Sword of Dawn

Page 206

"All priests who are awakened and stand in line correctly will receive Cecil's friendship. As long as you are willing to abide by our laws and accept new teachings, then you can still operate in this land. You are still the messengers of the Holy Light, and even This Luan City... can continue to be a 'holy city'."

If what Amber said before only caused a huge psychological shock to Seven Terry, then this answer now completely calmed the priest's heart.

The situation is irreversible.

The city of Luan is slipping into the abyss, everyone in the church district knows this, the influence of the Church of the Holy Light here has been torn apart, and no matter what the priests of the cathedral do next will only accelerate this collapse—no matter what Whether to sit and wait for death, or make pale excuses, or block leaflets, or even carry out more extreme bloody suppression of civilians... There is no hope at the end.

All along, the power to speak has been in the hands of the church, and now that the Cecilians have more power in this regard, it is naturally impossible for the church that relies on "faith" to survive.

In fact, there is no choice. As early as four days ago, when Seven Terry returned to the church area under the "escort" of monks and knights of the Holy See, he found a piece of paper signed "Daughter of the Shadow Goddess" in his pocket. ’, he knew it.

In order to save the lives of the only like-minded compatriots in the church, he must agree to Cecil's request.

Before that, he just wanted to see the face of the person who was about to rule everything.

Now he seemed to see it clearly—it was indeed not a glorious and great ruler, but a more suitable one.

"how should I do?"

Amber smiled: "We want to take down the cathedral—take it down with the civilians of Luan City, and you will become the symbol and representative of the awakened people in the Holy Light Church."

Chapter 0491 In the Dark

Seven Terry knew that he had no turning back.

And he really couldn't find a better way than now.

He has seen every leaflet that the Cecilians sent into the city, and he has heard the news circulating in the outer city. He knows that the Cecilians are preaching a kind of holy light that is almost deviant and blurs the boundary between man and god. Faith, frankly speaking, he also has a lot of resistance to these things. He has been a devout believer in the God of Holy Light for half his life, and he cannot accept the Cecilian's statement that "the holy light comes from the heart".

But he couldn't accept that the Church of the Holy Light now uses faith as a means of making money and the Holy Light as a means of violence.

He accepts Amber's invitation and then learns more about what he needs to do.

"We can find a way to interfere with the guards in the chapel area and close the defense of the magic circle at the same time, but the way to the cathedral is not under our control," the middle-aged low-level priest said about the situation inside the church area , "The Discipline Brothers and the Knights of the Holy See guard all the gates, and they only obey the orders of the Cathedral."

"How are the discipline monks and Holy See knights fighting? Do you think they will fight to the death to protect the cathedral?"

"... Discipline monks are professions that are better at faith trials and commandment spells. They are not strong in frontal combat. As for the Holy See knights... they were originally the strongest defense force of the Luan Cathedral, but the last time Bishop Lemont took away all of them. Many of the high-level knights and the rest of the middle-level and low-level knights died while assisting the noble army in battle, and now the remaining combat power is probably less than [-]%," Seven Terry said in detail, "It's just that ...they are still deadly to ordinary people."

"Don't worry about this. There will be other forces coming in to help. You just need to tell me the route map and defense situation of the church area."

"it is good."

After handing over the most crucial information, Seven Terry felt suddenly relieved, and let out a sigh of relief as if he had completed a major mission, while Amber looked at the eyebrows of the middle-aged priest. After many days of exhaustion, he suddenly asked a seemingly casual question: "If I'm not mistaken, the power of holy light of many priests in the church area should have declined to varying degrees..."

Seven Terry suddenly showed surprise: "How do you know?!"

"At the scene of the heresy trial, the effect of the magic spell cannot deceive people," Amber shook her head slightly, "Although I guess that the magic spell used to identify the heresy has a big problem, maybe it can make most ordinary people reveal A sign of wavering faith, but for you clerics who should be very pious in theory... its effect should not be so obvious. I carefully observed the expressions of each of you at the time, and your wavering, surprise, and panic are all The real thing."

Seven Terry fell silent, and the two low-ranking priests beside him also lowered their heads with complicated expressions. After a few seconds of silence, one of the low-ranking priests finally spoke: "...your observation ability Very strong."

"At least one-third of the clergy have experienced different degrees of power decline," Seven Terry continued, "the most serious ones even experienced level regression. In fact, to be honest, the clergy have declined in strength due to their own temporary confusion. The situation is not uncommon, but this scale of faith shake is probably the first time since the establishment of the Luan Cathedral..."

Amber then asked: "When did the loss of strength first appear in more people?"

"Since the order to collect ransom money and suppress the belief of alien gods came from the Plain of the Holy Spirit, my power of holy light has stagnated. There are many people in the church area who are in a similar situation to me. We cannot accept this kind of conflict with the Holy Spirit. Something that runs counter to light teaching.”

Amber blinked, and whispered thoughtfully: "It seems that it is so..."

As Gawain had speculated, what happened to Wright was not a special case.

Although the recent radical behavior of the Church of the Holy Light has amassed a large amount of wealth on the one hand and rapidly increased the strength of the church, on the other hand, it has also caused the low-level priests who have conscience in the church to have too strong doubts. The separation between the teachings of the original scriptures and the actual behavior of the church has created more and more low-level priests like Wright who have shaken their beliefs, and as time goes by, this situation will only become more and more serious...

Is the Church of the Holy Light really unaware of these collapses at the bottom?Or... Even if they are aware of it, they still have a reason to do so, even at the risk of splitting the church and causing some clergy to abandon their faith, they must use this method of drinking poison to quench their thirst to make the church develop rapidly in a short period of time?

Amber thought about it hard, and found that she really couldn't figure it out, so she simply shook her head and temporarily put the problem behind her—anyway, she just came in to collect information and sabotage. The old zongzi in the back is good at things, and when the time comes, tell the other party about the situation and let him worry about it.

Seven Terry didn't hear Amber's self-talk clearly, and asked curiously, "What did you just say?"

"It's nothing." Amber waved her hand. "Let's settle this matter like this. We'll wait until the dust settles."

Seven Terry nodded slightly, but before he got up to leave, he suddenly seemed to think of another thing: "There is something I think I should remind you of—although I don't know what kind of extraordinary power you have prepared, but you must Beware of François Bereng, I don't think his condition is normal."

"Fran Bereng?" Amber raised her eyebrows. "According to information, he should only be a priest at the peak of the middle rank. If all the high-ranking powerhouses in the Southern Church hadn't been wiped out, it wouldn't be his turn to be the bishop."

"He is indeed at the middle level, but he has now mastered the core magic circle of the cathedral, and his strength may not be so easy to judge," Seven Terry said with a serious face, "And since the heresy trial four days ago Afterwards, he locked himself in the cathedral without showing his face even once, and even the leader of the Order of Discipline Brothers did not get an audience, which is very abnormal. I prayed to the Lord, and the message returned by the Holy Light was full of disturbing I can feel a powerful force gathering in the cathedral, much like the Holy Light, but there are other things mixed in it... All in all, we must be careful."

"...Oh my god, I'm afraid it's not a routine for coming to break through..."

Seven Terry didn't hear clearly: "What?"

"Don't worry," Amber quickly waved her hand, "I will report the situation to my superiors, please rest assured, this operation is very stable."

No matter what that Frank Berenger is doing in the cathedral, Cecil has enough power to suppress it, and at worst, let the team make a fuss in the outer city, and then Byron and Philip will directly shoot at the inner city Ping Sihai, in front of enough works of art, it is useless to be the protagonist who really breaks through the battle - the "array" is blown up for you...

Amber didn't realize at all that her way of thinking had been seriously influenced by Gao Wen before she knew it...

"Then I'm going back." After talking about the matter, Seven Terry stood up and performed a clergyman's courtesy to Amber. "You may be found if you leave the church area for a long time."

Amber nodded, but just as the three priests were about to walk to the door, she suddenly called out to each other from behind: "About your declining Holy Light power... Cecil has a solution."

In order to ensure that the "internal agents" in the church area can be more reliable, she decided to reveal some "bait" in advance.

Sure enough, Seven Terry stopped immediately, with an expression of disbelief on his face: "Are you serious?"

The power decline caused by wavering faith has always been an unsolvable phenomenon for priests. Basically, it can only be cured by the passage of time or self-breakthrough, and most people will not be cured for a lifetime, and can only be maintained at most The power of divine magic is stagnant, but those Cecils... have a solution?

"It's not very clear in those leaflets, but Wright has indeed found a new way of the Holy Light, and this way... everyone has the opportunity to try."

Seven Terry's eyes became agitated, and there was nothing more tempting for a devout believer in the Holy Light than the opportunity to get closer to the Holy Light again: "Do you need any conditions?"

Amber thought for a while, and looked at the slightly thin bodies of the three priests in front of her with uncertainty: "Can you carry a forty-pound warhammer?"

The three priests looked at each other inexplicably: "...Huh?"

"All in all, let's exercise your body first," Amber touched her smooth chin, and said thoughtfully, "Then exercise your ability to resist blows, run eight kilometers with a load every day, and then move bricks or something. After a month or so, you should be fine." I can become a qualified field priest..."

After the three bewildered priests left, the temporary stronghold became quiet for a while.

An officer of the Military Intelligence Bureau had an expression of admiration—of course, he did not admire Amber for tricking the three priests into exercising at the end, but admired what his boss said to Seven Terry before: "Boss, you The ability to bluff people has not regressed."

Amber waved her hand nonchalantly: "When have I ever regressed? It's just useless in Cecil City."

As a nicknamed "Queen of Taverns", once well-known in the circle of illegal mercenaries and adventurers in the southern border, and a "big sister" who led a large group of rogues to bully the market, how could Amber not have a good eloquence?How could it be possible not to have a set of skills that can bring the dead back to life?

Living in the wildest and backward border of the Ansu Kingdom, dealing with all kinds of people all day long, this half-elf thief is very familiar with observing words and emotions and controlling people's hearts. Find out the situation of the people at the bottom of Lu'an City, and create such a large-scale sabotage.

It's not usually used, but it's just not needed.

"But having said that, Boss, what you said just now really has a lot of shadows of the Duke—"

"Nonsense, I usually take the time to sleep when I have nothing to do, how can I have the time to think about such boring things?" Amber rolled her eyes, "A lot of them are what Gawain... the Duke usually said, I think It’s just a copy of the situation. But you can’t imitate me. When you say something, you have to be specific, like the priest today. I came here to seek a real and meaningful way out, so what I said to him will work, but if it is another person, the same words may cause bad things..."

"We understand, we understand," the subordinates nodded repeatedly, and then one of them asked, "Then next... should we contact the rear?"

Amber hummed, and looked at the tall and thin man standing in the corner of the room: "Skinny man, turn on the magic network communicator, internal channel 8. Gray wolf, you go outside the door to guard."

The miniaturized and specially made magic net communicator was placed on the table, and with a slight buzzing sound, this complex and sophisticated magical mechanism was activated. After waiting patiently for a while, Amber saw the crystal bloom on the top of the communicator. With a soft light, a holographic projection quickly formed above the crystal.

That was Gawain's face.

"The oil in the pot has boiled." Amber gritted her teeth as she looked at the holographic projection, "It's time to flip the table."

Gawain in the holographic projection nodded: "Is everything going well?"

"Development according to plan, but some situations need to be reported..."

Gao Wen listened quietly to what Amber reported, keeping everything in mind. After the report was over, he breathed a little, looked at the communicator in front of him: "I see, we will make arrangements in advance. You Stay safe there."

Amber in the projection waved her hands impatiently: "Don't worry, don't worry, I won't run away if the situation really happens, I'm such a cowardly person..."

……

Gawain helplessly looked at this fake who seemed confident and confident, shook his head slightly and turned off the communication.

Then he raised his head and looked at another magic network communication device in the study.

Above that device, an outdoor scene is emerging——

Countless people gathered in an open field. The torches in people's hands and magic spar lights in the distance illuminated the meeting place under the night. People's angry slogans and countless noisy voices came from the screen. The team members maintained order at the scene, while a few white knights wearing thick white armor, surrounded by brilliant holy light, and with thick iron-cased scriptures hanging from their waists with iron chains, stood in the center of the crowd, standing tall. The voices speak to everyone—they are the most prominent in the picture.

The voice of the witch Jibri came from outside the screen: "...this is Tanzania New City, and the excavation work is still going on. Three to ten minutes ago, the engineers found a new cellar...

"...If Viscount Andrew didn't build a new city here, I'm afraid these things will continue to be dusty...

"...According to the testimonies of witnesses, these cellars are one of the secret vaults set up by the Church of the Holy Light in the southern border. We have found a large number of gold and silver artifacts in the cellars, all of which are the property of the believers. Some of them are donated by the believers voluntarily, and another large Part of it was collected by the church through ransom money, heresy trial, confiscation of civilian property, embezzlement of other church properties, etc. According to the books and records we searched from nearby churches, the local church originally promised that these properties would be used to repair statues, The church distributes disaster relief supplies and raises orphans, but in fact more than [-]% of them have become the private property of the church...

"Mr. Wright, the leader of the White Knights, said that he had never seen such a brazen thing..."

After a while, Jibri's voice suddenly sounded again: "Urgent news, Mr. Daedalus, the mayor of Hosman City, has just announced an amazing news. A large number of bones were found in the old nursing facility...It is suspected that orphans in the Hosman area have disappeared over the past few years..."

The crowd on the projection screen was in turmoil, and the excited citizens gathered around the white knights, while the white knights held up the heavy power hammers in their hands, shouting slogans to expel the old church.

Gao Wen stood up, stepped forward to turn off the projection equipment, and behind him, Pittman's voice came slowly: "It's really scary."

Gao Wen turned his head and looked at the little old man who had always been wandering around the territory with a cynical and shameless face, with a hint of ridicule on his face: "Do you also think there is something scary?"

Pittman twirled his beard and said lightly, "Of course, I'm afraid of so many things. Otherwise, who do you think cultivated Amber's adaptable personality?"

Gao Wen glanced at Pittman: "Then what are you afraid of now?"

"Man, a raging crowd is a horrible thing," Pittman shrugged, "but I think you're even scarier than that—because you're guiding it all. You're using a Power and the power of guns, the effect of this thing...is much more terrifying than what you described at the beginning."

"There is no difference between good and bad power, the key depends on where it is used. To deal with those who use holy light to do evil, sometimes you have to use some very tricks," Gao Wen said calmly, and then his face was slightly gloomy. Knowing that children's bones were found in those facilities... I knew that no matter how I dealt with those magic sticks, it would not be too much."

Pittman sighed: "Adopting orphans is a common method used by various churches to cultivate diehard combat power. It can not only increase strength, but also improve reputation, but not all children are compatible with divine arts. Without a little bit of spiritual talent, even using potions and rituals to catalyze it is useless, and it will consume resources if these are not useful, and I have seen some "bad seeds" of dark insiders... No church has clean hands .”

"The churches 700 years ago were not like this at all," Gawain shook his head. "Those priests and knights who charged against the mutants back then probably never imagined that their successors would degenerate like this."

Pittman smiled: "Did you ever think that when you woke up, you would see that the mutant had already hit the door of the tomb, and that future generations would lose your shield?"

Gao Wen immediately glared at the little old man: "...I'm anxious for you to mention this."

Then he coughed twice and brought the topic back on track: "Compared to this, what do you think of the abnormality of Fran Bereng mentioned in the Amber report? The bishop locked himself in the cathedral, Are you drawing strength through some means to strengthen yourself?"

"...I don't think he can get stronger by drawing power or something like that, it's what wizards and warlocks do, but there's definitely something wrong with the situation. It's impossible for a normal bishop to lock himself up in that situation The church doesn’t do anything, he can either continue to save the situation, or run away, or come out to brutally suppress, in short, he should do something.”

Gao Wen shook his head slightly: "In my original plan, Fran Bereng should take some desperate action at this stage, but I didn't expect him to lock himself in the church and do nothing, to be honest . . . it messed up my schedule a little bit."

Pittman thought about it, and after a while, the little old man who knew a lot about theology said, "Perhaps...he is trying to communicate with the gods, praying for unimaginable power to help him overcome the desperate situation in front of him."

"Could it be a divine drop?" Gao Wen frowned suddenly, "Can he perform a divine drop?"

"...It's because it's impossible, that's why I don't understand. God's surrender requires a high price, and there are strict thresholds—only the legendary strong can support the god's surrender without dying, and the high-level powerhouse is paying the price of life and After meeting certain conditions, you can perform a short-term divine surrender, and a priest lower than this level...doesn’t even have the ability to communicate the divine will, and his words can’t reach his god’s ears, who is he looking for?”

Gao Wen pondered for a full 2 ​​minutes before he broke the silence: "All in all, it seems that more 'insurance' must be arranged in the next step. This step has been carried out, and there must be no mistakes."

Not everyone can understand Gao Wen's persistence and caution in this matter, only he himself knows about this matter——

In this world where extraordinary power exists and society is stagnant, this will be the first resistance of ordinary people to the extraordinary.

There may have been farmers who could not be bullied and raised their pitchforks to the knight master, and innocent people who had been convicted of heresy cursed loudly at the priest who judged themselves, but those occasional, weak, and ineffective resistance It's all different this time.

This time, it was the first time that ordinary people who had been deceived and oppressed as a group rebelled against the priests who were another group.

The world has waited thousands of years for this first time, and if it fails, no one knows how long it will have to wait for the second time.

So, it cannot fail.

Chapter 0492 The First Bell of Dawn

in the darkness.

Dots of faint artificial lights flicker in the dark streets.

The increasingly cold night wind passes through the buildings, carrying the rancid smell from the corner of the gutter and blowing through the streets and alleys. The ancient buildings stand in this dead and cold night, and the stars shine from the eternal sky. Sprinkled down, sprinkled on the roofs, spires and city walls, so that these dark things showed hazy outlines in the dark night, and in the gaps between the outlines, people flashed past from time to time.

The figures flashing by the starlight carried a tense and decisive atmosphere. They took a slightly panicked footsteps in the dark, passing a message that needs to be lowered among neighbors, relatives, and friends: "Wait The first bell of dawn."

Bloom, a cobbler wrapped in a turban, walked on the dark street. The night wind in the early morning seemed to be malicious, which made him tremble slightly—he didn't know whether the trembling was due to fear, excitement, or It was just pure cold, but he felt as if there was a flame burning in his chest. With this flame, he dared to leave the door at this time and walk on the street.

The curfew orders issued by the priests in the church area have long since disappeared, and the soldiers patrolling the streets and the knights of the Holy See have all disappeared. The outer city has been out of control for several days, and an undercurrent that was originally hidden in the darkness is emerging. It has been rising gradually these days, and now it has finally come to its breaking point.

A new figure appeared on the dark street. The cobbler hesitated a little, but he quickly recognized that the figure was a weaver he was familiar with. The two people quickly approached, and they looked at each other's faces in the dark. expression, lowered his voice and asked softly: "Waiting for the bell?" "Waiting for the bell."

A swaying flame came out from a street corner not far away, and the cobbler and the tinkerer immediately looked in the direction of the flame, and they saw a person holding a torch—a blacksmith who was known for his boldness walked towards them. Behind the blacksmith is a woman with an oil lamp, a farmer with a pitchfork, and an apprentice with a stick.

The blacksmith handed the torch to the cobbler: "Don't hide it, it's already a death penalty if you go out."

More and more people came out of their homes, some were craftsmen, some were farmers, and some were apprentices. These skinny people seemed to come out of hell, but there were flames beating in the eye sockets of each of them. Gathered among them, and more and more torches and oil lamps gradually illuminated the streets and alleys as the crowd gathered. In the flickering firelight, there were pairs of eyes that were still chaotic but extremely firm.

"Wait until the bell strikes and act." "Do remember that the one with the white cloth band around his arm is a friend." "Where are the friends outside the city?" "They have arrived..."

No one can tell who first spread the news, and no one can tell who is promoting everything tonight, but everyone knows—they have eaten the last food at home, and the gathering With their last ounces of physical strength, they may not survive tonight, but as long as the sun rises tomorrow, everyone will be free.