Chapter 429: Crusaders
The first-generation Blacksmith God undead in Gu Nan's impression wasn't this strong.
Although he hadn't personally done this mission before, it was impossible for him to make a mistake in judging the minimum player level required for this quest—this was the basic ability of a top player.
At least in the walkthroughs he saw in his past life, he'd never heard of this mission requiring a player's battle strength to reach Tier 9 or even higher.
That's right. This dark giant's combat power was already close to Tier 9.
The first Blacksmith God wasn't just a great blacksmith; he also possessed power that matched his level and was a veritable Tier 10 god.
After his death at the hands of the second-generation God of Death, he was successfully turned into an undead creature by this first-ever necromancer, and his strength also declined compared to when he was alive.
After all, it was impossible for the undead to possess any laws, so the undead was relying solely on the physical body left behind by the Blacksmith God to fight.
Fortunately, it was the corpse of the Blacksmith God. If it was any other god, their undead version would most likely be even weaker.
But on the flip side, even if it was the first Blacksmith God, this undead giant was still too overpowered—to be able to fight on even ground with Karina meant it would be very difficult for almost any player to kill him.
"You... You lured Lewis over as well?" David stared at Gu Nan with wide eyes, completely flummoxed by Gu Nan's actions.
'Even if this person doesn't fear powerful gods, there's still no need to voluntarily provoke them, right? What good would this do him?'
Gu Nan remained silent, or perhaps he couldn't be bothered to explain to David—after all, the latter no longer had any use. Instead, his gaze landed on the dark giant.
What was the benefit of luring Lewis over? Of course there were benefits, the biggest one being accumulating enough damage output.
The skin of the Blacksmith God undead was even tougher than expected. Gu Nan even tried a few attacks himself, but neither his fists nor the sword of shadows inflicted deep damage on the dark giant.
He briefly estimated that it would take him at least half a day to kill this powerful undead—the damage from Karina was basically negligible.
But if he caused such a big commotion in Atalante, he was afraid he would attract the attention of everyone in the World of Gods. By that time, everyone will know that there is a peculiar existence called Gu Nan.
He had no intention of exposing himself on such a large scale before he advanced to Tier 9 or even Tier 10.
"Let's go." So Gu Nan stood up and repelled the pouncing giant with a single punch before grabbing Karina's shoulder.
Karina still couldn't get enough of the fight; it had been a long time since she stumbled upon an opponent she could fight to her heart's content.
The two of them had met their match—neither could kill the other.
"You can leave if you want!" Karina refused rudely. She wasn't Gu Nan's subordinate. She didn't even fear Lewis, so she certainly didn't take orders from Gu Nan.
Gu Nan also didn't bring up Austin to pressure her. The fact that this Wrestling Goddess wanted to stay behind and fight wouldn't hinder his plans.
So with a shrug, Gu Nan's figure quickly disappeared.
...
In the east.
Daoist Lingyang was sitting calmly in his tent, issuing orders as the general. He was actually mobilizing soldiers and horses to quickly set out, attacking cities at an astonishing speed and quickly seizing the Dark Empire's territory.
And the banner they fought under was none other than the Church of Light, as well as gods of the Light Faction.
The Church of Light's banner was still very useful. The Dark Empire only recently unified the continent, and to say it had gained more popularity in territories that originally belonged to the Church of Light was obviously impossible.
As a matter of fact, a few decades ago, the Church of Light was far stronger than the Dark Empire on the continent of Atalante.
To a large extent, the reason the empire ultimately emerged victorious was thanks to the Dark Warrior Goro. This newly-ascended god's rise to power was basically the Dark Empire's path to victory.
So when Daoist Lingyang's people captured those territories, they won the support of the local populace almost effortlessly, amassing even more power.
This army that started in the east had gathered an enormous force in a very short time, snowballing like a prairie fire.
At least within the Eastern realm, they already had the ability to threaten the empire's rule.
Of course, as more and more former soldiers of the Church of Light joined, it wasn't without some problems.
For example, at this very moment, Maria was surrounded by several blond-haired, blue-eyed former Crusader commanders in white armor.
"Lady Maria, how can the Holy Church's army be commanded by an outsider?" One of them protested righteously. The armor on his body was the most worn out. Clearly, he didn't have an easy time in the post Holy War era.
This man's name was Ramiro. He was originally the commander of the Third Crusader Regiment and one of the top ten bigshots in the Church of Light. He hurriedly rushed over as soon as he received news of the Church of Light's resurgence.
But Ramiro didn't see a single Crusader when he arrived, and he himself was quickly placed under house arrest, his treatment completely lacking the expected courtesy and military authority he deserved.
"Lord Ramiro, I can understand your feelings." Maria showed a helpless look as she tried to placate the people around her, "But all the troops here are that... Daoist priest's people. There's nothing we can do about that."
"Daoist priest" was a bit of a mouthful for these natives, but Daoist Lingyang insisted that he be addressed as such.
"Perhaps that was true at first." A proud look appeared on Ramiro's face. "But it's different now. Many of My Lord's followers have rejoined us, so how can the army still be under that person's control?"
"That's right. He wants to use the Holy Church's name to recruit people easily, yet he doesn't want us to intervene in military matters. How can there be such a good thing?" Another commander beside him also chimed in supportively.
Lady Maria's eyebrows were knitted together. To be honest, she also wanted to revive the Holy Church's glory and didn't want to be taken advantage of by someone who was clearly just using their flag.
However, the forces resisting the Dark Empire had just picked up a bit of steam right now, so she really didn't want any internal conflicts to occur.
After thinking for a long time, Maria sighed softly and relented, "Tell you what, I'll take you guys to meet the Daoist priest."
When they met Daoist Lingyang, the latter was reading a document, his expression one of deep thought. Nobody knew what he was pondering.
Maria explained her group's intention, and to her surprise, Daoist Lingyang didn't show any dissatisfaction. Instead, he laughed and said, "No problem. This humble Daoist just happens to be up to my ears in work and needs some help."
He spread out a map in front of the crowd and pointed to one spot. "I just received word that a very powerful undead creature has appeared here, so why don't a few of the commanders lead the army to exterminate it?"
Maria wasn't familiar with military affairs and could only look back at Ramiro.
Ramiro and his several companions glanced at each other and instantly spoke, "With honor. What is the exact location we are going to?"
"The Garden of Spirits."
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