Badge in Azure

Chapter 1449: Battering the City (Part 1)

Originally, Saleen had planned very well. He could strengthen his forces step by step. After the Lord of Glory arrived, he would no longer be able to find a single disciple to help him.

When a god descended upon a plane without a disciple, their power would be suppressed by the rules of the plane. The suppression was exceptionally vicious. When a god possessed disciples on a plane and could absorb the Power of Faith from the plane over a long period of time, they had a pathway to the plane that they could use the gain power from all of the plains that contained their disciples.

Saleen wanted the Myers Continent to become a hopeless place for the Lord of Glory. He was not wrong.

However, with the goddess’ recent revival, he was at a loss.

The development of faith would cause the goddess’ power to grow too quickly. The goddess was not a new god, but a revived god. She only need to possess the power to advance and did not at all need to learn the types of rules all over again.

Once the goddess obtained the Power of Faith from disciples, not even Jason’s advancement could be compared to her.

Saleen sighed and contacted Metatrin City to communicate with his children.

He told Austin to stop worrying about mythical beast. The goddess was not bloodthirsty and would not do much to him. Furthermore, his contract with the goddess had been completed and the goddess would grant him a reward.

The problem now was whether Saleen would proceed as planned or if he would withdraw from the battle and allow the Myers Goddess to handle it personally.

Perhaps he should make a trip to Purgatory Desert. How was the Myers Goddess faring in the temple atop the Mountain Without End?

Saleen recalled that he had done away with the oracle left behind by the goddess. Their soul had been dealt with by the Winged Skull. That was not good. Saleen hurriedly allowed the Winged Skull to leave the battlefield and return to his Death Dimension. If he was not summoned, he was not to return at all.

Saleen’s loss of his assistant was not that big of a deal. Although the Winged Skull could now be independent, Saleen did not have that many powerful foes, only the Holy See. He did not need all of Metatrin City to turn up in full force. If the goddess found out that the oracle had died at his hands, it would be a disaster.

Even if the goddess did not kill him, she definitely would not leave behind the Winged Skull and allow him to continue enslaving her oracle.

Within the Purgatory of the Fallen, there was still the goddess’ Shackles of the Fallen. Saleen hardened his heart and allowed Nailisi to return to the Death Dimension, the only plane that was safe. The goddess would probably even be able to locate the interdimensional space.

After he finished, Saleen commanded the entire army. The target was Holy City.

The troops on Floating City did not account for much. The main thing was that they were all enchanters. Because some demons had the chance to cultivate in the Hall of Gods, the most advanced of the enchanters on Floating City were able to release was level 13 magic spells.

Floating City’s magic nets were the strongest out of all the magic nets that Saleen had constructed. Because the God of Magic Nets was on Floating City, he was able to coordinate and command all of the attacks. If the God of Magic Nets were to fight by himself, he would not be able to express much of his power.

Saleen’s strongest troops, apart from the Bug Angel Warriors, were all placed at Baldur’s Gate. As long as Saleen was able to sneak into Holy City, he could immediately establish Baldur’s Gate and dispatch his army to fight in the city.

Saleen did not feel that it would be exceptionally difficult to capture the city. He needed to guard against the attacks of the Tribunal. The Tribunal had not participated in the defensive battle. Furthermore, the Tribunal was right next to the seaside. Saleen’s marine army had not broken out in battle against the Tribunal, and Black Dungeon Island was completely silent.

The head warden did not seem to care about the Holy See’s extinction at all. Instead, the head warden existed for the sake of breaking away from the Holy See, and he was extremely hopeful that it would happen.

It was the first time Saleen had been to Holy City. He looked down from above and discovered that Holy City’s buildings were extremely meticulous. The city was a gigantic divine rune charm array.

Countless buildings grouped together to form the stroke of a pen. They were arranged into five pointed stars. Each church was the core of the divine rune charm array, creating an amplifying and supporting effect.

Saleen tried using the magic cannon to blast it a few times, but all of it was deflected by a white holy light.

It seemed it was still relatively difficult to attack the city.

Saleen was not anxious. The Holy See’s inner sections were already falling apart. They could not even select a pope. Only in the current times when there was a strong external enemy would they unite their efforts towards dealing with him.

Fortunately he had already learned that thanks to Nicholas. The Pivotal Council did not have many true disciples. The worst consequence that the Holy See’s internal strife of 1,000 years had given rise to was that true disciples could not enter the Pivotal.

The gods always hoped for innocent disciplest. Only then would the Power of Faith be sufficiently pure. Thus, the teachings of any god would never allow their disciples to cause trouble. Even the gods who focused on killing and slaughter changed to a neutral stance when it came to spreading their teaching across various planes. The inner strife amidst the upper echelons of the Holy See had not only resulted in the Holy See having decreased unity among their ranks, but had also made obtaining divine power more and more difficult. For 1,000 years, the Holy See had not developed outwards.

At a high altitude, Saleen used the Thundering Explosion skill to yell, “to the people below who are listening, the Goddess of Nature has already been revived and has passed down her divine omen. If you have waited until now to defect, you can still make it in time. The first to surrender from the Pivotal Council will be the next Pope of the Nature Faith!”

His speech was coarse, but its inciting power was very strong. The people within the Holy See who longed to defect were now extremely great in number. It was just that no one was willing to take the first step. They were even more afraid of being wiped out by the religion.

Now that Saleen had spoken of tempting conditions, even if they were not the first to surrender, they might be able to fish for some benefits, right?

Supposedly, the Lord of Glory’s clone had surrendered and had not done much to this mage. If they continued to resist, everyone would die.

None of the people thought that Saleen would dare to fake a divine omen.

Everybody was clear that the Nature Faith had been established by Saleen. How could such a person do something against the gods?

Yet Saleen was indifferent to such matters. The mythical beast had returned to the goddess’ side and would reveal secrets to her. If the goddess could not tolerate his forgery of a divine omen, then that was fine, but their falling out would be brought forward. If he really could not take it, he would escape into the Imperial City of the Abyss.

Saleen was most afraid of the contract between him and the goddess. After the goddess’ revival, the contract had vanished, and the pressure in Saleen’s heart was no longer as great. As for facing the gods, he had past experiences. Gods were merely more powerful creatures.

The Myers Goddess definitely had her own aspirations and would not run wild on the continent. If Myers did not want to get rid of him, she would tolerate his methods. Furthermore, Myers had personally sent down a divine omen, saying that he could govern all of the territories that the Nature Faith had seized, which meant that the goddess was still standing on his side.

Saleen’s words had moved the hearts of many people in Holy City. After about six seconds’ time, a white glow suddenly lit up in one church.

Saleen was overjoyed. The 30 or so large Thunder Dragon Blasters nearby all fired at the same time. Humongous lightning icicles broke through the defenses and destroyed all of the divine rune charm arrays close to the church.

The white light meant that a Holy Master had released a part of the seal by himself, allowing the divine power stored within to dissipate.

It was a last minute betrayal; that was undeniable. Hundreds of magic cannons simultaneously fired. Within the church, the turncoat Holy Master was scared out of his wits, but immediately discovered that the attacks were all targeted at the defensive facilities, not at him.

The traitor’s mind cleared in the face of impending fortune. He readily snatched up his best set of equipment and flew up into the sky.

The church’s dome was broken into pieces. The more staunch disciples had immediately discovered that the church’s archbishop had betrayed them. Hundreds of bolts of holy light attacked at the same time, but they were destroyed by an even greater number of magic spells that descended from the sky.

Under the control of the God of Magic Nets, the attack of tens of thousands of enchanters was like a single entity.

Rafel brought the metal angels and rushed down from Floating City to meet the traitor. In her heart, she greatly despised that type of person, but Saleen’s methods were not wrong. It would prevent his own troops from suffering losses.

The defenses of the Holy City were extremely sound. Even if the Holy Master turned traitor, the gap would very quickly be filled in.

However, it was an extremely dangerous example. With the first traitor, there would be a second.

In Holy City’s Grand Church of Nick, there was no commanding Pope. There were about a dozen red-robed bishops from the Pivotal Council. Of course, they had seen the situation unfold. However, they did not have any means to prevent it.

Currently, there were still many Holy Masters at level 10 and above, but they did not have a leader. The Holy Masters fought independently, and no one knew what they thought.

Before, everyone had seized wealth and benefits from one another. They had done so too gleefully. They had mostly relied on benefits to work together. Only now that enemies were at their front door did everyone miss Theisio.

If Theisio were around, how would such a situation have occurred?

Holy City would not be destroyed as long as everyone worked together.

Everyone thought, “what if I also betray the Holy See?”

Floating City attacked a fixed point with all its might to assist to Rafel. Rafel snatched the Holy Master and returned to Floating City.

Rafel brought the Holy Master to Saleen and tossed him on the ground.

Saleen glanced at the Holy Master. He was a level 10 red-robed bishop in his thirties and would have very good prospects in the Holy See. It was very difficult for such a person to turn. “What is your name?”

“Faro, Your Majesty. Meeting you is an honor.” Faro had been tossed to the ground by Rafel, but he did not appear as if he had been wronged at all. He joyfully grovelled in front of Saleen, and his expression did not hold a hint of flattery.

A person who could seek favor openly and did not make one feel disgusted was practically a form of art.

“Faro, did you turn for the sake of the position of the Nature Faith’s next Pope?” Saleen asked.

“Naturally, Your Majesty.” Faro’s reply, when coming from another person’s mouth, would be shameless, but his face held some holiness.

A talent indeed!

Saleen judged that only that kind of person was suitable to go disseminate a religion.

It could not be given to the Myers Goddess so easily. Saleen changed his intentions. “Faro, if I regreted it right now, what would you do?”