Chapter 209: New Battles

The War Church doing this did not exceed the players' expectations, nor did it even exceed Chen Zhi's expectations.

This war ended too quickly; any ten people would want to press the advantage, let alone the War Church.

They exist for war in the first place; throughout the entire Federal, wars large and small happen almost every year, precisely because this place is also a hotbed for war.

Up until now, besides Tana City, the entire Federal has three other battlefields: the battlefield between Cape City and the Merman, the battlefield of Eastern Dousaksar at Extreme Cold City, and the colonial battlefield at Feli.

Although these battlefields cannot compare to the Barbarian battlefield—after all, the Barbarians sent fifty thousand effective troops this time—for the War Church, this war fought against the Barbarians was the most stifling.

There wasn't even a corpse left, all turned to ashes; even though the Royal Capital could confirm the fruits of victory through divination, it still gave people a feeling that was not quite satisfying.

"Next, I will assign your tasks," Sigma said condescendingly, "Allison!"

"Present!"

"Your task is to act as a scout and be the first to investigate the abnormal situation in the Barbarian lands."

"Received!"

"Liande!"

"Present!"

"Your task is to assist us with logistics and transportation work, ensuring the safety of our provisions!"

"Received!"

Fifty thousand people marched majestically toward the further north; seeing this scene, Andrew finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Those soldiers from the Royal Capital put too much pressure on people.

Especially when operating on top of the God of Calamity, it was hard to say whether problems would arise.

With so many people from the War Church here, that deity must be watching this place; if any problems occurred, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, these people were finally leaving.

Now the possibility of being discovered had also become much smaller.

It's just that quite a few Believers of Calamity still went to the front line this time; it's hard to tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

He put on a pure white robe and headed to the Sewers.

This time, he felt as if he were on a pilgrimage; the great deity was becoming more and more powerful, and he could feel the majestic aura on the deity.

The God of Calamity of the past was full of hostility, but now, He was already a true deity.

Heinke bowed to Andrew at the entrance; during this period, this false believer who had been captured had become a true Believer, praising the God of Calamity from the bottom of his heart.

Because he had seen the God of Calamity's power to regenerate life.

He had also seen the God of Calamity turn Tana City into His own Divine Kingdom.

Even if this was just his misunderstanding.

"They have all arrived, currently only you are missing," Heinke reminded him, "However, the deity believes there is a reason for you being late."

"I will go over as soon as possible," Andrew took the steps two at a time, heading to the secret room in the Sewers.

"Everyone is here, we can begin," Chen Zhi said to his few true Believers.

Here was Saina, who already possessed a certain influence in Tana City.

There was also Evans, who acted as a registrar among the players.

At the same time, there was Susan, who opened a shop for mysterious items.

And Andrew, the Archbishop who served as the leader of the players and Believers.

"Those people from the War Church have left, but I have received the latest news: the Believers of Storm will head to Tana City to manage their believers in the coming period," Chen Zhi said, "Tana City is now a place watched by the gods."

"Our believers have also increased; currently, they have grown from a fixed 130 people to 3,000," Andrew said with his head lowered, "I will have them carefully hide their faith; they can act as false believers of the Wealth Church and walk on land."

"You have done well; we still need to make some changes, they don't necessarily have to disguise themselves as believers of the Wealth Church. For example, those children can also be allowed to believe in the Wisdom Church," Chen Zhi said generously, "As long as they know to hold reverence for Calamity, I don't mind them having special favor for other churches."

"I will strictly follow your will."

Saina, who had her head lowered, took a step forward and said respectfully: "I don't know how you learned about the Storm Church; Tana City is not near the sea, and the Storm Church is not an official Zheng Shen Church of the Federal, though everyone knows that is a true god."

"You are right," Chen Zhi waved his arm, "It was the Believers in Rierna who told me; it is not just those Gannaer people who have ideas about the Port City, the Storm Church also knows that the Port City is a place where faith can be registered."

"I know you feel suspicious about this; for so many years, those guys on the sea never considered the Port City, why would they be interested in the Port City now?"

"I think Andrew should have some understanding of this point."

"Yes, according to the information sent back by those Believers, the population of the Port City has increased by thirty percent recently, and there is a possibility of it increasing even more."

"Not just Slaves, but also those new immigrants, immigrants coming from within the Federal and immigrants coming from other countries," Andrew elaborated, "The area of the Port City is also undergoing new planning, but the Port City does not have a qualified Governor like Tana City; he thinks it is fine to just put all the new immigrants into the South City area, so the current planning of the Port City is quite chaotic. It can only be planned through people's free will; compared to Tana City, there are not even Sewers there."

"It's growing that fast there? Faster than Tana City?" Saina said with some surprise.

She focused on the data of Tana City and usually did not pay attention to her neighbors.

Even paying attention to Gannaer was only because they tried to start a war.

Those witches even used the manpower of Gannaer and the Barbarians to launch a malicious attack on Tana City.

And all of this seemed to be related to the God of Calamity.

"If calculated by population, their growth is not much," Andrew continued to explain, "Tana City has a fixed population of about 300,000; an increase of ten or twenty thousand is not much. But for the Port City, that city only had a total of twenty thousand permanent residents; if ten thousand are added, that is fifty percent, and in reality, more people will go to Tana City and will not stay in the Port City."

"So the people of the Storm Church are coming to Tana City to proselytize?" Saina, who had suddenly realized, frowned, "We are too close to the Port City; although other churches will block the spread of the Storm Church, if they insist on coming in, even the Federal cannot easily stop them."

"In fact, they will do it very secretly," Evans frowned, "As long as one is sailing on the sea, one will be forcibly proselytized; they only need to rent a room at the port and open a shipping company. Sailors, navigators, Captains, etc., they have plenty of them, and they can even provide Ships; by then, those merchants will..."

"Believe in both Wealth and Storm." This time it was Susan, "Compared to Wealth, they might fear the God of Storms more."

Susan probably understood why she had to go to the land.

This was not just because the matter of Gannaer was resolved and the witches were temporarily not a threat and could not come to affect the normal life of Tana City.

But in reality, there was also a need to spread the faith.

Tana City has numerous churches, and not everyone will believe in a certain religion; more people are those without faith.

Although for a period of time recently, the people of Tana City have lived like human beings, in reality, there are still many people at the bottom who are depressed in the never-ending work, without even salvation in terms of faith.

The mortality rate for young people in Tana City is quite high; most people die before reaching the age of forty, which actually makes it very easy to spread faith, but before the Wealth Church fell from its pedestal, most churches did not focus on spreading faith, focusing only on the acquisition of money.

After all, Tana City is a decent city with low labor costs and is an important point for trade and logistics.

"That is indeed the case." Saina calmed down, "Do we need to do something?"

"Although I don't force everyone to believe in us, if the Storm Church forces their way in, they will definitely create some problems. Think about what the Sun God Cult did back then; if the Wealth Church hadn't eventually made concessions, those people from the Sun Church would have even engaged in limited cooperation with the witches." Chen Zhi was indeed somewhat worried about this matter; if the people from the Storm Church used more brutal methods to proselytize...

"We will cooperate with them at the port." Andrew seemed to have thought of something, "Just like how we cooperate with the Wisdom Church."

"It seems you have already thought of a way." One thinks about problems based on the position one occupies.

Chen Zhi did not want to hide in the Sewers for his whole life; through the Red Moon Goddess, through various wars, and the absorption of those sacrificial items, Chen Zhi already felt that his state had undergone a tremendous change.

His abilities had become stronger, and at the same time, he required more power of faith.

If there were not enough people praying to him, his state of mind would easily become restless.

This was likely one of the reasons why the original Lord of Calamity had problems; his ability to think was limited to begin with, and if he also lacked the faith of Believers as an anchor, his chaos was inevitable.

It was not until he had lost too much and he himself had transmigrated over that this body could be considered stabilized, and it would not be too prone to problems like losing control.

And now, his abilities had increased, and his need for Believers had also increased somewhat.

Fortunately, there were those players constantly praying to Chen Zhi; although those players were not necessarily praying sincerely, as long as they were muttering it from time to time, it counted as being of great use.

It was just that this also gave Chen Zhi a headache.

"Yes, merciful Lord, our previous cooperation with the Wisdom Church was quite good." Andrew reminded him, "Although those children also received education from the Wisdom Church, they mostly believed this was because of your mercy. And this was actually indeed because you were merciful enough to give them the opportunity to learn; otherwise, with the capabilities of the Wisdom Church, they wouldn't have been able to teach so many children."

"Hmm, your thinking is not bad. Do you have any other ideas?" Chen Zhi began to ask the others.

Susan frowned; it was not that she didn't want to offer ideas, but her business hadn't taken off yet, and she knew too few people. It wasn't easy to spread faith, let alone spread it secretly without letting others know.

"I will contact people from other churches and tell them about the movements of the Storm Church so they can be careful. Especially the Sun Church; they should be very wary of the Storm Church, and many of the people living at the port are Believers of the Sun God Cult."

"We should also have more deterrent power; for example, at the port, we can spread some rumors about Calamity, making all voyagers believe that when sailing on the sea, praying to the God of Calamity to avert disaster for them is also effective," Evans said with great conviction.

This guy really didn't know how to blush when lying; no wonder he chose the awakening path of the Thief.

Chen Zhi just didn't have a forehead, otherwise, he would definitely have rubbed it to express his emotions.

"Deterrence is also a method. Only by punishing those who do not have true faith will we make those wavering Believers believe that the deity in this world with the most hope of saving them is you," Heinke also spoke his thoughts from the side. "If there are any Believers who intend to worship you, I can perform an Illusion for them, letting them know how terrible the problems will be if they do not believe in you."

"Your idea is not bad either, but it's not needed for now." Seeing the topic becoming more and more outrageous, Chen Zhi stopped their wild imagination, "I hope you spread my gospel, but that does not mean I am letting you go out and harm people. Remember, although we are Believers of Calamity, Calamity will not always favor you."

"We shall strictly follow your holy decree." The people lined up lowered their heads.

Only then did these guys who acted as Believers realize that, except for Andrew, the others seemed to have never seriously spread even a tiny bit of faith for the God of Calamity.

Especially Saina; since she began to believe in Calamity, she had only developed Evans as a Believer.

And this Believer, at the beginning, was only engaging in transactions with the God of Calamity.

It was not until his bad luck was lifted that Evans began to believe in the God of Calamity.

So Saina had indeed been very unsuccessful.

However, this was originally something that Archbishop Andrew should do; there was no need for Saina to worry.

Her more important task was at the Government Building; with her there, the God of Calamity could avoid many potential problems and live safely in the Sewers, rather than being purified by other churches using a Seal Object.

But this also gave Saina a sense of crisis.

From the arrival of Susan to the loss of Evans's help, her position in front of the deity seemed to be moving further and further back.

Even the news about the Storm was told to her first by the God of Calamity, rather than her providing it to the deity...

This meant her role would be replaced sooner or later, and a thick sense of crisis enveloped her.

(End of chapter)