The Shadow Church was steadily losing ground.
Although Port Nyanzaru had suffered few casualties, the damaged golems alone were probably worth over two million Gold Dalers. Arendelle's tax revenue for the previous year had been just over one million Gold Dalers. In other words, in less than an hour, Soren had burned through the equivalent of two years of Arendelle's taxes. But the price was worth paying. Without so many golems clearing the way, the Half-Elf Church would probably have suffered over a thousand casualties just breaking into the underground complex.
Money could not buy lives. Soren's resources were limited, and losing all his core followers would deal him a devastating blow.
The same reasoning applied to the Lord of Shadows.
He had never dismissed or underestimated Soren's strength, and he had always regarded Soren as a dangerous enemy.
But in the end, he had still underestimated the power of Port Nyanzaru.
That was right!
The Lord of Shadows had correctly gauged Soren's own strength, but he had failed to anticipate Port Nyanzaru's hidden power.
The Lord of Shadows believed he had a seventy to eighty percent chance of defeating Soren, which was why he had taken the initiative to attack Soren's followers. What he had never imagined was that even the combined strength of the Shadow Thieves and the Shadow Church could never match Port Nyanzaru, which secretly enjoyed the support of the Northern Witches Council, Arendelle's Ice Witches' Coven, and the religious orders of the City of Wealth.
The Lord of Shadows had already lost.
But he had not lost to Soren's individual strength. He had lost to Soren's influence in the mortal world!
Some of these golems had come from the Northern Witches Council.
To obtain Port Nyanzaru's Floating Ring technology, the Eye of the North had