Ch.114Those Who Kill Hell

“Can you hear that sound?”

“Yeah. If I couldn’t hear it, I’d be crazy.”

Atop the barricade.

Fahrenheit’s soldiers muttered as they listened to the choral sounds of the United Nations’ army approaching from the south.

From far away, they were coming.

Those who marched, raising the flags of thirty-five lords, to kill Fahrenheit and bring it back to life…

“Venit dies judicii. Venit dies poenae cum omnes mali et mali in hoc mundo punientur.”

-The day of judgment will come. The day of punishment is coming when all evil and evildoers in this world will be punished.-

In the northern part of the central plaza, Fahrenheit’s army was holding out, while in the south, the United Nations’ joint forces were advancing.

Between them stood the Hell Gate in the central plaza, continuously spewing out demons.

The Hell Gate, seemingly reaching its limit of self-sustenance, had faded from its original crimson to a pink hue. It would likely close on its own in about three days, but there was no reason to give it that time.

As the choral sounds grew louder, the soldiers on the barricade wore complicated expressions.

These were once people they had crossed blades with, those who had harmed their families and plundered their possessions.

But now, only with their help could they purge this demonic army…

“Splendor stellarum innumerarum, et archangelorum benedictiones sunt nobis. servi iniquitatis non effugient interitum.”

-The splendor of countless stars and the blessings of archangels are upon us. The slaves of wickedness shall not escape destruction.-

The hymnal singing drew ever closer.

They were coming.

The will of thirty-five lords, the resolve of 700,000, the sum of countless nations was coming to save them.

To kill the demons, close the Hell Gate, and purify their state, country, homeland, and motherland.

“May the angels protect them.”

Fahrenheit’s emblems and flags had already burned to ashes.

All that remained was their homeland reduced to cinders.

The defeated soldiers began desperately hoping that they would show one last mercy to Fahrenheit.

“Et tandem, supremo die, omnes boni et mali separabuntur.”

-And finally, on the last day to come, all the good and evil shall be separated.-

The hymn ended.

With the final verse of the song of praise, their singing was heard no more.

“They’ve arrived…”

They had come to the central plaza.

They were in places unseen, places unreachable.

*

“That’s the Hell Gate.”

“Since the Hell Gate is trying to close itself, we’d better prepare thoroughly.”

A Hell Gate never closes willingly.

Unless banished by holy power, like a dying star causing a supernova, the Hell Gate would suddenly expand to summon an Archdemon before collapsing… and that Archdemon would create another Hell Gate, continuing the vicious cycle.

And if they didn’t close it now, an Archdemon would appear in Fahrenheit, and the city would be completely destroyed.

Including the millions of Fahrenheit citizens still alive and hundreds of thousands of joint forces.

“Knights forward, lance charge and then assault to finish this.”

“I’ll position the infantry on both flanks.”

“Priests to the rear of the knights. While the knights form their battle line, the priests will close the gate.”

“Understood. Knights forward! Prepare for lance charge!!!”

Clop! Clop!

The demons formed a square formation around the Hell Gate, as if determined to defend it to the death.

There were no archers, but the long spears and red flesh forewarned that breaking through that formation would come with tremendous sacrifice.

“Lance charge! Form assault formation!”

It was a massive plaza that could hold a million people, and since the surrounding structures had been destroyed or damaged by the demonic invasion, making the area generally flat, there was no problem for thousands of knights to form their charging formation.

Some knights grimaced at the thought of staining this monumental space, the largest plaza in the north, with blood, but their expressions soon relaxed with the prancing of their warhorses.

“Yes. We definitely need to close it now. Do you see that silhouette?”

“Damn… it’s huge. That’s an Archdemon, right?”

“If that comes into our reality, only Sword Masters, Archmages at full power, or Bishop-level priests could face it. We need to close that gate before that happens.”

“Damn it… came to save someone else’s country only to die a miserable death…”

Click!

Even as they spoke, the knights closed their helmet visors and mounted their horses.

They were guardians who had taken sacred oaths, and fleeing in the face of the power of destruction would mean breaking those oaths.

And for knights, betraying an oath meant dishonor worse than death.

“Grrrrrr…!!!”

“What an ugly face indeed. We shall personally correct it.”

The knights, armed with daggers, estocs, longswords, arming swords, and even morning stars at their waists, pointed their lances forward.

They rode battle-hardened warhorses that had come with them, which would never flee or stop, even in death.

Buuuuuuu!!!

“Charge!”

“Let’s purify the demons!”

Clop! Clop! Clop!

The demons were no easy opponents to conserve horse strength for.

So they spurred their mounts from the start, adding maximum speed and acceleration to charge with full force.

Among the gathered knights were those who had fought Archdemons before, so this was only natural.

No mercy was needed against demons, so the knights, with fearsome instruments of slaughter bound to both sides of their waists, began charging at full speed toward the demons’ formation, with priests trailing behind them like tails.

*

“Advance!”

“Form an encirclement! Don’t let the demons concentrate in the center!”

While the knights charged at full speed toward the center of the demon formation, infantry positioned on both flanks approached the demons’ right and left formations, pouring down a rain of arrows.

The demons had no ranged weapons, not even shields, so they fell in droves under the arrow rain, but demons emerged from the Hell Gate almost as quickly as they died, so overall, their numbers remained unchanged.

“Impact!!!”

CRASH!!!

Soon the knights’ charging formation collided with the demons’ formation with a thunderous sound, and the knights literally trampled through the thick wall of demons with their hooves, drawing estocs and other close-combat weapons instead of broken lances to cut, stab, dismember, and crush the demons.

“In the name of the angels, I command you! Return to hell!!!”

Behind them, priests who had dismounted were rushing to close the Hell Gate, blowing off demon heads as they ran, while infantry formations fiercely engaged the demons’ left and right wings as they tried to move to support the center.

“Block them! Don’t let them reach the center!!!”

“KWAAAARGH!!!”

CRASH!

“GUAARGH!!!”

“Throw fire bombs! Block their path! We must protect the knights and priests!”

At the non-commissioned officers’ commands, soldiers threw fire bombs, while field mages made the ground slippery or summoned vines to bind feet, actively interfering with the demons’ attempts to provide support. Taking advantage of this, the knights displayed tremendous breakthrough power, quickly pulling their formation right up to the Hell Gate.

THUD-DUD-DUD-DUD!!!

“NEEEIGH!!”

“Run, Maximus! Trample the demons!”

“KWAAAARGH!!!”

Despite the demons’ screams as they tried to stop the knights, the massive warhorses weighing over a ton each, armored and charging at speeds exceeding 60 km/h, forced the demons—beings of flesh and blood—to have their lives forcibly ejected back to hell under the horses’ hooves.

The three most skilled knights reached the front of the Hell Gate, while around them, soldiers and knights engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with demons.

The Hell Gate they beheld had already reached the end of its life, with the upper and lower body of an Archdemon already visible, and on either side, a gateway carved with grotesque mockeries was clearly beginning to appear.

One of the knights turned around, and an elderly priest who had rushed over handed them a scroll with holy words that could close the gate.

“In the name of the holy angels, I command… let the gate of iniquity be closed before the wrath of the righteous!”

As he recited the words, the letters on the scroll began to glow with golden light, which started to seep into the Hell Gate.

KUOOOOO!!!

The Hell Gate began to convulse and lose its form, and the demons, cut off from hell, began to scream as their bodies shattered.

“Soldiers! Purify the remaining demons! Thorough death to the servants of hell!”

“The angels desire justice! Let us show the incarnations of iniquity the power of humanity!”

The Hell Gate closed, and the priests, greatly encouraged by this sight, began to reveal their political officer tendencies as they urged on the soldiers and knights.

“Leave no demon alive!!!”

With the priests’ resounding voices, the last remaining demon fell in Fahrenheit’s central plaza.