"There are … so many of them?"
Looking at the pairs of eyes of different colors that were glittering with the brilliance named 'expectation', as if they had turned into thousands of scorching hands that were going to hold him high on the altar, Gus had all kinds of feelings, as if he were in another world.
Only three months ago, he had been a nobody who had been bullied and ridiculed in a small town in the north. He had been a dust that danced in the wind, a chess piece that nobody knew why he was born and why he was fighting.
But right now, so many people believed from the bottom of their hearts that he was the 'saint' who could save the world and lead them to find the meaning of survival and battle.
As for him, was he as clear as they expected about what kind of mission he was shouldering and where he was going?
Biting his lips hard, Gus swallowed the bitter smile that was full of confusion and helplessness.
Waving his arms, the young man was determined. Deceiving himself, he led the believers of the Steam Machine Sect who had run out of options to move forward.
Closer and closer. They were getting closer and closer to the main battlefield.
That could be proved by the more and more intense noises on the ground and the more and more intense smell of blood in the air.
The main battlefield was only one step away from them. At such a distance, the sounds of fighting from both sides were like demonic sounds that filled their heads. They couldn't help but feel short of breath, feel numb, and clench their fists hard.
The smell of blood was so intense that it condensed into a mist that looked like a red veil, making it difficult for them to move forward.
More and more broken corpses appeared in front of them.
There were also warped, deformed, and burning war machines.
The solemn and delicate robes of the priests of the Fist God Temple were trampled into the mud by pairs of iron feet. Even the bodies of the priests were trampled into colorful meat pies.
The broken bones of human beings pierced the steam boilers into honeycombs that were riddled with holes. The high-pitched and high-pitched steam horns could only cry out because of air leakage.
The Iron Fist Army and the Steam Army were mortal enemies when they were alive. They tried everything to kill each other. They even dug with their fingers, bit with their teeth, tore each other's throats, and drank each other's blood until they were entangled with each other's throats and fell into the non-existent hell together.
After they died, their intertwined corpses looked like a pair of undying lovers who had committed suicide together. They were even burned by the flames into strange, inseparable statues.
The closer they got, the denser and denser the weird, crooked statues became. Also, the ground under their feet became softer and softer. This was literally a 'mountain of corpses and a sea of blood'. When they stepped on the ground, the mud soaked in blood reached their ankles. They could even feel the sharp and fine broken bones under the mud.
Gus gazed into the distance.
Ahead of them was a valley.
Yesterday morning, a unit of the Iron Fist Army was ambushed by the Steam Army when they were passing through this valley and suffered heavy losses.
In order to save the besieged soldiers, the Iron Fist Army gathered toward the valley like infuriated bees, trying to swallow the ambushers.
The ambushers, on the other hand, summoned reinforcements, which finally triggered a chain reaction and attracted the main forces of the two parties.
Naturally, the small valley could not accommodate the main forces of the two parties.
After a day of fierce battles, the main battlefield had shifted to the plain to the north of the valley.
The valley that was almost drowned in blood and corpses was ignored by both parties.
Andre, who was on Gus's side, was quite experienced in battles.
They did not rush through the valley. Instead, Gus, Grey, and a few brave veterans under Andre's command climbed up the mountains on both sides to check the situation of the main battlefield to the north of the valley first.
Although Gus had been mentally prepared for it.
When he really stood on the top of the mountain and looked into the distance at the battlefield, he was still deeply shocked and did not come back to himself for a long time.
What appeared before his eyes was a bloody battlefield that extended for dozens of square kilometers.
After a day of fierce battles, probing, pushing, and crushing, the battle formations of both parties had lost their clear boundaries and smooth commands. They were now entangled with each other.
They were like two heavily wounded beasts that were even more ferocious and had unleashed all their hunting instincts. They bit and dug out each other's internal organs in the most primitive and violent way.
Such a battle was utterly devoid of order and beauty.
It did not make anyone associate it with words such as "glory", "brilliance", "the will of the true god", and so on.
Instead, it was disgustingly ugly.
On the battlefield that had been cut into pieces, Gus saw hundreds of steam soldiers lunging at a few priests of the Fist Temple with repeating crossbows and kerosene pumps on their shoulders.
Although the priests of the Fist Temple were separated and surrounded, they were not scared at all, like reefs that were surrounded by tides.
Inviolable golden brilliance was emitting from their bodies, as if they had really been blessed by the Fist God. Every punch and every kick was filled with the aura of annihilation, blowing the steam soldiers that were crazily charging at them into blood and meat paste.
No matter how many tides hit them, it was impossible for them to break the reefs.
But the priests of the Fist Temple were not real reefs after all.
Besides, the crazy will of the steam believers was like scorching flames that could even melt iron.
It was not a metaphor but a literal meaning. Dozens of fanatical believers had ignited the kerosene in the pumps, turning themselves into burning torches as they approached the priests of the Fist Temple in such a way. More believers, on the other hand, gathered their repeating crossbows, steam guns, and fire-spurting pumps and fired at them overwhelmingly. Finally, the defense and will of the priests of the Fist Temple were crushed, turning themselves and their opponents into glittering sparks in an ocean of blood.
On another battle line, Gus saw war machines that were as hideous as black iron castles.
They were like an upgraded version of the steam cannons that Gus had seen in Qianyuan City. The rusty iron plates were connected together by countless rivets, and they were powered by the squeaking steam furnaces that were leaking air everywhere.
Because of the insufficient combustion, the war machines were surrounded by intense black smoke, as if they were black fire-spurting dragons.
Such a shabby design and assembly did not damage their power at all. Every explosion of the steam cannons would open a path of flesh and blood in the front. The ordinary soldiers of the Iron Fist Temple who were weak could not take the power of one cannon at all. Before they were torn apart, their internal organs had already turned into bubbles of pus and blood. Even the strong priests of the Fist Temple were often blown apart by the heavy cannons and collapsed to the ground. They could only watch the tracks of the war machines rolling at them overwhelmingly, crushing them and their beliefs into mud.
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