The Era of Gods - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Attacking the Holy Mountain and Going Straight into the Heart of the Enemy

Translator: 549690339

During the sacrifice, Lin Xiao took the opportunity to offer strategic advice to the Naga leader, instructing him to take aim directly at the heart of the Snake Tribe’s core area in the center of Blackwater Swamp and to strike decisively at their stronghold.

Understanding the plan, the Supreme Naga rested briefly before adjusting the marching direction and heading straight for the central Blackwater Swamp.

On their way there, the army encountered only the witless beasts of the swamp and no other enemies; they even passed a small Fishman Tribe that had already relocated, including the removal of the deity statue from their altar.

Heading west for over a hundred kilometers, they overtook and annihilated a Frogman Tribe on the move and finally arrived outside the Snake Tribe’s Holy Mountain on the fourth day.

The so-called Holy Mountain was a pitch-black peak about two thousand meters tall, conspicuously standing out in the flat swamp. From a distance, a faint blood-colored light column could be seen atop the mountain, and the sight of the blood column faintly conveyed a sense of intimidation.

Below the Holy Mountain, there was originally only the Snake People Demigod’s largest clan, but now the Snake People Demigod had summoned all believers from all over the swamp, including Snake people, Frog People, and even Fish people, Lizardmen, and so on; over forty thousand devotees of the Snake People Demigod had gathered at the foot of the Holy Mountain.

It was also fortunate that they had previously eradicated several tribes, or else another ten thousand devotees of the Snake People Demigod would have been present, making the battle even harder.

Without any superfluous words, when it involved a dispute over faith, there was no room for compromise. After a brief rest, at the command of the Supreme Naga, the Fish People’s Army, numbering over a hundred thousand, assaulted the devotees of the Snake People Demigod beneath the Holy Mountain, immediately plunging them into a chaotic fray.

In terms of numbers, there were more Fish people, but in terms of average strength, the devotees of the Snake People Demigod were stronger, with each Snake person only slightly less powerful than a Naga, and their ranks numbering over ten thousand, while only just over seven hundred Naga remained.

However, by this time, the Naga had mostly advanced to Level 4 Shark Hunting warriors, with individual strength far surpassing that of the Snake people, and they were not without the power to fight.

More importantly, Lin Xiao’s goal was not to completely annihilate all devotees of the Snake People Demigod. His purpose was to cause maximal casualties among the devotees of the Snake People Demigod. As long as he inflicted sufficient damage, it would be enough to destabilize the demigod’s condition.

Maintaining a demigod’s routine divine duties requires a substantial number of believers. Any Divine Beings who consolidate Godhood to become a demigod need a certain number of followers to sustain it.

Or to put it another way, even without believers, by accumulating enough Faith value, a demigod can sustain for a while.

Once the Faith value drops below necessary levels, the Godhood cannot be sustained, the power of the demigod will start to weaken, and if this continues to a certain extent, the Godhood will collapse due to the lack of Divine Power, devolving the demigod back to a Divine Being.

Therefore, a Divine Being can exist without any believers, but a demigod cannot; they must develop their own followers and protect them.

In normal circumstances, having fought to this point, the Snake People Demigod would definitely have awoken and personally intervened. However, this time the Snake People Demigod was severely wounded and didn’t even have the time to make a move.

According to Lin Xiao’s divine-mandate, the Supreme Naga led the Fish People’s Army in a do-or-die assault on the followers of the Snake People Demigod, sparing no expense, even if it meant mutual attrition.

Squads of Naga enforcers were positioned at the rear, executing any Fish people who fled on the spot, forcing them to continue the attack.

Meanwhile, over five hundred Level 4 Naga mingled amongst the army, specifically targeting and eliminating the enemy leaders.

Race: Black Scale Naga.

Category: Sub-human Species.

Class: Medium race.

Rank: Level 4.

Profession: None.

Talent: Underwater breathing, Advanced Strength, Intermediate Regeneration, Shining scales.

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Skills: Bloodthirsty, Following Stroke, Basic Footwork LV3, Salted Fish Charge.

Specialties: Advanced Swimming, Intermediate Speed, Monkey arm.

Constitution: 7.5 (You have the constitution of an elephant.)

Strength: 8+3 (You possess Divine Power, not even the strength of elephant people can compare.)

Agility: 5.2+1 (You have extremely fast speed and reflexes.)

Spirit: 2.5 (Your spirit is stronger than ordinary people; with training, you’ve become suitable for casting professions.)

Evaluation: This is an amphibious humanoid species that has never been seen before, with monstrous strength far exceeding that of normal humans.

The Level 4 Naga Shark Hunters are far stronger than Level 3 Naga warriors, whether in terms of constitution, strength, or agility. They completely dominate.

Just imagine, a warrior with almost eight times the constitution, eleven times the strength, and more than six times the agility of a normal person. Against a much weaker opponent, ‘crushing’ doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Five hundred Level 4 Naga Shark Hunters formed ten vanguard units and, like hot knives through butter, they sliced through the Snake People Demigod’s disciples’ defenses without any resistance, even without needing to use the Salted Fish Charge, and slaughtered them back and forth.

With these elite vanguard troops far exceeding the average combat strength of the time, they managed to divide and conquer the Snake People Demigod’s disciples bit by bit.

The Fish People’s Army suffered huge losses; after all, their individual strength was too weak. In less than half an hour of full combat, over ten thousand had died or been injured. But the Fish People had numbers on their side, with more than double the enemy’s size. Even with heavy casualties, they didn’t break immediately. The constant breaches made by many Naga through the enemy lines greatly boosted the Fish People’s morale, preventing a collapse for the time being. On the other hand, with their leaders being continuously killed, the Snake People Demigod’s disciples showed a tendency to disintegrate.

Beheading tactics are extremely devastating to morale. Even the most elite armies can’t hold on when their commanders are being killed one after another at the front. It’s even worse for a disorganized force like the Snake People’s Demigods’ disciples, which relied solely on their tribal leaders for direction. Once a leader died, the army was left without command, only able to engage in numb slaughter or be slaughtered.

An army with a command structure is a different beast altogether from one without.

Thanks to the excellent performance of the clans, and with Lin Xiao issuing another Divine Mandate to inspire morale midway, the Fish People’s Army held on despite a frightening attrition rate of nearly thirty thousand deaths, enduring longer than the Snake People Demigod’s disciples.

At this point, the Fish People’s Army had reached a critical threshold. Most of them were not clan members but ordinary devotees, mainly casual believers who were only barely holding on due to the pressure from the Naga. More and more Fish People began to flee, and signs of a complete collapse were emerging.

But, fortunately, the Snake People Demigod’s followers collapsed sooner. Some fringe believers, such as Fish People, Lizardmen, and Frog People, had started running away early on. As the casualties mounted and the Snake People Demigod failed to respond for a long time, more and more devotees fell into disarray and fled.

At the foot of the Holy Mountain, the giant toad was frantically inhaling and exhaling with irritation. Each time it could barely resist the urge to jump out and join the slaughter, the authoritative voice of the Snake People Demigod would ring in its ears:

“Guard the Sacred Site Exit! Do not leave!”

At a certain point, as the first Snake Person began to flee and the core races of the Snake People’s Demigod collapsed, the other believers, who had been barely sustaining themselves on devout faith, instantly began to flee en masse, as if they had lost the support in their hearts.

From beginning to end, that giant toad lying at the foot of the Holy Mountain never joined the battle. It stayed there, restless, but did not engage in combat and did not heed the collapse of the Snake People Demigod’s followers.

With the enemy fleeing, the light of victory dawned, and the morale of the Fish People, on the brink of collapse, revived. They excitedly let out strange cries as they chased and slaughtered the fleeing Snake People Demigod’s followers.

“The situation is settled!”

Lin Xiao, who had been closely watching the battle in the Divine Realm, finally let out a sigh of relief.