This pass, which blocks the westward advance of the orcs, has always been the most important line of defense in the human kingdom. More than a million troops are stationed there all year round. There are three passes at the main pass, and six castles form a defense system that can echo each other.
, there are dozens of other auxiliary small and medium-sized castles.
At this time, a team of more than 200 people was marching towards Longxi Pass from the great plain to the west of Longxi Pass, which was about forty or fifty miles away.
Most of this team are soldiers wearing armor and armed with weapons. The armor they wear is a combination of the kingdom's traditional mail and leather armor. The main body is made of thick metal armor, and some links are made of hard cowhide.
It was well made and was better than the equipment of the Kingdom's regular army. He wore a face-covering iron helmet and a piece of chain mail around his neck to prevent him from being hurt through the gap between the armor and the helmet.
The team carried several blue flags with unknown family crests painted on them. They seemed to be the private soldiers of a certain noble group.
It is quite normal for such private soldiers of nobles to go to Longxing Pass recently. The kingdom has ordered that all nobles in the entire Great Plains have the obligation to go to Longxing Pass to participate in the war. After the kingdom's order, all the nobles will be more or less interested. From then on
Since Sol sent troops, the number of noble coalition forces gathered at Longxi Pass has reached tens of thousands.
It's just that this team is slightly different in that the number is larger than that of ordinary noble private soldiers. After all, some barons and viscount-level nobles can only raise a few hundred private soldiers in total.
It's quite a lot, and the equipment is so well-equipped.
But suddenly, the leader took off his face-covering helmet, stopped, looked at the observatory attached to Longxingguan, whose outline could be faintly seen in the distance, and fell into deep thought, and the entire team immediately stopped marching.
"Your Holiness, why did you stop suddenly?"
Soon several knights behind him came up to ask the reason.
The leader of this team is none other than Pope Mixiu of the Rising Sun Cult, who has disappeared for a long time. The people beside him are the leader of the Knights of the Cult, Hussein, and several high knight-level bishops.
This team of more than 200 people is also composed of the elite forces mobilized by the divine religion. It is said that a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Although the divine religion has been suppressed by the kingdom for so many years, it has never dared to appear on the stage, but the centipede insect died.
It's not deadlocked. As the largest religion in mankind, its base of believers is too broad. Even among the nobles, there are many secrets. The kingdom official can only suppress it but cannot completely eliminate it.
With the foundation of the divine religion, it was not difficult to spend some time gathering some of its elite forces. With the nobles hidden in the kingdom providing identity cover, their team walked struttingly on the central plains without encountering any obstruction.
.
It's just that at this point in time, their purpose of going to Longxing Pass is questionable. It can't be to help the kingdom guard the pass.
"We can't leave anymore, this place is just right."
"What's the meaning?"
Several bishops were a little confused. It was now noon. This place was out of the way and there was no shop. It was not the right place to rest.
At this time, Archbishop Yoni, the second-in-command of the Rising Sun Cult, came up and said to Mi Xiu:
"His Majesty the Pope, according to the oracle, we should arrive at Longxi Pass as soon as possible and cooperate with the next move of the envoy. The other two teams from the Central Diocese are already waiting for us at Longxi Pass. We'd better seize the time."
The archbishop is the figure next to the pope in the Rising Sun Religion. In some cases, the archbishop even controls more power. Yoni is much older and more qualified than Misiu. He became the pope after Misiu.
He was already the Archbishop of the Divine Religion before, so only a peerless evildoer like Mi Xiu could suppress him firmly.
It's just that Yoni has a deep faith in the God of the Rising Sun. The oracle gave them a real order to arrive at Longxi Pass as soon as possible. Seeing that Mi Xiu stopped, he couldn't help but urge him.
"Archbishop Yoni, you said that the oracle asked us to sneak into Longxi Pass to cooperate with the Divine Envoy. Why are we cooperating with him?"
"This... we will naturally know after we receive the order from the envoy of God."
Johnny was stunned by Misu's question. He thought for a moment, seemed to have something to say but didn't say it out, and finally said something nonsense.
But Mi Xiu obviously had no intention of letting him pass like this, and continued:
"Actually, you guessed it in your mind."
"Right, Johnny?"
Mi Xiu stared straight at Yoni. Facing Mi Xiu's deep eyes, Yoni felt a huge pressure for no reason, and finally turned his head away without answering.
"The kingdom is at war with the orcs. From the looks of the soldiers in the nearby castle and beacon tower, I'm afraid the situation is not going well."
"We have sneaked into Dragon's Breath Pass at this time. Are we preparing to cooperate with the orcs inside and outside to open the door?"
Although Yoni was devout enough to the God of the Rising Sun, he was still a human being. When Misu asked such a straightforward question, he didn't know how to answer for a while. In the end, he could only say:
"Everything awaits the will of my Lord."
"In other words, I want you to open Guancheng and let the orcs in. Are you going to do it?"
Johnny paused for a second and nodded, but the next second, Mi Xiu said something that made him suddenly change his expression.
"But, I don't want to do it."
"Mixiu! You are the pope of a divine religion, how can you question our Lord's oracle! Do you want to be an apostate?"
Johnny was so anxious that he called Mishu by his name. The Pope took the lead in refusing to accept the oracle and wanted to be a traitor. Are you kidding me?
However, Mi Xiu shook his head and said:
"The teachings I teach are equality, love for others, diligence and thrift..."
"I have never betrayed my faith."
"If I help the orcs open the Dragon's Breath Pass, what's the difference between me and those nobles who forced my parents to starve to death by taxing them?"
"Back then, the nobles forced taxes, and one-third of the people in the village starved to death. But if the orcs came in, I'm afraid not even one person in the village would be able to survive."
Speaking of this, the image of the village in the North that was massacred by orcs flashed through Mi Xiu's mind. The nobles are corrupt, but normal nobles will not really force their own people to death. If the orcs enter the customs, what will happen to human beings?
They are really going to become like pigs and dogs.
"Mixiu, this is an oracle. Have you forgotten the oath you made when you succeeded the Pope? The God of the Rising Sun is supreme..."
Johnny spoke a little excitedly, his voice became louder and louder, and his fingertips trembled a little.
From a psychological point of view, the louder you speak, the less confident you are. Of course, Yoni has no confidence when facing Mi Xiu. The strength gap between the two sides is like a chasm. Mi Xiu is a peak sky-level master, so he must be killed.
This peak knight may not even need to use weapons.
What's more important is that Yoni has noticed that something is wrong. It seems that Mi Xiu doesn't just want to simply question the decision of the Lord of the Rising Sun.
However, Mi Xiu still said in a calm tone:
"I believe in the God of the Rising Sun who preaches equality and loves others, not the God of the Rising Sun who wants to make people homeless."
"you!"
Johnny didn't even know what words to use to describe his feelings at this time. After all, the Pope's apostasy was so new that he had never seen this scene before.
However, no matter how confused Yoni was at this time, his belief in the Lord of the Rising Sun was still very firm. After all, a bishop like him had received brainwashing education from the church since childhood and was a true believer. In addition, the recent influence of the Lord of the Rising Sun
The existence was also confirmed, which strengthened his belief. It was difficult to change his mind just by Mi Xiu's words.
"If His Majesty the Pope is not willing to go, then we will go ourselves!"
Afterwards, Yoni actually called several bishops and the head of the knights, Hussein, and prepared to take people away directly.
Yoni had a high prestige in the church, and several bishops around him had just heard his conversation with Mishu, and after looking shocked, they chose to follow Yoni. Some of the soldiers in the team began to take action at their call.
However, Hussein did not follow Yoni and several bishops, but stopped where he was, and even the members of the Knights under him did not react at all.
Although these members of the Knights also believe in the Lord of the Rising Sun, they are not as deep as the bishops. They spend most of their time training and performing tasks. Now that the Pope and Hussein have not spoken, they do not dare to act easily. The team
It actually seemed to split into two parts.
"etc!"
"You can't leave."
"What's the meaning?"
"boom!"
Before Yoni could react, the scepter in Mi Xiu's hand had already hit his chest. The power of this blow directly shattered his heart and lungs. Yoni glanced at Mi Xiu and opened his mouth to say something.
What, he didn’t say anything in the end.
"Lord Yoni!"
"Mixiu betrayed the Lord!"
"kill him!"
Mishu's sudden attack made the whole scene extremely chaotic. Some soldiers with deeper faith even tried to attack Mishu under the leadership of the remaining bishops.
"Hussein, do it."
"Yes, Master Mishu!"
Mixiu did not take any further action, but gave instructions to Hussein, the leader of the knights.
After receiving the order, Hussein did not hesitate. He drew his sword with a clang and led his members of the Knights and some close soldiers to fight with the bishop's men.
…
Facts have proved that Hussein and the knights he led were more powerful than ordinary soldiers, and after experiencing such an outrageous thing as the Pope's apostasy, most of the soldiers were a little confused, except for a few bishops and those with deeper beliefs.
Except for the ordinary soldiers, everyone else's will to fight is very weak, and they don't even know which side they are on. However, the elite knights led by Hussein are carefully selected confidants, and they don't show any concern when they start fighting.
hesitantly.
The battle ended very quickly, but it was over in less than half an hour. The few bishops were no more powerful than the great knights. Facing the earth-level Hussein was a little difficult, let alone against Misu.
All the archbishops turned into corpses and lay on the ground. In addition, there were some soldiers who wanted to follow them.
Mi Xiu and Hussein were obviously prepared. They took the initiative and directly wiped out most of the top leaders of the Rising Sun Cult. In addition to the knights and the soldiers who died in the battle, there were also some soldiers who were in a state of confusion.
The state did not join the battle until the end of the battle, and then under Hussein's order, the battlefield was cleared and the bodies were collected.
Hussein himself came to Misu's side and asked:
"Lord Pope, where should we go next? Do we still want to go to Longxingguan?"
"No, let's go to the south."
"Yes, His Majesty the Pope..."
Although Misu made the decision to betray the Rising Sun Cult, he himself was in confusion. The former Rising Sun Cult was as good as heaven compared to most of the kingdom's elites who regarded common people as ants.
Well, the Rising Sun Cult spread mostly among the people at the bottom, providing relief to the poor and adopting orphans. Most of the priests themselves were thrifty, and Mi Xiu himself set an example by living a simple life.
In the eyes of Misu, using the church as the basis to overthrow the decadent nobles of the kingdom is an absolutely just thing. But when the messenger Rand appeared and the God of the Rising Sun changed from a sculpture to a real living creature, everything changed.
Already.
Mishu's prestige has been shaken, bishops at all levels are wavering between the pope's orders and oracles, and some people with stronger beliefs no longer listen to Mishu's greetings.
That is to say, people like Hussein, who experienced similar experiences to Misu, can still stand firmly on Misu's side. After clearing out most of the senior officials of the central diocese this time, Misu has completely broken up with the Rising Sun Cult.
After the news spreads, it may be difficult for Mi Xiu to control the Rising Sun Sect.
As for defecting to the kingdom, it was also not within the scope of Mi Xiu's choice. Even if he, the number one rebel in the world, dared to seek refuge, the kingdom would not dare to accept him easily.
Going south was just a random decision, as if there was a voice in the dark urging him.