Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

After realizing this, Josh immediately turned to look at another tall believer. “How is the evacuation progressing?”

——From the beginning, Josh had never intended to confront them head-on. The Mystics had been established originally for self-preservation, and although the believers had undergone basic training and were well-organized, they were never meant for large-scale combat.

Moreover, fighting the Followers of the Mother Goddess made no sense at all. Even if they won, they would gain nothing in return, and Castel would lose a significant wave of potential population.

Therefore, for the Mystics, avoiding combat became the optimal solution.

However, that believer wore a troubled expression. “High Priest, we’ve already mobilized all the followers we can, but we still need a lot of time.”

Evacuation needed to be done with a plan. Otherwise, once outside the protection of the barricades, they’d just die even faster under the eyes of the monsters.

Josh had finalized two directions for evacuation. One, naturally, was to the Upper District, where the Port Guard provided protection.

Although the Prince had decisively fled here, that wouldn’t be possible in the Upper District.

The Upper District was well-defended. As soon as the rebellion broke out, he had mobilized the Port Guard to defend it. They could absolutely go head-to-head with the Church of the Mother Goddess. Though no one knew exactly how powerful these monsters were, they still looked like flesh-and-blood beings. Could bullets work against them?

Josh had no certainty, but the Holy Guard and the Old Woman had fought in the Deep Sea War for real and had personally battled sea monsters.

Therefore, when the Old Woman came earlier, she assured Josh that if they encountered an utterly unstoppable situation, they could seek refuge in the Upper District.

The Prince might not be trustworthy, but the muskets in his hands were.

For Castel’s sake, the Prince wouldn’t expel them. In fact, he had agreed to do his utmost to offer protection.

Aside from the Upper District, they could also evacuate toward the docks.

There were no Holy Guards or Port Guards at the docks, but there were ships.

Galahad had come by ship. Hughes had specifically transferred a foreign vessel from Castel.

The Mystics had only a few hundred believers. Although that far exceeded the ship’s oceanic capacity, that only applied to long-distance voyages.

If they were just going to Castel, it actually wasn’t a problem.

Traveling from here to Castel at full speed would only take one or two days. They wouldn’t even need to resupply for that short distance—they could tough it out.

And as long as they reached the docks, there’d be backup—a fully armed Banshee squad was permanently stationed in the coastal waters of Blood Harbor.

Josh didn’t know how capable the Banshees were in battle. He had secretly asked Zoe, and the brown-haired girl answered without hesitation:

“As long as they join the fight, every problem will be solved. Everything will be fine.”

In other words, they could at least hold off the monsters head-on, right?

The sacred canon he received from the Old Woman didn’t include anything about this. These were non-public pieces of knowledge among the Holy Guard. Perhaps he’d only truly understand these extraordinary beings after reaching Castel.

But Josh didn’t need to worry too much for now. No matter which direction they evacuated, the frontline here still needed to hold out a little longer. There were many elderly and children among the Mystics, and they had to buy more time for them. It wasn’t yet urgent enough to abandon them.

“Reload! Make sure the gunpowder is packed tight! Move quickly!”

His companions shouted orders loudly, while Josh began organizing the believers who were preparing for close combat.

The weapons here weren’t very standardized. Besides muskets, some used bows, some used crossbows. There was a batch of spears—though their forms varied, at least everyone had something to use.

After all, this was just a barricade. Although people were stationed on the rooftops on both sides, only a limited number of people could fight side by side in the narrow alleyway.

That was a good thing—monsters and Mother Goddess followers could only crowd forward like this too.

Musket reloading was far too slow. Only those on the rooftops were still using them. The believers in the alley had already picked up spears, and a few raised crude shields.

Another volley was fired. The followers of the Mother Goddess surged forward. Josh and his companions shouted loudly, struggling to maintain order.

In close-combat battles, morale was almost everything—especially in such narrow alleys where both sides wielded only primitive weapons. If morale collapsed, the defensive line would be broken instantly.

“Stab them! Kill them! Hold the line!!”

The first wave of enemies had just reached the barricades when several spears suddenly thrust out from gaps in the brickwork. Above, several people jabbed downward with their spears as well.

The Mother Goddess followers were riddled with bloody holes. Blood trickled down the shafts of the spears. They collapsed with numb expressions, as if it wasn’t their own bodies being pierced.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

“Why aren’t they dodging at all!?”

“Ahhh he’s still walking forward with the spear stuck in him!!!”

The defensive line nearly faltered instantly. Josh could only try his best to maintain order.

The believers, despite lacking combat experience, had actually done well. They had fled from the North and were used to death.

But such eerie circumstances still made many lose their composure.

“Hold on!”

“They can’t break through us! Our fellow Mystics are right behind! Hold the line!”

Josh’s throat was already hoarse from shouting.

Still, he barely managed to sustain the morale of the believers. Though he lacked combat prowess, just standing with them was a kind of motivation in itself.

The Mother Goddess followers were in a bizarre state, fearless of death, but lacked true combat skill.

They simply walked forward and slammed their flesh against the spears, as if their whole existence was to die right here.

Wait a minute—to die here?

Josh suddenly felt something was wrong. He forced down his panic and scrambled up the side of a nearby building.

From his higher vantage, he looked down.

Corpses were piling up in the alleyway, yet the believers ignored them entirely and continued pushing forward.

However, the monsters hidden among the believers were devouring the corpses madly.

They had already eaten so much that their bodies were now vastly different in size from normal humans.

The largest ones were nearly filling the entire alleyway.

Josh felt a chill grip his heart, the cold crawling up his spine. His whole body felt like it was plunged into icy water.

These monsters were getting stronger and stronger.

No wonder the believers weren’t attacking or resisting—these monsters were the real enemy!

W-What should they do now?!

Josh, who had never truly commanded a battle, was completely stunned.

He froze for several seconds before coming to his senses.

But before he could come up with a plan, the first monster had already squeezed up to the frontline!