Ch.113Into Hell

*Gulp! Gulp!*

“Make sure to mark when you’ve finished a potion! Overusing potions is harmful to the body!”

Inside the barricade.

Mages who had completely depleted their mana were replenishing it by drinking potions.

Having recklessly cast powerful spells during the battle in the square, they needed rest due to the strain on both their magical power and bodies. But with the urgent situation at hand, the mages’ faces were flushed red.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Are you alright?”

“Huff… huff… I’ve cast hundreds of spells over the past week… I can’t do any more.”

“Damn it…”

“It’s not just me. Some apprentice mages have even lost consciousness. If we continue like this, we’re all finished.”

The mage, with potion dripping into his beard, told the Tower Master this before collapsing back into his seat.

Seeing this, the Tower Master could say nothing. Unlike holy magic, arcane magic directly affected the body—the more aggressively it was used, the more the body deteriorated.

“Damn it…! If only we had a few more priests…!”

While it was understandable that there weren’t enough mages to rest given their small numbers to begin with, the priests—who had seemed to be everywhere—were now at the front lines turning demons into past tense, leaving too few to heal the mages.

The arrival of the Authority of Destruction meant the dimensional barrier had weakened accordingly. The stronger the hellfire raged, the louder the chorus of angels would inevitably be heard.

Thanks to this, the priests were unleashing wide-area purification spells in place of the mages. It was no exaggeration to say they were the ones currently maintaining the defensive line.

But even priests would eventually be trampled by the endless parade of demons if they couldn’t destroy the hellgate that was their source.

“Lay the unconscious mages in one place, and separate those who can still move from those who can both move and cast spells. I’ll only authorize potion use for those who can walk and cast magic.”

“Understood, Tower Master.”

“Is His Majesty still safe?”

“Yes. He’s conducting a large-scale prayer ceremony with the priests…”

“I see… That’s good then.”

With the dimensional barrier weakened, the powerful soul of the monarch conducting prayers directly could potentially weaken the demons through a large-scale prayer ceremony.

Though the effect would be brief, if it could buy enough time for the unconscious mages to regain consciousness, the prayer would certainly have meaning.

“Angels… protect Fahrenheit.”

The Tower Master, after a very long time, offered a prayer toward the heavens.

*

“Grrrr….”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Demons are coming!”

“Archers! Fire!”

Twang-twang-twang!

The barbed arrows nocked on Fahrenheit’s powerful steel bows were released all at once, raining divine punishment upon the slowly approaching demons.

It wasn’t their power that made them effective, but the blessings placed on the arrows beforehand.

Thwack-thwack-thwack!

“GWAAAAARGH!!!”

Hissssss….!

As the arrows pierced the demons’ bodies, the consecrated arrowheads burrowed into their unholy flesh and began purifying it. Black, discolored fluid started dripping from the arrow wounds, like pus oozing from a ripe cyst.

Thud!

“A demon has fallen!”

“Don’t let your guard down! Second row, prepare to fire!”

“Yes, sir!”

But a fallen demon didn’t change the tide of battle.

Because there were so many of them—that’s why they were called a legion.

“GYAAAAH!!!”

Soon, dozens of demons charged forward wielding clubs and axes, and Fahrenheit’s archers began loosing their arrows without hesitation.

Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!

“Keep firing! Shower them with arrows! Swordsmen and spearmen, throw the fire bombs!”

“Fire bombs away!”

“Take this!”

Crash!

Whoosh!

Hell was often depicted as a place of raging fire—hence the term “hellfire”—and while this was true, it didn’t mean that demons, the residents of hell, were immune to fire.

Moreover, since the oil in these fire bombs had been blessed by priests, the demons didn’t dare breach the holy flames.

Unlike magic, priests could perform infinite miracles through the power of faith. With a blessed medium, even a wooden club would be enough to drive away demons.

Crack!

Rumble!!!

“Ah… the buildings…!”

Crash! Crumble!

Soldiers began lamenting as they watched buildings either catch fire and burn down on their own or collapse from the demons’ rampage.

The homes where they had lived, where their fellow citizens had dwelled, were crumbling. The shops where memories had been made were being demolished.

“Damn it all…”

Even the knights, not just the soldiers, gritted their teeth at the sight.

Though they hadn’t made memories in the same places as commoners, it was their duty to protect those places of memories. The scene before them was like a punishment, a direct confrontation with their own powerlessness.

And occasionally, screams could be heard.

“AAAAARGH!!! Help me!!! I don’t want to die!! Mom!! Dad!! Grandpa!! Grandma!!!!”

Crunch.

With each scream that rose and then fell silent, another dagger pierced the hearts of the soldiers defending the barricade.

If they hadn’t fallen for propaganda, incitement, and brainwashing, this country would still be peaceful.

If they hadn’t thrown themselves into hatred and anger, no disgusting evil would have defiled this nation.

But they had failed, and as if mocking their failure, the hellgate loomed ominously in the sky above the central square—once Fahrenheit’s pride and the envy of the entire north.

*

“Purify the demons! Glory to the thirty-five lords!”

“GRAAAAWWWL!!!!”

Boom! Crash!

While Fahrenheit’s surviving troops desperately blocked the demons’ advance by barricading key routes around the palace, the Allied Nations’ army was directly confronting the demons trying to break through Fahrenheit’s collapsed walls toward the central square.

“Don’t retreat! Purifying demons is our duty as humans!”

“The angels are with us! Archangel of Courage! Archangel of War! Archangel of Salvation! Protect the army of justice!”

“We shall restore what we have destroyed. Stars of heaven, look upon us!”

Though they were somewhat disadvantaged in direct confrontations due to the physical difference between demons and humans, the preachers of the Angel Order acted as political officers, maintaining strict discipline and encouraging the soldiers. This allowed them to bend but not break.

Taking advantage of this, dismounted knights and shock infantry wielding polearms and warhammers penetrated between the battle lines and began pounding the demons like making cutlets. As the demons’ front line gradually crumbled, ballistas and catapults that had been assembled in the rear began to roar, cutting off the demons’ reinforcements.

BOOM! CRASH!

“Advance! Let’s recapture the central square!”

“The unit that reaches the hellgate first will receive generous rewards from the lords of the Allied Nations!”

“You shall receive spiritual rewards! Crusaders, march forward!”

As they advanced, the Authority of Destruction launched increasingly fierce attacks, but fortunately, the demons’ assaults weren’t very effective.

Partly because they were well-prepared, but also because…

“It’s martyrdom time, MARTYRDOM TIME!!!!”

“Repent, demons of hell! Today you shall die!”

The fanatical priests, who had lost half their sanity to the trinity of fighting demons + righteous penance + human salvation, were wielding dual weapons and performing holy compressions while floating in mid-air, intimidating even the demons.

While a hellgate had indeed opened in Fahrenheit, its awkward size left the demons with no strategy beyond overwhelming numbers—a critical weakness.

Once the gate from hell to reality opened, the dimensional restraining force adjusted accordingly, allowing heaven to intervene in reality to some extent.

The archangels bestowed stronger blessings upon the priests who fought valiantly in their names, enabling them to KILLING DEMONS IS SO FUN let’s slaughter demons for the priests and justice as the priests tap-danced in mid-air, reducing demons to not-even-demons anymore—truly, isn’t this the reason for faith?

And thanks to the fanatical fighting power of these zealous priests, the 700,000-strong army finally succeeded in reaching the edge of the central square.