdom felt quite secure.

As for the main continent’s allied forces, the Celts had already announced that the surrounding region was now under their control. Given the enormous size of the Totem Continent, with so many places to conquer, there was no need to offend the Celts, a kingdom with two true gods and growing strength. Besides a few extreme factions, the high-ranking leaders of the allied forces were also very interested in how the Celts had managed to seize such a vast territory that rivaled their own country without bloodshed.

Donald and his group had nothing to hide regarding this. After all, without a relatively powerful local force like the Iron Bell God or the backing of a powerful entity like the White Mountain God, who ranked among the top ten on the Totem Continent, other forces could not achieve similar results even if they tried to imitate them. So they generously shared their methods.

After learning that the Celts had adopted a relatively peaceful invasion strategy by allying with local forces on the Totem Continent, many neutral and benevolent factions rushed to imitate them. Soon, the influence of the main continent’s forces on the Totem Continent spread almost everywhere. After all, forces backed by powerful higher and middle gods were indeed attractive targets for independent totem gods—even if those forces came from another continent.

After the official establishment of the Sili Chiefdom, the magic teleportation gates brought by the Dalaran forces were already set up in Golden Sand City, the capital.

After the Mainland and the Totem Continent became accessible to each other, King Charles of the North returned to the capital of Celt with a few followers. Meanwhile, the Lord of Dalaran, the true god Natural Guardian Donald, arrived in the Chieftainship of Ciri to take charge. After all, Charles believed that Donald was far more competent than himself in managing the construction of the new kingdom. So he decided to return to the North and leave it to Donald, the true god who was more familiar with the Totem Continent.