The Battle of Semec (2)

The attack on Semec was a great shock to the Inpula Church Territory as well.

The Crusader Order, which rarely deploys—an order even higher in rank than the Cathedral Knight Order—was being dispatched, indicating how seriously the Celestial Church headquarters in Inpula viewed this situation.

The Crusader Order, where every member is provided with a warhorse.

Riding again on warhorses imported from the alliance of eight brother orc nations, known for their excellent physique and superior endurance, twenty-four Crusader knights rode their horses in unison towards Semec.

Through the tightly closed visors of their helmets, holiness overflowed like white breath.

With each breath, unrefined holiness leaked out like breath.

Deliberately not suppressed, not refined, the holiness left as it was emitted from their bodies made the Crusader Order members look like berserkers.

It overflowed like white breath even through the helmet visors, and rose like smoke through the gaps of the shining silver armor covering their upper bodies.

At every moment as they rode, twenty-four—including the 13th Crusader Special Operations Unit, twenty-five.

As if to show that they had passed through here, a hazy trace of holiness remained.

“I ask, who is your enemy?”

The leader and sole member of the 13th Crusader Special Operations Unit, Scarlet, who was riding at the very front, spoke.

Although spoken in a voice that was not particularly loud, the Crusader Order members shouted as if they were one person.

“All those who oppose the Celestial God!”

Those who oppose the Celestial God are the enemies of the cathedral.

For the Crusader Order, they are the main enemies, those that must be destroyed.

“I ask, who are the enemies of the Celestial God?”

“All enemies who disturb the peace!”

Those who use even the bodies of those who have found peace in the embrace of the Celestial God.

Those who hide in darkness praising death, and further insult the living, blaspheming against the Celestial God.

For the Crusader Order, they are the main enemies, those that must be destroyed.

“I ask, what do we do to those who dare to oppose the Celestial God?”

“We shall give them a painful eternal rest!”

Mercy is useless for those who stand against the Celestial God.

Mercy is only directed towards those who have the possibility of repentance.

A light tinged with madness flashed through the visor of Scarlet.

Loyalty and faith towards the Celestial God.

There must not be even a shred of doubt in that faith.

No mercy is needed for anything that opposes the Celestial God.

“I ask, where are you heading?”

“To Semec, where those who have fallen into eternal rest under the protection of the Celestial God lie!”

The place where those who were guided by the Celestial God and finally entered eternal rest are buried.

At least, a place where wicked groups should not set foot.

That very place, Semec.

“I ask, why are you heading to Semec?”

“To soothe the dead who have awakened and insulted those sleeping in Semec!”

“I ask, how will you soothe the dead?”

“We shall inquire with our maces and put them to rest with our shields, sending them back to the Celestial God!”

Scarlet closed his mouth.

Scarlet, the leader of the 13th Crusader Special Operations Unit, takes all command authority of the Crusader Order the moment he is assigned.

With twenty-four members, a force that will never be defeated against the undead, Scarlet is heading towards Semec.

To bring down the iron hammer of eternal rest once again on the dead that have covered Semec—

Twenty-five Crusader Order members, including Scarlet, were riding.

*

“Don’t retreat, don’t let them break through!”

‘Louis, I think that was his name.’

Yona pulled out a cloth from her sling bag and wiped off the bodily fluids splattered on Kairoc’s skin, then looked ahead for a moment.

The Cathedral Knight Order members were fighting well.

Even to the untrained eye, these ten Cathedral Knight Order members were holding back with their shields the wave of the dead that was pushing forward with overwhelming numbers.

Fortunately, the road was relatively narrow, so they only needed to block the dead pushing through there, which might seem easy at first glance, but considering the numbers pushing beyond those shields, they might already be exceeding their own limits.

“Yona, I’m fine. Check on the knights.”

“Got it!”

Yona quickly replied and came out from behind Kairoc to run towards the Cathedral Knight Order members.

James and Kairoc had no major problems dealing with those that managed to climb over the knights’ shields and squeeze through.

More impressive was that Hero, Ludvik, who was dancing with his sword in the midst of those dead, constantly scattering golden flashes.

White blessings were continuously shining down on his head.

No doubt Bigrin was pouring out all sorts of holy spirit buffs along with healing from far behind without rest.

‘…I’m envious.’

That is a priest.

And that is a saint.

Aren’t they the main characters, at least?

“Are you alright?!”

The armor was deeply scratched, and blood was flowing from where nails had torn through the gaps.

After forcibly pushing her hand through and healing, the bleeding stopped, and then purple corpse poison dripped down.

Wiping it off with a hand wrapped in holy cloth made it clean.

“Thank you!”

Yona just nodded once at the knight’s words, then looked around again.

A healer shouldn’t stand still.

Although her position was right behind the guards, that was because guards had the highest chance of getting hurt, but in reality, she shouldn’t just heal the guards but move while watching the entire party.

Yona was moving according to that principle now.

Even with zombie rabble, small injuries were constantly occurring.

Although the wounds themselves might not be much, the corpse poison seeping through the wounds was the problem, so her touch was absolutely necessary.

The corpse poison on the holy cloth was detoxified by the holy power and disappeared without a trace, maintaining the cloth’s white color.

‘It really is different…!’

Yona marveled again at the overflowing holy power.

The efficiency of holy power varies depending on the grade of the holy cloth. The lower the grade, the more holy power is consumed for the same healing.

The higher the grade of holy cloth, the more tightly woven it is, exponentially reducing the amount of holy power that meaninglessly dissipates while circulating.

If 10 units of holy power were circulated, 5 would dissipate into the air and 5 would be used for healing, but now only about 2 out of 10 units were wasted, with 8 fully focused on healing.

For 5 units of healing, only 7 units of holy power needed to be circulated, saving that much.

“Whew…”

Yona wiped the sweat drops from her forehead and looked back.

The carriage was still there.

The carriage visible in the distance still had no problems.

Alec is there.

Ceres is there, Rubina is there, and Bigrin is there too.

She felt unnecessarily uneasy.

Clang!

And Yona’s thoughts were broken by a sudden metallic sound.

“It’s a ghoul-!”

Kairoc’s shout was heard, and Yona looked up at the shadow suddenly looming over her head.

A drop of sticky fluid fell on her face.

A face half-rotten and crumbling.

Skin melting away.

Long nails protruding from the fingertips of both arms.

Oddly long arms and short legs.

A monster with an abnormally long waist was falling towards her.

“Ugh, uwaah…!”

Without time to dodge, Yona became entangled with the monster pouncing on her and rolled around.

During the few rolls, she could clearly see its murky grayish-white eyes fixed on her.

“Yona!”

Kairoc’s voice was heard from far away.

But since he couldn’t be faster than the ghoul right in front of her now, as soon as Yona, pinned down by the ghoul, turned her head, its nails plunged into the ground with a thud.

“You, you damn bastard…!”

“Yona-!”

Wondering why Kairoc wasn’t coming, it turned out there wasn’t just one ghoul.

Several ghouls had easily jumped over the Cathedral Knight Order members blocking the front, and one of them was attacking Yona, while another was rushing at Kairoc.

“Damn it…!”

Yona spat out a rough curse and struggled to push off the ghoul.

Even if it’s just a ghoul, it’s still undead, so Yona pushed as much holy power as possible into her holy cloth and reached out to grab the ghoul’s face.

And the moment she extended her arm, the ghoul’s nails dug deep into Yona’s side.

Crunch, crack, rip-

A terrible and chilling sound of ribs being split, muscles being torn, and blood vessels being cut rang in her ears.

Even though the pain felt like it was searing her brain as if on fire, Yona gritted her teeth and grabbed the ghoul’s face.

The disgustingly squishy feeling made her want to vomit.

Mixed in that nausea was the strong smell of blood rising from within.

Kiriririririk!

With a bizarre scream, the ghoul that had been on top of Yona screamed and fell off.

Not missing that chance, Yona rolled and sprang up, but immediately fell to one knee with a short scream.

“Uweck…!”

As soon as she opened her mouth, black blood and chunks of shredded internal organs burst out.

Blood was gushing from her side.

Dark red blood flowed and flowed as if overflowing, forming a puddle.

“Keuup…!”

Yona bit her lip and sprang up.

Would they spare her because she was injured? Of course not. In fact, as soon as Yona got up, the ghoul, its face twitching and blackened from burning, rushed towards Yona again.

Thunk!

“Miss Yona! Are you alright?!”

As soon as an arrow pierced the side of the ghoul’s head, James’s voice was heard.

Although Yona heard James’s voice, she oddly felt like the buzzing of flies was mixed in that voice.

“You, bastard…”

Something touched the tips of Yona’s fingers.

That something attached to her thigh.

I bought it for you to use even for self-defense.

She seemed to hear Alec’s voice.

-I can’t die here.

If I die, that baldy will cry, won’t he?

He’s actually cried before.

She drew the hunting knife wrapped around her thigh.

She tried to grip it with her right hand, but feeling the strong recoil, she switched to her left hand.

Her vision was blurry from losing too much blood.

She didn’t understand why self-healing wasn’t working.

“Damn… arm, priestesses do it so well, but… that damn Celestial God…!”

The pain that had felt like it was on fire now felt like it was being seared by fire.

And it was at that moment.

Boom…

Along with a sound like a drum, vitality returned to Yona’s body.

Not only did vitality return, but the wound on her side also began to heal rapidly.

In the sky, a Celestial God symbol exactly Yona’s size had appeared and was pouring down light on her.

“Bigr…!”

Healing.

Long-distance healing.

That healing, undoubtedly performed by Bigrin, was very welcome to Yona.

That wasn’t all.

Holy power seemed to have imbued the hunting knife Yona was holding, as pure white holiness began to rise from it.

Thud!

The hammer of judgment fell on the ghoul’s head again.

The ghoul’s entire body, directly hit by it, began to burn black, and it writhed on the ground, unable to bear the pain.

Yona grinned at the ghoul, which was flailing about, stabbing and poking everywhere indiscriminately with its sharp nails.

“This is the level of our Saint, you bastard.”

As Yona smiled confidently, Louis’s scream-like shout was heard.

“We must not collapse, block them! Block them-! Block them—-!”

The front line where the Cathedral Knight Order, just ten members, had been struggling began to collapse.

Although the number that had exceeded thousands had decreased significantly, it was still overwhelming, and finally, the defense line that had been pushed back one by one by the dead was crumbling.

Beyond that, a giant that looked like it had been patched together with flesh and skin was approaching, holding what looked like a meat club made by bundling and patching together several corpses.

“…Oh, Celestial God have mercy…”

Yona blankly looked up at that sight.

The ghoul had already burned black and turned to ash, only wafting its foul smell.