Wizard: Scamming a Demon God

Chapter 204: Chapter 162: Shepherd: Philo Merin Terra

Lorna stared at Philo, unsure if she should trust her. This person before her...

Even setting aside their conflicting positions, she found Philo highly suspicious. Her instincts screamed not to trust this woman!

’After all, she’s a Mad Witch!’

Unfortunately, no matter how much she distrusted her, Lorna had neither the justification nor the power to stop her...

After all, Isaac was leading this operation, and he and Philo were partners. Tsk.

Lorna frowned but still stepped aside to let Philo proceed. The reason was Aein; perched on her shoulder, it reached out a tentacle and patted her, signaling that, on this matter at least, it trusted Philo.

And if Aein trusted her, that meant Isaac did too, which meant it was fine.

However, despite yielding her position, Lorna kept a wary eye on Philo, ready to strike at the first sign of any suspicious movement.

There was no way Philo missed Lorna’s blatant hostility, but she only offered a resigned smile. After all, Lorna was one of Isaac’s people, and that madman...

She had completely given up any thought of going against him!

"Just giving them food and clothing isn’t enough, because their spirits are already dead," Philo said, walking slowly forward and looking at the crowd with their vacant eyes.

"You have a solution?"

"Of course. That’s precisely why I’m here." Philo smiled faintly, but instead of acting immediately, she asked Lorna, "Do you know where religious faith thrives the most?"

Lorna’s brow furrowed. Unsure of what Philo was getting at, she didn’t answer.

Unbothered by Lorna’s silence, Philo simply smiled and continued, "The worse a place’s standard of living, the better religious faith develops. It’s only when people can’t see a future in their own lives that they pin their hopes on Deities."

Given her own allegiances, Lorna wanted to argue, but she had to admit that Philo was right.

Deities might be real, but They were far too high and mighty. Many fanatics could believe in a God their entire lives and never witness a single miracle, while many blasphemers often got to meet a Deity in the final hour of their lives.

It was, admittedly, a deeply ironic state of affairs.

"So you plan to save them through Faith?" Lorna asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Are you going to bring people from the True God Church here?"

Sacrificing Artificial Humans wasn’t a major issue, nor was it something explicitly forbidden by the True God Church. But as the saying goes, some things are trivial until they’re brought to light, at which point they become monumental problems.

Artificial Humans weren’t strictly considered people, but sacrificing them in front of the True God Church would be a slap in their face. A Holy War would be inevitable.

Not to mention their group included a Witch who commanded a Demon and was currently letting it devour human souls.

In response to Lorna’s confusion, however, Philo just smiled and wagged a slender, pale index finger. "You’re only half right. I do intend to save them through Faith, but not by bringing in the True God Church."

Lorna’s confusion deepened. ’If not the True God Church, then who? A Cult?’

Just as Lorna was pondering this, a series of mechanical clicks and whirs, "CLACK, CLACK," echoed as a silver metal claw emerged from the back of Philo’s head!

The strangely familiar sight made Lorna’s pupils shrink. But before she could even register her shock, an intense, oppressive aura emanating from the metal claw forced her to retreat rapidly. Her pupils instantly transformed into vertical golden slits, and faint Dragon Scales materialized at the corners of her eyes, on the backs of her hands, and behind her ears.

Magic·Half-Dragon Mode!

Philo took a long look at Lorna, who now radiated Dragon Might. ’So she’s a Dragon Witch,’ she thought. ’No wonder she’s able to stay by Isaac’s side.’

"A Divine Species?"

Philo had been about to explain her Divine Hand, but Lorna had already identified the key to its nature.

Philo was momentarily shocked but quickly composed herself. Since Lorna was one of Isaac’s people, it was only natural she would be familiar with the Divine Species.

"Half right again. It’s related to the Divine Species, but this is a Divine Apostle." A slight smirk touched Philo’s lips, but she didn’t elaborate on what a Divine Apostle was. After all, her relationship with Isaac and his group hadn’t yet reached the point where they shared all their secrets.

The Divine Apostle was a piece of Forbidden Knowledge Philo had stolen from a certain Outer God. It was her improved God Creation plan, developed after the failure of her experiment in Philis Town.

Isaac’s violent dismantlement of that experiment had prevented her from collecting any data, rendering it almost a complete waste. However, it wasn’t a total loss; at the very least, it taught her that this particular path was, for the time being, a dead end for her.

And that was that. After all, a Golem that massive was a painful expense even for the Terra Empire to absorb; they weren’t about to let her try again simply to collect data on failure.

So she changed her plan, abandoning the one-step God Creation project in favor of seeking other breakthroughs.

The Divine Apostle was the breakthrough she had found from the Outer God. While a Divine Apostle was of a Lower Position than a Divine Species in terms of status, status has never been a true measure of power.

At least, that was the case when it came to the Divine Species.

A Divine Apostle refers to an Existence that has acquired a portion of Divine Power, a portion determined directly by a Deity. A Divine Species, on the other hand, is merely a lifeform of the same nature as a Deity but must accumulate its own power.

To put it simply, a Divine Apostle was a simp’s version of a Mad Witch.

Of course, Philo’s version was a little different. Her Divine Apostle was highly independent, the power it acquired could not be reclaimed by a Deity, and it didn’t need to please a Deity to obtain that power. It could accumulate it on its own or, like a Mad Witch, take it directly from an Outer God.

Despite being called a Divine Apostle, it actually possessed the ability to spread and absorb Faith, just like a Deity or a Divine Species.

That’s right. The Faith Philo was talking about was, in fact, faith in *her*!

Or, to be more precise, in her Magic Pet—the Divine Hand!

Under Lorna’s wary gaze, the mechanical arm behind Philo’s head began to emit a blue halo. In an instant, a subtle pulse of Magic Power radiated out from Philo’s position!

As the wave of Magic Power washed over her, Lorna frowned. In that moment, she could have sworn she heard the faint, ethereal sound of hymns!

Under the influence of those hymns, which seemed to resonate directly with her soul, she felt a fleeting impulse to place her faith in the silver mechanical claw behind Philo’s head!

And she was no Ordinary person. As a Tier One Witch, her natural resistance to Magic was already stronger than that of other Transcendents. If even she was affected, what chance did a mortal stand?

Sure enough, when Lorna glanced at the crowd, she saw that the people who had been completely vacant-eyed just moments before now showed a flicker of emotion. It was faint, but it was undeniably there.

Spurred on by this flicker of emotion, the people began to move toward the nearest food and water, the entire process unnervingly quiet and harmonious.

Yet this seemingly beautiful scene sent a profound chill through Lorna’s heart.

’Can you really say they’ve been saved?’