Chapter 440

Aguri hated this woman more than anyone; she had tried to sell her off more than once, and if not for the believers' code of mutual aid and the protection of her brothers and sisters, she might already have been sold into slavery to some stranger.

So she did not stop her companion from slapping her—she even wished she could join in and slap her twice herself. (Revised from last chapter to better fit character.)

Then Aguri revealed her half of the Holy Soul Heart, and the entire village erupted; even the elderly priests who could no longer stand rose trembling, eager to touch the sacred light.

"I… I… I saw it—the Holy Soul Heart. Aguri is the Saint recognized by the Holy Spirit. Listen to her." The priest finished speaking with a smile, then breathed his last breath.

…

There were more villages like Aguri's, where everyone devoutly worshipped the Light; on the surface, they looked no different from ordinary villages, but when no outsiders were around, they would collectively pray to the Light.

Some villages were completely isolated, only communicating with other Light-worshipping villages, making them highly secretive, compounded by the Necropolis Empire's unique nature.

Their intelligent population was too small to extend their governance structure into every village; they could only patrol major cities and key towns, making it nearly impossible to discover entire villages devoted to the Light.

But if Aguri took the lead, finding those villages would become far easier—especially now that she had become a Saint and possessed the Holy Soul Heart, with envoys dispatched from all corners to investigate the news.

Aguri told every visitor in meticulous detail about her ordeal, and soon the tale of the Divine Priest and the Six-Winged Archangel's return grew ever more fantastical.

Some believed half-heartedly, others fully—because of the half Holy Soul Heart and Aguri's sudden, explosive growth in power.

Everyone in the village could attest: Aguri had been an ordinary believer, with poor talent, not even a priest.

Yet now, she suddenly possessed the power of a Saint—she could cast healing spells simply through devout prayer; no one could think of any other explanation except the Holy Spirit's recognition.

For the first time, they realized faith could bring rewards.

The Light Church in this world was even worse than in the Prime Plane; over a thousand years ago, the Starburst Array triggered a Faith Storm that first struck here, causing all gods to perish—even the Goddess of War and Peace, who was not of the Light Church, fell.

The Prime Plane still had at least one Heavenly Fortress, one Divine Core, and several thousand Holy Angelic Spirits, allowing them to use Angelic Descent and various divine arts.

But here, the remaining Holy Angelic Spirits were pitifully few, and there was no Divine Core, leaving many unable to cast any divine spells at all.

In the Prime Plane, even devout believers could sometimes cast Purification Spells; here, Purification was already a spell only priests could perform, and Healing required a Cleric.

Many believers were truly pure, seeking no reward, only peace of mind—like the village priest, who had never seen sacred light in his entire life, and upon seeing it for the first time, was so moved he died.

Aguri healed him on the spot—originally, Purification could only heal, not resurrect—but because the timing was perfect, it produced the effect of resurrection, shocking many.

Then Ang felt a continuous, thick stream of soul-flame pouring from Aguri.

Believers and food became Ang's stable source of Faith Energy; he could feel his power growing stronger day by day.

With Anthony and Silvercoin managing things, Ang could focus peacefully on farming, and Du Luo could concentrate on his alchemy; for this, he even returned to Iron Sand City, where there were large forging facilities and a group of cave dwarves who knew how to smith—after all, alchemy and forging were inseparable.

Just two days after returning, Du Luo came back again; a cloak floated through the air like a flying magic carpet, circling until it found Ang out in the wild, then landed, rolled up, and Du Luo emerged.

"My lord, my lord, I've thought of a way to modify Round and Round the Great Demon King, but I'll need you to do it personally—my strength isn't enough." Du Luo said.

Round and Round the Great Demon King had one major weakness: it could only roll on iron-magnetite ground; away from the magnetite zone, it could only sway back and forth—the magnetic induction was too weak to make it roll.

So Ang could only use it to crush things.

If it couldn't roll at high speed anywhere, then Round and Round the Great Demon King was useless—even as a roller, it was impractical, because it consumed magic crystals; an hour's consumption could buy a thousand oxen to pull a mill.

After two days of intense thought, Du Luo finally found a way to modify the giant iron ball so it could roll without relying on magnetite, making it a highly practical weapon for Ang.

Others would have to pay shipping costs to transport it to wherever they needed it; Ang could simply open his Divine Domain and take it with him.

But the modification Du Luo conceived was nearly impossible—or far too costly—for an alchemist.

"How?" Nagelis asked curiously; even Du Luo found it daunting—was the difficulty really that high?

"Carve at least two fingers' depth of grooves into the surface to form a array, then inlay it with silver-threaded mithril, and drill holes to connect it internally." Du Luo said.

"An array? What kind of array?" Nagelis asked.

Arrays ranged from simple to complex; the difficulty of engraving varied by level.

"Like this." Du Luo formed a seal with his hands, squeezed and pulled, and a phantom seal expanded; he pressed it onto the iron ball, carefully adjusted its curvature, then stamped it firmly.

Nagelis wanted to spit in his face; the seal Du Luo stamped was at least a Level 16 array, its complexity rivaling cloisonné enamel—and he wanted it carved two fingers deep?

"Damn it, no wonder you said you couldn't do it—you wouldn't finish it by next year." Nagelis snapped angrily.

Indeed, only Ang could complete such a complex modification quickly; with Du Luo's stamped seal as a guide, Ang simply traced the outline, and his Blemish Removal Technique zzzz—finished the entire intricate work in one night.

Du Luo had already prepared the mithril threads; as Ang carved a section, Du Luo would take the small hammer and tap the mithril wire into place; by the time Ang finished carving, Du Luo had already inlaid it.

With the array and mithril threads adorning it, the dull, ugly giant iron ball suddenly became mysterious and exquisite.

They channeled the hamster's soul into it, and after furious stomping, the giant iron ball began to roll.

"Perfect! Now we can repair roads! My lord, lend me Round and Round the Great Demon King—I want to build a road from Iron Sand City to Dergo City." Du Luo requested.

After Ang agreed, Du Luo drove Round and Round the Great Demon King toward Iron Sand City; wherever it rolled, a smooth trench appeared.

The road pressed this way would fill with water during rain, but that didn't matter—just roll over it a few more times; after all, Iron Sand City produced magic crystals, so energy was never a concern.

Not long after Du Luo left, Silvercoin arrived: "My lord, you might want to see this."

Du Luo, who hadn't gone far, was also called back.

…

Inside the House of the Departed, it was still the same cloaked figure, but besides Leo, the Vice Chairman of the Necromancer Guild, there were several other clearly noble, named individuals.

But Nagelis had no time to investigate their identities—he was stunned by the content of their conversation.

"The Alchemist Alliance has deployed goblin airships; according to intelligence, they plan to bomb these six locations." The cloaked figure laid out a map, his fingers pointing to six spots.

This was the first time the cloaked figure had revealed his fingers—they were long and clean, but skin stretched tightly over bone, emaciated to the point of seeming boneless—yet surprisingly not ugly; if only they had a little elasticity, they'd be perfect.

But the places his fingers pointed to were far from perfect—because the sixth point was on North Wind City.

"Goblin airships? Bombing? What can those broken airships even bomb? When?" Nagelis asked.

Silvercoin didn't answer, but gestured for Nagelis to keep listening.

Then Leo asked: "Bombing? Why bomb these places?"

The cloaked figure said: "According to intelligence, to clear the landing zone for the Alchemist Ladder."

"Six Alchemist Ladders? So many? What are they coming down for?" Leo asked, puzzled.

The cloaked figure hesitated, then said: "Relief."

"When will the bombing begin?"

"Tomorrow morning."

After exchanging information, the cloaked figure and Leo and the others immediately dispersed to respond—the vision ended.

Silvercoin swiftly floated to the tower, opened a message, and pointed to a diagram: "This is the goblin airship."

The diagram showed a goblin airship similar to what Nagelis had seen, but without sails—instead, two propellers extended from the sides, apparently propelling it forward.

"Have you notified North Wind City?" Nagelis couldn't imagine what such an airship could do—had they invented magic eggs that could be dropped from the sky and detonated?

Silvercoin nodded: "Already notified. Feiwo is constantly watching the skies and can instantly retreat to the cellar."

"It's evening, nightfall is coming—why not attack at night? Why wait until tomorrow morning?" Du Luo asked.

Silvercoin replied: "Perhaps their main target is undead; undead are more active at night than during the day."

"Why are these alchemists suddenly popping up? We've been here a long time—we've met plenty of alchemists, like Jili—but none seemed to be from the Alchemist Alliance. What's the difference?"

Silvercoin smiled bitterly: "The Alchemist Alliance is simply an alliance formed by alchemists. There's no difference—once you join, you're one."

"Then why doesn't the Emperor ban them? Allowing them to spread alchemical knowledge is like training your own enemies." Nagelis asked, confused.

Du Luo shrugged: "I don't know. The Emperor has always been like this—like the Light Church, their divine arts clearly target undead, yet the Emperor hasn't eradicated them."

"Long ago, Locke asked the Emperor this question. The Emperor tapped his head and scolded him: 'When your enemies grow stronger, don't you grow stronger too?! Without enemies, you'll just sleep! You empty skull! Empty skull!' He's probably afraid we'll lose the pressure to survive."

It's possible—look at Harvey, who claims a herniated disc and lies around all day. Lose the pressure to survive, and undead probably all prefer to sleep.

At that moment, the teleportation array emitted a communication request; when answered, Feiwo's voice rushed through: "Silvercoin, it's bad—the goblin airships have arrived! They've flattened the cemetery outside the city!"

"What?! But you said they'd come tomorrow! Why now?!"

Feiwo sounded like he was about to cry: "I don't know! You said they'd come tomorrow! Is your intel wrong?!"

Anthony stormed in and said directly: "False intel—meant to deceive the spy. The planner must have known there was a traitor among us, so they leaked false information. Where are the alchemists' goblin airships?"

Feiwo quickly replied: "They've already left."

Anthony immediately ordered him to activate the teleportation array; Ang and the others were all teleported there.

Arriving at North Wind City, everyone rushed to the cemetery—but from afar, it showed no change; the trees were untouched, the tombstones unchanged, nothing like Feiwo's claim of being "flattened."

"You said it was flattened?" Nagelis asked Feiwo.

Feiwo was confused too: "That's strange—I saw the airship drop something on the cemetery from the city, heard a huge explosion—I thought it was flattened. How is this possible?"

Ang suddenly said: "The souls are gone."

Everyone entered the cemetery and immediately understood what Ang meant—all the souls had vanished; every grave held only an empty shell.

If they were skeletons, without souls to bind them, they'd collapse into piles of bones.

Nagelis exclaimed in shock: "So the goblin airships dropped weapons that only harm souls? Soul Storm Magic Eggs?"

The Faith Storm wiped out all Divine Cores—so would a weapon that erases souls be called a Soul Storm?

"Such a weapon exists? Specifically designed for undead?" Du Luo's expression turned grim.

If it were magic eggs, even if powerful, he wouldn't fear—he had too many ways to dodge or block their damage—but how do you defend against a weapon that targets souls directly?

"Yes, specifically designed for undead. Are you from North Wind City?" A voice came from behind a nearby slope; two goblins emerged driving a strange vehicle-like construct.

"Don't be afraid. We only target undead. You're from North Wind City, right? Go tell your mayor—we're here for relief. Humans needn't fear—oh, dragons needn't fear either. The Alchemist Ladder will descend soon; don't fear it—it's our creation."

Nagelis whispered: "They seem to think we're living beings."