These people were originally followers of the God of Light, but after the great upheaval at St. Luan Abbey, their faith collapsed for various reasons. However, thanks to the efforts of the Saintess of Light, they regained their faith.

However, they ultimately had not witnessed the true descent of divine power, so their faith was not firm enough. At present, the vast majority are shallow believers, with only 30 true believers among them.

Suddenly.

A commotion of footsteps sounded outside the monastery walls. An imperial army burst out from the darkness, blocking all the entrances and exits of the monastery with lightning speed.

Immediately after, the imperial troops parted in the middle, and a group of people rode out leisurely on tall horses.

At the front was a chestnut-haired middle-aged man, clad in a full suit of chainmail, exuding the air of a noble and a veteran, yet his expression was extremely nonchalant, as if he didn’t take the people before him seriously at all.

Behind him followed more than a dozen personal guard knights. These knights were burly and powerful, radiating a murderous aura. Any one of them was no less imposing than the three soldiers behind Landon, clearly at least of level 1 strength.

These people arrived brazenly, making no attempt to conceal themselves. The commoner believers praying in the courtyard were immediately startled and began to stir uneasily.

Several elderly commoners recognized the origin of this army and turned pale with fright: “The patrol, the patrol squad... it’s the Third Patrol Squad!”

The full name of the Third Patrol Squad is “The Empire’s Luan District Third Patrol Squad,” with a full strength of 300, an actual strength of 197, under the jurisdiction of St. Luan City, and part of the city garrison. Its usual function is to maintain public order and combat crime, so its weapons and combat power are quite ordinary.

However, no matter how ordinary their combat power, an army is still an army, and compared to the unarmed commoner believers, they are overwhelmingly powerful.

Among the believers, someone recognized the chestnut-haired middle-aged man at the front as the captain of the Third Patrol Squad, Nick, an imperial knight of merit, a powerful level 3 knight!

With just him and his dozen or so personal guards, they could easily crush hundreds of unarmed commoners, not to mention that the entire Third Patrol Squad was here. With these hundreds of people, there was not the slightest hope!

A wave of fear instantly spread through the courtyard. The believers on the outer edge forgot about praying, scrambling to their feet and desperately pushing inward.

“Hahaha~”

Seeing this, Nick couldn’t help but burst out laughing, his proud gaze fixed on the slender girl beneath the statue: “Heretical false saintess Catherine! You didn’t expect this, did you? I received intelligence about this heretical gathering you organized long ago. In order to catch all you pesky rats in one net, I secretly provided you with plenty of help, hahaha~”

……

Chapter 8: Hymn of Light

……

No wonder Nick was so pleased. The remnants of the God of Light’s followers had been almost completely wiped out across the empire, yet here in Luke City, the embers of the faith had flared up again. The city lord had been driven to distraction by this, terrified of being held accountable by his superiors.

If it weren’t for his advice to the city lord—to deliberately relax security and create loopholes, luring the snake out of its hole—how could they have so coincidentally seized this opportunity to trap all these heretics here and wipe them out in one fell swoop?

With his powerful battle aura, Nick’s voice enveloped the entire scene, his triumphant laughter sending chills down everyone’s spine.

The shallow believers in the Faith Square grew even more chaotic—some showed looks of despair, some huddled together trembling in fear, and some even broke down in tears.

They truly believed in the God of Light, but their weak faith was far from enough to support them in martyrdom.

Even the 30 true believers turned pale, their eyes full of fear. But after all, they were true believers—the broad foundation among the faithful—whose faith in the God of Light was much firmer than that of the shallow believers.

Though they trembled in fear, they still knelt on one knee, eyes tightly closed in prayer.

Only the four devout believers, including Landon, showed no trace of fear on their faces; instead, there was a faint hint of pride. From the moment they became devout believers, their faith had become unshakable as a rock. At critical moments, they could even sacrifice their lives for their faith.

And now, it was the time to become martyrs.

“Brothers and sisters.” Landon’s gaze was resolute as he called out in a deep voice, “The great God of Light is everywhere. Everything you do is under His gaze. The time of darkness is about to pass; the dawn of light is coming.”

“The time of darkness is about to pass; the dawn of light is coming.”

The other three devout believer-soldiers, their eyes burning with fanaticism, immediately shouted along.

They had all personally experienced the descent of the God of Light and witnessed great miracles with their own eyes. Their faith would never waver.

With these devout believers holding the line, the emotions of the believers present quickly stabilized. The 30 true believers, moved by their example, also began to shout: “The time of darkness is about to pass; the dawn of light is coming.”

Unconsciously, the faith of those true believers seemed to grow even stronger.