Immediately afterward.
Crack! Crack!
The stone shell covering the statue began peeling away in great sheets.
A pure white radiance, a thousand times purer and holier than the divine light the High Priest had released at the cost of his life force, surged forth.
Like a volcano that had slumbered for a thousand years, it erupted with a thunderous roar!
The radiance was not blinding. Instead, it carried an extraordinarily gentle divine power, brimming with compassion.
Wherever the light reached, the dark mist of fear shrouding the square was instantly purified, vanishing like lingering snow meeting boiling water!
"This... what is this?"
Inside the Ash Church.
Seated within the broken stone statue, Lin En saw the breathtaking scene in Fog Town's square with perfect clarity through the players' eyes.
His anxiety over the players being crushed suddenly gave way to an uncanny calm.
Lin En's expression grew more solemn than ever, and a trace of heartfelt respect even entered his deep gaze.
Of course he knew what that pure white light meant.
Having absorbed the lingering memories of this ash divine core, he understood better than anyone.
When a deity willingly shattered their own divine statue and released, without reservation, the pure power of faith their followers had offered day after day...
It meant that deity was severing their final anchor in this world with their own hands.
What a... stubborn and admirable deity.
Lin En let out a long sigh inwardly.
To be honest, the fundamental reason Lin En had spent the past few days scheming, even pouring enormous resources into getting the players to attack Fog Town, had indeed been his own interests.
He coveted the Weeping Madonna's divine core, which was on the verge of shattering.
He needed to devour that divine core to expand his territory,