Chapter 657 Church War
Under night, Beacon Town is peaceful.
On the street, figures in black robes gathered in one direction, and finally came to a hidden building.
Following the stairs that continued to spread downward, everyone came to the underground space.
This is a dark basement, the space is the size of a stadium, with candlesticks every few meters on the wall, and the swaying flames and CD players disperse the darkness.
"Your Majesty, the Great Goddess of the Night, please accept our humble service."
As all the believers arrived, an elderly man came to the altar and cut his palm open with a sharp blade, letting the blood flow on it.
At the same time, all believers knelt down.
They prayed together towards the altar, and the requester, the goddess of the night, responded, with a pious expression on everyone's face.
"Sister, has the goddess of the night abandoned us?"
Among the many believers, a little boy's face turned pale. Seeing that the altar had not received a response from the goddess of the night, a trace of sadness appeared on his face.
"Don't think too much."
Sister Yala scolded, biting her lip and said, "The goddess didn't respond. It must be because we are not pious enough. As long as we sincerely serve the goddess of the night, we will definitely win the goddess's response."
Having said that, Yara also had a somewhat complicated look on her face.
These people are all devout believers of the Goddess of the Night. Since they contributed their faith to the goddess, they can get a vague response every time they pray. However, in recent days, this response has disappeared.
Today's abandoned land has ushered in the age of faith.
The Church of the Giant Tree and the Church of the Night are like mortal enemies. The believers from both sides are constantly in conflict. However, recently, due to the disappearance of the Night Goddess, the Church of the Giant Tree has become more and more active.
Without the extraordinary power granted by the goddess, the believers of the night would not be able to compete with the Church of the Giant Tree, and therefore suffered heavy casualties.
Yesterday, another stronghold was destroyed by the Giant Tree Church.
The bishop of Kaiyuan Kingdom quickly sent out a call signal to the believers, trying to get in touch with the goddess of the night through a group prayer.
However, it took a while.
In the area at the front of the altar, the statues of the three goddesses still did not receive any response, and the elderly bishop's heart sank.
But as the most loyal believer of the goddess, he had no intention of giving up.
"Give me a sacrifice!"
The Bishop of the Night was furious in his heart and raised his arms, and two believers immediately came over carrying a box.
After opening it, there was a man inside.
The symbol of the giant tree was branded on his forehead, representing the believers of the Giant Tree Church. The Bishop of the Night pushed him onto the altar and cut his throat directly with the sharp blade.
"Well……"
The Giant Tree Cultist made a painful sound and couldn't help but cover his throat, but blood continued to flow from his fingertips.
"Great goddess of the night, please give us a response."
Many believers began a new round of prayers. The giant tree believers fell to the ground, and their blood gathered into strange patterns. This was also part of the sacrifice. For the goddess of the night, the souls of the giant tree church believers were the most delicious thing.
In almost every large-scale sacrifice, the Church of the Night will sacrifice the souls of giant tree believers.
And similarly, the Giant Tree Church has the same purpose.
After they catch the Night Cultists, they will also sacrifice to Gion, the God of the Green Tree, and their methods will be even more cruel. If there are no Night Cultists, they will even sacrifice their souls to Gion, the God of the Green Tree.
Compared to the Church of the Night, the Giant Tree Cultists are more fanatical.
This is related to the method of Gweng, the God of the Green Tree. In order to regain his strength as soon as possible, Gweng, the God of the Green Tree, does not take the lives of his believers into consideration at all, and has no intention of establishing a foothold in the abandoned land.
For Gewen, the god of green trees, this place is just a place to rest.
Recovering strength as soon as possible is the way to resist pursuit. After he converts everyone in the abandoned land into believers, he will prepare for a large-scale sacrifice to devour the lives and souls of believers.
"Great goddess of the night!"
"Please respond to your humble followers!"
Blood was already flowing on the altar, but the Night Goddess still didn't respond. The Night Bishop's heart suddenly sank, and he felt vaguely uneasy.
"Could it be that...the goddess of the night really abandoned us?"
There was a trace of paleness on the bishop's face, but then he threw such blasphemous thoughts out of his mind and knelt on the ground piously.
The Church of Night lost contact with the Goddess of Night, causing heavy losses to the Church of Night.
The development of the Giant Tree Church in Kaiyuan Kingdom is much stronger than that of the Giant Tree Church. The Prime Minister Edgar they support controls five of the seven cities in the kingdom.
On the other hand, look at the Church of Dark Night.
Because they were one step behind the Giant Tree Church, they lost the opportunity. They could only choose the new king Dylan. However, the huge gap in strength between the two sides prevented the Church of the Night from spreading its faith.
Nowadays, giant tree cultists are beginning to appear even in Kaiyuan City.
In Wolf Heart City and Black Crow City, the cultists of the Night who spread their faith were all ruthlessly killed by the Church of the Giant Tree. Therefore, the Church of the Night suffered heavy losses, while the persecution of the Church of the Giant Tree was getting closer and closer.
Today, the Church of the Giant Tree has completely controlled Beacon Town.
Almost every ordinary person became a believer in the Church of the Giant Tree. They launched a comprehensive search, trying to find the believers of the Church of the Night and kill them all. As a last resort, they could only pray to the goddess of the night for a response.
But even though the sacrifice had been offered, the goddess of the night still didn't respond.
And just then.
Suddenly there was a sound of footsteps outside, firelight appeared above, and the faces of the believers in the Church of the Night changed.
"No, it's the Giant Tree Church!" The bishop's heart sank.
The attackers who appeared outside were obviously the Giant Tree Church. The prayers of the Night Cultists had been discovered by them, so they came to encircle and suppress them.
"Your Majesty Bishop, the outside is surrounded by fire."
Yara stood up quickly and said solemnly, "If we don't break out as soon as possible, we will all be trapped and die here."
"But……"
The Bishop of the Night was a little hesitant. They had been exposed. What was waiting outside was bound to be heavily surrounded by the Giant Tree Church. If they went out, they would be attacked. The Church of the Night, who had lost most of their extraordinary power, was obviously no match.
"No time to hesitate."
Yara gritted her teeth and said, "Continuing to delay will only plunge us into a greater crisis. If we break out now, there may be a glimmer of hope."
"Okay! Breakout!"
The Night Bishop also nodded sharply, and a black mist emerged from his large robe, heading toward the entrance to the underground space.
Bang!
With a loud noise, the door shattered, and the Night Bishop rushed out of the underground space first, and the surroundings were already ablaze.
"Dark Water!"
The Night Bishop slapped his hands on the ground, and the dark, moist black water began to spread around, immediately extinguishing the flames.
At the same time, other believers also rushed out.
As the Night Cultists walked out of the building, the outside was already full of Giant Tree Cultists. They used the power given by Gion, the God of Green Trees, to transform into tree demons, waving twisted branches.
"Heretics, accept your judgment!"
The Giant Tree Cultists immediately launched an attack, with vines attacking forward like poisonous snakes. A Dark Night Cultist was accidentally swept away and was immediately thrown into the sky, where he was heavily smashed into a meat pie.
"Evil heresy!"
The Bishop of the Night showed determination on his face, and black mist surged under his robe, saying, "The goddess of the night will always protect us."
A chaotic battle unfolded under the cover of night.
Both the Church of the Giant Tree and the Church of the Night believe that the other is a heretic, and the war between faiths is extremely cruel. Both sides regard it as their mission to drive out the other.
Night is ruled by the goddess of the night.
Therefore, from an environmental point of view, the Church of the Night has an advantage, but now that they have lost the connection with the Goddess of the Night, and there is a huge difference in the number of people with the Church of the Giant Tree, they will soon fall into the lower reaches.
The surrounding Night Cultists fell one by one.
Even though the bishop tried his best to resist, the encirclement was getting smaller and smaller. Seeing everyone in crisis, Yara gritted her teeth.
The next moment, she was lying on the ground.
A painful expression appeared on Yara's face, and her spine began to squirm. Things like limbs pierced the skin and grew out. In a moment, she had transformed into a half-human, half-spider form.
The Church of Night worships more than just the goddess of night.
Although for most believers, the most important belief is Luciles, the goddess of the night, Yara is an exception. Her belief in Qiluo, the giant spider god, is more devout.
And this mostly has to do with Yara’s experience.
A long time ago, Yara was a girl in a slum. Her father was beaten to death because of her gambling addiction, and her mother became seriously ill. Yara and her young brother had to beg to survive.
But one day.
Yara suddenly had a dream. In the dream, she received the guidance of Qiluo, the giant spider god, and went to the wild to collect an herbal medicine, thus curing her dying mother.
Since then, Yara has become a worshiper of the Spider God.
Although her mother, who had recovered from a serious illness, died later due to the interference of the Giant Tree Church, Yara's faith had taken root in her heart. Even after joining the Church of Night, she still maintained the greatest respect for the Giant Spider God.
Therefore, Yara received the blessing of Qiluo, the giant spider god.
She has the ability to transform into a spider demon and can control dreams. She has used this ability to spread faith in the slums many times. Those who were guided by Yara in dreams have joined the Church of the Night.
Among the Night Cultists in Beacon Town, Yara is the second most popular person.
In fact, her strength is no less than that of the Night Bishop. If it weren't for her main belief being the God of Giant Spiders, she would even have a higher status.
"You all deserve to die for desecrating the altar of the goddess!"
Yara, in the form of a spider demon, made a sharp sound and swung her eight limbs to penetrate the bodies of several giant tree cultists.
Then, she spit out a giant web.
A huge network of transparent white threads seemed to cover the surrounding area, and fluorescent powder swayed down like rain.
"Death will be your eternal dream."
Yara let out a low murmur, and the giant tree cultists who inhaled the powder fell into a deep sleep. This was the dreamy ability of the giant spider god, but this kind of sleep meant that they would never wake up.
Snapped!
Seeing Yala displaying her power, several senior members of the Giant Tree Church could not sit idly by. Three tree demons quickly attacked, unaffected by Yala, and waved their vines to form a blockade.
"Prison of the Sea of Trees!"
Several high-level officials of the Giant Tree Church joined forces to form a sea of trees prison, and Yara was trapped in it, waving her limbs but unable to escape.
Fortunately, at this time, the Night Bishop took action in time.
He waved his long sleeves, and the turbulent black water surged out. The black water, which had a strong corrosive effect, immediately corroded a hole in the prison of the sea of trees. Upon seeing this, Yara quickly returned to human form and got out.
"This can't go on like this!"
Yara's face was very solemn, and more and more companions fell around her. The huge gap in the number of people gave the Church of the Night no chance of winning, and the entire Lighthouse Town seemed to have become a huge trap.
"For the glory of our Lord, we must never back down."
However, the Bishop of the Night looked serious and was ready to die. He did not receive a response from the Goddess of the Night for more than ten days, which made the Bishop uneasy, so he planned to use his own death to express his loyalty to the goddess.
Yara's face changed slightly and she bit her lip gently.
She was also a loyal believer, but her short-term prayers were not answered, which made Yara feel a little uneasy. Even a devout believer cannot remain indifferent in the face of death.
Snapped! Snapped!
Next to them, the believers of the Church of the Night are still resisting. As their numbers continue to decrease, many believers have expressions of despair on their faces. Maybe they are not afraid of death, but such sacrifices are somewhat meaningless.
Elena waved her whip and fought off several giant tree cultists.
Next to her, her daughter Nicole's face was pale and her abdomen was bleeding. She was injured by the giant tree cultivator in the battle just now.
"Hang in there, Nicole."
Elena waved her long whip and said in a deep voice, "Under the Temple of the Great Weeping Goddess, we will never abandon her believers. All the sufferings in the world are tests prepared by the goddess for us."
A sad smile appeared on Nicole's face.
Compared to her mother who is a fanatical believer, Nicole's belief is not firm. She is very clear about her identity and is just an ordinary believer, even though the Weeping Goddess is aware of everything that happens in Beacon Town.
Will she come in person for these people?
There are too many kingdoms in the Abandoned Land, and there are also many believers of the Weeping Goddess. The war with the Giant Tree Church results in a large number of casualties every day. Even the gods cannot pay attention to every believer at all times.
The fighting became more and more intense.
Even the most powerful bishop was in crisis. Several giant tree cultists surrounded him, and Yara, who transformed into a spider demon, was trapped by vines and could not escape at all.
The situation of other night believers is not optimistic either.
Some believers have even given up resistance and were arrested by the Giant Tree Cultists. The number of believers who still persist in resisting is even less than twenty.
Elena's arms trembled slightly.
Even a fanatical believer of the Weeping Goddess was a little shaken at this time. The fear of death made her tremble. What was even more terrifying was that if she was caught by the Giant Tree Church and used as a sacrifice, it would be an even more terrifying end.