"Hmm! The Goddess of Wealth, the God of Justice, and the Goddess of the
What surprised Lei Lin even more was that among the besiegers, he spotted a faction he was relatively unfamiliar with.
They wore immaculate full-body armor topped with crimson cloaks. On the breast of their armor and the back of their cloaks was a massive golden eye that never closed, its border studded with gems and framed by intricate gold threadwork that gleamed with dazzling splendor.
"Armor imbued with Continual Flame, and that emblem—are you priests of Helm?"
The power of his divinity flickered to life, and his immense Killing Field washed over the surroundings, causing the onlookers' expressions to change dramatically.
"False God!"
The word was spat from the mouth of a Helm priest across the way. Immediately, layer after layer of radiant light emanated from the eye on his chest, subtly matching Lei Lin's divine pressure and even countering it.
Helm held the divine portfolio of Protection, and his church's foremost mission was to combat false-god worship and distinguish true deities from imposters. Naturally, they possessed unique experience and advantages when it came to confronting divinity-bearing individuals and even demigods.
"Strike down the worship of False
The Helm priest's face radiated devout fervor. Along with the warriors and priests of Helm's temple, he prayed, his features blazing with the radiance of a pilgrim's ecstasy as he surged forward.
BOOM!
A torrent of power howled through the air, coalescing into a massive golden eye. Its pupil locked firmly onto Lei Lin, even reflecting his shadow within.
「Ding! Subject has been detected as locked. Currently in a state of divine-force lock. All Field abilities reduced by 20%! Marked by the God of Protection! Exact location will be pinpointed once every three hours! Purge the mark?」
The Chip's voice sounded simultaneously, and Lei Lin's expression darkened at once.
"Truly worthy of a church specifically devoted to hunting False Gods—their preparations are this thorough…"
A confident smile played across Lei Lin's face, but inwardly he commanded: "Prepare to purge! Wait for my signal before acting! Maintain observation mode for now!"
As for why the Church of Helm had come to besiege him, Lei Lin felt not the slightest bit of surprise.
After all, the eradication of false gods was their sacred duty. All it took was a whisper of Lei Lin's whereabouts, and those fanatical Helm priests would come rushing in, provisions in hand, eager to join the fray.
"I just didn't expect that the initial bait would draw out this many enemies at once… It seems the gods are either wary of my existence, or certain prophecies have set them on edge?"
"Jeffreys! You'll have to answer for what just happened!"
A priestess of the Goddess of the Weave stepped forward. Silver hair cascaded over her shoulders, and golden light swirled within her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Lei Lin — the way one would look at a dead man.
"Hmph!"
Jeffreys answered her with a cold snort of his own. Legendary powerhouses all carried their own pride — how could any of them truly humble themselves and act as someone's lapdog? Moreover, Jeffreys served the Goddess of Wealth, Waukeen, and had absolutely no connection to the Goddess of the Weave.
"My offer stands the same as before! Defeat me today, and I'll turn around and leave on the spot!"
Jeffreys leveled his long spear at Lei Lin, his brazenness turning the nearby priestess of the Goddess of the Weave red with fury.
"Forgive me! Before all of this — might I ask who exactly orchestrated this affair?"
Lei Lin interjected at that moment.
"It is the will of our Goddess!" Despite her flushed face, the priestess admitted it all the same.
This was something Lei Lin hadn't quite expected.
If the Church of Helm had discovered his identity as a False God and mobilized against him, or if the Goddess of Wealth had coveted the riches of Pharaon Island and Bankes Island and found Lei Lin an obstacle, or if the righteous God of Justice had been prodded into action by Bendt's scheming — none of that would have exceeded his expectations.
What left him puzzled was that the Goddess of the Weave, the one with the least connection to him of all, now seemed to be the one who feared him the most.
"Could it be… that the gods' power of foresight is truly this formidable?"
In that instant, Lei Lin thought of his twelfth-level arcane spell — the Avatar of Karsus! In terms of actual power, he didn't even qualify as a lesser deity, so he couldn't truly pose any great harm to the gods mentioned above.
Yet the one thing he had at his disposal was this heaven-defying spell. Once activated, it would immediately usurp the power of the Goddess of the Weave, causing her utter annihilation!
Furthermore, at the moment the Weave was shattered, the many ancient Wizards' wills sealed within its core would also break free, dragging the entire World of the Gods back into the Ancient Final War.
"She must have sensed that once I grew powerful enough, I would pose an enormous threat to her — so she didn't hesitate to strike first?"
For the Goddess of the Weave to have directly foreseen the existence of the Avatar of Karsus was all but impossible. The only explanation was that she had sensed Lei Lin would bring her immense danger!
And when faced with the threat of an ant, any normal person's reaction would naturally be to crush it underfoot as soon as possible!
Clearly, that was exactly what the Goddess of the Weave had done — and with the northern regions tying down a large portion of her forces, she had apparently roped in quite a few helpers as well.
Under the circumstances today, Lei Lin was quite likely to perish.
"If I didn't still have contingencies and backup plans, this would be extremely troublesome..."
Lei Lin's mind raced through hundreds of millions of calculations in an instant, numerous possibilities surfacing one after another.
"And when I'm finally driven to desperation, I would inevitably risk using the Avatar of Karsus — at least that would offer some chance of survival... Therefore, the
Lei Lin had a strong premonition that his whereabouts this time, and the enormous threat he carried, had very likely been leaked by the Distorted Shadow.
After all, as an ancient peak eighth-level
And with the Distorted Shadow's power of distortion, presenting the "truth" before the Goddess — perhaps just a few clues — would naturally be effortless.
If the process was too complex and the reasoning too convoluted, one need only examine the objective and the beneficiary — screening through them repeatedly would inevitably reveal the truth.
And after reasoning it through, Lei Lin instantly realized that there was a very high probability the Distorted Shadow had been pulling strings behind the scenes.
"If it's them, then the Shadow City can't be used freely either... Contingency Plan Three, abandoned!"
"So then, who's coming first?"
The crimson-gold Flame Totem Staff materialized before him, its immense magical energy forming wave upon wave of tides that drained the faces of the numerous besiegers of all color.
"Our church has set up formations in the valley specifically designed to counter [False Gods]! He cannot fully unleash the power of his Field here! His channel of faith with his believers will be weakened to the extreme! And he still bears the lock of our Lord! Ah..."
The priest of Helm jumped out and declared all this, but then immediately clutched his eyes and screamed in agony.
Just moments ago, Lei Lin had instructed the Chip to purge Helm's divine mark, triggering the collapse of that golden eye in the void — and the backlash had apparently reached these priests as well.
"Ha ha! Good! Now that's the kind of opponent I want!"
And as he lunged forward, hairline black lines appeared around the Holy Light lance, tearing the void to shreds.
On another side, Bendt appeared to be manipulating some sort of formation, with massive beasts the size of small hills crawling out of the gray mist, while the Legendary Mage on yet another flank seemed to be preparing some kind of Legendary spell.
"This is what I prepared especially for you..."
Bendt's face flushed an unnatural red. With a wave of his hand, several gray-mist behemoths roared and charged at Relin, the row of inverted barbs along their backs glowing with a bloodthirsty light.
"Let it have some fun with you first!"
Drawing on the combined strength of four churches — even if only a fraction — the killing formation they had assembled was enough to make the entire Material World tremble.
But faced with an attack that could nearly slay a god, Relin's expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Chirp chirp!!!" He tossed the staff in his hand into the air, where it immediately manifested as a totem of a fiery bird that crashed headlong into the gray-mist behemoths.
"The Holy Temple Lance? Something to be proud of?"
Relin's eyes fixed on the lance shadow that had teleported toward him, contempt swimming in his pupils. He waved his hand casually, and two spells — nearly instant-cast — collided with the lance tip trailing black fissures.
—[Grand Disjunction!]
—[Shattering Palm!]
Crack! Crack! Under the power of the Disjunction, the long lance in Jefferies' hands shattered instantly. Then a colossal golden palm slammed into him, sending him flying. His chest caved in with a sickening crunch, blood surging forth.
"That's a Legendary spell! and it was instant-cast?!"
The Legendary Mage who had come alongside the Church of the Goddess of Magic stared at Relin's instant-cast Legendary spell, then looked down at the pile of materials in his own hands and the half-prepared ultimate technique, and his face turned grayer than a dead man's.
"I'm washing my hands of this!"
As a mage, he understood better than anyone what it meant for the other party to instant-cast Legendary spells. After weighing the costs against the benefits, he made his decision without hesitation.
A spatial gate opened. The Legendary Mage grabbed his apprentice and ducked through it in a flash, flashing Relin a few hand signs — the mage's gesture for "no hard feelings."
"You..."
The remaining priestess of the Goddess of the Weave watched the Legendary Mage's sudden departure, her face spasming as she nearly coughed up blood.
She had long known those Legendary Mages had little in the way of faith, but she never imagined they would stoop to this degree!
In truth, there was nothing they could do about it. At least the man had shown up and gone through the motions. And given a Legendary Mage's web of connections, touching any one of them would spark turmoil within the church.
"Damn it all — if the Goddess's incarnation were here, I'd like to see anyone dare pull something like this..."
The priestess clenched her teeth in reluctant frustration, yet there was nothing she could do.