The Battle of Semec (1)

The carriage no longer advanced.

Now that the demonic energy was approaching, now that they knew for certain what the source of that demonic energy was, the carriage was nothing more than a useless pile of baggage even if it tried to move forward.

If we were to arrange the current forces in order of strength,

First would be Ludvik. As the Hero, and someone who could freely wield the Hero’s weapon, the light spear, he was a person who could demonstrate powerful combat ability against those dead.

Second would be the Cathedral Knight Order. Though only ten in number, they were anti-demon weapons created through training upon training, designed to fight demons, which could be called enemies of the Celestial God, even before becoming cathedral knights.

Third would be Kairoc. As a silver-rank adventurer, he could skillfully handle any weapon wielded with both hands. Being a lizardman, his skin was very thick and hard, allowing him to engage in combat relatively safely from the nails and bodily fluids of the dead.

Then came James, Alec, and Yona in that order.

“…But why are you left out? In terms of combat power, there’s not much difference between you and me, right?”

Yona questioned in a sulky voice.

Bigrin, in turn, looked at Yona with an expression of disbelief.

“I have to stay by the carriage, applying all sorts of buffs to the Hero. Do you think I’m someone who can only heal when sticking close like you? I’m not someone to be calculated as combat power, that’s what I’m saying.”

Yona was at a loss for words at that.

That was true, after all.

It was appropriate for her, a healer who had to stick close and move around, to be included in the combat power calculation, but Bigrin, who could manipulate holy power within visible range even while standing far away, didn’t really need something like combat power, in fact.

“Are you scared?”

Yona snorted at the hand caressing her shoulder. Alec’s hand gently stroked her shoulder, and soon his other hand also came up to her shoulder, softly massaging it.

“Don’t be too tense. It’s not a difficult mission for us anyway.”

“…Leaving you behind is what worries me the most, you bald bastard.”

Yona pouted her lips and swatted away Alec’s hands.

That’s right. That was what she was most dissatisfied with. The forces advancing against the oncoming wave of the dead were Ludvik, Kairoc, and the Cathedral Knight Order.

Bigrin would be in charge of healing, protection, and various buffs for Ludvik, but that was primarily to protect Ludvik as the top priority, not for Kairoc or the Cathedral Knight Order members.

The healing of a priestess, which basically involves full-body healing, consumes a massive amount of holy power, so there’s no capacity to look after Kairoc and the Cathedral Knight Order members as well.

As a result, Yona was joining as the healer for Kairoc and the Cathedral Knight Order members.

“…Alec, if you get hurt, I really won’t let you off easy.”

“You be careful, Yona. Don’t go prancing around recklessly and get hurt. I’m worried about you, you know.”

Alec remained behind to guard Bigrin.

Yona kept looking back at Alec uneasily as she followed Kairoc, even as she moved forward.

Alec, too, kept waving at Yona as he watched her like that.

*

One of the unexpected qualities of an adventurer is a sense of humor.

In days where you never know when you might die, and in the midst of fear and terror that chokes your throat, laughter unexpectedly helps greatly in relieving stress.

Laughing out loud at useless, nonsensical things that you would normally snap at to shut up – it’s all for that reason. Will I be able to return alive from this job, will I be able to have a beer at Anne’s inn, will I be able to beat the ass of some old cheap whore and sleep while thoroughly venting my feelings – laughter helps shake off such fears.

“I just don’t understand why humans bury their dead. Wouldn’t it be better to just let them float down the river? Thinking of it as an offering to the water god.”

“What if something like Alec floats by and the water god gets angry because it’s too bright?”

That seemed quite funny, as Kairoc patted Yona’s head. Although it was quite annoying to have her head patted with a clawed hand, Yona didn’t purposely push that hand away.

Because she knew well that he wasn’t doing it because he disliked her.

“Hey, is Alec really bald?”

Ludvik asked while swinging his spear around and then thrusting it into the ground with a thud.

While picking his ear, he asked in a way that seemed less out of genuine curiosity and more like just wanting to make conversation with Yona, but Yona didn’t bother to pick a fight over that either.

“He’s not bald. I heard he shaves his head himself every morning.”

“Come on. Isn’t that just something people say? I mean, if he’s shaving his own head, wouldn’t the remaining hair be all prickly-“

‘Why does he keep going on about this?’

Yona frowned slightly. Then, as she turned her head to look straight ahead, she saw that the wave of the dead had already closed the distance considerably. They would soon make contact.

Looking ahead, the Cathedral Knight Order members had formed a shield wall with their silver shields and were holding up their maces. The shields were so long that they could cover the entire front when standing slightly crouched, and wide enough to cover the body from side to side.

Moreover, the raised maces were so ferocious in their heads that they could rightfully be called morning stars. With spikes protruding from the iron ball, they looked vicious enough to properly smash whatever they struck.

“…Don’t slander Alec, Hero. If that’s how he is, that’s how he is. What does it matter if he’s bald or not? He’s good-looking enough as is, not lacking in anything particularly.”

“You must have grown quite fond of him.”

Yona glared at the grinning Ludvik with disapproving eyes before deciding to cut off her interest. She had tried to relieve some tension but only ended up irritated.

“Now, Miss Yona. I’ll be your guard, so don’t worry. You just need to return safely to Alec’s side, right?”

James twisted his mouth into a smile, revealing a protruding molar. Despite his appearance, the polite way James spoke helped ease Yona’s tension a bit.

“Well, it’s about time now.”

The moment Ludvik spoke, Louis, who was in the center of the Cathedral Knight Order members forming the shield wall at the front, raised his mace and shouted vigorously.

“To the great Celestial God, the radiant light of dawn to these wicked hordes that defy His will!”

“Light!”

“Light!”

“Light!”

“The Cathedral Knight Order of Capatia, now is the time to show our dignity!”

“It has come!”

“It has come!”

“It has come!”

To Yona’s eyes, this wave of the dead easily numbered in the hundreds. The exact number was hard to gauge because skeletons and zombies were mixed together, making it difficult to estimate even roughly by eye.

A gray tide, a gray tide of rotten blood and decayed flesh all mixed together, was surging forward carrying a heavy stench. Yona watched for a moment before lowering her head. A sudden urge to vomit came over her. Even as it rose, that thin shred of pride as an adventurer, as a healer on the front lines, pushed back that urge to vomit.

‘…I’m scared shitless.’

Yona’s hand waved through the air. It wasn’t where it usually should be. Yona waved her hand again. It wasn’t there. Only then did Yona raise her head to look ahead. Kairoc’s bluish-green skin was in front of her. It wasn’t a shoulder. The baldy wasn’t there. Alec wasn’t there. Alec’s shoulder wasn’t visible. She needed to put her hand on Alec’s shoulder to calm down, but it wasn’t there. Yona’s hand trembled. As her hand trembled, the corners of her lips quivered too. Only then did she realize. She needed to be able to place her hand on Alec’s shoulder, she needed to, but. Alec’s shoulder that should be here was not.

“All knights, advance-!”

Louis’s shout came faintly mixed with a ringing in her ears.

Yona, who had lowered her head, raised it again. Still, she had to do it. It was something that had to be done. Because she was an adventurer, because she had agreed to take the money. And Rubina was behind, but Alec would protect Rubina. Bigrin was there too. That damn midget girl was a saint after all, so she should be fine. Who will protect me? Me? I’m scared too. I’m so scared. I’m so scared I feel like I’m going to die.

“Yona, are you alright?”

“Eek?!”

A thick palm patted Yona’s shoulder. That face that looked like a shark’s head, the scarred Kairoc, curled up the corners of his mouth in a slight smile.

“To think there’d be a moment when the great Yona is afraid. Don’t worry, you won’t get hurt. I’ll be gentle too.”

An arrow flew over Kairoc’s head. After a few arrows flew by, James came to stand by Yona’s side.

“Don’t be nervous, it would be better to keep your mind at ease. My, my, what’s happened to that spirited young lady?”

“…I’m not a young lady.”

“Whatever you say.”

Kairoc advanced slowly, conscious of Yona. In any case, the Cathedral Knight Order was engaging in a frontal clash at the front line, and the Hero Ludvik was there too. It was a battlefield where Kairoc didn’t need to advance to the front to fight. That’s the kind of existence adventurers are in the first place.

Louis shouted as he roughly wiped off the zombie fluids splashing on his visor.

“Push forward-! Don’t fall back, we are the Cathedral Knight Order-!”

There was no reply. The force pushing against the shields was weak, but it was no easy task even for knights to withstand the push that came not from strength but from sheer mass.

As they pushed in with uncountable numbers, the constant vicious noise of skeletons’ bones stabbing at armor rang out, and every time a zombie’s head was crushed, disgusting odors and bodily fluids splattered.

“O Celestial God, as You awaken me from my slumber, I now open my eyes-!”

Reciting a line from the Cathedral Knight Order’s pre-battle prayer, Louis continued to strike the heads of zombies and skeletons that kept pushing against the shield.

These damn dead ones weren’t much affected even if their limbs were cut off. Rather, if you cut off their feet, they became more annoying creatures that crawled forward on their bellies to bite at the lower body, so from the start, smashing their heads was the wisest method.

“Don’t break the shield wall! Push forward-!”

It was someone’s shout, not Louis’s. Those who had grown up dreaming of becoming Cathedral Knight Order members since childhood, and who had continued to train endlessly even after achieving that dream, were not ones to fall to such dead beings. They were not ones to retreat from the dead even if it meant sacrificing their own bodies.

Push, and push again, and keep pushing. Rather than collapsing here and showing an unsightly appearance to the Saint, they would rather die on this spot.

They kept pushing forward. Without even a chance to think of the phrase “outnumbered”, they continued to push forward, standing firm as if their steel greaves were nailed to the ground.

“Sir Louis, excuse me!”

Ludvik’s shout was heard. Before there was time to wonder what he was excusing himself for, someone stepped on his shoulder and soared into the sky.

Flash-

A flash of light occurred that made one wonder if the sun had risen in the sky again.

The sun was already hidden behind ashen clouds, but for that moment, it really seemed as if the sun had shown its face again.

Kwang!

Beyond Louis’s visor, the sight of the sun falling could be seen, and soon the fragments of zombies and skeletons were being ground up as if by something, scattering into pieces that soared into the sky and then fell.

Incongruously, as if flower petals scattering in the spring breeze, or green shoots swaying in a summer wind-swept barley field, every time the golden spear flashed, the pieces of zombies and skeletons scattered truly beautifully.

“Die, you wicked spirits-!”

The louder Ludvik’s shouts grew, the more Louis’s heart began to burn with something as he watched.

And it reached its peak when he saw Ludvik thrust his elongated spear into the ground, soar into the sky from the rebound, and then strike the ground again with his spear.

Louis pushed up his visor. Looking around with his exposed gaze, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“The Hero of the Celestial God is with us—! Let us put these spirits to rest here—!”

The echo of “Put them to rest-!” rang out.

As he smashed the head of a zombie trying to bite through the shield with a forceful strike of his mace, Louis shouted again.

“We are the Cathedral Knight Order of Capatia—!”

Louis shouted at the top of his lungs that the Cathedral Knight Order of Capatia would not retreat from here.