The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

The four effects from Death’s Gaze were extremely powerful and versatile. The first effect increased his chances of obtaining resources, while simultaneously boosting the amount of Energy he would obtain. In essence, this particular effect granted him the capability to rapidly erect powerful towers.

The second effect of Death’s Gaze greatly enhanced the efficacy of his towers in eliminating their targets, proving particularly lethal against enemies of a lower rank than the tower itself. The additional 20% chance to instantly execute their targets was a massive boost to their destructive capabilities.

The third effect granted his towers the potential for growth. It provided an entirely new method for his towers to grow stronger, beyond merely ranking up. Furthermore, the fourth effect diversified his towers’ paths, essentially increasing their overall potential.

With the combined power of all four effects, Han Wu’s towers experienced a dramatic increase in power, almost doubling their overall strength. This surge in power enabled him to rapidly expand his territory by systematically taking over his neighbors’ lands. He encountered little resistance, effortlessly conquering new regions until his own territory swelled to 11,000 square kilometers in size. However, he showed no signs of slowing his relentless expansion, continuing to seize more than 0.5 square kilometers every single second.

The rapid expansion of his territory incensed the surrounding white tiles, which were aligned with the God King of Life’s faction. In retaliation, they began summoning large numbers of units to attack him. Soon, hordes of goblins and Abyss Demons surged into his domain, advancing with the unstoppable force of a tidal wave.

The Common life forms consistently prioritized shielding the Elite ones, aiming to ensure the latter could survive long enough to bring Han Wu’s tower within their attack range. Han Wu, observing this, let out a soft chuckle. He did not see the incoming Elite life forms as a threat, but rather an opportunity that would help him to grow even more rapidly.

The Dark Cursed Bug Tower was capable of attacking ten times per second, though its individual attack damage was quite low. In the past, Han Wu had exclusively set up these towers to target the cannon fodder. However, with the added benefit of Death’s Gaze’s execution effect, his Dark Cursed Bug Towers had now become considerably more powerful.

A single devastating wave of Shadow Nails swept through the enemy lines, instantly wiping out a full fifth of the cannon fodder. With each death, the Dark Cursed Bug Towers gained an increase in their basic stats, receiving bonuses such as +2 Armor, +1 Attack, or +1 Defense.

The Dark Cursed Bug Towers upgraded their stats at an astonishing rate as they continued to eliminate more and more of the cannon fodder units, quickly reaching a point where they became almost as formidable as the Iron Skeleton Towers. As a result, Han Wu benefited immensely, managing to gather a large quantity of Energy from the skirmish.

With the impressive amount of Energy at his disposal, Han Wu summoned even more Locust Towers and swiftly merged them, continuously expanding his force of Dark Cursed Bug Towers. As he completed the seventh such tower, he discovered he now possessed the capability to upgrade that particular tower into an entirely new and different type.

[Death Aura Bug Tower (Elite)

Armor: 300

Attack: 5

Defense: 10

Attack Method: Death Aura (Ignores Defense)

Range: 10 km

Attack Rate: 0.2 seconds

Skills: None

Sacred Object Slot: 5]

Han Wu was immediately captivated by its unique attacking method method, one that completely ignored the defenses of its targets. This was clearly a powerful offensive capability that he absolutely had to acquire at any cost! He proceeded to upgrade the tower into the Death Aura Bug Tower, then strategically positioned in the area where the troublesome Armor Crackers consistently made their appearance.

Soon after, a small group of Armor Crackers marched directly into the attack range of the newly placed Death Aura Bug Tower. Han Wu had initially believed that the tower’s most formidable aspect was its ability to bypass the defenses of its targets entirely. However, to his surprise, he discovered there was something even more impressive about it—its attacking method, the Death Aura, was also an AoE attack! This meant that the number of enemies was irrelevant; every single one of them would be steadily eroded by the Death Aura as long as they remained within its range.

Despite being famed for their exceptionally heavy armor and robust defenses, the Armor Crackers met their demise almost as soon as they approached the tower. Their deaths served as a catalyst, providing energy necessary for the Death Aura Bug Tower to grow even stronger.

Once the Armor Crackers were defeated, the Death Aura Bug Tower received a permanent +2 increase in its Attack stat. As a result, the Death Aura itself became even more powerful, effectively halting the advancing Armor Crackers in their tracks.

Upon discovering that all the Armor Crackers dispatched to Han Wu’s tile had been wiped out, their owner completely lost hope and ceased sending any more Armor Crackers in Han Wu’s direction.

Han Wu, however, was utterly relentless. He continued to aggressively spread his territory further into the Armor Crackers’ owner’s domain, eliminating every unit he encountered and razing every tower he came across. His actions were, without a doubt, a blatant and direct provocation. Yet, from his perspective, this relentless aggression was simply a means to an end—the more enemies he eliminated, the greater the amount of Energy and Sacred Objects he obtained.

It wasn’t until he successfully destroyed the fourth Armor Cracker Tower that he finally acquired his very first special object. This item resembled a tablet, and upon pressing a switch on its surface, five glowing words illuminated its screen: Life and Death Trade Channel. With this new object, he could now trade various items unique to this realm.

Within the channel, a diverse but limited range of goods was visible: various Sacred Objects that enhanced different stats, several special objects, and even some players listing their own towers for sale. Given that the wargame was still in its early stages, it was understandable that very few items were circulating on the trade channel.

The trade channel was predominantly filled with low-quality items, primarily at the Common rank. There were, however, a noticeable number of Elite items available, but Unique items were few and far between. Furthermore, these Unique items were prohibitively expensive, often priced at 10,000 Energy or even more, a cost that even Han Wu currently couldn’t afford. However, Han Wu had his Merge ability, meaning he didn’t need to purchase those high-quality, expensive items to upgrade his towers—instead, he could buy the cheaper items and merge them together to create more powerful ones.

He soon found a suitable Sacred Object to fulfill his goal.

[Wolf Fang (Common): Grants +1 Attack when equipped.

Selling price: 80 Energy

Stock remaining: 108]

This particular Sacred Object was utterly useless for both factions. Given that tower slots were limited, every choice of a Sacred Object was incredibly important and had to be strategically chosen for maximum impact. While a tower’s Attack stat was undeniably vital, the Wolf Fang only gave a +1 increase. This minimal boost rendered it borderline useless in any practical application.

In Han Wu’s opinion, however, the Wolf Fang was an indispensable treasure. After spending 7,200 Energy to purchase 90 of the Wolf Fang Sacred Objects, he activated Merge, combining them together. It soon became apparent that merging 10 of them into a single version was the limit of the Sacred Object’s merging capability. Nevertheless, through this process, he successfully obtained 9 upgraded versions of the Sacred Object.

[Wolf Fang +9 (Common): Grants +10 Attack when equipped.]

The effect was remarkably simple and straightforward. Han Wu had no intention of selling this valuable item to others; he intended to use it himself. He proceeded to equip the Dark Cursed Bug Tower situated at the furthest edge of his territory with four of these upgraded Sacred Objects, effectively transforming the tower into a rapid-fire gatling gun.

The modified tower fired off a barrage of ten attacks per second, utterly decimating hordes of goblins and Abyss Demons. Its destructive capacity was so immense that even specialized units like the Elite Goblin Slingers and the Elite Abyss Wizard were eliminated within a second.

The Death Aura Bug Tower initially possessed an Attack stat of just 5, but through its relentless extermination of numerous enemies, that stat had already increased to 8. Han Wu then proceeded to equip the tower with five of the Wolf Fang +9 Sacred Objects, instantly boosting its Attack stat to an astounding 58!

The tower’s Attack stat had reached a genuinely monstrous level, made even more terrifying by its inherent ability to completely ignore the defenses of its targets. Even the notoriously bulky Armor Crackers were swiftly brought down and killed within mere seconds. The Death Aura Bug Tower had essentially transformed the entire area around it into a forbidden zone, swiftly pulverizing anything that dared to wander into its effective range.

Han Wu, witnessing the incredible power his towers now possessed, suddenly let out a sigh. It’s so lonely being so strong, he thought.

With his upgraded Death Aura and Dark Cursed Bug Towers, he effortlessly steamrolled the four representatives from the God King of Life’s faction whose tiles surrounded him.