After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

In their panic, they ran headlong into a golem that had sprung up from the ground, and were smashed to the ground by the giant's massive head, turning into a bloody mess.

Some Redeemers who were further away from the trap zone turned back to try to escape the forest, but they hadn't gone far when axes from deep underground severed their ankles.

"Aaaaaah—Waaaaah—!!"

The wounded soldiers clutched their severed Achilles tendons and howled in agony, while under their horrified gazes, a demon wearing a cheap cross-shaped necklace crawled out of the tunnel and stared intently at the wailing soldiers with bloodshot eyes filled with hatred.

Seeing the demon wearing a cross necklace, the soldier hurriedly took out his own cross and shouted:

"Fellow believers! Fellow believers! I am also a follower of the Church of Light! It's a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding!!!"

The demon swung his axe down.

After hacking the soldiers to pieces alive, he raised his axe and roared in the demon language:

"We do not believe in the God of Light! We only believe in the Light!"

Chapter Seven: Revenge for Blasphemy and Faith

The Redemption Army was annihilated. When Yang Hao arrived on the battlefield, after taking stock, he realized that the Redemption Army had been wiped out far more than just annihilated.

The text literally states that 80,000 people attacked the Monster Forest, and more than 20,000 corpses were left inside and outside the Monster Forest alone.

In addition, there were thousands of prisoners—if the elves hadn't kept them to test the waters, the demons would probably have chopped them to pieces with axes.

After all, the demons were truly ruthless. They chased the Redeemers all the way to where the priests had originally been before stopping. If the elves hadn't stopped them, they could have chased them all the way to the parish.

"We must further restrain the discipline of the demon army. Many of the casualties reported were caused by the demons' impulsiveness. However, on the other hand, we killed a priest and half of the Guardian Knights... This is already a gain beyond our expectations. Moreover, more than 5 defeated soldiers fled to the parish, which is also good news for us."

Yang Hao handed the statistical data in his hand to the elven commander, muttering to himself, "Even a bow maker who switched careers and hand-rolled gun barrels can be quite accurate." He then discussed the upcoming counterattack plan with the commander.

Clearly, the fleeing army, and the large number of fleeing soldiers, entering the parish's territory, is definitely not good news for the Church of Light.

These defeated soldiers had their faith shattered after witnessing the priest's death. Ultimately, they weren't fanatical believers; they had only chosen to worship the God of Light because of enticement and desperation. Once they realized that even powerful priests could die, they were even less likely to return to the parish.

Not to mention, parishes have always been cruel to the defeated. Furthermore, their very objective was to reduce the surplus population—only a fool would consider returning these defeated soldiers to parish jurisdiction; most of them would become roving bandits, plundering the parishes, wreaking havoc on the rural areas, and spreading rumors of the Redemption Army's defeat far and wide.

No matter how you look at it, this is a good thing.

But Yang Hao always felt that something was missing.

"Blasphemy against God, blasphemy against faith—these are the charges you've leveled against me..."

He muttered something to himself as he inspected the bodies that were about to be buried, accompanied by the elven commander—suddenly, he gestured for everyone to stop.

In the parish.

Burial is a privilege reserved for the most devout believers. And only the most devout believers are entitled to have their bodies prepared before burial.

If Yang Hao wants to take revenge on the parish, the best approach would be to target the prisoners and the corpses.

Desecrating corpses was not his forte, nor did he feel he needed to go to such lengths for revenge.

He was just thinking that cremation seemed to be the most taboo thing in the parish.

There was also burning at the stake.

The former is because the body cannot be preserved after cremation, and the God of Light does not accept believers without a body into heaven.

The latter is because burning at the stake was a punishment specifically prepared for heretics.

Either way, it's a cruel punishment for the parish's believers—and Yang Hao's orders were very simple: all the Redemption Army corpses were to be cremated with magic outside the Demon Forest, and all Redemption Army prisoners, after being interrogated by the demons to extract useful information, were to be burned at the stake on the burning corpses. But if it's just done like this, without the parish's many believers watching and appreciating it, how can it be considered "blasphemy" or "desecration of God"?

Ultimately, this only brings suffering to believers.

If the followers of the Church of Light do not personally insult the God of Light they worship, and if the followers of the Church of Light do not personally feel their faith crumbling... what is the point of Yang Hao's revenge?

He felt that he had become somewhat psychologically abnormal.

But then he thought of Theresa, who would always support him at home, and a warm feeling welled up in his heart.

Therefore, while the elves and demons were dealing with the corpses and interrogating the prisoners, Yang Hao found the accompanying elven mage and kindly asked him: Is there a spell that can broadcast everything that is happening here to the bishops of the diocese, so that the believers in the diocese can enjoy it?

What he meant was that he didn't need the childish tactics used when he was remotely admiring the Ysgard vanguard, nor the childish tactics used at the Elf Council.

What he wanted was something that could spread throughout almost the entire parish... something that could clearly present sound and images to every believer for their enjoyment, a precious treasure.

Faced with Yang Hao's kind question, the elven mage simply opened his mouth and then gestured on the ground:

"Yes. But that would require the Eagle Knights to fly over the parish and drop magic nodes along the way—and in that case, the duration would be no more than an hour..."

“An hour? That’s enough. An hour of scorching heat will naturally cause those prisoners to utter their dying curses at the God of Light they once worshipped, and those former believers who saw that insulting the God of Light had not been punished by heaven will naturally begin to doubt their faith—I have one more request.”

"Your Majesty, please speak."

"Make sure those prisoners can remain conscious for as long as possible when they are burned at the stake. The longer the better. The longer the better."

In an instant, cold sweat poured down the elven mage's forehead.

But seeing the Regent's joy, which resembled that of a child anticipating his birthday present, the mage, considering his position as an elf, chose blind obedience and loyalty.

He began preparing his spell. Just then, an elf approached and said, "A man claiming to be Roman, the village chief of Shkur, keeps calling your name and says he has some important information to report. What should we do?"

“Village chief?” Yang Hao was quite surprised, then sneered a few times: “I thought he would use the money I sent him to visit the military region, the capital, or the homes of nobles—but he actually showed up in the parish? He’s no good either. But whatever, let me hear what he has to say.”

In Yang Hao's memory, the village chief of Shikuer Village was a stingy person.

In the village, anyone who has made a contribution is credited with his excellent teaching, and anyone who has caused trouble is made to take responsibility. But if it is his own son who has caused trouble, then the village chief will protect him to the death, and may even force some isolated villagers without any cliques to take the blame for his son.

But for the sake of the fact that Shikuer Village was, in a sense, his own home, Yang Hao still gave the village chief a considerable sum of money after he became successful—and then? And then there was nothing more.

The fact that the village chief remembered his own name before he died already shocked Yang Hao. But when he walked up to the prisoners and saw the village chief, dressed in cheap leather armor and tied to the ground, his eyes widened in shock.

He stared at the village on the ground, their faces beaming with obsequious smiles, for a long while. Finally, he sighed:

“Even if Priscilla came over, she would say that you are now a gambler.”

"I, I—this, I—"

The village chief stammered, seemingly unsure of what he intended to argue about. Yang Hao, not wanting to listen to his nonsense, simply had the demon holding the axe beside him strike Yang Hao's old back hard with the axe handle before speaking:

"I don't have time, so you can choose to say what you need to say quickly. Maybe then I'll let you off the hook because of our past relationship."

"I, I said—ouch! I said—!"

The village chief stammered that this was news he had overheard from a powerful figure who had gone to brothel with demon women after he made a fortune in the Demon City's "Fighting Demons."

The news spread that Bishop Stephen, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expeditionary Force, decided to set fire to the Monster Forest to facilitate the upcoming war and escape the predicament of jungle warfare. But the village chief never imagined he'd end up owing money to the Redemption Army! So he completely forgot about the news. Now, because he's about to ascend to heaven, the village chief has racked his brains to remember this important matter...

"Please, please! Little Yang Hao! For my sake, I'm your village chief, for my sake, for my good upbringing of you, and for telling you such important information, spare my life!"

The village chief wept bitterly, while Yang Hao remained silent, asking an unrelated question: Where are the other villagers of Shikuer Village?

When the village chief was questioned, his face turned green. But under the intimidation of the magic cast by the elven mage, he confessed honestly: he had sold the villagers to ranchers in the west because he had heard that they needed serfs to care for livestock.

Yang Hao remained silent for a while, then asked again: "What about the money I gave you?"

The village chief looked somber: "My son betrayed me. I heard he went to the parish to live a life of debauchery, so I sold out the villagers and came to the parish myself...blah blah blah."

Yang Hao was speechless.

Seeing the village chief crying and complaining about how difficult things had been for him lately, he gestured to the demons to untie him.

Then, before the village chief could even rejoice, he spoke up:

"I'm letting you go in my personal capacity. Demons, deal with them yourselves."

The village chief, his face ashen, was bound to a cross by the demons and cried out in despair:

"You said you would let me go?!"

"I've let you go, but the family of the demon woman you violated has no intention of letting you off the hook. And fighting demons? I'll remember that."

The village chief was thus bound to a makeshift cross along with the other wailing and weeping prisoners. Some, not having time to use ready-made crosses, were simply glued directly to the surface of the stone golem.

Stone Golem led the prisoners into the center of the magically dug pit. Once the corpses began to burn, Golem himself would roast the prisoners bound to him like an oven until they were charred on the outside and tender on the inside—but Yang Hao was in no hurry to let the eager demons set the fire immediately.

He just waited patiently, very patiently. He looked with eager eyes at the large pit filled with corpses, at the cross standing in the pit, and at the golem using himself as an oven.

He turned back with concern, telling the curious Ling tribespeople who had followed him to close their eyes and go back. He said that something that would give everyone nightmares was about to happen, but the Ling tribespeople were kind by nature and didn't need to see it.

He waited until the sun was high overhead, until the mage stepped forward and had several eagle knights land and cast spells on them, before he spoke:

"How are the preparations going?"

The monk nodded wearily and said: It's done.

At that time, everything that happens here will be sent to various parts of the diocese by the Eagle Knights, hovering above the major towns and cities of the diocese, so that everyone can witness everything that is about to happen here without any blind spots, and watch the believers being burned to death, and the desperate scene of believers cursing the God of Light but being unable to receive divine punishment or grace.

This will deal a heavy blow to the morale and cohesion of the parish. The reason why the parish is currently the most successful force in the Roman Empire is entirely because their believers have fanatical faith, their gods have seemingly great divine grace, their priests wield great power, and they have almost never experienced a single large-scale defeat.

Now, large-scale failures have occurred, and faith is gradually collapsing, starting with the captives. They will witness believers being burned at the stake and cremated, unable to ascend to heaven. They will see priests reduced to mere lower halves of their bodies, and they will realize...

The God of Light will not save them. At the very least, the God of Light will not save these lowly, unworthy people.

...This would completely threaten the diocese's rule. And in order to solve this major problem, Bishop Stephen had to fight a decisive battle with himself as soon as possible...a decisive battle at a time when the diocese's northern expeditionary force was not ready and its morale had been severely damaged.

Therefore, we must seize the opportunity to launch a further attack. Only in this way can we truly blaspheme the faith of the Church of Light and their gods.

Yang Hao accepted the cool water the elf offered and drank it all in one gulp.

He snapped his fingers, watched the flames rise before him, watched them grow into a raging inferno, watched the prisoners wail in agony yet remain unkilled by the flames, and heard with his own ears the earth-shattering prayers and the curses that followed their shattering as the flames burned flesh—

"Commander, follow me—let's expand our gains. Let's plunge the largest religion in the Roman Empire into utter hell while the parish is in chaos due to the collapse of faith."

He turned around, losing all interest in what was before him.

After all, this is just tormenting the followers of the Church of Light. No suspense, no fun. Only two thousand people will die; the parish's methods can still manage to handle the chaos.

So what he wanted to do was torment the faith of the Church of Light and the God of Light himself. He wanted to torment their God in front of everyone in the parish.

Then they trampled on the faith that they had dedicated everything to, that had sold their wives and daughters for a few words of atonement, and that, in order to ascend to heaven, had a heart that seemed to have been tempered and was actually incredibly filthy.

...and then, the saintess should realize the truth.

She worshipped nothing more than a usurper, a false god, and a foolish and incompetent traitor.

"Yang, Yang Hao—please! Please let me go!! Aww?! It's so hot?! It's so hot!!"

Behind him came the village chief's screams and pleas. Yang Hao simply shook his head and said, "First, ask the villagers you sold to the west for forgiveness."

..........

When Bishop Stephen was woken from his early sleep by his servant, he was still savoring the wonderful experience he had had with the little boy model at the courthouse the previous night.

He subconsciously remarked, "Werewolves are really tight," and subconsciously reached out to wipe the drool that was flowing freely from his mouth as he slept. Just as he subconsciously asked what was going on, Bishop Stephen noticed the attendant's strange yet solemn face.