92: Initial development

The people of West Tower Town were worried about the arrival of the Abyss Church.

Such elite church members clearly weren't pushovers, and they didn't know what kind of chaos they would bring to West Tower Town.

But to their utter surprise, on the day the Abyss Church settled in, the town mayor personally led several key officials and the city guard commander to visit the Abyss Church.

They not only declared the Abyss Church the only officially recognized church in West Tower Town but also pledged to formally join the Abyss Church.

Closely following them were the high-ranking members of the Thorn Church.

They not only publicly announced their departure from the Thorn Church and their joining of the Abyss Church but also donated the Thorn Church's premises to the Abyss Church...

This caused an uproar among the people.

What magic did this Abyss Church possess that made the mayor and members of other faiths rush to join?

The Abyss Church did not come forward to explain but remained silent.

Let the people speculate slowly; the greater the public opinion, the greater the shock they will experience later!

After successfully taking over the Thorn Church's premises, the Archbishop didn't really give it much thought.

After all, it was just a small town, fine as a temporary stop, but far too shabby to be the headquarters of the Abyss Church.

If the Lord of the Abyss knew that his church's headquarters was in this godforsaken place, the Demon Dragon might just descend the next moment.

Of course, not to help him, but to collect his corpse...

After a simple tidying up, the Abyss Church thus took root in the Sachi World.

And the original followers of the Thorn Church, under the "guidance" of the Abyss, successfully escaped the sea of suffering and joined the Abyss...

The next day, the Abyss's portal slowly opened above the Abyss Church's premises, and two thousand Demonized Gryphons, led by the Gryphon commander, arrived in this world.

The swarm of Demonized Gryphons, blotting out the sky, caused panic in West Tower Town; they had never seen such terrifying monsters.

It wasn't until the Abyss Church's Archbishop appeared that the Gryphon leader, after a shriek, folded its wings and landed beside the Archbishop.

The leader obediently lay on the ground, allowing the Archbishop to stroke its head.

Seeing this scene, the people's awe of the Abyss Church's might deepened.

This group of massive and majestic extraordinary creatures brought great shock to West Tower Town.

They felt that any single giant beast could destroy the entire West Tower Town.

With thousands of giant beasts now circling above West Tower Town, how could they live in peace?

Fortunately, this worry did not last long.

Under the Archbishop's command, each Knight claimed a Gryphon; they would be their closest partners in the future.

Not long after, the Archbishop, holding the "travel pass" given by the mayor, led the Abyss Church members away from West Tower Town and came to the nearest large city—Hua Lai City.

As for West Tower Town, the original members of the Thorn Church were left behind to slowly influence the people.

Hua Lai City is a large city under the Dier Kingdom, home to dozens of religious sects.

The largest among them were the Church of Nature and the Church of Wealth.

The Church of Nature were environmentalists, advocating for harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

Within the church, there were specialized "Sowers" who would travel around the world every year, casting divine spells on the land to help crops grow better.

Therefore, the Church of Nature held a very high position in the hearts of the common people.

The Church of Wealth, on the other hand, attracted many nobles, merchants, and gamblers; they firmly believed that money could change destiny.

Perhaps because neither of their doctrines favored conflict, they were able to coexist peacefully and develop together in Hua Lai City.

These two were considered among the top churches in the entire Sachi World, so it was not surprising that they could occupy the majority of the faith in Hua Lai City.

For the obscure little church known as the Abyss Church to want a piece of the pie in Hua Lai City, that would be difficult.

Those smaller sects were very exclusive; after all, there wasn't enough faith to go around, and one more sect would squeeze out some followers from them.

The Archbishop was not in a hurry; their main task was to gather information about the gods and, incidentally, weaken the power of this world, so there was no need to rush.

The Shadow Assassins dispersed to enter the city and gather information, while the main force of the Abyss Church remained in a manor outside Hua Lai City.

The owner here was a minor noble, and at this time, their family was the most loyal servant of the Abyss.

A force of two thousand Knights plus two thousand Demonized Gryphons and one thousand monks was too conspicuous, not at all the strength a typical city church should have.

This didn't even include the two thousand Vampire Bats and two hundred Shadow Assassins hidden in the Darkness.

This was already the entire strength of some ordinary churches.

After entering the city, the Shadow Assassins collected and compiled the information within the city and finally handed it all over to the Archbishop.

Hua Lai City had a standing garrison of twenty thousand soldiers, plus a five-hundred-strong mage corps.

If they encountered war, the various churches would also send clergymen to help defend the city.

As for the two major sects, they each had over a thousand permanent clergymen; the number of transient ones was unknown.

As for their strength levels...

The Shadow Assassins only found out that the bishops of the two major churches were likely Tier 5 in strength; the strength of other members was unknown.

As for the smaller churches within Hua Lai City, they posed little threat.

Most of them were just a handful of people; some didn't even have an organized church army, only a few fortunate believers who had gained extraordinary power to barely protect the church.

The Archbishop set his sights on the third-ranked church besides the Church of Nature and the Church of Wealth—the Night Shadow Church.

They worshipped the "Night Shadow Goddess," emphasizing secrecy and assassination.

Church members were mostly active at night, wore predominantly dark purple silk clothing, and specialized in illusions, stealth, and assassination.

They operated an underground intelligence network in the city, claiming to be "all-knowing."

The armed organization "Phantom Assassins" was responsible for assassinating targets that threatened the church, while also secretly mediating gang disputes within the city to maintain the city's "dark order."

What the Archbishop valued about them was their intelligence capabilities and the forces of Darkness they controlled.

With the help of these local powers, coupled with the Night Shadow Church's powerful intelligence network and investigative abilities, the difficulty of gathering information would be greatly reduced.

However, these rats under the Darkness were extremely vigilant; their church premises were basically only guarded by lower and middle-level clergymen, while the high-ranking members were mostly wandering outside.

This also greatly increased the difficulty of the Abyss Church's actions.

After thinking it over, the Archbishop still decided to gradually erode the Night Shadow Church, starting with the lower and middle-level members, developing them all into Abyss members.

In the end, even if the high-ranking members didn't show themselves, the Night Shadow Church would still be within the Abyss's grasp.

With the decision made, the Shadow Assassins began to act again.

Although they were only Tier 3 Extraordinary (originally Tier 2 Extraordinary Eight-Star, they advanced in the Shadow Abyss), the Enter the Shadows skill was extremely useful.

They infiltrated the Night Shadow Church's premises, slit their throats one by one, and sent them into the Abyss.

After being resurrected as Demons, they were sent back to their original places.

In just one night, over two hundred resident clergymen of the Night Shadow Church all became loyal followers of the Abyss...