As the chief apostle under the Glass God and the most trusted right hand man of the gods, Sothe had always sat at the back.
The status of Emperor was not an honour for him, but more of a responsibility and burden.
As an Imperial Emperor, he had to maintain the confidence and faith of the entire nation.
With firm confidence, the army could be invincible in battle, and with firm faith, the believers could offer a constant stream of fire of faith for the Glass God.
The empire was full of confidence in this war, the weak enemy was retreating, the final victory would belong to the empire.
The barbaric and backward Uzi Kingdom would only be destroyed, and the King of Uzi, who ruled that dark kingdom, would be judged by the Lord of Bose.
Everyone was convinced of this.
The appearance of the locust plague, however, made Sothe somewhat vaguely uneasy.
This kind of bug was actually a transcendent species that had mutated.
The timing was a bit too coincidental.
Now was the eve of the Empire’s imminent conquest of the Uzi, and not only the rear farmlands and pastures, but the logistical lines connecting the front and back were also being attacked by another type of black monster bug.
Perhaps it was because several other Apostles had been out of touch for too long, giving Sothe a sense of apprehension that things weren’t going according to plan.
It could also be a worry about the hidden dangers of the empire.
As an emperor who had been in charge of the empire for many years, Sothe knew very well that the empire’s iron-blooded, tough, invincible legions relied on the dedication and endurance of the civilians in the back of the empire.
It had always been a huge problem that the Empire had more and more soldiers and fewer and fewer peasants.
Civilians were keen to become battlefield heroes, killing the enemy and establishing a function to quickly gain a reward, and people held war in the highest esteem, which made the empire always exceed its posts every time they drafted soldiers. Many people bragged that this was a sign of a flourishing martial culture and a thriving empire.
Sothe had been trying to reverse this for years.
The Empire needed more people, more farmers, more artisans and fishermen, and the number of soldiers today was too much for the country.
Time and time again he had cut down the legions, and in the end it had become more and more soldiers.
These soldiers had all sorts of names, militia, auxiliaries, engineers, spare soldiers, regiments of engineers …… They didn’t make up the legionary establishment, yet they were actual soldiers.
Soter killed minister after minister and general for this.
But a large number of redundant soldiers remained.
He never looked good when facing bureaucrats.
The enemy was like some kind of undead thing that kept coming back to life in different ministers and generals, slaughtering one and then the next, and unless everyone was decimated, it lingered on.
Soter was tired.
He didn’t want to expend any more of his energy managing the secular; these populations were resources for Lord Bosein, and could not be killed easily.
Fellow Apostle Yanihu advised him, “Why care?”
“It’s just a bunch of mortals with short lives. As long as they can reproduce and offer their faith, nothing else matters.”
“Soter, we are servants of the gods, mortals are nothing but livestock. Why bother trying to understand what the livestock think? The food, the gold, the mates, the land they fight over are all ridiculous things in our eyes.”
“As long as they live and remain pious, our mission is complete.”
Although Sothe had a different opinion, he did not refute it.
Because this was the will of Lord Bosein.
As the sole lord of this world, the Bo God’s order to this empire that is, provide population and faith, nothing else matters ……
Less personal thoughts from the apostle would be a lot less troublesome.
Sothe interrupted his thoughts and opened his hand.
Countless black smoke rose from him, drowning all the locusts in the surrounding fields, and soon the locusts stiffened and could no longer move.
As long as something was alive, even if it was a transcendent creature, Sothe dealt with it with ease, his smouldering smoke covered an extremely wide area, and the smoke poison could easily strangle all kinds of life caught in it.
The locusts that roamed the mountains were blackened and turned into a field of stiff insect corpses.
But there was no joy on Sothe’s face.
Because a new swarm of locusts had already flown in.
They swooped down to the ground and ate the corpses of their kind all over the place without wasting any time. And then they quickly laid their eggs in the dirt and continued to look for edible food around them.
Disgusting!
Sothe cursed in his heart.
Then he released more black smoke, poisoning one batch of locusts after another. This brought about a huge amount of consumption, making him feel extraordinarily tired and his mana was somewhat stretched.
Suddenly, the oracle descended.
A cold voice resounded in his ears, “What’s going on with the worms?”
Sothe knelt on the ground and said with trepidation, “My Lord, these worms have evolved transcendent bodies, and I’m in the process of cleaning them up.”
“Why.”
Facing the divine questioning, Sothe was somewhat speechless for a moment.
There were many reasons.
If other wild Transcendent creatures could be retained in existence, it would be difficult for these bugs to develop to such a scale, and they would definitely be contained and hunted by other Transcendent groups.
If the transcendent groups born among mortals would not be executed, they would be able to deal with the bugs on their own, preventing them from expanding further.
If there were more professions that encouraged agriculture, farmers who specialised in dealing with pests could also solve the problem ……
Unfortunately, none of this is possible.
The Empire was a vast pasture, providing faith and population for the Glass Gods, and did not need the Transcendents who distinguished themselves from the group, only their tame and obedient procreation and offerings of the Flame of Faith.
“Any other Apostle who thought like you would have been built into an altar by now.”
The cold voice of the glass god came into his head, causing Sothe to break out in a cold sweat.
“Because of your loyalty, but I’m giving you one last warning, I just need you to perform and answer.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Sothe pressed his head to the ground in absolute submission.
“Deal with the bugs, now that I have found King Uzi, he is weak in his divinity, I will deal with Him immediately. In the meantime, don’t make any mistakes.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
Until there was no more sound in his mind, only after a long time did Sothe slowly get up.
As long as the Uzi Kingdom could be swallowed, all sorts of problems could be solved.
As long as the empire was victorious, as long as it kept on winning, no amount of problems with this chariot would be a problem.
Sothe began to continue killing the locust swarms, both sides falling into a battle of mana and numbers consumption.
……
The killing power of the Bully Locusts exceeded Lu Yao’s prediction.
With little to no obstruction, they drove all the way into the Glass God Realm, quickly settling and multiplying in the world of the Dauntless Empire, feasting on ground crops and all sorts of food, stirring up the Empire’s rear.
On the overhead view, Lu Yao noticed that the area around Crystal City had been completely taken over by locusts. This imperial capital was defended by a kind of totem, making it impossible for the bully locusts to cross over the city walls.
……
[Flame Totem]
Life Value: 700/700
Damage: 20
Defence: 8
Speed: 8
[Totem].
Selects an area for permanent placement, automatically attacking everything within range that he believes in.
……
The six flame totems built an invisible moat, burning the approaching locust swarms to a crisp.
After heavy deaths and injuries, the bully locusts found a way.
They laid their eggs deep underground. After these eggs hatched, a portion of them were able to meander into the city from underground, crossing over the Flame Totem’s attack range.
As time passed, there were already scattered Bully Locusts drilling into the city from underground, and they went around stealing chickens and dogs to find food. The Crystal City soldiers also took action, frantically hunting the bugs.
However, the mouth of the defence line had already been torn open, and it would be difficult for Crystal City to block the underground invasion of the swarms without any other means.
The only surviving Apostle Soter, as the Imperial Emperor, even had to come personally to deal with the locust swarm.
Lu Yao watched with a few sighs.
The Bolgod Realm was a typical example of unbalanced and insufficient development.
A militaristic military empire that had to obtain resources from war to keep the empire running. Apart from the military, other occupations and outputs were very scarce, relying entirely on the power of the gods and apostles to forcefully sustain it, and it simply could not withstand any strikes or disasters.
The Bolgods had almost exterminated all the transcendent creatures of this world, leaving only the sand lizards that could be domesticated, and what was wanted was apparently absolute obedience.
Watching the Emperor and the swarm come and go, Lu Yao only felt absurd and magical.
This Chief Apostle’s rank reached LV40, making him the strongest of the four underlings of the Glass God. However, he was locked in a bitter battle with the weakly panelled Bully Locusts, as the latter had long been spread all around, and the swarms continued to nibble on all sorts of food in this world, using an unceasing supply of numbers as their strongest weapon.
The Imperial Emperor’s opponent was not only the locusts, but also the greater half of the natural world where the swarm’s logistics were concerned.
At the same time, Isabelle from the rear sent out a reminder.
“My lord, King Wu Ji has taken the initiative as you requested and successfully lured the Bose God to strike.”
Lu Yao put down his teacup.
The main man had finally come out.
He tapped on the Golden Wilderness and completely connected the Northern New Continent and the world of the Uzi Kingdom through [Create Connection], and Daisy Dragon controlled the Ember Sun and the Ember Sun Legion to rush to the frontline, ready to support the front at any time.
On the other side, Tyrant Sarina locked onto the Imperial Emperor, ready to behead him at any time.
Snowman, on the other hand, dug a long and deep hole in the ground and waited for the Glass God to confirm the appearance of the battlefield, which led him to sneak into the city. Under [Advanced Disguise], it made its way outside the opulent palace, ready to perform its traditional craft.
Jimmy raised his arms and shouted, “For Lord Yao God! Give punishment to the warlike Evil God!”
