Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton
Chapter 1511 - 1072: Why is it so slow?

Chapter 1511: Chapter 1072: Why is it so slow?

Bapos adjusted the array, preparing to activate such a massive array to attack a faraway target. Besides requiring immense energy, the most challenging aspect was aiming accurately. If there were even the slightest deviation, the target could veer off to an unpredictable location.

Bapos lacked the ability to lock onto a target—that was a capability possessed only by the Lord of the North Crown. However, the array had already fired once before, and the Undead City hadn’t moved. Thus, no further adjustment was needed; he only had to gather enough energy to fire again.

Currently, Bapos was merely toggling the start and stop of the energy circuits.

Yet, as he adjusted, Bapos suddenly noticed that the indicator markings representing energy on the array had stopped changing.

He paused in confusion, then realized another alarming detail—the sound of knocking against the divine shell had vanished. The anguished howls of the God of the Earth, Kram, had disappeared, leaving the entire world shrouded in an eerie silence.

Bapos’s soul was instantly gripped by a chilling sensation that penetrated to his core. His body stiffened as he slowly turned around, and he saw a human radiating a holy glow, with a benevolent smile across his face, staring at him calmly.

"Y-you... who are you?" Bapos asked in a trembling voice.

It was immediately clear that the man was not mortal. The fact that he had silently appeared behind Bapos and silenced the perpetually howling Kram were feats no human could possibly achieve.

"I am a spokesman for God on earth... the Pope, Saint Anthony. A pleasure to meet you, Lord Bapos," Anthony said with a smile.

Bapos’s gaze darted toward the two subordinates armed with the Shocking Divine Sticks. He found them frozen stiff, their fate uncertain.

A human hovered beside the divine shell, pressing a single glowing finger against it. Somehow, inexplicably, Kram had quieted down. It was an astonishing phenomenon.

Ever since Kram was confined here, this space had never experienced silence. The divine shell perpetually emitted periodic howls.

If the shell went untouched, the howling followed a pattern. If struck with a stick, the howls became chaotic, mixed with anguished emotions. However, it had never been completely silenced—until now.

All the living beings in this place had long grown used to this noise, treated it as background sound. Now that it had suddenly vanished, the effect was akin to a lifelong mechanic in an airship’s engine room suddenly finding the ship without power.

Though the howls had become mere background noise, silencing them was no simple feat. With a wary gaze, Bapos looked toward Ange and said, "I’m not pleased to meet you. Kill him!"

Before finishing his sentence, Bapos threw a punch at Anthony. A phantom of an array emerged over his fist, expanding into a circular shield shape centered around the strike and pushing toward Anthony.

Anthony swung his Pope Wand in reverse, like a hammer slamming into the array. Boom!

At Bapos’s command, all the enemies in the control room simultaneously charged forward.

Boom—a massive moneybag swung out, knocking back the foremost attacker. Silver Coin staggered drunkenly as he wielded his oversized moneybag, swaying wildly from side to side. Yet with each sway, the moneybag struck fiercely, its impact resounding louder than an iron hammer.

Staggering back and forth, Silver Coin flattened and flung all enemies in front of him.

On the other side, a puff of smoke has suddenly risen, transforming into Durken. Gracefully lifting his hat and waving his Gold-touch Stick, he smiled at the enemies. "Allow me to show you all a magic trick."

However, his cloak was now missing, rendering his otherwise elegant gestures oddly comical without its flowing accompaniment.

Durken’s cloak had merged with the Sacrificial Mask, drifting through the air. Those two humans wielding the sticks were now lost in the Illusion Territory conjured by the Sacrificial Mask, entirely trapped in its spell.

With Silver Coin and Durken taking care of the other enemies, Anthony only needed to deal with Bapos alone. After an initial clash between the array and the wand, Bapos retracted his fist and then launched another forceful strike.

Once more, an array phantom appeared on his fist. It expanded into a circle, stacking atop the previous array. Boom!

Anthony responded with another swing of the wand, his body trembling slightly.

Bapos pressed forward, throwing yet another punch, stacking a third array atop the previous two. Boom! Anthony swung his wand again, but this time his posture faltered, stepping back half a pace.

Negris was startled, instinctively shifting forward a few steps. Anthony was losing ground? Impossible! Ange was right behind him; how could Anthony be disadvantaged? Could Bapos truly withstand God’s Spokesperson bolstered by Ange’s support?

Boom! Boom! Boom! With each successive punch, Bapos grew more intense, more exhilarated, attacking in a frenzied rush. The layered arrays had reached six levels, forcing his opponent to retreat continuously.

As the assistant to the Lord of the North Crown, Bapos lacked real combat experience. Situations requiring his intervention were rare, and when he did act, his enemies seldom survived even a single punch. Stacking six layers of arrays was unprecedented.

The more layers the array accumulated, the greater its explosive power. Rarely had anyone endured so many layers—Bapos was itching to see the magnificent destruction these combined forces could unleash. Surely, his opponent’s blood would splatter across the entire hall.

At the sight of the sixth-layered array forcing his opponent into retreat, seemingly unable to withstand the next blow, Bapos abruptly withdrew his fist, marshaled all his power, and launched his seventh punch.

But in the instant his fist struck out, he saw that the seemingly desperate Anthony had regained his benevolent smile. Calmly, Anthony pivoted his wand, pointing its sharp end forward and thrusting.

The wand’s tip pierced the array, stabbing into Bapos’s chest and pinning him to the ground.

"Did you not notice the weaknesses in your layered arrays? Several parts are thin; break one, and the entire structure collapses. And yet you stacked so many layers?" Anthony asked with a gentle smile.

Bapos struggled fiercely, realizing the wand, heavy as a mountain, rooted him to the ground. He couldn’t budge.

Anthony’s words perplexed him even more. Of course, he knew of the weak points in his arrays, but how had his opponent immediately discerned them? Was Anthony’s frantic retreat simply a ruse to bait him into stacking more layers?

Negris exhaled in relief, flying over and saying, "I truly thought you were in trouble. Turns out you were deceiving him. As expected from the Dark Knight Emperor—I knew with your martial skill, no one could drive you back. If you couldn’t defeat him, you would’ve started circling the pillars ages ago."

Anthony spread his hands. "It’s been a while since I encountered an opponent who’s both weak and audacious. Puncturing his layered array was like popping a balloon with a needle—it’s exhilarating. But his array technique is amusing indeed—forming arrays with punches and layering them—isn’t this akin to Ange crafting Teleportation Arrays with bare hands?"

Negris surveyed the room, noting the floor littered with enemies felled by Silver Coin and Durken. The control room was utterly subdued. "Certainly unusual. It must be his secret move. Forget about that; let’s get to the real task."

But before Anthony could start the "real task," a communication feed reconnected. The voice of the Lord of the North Crown rang out: "Bapos, have you fired yet? What’s taking so long? I don’t see the flash yet."