This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

"Flu, and the Black Death!" Scott interrupted, his eyes flashing an unnatural red. The moonlight shining on him had unknowingly turned a faint red. "Mix them together to enhance transmission. We can design a special magic circle to ensure rapid transmission while preventing the host from dying prematurely before spreading the virus."

"The Black Death—this is the Black Grail! Utter heresy, Captain, you must—er—guh—uhhh!"

The temperature in the jungle suddenly dropped. The ship's doctor, who had just spoken, was lifted up from the air by Scott with one hand. Even though his neck was being strangled, the doctor held on tightly to the eagle cross representing Neos:

"No... This behavior goes against God's teachings... You... You are a heretic... Lord Neos will definitely send you to the stake! Woo-"

The ship's doctor died sobbing.

The other officers didn't move, a strange atmosphere filling the room as they continued to listen to Scott continue.

"Besides," Scott's voice suddenly changed, and the red in his eyes faded to another color, becoming soft and attractive. "Think of the wealth we can obtain. The gold, silver, and jewels of the entire continent will all belong to us. Each of us will become the richest noble in Europe, owning countless treasures and lands!"

The officers bathed in the light of Scott's eyes, greed gradually appeared on their faces, and the opposition in the team became weaker and weaker. Scott felt that they were being persuaded, and the voice in his heart became more and more excited.

Scott ordered: "Send a team into the jungle now to secretly capture a few natives. We need to perform a small ceremony."

The last officer hesitated: "Captain, if Neos knew——"

"That bandit wouldn't know!" Scott practically shouted. "Unless one of you is a snitch. Anybody wanna be a traitor?"

The room was silent, and everyone lowered their heads. Scott smiled with satisfaction. "Very good. Go and carry out the order."

---————

At midnight, a magic circle composed of strange symbols had been drawn on the Kilkenny's rear deck. Scott stood in the center of the magic circle, surrounded by the natives who had been captured from the village. They were tied hand and foot, their eyes full of fear.

"let's start,"

Scott gave the order, and several officers placed cloth containing smallpox virus, blood from influenza patients, and the remains of dead rats brought from Europe into the stone crucible in the center of the magic circle.

Scott began to chant in an ancient language, words he had never learned, yet he could speak them fluently. As his chanting deepened, the magic circle began to emit a dark red light.

The substances in the crucible began to melt and mix, gradually turning into a thick yellow-green liquid.

"Now," Scott took out a dagger and walked towards the natives, "We need the last ingredient."

The screams echoed in the night air, quickly drowned out by the sound of the sea. When the last native fell, the liquid in the crucible had turned a glowing green and emitted a sickening odor.

"The new plague is ready," Scott said hoarsely, then scooped up some of the thick soup, drank it, and splashed it on his confidants around him.

Seconds later, the changes began. Scott's fingers grew thinner, his nails morphing into sharp claws. Deformities and tumors began to appear on his arms, spreading all the way down. Something seemed to wriggle beneath his skin, and his eyes turned blood red.

But when this change spread to the eagle cross on his chest, it was suddenly blocked. A faint blue light flashed from the cross, preventing the change from spreading further.

Scott roared in pain and grasped the cross in anger. The moment his claws touched the cross, a burning hissing sound erupted, and smoke billowed out. Amidst the agony, Scott's eyes seemed to regain clarity for a moment, as if awakened from a nightmare.

"What am I doing?" he muttered, his voice thick with fear. "Oh my God, what have I done?"

But this moment of clarity was short-lived. The red light in his eyes suddenly grew stronger, and he roared, grabbed the cross, and threw it fiercely into the sea.

"That bandit's power was insignificant," Scott's voice had become less human. "This is a new world, new rules, and new masters!"

The confidants who had also been transformed roared in agreement. They picked up the stone crucible in the magic circle and poured the green thick soup into the ventilation system of the Kilkenny. One third of the people brought on this voyage were sleeping soundly in the ship, defenseless.

PS: 260 votes, next update 4.5k meow... add some pictures in five minutes

Crimson Tide: 1921: Chapter 57 Wait, what do you mean by the battle situation is urgent and the machine spirit needs to be awakened?

Mechanical Priest Boston awakens in chaos.

"Boston brothers! Open your eyes, wake up quickly! The heretics are attacking!" The familiar and anxious voice in his ears gradually restarted his stagnant thoughts.

"You—you are—?"

"Damn heretic... The Boston brothers' memories seem to have been damaged..." "Where's the ship's pharmacist?" "The pharmacist is dead! Chief, we recommend a faith test."

Listening to the noisy voices around him, Boston tried hard to open his eyes. He felt that his eyelids were severely swollen.

"I'm Sergeant John! Brother Boston, are you awake?"

"Who are you? I'm from the same factory as you—ah? What happened?! Hiss..."

Boston tried to recall his memories before he woke up, and his head pounded. He instinctively raised his hand to cover his forehead, but was horrified to see patches of ulcers and red spots on his arms.

"What's wrong with me? What happened?"

Sergeant John didn't answer him. Instead, he had someone hold down his arm, holding a cross in one hand and pinching his face with the other, forcing him to look directly at the eagle cross symbolizing Neos. John asked loudly:

"You only have five seconds to answer my question! If you don't answer within five seconds or if your answer is wrong, you will be detained until the end of the battle and await processing!"

"Fight? What kind of fight?!" Boston was completely bewildered. John saw him like this, and a trace of worry crossed his face. Suddenly, the North God, who had been caught by Neos earlier, jumped over from the side, his obsidian-like pupils fixed on Boston, and then—

"ha--!"

Strangely enough, after being breathed upon by the North God, Boston felt his spirits gradually lifted, his pains faded somewhat, and his memory began to return. Sergeant John stroked the North God's fur in gratitude and asked loudly:

"Your name! 3, 2-" "Boston!"

"Position!" "Mechanical Priest, responsible for maintaining equipment and soothing machine spirits!"

"What is your belief? Tell me now!" "May the God of All Things travel between you and me, and Om Messiah be immortal forever!!" Boston answered reflexively.

"Good! Very loyal! Tell him about the battle situation and have the Boston brothers perform the ceremony immediately!"

Chief Petty Officer John stood up and stopped talking. Another crew member with a similar sore on his face took just fifteen seconds to make Boston understand his current situation:

"Wait a minute—what do you mean our ship has been boarded by heretics, the upper deck, bridge, and some core compartments have been destroyed, and the situation is urgent and we need to awaken the Machine Soul?!"

Boston was about to continue questioning when a deafening explosion erupted from outside the cabin door. The entire cabin shook, and the lights flickered a few times before stabilizing again. Sergeant John pulled him up and shoved a submachine gun into his hands.

"No time to explain! The heretics are already here! We must retake the engine room and perform the ceremony!"

As soon as Boston was pulled out of the church on the ship, he heard sharp gunshots and shrill screams coming from outside. In the corridor outside the church, the loyalists set up a makeshift barrier line, the lights kept flickering, and there were burning circuits and broken pipes everywhere.

"Boom!" Another violent explosion sounded, and a soldier was blown to pieces.

At the end of the corridor, a twisted humanoid creature waved its abnormally developed right arm. It was no longer a human arm, but had mutated into some strange limb with spikes. Behind it followed three or four similarly mutated crew members, tumors and extra organs growing all over their bodies, and inhuman screams emanated from their mouths.

"Open fire! For Neos!!" Sergeant John shouted, and several soldiers raised their flamethrowers. The orange-red flames engulfed the monsters in the corridor, and the air was filled with the smell of burnt meat.

"That's...that's the first mate?" Boston looked at the leading monster in disbelief. Although he had mutated to the point of being almost unrecognizable, the uniform revealed his identity.

"Not anymore," Chief John said grimly. "They were contaminated. Captain Scott disappeared, the air conditioning system was infested with a plague of hell by traitors, many of our battle-brothers were killed, and then there's this thing you see before you!"

Just as Boston was about to ask more, another round of firefight erupted. Two mutant crew members were knocked down, but they surprisingly got up and continued to move forward, their wounds healing at a visible speed.

"I can't wait any longer!" Sergeant John pulled him towards the maintenance passage at the rear of the cabin. "We must awaken the Machine Spirits immediately! Only they can contact the Saints immediately!"

----

On the other side, Muisca City

Chaos was spreading from outside the city to the inside. The Aztec soldiers stationed outside the city reported in panic: "A lot of crazy people have appeared outside the city. They chop down anyone they see, and those who are chopped down soon fall down!"

At this moment, all the priests knelt down on the ground at the same time.

"Disaster is coming! From the seashore!"

Although the Aztec faith was polytheistic, at this moment, every god they believed in—even the half-evil, half-good deity, Mother Earth—had warned the priests. The scenes were of countless corpses falling and rising again, and of countless mummies in a sea of ​​gold...

But no matter how these scenes change, the protagonists of the scenes are these white-skinned "messengers of Quetzalcoatl"!

Neos knew the local gods weren't targeting him. While some still demanded human blood sacrifices, previous conversations with the priests revealed that these gods were heavily constrained by human beliefs and doctrines. For example, the North God represented the impermanence of the world and was as omnipresent and unpredictable as the night wind.

He is a fickle creator who loves to play pranks and create chaos, manipulating the fate of mankind, but he also blesses warriors and rulers.

But sometimes God does not have 100% authority to interpret what He says.

The priests began to argue. Some of the staunch believers in the North God immediately argued that Neos was not Quetzalcoatl at all, and that these foreigners were the source of the disaster and must be sacrificed immediately to the North God! However, others claimed that this was the reason Quetzalcoatl had come to help us, and that they should seek the advice of the foreigners and ask for their help.

The priest of the Moon Goddess raised her hands above her head and loudly announced the vision: countless warriors fell outside the city gates, but they were not killed by foreigners, but by an invisible enemy. Amid the pile of corpses, Neos fought against an indistinct red figure, and blue flames clashed with flies.

"The Moon Goddess has warned us," he cried, "This is no ordinary war! The enemy is a demon from the Dark Land!"

Neos did not know how to predict the future, and the poor language communication caused many panicked residents and soldiers in Muisca to launch hostile actions against the Crusaders. The Crusaders mixed in the crowd were unable to gather quickly for a while, and they were soon surrounded by the crowd. William, as the best translator who learned their language, faced this sudden turn of events and translated nervously.

"They say we bring disaster!" William said hurriedly, "Some think we should be sacrificed to their gods, while others think we are aid from Quetzalcoatl..."

Neos frowned, sensing unusually strong etheric fluctuations in the air. Clearly, the warnings of these local gods were not without reason. He also sensed two familiar auras invading the mortal world from the depths of the etheric sea.

If he were in Europe, a land of diverse beliefs, where beliefs in heaven and hell were intertwined, he might not have been able to locate the two auras. But this was America, a pure land, devoid of beliefs in heaven and hell, and filled with a vast array of weak, indigenous Warp gods. Amidst the power of these indigenous deities, it was all too easy to sense the presence of his old rival.

"William, tell them I'm going to investigate. Stay within the circle I draw. This will protect you."

"Om——"

He first raised a barrier to filter the light to prevent so many mortals in the square from looking directly into the warp and having adverse effects. He then set up a circle of fire to protect these people, and then decisively plunged into the warp.

"F-f-shit!?"

As soon as Neos entered the subspace, he was blinded by the psychic energy of the two lords of hell. The shallow layer of the ether sea was no longer as calm as before. The overwhelming power of the two lords of hell made the place smoky and chaotic. Neos could not see anything except the still burning Astronomican.

"No, this place is filled up like a septic tank. These two demons are definitely going to give me a big fight. If they attack everywhere, I won't be able to tell the main attack direction in a short time. Burn it!"

Neos then swung his sword, and one after another blue-white flames began to spread out with him as the center, burning out the power of Beelzebub and Mammon. While expelling their power, demons kept attacking him, blocking and inducing his exploration.

A small demon with six wings came from the side, and Neos split it in half with a single blow of his sword, but three more came from different directions. Each blow of his sword hit the target accurately, but the number of enemies continued to increase.

"Damn, these are just minions," Neos cursed, kicking away a demon that was trying to chop his leg. "What the hell are Beelzebub and Mammon doing?"

He tried to explore deeper into the Warp, but whenever his consciousness extended in a certain direction, it was immediately blocked by a chaotic energy. The area of ​​the Warp he had explored should have been like a map, with clear outlines and boundaries, but now the entire area was messed up, as if someone had deliberately muddied the waters, making it impossible for him to see clearly.

"If I didn't know that the four vendors were not here, I would have thought that Jianqi had come!" he said.

"I can't be like a headless fly anymore. Where are their main attack points..."

Neos stopped, closed his eyes, and tried to filter out the distractions around him. He could sense two powerful forces flowing through the warp, but they seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

He concentrated his psychic energy into a single point, then released it explosively. Waves of blue energy spread out, piercing the surrounding chaos. Wherever the waves passed, the distorted Warp landscape briefly returned to normal. Neos saw a direction—towards the ocean—where the aether was fluctuating exceedingly violently.

At this moment he felt a faint voice calling him, like a child calling for help from his father when in danger, and he immediately rushed in that direction.

------

The Kilkenny's steel frame trembled.

"Prepare for the awakening ritual!" Boston commanded, and several nearby Mechanicus apprentices sprang into action. They drew inscriptions on the ground, lit candles, and the rich aroma of holy oils emanated from incense burners.

The engine room door was welded shut, but everyone could hear gunfire and screams from outside. The heretics were approaching, and they didn't have much time.

Too many loyal believers died in their sleep for unknown reasons, and then rose up again under the plague, catching them off guard and putting them at a numerical disadvantage.

He opened the page and began to read aloud:

"Holy Om Messiah, Creator of all things mechanical, Guardian of knowledge, Executor of truth, hear the prayer of your humble servant..."

At that moment, a violent explosion shook the entire cabin, and a trace of green liquid began to seep from the seams of the wall. The servants of the Lord of Plague were trying to break in.

Boston remained unmoved and continued his prayers, while the apprentices stared at the door nervously, their weapons gripped tightly. One of the young apprentices rang the bell.

"Dong!" The bell echoed in the closed cabin.

"Ring the bell! Push the lever to start the piston and pump!" Boston shouted, and the apprentices immediately pulled several huge mechanical levers.

Deep in the engine room, dormant machinery began to stir, emitting a low rumble. Steam rose from the pipes, and the needle on the pressure gauge began to tremble. The heart of the Kilkenny was slowly awakening.

The sounds of fighting in the corridor grew closer, and from outside came the hiss of corroded metal. Boston motioned to his apprentice to continue the ritual, then drew his bayonet and stalked toward a corner. There stood several crew members walking like the undead—killed by the plague, driven back to life by the virus, and then killed again.

"Ohm Messiah, forgive me for what I have done..."

Bayonets slashed across the throats of the corpses like lightning. Corrupted blood gushed out, and Boston quickly collected the liquid and sprinkled it on the mechanical footrest in the center of the engine room.

"Dong——" The bell rang for the second time, louder and longer.

"Tick the bell twice! Press the button, ignite the engine, and breathe life into it!"

The apprentices pressed a row of buttons on the console, and the temperature in the engine compartment suddenly rose. The lights above their heads gradually became brighter, and the entire battleship began to tremble slightly, as if a sleeping giant beast was waking up.

Meanwhile, the battle intensified in other areas of the ship. Inside turret C, the heretics were loading a plague-cursed cannonball into the gun chamber.

All the shells of this battleship were blessed. To contaminate it, they had to erase the prayers and engrave them with praises to the Lord of Plague, which took the heretics too much time.

"Boom!" The third bell rang throughout the engine room.

"Ring the great bell three times, and sing in unison, praising the God of All Things!"

Boston and the apprentices immediately chanted a prayer, their voices echoing in the engine room:

"You received the blood of the sacrifice, so you should soak the feet of the Mecha God with the blood of the enemy.

Let the blood soak the shoes of the God of All Machines.

May your soul be blessed with holiness.

The warrior within you guides the troops, and you too must protect their lives. Through the flames of war, you remain steadfast.