Chapter Seventy-One: Conspiracy! Second Update
October 2, 2015
Author: Zhu Sheng Fu Tu
It is not easy to confront the God of the Hunt – Mara.
In this world, there are no allies without reason. With the Life Water in Soren’s hands, he had more assurance in getting the Princess to take action. However, everything still depended on his next plan, as he had prepared a lot of things to deal with the God of the Hunt. Some of these even required paying a price.
Before executing the plan, Soren had something quite important to do, which was to meet some people in the wilderness Gobi.
The attitude of these people was key to all of Soren’s upcoming plans. If they were willing to help him, he wouldn’t need to activate the backup plan. However, if they were unwilling to assist him, then he would have to rely on the backup plan to confront the God of the Hunt – Mara.
These people are the Paladins!
All along, Soren had a complicated attitude towards the Paladins.
As a character of the Lawful alignment, he appreciated the Paladins’ actions to maintain order. However, due to the conflict between good and evil, Soren had severe contradictions with the Paladins in terms of methods and ways of handling matters.
For a long time, Soren had avoided any blatant confrontation with the Paladins, and several times he had even leaned towards helping them.
For example, he revealed where the core materials for the Holy Avenger were!
And when confronting the Vampire Son, although Soren’s purpose was also to eliminate a dangerous enemy once and for all, it is undeniable that he also saved the lives of those Paladins.
Soren’s journey to the desert Gobi is to meet them. By passing through the Elven Forest and following the eastern trade route, he can quickly reach their place of training. Soren needs to meet them, probe their attitude towards him, and then consider making a small request.
This small request is to borrow the Holy Avenger!
That’s right.
Soren wants to use the power of the Holy Avenger to eliminate the God of the Hunt – Mara!
As one of the most powerful weapons in the Material Plane, the Holy Avenger completely outclasses all of Soren’s equipment in every aspect.
However, this weapon is not something he can possess.
Any non-Paladin who possesses this weapon will incur endless troubles!
Soren can use the Holy Avenger.
Although the process is somewhat painful and has serious mental damage, it is undeniable that, relying on the power of the Universal Skillful Hand, Soren can wield the Holy Avenger to sustain an entire battle.
The Holy Avenger has already proven its power when confronting the Vampire Son!
So, when deciding to deal with the God of the Hunt Mara, the image of this weapon immediately sprang to Soren’s mind. If he could fight with the Holy Avenger, then his chances of winning would increase by at least twenty percent. This weapon has a natural advantage against the God of the Hunt – Mara of the Chaotic Evil alignment. Its strong lethality combined with Soren’s explosive capability, if he could gain the assistance of other powerful individuals, could even possibly deliver a crushing advantage akin to the last battle.
With the Holy Avenger in hand, Soren’s planned itinerary could be reduced by half.
He might even not need to plot tirelessly to instigate conflict between the God of the Hunt and other deities; as long as he avoids being surrounded by the Church of the Hunt’s believers, he could find an opportunity to face the God of the Hunt directly.
But!
Soren couldn’t grasp the attitude of the Paladins towards him and was unsure if they would be willing to lend him this most important holy weapon. Thus, he still secretly instigated conflict between the Church of the Hunt and the Church of Suffering in advance.
…
The wind and sand flew everywhere.
Soren’s figure appeared outside a stretch of Gobi.
As the Saint’s Cataclysm was about to arrive, the route to the Eastern Kingdom had become very dangerous. Horrific climate changes had buried many past merchants, so there weren’t many people passing near the Death Desert for now.
The Paladins’ secret base cannot be approached lightly.
If he encounters someone with a brain lapse who casts a ‘Detect Alignment’ spell on him, the following would be very awkward.
To make a move?
Then how could he still borrow the Holy Avenger?
Not making a move?
What if the other side stubbornly wanted to attack him, this evil guy?
Therefore, the wisest choice is to first find someone Soren has met before. This way, he can avoid direct conflict. The Paladins know etiquette as well; if someone who had prior contact appears, the other Paladins should not cast detection spells on Soren. In terms of adaptability, these Paladins hidden near the Gobi are much more approachable than those from the Church of Radiance.
Those folks can’t tolerate any sand in their eyes!
Who to find?
The ideal target would naturally be that esteemed Warden. He holds a high position in the Paladin organization.
However, Soren is not familiar with him, so his first target should be the young Paladin he met in the City of Wealth. If he can connect with the Holy Avenger through him and find a way, even paying some price to borrow the weapon, then everything would be much easier from there.
Finding someone!
This is a somewhat troublesome problem.
However, Soren’s ability to mobilize channels has greatly improved. He quickly learned the whereabouts of those Paladins.
Arendelle.
Since they obtained the important components of the Holy Avenger, the Paladins’ most important task now is to repair this weapon. However, very few people in the entire Material Plane could repair this weapon; being one of the most powerful artifacts, this is no trivial matter. Even the most skilled master forgers in human kingdoms cannot repair even a tiny bit of the Holy Avenger. This weapon is an artifact that retains strong divine power.
In other words, it requires reaching a level capable of wielding divine power to repair this weapon.
Looking throughout the entire Material Plane.
There are hardly any individuals who can do this, as they must be able to wield divine power and possess a profound understanding of magical weapons. There are only a handful of such individuals to count on one’s fingers.
The Princess of Arendelle!
Undoubtedly, the Princess, as a divinely favored Sorcerer, possesses immense power, and she is also the only one in the North who can easily wield divine power.
Additionally, as a high-level legend or greater Spellcaster, the Princess has an extremely advanced understanding of Alchemical Enchantment.
The component found in the Underdark is the Eye of Tyr.
This item is also a material of artifact level and cannot simply be embedded without consideration. The complex process involved and the price one must pay are enough to make anyone think twice. To restore an incomplete artifact to its peak state, just the divine power value needed would be enough to give Soren a headache.
Hence.
It is no surprise that the Paladins have made no progress in repairing the Holy Avenger because the Princess of Arendelle is unwilling to expend her precious divine power to help them.
Thus, the matter has dragged on until now.
…(To Be Continued ~^~)
