Ch.165165. The Final War (3)

The Sacred Assault Troops fought like men possessed on the front lines, each wielding their sacred weapons.

“Kill them!! Kill the enemy!!”

“Atonement, we shall atone!!!”

Each shouting their own battle cry, they charged through the broken formation, maximizing their blessed bodies and honed combat skills.

Cleaving with axes, slicing with swords, bashing with shields, and crushing with blunt weapons.

One would catch a pilum (spear) thrown by a brave Imperial soldier without even looking, then thrust it back to impale the soldier’s body.

Another would shatter a makeshift formation of charging soldiers with a single kick, then cleanly decapitate them with twin axes.

Yet another would absorb a veteran soldier’s full-force strike with his armor, then crush the soldier’s head with his bare fist.

“Wh-what are those things?!!”

“Strong…! Too strong!!”

While our attacks had no effect on them, each of their strikes felled a soldier. These warriors, with bodies impossibly large for humans, completely covered in steel with no exposed skin, slaughtered our comrades while spouting fanatical words.

“R-run away!!”

“Retreat!! Retreat!!!”

Not only the frontline soldiers who had to face these monsters, but even the mid-ranking officers whose duty was to prevent retreat fled in terror.

The damage inflicted by this suicide assault force of mere hundreds was beyond what any sane commander would believe possible.

Of course, they weren’t completely invincible warriors, so despite the terrible exchange ratio, they did suffer casualties bit by bit.

However… there was not the slightest retreat in their fanatical and fierce offensive.

Acting as if they had no intention whatsoever of accepting surrender, these Sacred Assault Troops were gradually causing the battle line to collapse.

While the Sacred Assault Troops deserved much credit for these amazing results, the elite undead supporting them were no less significant.

Heavy Skeleton Warriors, Elite Ghouls, Heavy Zombies, Skull Centipedes, and more.

These dozens of types of undead, ranked between 7th and 8th grade, weren’t particularly superior to the Imperial soldiers in combat power.

No, since they tended to act independently rather than as a cohesive unit, the Imperial legion soldiers actually had a slight advantage in practical terms.

However, their true value came from their overwhelming numbers—around 30,000. While the Sacred Assault Troops were strong but numbered only a few hundred, these undead could engage the enemy army and buy as much time as possible.

So while the exchange ratio might not seem that different on the surface, the Imperial Legion was suffering severe manpower depletion in reality.

Unlike humans who become combat ineffective from a single serious wound, the Sacred Assault Troops and undead could fight endlessly until death.

“Thousand-Man Commanders!! Thousand-Man Commanders to the front!!”

Thus, the Commander-in-Chief, an apostle of Makius, ordered the deployment of Aura Awakened ones to overcome this situation.

These mid-level warriors, each worth more than a hundred or even a thousand men, were normally kept in reserve, but the situation was too dire to hold them back any longer.

Therefore, to buy time until the plague-infected Pegasus cavalry could regroup, the Thousand-Man Commander-level mid-tier warriors entered the battlefield.

“They’ve arrived!! They have come!!”

“Form up!! Assemble!!”

“Hold!! There is hope now!!!”

This alone was enough to instill hope in the soldiers at the front.

Soldiers who had been terrified or panicking instantly calmed down, gathering with their comrades to form shield walls and hold their ground.

Some lower-ranking officers also managed to gather their courage and rally the troops to fulfill their duties.

“Fiiiiiiiiii!!! Fiiiiiiiiii───!!!”

“Martyrdom!! Then you shall be able to repent!!”

“Ahhh!! God!! To your side now!!!”

Though a change in mindset didn’t greatly enhance their combat power, it was enough to buy a little more time than before.

“First, one!!”

Whoosh──slash!!

“”””””””Waaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!””””””””

The brief moment they gained was sufficient for the mid-tier warriors—the Thousand-Man Commanders—to arrive.

Cutting, slashing, and cleaving.

The Thousand-Man Commanders, primarily using swords, moved their Aura-wrapped bodies nimbly, and with each movement, dozens of undead were cut apart or crushed into the air.

They clearly demonstrated the power difference that made Aura-awakened 6th grade warriors classified as “mid-tier.”

“So these are them. The ones said to be quite strong!!”

“Martyrdom!! Become martyrs!!”

“Ah, today I shall go to your side!!”

After clearing the undead around them across the front line, the Thousand-Man Commanders charged at the black-armored giants—the Sacred Assault Troops.

Clang!! Clang!! Claaang───slash!!!

The battle seemed to unfold anticlimactically.

After exchanging a few blows, it ended with an Aura-wrapped sword cutting through both weapon and chest.

Judging from the white bones visible through the split armor and the amount of blood flowing, it was certainly an instant death.

Meanwhile, considering the power difference between mid and low-tier warriors, the Thousand-Man Commander thought it remarkable that they could exchange blows at all.

So after cutting down the surprisingly troublesome Sacred Assault Trooper, the Thousand-Man Commander briefly pondered how such warriors were trained—

───Whoosh!!

At that moment, the Thousand-Man Commander dodged an axe swung from the front, grimaced, and looked at his attacker to counter—

“……..Huh?”

His attacker was the Assault Trooper he had just fatally wounded. It was shocking to see him moving despite such a deep wound.

It was comparable to witnessing a moving corpse in real life.

With his ribcage exposed through his chest, he still tried to attack the Thousand-Man Commander with undiminished killing intent—

──Slash! Crack!!

Only after the Thousand-Man Commander completely severed his head and partially cut through his torso did the Sacred Assault Trooper finally stop moving.

Similar phenomena were occurring across the entire battlefield.

The Sacred Assault Troops, true to their nature as war machines created by divine hands, continued to function in situations where normal warriors would certainly have died.

Some slaughtered several soldiers even after having their hearts pierced, others continued moving for minutes with slashed throats.

One Sacred Assault Trooper even fought until his head was completely severed despite having half his brain crushed—his body remembering its martial prowess.

Though they displayed supernatural vitality that made one doubt they were living beings, there were clear limits to their life force.

Before the overwhelming power of the Aura users, they were consumed one by one, and even the Sacred Assault Troops who had returned from death began to disappear.

“Fight! Die! Then you shall be able to repent!!”

Slash!!

Persha, the Sacred Assault Troop Captain and the only mid-tier warrior among them, skillfully wielded his Aura to behead several Thousand-Man Commanders.

In his right hand was a sacred sword blessed and bestowed by Saint Lisa herself, and in his left, the banner symbolizing his leadership of the Sacred Assault Troops.

With a few exceptionally skilled warriors from his personal guard at his side, Persha had cut down seven Thousand-Man Commanders—Aura users—but…

Many enemies still remained for him to face, and as time passed, even he began to struggle.

Despite continuous supporting fire from behind and direct artillery hits on enemy lines, the situation was far too dire to hold out.

Persha had only six Sacred Assault Troopers left by his side, all wounded to varying degrees from the fierce battle.

And Persha himself, having just cut down his 10th Thousand-Man Commander, was not in perfect condition either, increasingly feeling his limits as time passed.

But it was too early to give up.

[Everyone!! We die here!!!!]

“”””””Waaaaaaaaaaahhh───!!!!””””””

So Persha and his subordinates, resolved to meet their end here, responded with battle cries toward the approaching enemies—

At that moment—the sky opened—

And “angels,” red angels, began to appear.