Chapter 392: Curtains Fall

While most Players acknowledged that Edward was their commander during events, that title was not officially given (by the God of Games). Even the Knights of the Roundtable-leaders with the highest authority in the Church of Games were not acknowledged by all Players since their group was only formed recently.

As such, several Players would decide to fight alone or not take part in the event quests.

Terry and Jom were an example of that.

They never were near the Crookes refugee camp in the first place, but had run off to investigate the trail of the undead high elf and coming to know Kristina, an agent of the Temple of Glory in the process. Then, when the hill-folk began their assault, Kristina was swindled by Terry and Jom into believing that those tribes were intent on burning and pillaging the Valla Empiresince banditry was something the hill-folk did in the first place.

After confirming that droves of hill-folk were indeed approaching Valla, therefore startling whereas beasts and magical creatures in the mountains into a great migration, Kristina promptly returned to the Temple of Glory to report her findings.

While the Temple of Glory was not the official religion of the Valla Empire, they had established themselves with strong footholds there for years, and was only next to the Brilliant White Church in terms of influence.

Moreover, since they were no match for the Brilliant White Church when it comes to political intrigue and powerplays, the Temple of Glory were mostly based at frontier cities

—which would be the first cities caught by the hill-folk’s assault.

As such, new grudges combined with old grudges once the Temple of Glory saw that their bases in the Valla Empire would be caught in the hill-folks’ rush, in addition to their past dissatisfaction for being the only church whom the hill-folk didn’t share their booty with. As such, the ever-bad-tempered Temple of Glory promptly dispatched their wyvern knights and one sizeable detachment of their sacred corps led by Kristina.

After Angora posted the information that he got out of the Hill Shaman Kaven Mor and the God of Games kept it pinned on top of the forums, Terry and Jom immediately guided Kristina to ambush one of the remaining tribes of hill-folk with inch-close precision!

Even though the Temple of Glory’s forces was still outnumbered by the hill-folk, they had a lot more people compared to the Players. Moreover, the wyvern knights and the sacred corps were a standard military force with each individual believing in the God of War, which meant one could easily imagine their strength.

In addition, unlike the Players, the sacred corps had no orders to capture the hill-folk, and would directly kill them on sight.

The hill-folk were simply no match for the Temple of Glory’s sacred corps despite having the Lord of the Peaks’ blessing, crumbling easily under their assault even though they had their leader with them. As there was not much difference in the power of their sacred arts, the leader’s head was hacked off by the captain of the wyvern knights squadron in two moves and placed on his lance as a show of force.

The other hill-folk was left dumbstruck: our leader is gone, what about us?

Hence, without any way of retaliating, they were routed entirely and reduced to no more than ordinary thugs, their numbers culled without end by the Temple of Glory’s military.

“Woah. The armies of the major religions are quite scary…”

Terry was sighing as he watched what remaining hill-folk charged towards the sacred corps’ formation, only to splash apart like a wave after crashing into a breakwater, before fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs. “I’ve imagined that they were quite noob.” “They are definitely noob in single duels, but their strength multiplies greatly once they start to fight as an army…” Jom said as he observed them beside Terry. “According to what Lady Kristina told me, the God of War is not just a god of conflicts, but a god whose authority revolves around war. That is why once his believers arrange themselves in certain formations, everyone in the army would increase in strength.”

And that was not all. Unlike the hill-folk who were basically doping to increase strength and speed thanks to their god but unable to control it well, the sacred corps of the Temple of Glory would often conduct drills in various battle formations to attain unmatched synchrony, just as they were always able to control their buffs well. Indeed, they might have long since gotten used to such situations.

As a matter of fact, while it was another matter if they had an advantage in levels, the Players might get the short end of the stick if a hundred of them clashed against a hundred-man sacred corps detachment from the Temple of glory if they were on the same level.

Furthermore, with the Temple of Glory often being known for warmongering, how many such trained detachments of sacred corps do they have in reserve?

It must be a stunning number either way, considering that they could pull out over a thousand soldiers on a whim.

“Despite being the second top religion, the Temple of Glory can really be quite frightening.” Jom sighed. “We really can’t underestimate any of the other churches.”

“Leave the wonder after the event. Let’s go get some or the hill-folk would all be done in. We’re going to have a problem if our contribution points come up short.” Terry said while drawing out his longsword.

After all, they were the ones who caused the conflict between the Temple of Glory and the hill-folk, which counted as unloading some pressure off the Crookes refugee camp. They may have bought their comrades time and would therefore earn some contribution points, but how much points were another matter altogether. “That’s true. Well, let’s go!”

Naturally, Jom also understood that they have to earn themselves as many heads as possible for safety reasons. They are never catching any hill-folk what with soldiers of the Temple of Glory all around them, or they would start arousing suspicion. Hence, raising his staff high into the air, an elephant-trunk clam appeared behind the youth.***

After being assisted by the Temple of Glory in ridding them off one of their enemy’s detachment over some curious reason, Edward naturally was able to redirect most of the Players stationed on that front to strengthen their formation against the last remaining detachment, even sending a few groups to watch their home base while they give the hill-folk what for.

Indeed, the defense that the Players mounted with their lives on the line was already piling pressure on the last legion of hill-folk, and that pressure was increased once the Players stationed there at first were relieved by the reinforcements from the other flank.

Eventually, the assault of the third legion of hill-folk collapsed utterly when Mufasa failed to capture the last man and inadvertently cut him down instead.

Hence, the curtains fell upon the initially mighty assault of the Lord of the Peaks’ believers with a very sloppy ending.

Meanwhile, even the Players guarding outside the Sky Horizon had made their catch. Some of the hill-folk from smaller tribes were intending to infiltrate the city with various measures, only to be easily seen through by those Players and intercepted.

After all, a huge red HP bar was hovering over their heads!

One particular group of the Lord of the Peak’s zealots who were fearless against death, however, cut through the Players’ interference and tried to get up to the Sky Horizon with everything they had. The Players almost allowed them to succeed out of a moment of carelessness, but when they were less than fifty meters away from the Sky Horizon, they saw that the grand city hence took to the air right in front of their eyes… and flew away…