Book 12, The Descent of the Gods – Chapter 15 A Sudden Change

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The winter of year 10034 of the Yulan calendar was an extremely bad one for Emperor Gaffney [Jia’fu’ni] of the Rohault Empire.

“Your Imperial Majesty.” Gaffney’s most beloved consort, an eighteen year old who was also a water-style magus, was lying atop of him, intentionally using the two firm points on her chest to massage Gaffney’s body. Emperor Gaffney was a warrior of the seventh rank, and his body was quite tough.

In the past, he probably would have already flipped this beautiful woman over and pressed her beneath his thighs.

But today, he wasn’t in the mood.

“Scram. F*ck off.” Emperor Gaffney irritably pushed the beautiful consort away from him.

The brown-haired beauty couldn’t help but take two stumbling steps back, and then, forcing out a smile, she bowed and stepped back.

Beautiful women?

He was about to lose his Empire. How could he be in the mood to frolic and cavort with beautiful women?

“All of you, f*ck off! All of you!” Gaffney waved his arm, sending the books and documents on the table in front of him, as well as some ornaments, flying away, smashing against the marble floor. The palace maids and attendants were instantly frightened, and all of them immediately left respectfully.

“This Baruch Empire is too audacious, too audacious!” Gaffney’s eyes were blazing, but his forehead was covered with sweat.

He was livid!

But at the same time, he felt powerless.

“Why? Why does it have to be like this?” Gaffney was filled with resignation and panic. “Why is it that all of the Saints of the Rohault Empire are no longer paying attention to Us? Why have they all vanished? Are they that afraid of Linley? That Linley has only been famous for a few decades. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Gaffney cursed angrily...but in his heart, Gaffney knew that all he could do was curse.

Faced with the multiple layers of incursions from the Baruch Empire, there was nothing he could do at all. All of the Saints of his Empire seemed to have vanished. He couldn’t find a single one. That one and only Saint who was loyal to the imperial clan had been smashed into meat paste by a single tail swipe on the field of battle from a Saint-level Tyrant Wyrm.

He had no Saints at his disposal!

“What to do? What to do? Is my Rohault Empire going to be destroyed, just like this?” Gaffney truly had no idea what he should do.

Ever since the news had spread that the Yulan Empire, the O’Brien Empire, and the Baruch Empire had formed an alliance, many of the Saints of the Rohault Empire had vanished. After all, these Saints all understood that the alliance of these three Empires represented...

An alliance between the War God, the High Priest, and Linley!

Not long ago, Linley had destroyed the Radiant Church’s Sacred Isle. Perhaps ordinary people weren’t aware of this, but virtually all of the Saints had been made aware of this. Even the Radiant Church, whose roots were ancient and deep, had been destroyed. The Saints of the Rohault Empire knew that resistance meant nothing more than death.

Naturally, none of them were willing to meet with Emperor Gaffney, nor obey his commands.

With the Rohault Empire no longer having any Saints, the outcome of the battle had naturally swayed strongly in Linley’s favor.

“The Empire has been in existence for thousands of years. Can it be that it is going to collapse during the reign of myself, Gaffney?” Gaffney was in agony. This afternoon, he had just received the news that yet another city had been conquered by the Baruch Empire. Although the armies had done their best to defend...

The enemy had three Saint-level dragons!

Although the Saint-level dragons hadn’t actually attacked much, with but a lazy flyby, they had killed three of the Rohault Empire’s leaders. Naturally, the morale of the Rohault Empire had tumbled, and many soldiers, seeing the Saint-level dragons, had been so frightened that their legs had gone soft.

How were they supposed to fight a battle like this?

“You are Gaffney, right?” A hoarse voice rang out in the study.

Gaffney, who had been in the middle of venting his anger, was instantly frightened so badly that his heart clenched. This was his personal study, and the door to it was shut and surrounded by guards. The door wasn’t open, and it hadn’t budged at all.

But someone was inside the study.

Gaffney suppressed his terror and turned to look at the source of the voice.

There were two skinny men dressed in short-sleeved clothes. Being dressed in short sleeves despite it being winter was of no surprise; after all, as a warrior of the seventh rank, he could do that as well. But what shocked Gaffney was that these two men’s eyes seemed to be filled with a fierce, devouring gaze.

Although the two men hadn’t acted, in but an instant, they saturated the room with a cold, cruel, vicious aura.

“How...how did you get in here?” Gaffney said in terror.

“How did we get in here?” A skinny, bald man said with a sneer. “Easy. We killed the guards outside, then opened the door, came in, then closed the door. As easy as that.”

“Opened the door, closed the door?” Gaffney couldn’t believe it.

He was in the study, but he hadn’t noticed the door being opened or shut.

Gaffney’s heart was filled with terror. The cruel, killing aura these two men emanated made him wonder, “Could it be here that they are here to kill me? They are here at Linley’s command?” As Gaffney saw it, perhaps only the legendary Linley was capable of ordering experts both powerful enough and willing to come here and kill him.

“Gaffney, listen closely.” The skinny bald man said with a cold laugh. “The arrival of us two brothers is your good fortune.”

“Good fortune my ass. This is terrible.” Gaffney secretly cursed, but he didn’t reveal a hint of displeasure on his face. He was afraid that if he angered these two, they really would kill him.

The other skinny man had a head of short golden hair that looked as hard as nails. The golden haired man glanced at Gaffney, then said coldly, “We two brothers have very simple conditions. First, confer upon us the rank of Dukes. And then, you can casually assign us a few thousand palace maids and servants for us to use as we please. Naturally, we two brothers will then dispose of those three irritating Saint-level dragons for you.”

Gaffney rubbed his eyes, staring at the two men in front of him in shock.

He was rather stunned.

“Didn’t you hear me?” The skinny bald man barked angrily.

The two brothers had lived in thousands of years in the Gebados Planar Prison, a life that was worse than that of a dog’s.

In the Gebados Planar Prison, peak Saints were the weakest creatures there. They had lived a life of battle and fear. For each day they survived, they would fear that the next day would bring death. This was because the Gebados Planar Prison had no natural elemental essence at all. The energy that they used up couldn’t be replenished at all; the only method of recovering energy was to kill other experts, then absorb the energy within the bodies of those experts.

Saints engaged in constant slaughter against each other.

As for Deities, if they encountered one, they could only obey the orders of the Deities while being terrified. Deities could devastate them, not giving them the slightest chance to fight back. In addition, the natural environment of the Gebados Planar Prison was itself extremely dangerous. If one wasn’t careful, one would easily die.

A life worse than a dog’s!

Countless battles!

Their mind always stretched to the point of snapping!

Not just them; even the Deity-level expert, Dylin, had felt miserable there. To Saints, it was absolute torture.

But now, within the enormous Gebados Planar Prison, they had been lucky enough to discover a barely noticeable dimensional thinness and managed to force their way out. They had returned. Returned to the mortal realms. The five thousand years of life worse than a dog’s had come to an end. It had only driven them insane.

What they now wanted was to lord over others, to force others to do their will, to live the life which men were meant to live.

“Milords, are you saying...that if I give you Dukedoms, a few thousand palace maids and attendants, you’ll dispose of that Saint-level dragon?” Gaffney could scarcely believe it. He felt as though the heavens had dropped a miracle right into his lap.

“Right. What, are you unwilling?” The bald, thin man frowned.

“Willing. How could I be unwilling?” Gaffney said hurriedly. “Milords, please don’t worry. Just a few thousand palace maids and attendants? No problem. Even if you want ten thousand, it still wouldn’t be a problem. A Dukedom? Even if you want a Princedom, that would be fine.”

Good heavens!

His Rohault Empire had been devoured day by day, and was on the road to destruction. Now two experts had come to serve him. Was there anything Gaffney wouldn’t be willing to give up to employ them?

How much would it cost for him to give up ten thousand palace maids and attendants, even if he had to go to a slave market to buy them?

“Excellent.” Both men revealed smiles on their faces.

“But milords, those three Saint-level dragons are extremely powerful, and behind them, there is an extremely powerful Saint known as Linley.” Gaffney looked carefully at the two men in front of him. He was afraid that these two men wouldn’t be able to defeat Linley’s side.

After all, Linley’s actions had been simply too amazing, especially his destruction of the Sacred Isle.

“Linley? What’s a Linley?” The short, golden-haired man said disdainfully.

“He’s a Saint?” The bald, skinny man asked coldly.

“Yes, of course. The only human Deities are the War God and the High Priest.” Gaffney wasn’t aware that Cesar had become a Deity.

“Hmph. Don’t worry. As long as he is a Saint, we can dispose of him.” The other man, the one with short golden hair, said confidently.

The Gebados Planar Prison was a place of constant war and slaughter. Being able to survive there for five thousand years testified to their strength. In that sort of place, the weak died early on. They were Prime Saints who had constantly gained new insights in the middle of battle.

Gaffney’s eyes instantly lit up.

“Then, milords, tonight you can stay in the imperial palace. I will definitely make all the arrangements for you two.” Gaffney’s attitude in front of these two experts was extremely humble.

“Right.” The two men nodded slightly with satisfaction.

They very much enjoyed being respected by others. They liked the feeling of being above others. The five thousand years of terrible life they had endured had a tremendous, tremendous impact on them!

.............

The Baruch Empire’s army was divided into two parts, and had already charged into the inner cities of the Rohault Empire.

“Roaaaaaar.”

A coiled, serpentine, massive Thunder Wyrm that was over a hundred meters long was floating in the air. His draconic roar shook the world, causing the city below him to echo with the sound. The Thunder Lizard could tell that the enemy garrison was so terrified that they were trembling.

Beneath the walls of the city, the soldiers of the Baruch Empire all revealed looks of excitement on their smiling faces.

With the assistance of a Saint-level dragon, attacking and conquering cities became so much easier.

“Saint-level Thunder Wyrm?” A disdainful, cold voice rang out. A thin, bald man wearing an immaculate golden robe suddenly flew out from the city below. The vicious aura he naturally emanated surrounded him as he stared at the nearby, hovering Saint-level Thunder Lizard.

“A Saint-level expert appeared?” The Saint-level Thunder Lizard was actually quite surprised. It had been a long time since he had encountered a Saint-level expert, and his wheel-sized eyes stared at the Saint in front of him.

Upon taking a close look at this expert, the Saint-level Thunder Lizard grew cautious.

The vicious aura naturally emanated from the man caused the Saint-level Thunder Lizard to feel slightly uneasy.

Five thousand years of being constantly prepared to do battle and to kill at a moment’s notice. After five thousand years, they naturally would emit this sort of vicious aura.

“Go back and tell Linley that he needs to know his own limits and to be a good boy and call off his armies. Otherwise...” The bald, skinny man’s voice rang out like thunder. Clearly, he didn’t view Linley as worth of respect at all. “Every single Saint you send, I will kill.”

“Shut your mouth.” The Saint-level Thunder Lizard roared angrily.

The soldiers of the Baruch Empire were furious as well. In their hearts, Linley was invincible.

“Hrmph.” The bald, skinny man let out a cold laugh, and then transformed into a streak of lightning, charging at the Thunder Lizard.

The Saint-level Thunder Lizard, bellowing, also transformed into a streak of blue lightning and charged towards the man. In mid-air, the man and the magical beast, those two Saints, struck against each other. The Saint-level Thunder Lizard’s strongest point was its speed; it was on par with Bebe.

“Laughable!” A disdainful call.

The bald, skinny man struck out with his right leg in a massive blow, slamming his leg down viciously like a giant knife against the draconic tail of the Saint-level Thunder Lizard. The sound of bones breaking could be heard. The bones of the Saint-level Thunder Lizard’s tail actually shattered, while the enormous body of the Thunder Lizard was kicked down, smashing into the ground like a meteor.

“Bang!” The earth shook. The Saint-level Thunder Lizard created a massive crater and cracks in the ground as it smashed into the earth.

“Die.” The bald skinny man charged down from mid-air.

“Swoosh!” The Saint-level Thunder Lizard’s body flashed, instantly rising into the air and then fleeing towards the north, blood dripping down from its tail.

The bald, skinny man landed in the crater, watching as the Saint-level Thunder Lizard fled.

“Its speed isn’t bad. A pity that it is so weak. It couldn’t even take a single blow from me.” The bald man said disdainfully. How many Saints had he slaughtered in the Gebados Planar Prison? He didn’t pay any attention to the little bit of power the Thunder Lizard had.