Valen sighed in regret, If they had only known of the abilities of the beasts to draw others to themselves it would have been a different story, and hindsight, as they say, was twenty-twenty.
It would not be much of a problem, they thought, as the Great Storm would scour the surface of the planet, but with the unknown ability of the golden beast to gather others of their kind, it led to massive damages on their properties as their workers were being eaten.
The governors collectively decided to deploy mercenaries on the planet to slaughter the beast, deciding at that time it was the most valid option, and by all indications it was, and with the progress of the extermination going according to plan, especially when a power house like Dorian Kuranes accepting the bounty, it became a smooth sailing extermination, with Dorian alone racking up billions of kills.
There were even calls in some quarters to save some of the golden beasts as pets, and also to experiment on them for any further usage beyond their beautiful forms, but that line of thought quickly stopped when the atrocity on the planet truly began.
If Valen was to point out the timing where it all commenced it should be with that damned name being added to the Nemesis Plate — Erohim.
It was not the first time that the name of the long fallen god was used by locals and charlatans, it was even encouraged in order to kill what was left of any reverence for the god. What better way to make something less mysterious and noble than to defame and cheapen it.
It was a tactic used by the Empire on the many fallen gods they conquered, if it was done to its fullest extent, the true demise of the god would be assured. Except for the God King and the seven gods, none should look on any other gods with ardor and worship, after all they were conquered.
A mercenary taking the name of the fallen god was viewed with amusement, and his rise in the Nemesis plate was a subject of betting and endless speculations.
This time it was different, whatever mercenary took that name was shrouded in an ever-increasing fog of uncertainty, but his results were nothing to scoff at, he flew through the ranking at a dizzying pace, and the response Valen and everyone else expected for such a powerful mercenary was one of respect from the locals, but certainly not awe and worship!
Valen knew there was an underground network of communication among the locals, where news, rumors, and information about the various happenings on the continents were shared, and they had placed their eyes and ears in the network and ignored it for the most part, letting it exist, as it was a valuable source of information about the actions of their properties.
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