Chapter 10

Thus, the battle fell into another repetitive cycle: lumberjacks—Baldy leading a few elites—lumberjacks, over and over again. Like a meat grinder, they wiped out the endlessly charging skeletons.

However, having lost the protection of the wooden fence, relying solely on manpower to hold back the endless skeleton army was ultimately not a sound choice.

As the battle continued, more and more lumberjacks began to suffer injuries. Their stamina rapidly declined under the effects of their wounds. Fewer and fewer lumberjacks could continue fighting, while Baldy's rest periods grew shorter and shorter. Eventually, he had no choice but to remain on the front line, relying on his own martial prowess to keep the line from collapsing.

Baldy truly was a tough man. As the battle continued, the wounds on his body multiplied, and he gradually became covered in blood. Yet he gritted his teeth. Not only did he refuse to retreat, he did not show the slightest sign of weakness as he fought desperately.

But courage alone was not enough. Looking at the growing number of wounds on his body and his increasingly sluggish movements, it was clear that he would not be able to hold on much longer.

Seeing that Baldy was about to collapse, Sui Xiong nodded to himself and leaped out from deep within the forest.

Perhaps the village had other means at its disposal, but Sui Xiong could not stand by and watch a good man fight bloodily to protect others while he himself did nothing.

His massive body whipped up a gale. His enormous tentacles swung about, snapping trees and overturning the earth, carving terrifying scars across the land like a tornado passing through. They propelled Sui Xiong forward at tremendous speed, and in moments he crossed nearly ten li and charged into the open ground before the village.

"Demacia!"

The Giant Jellyfish bellowed a game quote in a language no one in this world could understand, then raised his tentacles and smashed them fiercely down upon the skeletons gathered together and surging toward the village gate.

Boom!

At least a hundred skeletons were shattered by that blow. Even the ground was smashed into a deep crater, fully displaying the Giant Beast's overwhelming monstrous strength.

To this group of beings made of nothing but bones, the Giant Jellyfish was simply absurdly powerful.

"Kehehe! You useless trash see that? I'm strong, super strong, absolutely invincible strong!"

Sui Xiong laughed loudly as his tentacles lashed and smashed, beating the skeletons into complete disarray. Though he had actually used only a small fraction of his strength, power at this level was already enough to sweep through an army.

The villagers, who had been locked in a bitter struggle, were stunned. They had never imagined that the situation would take such a dramatic turn.

Veteran gamers all knew what it meant for a Garen to leap out of the grass, but who could have imagined something as absurd as a giant dragon falling from the sky?

Fortunately, Sui Xiong had made this body rather mild in appearance. Aside from its enormous size, it possessed nothing especially ferocious or sinister. Its hide was thick, its coloring plain, and it had neither markings nor deformities. It was merely a huge, thick-skinned tentacled monster. Compared to it, those skeletons actually looked far more frightening.

It was like an elephant and a hyena. Though an elephant was vastly larger than a hyena and could kill one in an instant, an elephant looked far more kind and friendly.

Especially when that elephant was protecting you from the hyena.

Watching Sui Xiong sweep through the enemy ranks, his tentacles flying in every direction and scattering bone fragments all over the ground, many villagers began to cheer.

Yet inside the stone house behind the crowd, where Sui Xiong's soul perception could not penetrate, a pair of aged eyes held not the slightest joy. Instead, they were filled with shock and fury.

"What in the hell is this? Where did a legendary creature come from?!" The high priest of White Leaf Village's Temple of the Vigilant glared viciously at the Giant Beast slaughtering its way through the skeletons, so furious that even his beard trembled.

He had spent great amounts of time and effort, consumed vast resources, and arranged several contingencies. He had intended to use this year's Night of Ashes, when the skeleton army besieged the village, to greatly raise his god's level of faith within the village, cultivate more fanatics, and conveniently eliminate that bald bastard who was always encouraging the villagers to stand on their own feet and causing great obstruction to his preaching.

Everything had originally gone smoothly. As long as things proceeded step by step, the bald bastard would soon be finished. Then he would reveal his trump card, make a dazzling entrance as the savior, and the villagers would surely bow down in worship—oh, no, they had already bowed down in worship. They simply had not been sincere enough. He needed them to worship wholeheartedly, to offer everything to His Majesty as he himself had done. Only then could the great His Majesty receive more faith, and only then could he fulfill the value of his own life and, after his brief life came to an end, walk proudly into His Majesty's divine kingdom...

He had prepared everything perfectly. Step by step, everything had been under his control.

But this damned monster had ruined everything!

Damn it! With that enormous body and such powerful strength, it should clearly have been a savage legendary monster, a fiend that brought misery to all living things and made people tremble in fear. Why had it come to protect humans?!

The black-robed high priest was already very old. In his youth, he had been an adventurer who traveled across the continent, spreading the glory of the god he worshipped while amassing wealth and increasing his power. He had seen those enormous monsters before. They possessed strength that drove people to despair, and they used it to do whatever they pleased, arrogant and utterly lawless.

Yet now, he was seeing a monster beyond anything he had imagined.

Powerful, yet not vicious. On the contrary, it was very friendly.

More than once, he saw the monster deliberately avoid harming villagers during battle. Sometimes, it would rather take a few blows from the skeletons than fail to protect a villager.

There was no doubt about it. This was a monster of the good alignment. Perhaps it was not a creature of this world at all, but came from some realm filled with radiance, peace, and warmth.

A Heavenly Realm creature? A Heavenly Realm jellyfish? He had never heard of such a thing...

Beyond a little confusion, he felt even greater anger. For an old high priest who had weathered many storms and failures, having a plan fall through was not truly a great matter. Even failing when success was within reach could be endured. What troubled him more was his disappointment in the future.

Since that giant fellow was so friendly toward humans, it would likely remain in this area and become something akin to a guardian deity. With its protection, the nearby villages would surely no longer need divine power to survive crises. That might not be a major problem for churches of good gods skilled in healing and similar methods, but for evil god churches like theirs, which relied on fear and threats to sustain themselves, it was nothing short of a catastrophe!

Not to mention that good and evil had been mortal enemies since ancient times. This good monster was determined to kill even the relatively less evil undead. Would it possibly show mercy when facing an evil god high priest as wicked as him, black to the very core?

Most likely, once it had cleared out the skeleton army, it would smash His Majesty's holy dwelling at daybreak...

The old high priest's chest heaved violently like a blacksmith's bellows. His rage burned fiercely like a furnace fire fed by a strong wind, nearly driving him mad.

This absolutely could not be tolerated!

Fear and anger made him pace impatiently back and forth, and the young women serving as assistant priests around him became deeply uneasy. Fortunately, he quickly came to his senses and regained his calm.

Anger could not solve problems. It would only create more. He needed to remain calm now; things had not yet reached the point of complete despair.

At a time like this, mortal strength was useless. He could only pray to the great deity and seek the god's wisdom.

"Loyal Watcher, Sleepless guardian of the sacred gate, Your servant prays here. This servant's meager wisdom is no longer sufficient to deal with the situation before me. I beg You to guide me with Your great and boundless wisdom, and tell Your servant what to do!"

At first, his prayer received no response. But before long, the small Shrine began to emit a strange glow. The light was utterly black, yet somehow blinding. Warmth and icy cold radiated from it together, making it exceptionally eerie.

Along with that strange light came an indescribable will. The will touched the old high priest, then immediately vanished. The strange glow disappeared with it, leaving no trace behind, as though neither had ever existed.

"Strange! Was that my imagination?" When the light appeared, Sui Xiong felt the aura he hated abruptly grow stronger. He instinctively glanced toward the stone house, but saw nothing unusual. When he intended to take a closer look, that aura had already vanished, and everything was as normal as before. He could not help wondering whether he had merely imagined it.

But the thought passed in an instant. Dealing with the skeleton army while properly protecting the villagers was no easy task. He was also suppressing most of his power at the moment, which made things even more difficult. He truly had little room to be distracted.

There would be plenty of time in the future to communicate slowly. He was not in a hurry.

But while he was not in a hurry, his enemy certainly was.

Inside the stone house, before the Shrine, the old high priest opened his eyes after praying with them closed. There was no longer any worry or unease in them. Instead, they shone with wild joy.

"Wonderful! The moment to enter my lord's divine kingdom has finally arrived! The most glorious moment of my life has finally come!"

Laughing loudly, he opened the chest where he kept his treasures and took out a wooden staff.

The black wooden staff was covered in stains. Upon closer inspection, they were clearly traces left by dried blood, and the bloody smell permeating the air confirmed it. One end of the staff was exceptionally sharp and had two blood grooves. Once thrust into a victim's body, blood would gush out through those grooves and soak the peculiar patterns carved into the staff. Those "patterns" could transform blood into magical power, quickly constructing a miniature sacrificial formation and turning the victim into a Sacrificial Offering to an evil god.

Many years ago, when the old high priest had still been a young priest, he had paid an enormous price to have an equally evil mage craft this wooden staff. He had named it "Sacrificial Offering," and had used it to complete many sacrifices, pleasing the god more than once through those offerings.

The reason he had risen from ordinary talent to become a high priest capable of presiding over a holy dwelling was largely due to this wooden staff.

And today, he would use this wooden staff again.

This time, he would offer the finest Sacrificial Offering!