At this moment, shatter the dimensional barrier

the other side.

Beneath the mantle vine, mountains nearly 10,000 meters high have risen from the earth over a distance of more than 40 kilometers. The shattered earth's crust has bulged up, forming abyssal fissures all around. From within these fissures, a gigantic vine, resembling both a plant and an animal, with a diameter of more than one kilometer, stretches upwards into the sky.

The very end has pierced the clouds, and at the waist of the vine, it splits into many sub-vines. The skin of the vine cracks open to form countless huge eyeballs, the smallest of which are over ten meters long, and the largest even reaches one kilometer.

Such a bizarre and malevolent behemoth would surely cause an ordinary person to faint from the sheer oppressive force of its presence if they dared to look up at it.

Suddenly, a series of enormous eyes turned toward the same spot, staring intently at the tiny area.

Three figures looked up at it expressionlessly.

"Hehe, finally out." Luo Sheng's eyes suddenly shone with golden light.

Before he discovered the new 'World Administrator's Log' feature, even with Artoria's Excalibur, he wasn't entirely confident he could eliminate it all at once.

He has now received the divine name of 'God', and golden divine energy is constantly flowing from his body.

He can completely remove this mantle vine that is rooted 85 kilometers underground.

Can a mere mantle vine withstand the power of two billion believers worldwide?

Chapter Sixty: The Faith System Manifests, the Underground City Concept

Los Saint looked up at the mantle vine before him, which resembled the towering Jianmu tree in Eastern mythology. It was simply too enormous. Even if all the nuclear bombs in the world were dropped here, they would at most destroy the part of the mantle vine that would be exposed above the ground.

Moreover, nuclear weapons are not as powerful as most people imagine. Their power is only terrifying to humans. For the Earth, detonating all the nuclear weapons together would be like being bitten by a mosquito at most.

The most powerful bomb ever made by mankind, the Tsar Bomba, with a yield of 65 million tons of TNT, only created a giant crater with a diameter of 4,000 meters, an average depth of 3 meters, and a central depth of 30 meters.

The Tsar Bomba, if dropped on this mantle vine, would at most create a small hole, which would quickly heal itself.

Los Saint felt the 'golden energy' continuously converging into his body from all directions.

This 'golden energy' is the materialized power of faith. Faith itself is an intangible and conceptual thing; it is a collection of human desires, beliefs, wants, and emotions. When these things come together and their quantity becomes so large that they begin to be energized.

Once energized, the power of faith becomes something entirely different, much like how nebulae in the universe rotate and collapse to eventually form stars—it's the same principle, just one is from a physics perspective and the other from a mystical one.

This 'golden energy' carries an extremely terrifying 'will'. The will of the people's faith is gathered together and sublimated to form this 'will'. This 'will' is unsurprisingly 'divinity', and the 'golden energy' itself is divine power.

'However, apart from possessing this divine power, it seems that he does not have the omniscience and omnipotence of God...' Los Saint's thoughts shifted away from the divine power within him.

At this moment, a spherical phantom appeared in his mind, covered by countless points of light. These points of light converged to form part of a world map.

These points of light are, unsurprisingly, people who believe in 'God,' and the bright areas are places where believers gather in large numbers.

The European continent is the brightest, and the light of faith dims further east. The boundary between Europe and Asia begins to turn black, and finally, at the easternmost edge of the Asian continent, there are scattered glimmers of faith.

Then there are the island nations in Southeast Asia, where the light of faith shines a little brighter, but it is still far inferior to that of Europe.

Australia's eastern coastline in the Oceania region is ablaze with the light of faith, and 90% of Australia's population lives in cities along its eastern coast. New Zealand, located on the edge of Oceania, is similar to Australia.

Then there are North and South America. North America is basically shrouded in the light of faith, but the distribution of the light of faith is very uneven, after all, North America is a region contested by various religious sects.

South America is more complex in composition. The areas where the light of faith is distributed are clustered together, like chess pieces on a chessboard. Compared to North America, these areas of faith together only account for one-third of the entire South American continent.

The region with the least light of faith is Africa, with only a few faint glimmers of faith in South Africa and North Africa.

'This virtual Earth...could it be some kind of deity?' Luo Sheng touched the virtual Earth formed by the convergence of faith with his thoughts, and ripples similar to water appeared on the virtual Earth.

A piece of information appeared in his mind, and Luo Sheng suddenly realized.

This virtual Earth is a simple 'belief system' centered on the name of 'God', and it is still in its most primitive state.

In short, the virtual Earth is an operating platform through which he can spread his will to his followers, issue divine pronouncements, and also transmit his will and divine power to remotely bring down miracles and divine punishments.

It can also determine a believer's level of devotion based on the extent of their faith, and can be categorized here as shallow believers, devout believers, fanatical believers, saints, and so on.

Although there are 20 billion believers on Earth, this figure is highly inflated. It includes casual believers, such as the people of Xia Kingdom who burn incense to let others know they are safe and sound. The total number of believers worldwide is only a little over 9 million.

The number of true believers in God, that is, devout believers, is only slightly over ten million.

As for the fanatical believers who dedicated their lives to God… well… they were all in Britain, and those who had been given power by Him: Eleanor, Gavin, Sister Zoe, Aaron, and the crew members who were saved on Aaron's ship.

There was only one saint, Joan of Arc, who was standing next to him.

Artoria gripped Excalibur in both hands, her expression serious: "Master, may I begin to destroy it now?"

The sword Excalibur shone with a golden light, its accumulated magic power reaching its peak. Artoria couldn't even imagine how exaggerated the Excalibur would be, but she was certain that it would destroy all the mantle vines on the ground in one strike.

Joan of Arc's eyes were serious, and her Noble Phantasm 'Saint Catherine' appeared in her hand: "My lord, with your life force, my second Noble Phantasm can destroy the mantle vines at least thirty kilometers below the surface."

Luo Sheng lowered his eyes as he looked at the Earth Mantle Vine in front of him. A lot of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant before he spoke.

"It would be a waste to destroy this thing. Since it has come to this world, it should be put to good use."

"Recycling waste?" Artoria and Jeanne blinked, exchanged glances, and seemed somewhat puzzled.

"Master, how can we utilize something that only harms the world?" Artoria asked, puzzled.

“Even the most dangerous things have their uses; it just depends on whether you know how to use them.” A smile appeared on Luo Sheng’s lips.

“Up to 85 kilometers underground, it’s really deep and so huge, and I’ve confined it to an area with a diameter of ten kilometers so it can’t spread outwards.”

"It breeds and creates endless Devouring Beasts. Its body is also filled with intricate channels, truly like a self-repairing maze."

"So all we need to do is erase its general consciousness, and finally build a tower at the ground entrance to suppress it, so that it can never grow to the surface. Wouldn't that create a living underground labyrinth?"

As Luo Sheng spoke, he became increasingly excited, extending his fingertip, which emitted a golden light.

"Finally, I will send down another statue to the root of the mantle vine at the bottom layer, and draw some faith power to continuously wash it. Its survival instinct will constantly resist the faith power, and some crystallization of extraordinary power will be born in its body."

"Those who venture into the labyrinth become adventurers, acquiring the crystallization of these extraordinary powers to grow stronger."

"Dungeons and adventurers, forge ahead. The deeper they go underground, the stronger their survival instinct becomes, and the more dangerous it is for adventurers. At the same time, they are closer to the idols, and the more powerful and pure the extraordinary crystals become."

It seemed as if Los Saint's words had been understood by the pan-emergent consciousness of the Earth Mantle Vine.

The enormous eye that was closest to the three of them began to split open with a gurgling sound, splitting from a giant eyeball tens of meters long into fist-sized eye tumors, which fell toward the three of them along with a gray, viscous liquid.

Pat pat—

"Artoria, Jeanne, activate your Noble Phantasm to destroy the entire surface portion of the area, and then burn the portion within one kilometer underground."

"Yes, Master."

"Yes, my lord."

Chapter 61: The Round Table Resolution Begins, Thirteen Restraints Released

Artoria's expression was solemn as she gazed at the ridiculously huge mantle vines before her, slowly raising Excalibur with both hands.

Golden magic was slowly released, and the land around Artoria was dyed gold. The golden light continued to spread, and the atmosphere began to tremble, with a rumbling sound coming from the air.

Artoria proclaimed loudly: "Seal Thirteen – Decision Start!"

Her voice spread along with the magic, and in that instant of releasing the magic, her voice resounded for tens of kilometers around her.

The sound doesn't stop traveling further; it just gradually weakens as it travels through the air.

The United Nations member states, which are constantly monitoring the situation here, noticed what was happening immediately.

Satellites in the sky have been monitoring this area, and hundreds of reconnaissance drones are also patrolling it. Therefore, the images were received by countries all over the world the moment the anomaly occurred.

Even in the area filled with light, the drone could only capture blurry shadows, but it could record sound.

[Acknowledgement: Bedivere, Gareth, Lancelot, Mordred, Galahad.] A gentle male voice rang out; it was the voice of Merlin, the court magician.

"It's been so long since I've heard Merlin's voice." Artoria sighed as she heard the voice recorded in the release of the thirteen constraints. She had mixed feelings about Merlin.

These voices were the oaths sworn by the Knights of the Round Table when she received Excalibur, to increase its power and to restrain herself, so that she would forever remember her responsibilities and honor as the King of Knights.

Twelve golden, humanoid rays of light appeared around her, converging into a dazzling pillar that protected her at the center.

Each beam of light emitted a different vow.

This battle is a battle for survival.

This battle is a battle against those stronger than ourselves.

This war is not a war that betrays humanity.

This battle is a battle in pursuit of truth.

This battle is not a battle against the elves.

This battle is a war to punish evil.

This battle is not fought for personal gain.

This battle must be a battle for honor.

This battle must be fought alongside the brave.

In this battle, one must not antagonize the benevolent.

……

Twelve resolute voices resounded throughout the heavens and earth, and could be faintly heard even in Cardiff and London.

Gavin, who was helping missionaries carry relief supplies at the refugee camp, instantly looked toward the source of the light, his face filled with excitement and exhilaration: "The voice of our King, and the oath of the Knights of the Round Table!"

"Is our king currently fighting against the Demon Pillar with Lady Joan of Arc?!"

He was excited but also a little disappointed. He had only just obtained the Holy Sword and couldn't even unleash its true power. He really wanted to fight alongside the King to defeat evil.

"In the future, I will become strong enough to have my oath enshrined in the sword in the lake by my king and fight alongside him," Gavin set himself a firm goal.

"This battle! A battle to save the world—" Artoria declared loudly.

Thirteen rings of runes appeared on the Excalibur, encircling the blade. These were the true forms of the Thirteen Bonds, which began to unravel layer by layer from the hilt.

boom--

The Sword of Excalibur burst forth with a light brighter than the sun, forming a pillar of light that shot straight into the sky, resembling a giant sword a thousand meters long.

The golden light was so dazzling that it instantly dispersed the clouds high in the sky. Starting from where the golden pillar of light rose, the clouds dissipated in all directions, forming a huge hollow circle.

At this moment, on the warships of the United Nations countries surrounding Britain, the marines stared blankly at this scene.

"..." A major general from the Xia Kingdom looked at the images and sounds transmitted by the reconnaissance drone, and his mouth slowly opened wide as he looked at the golden beam of light shooting straight into the sky.

"Is this still considered...extraordinary?"

As one of the few people who knew the most about supernatural beings and superhumans, he thought the three superhumans who appeared in Dingshan City were incredible enough.