He once again felt full of strength, and once again the angels' guidance and the nearby heaven appeared before him - but in the next moment he smiled and prepared to fight for the Lord.
—
The world suddenly stopped.
Thunder roared in their ears, and the heaven in front of them was shattered. Before the soldiers of the Redemption Army could react to what was happening, or why there was thunder above them, in the eyes of the elf commander, the priest sitting on the sedan chair was probably dead.
400 shooters, with more than 300 12.7×108 mm caliber rifles, aimed their sights at the priest's entire body.
With a volley of telepathic shots—the priest was dead.
Under normal circumstances, the two layers of single-target divine shield released from his body can prevent the elven archers from firing more than ten rounds of full-power shots at close range.
But it is obvious that facing 300 seemingly small but powerful bullets fired by the so-called "rifles", only two layers of single shields to deal with archer shooting are far from enough.
His body was still in shock at the moment before the barrier broke. His knight followers had not yet reacted to what the thunder coming from the forest meant when the priest's divine barrier was shattered.
The shattering of the barrier allowed the remaining bullets to penetrate his body recklessly. In the eyes of the elves, his body would expand unnaturally every time a bullet penetrated it, and finally exploded suddenly, breaking into pieces, while allowing the subsequent bullets to hit the head of the Knight of the Skitarii following behind him without any obstruction.
The bullets penetrated the armor of the Skitarii Knights, blowing up their heads or shoulders. The worst-hit one was even hit in the chest and abdomen by more than a dozen bullets at the same time, and was cut in two in front of everyone.
The upper body flew into the air under the impact, while the lower body remained on the horse. The mutilated body splashed with blood on the spot, and finally made the knights realize the problem.
"Reverend Pastor?!"
They were shocked to see the fat corpse torn into pieces on the sedan chair with its intestines scattered everywhere.
And in the tree, the elf commander just roared excitedly: "Keep going!!"
Bang-
Another round of volleys, accompanied by the Crusader Knights being thrown to the ground, the priest's magic finally became completely ineffective.
The moment the magic failed, the beautiful paradise in the eyes of all the Redemption Army soldiers turned into a broken mirror.
They looked up blankly at the white smoke rising from the trees, then looked down at the muddy, blood-stained soil streaked with arrows.
Without the magic, the fatigue from the whole morning's march came directly to their heads.
Having lost their divine powers, the fear they had originally faced from the rain of elven arrows filled their hearts the next moment.
Without the magic, they no longer had the courage to face the dark forest and the thunder in the sky—
At this moment, someone turned around and looked at the chaotic Skitarii and the half-dead body on the sedan chair and shouted in fear:
"Reverend Pastor! The Reverend Pastor is dead! We lost! Run, run quickly!"
boom-
The order collapsed in an instant. Before the cannon fodders running back could squeeze into the crowd, arrows shot from behind pierced their heads.
The overwhelming rain of arrows further exacerbated the chaos among the Redemption Army soldiers in the trap area.
Before they could raise their shields with screams and howls, the sound of cannons like a volcanic eruption in the distance and the stone bullets from the sky not only shattered the shields in the soldiers' hands, but also directly shattered their last bit of luck.
They panicked and didn't know where to go, and one of them bumped into the golem that rose from the ground, and was knocked to the ground by the stone giant's big head, turning into a meat paste.
Some Redemption Army soldiers who were far away from the trap area turned back and tried to escape from the forest, but before they had run far, axes from deep underground cut off their ankles.
"Aa ...
The wounded soldiers howled in agony, covering their severed tendons. As they stared in horror, the demons wearing cheap cross necklaces crawled out of the tunnel and stared at the howling soldiers with their scarlet eyes filled with hatred.
The soldier saw the demon wearing a cross necklace, so he quickly took out the cross in his arms and shouted:
“Fellow believers! Fellow believers! I am also a believer of the Church of Light! Misunderstanding, this is all a misunderstanding—”
The demon chopped down the axe in his hand.
After chopping the soldier alive into countless slices, he raised his axe high and roared in the demon language:
"We don't believe in the God of Light! We only believe in light!"
Chapter 7: Blasphemy and the Revenge of Faith
The Redemption Army was destroyed. When Yang Hao arrived at the battlefield, after counting the troops, he found that the Redemption Army was destroyed thoroughly.
Literally 80,000 people attacked the Monster Forest, and over 20,000 bodies were left behind just inside and outside the Monster Forest.
In addition, there were thousands of captives - if the elves hadn't kept these captives to test the waters, the demons would have probably chopped them into pieces with axes.
After all, the demons were really ruthless. They chased the deserters of the Redemption Army until they reached the location of the original priest, and then stopped. If the elves hadn't stopped them, they could have even chased them directly to the parish.
“We must further discipline the demon army. Many of our casualties reported were caused by the demons being too impulsive.
But then again, we killed a priest and half of the Knights of the Crusades... This is already an unexpected gain. And more than 50,000 defeated soldiers fled to the diocese, which is also good news for us."
Yang Hao handed the statistical data in his hand to the elf commander, muttering, "The gun barrels made by the bow maker who changed his profession are quite accurate." He discussed the next counterattack plan with the commander.
Obviously, the defeated army, a large number of defeated troops fleeing into the territory of the diocese, is definitely not good news for the Church of Light.
The faith of these defeated soldiers has collapsed after witnessing the death of the priest. After all, they are not fanatics themselves, but they chose to believe in the God of Light because of inducement and necessity.
After realizing that even powerful priests can die, it became even less likely that they would return to the parish.
Not to mention, the parish has always been cruel to losers. Not to mention that the purpose of their trip was to reduce the redundant population -
Only fools would consider returning to the jurisdiction of the parish for these defeated troops. Most of them would become wandering robbers, looting directly in the parish, causing damage to the rural areas of the parish while spreading rumors of the Redemption Army's defeat everywhere.
This is a good thing no matter how you think about it.
But Yang Hao always felt that something was missing.
"Blasphemy, blasphemy against faith - these are the charges you have brought against me..."
He muttered something as he, accompanied by the elven commander, inspected the bodies that were being prepared for burial—suddenly, he signaled everyone to stop.
In the parish…
Only devout believers have the right to enjoy burial, and only the most devout believers are qualified to be dressed up before burial.
If Yang Hao wanted to take revenge on the parish, the best way to start would be to take prisoners and corpses.
Desecrating corpses was not his strong point, and he did not feel that he needed to go to the extent of desecrating corpses for revenge.
He was just thinking that the most taboo thing in the parish seemed to be cremation.
And burning at the stake...
The former is because the body cannot be preserved after "cremation", and the God of Light will not accept believers without a body to go to heaven.
The latter is because "burning at the stake" is a punishment specifically prepared for pagans.
No matter which one it was, it was a cruel punishment for the believers of the parish - and Yang Hao's order was very simple. All the bodies of the Redemption Army were cremated with magic outside the Monster Forest, and all the captives of the Redemption Army were burned at the stake on the burning bodies after the demons tortured useful information out of them.
But if we just do this and there are no believers in the parish to appreciate and watch, how can it be considered "blasphemy of faith" and "blasphemy of God"
And in the final analysis, this only brings suffering to believers.
If the followers of the Church of Light had not personally insulted the God of Light they believed in, if the followers of the Church of Light had not personally felt their faith collapse... What was the point of Yang Hao's revenge
He felt that he was a little mentally abnormal.
But when he thought about Theresa who always supported him at home, he felt a warmth rising in his heart.
Therefore, while the elves and demons were dealing with the corpses and torturing the captives, Yang Hao found the accompanying elven wizard and asked him kindly: Is there a spell that can broadcast everything that happens here live to the bishops of the diocese and to the believers of the diocese for them to enjoy
What he meant was that he needed something other than the childishness he had used when he had admired the Ishgard advance team from a distance, or the childishness he had used at the elf meeting.
What he wanted was a treasure that could spread throughout almost the entire parish... a treasure that could clearly display the sound and picture for every believer to appreciate.
In response to Yang Hao's kind question, the Elf Mage simply opened his mouth and gestured on the ground:
"Yes. But this would require the Hippogriff Knight to fly over the parish for a round and throw magic nodes along the way - and in this case, the duration would not exceed an hour at most..."
"One hour? That's enough. After an hour of burning in the fire, the captives will naturally curse the God of Light they once believed in before they die. And those former believers who saw that they insulted the God of Light were not punished by heaven will naturally begin to doubt their own faith. I have one more request."
"Your Majesty, please speak."
"Let those captives remain conscious for longer when they are burned at the stake. The longer the better. The longer the better."
In an instant, beads of cold sweat broke out on the elven wizard's forehead.
But seeing His Majesty the Regent as happy as a child looking forward to his birthday present, the wizard considered his own position as an elf and chose blind obedience and loyalty.
He began to prepare his spell. At this moment, an elf came over and said, "There is a Roman who claims to be the village chief of Scuol Village. He keeps saying your name and says he has some important intelligence to report. What should we do?"
"Village chief?" Yang Hao was quite surprised, and then sneered a few times: "I thought he would use the money I sent him to go to the military district, the capital, and visit the nobles' homes - but he turned up in the parish? This is not a good thing. But forget it, let me listen to what he is going to say."
In Yang Hao's impression, the chief of Shikuer Village is a stingy person.
If someone in the village has made contributions, it is because he has taught well. If someone in the village causes trouble, he will be held responsible for it himself.
But if the one who caused the trouble was his own son, the village chief would protect him to the death, and would even force some lonely villagers without small groups to take the blame for his son.
But for the time being, considering that Shikuer Village was in a sense his own home, Yang Hao still gave the village chief a considerable amount of funds after he became rich—and then? And then there was nothing else.
Now the village chief still remembered his name before his death, which shocked Yang Hao.
When he walked up to the captives and saw with his own eyes the village chief tied to the ground wearing cheap leather armor, his eyes were even more shocked.
He stared at the village on the ground, which was showing flattering smiles, for a long time. Finally, he sighed:
"Even if Priscilla comes here, she will say that you are now a gambler."
"I, I—this, I—"
The village chief hesitated, and it was unclear what he was going to debate. Yang Hao didn't want to listen to his nonsense, but just let the demon holding an axe next to him hit his old waist hard with the axe handle, and then he said:
"I don't have time, so you can just say what you want to say quickly. Then maybe I'll let you go for the sake of our past friendship."
"I, I said—Ouch! I said—"
The village chief stammered and said that this was the news he heard by chance from a big shot who went to the Demon Clan to prostitute with a Demon Clan woman after he made a lot of money in the Demon City "Fighting Demon Clan".
It is reported that Bishop Stephen, the chief commander of the Northern Expeditionary Force, decided to set fire to the Monster Forest in order to facilitate the next war and escape the dilemma of jungle warfare.
But at that time, the village chief never thought that there would come a day when he would owe money and work for the Redemption Army!
So he almost forgot about the news at that time. But now, because he was about to ascend to heaven, the village chief racked his brains to remember this important event...
"Please, please! Little Yang Hao! For the sake of me being your village chief, for the sake of me, for the sake of my good education of you and for telling you such important information, please spare my life!"
The village chief burst into tears, but Yang Hao showed no reaction and asked an irrelevant question: Where were the other villagers in Shikuer Village
When the villagers were asked, the village chief's face turned green. But under the threat of the magic cast by the elven wizard, he still confessed honestly: he sold the villagers to the ranchers in the west because he heard that there was a shortage of serfs to take care of the livestock.
Yang Hao was silent for a while, then asked: What about the money I gave you
The village chief looked gloomy: I was betrayed by my son. I heard that he went to the parish to live a life of debauchery, so I sold out the villagers and came to the parish... blah blah.
Yang Hao was speechless.
Looking at the village chief who was crying and complaining about how difficult his life had been recently, he signaled the demons to untie him.
Then, before the village chief could be happy, he said, "I will let you go in my own name. You demons, handle it yourselves."
The village chief looked terribly depressed. He was controlled by the demons and tied to a cross. He cried in anxiety:
"You said you would let me go?!"
"I let you go, but the relatives of the demon woman you violated have no intention of letting you go. And fighting the demons? I remember that."
The village chief was tied to a makeshift cross along with other wailing captives. Some people were glued directly to the surface of the stone golem because they did not have time to use ready-made crosses.
The Stonegolem led the captives into the center of the corpse pit that had been dug using magic.
When the corpses began to burn, Gorem himself would roast the captives tied to him like an oven until they were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside - but Yang Hao did not rush the anxious demons to set the fire immediately.
He just waited patiently, very patiently, and waited. He looked eagerly at the pit filled with corpses, the cross standing in the pit, and the golem who used himself as an oven.
He turned around with concern and told the curious people of the Ling tribe who followed him to go back with their eyes closed.
He said that what would happen next would give everyone nightmares, and that the Ling people were kind-hearted by nature, so there was no need for them to see these things.
He waited until the morning sun was overhead, until the wizard stepped forward and had several Hippogriff Knights land on them and cast magic, then he spoke:
"How are the preparations going?"
The wizard nodded tiredly and said: It's done.
By then, everything that happens here will be sent to various places in the diocese by the Hippocampus Knights, and will float above the major towns and cities in the diocese, allowing everyone to witness everything that is about to happen here without blind spots, allowing them to watch with their own eyes the believers being burned to death, and the desperate scene of the believers cursing the God of Light but being unable to receive divine punishment or grace.
This will deal a heavy blow to the morale and cohesion of the diocese. The reason why the diocese is now the best-performing force in the Roman Empire is entirely because their believers have fanatical beliefs, their gods have seemingly great grace, their priests have powerful power, and they have hardly experienced even a large-scale failure.
Now, there has been a large-scale failure, and faith will gradually collapse starting with the captives. They will witness with their own eyes their fellow believers being burned and cremated and unable to go to heaven. They will see with their own eyes that only the lower half of the pastor's body is left, and they will realize even more.