Equipment Printing School Mage

Moti murmured, "To operate here, you need a special barrier stone. This barrier stone can prevent the burrowing worms from attacking, and at the same time it can activate the hidden secret door."

*************************

Just dozens of kilometers away, the decapitation teams have also been dispatched.

The Church of Lathander had a separate team, the Knights of Hell had a team, and Norwich and Craig joined the Knights of the Companions of the Sun.

For days, the people of Elturgard advanced steadily, attracting the attention of the burrowers and thinning their numbers.

Clearly, with the support of a large number of divine spellcasters, Elturgard's endurance is far greater than that of the burrowers. In this situation, prolonging the battle is definitely beneficial to the Elturgard people.

In this situation, Norwich, with its extremely impatient pace, seemed quite out of place.

"That's absolutely unnecessary," said Supreme Observer Craig. "You've already gained a lot of support and are well ahead of Emya's team. After wiping out this wave of Zerg, you can earn another 200 points through your research on the Zerg Queen."

"Even if Team Emia is truly extraordinary and has received considerable support, it's impossible for them to surpass you."

"...I know!" Norwich gritted his teeth, "But I still feel uneasy! Maybe when we reach the core of the nest, all we'll see are the arrogant faces of Team Emiya pretending to be calm!"

"That's impossible," Craig said. "Based on the contract we signed, I can guarantee that Team Emia has made absolutely no breakthroughs. We are definitely the ones making the most progress."

At this moment, a Sun Knight in the team hesitantly took a few steps closer and asked Craig, "Supreme Observer, we've been walking for so long and haven't encountered a single burrowing worm... Could we be going in the wrong direction? Or are we lost?"

"Don't worry." Craig was not anxious. "I already know what's going on."

As he spoke, he took out a small barrier stone from the dimensional bag on his waist.

Wisdom of the Fifty-Nine Hells (Part 2)

"My sincere advice to you is to give up your fantasies and do nothing superfluous. The devil is not your friend."

Emiya's group and the Archdruid followed closely behind Moti, leaving him no room for maneuver. As if that weren't enough, Mars warned Moti, "Devil followers like you who are exposed won't receive the devil's protection, but will only be targeted by him. In fact, we discovered in Trier that the devil intended to kill you before evacuating."

Although Moti didn't have the courage to refute and honestly led the way, he couldn't help but shout when he heard such counterintuitive words: "First of all, I'm not a devil believer, but after all, I have no grudge against them, right? Why do they want to kill me?"

At this moment, Miss Metatron began to explain very seriously: "You seem to be unfamiliar with demonology. Unfortunately, the relationship between demons and contractors changes over many stages."

"It's not that simply collaborating with the devil will lead to falling into the River Styx. In fact, only contracts that directly swear allegiance to the devil, or even claim to sell one's soul, will bring such serious consequences."

"Why are you saying that?" Demonology was clearly not the druid's focus, so Archdruid Woods couldn't follow their train of thought. Instead, he said with some dissatisfaction, "Are you trying to say his sins aren't serious?"

"Yes and no." Metatron showed no sign of backing down. Instead, he continued to speak to Morti, "If you truly believe you have done nothing wrong, then you do have a glimmer of hope, but you must update your judgment of the enemy and yourself.

"In a peaceful state, demons will indeed actively contact you in order to draw you deeper and deeper into their clutches. They will remain your friends until there's no turning back. But if, like now, you've been completely exposed, the demons will tear off their masks and do their utmost to kill you."

"What's the reason?" Moti shouted. "I don't actually know what the secret is, so there's no need to silence me. Even if you torture me, you won't get much out of me."

"Because if you escape from their control, you might be able to change your ways. That way, you won't go to hell after death. The devils must have made a lot of concessions to you during this period of time in order to befriend you. If they let you leave alive, all their efforts over the years will be wasted—"

Although Sig didn't understand this kind of profound knowledge, he was quite familiar with the fickleness of human nature: "I understand. While the duck is still squatting obediently in the soup pot, you have to appease it. If the duck really wants to fly away before it's cooked, you'd rather let it fall to the ground and be inedible than break its neck!"

At this point, she laughed maliciously. "So, let's repeat it again—no tricks, Mr. Duck. This is for your own good."

Mars snorted coldly, "Countless fools start by thinking they can always take advantage of the devil. Unfortunately, the devil never lacks patience or time. Negotiating with the devil is a gamble. You can win countless times, but if you lose just one, you will be completely bankrupt.

"So, if you see a devil, you can't go wrong by drawing your sword and striking him down."

At this moment, Yin suddenly said: "—Wait a minute!"

Almost the next moment, Mars swung his sword and placed it on Moti's neck: "What?"

"What?" Emilia asked.

They were currently advancing through a long, narrow cavern. The terrain here was so monotonous that even a few turns in circles would be enough to completely disorientate them; it was a veritable maze.

And Yin was staring at the wall in the dungeon at this moment.

Silver carefully observed the dirt ahead and said, "There's a secret door here. Wave the druid's barrier stone."

...Secret door? Emilia was stunned for a moment, then did as she was told.

The soil in front of Yin suddenly moved, making way. At the same time, the wall of earth moved to the group's original path, blocking their way.

In just a few seconds, the terrain completely changed, and the corridor they had just been walking through disappeared completely from their sight.

Obviously, this is completely beyond the power of an ordinary digging beetle nest.

Emiya took a deep breath and said, "I need to contact the other decapitation teams."

***********************

[What? No wonder I feel like we're going in circles!]

Asur, the Knight Commander of the Knights of Hell, pulled his heavy sword out of the burrowing worm's eye, ending the burrowing worm's life.

"Then we might be in trouble. The Hell Knights lack the necessary spellcasting power to reach the battlefield in time. Wait, why would a burrower nest have this kind of power? Burrowers shouldn't know any magic."

*************************

"Alas, it's a shame that the followers of Amaunator won't retreat in the face of adversity! We'll simply reach the lair before you do!"

The Hell Knight's response was relatively polite, but the Church of Amaunator would not give Emya any face.

The Church of Amaunator was clearly one of those who relished the spotlight. While the burrowing worms were raging, they currently lacked a sufficiently overwhelming force to inflict fatal damage to the various factions.

In other words, this turmoil is a great opportunity for them to continue to expand the influence of the church. They will definitely not miss it.

The Cult of the Rising Sun was indeed quite conspicuous - although they were now in the dark underground, a large area near the Amaunator believers was illuminated by an unusually bright light, as if it were daytime.

It also made the piles of digging worm corpses around them more eye-catching.

The Cathedral of Twin Suns had come out in full force this time—a small group of more than ten people. The elder leading the group, clad in a gleaming white robe, was none other than the cathedral's bishop, Dregos II.

The people who followed him were generally capable and powerful, and at least half of the middle and senior levels of the cathedral were there.

In this team, although Oendell can be considered young and promising, in terms of strength he is almost at the bottom of the team.

If this matter had not fermented so badly in Eltoril, they would not even send out this level of combat power for a group of burrowing worms.

They even deliberately invited a seventh-ring mage as an advisor and external aid.

Although the Church of Amaunator is arrogant, it is not crazy enough to think that its divine magic can completely replace the role of the wizard's arcane magic.

Dregos II listened to Orndell's report and shook his head. "...The enemy here can control the terrain? It seems the shadows here are indeed deep."

The archbishop pondered for a moment and looked at the mage in the team.

Their advisor replied, "I'm not from the Rising Sun Sect, so I can't confirm how seriously you take this mission. If you ask me, if there are enemies lurking within this underground palace, then beheading them would be extremely unwise."

He stretched out his fingers, listing the current unfavorable conditions one by one: "First, it seems that not only are there demonic shadows behind the burrowing worms, but these baatezu can even reshape the terrain at any time, which means that our every move is within the enemy's sight.

"In other words, the location and timing of the battle are completely controlled by the enemy, while we only know that we are facing demons and burrowing worms."

The mage said bluntly, "Considering that we didn't save any energy when we were cleaning out the burrowing worms..."

The wizard looked around.

Their armor gleamed as bright as ever, with only a hint of dust and no dents or acid erosion. Their hammers and swords weren't even stained with blood, but their faces did show a hint of fatigue.

Because half of this team were priests, they had previously used divine bombardment quite lavishly. Although they were not completely defeated at this point, their comparative state was no longer complete.

The advisor pondered for a moment, then reached a decisive conclusion: "I believe this information is invaluable. My suggestion is to retreat to camp and wait for the Elturgard army to slowly slay the burrowers and fill in this vast crypt. This will put everyone in a safer position. The demons might ambush a few dozen people, but how could they ambush and kill thousands?"

The mage's advice can be said to be the most prudent.

However, the benefits can also be said to be the lowest.

The Amaunator team immediately started discussing: "...Retreat?"

"Just a bunch of demons."

"So what if the terrain is unfamiliar and the enemy is unknown? When spreading the Gospel of our Lord under the sun, how many battles can we fight with complete knowledge?"

One bishop even went straight to Draigos and said, "It would have been better if we hadn't set out in the first place. But now we've returned to the camp covered in dust and dirt. What are we going to say? Are we going to tell everyone that we scared ourselves off before we even encountered any difficulties?"

He became more and more excited as he spoke. "Have you ever thought about this? If we retreated out of fear, and another team successfully completed the mission that same day, what a huge blow it would be to the Twin Suns Cathedral?

"Team Emia clashed with us a few days ago. I don't know how Norwich from Oghma got in touch with the Supreme Observer."

The bishop paced back and forth in the narrow corridor. "Even if we're not the first to arrive, our reputation will be damaged. And if we escape while others defeat the devil, do you know what that means, Your Excellency? It means that at least a decade of our efforts will be wasted, and we'll be ridiculed for who knows how many years to come!"

The mage advisor sighed, "I'm an outsider after all. I don't understand the internal interests of the church. I can only promise that if you want to retreat, I will do my best to counter any spells that prevent us from leaving."

At that moment, Draigos's eyes lit up. "...Oendel, contact Norwich and the Hell Knights to check their progress. If everyone is struggling, then we can all return together and fight again another day. Asur is a paladin and won't lie. You can trust him."

O'Nearl was stunned for a moment: "What about Norwich?"

"You're now, at least nominally, still part of the same Ritual of Truth team as him. We're on the same page when it comes to defeating the burrowing worms." Dregos waved his hand. "And the Supreme Observer has no reason to harm us in a place like this. In his grand plan to march into Hell, we, the Twin Suns, are responsible for at least 20% of the troops and 30% of the divine spellcasters. While we don't rise and fall together, we do suffer together."

"I understand."

***********************

What is our progress?

Norwich received the communication but did not immediately respond.

But there was silence for a while.

While other teams were still lost and fighting, the place where he was at the moment was quite peaceful.

The environment here can be said to be spacious, or crowded.

The spaciousness was due to the careful renovation of the space. Although it was underground, it looked like a vast underground barracks.

It is said to be crowded here because this dark military camp is already full of soldiers ready to go.

Their bodies are covered with spikes, they have two horns on their heads, long tails growing behind their buttocks, and they exude the sulfurous stench common to the lower planes.

And their leader, a pit fiend, was sitting in his seat, waiting quietly.

——Supreme Observer Craig, sitting opposite this big devil.

Norwich hesitated for a moment and said, "Someone from the Rising Sun Sect contacted me to find out about our progress."

As soon as these words were spoken, a few chuckles broke out in the camp. But then, the great devil glanced coldly at them, and the other devils immediately fell silent.

The Great Devil looked at the Supreme Observer and said politely, "Sir Craig, you are the Supreme Observer of Eltoril. What do you think?"

Craig thought for a moment and nodded. "Then answer truthfully, Norwich. Tell them we are making rapid progress..."

"We have discovered the location of the nest. What do you think, Lord Baier?"

Bayer, the Pit Fiend and former Lord of Avernus, nodded. "I think so. I'll make way for them."

Wisdom of the Fifty-Two and Nine Hells (Part 3)

"Team Thom is making rapid progress?!"

This answer was beyond the expectations of the Church of Amaunator.

The Church of Amaunator acted in an overbearing manner in Eltoril, which indeed allowed the church to expand rapidly in a short period of time, but it also made the good interpersonal relationships that the Church of Lathander should have shaky.

Everyone present looked unhappy when they heard the news.

Their relationship with the Church of Torm was extremely complex—on the one hand, they were still officially the Church of Lathander, and their alliances remained. At the same time, the Church of Torm was half of the state religion of Elturgard, and the administrative structure of Eltoril was almost entirely monopolized by the Church of Torm, so the two sides were constantly at odds.

But the problem is that the Rising Sun Sect has a special mission.

They wanted to publicize the changes in the gods, the existence of Amaunator, and make the Cult of the Rising Sun the most powerful branch of the Church of Lathander.

Obviously, to accomplish this mission, they couldn't just suppress the church in their city. They had to at least have the final say in Eltoril.

Naturally, no church can tolerate its status being challenged.

The two sides are allies, but also major competitors. Therefore, far from being enemies, they are actually close friends.

In secret, the competition has already been in full swing.

Until recently, the struggle between the two sides was actually evenly matched.

Although the Church of Amaunator is domineering to the outside world, it is quite generous internally, which in turn attracts more and more people to join the church.

The Church of Torm, tied to the bureaucracy, successfully kept Eltoril and even Elturgard running in an orderly manner.

Until recently, traces of numerous demonic activities were discovered within the Eltoril government, but the people of Eltoril were unaware of this.

Or more accurately, the Church of Torm was clueless.

This incident, of course, dealt a heavy blow to the Church of Thom's reputation, and the self-examination also caused its administrative efficiency to plummet. Some even gossiped, claiming that the Church of Thom had relied entirely on the devil's help to achieve its success in the past few years, successfully combining efficiency and fairness.

The Church of Amaunator certainly does not believe such nonsense and will not add fuel to the fire.

——But taking the opportunity to expand influence and simply promote oneself is not considered betrayal.