Chapter 788: Chapter 406 Grace: Even Gods Will Understand Me_2

In this regard, jealousy must have come later.

That brings up the question, within the Mermaid Empire there is a clear bloodline hierarchy, even between mermaids and fish people, there’s a distinct gap.

Unlike humans, non-humans trying to blend silently into the Mermaid Empire is quite difficult.

Reflecting on it more, there are many suspicious points about the theft of the King of Fury’s corpse.

Honestly, there’s a frightening detail hidden in it.

That is, whether it’s the Mermaid Princess or the King of Fury, few existences can stand beside them and directly contact them for a long time.

...And each one is not weak, possibly even stronger than the Mermaid Princess and the King of Fury.

Typically, those around Louis and Beatrice are not weak.

There might even be an incredible hidden explosive method among them.

The core new generation around various forces are already the developed core of the empire.

This is the reality.

So, how did a weak jealousy manage to stealthily kill the core of the top forces and rise to power when it’s so weak?

If you had the strength, would you need to use stealth tactics?

So Louis speculated... there must have been the Abyssal Church’s core layer inside from the beginning.

If Alicia herself had issues, then it could be understood.

For example, if Alicia herself is the backup plan of the Abyssal Church, or she’s one of their own. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

If so, their silent personnel replacement could merely rely on the Abyssal Church’s internal judgement.

It’s not impossible.

The Abyssal Church is filled with abnormal creatures.

Many actions incomprehensible to ordinary people seem so reasonable among them.

Even amongst themselves, a fairly high proportion of their followers die from mutual schemes.

In handling many matters, they spare no cost, as long as they can drag other forces down, they are fearless.

It can be said, there is a gathering place there for anti-SH people.

——And due to high aggregation, internal deterioration continues.

Choosing to die actively to drag the entire world down is something they truly can do.

For instance, those who quietly resided in the core circles of major forces, offered their lives willingly to allow the sin of envy to devour them, then borrowed this to get close to core members of various forces, completing further assimilation.

In that case, fear that Mermaid Princess Alicia and the elite who served the dying King of Fury are all members of the Abyssal Church.

Only thus could they easily shift jealousy over, making up its weakest parts.

The Troll’s strong body, the Mermaid’s magic, the Sword Master’s skills, plus his innate strong spiritual strength...

It can be said, under normal circumstances, based purely on the power of the sin of greed, Louis might not match his perfection.

But as fate would have it, Louis started off with double the sin of greed.

The Diary of Greed from the Land of Temptation helped him early on make up for shortcomings, then his own experiences further paid off, unknowingly surpassing envy’s nearly perfect complement.

"It won’t take long, as long as we’re on this battlefield, you and I will reunite."

Louis wore an expression full of undisguised killing intent.

He wanted envy dead.

No one could stop him.

After killing envy, next would be Helmer.

"Rally the troops, reconstruct the protective array, no defense personnel are to leave until your main force arrives."

Green Moore blinked dumbfounded, soon realizing what this meant.

If it wasn’t due to external power, but internal collapse instead...

Then as long as the root cause is found, there’s a chance to battle the enemy, instead of morale collapsing like it is now.

Louis frowned.

He cleansed the Birch Forest Fortress, the first to have issues, but wasn’t prepared to stay and guard it.

He finally understood why Bart Jean felt that Lokeshi had only half a month to hold on without help.

Bart likely had accounted for this variable long ago.

"A real smiling tiger kind of man,"

Louis couldn’t help but marvel inwardly.

Bart must have anticipated that the sin of envy would be key to punching through the border.

Why?

Louis pondered, maybe because the Lokeshi, who only have protection from their innate gods, were specifically targeted by the sin of envy.

That night, reinforcements from the Church of Glory and Justice arrived on the scene.

Louis watched Grace pacing towards his resting area, nodded and said:

"You came."

"Lord Louis." Grace nodded.

He didn’t refer to Louis as Mr. Caesar at this time.

After all, that was her private term of address.

Probably also mindful of Louis not wishing to expose his Saint Realm adventurer identity.

But honestly speaking,

At Louis’s current level, whether or not that identity was hidden was no longer important.

He alone could overpower the entire Adventurer Guild.

Turns out, the Adventurer Guild’s foundation was shallower than he imagined.

At least, given Alice’s choices, she quickly took away the resources he needed from Adventure Island.

As for the rest... whether or not it’s taken is no longer important.

It can only be said the resources on Adventure Island are abundant, but for forces already at the top, abundance is relative.

Moreover, mercenary forces can never directly occupy regional outputs like state powers can.

It’s not that they don’t want to, but they lack the capability.

Expecting adventurers to manage a country is indeed too much to ask.

Constructing a hierarchy from top to bottom isn’t something solved by pure power.

Unless playing hive will, relying on individuals to lock down the group’s desires is truly asking for a lot.

Human hearts, even demigods can’t control them.

"Grace, among the priests you brought over this time, how many specialize in mental protection or pollution shielding?"

Grace tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said: "More or less all have that capability, right?"

Louis nodded.

That was indeed correct.

Bart Jean wanted to bring the church system over to leverage the inherent advantages of church members.

Most church members’ spellcasting comes from deities.

The characteristics of Divine Art are indeed easier to defend against the mental interference of the sin of envy compared to ordinary mages.

Just like how Louis wants to eliminate envy, he thinks of pulling over a group of necromancers.

In fact, though he came directly, necromancer corps from the East and West Monet Kingdom had secretly set off before he arrived.

They carried special expectations,

which was the premise when Louis took the lead to form a team to resist the Cosmic Serpent.

Yes, sending the sin of envy on its way with the help of necromancers.

In terms of destroying souls, nothing is more professional than necromancers.

And for soul protection and pollution purification, priests are indeed more adept.

Even if unable to directly shield against envy’s pollution, at least it could let Lokeshi people detect who was influenced.

This way even if internal minds get corrupted, at least the "rotten flesh" can be identified and removed early.

"Grace, I need to talk with your lead of this mission."

The leader of the Church of Glory and Justice this time wasn’t candidate saint Grace, but rather a top cardinal specially dispatched from a neighboring country for this battle.

His name is Savaran, a name Louis had heard before.

He’s known as the [Hammer of Glory].

He’s a top elder wielding a holy tome in one hand and a battle hammer in the other, specialized in combat.

Grace looked at him curiously and said: "Lord Louis, do you want us to rally personnel and support other cities along with you?"

Louis was taken aback, then after a moment said strangely: "I do want you to leave only a core group here, and then join me in supporting other cities."

After saying this, there was some inexplicable playfulness in her tone.

Louis felt more confused.

Aren’t you afraid of him leading them into a trap?