Chapter Sixty: Throw Money at It!
2016-04-01
Author: Floating Tower of All Beings
【Second Update】
The cold wind howled.
Soren stared coldly at the valley before him, his expression more serious than ever.
A great battle was ultimately unavoidable!
The enemy was in the dark, while he was in the light.
During this time, Soren had been expending a great deal of energy to search for the shadows church and the hideout of the shadow thieves, and now, his perseverance had finally paid off as he located the enemy’s base.
This was a proper confrontation!
Given the cautious nature of the Lord of Shadows, it would be exceedingly difficult for Soren to catch him off guard.
Moreover, if a deity wished to leave, ordinary mortals truly had no means to stop them. Thus, the safest and most effective option for Soren was to engage in a grand showdown with the enemy!
The Lord of Shadows could flee.
But the Shadow Church and the organization of shadow thieves could not escape; Soren was forcing the Lord of Shadows to confront him directly.
Because if He chose to avoid battle this time, the influence of the Shadow Church in the Material Plane would be completely destroyed. If a deity’s church were annihilated, it was essentially saying there would be no hope for a resurgence during the Saint’s Cataclysm. Countless people would be thinking about thoroughly defeating the Lord of Shadows, who had lost all power. The same reasoning applied to Soren; if Modo were destroyed, he would almost instantly be reverted to his original state, and apart from his own strength, it would be difficult for him to make a mark during the Saint’s Cataclysm.
“My Lord!”
The figure of Chouhou appeared before Soren, respectfully kneeling on one knee as he said, “Ahead is the lair of the Shadow Temple. Below are densely packed underground passages, and we’ve already lost quite a few men during our reconnaissance.”
“The shadow thieves have set numerous traps at the entrance; if we launch a full attack, the losses may be severe.”
Underground lay the Shadow Grand Temple.
No wonder the other deities had been unable to locate the Lord of Shadows’ church base; they never guessed He had placed his base underground.
“I understand.”
Soren nodded calmly. He then said, “Prepare the others for battle. When the Golem Legion arrives through the portal, you will lead an assault from the side.”
Checkmate.
If the clash of deities is like a game of chess, Soren was now directly putting him in checkmate.
In fact, if the Lord of Shadows didn’t confront him head-on, he would dare to overturn the chessboard altogether. Destroy the church of the Lord of Shadows, flatten the Lord of Shadows’ Grand Temple. By then, Soren wouldn’t even need to engage him directly; just such serious losses would be enough to cause a significant drop in the Lord of Shadows’ power, possibly even to the level of Weak Divine Power. As long as the Lord of Shadows’ divine power plummeted, even if Soren didn’t k*ll Him, he could still directly stake a claim to the Divine Profession of Shadows; at that point, his power would increase while the Lord of Shadows grew weaker.
Throughout history, there has never been a shortage of deities whose power drastically diminished due to church conflicts!
Lady Silver Moon was a clear example.
When she faced the worst oppression from the Lady of the Night, her church was on the brink of collapse while she herself was weakened to Weak Divine Power, ultimately having to seek the protection of the goddess of love.
This exemplifies the limitations of ordinary deities.
Soren’s power also gathered from believers and divinity; if the Half-Elf Church were to be destroyed, he would drop straight to Weak Divine Power. The value of his divinity could also be stripped away by the laws due to losing the Divine Profession. And if the number of believers were too few, Soren might even descend from True God to Demigod; many deities have fallen gradually in such a manner.
Divinity and Divine Profession are intertwined.
Unless Soren’s divinity reached Great level, the two could never be separated.
………………
Overseas Islands. Modo.
For this battle, although Soren did not send Gloria and the Fallen Witch, avoiding a direct confrontation with the Shadow Church was simply impossible.
Gloria was also extremely nervous at this moment, even preparing to be teleported to the battlefield at any time.
After all, the Lord of Shadows was an established deity.
Moreover, he was a deity of Medium Divine Power. Compared to Soren, he clearly had an advantage.
Soren’s relationship with the Lord of Shadows was irreconcilable; the battle between the two sides would inevitably end with one side’s defeat. If he could annihilate the Shadow Church this time, even without killing the Lord of Shadows, He would find it almost impossible to make a comeback.
“Activate the Elemental Furnace!”
“Lock in the teleportation nodes!”
“Golem Legion assembled! … Open the portal! …”
As a High-Level Legend Mind Sorcerer, the High Priest was responsible for commanding this battle, establishing connections directly through psychic fields, a situation somewhat reminiscent of the last sniping against the Spider Queen.
“Start teleportation!”
“Clay Golem Legion activated! …”
With the opening of a portal, clay golems appeared on the ground in the night.
The elites of the Half-Elf and Wanderer Church had gathered completely; members from the Judgment Area, Central Zone, and Bishopric had almost all reached the battlefield. In the shadows, groups of wanderers were equally tense, as this was a battle that determined the future allegiance of the wanderers. Whichever deity’s believers achieved victory would dominate the field.
Moreover, combining the domains of Shadows and Wanderers would increase the accessible domains for everyone.
In other words, whoever won would enhance the power of their followers!
Soren’s followers had never been able to access the domain of Shadows, and the Lord of Shadows’ followers had never been able to access the domains of Wanderers and Tracking.
“Let’s begin!”
Soren’s expression finally changed a bit upon sensing a familiar divine aura coming from deep underground; he immediately commanded, “Let the Golem Legion lead the way, flatten all traps!”
The Lord of Shadows had finally revealed himself.
Although the two sides had yet to clash, they both felt the familiar divine power of each other, one Shadow and one Wanderer; their collision was inevitable!
The first batch of clay and stone golems began their advance.
Just as they entered the valley’s range, violent explosions erupted, followed by three golems immediately being destroyed on the spot.
“It’s a burst trap!”
“It looks like it was set up by the Legendary Wanderer!”
“This one is a spike trap!”
“This one is a fire trap!”
A series of explosions occurred, suddenly causing the ground to collapse. Before completely entering the valley, Soren’s Golem Legion had already lost over thirty golems. If not for the golems pushing through, it would be hard to estimate how much combat power would have been consumed.
Watching the golems fall one after another, Soren did not even blink and continued in a low voice, “The number two Golem Legion continues to advance.”
In just about ten minutes’ time.
Nearly one hundred and fifty golems had been destroyed in the valley; most of this batch were clay and stone golems. Their Challenge Level was at most around level five.
If purchased from the Wizard Alliance, this would equate to a loss of nearly three hundred thousand Ginds.
However, Modo had the ability to create golem puppets themselves, so the cost was around one hundred thousand Ginds, while the traps set by the Shadow Church might also cost about that many Ginds.
The second batch of Golem Legion continued to push forward.
This time, the number had significantly increased, with about three hundred golem puppets, most of which were still the cheapest clay and stone golems, but this time included more than ten iron golems.
Continuous explosions were still ringing out.
In the face of Soren’s Golem Legion leading the charge, the Shadow Church was clearly very distressed, especially with the mixed-in iron golems, for many traps were simply ineffective against them.
Though it was unlikely for a flesh-and-bl**d body to withstand the traps, the iron body had no such scruples.
Even!
The Shadow Church had already sent in some priests, beginning to cast divine techniques in cooperation with the wanderers to eliminate these iron golems.
“Are they already sending people onto the battlefield?”
After locating the Shadow Church’s lair, Soren directly used the portal to confront them at their doorstep, clearly aiming for a total annihilation.
As the second batch of Golem Legion was completely destroyed, a trace of mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth as he slowly said, “Number three Golem Legion, attack!”
The portal was still running.
As long as Soren personally oversaw it, unless the Lord of Shadows came to disrupt it, this portal would continue to operate. Moreover, even if it were destroyed, he could immediately open another; Modo had plenty of resources to maintain this portal.
The true weapon clash had yet to begin.
Soren had just squandered a legion of golems worth approximately seven hundred thousand Ginds with merely two waves of probing attacks.
War is a money-burning game.
He dared to face off against the Lord of Shadows with confidence, not only because of the Princess and the Ascendant Eugene, but also due to Modo’s own strength being a crucial part.
The portal continued to operate.
The third batch of reinforcements arriving was strikingly different. Because this time, it was the main force of Modo.
Clay golems had disappeared.
This time, the number of transported golems was about five hundred, of which the vast majority were higher-level stone golems, followed by dozens of iron golems, and finally a few diamond golems.
At this moment!
The enemies hidden in the shadows all changed their expressions; if clay and stone golems were not seen as a significant threat, then iron and diamond golems were simply nightmares!
For the wanderers, combating these golems felt utterly impossible.
“They actually manage to hold it in!”
Soren had been observing the Lord of Shadows’ movements. Seeing that He had yet to act, he couldn’t help but chuckle: “Since you can hold it, I’ll match you in patience.”
The Golem Legion continued to press on.
For this war against the Shadow Church, Soren had prepared over three million Ginds’ worth of golem puppets as expendables.
If the Lord of Shadows could restrain himself from making a move, he would patiently use the Golem Legion to wear down the opponent.
To put it bluntly.
Modo’s golem factory had been running at full capacity, and if the Lord of Shadows could keep holding back, Soren would use money to crush the enemy down, even if it took all he had!
Rich! Skilled! It’s just that reckless!
……………(To be continued ~^~)
