Attack
âMm⦠Waukeen, Tyr, Mystra, theyâre pretty much all here⦠huh?â Leylin was surprised by an unfamiliar organisation amongst them. Their armour was spotless, with red capes attached. On the breastplates and capes were the symbol of a large golden eye, seemingly never closing. The armour was threaded with gold and had gems embedded in it, making it look dazzling.
âArmour with the Eternal Light spell, as well as that symbol⦠Are you priests of Helm?â Divine force flashed, the powerful massacre domain causing everyoneâs expressions to change.
âFalse god!â one of Helmâs priests spat out, and layers of light emanated from the eye at his chest. It was clearly on equal ground with Leylin, perhaps even overpowering him. Helm was the God of Protection, and his church was built to crack down on faith in false gods. Naturally, they had experience in dealing with divine beings and even demigods.
âOur mission is to crack down on the belief in false gods, purifying the origin of the world!â The priest looked pious, as he prayed with the rest of Helmâs warriors and priests. They each took a step forward, their eyes full of fervour as if they were heading to church.
*Rumble!* A surge of power whistled out, and a golden eye appeared in the air. It locked on to Leylin, showing an inverted reflection of him.
[Beep! Host has been marked by the God of Protection. Divine force locked, domains weakened by 20%. Hostâs location will be relayed every 3 hours. Remove?] the A.I. Chipâs voice sounded, and Leylin turned grim.
âAs expected of a church that deals with false gods. Theyâve made ample preparationsâ¦â Leylin was still smiling confidently, and he ordered in his mind, âPrepare to remove, but wait for my order. Remain in observation mode.â
Leylin was not surprised that Helmâs church had surrounded him. After all, the God Of Protectionâs mission was to deal with false gods. As long as news about Leylin was revealed, the zealous priests would come join in on the fun, bringing their own rations along with them.
âStill, I never thought I was being lured into so many enemies. It looks like the gods are afraid of me⦠Or were they alarmed by some divination?â
âYouâll have to explain this later, Jeffries,â a priestess of Mystra said as she walked out. She had silver hair, and her eyes glinted gold. She was looking at Leylin like he was a dead man.
Jeffries answered with a cold snort. All legendaries had their own pride, so how could he bow down to someone else? On top of that, Jeffries served Waukeen, and he had nothing to do with Mystra.
âI stand by my request. If you win over me, I shall leave immediately.â Jeffries pointed his spear at Leylin, causing the priestess to turn red in her fury.
âForgive me, but before that can I ask who planned this out?â Leylin interrupted.
âIt is the will of our god!â the priestess admitted. She looked flushed.
This slightly exceeded his expectations. He wouldnât have found it surprising if Helmâs church had been the ones to identify him, planning an attack. The same went if Waukeen was coveting his lands and wealth, or even Benedict who just hated evil. However, none of this had anything to do with the Goddess of the Weave. From how it seemed, she was the person who feared him most.
âAre the prophetic abilities of the gods that great?â Leylin immediately recalled his rank 12 arcane spell, Karsusâ Avatar. He himself wasnât even as strong as a lesser god, and was unable to deal much damage to them. This spell, though, defied logic. One use of it would give him control of the Weaveâs power, causing Mystra to fall.
On top of that, the destruction of the Weave would release the conscients of the numerous ancient Magi from the core, causing the ancient Final War to once again rock the World of Gods.
âIs she afraid of what I can do if I develop further? I could become a huge threat to her, so sheâs making the first move?â
It was impossible for Mystra to know the existence of Karsusâ Avatar. The only possible explanation was that she had a premonition that Leylin would bring great danger to her. When an ant threatened them, most people would just end it with a stomp.
This was obviously Mystraâs own course of action. But since much of her strength was stuck in the north, sheâd roped in quite a few other helpers. In such a situation, it was likely that Leylin would fall.
âThings wouldâve been troublesome had I not made preparationsâ¦â Leylin ran through his thoughts, and came up with numerous possibilities.
âIf Iâm at my witâs end Iâll definitely risk using Karsusâ Avatar. Thatâll give me a chance of survival⦠But that means Distorted Shadow could also have something to do with thisâ¦â Leylin had a strong feeling that Distorted Shadow had leaked his location, as well as the degree of threat he posed.
After all, he was an ancient peak rank 8 Magus, equivalent to a greater god. How could the conscient in the ruins be the only thing he left behind? It required no effort to use the power of distortion to show the âtruthâ to the goddess, or even just give her some clues.
If the process itself was much too complicated, then one could find the truth by looking at who would benefit by the result. Thinking everything over, Leylin believed that the most likely case was that Distorted Shadow had played his hand from behind the scenes.
âIf itâs him, I wonât be able to use the ghost city as I wish. So I have to abandon plan 3â¦â
âSo, whoâs going to be first?â The pure gold Blazing Sceptre emerged, and powerful spell energy surged out. It caused everyoneâs expression to change.
âOur church has arranged a spell formation specifically to subdue false gods. He canât use the power of his domain completely! The channel of faith from his worshippers has also weakened greatly, and our Lord has marked himâ AH!â
The priest of Helm soon cried out in pain, covering his eyes. Leylin had commanded the A.I. Chip to remove the mark, and it caused the golden eye in the sky to fall apart. It seemed to have affected these priests.
âHaha, good! This is the kind of opponent that I want!â Jeffries burst into laughter. Heâd let go of everything in his mind at that moment, only focusing on his opponent. He let loose a sudden attack, and faint black lines appeared around the holy spear as it crushed the space around it.
Benedict seemed to be operating some spell formation as well. Large beasts the size of hills crawled out of the mist, and the legendary wizard nearby seemed to be preparing some legendary spell.
âThis is what Iâve prepared for youâ¦â Benedict now had an unnatural flush on his face. A few of the giant beasts roared as he waved a hand, the thorns on their backs emitting a chilling glint as they attacked Leylin. âIâll let them play with you first.â
Four churches had joined hands here. Even a small attack could cause the entire prime material plane to gape. Still, Leylinâs expression did not change in the face of this attack that could almost kill gods.
*Chiu! Chiu!* He tossed the sceptre out and the flaming bird totem appeared, bashing into the giant beasts.
âSacred Spear? Is that considered amazing?â Leylin stared at the spear that seemed to be moving in an instant, as if dealing with it was beneath himself. Two spells were cast simultaneously with a wave of his arm, striking the tip of the spear and the black cracks surrounding it.
Greater Disjunction! Shattering Palm!
Jeffriesâ spear crumbled instantly against the disjunction spell, and the gigantic golden palm sent him flying. His chest caved in, and blood spurted out of his mouth.
âHe can instantly cast legendary spells?â The legendary wizard that had come with Mystraâs church noted the spells Leylin had cast, and then at the large number of materials in his hands with the spell he was halfway through preparing. His expression grew extremely dark.
âI donât care anymore!â As a wizard himself, he understood how powerful Leylin had to be to cast legendary spells instantly. After weighing the pros and cons, he immediately made his choice.
A teleportation gate open, and the legendary wizard immediately took his apprentices and hid away. He showed Leylin a few signs, a declaration of peace amongst wizards.
âYouâ¦â Mystraâs priests saw the legendary wizard leave and suddenly twitched, on the verge of coughing up blood. Although theyâd known wizards lacked faith, they hadnât expected it to be this bad!
Truth be told, there was little they could do about him. At the very least, heâd come all the way here. With his connections, attacking the legendary wizard would cause chaos within the church.
âDamn it. If the goddessâ avatar were here, nobody would dare do thatâ¦â The female priest gritted her teeth, but there was nothing she could do.