Eight days have passed since Morpheus woke up, and the atmosphere in Cicelin City has begun to change slightly with the orders of the Grand Duke.
In the Temple of the Goddess Mar, believers wearing simple robes kneel down and pray to the statue of the Goddess Mar - those customs and prayers that were forgotten thousands of years ago have reappeared in the world because of Andariel. In the past, the persecution and purges of the Holy See caused similar religions to disappear. Now, after the complete destruction of Saint Gabriel, the same sect that was hiding in the distance and lingering on finally came to light and began to flourish on the mainland.
Leaving aside other sects for the moment, the two largest religious holy places in Cicelin City are the monastery and church where Archbishop Joan of Arc lived, which is the same as the Byzantine Patriarchate. The other one is the "Mar Cult" temple where the High Priest Andalil is located.
There is always a faint fresh breath lingering in the stone temple, which makes you feel like you are in a forest, and you can smell the smell of leaves and earth in your breath. When the temple was built, the high priest Andariel The permanent "radiance of life" cast became a miracle that made countless civilians worship and embrace the goddess. As a result, the number of followers of Marism exceeded 10,000 within a few months.
This halo magic was released on the huge goddess statue in the main hall of the temple, so that everyone within a radius of 30 meters from it can feel the majestic "power of nature" of the goddess, which is even more magical. When many civilians suffering from hidden diseases, serious illnesses and dying come to the statue, their physical pain will be greatly relieved. This allowed many people who struggled back from the edge of life and death to become firm believers, and this spread from one to another.
At this time, the owner of this temple is the high priest Andariel.
Andalil actually doesn't have much work every day - especially in this winter when civilians have less activity outside. All she has to do is to inspect the temple and then study the teachings with the priests who have just formed the basic leadership structure. Now, it can be said that she is very free But in the past two days, she has been as busy as a hard-working bee, rushing between the temple and Atlantis all day long.
"This guyisn't even willing to say a single unnecessary word"
Thinking back to Morpheus¡¯s unusually serious face in the past few days, Andariel, whose figure had already grown vaguely like a big girl¡¯s, knew that he was busy with the upcoming battle, but he still couldn¡¯t help but curse a few words.
From the moment Morpheus woke up, she understood what she really wanted - not the false name of the high priest or the revival of the "Marian Cult", but just simply staying by Morpheus's side.
I remember that day was the first time she took the initiative to throw herself into his arms. Although Joan of Arc was present at the same time and was emboldened, it was still a big step in her heart. At the subsequent dinner party, Andariel was not actually drunk, but she pretended to be drunk just to breathe in Morpheus's breath for even one second
But then everything began to change. Groups of important people came from all over the continent. The conference hall of the Night Watch headquarters was always brightly lit. Andalil would sometimes stand outside the hall, quietly looking at the crowd and others. Morpheus, who was discussing countermeasures, only thought about what he could do for him, instead of seeing him fight all crises alone.
Now she finally had a chance to help Morpheus, but in several mission reports, except for a few formulaic sentences, Morpheus said nothing else - this made Morpheus experience the taste of love for the first time. Little Loli is a little worried about gains and losses, and now she is even a little uneasy.
"High PriestHigh Priest?"
The words of inquiry reached Andalil's ears, causing her to come back to her senses from her dazed state. Her eyes shifted to the person in front of her who was talking to her. Only then did Andalil remember that she still had a mission.
"Everyone is here already?"
"They are all here, Lord High Priest."
The priest in black robes answered respectfully, and then moved slightly to the side, allowing the thirty or forty believers behind him to enter Andariel's field of vision.
Andalil, who was wearing a white high priest's robe, didn't say much nonsense and started reciting prayers. As the light flashed, a halo bloomed on her fingertips, and the believers in simple robes were like Seeing the miracle, he immediately silently recited the name of the goddess Mar and knelt down on the ground
And as the halo dispersed, the bodies of more than ten believers in the room were shrouded in a faint white light - Andalil nodded with satisfaction, removed the halo with a wave of his hand, and waved to the priest next to him. , then asked these believers to get up, said a simple prayer, and then asked them to wait in another room.
During this process, the priest singled out those believers whose bodies had just been covered by light and guided them to another location.
?Scenes like this continue to play out. This is Andariel's "task" that he has been repeating for several days - to select the "chosen ones" among the believers and teach them a few simple magic spells as quickly as possible.
Similar scenes are constantly playing out in the territory. There are warrior-type "Chosen Ones" selected by Heiser, and there are also mage-type "Chosen Ones" selected by mages such as Sunderland
"Creed" is constantly recruiting the "Chosen Ones" who have been recorded into the army through various means - before, during the recruitment process, Lampard just "absorbed as much as possible" from the "Chosen Ones" attitude, but now, Lampard's recruitment has adopted an almost "forced" mode.
Promising huge profits and even promising preferential treatment to all family members, the Principality of Lampard has reached the point of absorbing the "chosen ones" at almost any cost. This behavior and decision was immediately opposed by Hegel and others. Because in their opinion, the entire territory's finances would be in serious deficit due to this, but they were later persuaded by Morpheus
Not only Lampard, Byzantium also started a similar operation - because of its vast territory and densely populated cities, in just a few days, Duke Azshara's "Eagle Eye" and "Creed" collected more than 10,000 people. Known as the "Chosen One", it was quite difficult for Edward III to make this decision. Although he knew that Morpheus would not deceive him, such behavior of "sharpening his guns in battle" was really incomprehensible to everyone. However, in the end, Edward III chose to believe Morpheus's explanation and allocated a large amount of gold coins and food to maintain the operation of the plan.
When the countries on the mainland, which had just stabilized, learned of this series of actions, they inevitably aroused a lot of suspicion and action - but before they could react much, a series of events plunged almost all countries on the continent into chaos again. combat readiness.
¡¡
On the evening of January 14th, Fording Empire arrived in Pittsburgh.
The setting sun has fallen into the mountains, and the cloud-shrouded Pittsburgh is like an icy reef on the snow-white land. The fortress that once resisted the attacks of the Jihadist Army now no longer looks like it was heavily guarded before. Dots of firelight flickered around the fortress, and it looked like a few caravans were trying to get to the fortress before dark. There were also small teams of scouts conducting routine inspections, and the team was loose and tight.
"Damnit's so cold in this damn weather. Let's go to Hawke's Bar for a drink tonight. No one is allowed to miss it!"
The captain of the scout team shook his frozen wrist in the cold wind, and the horse under his crotch was shaking slightly in the cold wind. Obviously, patrolling in this cold weather is not a good job.
The five young scouts behind them responded loudly, and the team's speed increased slightly. However, the original two-column formation was completely disrupted. The captain did not care about this, and all he could think about was how to return quickly. Pittsburgh, pour a few glasses of warm ale in front of the warm fireplace
The war has ended long ago, and there will be no enemies here at all.
"Captain, did you hear anything?"
The sound of the roaring wind can only rely on roaring. The captain of the front row did not hear what the boy behind him was talking about, turned his head, and shouted behind him, "What are you talking about?"
"I mean - there seems to be some strange noises!"
"What position?!"
The scout captain's eyes were a little sore from the cold wind. He slowly slowed down the horse's speed and asked while looking around vigilantly.
"It seemsup there?"
The team members¡¯ answers made them involuntarily cast their gazes above their heads, but the sky full of stars remained the same as before. Several people looked up for a long time, but did not see any strange phenomena
"Boy, are you fooled by the wind?"
The captain laughed and cursed, raising the reins and preparing to speed up the last stretch of the journey. However, he never thought that he had just turned around and the scene in front of him made him almost bite his tongue
Outside Pittsburgh, where there were dots of firelight in the darkness in the distance, a black wave like a flood roared past under the city wall. After a closer look, the ones running turned out to be people who in the impression should have died long ago from the purification halo. Infernal beast!
The tide of beasts, numbering perhaps more than 100,000, roared along the city wall of Pittsburgh. The roaring sound seemed to have not reached the scouts until now, making their faces turn pale with fear in an instant!
The war horses were also affected by this and stopped uneasily. Several scouts opened their mouths in a daze. They were stunned for three seconds before they thought of running away - they all understood The gate of Pittsburgh must have been closed by now, rushing like this. The past is no different than seeking death!
??The scouts who were so relaxed just now started to twitch their reins and run in the opposite direction without saying a word. The captain looked behind him with a pale face, far away.The tide of beasts that had failed to attack the city wall and began to disperse into the darkness was gradually receding, but this scene was really difficult for him to accept
"Theywhy are they back?"
A thousand meters above the sky, Scarlett looked down silently, her fingertips shining with a faint light.
¡¡
"How can this be?!"
Questions like this, mixed with fear, began to spread rapidly across the continent at the end of that night - first in Fording's Fort Pitt, and then in Gilman, Caslandi, and various Byzantine fortresses. Traces of the beast tide, although those purgatory beasts were like frightened birds and did not dare to attack the city, but for a while, the entire continent once again fell into a state of danger.
The city gates were closed tightly, and every fortress and city was given new orders to prepare for war, and letters began to be exchanged between several countries that were currently most capable of launching a counterattack. The alliances of various countries that had begun to loosen due to the end of the war were once again closely linked. Armies from various places began to regroup. The number of soldiers patrolling the city walls increased several times, and military supplies and food began to be hoarded again
But the monarchs of these countries would never have thought that the source of all this panic was not the "returning" Lord of Purgatory, but the Grand Duke Morpheus who was sitting in Lampard at this time and looking at the sand table!
"Grand Consul, the effect you want has been achieved, but it seems difficult to gather the forces of the entire continent to carry out a battle"
Scarlett stood behind Morpheus. She moved her eyes slightly and could clearly see the signs marked by the Grand Duke on the sand table. Obviously, the current situation of the entire continent is clear under the intelligence network of "Creed". However, Morpheus, who had deceived almost all the monarchs of the kingdom, frowned at this moment. After thinking for a moment, he replied: "Use the entire continent's troops to fight Purgatory." ?I never mentioned this idea, it was just Hegel¡¯s proposal at the time.¡±
"The available troops on the entire continent exceed three million, which sounds like a lot, but sometimes too many troops can be a troublesome thing. Once the melee begins, the words 'coordinated dispatch' are very important to an army with confused beliefs and mixed commanders. , it is completely impossible for armies with different nationalities. Now I ask them to hide in the city, everyone is in danger, you only see one of my intentions"
Morpheus took a step back, looked at the huge sand table in front of him with an overview of the whole situation, and asked: "But you didn't see my other intention. Come and look at this sand table If you are one of those purgatory lords , where will you choose to open the portal?"
Scarlett was stunned when she heard this. She thought about it for a moment and seemed to have some concerns. However, when she walked to the sand table and wanted to say something, her original confident expression gradually changed.
This extremely capable consul suddenly found that he had no choice at all - there were many cities and fortresses on the huge sand table in front of him. As far as he could see, it was densely packed. When it came to "flaws" or locations suitable for purgatory attacks, it was basically random. She could point her finger anywhere She tried to weigh the pros and cons in her mind and find the top three locations where Purgatory was most likely to attack, but found that she couldn't rank a suitable location at all.
Because the land represented by the sand table in front of you is too big.
"You also see it? In fact, when looking at the entire plane, the things to consider are different after all."
Morpheus has been troubled by this before. The pattern is different and the perspective of looking at things is also different. He was once a young man struggling to escape, but now he is thinking about issues between "planes". "There is no way to stop the enemy from attacking, so I can only keep humans vigilant. No matter what they encounter, they will eventually There is a city and preparations before the war. If I cannot stop the invasion of those guys in the end, the human plane can sustain it for a while"
"As long as I have enough time, I am confident that I can really change the trajectory of their plan."
Thank you for your monthly ticket to [Flame Coffee], thank you!