Chapter 949: It

The moment Fuerke finished speaking, his men were bound in place by strands of holy light chains. Anthony spread his arms, his face a mix of amusement and resignation: “You’re quick to react, and your reasoning is sound—but you’re wrong.”

“You, a death priest of the Holy Light Temple, dare impersonate our Union’s auditor and claim I’m wrong? Pah! You think only you can wield divine arts? The God of Commerce grants me divine power—Fair Trade!”

Clang! The holy light chains sprang back, binding Anthony to the ground, but the other strands vanished instantly upon touching Ange and Naigelisi.

“Huh? A new divine technique? I’ve never seen this before.” Naigelisi exclaimed.

“It’s probably not new—likely a derivative of Equivalent Exchange. It can reflect my holy chains back at me.” Anthony struggled a few times; the bonds held firm.

The casual conversation between Naigelisi and Anthony filled Fuerke with dread. They didn’t seem to take him seriously at all—still chatting like this?

“New or old, what’s the point? The Commercial Union has no grudge against your Holy Light Temple. Why attack us? Order your airship to leave at once, or face the divine wrath of my lord—the God of Commerce! I beseech your descent—Protect the Trade Routes!”

“Divine soul descent? Can silver coins achieve divine soul descent now?” Naigelisi exclaimed.

That was impressive. The divine aspect manifested by the silver coin was merely a newborn deity with weak divine power, yet in less than a year, it had gained the ability for divine soul descent—its growth rate was far too fast.

“Of course. As long as trade routes remain open, the silver coin’s divine power grows fastest. But if the economy is stable, the God of Beauty’s power grows fastest; during famine and war, the God of Cultivation’s power surges fastest. Faith shifts with the environment—spreading belief requires keeping pace with the times.”

Anthony paused, then added: “But the main reason is Little Phantom has arrived. We lesser deities can now tap into a larger faith network and share the Master’s divine power.”

Naigelisi rolled his eyes. All that talk—and in the end, it still came down to Ange.

Fuerke’s sense of dread intensified. Anthony and Naigelisi were far too calm. He had already undergone divine soul descent, yet they showed no alarm. Even if they didn’t flee, they should have summoned the Lord of Light—what was this? Disrespecting the God of Commerce?

The divine soul fully coalesced, emerging from Fuerke’s body with a commanding voice: “Who dares disrupt the trade routes? Destroy them!”

Normally, after such a solemn declaration, the divine soul would merge with Fuerke, shatter his bonds, and crush his enemies.

But as the divine soul spoke, it opened its eyes, scanned the surroundings, then froze in shock. Instead of merging with Fuerke, it snatched up a money pouch and bolted straight to the enemy’s side, exclaiming in surprise: “Master, what are you doing here?”

Pfft… Master? What master?

Ange nodded. Anthony said: “We noticed this airship belonged to the Commercial Union, so we used the identity token you gave us to inquire. We didn’t expect to catch someone attempting to hijack it—Fuerke mistook us for enemies.”

In a few words, he explained everything. The silver coin understood, turned to Fuerke, and said: “This is Lord Anthony, from the Audit Department. Obey his orders.”

After giving the brief instructions, the divine soul swiftly retreated back into Fuerke’s body and departed—Fuerke’s strength couldn’t sustain divine soul descent for long.

Fuerke stood stunned for a moment, then forced a smile, rubbing his hands: “Oh… so you’re Lord Anthony? So you really are from the Audit Department. No wonder.”

No wonder they were so calm—they were on the same side. But Fuerke deliberately ignored the divine soul’s reverent tone when calling them “Master.” That was clearly the attitude shown toward a “Master”—but who was the God of Commerce’s “Master”? A tax official?

Anthony smiled: “I told you you were wrong. I only wanted to ask you about the situation, but it seems you need to deal with the enemies outside first. If you tie up all your passengers, you can extort a fortune and severely damage the Commercial Union’s reputation. Have you recently offended any rivals?”

Fuerke’s forced grin vanished. At the last question, his face darkened with anger: “The Polant Merchant Guild—it has to be them! I knew something was off about all these airships trailing us. It’s them—they’re masters of stirring up trouble. But they’re poor; they can’t afford top-tier mercenaries. As long as we hold the gangway and deck, they can’t board.”

Anthony chuckled dryly: “No need to hire anyone. Just leak your guest list, and plenty will be interested in these fat lambs. Pay off a few moles to send you real-time location updates—you won’t even be able to run.”

Fuerke’s face paled again. He instinctively glanced around at his men—if they’d been bribed, they could not only act as spies but also launch an internal assault.

Anthony mentally cursed him an idiot and hurriedly added: “No need for so many. Just one bribed guest is enough. Is there any group especially skilled at boarding airships?”

Some airships have protective shields, especially large luxury ones—they’re essentially mobile fortresses. Without specialized boarding tactics, getting aboard is hard enough, let alone kidnapping.

As soon as Anthony finished, Fuerke’s face changed again: “The Black Shark Pirates!”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a shockwave slammed into the airship’s shield, reverberating within to form a voice: “Listen, inside! Your airship has been claimed by the Black Sharks. Immediately shut down your shield, open the hatch, surrender the deck, and allow the Black Shark Crew entry—or we’ll shatter your shield and hang you all from the toilets.”

Fuerke had been quietly handling the situation, intending not to alarm the guests—many were still on deck, eating pastries and humming tunes. Now, hearing the name “Black Sharks,” the guests erupted into chaos.

Some guests carried teleportation scrolls. Amid the panic, someone tore open a scroll, preparing to teleport away.

But the moment the scroll activated, the six surrounding airships glowed faintly—and the scroll exploded. Simultaneously, the six airships flared brightly.

The guest who tore the scroll stared at the charred remains on the floor, screaming in terror: “Spatial lock! It’s a spatial lock—we can’t escape!”

That was normal. When kidnapping the wealthy, how could you not restrict teleportation? Everyone has teleportation scrolls these days.

For individuals, spatial locking is difficult. But for airships, it’s simple—just encircle them with a few vessels, and you’ve trapped them.

Naigelisi turned curiously to Ange: “Ange, can you break this restriction?”

Naigelisi had wondered if Ange’s Dimensional Hand could pierce through it. Instead, Ange tilted his head, pulled out a pile of teleportation scrolls, and tore them one by one, tossing them out.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Twenty-six dull explosions—until the twenty-seventh scroll burst into a flash of white light.

Ange nodded: “Broken.”

Naigelisi’s forehead darkened with exasperation: “I asked if you had a way to break it—not for you to just throw money at it!”