Chapter 301 Temple of Wealth
Although he killed the Hell Fiend and successfully collected his soul, Brian didn't seem as happy as he imagined.
At this moment, he looked at the rat corpse of the Hell Fiend that had been beaten into mud, and he couldn't help feeling frightened in his heart.
Through the previous fight, he could tell that the strength of this devil was at least medium legendary, that is, the creature level was as high as level 25 or above.
But such a powerful devil was turned into a white mouse that even ordinary humans could manipulate at will by the sorceress beside him.
Transformation spells are a branch of the school of change.
The spells of this branch are mainly divided into two types, one is to turn oneself into a powerful creature to fight, and the other is to turn the enemy into a weak creature.
Among Brian's subordinates, the battle mage Marek is a typical representative of the former.
As a war shapeshifter, once his strength reaches the legendary realm, he can even transform into a legendary dragon and possess all the abilities of the dragon.
The function of the latter is mainly to weaken the enemy. The most typical representative spells are the five-ring spell "Malicious Transformation" and the eight-ring spell "Transform All Things".
If this spell fails the save, the subject will lose all of its own characteristics and expertise, including supernatural abilities, spell-like abilities, and the ability to cast spells, and will also use the alignment, special abilities, and six-dimensional attributes of the new form. to completely replace its original capabilities.
Theoretically, if you are hit by the transformation spell, it means that the battle is over.
Because no matter how powerful the legendary creature is, as long as it is turned into a small animal, it will lose almost any resistance during the period of being transformed.
As you can see from the introduction, the transformation spell is a bit ridiculously powerful.
However, the cruel reality is that there are very few spellcasters who can specialize in this transformation genre.
The reason why this phenomenon occurs is simply that the spells of this school are very useless.
The principle of transfiguration is to forcibly transform the original form of matter.
These spells are difficult to cast successfully on enemies of the same level, or even enemies one level below you. For casters who change their genres, the purpose of the spells is to torture them, and it is difficult to cast them successfully. Used in battles with the same strength level.
But today’s battle really gave Brian a lot of insight.
Although this hell fiend was overconfident in the power of his original fire and was restrained by his cursed fire. As a result, he overturned and was seriously injured.
But as a Baatezu demon, the Pit Fiend's many powerful resistances and specialties aside, his physical constitution and strength attributes of more than 25 points allow him to easily break away from the eight-ring spell "Transform All Things". The power to change one's own form.
However, in fact, the devil was directly transformed into a white mouse without any resistance, and was easily killed by him.
Caradna's powerful transformation spell simply refreshed his knowledge.
He was in the game world, but he had never heard that this sorceress who went offline in the early stages of the game was so powerful.
He only knew that the other party's biggest hobby was to turn disobedient subordinates, or players who had offended him, into small animals as a form of punishment.
In this regard, he could only think that there was definitely some kind of powerful warlock bloodline hidden in the opponent's body.
After all, a warlock's spellcasting is the result of talent and training. They don't need a spellbook, a mentor's guidance, or even a spellcasting theory. They only rely on pure willpower.
Their magic relies on intuition rather than logic, and it is difficult to predict how powerful the power is hidden in the body.
"What a waste." Miss Warlock's words interrupted Brian's thinking. She looked at the corpse of the Hell Fiend and the dent made by the crushing palm, and couldn't help but complain: " A problem that can be solved with one kick, but you use a powerful nine-ring spell to kill it, is simply overkill."
Brian looked at Karadna and noticed her flying dark purple hair. It is fading to its original golden color at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the original magical energy surging around the body is also slowly dissipating.
She carefully wrapped the wand she had just cast in black linen around her back and carried it behind her back. The rope connected to the wand extended from her shoulders to her slender waist, pulling out a pair of breasts. Full and attractive silhouette.
"What kind of warlock bloodline did you awaken?" Brian withdrew his gaze and walked toward the collapsed chamber while asking the sorceress who was following him quickly.
Warlocks harness their innate magic.
This kind of magic may come from supernatural blood, from otherworldly influences, or from the experience of being exposed to some unknown multiverse force. They will lurk deep in the body, mind and soul of the warlock. Waiting to be released.
This means that they do not need to learn arcane knowledge, nor do they rely on contracts to obtain spells like sorcerers. They only need to master the methods of controlling and guiding to increase magic power through continuous practice, and can gradually develop more effective methods. Way to release the powerful magic hidden in the body.
"Can't you tell?" The sorceress Caradna tied up her loose blond hair with a rope again and said with a smile: "What I awakened is the original magic, which is the most powerful and the most unstable in the sorcerer bloodline. Magic."
"Then it's a miracle that you can survive until now and successfully advance to the legendary realm." Brian glanced at her. Although she was wearing a black robe, she was still tall. Her figure and curves are slightly pale, but her facial features are as perfect as those of an exotic beauty.
In the Warlock bloodline, native magic is the most difficult to control and control, and it is also the most powerful, because the chaotic storm they release is simply unpredictable.
For example, the other party just wanted to detect traces of the devil through native magic, and was turned into a white mouse by an unpredictable chaotic storm.
A warlock who masters this bloodline can master a new table-opening technique almost every time he releases Chaos Storm.
"Of course." The sorceress deliberately walked up to Brian with light steps. After attracting his attention, she raised her chin arrogantly and said:
"I have witnessed the inner layer with my own eyes. The elemental power exposed on the plane has also been baptized by the violent and chaotic magic of the Chaos Sea. If it were not for the guidance of the goddess of magic in Mistala Mountain in the Kingdom of Halua, I absorbed the 'arcane magic' in a great rift valley. The blue flames left over from the "catastrophe" period may not survive until now. "
Mystra Mountain on the Wall of Halua is the largest temple of the magic goddess Mystra in the entire Faerûn continent.
Brian is quite clear about this.
It can be seen from this that the sorceress in front of me should have entered the caves in Mystara Mountain.
Because any practitioner of arcane arts related to magic, including warlocks and sorcerers, can find the answer they want as long as they conduct diligent research in a mysterious cave of this temple for no more than five years.
As for the ‘blue flame’ the sorceress calls, Brian is very familiar with it.
'Blue Flame' is the original energy that bursts out after the magic network is torn apart. When the 'Arcane Catastrophe' occurred, the Council of Elders in Halua used the mysterious 'Blue Flame' to avoid the disaster. He sent the people of his own country to other worlds outside of Toril, such as Abel, and the small world where Brian was reborn.
The main material of Brian's fire is also blue flame.
Coincidentally, the place where he extracted the blue flame was also the Great Rift Valley mentioned by the sorceress.
Because it can be seen that this mysterious blue flame, which represents the essence of the magic network, does have the effect of neutralizing violent magic energy and original magic.
"Your adventures are really exciting." Brian smiled: "At least I have never been to the Sea of Chaos, let alone what the chaotic magic from the Sea of Chaos looks like."
"It is a kind of violent energy that makes you never want to look at it again after the first glance." The sorceress showed a frightened expression, then her eyes flickered slightly and she asked with a slightly uneasy look:
"Do you possess a magical flame similar to Arcane Fire and Silver Fire? Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to resist the original fire of the Hell Fiend, and he would be severely damaged as a result."
"That's right." Brian nodded slightly, not hiding anything, "I do have a kind of flame."
"Really." There was an expression of joy on the sorceress's face, and she came close to him and said eagerly, "Can you let me have a look?"
She looked like someone begging for candy from an adult. little girl.
"Of course." Brian looked at her thoughtfully, and said with a smile in an inexplicable tone: "But the premise of all this is that you let me see the wand you carry behind your back. , I am also very curious about this piece of equipment of yours."
As he got to know Caradna, he had vaguely guessed that the reason why the other party was able to turn the Hell Fiend into a guinea pig was probably the reason. The wand that was wrapped tightly by her also played an important role.
So he was really curious about what kind of equipment this was.
"No!"
The sorceress's determined expression surprised even Brian. She looked at him warily, like a she-cat with explosive fur, "This wand is my amulet. You can't leave me for a moment, so no one can check it."
"Forget it." Brian didn't force it. He smiled at her and shrugged, and continued walking. It was obvious that he had no intention of letting her watch the Austrian Fire. meaning.
He had a premonition.
This sorceress is by no means as simple as mastering the original magical energy in the sorcerer's blood. This is a problem he only realized after carefully reviewing the battle scene just now.
And he always felt that the way the other party found the traces of the devil and the timing of turning into a guinea pig were a bit too coincidental, but he couldn't tell the specific reason.
In this case, he felt that after the battle was over, it was necessary to let Hesiah test her depth.
Caradna behind him heard Brian's indifferent words, a hint of disappointment appeared in her wine-red eyes, and in the end she could only follow him with a look of helplessness.
No words all the way.
The two soon arrived at the fighting location in the city.
Brian and Hesiah looked at each other and nodded slightly, indicating that the matter had been resolved by themselves.
"I leave this soul crystal to you." Then, he threw the crystal obtained from the pit fiend into the hands of the tiefling warlock, and said to him, "I need You torture out what I want from his soul as quickly as possible."
"Don't worry, sir." The magician looked at the crystal in his hand and showed a sinister smile." This kind of thing is just a trivial matter to me.”
The sorceress standing on the other side showed a look of hesitation after seeing Brian handing the soul crystal to the warlock. With a hesitant expression, he finally didn't say anything.
Brian naturally did not notice this detail, but focused on the situation in front of him.
In this battle, with the core members in the secret room of the Merchant Council being killed, the balance of victory has completely tilted towards their side.
The next battle is almost not difficult at all, except that it is a bit troublesome to find out all the blood slaves transformed by vampires from Ximen who are hidden in the crowd.
However, these small disturbances and waves are no longer important.
Evening time.
Mashanbai has completely changed hands. The merchants' guild and the noble council, which were tempted and corrupted by the devil, suddenly became the target of everyone. Even some nobles and businessmen with good conduct have become the object of people's suspicion. They may also make a deal with the devil.
There were some riots among the angry commoners, their accumulated resentment boiling over, and there were even attempts to attack members of the Nobles' and Merchants' Councils.
But soon, these people were brutally suppressed by the Purple Dragon Knights under Hesiah. The remaining members of the Noble Council and the Merchant Guild became the current targets of protection.
"Sir, I have investigated clearly." In the hall, a war mage spy reported to Brian: "Except for the businessmen and nobles who are controlled by us, most people are hiding in the temple of the Goddess of Wealth. Here, the church's armed forces are standing guard around the temple, and we may not be able to get close."
When Brian heard this, he showed a true expression.
"You go first." He waved his hand to signal the battle mage to step back, and then began to think about this issue.
Just as he imagined, Masamba was the most prosperous trading port city in the entire Kingdom of Cormyr. The huge group of merchants and nobles gave it a huge belief base for the goddess of wealth. It was not surprising that she was temporarily sheltered.
After all, as the goddess of wealth with the priesthood of merchants, wealth, trade and money, her temples across the continent are, in essence, no different from banks in the real world.
And it is an absolutely neutral bank.
But this is obviously what Brian does not want to see. Otherwise, apart from the recovery of Mashanbai, they will not get any spoils from this battlefield.
Because the wealth of the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council all exist in the Temple of Wealth.
What he needs is the wealth of this group of businessmen and nobles.
In this case, if you want to obtain it by force, you will inevitably have a conflict with this temple.
You know, in the secret room, he slaughtered all the core members of the merchant guild and the noble council. These people controlled at least 80% of the wealth of the entire Mashanbai, and wanted to make the dead behave again. It is obviously impossible to hand over the gold coins stored in the temple.
Of course, it is even more impossible to ask the people from the Temple of Wealth to hand it over on their own initiative. Because with the demise of the merchant guild and the noble council, a large amount of dead debt will definitely be left in the temple. If you want to inherit these inheritances, you must first find a way to prove that you are yourself, or let the dead come to the front desk to handle business.
This also means that after their battle of recapture, the Temple of Fortune took the biggest advantage.
"Gather the troops and go to the Temple of Wealth." Brian stood up from the chair and said to Hesiah.
When the last light of dusk disappeared on the horizon, Brian and Hesiah brought the Purple Dragon Knight and the War Mage to the Temple of Fortune area.
At the same time, groups of heavily armed golden knights appeared, blocking their way.
The Knights of the Temple are all led by bejeweled priests. The foundation that the Temple has accumulated in the Kingdom of Cormyr over the past hundred years is revealed at this moment.
Teams of temple knights and guards, all equipped with shining golden armor.
“In the territory of Cormyr, any church or temple must respect the regent and abide by the laws established by the royal family. Can I think that you are challenging the authority of the royal family?!”< br>
A Purple Dragon Knight shouted angrily at the leader of the Temple Knights: "You dare to protect the rebels, which is an open provocation to the royal family!"
"Please don't misunderstand, Prince Regent." Temple. The leader of the knights said respectfully, "We have no intention of provoking the royal authority, nor do we have the intention of sheltering any rebels. Our purpose of doing this is just to protect the most devout believers of the goddess."
" The most devout believer of the goddess?" Brian snorted, "So, if you openly surrender to the rebels and your Fortune Temple is involved, can I label the entire temple as a rebel?"
< br>
"Please do not misunderstand me." The leader of the Temple Knights said calmly:
"Since the establishment of the Temple of Fortune, it has always maintained its own camp without wavering, let alone colluding with the rebels. The goddess often teaches us: Anyone who steps into the Temple of Wealth, whether a rebel or a purple dragon knight, is the most devout believer of the goddess and deserves to be protected."
After hearing these words, Brian frowned slightly. He could clearly feel that there was something wrong with this temple knight. Although his words were respectful, they were full of provocation.
In fact, he doesn’t want the temple to conflict with the royal family. It’s not that he can’t offend the goddess. It’s mainly because doing so means that they will not get the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council. of wealth.
Similarly, the Temple of Wealth will never dare to blatantly conflict with the Kingdom of Cormyr. If they dare to do so, all the temples in the entire kingdom will definitely suffer a devastating blow.
He did not think that the Archbishop of the temple would make such a stupid choice.
There was another thing that surprised him even more. Logically speaking, in the face of this kind of conflict, the Archbishop of the Temple should be the one to step forward, not the leader of the Temple Knights.
"Brian, there is something wrong with this temple knight."
The psychic voice of the sorceress Caradna rang in his mind, "I suspect that he is a hidden devil, but I can’t guarantee that he is.”
“I can’t guarantee that, just give it a try,” Brian replied, looking at the leader of the Temple Knights with a slightly cold look.
——"Mordenkainen's Disintegration Technique!"
Brian stretched out his finger, and a terrifying energy burst out. The leader of the Temple Knights who was caught off guard looked shocked, obviously he did not expect that the other party would dare to actually take action.
He was about to fight back, but it was too late.
The energy of the disintegration technique that disintegrated all material forms instantly caused the golden armor all over his body to explode one after another and dissipate without a trace.
——"Advanced Manifestation!"
Caradna stretched out her hand, and a dazzling purple light suddenly erupted from her palm, shrouding the frightened Temple Knights.
The Temple Knight first let out a shrill scream of panic, and then his skin gradually turned dark red, his pupils turned into a strange green, curved horns sprouted from his forehead, and sharp fangs were exposed from his lower jaw. come out.
“It’s the devil!”
The clergy of the temple and the onlookers all exclaimed.
——"Skinning!"
Another spell of the sorceress was successfully released, and a strange dark red light enveloped the temple knight's body.
In an instant, before the devil had returned to his true form, painful wails could be heard.
His skin suddenly began to fall off, and pieces of bloody scalp fell off, and then the ferocious face was mixed with flesh and blood, and the skin of his arms burst directly, and the swollen muscles showed a strange dark red and The horrible bones made the whole person look like they had been skinned alive.
Brian took this opportunity to release an attack spell, ending the life of this high-level devil whose strength was not yet in the legendary realm.
Seeing this situation, the priests of the Temple of Fortune fell silent.
Because the devil's lurking represents their dereliction of duty and proves their incompetence.
The temple did not even notice such serious corruption, so much so that it almost led to an armed conflict with the entire kingdom.
At this moment, a group of clergymen, headed by a priest, wearing golden robes, rushed over in a hurry.
The leader of the priest is a woman wearing a golden robe, the cuffs are inlaid with gold threads, has beautiful golden curly hair, and wears seven gemstone rings on her ten fingers.
It is said that the goddess of wealth loves gold, and many of her priests have long golden hair. Moreover, these priests are full of jewels, like to wear expensive jewelry, and their clothes are also exquisite and luxurious.
This was a plump and tall young woman, wearing a string of astonishingly valuable pearl necklaces on her chest. She leaned over and smiled at Brian and Hesiah, and said slowly:
"I'm very sorry, dear regent. King, Lord Protector. I express my most sincere apologies for the obstacles that the temple has caused you."
"At the same time, I also thank you for helping the temple to uncover the devil hidden inside." She said. In a soft and soft tone, he continued, "I know the purpose of your coming here. Prince Regent can rest assured that the Temple of Fortune will fully cooperate with the royal family's actions."
"The Knights of the Temple obey the order!" The female priest His eyes turned slightly cold, and he issued an order: "From now on, we will fully assist the army in capturing the remnants of the rebels."
With the order, the Temple Knights who were originally blocking the road immediately moved out of the way.
Hesiah immediately gave instructions to the Purple Dragon Knight and the War Mage, and under the guidance of the Temple Knight, they ran towards the interior of the temple together.
"Lord Protector." The female priest looked at Brian with soft eyes and asked with a smile: "I wonder if my sincerity will satisfy the cooperation we will have in the future?"
"Next cooperation?" Brian looked slightly startled and wondered.
"Don't you remember, sir?" The female pastor's expression was still kind and gentle. A smile appeared on her lips, but her words seemed to have countless meanings, "I have heard it with my own ears. , My lord’s territory has been invaded by demons many times, don’t you feel a headache about this?”
After hearing this, Brian suddenly showed a look of astonishment.
This forced him to look directly at the bejeweled, young and beautiful female priest in front of him.
Wo'jin, the goddess of wealth.
Before the Troubles, she was originally a young deity with few enemies, except for being completely opposed to the priesthood of Mask, the god of thieves.
In the year of turmoil, in order to escape this disaster, she entrusted her remaining divine power to the goddess of joy, and with the help of an alien envoy, she sneaked into the star realm.
After entering the star realm, she negotiated with Graz'zt, Lord of Darkness, hoping to use the bottomless abyss to return to her own kingdom of God through his territory.
But after the goddess of wealth arrived at the territory of Graz'zt, Lord of Darkness, the giant of the bottomless abyss broke the contract without hesitation and imprisoned her in his own territory.
What will happen if you fall into the hands of Dark Lord Graz'zt?
You know, in order to retaliate against the Succubus Queen for rejecting his advances, this demon lord even transformed himself into Malcanthet to seduce one of the ugliest tanar'ri lords in the Abyss. of Kostchurch - a demon lord who looks like a giant.
And many things happened between the two that cannot be said or described in words.
Finally, the Dark Lord also regarded this matter as a great conspiracy against the Succubus Queen.
The result of this 'temptation' made the Succubus Queen deeply ashamed.
Because many people still firmly believe that the Mecanshute who was subdued by the majesty of Kostchichi was not the Lord of Darkness pretending to be at all.
A goddess like Vol'jin, to a demon like Graz'zt, who caters to both men and women, is not excited enough to have a silver party in the abyss every day to celebrate, and will never let go of any part of her body. Hole.
This is a long period of imprisonment.
This not only caused the Goddess of Wealth to lose a lot of divine power and followers, but she also suffered countless terrible insults.
Even her church in the material world was infiltrated by Graz'zt. Wojin was scattered in temples around the world, filled with various loan sharking services and terrible hob profits, which bankrupted countless families and completely ruined the reputation of the goddess of wealth. .
It wasn’t until a team of adventurers rescued her that the goddess of wealth regained her divine power. At that time, her power had been greatly weakened due to loan sharking.
This matter is an unspeakable shame for the gods!
As a god, she is also a goddess.
Therefore, in addition to the original Mask, the Goddess of Wealth also had Grazt as her enemy. She vowed to take revenge on him, at any cost.
Obviously, this vengeful goddess probably learned about what was about to happen in the Underdark through some means, and was preparing to launch a crazy revenge action.
Otherwise, in the game world, when there was great turmoil in the Underdark, there would not have been so many legendary adventurers who took on high-stakes bounty tasks to hunt the incarnation of Graz'zt. There were even a large number of them. Priests and Hierophants of Woking.
It was precisely because of the absence of Graz'zt's restraint that the succubus queen Malkanthet found the opportunity to plot against Demogorgon, which caused huge turmoil in the abyss.
As for why she suddenly came to find him, it is not difficult to understand.
After all, he stole the dragon egg that Graz'zt had planned for a long time.
Mokou Town did encounter many calculations and attacks by this demon lord. Even the forces of the King of Jackals appeared in Gewochu to the west of Mokou Town.
So, if you want to attack Graz'zt's power in the material world, using him as a bait and waiting for the enemy is naturally the best choice.
Wanting to understand the ins and outs of the problem, Brian suddenly realized that the reason why the female pastor appeared with such a kind attitude was probably premeditated.
It is very likely that she has noticed the hidden devils within the church in advance, and then deliberately made the devils embarrass them, and finally made a gorgeous appearance to uncover the traitors, in order to win the favor of the royal family and leave a deep impression on them. impression.
It can be seen from this that the female priest in front of her is still very scheming, and even the devil who is good at playing tricks dares to take advantage of her.
"I'm looking forward to cooperating with you." Brian said sincerely.
After stealing the dragon egg of the Dark Lord, the other party will definitely not let it go. So why not take advantage of this opportunity and lead a team into the bottomless abyss like some unknown adventurers to kill this demon? The Lord's car overturned.
Of course, this is just a joke. With his current ability, even if he reaches the strength of a high-level legend, he may not dare to face the true form of the demon lord, and he is still in the opponent's territory.
Besides, he doesn’t want to waste time here. Right now, he still has a powerful enemy in Ghost City, which is always threatening him.
Next, just as he expected, with the help of the Temple of Wealth, the mission of clearing out the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council became very smooth.
After all, this group of people were all hiding in the temple, so they came directly to catch turtles in the jar.
…………
(End of this chapter)