As for why the Saintess would disguise herself as a player and sneak into Netherworld Village, Carl felt it was worth following Anan into Glory City's City Hall to investigate.
As it happened, the Saintess's true body was currently inside Glory City's City Hall, facing a group of uninvited guests.
The visitors had co from the Empire.
Their leader was the Empire's new premier damage dealer, scheduled to debut on the next version's limited banner. Her na was Migard, Commander of the Imperial Hunter Knights.
Although Migard's strength was still far below Anan's, she was strong enough to steadily suppress Griff, the Holy Nation's young Annihilation-unit character.
Her Combat Rating had reached an astonishing 30,000. Not only that, every mber of the Hunter Knights was an elite among the Empire's younger generation, with combat power roughly equal to Hasumi's initial form.
The entire Hunter Knights had now arrived in Glory City for one purpose: to compete for the spotlight in the next version's main storyline.
"The Holy Nation has the world-renowned Abyssal Knights supporting it, yet you still allowed a group of backwater troublemakers to humiliate you during the Trial of Glory."
The Commander of the Hunter Knights, Migard, was a sharp-eyed woman with black hair.
With her military uniform, upright posture, and stern temperant, Carl felt certain she would appeal directly to a very specific group of players with very specific tastes.
Migard lightly tapped the riding crop in her hand, pointing it toward the Saintess, whose expression had turned extrely unpleasant.
"This makes question whether the Holy Nation's current leader is capable of handling the storyline in later versions. It also makes wonder whether there are traitors hiding within the Holy Nation."
"Those people are nothing to fear. There's no need to deal with them at all," the Saintess said, still trying to appear composed.
"The Academy Head and your Empire are simply overreacting."
But only the Saintess herself knew how badly Netherworld Village had drained both the Holy Nation and Oath's official team.
Setting aside how much of Oath's revenue Carl had diverted during this period, the Saintess's side had suffered very real losses.
The fact that every mber of the Navigator Guild had chosen to join Netherworld Village was enough to make the Saintess so furious that she had to scream helplessly into her pillow every night before bed.
This was a Savior guild where every mber was willing to whale for a maxed-out 6 5 character. Each one of them had terrifying strength. And now, so many powerful players had changed sides overnight.
In the Saintess's view, there was nothing wrong with players wanting to enjoy Netherworld Village.
It was not as though they would stop coming back to save the world simply because they spent ti there. Let them play.
After all, most players liked both gas. They would finish their daily missions in Oath, then head over to Netherworld Village for a visit.
But Oath's official team simply could not tolerate it, so they introduced a so-called soft-ban policy.
As a result, all the powerful players the Saintess had worked so hard to win over during this period had switched sides and now stood firmly with Netherworld Village.
Even more terrifying was the news that Netherworld Village had introduced sothing called Anonymous Mode.
With Anonymous Mode in place, who knew how many players would be willing to stand with Netherworld Village as ti went on?
Even if Oath's official team truly issued a Purge Order, a large number of players would still step forward to defend Netherworld Village.
That was not the outco Oath's official team wanted to see.
After all, Netherworld Village was taking revenue straight from their pockets.
However, from Carl and Elysium's point of view, Netherworld Village was simply making up for Oath's many gaplay shortcomings.
It was giving players the gaming experience they deserved after spending so much money.
If anything, Oath's official team should have been giving Carl a generous cut of the profits and thanking him for it.
Unfortunately, no matter how much money Oath made, its priority was never ga optimization, gaplay improvent, or the player experience.
In the eyes of Oath's official team, what Carl was doing was heresy, and heresy had to be eliminated.
"Even if our ga makes more money, how could we possibly take that money and spend it on gaplay improvents and optimization?"
In any case, the Saintess was currently in a state of extre rage, hating everyone equally.
She hated the shaless way Oath's official team operated.
She hated how Carl had managed to convince so many players to abandon their privileged status as Saviors in Oath and follow him to the end in a barren place like Netherworld Village.
And she hated these people from the Empire for showing up at a ti like this to claim the benefits for themselves.
"So, will you assist us in clearing out Netherworld Village and dealing with its rebels?"
Although the Saintess was seething with rage inside, she maintained her holy and dignified appearance on the surface.
"We are not that foolish."
Migard, the Empire's new premier damage dealer, revealed a faintly mischievous smile.
"The Saviors' affection ans everything to us. Even if those rebels are hiding among the Saviors, wiping them out would only make players hate us. We have no intention of taking on such an unpopular role."
"Of course, as a favor to the Academy Head, the Hunter Knights have accepted the mission of defending Glory City and preventing those rebels from setting foot inside."
That was the real reason for the Saintess's fury.
If the Hunter Knights had accepted the mission to destroy Netherworld Village, the Saintess would probably have laughed herself awake from a dream. It would only be a matter of ti before the Empire faction's reputation collapsed among the players and they beca the villains everyone wanted to beat up.
Then the Holy Nation could have won by doing nothing.
Unfortunately, these people were not stupid. They had chosen to defend instead, then watch as the Holy Nation and the Saintess's side were gradually forced into a corner.
Carl briefly analyzed the Saintess's current predicant.
First, the next major update of Oath, Version 2.0, had two possible routes.
One was the Empire route. If the story truly followed the Empire route, the Saintess would be finished.
Once a batch of new Empire banner characters was released, her character, who was tied to the Holy Nation, would be pushed out of the spotlight, just like Hasumi.
The second option was the Holy Nation's Abyssal Knights route. If that route was chosen, the Saintess would likely beco one of Oath's most valuable characters, right alongside Irene.
Because of her character traits, she functioned as a universal support piece for Holy Nation teams. If more Holy Nation characters were released later, she could even double as a Support or Abnormal-type character.
But the route chosen for Version 2.0 would be decided by Oath's official team.
And now, Oath's official team was using that choice to pressure both the Holy Nation and the Empire.
The order given to the Holy Nation was for the Saintess and the Abyssal Knights to hunt down every resident of Netherworld Village. If they found a chance to wipe out Netherworld Village completely, they were to take it without hesitation.
How could the Saintess possibly do that?
No matter how foolish she was, she could still understand one thing. If the Holy Nation truly destroyed Netherworld Village, the Saviors, the players themselves, might turn around and destroy the Holy Nation in retaliation.
But if the Saintess did nothing, Oath's official team would choose the Empire's side.
The Empire had certainly promised enough benefits.
According to the information the Saintess had gathered, the Empire planned to lead a large number of Calamity-class monsters to Netherworld Village in Version 2.0, disguising the attack as a monster siege event and wiping the village out directly, among other plans.
"Saintess of the Holy Nation, struggle as much as you like during this ti. We will take good care of your sister."
As Migard spoke, she lightly caressed the cheek of a young girl beside her. The girl's appearance was seventy to eighty percent similar to the Saintess's.
"Mira! Even you betrayed ?"
The Saintess could barely keep control of her expression.
The person who should have been her exclusive Support character, her younger sister and the Holy Nation's Second Saintess, Mira, was now standing on the Empire's side.
"I'm sorry. This happened because you failed to manage Glory City properly, didn't it, sister? I need to preserve a future for the Holy Nation in the versions to co."
In Carl's view, the younger sister's reasoning made sense.
If Version 2.0 truly followed the Empire route and she remained the Saintess's dedicated Support character, she would beco a dead-end banner for the players.
Unless they were die-hard Saintess fans, no player would pull for her.
Therefore, Mira's decision was actually the correct one.
(To be continued.)
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