Chapter 140 - 140: A Devil's Core

Inside of a beautifully sculpted city square that lay before the largest church of the divine light.

A crowd was formed of the largest ranking members amongst players who joined the church in the holy war between the heavens and the Order.

Amongst this crowd was the figure of Alexander or as his Player ID displayed, Thanatos.

Using an item to hide his player name as well as a cloak to keep his wings hidden he was deep inside of enemy territory to watch as a specific event was about to occur.

'Last time the holy war event started it wasn't long before the church made a declaration of war so severe that even some of their allies condemned them in private.'

He watched as the pope approached the amplification stone and when he saw what lay on the pope's hip he felt his stomach churn with disgust.

A book made with pure white leather, reported to be crafted of gold infused with mana for a millennia and white leather from a dragoness who wielded the purest light magic in existence.

At the center of the book was a glowing gem that shined with an internal light, a golden gemstone that even from hundreds of feet away could be felt radiating light mana.

'The Pope's personal grimoire... this disgusting monster.'

When the pope reached the stage and stopped before the pedestal he cleared his throat to get the attention of those present.

'Here it is... the day he enraged every enemy leader and two minor deities... I hope your pride was worth it Pope Bernard Emmeret.'

"My people, the light of the divine Lady Luminous shines upon us today! I bring to you a decree for who shall become the greatest targets of our Order!"

In the crowd every single player who had sided with the Order Of Light had gotten a system prompt for accepting repeatable bounties.

"Our order shall reward you for every single bounty you turn in, the reptilian, the drakes, the orcs, the beastfolk, the elves and the infernal scum!"

With this the bounties were revealed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Turn in the listed kill trophy to receive a reward.

Lizard Folk Heart- 1000 Contribution Points +1000 silver coins

Beast Folk Heart- 1500 Contribution Points +1500 silver coins

Orc Heart- (rewards decided by rank of heart)

Elven Mana Heart- (rewards decided by rank of heart)

Dragon Mana Heart- 10,000 Contribution Points + gold grade item

Female Devil Core- 20,000 Contribution Points + mythril grade item

Male Devil Core- 50,000 Contribution Points + diamond grade item

~~~~~~~~~~

As Alexander listened to the other players react to the bounty list targets he saw something that made his heart run cold and made his spine shiver in fear.

He quickly left the crowd without caring how strange he appeared because the sight of that black line in the sky slowly growing larger told him exactly what was next.

The pope had declared war and put out bounties upon creatures that were protected so heavily that even the scum of the underground markets refused to trade in their cores.

'Oh gods above I thought they were exaggerating in those old forums, that suicidal freak actually put a bounty on devil cores... oh god he put a bounty on male devil cores.'

Once he had gotten as far away as possible he rose into the sky to get a better view of what was about to happen.

~

The players accepting what they felt were simple bounties began to notice the gasps and screams of their fellow players, all slowly raising their heads as they heard about the sky until they saw a creature of titanic proportion hovering in the air.

Many players who had considered streaming the reveal of the pope but had chosen not to decided that this was the perfect time to start, they all gazed upon the dragonic creature whose body was as wide as a river and longer than many could even fathom.

Moving it's head lower the creature began to speak.

"Disgusting false prophet! How dare you claim to speak for Luminous while you..... that tome, I KNOW THAT CORE!"

the players felt the ground below them tremble as the roar of this creature shook the very stones beneath their feet.

"YOU DARE TO CARRY HIS CORE ON A BOOK BOUND IN HER FLESH? YOU DISGUSTING WORM!"

Above the city a fractal barrier was beginning to take shape as the body of this creature began to shine in a brilliant light.

Her scales were so pure white that they almost looked like crystal, her horns and claws shining with a metallic luster like the most beautiful gold while her deep blue eyes gazed upon the pope with a rage so deep that players were beginning to fall unconscious out of fear.

"Begone foul creature, the gods will not strike you down but if I must do so in their stead then I shall!"

His words seemed to make the figure pause before she began to laugh with a deep rumble until her rage filled shrieks of laughter began to deafen everyone.

"YOU? FOR A MERE HUMAN TO THREATEN THE NAGA SEERESS YOUR MIND MUST HAVE ROTTED IN YOUR SKULL!"

She floated closer until she finally had her nose almost right against the barrier.

"You know she never truly believed that you were stupid enough to use his core right? She believed that you were simply keeping the core to mourn the loss."

Not many saw it, a few who were paying closer attention would see but most who would catch this motion did so when rewatching the many stream angles.

The pope, just for a moment, flinched.

"When she learns about his core being used in a grimoire? A grimoire bound in the flesh of his own wife? She will turn your entire continent to ash."

She started laughing again and those who were looking at her felt like rats facing down a lion as her eyes showed the most unfathomable rage many of them had ever seen.

As the gargantuan creature floated high above the city they saw her mouth beginning to glow while a magic circle started to form over the entire city.

Layer after layer of complex magic runes and structures took shape until a bead of light began to form inside of the center of that magic circle.

Floating above the circle she pointed her maw straight at the ground and with a savage roar she unleashed a beam of light so bright that many players instantly lost the ability to see.

Their streams did not lose this however as the spell unleashed the tiny bead of light that shined even brighter than her own breath attack.

The spell and beam hit the shield of the city simultaneously while the pope opened his grimoire to cast a spell instantly which created a link between himself and the barrier, a link that helped the disintegrating barrier hold strong while he was focused on the spell.

When the bead and the beam collided with the barrier a storm of light was unleashed across the entire surface while the whole city was burned bright by the attack.

When it was finally done the titanic creature huffed at the sight before laughing again.

"I wonder how many centuries of your mana got wasted protecting the city from that one spell? I know you never expected anyone to attack but you still prepared surprisingly well."

As she moved closer her claws slashed at the barrier leaving deep gouges in the light construct which repaired just as fast as they were made.

"I know the future of your death false prophet, I know the fate of this city and I know the fate of your false Order!"

She began to cackle wildly as she flew away.

"The slayer of kings will have your head, he will reclaim the core you have falsely kept and when they arrive together your city will be reduced to ash for their wedding!"

~

'The slayer of kings? I don't remember anything about that assassin being at the final battle. Maybe my presence is actually messing up way more than I expected.'

Alexander knew from the past that this attack was not intended to truly stop the pope or try to destroy the city but was instead to erase the mana stores within the barrier protecting the city.

Many players had confirmed that just like with restoring the protective barriers around a city in lower level regions the barrier around the human capital was fueled by members of the church.

The pope himself seemed to contribute the most to the barrier and he remembered the claims that the storage level of the barrier was infinite, who knows how many centuries of burning through his own mana just got erased by the Naga Queen.

As the Naga Queen was flying away she glanced in the direction of the flying angel who had observed everything and she slowed.

"Otherworlder in the form of an angel, you carry a powerful bloodline. Seek out the ancient Beast Folk leaders and maybe you shall grow fast enough to aid your divine mother Luminous.