Infinite Terror: This Middle Continent is Rebellious

Chapter 178

On the banks of the bloody Danube, an altar was built with acacia wood.

The altar was square, five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high.

He made four horns on the four corners, connected to the altar with one piece, and overlaid the altar with bronze. He also made all the utensils of the altar of bronze, and he built a courtyard around it with the tabernacle.

The project was very meticulous and followed the steps in the Bible completely.

Pope Leo finally came to Joseph's rescue.

However, Bishop Stephen, who had prayed for three days but failed to restore the Danube to normal, had already eroded the people's trust and patience.

So Pope Leo's idea was that Emperor Joseph should lead the people to atone their sins to God using the ancient sacrificial method in the Bible.

Compared to simply dragging Joseph out and burning him to death, it is obvious that the method of atonement proposed by Pope Leo is more authoritative.

Joseph I, Princess Sissi, Pope Leo, Bishop Stephen... including Humbert who had planned to leave, hundreds of senior political and religious figures gathered in front of the altar.

Hetzendorf looked back and saw that the altar was surrounded by huge crowds of people, people were close to each other and squeezed together. More than one million citizens of Vienna had gathered nearby. People's faces were anxious and full of hope that was on the verge of despair.

Minister Hetzendorf murmured, "We seem to be turning history backwards. This form of sacrifice does not belong in the New Testament at all."

Baron Clobatine sighed, "Yes, in the Old Testament, through sacrifices, people realized the cost of sin and God's grace. By offering their possessions to God, people purified their hearts, pleased God, and reconciled with God. But in the New Testament, Jesus is the final sacrifice. His death has paid the price for people's sins. Simply by believing in Jesus, people can receive forgiveness of sins and be freed from the punishment of sin."

Minister Ottokar complained, "What can we do? Is the bloody flood the divine punishment described in the New Testament?"

Baron Krobatien was speechless. He sighed deeply, "If only it were a demon! I could bring my artillery and bomb it to death!"

"coming!"

Several soldiers carrying a bull came through the path that separated the crowd.

Pope Leo crossed himself with his right hand and solemnly said to himself, "If anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, let him offer his offering from the herd or the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering of cattle, he must offer a male without blemish at the entrance to the tent of meeting, to be accepted by the Lord. He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him, to make atonement for his sins."

The bull was carried to the entrance of the tabernacle, some distance from the altar, and the soldiers lowered it.

"Moo!"

The bull's four legs were tied tightly, and it could only make low, rough howls.

Pope Leo walked toward the bull, accompanied by a guard of priests.

The next steps must be completed by the Pope himself.

The Pope stood beside the bull, took the sharp knife from the butcher's hand, and laid his hand on the bull's head.

Joseph murmured, "The burnt offering will be accepted to make atonement for his sins..."

He glanced at the expectant crowd and knew very well that if the bloody flood in Vienna had not gone away after this sacrifice, it would be his turn to be sacrificed.

The priest helped hold the Pope's wrist, and together they swung the knife at the bull's neck.

There is no other way. In 1897, the current Pope was too old and could only pick up the knife and slaughter the bull. He didn't have the ability to do so, you know.

With the help of his guards, Pope Leo cut off the bull's neck. The bull's head fell to the ground, and blood spurted out from the smooth fracture.

The soldiers nearby quickly brought iron buckets to collect the bull's blood.

After the bull's blood had been drained, Pope Leo scooped some blood from a bucket with a large spoon and sprinkled it at the entrance to the tabernacle and around the altar.

Pope Leo then skinned the bull, cut it into pieces, and washed the entrails and legs with water brought from Schönbrunn Palace.

Then the soldiers brought firewood.

Pope Leo rested for a while, wiped the sweat from his head, and placed the wood on the altar with his own hands. He also placed the pieces of meat, the bull's head, fat, entrails, and bull's legs one by one on the wood on the altar.

Finally, Pope Leo lit the fire with torches and oil.

The flames gradually rose, and the hot temperature drove away the chill of the night wind and spring water. People looked at the blazing altar, and everyone understood that the burnt offering was preliminarily completed. It was a fire offering of a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

More than one million people prayed devoutly around the altar, asking for God's grace.

The next day, the sun rose slowly from the east, and the bull that had been burned on the altar all night gradually burned to ashes.

However, the Danube was still bloody and the people became restless again.

Joseph panicked and quickly said to Pope Leo, "Your Majesty, is it time for the sin offering next?"

There are five kinds of sacrifices in the Old Testament.

Those who unintentionally broke God's law needed to make a sin offering.

A sin offering was required when one sinned against God or man.

Voluntarily paying the price for common sins by sacrificing animals in place of self-sacrificial burnt offerings.

A grain offering to show respect to God.

A peace offering expressing people's gratitude to God.

Now it was of no use that the Pope performed a burnt offering, and whether he tried or delayed, it was time for Joseph to perform the sin offering.

Pope Leo nodded, and Joseph immediately sent soldiers to announce to the people that the emperor would perform the atonement sacrifice next.

The chaos was temporarily stopped, and the hungry and cold people chose to endure it a little longer, but even the soldiers who maintained order cast dangerous glances at Joseph.

After the sin offering, if the Danube River had not recovered, Joseph had no doubt that the soldiers would point their guns at him.

Another bull was brought over, and Joseph worked hard for a long time before finally slaughtering the bull. Then he put the fat on the altar and took a torch to light the fat.

Suddenly, there was a strong wind!

The wind was so strong that the torches were extinguished before they could ignite the fat, and hats were blown into the sky in the raging wind.

People cried out in panic, and Joseph also screamed.

“My sin offering!”

When it was his turn, this kind of change occurred. Doesn't it mean that God's punishment appeared because of him?
Princess Sissi walked away from Joseph without changing her expression. Joseph knelt on the ground in despair. Father Leo's face turned serious, and for the first time he gave a clear answer: "It's not God's will, it's the power of the devil!"

There were two more musket swords in the priest's hands, and his dark robes exuded a murderous aura. He looked up at the sky with cold eyes.

Wind demons with cyan skin were seen flying high in the sky, hippogriffs composed of horses, lions, and birds were circling in the sky, and tens of thousands of winged demons were controlling the power of the strong wind at high altitudes far above the ground, forming a storm covering an area of ​​more than ten kilometers.

Moreover, higher up in the clouds, the priest felt an even stronger aura of darkness.

The Hippogriff was nothing, the Wind Demon was just a little tricky, but the demon whose identity could not be determined made the priest's body tremble uncontrollably.

Fortunately, a sacrifice to God is being held here, and the faith of millions of people has formed a barrier to drive away demons.

The demons flying in the sky cannot descend to the ground, and cannot even directly harm the people on the ground. They can only interfere with the weather through the power of darkness to undermine people's faith.

This trick really works.

The abnormal natural phenomenon occurred during a sacrifice to God, which was indeed a strong blow to the people of Vienna.

The fierce storm shook the Danube, the vast river surface was turbulent, and the strong wind blew up huge waves, rushing towards the river like wild beasts.

The citizens of Vienna were terrified, and the soldiers, faced with the surging waves of blood, also lost the will to resist. Accompanied by endless screams, the soldiers and citizens fled together.

Looking at the waves of blood pouring from the Danube, the German Prime Minister said calmly: "Your Majesty Leo, please destroy the demons. This is the job of the clergy."

The blood-red waves crashed onto the shore, but only wet everyone's shoes and calves. The storm seemed fierce, but it was obviously not strong enough to hurt people.

Pope Leo showed an embarrassment. How could he destroy the demon flying hundreds of meters high?
The armed priests did not hesitate. More than a dozen priests took out their gun swords that emitted a faint white light and threw them at the demons flying in the sky.

The gun sword flew like an arrow from a bow, reaching a height of over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye. Several hippogriffs were attacked and fell from the sky.

However, compared to the number of monsters, there were too few armed priests, and after the chaos, the monsters were restrained less and less.

The monsters that were isolated in the sky by people's prayers began to descend. The wind demon released huge sound wave rings to attack the citizens who were fleeing in panic. The powerful shock waves were like exploding shells. Citizens were knocked to the ground one by one. With sharp screams, blood flew all over the sky.

The banks of the Danube River turned into a bloody battlefield. Even if people hid in houses and buildings, they could not avoid the invasion of demons. Shock waves blasted holes in the solid walls and smashed the heads of the citizens hiding inside, causing them to bleed.

In just a few minutes, thousands of citizens were injured.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Pope Leo tried his best to save everything. The power of holy light spread around, weakening the magic power released by the wind demon.

The armed priests were divided into two teams, one to protect Pope Leo and dignitaries from various countries, and the other to run among the crowd to defend the citizens from the attacks of demons.

However, they were outnumbered and the number of demons was too great. Their disadvantage gradually increased. The storm became more and more violent, and the waves became bigger and bigger. The ferocious wind and waves crashed into the altar and destroyed the courtyard made of tents.

King Humbert turned pale. Feeling the blood soaking his calves, he couldn't help but curse: "Damn it! I shouldn't have come!"

The German Chancellor was no longer able to remain calm. He asked Pope Leo in astonishment, "Your Majesty, is the Vatican unable to fight against the devil?"

The German Chancellor was in disbelief.

The fact that Italy was annexed shows that the Vatican’s power is not enough to deal with the human army, but dealing with creatures like demons should be the Vatican’s strong point. Who knew that it couldn’t even deal with demons?

Pope Leo said with shame and fear, "We are too few in number, and we don't have the ability to fly. These monsters have a mastermind behind them, and they know how to deal with the clergy!"

Compared to the demons that created the strong winds, Pope Leo was worried about the leaders of these demons, who created strong winds to undermine the faith of believers and used their flying advantage to make it difficult for armed priests to hit them.

The mastermind behind the scenes is not only powerful, but also cautious and wise unlike ordinary demons.

The waves from the Danube left a layer of blood on the ground, and the altar shook under the impact of the waves.

If this continues, it will not be long before the altar where sacrifices are offered to God will collapse in blood.

This is disrespectful.

But no one cares about this anymore.

Joseph I, Princess Sissi, Humbert, Pope Leo, Bishop Stephen and others began to retreat.

The demon's power is too strong. If we don't escape, everyone will die here.

Pope Leo wanted to show his piety and courage to God, but he could also imagine what consequences would result if leaders from various countries died here, so he could only summon armed priests to cover everyone's evacuation.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

“Good night, good night!”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”

……

The demons laughed wildly, and the sharp and piercing laughter spread a thick fear in Vienna. People screamed, wailed, and shouted, trapped in the atmosphere of terror and unable to extricate themselves.

High in the clouds, a zombie dragon was suspended in the atmosphere. The Grim Reaper stood on top of the zombie dragon, his empty eyes looking down at Vienna on the ground.

Death was indifferent to the chaos and tragedy in Vienna, and those citizens who participated in the sacrifice could only be considered his enemies.

However, the real enemy is not the citizens, but the contemporary Belmont who is about to come to Vienna.

"he came!"

A scarlet light flickered in the eyes of the Grim Reaper.

Those murderous eyes penetrated the clouds and fell on the man who walked into Vienna from the water.

"Get away from me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.'"

A solemn male voice echoed in the sky of Vienna.

That voice contained the power to shake the soul, allowing everyone who heard it to feel the majesty of the person who spoke it.

"boom!"

A violent shock wave rushed towards the sky, and an invisible force defeated the storm. With a deafening sound, thousands of demons in the sky turned into a pool of blood foam.

(End of this chapter)