Chapter 451: Clone's Power

Earlier in Saint Light City:

Being invaded by over ten thousand tier 3 enemies, the city quickly fell into panic.

Instead of holding up weapons to prepare for battle, the people in the city took out their sacred items and began praying to the gods they believed in.

Even the thousands of tier 3 guards unconsciously closed their eyes, praying for a miracle to happen.

Maximus's clone, who woke up and saw this scene, nearly cursed.

"Are these people insane? I already told Readius to have them prepared for war or at least do some drills!" Maximus thought in irritation.

Looking at the head priest, the highest-status figure leading the citizens doing a senseless ritual, Maximus grew even angrier.

"Fine, I'll do it myself."

Maximus couldn't really abandon the people in the Etherium realm.

Although they weren't directly his people, as the dimensional master and beneficiary of the amalgamation of will, he had a duty to protect them.

Sneaking behind the head priest, he stunned him with a skill and disguised himself as the priest.

Ending the people's ritual, he quickly told the irrelevant people to retreat, keeping the tier 2 and tier 3 individuals to defend.

"Follow me! If any of you disobey, you will be punished by the gods and never reincarnate!" Maximus warned, seeing some tier 2 and 3 individuals quietly retreating with the crowd.

Hearing what he said, they trembled, ready to follow the head priest to death.

For them, death was just another phase of life, but if they disobeyed the head priest, they would truly die and never reincarnate.

Seeing this, Maximus somehow admired the brainwashing ability of the gods.

Even in death, they wouldn't falter.

Unfortunately, looking at their movements like civilians who only had more power, it seemed the academy spread all over the Etherium realm didn't benefit them as much.

Shaking his head, Maximus hurriedly arranged the people in the city, ready to defend as he waited for his other clones to arrive.

Soon enough, as they warded off the enemy, casualties began appearing.

Although the people in the city obeyed his orders, they were too weak to do any significant damage.

"Damn this," saddened by the casualties, Maximus charged forward, wanting to hold off the majority of the tier 3 enemies.

"Leave them to me; protect yourselves," he commanded.

Taking on thousands of tier 3 enemies, Maximus waved his hand and cast a binding spell.

"Blood Binding!"

Seeing that he could only hold off a few thousand enemies and his body was already depleted of mana, Maximus quickly took out a top-quality potion.

Gulping it down, he felt the energy in his body renew as he readied for another attack.

"Mist Binding!" Soon after his mana recovered, he cast another binding spell.

Just as they were about to despair, Maximus's clone closest to Saint Light City arrived.

"Follow me and kill!" Not bothering with much nonsense, Maximus quickly charged through the enemy, casting large-scale attacks one after another.

This time, Maximus learned his lesson and only held back the enemy while the people in the city slowly killed them.

Although it still attracted attention, it's not as much.

Soon, seeing they couldn't capture the city, the leader from the blood Ragnarok realm smartly instructed retreat.

Falling down in exhaustion, the remaining hundreds of tier 3 and tens of thousands of tier 2 individuals slumped on the floor, not forgetting to pray and thank their gods for giving them a new lease of life.

Seeing this, Maximus was a little speechless.

"Aren't I the one who helped you? What god are you praying for?"

Fortunately, he noticed that some of the faith these prayers gave off was turned into an amalgamation of will.

Hundreds of years ago, after knowing that Maximus needed the amalgamation of will, Readius proposed to share his faith in exchange for contribution points.

Hearing his proposal, Maximus agreed without hesitation.

Although he could still get the amalgamation of will through recognition and belief, direct prayers were more effective.

Concluding their transaction, Readius added bits and pieces of inconspicuous words secretly praising Maximus to turn the prayers into the amalgamation of will.

This is also why, despite his irritation toward these people, he couldn't really hate them.

They were praying to him, so what could he say?

They wished for a miracle, and he gave them the miracle; it was a win-win situation.

After settling the city, he quickly issued an evacuation mission, joining the nearest Moonlight Empire city in their march.

As for the city buildings, they didn't have the time and efficiency like the people of his empire, so it was left standing on the land.

While instructing them to evacuate, most of the cities of the Divine Continent were doing the same.

Although some were strong enough to fend for themselves, most still needed the help of Maximus's clone to fend off the first wave of enemies safely.

With the weakest defense in all continents, the cities of the Divine Continent had the most casualties.

Second on the list would be the cities in the Arcane Continent.

Although they successfully fended off the enemy without his help, the casualties were nearly as close as those in the Divine Continent.

This is because, like the Astral Continent, they were eager to expand the population, leaving the power in each city scattered.

The lowest casualties, on the other hand, would be the cities of the Beast Continent.

Each tribe had concentrated power, crushing the attack from the enemy and overwhelming them.

If not for the last instruction of their Beast Emperor, Alabaster, to follow the majority of cities, they might have even followed the escaping enemy and taken down their base.

While every city in the Etherium realm was evacuating to the same point,

Panic was spreading in the main base city of the Blood Ragnarok realm.