Chapter 32 Temple of the Sun God
Immediately my mind went back to Timothy and the Demons I killed back in my Simulation. Red, ugly, and tall beings that seemed to have no mind of their own.
Still, I decided to deny any knowledge at all.
"I have no idea."
"How could you?" Sebastian sighed. "They are far before your time.
Demons are creatures of destruction and chaos.
They are devourers. That's it. That's their purpose in life.
They are like a cancer that spreads and uses everything in its path to grow, leaving nothing behind.
Not even ashes. Nothing. Demons come in all kinds of forms. Large, small, humanoid, or completely alien looking.
Their forms are endless, as is their greed. "
"Sounds like the Greens," I said.
Sebastian nodded, "Greens are also part of the Demons. But they are just spawns. They are filthy and disposable creatures that are good for nothing and limited in their growth. They hold a tiny, tiny amount of Demonic Bloodline. Nothing to be concerned about. A true Demon has, theoretically, unlimited potential and the ability to grow stronger. It just needs to devour more and more. The Greens are just greedy idiots. Most importantly, they are weak, greedy idiots.”
I nodded.
Sebastian continued, "Ages ago these Demons roamed our planet.
A war that lasted millennia was fought and many, many lives were lost, but eventually we managed to win, drive the Demons back from where they came from, and seal the entrances to our world.
It was a long and gradual process and if it wasn't for the Kingdoms and Empires uniting, things would have gone much worse.
It was also thanks to the Temples coming out of seclusion and striking those Demons down that we still have a planet. Let alone a civilization."
"And you found one of these Demons?" I asked, my face growing as pale as a sheet of paper.
"No," Sebastian shattered my fears.
And it was then that I saw the hatred resurface on his face. This time it wasn't just a flash of emotion that went away a moment later. No, his face contorted into an expression of pure rage and fury. His hand gripped the table in front of us so hard it cracked underneath the sheer pressure.
For a moment I thought he would burn the whole mansion down.
Then he took a deep breath. Followed by another. And another. It wasn't until five minutes later that the man seemed to have calmed down and began to speak again.
I didn't hurry him.
"I have found signs of Demonic Cultists.
Humans, who have succumbed to their greed and somehow not only acquired a Demonic Bloodline but also fused it into their body.
They heard of the endless growth Demons could have and decided they wanted that.
In turn, they gave up their humanity and much worse, their mind, turning extremely ruthless.
" Sebastian said. "That, per se, is not why Demonic Cultists are criminals wanted in every Empire, Kingdom, Republic, or whatever state of government there is.
No, it's their desire to bring back those Demons.
To bring them back to our planet and become part of them.
That's why Demonic Cultists won't even get a trial. They are to be executed on sight."
"And you found some of them," I said. "Here. Next to my town. Inside the Verdant Expanse. People who want to bring back so much destruction the Beast Wave is nothing but child's play compared to that."
"I found signs of them," Sebastian shook his head. "Else I would have killed them myself. What I found was a portal that allows the spawn to enter our world. It spawns a few of those weak Goblins every few minutes and I am guessing an orc once a day. Maybe less. I have no idea. But–"
"A portal?!" I yelled and shot up from my chair.
I remembered the portals inside Timothy's Simulation and immediately my face began to grow pale. Dread filled my mind.
"Yes, but please calm down, Ivor," Sebastian sipped on his tea.
"It's not as bad as it sounds. It's basically impossible for the Cultists to create a real portal before they are discovered.
It just took too many resources and Mana and we...
they know what to look for. It still connects to the Demons' world, but the drawback is that only the spawns can enter through that portal. "
I deflated upon my chair and suddenly everything made sense.
The greens. Their sudden appearance and their fast rate of growth.
It was those fuckers that created the whole situation I had to—my town had to deal with.
The Beast Wave alone would have been enough for me to kill them.
But this? Yeah, I understood why all governments put a kill-on-sight order.
"I have informed the Temple of the Sun God. They will take care of the Cultists," he said. "But they won't arrive for months. Maybe more. So until then, we will have to take advantage of the situation."
And despite being a noble and receiving a good education, I had no clue what the Temple was.
So I asked.
"The Temple of the Sun God?"
Then a second later, the rest of his sentence hit me like a brick.
"Take advantage of the situation?!"
Sebastian shot me an evil grin.
"First I will explain about the Temples," Sebastian said.
There were multiple Temples across this world, all of them worshiping something, but not necessarily a God.
It could be a principle or an ideology that they followed until their last breath.
There was a group of Monks that Sebastian used as an example, that followed a certain ideology and philosophy rather than any God.
Technically, the Demonic Cultists were also a Temple.
But the moment I pointed that out, Sebastian shot me a glare and told me to never say that in front of any other Temple.
They might kill me.
Anyway, not all of these Temples were strong.
Or held a lot of power. Or wanted to hold a lot of power.
However, the Temple of the Sun God was quite different in that regard.
They were one of the main Temples responsible for driving back the Demons with their might and exclusive classes.
It was one of the strongest ones with branches all across the continent.
There were actually three continents that I was aware of. From what I had been told, ours being the main one called the continent of Vageas. The other two continents were separated by large and dangerous oceans, so nobody truly knew these continents.
Only the strongest traverse those waters.
"That's a lot to take in," I sighed.
Sebastian nodded and sipped his tea.
I did too.
"So how are we going to take advantage of the situation?"
"Do you know how dungeons work?"
I nodded as I remembered old Ivor's knowledge about them.
"Dungeons are structures separate from our world.
They are kind of like pocket dimensions with different environments and monsters.
In there, monsters of different levels spawn and drop loot after you kill them.
Once you complete a Dungeon, you get a bigger reward, sometimes Skill Books.
Most importantly, they reset and you can—oh, you want to power level our army. "
"Precisely. The portal is practically a Dungeon that keeps spawning Greens.
The only problem is that unlike a Dungeon, those Greens can roam around the forest and multiply even further.
The Beast Wave is a perfect example of the negative consequences, but if we get the situation under control... " Sebastian said.
I didn't need him to spell out the advantage to me. If we simply stationed a part of our army there, they could easily get to Stone Rank within weeks if not less, while gaining combat experience.
It was precisely why Dungeons were so sought after. Unlimited monsters, experience, loot, and Skill Books. Wars were fought over less. Still, I was concerned.
Sebastian continued, "Besides this, these portals are usually built in Mana Dense regions, which, if you aren't aware, the Barren Lands are not. So there has to be something inside the cave that allows the portal to function."
"Won't that be dangerous?" I asked. "I mean, the monsters alone would be dangerous. Who knows when an orc spawns or an even stronger monster? But what about the Cultists? What if they find out?"
"It is dangerous," Sebastian nodded. "However, for everything there is a plan."
Over the next few hours, Sebastian explained to me his plan and thought process.
It was pretty simple, actually. We would just have a guard on standby for every orc that would come out.
We would also widen the cave and make the portal easier to observe from further away.
I suggested we lower the ceiling so orcs can't pass through, and Sebastian agreed.
As for the cultists? Well, not only were they cowards, but also arrogant. Never in their lives would they think their portal was found. Even if somebody did, who would know what it was? This was the Barren Lands after all. They also wouldn't stay to check it out. It was just not worth the risk.
Sebastian was very confident in his assessment.
I wondered if he had dealt with them beforehand, but I decided not to ask.
The man had been with me for almost a decade now.
Well, with the old Ivor. Of course, old Ivor asked him questions but Sebastian simply refused to answer any of them.
Even the Count didn't speak about Sebastian's past.
I was not sure whether he didn't know or didn't want to share.
"Looks like you thought of everything," I said to Sebastian.
The man nodded and stood up. "I did. I did indeed. Please offer Magret and the rest of the cleaners–"
"Keepers," I interrupted. "Housekeepers. They are more than just cleaners."
Sebastian nodded. "Please tell them I am sorry for kicking them out. I need to sleep now. I have been on the road for quite some time, my Lord."
"Good night," I smirked.
Sebastian just shook his head and went upstairs into his fully blacked-out, sterilized room. I bet he was enjoying this new look.
We decided not to share this information with anybody else.
***
Another week passed quickly. The preparations were in full swing.
Around 350 people with combat classes were taken into our army.
A couple didn't pass the screening Gerald, Samuel, and Magret did.
I wasn't sure why, but I also didn't ask.
Anyway, these 350 people were trained three times a day by Gerald and a few more veterans to become a proper fighting force in less than two weeks.
It was a really, really short time frame, but it was all we had.
One had also to remember that these were a bunch of 18-year-olds who just acquired the system. It was also why the Town prioritized them—they were the future of the Town. If they died, and only children and old people lived, they wouldn't have a workforce in decades.
Luckily, the famine plus the collapsed mine made it so that most of them chose combat classes. It was a blessing in disguise. If most of them had chosen Miner or other non-combat classes, the town would have no chance.
Also, now that Sebastian had brought us all of the valuable information, we began to finally build some good shit.
Walls were erected, but not to block the herd; rather, we tried to create a maze to slow down and confuse the Beast Wave.
This way, the beasts would run through the gaps, splitting them up.
And at each turn, angle, or what not, we had placed traps or people.
We hoped that this way, by the time the beasts would reach the wall, it would be more like a steady stream rather than a raging river.
Of course, that wasn't it. We also placed multiple holes all spread across the forest, as deep as we could possibly go, and even right at the edge of town. Some of these holes were covered and hidden, leading to one incident of one civilian falling in.
Afterwards, we banned civilians from being near the battlefield we were creating.
One thing we added, thanks to Sebastian's information, was small walls made out of dirt or the logs we cut down to keep the forest safe.
At first, they were meant to keep rats out, or rather force them to run around the walls, therefore slowing them down.
But we realized that they also might trip up some of the bigger animals such as boars.
All in all, it was really great progress.
It was surprising how much you could get done with a few thousand people all working on the same goal while you already had a plan in mind and the materials prepared. I thanked the townsfolk for their help almost daily. They simply thanked me back.
Most of the work I didn't have to oversee. I would just appear and check in upon the progress.
There were also some interesting developments. First, Julie was done with her aphrodisiac for the Locusts, but we decided to postpone using it until after the battle. She was now fully focused on creating poisons.
Next was actually Jason, the town's best Blacksmith. He had picked back up the hammer.
As I lay in my bed, I couldn't help but smile.
Despite the hard times, everybody was working towards a common goal.
Like every day before, I ran all ten Minor Simulations right after waking up.
Again, I fully focused on Timothy. I wanted to merge another Unarmed Combat Common Grade Skill into my already existing one.
The levels would definitely be worth it.
As I ran my last simulation and received two Skill Shards, I went over the threshold and formed my next Skill. I gained around 13 Skill Shards per day and still had some left over from last time.
A line of text formed inside my vision.
All one hundred Skill Shards have formed into the General Skill [Unarmed Combat - Common]
It is noticed that you already have the Skill [Unarmed Combat - Uncommon]
Do you wish to merge the Skills into one or place [Unarmed Combat - Common] into Limbo?
But the notifications didn't stop there as I had expected.
Minor Simulation has detected that three Skills have been formed via Skill Shards. A new option is being added to the Skill.
You are now able to give one of your Minor Simulations a Skill.
Oh?