Thanks for the invitation, I just entered the chat group after traveling through Under One Person.

Chapter 238 Benefits
In the distant realm of the gods, where the power of Norse faith was concentrated, Thor was filled with shock and rage. Mjolnir, the indestructible hammer in his hand, was strangely showing spots of dark red rust on its surface.

A decaying force is attempting to erode his eternal divine body. This force is not a direct attack, but a conceptual negation and cessation. It ignores defenses and acts directly on the very foundation of existence.

"Roar—!" Thor roared, trying to dispel the eerie corrosion with his raging lightning. Silver-blue lightning exploded around him, tearing cracks in space itself.

However, the corrosive force, like a leech, did not dissipate in the devastating thunder; instead, it seemed to be activated, spreading even faster. The thunder struck, leaving only more and deeper rust marks.

"Thor, break! Forcibly break the contract!" Odin's aged and solemn voice finally rang out, carrying a rare hint of urgency.

But it was too late. Yang Jian's crimson ghost eyes locked onto the direction of Northern Europe, and deep within his pupils was reflected Thor's figure, entangled in the power of rust, struggling in vain.

Like a candle flame going out. On the live stream, the points of light representing Norse Thor and the contractor Lars went out abruptly and silently, without any violent explosion or earth-shattering energy collision. As if they had never existed.

Lars stood frozen on the edge of the cliff, the dark iron brand on his arm slowly peeling away, turning into fine dust of rust. The light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body collapsed limply like a puppet without support. The thunderclouds in the sky lost their core and dissipated chaotically, leaving only a deathly, leaden-gray sky.

Nordic Sol is out.

The Acropolis of Athens.

Elena, having just recovered from the shock of Thor's thunderous attack, was focusing on repairing the overload damage to her logic core. Athena's phantom, shield in hand, vigilantly scanned the surroundings. The successive falls of Ra and Thor had instilled in the goddess of wisdom an unprecedented sense of crisis.

Athena's calm yet solemn voice echoed in Elena's mind, "Elena, tighten the defenses to the maximum extent and hold the central point! The enemy's next target is very likely us!"

Elena nodded emphatically, and the bronze short spear pierced the ley line node once more. The transparent geometric chessboard shone brightly, enveloping the entire acropolis in a tight logical force field.

However, at the very moment the force field took shape—

"Sizzle...sizzle..."

A sickening electrical buzzing suddenly rang in Elena's mind! Then, the intricate geometric chessboard projection in front of her suddenly began to distort and become disordered.

The once clear lines became blurred, broken, and even overlapped and intersected, forming a chaotic jumble of illogical code. A strong sense of dizziness and nausea instantly overwhelmed me.

Elena was horrified. She tried to concentrate, but her thoughts seemed to sink into a quagmire, all rational deductions disrupted by a chaotic, frantic whisper.

“When the stars are in their proper places…the Great Old Ones will awaken…R'lyeh…rise…” The fragmented, blasphemous murmurs were not spoken, but “written” directly into the very fabric of her mind.

The whisper itself possessed no direct offensive power, but it acted like a highly advanced "mental virus," instantly corrupting and paralyzing the "logical center" upon which Elena and Athena relied. The goddess of wisdom's proud abilities of rational deduction and rule-analysis proved utterly fragile before this pure, irrational madness. "Ugh!" Elena clutched her head in agony, tiny drops of blood seeping from her orifices. Athena's phantom also flickered, the light emanating from her spear and shield fluctuating violently, even their forms beginning to distort and become unstable.

In that fatal moment of logical collapse and breached defenses, that familiar, metallic, rust-red light silently enveloped the entire Acropolis once more. This time, it no longer needed any leyline nodes as stepping stones; it directly targeted Elena, who had been exposed by the breakdown of logic.

The eye of judgment has descended once more.

The mark of Athena's divine power on Elena, along with the bronze spear in her hand, instantly became covered in rust and then turned to ashes. The magnificent phantom of Athena let out a sigh of resentment, and like a sand painting blown away by the wind, it completely vanished against the backdrop of the Parthenon, which was covered in rust-red cracks.

Athena of Greece is out.

In a short period of time, the core gods and their contractors of the three major camps of Egypt, Norse, and Greece were wiped out as if by an invisible eraser, and were cleanly and decisively "eliminated" by the strange power of rust red and dark green.

In a direct confrontation, the Outer Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos do not possess much power of faith; their foundation is only shallow, built upon the recent popularity of Cthulhu novels. They are completely incomparable to the power of faith possessed by the gods in the myths and legends that have been passed down through generations in various regions.

The reason why Yang Jian, the Two Qiaos, Song Shuhang, and others have such a high degree of autonomy is fundamentally because the autonomous consciousness of these deities is not fully developed. Therefore, they simply entrust their power to contractors like Yang Jian.

After discussing it, Yang Jian and the two Qiaos devised a plan specifically targeting the Qi Bureau nodes and contractors from other factions. Although they were all at the third tier level by borrowing divine power, the gap between those at the same tier was so large that they naturally wouldn't act recklessly.

The bizarre Cthulhu god's abilities were less effective against gods from other regions, but they were incredibly effective against contractors. It easily eliminated contractors from all three factions.

After pulling off this job, Yang Jian and his team retreated back to their home country. Even gods like Shiva and Odin wouldn't dare to storm in and kill them. Which existing deity didn't know that their current presence was the work of some troublemaker back home?

Even this unusual "Holy Grail War" was orchestrated by them. Having finally escaped the seal, they have no intention of coming here to seek death. Even though some of the spiritual energy from the ley lines in Northern Europe, Greece, and India is now converging on the territory of the great eastern power, they dare not cause trouble.

The benefits for the country are enormous. The nationwide cultivation plan previously promoted by Su Yun will be implemented at an even faster pace. As the number of ley lines containing spiritual energy increases, the speed at which ordinary people can cultivate into extraordinary beings will also increase.

Speaking of which, the situation in China and the surrounding areas is quite stable. Su Yun investigated and found out that this was related to Zhang Chulan and the group of temporary transmigrators. They used the remnants of the Japanese forces to create the Sakura Dragon, which then ruthlessly schemed against the surrounding wild gods.

This caused all those second- or third-rate sycophants in China and the surrounding areas with ulterior motives to fall into this trap, unable to climb out. Some died, some were rendered useless, and naturally, they were no longer able to make any underhanded moves.

The gods and immortals in the upper realms of the land only now realized that in the lower realms, the tall ones could hold their own, and the short ones could be cunning enough; there was simply no room for them to "show their true colors." If they dared to make any small moves, they would be crushed to the ground in a matter of minutes.

Originally, they could have gone to various foreign countries to cause trouble, but after the War of the Gods began, even though regions like Northern Europe and Greece suffered great losses, their chief gods were still alive and well, and these minor, wild gods couldn't go there. They could only go to small countries without ancient civilizations to glean faith power.

(End of this chapter)