Chapter 857: Whose Followers Kneel the Fastest?
Hill suddenly looked up, unable to help but widen his eyes; he understood what Celene meant... Amanata would resurrect to save the lives in this city!
But aren't the powers of all gods unable to enter Toril right now?
Although AO likes to manipulate from the shadows, he maintains fairness on the surface. How could he make an exception for Amanata, whom he doesn't quite like?
Hill had always thought the battle in Kalinsan would last for years until Mystra resurrected!
"Amanata's relationship with Mystree has always been rocky. He is always suspicious and would never hand over his followers to Mystree's Weave for management." Hill's surprise was easily noticed by Shaer since he had little control over his expression. "He would never use the Shadow Plane either, so he has his own unique network using sunlight.
The reason he's not using it now is that he still belongs to the deceased deities... As long as those over ten thousand people from Manshaka completely embrace the Temple of the Sun and pray devoutly, he can temporarily return to his divine position.
At that time, as long as he activates this energy network, he can directly banish Karin and Mannan. Once driven out, they won't be able to return until Mystra reclaims her divine position.
Even though it's only a false resurrection, Amanata can gain enough faith power at that moment to pull him out of the Sea of Death."
"Actually, that thing also relies on and imitates the existence of the Weave, but Mystree's temper is too good. Even to those she dislikes, she doesn't take any harsh actions, at most, she doesn't allow them to borrow her light," Celene interjected. "But this time, AO clearly plans to further seal Toril, so he has reclaimed all energy networks into the Weave.
If Amanata dares to use it at this time, his network of sunlight can only become part of the Weave.
Otherwise, do you think why the Toril gods are all playing dead, rather than letting their priests and clerics use even a bit of divine power... Whoever couldn't hold on and used their own divine power channels, their things would be gone.
Unless there's the risk of a collapse in faith, nobody wants to add nutrients to the Weave."
Hill nodded. No wonder AO insisted on Amanata's resurrection. He even absorbed Shaer's Shadow Weave into the Weave. The tiny Sun God couldn't possibly prevent his determination to unite the world with the Weave.
But for Amanata, as long as he can resurrect, it's good enough. Even knowing AO wants his network of light, the Sun God has no other choice.
Given a one-time opportunity, he would seize it regardless of the sacrifice.
No wonder AO felt nothing about Lansendel's loss of control... rather than Lansendel causing trouble, the Magicplague era was more suitable for completing his schemes.
Maybe in that already altered future, the real choice wasn't AO's but Amanata's: all sins were committed by Lansendel, and he was merely the Sun God innocently awakened.
AO couldn't be unaware, but he never placed much attention on the scheming between these deities. As long as it doesn't cross his bottom line, he wouldn't care.
However, his bottom line seems like a rubber band, unknown where it tightens, where it loosens.
On the giant screen, the defensive shield of Amanata's Temple was already a bit unstable... The people of Kalinsan in Manshaka were clearly desperate, continually letting out cries of pain.
The Kalinsanians know best how terrible a life of slavery is, and the worst slaves are exactly what they are about to face... And the only use the Divine Beasts have for humans is mining, they also have their preferred gemstones.
The struggle for Kalinsan between Karin and Mannan is not without reason, the deepest and richest gem vein in Toril lies beneath the Karin Desert.
The people of Kalinsan know well in their hearts that these followers of Amanata appear strong but are not at all opponents for those two kings of divine beasts. They are willing to hide in Manshaka since they don't think Karin and Mannan would abandon their conflict against each other to deal with this insignificant little city.
Those two, even after the elves wiped out all their followers, hadn't stopped their clashing fists. Once released, their first reaction was to first punch each other... Why would it be different this time?
The people of Kalinsan almost let despair dominate them, like headless flies in a loss for what to do.
But Hill and the others, observing from the sidelines, knew very well that the cup hadn't reached its limit, the defensive shield was still very strong! They were merely trying to frighten the people of Kalinsan.
After all, those are two divine beasts with almost equal power... It's impossible for the golden path under Mannan's fist to still stand strong, while Karin can break Manshaka's defensive shield.
Moreover, Hill could be sure that Manshaka's defenses were much stronger than those on that road.
Similar to what Celene and Shaer had anticipated, when the city faced a crisis of collapse, the people of Kalinsan finally devoutly knelt at the Sun God Temple.
Their songs of praise to the Sun God Amanata gradually became loud, from seeming nonexistence to echoing through the skies.
The Mannan, who had been attacking the Golden Path, suddenly stopped. He turned his head to look at the Fire God Beast standing far away, hesitated for a few minutes before finally heading towards Manshaka City, joining Karin to fully assault this city.
The songs of praise in Manshaka City became more resounding, the Sun God followers on the city walls all knelt, placed their hands on their chests, and sang the Holy Song along.
Some professionals clearly just hired by the Amanata priests appeared bewildered, unsure of what to do. They had their own faith, impossible to kneel along.
Yet clearly, now to survive, they must hope the Sun God can appear and directly banish the two kings of divine beasts... From the performance on the Golden Path, Amanata surely has a permanent Banishment Spell.
The hesitation of those several thousand high-level professionals on the city wall, even from such a distance, Hill could see... The true loyal followers of Toril have mostly entered various Grand Temples. Even if not, it's unlikely for them to appear among these adventurers working for money.
You can't say there aren't any, but really very few, after all, it's easy for beliefs to conflict.
If they weren't on the city wall, maybe they could hold on a bit longer... but directly facing Karin and Mannan, and the light shield above their heads obviously about to collapse... the mercenaries started to kneel down a few at a time, and then more and more.
Shaer sneered openly: "Look, Heim's people indeed kneel the fastest, how could he possibly have loyal followers?"
Celene said blankly: "Aren't most of the mercenaries just verbally believing in Heim? To show their dedication to their duty? Aren't there a lot of Cyric followers among them? And quite a few of Mask's too.
No wonder the Amanata priest has no money to buy food, actually hiring assassins to do the work, how much would that cost!
But only those as crazy as them would dare to directly face god-beasts dozens of meters high, right?"
"You can actually tell?" Shaer asked in surprise.
"How could I possibly not recognize shadow force!" Celene said angrily, "I'm probably more familiar with it than my own power!"
Hill forced the cup into his mouth and bit down, this time he almost couldn't hold back his laughter... Is Celene trying to say that because she's been hit with shadow force for tens of thousands of years, she's more familiar with it than anything?
What is Celene's self-esteem even made of?
Sometimes it seems to ignite at the slightest trigger, but other times it's clear that nothing matters to her.
Shaer replied calmly: "Indeed, you only just got so many divinities back, probably can't even use illusion techniques now."
Celene, smiling cheekily, said: "As long as the moonlight can be used~"
Hill silently continued the words in his mind: In this world, there's nothing I find more entertaining.
Shaer had no way to deal with her sister, whose skin is thicker than Tiamat's dragon skin... unless they had another fight.
But in the short term, she didn't want to go through another round.
Even though the primordial power here in Hill's place is quite dense, allowing them to easily gather their incarnations again, and he gave their dissipated power back to them, gathering an incarnation still takes some time.
When there's something she wants to do, there's no need to waste time with Celene, who won't learn her lesson, but might instead find it fun to insist on dragging her into another fight.
Shaer said blandly: "On the city wall, there are basically followers of all humans' gods, along with some beastmen and dwarves, only the elves are completely absent. For humans, it's understandable, as they tend to believe in whoever they fancy.
But the beastmen and dwarves... if they really knelt, I'd admire Amanata's guts.
Having no friends originally, now intending to make enemies of the whole world?"
Hill gazed at the giant screen and couldn't help but speak: "The dwarves haven't yet, but some beastmen have knelt."
Celene laughed cheerfully: "Hill, isn't Coron in your family probably laughing up at the sky now?"
Hill sighed helplessly: "Coron never cares if his followers change their beliefs, he's always seen it as the freedom of life. Other people's followers don't concern him."
Even if an elf switches from worshipping him to worshipping Rose, Coron would only banish that elf from his realm rather than execute him. While sometimes hard to understand, freedom has always been the most beautiful blessing the Father of Elves has given his offspring.
Shaer said coldly: "But Gewoosh cares.
You're changing the subject, Hill.
Coron would certainly make fun of Gewoosh.
When it comes to enjoying a good spectacle, Coron's always eager to be the first."
Hill smiled wryly: "What else can I say? Coron is watching here!"
If it were before coming to Toril, Hill certainly wouldn't have cared about speaking ill of Coron, but having received his protection now... he isn't the sort to bite the hand that feeds him.
However, he couldn't deny Shaer's words, Coron is probably laughing at Gewoosh's Divine Kingdom right now!
"Offspring and priests are still different!" Celene sighed.
Shaer coldly spoke: "Mask can also be considered my offspring."
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