Ch.122122. The Battle of Mercury (3)

Combat Priest.

They possess combat abilities comparable to skilled mercenaries, and as their name suggests, they wield Divine Power.

These priests focus on bravely traversing battlefields to support their allies.

In emergencies, they fight. If an enemy targets their arm, they willingly sacrifice it to take the enemy’s neck. After all, Combat Priests have Divine Power. Only those called elites among regular priests can become Combat Priests. Ordinary injuries cannot stop them.

They do not fear pain, knowing their wounds will soon heal with their Divine Power.

Thus, Combat Priests boldly employ aggressive combat tactics while supporting and assisting allies.

However, perhaps their minds have been warped by such aggressive combat…

I’ve never met a Combat Priest who seemed entirely sane… and sure enough.

“……”

The apparent leader of those Combat Priests facing Ainel.

She was smiling pleasantly despite the catastrophic situation unfolding.

“Then half of us, including myself, will follow Siabel and defend the walls, while the rest… Ah! Katrin can lead them and follow Diolia. Can you handle that, Katrin?”

“Of course, Lady Tiya.”

“Excellent. Let’s proceed immediately. Many people appear to need our salvation.”

The Combat Priests split into two groups centered around the two women called Tiya and Katrin.

Interestingly, the Combat Priests weren’t exclusively female; men were interspersed among them. I suppose priestly work relies on Divine Power rather than Mana.

I suspect they’re individuals with exceptional talent in Divine Power… with personalities distinctly different from the disturbingly timid men of this world.

“Let us move. The situation on the walls is quite urgent.”

With those words, Siabel began leading her knights forward with quick steps.

She nodded briefly to me in greeting as she passed.

“…When this is over, I plan to spend time with you and Sione every day.”

“That means…”

“Don’t die. Stay alive. Are you wearing the ring I gave you properly?”

I raised my left hand.

The ring on my index finger was a magical item imbued with protective effects that Siabel had given me.

“Of course, I’m wearing it.”

Siabel showed a momentary satisfied smile as she passed by me.

I could only silently wish her good fortune.

* * *

Siabel suddenly lowered her stance.

Her silver hair fluttered momentarily as she kicked off the ground.

Slash!

There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in her strike.

All the monsters in her path fell, losing either their heads or limbs.

“Knights, stop the monsters climbing the walls! Soldiers, finish off those that aren’t yet dead!”

At Siabel’s command, the knights following her began engaging the monsters still climbing up.

The soldiers thrust their spears to impale those monsters that hadn’t yet perished.

Tiya walked along the path where a shallow pool of sticky blood had formed.

Priests are not gods. Unless one is a saint, even Divine Power cannot revive the dead, so she merely glanced with sympathetic eyes at those whose hearts had stopped beating.

Her attention turned to those still clinging to life.

“There’s a patient still alive over there. But to reach them—”

Tiya’s eyes narrowed.

Yet the faint smile on her lips remained unchanged.

“I’ll need to kill that monster first.”

Since the knights are too far away, I’ll have to do it myself.

Whispering quietly, Tiya boldly threw herself at the monster approaching a soldier who was still alive but on the verge of losing consciousness.

Thwap!

She kicked off the ground and instantly closed the distance.

The moment she thought the heavy iron of her mace could reach the monster’s head.

Thump!

After planting her feet firmly, she raised her mace high.

Whoosh!

The dull sound of air being cut.

She brought it down in a straight vertical line from above. And at the endpoint was the monster’s head.

Crack!

The monster’s skull caved in, splattering brain matter and blood onto the Combat Priest’s holy garments.

Yet Tiya paid it no mind.

She simply smiled as before and gathered Divine Power in her hands.

As the auspicious energy—the divine power of life and recovery—touched the woman’s body, her breathing began to stabilize.

While treating the woman who was about to lose consciousness, Tiya took in the sight of enemies swarming beyond the wall.

Despite knights and mages having killed over thousands of these creatures already, so many still remained.

She shook her head.

“God has told us that monsters are the devil’s creations and worthless toys.”

Therefore, there should be no hesitation in killing them.

Priests who believe in God have a duty to destroy the toys of demons.

“Even I would get tired with this many, though.”

This applied to Tiya as well.

* * *

[You are entering combat alongside Siabel Sianella.]

[A portion of your restricted power is being released.]

As Siabel began sweeping across the top of the wall, more of my power was released.

My heart pounded more vigorously. Life and Mana spread throughout my body more quickly and roughly with that powerful force.

Right now, I was in the most perfectly honed state since falling into this cursed world. My dulled senses had awakened to fully experience the world, and even this damned weak physical ability had blossomed to give me a sense of omnipotence, albeit a weak one.

However, even though some respectable power had finally returned, there was no time to simply rejoice.

My expanded sensing ability had detected an enemy. One that was directing its attention toward Sione Sianella.

A mountain of corpses piled high. A monster hiding within, suppressing its presence, waiting solely for a gap in our defenses.

From what I could sense, it seemed to possess quite a large body. It must have deliberately concealed its presence by burying itself among the corpses, which is why no one had detected it until now.

Thus, only two people were now aware of its existence.

Myself and—

“…As expected.”

As expected of a knight who had her master in sight.

Ainel Sianella was coldly staring at the place where the presence was felt.

Grip.

Ainel’s hand had already moved to the handle of her sword.

She was ready to cut down the monster the moment it sprang out.

Ainel’s gaze, which usually swept broadly across the wall, had narrowed considerably. Her focus was now fixed solely on Sione and that mountain of corpses.

That’s why I nocked an arrow to my bowstring.

‘The mages who’ve recovered their Mana are returning.’

It would be wasteful to be distracted by a single monster like that.

I’ll take care of it, so Ainel should focus on giving optimal orders to the mages.

“……”

“……”

Ainel’s eyes met mine.

After confirming the direction my arrowhead was pointing, the grip of her hand on the handle loosened slightly.

At that moment.

Grrrr!!

With a growling sound, the monster leaped out from the mountain of corpses. A monster jumping on four sturdy legs. Its tough hide didn’t look like it would fall from a single arrow.

Whoosh!

I gathered a whirlwind around my arrow. A cold winter wind spreading from me. This drew the attention of those around me.

“Ah…!”

Sione finally noticed the monster flying toward her with its jaws wide open.

I thought she would freeze in fear, but instead, she quickly adjusted the direction of her nocked arrow and released it. However, her aim wavered, and the arrow only pierced the side of the monster’s muzzle rather than its throat.

As the monster’s jaws opened wider, about to bite Sione’s delicate neck.

I released the bowstring I had been quietly aiming with a dead release.

Whoooosh!!!

The wind surged.

Thanks to the power contained in the elven bow. The bow, resonating with my elemental magic, unhesitatingly amplified the arrow’s power.

The compressed air at the arrow’s tip upon release.

Bang!!

The air burst forth, adding to the arrow’s speed.

The whirlwind at the arrowhead had become a small storm, tearing the enemy apart.

Boom!

The monster’s body exploded.

The arrow that struck the monster’s side, its elongated body, pierced through it. The lightened body of the monster fluttered in the wind, falling onto the mountain of corpses, and eventually rolled down and disappeared.

“It’s dangerous at the front, so please come to the back. We never know when a monster might thrust its muzzle in.”

Sione nodded blankly.

She seemed surprised by the power of my arrow.

I kept Sione firmly by my side and surveyed the surroundings.

As expected, the wide-eyed gazes of women were directed at me.

Among them, the one showing the greatest surprise was.

“Uh…uhh……”

The crimson-haired mage, Lavi Cournel.

She was looking at me with eyes full of disbelief.

But only for a moment.

With Ainel’s subsequent command, they turned their attention away from me.

“Mages, blow away that mountain of corpses and incinerate it.”

Following her command, the mages began drawing Mana.

A strong wind began to blow.

Starting with the corpses at the very top, they began to roll down, blocking the advance of monsters climbing the mountain.

And from the very bottom, fires and explosions began to fiercely burn the monsters’ corpses.

An inferno. The flames that had climbed to the top incinerated all remaining monsters. The smell of burning flesh and acrid smoke spread in billowing clouds.

“Phew……”

We can finally catch our breath for a moment.

Just as I thought that.

Sione tugged at my clothes and whispered.

“Ray… a demon.”

Sione’s gaze remained fixed on one spot.

Ainel was the same. Even Siabel, who had been observing from the right, was now staring at a single point with murderous intent.

“…A demon, you say?”

“There. Look between that fiery pit.”

A mountain of corpses turned into an inferno. One figure quietly looking up at the wall in front of it.

I gathered Mana in my eyes to enhance my vision. Finally, I too could see it.

A being standing on two legs, but not human. A creature made from a bizarre mixture of various wild animal limbs. And decisively, two black horns growing from its head.

It was watching this place with lizard-like split eyes.

“…A lesser demon.”

Demons take on forms closer to humans as their rank increases.

That discordant beast-like form standing on two legs, not quite human—that’s one of the most representative appearances of a lesser demon.

I have memories of exterminating countless such lesser demons.

“Ray, why are you stepping forward—”

“As long as the demon exists, this attack won’t end. If there’s a demon, shouldn’t we shoot it dead?”

I climbed to the edge of the wall.

Judging by my memory of lesser demons’ capabilities, with my power now released thanks to Siabel and Sione, I should be able to take down such a weakling.

“Hoo.”

I took a deep breath.

Hot air rushed into my lungs due to the sea of fire spread out before me.

I nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring.

Sliding release.

I planned to quickly draw the bowstring while maximizing the elemental magic and elven bow’s potential to complete the spell in that instant.

Demons are cunning and have good instincts. I needed to pierce it before it realized I intended to kill it.

I made my heart beat faster to draw up Mana.

I gathered the chill of the north wind that had descended to the west. While doing so, I mixed the flames permitted to me with the wind.

The air around me began to surge. The swirling wind gathered and compressed into the arrow, while the flames I had kindled rode the wind and bloomed profusely.

The elven bow amplified my magic again and again, making it shine more brilliantly.

By now, everyone on the wall was entranced by the brilliant feat, all staring blankly at me.

A strike woven with more than 70% of my power.

The technique I had woven before the demon could even react was finally released into the world.