Our family is in decline

"You mean they are running away?"

"According to the traces, they invaded from the south, but they should have lost control after dawn. The traces left behind show that they are moving away from Hamlet."

Laura quickly reported the results of the reconnaissance. Lance was speechless after listening to it. He still overestimated those guys. He wanted to wait for them to come and show them to the people.

But they didn't expect that they were scared when the ancestor died. What kind of fanatical belief is this? The ancestor didn't even have a person who was willing to die for him. He was really a clown.

"We also found some destroyed villages and towns along the way. Basically no one was spared. Those guys have completely degenerated into cultists and started to lose control."

Laura added a sentence. Lance couldn't help but frowned when he heard this, but he didn't rush to react, but continued to understand.

"How many enemies are there?"

"The main reason is that they are not all gathered together, but have begun to disperse. We are not sure in a short time, but the total number should be around one thousand, and the most should be two or three hundred."

"Is Hamlet a place where they can come and go as they please?" Lance made a decision immediately, "Come on! Call the guards immediately and ask Reynard to come."

"Sir." Reynard came quickly, because the senior officials did not take a vacation, and he was busy discussing a detailed plan with the army.

Not only the senior officials of the army, but also other decision-makers in Hamlet are busy preparing for a new round of war.

The lord gives the general direction and strategic planning, and they are responsible for improvement and implementation. It has always been like this.

"Those invading cultists want to run... If we let them scatter and escape, it will be difficult for us to have a chance to catch them all, so I want them to die!"

"I will lead the cavalry to wipe out these guys as soon as possible."

Lance explained the current situation briefly and quickly, and Reynard also knew that the opportunity was not to be missed, and there was only one reason for calling him here, that is, to give full play to the mobility of the cavalry.

But Lance shook his head to explain.

"Those are cultists. They destroyed many villages and towns and killed countless people. It's too easy to kill them like this. They must be severely punished!

You lead the guards, one person with two horses. I will arrange Laura to guide you. You don't need to do anything else. Just catch as many of those guys as you can. I will arrange logistics to escort the rest back."

Lance emphasized, "I don't want to affect the main business, so I want to see them all arrested before the vacation ends, understand?"

"I understand." Reynard naturally heard the lord's meaning.

These cultists running around obviously disrupted the lord's plan, and their killings angered the lord even more. That's not something that death can solve.

This is more of a capture operation than an extermination operation, which is bound to be not very good.

But bullying and abuse are not allowed in the army, because the lord believes that starting this will corrode the will of the soldiers and lead to the moral decline of the soldiers.

So the only way to do the dirty work is to use the special organization of the guards.

Moreover, those were cultists. Ordinary people would have to cripple them before going up to harvest them, so they would not be able to catch many. It was most reasonable that the strength of the Royal Guards could crush those guys.

Without further ado, Reynard prepared immediately. Soon, the Royal Guards and war horses were assembled at the fastest speed and rushed out.

And Lance took the opportunity to fully deploy reconnaissance, and at the same time arranged logistics to follow up to prepare to receive prisoners, and also for the next war.

Reynard felt the lord's anger.

Was it because of the civilians killed by the cultists?

Maybe, but more of it was the dissatisfaction of the plan being destroyed.

According to the original plan, those guys should come here, so that the people can see that the invading enemies are real, and it also gives him an excuse to really start a war.

But the problem is that those idiots actually ran away, and Lance could only catch them back for a show.

He considered arranging the Royal Guards to take action and catch those cultists as much as possible. One very important reason is that the materials of the sanatorium have been consumed too much recently.

In the past, Paracelsus was alone, so he could do whatever he wanted.

But with so many researchers with medical backgrounds joining in, the research progress has been accelerated while the consumption has also increased.

Under normal circumstances, where would there be so many death row prisoners? Lance is not the ancestor, and even if he is the ancestor, he knows that human experiments need to be concealed.

But the cultists are definitely deserving of death, and they can be taken directly to the sanatorium without identification.

Whether it is the transfer of war horses or the guards, as well as the cancellation of vacations for reconnaissance and some logistics, some people in the circle can feel that something is wrong.

And now there is no need to conceal the news of the cult remnants, instead Lance spreads it.

The surrounding nobles and the cult remnants are invading Hamlet, killing many people and destroying many villages and towns.

When the news spread, those more educated and more fanatical soldiers began to ferment rapidly after losing Lance's suppression.

Most of Hamlet's army is composed of good families, all of whom have families, and now they are on vacation, which makes it easy for the soldiers to be emotional and bring a whole family.

So the original Victory Day holiday turned into a day of constant requests for battle the next day.

What holiday? It doesn't exist. They want to kill those guys and recapture the whole territory of Hamlet!

The people's hearts can be used...

The guards led by Reynard are even more swift, because it would be troublesome to let them go.

One man and two horses, spared no effort, and ran all the way with the guidance of the falcon hovering above his head.

...

The Ascension Sect did develop a lot of believers in the surrounding areas, including some more ambiguous high-level people.

But don't forget that there are still churches in those places, so they are destined to only influence a part of them, and it is difficult to show up in the open.

This makes it basically impossible to completely control a territory, at least in the short term.

Owendo is so easily corrupted by the Ascension Sect because of the river transport terminal and the active trade in the throat.

But these territories are still the type of inland areas that are mainly traditional agriculture, that is, the influence of the church is more severe.

So if you say that the church is really useless, it is not. Its existence does suppress the spread of cults.

But none of this matters anymore. In this context, only a part of the Ascendant Sects can be pulled out after being pushed into a corner.

Those teams, which consisted of a few noble knights and a mixture of mercenaries, serfs and cultists, quickly degenerated after several killings and all became cultists.

Because they can really feel the power gained by devouring flesh and blood, which is simply irresistible to them.

This is why Lance chooses to bless and strengthen soldiers, usually either in battle, after training, or on occasions with special significance, such as award ceremonies.

It is to highlight their own efforts, rather than completely destroying their humanity, so that they think in their consciousness that this is not a gift from the lord, but the result of their own efforts and the effect they deserve.

In short, it is to establish a correct feedback mechanism, otherwise they will fall into endless hunger and madness like these.

Now these teams are controlled by those cult casters, and those few noble knights have become their guards.

These cultists are not disloyal to the ancestors. In fact, the brainwashing ability of the cult is the same as the ideological stamp.

But as the leading spellcaster, he still retains some of his brains, and the interesting thing is that this group of people can be said to have been suppressed by Lance, and they know what kind of hell place Hamlet is.

With the extreme darkness and the arrival of the blood moon, they all received the [Great Blessing] and of course they are not afraid, but the emptiness brought by the rapid fading of the power after dawn is enough to calm their crazy brains.

In addition, after dawn, they completely lost the guidance of God, and the leader was not here, so those cult spellcasters knew that the situation was over and did not dare to attack Hamlet as fearlessly as before.

Before, they rushed forward in a hurry, and with the constraints of those noble knights, there was no massacre of villages and towns.

This is not that those noble knights are good people, but simply because they came to annex these places. Who will work if all the people are dead? You can't let the master come, right?

But these guys are slaves of flesh and blood, and the emptiness caused by the fading of the great blessing after dawn makes them crazy.

The caster also understood that he had to find a force to appease them, otherwise the Ascension Sect would really exist in name only.

Although they did not dare to attack Hamlet, they had the courage to bully ordinary people, and they were very brave.

So they began to wreak havoc around, relying on killing to maintain the internal situation, and at the same time quickly corrupting others.

Now the cultists have only one way to go. While Hamlet has not reacted, they can kill and plunder and accumulate quickly, and then turn around and lurk like countless other cults, waiting for the opportunity.

So the team began to disperse and prepare for further massacres.

In an unknown village in Hamlet, some people who escaped after the catastrophe opened up fields in the wilderness, and then slowly developed a village with hundreds of people over the years.

After the decline of Hamlet, there was no energy to manage this side, and the lords outside could not control it. Without the multi-party exploitation of bureaucrats, there were no farmers, so the village has always been relatively peaceful.

It's a pity that the tranquility was suddenly broken today, and a group of people rushed in from nowhere.

It can be seen that these people's equipment is in a mess, most of them are spears, and some are swords and the like. Their clothes are also in a mess. Many people are stained with blood and become smelly. They look no different from robbers.

The village has encountered robbers for many years. Although it is chaotic, some people have shouted to organize a counterattack. The determination to defend their property is still very strong.

The young and strong picked up those pitchforks and spears, and the hunters in the village also pulled the bowstrings. The two sides collapsed as soon as they touched.

They are not at the same level at all. There are spellcasters hidden among those cultists. If they go up and cast a spell, those ordinary people will collapse. Once the formation is messed up, they have no ability to resist.

The old hunter desperately plucked the bowstring and shot arrows one by one to save the situation. They accurately landed on those crazy cultists, but the effect was not obvious.

Although the cultists have lost the great blessing of the ancestors, the flesh and blood mutation still exists, giving them strength and recovery ability far beyond ordinary people.

The old hunter who was still resisting was also targeted by the cult priest. The soul-stealing spell fell on him. He was stunned for a moment before he was chopped down by a mercenary who came out of nowhere.

"Run!" The old hunter struggled to look to the side when he fell down, uttered the last words, and then was chopped to death.

Those who dared to resist were killed, and the rest would undoubtedly be a massacre...

"Run!"

"Don't kill me, I'll give you money, all of it!"

"Ahhh!"

Some people ran away desperately with terrified expressions, but suddenly there was a sound behind them, and before the man could react, he "flew" up the next second.

The fully armored knight rode and charged, and the lance instantly picked up the one who wanted to escape in front.

The man did not die immediately, but was struggling on the gun, but such a scene attracted the knight's crazy laughter, cruel and crazy.

"Hahaha!"

He chased the villagers who were fleeing like a cat catching a mouse, and his desire for wanton killing was high!

A young man escaped from the chaotic village. From the hunting bow in his hand, it can be seen that he is one of the hunters in the village.

At this time, his expression was full of anger. He just saw his father die at the hands of those guys.

But he couldn't hide his fear, because he saw with his own eyes that those people healed after being shot with arrows. It was impossible to defeat these monsters!

However, his face changed at this time, because the sound of horse hooves sounded behind him. He didn't have time to look back and subconsciously rolled sideways to avoid the blood-stained lance.

The knight was also a little surprised. He didn't expect to encounter a rabbit that resisted, which brought a little fun to his hunting.

He just got up and faced the knight who turned around. Indescribable feelings filled his heart, as if he was stared at by a beast.

The next second, the knight who turned his horse's head charged, and the hunter's hair stood up instantly and ran away.

But how could an ordinary person outrun a four-legged horse? After rolling twice in a row, he seemed to feel the knight's teasing. In despair of not being able to escape, he chose to turn around and raise his hand to shoot an arrow.

The arrow that symbolized the last struggle only made a slight dent on the armor and bounced off, but the knight had already charged.

He looked indescribably terrified at the lance pointed at him...

"Bang!"

A sudden gunshot echoed, and the knight's charging figure couldn't help but pause, forcibly interrupting his charge. When he looked back, he saw a man sitting upright on the horse, with a lance in his hand still emitting gunpowder smoke...

Thanks to [DK277] for the 1100 reward