Countless dirty bare feet trod across the square in front of the Saint Sophia Cathedral, stepping over corpses and scattered arrows.
Again, countless arrows rained down, and the unarmored rioters screamed and fell, but this time they did not scatter. Fanatical believers, spread among the rioters, continuously howled and screamed, using faith and fanaticism to repeatedly boost the rioters' morale to its peak.
They quickly reached the barricade in front of the church gate and began to climb, while the defenders did not show weakness, thrusting spears and slashing with swords, pushing the attackers down.
Screams were endless. Although the rioters were numerous, they could not spread out at all. Those behind were thus blocked and were continuously and mercilessly harvested by the defenders' arrows. Every time a bowstring twanged, dozens of people screamed and fell. With the medical standards of that era, the injured were basically at death's door, not to mention the rioters didn't even have a doctor.
The armored soldiers hacked and slashed madly, slaughtering enemies one after another like butchers. Blood flowed everywhere, naturally splattering all over their bodies, making them look like a terrifying group of evil spirits, like devils from hell, but now they were indeed guarding the temple of God.
Many rioters, seeing such a scene, were scared out of their wits. They wanted to run, but there were people everywhere behind them, so they couldn't escape. They could only be pushed forward by the crowd to face the enemy, then be cut down by a single blow, becoming members of the pile of corpses.
In fact, many of the rioters were coerced into coming. After all, they were fighting in Kiev to survive. Now that they had plundered grain, silver, and gold, under normal circumstances, they should have fled long ago, not stayed here to fight desperately against those fierce armored soldiers.
The rioters' morale was getting lower and lower, and deserters constantly appeared. Although there were many perun believers, they could not be everywhere at once, allowing many to escape for a time.
Facing this situation, the perun believers were not unaware, nor were they indifferent, nor were they thinking of using the rioters to exhaust the church defenders' strength. Instead, they were making final preparations for the attack.
"You will be stronger."
The Old Warlock said, scattering a handful of yellow powder towards the warriors below, who were almost naked, revealing strong chests and limbs, and only wearing wolf skin cloaks. The heads of wolves topped their own heads, making this group of warriors look even more repulsive.
As they inhaled the white powder, they visibly became excited, like wild beasts in heat, except what they were now exuding was a crazy desire for slaughter.
"You will feel immense power."
The perun believers drew strange patterns on these warriors' bodies with unknown pigments. After these patterns were drawn, these warriors became even more violent, clearly needing to exert all their strength to curb their madness.
"You will be invincible; you will have boundless strength."
The Old Warlock produced a burning censer from somewhere and held it in front of him, blowing hard towards the wolf-skin warriors. A large amount of smoke suddenly billowed from the small censer, covering these warriors.
The wolf-skin warriors eagerly and greedily absorbed the smoke. This was Perrun Secret Medicine; those who inhaled it would gain immense strength and a fearless will, and it was also what these warriors who believed in perun most desired. As long as they inhaled it, they would enjoy perun's blessing and become incredibly powerful warriors.
That feeling was addictive; even if they couldn't move normally for half a day after inhaling perun's divine medicine, they still relished it, as even the finest honey could not compare to it!
When the smoke dispersed, what was revealed were warriors with blood-red eyes. The Old Warlock couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile at his masterpiece. With these frenzied warriors, everyone in that church would die! The temple of the Cross God must be destroyed!
— — — — — — — —
As the spear pierced through, a rioter wearing a ragged linen shirt screamed and fell from the barricade, also hitting several of his companions. Other rioters, seeing this, recoiled in fear. Those who dared to climb the barricade had basically died, so how could they dare to continue climbing? This was simply courting death.
"Haha, trash, is this all you've got? Go home obediently, you weak gods cannot bless you to break through the Lord's temple! This way you can still save your pathetic lives."
The Ross Warriors, defending from behind their fortifications, let out merciless taunts, mocking the attackers and their gods. They indeed had the right to mock; all the rioters' attacks on the Saint Sophia Cathedral during this night of madness had failed. Their attacks had only brought them humiliation.
These taunts caused a commotion among the rioters. Those who had been coerced into coming had long wanted to flee, while those who were originally determined attackers felt insulted, and their desire to attack grew stronger. Those who wanted to run and those who wanted to fight immediately clashed. The two sides, already piled together and pushing each other, erupted into madness as soon as the conflict arose, with some even starting to fight.
The defenders thus watched a brawling spectacle, and even the archers stopped shooting to watch them fight, occasionally cheering for some of them. A siege that was originally serious instantly turned into a chaotic marketplace.
However, this atmosphere only lasted for a short while, because the appearance of a group of warriors forced both sides to take notice: a group of strong, red-eyed warriors clad in wolf skins.
The crowd automatically parted, and from the church side, wave after wave of arrows rained down again, falling on their heads. The rioters fled; many of their companions had already fallen because of this, but the wolf-skin warriors continued to advance. They accelerated, charging towards the church gate, even as arrows struck them, they seemed unaffected, continuing their charge as if possessed.
Seeing such frenzied warriors, even the Ross Warriors, who had cut down countless rioters, couldn't help but feel their hearts pound, but honor and pride made them suppress their panic and confront these madmen who had consumed Perrun Secret Medicine.
A warrior thrust his spear, but the wolf-skin clad individual easily dodged it. As he hesitated, he suddenly found his vision flipping over; his head had been severed.
One after another, the wolf-skin warriors easily scaled the barricade that had felled countless rioters, then proceeded to slaughter behind it. The Ross Warriors discovered in horror that even if they pierced these men's hearts, they could still swing their battle axes in the last second before death, killing their enemies. As for piercing their bodies, it couldn't make them pause for even a moment. Only by cutting off or shooting through their brains in one go could these frenzied individuals die, but that was too difficult; those before them were madmen who feared no death!
The Ross Warriors were forced to retreat behind the great doors of the Saint Sophia Cathedral. As the last person retreated, the brass doors closed behind them. From behind the doors came the sound of countless weapons hacking at the door. The exquisite reliefs on the brass doors were thus destroyed, but at this moment, no one cared about such things anymore.