When the Witch first arrived on this continent, it was not yet lost. There was no so-called Gatekeeper clan, only scattered primitive tribes.
"Witch" was not her real name, but a pseudonym she adopted to travel this unfamiliar continent. As for her true name, having lived so long and always being addressed as "Great Witch," she had long forgotten it.
Upon arriving, the Witch deeply understood the importance of influence. Moreover, humans were social creatures, and more people meant easier accomplishments.
Thus, the Witch, utilizing her powerful magic, easily gathered a small faction. Later, through the constant annexation of surrounding tribes, she rapidly rose to become the largest tribe on the continent, the predecessor of the Gatekeeper clan.
The Witch yearned to lead her forces back, and for this purpose, she even taught magic to a few talented tribesmen. However, she later discovered that this continent was like a secluded paradise. It was difficult for outsiders to enter, and impossible for those within to leave, especially given the technological level of these primitive people.
Helpless, the Witch had no choice but to engage in a "farming" game, focusing on developing the tribe, until the appearance of the Gate of Destruction.
"So, you have seen the so-called outside creatures and angels?" Bai Qi interrupted the Witch's narrative.
"Yes," the Witch nodded. "The monsters that emerged from the Gate of Destruction were ugly, deformed, and only understood destruction. They possessed no intelligence. As for the angels..."
When speaking of angels, the Witch's expression turned even more disgusted than when she spoke of the outside creatures.
It was not surprising that the Witch felt this way. The angels had left an extremely poor impression on her, even worse than those ugly outside creatures.
Facing the outside creatures, the humans on this continent were not entirely defenseless.
Compared to normal humans, these creatures were merely uglier, stronger, and had tougher skin. With repeated attacks on vital points using iron weapons, they could be killed.
However, the outside creatures poured out of the Gate of Destruction endlessly and in vast numbers. Furthermore, the Witch had already retreated to the background, handing over most of the tribal authority to the new chieftain, while she herself delved into the study of magic.
Even when she later realized the severity of the situation, the Witch's personal intervention could not turn the tide. At best, she could only slow the advance of the tide-like stream of outside creatures.
Until one day, two figures clad in silver armor, wielding crimson swords, and with wings on their backs flew out of the Gate of Destruction. They called themselves angels, possessed unparalleled beauty, and their swords could unleash flames, even drawing upon the sun's energy to unleash precise destructive strikes on specific locations. More importantly, they were helping the tribe.
After their appearance, the two angels wreaked havoc upon the outside creatures, and finally, using some kind of magic, sealed the Gate of Destruction after returning, severing the connection between the two sides.
One of them even left behind the armor she wore and the weapon she used, which was what Bai Qi had seen upon entering.
Logically, the angels had indeed helped the people of this continent resist foreign invasion, and the Witch, as a member of this continent, should have been happy. However, the problem was that the angels not only helped clear out the foreign creatures but also propagated their own ideology, the so-called "Justice Above All" philosophy.
In the Witch's view, this was an outright blasphemy against her own faith, something she could not tolerate. But given her strength, dealing with one angel was already a struggle, let alone two. Moreover, as the angels eliminated all the foreign creatures, their reputation on the continent reached its peak. Coupled with the Witch's years of reclusion, her prestige within the tribe had declined, and she was surpassed by the angels.
The tribesmen even spontaneously erected a giant statue of them, worshipping them as deities.
Fortunately, both angels eventually departed. However, the problem was that the angels' faith had been too deeply ingrained in the minds of these people, and the Witch could only gradually correct it over time.
"But what I see is that these humans still worship angels, and they possess foreign technology that does not belong to them," Bai Qi said, a hint of anger in his voice.
Given that the other party claimed absolute loyalty, why had she not managed to change the people's faith after all these years?
This could only mean two things: either the Witch was incompetent, or she was lying.
Sensing Bai Qi's anger, the Witch quickly explained, "No, my intention was as follows..."
After the Witch's explanation, Bai Qi gained a general understanding of the situation on the continent.
The Witch's initial intention was to spread the faith of the Holy Lord across the entire continent. However, when foreign creatures and angels began to arrive in succession, she realized the drawbacks of mass propagation of faith and the creation of followers.
As the number of followers increased, they became difficult to manage. A large number of superficial followers appeared devout on a daily basis, but this devotion could not withstand trials. During the incident with the Gate of Destruction, within just a few days, over ninety percent of the followers became believers of the angels.
Seeing through this, the Witch shifted her focus from pursuing quantity to pursuing quality. Apart from a small number of loyal guards like Yin, whom she had raised from a young age and kept by her side, she also cultivated many other loyal guards and fanatically devoted followers of the Holy Lord, scattering them throughout various positions in the tribe.
To prevent these loyal guards from revealing themselves, the Witch also used magic to seal their memories concerning their faith in the Holy Lord and their relationship with her.
After all, the Witch was an ancient being who had lived for so many years, and after arriving on this continent, she had dedicated herself to the study of magic. It was not strange for her to possess a few seemingly inexplicable magical abilities.
Some might think the Witch was overreacting, but that was not the case.
The impact of the two angels on this continent was immense. Later, to prevent the Gate of Destruction from reopening and causing devastation, the angels not only left behind their weapons and armor but also a silver sphere.
Do not underestimate this silver sphere. It was more like a product of extremely high technology. Both the weapons of the Gatekeeper clan and their nanotech-like combat suits were created from this silver sphere.
However, not all members of the Gatekeeper clan could possess these weapons and equipment. Even if arming the entire Gatekeeper clan might be easy for the sphere, it did not do so.
Instead, it had its own set of operating principles, a set of principles belonging to the angels.
Only by undergoing a so-called ritual or trial witnessed by the sphere, and successfully passing, gaining the sphere's recognition, could one obtain weapons and equipment.
Although the sphere's trials were strict and varied each time, given the vast population of the Gatekeeper clan and the accumulation of time, more and more people obtained powerful weapons and armor. And those who passed these trials were, without exception, fanatical believers of the angels.