The closer he got, the more details he was able to see. For instance, the walls were not complete, yet. At some places, individuals were standing dressed in the white robes of the Church with their hands aloft, nudging the thick substance that they seemed to be conjurinh out of thin air to appear and s.h.i.+eld them.
Their faces were also covered, but as soon as they saw him, they could not hide the s.h.i.+ver that went through their bodies.
Daneel smiled grew wider as he saw this, as he knew that they had been hoping that they would be able to finish this task before they arrived.
The a.s.sa.s.sins had been right: this was the perfect time to attack, as if they came after the walls were done, they would have had to lay siege while actively using up their Energy resources to fend off the stormy sky above.
With panicked motions, the members of the Church tried to hasten the creation of the cream-colored walls, but Daneel was too quick for them.
"Fly, my hearties…"
As soon as he muttered this, he thrust his hands into the pockets of the long, kingly golden robes that he was wearing. His fingers came upon clumps of tiny crystals that almost looked like glittering sand, and after scooping out a handful with both his hands, he shot them forward with all the strength that the system could muster using the loyalty of the Heroes behind him.
He had been in the Champion realm for a long time, and if it weren"t for his Path which allowed him to cross realms as easily as if he were crossing a line in the sand, he would have been underpowered in all of the battles that he had taken part in. With the full amplification of the G.o.dnet that was able to let him use the loyalty of all the people on the continent, he could directly contend with Peak Heroes, but as he only had a few Heroes now, his power was barely in the Exalted Hero realm. And of course, this, too, was only because, as the system put it, the "quality" of those who were supporting him was high, which meant that he could call on a lot of the Will even though the number of people was low.
Usually, in a battle of such proportions, an exalted Hero should be able to do nothing… But he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
The crystals flew forward at a blinding speed, propelled by both the force of his throw and the property of the material that they were made of which allowed them to burn off a bit of themselves each second to increase their momentum.
Hence, by the time they reached the wall, they could barely be distinguishable from the salt of the sea that was sprayed up every second.
The members of the Church who were around 20 strong had been warily watching these objects thrown forward by Daneel, but even they lost track of them.
But that was only until the crystals, each the size of a single mote of sand, struck their barriers and instantly began to suck Energy from the resources powering their defensive measures.
Stricken with terror, one of the members of the Church used a spell to modify his eyesight and see just what the crystals were.
What he saw made him scream.
"AH! Mosquitoes! The reports were true- he is a Bug Lord! They"re sucking the Energy out of the defenses! Get them off, get them off, get them off!!!"
Clearly, this person was someone who was scared of bugs, but alas, although his idea was right, his implementation was wrong.
He conjured large hands that were supposed to work like flyswatters, but the moment they were about to strike the mosquitoes, the clever creatures moved, allowing his magic to strike the very barrier that was being depleted of its resources.
Many of the other members of the Church also reacted similarly with panic, but there were some who stayed calm and focused on Daneel while ignoring these mosquitoes, which would definitely need some time to suck out enough Energy to render their defenses useless.
Seeing the stupidness of his colleagues, one of the members shouted, "Stop that! They need time! Finish the wall, and we can kill all these intruders at our leisure! Heed my words, or you will face the wrath of the Bishop!"
The very mention of her name made the members of the Church freeze. The next second, they were actively trying to finish the wall again, as if this task was more important than even their own lives.
But Daneel wasn"t done. He had been watching all this while flying as quickly as he could to reach the base of the Church, so as he saw this new development, he simply grinned and said, "Activate the second stage."
It was a trick that had been used both by him and his sovereigns, too, just recently to great effect, but it was still magnificent enough that it brought a grin to his face when he saw the reactions of the Church.
A foreboding feeling filled the entire atmosphere, and for a single second, it seemed as if even the skies had fallen silent to act as heralds to the storm that was going to come.
This second pa.s.sed quickly… And it was followed by the entire sea around the base of the church frothing as if it had come alive.
It took only two more seconds during which the Church could only watch with confusion-filled eyes for the sea to swell… And then batter the wall with thousands of creatures, which directly began to widen the holes in the walls.
Seeing that Husare"s hunch about how his plans always tended to work out was true, Daneel could not help but send a shout back to his colleagues.
"A single instance of the spell was sufficient to draw enough creatures to almost swallow the Eskilon family whole. Now, a thousand such beacons have been lit up, one for each of my hearties that is stuck to them. When the Church challenges us, they challenge our protector- the Sea, too. My friends…watch as our brothers from the Sea rise to our cause! Glory be to Angaria!!!"