"Has the Holy Church been forced to such a state?"
When I learned of a certain person's shameless actions, I wasn't angry at all. In fact, I was quite happy.
Sometimes, being in the lead was equivalent to being the victor. For example, a leader who had more than 80% of the market share would have a hard time catching up as long as they didn't take too big of a risk or make a major mistake.
For a behemoth like the Holy Church, there was a limit to how much external pressure it could receive. As long as there weren't any internal conflicts, the Holy Church would probably be able to survive for several hundred years.
This time, the Holy Church finally made a mistake, and a major one at that.
I could understand that the Holy Church's decision wasn't necessarily the wrong one given the current situation. In fact, since the Holy Church had such a solid foundation, it was actually an excellent decision.
The Holy Church had the advantage of public opinion, so of course they could do whatever they wanted. From this, it could be seen that things had been going smoothly for them for far too long, and they felt that their position wouldn't be challenged at all. In fact, they were even looking down on the Aillé Faction.
The Holy Church's higher-ups probably only wanted to use this battle report to stabilize the situation for now. After this period of time, when the Holy War entered a stalemate, not only would the other countries still remember this, they might even request help from the Holy Church due to the war's unfavorable situation.
And even if this incident was brought up in the future, the battle achievement announcement was written ambiguously to begin with. The main point of the announcement was that it was "a victory under the guidance of the Holy Light." Since most people in this world believed in the Holy Light, this statement couldn't be said to be wrong. It was entirely possible to use a typo to deny it.
And if the Holy Church was forced into a disadvantageous position, people would use this as a weakness against them. At that time, they could simply say that "Cardinal Stephen was worried that the war's unfavorable situation would affect his future, so he lied to the Holy Church and deceived the higher-ups. He was stripped of his position and committed suicide on XX Mountain." Such an explanation would suffice. Cardinal Stephen was already dead, and the Holy Church had taken the blame.
Actually, such things had happened many times already. As long as someone took the blame and the tree didn't fall, the Holy Church could only leave the matter unsettled.
What the Holy Church needed right now was to do their best to reduce the negative effects of the first battle and increase the Holy Light Faction's morale. Of course, it would be even better if they could eliminate the Aillé Faction's existence.
However, there was one thing that even the Pope himself did not see, and this was the biggest mistake.
He had underestimated the Contract Heroes and even completely ignored their existence!
In this incident, the greatest victims weren't me, Oak Town's wood spirits, or even Aillé's faction. We didn't need to prove our own abilities to the world, and there would be plenty of opportunities to prove ourselves. We didn't need to care about the glory of this battle.
However, for the Contract Heroes who had risked their lives to make a name for themselves and gain glory, this epic battle had already changed their lives. Their shining military medals were still pinned to their chests, but the trophy that was already in their hands had been snatched away. If they bragged about it to others in the future, they might even be treated as scammers.
This was a fatal pain for those youths who believed that honor was more important than their lives. Perhaps they would remember these hypocritical villains for the rest of their lives. At the very least, the clergy had been treated with enmity by other adventurers in the past few days. There were even a few young clergy who had chosen to serve the Gods they were supposed to serve.
The Pope and the Cardinals had gotten used to being high above everyone else, but they had forgotten that the scariest part about humans was their ability to grow.
Perhaps they were only noobs who had a low social status. But once the "Justice Points" helped them grow, when the first batch of newcomers became veterans of this profession, and when they used the power they obtained from the Holy Light's military achievement system to stand out in various places, these hidden bombs and unshakable hatred would truly take effect.
Actually, in the near future, the third rule that the veterans of the Holy Light would give to the young noobs was: "Perhaps you can trust the clergy who truly believe in the Holy Light, but the Holy Church is a bunch of old bastards. Never leave your back to them. Otherwise, they'll steal the glory that should belong to you and burn you alive as a heretic. You don't believe me? Think about Oak Town. "
And once hatred was established at the very beginning, it would be difficult to reverse it no matter how much one did.
Of course, the Holy Church's own "Holy Knight System" would be more than enough. How could they possibly think about the effect this competing "Contract Heroes System" would have on the world, and whether or not the young noobs would become true heroes?
Of course, even though we all knew what was going on and were quite satisfied with such an ending, it would be impossible for us to do nothing.
Even though our Aillé Faction was indeed weaker than the Holy Light Faction, we had already been attacked. If we didn't take revenge, wouldn't that make us seem too weak? And in this world, weakness was a sin in and of itself. Weakness would cause the wolves around us to lower their guard and truly begin their ambush.
"What does Aillé intend to do? Or has he already done something? "
At such a time, it was naturally time for our boss to make a decision. In my mind, Aillé wasn't someone who was used to swallowing insults and insults.
"… Two meteors have fallen from the sky over the past few days. Although the Holy Church hasn't made any public announcements, the small churches of the God of Discipline and the God of Punishment haven't received any response from their True Gods. Their priests have also lost their divine power. Although these two Gods don't have much of a presence, and are only mortals who ascended to become Quasi Gods, they were both Follower Gods of the God of Asceticism, Tremat. You should understand why they silently perished. "
In ancient myths, meteors were also a sign that a God had fallen. But actually, a meteor might not necessarily be a God's death, but a God's death would definitely result in a meteor … Yep, it was actually a scene where a God's Divine Kingdom and Divine Throne were ablaze as they fell from the sky. Anyone who witnessed such a scene would instinctively know that a God had died. It was just like how the entire world would know if someone ascended to Godhood.
I had never even heard of these two Gods before. I only learned that they were SemiGods who successfully became God Envoys of the Holy Church in the past. They then swore loyalty to the True Gods and became Follower Gods who shared their Divine Concepts and divine power. Their churches were all located within the Holy Church. The God of Discipline would provide heretical judges with divine arts to track down heretics, while the God of Punishment was a master of torture and interrogation. Both of these Gods were incredibly weak Gods, and they were completely Tremat's lackeys, while Tremat was the God of Holy Light's lackey.
"… I heard that, fine, at least on the surface, this incident was caused by the powerful God of Asceticism. His teachings advocate a masochistic lifestyle. He believes that if everyone is thrifty and poor, there won't be any conflicts in the world. He believes that he should wear simple clothing in winter to strengthen his body, and he should eat rice and drink cold water in summer to improve himself through asceticism. Although Tremat is quite famous among the Warrior Monks, his teachings are naturally the mortal enemy of Beyana, who seeks wealth to improve her lifestyle. Of course, the Holy Light bastards are the ones who spread the rumor that this incident was caused by Tremat himself. I feel like the other bastards are also responsible for this incident. They're probably trying to push the blame onto another unlucky bastard who's the perfect scapegoat. "
Solo, the God of Music and Dance, was quite open-minded about this matter. He chatted with me through the bard that he was talking to.
Ever since that incident, Solo had kept in contact with me … Of course, I didn't want to have anything to do with a gay God, but it was indeed necessary for me to obtain information from the higher realms. Not only that, I couldn't directly contact Aillé for everything.
The other God candidates were even more unreliable. I didn't know many Gods at the moment. Mary was a dwarf Goddess, after all, and she spent most of her time in a drunken state. As for Beyana … I wasn't so foolish as to send myself to her doorstep. It seemed that she would automatically enter a berserk state whenever she heard my name.
"Aillé killed him?"
"He directly broke into Tremat's Divine Kingdom and seriously injured him. He killed off two of the Follower Gods who tried to stop him, and even stole his Divine Soul and Divine Concept."
"The other Main Gods didn't react? The Source of Order didn't react either? The Holy War has just begun, and they're already having a civil war? Aillé must've crossed the line this time. "
"Not at all. The Holy Light Faction crossed the line first. The other Main Gods were quite displeased with Aillé's actions. But since Aillé lost a God and Tremat was seriously injured, this matter will end here. Neither side will continue spreading the news."
From a certain standpoint, this was a type of compromise. It was a compromise made with the attention of the other Main Gods and the Source of Order. On the surface, it would seem that the Aillé Faction was at a disadvantage. After all, the Aillé Faction had lost a rare opportunity and reputation. Although the Holy Light Faction had lost two Gods, they were two Follower Gods who were so weak that not many people knew about them. They were completely negligible in the eyes of the Main Gods.
But only I knew that we had actually made a huge profit this time!
"Punishment and Discipline, huh? Aillé really went all out this time. "
These two Divine Concepts weren't much at all. In the current world, Discipline was something that only a few ascetics and devout believers pursued. Punishment was a low-level Concept that couldn't even be mentioned. These two Divine Concepts didn't seem to have much potential.
While these two Divine Concepts weren't valued, the Divine Concept of "Using Ascetic Practices to atone for one's sins so that a pure soul could be brought into the Divine Kingdom" was recognized by all the Gods' churches. The Divine Concept of Ascetic Practices was quite impressive in this world where divine authority was so powerful. In fact, the God of Ascetic Practices was even more powerful than the Goddess of Wealth.
Since ascetics and Warrior Monks were able to obtain powerful combat strength through ascetic practices, the Church of Ascetic Practices was formed by powerful elites who were skilled in combat. This made the "God of Masochism" the incarnation of a powerful God. The end result was that the Divine Concepts of "Punishment" and "Discipline" became extensions of the Concept of Ascetic Practices, which made them even less popular.
It was precisely because Tremat felt that there was no more potential to be discovered that he gave these two Divine Concepts to his own Follower Gods.
"Did Aillé directly steal their Divine Concepts?"
However, only I, Aillé, and a few others knew that "Punishment" and "Discipline" were Divine Concepts that couldn't be obtained in our "Remaking the Hades" plan. In that thick document, there was a list of Gods that needed to be killed as soon as possible, and these two Follower Gods were among them.
If "Punishment" and "Discipline" were Concepts derived from religious practices, they would only be second-rate Concepts among second-rate Concepts. However, if they were Concepts derived from "Law," for example, "Punishment" would be the punishment for breaking the Law, while "Discipline" would be a lower level Concept than Law itself, and "Discipline" could even be derived from the Concepts of "Judicial Discipline" and "Moral Discipline". These two Follower Gods were necessary nourishment for the Throne of Law, as well as the necessary Follower Gods to create the Hell of Hades.
Of course, the aftereffects of this incident hadn't ended yet, or perhaps the higher-level Gods had already come to an agreement. However, as mortals, we would still need to take revenge on the Holy Church, which was also a mortal.
As for those two Divine Concepts that were destined to "suddenly disappear," even though there were likely many who knew about them, I merely nodded and didn't say anything in response to Solo's doubts. Some things were far too important. Even though Solo was a God on our side, I didn't want another person to know about them.
"It would seem that I'll need to hurry up as well … Of course, let's first deal with the important matter at hand. Great Stone Sculptor Ainslo, what else do you have to say?"
Wasn't the incredibly ugly Mother of Ten Thousand Stones who was currently feeling rather uneasy?
When the battle reached a stalemate, I unhesitatingly summoned an ambush. Since Great Stone Sculptor Ainslo had already entered the Forest of Dreams, in a way, she had also joined my side. Of course, I wouldn't forget to bring her, a top-level combat strength, onto the battlefield.
However, the result was that out of the seven Earth Elemental Planes' "Seven Saints," which were all Saint-ranked and above in combat strength, only the youngest, Beifeng Herault, came. However, the result was miraculous … Could it be that the youngest of the Seven Saints was also the most difficult to deal with?
Cough, getting back to the main topic, if we had lost, there would naturally be nothing to say. But now that we had won, we naturally had to take revenge for not listening to orders and running away. Otherwise, if everyone was like this, the morale of the Earth Elemental Planes would collapse, and it would be difficult to lead our troops.
"Milord, I'm truly innocent! You know that we're all Earth Elemental Lords, but the Titan Giants are the children of the earth. We're completely unable to move in front of them! "
Two streams of tears flowed down her cheeks and transformed into diamonds. It would seem that she had quite a bit of carbon in her body … I suddenly recalled the fairy tale about how mermaids' tears turned into pearls. Pearls were mainly composed of calcium carbonate. Mermaids were able to turn their tears into pearls because they had too much gypsum in their tear ducts, or were they mystical creatures that ate rocks as food?
It seemed that only crocodiles ate rocks in the natural world. Although they ate rocks to help with digestion, crocodiles were also amphibious. Could it be that mermaids' true identity was actually a crocodile that had become sentient?
Cough, cough, it seemed that I had accidentally ruined my childhood again. Getting back to the main topic, about the old fossil mermaid … er, the Stone Mother, I'll talk about it some other time.
I've accepted all the diamonds that she dripped. I'll see if I can sell them for some money later … It's not that I'm being stingy, it's that I've been robbed far too cleanly recently. When I find the bastard that stole my money, I'll definitely … What? I've gone off-topic again? Alright then, I'll talk about how to make a living next time. Let's get back to the main topic.
Ainslo's tears kept flowing, but I directly treated them as crocodile tears. I wasn't an idiot. Although the Titan Giants were known as the children of the earth, the Winged Tribe was also known as the children of the sky, and the elves were known as the children of nature and the children of the forest. Actually, they were all just trying to make themselves look good.
What did it matter? The Titan Giants weren't elemental creatures. They only acknowledged that the earth gave birth to them and that they were natural creations, not that some God had created them. If the Titan Giants really had anything to do with the earth element, Ömdiroken wouldn't have been the Earth Elemental God to begin with.
"Unable to move in front of the Titan Giants? Hmph, I think that you all know that the Titan Giants are your opponents, so you don't dare to fight at all. "
Ainslo didn't reply. She also stopped crying. It would seem that even she felt that this act was rather boring.
This ugly Earth Elemental Lord that seemed short and short was actually a peer of Ömdiroken's generation. She was much older than most True Gods. Perhaps she had even seen the complete form of the Titan Giants before. In that case, it was completely understandable that she was so scared of fighting. Even if she was capable of fighting against the Titan Giants' incarnations, she would still be worried that the complete form of the Titan Giants would come looking for her. And with her blocking the Titan Giants, how could the other "Great Saints" possibly dare to fight?
Thinking up to this point, I playfully sized up this short and fat ancient Stone Mother. Perhaps her power level wasn't much compared to the top-level combat strength, but her information about the Immemorial Era and the Immemorial Era was perhaps even more important than herself.
Of course, it would be quite difficult to directly ask her about these things. But from a certain standpoint, the Stone Mother that had lost my trust was also losing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"Before I figure out certain things, I still can't talk to her about that matter."
Originally, I had intended to talk to her about repairing the Earth Elemental Throne and making a new Earth Elemental Lord the Earth Elemental God. However, such a sly and self-centered Earth Elemental Lord becoming the Earth Elemental God wouldn't be a good thing for us.
As long as a new Earth Elemental God was created, it would naturally greatly slow down the Titan Giants' revival. The Earth Elemental God's creation required two conditions: a sufficiently powerful Earth Elemental Lord and the Earth Elemental Throne. According to what I knew, the Great Stone Sculptor Ainslo before me was the Earth Elemental Lord closest to becoming the Earth Elemental God. However, the Earth Elemental Throne's shard had been stolen by two people. One was me, and the other was …
"Beifeng, what do you say? Your brothers and sisters are all so unkind. I didn't mistreat them at all. Don't you think it's a bit too much for them to run away when they're needed? "
Back then, the Sand Worm King that Beifeng had tamed had destroyed the Earth Elemental Throne. A portion of the Earth Elemental Throne's shard had definitely fallen into Beifeng's hands. Those shards were supposed to be his spoils of war, but it was likely that Beifeng would need to exchange them with Beifeng in the future.
This question wouldn't be easy to answer. It was quite obvious that the Forest of Dreams was beneficial to the Earth Elemental Lords. I wasn't making things up. While I was asking Beifeng, I was staring at Ainslo, forcing her to give me an answer.
Beifeng also knew what was going on. He simply continued to tease the white lion and didn't reply. Meanwhile, Ainslo herself remained silent.
However, she also knew that she wouldn't be able to fool Beifeng like this. In the end, she would have to make a decision.
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