**Chapter 87: Where Did the Divinity Go?**
2015-10-15
Author: Zhu Sheng Fu Tu
(Sick. Sorry.)
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Soren’s figure was hidden in the night.
With his powerful stealth abilities, even the elite guard squad of Elves before him was unlikely to detect his presence in the darkness. The Hunters left behind to cover their retreat had already suffered heavy casualties, and the few survivors, sensing something was wrong, scattered in different directions to escape. Meanwhile, Soren began to finish off the Hunters in the night, tracking their trails and secretly dealing with these guys. These enemies should not return alive; every bit of weakened enemy strength would be beneficial to his subsequent plans.
Dawn.
Soren returned to the Hunters’ camp. This time they had sent 14 people on the task, but only four had come back. A total of ten Hunters at mid to high profession levels had been killed. Such casualties were even hard for a Church of Deity to bear, equivalent to losing the entire mid to high-ranking officer cadre of a fleet from Modo. Although the Hunters had successfully taken down a Holy Unicorn, the forces in the vicinity had also been severely impacted, losing the ability to confront the Elven Rangers head-on.
When the Hunter avatar of Soren returned to the camp, he still had traces of blood on him, looking like he had gone through a rough battle.
Inside, the people were nearly half fewer, yet they did not seem to be sad; instead, they appeared rather excited.
Because a sacrificial ceremony to the God of the Hunt was about to take place.
The God of the Hunt was a rather generous deity, historically never stingy in rewarding his believers with sufficient rewards, whether wealth or power, as long as the ceremony successfully pleased him, abundant rewards would be granted.
This was somewhat similar among evil gods.
In the Underdark, if a Drow Matron Mother successfully pleased the Spider Queen once, the status of the entire family would be raised, and they would prosper for a long time.
The sacrificial ceremony soon began.
The God of the Hunt had few temples because his followers often roamed the wilderness, thus a simple altar was sufficient to present the hunted prey to him.
The corpse of the Holy Unicorn was lifted up.
Now this beautiful legendary creature had turned into a cold corpse, blood dripping down the altar, where the Half-Orc Leader presided over the sacrificial ceremony.
He recited the prayers of the Church of the Hunt, preparing to summon Mara’s avatar to appear.
A faint light appeared.
A very powerful aura emerged on the altar, soon forming a phantasmal figure that resembled a gigantic mutated baboon. The God of the Hunt indeed noticed this place, and soon formed an avatar on the altar.
It was prepared to enjoy the offerings presented by its followers.
Two Werewolf Hunters lifted the corpse of the Holy Unicorn onto the altar. The perfect sacrifice would be offering the prey and then killing it on the spot, but that was certainly not feasible now.
The figure of the God of the Hunt – Mara slightly stirred.
On the corpse of the Holy Unicorn, a faint, invisible blood-red glow emerged, gradually flowing into the phantasm of the God of the Hunt, but it looked quite meager.
The burly Half-Orc Leader continued to chant the prayers; the entire ceremony process would be quite long.
Because this was still a prayer sacrifice.
But!
At that moment, the phantasm of the God of the Hunt – Mara suddenly let out an angry roar. A mental wave conveyed his words: “You dare to deceive me!…”
The God of the Hunt – Mara seemed to feel he had been fooled, his mood turning extremely irritable and filled with rage. He suddenly swung his sharp claws in anger towards the Half-Orc Leader before him, followed by a splatter of white brain matter mixed with blood. That Half-Orc, who was close to legendary strength, died just like that.
The blood-red glimmer continued to rise, but this time it emerged from the Half-Orc Leader’s corpse.
This surge of power temporarily quelled his anger. It also gradually restored his twisted form.
The sacrificial ceremony was interrupted.
The phantasm of the God of the Hunt – Mara roared in anger. Satisfied with his bloody thirst, he did not continue to kill, instead looked at the believers around the altar, gazing into their terrified eyes. Then he slowly disappeared.
Everyone stood frozen in place.
Other Hunters stared blankly at the three corpses on the altar, one being the Half-Orc Leader and the other two Werewolves who had lifted the Holy Unicorn; they were instantly killed at the moment of impact.
These Hunters could not understand why the deity they served suddenly became furious, even killing the believer conducting the sacrificial ceremony.
The entire sacrificial ceremony ended in failure.
Neither the God of the Hunt – Mara nor the Hunters performing the sacrifice obtained what they desired.
Because what they presented as a sacrifice had already lost some of its essence.
The God of the Hunt’s anger was simple: after his avatar appeared on the altar, he ended up making a losing transaction. The prey offered by the believers could not compensate for the divine power he expended, let alone restore his strength further. This seemingly powerful prey had actually lost its value; apart from a bit of strength contained in its blood and flesh, he gained nothing.
In simple terms.
The reason the God of the Hunt was so furious was – Where did the divinity go?!
………………
The divinity was naturally with Soren.
This Holy Unicorn provided him with 2 points of Divinity Value, as well as over 200,000 Killing Experience.
As the Son of Slaughter, Soren absorbed the soul energy and divine energy of almost every enemy that passed through his hands. What the Hunters sacrificed to Mara was merely the shell of a Unicorn, a sacrifice that was even inferior to an ordinary Unicorn.
Soren’s figure had long since disappeared among the Hunters beneath the altar.
Suddenly.
An arrow shot out from the dense forest, and then the figure of an Elven Ranger appeared at high speed; they charged towards the Hunters, still bewildered and disoriented, preparing to take down these damned enemies in one sweep.
It did not matter who led the Elves to the Hunters’ camp.
During the recently held sacrificial ceremony, Soren felt a strange power, one that was extremely similar to the identity he possessed as the Son of Slaughter, hinting at him something vague.
In history.
The strength of the Sons of Slaughter rose rapidly because they could absorb the power of slain enemies.
Just moments ago, with Mara wielding the Divine Profession of “Hunt,” Soren felt a hint of something similar yet vastly different from himself.
Mara could also absorb soul energy, although his method of absorption might be different.
But one thing could be assured!
This was undoubtedly a gift bestowed upon him by the Divine Profession of “Hunt,” making it easier for him to absorb soul energy and divine energy.
………………(To be continued ~^~)
