The Villain Saint is my secondary account

"If we start from Loren, we will travel from east to west, crossing the Persefi Sea and the Magala Sea along the southern part of the main road. Although there are many cities and supply points along the southern route, the march is extremely long, and we will inevitably encounter enemy resistance along the way. At present, our battle with the Duchy's army in the Kingdom of Doum is not yet completely over, and splitting our forces into two groups may make it difficult to defend both sides."

"Um,"

Isaac nodded. "It seems that the main purpose of Tedeh's expedition to the west was to tie down the main force of my Loren Empire in the west. Even though they have shown signs of decline after the Battle of Sand Island Fortress, they still pose a threat, like a venomous snake in the dark. If we let our guard down too much, they may deliver a fatal blow."

"However, if we do not mobilize the Empire's army, the Holy Temple's military strength has been greatly depleted after the civil war in the Holy City. Relying solely on the troops that are currently recovering and going on a long expedition alone, it will probably be very difficult to face the combined forces of the demons and the sea races."

"Furthermore, my spies have learned that, aside from the size of the legions, the demons and sea creatures also possess a great many top-tier combatants, far more ferocious than the Duchy's army. When Dawnwood fell, even the Earth Sword Saint Elon perished among them."

"That's really a problem."

Ella nodded gently.

The demon legion has formidable enemies like the demon god Samael on the surface, not to mention the Dark Shepherd and the Old Gods who hold power behind the scenes. It would be exhausting to think about how she could defeat them all by herself.

“Your Holiness, I have an idea.”

Lilia suddenly spoke.

The second princess of Loren had previously demonstrated remarkable wisdom, so Ella specifically brought her into the meeting this time. Since they were going all out, they would naturally try to use all available resources.

“The fixed space gate can transfer a large number of troops. I don’t know if we can build a gate near Aslan according to its construction cycle, so as to use it as a base for troop transfer, thus taking into account both battlefields.”

After hearing this, Ella turned her gaze to Hyde. Now that she had laid the foundation for the spatial gate, the construction project would be mainly handled by this old alchemist.

Hyde understood, stroked his beard, and replied, "Having built the spatial gates to the Holy City and the Royal City of Loren, we have accumulated considerable experience. Currently, with a construction team of at least four hundred people including mages, we can build a large spatial gate that can be used by the army in just one week."

"This is indeed much more efficient than crossing the sea to the west."

Isaac nodded. "However, choosing a location for construction is a difficult problem."

"We have already demonstrated the technology of large-scale spatial portals in the Western Frontier Campaign, and the company's spies have roughly figured out our capabilities."

“Building a space gate is a large-scale project that is difficult to conceal. Once it begins, it will be easily detected. If it is built near Aslan, it will inevitably be attacked.”

"Can we build it directly within Aslan?"

Dekari asked curiously, "For example, in the capital city of Leonia, Aslan is also eager to resolve the invasion of demons and sea creatures. They shouldn't disagree, right?"

"Unfortunately, that would be very difficult."

Isaac sighed softly, "Regardless of how the construction team will break through the external blockade to enter Aslan, in the past few months, the second princess of Aslan, Silvana, has shown signs of seizing power in the royal family and the Earth Sanctuary. According to secret reports, she has a close relationship with the Dark Shepherds and betrayed the eldest and third princesses during the operation to ascend the Emerald Wall. Now that the emperor of Aslan is weak and frail, there may be no one in the royal family who can compete with her for power."

"Planting a mole inside is such a disgusting tactic that only despicable people like Shepherd and the company would resort to."

Li Cheng cursed angrily.

Ella touched her nose, wishing she could go up and slap the kid across the face.

Has he forgotten that his good friend is now also a mole?

"Oh, wait a minute,"

Seeing the murderous glint in Ella's eyes, Li Cheng seemed to realize something and suddenly slapped his forehead. "Our Brother Ye is different. He endured humiliation and hardship for the great cause of our Holy Maiden. He is a true hero!"

Damn it, you might as well not explain at all. If you don't say anything, people might not even realize what's going on.

"Well said, Minister Li, please don't say that again next time."

A few black lines appeared on Ella's forehead, so she changed the subject, "The situation inside the Aslan royal family is indeed not very good, but in fact, the eldest princess of Aslan, Selindra, and the third princess, Femishire, have not disappeared. They are currently hiding in Molten City to recuperate from their injuries."

"Perhaps we can bring him into Aslan, confront the Second Princess, and reclaim the throne?"

"Your Majesty is truly visionary,"

Before continuing his speech, Isaac didn't forget to flatter Ella, "However, thanks to the support of the Earth Sanctuary, the Second Princess's control over a portion of the nobles within Aslan is now deeply entrenched. She has even cooperated with the Sea Clan Legion to achieve several victories, and the support she receives from the people of the country is at an all-time high."

Even the matter of Xuanming betraying him?

Ella tilted her head.

"It is difficult to verify based on mere statements."

Isaac sighed softly.

"What if I endorse her in my name again?"

"Your Majesty is highly respected, but it is hateful that the Dark Shepherd manipulated the Earth Sanctuary to spread rumors and slanders against you in Aslan, causing the poor people of the area to lose their reverence for you."

"Then why don't we just build a portal in Molten City?"

"Molten City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it is separated from Aslan by half of the Blackrock Mountains. The march will also pass through the rift that is the source of the demon legion, and it is equally difficult to penetrate deep into the heart of Aslan."

"Well."

Ella pouted slightly as she pondered, her expression showing a hint of unease.

"Your Majesty,"

At this moment, Lilia spoke again, "It is indeed not easy to seize the Second Princess's consolidated imperial power by relying solely on public opinion, but as far as I know, there are several legions in Aslan that have a relatively deep relationship with Serendra."

"We are fighting to save the people of mainland China, and our cause is justified. Since we cannot achieve our goal of seizing power through public opinion, why not try another approach—"

Lilia paused for a moment, then a faint smile appeared on her lips.

"Oh, I get it, a coup!"

Dekari's eyes lit up immediately, and he nodded in understanding.

Li Cheng immediately patted Decali on the back.

"What are you saying? We're doing this to cleanse the court of corrupt officials on behalf of Aslan!"

Chapter 153 A Gathering of Heroes

With the basic strategy established, the council members refined it through their own suggestions, and ultimately, they named this operation to confront the Corporation and the Dark Shepherds in Aslan "Operation Garden."

In later records, this was also the event that marked the end of a new era of gods across the entire continent, and therefore, historians gave it a more easily narrated name—

"Project Twilight".

……

three days later.

Storm Harbour, ocean pier.

Along the boundless coastline, flocks of seagulls soar through the sky, while tall steam-powered sailing ships slowly sail from the harbor into the distance amidst the roar of their engines.

Judging by appearance alone, these appear to be merely merchant ships carrying cargo, with an ink-stained iris emblem engraved on their fluttering flags, except that most of the sailors on board are robust and strong.

On the deck, Decali, who was acting as the captain of the merchant ship, wore a large, wide-brimmed leather hat, leaned on a cane, and looked ahead.

Under Ayra's planning, Decali led a construction corps carrying building materials and craftsmen, disguised as a caravan, and set off ahead of time from Stormport, crossing the Persefi Sea by ship to the Blackrock Mountains.

Meanwhile, Ella herself is selecting elite players in the Imperial City to participate in "Operation Garden".

To help Serendra launch a coup, Ayla needs a special organization with a large enough number of members but diverse abilities.

Since this is not a military operation conducted on a large battlefield, but rather a covert operation involving infiltration and assassination, with discipline and formation as secondary tasks, the player base is almost naturally suited to this special operation.

The Seven Stars Society currently has only about twenty core members, which is not enough to deploy in Aslan. Therefore, it is necessary to recruit another batch from the high-level players who belong to Loren.

However, unlike a company, Loren did not start focusing on cultivating his own player base early on before Skadi took office. Therefore, although he had a lot of loyal players under his wing, there were not many outstanding ones.

The company, taking advantage of its first-mover advantage, extended olive branches to many capable and talented players early on, while Ella's power took longer to develop, which was unavoidable.

But according to Isaac's assessment, some promising talents were still recommended.

At the Royal Palace training grounds, a group of players were being tested off the field, while Li Cheng, in the audience, was introducing the candidates to Ella using a manual.

"Your Majesty, the assassin on Arena 2 in the southwest corner, Kong Zhenqiu, is ranked 21st in the arena. His combat strength is not outstanding, but he is said to have superb infiltration skills. He has entered and exited various heavily guarded forbidden areas many times without being caught. In fact, no one knew about him until he revealed it on the forum."

"Oh, this is exactly the kind of talent we need."

Ella nodded. "But what does 'self-disclosure' mean? It's not just bragging, is it?"

"Uh, no, because the evidence he revealed is very conclusive and cannot be faked."

Li Cheng scratched his head.

Hearing this, Ella felt something was off. "I didn't quite understand. So does this guy have some strange fetish, trespassing into forbidden areas just to show off?"

"No, the motivation is probably out of interest and to earn Universal Points."

Li Cheng explained, "He is currently the highest-earning photo seller on the forum."

"...Photo peddler?"

"Indeed, he is a very famous player, whose ID is 'Saintess Meitu Plus Me'."

Ella was stunned for a moment, then almost lost her composure.

"Isn't this just a typical voyeur?!"

"So the forbidden area refers to the sanctuary??? He shouldn't be here, he should be in the dungeon, right???"

"No, I have personally reviewed all the pictures he posted, and they are all artistic close-ups. I can assure you that apart from the location being inappropriate, there is nothing that violates the laws of the Empire."

"So you bought his pictures too, right!?"

Ella's lips twitched. "What kind of godforsaken places did you film?!"

"Yes, there are quite a lot of places, including a sanctuary prayer room, a temple council chamber, and the captain's cabin of the golden ship..."

"No, let's not even talk about the first two, how did he get on the Golden Ship???"

A million question marks appeared on Ella's forehead. How could there be so many people on the ship, and even Julius hadn't noticed?

"Never mind, at least his strength is undeniable."

Ella covered her face. "But I remember making him delete all those photos after we brought him in."

"what?"

"What?! Delete yours too!!!"

……

The discussion about Mr. Kong ended quickly, and Li Cheng turned to the information of the next player.

"Training Ground No. 5, due east, this is Xu Mo, ranked 35th on the leaderboard, a swordsman."

"Swordsmen may have limited effectiveness in missions, considering there are also Templars and pirate groups."

"But this one has a special bloodline ability, and can use special magic of dragons and fire."

"That seems alright. What's his ID?"

"Disheartened Brother".

"...Won't this guy run away during a fight?"

……

"Next up is Training Ground 9 in the southwest. He seems to be a player who recently joined the Empire. He came all the way from Valen. His real name is Hu Hao, and he is a professional warrior."

Li Cheng turned to the next page and continued.

"A warrior, after all,"

Ella tilted her head. "If it weren't for warriors like you with multi-skilled abilities, it doesn't feel like your profession would be a good fit for this mission. And you're a new recruit, are you some kind of company spy or something?"

"The candidates recommended by Commander Isaac should all be fine,"

Li Cheng ran his fingers across the pages of the book. "Let me check his ranking... um?"

"What's wrong?"

Ella looked at Li Cheng with curiosity.

Li Cheng's eyes widened. At first, he thought he was seeing things, but after repeatedly confirming, he replied to Ella, "This player... his arena points are currently ranked first."

Number one on the leaderboard? Really?

Ella was surprised and turned to look back at the player.

Although she hadn't entered the arena to rack up points for quite some time, her accumulated score wasn't low, and she never expected to be surpassed.

Hu Hao, Ella couldn't quite place that name. Could he be a genius who appeared out of nowhere in this life?

Ella focused her gaze and saw the player quietly waiting in the test queue. He had a stubble beard and wore a brightly colored outer garment that looked like a Hawaiian shirt. Underneath, he wore a shirt with some unknown letters written on it. It was clear that the player had bought the clothes from the system store, which were not in the style of this era.

Upon seeing the abstract appearance, Ella's lips twitched involuntarily. However, after clearly seeing the other party's face, the somewhat resolute features slowly overlapped with a player who left a deep impression on her memory, ultimately causing her to involuntarily exclaim in astonishment:

“…Oz???”