Chapter 177 God-Blessed City's Bells

Although Karasuss and the Pope had no idea what space-based weaponry was, seeing those hideous and terrifying, massive mechanical constructs and the astonished expression on the Mountain King Gordon's face, they were absolutely certain that these things could inflict tons of damage on Lockmarton—definitely more effective than a group of archmages casting three Empowered Fireballs.

"Such scale..." Mountain King Gordon was stunned for a full minute before speaking again. His eyes shone with lightning-like brilliance, and his tone trembled slightly, "When did you..."

"After I came to this world and learned of Lockmarton's threat, they began deploying outside," Hao Ren said, adjusting the timeline slightly. In fact, the Data Terminal and Nolan had started setting up turrets outside as soon as he and Lily landed in Coro. But attributing this to after the confirmation of Lockmarton's threat made the whole process more acceptable, "You should already know that I'm not from Coro, but from the world 'outside'. During my adventures in many worlds, I've seen many things similar to Lockmarton, so we are experienced in dealing with similar situations."

"Looking at the planning of these things, you certainly are experienced..." Gordon grumbled, but the giant's grumble sounded like thunder, "These things are unsettling, to be honest. They can do more than just deal with Lockmarton."

Hao Ren smiled and spread his hands, "I'll be honest too, if I wanted to deal with Coro, I could set this up anytime."

Gordon seemed to reveal a smile, "Compared to Lockmarton, other things can be put aside. Well, after seeing these things, I think your plan is indeed feasible. Ah, even I'm starting to look forward to the moment when Lockmarton is surrounded by these things, but before that, I need to confirm... are their powers really as great as they look? And I can only recognize some of them as weapons... they are not quite the same as the space-based weaponry we deployed back then, so I need you to demonstrate."

"Of course, no problem," Hao Ren reached out to poke the Data Terminal, "Show the product description."

The Data Terminal flew up with a whoosh before Hao Ren's finger poked it, "I told you not to poke, I told you not to poke!"

Then it opened a holographic projection, demonstrating some of the cannons being test-fired in space.

After the video demonstration ended, Hao Ren opened his arms, "Look, stable and reliable, and all have extremely high precision and power. Most small cannons can maintain continuous rapid firing for thousands of hours or more, with no performance degradation until their core melts. Heavy cannons, in addition to their amazing power, also have rapid tracking and rapid strike capabilities that far exceed their appearance, capable of real-time tracking of any moving target below the speed of light, and non-encrypted hyperspace escape targets..."

Nangong Wuyue poked Lily with her tail tip, "When did the landlord start working as an arms dealer?"

"The landlord is just a people-pleaser, don't mind him."

"Eh? Speaking of which, I didn't notice before, what happened to your tail?"

"Shut up!! Can't I serve the people?"

Hao Ren, on the other hand, inexplicably entered arms dealer mode, got high for two minutes before suddenly waking up, and quickly stopped, "Cough, in short, these things are quite reliable, at least in terms of power, they are definitely stronger than the combat power you can organize here, and they are not afraid of Lockmarton's mental attacks."

"I now think your plan is unprecedentedly mature and has unprecedented operability," Gordon said with a serious face, "Then there is only one question left—Lockmarton will definitely not obediently drill into your trap. Even if someone suddenly opens the prison door, its first reaction will definitely not be to happily go out, but to be more vigilant. How are you going to make it believe that the passage that suddenly appears in front of it is not a trap, but really an opportunity?"

Hao Ren smiled, "Of course it won't jump in voluntarily, so regarding this, I also have a matching plan, but first I need you to provide some help..."

In the eternal twilight of the Nightmare World, the melodious bells of God-Blessed City rang.

First, the highest and oldest bell tower in the city, "Morning Star Tower," rang the first chime. Then, the bells in the church district echoed, followed by the civilian district, the commercial district, the plaza district... all the bell towers in the city began to ring, the ancient mechanical structures creaking and groaning as they rotated, driving the heavy hammers to spread a series of roars throughout the city and across the wilderness outside the city.

The God-Blessed City's bell-ringing ceremony was only held at the beginning of each century's Chaos War—under the leadership of the Pope and the witness of the Twelve Cardinal Council, the Holy City used the sound of bells and drums to announce the beginning of the chaotic years. When all the bells rang, the most elite knightly orders and battle priest orders of the Theocratic State would board magic-guided warships and intercontinental teleportation gates, rushing to the front lines of various secular nations to assist the kingdoms in resisting the Chaos Tide, until the war ended. The surviving warriors would bring the roster of the sacrificed back to God-Blessed City, and the monks would blow horns on the tops of various bell towers to announce the end of the Chaos War and the beginning of the Order Era.

This was likely the first time in history that God-Blessed City had rung its bells again while the Chaos War had not yet ended.

This was the bell announcing that the final battle was about to begin.

Compared to the bell-ringing ceremony at the beginning of the Chaos War, this bell-ringing ceremony seemed thin and simple, because six of the twelve cardinals had sacrificed their lives to teleport God-Blessed City to the Abyss of Oblivion. All the remaining cardinals, including the Pope himself, would personally participate in the upcoming final battle. Only young novice monks and the old, weak, and disabled who had not been selected for the suicide squad were hosting the ceremony in the bell towers, on the city walls, and on the high platforms.

But in contrast, the troops leaving the city amidst the ringing bells and rushing to the battlefield were an unprecedented force.

Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and others stood on a still-intact section of the city wall, watching the massive army below march onto the plains like a moving forest. All the knights were fully armed, all the soldiers were high-spirited, and all the monks had firm faces. They wore neat weapons and armor, with holy magical light floating on their spears and staves. Golden battle flags fluttered at various points in the battle formation, and the jumping sparks of order reflected a layer of shimmer on the faces of the warriors.

But besides that, the army made no extra noise.

There was no accompanying military band, no inspiring slogans or speeches. This was an army that had engraved the idea of dying on the battlefield in their bones, and didn't plan to return alive. They had one goal, and that goal was at the end of the plain. They silently embarked on their journey, ready to fall anywhere along the way. In a silence, only the sound of footsteps hitting the ground could be heard, like thunder rolling across the earth.

Several huge figures also passed through the city walls and appeared in sight.

Mountain King Gordon, Fire King Gulash, Thunder King Guino, Wind King Avetina...

Ten Upper Ancient Jailers walked in the ranks. A thousand years later, they finally returned to this battlefield, once again fighting side by side with their mortal brothers.

And after the main formation left the city walls, the last, extremely special unit finally appeared.

It was a group of shaking armor, empty robes, and flickering phantoms, following behind the first echelon, silently advancing like a strange army of the dead.

In fact, it was indeed an army of the dead—they were the power of the dead, mentioned by the Pope Collective, formed by the ancestors buried in God-Blessed City.

For ten thousand years, countless pious and tenacious saints had been buried in the deep catacombs of God-Blessed City. These great souls had fought for the world's order in their lifetime, and even after death, their souls did not choose to rest. About one-third of these heroic souls were guided to the Eternal Battlefield in the Abyss of Oblivion to fight alongside the Jailer Legion, while the other two-thirds remained in God-Blessed City, continuing to protect that land in the world of the dead. And in this "Holy City Teleportation" plan, almost sixty percent of the dead who remained in God-Blessed City sacrificed themselves to gather enough energy to complete this feat of deception under Lockmarton's nose. Now, what appeared before Hao Ren was the remaining heroic souls.

In this Nightmare World where reality and illusion were indistinguishable, they could exert the power they had in life, completing one last battle.

As one team after another crossed the gate and gradually moved away on the plain, Hao Ren gently raised his shoulders and said to the Data Terminal in the mental connection, "Is everything arranged?"

"Yep~" the Data Terminal replied briskly. Although it and Hao Ren were so close, they still chose to talk through the mental connection, "This machine wouldn't delay such an exciting thing."

"Okay," Hao Ren's expression remained unchanged, still looking like he was reviewing the troops on the wall, "From now on, I'm opening my personal space access to you, and at the same time, notify Nolan to go to the 'plan point' and connect to the main reactor."

"This machine understands."

"Speaking of which, is it necessary to make such a big show?" Vivian's voice suddenly interjected in the mental connection, "If your estimate is wrong, the aftermath will be a big mess."

"It won't be wrong. I once touched the 'Stone Tablet of Truth' left by the Goddess of Creation. Although I failed to fully understand the information recorded in it, I know some of the inside story about Lockmarton. It's not an ordinary demigod, its background is far deeper than ordinary Firstborns and Guardian Giants..." Hao Ren replied, "And even if it's wrong, it's a good thing, the risk of the whole plan will be much smaller, the aftermath can be discussed later, and at worst, I'll write a review..."

"Okay, that makes sense."

The mental connection quieted down. Hao Ren raised his head and looked at the end of the scorched earth plain.

In the distance, the vanguard of the legion had arrived near the horizon.

Behind the twilight clouds, a storm was brewing.

Lockmarton undoubtedly noticed this legion, and the omnipresent chaos power was gathering.

The claws of the nightmare would not sit idly by as such a legion challenged the throne of Spiral Hill. From the anomalies in the sky, it could be judged that the first confrontation was about to begin.

What followed would be a journey full of thorns and fire.