Chapter 234: Snake Cult Storm
Factional struggles are bound to exist in any human political system, and the same is true for the Snake Cult.
The Snake Cult can actually be divided into two factions, the 'Cobra' and the 'Viper', which is also due to the struggle between the Snake Cult priestesses.
Over the past hundred years, priestesses have been continuously sent to the continent of Pendor - the temple priestesses believe that this is a kind of exile, and most of the priestesses sent to the continent of Pendor are losers in political struggles.
These losers shared the same fate, and they formed an alliance on the continent of Pendor and established the 'Cobra' faction.
From Snake Cult followers to Snake Cult warriors, and then to Cobra Warriors, they have established a different hierarchy of believers in the continent of Pendor.
This is in line with the culture of the native lords of Pendor. The priestesses are like lords, the cobra warriors are like knights following them, and the snake cult warriors are like followers.
However, these priestesses who were exiled to the continent of Pendor are still loyal to the Snake Cult, and will also cooperate with some orders from the Snake Cult Temple in the continent of Amara - after all, the priestesses have been brainwashed since childhood, and even internal strife will not affect their loyalty to the Snake Cult itself.
But after all, they are divided into two continents. The temple cannot control the Cobra faction, and the priestesses of the Pendor continent will only obey "part of the orders".
The 'Viper Sect' is basically the native snake worshippers of the Amara continent. These worshippers come from the Old Cubax Empire, so the system is not as clearly structured as that of the Pendor continent - the Old Cubax Empire does not have lord culture, and the Viper Sect's warriors have the same status as ordinary worshippers, and their leaders are called generals like Bacchus.
Because the military and political system of the native Snake Cult of the Amala continent had been in chaos for more than a hundred years, it was difficult for the temple priestesses to truly control the military power, and the Snake Cult gradually got out of control.
In many cases, the orders of the temple would be obeyed in public but disobeyed in private - this was also normal, as few orders issued by the temple priestesses were reliable. The generals of the Viper Faction obeyed the orders of the priestesses on the surface and were very respectful to the priestesses who accompanied the army, but they would never obey the priestesses in everything.
Under such circumstances, the authority of the temple is naturally not as strong as before. If it were not for the Legion of Dread's mission to eliminate rebellion, the Snake Cult would have fallen apart long ago.
But the problem is that the Legion of Terror is not loyal to the High Priest.
In fact, not even the Temple's Council of Priestesses could issue any orders to the Legion of Terror.
The Legion of Dread holds a special position in the Snake Cult, and Maltis is not interested in anything other than rebellion and fighting, so he cannot be bribed.
Moreover, this terrifying legion would not have any dependence on the Snake Cult Temple - all of them were resurrected undead, requiring neither supplies nor enjoyment.
In fact, before the death of the first talented high priest, any legion infantryman in Maltis's Dread Legion had a much higher status than the temple priestess.
Because the Legion of Terror was once the Snake Cult's rebellion army, they only do two things: one is to fight against the Snake Cult troops that betrayed the Great Serpent God Azi Dahaka; the other is to conquer those difficult enemies.
Maltis would ignore any other orders...
This also means that in the current Snake Cult, the high priest in the temple basically has no control over any external military power, and only the temple guards are under the control of the high priest.
The current high priest actually has some ideas. After all, once he comes to power, he naturally hopes to break the situation of elections every four years...
She wanted to take control of external military power into her own hands.
To this end, she used Alyssa as a blade and designed a series of conspiracies and tricks.
First, the high priest said that Alyssa had absconded after poisoning all the temple priestesses, and a large-scale investigation was needed.
But in fact, Elisa has always been in the hands of the high priest's trusted warriors.
Afterwards, the high priest summoned the leaders of the Viper Cult at the temple, expressing his suspicion that Elisa's rebellion was related to the army, and announced that he would investigate the rebellion.
At the same time, the high priest secretly sent Elisa to the camp of one of the most powerful generals of the Viper Faction, in order to falsely accuse the general of conspiring with Elisa to rebel.
After all, Alyssa did intend to poison and kill all the priestesses in the temple, including the high priest - this was indeed a crime of treason of the highest level.
Since there are indeed traitors who are temple priests appearing in the military camp, Maltis's Legion of Terror will naturally come forward to quell the rebellion.
So the general and a small number of disobedient Snake Cult warriors were killed by Maltis's Legion of Terror, but Alyssa "escaped again " - the high priest thought that Alyssa, a real sinner who had poisoned people, was quite useful, so he hid Alyssa again.
The reason for doing this is to be able to use Elisa, the real treasonous sinner, to drive Maltis's Legion of Terror again in the future - such a high-end traitor who can cause the Legion of Terror to be dispatched is not easy to find, so of course we must cherish it.
I don't know how Maltis judges the truth and lies. Maybe Maltis can get oracles from Az Dahaka to judge the truth. Anyway, false accusations and forged orders have never been able to mobilize the Legion of Terror, and Maltis will not pay attention to rebellions that are too low in level.
But the rebellion of a temple priestess like Elisa would obviously have a great impact. As long as the situation is true, the Legion of Terror will definitely be dispatched.
After the Legion of Terror killed the general, the high priest successfully placed his own confidant in the position of general, and completed the control of the army under the deterrence of the Legion of Terror.
——She said that if this army did not obey her command, all the soldiers would be killed by the Legion of Terror as traitors, and would not be able to rest in peace even after death.
If you are a traitor to the Snake Cult and are killed by the Legion of Terror, your fate will be miserable indeed, and it will not just be death...
The Legion of Dread represents the greatest fear even within the Snake Cult.
Because traitors or sinners of the Snake Cult will be devoured by the Dread Legion at the Snake Cult's altar - literally devoured, their flesh and blood eaten away by the Dread Legion's python riders.
After their flesh and skin are eaten alive, the betrayers will also have their "sinful souls annihilated into the abyss" at the altar of Azdahaka, eventually becoming "the Devoured".
This kind of "devoured" is generally equivalent to having its soul devoured and its flesh and blood eaten, leaving only a skeleton-like body. However, this body will still be driven by those giant python knights until it is completely reduced to dust.
In the eyes of the Snake Cult believers, this is equivalent to never being able to turn over and being forever sunk in a painful hell.
In fact, the Devoured of the Snake Cult are very similar to the Fallen of the Dark Goddess Cult.
They all lost their flesh and blood, and their souls were devoured by some existence.
However, in the Dark Goddess sect, the fallen ones voluntarily offer their flesh and souls to the Dark Goddess in exchange for powerful power. This is more like an active transaction.
In the Snake Cult, those who are devoured are all sinners of the sect, but they will also gain power from it...
The logic of the two sides is completely different, but the result is indeed the same - the Devoured and the Corrupted are both zombies without flesh and blood and with infinite strength.
Obviously, the powerful strength they obtained was probably just an inevitable phenomenon after becoming undead - the undead who had lost consciousness would no longer be affected by the human body's own protective mechanism, and they could exert all the power that the human body could theoretically exert.
The followers of the Snake Cult are extremely afraid of being devoured. In their doctrines, this punishment imposed on rebels means that they will endure endless torture in the abyss of hell and will never be able to escape.
They are not afraid of death, but they are afraid of going to hell - most cult believers are like this. In their eyes, death is just waiting in advance on the road to heaven, but they cannot accept the "annihilation of their souls" by the gods they believe in.
The high priestess successfully obtained the first army that obeyed her alone.
This was the first high priest in many years who had truly succeeded in seizing a large amount of military power - such an achievement greatly increased the confidence of the current high priest and naturally gave rise to bigger ideas.
But this kind of frame-up can obviously only be used once in the mainland of Amara. After all, Alyssa has been "escaped". It would be too fake if she could appear in another general's camp...
And the other generals have also been prepared.
Besides, if Maltis found out that this was a lie, he might ask the Legion of Terror to kill the high priest and elect a new one...
Therefore, the high priest turned his attention to the continent of Pendor.
This kind of frame-up may not be used in the continent of Amara, but it is natural to use it in the continent of Pendor - the priestesses of the Cobra faction often disobey the orders of the temple. Although this is more due to the inconvenience of information transmission between the two continents, it is not unfair to say that they are rebellious.
In this way, the Legion of Terror can still be used as a sword, and the great traitor Alyssa can still be useful.
On the one hand, the high priest intended to take control of the armies of the priestesses of the Cobra faction - those priestesses had been losers in the political struggle, and in the high priest's view, she would definitely be able to kill or control those losers and take control of the Cobra faction's army.
Moreover, the Cobra faction basically uses the logic of the lord. The priestesses lead the army personally, without the middleman of the "general". The believers of the Cobra faction will be more mentally adapted to being controlled by a dictatorial priestess than the Viper faction.
On the other hand, the high priestess intends to personally conquer the Bacchus Empire of the Pendor Continent - with such an achievement, she will surely become the true ruler of the entire Snake Cult, controlling everything just like the first generation of high priestess.
So she exiled Elisa to the continent of Pendor, and asked her trusted warriors to take Elisa to become a member of the Cobra Sect. At the same time, she sent an order to the priestesses of the Cobra Sect in the continent of Pendor to besiege the Port of Emperors. In the name of the Temple Priests Council, she required the Snake Worshipers of the continent of Pendor to meet up with her expeditionary force in the Port of Emperors.
This was actually to gather all the priestesses of the Cobra Sect at the Imperial Port, and then the High Priest could use the name of "Alyssa joined forces with the Cobra Sect to rebel" to encourage the Legion of Terror to go out and suppress the rebellion again, so that she could seize the armies of the priestesses on the continent of Pendor - the same method could indeed be used again on the continent of Pendor.
And this time she wanted to achieve multiple goals in one go, not only to capture Dilingang and create good conditions for conquering the Bacchus Empire, but also to control a large number of troops and make herself a true dictator.
The high priest then launched a mobilization for an expedition to Pendor at the Temple of Amarar.
The order to expedition to Pendor did receive a widespread response from the continent of Amara, because the continent of Amara had been facing a long period of famine, and going to the continent of Pendor to get some food was in line with the wishes of most believers.
So the high priestess began to form a huge expeditionary force with the army she had just controlled as the main body, gathered the Snake Cult troops at several ports near the temple, and then began to mobilize supplies.
However, what the high priest did not expect was that before the army's supplies were prepared, a fleet from the Bacchus Empire suddenly arrived on the continent of Pendor, causing great chaos in various ports.
The high priestess herself had no idea how to command a naval battle, and the trusted general she had just promoted probably wasn't very good at it either. Facing the fleet of the Bacchus Empire, he reacted too slowly, resulting in a large number of warships and docks being destroyed, and the military rations that had been gathered with great difficulty were also burned to ashes.
Now it may be difficult for the expeditionary force to set out...
As a result, the trusted warriors who took Alyssa to the continent of Pendor lost contact with the high priest - the port was destroyed, and the expeditionary force led by the high priest failed to set out as scheduled.
On the contrary, the independent legion of the Dread Legion had already set out before the accident at the port - the Dread Legion did not need supplies, and they were not waiting at the port at that time.
Naturally, the high priest's plan went awry.
After those trusted warriors brought Alyssa to the continent of Pendor, they landed at the coastal village of Serindir west of Emperor's Harbor, and then lurked there - because the expeditionary force never arrived and Emperor's Harbor had never been captured, they could only find another landing point.
But this resulted in them being unable to receive follow-up instructions and unable to carry out the high priest's plan.
The high priest asked them to take Alyssa to Emperor's Port and join the Cobra faction as a priestess exiled to Pendor.
But the expeditionary force has not arrived yet, and the Imperial Port has always been in the hands of the Bacchus Empire. Although it has been attacked by the Snake Cult of Pende and is on the verge of collapse, it just won't fall...
They couldn't go to Dilingang. These trusted warriors knew that Elisa was a rebel who poisoned the high priest, but they could neither deal with her at will nor let her come into contact with the snake worshippers in Pendor.
Therefore, they did not dare to act rashly, but hid in Thrindir and waited.
As a result, Alyssa naturally failed to join the Cobra faction, and she didn't even meet the priestess alliance that was exiled to the continent of Pendor.
This meant that the Legion of Dread did not launch an attack on the Cobra faction on the continent of Pendor - because they did not rebel.
Martis could indeed tell the truth from the oracle in some way.
Therefore, the Legion of Dread did not attack Emperor's Port at all, nor did it stay near Emperor's Port.
This legion seemed to have spontaneously come up with a new goal - Siyuan City.
After all, the Legion of Terror didn't need supplies, so Maltis sailed along the coastline for a few more days and then landed at Qiza Village.
Ordinary troops cannot land in Qiza because there is no dock for large warships, and large ships can easily run aground in the shallow harbor.
Only the fearful legion of undead warriors who knew no fatigue and were powerful could forcibly go ashore directly from the gentle beach - they did not need supplies or breathing, and even their war horses were not living creatures. As long as there was a gentle slope, they could even ride their horses directly onto the shore from the bottom of the sea...
The Dread Legion went to the direction of Siyuan City, the High Priest's fleet never arrived, and Dilingang Port was never captured...
The high priest and his trusted warriors now had no way of carrying out their tasks.
Staying in one place for a long time would naturally give the criminals an opportunity to take advantage of it. In addition, Alyssa was good at using poison and was beautiful...
As a result, two nights ago, Alyssa gave a kiss to a Snake Cult warrior who was staring at her face with his eyes wide open.
That was the high priest's trusted warrior. Just a few minutes after being kissed, this guy convulsed all over and fell into a coma. It was estimated that there was no hope of saving him - the priestess had been trained with poison since childhood, and the toxin on her red lips was basically as toxic as that of a viper.
Then Alyssa got the Black Iron Spear and ran away.
In order to escape successfully, she also put on a piece of ill-fitting leather armor and disguised herself as a follower of the native Snake Cult of Pendor.
In fact, she had already successfully escaped.
Knowing that there were Cobra priestesses gathered near Diling Port, Alyssa originally ran to Diling Port. She originally planned to join the Cobra faction and explain the conspiracy of the high priest to these priestesses, which would definitely enable her to gain the protection and even support of the local priestesses of Pendor.
But since it was her first time in Pendor and she had not seen much of the world, she did not expect that Pendor was so clearly divided into different classes. As a result, she met a Cobra Warrior near Dilingang Port. The Cobra Warrior had obviously never seen such a beautiful 'Snake Cult follower' and planned to take her back to enjoy.
The result was obvious, there was another victim under Alyssa's red lips.
So Elisa was chased by the Snake Cult warriors under the Cobra Warriors all the way to Buyulin Village, and then she luckily met Lisadilan.
Of course, even if she hadn't met Lisadiran, she would probably have been able to escape. The priestess with the black iron spear in her hand was actually quite capable...
However, when encountering an army dealing with the Snake Cult, Alyssa would of course try to see if she could get protection. After all, she was not sure whether she would be retaliated by the Snake Cult of Pendor if she killed the Cobra Warrior...
"Commander, I understand the hissing... way of thinking of the followers of the Divine Cult. I know how to deal with them... Perhaps this will be helpful for you to formulate strategies and tactics...hiss."
Alyssa began to recommend herself to the lord.
"Now I roughly understand why those Snake Worshipers abandoned Dilingang and turned to attack my troops... If that's the case, then Dilingang is actually not under much pressure... Everyone, we have to find a way to get the troops guarding Dilingang to attack the Snake Worshipers!"
The lord did understand. The local snake worshippers of Pendor who attacked Dilingang had been attacking Dilingang for three full months, but they had not seen the arrival of the expeditionary force of the high priest.
But restricted by the temple's orders, the snake worshippers dared not withdraw their troops...
Now that my reinforcements have arrived, they will of course abandon Dilingang and turn around to attack me - regardless of whether they can defeat me or not, they can take the opportunity to withdraw from this messy battle of attacking Dilingang!
