173: Chapter 173 The Lightning Missionary War and the Panic of the Dimensional Gods
Inside the canyon, a wave of fanaticism swept through everything.
Thousands of refugees, their eyes bloodshot and expressions frenzied, bowed incessantly toward Lumina in the sky. Their foreheads struck the cold, hard frozen earth, bleeding, yet they remained completely oblivious.
They repeatedly chanted "Divine Punishment" and "Miracle," their voices hoarse, merging into a wave of sound that shook the Soul.
These were the first batch of believers.
They were also the most perfect fulcrum.
Using this canyon as the starting point, the faith known as the "Dominator of Light" began to replicate itself at a terrifying speed, aided by the Zerg Swarm's pervasive psionic network.
It no longer required words or scriptures.
The survivors who witnessed the miracle—their memories, their fanaticism, and the fear and awe branded deep within their Souls—became the most lethal "virus" themselves.
This mental Plague spread wildly toward the seven human city-states of the Nirn Plane, following human connections, trade routes, and refugee escape paths.
At first, it was just the drunken ramblings of tavern patrons or the mutterings of beggars on street corners.
But soon, when the second and third pillars of "Divine Punishment" descended precisely from the heavens, erasing Demonic Beast lords and bandit leaders along with their dens from the earth, doubt turned to terror, and terror quickly fermented into awe.
If the "miracles" represented by Lumina were a sweet poison enticing one into faith,
then the Zerg Swarm's military edge was the steel hand forcing that poison down the throat of the entire world.
High altitude.
The clouds were torn apart by an invisible force.
The massive body of MYa, the Six-Winged Heavenly Dragon King, which blotted out the sun, pushed aside the thick sea of clouds, casting a moving night across the vast land.
It let out no roar.
Its mere existence was the ultimate intimidation.
The Mortals in the city-states below, whether farmers at work or nobles high in their halls, felt their Souls tremble and their legs weaken under the Dragon Might originating from the depths of their Bloodlines.
They looked up at the sky and saw not just a dragon,
but a living, breathing apocalypse.
Under the shroud of that immense shadow, fear drained all their courage. Any thought of resistance was crushed to dust before it could even arise.
Surrender was the only choice.
On the ground, the horns of the march had long since sounded.
A black tide surged from the end of the horizon.
It was the hundred-thousand-strong army of Berserk Ratmen led by Hogg. Equipped with crude armor scavenged from various planes and wielding rusty yet lethal weapons, they emitted high-pitched squeaks that merged into a scalp-numbing noise of steel.
Wherever the army passed, vegetation withered and the earth groaned.
Hogg walked at the very front of the legion.
His hideous wolf head was held high, and on his muscular arms, he carried a massive battle-axe that was still dripping with blood.
On the axe blade, the freshly severed head of a city defense officer had its eyes wide open, its expression frozen in the shock and disbelief felt before death.
"Faith in my Lord!"
Hogg's roar, carrying a heavy scent of blood, exploded over the city walls.
"Or, die!"
He pointed his battle-axe heavily forward, and the head rolled to the ground.
These two simple and crude options became the most powerful missionary motto on this land.
No negotiations.
No persuasions to surrender.
Only choices.
In the sky was the world-ending dragon; on the ground were the slaughtering beastmen.
Combined with the constantly appearing "Divine Punishments" that precisely erased all resisting forces,
this combination of blows completely shattered the will of the humans on the Nirn Plane to resist.
In just two months,
the seven major cities that once symbolized human civilization and order were all flying war flags emblazoned with hideous insect patterns.
In the heart of the cities, at the center of the plazas,
the statues of the "Goddess of Harvest" and the "God of Justice," who had been prayed to day and night by countless believers, were crudely toppled.
Accompanied by the desperate cries of old believers and the excited screams of new fanatics, the giant stone statues crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces.
In their place stood new, massive statues radiating a faint blue energy glow.
The faces of the statues were blurred, yet they exuded an indifference and majesty that looked down upon all living beings.
They were statues of Su Chen.
This near-destructive faith replacement finally made the true masters of this plane—the native deities sitting high in their divine kingdoms—unable to remain seated.
The Temple of Frost.
Grand halls constructed from eternal ice, the air filled with a chill sufficient to freeze the Soul.
Bang!
With a loud bang, the Frost Lord's massive palm slammed onto the armrest of his throne, causing the entire temple to tremble and countless icicles to fall from the ceiling.
"That outsider! He is too overbearing!"
His voice was like a cracking glacier, filled with rage.
"He is snatching our Foundation! Our faith!"
"It's not just snatching."
On the other side of the temple, a graceful yet pale-faced Elven Goddess spoke, her voice carrying an uncontrollable tremble.
"He is destroying! He is destroying everything we have built!"
"My believers... the last believers from whom I can still hear prayers told me that the so-called Dominator of Light is just a Puppet. Behind her is an even more powerful and... evil existence."
"His kin eat people!"
This sentence caused the temperature in the frost temple to drop a few more degrees.
A god's power originates from faith. Kin eating people meant that believers were being physically eliminated at the source. This was a hundred times more malicious than simple conversion.
This was an attempt to completely erase them.
"We must unite."
A hoarse, dry voice came from the shadows of the hall.
The skeletal body of the God of the Undead stepped out from the darkness, ghostly green Soul fires flickering in his eye sockets.
"I have already contacted the Lord of Demonic Beasts sleeping in the Myriad Beast Mountain Range."
His Soul fire swept across the furious Frost Lord and the terrified Elven Goddess.
"The four of us will join forces, gathering all the Paladins, Elven Archers, Undead Armies, and Berserk Demonic Beasts who can still fight to assemble a million-strong coalition."
"I refuse to believe we can't wipe out these damn outsiders!"
Meanwhile.
Above the endless Void Realm, within Su Chen's Divine Domain.
A piece of intelligence gathered by the Zerg Swarm's psionic network slowly unfolded before him.
Every detail of the "Anti-Zerg Alliance" and every conspiracy of the four gods were clearly presented before his eyes.
"Four gods joining forces? A million-strong coalition?"
Su Chen's consciousness body floated in the center of the Divine Domain.
Just now, the Divine Power core within him, rotating like a galaxy, completed its final collapse.
The ninth compression of Divine Power was complete.
Ninth-Turn Demigod, Peak.
An unprecedented and majestic power surged through his every thought. The entire Divine Domain became more stable because of his advancement, and the threads of the Laws were clearly visible.
He looked at the intelligence, the corners of his mouth curling into a playful arc.
It wasn't anger or seriousness, but a pleasure from seeing prey actively jump into a trap.
"Perfect, my ignition of the Divine Fire needs a bit of an accelerant."
His voice echoed in the empty Divine Domain, carrying absolute confidence and indifference.
"Since you've delivered yourselves to my door, I won't be polite."