The Rotten Bones Church did not have a stronghold in Wickidor.
Still, they clearly had an advantage over Leah's group, especially when the Rotten Bones bishop led their reinforcements to Wickidor.
After receiving instructions from the Evil God of Rotten Bones, they simply spent a lot of manpower and resources to set up ambushes on every path out of Wickidor.
Leah, who did not expect that her value would suddenly become so important to the Rotten Bones Church, decided to disguise herself and lead her guards to leave Wickidor through the small path east, only to be blocked by the Rotten Bones cultists who brought along black corpseflies.
The guards with the System showed off their might, forcing the Rotten Bones cultists to retreat again and again.
And yet, they did not realize that the cultists were simply stalling for time. When they discovered Leah's group, they had already released the black corpseflies and led the Rotten Bones bishop here!
And when the Rotten Bones bishop whom the other cultists addressed as the Venerable One appeared, the situation quickly turned against Leah's group.
Unlike Carlo, the Rotten Bones Bishop possessed divine power that came directly from the Rotten Bones. He could summon large numbers of corpses to aid him in battle, as well as control the aura of death and bones to do battle. His attacks were ruthless and his spells were swift. Leah and her guards who were barely in the double digits were no match for him.
Her guards were killed one after another, and Lia had been furious at their deaths (she was not sad because she knew they would be revived). But just as she was about to avenge them even if it meant risking her life, she suddenly received a quest notification from the God of Games.
[Ding! Main quest activated — Dawn of Vengeance]
The quest was to not waste the time her guards were fighting for with their lives, and to leave the battlefield immediately and head for the town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead at full speed.
According to the quest description, as long as she could complete the quest, the guards who died because of her would be resurrected immediately, and their death penalty would be reduced to a certain degree. Once she reached the town, she would activate a chain quest to avenge the Rotten Bones Church!
Hence, the Rotten Bones believers stared blankly at the girl who had been seething with rage just a second ago, gritting her teeth as if she wanted to fight them to the death. But after staring at the empty space in front of her for a few moments, she regained her composure and actually abandoned the guards who were fighting to the death to run away.
Even the cultists couldn't help but sigh in their hearts. Wow, this girl that the higher-ups said must be captured. She abandoned her bodyguard just to live. Is her personality so vicious that it's real? No wonder the Lord Evil God had taken a fancy to her and wanted her to be his Life Sacrifice …
The guards who were abandoned did not feel any anger or regret for being abandoned. They all died on the spot just to buy some time for the girl to escape!
Even the Rotten Bones Bishop, who was about to lose his humanity, couldn't help but sing a song of praise for his guards' loyalty.
They simply didn't know that the guards had also received quests corresponding to the girl, and that the longer they delayed, the more rewards they would receive after their resurrection … Although the guards had not been corrupted into idiots by the other Players, they were going to die anyway. Now that they could receive rewards as long as they stayed alive, they would naturally do their best to do such a good thing.
Later, Lia ran into Marni, another believer of the God of Games outside the Wickidor branch of the Silver Wind Chimes.
"That's about it. I'll thank you handsomely if you could send me there!" Lia whispered to Marni from inside the carriage.
"That's great, I'm going there too …" Marni knew at once that the girl's destination was the newbie village as well, and promptly patted his chest and took charge. "But before that, I have something else to do."
"Something else?"
"I have my own quest as well. I need to recruit some new believers of the God of Games from the refugees." Marni didn't hide anything from her since she had told him everything. His quest was there anyway, and she couldn't take it away.
"Huh? You're a cleric?" Lia was puzzled.
The preachers of other churches were either eye-catching handsome men or beautiful women, or the kind with thick eyebrows and large eyes — the type that would attract people to join their churches. Even so, the preachers of the God of Games were a little too … Urgh, unscrupulous, weren't they?
As expected of the god I worship. Such personality!
"What cleric? I'm just a normal Player." Marni smiled and kept driving. He quite liked being called a Player, and it immediately set him apart from the believers of the other gods who were harvested like leeks. "Shh, stop talking. There's something up ahead."
Hearing this, the carriage immediately fell silent.
Soon, several black-robed men arrived in front of Marni's carriage.
"Stop the carriage. We're here for an inspection. What's in your carriage?" One of them barked loudly.
"I'm a traveling merchant of the Silver Wind Chimes, the Goddess of Wealth!" Marni retorted without hesitation. "You're not Wickidor's city watch, are you? What right do you have to inspect my carriage?! "
"What's with all the nonsense? Open the door!" The man from before was still pressing him, but his voice wasn't as confident as before. It felt as if he was putting on a brave front.
After all, although the Goddess of Wealth was not a superior god, she had a large number of believers, and many believers of other gods were also her shallow believers. Therefore, in terms of divine power, she could already be considered the peak of the peak of the second-tier gods. If it wasn't for the fact that her priesthood was too singular, and her divinity couldn't be upgraded, she would have long reached the level of the seven Divine Fathers.
That was why even the real Skeleton God would be beaten to a pulp by the Goddess of Wealth, let alone a demigod of the Skeleton God like Rotten Bones …
"It's not like I can't open the door, but you're profaning my faith. That's why you have to pay for the inspection — five hundred Rions per person!" Marni said, taking a step back.
"Hiss! Profaning my ass! Is your carriage made of gold? It's so expensive just to take a look! "Another black-robed man grumbled.
"Bleh! Don't you know that merchants who worship the Goddess of Wealth can only carry goods in their carriages?! You're blaspheming my faith by suspecting that I'm hiding something else in my carriage! "
Marni turned and placed both hands on the carriage door handle as if he was about to open it. "Get the money ready, or I'll complain to our branch chief if you don't pay up! By the way, which church are you from?! "
When the men saw that Marni was about to make it a fact that they had peeked into the carriage to scam them out of their money, they could only curse and leave without looking back.
It wasn't that they couldn't afford it, but they really didn't want to be suckers — if Marni asked for a price they definitely couldn't afford, they would instead think that there was something wrong with him. Though it was expensive, it wasn't to the point where it hurt them, and it was the most disgusting of all.
Moreover, the cultists' faith couldn't be seen yet. If something went wrong here and the entire Rotten Bones Church was exposed, one could only imagine what would happen to them!
It wasn't as if they hadn't suspected Marni's identity, but this place was close to the Silver Chime Merchant Guild, and the members who passed by seemed to be familiar with him, unlike strangers from other churches. Moreover, while Marni's identification ring as a member of the Silver Chime Merchant Guild had been taken off, the crest that represented the Silver Chime and the Goddess of Riches did not vanish. After all, the Goddess of Riches wasn't as free as Xi Wei, and naturally wouldn't deal with such trivial matters immediately, and would only fade after some time.