Chapter 475: Seizing the Divine Essence

At this point in the battle, with the fall of the Orc Sword Saint, not only did the Orc Golden Priest fighting against Kelthas feel a surge of anxiety and pressure, but even other high-ranking Orcs watching the fight, as well as the two Orc True Gods, became extremely nervous and eager, wishing they could step in to provide support.
It was obvious to anyone with eyes that the Orc side was clearly at a disadvantage and was not far from defeat!
The Celts cheered loudly, while the Orc side’s morale plummeted, filled with despair.
They had thought that even if they lost, it would only result in injuries, but they never expected a legendary Sword Saint to be killed in such a bizarre way by the opponent’s weapon.
Although the opponent used sub-divine artifacts, which seemed somewhat unfair, the Orcs didn’t have any extra sub-divine artifacts to begin with. Even if they did, they wouldn’t hand them over to a legendary Orc—most of them were likely occupied by their four newly risen Orc Gods.
“Don’t be impulsive! You’ll have your chance to act later!”
Orc True God Kala stopped Biggle from acting rashly. She also knew that continuing to argue was pointless; the opponent could use the excuse that sub-divine artifacts weren’t prohibited beforehand to deflect blame.
Now, it all depended on whether the remaining fighters could turn the tide of the battle—yet even Kala herself wasn’t holding out much hope!
Sword Saints, like Archmages, were powerful professionals. Although they didn’t possess the same formidable spellcasting abilities as Archmages to fight thousands of enemies alone, in terms of physical strength and personal combat skills, even the weakest Golden Archmages couldn’t compare to Golden Sword Saints.
As the strongest individual fighters, Sword Saints could single-handedly combat a thousand elite soldiers, but they couldn’t control the course of a war like Archmages could—they existed mainly as a formidable force for decapitation and deterrence.
Therefore, generally, Archmages held a slightly higher status than Sword Saints of the same rank, though there were exceptions in some regions—such as the Swordsman Kingdom of Kort, where swordsmen were revered.
Not to mention further afield, even in the Marquisate of Ansel in the northwestern province of Celt, its people took pride in becoming strong swordsmen—a fact closely tied to their lord, the Storm Sword Saint Vincent, Marquis Ansel.
There was once a joke among merchants in the Marquisate of Ansel: if you asked for the name of the Lord of Dawn there, few might know it, but if you mentioned the Storm Sword Saint, everyone would know immediately, and they could even recount a series of stories about him.

It is said that when this joke reached the heart of the continent, it caused great dissatisfaction among the churches and believers of Lord Ivan of the Dawn. However, they had no way of reaching the Celtic Kingdom in the northern lands of the continent; otherwise, they would surely have punished Marquis Ansel, the heretic, in the name of blasphemy. As for whether this joke was spoken by Marquis Ansel, those self-centered religious fanatics wouldn’t care at all! In Donald’s view, this was also the fundamental reason why the Church of the Dawn struggled to spread its faith outside its religious realm. After all, no one likes a church that constantly launches wars under the pretext of punishing heretics. For this reason, in group battles like today’s, divine spellcasters like the Golden Priest indeed have an advantage over legendary sword saints. Of course, whether they can turn the situation around depends on whether this orc priest can seize the opportunity! Once the orc’s legendary sword saint dies, the morale of those elite Bull Totem Warriors will be further shaken. If they weren’t all outstanding warriors selected through rigorous trials, they would likely have lost their will to fight and been defeated without a battle. Even so, facing the combined assault of the Griffon Knights and the Puppet Army, the downfall of the Bull Totem Warriors is only a matter of time. It should be noted that during their campaigns in the New Continent, the powerful individual combat skills and luxurious equipment of the Dalaran mercenaries meant they suffered few casualties. Even if someone was seriously injured, as long as they didn’t die immediately, they could often be saved with various expensive potions and healing spells. This made them highly envied by factions across the continent—though only because they didn’t have a wealthy lord like Donald! Dalaran’s prosperity was now famous across both continents, and many goods that were novel to the Totem Continent were being sold to various tribal groups with the support of the Chieftainate of Sili and the White Mountain Pantheon. With their superior equipment, medicines, and advantages, the chances of the Bull Totem Warriors turning things around were slim. “It seems you’re going to lose your first battle. Orcs are still orcs. Even with the physique of magical beasts, they can’t avoid their flaws. Orks simply can’t compare in intelligence to higher-minded races like humans and elves!” The true gods on both sides had been watching the battle. Seeing this, Donald couldn’t help but speak harshly, trying to provoke the anger of the orc true gods and test their limits.

We’re still grieving the loss of a legendary warrior. The True God of the Orcs has just revived, and it’s been a short time—raising a legendary warrior isn’t easy. Yet here we lose one all at once, with their soul not even returning, otherwise it could have entered the Divine Kingdom to transform into a Sacred Spirit.

Now, the True God of Humans is still sowing discord. Bigel, who has been suppressing his anger, can no longer hold back. He immediately seized the domain of the God of Plunder and used his powerful divine force to pressure the two True Gods of Humans.

This time, the God of Birth, Kala, didn’t intervene either, because by this point in the first battle, the Human side could already be considered the victors. “You’ve won this round by luck, but don’t get too happy too soon!”

While the Human side planned to kill more elite Orc forces, Kala already moved to transfer all Orc warriors to the Orc camp. This was an act of admitting defeat to avoid further unnecessary losses!

In the face of the True Gods’ power, neither Carlisle, a legendary warrior, nor those lifeless puppet constructs could do as they wished. They could only reluctantly let them go. Donald and the other also didn’t stop Kala’s actions—not only because they were under attack from Bigel but also because once they defeated the other True God, those Orcs would essentially be mere prey!

But Kala naturally wouldn’t accept defeat so easily. It planned to fight the two True Gods of Humans, hoping to drive them into flight. Without the protection of their True Gods, the remaining mortal warriors wouldn’t stand a chance against them, and then they could be slaughtered at will!

In this way, they could turn defeat into victory. After all, it was just a verbal agreement beforehand, with no contract signed, so there was no fear of punishment.

The two Orc True Gods thought the Human True Gods were careless, but in reality, Donald had already seen through this. He deliberately agreed without proposing a contract, aiming to seize their divine powers, that is, their divine essences.

To rapidly grow in strength at this level of becoming a new god, aside from recruiting many followers and strengthening one’s throne, the most direct method is to kill another True God and absorb its divine essence. This way, one can gain more divine powers beyond those already understood, along with more supernatural abilities, domain usage, and more followers!

Of course, this approach requires great timing; without absolute certainty, even a high-ranking true god would not rashly attack a lower-ranking deity. Otherwise, if unsuccessful, wouldn’t that only create a permanent enemy for themselves?
Originally, Donald planned to take advantage of the fact that the enemy had four true gods, giving them a numerical advantage, and simply aim to kill one of them, avoiding overextending and causing trouble for himself. After all, the orc godhood was the mortal enemy of the human true gods, and such actions would undoubtedly leave a good impression on the gods!
Now that two true gods among the orcs had arrived, what was rare wasn’t just the avatars with true god combat power but at half-god level—it was the actual new gods themselves. Wasn’t this a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity?
Surrounded by the domain of the God of Plunder, Donald and the other true god, Charlie, remained calm. Each expanded their own domain to prevent being swallowed by the other, while their divine spells and attacks already reached before the orc true god Bigel.
By this time, the support of the God of Birth, Kala, had also arrived. Her domain offered no advantage in combat but was highly effective in recovery and defense. Working together with Bigel, one attacking and the other defending, they executed a flawless combined tactic.
In the skies over the Rubble Hills, four colors of light mixed together—black and yellow on the outside, white and green on the inside. Their immense power spread outward, causing all creatures within a thousand miles to feel intense pressure. Many beasts and magical creatures could only cower in their nests, trembling in fear.
Seeing that their side held a clear advantage and that the human true gods seemed to have little ability to counterattack, the brutish God of Plunder, Bigel, roared with laughter, “Surrender! Human true gods, with the combined power of the great Bigel and Kala, you have no chance of winning…”
Neither the God of Plunder, Bigel, nor the God of Birth, Kala, had realized that true gods were a completely different class from those below the god level. Immortal true gods had countless possibilities for fighting beyond their rank, and it was not unheard of in history for half-god strongmen to defeat lower-ranking gods.
It was also because the orcs had hidden these four gods so well that they had never witnessed a true battle between gods, leading to some miscalculations!

Such a small mistake is usually not a big deal, but now, with Donald around, it has doomed Beagle and Kara to a tragic end.