Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

The battles continued one after another, seemingly without end, and the shards of pottery beneath their feet had long since piled up into a small mountain—yet the terracotta warriors in the distant city seemed endless, and every time they smashed a batch of terracotta warriors, new ones would emerge from them.

"It's the power of the underworld! They are resurrecting endlessly!"

The rune swords in the hands of the chosen champions suddenly lit up, their crimson, blood-red light capable of directly destroying the soul.

This time, however, these rune swords didn't seem to be as effective.

The greatsword struck the terracotta warrior, but only the terracotta warrior was shattered. The feeling of the strike was that it did not touch the soul at all.

Even the experience they gained was gradually decreasing.

It's as if their kills have become meaningless.

"what happened!"

For a moment, the chosen champions who were fighting were quite puzzled, because this was the first time they had ever seen someone lose experience points for killing enemies.

unless……

"It was suicide."

The chosen champion finally realized the problem.

It wasn't murder, but suicide. To avoid their souls being lost to the blade, these terracotta figures would shatter their own bodies before facing a fatal attack. Once their bodies were shattered, the terracotta figure would die, and their souls would return to the underworld on the spot, directly escaping the blade's slaying.

Then, they resurrected once more, charged in again, and rushed towards them once more.

"Are we... being restrained?"

Many of the chosen champions have even begun to feel somewhat disoriented.

With the blessing of the God of Courage, they have conquered countless planets. After all, as long as they keep leveling up and accumulating experience, they can keep getting stronger, even forever.

But now, the enemies they face, even if they kill them, will not give them much experience, and will only leave behind a lot of fragments. Apart from those broken bronze swords, they can say that they have gained nothing. But these terracotta warriors are completely different. Battle after battle, they have made rapid progress and have even caught up with their level again.

This time, the battle lasted only one day, and some of the chosen champions were already injured.

Even now, as night has fallen, the terracotta figures continue to emerge, seemingly endless.

"...We must move forward, at least to gain some time to rest and recuperate."

It was at this moment that Elias spoke up again.

For the first time, the chosen champions, who had never retreated in battle, chose to retreat.

Chapter 246 Times have changed

Just as those chosen champions were preparing to retreat under the cover of night, the city of the Serpent God, Tatunbuto, had reached its limit.

The four priests had long since taken off their priestly robes, losing all solemnity and dignity. It wasn't that they didn't want to maintain their image; it was mainly because the workload of the day was simply too great—they had hardly dealt with anything else that day, spending the entire time in the temple continuously performing resurrection techniques.

Under their guidance, one terracotta figure after another rose from the ground.

As for the source of the terracotta figures, it was naturally the pottery sage in the city. The old man named Lachcot was extremely enthusiastic about this matter and even patted his chest to tell them that he could handle it quickly—and in fact, the old man really did it. After the old man jumped directly into the kiln, the entire pottery workshop went crazy and began to spew out terracotta figures.

Clearly, in order to increase efficiency, this old man named Lachcot was already using some completely unusable methods. However, as it turns out, this flame that burned with his life did indeed achieve a terrifying miracle.

Just like it is now.

"You call this fighting a war?"

After another batch of terracotta warriors rushed out, Satek, who had finally gotten a little chance to catch his breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Then what about what we fought back then?"

"do not know……"

Ansaq, the leader of the four priests, had also removed the serpent fang crown from his head and was continuously pouring honey and salt water down his throat.

Hot water with honey and salt can quickly replenish the body's energy. At least after drinking this sweet water, Ansag's almost dead mind finally came back to its senses.

Even after regaining his senses, Ansag was still somewhat dazed. He had realized that he seemed to be participating in an unprecedented war without even realizing it—even though the scale of this war was too small, only at the level of small-scale warfare, Ansag could already realize that this was something that completely changed the logic of all previous wars.

In the past, wars emphasized martial arts and training. When two armies faced each other, they would not even need to kill everyone. As long as the enemy's formation was broken, the outcome would be decided.

But right now, war is a completely different story.

One terracotta warrior after another rushed out. Even though their bodies were so fragile, even if their bodies were shattered, they could be quickly resurrected under the soul-summoning ritual. In other words, as long as the soul-summoning ritual could be carried out normally, these terracotta warriors would hardly die in the true sense and could get up again and again to charge at their enemies.

Ansag even instinctively began to think about how he would win if he were in that situation.

But the conclusion after thinking about it was that it was absolutely impossible.

To truly kill these terracotta warriors, the soul-summoning ritual must be destroyed. However, to destroy the soul-summoning ritual, all the terracotta warriors must be killed before they can enter. If these terracotta warriors had always been at the same level, it wouldn't be a problem. But the problem is that these terracotta warriors are constantly improving their combat skills, and they even become stronger as they fight.

"And right now, they are just terracotta figures."

Ansag took a deep breath.

"If it were wooden figurines, or even iron golems..."

Ansag was already hesitant to think any further.

However, after considering the materials, Ansag suddenly realized that the current tactics were not without their drawbacks—those disposable terracotta figures were ultimately a form of consumption, and maintaining such a frenzied terracotta figure firing rate was not something that could be done every time.

The main reason they were able to do it this time was that the mad pottery sage burned himself into the furnace. If it had been the carpenter sage instead... would they have nailed the carpenter sage to the workbench?

"Efficiency, and resources."

Ansag clearly understood the key point.

If such tactics are to be used, then future wars will be about efficiency and resources. It will no longer be about using swords to kill the enemy, but about using large amounts of clay, wood, and even steel to overwhelm and bury the enemy alive.

"Perhaps we should calculate the exact amount consumed after this battle is over."

Thinking this through, Ansag secretly made a mental note of it.

The battle that took place outside the city was gradually coming to an end.

The reason they knew about this without leaving the city was mainly because there were fewer requests for resurrection from the underworld, which meant there were fewer and fewer broken terracotta figures, and the workload of the soul-summoning ritual was much less. However, this brief respite did not bring any joy to the four priests. Satek, the Greatsword among the four, even couldn't help but sigh.

"Times have changed."

Taking a deep breath, Satek looked up at the ceiling.

"Our era has finally passed."

Upon hearing this, the other three priests also shook their heads and sighed.

They could understand what Sataik was trying to say: the era of individual strength was over, and no matter how strong one's martial arts skills were, they were meaningless in the face of the endless stream of terracotta warriors.

No one can rely on their skills to dominate the battlefield anymore. What should have been a bloody battle has turned into cold clay and altars, into the consumption list submitted by the scribes afterward.

"Unless one possesses the power of a serpent god."

Satek gave a wry smile.

Yes, that can also be said in reverse. A large number of terracotta warriors can indeed drown any being who relies on personal strength to become powerful. However, if personal strength goes too far, then it is a completely different matter. Just like that serpent god outside the city, who could embed all the terracotta warriors, along with them and the entire Tatungbto, into the ground with just a flick of his tail.

However, such power is still rare, at least their enemies cannot do it. Those so-called chosen champions who fell from the sky ultimately do not have this level of power.

"But...really not?"

It was at this moment that Ansag, the Crowned One, felt a sudden, inexplicable jolt in his heart.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly at the moment, with the terracotta warriors of the Blood Warband even chasing after the Chosen Champions. But it was this excessive smoothness that made Ansag suddenly smell the scent of death.

Ultimately, the methods they are currently using still originate from the stars.

So, do the chosen champions, who also come from the stars, really have no other way?

Chapter 247 The Arrival of Destruction

"We have to use some other methods."

As he led the chosen champions with lightning speed, Elias frowned in deep thought.

As it turned out, his judgment was too optimistic, or rather, things deviated from his predictions too quickly—Ilias had originally expected that these chosen champions would at least have some time to improve, and at that time, they would be able to destroy everything on this planet with overwhelming power.

But who could have imagined that the local indigenous people would progress so quickly?

"Mass production golem factories...they've already gotten close to interstellar warfare."

Looking at the terracotta warriors still relentlessly pursuing them in the distance, Elias wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

To destroy the terracotta warriors, you must first destroy the arsenal behind them. But to destroy the arsenal, you must first annihilate the terracotta warriors. This would not have been difficult when the terracotta warriors were still weak, but now that they are quite powerful, it has become an unsolvable vicious cycle.

If something like this were thrown onto a planet, unless it was destroyed immediately, that planet would face certain destruction.

Yes, destruction.

These natives have already acquired the power to destroy a planet.

The blessing of the god of courage, combined with the influence of the god of wisdom, ultimately led to the emergence of something extraordinary in this land.

"However... we still have a chance."

Thinking of this, Elias looked at the chosen champions around him.

"Even though things have come to this point, we're not without a chance... Are you afraid of dying?"

"Death? Of course I'm not afraid."

The chosen champions immediately raised their heads; they were naturally unafraid of death.

However, Elias's words made them think of something else.

"Are you going to start the ascension ceremony directly?"

Yes, that is indeed a solution. They no longer need to search for sources of experience elsewhere; they can simply engage in one-on-one combat on the spot—the loser will become a corpse on the spot, while the winner will carry that experience forward until only one of them remains, the sole chosen champion, who is also the strongest among them.

If this were done, the last remaining strongest would indeed possess world-destroying power, at least enough to crush the local natives.

"No, not this."

Elias shook his head.

He had considered this approach, but it was clear that it had a major drawback: the ancient serpents hadn't made a move yet, and even if they determined the strongest, they might not be able to wipe out all the natives in one fell swoop.

If we could wipe them out in one fell swoop, everything would be fine. But if we couldn't...

Heaven knows what kind of knowledge those local natives would receive from the god of wisdom under such immense pressure.

And there was another rather dark idea that Elias didn't want to mention: once the winner was decided, it was as if the champion of this planet had been chosen, the ascension ceremony was over, and the champion could leave on his own—although failing to destroy the planet seemed like cowardice, the newly born champion could also say that he was in a mobile retreat.

Elias was currently leading his men in a retreat, so naturally everyone he encountered looked like they were about to retreat as well.

So this time, Elias is going to use a different method.

"It's not about fighting, but about true annihilation, which is why I asked you if you're afraid of dying."

At this point, Elias paused.

The other chosen champions also seemed to have figured something out.

They had remained calm during the battle just now, but now their faces suddenly turned deathly pale—the mere thought of that possibility was enough to make them break out in a cold sweat.

"Do you really want to do this?"

One of the chosen champions couldn't help but speak up.

"We are the chosen ones of the god of courage, and we still need to prove ourselves with the weapons in our hands..."

"Weapons are not necessarily things you hold in your hand; anything that can destroy the enemy is a weapon."

Elias turned his gaze in that direction.

"So this is also a weapon. We are indeed the chosen ones of the God of Courage, but we can still use this."

At this point, Elias added another sentence.

"After all, haven't we already used something similar before?"

Upon hearing this, all the chosen champions present were speechless.

Yes, they had indeed done something similar before. Back then, in order to destroy the ancient serpent city, they simply attracted the attention of the god of pleasure. Although the attack failed in the end, the being they were summoning this time was different.

If the ancient serpent has become something on this planet, the so-called god of death, then the being they are summoning is death itself.

It was an extremely infamous being in the starry sea, leaving nothing but desolation in its wake. Just being watched by that being would ultimately lead to the inescapable destruction of an entire planet.

"Why does it feel like it's not even as good as an upgrade ceremony?"

One of the chosen champions couldn't help but speak up.