Spellcasting Gods

……

While the holy gods were wreaking havoc, Luskan maintained a peaceful atmosphere.

The reason is simple: this place is located at the northernmost point of the entire west coast, and further up is the desolate Icewind Valley. Moreover, the population is pitifully small, consisting mainly of profit-driven merchants or pirates who believe in nothing. Powerful gods look down on this wretched place, while powerless gods dare not approach it easily, for fear of being killed by the infamous Black Dragon.

After all, with their mortal bodies, they are already vulnerable to harm from many weapons and magic.

Zhang Cheng was sitting in his private room in the central spire, leisurely flipping through the intelligence reports sent back by thieves' guilds from various places. A playful expression appeared on his face. After a while, he asked without turning his head, "What do you think of these gods?"

"What?!" Entreri frowned in confusion.

"What I mean is, how do you see these high and mighty gods in relation to what you usually imagine them to be?" Zhang Cheng's eyes gleamed with a crazed light, making no attempt to hide his desire to kill the gods.

“I don’t feel anything! You know, I’ve never believed in any god.” Entreri shrugged nonchalantly.

To be honest, he never dreamed that the gods would one day be banished to the mortal realm.

"Hehe, that's true." Zhang Cheng nodded slightly.

Just as he was about to say something more, a portal suddenly appeared out of thin air, and Manson walked over from the other side of the portal.

The leader of the Santalin Society, whose face looked extremely gloomy, asked in an extremely cold tone as soon as he appeared, "When can we begin our operation?"

"Oh? What's wrong? Did someone upset you?" Zhang Cheng asked teasingly, feigning ignorance.

Given the temperament of Bane, the god of tyranny, he would certainly seize power immediately upon his arrival and personally take control of the churches and forces under his command.

Unfortunately, Manson, who had too deep a collaboration with the Benedictine Church, naturally became the first target to be sacrificed.

Whether it's Zantirburg or the Zantirin Order, they're probably firmly in the hands of the god of tyranny. If it weren't for Manson's legendary mage abilities, he would have been wiped out and kicked away long ago.

It's not a pleasant feeling to be usurped, especially for a powerful and ambitious grandmaster like him.

"Hmph! Stop pretending! Give me a deadline! I don't want to wait any longer!" Mansong gripped his staff tightly, his tone full of hostility.

shame!

He had never been treated like this since he became a legendary mage, not even by a powerful god!

Sensing the burning rage within him, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but smile and reassure him, "Don't rush, my friend, now is not the time for us to act. Don't forget, the Goddess of Magic is not dead yet. Also, did you get what I asked you to get?"

“Of course! Here you go, this is what you wanted.” Mansong readily pulled a simple, unadorned dagger from his pocket and tossed it onto the table.

Although this thing looks quite ordinary on the surface, it exudes a chilling aura.

Without a doubt, this is no ordinary dagger, but the almost unknown Zasman dagger, also known as the Godslayer dagger, a weapon truly capable of killing gods.

It is said that the Netheril Zasman sect sacrificed countless people in their quest to create a weapon to kill the gods, but was ultimately wiped out by the ancient god of death, Jag.

Its previous owner was none other than Bane, the god of tyranny...

Chapter 0493 The Hunt Begins

Gently stroking the rough iron blade, Zhang Cheng felt an unprecedented energy emanating from it.

It is not magic, nor is it divine power, but a strong obsession, an unparalleled hatred and hostility towards the gods.

It's hard for ordinary people to imagine that such a dagger could pierce through a divine shield and cause terrible damage to a god.

“Interesting… I’m more interested in psychic abilities now…” Zhang Cheng muttered to himself as he carefully slipped the dagger into his pocket.

His reason for demanding the Zasman dagger, besides research, was primarily to have a trump card that could turn the tide in a critical moment.

After all, although the god-slaying magic was completed, it had not been actually tested, so who knows how effective it would be.

Therefore, having a weapon capable of slaying gods becomes extremely important at this time.

Manson clearly didn't care about any of that, and impatiently urged, "I've already met all your demands! Tell me, how much longer are we going to have to wait?"

"Calm down! Patience is a virtue. You shouldn't get so worked up over a little bit of power. I guarantee that it won't be long before the guy who's making you angry is killed by his nemesis," Zhang Cheng said with a half-smile.

You stole the Destiny Tablet of the Supreme God Aio and still want to live?

As it turns out, the three gods of death really messed things up. Bane died at the hands of Tom, the god of loyalty and courage; Baal was killed by Cyric; and Melkor was beaten up by Elminster and others in Waterdeep.

In any case, none of them survived the turbulent years.

Although Bane was later successfully resurrected with the help of his son, the other two were not so lucky.

In Zhang Cheng's eyes, the turbulent year was essentially a great purge of all gods by the supreme god, and a stern warning. Therefore, there was no need to act too early, lest it be noticed and attract the siege of the gods.

As long as Cyric hasn't collected all the Tablets of Fate, the gods will have to stay obediently in the material world.

As for those who tried to take shortcuts to escape the calamity, the second-generation goddess of magic, Mystra, was killed by the god of guardianship, and the goddess of commerce, Vol'jin, was imprisoned in the harem by Lord Ul'dark; none of them had a good ending.

……

"Where is Sazastan? Where has he been these past few days?" Manson suddenly noticed that another ally was missing, and a look of doubt appeared in his eyes.

“He’s looking for traces of an old friend, so I think it’s best if we don’t disturb him for now,” Zhang Cheng hinted meaningfully.

"I see……"

Manson was incredibly clever; he instantly realized that the other party was searching for the lich god Vesalon.

Just as he was about to probe further about the next plan, a raven covered in black feathers suddenly flew in, with a letter tube tied to its leg, which was used to hold notes.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Cheng took out a crumpled note from inside in front of everyone.

There were no characters on it, only a black dot that looked like an accidental drop of ink.

But that black dot made his pupils contract sharply, and then he grinned and, without turning around, ordered, "Valendra! Go and tell everyone to get ready! The hunt has begun!"

The hunt begins?!

Upon hearing this, the beautiful moon fairy involuntarily shuddered and quickly nodded, "Understood!"

Others might not understand what the start of the hunt meant, but as her trusted confidante, she knew very well that the so-called hunt did not refer to hunting wild beasts, but to hunting gods!

Watching Valindra disappear at the end of the corridor, Manson finally couldn't help but ask, "What happened? Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"It's nothing. I just received news that the Goddess of Magic was rescued by a group of adventurers." Zhang Cheng immediately released a ball of flame, burning the note to ashes.

To prevent important information from being leaked, he secretly devised a series of meaningless symbols and drawings, each representing a different meaning.

A single drop of ink represents the goddess of magic being rescued by Cyric's team.

Although he wasn't quite sure how these rookies could manage to summon the Goddess of Magic without alerting the God of Tyranny and the layers of guards, he knew that this troublesome goddess would soon try to return to the divine realm to expose the conspiracy of the Three Gods of Death to Aion.

Unfortunately, she encountered Heim, a guardian god who showed no mercy and only knew how to uphold his duties.

Ultimately, Mystra, possessing a mortal body, was no match for the Guardian God, who was unrestrained, and was brutally killed. Following this, the magic network of Faerûn began to descend into an uncontrollable state of chaos.

This means that the power of all spellcasters, including gods, is greatly restricted. They can no longer foresee dangers or monitor events happening in distant places through magic.

In short, everyone will become deaf and blind.

Mansong frowned subconsciously, seemingly unable to understand Zhang Cheng's strange behavior, but considering that acting sooner was exactly what he wanted, he reluctantly agreed.

After a brief discussion and with limited intelligence at hand, the two quickly identified Gagus, a cruel god who was active in the southern region of Tesser.

As the saying goes, pick the softest persimmon first!

First of all, this third-rate guy who came from the devil has almost no decent allies among the gods, so even if the news is accidentally leaked, there is no need to worry about retaliation.

Secondly, his strength is among the lowest of all the gods. He cannot even fully comprehend the meaning of divine power. His mind is filled with the disguises and schemes of demons, and he is not very good at fighting.

Finally, and most importantly, this guy is currently in Tesser, a country in the midst of internal strife.

No matter how intense the situation, as long as it is attributed to local warlords, nobles, or bandits, it can serve to confuse the public.

As the first target, Zhang Cheng didn't care too much about who the other party was; he just wanted to get a corpse to study later.

His mind was filled with countless crazy ideas. He didn't just want to kill one or two gods. He wanted to slaughter all the gods and kill everyone he could.

The thought that his hands would soon be stained with the blood of the gods filled him with an indescribable excitement and exhilaration.

The observant Manson undoubtedly noticed this and immediately raised the level of danger he perceived in his ally by several notches, while secretly increasing his vigilance.

After all, this land has never lacked terrifying madmen, such as the mad mage who spent his days digging holes in the city at the foot of the mountain—Hyrast Black Robe, and Samaster, the founder of the Cult of Dragons who went mad.

He certainly didn't want to be attacked by his allies at a crucial moment...

Chapter 0494 The God of Cruel Officials

Carmens, an unassuming little town nestled on the banks of the Is River.

Located south of the Kingdom of Tesser, adjacent to the southern kingdom of Kalinsan, it boasts a warm and humid climate and is famous for producing a very delicious fruit wine.

Although the residents' lives were not good due to the continuous civil war, they were still much better off than in other parts of Tesser, at least they could barely fill their stomachs.

However, just a few days ago, an ordinary-looking businessman suddenly arrived in this place, bringing a strange change to this originally peaceful and tranquil town...

"Good morning, Mr. Merchant." A woodcutter who was about to leave the town to chop wood in the countryside bowed to an old man of about fifty.

"Hehe, good morning." The old man took off his somewhat drab hat and returned the greeting.

It's almost impossible to tell from his weathered face that he is a high and mighty god.

That's right!

He was none other than Zhang Cheng's first target for hunting—Gagas, the god of cruel officials.

It must be said that compared to most gods who openly reveal their identities to summon believers, his secretive approach is a disgrace to the gods.

But there's nothing I can do!

I have far too many enemies!

Leaving aside the benevolent deities who were originally extremely hostile to the evil faction, the evil faction alone includes Bane, the god of sin and tyranny; Baal, the murderer; Shar, the goddess of night; and Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease...

Among them are several powerful gods, quite a few medium-powered gods, and countless weak gods; they can basically be considered enemies of all the gods.

What's even more terrifying is that Gagus doesn't have a single ally in the Pantheon!

Normally, they hide in the ninth level of hell and cooperate with various great lords to avoid being hunted down by the gods.

But now, the God of Gods, without any further ado, has banished all the gods to the mortal realm, leaving him completely unprepared. He can only find a place to hide and wait for the storm to die down before trying to travel to the distant East to search for the ruins of the ancient Imasca Empire.

As a god born of demons, he was well aware that this once-glorious magical civilization had developed teleportation technology to its extreme, and could even open a portal to another universe.

If we can find some valuable knowledge and treasures about the past from the ruins, we can bypass the guardian god Heim and return to the realm of the gods first.

Of course, he had to conceal his identity before setting off, otherwise he would be beaten to death by countless enemies if he were exposed.