I Hate Systems

"What the…?" Invaderon stared in surprise at the geyser of flames that burst out of his domain, spilling out rotting pieces of bones everywhere. A sort of corruption pervaded them, making the Soul Fire useless for his use after that.

But, it was apparent that Peddler's schemes didn't stop there when suddenly, ten Spirits and one Apostle sighed in despair, "We'll repay the debt."

Immediately, Invaderon felt a punch to his chest as he fell on his knees, suffering a hit to his strength as twenty percent of his power vanished immediately.

To repay their debts, the ten Spirits and one Apostle sold their respective authorities—the authority granted to them by Invaderon.

It didn't stop at just their power as even the army they managed vanished, reappearing on Peddler's continent as they raised their weapons against Inron now.

"Those bastards! How dare they?" Nefear screamed in rage upon noticing one-fifth of their accumulated army appeared on the side of the enemy now.

Guooo!

Inron screamed in pain as it suffered a blow to its head from the flame geyser, causing its movements on the sea to slow down to a halt. It had fainted from the accurately timed attack.

"Your Lordship, it seems we fell for their trap. We must retreat first and recoup from our losses." Nefear hurriedly helped Invaderon and said in a fluster.

Losing twenty percent of his power was indeed a crippling blow. It would take him a while to recover from that, as the moment they—the ten Spirits and one Apostle—died, the streams of fear they had been generating vanished.

So, the revenue streams supporting Invaderon were cut off. He would need to spend time to recover from the loss by replacing the lost Spirits and the Apostle. Only after they become active and generate as much fear as the previous batch would Invaderon regain his original strength.

It would take months or even years to reach that point, so it was indeed a crippling blow.

"Cunning indeed." Invaderon spoke as he glared at the silhouette of the mountain on the continent, focusing on the figure of a man standing at its peak, "That was a good one, Peddler."

"It's just the beginning, Invaderon." Peddler noticed the opponent's glare and grinned, pointing downward, "As I said before, I'll make you regret betraying me."

"Look under your feet."

"What?" Invaderon noticed his action and hurriedly stared at the ground, unable to notice anything amiss. A second later, his face paled as he stared at Nefear, "Scout under Inron! Hurry!"

"Y-Yes!" Nefear flapped her wings and dived into the sea waters, flashing to the underside of Inron as she was unable to see anything amiss.

But a moment later, she stared at the sea bed, observing a group of scuba divers there pouring in the faith of some deity. A few seconds later, the sea bed became swollen like a pimple, bursting soon to spill out lava.

The water hurriedly cooled it down, but more and more lava began to churn out, raising a lot of smoke and steam.

Gurgle!

Smoke began to flow across the sides of Inron as the surrounding water began to boil, before soon, the entire region atop Inron was covered by hot vapour. Mixed with the emissions from the underwater volcano, the vapour became polluted, resembling smog.

All the believers under Invaderon began to cough due to the emissions as Invaderon himself had reddened eyes. Of course, he had his countermeasures as immediately, a group of skeletons swam towards the sea bed and jumped into the volcano.

Their bones melted under the heat but their Soul fires blazed around, controlling the molten bones to gradually form a protective layer around the volcano. Moreover, the intense heat from it was absorbed to result in a large Soul Fire, one that blazed enough to supply energy to Inron.

Guooo!

Inron woke up as a result and absorbed the rapid Soul Fire emissions, healing its injuries as a result. Moreover, the Soul Fire immediately healed everyone.

The layer of bone covering the volcano fully melted, but by now, the region had cooled down enough for a thick layer of rock to form over the volcanic tunnel.

The scuba divers had used the faith of some Deity to result in the volcanic activity. Against that, Invaderon used his skeletons as a filter to transform the faith generating the lava into his Soul Fire.

And once the faith was fully expended, the volcano too subsided. But by then, the generated Soul Fire healed their injuries.

'There was a lack of Faith in your attack. So, it was useless against me.' Invaderon smiled, "What's next, Peddler?"

Silence!

There were no follow-up attacks as Invaderon frowned. He then shouted, "Why aren't we getting closer?"

Nefear scouted further and returned, saying, "Your Lordship, the sea currents are moving against us. We're unable to move forward."

"Also…" She said after a moment of hesitation, "I can no longer sense any marine creatures in our vicinity."

"Hmm…" Invaderon frowned at that, 'What's the use of this?'

He then observed Peddler's cunning grin, realising only a moment late as he shouted, "Check our granary!"

On the back of Inron were multiple cities, full of his believers. In order to avoid a weakened situation like Essencer, his believers all lived on Inron. When they wished to invade a region, Inron banked nearby while the believers rushed forth and raided the place.

Once they were done, they returned with all their hauls, including the capture of infants that they would brainwash and rear as future believers. So, the entirety of Invaderon's strength was gained from the believers on Inron.

Therefore, everything the people needed was available there, including food that they had stolen from their previous raid and stored for upcoming use. They generally stored two years' worth of resources in advance.

Swoosh!

Nefear flew towards the granary in one of the cities, noticing something amiss as she barged into it, staring at the crying figure of a man who was in the pose of prayer. Before him were some grains scattered on the floor, his mutter one of relief, "Thank you…thank you."

"I finally managed to repay my debt."

"Bastard!" Nefear killed the man in rage upon realising that he had sold away everything in the granary to repay his debt. But a moment later, she felt a chill, questioning something, 'Wait, didn't they live on Inron for their entire lives? They've only left Inron for short durations during their raids. So…how?'

'How have they been taken advantage of by Peddler?'