Our family is in decline

Lance lurked in the bushes and observed a dilapidated camp with no fences appearing in front of him. Most of it was the ruins of old buildings, and some branches propped up a tent covered with a piece of rag.

It's just that it's extremely lively inside, because you can see a lot of refugees taking the initiative to train and chanting doctrines and the like.

Those refugees didn't look forced, and even seemed quite happy. Their attitude was even more positive than that of his serfs.

The most obvious ones are two guys standing above the camp with their bare upper bodies showing strong muscles and holding claw-like weapons in their hands.

It was just that Lance was sure of the enemy's situation at the first glance. It was unmistakable. The only ones who could appear here and dressed like this were Ascension Cultists. I don't know if these have planted [seeds].

You can probably tell that this is the camp where the Ascension Sect gathers and trains newcomers. It seems that some of the refugees who poured into the northern part of the empire from the great disaster have gone into the pockets of the ancestors. Otherwise, they would not have given a group of witches, and there would still be remaining people doing this here. .

If such places were common in the territory, he didn't even know how many refugees his ancestor had collected.

Damn it, he was the one who suffered the consequences of the empire's inability to provide disaster relief.

Make it harder for me, right?

Don't let me see the emperor of the empire, I...

Lance observed for a moment and quickly gathered his divergent thoughts because he discovered a strange phenomenon.

The people in the camp were all young and middle-aged men and women. I didn’t see anyone old or young. Moreover, their bodies did not look like they had been hungry for a long time. On the contrary, their faces were a bit ridiculously good and somewhat excited. If it weren’t for their conspicuous clothes, they would be hard to recognize. Out.

After the reconnaissance was completed, Lance quit and returned to the team to explain the situation.

"A camp of about two hundred people should be the place where the Ascension Sect trains new members. It is built on a masonry building left over from the past. Here..."

Lance picked up a branch and briefly explained the situation on the ground.

After killing the ghouls and destroying the tomb and continuing to perform the mission, Lance's direction was clear, which was to go all the way north to lay the foundation for the future Northern Expedition.

On the way, Wangcai was disciplined and trained. Under Figes's demonstration, Wangcai quickly learned the basics. His spirituality was no worse than that of a six or seven-year-old child.

With their two powerful senses of smell as the basis, the team's reconnaissance range became even more exaggerated.

This time, the human aura was discovered three kilometers in advance, and the existence of the camp was discovered one kilometer later. Lance touched it alone to confirm the situation, which led to the current scene.

The situation in the camp was quickly explained, and everyone knew that action was definitely going to be taken, but there were some details that needed to be determined.

Therefore, they unconsciously set their sights on Lance and waited for the lord's decision.

"Those people have been brainwashed to join the Ascension Sect, and there is no room for salvation." Lance said calmly, which was equivalent to a death sentence for those people.

The other people seemed to have known about the lord's choice for a long time, and they didn't react much.

After seeing the methods of the Ascension Sect, they understood that those who succumbed to the cult could no longer be called human beings.

"Are you going to wake up?" Boudica moved her limbs, as if she was looking forward to the battle ahead.

But Lance shook his head and dismissed her idea with one sentence.

"No, now is not the time."

"Why?"

"There are more than 200 people here and we only have four. Even if we include Fegus and Wangcai, there are only six. If we rush to kill them, let alone people, even if they are 200 pigs, we won't be able to catch them all in half a day.

On the contrary, once they disperse, they will pose a greater threat to us, so we must attack them accurately and annihilate them in one go. "

"Wangcai and I will stay here and keep an eye on them. You go back and bring me two hundred soldiers." Lance estimated the time and continued drawing with the branches in his hands. "Take this line and march in a day. Come on." Stop here for repairs, and then I will come over to find you..."

Lance briefly explained the situation, arranged things, and finally placed a branch on the camp and said solemnly: "I want to annihilate all these cultists and tell them who is the master of Hamlet!"

"Yes!" The others had no objection. They all knew how dangerous these guys were.

After the rest of the team left, Lance took Wangcai and went to spy.

There was actually a more important point he didn't mention just now. To maintain a camp of 100 people, the supplies consumed every day were not a small amount.

But he didn't see any fields being cultivated nearby, which meant that the supplies for this camp must have been brought in from outside. If you were lucky, you could find another resource point just by squatting.

Compared to a barracks, he was more concerned about whether he could destroy the Ascension Sect's resource points.

Development requires resources, and even the ancestor cannot violate this, otherwise he will not drain the entire territory to complete his plan.

And now Lance also needs more resources to complete his big plan. The income from the last plundering meeting in Owendo City can support his consumption in Totnes, not to mention the [Ascension] Potion] formula.

If you squat, you will earn it.

…………

The remaining blood in the ritual venue above the nameless village has not dissipated, and the scattered bones appear very messy after being damaged by animals.

At this time, a man with a resolute face rode in here on horseback. Under him was a brown mare with a diamond-shaped white patch on her forehead.

Their actions directly alarmed the crow on the corpse, which exploded and hovered in the air but refused to leave.

The crisp movement of the man turning over and dismounting showed off his strong figure. The exquisite armor and the two long swords on his back all showed that he was quite powerful.

His long gray hair was tied up in a ponytail, and there was a scar across his eye on the left side of his face, but it did not ruin his handsome face, but instead added a bit of special charm.

The most unique thing is that the man's eyes have golden vertical pupils, which is not something normal humans can have, making him look a bit weird.

The white-haired man's golden eyes glanced at the ceremony. He squatted beside the blood pool and raised his hand to touch it. He looked at the blood on his fingertips and murmured in a low voice.

"The strange demon sacrificed, the blood hasn't dried yet, and we haven't gone far..."

As he spoke, the man stood up and looked up to the north. This movement made the snarling wolf head pendant on his chest sway.

Many people want to win this commission. After all, Totnes officials have always been so generous.

The man mounted the horse without stopping for too long, raised his hand and patted it gently.

"Carrot, let's go."

The mare, which the man called Carrot, was docile to the man's voice and soon moved towards the north.

The man rode away from the circling crows and fell again, but before they could enjoy it too much, someone soon broke in and disturbed the crows, but this time it was a woman with a unique shape.

The woman was seen wrapped in a simple brown nun's dress, with a hood covering her face.

This is still a normal outfit, but the strange thing is that the woman is also wearing thick armor, holding a holy book in her right hand, and a metal hammer in her left hand.

From the battle-stained armor and the hammer, it can be seen that this woman has nothing to do with weakness, and it is obvious at a glance that she is not easy to mess with.

Compared with the calmness of the white-haired man in front of him when he saw the ceremony, when the woman saw this scene, she burst into rage, raised her warhammer high and roared.

"Blasphemy! Burn in the holy flames!"

A strange scene appeared. An imperceptible force was transmitted from her hands, sweeping across and dispelling the gloom lingering in the ceremony venue. However, most people could not feel anything, and they might feel that the environment became brighter.

But the woman's anger has not subsided, and her belief in the Holy Flame cannot tolerate such evil in this land of God.

"The holy flame guides me..." The woman put down the hammer, raised the holy scripture, and placed it on her forehead, murmuring some incomprehensible words.

Soon the woman seemed to have determined something and looked up to the north. At this time, the three-dimensional facial features on her face were revealed, and the lines were prominent and somewhat handsome.

But at this time, there was anger in her eyes, which was her firm belief in the Holy Flame.

As the woman embarked on her journey again, the dilapidated village returned to peace again, with only the hoarse cries of the circling crows.

Some people do it for the generous bounty, some do it for the faith in their hearts, but no one cares about the tragic death of the villagers, but this is the world...

Maybe someone will come to this village, but they can't wait any longer.

…………

Above the Ascension Camp, the refugee-turned-believers were undergoing training. They had no rules at all. They were simply brave and fierce, fighting among themselves constantly.

Judging from the looks of them, they all burst into crazy scenes, completely ignoring their opponents and their own injuries, and just attacked hard. I am afraid that the training of the barbarians in the mountains is not as ruthless as theirs.

It's not that this method is bad, on the contrary, returning directly to the most primitive competition can quickly screen out the guys with potential and courage. As long as they are ruthless enough, they can stand.

What if the cost is to screen out the waste?

"Flesh and blood soars!" A cultist roared, knocking down his opponent directly, and lying around him were those who showed that he had just survived the siege and even knocked down others.

At this time, his body was covered with various scars, and there were quite a few of them bleeding, but he was so excited that he couldn't even see any injuries.

The man felt the power in his body. It was hard to imagine that a month ago he was just a refugee who was about to starve to death, but now he has strong muscles like a bodybuilder and such powerful strength.

This is the great power given by God. He vowed to ascend and return to God...

And there was a person not far away who saw all this, but he looked disdainful.

"Fucking bad luck."

Lance complained. After squatting for almost a day and night, no one came into contact with the camp. He probably guessed that the camp supplies had not been exhausted yet, so it was not the right time.

Although Lance had already had psychological expectations for this kind of thing that was inherently a matter of chance, that's why he didn't tell them clearly.

But he was still a little unwilling to wait in vain. The appointed time was about to come, so he could only wait until the encirclement and suppression to see if he could capture a few miscellaneous fish to find out the news.

"Wangcai, let's go."

He asked Wangcai, who was almost going crazy with boredom, to withdraw from the camp and then come to the meeting point.

If the soldiers of the current era are from the empire, then they are just living for a living. If they are the signs of the nobility, the militiamen are even more cannon fodder. It is difficult for soldiers of this quality to march in a hurry. If they are asked to march, they will be like walking, and they will only collapse and run away. Time is the fastest.

But Hamlet's professional soldiers would not be like this. Adequate material support and high-intensity training allowed their bodies to support such an intense march.

Two hundred heavily armed elites had already gathered here. They knew their mission this time and were not afraid. On the contrary, they showed a bit of fanaticism.

Not everyone is qualified to stand beside the lord, they are the selected elite!

The team was led by Leonard, Barton, and Boudica, and William and Barristan happened to rotate. We couldn't cause problems in the town by deploying too many people. Public security was still very important.

"What we are facing this time is a cultist camp. There are about two hundred people inside. I need the team to be divided into two teams and surrounded from the left and right..."

Lance briefly explained the situation in the camp. There was nothing else to gain from this day, but the tactical arrangements had been deduced countless times.

Leonard and Barton each led a team, equipped with fifty long guns and fifty muskets. When the time came, Barton led the team to go around from the left and right to the back. When the enemy was attracted from the front, they immediately seized the ruins of the building and used it to block the camp. From the rear, the team led by Leonard charged forward.

Lance and the others were responsible for keeping an eye on the elites who were not afraid of bullets, and would go up to deal with them if the soldiers were unable to withstand them.

"Do you know the first time I met these cultists? At that time..."

Lance briefly talked about the raid on the cult's stronghold in the town, and then told some of the cult's methods.

His words immediately made the soldiers' emotions become agitated, and their faces could not help but show expressions of anger, disgust, and disgust. After all, everyone would feel uncomfortable with those cruel rituals.

Lance did not stop, but continued to talk about the situation before Hamlet. A group of cultists tried to disguise themselves and entered Hamlet to carry out massacre and spread the plague.

No matter how cruel it is, what I said earlier has nothing to do with me, but when it comes to this, many people participated in that battle, and I was the one who witnessed it.

When you know that these bloody and twisted rituals may happen to yourself or your family, this discomfort will turn into anger.

The expressions on all the soldiers' faces became filled with hatred. They clenched their weapons tightly, eager to get rid of those guys now.

Lance saw their reactions. He knew how to arouse the emotions of the soldiers before the battle, and emphasized in a very serious tone at the end.

"You should have seen what a cultist is. Those guys are no longer human. Their existence poses a threat to Hamlet. We must eliminate them without leaving any one behind. Do you understand?"

Lance glanced at everyone, no need to say too many words, everything was left unsaid.

"Check the equipment and let's go!"