Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!

Chapter 1384 - 939: The Feathered Serpent Priest’s Way Out

The sun sets over the Western Sea, like a bright red fireball gradually melting into the water. And those melting flames, half turn into light red blood in the sea, half turn into floating fire ships. Finally, these bright fires and dim blood reflect in the eyes of the samurai and sailors, melting into the truest death, and the most distant Divine Kingdom!"The sunset on the sea, a battlefield of blood and fire... Oh, Sun Feathered Serpent! This victory is but fleeting, and only death and the Divine Kingdom are destined to be eternal..."

The Feathered Serpent Priest Papp, wearing a feather crown and a ritual robe, stood at the bow of the longship, gazing at the battlefield and sunset on the sea. Under the watchful eyes of warriors and sailors, he raised the Divine Staff in his hand high, proclaiming the victory.

"The Sun God rises from the seaside and sets from the seaside! The Feathered Serpent God takes away the death of the enemies and brings us the light of hope! Praise the All Gods! We defeated the cruel Mexicans, and also defeated the despicable betrayers!..."

"Blessings of the Sun and the Feathered Serpent! Praise the All Gods! Divine blessing of victory!..."

Following the priests’ proclamation, the thundering cheers arose from the massive fleet of the East, shaking the entire seaside, making the Kingdom Legion on the shore look dull!

After this sudden maritime slaughter, the Kingdom’s fleet was forced to retreat to the shore, while the Eastern Alliance occupied the burning battlefield. They could calmly salvage their floating wounded, capture the enemies’ waterlogged captives, and count the casualties.

From the losses of this battle, the Kingdom’s naval forces suffered six to seven hundred casualties, lost seventy to eighty warboats, nearly one-third of their forces! On the other hand, the Eastern fleet led by Feathered Serpent Priest Papp only lost three to four hundred men. The fleet had a batch of warboats burned, but captured a batch of the Kingdom’s small boats, with the real loss merely being three burnt large Mayan oar-sail ships.

Judging from the casualties on both sides, this well-planned ambush and decisive battle by Priest Papp was undoubtedly an epic victory! For the Eastern Totonac Alliance, constantly defeated, this rare great victory was a great morale boost!

"Oh Sun and Feathered Serpent! This is a rare victory! But even so... I’ve schemed for so long, tried every means, gathered so many large ships, and carefully chose this battlefield... What I want isn’t just to defeat the Mexicans’ naval forces, but to completely crush and cut off their maritime transport!... Only then can the war situation change..."

Feathered Serpent Priest Papp pressed his lips together, a confident smile of victory on his face, but his heart was heavy like distant mountains.

The Mexicans’ reaction was so swift, their support so strong. The betraying seaside tribes fought desperately, willing to fight for some seaside alliance. All these were beyond his expectation, making this ambush and decisive battle only achieve a tactical victory without altering the strategic situation between the sides...

"The Mexicans’ fire arrows, igniting the demon flames of the large ships... The ten large ships painstakingly gathered, three were burnt in one fight... The enemy has the ability to set fire to ships, how long can the Eastern Alliance maintain maritime dominance? And once unable to control the sea route and cut off the enemy’s supply, who can withstand the Mexica legion on land?"

Feathered Serpent Priest Papp lowered his gaze, maintaining a victorious smile, but felt a sincere despair within.

These ten large ships included eight Mayan oar-sail ships and two Kingdom longships. One Mayan ship and two longships came from his raids on the Mayan trading group and Kingdom exploration fleet. The other four Mayan oar-sail ships came from Hidden Serpent Holy City’s forced requisition of the Mayan trading group.

Only the final three Mayan ships were painstakingly built over the past half year by the Eastern Alliance’s shipwrights! And the technique to build these large ships came from the Mayan shipwrights captured during the raid on the Kingdom exploration fleet and the conscripted shipwrights from the various trading groups. Therefore, these ten large ships were the most important advantage forces in his seaside naval forces, providing the confidence to suppress the Mexica naval forces!

"The Mexicans have already begun besieging Lake Sacrifice City... The Holy City’s Chief Priest, the esteemed Atcokoyotelzin, has issued a decree to defend to the death and dispatched Elder Priest Tezozomoc to oversee the battle in the city!... But no one is sure if Lake Sacrifice City can be defended. Once it falls, next will be the last Hidden Serpent Holy City!..."

Thinking of the tide-like inflow of enemies, Feathered Serpent Priest Papp was deeply worried and anxious, feeling helpless. This naval decisive battle was initiated after Chief Priest Atcokoyotelzin summoned him, personally issuing the decree, placing high hopes on this maritime ambush.

In Totonac Navajo, "Atl" means "sea and water," "coyotl" means "land and territory," and "tzin" means "noble one." Chief Priest Atcokoyotelzin is "the most noble one of the Seaside Lands", the priest closest to the All Gods. In other words, he is the actual spiritual leader of the entire Eastern Totonac Alliance and the religious leader in resisting the Mexican invasion!

Among all the noble ones of the Eastern tribes, the Seaside Chief Priest Atcokoyotelzin was the most determined in resistance. Not only did he convene the noble chiefs of various tribes to form an allied army of the Eastern tribes and personally initiated the Divine War against the Mexicans, but he also generously took out wealth and divine objects from the temple to reward the noble chiefs and warriors within the tribes!

Feathered Serpent Priest Papp, fleeing and resisting, escaped all the way from Feathered Serpent Ancient City into Hidden Serpent Holy City, only then standing firm. Subsequently, he personally orchestrated the great fire of Coyote City, delaying the march of the Black Wolf Army, and for the first time caught the attention of the Seaside Chief Priest. Half a year ago, he led seven to eight hundred warriors to raid the Kingdom exploration fleet, which had only four ships left, successfully capturing two longships, achieving a rare accomplishment!

And when he returned to Hidden Serpent Holy City to report the collusion of the Mayan trading group and Kingdom fleet to the elders of the Priesthood, the Seaside Chief Priest publicly praised him and established him as the "Divinely Blessed Priest" in the resistance against the Mexican invasion! Immediately afterward, the Seaside Chief Priest personally gave him a decree to thoroughly investigate the "collusion" of the Mayan trading group and Mexican people, to expand the scope of the settlement: confiscate all the possessions of the Mayan trading fleets, forcefully requisition all boats and sailors!

"All the Mayan trading fleets have had their possessions confiscated, and their ships and sailors forcibly conscripted... Among these trading groups’ backers are the various Maya city-states, as well as the elders in Hidden Serpent Holy City... I’ve already offended the numerous Mayan city-states over hundreds of miles in the East, severed the financial routes of the elders, and killed so many Mexicans... In the East, the West, or the Holy City by the seaside, I have no retreat!..."

Feathered Serpent Priest Papp lowered his gaze, his face full of bitterness. The Seaside Chief Priest regarded him highly, promoted him, appointing him, a fleeing Feathered Serpent Priest, as the naval commander of the Holy City... simply because he believed there was no retreat for him, that his will was firm, and he could fight the Mexicans to the end?

As a former Elder Priest in Feathered Serpent City, he knew the thoughts of the Seaside Chief Priest. Among the entire Totonac seaside, the most noble Chief Priest is the spokesperson of the All Gods, the one who is least likely to surrender, and absolutely cannot flee to the Maya!

Warriors and young nobles, if they surrender to the Mexicans, might still save their lives, maybe even regain control of their tribes and power in some seaside alliance. Great nobles could flee with their wealth, warriors, and servants to the Central Maya tribes in the East, or even the Northern Lowland Maya or Southern Highland Maya, at least have a prosperous life...

Yet only the Seaside Chief Priest, symbolizing divine authority, cannot surrender to the enemy or flee to foreign lands! For Chief Priest Atcokoyotelzin, his noble power source is precisely the sacred land of belief, the devout Totonac tribespeople, and the fertile soil under his feet! Therefore, he cannot leave Totonac; even if Hidden Serpent Holy City falls, he will flee to the depths of the inland jungle, seeking support from the Zapotecs, and continue to resist to the end!...

"Oh Sun and Feathered Serpent! The esteemed Seaside Chief Priest has no retreat! He wields me like an obsidian dagger against the Mexicans’ sturdy armor. He doesn’t care about my loss and believes I have no retreat!"

The sunset sinks into the sea, the night slowly cloaks. Over two thousand Eastern naval forces begin to return, and their stationed water camp lies in a bay under the shadow of the Great Divine Mountain of Smoke and Fire, dozens of miles to the East. There, more tribal warriors, just arrived from Hidden Serpent Holy City, are prepared to spill their last drop of blood for the All Gods and the Divine Descendants!

"The Chief Priest has delivered a divine decree! For the All Gods, to resist the Mexican demons, spill the last drop of blood!"

Priest Papp stood on the eastward longship, silently watching the dark horizon, the shadow of the Great Divine Mountain of Smoke and Fire, also the direction of Hidden Serpent Holy City. At this moment, his smile was cold, frozen like ice, but the waves in his heart rolled like a tide.

"But... do I really have no retreat?... His words, his promise to escape death... damn it! Divine blessing of All Gods! Please guide me through this long night! Or perhaps... is it the Chief Divine’s blessing?...."