If the rumor of "Corpse Resurrection Magic" reaches the Saint's ears, it will not be a matter that can be solved by losing one's head. Peter, the leader, was sweating profusely. He simply gritted his teeth and shouted to his servants:
"Immediately announce that St. Petersburg will close its gates in the coming days! Execute anyone who spreads rumors! Also, have the Griffin Knights patrol over the Ascetic Sister's cemetery church day and night, and have the Knights of the Church occupy all key intersections leading to the Ascetic Sister's church. I will not allow anyone to send rumors to the Ascetic Sister!"
"Also! We must guard the ancient elevator of St. Peter's Basilica and have someone deliver meals to the Saint in person. The person delivering meals must be a eunuch with his tongue cut off, and he must not reveal any information to the Saint! Absolutely not!"
Patriarch Peter was out of breath and felt that something was missing, so he added:
"Also, quickly use money and women to recruit the fleeing defeated troops! We need them - although we can recruit another 200,000 people now, we have lost Bishop Stephen and we don't even have a general who knows how to give orders! Without a general, 200,000 militiamen are just 200,000 pigs! They can't withstand their invasion at all!"
"But Master! How should we deal with the "Corpse Resurrection Technique"? "
A bishop's question made Patriarch Peter silent for a while.
Then, the fat man wiped the sweat off his head and said that he had his own arrangements -
They can also speed up the secularization and honorification of the "corpse rebirth magic". They can issue honorary certificates that cost only a few dollars to every believer's family with a deceased person, so that they can support the "corpse rebirth magic" and give them false lies.
"As long as the living can meet their long-dead relatives, then the biggest scandal of the "Corpse Resurrection Magic", that is, the problem of desecrating corpses, will not be a big deal! Just give us some time..."
Before Patriarch Peter finished his arrangements, a deacon rushed in from outside, screaming, as if he had seen him before.
Everyone looked at each other, and the butler screamed in a hoarse voice like an old hen with its neck strangled:
"Elves! The armies of elves and demons are coming!"
What?! They're calling now?!
The lord Peter made a meaningless snoring sound from his throat, and then the agile fat man fell directly from the throne, running quickly on the ground like a ball, and while heading to his residence on the top of the tower as quickly as possible, he did not forget to give orders:
"Close the city gate!!"
The bishops looked at each other with pale faces, and finally, tremblingly, they began to work under the arrangement of Patriarch Peter.
Ten minutes later, all the gates of St. Petersburg were closed. The believers and gamblers who were going to the Magic City to watch the competition complained about the actions of the priests, while the soldiers on the city wall were nervously watching the flags in the distance ringing the alarm bells representing attacks.
Following the alarm bell, St. Petersburg was silent for several minutes - after all, for the residents of St. Petersburg, the holy city had not been attacked for a long, long time.
The alarm was like an auditory hallucination. At first, everyone thought it was a guard who accidentally rang the wrong bell.
They were still arguing and walking around the luxurious church district, muttering about going to the Magic City to have a good time "gambling" tonight.
But soon—the alarm bells became louder and louder, and there were even scenes of large numbers of soldiers rushing to the front lines on the roads.
At this point, those believers, priests and nuns who had always lived in seclusion from the world realized that St. Petersburg seemed to have really been attacked.
The passers-by looked at each other in bewilderment, while the nuns and priests quickly returned to their respective churches, locked the doors and windows, and left the believers outside.
They knew that as long as they stayed in the church, even if St. Petersburg was captured, the secret space under the church would be enough to protect them through the siege that could last for months or even years.
But this is not a good thing for believers who are already struggling financially.
These believers immediately fell into chaos. Without waiting for the respected leaders to come and take charge of the situation, some gamblers whose families had already been ruined by gambling simply took advantage of the chaos to rob and steal.
Although the city police of St. Petersburg have been trying their best to arrest those low-class people who thrive in the chaos, even priests and nuns in St. Petersburg have been corrupted by money and turned into clients and prostitutes, let alone those guards who have made a lot of money from collecting city fees and are fat and strong!
They couldn't even catch up with the gamblers who were risking their lives for a while! Panting, the guards could only pray that the soldiers could repel the enemy so that St. Petersburg could return to stability.
But this is not good news for the guards on the city wall...
Although the armies of elves and demons do not seem to be large in number.
But on the cart they brought with the army were several crosses arranged high up.
On the cross, there were more than a dozen captives of the Northern Expeditionary Force tied. On other crosses, there were also many nameplates of the Knights of the Defenders of the Church, as well as the rings and scepters of priests, which were treated as trophies.
Every nameplate, every ring, and every scepter means the death of a priest or a cathar.
Each priest and crusader was extremely valuable to the parish. They were displayed as trophies, which naturally put great psychological pressure on the soldiers of the parish.
But the best news for the soldiers is that the enemy’s army is obviously not strong enough to besiege St. Petersburg. At least they can only besiege it without attacking. So they don’t have to worry about the safety of the city for a while... Wait
What are you planning to do by pushing up those carts carrying the prisoners
The defenders of St. Petersburg looked at each other in bewilderment. On the ground, Yang Hao, who had already destroyed more than seven villages and two towns in the diocese, waved his hand and signaled everyone to park the cars there. He was ready to replicate the "Corpse Rebirth Art" on the spot.
Yang Hao's idea was very simple. When performing the "Corpse Resurrection Magic", he used the elves' good virtue of "not lying" which had been recognized for thousands of years to publicly declare to St. Petersburg the ugly vices that Bishop Stephen had committed against his believers during the previous attack on the Monster Forest.
Although there will certainly be many believers who refuse to believe this fact - but to put it bluntly, Yang Hao is just expressing his attitude, just to let the parish show an attitude to the believers.
If the diocese really did not do such a thing, why were they unwilling to swear in the name of God and let the saint come out from underground to testify
If the diocese really did such a thing, then why should we still believe in the Church of Light, to the point that in the end our corpses will be stripped naked and used by you
At that time, the diocese would be caught in a dilemma. If it admitted it, its dignity would be destroyed.
If they deny it, the Saint will have to come forward. But Cecilia's character forces the Saint to get to the bottom of the matter. By then, she will definitely notice the clues within the Church of Light. Once she notices them, a civil war in the diocese will inevitably unfold.
Of course, the saint may continue to live in peace with the world, but she cannot live in peace with the world forever.
The parish might be able to delay it for one day, two days, ten days, or twenty days - but it definitely could not delay it for two months, three months, six months, or even a whole year.
At that time, the parish will be like a farmer who is trying in vain to prevent the dam from bursting with sandbags during heavy rain. It would be best to open the gates and release the water in time, but for various reasons he has to continue piling up sandbags.
If you keep blocking it, it will naturally leak, and Yang Hao naturally has no interest in keeping an eye on a dam that is destined to collapse.
He was more concerned about St. Petersburg's satellite city, known as the "Magic City".
As a newly built city, the "Magic City" does not even have stone walls, and the only protective facilities outside the city are thin wooden walls. But even so, the city has shown abnormal size and vitality.
He could smell the foul odor coming from the city from a long distance away. He could see many churches with gold-inlaid towers in the satellite city. He could even vaguely see bags of fresh meat thrown on the mud outside the tightly closed wooden city gate, with no one paying attention to them.
If the meat was normal, Yang Hao could only say that the Roman Empire was in a tight spot at the front and back.
But the meat was destined to be abnormal, so Yang Hao felt that the city needed a round of purification.
He silently drew out his command knife.
The elven mages need to store up magic power for subsequent teleportation so they will not participate in the siege. Some elven archers need to be alert to the threats from St. Petersburg and prevent the enemy from charging from behind. At the same time, they have to make the captives on the stake howl even more miserably and use magic to spread their own voices and the screams of the captives throughout St. Petersburg.
What we use for siege are howitzer golems and other conventional golems which are more useful than counterweight catapults.
Moreover, the walls of the Demon City were made of wood that could be knocked down with a single push, so there was no need to worry about insufficient firepower.
Yang Hao raised his command knife high, and just as he was about to swing the knife to order the coalition forces to launch an attack, the nun who had been following him smiled and said that she should make preparations.
"Let the Church of Light see with their own eyes who the true "light" is standing by. "
She smiled and held Yang Hao's arm. The cross deeply embedded in her chest was flashing a faint white light.
…
In the afternoon, the screams of the captives who were burned but could not die were magnified by the magic of the elves, and the words of the elves describing the "Corpse Resurrection Art".
The magic city that brought countless wealth to St. Petersburg was breached.
The soldiers defending St. Petersburg watched with their own eyes as the coalition of elves and demons, a force of light purer than that of the God of Light, assisted their enemies in slaughtering their fellow believers.
The shining white light was warmer than the golden light of the God of Light, but it actually boosted the morale of the elves and demons, provided treatment for the wounded demons, and even deployed a barrier to prevent the defenders of the demon city from raining arrows on them.
As expected, under the heavy blow of Golem, the wooden wall, which was not even as strong as the stone wall of the church, was pushed to the ground.
After more than a dozen gaps of varying sizes appeared in the city wall, the elves and demon warriors filed in. Soon, countless screams were heard from the demon city.
This is inevitable - even if the elves can restrain themselves, the demons will not restrain themselves.
Asking the demons to restrain themselves is like asking a father whose entire family was killed by a murderer not to strangle the murderer.
Countless demons rushed into the city with bloodshot eyes, killing anyone they saw. Along the way, they found their own people imprisoned in the demon city, found the dying females of their own people who were imprisoned and tortured in the underground court, and even found the bodies of their own people who were sent to the slaughterhouse for "making the best use of them".
Rage and pain filled the hearts of the demons. Yang Hao allowed them to slaughter in the demon city to vent their suppressed emotions, but before the demons cleaned up the city, he and part of the elves' team and the nuns waited outside for everything to end.
Yang Hao didn't want Naluga and Theresa to be frightened by the scene inside. But Naluga had experienced the Kagad Massacre, and Theresa was ready to fall into hell with Yang Hao - they would not be frightened by the scene inside. Instead, the elf Finn seemed a little uncomfortable.
"I feel like we've wasted a lot of time. We need to have the mages plan the formation as soon as possible, and then teleport everyone to the outskirts of the Monster Forest after everything is over so we can get home quickly."
What Finn was not used to was that the demons' revenge was not efficient at all. They still had to gather the treasures of the demon city and settle the wounded demons - all of these things took time.
What worries the elves even more is that the border garrison of the Roman Empire may come to support the diocese at any time.
Once this small army was caught by the military zone's border garrison, Fen would have to consider teleporting away in advance.
In response, Yang Hao just smiled mysteriously: "Fen, you actually expect people from the military district to come and help the parish?"
"Isn't this the way it should be?"
Fen was very confused, while Yang Hao and Theresa just laughed as if they were listening to a joke.
Afterwards, after briefly explaining to Finn the current situation of the Roman Empire, they concluded from Finn's puzzled expression that the military district would never come to support the diocese under any circumstances.
But in the end they still chose to respect Finn's opinion, and sent follow-up troops into the city to plunder the wealth of the Demon City, resettle the wounded demons, and prepare for subsequent teleportation.
On the other hand, the Roman Empire border troops who were watching the fire from the other side of the river did not have any intention of assisting the diocese.
"That group of fanatical believers, that group of charlatans who only want to gain wealth but are unwilling to support us! Let them die under the attack of the elves, the more miserable their death, the better!"
The soldiers stationed at the border shouted and cursed indignantly, obviously hating the parish's previous actions.
The military region has been at odds with the diocese since the founding of the country. The diocese strictly adhered to its own borders and refused the military region's request for garrisoning troops, and even drove the military region's garrison back and even made a big fuss about it -
This is like the military district going to someone's house with good intentions to give a gift, but not only did they get shit thrown in their face, but they also had a short video taken and posted in the community's social group.
Since then, the military district and the diocese have been at loggerheads. Even if General Dreshuka of the military district is willing to make some concessions to the diocese's Patriarch Peter, the hatred of the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers for the diocese is still greater than the national unity and brotherhood of all the people.
It can be said that if the diocese is invaded to death, the military district will never send a single soldier to reinforce it. The same is true in reverse.
This is the current situation of the two major military groups in the Roman Empire. Precisely because of the hostility between them, the elf-demon coalition that might have been trapped in the magic city also made sufficient preparations for three hours.
In full view of everyone, he used the improved teleportation magic to take all the warriors and wealth away, and left the magic city in a high-handed and arrogant manner.
All that was left for the diocese were the remains of what was once the Demon Castle, the several completely destroyed villages and towns on the diocese's borders, the humiliation that was about to cause civil unrest in the diocese, and the words of the elf "city", and that was all.
Chapter 13: Reactions from all parties and the elves' increased efforts
…
November…
After the diocese of St. Petersburg cleared out all believers who spread rumors and questioned the God of Light, and used a large amount of money and honor to temporarily appease the people, they finally opened the city gates and finally had time to clean up the corpses in the magic city.
The process of counting the losses made the diocese tremble with fear, and the Roman Empire border garrison, which arrived late and watched the fire from the sidelines, aroused the anger of the diocese.
Both sides blamed each other. The parish believed that it was the inaction of the military district that led to such heavy losses, while the military district simply tore its face off and said that if you hadn't attacked the Elf Kingdom, this would never have happened!
When they were fighting and even almost caused a military conflict between the diocese and the military district, the bill representing the diocese's statistics was also sent to the Bishops' Council.
At this moment, Patriarch Peter was like an obese and demented old man. He looked at the black words on the white paper in front of him, and the Gothic font on it, and his hands were shaking violently.
The coalition of elves and demons caught them off guard. When Bishop Stephen's army was in retreat and the diocese was in chaos because of the impact of the new fleeing army, the demons simply used their mobility to destroy several villages and towns that were more important to St. Petersburg.
The villages are responsible for providing food. Although the land in the north is not as fertile as that in the central area, at least as long as it rains in the northern parish, these villages can still provide considerable food output for the parish.
The two towns are even more important. One is a "craftsman town" that focuses on metallurgy and forging, and the other town is not as important as the former, but it has a large population of fanatics...
Now? It's all over!
"Those beasts who would rather destroy anything on the spot than take it away! Those demons!"
Patriarch Peter's fat face was shaking constantly, and without him saying a word, sweat and fat would flow out of his cheeks.
The parish can lose a large number of ordinary believers and a few villages that provide food, but what it cannot lose the most is the town of metallurgy and foundry!
Without the metallurgical plant and foundry, the parish found it difficult to maintain even weapons and armor in large quantities for a long time.
After losing the Artisan Town, the parish will have to spend decades to train its own craftsmen again!
The heart of the Patriarch Peter was bleeding! He was not so distressed even if the magic city, the treasure chest, was destroyed. After all, the wealth in the magic city was taken away, and the parish would be able to earn it back sooner or later - but those craftsmen?! Those vital treasures were gone, what should we do!
In the Roman Empire, a normal blacksmith needs to be trained for more than ten years! Every blacksmith is an important asset in the noble territory. Even if he can only make farm tools, blacksmiths are so precious!
In addition to blacksmiths, carpenters and stonemasons are also rare treasures! These craftsmen need a lot of resources to train, and their feedback to the parish is more practical than that of hundreds of fanatics!
Not to mention armorers, leather workers, bow makers, and even experienced miners who can survey for mineral veins...
These people are the parish’s greatest asset!
After all, the Roman Empire does not have the foundation of the Elven Kingdom. Those creatures who are so long-lived that they are bored and want to die have plenty of time to spend hundreds of years studying ironmaking, but humans cannot do that...
Humans can only specialize in the same industry for decades, not to mention that a blacksmith's children may not necessarily become blacksmiths. Even if they do, it is difficult for those new blacksmiths to be put to use immediately.
With so many craftsmen dead or missing, it is a big question whether the armor of the Griffin Knights and the Crusader Knights can be effectively maintained in the next few years!
For a moment, Patriarch Peter felt dizzy and almost fainted on the brand new round marble table.
At this time, the bishops, who also looked grim, finally sent the leader a piece of good news...
"Master Peter, at least with our efforts, the believers have not believed the elves' words... We used the rhetoric of "elves will not lie but will conceal" to convince many believers, and also spent countless funds...