Equipment Printing School Mage
Page 432
He answered without hesitation, "As far as I know, five elders have died in this period of time, including you. I contacted them and can confirm that they died mainly of old age. However, we are in much better condition now than when we were alive."
He had been high-spirited during his struggle for power with Naif, but the theories he had held for decades were ultimately proven false. Furthermore, Halrua finally returned, leaving him no longer able to compete with Emya for the title of Mage King. Suddenly, the old mage felt as if his life had no purpose. His spirit weakened, and his body collapsed. The same thing happened to most of the other elders who died of old age.
Five elders—that number was already quite astonishing. After undergoing Abel's training, now in Halrua, except for the elders who were urgently promoted to fill vacancies, all the veterans had already reached the ninth ring.
"Besides that, there are over a hundred qualified alchemists in the City of Judgment," Mustafa said. "Even better, a number of priests recently arrived here, and they're now attempting to build a church within the city. If Your Majesty were here, this would be much easier to discuss."
"—They're only building a church now?" Emilia was stunned. "A believer of the new god?"
"No," Mustafa replied. "According to the locals, it seems that those high-ranking believers are given high priority and are often taken away while still wandering in the Twilight Realm. Later, they are taken away just as they arrive in the City of Judgment. So, yes, the City of Judgment actually only has the Church of the God of Death and its priests. Other formal churches are completely unorganized."
And now, Death has also resigned.
There is no divine power in the kingdom of the god of death. This phenomenon is really hilarious.
Emiya noticed something unusual and asked, "Then why are there priests staying here?"
"...because the city is under siege?"
Emiya frowned. "Are you sure? Can't the gods fly? Can't they teleport?"
"Of course they..." At this point, Mustafa also noticed the problem.
He slapped his palms together and said, "Could it be that all the messengers of other gods have been captured?!"
"If that's the case, then we can make some adjustments to the final part of our plan..."
At this point, Emiya suddenly thought of a name and said, "By the way, has Elder Giles of Haligard arrived?"
The smile on Mustafa's face froze: "...He's here. But he didn't join the army defending the city."
"Is he working on any research? He should have just arrived, right?"
"Uh..." Mustafa's eyes evaded. "He and I had some unpleasantness, and in the end he claimed that it was either me or him."
"Where is he now?"
Mustafa took a breath and pointed to the ground below him: "-right below my temporary residence."
"Aha." Emilia sighed without a smile, "Now I know exactly what the so-called unpleasantness means."
-----------------
Giles had indeed not left the house for several days and nights. On the one hand, he was very dissatisfied with the fact that other people had better housing than him, and on the other hand, his research results were just about to bear fruit before his death.
At this moment, he was immersed in the ocean of arithmetic and began to design the layout of the void dark sphere array.
At this moment, there was a gentle knock on his door, and a voice that was recognizable but not so familiar came from outside the door: "Elder Giles? Are you in the room?"
However, Giles had no intention of answering and let the knocks die down after a few times without replying.
Only after Giles finished his calculations and whispers had begun outside the door did the Haligard elder finally put down the paper: "Who's outside? What do you want from me?"
The person outside the door said clearly: "The siege is imminent, and we need your strength?"
"Ha!" replied Giles, with unusual insolence. "You are a Halicard, then?"
"No." said the person outside the door.
In an instant, Giles' voice grew colder. He waved toward the door, sat back down at his desk, and said, "I'm not meeting Halayah's lobbyist. Please go back."
The outsider said, "I support neither Haligad nor Halayach. I just hope that this hostility, which is based solely on hatred, will disappear."
Giles initially found it a bit ridiculous, but soon he realized the problem.
The elder suddenly dropped his pen and rushed to the door in two steps. He hurriedly opened the door, bowed, and said, "—Chief of the Council of Elders, Your Majesty the Mage King, please come in!"
In Halruaa, who else but the new Mage King would dare to openly ask both the old and new factions to try to reconcile?
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the moment Giles opened the door, a flash of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, instantly shrouding Emiya and her group in shadow.
Yin turned his head to look at the sky, squinted his eyes, and whispered, "The strength of Judgment City comes from the protection of divine power. Therefore, if we want to attack the city, the best way is to start with divine power.
“That’s the right idea.
"In the next few days, various natural and man-made disasters will gradually begin to unfold in the outskirts of Judgment City."
The Big Cake of the Forty-Sixth Master King
Emiya and his group arrived at the perfect time.
They had barely dragged Giles out of his room when the advance of the Alliance of Gods and Non-Gods began.
——Unfortunately, it is impossible for such a large army to choose the ant-like siege method.
At least not after a few failed rounds.
In a sense, Judgment City is a world similar to Asgard. Within this city, there are undoubtedly many souls whose ages are beyond counting. Especially those who belonged to deceased gods, they would never want to become slaves of others again, as this would be a double insult to them in life and after death.
But the price of dying on this battlefield is extremely heavy.
The Alliance has been conducting an indiscriminate search in the Hazy Realm for a while now. Even if you should theoretically be a member of the Alliance both in life and after death, if you're just a bit unlucky and aren't found by your fellow believers first...
Then you are no different from other unlucky people: fighting for your beliefs until death in life, and suffering misfortune after death.
After realizing this, the alliance unanimously gave up combat methods that resulted in heavy casualties.
The residents of Judgment City were clearly more familiar with the Alliance's combat practices than Emiya and his group. As soon as the thunder roared, the defenders on the city walls began to seek cover, while the residents dropped all their work and fled towards the city in unison.
After just a few seconds of charging, the storm began.
Emiya never expected that after leaving Abel, she would see a storm of this level.
Blue-green thunder wove into a web in the sky, flashing and flowing between the city walls and the earth. The deafening roar almost made the entire Faithless Wall begin to shake.
The Wall of the Faithless seemed not to be a simple wall, but rather the foundation of some kind of barrier. It supported a transparent and invisible barrier that completely blocked out most of the lightning.
——But the problem is that this barrier doesn’t seem to be airtight.
Every now and then, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket would inexplicably penetrate the defenses of the Faithless Wall and strike heavily on the wall—or even inside the wall.
This is also the main reason why residents try to stay away from city walls: the walls may not be able to protect them.
But the problem is that these thunders cause very little damage to the Wall of the Faithless, and can only break a brick or tile when they hit it.
The Wall of the Faithless was practically a mountain. At this rate, the storm would have to last for thousands of years before it could carve a breach in it.
"So, what did they do?"
Emilia murmured, "It doesn't seem to be divine magic."
The way the magic power of those thunders flows is completely different from the common thunder summoning technique, and there must be a more complicated principle behind it.
"They've realized the Wall of the Faithless's weakest link." Yin, now a true all-knowing god, understood the Wall of the Faithless and its ranged attack and defense system at a glance. "The Wall of the Faithless represents the wrath and authority of the God of Death. It's inherently indestructible, and it's beyond the reach of mere priests. Even now, ordinary arcane and divine spells are powerless against the Wall of the Faithless."
"But now the position of the God of Death is vacant, and the power of the God of Death has lost its master." Yin said, "Those priests standing in a row in the Alliance are not casting spells..."
Instead, they are guiding the divine power and using it to try to erode the Wall of Faithless itself, so that the Wall of Faithless will no longer reject them.
"That's just one of the purposes," Kelemvor said.
Yin blinked. "Are there other purposes? I don't see it. They are just channeling divine power to bombard randomly."
"Yes, your analysis of them is correct," Kelemvor said confidently. "However, you only described the means they used to carry out their actions. Their purpose in using these means is not simply to steal the Wall of the Faithless."
Of course, Kelemvor's attainments in the arcane arts were not commendable, and he became a god not because of his outstanding divine arts, but he had experience in extremely long and tragic struggles with those evil gods, and he saw through their sinister intentions almost instantly.
"Ms. Mystril, everyone in Team Emiya, the battles you've experienced have been extremely bloody and decisive. Both sides have fought until one side has suffered heavy losses and can no longer bear it. But in reality, the evil god priests don't often initiate such battles."
"They specialize in psychological warfare. Thunder Plague is merely one of their methods. Their ultimate goal is always to destroy the enemy's will to resist. Rivers of blood may flow, but that is merely a means of spreading terror, not the ultimate goal. The Church of Talos even has a special trial. This trial doesn't necessarily require destruction, but it does require provoking negative emotions in the target, allowing the priest to attract the enemy's attention: sadness, fear, anger, and even hostility all meet the conditions."
Spread terror, expand influence, grow strength, and destroy your enemies.
This is the job of the evil gods in Faerun. Ruling the world is an overly ambitious ultimate goal.
"So?" Yin obviously had no idea about this.
"So, protect Judgment City from within, not from without," Kelemvor said. "Please allow me to leave for now. I, a mere mortal, was once able to organize a rebellion within the city, and I can probably do the same now. During this time, they will undoubtedly try to increase the pressure on the city... I can only ask for your help."
"It's a deal, then," Emilia replied.
"That's all." Yin Ye agreed, snapping his fingers at the surging crowd below the city. "Also, be careful. Those priests outside aren't just spreading thunder, they're also spreading the plague."
Now, Emilia had to answer the question that had been unavoidable from the beginning:
What could he do in Judgment City?
And the answer is very clear: he wants to hurt the enemy.
The question now is who to choose as the first batch of unlucky people.
Grimnir once made a firm suggestion: Don't attack the weakest followers, they don't even have the qualifications to withdraw from the alliance. Weakening them will not make them withdraw from the battle, but will instead allow them to be swallowed up by other forces, which may lead to some uncontrollable chain reactions.
What they must attack is the leader of a branch force.
As long as they are weakened, this faction will soon face internal and external difficulties: internally, they may gradually lose control of this branch and begin to be challenged by their vassal forces. Externally, their position within the alliance will be shaken, and they will be attacked more, further driving the internal strife of the entire alliance.
"...Elder Giles, I will now explain our current plan."
Emiya glanced at the thunder in the sky and said, "The first step is to destroy the top leaders of the Church of Talos."
Giles, who had just come out of his room, felt a black screen before his eyes.
Although Halruaa isn't strictly afraid of the Church of Talos, this nation is fully confident in its ability to fight against the entire Church of Talos...
That assumes that the entire Halrua is fully prepared.
Now, only less than ten of the five hundred elders have arrived, while the Church of Talos and even the Fury Pantheon are fully staffed - but Giles has no confidence at all.
He could only mumble, "...I can only do my best."
But even Emiya could see his lack of confidence.
Emilia has always believed that confidence cannot bring victory, but lack of confidence will definitely lead to failure.
This state of affairs is unacceptable.
So, Emiya took a deep breath.
He never imagined that the dirty tricks taught by the Xig Cult would actually come in handy one day.
So, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "Elder Giles, do you know why I came here?"
"...Huh?" The elderly elder suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented. "I don't know."
"I'm not here to save Judgment City," Emiya said half-truthfully. "If protection is required, my first choice would be members of our alliance. Judgment City wouldn't be a high priority. Striking the alliance between the gods and non-gods is certainly one of our goals, but I have a more important one."
"An elder who made great contributions outside the Sharptooth Forest and pioneered new technologies, a promising figure, fell on the eve of victory. When his king and students tried to revive him, they found that the resurrection always failed for unknown reasons."
At first, Giles perfunctorily agreed with the dullness typical of the dead, completely unaware of what Emilia was trying to say. Finally, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he pointed at himself in disbelief: "You are here for..."
"For the sake of all Halrua's people and the innocent." Emiya's face wasn't thick enough, so she softened slightly at this point. "But, you must realize one thing: there's no need to fall out with the elders of Mustafa. You are fundamentally different from them—you still have the possibility of resurrection."
The dead soul blinked, as if a fold had appeared in its cerebral cortex, and then suddenly realized something. Then, it was filled with regret: "...Yes! Yes! I should be able to be resurrected!!!"
It seems that death does have a huge impact on intelligence, otherwise Emiya would never believe that Giles needed him to remind him of such an obvious flaw.
"The news of your death hasn't spread yet, but your experimental results have been compiled." Emiya took out a set of documents from her waist and placed them in Giles' arms. "This is your [Magic Sphere Drive Array] paper. The first author's name is still unregistered. Your students are still waiting for your return."
As if oblivious to Giles's tearful expression, Emiya continued, "Also, don't forget. The number of Halruaan airships seems to have increased by nearly two orders of magnitude because of me. And this number will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Therefore, I believe Halruaan desperately needs a dedicated air traffic control department. The head of this department must possess authority, enough to intimidate his fellow citizens and colleagues. Finally, he must have a certain military background and a high-ranking position. Relevant knowledge would be even better."
Giles finally understood what Emiya meant. He pointed at himself in surprise and said, "...You mean... me?!"
Emiya didn't give a definitive answer, but instead pulled out several dimensional holes from her waist. "I've already brought the necessary materials. Next, let's proceed with the traditional method: after setting up the stabilization field, I'll cast Divine Craft to create a cannon, and have Alestria fire a shot. After that, you simply need to continue casting spells on the same materials.
"Keep going! Elder Mustafa has died of old age, and Elder Naif is also quite old! Killing Talos's Storm Lord is a great achievement! Wash away the stain of Haligad, wave goodbye to the past, and rise to prominence..."
Emilia was taller than Giles, so he could easily pat the elder on the shoulder. "You've already accomplished a lot in your lifetime. Now, you need to go back and personally receive the award for your discovery. Otherwise, your students will take it all."
Forty-seven Faith Shot
It is not difficult to speak eloquently when you are outside.
But when Emilia really came to the top of the city wall, her heart couldn't help but beat rapidly.
——Damn it.
The thunder that could only be released by the combined efforts of all the druids of the Sharptooth Forest was now bombarding the Wall of the Faithless like raindrops.
And what fell was definitely not just wet raindrops that could only make people shiver slightly, but real thunder that could instantly destroy the defenders.
It would be fine if this city wall was not responsible for blocking the roar of thunder, but the most fatal thing is that you have no idea which thunder will pass through the city wall!
Just as Emilia and her group reached the top of the city wall, a bolt of lightning inexplicably passed over the protective barrier of the Wall of the Faithless.
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