Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton-Chapter 989 - 559: They Aren’t Serious, Are They?

"It was just petrification, not death; I don’t understand why there would be crying. Isn’t this better than turning into a pile of bones? Of course, for Ange, it makes no difference; he’d be happy even if they turned into a pile of bones since he governs the Undead."

Gonia burst into laughter, her tears mixing with snot bubbles, and she swiftly rushed over to hug the first reanimated baby, then carefully helped the reanimated Battle Priestesses one by one, afraid that they might bump into something and get hurt.

One of the Battle Priestesses opened her eyes with difficulty, and upon seeing Gonia, she weakly said, "It’s the leader... you’ve come back... that’s great... save the child..."

"They are right here, sleeping soundly." Gonia showed the other sleeping baby in her hand, who continued to sleep peacefully after the petrification was lifted, bubbles forming at its mouth.

"That’s... wonderful..." The Battle Priestess said, then peacefully passed out with relief.

Anthony couldn’t help but sigh, "When I first joined the Church, I met many pure souls like them, but over time, they became fewer."

"Oh? Why did that happen? Were they corrupted by money and desire?" Negris asked.

"No," Anthony said in a low voice, "it was I who pushed them out. It’s hard to stir things up in the Church with such pure people around."

"Pfft— you Death God’s Staff," Negris really wanted to punch Anthony’s old face to see how thick it was.

Anthony made a silencing gesture with his finger: "Shush, from now on, none of you speak or give away our information. Lord is about to start acting—cough cough cough, Lord is about to start demonstrating his might, so make sure none of you slip up."

Negris rolled his eyes, "What kind of sneaky plan are you thinking of now? If it’s not fun, I’ll expose you."

Though Negris said this, his actions were cooperative as he quietly and swiftly informed everyone, not even leaving out Diyali outside.

Anthony then leaned closer to Little Sky, whispering, "Coordinate with me and the Lord in a moment, and later I’ll find a chance to take you to fight."

Little Angel’s eyes widened, and he excitedly clenched his small fist and nodded vigorously.

He then used Soul Contact to report the entire plan to Ange, obtaining Ange’s consent, and waited for the right moment to come.

Petrification is much simpler than revival; just rest, replenish nutrients, and heal, and recovery will be complete soon.

Once these people were mostly recovered, Little Angel suddenly spread six wings and slowly ascended into the air, glowing like a light bulb.

"Six... Six-winged Archangel? Supreme Holy Spirit?" The nearly recovered Battle Priestesses suddenly felt weak in the knees and instinctively looked towards Gonia.

Gonia was stunned; the cute little girl beside Ange, was a Supreme Holy Spirit?

Anthony emerged from behind, already donned in the majestic and sacred bishop’s crown, radiating holy light. As for appearance, no one could surpass this old priest who has been acting for thousands of years.

The moment he appeared, the Battle Priestesses, whose legs had gone soft, immediately kneeled down.

Ange also revealed his ’Divine Presence’ at Anthony’s request.

A light emanated from Ange’s body, growing up to ten meters tall and looking down upon everyone from above.

Although nobody could see where the light was gazing, everyone felt its focus on them and immediately sensed an overwhelming pressure, instinctively bowing their heads. This pressure was known as divine might.

Ange never liked to manifest his Divine Presence, as aside from appearances, these light visuals were meaningless and only wasted Divine Power.

However, creating appearances was exactly the purpose of Divine Presence. The God of Arbitration always maintained a light visual form, a giant light-figure, and those who saw him were already intimidated before any combat ensued.

What Anthony needed now was exactly for Ange to create appearances.

Under the gaze of the light-figure giant, all Battle Priestesses, including Gonia, bowed their heads, devoutly prostrating themselves, their foreheads touching the ground.

Before bowing, they had seen behind the light visual the Ring of Balance and the Equal Cross, the Master God whom they had long prayed to but had never gotten a response from—God of Equality and Balance.

In a solemn voice, Anthony asked, "Under the Light, devout Shepherds, welcome to the realm of Gods—Divine Realm."

The kneeling Gonia and the Battle Priestesses couldn’t help but raise their heads, their faces showing shock, especially Gonia; they had already explained the situation to her, and nothing about the Divine Realm was mentioned.

Negris felt a jolt in his heart, understanding the trick Anthony was planning to play; he definitely intended to present these people as the Holy War Expeditionary Force from the Divine Realm.

The Sorcerer Alliance doesn’t believe they could summon thirty million of the Expeditionary Army? Well, for now, summoning two hundred thousand first, and slowly summoning the remaining two million nine hundred and eighty thousand will do.

But they had already revealed quite a bit of information to Gonia, and Negris was curious to see how this priest would turn it around.

Anthony smiled kindly, "It seems you are not very familiar with the Divine Realm, no matter, just remember, this is the realm of Gods, and you have been frozen for three thousand years. In these three thousand plus years, many things have happened. The plane you were on, let’s temporarily call it the Star Burst Plane, all its gods have fallen."

"What!? Impossible! How could that happen? Who could cause gods to fall?!" The Battle Priestesses were taken aback, some unable to help but stand up, ready to confront Anthony.

At this moment, it was time for someone to take control. Ange glanced at them, and a powerful awe swept over them.

The divine presence, like the conception of a spirit eye, makes whoever it gazes upon kneel; those gazed upon by it just knelt down again with a thud.

Of course, the might of Libra is particularly effective against believers of Light, but it can backfire when encountering non-believers.

"Silence, have you forgotten the reverence in your hearts?" Anthony said authoritatively, his voice carrying a daunting power that rumbled into everyone’s ears.

Everyone trembled and prostrated on the ground.

"In the Starburst Plane, there is a force known as the Sorcerer Alliance; they developed a powerful weapon—the Starburst Array, capable of unleashing a Faith Storm to obliterate the gods."

"Let’s not discuss this for now; you’ll understand what weapon can obliterate the gods when you see the Starburst Array with your own eyes, as it is indeed a God Slayer. Now, let’s talk about your situation."

"During the over three thousand years you were frozen, the shattered plane drifted, arriving at the Divine Realm of the gods. Yes, this name was also coined by the people of the Sorcerer Plane."

"We call this place the Kingdom of the Gods, the sacred Heaven, home to the Church of Light, and the Goddess of Redemption, stemming from here, the homeland of the deities."

"The God of Equality and Balance rescued you and those frozen lambs. Join me in thanking the grace of the Lord, whose mercy and love are a light cast upon the earth, your..."

Under the lead of the Old God Stick, the scene instantly turned into a prayer meeting; Gonia and the Battle Priestesses, dazed by Anthony’s words, instinctively entered the rhythm of prayer.

Gonia alone frowned in distress, muttering, "Why can’t I discern the truthfulness of his words? Could my senses be off? Or is it because the power of the Pope has shielded my perception?"

Negris, overhearing her mutter, couldn’t help but think to himself: Not just you, he could deceive himself with his lies.

Though three thousand years had passed, they who had been in a petrified state seemed like they had prayed just yesterday, very adeptly, hence they noticed some unusual changes.

"I...I...I sense the gaze of God?" one of the Battle Priestesses exclaimed subconsciously.

"I feel it too, and strength, I feel filled with strength."

"Me too, me too, I’ve never experienced this before, how could this be?"

Why could this be? Of course, because God is standing right in front of you, transmitting power without any loss. But what does ’never before’ mean?

Anthony couldn’t help asking, "Have you never been under God’s gaze before?"

Gonia and the others looked at each other, then collectively shook their heads.

"Uh, so you all are followers of the Goddess of Redemption, but have you ever seen the Goddess of Redemption?" Anthony hesitantly asked.

Once again, everyone looked at each other and then collectively shook their heads.

"Now I understand." Anthony nodded with a smile, confirming something in his mind, that the Divine Fire of Redemption had not been lit here.

The Gods of Light have their own lineage—Balance, Redemption, Arbitration, Light, Dark... but the one exiled was the Master God.

The God of Light would not establish a new lineage, as the Master God is not an entity with creative power; the believers are the creators of gods.

However, through the exile, the God of Light might have learned some lessons and chose not to ignite other Divine Fires, instead monopolizing all the faith.

If this continues, the God of Light could potentially become the sole supreme deity of this world.

However, the Sorcerer Alliance interrupted all this.

Perhaps it was the expansion of the Church that alerted the Sorcerer Alliance, leading them to develop the Starburst Array, a solution to end all troubles permanently.

Thus, these poor believers, although they could borrow strength from the Master God, had never attained the gaze of God.

"Pray devoutly now, for the Lord Libra watches over you, open your hearts, and express your longing for the Light," the millennium-old God Stick expertly guided, quickly immersing everyone in a strange state.

Everyone’s souls seemed to connect with a powerful entity.

Having completed this, Anthony quickly arranged for everyone to ascend the Sorcerer’s ladder, using the Teleportation Array inside to teleport back to the Starburst Plane.

When everyone emerged from the Teleportation Array and looked up into the sky at the clearly outlined colossal object, they were petrified on the spot, immediately understanding why the Pope had said, "Seeing it will let you know what can obliterate the gods, this, is the God Slayer."

"But no matter, the gods are already aware of the suffering here, and the Divine Realm has mobilized thirty million of the Holy War Legions, preparing to spread the Light."

"Yes!" the Battle Priestesses exclaimed passionately as if injected with adrenaline.

...

Upon receiving the message, Cabrela’s eyes almost popped out when a group of Light Battle Priestesses suddenly appeared on the piece of land near the death line that they had sold to Ange: "Did they really send people? Did they actually mobilize thirty million of the Holy War Army?"

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m