Ch.266Civil War (2)

Fluttering sacred wings, a white horse—Pegasus—covered from head to toe in armor made of gold and milky metal.

In this bizarre situation, descending with a white radiance like wings of light wrapped around it, I gritted my teeth as I rode on its back.

The current situation was far from anything that could be called “fine,” even as a figure of speech.

While we were marching and moving troops to a stronghold near the city, demons suddenly attacked from the other side. If not for the Pantheon’s reinforcements who volunteered as the vanguard, we would have suffered heavy casualties without being able to do anything.

Even then, it was only because I sensed it intuitively and urgently dispatched knights to intercept that we managed to hold them off. One wrong move, and our forces could have been completely devastated by the invading demons before we could properly respond.

If there was one fortunate thing to point out, it would be that at this point, our forces were somehow managing to hold the enemies at bay.

While the Pantheon’s reinforcements desperately bought time by throwing themselves into battle, the knights I quickly dispatched arrived. They leaped without hesitation into the heart of enemy lines, literally shredding the mindless low-level demons.

Dismembered corpses were scattered across the ground, and the knights’ brilliant performance in beating back the demons trying to bypass the Pantheon was truly dazzling…

‘…Disgusting creatures.’

And so, the situation has come to this.

Flying frantically toward us with flapping wings are fly-human hybrid demons riding on the backs of giant fly demons—the notorious Fly Demon Cavalry.

In one hand, they hold grotesquely twisted lances made of flesh, and in the other, horribly distorted biological shields emblazoned with the symbol of “Gluttony.”

Of course, since they’re all low-level demons, they would be torn apart if they charged directly into the knights or the Pantheon’s formation. They seem to be using their mobility to target our rear.

Even at a glance, there are easily over a hundred aerial cavalry units. The outcome of their collision with our army, which hasn’t even formed a proper battle formation yet, is all too predictable.

That’s why I’ve appeared with Gus at the center of the frontline.

“…Gus, I’m counting on you.”

“—Hiiihiiing!!!”

Immediately after my quiet request, Gus releases the sacred radiance he had been gathering with the power of his equipment.

This radiance boosts the spirits and morale of our exposed allies while, conversely, inflicting terrible spiritual wounds on those evil non-existent creatures.

Most of the demon fly cavalry, suffering spiritual damage, staggered as their momentum was sharply broken and they slowed down. Some unfortunate individuals couldn’t withstand the spiritual impact and their forms collapsed, banishing them from the material world.

This radiance even affected the ground demons with almost the same effect as mentioned earlier, naturally dampening the momentum of the mindless demons on the ground as well.

Having created such an intimidating atmosphere simply by advancing and making an appearance, I straightened my back as much as possible, heightening the sharpness of my attributes, and “heroically” drew my blade shield and unicorn longsword, one in each hand.

In a situation where morale, especially among common soldiers, had completely bottomed out due to the unexpected ambush, the best approach I could take was to present myself as a kind of icon.

Throughout history, east and west, there’s a reason why many people cheer for battlefield heroes. For me, following such precedents and creating a heroic image seemed like the best course of action.

And as part of emphasizing this heroic image to the fullest, I advanced while launching my blade shield toward the now weakened enemies.

—Slash!

Starting by cutting down the lead demon with my longsword, extending its aura to widen its range, I moved my weapons with the momentum to grind down every creature in sight.

There was a momentary feeling of crushing flesh, followed by a clean cutting sound, and the chitinous shells of those creatures were sliced apart by the blade shield fragments dancing around me.

A continuous sequence of cutting and crushing motions. From a distance, it might have resembled a dance performed on horseback, while all around me, the crushed bodies of demon cavalry fell to the ground before vanishing.

It took no more than 5 minutes to completely wipe out what must have been about 600 low-level demons by my hand.

And just as these demons were all being well-ground into pieces of flesh before these terrible wounds…

‘…Is it coming?’

Suddenly, an intuition filled with warning and vigilance resonated in my mind. As something indescribable approached, causing my vigilance to rise naturally, a massive demon revealed itself from beyond with thunderous booming sounds.

[—■■■■■■■■!!!!]

The demon that appeared with a resounding roar had an appearance similar to a horribly twisted Minotaur—a mid-level bull-headed demon.

Its massive body, about 5 meters tall, was covered in a bizarre greenish hide that gave an alien impression. Except for its protruding belly, the entire body was protected by muscles that gave a strong impression of heaviness.

Its head, resembling a hideously twisted bull with fly compound eyes embedded in it, had three pairs of massive horns growing from it. Its mouth was not like that of a beast that opens up and down, but like that of an insect or worm that splits sideways.

From its back grew a pair of giant moth-like wings that fluttered, lifting it into the air. Between its legs, something like a luscious reptilian tail had grown and swayed gently.

Its legs were, of course, reverse-jointed with hooves. Those muscular thighs flaunted muscles of a thickness that seemed about to burst, and surprisingly, this muscular body was covered in light armor reminiscent of a gladiator.

A shirt-like scale mail. A skirt-like lower body covering. Chains and leather straps wrapped around its entire body, as well as things like half-gloves on its hands, were quite noticeable.

But even all of these combined couldn’t match the impressiveness of two other features: the demon’s weapon and its belly.

First, this demon was holding an enormous leather whip and an axe in its hands, which at a glance were clearly no ordinary weapons.

The double-bladed axe looked as if it had been molded from a red-skinned demon into the shape of an axe, and while the whip appeared to be made of leather, it was actually impossible to predict what it was really made of.

Additionally, on its bulging belly was a large mouth with teeth growing densely all the way to the inside, from which intestine-tongues extended to bind nearby demons and bring them to its mouth.

—Chomp, chomp, chomp!!

Of course, any demon bound by these intestine-tongues and sucked into that mouth would meet the fate of being chewed into pieces of meat after a brief masticatory movement.

As this mid-level demon with such a bizarre appearance emerged, the priests’ attention focused on it, but I restrained them, wanting to face it myself.

And, as if displeased by my gesture…

[■■■■■■■■—!!!!!]

The creature let out a roar almost identical to when it first appeared, then immediately swung its grotesque whip at me.

They say that even a well-made whip wielded by an ordinary Earth human can easily break the sound barrier. How much more so a whip wielded by a biological tank whose strength far surpasses that of humans—it’s literally a weapon of slaughter.

A direct hit would crush even a knight’s entire body, leaving no need to distinguish between bone and flesh. Even for me, it would be extremely difficult to respond without revealing my “biological armor.”

—Whiiiiiiiiiii—!!!

And as that whip cut through the air with a sharp sound, I calmly swung forward all twelve blade shields combined together.

—Slash!!

[….■?!!]

The massive blade positioned itself in the path of the demon-hide braided whip. It cleanly bisected the whip, halving its range, and by the time the creature was bewildered by this unprecedented situation, it was already too late to respond.

Mounted on Gus, who was flying with light particles scattering from the boosters in his wings, I brought down my sword just once, and the torrent of power dispersed from the sword’s tip very precisely cut through the demon’s flesh.

—Thud!!!

The body, so large that it hadn’t yet fully vanished, fell to the ground cut in half, and the demons, seemingly shocked, slowly moved their legs toward the castle.

And in this atmosphere…

“”””””—Waaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!””””””

Belatedly, cheers erupted from among the soldiers who had noticed our victory.