Chapter 51: Chapter 46: Faith Bombardment
Luh Yao convinced himself.
He shot up from his bed, threw on a shirt, and sat down at his computer desk. To keep himself awake, Luh Yao gripped the [Energy Staff] and had Xiaohuo pour him a cup of extra-strong instant coffee.
Time passed, bit by bit.
Seeing the yellow pixel blocks in the desert slowly turn into green grassland, Luh Yao finally started to relax.
Planting a forest was much harder than killing monsters and leveling up.
Just then, he suddenly discovered that the Tree People had actually produced their first offspring—a small Tree Person.
...
[Tree Person LV1]
Life Value: 50/50
Mana Value: 5/5
Damage: 1
Defense: 3
Speed: 1
[Thick Hide]
Innately possesses a high Life Value.
[Self-Reproduction]
Can give birth to new offspring.
[Leaf Shooting LV1]
Fires leaves to attack enemies from a distance.
[Rebirth LV1]
Continuously restores Life Value when it rains.
[Forest Element LV1]
A Forest Elemental Creature, it helps forests grow quickly. All of its attributes are boosted within a forest. The effect depends on its ability level and Life Value.
...
Although it was only level 1, the small Tree Person had perfectly inherited all of its parent’s abilities.
The small Tree Person stood motionlessly in the desert. If not for the [Tree Person] title above its head, it would have been indistinguishable from the surrounding saplings.
By 3:30 AM, thanks to Luh Yao’s tireless use of the afforestation [Miracle], the history of the southern desert had finally come to an end. The long, yellow strip of land was completely restored into a forest.
The entire afforestation project cost a total of about 3,100 Faith.
With this, the Garlic Tribe would be surrounded by vast forests to the north, south, and west—and the forest was the home turf of Forest Elemental Creatures. The Tree People would serve as the best stationary turrets inside, while the four Striped Lynxes would act as a mobile guerrilla army.
A moment later, a giant golden leaf slowly materialized on the screen.
A line of text appeared on the golden leaf.
"O Pioneer who follows, since you are willing to protect the forest, the Golden Field shall open for you. Go, and claim the treasure I have left behind."
"But remember this: should you ever forsake the forest, the Golden Field will be closed to you forever."
In his excitement, Luh Yao smashed his toe into the corner of the desk, hissing in pain.
Painful as it was, the pain only proved that this was all real.
’The legendary [Golden Field], a Main God Space... I actually found it.’
The text on the golden leaf vanished, replaced by a map.
Between a forest and a high mountain range lay a lake, where a golden leaf symbol was marked.
Luh Yao immediately hit the hotkey to take a screenshot.
Then he took a closer look and realized the place the map was pointing to seemed a little familiar.
After repeatedly comparing it to the surrounding environment, the smile on Luh Yao’s face froze.
The location of the [Golden Field] was none other than the Salt Pool Tribe’s castle!
Luh Yao realized this was no coincidence.
The [Whistleblower] must have also discovered the location of the [Golden Field], so He directly established a garrisoned castle there and had the level 60 Blood Knight block the entrance.
The [Whistleblower] couldn’t possibly meet the Forest God’s requirements, so He couldn’t open this Main God Space Himself. But He also wouldn’t let other Apprentice Deities—who were still under novice protection—have the chance to inherit the Forest God’s legacy. That much was easy to understand.
This gave Luh Yao a bit of a headache.
The treasure vault was within arm’s reach, but it was blocked by an unbeatable, insane boss.
It was like having an itchy welt on your arm that you couldn’t scratch or press a cross into with your fingernail.
A reckless resolve took root in Luh Yao’s heart.
He glanced at the top-right corner of his screen. He still had over 8,000 Faith Value.
This ammunition could fire 400 [Lightning] strikes.
Luh Yao had tested it before. A single lightning strike could inflict 40 points of damage on a pixel unit, which was exactly double its Faith Value cost.
This divine Miracle dealt true damage, bypassing any known defenses of the pixel units. They could only endure it head-on, and the Blood Knight was no exception.
The Blood Knight’s Life Value was 3,850. This meant that, theoretically, as long as he didn’t heal, 97 [Lightning] strikes would be enough to empty his health bar.
The cost in Faith would be 1,925.
The potential problem was that it was impossible to know if the Blood Knight had a second form or something similar.
If his health bar was depleted only for him to enter a Tier Two Transformation, or even a Tier Three Form, the entire plan would need to be re-evaluated.
Luh Yao asked Isabel for her opinion.
As a combatant, she was more familiar with the Blood Knight’s situation.
Isabel, however, offered a different perspective. "My Lord, we don’t actually need to kill the Blood Knight. We just need to get his health low enough to put him in an extremely weakened state. Then, the [Evil Bone Whistle] will work."
"We can use that artifact to subdue and control the Blood Knight."
Luh Yao slapped his forehead.
’I almost forgot about that artifact.’
...
[Evil Bone Whistle]: Faith +2/hour.
An artifact created by the Whistleblower. Blowing it allows the user to control monsters and beasts that have lost their minds.
...
With the battle plan set, Luh Yao gave the order to proceed.
Isabel re-entered the castle from the west.
There were no Corrupters to be seen inside the castle, only bloodstains covering the ground.
Deep underground, the Blood Knight, Necied, was crouched on the floor, gnawing on the corpse of a Corrupter. The words [Chaos], [Weakness], and [Skinner’s Curse] hovered over his head as he let out occasional bestial roars.
Luh Yao unleashed a [Lightning] strike, aiming it right at the level 60 boss’s head.
The same [Lightning] that could one-shot lesser pixel figures only made a "-40" damage number appear over the Blood Knight’s head.
The Blood Knight snapped his head up and roared at the screen.
But it was as if he knew he couldn’t evade this attack of divine power, so he didn’t even bother trying.
The Blood Knight’s frenzied state made Luh Yao a little nervous.
He calmed down an instant later. ’Even a level 60 boss can’t break through the Dimension Wall and come into the real world. In that sense, he’s no different from a tiger in a zoo.’
’You dare show disrespect to a God?’
’Today, I’ll give you a taste of divine tribulation—the physical kind!’
Luh Yao queued up 90 [Lightning] strikes at once. His Faith total in the upper-right corner instantly dropped by 1,800, leaving him with just over 4,000.
A massive pillar of light, crackling with blue electricity, tore through the castle and slammed directly into the Blood Knight’s head.
The Blood Knight let out a mournful howl as he was struck, collapsing to the ground with sparks flying from his body.
A "-3600" floated up from over his head.
Now, Blood Knight Necied had fallen into a weakened state. A string of negative emojis appeared over his head, and a small soul icon floated up, indicating he had suffered a fatal blow.
"My Lord, that is enough. Please leave the rest to me."
Isabel sprang into action.
She took a small whistle from her black robes and began to play, a string of musical notes floating above her head.
The collapsed Blood Knight’s body began to tremble, and an exclamation point slowly appeared over his head.
Isabel continued to play the Bone Whistle, and the Blood Knight involuntarily rose to his feet.
He staggered toward Isabel, moving like a zombie, not a living creature. The Blood Knight no longer roared, but simply stood quietly behind her.
"My Lord, I have controlled the Blood Knight with the [Evil Bone Whistle]."
Isabel reported, "As long as I hold the [Evil Bone Whistle], he will remain under my control."
Luh Yao communicated with her for a moment to confirm the details.
The [Evil Bone Whistle] was like an invisible leash; it was difficult to use on a high-level individual under normal circumstances. But once the target fell into an extremely weakened state, it became effective.
Because the Blood Knight was currently in a feral state, the Bone Whistle could only be used to issue very simple commands. He also needed to be fed regularly, or he might lash out.
The Blood Knight was, for all intents and purposes, under control.
Luh Yao used his mouse to guide Isabel forward. They passed the giant corpse of the chief Apostle, Forrest, and entered a hidden room deeper inside.
At the end of the room was a large, blood-red door.
"My Lord, this is a one-way Teleportation Gate. It leads to other worlds."
Isabel said, "The Blood Knight must have created the Corrupters, then sent them through to the world behind this gate to bolster the [Whistleblower]’s army."
’A one-way Teleportation Gate?’
’That thing is a liability.’
On Luh Yao’s command, Isabel had the Blood Knight attack the gate. Blood Knight Necied swung his greatsword, and with a few hacks, the Teleportation Gate began to waver before shattering into fragments of light.
A new notification appeared on the screen.
[The Whistleblower’s Faith has completely vanished from this area. His Believers will begin to search for a new God.]
Another golden leaf slowly unfolded before Luh Yao.
"As a reward for upholding the forest and Wisdom, you may choose one treasure from the Silvanus Tree."
"O Pioneer who follows, do you wish to enter the Golden Field?"
[Yes] [No]
