While most Players would assume that Edward was the commander of the event, it was not officially acknowledged by the God of Games (the God of Games). Even the Knights of the Round Table, the most authoritative leader of the God of Games, were not universally acknowledged by the Players due to their short history.
That was why some Players would choose to go solo or not participate in the event.
For example, Terry and Jom.
They had never been at the Crookes survivor camp in the first place, and had instead gone off to investigate the origins of the undead high elves, getting to know Kristina, an executor of the Church of Glory in the process.
Then, as the hill-folk attacked, Kristina was fooled by Terry and Jom into believing that the hill-folk were intent on invading the Valla Empire, killing and pillaging — after all, banditry was one of the hill-folk's original jobs.
After ascertaining that a large number of hill-folk were approaching Valla, even startling the beasts and magical creatures in the mountains into migrating en masse, Kristina promptly ran back to the Temple of Glory to report her findings.
While Valla was not a religious nation of the Temple of Glory, the Temple of Glory had been operating in Valla for many years and had deep roots, and was second only to the Brilliant White Church among the many religions.
Moreover, since the Temple of Glory could not beat the Brilliant White Church when it came to scheming and political warfare, most of the cities that the Temple of Glory had set up base in were border cities, which were the first to suffer the hill-folk's actions.
Watching as their base in the Valla Empire was attacked, and with the dissatisfaction that the hill-folk were not splitting the spoils with them, the old and new grudges piled on top of each other. Hence, the short-tempered bunch of the Temple of Glory promptly dispatched the wyvern knights and a sizable sacred corps led by Kristina.
After Kaven Mor, the Mountain Shaman, told him about the information and was pinned to the top of the forums by the God of Games, Terry and Jom immediately began to consciously guide Kristina, having her lead a surprise attack on one of the two remaining hill-folk settlements!
While the Temple of Glory's party did not outnumber the hill-folk, they outnumbered the Players. Moreover, both the wyvern knights and the sacred corps were regular troops, and every one of them was a fighter who worshipped the God of War. One could imagine how powerful they were.
Moreover, unlike the Players, the sacred corps of the Temple of Glory had no need to capture the hill-folk alive, and would kill them on sight.
Even the hill-folk strengthened by the Lord of the Peaks were no match for the Sacred Corps of the Temple of Glory, and were left in a mess in just a few blows. Even the hill-folk chieftain who was a superior class like the Hill Shaman was unable to help, and with their divine spell levels not much different, the chieftain was beheaded in two moves by the Wyvern Knights' commander and hung on his dragon lance as a show of force.
The rest of the natives were dumbfounded. Their boss was dead, what were they supposed to do?
Thus, they were completely slaughtered without the ability to fight back, reduced to small groups of refugees, and rapidly reduced under the encirclement of the Temple of Glory's Holy Army.
"Temple of Temples, Of Glory, Temple of War?"
Terry couldn't help sighing as he watched as the hill-folk swept towards them in high spirits, before crashing into the sacred corps' formation and scattering like waves crashing into a breakwater, before running away like stray dogs with their tails between their legs. "And here I thought they were noobs."
"They are noobs in a one-on-one fight, but their collective ability would improve greatly in an army …" Jom said as he observed. "According to what Miss Christina told me, the God of War is not just the God of War, but also has the authority of the God of War. That is why after setting up a specific formation, the ability of everyone in the formation would improve greatly."
Moreover, unlike the hill-folk who were injected with hormones by their own gods, causing their physical strength and speed to skyrocket but unable to control it, the sacred army of the Temple of Glory had clearly practiced all kinds of battle formations frequently and cooperated with each other in perfect harmony. They also did not lose control due to the increase in their physical abilities, suggesting that they were probably very familiar with such situations. 520
It would have been fine if there was a level suppression, but if a hundred sacred corps of the Temple of Glory were to clash with a hundred Players of the same level, the Players might be the ones at a disadvantage.
And how many of such well-trained sacred corps did the Temple of Glory have, even if they were known for their belligerence?
Either way, the fact that they could casually bring out over a thousand meant that the numbers behind them must be astonishing.
"The Temple of Glory's resources must be frightening to be able to become the second largest church." Jom sighed. "As expected, we shouldn't underestimate any church."
"It's better to leave that for after the event. Let's go, or the hill-folk would be completely wiped out, and we'll be in trouble if we don't have enough contribution points." Terry said, drawing his longsword.
They had led the Temple of Glory into a conflict with the hill-folk, which in turn meant that they had taken a lot of pressure off the Crookes survivor camp and bought themselves more time. That was why they would earn contribution points, although there was no telling how much they would earn.
"You're right. Let's do it!"
Jom naturally understood that they had to kill as many as they could to be on the safe side. Since they were surrounded by members of the Temple of Glory, they couldn't capture the hill-folk alive, or it would be troublesome if they were questioned by the Temple of Glory.
He raised his wand, and the silhouette of a huge geoduck appeared behind him.
☆
After mysteriously receiving help from the Temple of Glory to wipe out one line of enemies, Edward naturally arranged for most of the Players in that line to move to the other line, leaving only a few to guard the base and deal a heavy blow to the hill-folk.
The hill-folk in the third line were already feeling the pressure from the Players' desperate attempts to stop them, and now that they received support from the other line, the Players in that line immediately relaxed, while the pressure on the hill-folk grew even greater.
Finally, after Mufasa failed to capture the enemy leader alive and accidentally hacked him to death, the hill-folk in the third line completely collapsed.
The onslaught of the Lord of the Peaks' cultists was thus curtailed with such haste.
At the same time, even the Players who were stationed outside the Sky Horizon had gained something. Some of the hill-folk in smaller settlements had tried various methods to sneak in, but were easily seen through and caught by the Players — what were they doing swinging around with that huge red bar over their heads!?
One of the Lord of the Peaks' cultists who were fearless of death had attempted to break through the Players' blockade and climb the Sky Horizon with all their might.
Because of a moment of carelessness, the players had almost fallen into their trap.
