The Era of Gods

The war between churches of different faiths is called a Holy War, which is a conflict that transcends the ordinary. Aristocratic lords can choose to join the Holy War or not, and theoretically, they won’t be subjected to retribution after the war.

But this is only in theory; in reality, the aristocrats and lords of Dier Province have little room to choose.

Living on this patch of land, how is it possible to remain uninvolved? The Holy War concerns all believers, and many knights and soldiers under the great lords are followers of the Holy Church. When the Church calls them to arms, if your subordinates go to war and you, as a lord, remain uninvolved, that’s hardly possible.

So there is really no choice. In this war, Lin Xiao is destined to challenge all the lords of Dier Province with just Afonso’s territory.

The task is formidable, but there are benefits. If he can win, especially if he can demonstrate overwhelming strength on the battlefield, once the Holy Church is defeated, the faith of the whole Dier Province will immediately collapse.

Changing the faith of common believers might take a long time, but the speed at which aristocratic lords change their faith will definitely be very fast.

Most importantly, this is a world without magic, the Holy God has not yet been born, and there is no mechanism for divine punishment upon changing faith. Even the Fanatic Believers could change their faith without consequence, granting many lords a justified opportunity to convert.

In the face of his challenge, the Holy Church was furious. Many bishops angrily denounced Afonso as a heretic, unanimously calling for punishment to be meted out to the Gibson Family.

But despite their loud voices, their actions were limited because at this time the Holy Church’s Knights were engaged in battle with Huck Territory in the north and simply could not spare any forces.

Talk had been contrary to everyone’s expectations. It was assumed that the Holy Church’s Knights, bolstered by many opportunistic nobles and their private soldiers, would easily sweep through the small Huck Territory. Yet, after several months of fighting, they had still not taken Hooke Territory.

The enemy had long been prepared and was staunchly defending Hooke Fort, the original castle of Huck Territory’s lord. They not only had a force of elite soldiers but also a very sharp weapon for city defense. After besieging Hooke Territory for more than two months without managing to conquer it, the losses had been enormous.

Of course, the Knights of the Holy Church ultimately had an absolute numerical advantage. Even with severe losses, they could still hold on and push forward. As long as they could endure the losses of their subordinates, the conquest of Hooke Territory was inevitable.

Commander Bartos, leading the Knights, originally intended to use this strategy, wearing down the enemy with the private soldiers of the nobles who came with the army and the cannon fodder militias. Now, after two months, the enemy was exhausted and their defense weakened. The fort almost breached, but just then, the message of the Holy War arrived from the great cathedral, putting him in a dilemma.

After much contemplation, he wrote a letter to the great cathedral, suggesting that the cathedral go on the defensive first, waiting for his forces to quickly annihilate the enemy and then come to reinforce.

However, the plan was good, but the plot did not develop as he had envisioned.

Less than two days after Bartos’s letter was sent out, he received a second message from the great cathedral—a message so unsettling that he could no longer sit still.

“The heretics have defeated an army of Viscount Feitan and Count Dyson at the border of Viscount Feitan’s Territory. They have taken Viscount Feitan’s Territory and are now attacking the border outposts of Count Dyson’s Territory.”

……

“This God of Life and Wisdom… which side does it belong to?”

Within Hooke Castle, Dariel, a Child of the Spirit Realm, pondered over the secret letter in his hand without moving for a long while.

As an ambitious Child of the Spirit Realm who highly values intelligence, he had sent believers out early to establish intelligence networks. Therefore, as soon as Lin Xiao’s Holy War proclamation was issued, his followers relayed the news back to him.

Having reflected on the contents of the secret letter for a long time, he considered how to deal with the situation at hand.

“The opposing side must be panicking and thinking of retreating. Once the Holy Knights withdraw, I need to observe the situation and scout out which side the God of Life and Wisdom belongs to, while also preparing for any changes in the situation.”

As a Transcendent Descender, Dariel had his own unique insights into the situation. He immediately understood that the situation in Dier Province had reached a critical moment.

No matter who wins or loses between the Knights of the Holy Church and the Church of Life and Wisdom, it would be his chance. He was already considering following behind the retreating Holy Knights to the edge of their final battleground to wait for an opportunity, after a brief respite once they retreated.

However…

Outside the city, in the military camp, having received a second urgent letter from the great cathedral, Bartos stood silently in place for a short while, about ten seconds, before he ordered the assembly of all officers for a meeting.

Ten minutes later, the somber sound of the horn resonated, and many resting knights mounted their horses and approached the walls, mobilizing all troops surrounding the city. Even the reservists were called up.

“Damn it!”

Hearing the war horn, Dariel, who had climbed up to the castle walls, immediately realized he had miscalculated; Commander Bartos hadn’t ordered an immediate retreat but instead intended to make an all-out push.

“`

A day later, after relentless fierce attacks by the Church Knight Order, sparing no cost and no losses, Hooke Fort, vastly outnumbered, ultimately fell.

After a fierce battle, the leader of Hooke Fort’s defenders escaped with a small core group of subordinates, breaking through the siege, and the territory of Huck was fully reclaimed.

Thereafter, leaving behind some opportunistic aristocrats’ private soldiers to mop up the remnants, Bartos led his army back towards Dier City.

At this time, Afonso’s army had already crossed Viscount Feitan’s Territory and entered Earl Dyson’s lands.

Knowing Afonso’s strength, Earl Dyson chose to consolidate his defenses, giving up all peripherals to retreat to the core Dier City, preparing to defend it together with the Holy Church; thus, the army arrived at Dier City without encountering any battles and stationed there.

A day later, Lin Xiao arrived with dozens of Holy Warriors, and from afar, one could see the sharp spire of the great cathedral at the center of Dier City, where a column of white light, invisible to common folk, soared into the sky, a concentrated manifestation of the Power of Faith.

The Dier Cathedral had been established for over a thousand years, with countless worshippers from Dier Province accumulating Power of Faith for centuries. No one knew how much had been amassed. Due to the world’s limitations, which prevented the birth of Transcendents, naturally, there were no so-called Holy Gods. Consequently, this Power of Faith had been accumulating within the cathedral’s divine statues, and after so long and in such high quantities, it became visible even from a great distance.

In view of this, Lin Xiao had a myriad of thoughts, a burning desire for this Power of Faith.

“Do not hold back, take Dier City in one fell swoop, I will support you,”

Lin Xiao issued a resolute order in the pre-battle meeting, not wanting to prolong the encounter overnight.

The next day at dawn, thunderous drumbeats rose from the camp, and the many soldiers who had woken up early, finished their breakfast, and were ready, began to assemble, forming orderly formations as they left the camp to deploy.

Although their numbers were not many, even with the surrendered soldiers and opportunists’ mercenaries, totaling just seven or eight hundred, far less than the nearly two thousand defenders on the city walls, their morale was exceptionally high.

In the camp, massive tents were opened, inside were the huge all-metal siege rams and ballistae, as well as catapults that Lin Xiao had secretly placed the night before.

All of them were primitive and cumbersome, but considered high-end war machinery in this world, provided by the military.

The all-metal rams were covered with thick steel plates on their surfaces, capable of blocking all arrows and small-sized stone crossbow bolts. The rams were mechanically geared, requiring only two or three soldiers to control and push, but at that moment, each ram had dozens of men hidden beneath, following it. The arrow rains poured from above the city walls tinkled upon hitting the roof and were unable to penetrate.

So was the case for the ballistae, with all-metal structures protecting the operators behind a thick steel plate at their launch base.

The catapults lacked this protection as they were always stationed far behind the front lines. Apart from the enemy’s own catapults, no attack could reach them; their only change was a thicker and sturdier metal structure, able to withstand enemy bombardments without deforming.

There were only two all-metal rams, unstoppable, advancing amidst the arrow rain with clinks and clanks until reaching the base of the wall and entering the archway, stopping there. A giant metal hammer with a diameter of nearly half a meter was lifted and then slammed down violently.

“Boom!”

The massive metal hammerhead struck the thick wooden door hard, sending a tremble through it and a shower of wooden chips and dust flying.

Behind the battlefield, the massive ballistae gradually approached the attack range. These altered, large-sized ballistae had ten firing ports each, capable of launching ten crossbow bolts at a time. A total of ten large ballistae were lined up, accompanied by a series of firing sounds, volley after volley of bolts stormed the city walls.

A barrage of a hundred crossbow bolts at once, the concentrated attack instantly suppressed a section of the city wall, the defenders unable to dare poke their heads out seeing the stones of the battlements shattered by fine steel crossbow bolts.

The catapults launched huge rocks, as big as tables and wrapped in an oily shell, which were set on fire before being hurled, turning into flaming fireballs.

Upon landing, the oily shells would explode, sending flames shooting in all directions, causing great destruction within the city.

At this moment, they did not concern themselves with the extent of the fire’s damage to the city; taking the city by fire first was the priority, then extinguishing it later.

Moreover, the catapults, primitive as they were, were very advanced in workmanship, with a high precision rate. They had a standard operating procedure, and so long as they were used according to these standards, they could aim wherever one desired.

The siege had just begun not long ago, and the troops had yet to approach closely, but a few rounds of accurate projectile throws combined with ballista barrage had already overwhelmed the defenders somewhat.

As several soldiers performed Divine Arts to fly up and locate the enemy’s command center hidden in the gatehouse, a few concentrated rounds of bombardment directly collapsed the gatehouse.

Whether the enemy’s defending Generals were dead or not was uncertain, but they were assuredly terrified, and the morale of the defenders plunged.

This bombardment continued… for less than half an hour, the city gate was forcibly breached by the ram, but they did not directly storm the city. Instead, they continued ramming other sections of the city wall, while the catapults began targeted bombardment of a certain segment of the wall.

Two hours later, Dier City’s walls had been forcibly blown open in three large sections…

“`