Chapter 88: The Hunting Is About to Begin

"Knight Jier, you perhaps underestimate our Magic Arrow," said Priest Clark.

"The Duel Arrow—it is not some whistle blown to cheer on two drunken farmers brawling in the street," the priest said mockingly.

"It is a powerful conceptual weapon that forcibly restricts certain transcendent existences, including some gods. It forces them to fight to the death within a temporarily reinforced space!"

At this moment, Jier casually killed a parasitic monster pouncing from a tree with a single sword strike, letting its internal Human Face Core be incinerated by the scorching Sun God Divine Power, then turned his head and asked Priest Clark, "Your explanation only makes me more confused."

He had already learned through the Mao Maos, who were scouting ahead of the team, that a parasitic monster was lying in ambush here, and he handled it without surprise. As their team drew closer to Momona Cunzi, the number of these parasitic monsters, which served as the final line of defense in the mountain forests of Momona Cunzi, grew increasingly large.

Some of these ambushing parasitic monsters were the original poor villagers of Momona Cunzi, others were monkeys and small mountain leopards from the forest, and there were even other humans whose appearance differed from the people of Saint Hors. These newly appeared humans were in rags and covered in wounds that had only recently healed; their mouths spat out large amounts of vines, looking quite terrifying, but their strength was far weaker than he had imagined.

Yes, these reinforcements for the Evil God, who were clearly summoned via an altar, were far weaker than Jier had imagined, even though some of them were parasitic monsters with flowering heads. They were weak-handed and soft-footed, like prisoners who had been starved for many days.

Regarding this situation, a Church of the God of Wealth priest accompanying the team provided the answer: "It is the massive Divine Power barrier established by the gods! Knight Jier, the entire territory of the Saint Hors Kingdom has been surrounded by a barrier set up by the great gods sailing in the heavens. Any non-native, non-human life form that comes from the outside world will have its strength forcibly halved by the barrier the moment it enters the Saint Hors Kingdom."

"Many cross-border commercial trades organized by our church have become very troublesome because of this. You know, even for horses and Plowing Oxen from other countries—these important draft animals related to humans—we cannot use foreign horses or cart-pulling Plowing Oxen; we must rely on our own country's."

Jier nodded, feeling somewhat relieved about the large number of other parasitic monsters temporarily summoned by the Evil God through the altar.

He stared at Priest Clark and said to him, "Look, everyone else is contributing their own insights and knowledge to answer everyone's questions. So, could you please, Priest Clark, explain your previous words in detail? I don't understand much of what was said."

If Jier did not understand, naturally many people in the team did not either; even many hunters from the Hunting God Church did not really understand what they were going to do later. They only knew that once the time came, the leading priest would likely order them to strike with all their might.

And they only needed to follow orders and strike.

"Then what do you want to understand?" Priest Clark did not want to explain everything so clearly, especially with many priests from other god churches present.

By this time, they had quickened their pace, passed through the last five hundred meters or so of mountain forest, and could already see Momona Cunzi in the mountain hollow ahead through the sparse trees and shrubs.

This was a village of considerable size, but because the village was several miles deep in the mountain forest, the land available for farming was limited. Instead, because it was situated in the forest, there was no shortage of timber. In the small but densely built village, every household's house was built quite tall; the footprint was not large, but each wooden house had many stories.

As soon as Jier saw the densely arranged houses, one right next to another, he felt a headache; this was simply too complex a terrain for parasitic monsters to operate in, and he wondered if the others could successfully clear the parasitic monsters out of the village.

At this time, Jier turned his head to answer Priest Clark's previous question: "First, I want to understand, where is that Evil God's altar you mentioned? Is it outside the village or inside?"

Jier scanned the entire village ahead but could not find anything that obviously looked like an Evil God's altar. Last year, he had wiped out a strange altar set up by goblins south of Dora'erlin Cunzi, and in the process, he had dealt with an evil Stone Statue that the goblins worshipped. Fortunately, he had obtained some pure Element Crystals from that defeated evil Stone Statue, which ultimately led him to accept training from Knight Kela and become a young Knight today.

So, where was that Evil God's altar? In the center of the village, or strictly guarded in the forest outside the village?

"Neither. It is not outside the village, but it is not inside the village either."

Priest Clark looked at Momona Cunzi not far away. Some parasitic monsters within the village saw their team of humans suddenly emerging from the mountain forest and immediately dispatched a small wave of parasitic monsters, attempting to intercept them.

But these monsters underestimated Jier's team. Unlike Bell's side, which was mostly Armed Civilians with at most a few Town Guards mixed in, the dozen or so Warriors Jier led were all well-equipped, battle-hardened tough guys. Not to mention that their small team was currently mixed with eight priests from various churches and about ten hunters from the Hunting God Church.

Although there were fewer than forty people, in terms of overall quality, they far exceeded the larger attacking force on Bell's side.

"We're at this point now, so stop talking in riddles, okay?" Jier complained and was about to rush out of the forest to fight, but Priest Clark pulled him back.

Although Priest Clark's strength was clearly much greater than an average person's, who was Jier? If he hadn't reacted in time, no one would be able to hold him back; instead, they would have been dragged to the ground by Jier.

That scene would have been much uglier.

"What's wrong?"

Jier stopped in his tracks. His Hunting Sword was eager to fight, but while gripped tightly in Jier's hand, no matter how much it wanted to rush out to kill the enemy, it had to stay obediently in Jier's hand.

"My companions haven't arrived yet. Once they are in position, we will rush out from here. Also, that Baron Heir's team is still some distance from Momona Cunzi; we must wait for his team as well. Once the other two teams are in position, the team clearing the ordinary parasitic monsters will attack the village to draw out the monsters at the altar, and then we, the ones dealing with the Evil God, will launch a surprise attack."

Priest Clark explained.

"Then what about these monsters coming over?"

"Lure them over, play with them slowly here, entangle them, don't finish them off immediately."

Jier immediately looked at his subordinate Warriors: "You all heard that? Lure them over to deal with them, but just put on a show. Don't kill them in a few strikes."

The Warriors laughed and agreed, stepping forward in pairs. The only archers remaining with the team were the Tusi Brothers; the other archers had been sent back by Jier to transport supplies. In this hellish weather, everyone had to keep drinking water to maintain their condition.

The Tusi Brothers first used precise arrows to pierce the knees of the incoming monsters, which made it much easier for the Warriors to face the monsters and better able to entangle them.

"Back to the previous question, where is that damn Evil God's bullshit altar?" After his subordinates went to fight, Jier spoke much more casually.

Priest Clark stopped talking in riddles and pointed to a towering tree thirty meters high on one side of the village. That tree was much taller than the surrounding villagers' houses and also much taller than the wooden wall of Momona Cunzi.

As an aside, because the village was located in the mountain forest, even though there were many hunters from the village itself, they had specifically built a ten-meter-high wooden wall using the thickest charred tree trunks.

To be honest, for a small village to have such a high wooden wall was really hard on the people of this village. Fortunately, the village itself was not large; otherwise, a wall of this scale would have worked the villagers to death.

"See that big tree at the corner of the village?" Priest Clark said.

"That's the Evil God's altar?" Jier asked suspiciously.

"No. After investigation, that is an image specifically manifested by the Evil God when it impersonated a true god to erode the faith of this village. The real altar is in a deep Rongdong beneath the big tree. The entrance is in the tree hollow in the middle of the big tree. We had to go to some trouble to find out this information."

Priest Clark explained, but he did not say by what means they knew this. Clearly, the Hunting God Church possessed some secret scouting methods; even the Evil God's parasitic monsters had not been able to block such scouting means.

Jier nodded. He watched his subordinate Warriors pretend to entangle with the weak monsters summoned by the Evil God and continued to ask: "So, when everyone is here, we stay here to attract the parasitic monsters already in the village, while you quickly break through, go deep into the underground Rongdong, use that Magic Arrow to capture the Evil God, prevent it from escaping, and then you solve the god and solve the altar. Right?"

Priest Clark looked at Jier: "Generally, yes. But aren't you coming? Knight Jier, many people never have the opportunity in their lives to witness and participate in the hunting of a god. With your strength, wouldn't it be a pity not to participate?"

"I..." Jier hesitated. He was actually afraid that if he followed them, the Hunting God Church might pack him up as well after finishing off the Alien Evil God.

Jier did not think he could fight better than an Evil God. Although he had previously defeated the Great Bird god and destroyed its important Divine Dependency, how could an ancient, primitive god that had been locked away for a long time compare to a current Alien Evil God that was hostile to humans and stirring up trouble everywhere?

He was afraid!

However, his current image seemed to have dispelled the Hunting God Church's thoughts of dealing with him quite well. After all, he was currently glowing with white light; no one would believe he had any connection to the Great Bird god who used shadow Divine Power, right?

"I previously received news from my companions that the local Baron Heir, that young Knight, seems to intend to participate in the hunt. Not only him, but other true god churches with priests present have also indicated they want to send people to join. We welcome you to join; after all, it is the hunting of a god, and even if it is an Alien Evil God, the stronger our side's strength, the better."

Priest Clark smiled: "Compared to insufficient strength and failing to successfully hunt the Evil God at a critical moment, thus failing to complete this grand hunt offered to our god, it is not unacceptable to have some others join temporarily to share in the glory, right?"

Hearing that priests from other churches, including Bell, had been invited to join the action to hunt the Evil God, Jier finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, there would be more than ten Sun God priests present, and the Agricultural God Church would have five people. He was now considered half a member of the Sun God Church and a small part of the Agricultural God Church; surely the Hunting God Church wouldn't kill him in front of so many church priests just because he might be suspected of having a connection to the Great Bird god, right?

Thinking that such a thing was unlikely to happen, Jier finally relaxed: "Of course, I will join this crusade against the Evil God. As long as you welcome me."

"We certainly welcome you," Priest Clark said immediately.

The battle on Bell's side was quite intense. Perhaps because of their large numbers, the monsters inside Momona Cunzi clearly regarded Bell's team as the main human counter-force attacking them.

Most of the strange parasitic monsters that came out of the village were killing their way toward Bell's team. A small portion of monsters were sent to Jier's side one by one, like adding oil to a fire.

In order to make the monsters look down on them even more, Jier repeatedly ordered the Warriors to slow down their speed of killing the parasitic monsters.

And the quality of the 'manpower' sent by the parasitic monsters was also getting worse and worse.

Those weak-handed and soft-footed parasitic humans summoned over soon became fewer, and the monsters sent onto the field next were mixed with parasitized Plowing Oxen, parasitized goats, and large amounts of poultry parasitized and fused together in flesh.

To be honest, the combat power of the former was decent. After being parasitized, the Plowing Oxen stood upright, clutching a millstone with their sturdy front hooves as they strode out to fight. Anyone would turn pale with fright at the sight of a two-hundred-plus kilogram millstone being smashed toward their face.

The parasitized domestic goats were even more troublesome; these creatures had no regard for their own lives, allowing their bodies to be pierced by Long Spears just to use their goat horns, which were wrapped in a layer of lignified vines, to knock over or kill one or two Armed Civilians. Everyone feared death, so when faced with the parasitized goats charging with their heads down, the Armed Civilians would often retreat and scatter, clearly terrified by the previous group of parasitized wild boars.

The youths of the Knight Family, despite their remarkable skills, had no good solution, as these monsters were completely reckless and could not be stopped once they charged in. However, several Arrow shots with erratic trajectories suddenly fired from the crowd in Bell's group, swiftly killing these few parasitized goats that were causing chaos.

"It's the Hunter sent ahead to make contact. Judging by the methods, it looks like the work of Priest Fei-Jierkesi's subordinates."

Seeing Jier look over, Priest Clark explained: "This priest has always led a team guarding the Western Province Grass Sea defense line, and he and his subordinates are most adept at dealing with all sorts of monsters with unknown abilities, which is why my companion is called the 'Defender of the Grass Sea' by the locals."

Jier nodded in understanding.

The last to appear were a large number of poultry with their bodies fused together; seeing them covered in duck heads and chicken heads capable of pecking people, they actually just looked terrifying and disgusting. Once burned by a large number of Torches thrown by the Town Guards summoned by Bell, their feathers ignited in large quantities, and combined with the large amount of parasitic vines inside, they went up in flames directly.

It was quite ridiculous.

As the sun leaned west, still a short distance from the peaks of the mountain range in the Shulin, Priest Clark suddenly looked toward the northwest of Momona Cunzi, which was the direction directly opposite Jier and the others, separated by the entire village.

A falcon carrying an Oil Lamp in its talons circled above the Shulin there, and Jier saw it too.

With such an obvious signal, Jier immediately turned to look at Priest Clark: "Have they arrived?"

The tall priest nodded: "Yes, get ready; the great Hunting is about to officially begin. Today, that Evil God who is hostile to Humans shall surely fall beneath the sharp arrows in our hands."

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