Looking back on the hardships of the journey, and the ease of this return, even
"It is all the protection of my lord
Thinking of this, Aya could not help but tighten her grip on the sacred emblem in her hand and began to pray silently.
"Mmm! The royal capital of the Sakacatz Empire! If we could take that city and offer the entire thing to my lord…"
The thought spread through
This was not because she was overly greedy, but because the journey had simply been far too smooth!
Although she had set out with fewer than ten thousand troops from Hope Fortress, along the way there had been no shortage of disease-ridden natives weeping and begging to join, and even entire formations of the empire's armies had defected.
Once word came through certain covert channels confirming the outcome of that divine war, even the upper nobility of the Sakacatz Empire had begun to waver.
The result was that Barbara's great army had pushed forward with effortless ease, even reaching the outskirts of the enemy's capital without drawing blood — along the way, to obtain sufficient 'holy water' and the blessings of the Feathered Serpent God, native refugees had eagerly taken on all manner of menial labor, and the few instances of resistance that did arise were swiftly suppressed by the defecting auxiliary forces.
Barbara, keenly aware that Hope Fortress was short on population, accepted every refugee and soldier who asked to join without hesitation, and in a remarkably short time had swelled her original force fivefold! She now commanded some fifty thousand native troops, along with additional refugees.
Tifa had originally been quite worried about spies infiltrating their ranks, but it seemed the natives harbored no such intentions. Instead, the sheer enormity of their numbers had placed tremendous strain on the chain of command and logistics. One mishap after another had erupted.
And the Sakacatz Empire, seemingly destined for ruin this time, could not even bring such a bloated force to heel.
The string of victories that followed had naturally fanned the flames of Barbara's ambition.
"Once we take the city of Dure ahead, the royal capital will have lost all its barriers…"
Barbara was silently calculating to herself when she was startled to see chaos erupt in the distant city, with thick black flames and howling winds carrying faintly toward them.
"Report!"
A Knight came galloping in, evidently bearing some urgent military matter.
"Let him through!" Barbara waved her hand, and the guards who had been blocking the Knight immediately parted.
"Holy Maiden, several of Dure's chieftains have joined forces to launch a rebellion — they have already seized complete control of the city and have agreed to abandon their former faith, welcoming the Feathered Serpent God — provided we send them holy water as soon as possible! They also hope we will dispatch someone to take control of the city in its current state of chaos…"
"Forward!"
Barbara nodded and issued the order.
At first, this kind of scene had excited her, but after seeing it so many times, she had grown numb to it.
Moreover, deep down she felt a faint disappointment at losing the opportunity to earn merit.
However, at this moment, she had more important things to do.
Taking over the city had gone very smoothly. Under the threat of survival, instances of feigned surrender were rare. Barbara simply followed her prior experience—she dispatched a contingent to assist with firefighting, and after meeting with the few chieftains and assuring them that holy water would definitely be supplied, the entirety of Dure City had basically fallen under her control.
The reason she said "basically" was that the altars and priests still remained. They constituted the last pocket of resistance within the entire city.
Battles between faiths were far more terrifying and ferocious than those of the mortal world. Therefore, Barbara pressed on without pause and led her forces to the vicinity of the altar.
"Holy Maiden, the altars here enshrine the two Pseudo-
One of the chieftains who had previously defected led the way in front. His face was full of obsequious smiles, and after switching allegiance, their original totem spirits had immediately been reclassified as Pseudo-Gods. Even if Linley were present, he would have to marvel at how pragmatic humans could be.
"I understand. Leave the rest to the Church!"
Barbara looked at the altar that had clearly been fortified into a defensive installation, and her attractive brows furrowed slightly.
She felt a measure of disgust toward these chieftains' betrayal, but she had no choice but to accept them as an example for others.
After the sudden loss of two Demigods, the priests of Dure City could no longer meet the demands of treating the plague. Staying would certainly mean death. A betrayal made in the name of survival was, in Barbara's view, entirely understandable.
However, the fact that they had left behind a force of resistance made things rather troublesome.
"Have the Church's warriors come forward!" After circling the defensive works once, Barbara finally recognized the reality that the enemy's elite forces were formidable as well, and she dispatched her own elites in turn.
Among the natives, there existed extraordinary profession holders as well. The most classic examples were the Jungle Hunters and the Amazon Warriors, who had previously caused a small amount of trouble for
The ones currently entrenched in the altar were mostly practitioners of these professions as well.
However, after establishing the Church of the Giant Serpent, Linley—who now commanded a vast native populace—had also begun building the Church's own armed forces.
At this moment, a group of lean-bodied warriors, bare-chested, displaying terrifying demonic tattoos on their skin, arrived before Barbara.
"Holy Mother! God's warriors are at your command!"
"Excellent! Warriors of our Lord! Drive out the last filth of the false god with your fury!"
Barbara stood at the forefront and issued the order to attack.
The moment the rallying cry went out, the native warriors underwent a dramatic transformation—they roared in unison, their muscles swelling and bulging until they had become near-giants in an instant.
Divine light blazed across their bodies one by one, carrying the unique radiance of the Feathered Serpent God.
Under that brilliant illumination, the demonic tattoos on the natives' skin seemed to writhe with a life of their own, and an evil gleam shot from the eyes tattooed upon them.
Certain abilities exclusive to demons were also bestowed upon these native warriors.
"Our God is supreme! Kill!"
These tattooed warriors charged forward without a single moment's hesitation, and a tsunami-like wave of impact immediately erupted around the altar.
"The number of our Lord's warriors has grown as well…"
Barbara's face carried a look of satisfaction as she and the other priests bestowed divine blessings upon the warriors.
Both priests and armed forces were essential to any church—for example,
Drawing on the realities of Bankz Island and his own circumstances, and especially utilizing the Chip's simulations and calculations, Linley had established a brand-new class system for his own church—the Demon Hunter!
As the name implied, any class practitioner who advanced down this path would gain a keen sense for detecting demons and the unique tracking abilities of a hunter.
Moreover, by activating the demonic runes on their bodies, they could even obtain bloodline abilities akin to those of demons!
This class, combining bloodline powers with martial prowess, was indeed formidable, but it came with a drawback—the mental fortitude required of its practitioners was extraordinarily high!
And the agony endured during the branding of the demonic runes was truly nightmarish.
Fortunately, Linley currently had no shortage of manpower. Sifting gradually through the three hundred thousand natives to find a few thousand Demon Hunters was no problem at all.
Within this class system, Linley had also deliberately built in a failsafe.
If a hunter could capture a true demon and seal it within his own body, that hunter would obtain the majority of the demon's powers—and even experience a rank-up in level!
Only hunters who had sealed a demon within their bodies could truly be called [Demon Hunters]!
For reasons of his own, Linley's stance toward demons could only be described as one of mortal enmity at the very least—blood feud would not have been an exaggeration.
He had developed this class precisely for the purpose of dealing with the other demons on the continent. Aside from the cultists of
Moreover, dedicating oneself to combating demons was absolute "political correctness" among the divine factions of the continent, and no one could raise any objections.
Barbara naturally had no inkling of all these thoughts running through Linley's mind. At this moment, she was still marveling at the astonishing combat strength of these [Demon Hunters].
Those who had retreated into the temple and altar to make their stand were undoubtedly die-hard fanatics of the False God—there was no need to distinguish among them; outright slaughter would suffice.
By the time the interior of the altar had been purged and Barbara stepped into the main hall with a solemn expression, the green-tiled floor had already been stained red layer upon layer with blood—yet even she saw nothing amiss.
For these natives, plundering everything from the vanquished—including their very lives—was practically a matter of natural law.
At the center of the altar there still stood an obsidian statue of a warrior riding a war chariot, though the horses pulling it had long since been blown to fragments days ago.
Hummm!
As if sensing that it had been desecrated, a terrifying pressure radiated outward from the divine statue of the founding emperor Akban.
"Hmph! [False God]!"
At this, Barbara merely cast a contemptuous glance at this once-emperor and tightened her grip on the holy emblem in her hand.
"My lord, Feathered Serpent God Kukulkan! Grant me your strength!"
Divine radiance unique to Linley burst forth from the holy emblem. A flash of white light, and the immense pressure that had been bearing down vanished instantly—even a few new cracks appeared on the divine statue opposite.
"Destroy the divine statue! And everything else connected to it must be 'purified'!"
Barbara issued the command with a solemn expression.
In short order, countless divine statues, holy emblems, ritual implements, books, and even the murals plastered upon the walls were pried loose and slowly burned to ash in the flames.