Overall, the Cold Crow Halberd Warriors and the Dragonized Spear and Shield Warriors are both Tier Three soldiers, their attributes do not differ much.

The two types of soldiers focus on different aspects, one on attack and the other on defense, but other attributes are generally balanced, making them the outstanding ones among Tier Three soldiers.

Zong Shen, upon seeing the attributes of these Halberd Warriors, began to let his imagination run wild.

If I could obtain a team of Halberd Warriors to cooperate with a team of Dragonized Spear and Shield Warriors, they would undoubtedly complement each other and become unstoppable. The Halberd Warriors would focus on attack, the Spear and Shield Warriors on defense, and both have certain attributes to resist cavalry. This combination couldn't be more perfect!

This situation is almost impossible to occur among the Indigenous Forces.

The reason is simple; the Dragonized Spear and Shield Warriors belong to a faction called the Dragon Transformation Church, while the Cold Crow Halberd Warriors belong to the Calamity Raven Church.

Even if there are no conflicts between these two church forces, their differing doctrines make collaboration rare.

However, for a Lord, the situation is different. In theory, a Lord has no specific alliances and can recruit any soldiers. If powerful enough, they can combine groups that would never otherwise fight side by side.

Creating many novel and powerful troop combinations.

Zong Shen swung his shovel while daydreaming, his strength was great. Even without equipment, his attributes were incomparable to those of ordinary farmers.

Due to his distraction, he unconsciously forgot to hide his strength. Every shovel could dig up a big chunk of soil, his efficiency was several times that of the surrounding villagers.

A few minutes later, when Zong Shen came to his senses, the horse-blocking trench, initially only half a meter deep and a meter wide, had been widened by a whole meter by him.

The loose soil at his feet had piled up, making him stand out among the surrounding villagers.

The villagers nearby slightly opened their mouths, watching Zong Shen's actions in shock.

The commotion also caught the attention of a nearby supervising Cold Crow Halberd Warrior.

When Zong Shen became aware again, everyone around was staring at him.

He lowered his head somewhat awkwardly, while the Halberd Warriors walked over, seemingly suspicious of him.

Zong Shen felt a bit annoyed, realizing he wasn't professional enough in concealing his identity, having become complacent and forgotten the attribute differences between him and ordinary villagers.

Grasping his large shovel, he continued to shovel the soil from the horse-blocking trench as if nothing was amiss, while two Cold Crow Halberd Warriors approached from behind. Zong Shen began to communicate with the Floating Ring in his storage grid as he heard the approaching heavy footsteps.

Suddenly, the footsteps halted, and behind him came the sound of armor clashing and the noise of individuals kneeling on one knee.

"Greetings, Lady Saintess!"

…

The Saintess has arrived? Zong Shen wondered silently, as he turned his head along with the curious villagers nearby.

Behind him, all the Cold Crow Halberd Warriors knelt respectfully on one knee, their halberds planted on the ground, one hand gripping the halberd, the other gently touching their foreheads; this seemed to be a ceremony in their church.

A woman shrouded in a black veil, her entire body covered by a loose hooded robe, walked over, with strands of dark red hair visible from either side of her hood.

Her steps were unhurried, resembling a lotus swaying in the wind, carrying a unique charm.

Regrettably, she was enveloped too tightly, revealing only a pair of deep-set eyes and long eyelashes.

A few deacons, dressed in Raven Emblem Robes, followed behind her.

These deacons, though also part of the church's management, held a lower status than the Saintess.

"Rise, the construction speed of the Tower of the Raven is too slow."

"I need to draw a few more people from here to support the construction, it must be completed within three days."

A knowledgeable and poised female voice said, prompting the Cold Crow Halberd Warriors to stand up, holding their halberds rigorously.

One of the deacons behind her suddenly spoke.

"Saintess, perhaps we should send Giant Power Knights to plunder the population in the surrounding villages?"

"Based on our previous findings, there are three or four villages within a hundred kilometers, one large settlement to the south has two to three thousand people..."

Before he could finish, the Saintess raised her hand and shook her head slightly, gesturing for him to remain silent.

"Respected Mr. Sviting, our mission this time is to obtain the Demon Remnant Souls and Demon's Blood, to awaken the Raven Spirit, not to plunder populations."

"We can occupy this place, as well as eliminate those Expeditionary Armies or Local Knight Orders, but we must not pillage all the villages here."

"While these villages might not matter to the Avalon Kingdom, if the Avalon Royal Family or those Giant City Nobles feel offended, they might launch a full-scale attack on the church's outpost."

"In the eyes of those people, pathetic pride outweighs everything, and this is the balance we must maintain now."

"When the Demon's Soul is attracted by the Summoning Soul, changes may occur at the Burial Ground. That's why we need to occupy Odu Village to draw their attention and prevent any situation at the Burial Ground that we cannot control."

The Saintess slowly spoke, explaining the stakes involved.

The forces of the Calamity Raven Church are not weak, with giant city-level strongholds in several neighboring countries, but ultimately, they cannot withstand a head-on conflict with kingdom-level forces. Bullying local forces is no problem, but if a full-scale war were launched against kingdom forces, they would be no match.

The likes of plundering a village, destroying a Bang City army, or an expeditionary force from a giant city are of no consequence, as they have not touched the kingdom's bottom line. After all, those Knight Orders also frequently sweep through church heretics, and such small-scale skirmishes have not yet escalated to the level of full-scale war.

But if they go too far and anger the kingdom's upper echelons, the situation would be different.

After listening to the Saintess, the Deacon did not speak, just nodded slightly and retreated back into the ranks.

Then, the Saintess gracefully moved to stand beside Zong Shen, who caught a peculiar, faint fragrance.

"You all come with me."

She raised a finger to point, her loose sleeve slipping down to reveal a lotus-like white arm halfway up, densely tattooed with runes and various strange emblems on the other half.

Among those she pointed at was Zong Shen. Dutifully, they stepped out of line and followed the Saintess towards the village.

The Cold Crow Halberd Warriors were watching Zong Shen but ultimately said nothing.

Among the village farmers, there occasionally appeared one or two individuals with extraordinary talent, whose innate talent reached Excellent Level, and whose physical abilities surpassed those of ordinary farmers.

Zong Shen breathed a sigh of relief; the effect of this [Transformation Potion] was formidable, allowing the indigenous people to detect no anomalies.

However, to perfectly deceive others, Zong Shen would need to enhance his own acting skills.

During his first infiltration, there were many details he hadn't handled well, but it also provided experience for future infiltrations.

Fortunately, these church heretics were not particularly suspicious, as they were fully focused on guarding against the potential arrival of the Avalon Kingdom's Knight Orders and expeditionary forces.

Zong Shen, holding a shovel, followed along with a few farmers at the end of the line into the village.

The main roads in the village were set with sentry posts. Zong Shen also noticed several traps such as tripwires and thorn hook nets along the roadside.

On roofs and windowsills of houses on either side, armed archers clad in light armor and equipped with longbows were stationed.

Zong Shen had now roughly figured out the precursor events and consequences of the situation.

It appeared that these people from the Calamity Raven Church were fully prepared to confront the expeditionary army, with numerous traps and fortifications laid out in the village to delay time as much as possible, allowing them to successfully collect Demon's Souls and Demon's Blood.

Odu Village was merely a bait, a ruse, a delaying tactic to cover up their true actions.

Of course, it now seemed that the ceremony to summon the Demon's Soul was undoubtedly complex and likely to cause a significant commotion; otherwise, they wouldn't need so many days of preparation, or even use Odu Village as a decoy to distract the kingdom's forces.

As Zong Shen pondered, he observed the layout of the village, memorizing the positions of the sentries and traps. Five minutes after entering the village, they reached the originally small village square.

This was situated at the village center; originally, it was the village's square, but it had been cleared out, and a tall tower was erected in its center.

Over a dozen people dressed in gray magic robes were arranging some peculiar bones at the foundation, assembling them into runes.

These bones were from a small bird species, still bloodstained with bright red flesh, evidently freshly killed.

Nearby were many wooden barrels, some of which contained thick dark red blood, others held pitch-black feathers.

Evidently, these birds must have been the ravens circling above the village.

The Calamity Raven Church seemed capable of constructing some form of peculiar rune array using the blood and bones of ravens.

This indeed began to look like an evil ritual.

Apart from the foundation constructed of raven blood and runes, the tower's main structure was made from secret silver and wood, with runes carved into the secret silver to form the beams and supports of the tower, while wood was used as the main body.

The entire tower resembled a large formation.

Zong Shen and those villagers were brought there, tasked with carrying wood upwards.

He followed the villagers while carefully observing the tower.

[Tower of the Raven (Rare)]

[Quality: Rare Church Special Building]

[Effect: Summon Ravens (The Tower of the Raven can attract ravens in the vicinity to circle around it)

Raven Spirit (By sacrificing powerful souls, a Raven Spirit can be summoned. The strength of the Raven Spirit depends on the power of the sacrificed soul)]

(The Raven Spirit can perform a Raven Baptism for believers, which is the lifeblood of the Raven Church)

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