Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 355 Fearless Charge!

"Damn it, what is that thing?!"

"Oh my god."

"The Pope's scepter, what a blasphemous creation it is!"

Exclamations rose and fell, and the prince had to loudly reprimand his men before he could see what had happened in the alley behind him.

A follower of the Mother Goddess, a follower of the Mother Goddess who can be recognized at a glance.

They were so thin they looked like movable skeletons, their skin shriveled and gaunt.

The clothes she wore were like pieces of cloth hanging on a hanger; when the wind blew against her, they made a crisp sound, as if hitting wood.

They moved slowly down the street, as if they were the dead rising from their graves.

These believers appeared even more sickly and emaciated than during the last rebellion.

“How is that possible? Didn’t the Church of the Mother Goddess receive a lot of food?” Galahad muttered to himself in disbelief.

The prince's face instantly darkened. He suddenly looked towards the Secret Order, and after seeing surprise on their faces, he turned his head away.

"Perhaps it's not a problem with the food," the prince said, squinting at several figures in the crowd who were noticeably taller.

Those must be the monsters they were talking about.

At first glance, he seemed to be a follower of the Mother Goddess, but his emaciated body was clearly not normal.

Some had extra hands, some had several heads, and some simply crawled on the ground using multiple limbs.

Their bodies were still thin and sickly, like starving people on the verge of death, but their bellies were swollen as if they were pregnant, and dark red blood vessels were bulging under their skin.

It's like a person who is about to starve to death, who desperately eats too much food and their stomach and intestines burst.

With their grotesque, twisted limbs and numb, lifeless eyes, it was almost impossible to distinguish which were ordinary believers and which had turned into monsters.

They walked and wailed, yet their faces remained expressionless except for numbness, sending chills down one's spine.

The prince's heart skipped a beat.

"Something's not right! Your Highness!" Galahad rushed over and said urgently, "Your Highness, they don't look the same as they did during the last rebellion!"

The prince remained silent. He had also noticed that the Mother Goddess's followers he had seen last time, though their bodies were as thin as withered branches, had eyes that shone with an terrifying light. Once you saw that look, you would never forget it; it was a gaze full of vitality and hope.

They were poor and emaciated, as if they would collapse to the ground at any moment, but when they stood together, they were like a high wall built of flesh and blood.

They were warriors back then.

But now, that unwavering will can no longer be felt in that dense, dark crowd.

The believers simply moved forward stiffly, as if their sluggish bodies were chasing after their out-of-control souls.

"Galahad!" The prince looked at his knight.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Galahad shook his head. “Previously, the rebellions of the Church of the Mother Goddess were usually handled by the Church itself, and these monsters have never appeared in the records.”

"Never mind all that, let's fire and test it out." The prince drew his command scimitar. "Soldiers, raise your guns!"

The cavalrymen drew their muskets, having loaded them with gunpowder before setting out. Upon receiving the order, they raised their weapons. The prince paused for a moment, his gaze fixed intently on the Mother Goddess's followers opposite him. Even with the dark muzzles of guns pointed at them, these cultists did not falter for a moment, continuing their slow but determined march forward.

The prince's scimitar swung down from the sky: "Fire!"

boom!
A gunshot rang out, but the trained horse was not startled. However, the smoke from the burning gunpowder still somewhat obscured the prince's vision. The prince spurred his horse forward a few steps before focusing his attention on the worshippers of the Mother Goddess opposite him.

The accuracy of muskets was poor, and even worse when fired from horseback, but the volley of dozens of men still yielded considerable results.

A row of Mother Goddess followers fell down on the opposite side.

The cavalrymen instinctively began loading ammunition, unlike the line infantry, who often had to wait for a unified command. Loading muzzle-loading muskets was quite tedious, and soldiers under intense pressure on the battlefield could easily miss something. It was better to load them by following instructions, even though overall efficiency decreased, the probability of error was lower.

The firing environment for cavalry was more complex, and the commands were not as rigid. They often fired freely, sometimes even while running. This placed higher demands on the soldiers, which is why cavalrymen who used muskets were all elite troops.

This time, however, the elite soldiers were stunned when they started loading.

"My God, those people."

"Monster! Monster!!"

"How can it be!"

"Weren't they shot?!"

Several followers of the Mother Goddess did fall, but they quickly got up again. Blood was still flowing from the bullet holes in their bodies, but they still took steps and slowly walked towards this side.

One believer was hit in the joint by several bullets at the same time, and his entire leg was broken. He could no longer stand up, so he crawled forward with his remaining hands and feet, leaving a shocking trail of blood on the ground.

However, his crawling speed was too slow. A tall, spliced ​​monster passed by him, picked him up, and held him in front of its face.

The monster opened its mouth and bit down hard on its companion.

A tearing sound mixed with chewing sounds rang out, and blood flowed from the monster's mouth, down its throat, and onto its swollen, balloon-like belly. Inside its abdomen, where the skin was stretched to the point of being almost transparent, various limbs mixed together slowly wriggled.

The cavalrymen gaped, their eyes trembling, as if they themselves were being devoured, not cultists.

Snapped.

One of the cavalrymen loosened his grip, and the musket fell to the ground. He was oblivious, his eyes fixed on the monster ahead, trembling and unable to look away. His gaze seemed to materialize into a rope, being pulled closer and closer by the monster.

In just one glance, these ordinary soldiers were captivated and stood frozen in fear.

The prince froze, but a struggle quickly surfaced on his face; his unwavering will instantly overcame all obstacles—

"Galahad!!" The prince shouted, and the knight, who had been in a daze, instantly came to his senses. He took a deep breath, his eyes became bloodshot, and the veins in his muscles bulged.

With a whoosh, the longsword was drawn, and Galahad exhaled sharply, his beast-like roar instantly waking everyone.

The knights exchanged bewildered glances, then their faces showed surprise, but before fear could set in, they heard the prince's command:
"Soldiers! Follow me! Forward!!"

The resounding voice somewhat dispelled the fear, and the cavalrymen obeyed instinctively. The prince, wielding a scimitar, charged forward with Galahad, leading the soldiers like fearless warriors.

However, they weren't charging towards the monsters.

(End of this chapter)