Cthulhu Gonfalon

Twelve minutes passed quickly, and in no time, Kabbalah had summoned another batch of Oracles.

Because considerably less sacrificial offerings were used this time, the batch of Oracles that were summoned was far less powerful than the previous batch. Kabbalah himself was embarrassed at all of the “white-level” Oracles who surrounded him. Fortunately, he managed to summon a “gold-level” Oracle. Even though she was not so much at the capital warship-level as Lion was, she would still be of great help even as a destroyer.

Rather interestingly, this young blonde girl with a single heart-shaped cowlick adorably flopped over her forehead—Xiao’ao—had a signature attack move of hitting her opponent with potatoes.

Kabbalah had casually asked her what powers she specialized in, but upon seeing her response, he was at a loss for words and utter hopelessness filled his heart.

Hitting your opponent with potatoes? How powerful could that be? Little girl, that was a joke, right?

However, Lion informed him very seriously that this was definitely not a joke. In the hands of Xiao’ao, an ordinary bag of potatoes could be transformed into incredibly powerful projectile weapons. If they were to land squarely on an opponent, even a single potato would be sufficient in making a fully armed and armored warrior see stars. Thereafter, he would fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The effects were long-lasting enough to keep him on the ground for some time.

“Potatoes can be this powerful?” Kabbalah was amazed by Lion’s explanation.

“Xiao’ao’s potatoes are powerful,” Lion gently corrected him. “That’s all.”

Xiao’ao’s potatoes could be compared to a thin branch: In the hands of a child, they were useful only for stabbing balls of dung by the roadside. However, in the hands of someone like Swordsman Leon, the same branch could split ordinary swords apart and cut through armor as if it were an actual powerful weapon.

With the addition of Xiao’ao, Lion became more confident. As soon as she estimated that they had enough manpower, she reported to Olian that they were ready to attack.

Olian, who had been waiting for this moment, wasted no time in getting his men into formation. He immediately ordered all of the praying clergymen, who were supposed to perform the divinity combination formation, to switch their tactics as they began their conquest.

As for Lion herself, she took out a dark and quaint wooden staff, raised it in front of her and chanted a magic spell.

Without the defensive power of the combined divinity formation, the forces from the Church of the God of Aristocracy rapidly approached them. Just as the base camp of the Church of God of Knowledge was about to be completely engulfed by the forces of the enemy, a brilliant and colorful light emerged from Olian’s body. That ray of light transformed into a light shield that resembled a large bell as it contained the entire perimeter of the base.

The roaring sounds merged into an endless chaotic furor as powerful spells crashed onto the shield one after the other. The light shield shook and swayed, but it never collapsed.

Seeing this, the three Legendary Masters who stood right in front of the Church of the God of Aristocracy frowned.

“The legendary Golden Shield? Someone actually turned this legend into a real power!”

“Prepare to defend; we have incoming!”

“Quickly disperse, we’ll regroup with the larger forces…”

As they spoke, a dazzling golden light rose from the base of the Church of the God of Knowledge, turning into a lightning bolt with seven forks as it charged towards the base of the Church of the God of Aristocracy. This was the “Seven Ruling Beams,” and it was a power normally possible only through combined divinity.

This magic power was a true legend, and even in the realm of legendary magic, it was regarded as a power of a higher order. Although the lightning bolt with seven forks could only propel a single blow to the enemy, the strike had seven different domains, so there was almost no way to defend against it.

To cast this spell, not only would one require strong magical talent, but they would also need the ability to master all seven different types of magic at the same time. Even among the legendary priests, few people could achieve such a level. Only a large number of magic clergymen could attempt to use this power through a combined divinity formation.

In order to cast this spell, the Church of Knowledge had paid a hefty price. For example, Madam Geerteng, the elector, had to single-handedly resist the powerful wave of attacks from the Church of the God of Aristocracy. Even though she possessed extraordinary powers, she still bore the brunt of the shock. Her face turned pale in that split second as blood flowed from her nose.

Of course, it was worth it because by the time the Seven Ruling Beams hurtled off to the Church of the God of Aristocracy’s base camp, it was too late for the enemy to defend themselves.

It was not that they had no defensive abilities. In fact, at least four or five magical shields formed from their own combined divinity surrounded their base. Theoretically, this would be enough to protect them against any attacks.

Their defense mechanisms were not, however, meant for attacks like the Seven Ruling Beams.

As the lightning beams fell onto their base, four ear-shattering booms were heard consecutively, and the Church of the God of Aristocracy saw their four strategic defense shields disappear like popped bubbles. At the same time, four out of seven of the lightning forks fizzled out.

Immediately after, two of the three remaining beams collided with a few spells that had been cast by a few Legendary Masters in a last ditch effort to recover from this unexpected development. This time, two low-pitched blasts sounded one after the other.

At last, after six of the forks were gone, the remaining magical blast looked just like an inconspicuous normal lightning bolt. Finally, it slammed right onto the base of the Church of the God of Aristocracy.

Upon the loud roar, at least 20 priests were killed immediately, and smoke billowed from most of their bodies. The number of people who were maimed from their injuries was twice the number of deaths, and the number of people who fainted and who were temporarily unable to fight was double that of the maimed victims.

With just a single blow, nearly a hundred priests from the Church of the God of Aristocracy had withdrawn from the battle sequence. The attacks from the Church of the God of Knowledge, however, was not over yet. On the contrary, they were only just beginning.

Almost as soon as the priests had prayed together and cast the Seven Ruling Beams, Lion had already commanded the main battleship-level Oracles to be lined up in threes, ready to fight in their attack formation. Her staff waved around as she orchestrated the movement of the Oracles.

“Bombard them!”

On command, the Oracles, who in appearance seemed just like ordinary young girls, began to shine. Countless specks of light bloomed and floated around them before they condensed together to form a battleship with a gun barrel.

This was the true potential of Oracles in war. In this form, their energy would deplete quickly, and the time they could spend in the mortal world would also be greatly reduced.

However, they were extremely strong!

The endless sounds of warfare were accompanied by countless bright trails of light. A steady stream of fiery red beams screamed with the wind as they traveled across the border between the two opponents and charged towards the base camp of the enemy.

By now, although the Legendary Masters of the Church of the God of Aristocracy were all fighting on the ground, and although the better-trained priests had recovered and were beginning to rebuild their defensive shields, the successive and unrelenting bombings were causing a lot of trouble for them.

The spellcasters were already under insurmountable pressure in the face of continuous shelling, and they concentrated solely on maintaining their defense magic. Under such conditions, how could they have any power left to attack?

At the moment, the other Oracles who were less skilled in heavy bombing had, under Lion’s command, begun their offensive.

Their ships were much weaker than the capital warship-level Oracles, and there was a significant difference in size and thickness throughout the ship, especially the gun barrels. If the gun barrels of the capital warship-level Oracles were equal to heavy weapons such as copper hammers and large axes, then the other Oracles would be the equivalent of light weapons such as daggers and longswords.

However, a light weapon was still a weapon, and weapons could kill.

As long as the weapon was used correctly, the seemingly insignificant sword—derided as “child’s play”—could kill the toughest of men.

The same went for those seemingly exquisite and petite warships.

The Oracles appeared in vast numbers. In fact, Kabbalah was still summoning more Oracles by the altar. At the moment, he was using the minimum amount of sacrificial offerings and summoned only Oracles who glowed white and twinkled once, the least powerful variety. As soon as they were summoned, all they had to do was to get themselves armed and charge towards the Church of the God of Aristocracy.

The advantage of a ship being loaded with only light equipment was that it could move around faster. With a single command, the Oracles who had reached the frontlines were already beginning to attack as they neared the base of the Church of the God of Aristocracy.

If their firepower was not enough, they could always bring their weapons closer to the enemy!

The new wave of attacks was, of course, incomparable to the power of the bombs created by the capital warship-level Oracles, but due to the proximity and accuracy of these weapons, the defense systems of the Church of the God of Aristocracy was facing insurmountable pressure.

In fact, one mustn’t look down on these “light cruisers” and “destroyers,” for despite their weak firepower, they had another potent capability.

“Torpedo!” Lion held the scepter as she slowly moved forward. She issued an order to the Oracles who were charging towards the base of the enemy.

Before this, the warships of the young maidens already possessed a strange, long cylinder with a perfectly round tip and a slightly convex rear that looked like arrow feathers. One after the other, those cylinders appeared beside the girls and produced a soft humming sound.

On Lion’s command, the torpedoes charged like a fish briskly navigating a stream. It was like a sharp blade that had lodged itself into the magical shield of the Church of the God of Aristocracy.

A moment later, the shield exploded.