A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

You don't need anything else, just look at the map and you will understand that this port city is a commercial node.

Every commercial node is a prosperous place.

"This is our target!" said Thomas.

"Grandmaster, why?" someone objected. "From what I understand, Tobruk boasts a population of tens of thousands, a garrison of several thousand, a thriving trade, a large population, abundant water resources, and a wealth of weaponry. Furthermore, its walls are high and its defenses are formidable. To make matters worse, this place has been conquered by the Crescent Moon for centuries. The Crescent Moon has long been entrenched, and the religious atmosphere is thick. The Sunni Imam in the city could rally the citizens to resist us in the name of holy war at any moment. Forget about attacking the city, even in a field battle, I'm afraid we wouldn't have much of an advantage."

In fact, the Knights' Army had only 800 men, and even with the navy's available members, there were only 1,500 men.

Attacking a city with this kind of military force is a complete joke.

Let alone attacking a medium-sized city, even attacking those small castles would be far from enough. Even if they took them by force, they would suffer heavy losses.

The Knights simply can't afford the consumption now.

Thanks to Thomas's outstanding performance and repeated achievements, some people are only raising questions now instead of immediately jumping up and cursing.

Those who know would say that the new Grand Commander is a fanatical believer, while those who don’t would think that he is a spy sent by the Star-Moon Cult!

Thomas looked serious.

"This is a revelation from Christ," he said, looking around at the crowd. "I've received news that unrest has broken out in Cyrenaica, and almost all of Tobruk's troops have been withdrawn to Bilinchi. There are probably only a few hundred soldiers left in Tobruk now."

"But they only need to hold the city... Grand Commander, do you mean we use the navy for a landing operation?"

"No, the port's defenses are intact. Landing rashly would be tantamount to committing suicide."

In those days, naval landings were extremely difficult and required highly skilled coordination between the army and navy. Without specialized training, even the Knights could not accomplish this.

Of course, what’s more important is that no matter how big Thomas’ spiritual field is, it cannot cover the entire fleet.

"So what do you want?"

"Land outside the city as per normal procedures," Thomas said. "The army will go ashore, and the navy will control the harbor to prevent the enemy ships from breaking through."

The generals were still confused, but Thomas no longer intended to explain.

There are some things that they will understand immediately after practicing them once.

Because Thomas had already estimated the value of magic in war through actual combat.

After adding all the magic, it's probably like one is worth ten.

It looks like there are 800 people, but in fact there are 8,000 people.

Considering that the Knights' Marines are well-equipped and well-trained, their fighting force exceeds 8,000, comparable to tens of thousands.

Eight hundred people could not capture Tobruk, but tens of thousands of people might not be able to do so.

……

This is Tobruk, the eastern gate of Cyrenaica, which became the territory of the Crescent Moon Cult hundreds of years ago.

And now, an army holding a cross flag suddenly arrived here.

The army got off the boat and slowly formed up outside the city.

At first, the defenders in the city were indeed panicked for a while, but then they realized that things seemed a little different from what they thought.

This army flying the cross flag is too small in number.

The army is small, no more than a thousand people at most, and the navy is also small, with only a dozen ships - more than half of which are not warships.

In addition, although the enemy troops were lined up, they were not seen to use any siege weapons.

No cannons, no battering rams, no trebuchets, no ladders... in fact, nothing.

There was only a group of soldiers lined up in formation and approached the city wall.

After seeing the enemy's strength clearly, the soldiers in the city had completely lost their vigilance.

How to attack a city without siege weapons?

Really climb up with a grappling hook? But as long as there are defenders on the city wall, this is impossible!

Not only was no one alert, but they were pointing and looking down.

And below the city, Thomas was leading the Marines in formation, approaching the limit of the firepower on the city wall.

On the other side, his personal bodyguard, Knight Joseph, was walking towards him holding a flagpole high.

At the top of the flagpole, fluttering was Thomas's magic flag.

There are 800 Marines, minus 100 cavalrymen, about 700 of them are arranged in a square formation.

The cavalry was not used to attack the city, but to block other city gates to prevent anyone in the city from escaping.

Similarly, the navy blocked the sea to prevent people from escaping by boat.

Now Thomas raised the banner and planted it directly in front of the army.

To be honest, the formation of 700 people is really not very large.

Looking down from the top of the city wall, it looked only the size of a palm from a distance, and had no deterrent effect at all.

But for Thomas, it was just right, the entire phalanx was within the influence of his spiritual field.

He was now dressed in a clerical robe, standing in front of the entire army, raising a cross and praying before the battle.

Anyway, all members of the Knights Templar are priests (literally), so there is nothing wrong with the Grand Master doing some of the work of a regular priest.

All the Marines, in accordance with the custom of the times, laid down their weapons, knelt, and prayed to God for His protection.

Thomas turned his back to the entire army, faced the city wall, and began to secretly chant spells.

First-tier spell: Mage Armor...

Second-level spell: Brute Force...

Second-tier spell: Lightness...

Second-tier spell: Fortitude...

Second-level spell: Defense against arrows...

Third-level spell: Acceleration...

Third-tier spell: Encouragement...

Third-tier spell: Heroism...

More than one person uttered a surprised cry while praying, and everyone clearly felt the sudden surge of power throughout their body.

They become stronger, tougher, more agile, and have higher physical defenses, while their courage doubles and their beliefs are firmer.

All the magic Thomas chooses has no external visual effects. Outsiders cannot tell whether there is magical protection. Only the person being cast knows what is happening to them.

The last magic: third-level spell: flying!

However, Thomas was careful not to distribute this magic to everyone, but only gave it to the junior officers in the first two rows.

They are the best equipped and have the highest martial arts skills.

"The power of the Lord is with us!" Thomas stopped pretending to pray and turned to say to the people behind him.

"Now, all forces attack!"

Many soldiers didn't understand what was going on, but they saw the officers in the first two rows flying up from the spot and heading towards the top of the city wall.

"Christ is risen!" someone shouted, almost mad with excitement.

All the soldiers realized something, cheered, and rushed towards the city gate.

Chapter 83 Raid 3

Roars, screams, and wails first resounded throughout the land, and then slowly subsided.

The choking black smoke created by the burning kerosene on the city walls filled the entire sky.

But in fact, there was no suspense in this battle.

From the moment dozens of knights blessed with the power of flight flew to the top of the city wall, there was no suspense in the entire siege.

The defenders on the city wall were quickly defeated, the city gate was opened, and then the battle entered garbage time.

The knights poured into the city like a tide, instantly breaking through the hastily assembled defenses of the defenders.

At the same time, the defenders' psychological defenses were also broken.

From the moment the enemy flew into the air and flew up the city wall in an unstoppable manner, it seemed as if something broke in the hearts of the soldiers defending the city. The city gate opened, the enemy rushed into the city, and everything was actually over.

Thomas, along with a very small number of his subordinates, watched the battle thoughtfully outside the city.

In fact, there is no old hatred between the Knights and the people of Tobruk.

After all, the Knights were located in the eastern Mediterranean, close to Asia Minor, that is, the Anatolian Peninsula, while Tobruk was in North Africa.

In a sense, religion is a very useful thing. The boundary between good and evil is vague, while the teachings of Christ are clear. Using vague moral standards will lead to various self-conflicts, but teachings will not.

Religion helps you make the criteria for judging good and evil. Believers only need to empty their minds and act according to the doctrine. All Christian brothers and sisters are good, and all non-Christians are evil and corrupt, and need to be purified with sharp swords and fire.

Even if you kill pagan women and children, your conscience will not be condemned and you may even go to heaven.

Although Thomas is not a Christian, he admits that he has no psychological barriers to burning, killing and looting.

After all, on the other hand, if it were the Tobruk people attacking the Knights now, they would not have any hesitation.

The strong prey on the weak, the law of the jungle, everything is fair.

Of course, if Thomas were a Christian, finding psychological balance would be much easier. This is what the Christian Church, God's spokesperson, allows us to do! It's God's will!

After a Knight Order warrior has been blessed with numerous spells, their combat power is not comparable to that of ordinary people. Fighting ten with one is a bit unfair.

Not to mention ordinary soldiers, even elite warriors couldn't defeat a Knight Order soldier blessed with so many magic spells. Each spell was actually equivalent to a supernatural power.

Furthermore, the soldiers' morale quickly waned as they watched the enemy fly over one after another, cutting off their retreat. More and more defenders threw down their weapons, accepting their fate.

In half a day, the Knights crushed all resistance.

At dusk, Grand Master Thomas entered the city, which had already fallen into his hands.

Several city gates were blocked by cavalry, so even if there were any fish that slipped through the net and wanted to escape, they could not get out.

The prisoners were disarmed and held together.

Thomas's approach was clear: the Knights were struggling to protect themselves, so it was impossible for them to occupy such a distant city for long.

In this case, the right thing to do is to plunder.

All ships docked in the city's port were taken over by the Knights, and all Christian slaves in the city were unconditionally freed.

Then they carried out a large-scale looting of all the warehouses and mansions in the city.

All valuables were taken away.

Captain Thomas personally took action and searched every luxurious mansion one by one.

Use your spiritual field to find all those hidden treasures, cellars or secret cabinets!

After a night of intense looting, at dawn, Thomas took hundreds of freed slaves, boarded more than 40 ships of various sizes, and sailed away with a few hostages captured in the city (all of them extremely wealthy and powerful people in the city who were confirmed to be able to pay the ransom).

The entire battle was clean and efficient, with one knight killed and two injured, and the losses were negligible.

They captured Tobruk, plundered the city, seized a large amount of property, and captured more than 50 prisoners who were able to pay a large ransom. In addition, they captured more than 30 ships and rescued hundreds of Christian slaves.

Even after rewarding the soldiers and paying various miscellaneous expenses, the captured spoils still left a balance of 200,000 to 300,000 florins.

A resounding victory.

The journey went smoothly and the fleet did not encounter any accidents.

After all, ordinary pirate ships would have to stay away from a fleet of this size. To attack such a fleet, either a large pirate group or a regular navy would be enough.

However, Tobruk is far away from Rhodes Island, and by the time we returned to the island, more than a month had passed.

Fortunately, after getting off the ship, there were naturally people in the Knights Temperance who took care of various trivial matters, and Thomas temporarily gained a short period of leisure.

This expedition to Tobruk made everyone in the Knights Templar aware of the power of the magic flag.

In the future, when the Star-Moon Cultists actually besiege us, everyone will have more confidence and more trust.

Of course, the most important thing is reputation.

Now that the reputation of this flag has spread, it's about time to announce that the Knights will change their flag.

This is actually very simple. Just write a letter to your teacher and get the Pope's approval.