Netheril’s Glory-Chapter 111: "Goddess" Ti Xiaer.
The city of Dolez, although delayed for various reasons, finally responded to the plague. Although this response was neither timely nor effective, it still gave those refugees drowned in despair a glimmer of hope.
But these things had little to do with Punk, who was still inside the spider cave. At this moment, he was focusing all his attention on the runes of the mysterious spider statue.
As soon as the connection with the last node was completed, the spider statue bloomed with dark green brilliance, and dark lines began to appear on the originally inconspicuous statue. The rocky body of the statue seemed as if it was flowing with energy.
Punk retreated behind No. 1 after putting down the statue on the ground. The spider statue began to float in the air, and then a huge but vague projection slowly solidified around it. The projection was surrounded by sporadic green flashes, which created a mysterious environment in the gloomy cave.
The Goddess Ti Xiaer had descended!
"Who are you? How dare you enter my temple without permission."
With the course voice that was as harsh as the sound of a knife scratching on a blackboard, the Goddess completed her projection in front of Punk and roared.
Punk saw a huge spider slowly appeared on the spot where he put down the statue. The upper body of this spider was a slender female body, but unlike the high priest, there was no trace of modification on the spider in front of him. Punk guessed that this so-called Goddess must have been a spider initially and then used a certain spell to create the human upper body.
Punk silently examined the current hysterical Goddess. He keenly discovered that he had far overestimated this so-called Goddess as her level was at most a peak official. She couldn't even properly maintain her projection and those green flashes were actually the result of energy leakage.
"What! Who killed my most loyal servant? I'm going to peel their skin, pull out their tendons and grind their bones into dust, and then my children will feed on them."
Soon the projection of the Goddess Ti Xiaer discovered the body of the high priest on the ground. Punk didn't know how she confirmed the identity of the pile of minced meat, but after noticing it, the already hysterical Goddess became even crazier.
"Dear Ms. Ti Xiaer, I think you should calm down. Also, as the omniscient and omnipotent Goddess, can you please answer one of my little questions? Like how did you gather and absorb faith with official-level power?"
Punk completely ignored Goddess Ti Xiaer's roar and asked somewhat jokingly.
After all, seeing the soul level of this so-called Goddess in front of him, he was sure that she must have some incredible secret; if not, it was practically impossible to use the power of faith as an official-level entity. Punk had a faint premonition that the value of this secret was beyond imagination. So without much hesitation, he decided to find it out.
"Insignificant mortal, pay attention to your words. I am the great Goddess Ti Xiaer; How dare you blaspheme against a goddess?"
Ti Xiaer first paid attention to Punk's tone rather than the meaning of his words and loudly emphasized her so-called goddess identity.
"Well, my dear Goddess Ti Xiaer, can you tell me..."
Punk was staring at the eight eyes on this "goddess" forehead with an eager expression as if he saw a precious experimental material.
"Enough! Lowly mortal, you are not qualified to question me. My strength is not something that an ant like you can comprehend. And it seems like you also killed my loyal servant. Now, if you immediately kneel on the ground, I might consider making your death less painful."
Ti Xiaer said to Punk in a condescending attitude, and her eyes were full of disdain and contempt as if she was really an extremely powerful goddess.
Hearing Ti Xiaer's arrogant declaration, Punk did not get angry. He put away his fake smile and stared at the hysterical "goddess" with unabashed greedy eyes.
"Ignorant trash. So what if you are a god? They are just a bunch of cowardly bugs anyway, and you are even worse than a bug. Since you refuse to answer, I will kill you and then torture your soul for answers. You will also die in my hand like your weak high priest."
Punk also became impatient with the nonsense of this self-proclaimed Goddess. So he began to irritate the proud Ti Xiaer as much as possible to test whether the other party really had some unknown magical powers.
Hearing Punk's insulting rhetoric, Ti Xiaer let out a furious roar and then rushed toward Punk, forgetting that she was just a projection without any attack power. Now she was filled with killing intent toward Punk, an insignificant mortal, who dared to insult a great goddess like her.
"Damn blasphemer, I am the greatest goddess this world has ever seen, the supreme ruler, you dare to insult me, I will let your soul burn in the blazing flames for one thousand years, no, ten thousand years."
Punk looked at the rushing projection and shook his head calmly. He ignored the harsh screams and instantly summoned a trainee-level energy shield to block Ti Xiaer's attack. Now Punk became a little confused. He really couldn't understand how an unstable, self-proclaimed goddess, who looked at the entire world with disdain, managed to create such a well-planned and deeply hidden church.
Ti Xiaer's face was plastered on the other side of the energy shield. She had a twisted expression and combined with the suspended red eyes, she looked like a demon trying to crawl out of the abyss. Because of her recklessness, the spider statue's faith energy was exhausted in just ten seconds, and she could no longer maintain the projection, so after leaving a sharp curse, the projection turned into a dark-green glowing fog which then disappeared without a trace.
"You will pay for your blasphemy."
But even until the end, she could not make any effective attack.
"This Ti Xiaer seems like a lunatic. It's impossible for her to form a church that hid so deeply. Even if she had the help of the shrewd high priest, isn't this a little too illogical!"
Seeing that the enemy's projection had disappeared, Punk's face again became expressionless, and he thought about this situation seriously in his heart.
"It is said that the power of faith without purification will force the obsession of the believer into the consciousness of the absorber. Is it possible that Ti Xiaer's madness is because her believers firmly believe that she is the highest Goddess! With the invasion of her believer's obsessions, her own thoughts are gradually assimilated by the believer's, and now she really thinks she is an invincible goddess!"
Punk thought this was the most reasonable inference so far. This could also perfectly explain why the Ti Xiaer church was rapidly changing from "behind the scene" to the current "unscrupulous and forceful!". Perhaps it was because the unrefined faith eroded the originally rational and intelligent Ti Xiaer into the current lunatic.
With a pondering expression on his face, Punk picked up the broken spider statue from the ground. Sensing the remaining crazy faith from it and knowing the result of absorbing it, he was a little glad that he chose to walk on the path of a pure mage.
However, he was still very interested in the secret of Ti Xiaer, as this kind of miraculous thing that could enable an official-level creature to absorb faith could only be a piece of legendary magical equipment, even when it didn't have the purification ability of divinity.
But…………
"I have to add a few cannon fodder. A fourteenth-level powerhouse with a legendary equipment, even if the other party was a lunatic with little to no wisdom, it is definitely not easy to deal with!"
Punk threw away the statue that had now became ordinary stone, turned around, and began to walk toward the cave's exit.
He knew how big of a risk it was to take on this matter. Even if he disregarded the strength of a fourteenth-level professional, he could be sure that most people would be discouraged just thinking about how they had to face an unknown legendary equipment.
But Punk didn't believe that Ti Xiaer could exert the full power of the treasure in her hand. Otherwise, she would have conquered the city of Dolez a long time ago instead of hiding in the dark like a rat.
"So, as long as I can pull two official-level "good friends" to help, there is really a chance I can obtain a legendary treasure!"
Punk silently made up his mind.
