Chapter 456: The Divine War Council
Watching the events unfolding on the Totem Continent alongside the gods, Donald had different thoughts in mind. The Totem God who launched this surprise attack was none other than the Storm God faction, with whom he had a feud. He was certain of this because he saw the figure of the Stone Bear God among them. Combining this with his previous knowledge of the various god factions on the Totem Continent, he quickly deduced their identities.
That naked male lower-tier Totem God with pale skin and eerie blue-black tattoos was undoubtedly the Storm God, the leader of the Storm Tribe. The few other half-god Totem Gods he didn’t recognize were likely allies brought in by them, aside from the subordinate gods of the Storm Tribe.
Faced with the fierce assault by the Totem Gods, the forces of the Dawn Church were nearly wiped out in one strike and forced to retreat to the islands they had previously occupied, abandoning the vast southern coastal plains of the Totem Continent they had seized.
To prevent their true forms from being instantly destroyed by the War God’s emissaries, just like that unfortunate half-god last time, almost all of the Totem Gods above the half-god level sent by the Storm Tribe possessed a true artifact each. There were also many other artifacts, and even the legendary Totem Gods had at least one secondary artifact each.
Compared to the scarcity of artifacts among the gods of the main world, the Totem Continent seemed to have far more artifacts and divine objects, a fact that made many true gods envious.
“What are your thoughts, my lords?” asked Benson, the God of Intrigue, sitting at the head of the council, when none of the other higher gods spoke.
As soon as the Voice of the King of Lies sounded, silence fell over the Pantheon. Benson, who controlled domains such as lies, deception, intrigue, trickery, and illusions, was always feared by most true gods below the higher gods. Although this powerful true god had not shown a cruel side over the years since he became a god, there were signs that many of the historical conflicts among the gods, even those that affected the structure of the main world, were instigated by him.
“What thoughts? Anyway, my Shadow Demon City will reap some benefits from this. Against these mortal gods, we must fight to show them just how powerful we, the supreme true gods, really are!” said Elsa, the Goddess of Night. The Lady of Shadows was always impulsive, as evidenced by her faction’s constant wavering between Neutral Evil and Neutral Chaos.
As she spoke, this beautiful goddess, who appeared somewhat promiscuous yet had never been involved in any rumors with any man, not even the gods, cast a particularly seductive glance at Donald, the Guardian of Nature below. This inevitably angered many male gods who admired the Lady of Shadows. Seeing the kind of look that appeared when male animals competed for mates, Donald couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “I’ve also offended this powerful supreme god to some extent, though it was because I cooperated with the Goddess of Agriculture and the others. But now that I’m a god, I clearly side with Eilien and the others, which will surely upset the Goddess of Night, who is at odds with those three goddesses. Provoking some hostility among the gods like this today is just causing me a little harmless trouble!” Two supreme gods had already spoken, and now the deep, resonant voice of Orba, the God of Earth and one of the rulers of the four elemental realms, rang out. “This is a matter concerning the humans of your home world; we won’t get involved!” With that, this powerful elemental lord sat there like a rock, closing his eyes and remaining motionless. Since the God of Earth, the eldest among the four elemental gods, spoke, it essentially represented the opinions of the four powerful supreme gods. The four elemental gods were the rulers of their respective elemental realms, and countless elemental creatures instinctively revered and feared them. As long as the elements endured, these four gods would never fall. Thus, they were generally uninterested in the struggles for worship across different worlds. Although Kaspa, the God of Storms among the four elemental gods, disagreed to some extent—this supreme god, who was always in a state of rage and rarely calm, could draw strength from fear and therefore loved to participate in battles—Orba’s words represented the views of his other two siblings. Despite his dissatisfaction, he couldn’t oppose the decision of the other three. Next, Mora, the God of Dwarves, Craft, and Forging, spoke on behalf of herself and her allies. “I think this vast new continent and the underground world should provide a place for our three races to settle!”
Dwarves, halflings, and gnomes are all weaker races in the main world. Dwarves are at least stronger in terms of physical strength, while halflings and gnomes can only survive by becoming vassals of other races. Thus, the true gods behind these three races formed the Gold Coin and Fire Hammer Alliance, led by their sole supreme god, Mora, to jointly protect the survival and interests of these three races.
The skillful craftsmen among the gnomes and the agile halflings complement the reckless and stubborn dwarves who excel in blacksmithing. Additionally, since these three races have never had great ambitions, they are not feared by the true gods of other races.
Speaking of which, among the seventeen existing supreme gods, seven belong to the human faction, making them the most powerful force in the multiverse. However, among these seven human supreme gods, two are of the order-justice faction, one is order-neutral, two are neutral-good, and two belong to the neutral-order-evil factions. This inherent conflict makes it impossible for them to reconcile with each other. It is precisely because of the divisions within the human faction that they have not united to dominate the multiverse outright.
The other ten supreme gods come from various races and factions. Aside from Mora, a supreme god from the relatively weaker races of dwarves, halflings, and gnomes, who has been an ally of the good-neutral elf pantheon, the other powerful gods can only cooperate temporarily and cannot form lasting alliances.
Thus, this chaotic yet relatively peaceful situation has persisted in the multiverse for countless years and is likely to continue so unless something major changes.
Next, the other relevant supreme gods expressed their opinions. Overall, there is a balanced number of gods who advocate war and those who favor peace. Since this concerns the main world, the true gods without any interests there naturally have no standing to voice opinions and remain silent, watching the decisions of the gods of the main world.
The only one who surprised Donald was Ivan, the Lord of Dawn, who suffered significant losses. Normally, this extreme good god, who views anything outside his own path as heresy to be eradicated, would not allow those totem gods to harm his interests. Yet now that all the relevant true gods had expressed their views, only he remained silent, which surprised Donald.