Chapter 31

Sui Xiong had never been the kind of coward who backed down when hit. Even when he was human, he had lived by the principle of repaying kindness with kindness and grudges with grudges. After transmigrating, he had taken that principle even further: repaying kindness threefold and grudges tenfold.

The God of Conspiracy had dared to urge his followers to scheme against him, so he was going to hit back hard!

For example, by swallowing the other guy's divine envoy.

Faced with such an outrageously brazen provocation, the God of Conspiracy was naturally furious. It wasn't as if his divine envoys had never been ambushed before. But to be intercepted by a stupid giant jellyfish—and apparently turned into the big idiot's midnight snack? This was beyond what he could tolerate!

So, without another thought, he channeled his divine power. A black rift appeared in the night sky, and hundreds upon hundreds of small figures, gray-black from head to toe and clad in black robes, flew out of it. They had broad, leathery wings on their backs and pure-black halos above their heads. The magic bestowed by those halos allowed them to evade most detection spells. Each one carried a pair of matte-black daggers known as Blades of Betrayal, weapons imbued with a deadly poison that could kill with the slightest scratch.

These were Slayers, the army under the God of Conspiracy: a terrifying corps of assassins who used shadows as cover. If Ryan went to the God of Conspiracy's divine realm after death, there was a good chance he would be turned into one of these Slayers as well.

Faced with countless Slayers, Sui Xiong wasn't impressed in the slightest. The giant jellyfish opened its huge maw, and a dazzling white light shot out, splitting into hundreds of arrows. Each arrow pierced one Slayer through the body.

The arrows were made of powerful positive energy, which clashed directly with the negative energy that made up the Slayers' bodies. Explosions rang out one after another, and every Slayer was wiped out—not a single one remained.

"Come on, send more! Throw everything you've got at me!"

Sui Xiong swung his tentacles and roared at the God of Conspiracy beyond the rift.

The God of Conspiracy trembled with rage. No longer caring about the cost in divine power, he swung his divine artifact with all his might. A bolt of black lightning tore through the sky and plunged toward that damned giant jellyfish.

As the lightning fell, Sui Xiong showed no fear and raised a tentacle to meet it.

The thick tentacle, wreathed in dazzling blue light, slammed into the black lightning. A deep rumble rolled across the sky, and an invisible shock wave tore the night's wispy clouds to shreds, scattering them in every direction.

The unharmed giant jellyfish laughed and waved its tentacles triumphantly at the sky. A huge human face appeared across its broad back, its expression full of mockery.

Seeing this, the God of Conspiracy actually calmed down.

He knew his own limits very well. He wasn't a god suited to heroic combat. Unless he was willing to move his divine realm down to the surface world at any cost, the power of a full-force attack from afar was about on par with that bolt of lightning. Since this strange giant jellyfish had easily withstood it, there was probably nothing he could do to it.

Of course, he could try to manifest an avatar. The Four-Faced Monster, slowly being dragged toward the jellyfish's mouth, would make a decent vessel. But after careful consideration, he gave up on the idea.

A little wounded pride, a single divine envoy—neither was worth risking the loss of an avatar.

He had no idea where this giant jellyfish had come from. Perhaps some powerful good god was directing it from behind the scenes. Maybe that giant lion who liked wandering the mortal world, or that justice-obsessed maniac who had fought almost every god in existence. And then again... when he thought about it, he had too many enemies to count them all in a short while.

Besides, his "relationships" were hardly any better than that justice-obsessed maniac's. If he descended into the mortal world, even gods who had no grudge against him would probably take a few swings at him, let alone those who did.

With that in mind, the great God of Conspiracy gave a cold laugh, severed his connection to the captured Four-Faced Monster, and stopped watching the area.

In the deep darkness of night, only a cold warning drifted on the wind: "Watch out for the dagger coming at you from behind."

There was no shame in backing down. Besides, he had no shame to begin with.

As for that follower who was still fretting and praying to him every so often? Uh, what was that again? He was far too busy to remember some little thing like that...

Leaving Ryan, who was still sinking into despair, aside, the onlookers inside the treasure cave were also somewhat bewildered.

Sui Xiong had projected his clash with the God of Conspiracy clearly into the treasure cave. Gerald and Palin, the two spectators, stared in utter shock, their minds going completely blank.

Good heavens! What had they just seen? A True God had been driven back, forced to abandon his own divine envoy and retreat in disgrace!

"I've always known His Majesty was powerful, but I never imagined he was this powerful..." Gerald scratched his head. His mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

Palin stared in amazement and murmured, "Th-that's a god, too?"

"Uh, yes. That's the god I worship, His Majesty Void Mask."

"Wh-what are his divine portfolio and doctrines?" Palin asked. "If I wanted to worship him, how would I pray?"

It was obvious that after witnessing the power of this unknown god, the young mage had been moved. He wanted to place himself under this god's protection.

Palin hadn't worshipped any gods in the past. Though he had joined his elders in praying to the gnomish gods or to the Goddess of Luck, those prayers were mostly just for show. He didn't sincerely accept any god's doctrines, nor had any god's greatness ever moved him. In religious terms, he was an unbeliever. Even if he occasionally spoke a god's name or prayed to one, he did so without the slightest sincerity, let alone faith.

In this world, the religious community divided people's faith into six levels: nonbelief, unbelief, general belief, sincere belief, fervent belief, and holy belief. Nonbelievers were atheists who not only didn't worship the gods but denied their existence. Unbelievers accepted that the gods existed but weren't willing to entrust their faith to them. General believers treated faith as a transaction: they prayed only when they needed a god's protection, or expected something in return when they prayed. Sincere believers accepted a god's doctrines, prayed wholeheartedly and without ulterior motives, and were willing to go to that god's divine realm after death. Fervent believers not only worshipped a god themselves but were also passionate about spreading their faith and bringing more people into the fold. Holy believers strictly followed their god's doctrines and embodied that god's will as fully as a divine envoy.

Among the people Sui Xiong had met, Old Soth was a general believer in the Goddess of Luck, Ryan was a sincere believer in the God of Conspiracy, and Palin was an unbeliever. As for Gerald... it was hard to pin down his level of faith. Personally, he was certainly eager to lay down his life for His Majesty Void Mask, which was more than enough to qualify him as a fervent believer. But he knew nothing about his own god's divine portfolio or doctrines, which meant he didn't even qualify as a general believer in that respect. The real reason was Sui Xiong's own fault. After all, he didn't even understand his own divine portfolio, and he couldn't be bothered to come up with doctrines...

Strictly speaking, even now Sui Xiong still hadn't decided whether he was actually a god.

So when Palin asked Gerald about His Majesty Void Mask's divine portfolio and doctrines, and sincerely said he wanted to worship him, Gerald was at a loss for words. Sui Xiong looked just as awkward and had no idea how to answer.

After a while, Gerald, who often thought about this sort of thing, was the first to come up with an answer. "His Majesty is a naturally ascended god. He draws his power from the world's roots and hasn't yet developed a faith or doctrines for mortals."

"I understand. Something like the Ancient Nature Gods, right?" As a mage, Palin was well-versed in the occult and immediately understood what Gerald meant. He took the idea further on his own and reached a rather lofty conclusion. "I know that great gods like the four elemental gods, the Earth God, and the God of Sky are Ancient Nature Gods. The faith of mortals can neither increase their glory nor harm them. But I never imagined I'd get to witness an Ancient Nature God myself—and a newly born one, at that!"

He thought it over, then offered some advice. "Still, White, I think His Majesty would be better off developing a following among mortals. The power of the Ancient Nature Gods grows far too slowly. If it were the primordial age, when the world was still young and uncivilized, he'd have all the time he needed to grow. But now we're living in a prosperous age. A god who relies solely on the slow growth of nature to increase his power can easily become a target for evil gods to attack and plunder. He's undoubtedly powerful—powerful enough to withstand the God of Conspiracy's assault. But what if several evil gods attacked at once?"

Palin made a convincing case, with sound reasoning. Gerald nodded repeatedly, and even Sui Xiong was impressed. Yet he couldn't think of how to develop a following. Was he really supposed to do what Gerald had suggested—spend money to set up a few pioneer villages and force the villagers to worship him every day?

However he looked at it, the idea didn't seem very practical... Even if lots of people worshipped him every day, he still wouldn't know what doctrines to have them follow, or what kind of protection he could offer them.

More importantly, people in this world worshipped gods not only to receive protection while alive, but largely so that after death they could avoid the Underworld and be reborn in a divine realm.

But... Sui Xiong didn't have a divine realm.

"Then, Palin, what do you think His Majesty should do first?" Gerald hadn't thought that far ahead. When he didn't understand something, he always asked. He was used to leaving the thinking to clever people and focusing on getting things done himself.

Palin gently stroked the cover of the book in his hands and fell into thought.

Although he was a young, low-ranking mage and didn't know much about matters like divine worship, he was already the only highly educated person available to the Church of Void Mask, whose ranks were so depleted that you could count its members twice on one hand.

When it came to using one's head, he had a duty to step up.