Ch.336Changed Raid NPC (2)

“Phew! I still have a long way to go. Without using Swift Sword, fighting 1:3 would have been impossible.”

I covered Ira’s eyes, thinking that the sight of people being cut to pieces wouldn’t be good for her education, but Ira shook her head saying, “Oppa, I can’t see anything like this!” and pushed my hand away.

Ira, aren’t you scared? If you feel like you’re going to throw up or anything, you need to tell me right away.

“No! I’m fine!!”

[Holy Empire High Paladin: Level 413 (Dead)]

Ira looked at me with a bright smile, completely unfazed by the sea of blood before her, and followed the Chancellor and Gore, walking steadily forward. This was our fourth ambush before reaching the Imperial Palace. Except for the Chancellor and Ira, everyone else fought alone as a warm-up, but something strange was happening.

“Hmm. Curious, three attackers again.”

[It feels like a game, just as Master described.]

Gore consumed the sea of blood with his slime body and devoured all the dismembered corpses. I nodded at the Chancellor’s comment. What does this mean? The fact that they keep coming at us in groups of three makes this feel like playing a game in real life, which is kind of disgusting.

“Now that the church and clock tower are behind us, will you cover our rear?”

“That’s the plan. Please take care of Ira.”

“Don’t worry. I’m always watching over her.”

When I asked the Chancellor to look after Ira, Gore pounded his chest competitively in response. I smiled slightly and followed after Ragni, Ray, and Ira who were walking ahead. The Imperial Palace is right in front of us—

“Everyone, hide behind the building…!”

“No! Stay where you are!!”

“?!”

—BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Ragni and the Chancellor shouted almost simultaneously, and then an explosion like thunder erupted around us. What the hell!! This is!!!

“Ira!!”

“I’m okay!! She’s right here with me!!”

Our companions who were ahead of us raised their voices from within the smoke, indicating they were safe, and I immediately rushed forward.

Those crazy bastards!! They fired cannons in the middle of their own city!!!

—BOOM!!

“…You’re fast.”

“I told you. I’m watching over her.”

As the smoke began to clear, Gore had already transformed into his giant form and was standing like a wall in front of our companions, blocking the bombardment while facing forward. Behind him, the Chancellor was deploying defensive magic to protect everyone. Did those two with their superior sensing abilities notice immediately? Nice tanking!

“…Salver. You’ve gone too far!”

“Phew! That was scary!!”

Ragni’s voice came from beside Ray, gritting her teeth, and Ira poked her head out from Ray’s chest, confirming that everyone was safe. And then.

—TAT!

“You brain-dead, bullet-headed bastards…!”

Several armored paladins emerged from the smoke, swinging their weapons at Ragni, Ray, and Ira, but.

—CRACK!!!

“Did they fire people along with the shells?!”

I grabbed the half-burned armored figures who were swinging swords, spears, clubs, and axes, and headbutted them in the face. I punched those who dropped their weapons in the stomach, sending them flying, and broke the arms and legs of the remaining two.

Unlike the careless vigilance from earlier or fighting separately, Ray and Ragni immediately swung their swords at the enemies I had thrown, and finally Ira summoned her chick to create flames, burning them all to end the situation.

“Are cannons normally designed to fire people too?!”

“Wow! That was surprising!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there would be people in the bombardment that missed us.”

“Hmm, I would have been more surprised if you had noticed that as well.”

“…We survived thanks to Jack’s quick reaction.”

“Is everyone uninjured?”

Everyone responded to my question that they were unharmed. Gore returned to his normal size, and the Chancellor created a larger barrier, completely blocking the road ahead.

“Let’s proceed while maintaining this barrier. We can’t afford to be ambushed like this repeatedly. We should assume that any bombardment that misses us might contain people, as we just saw.”

—CRACK!!

As the Chancellor calmly assessed the situation, Ragni, who was beside Ira and Ray, began moving forward quickly, gritting her teeth so hard I could hear them cracking. Wait, Ragni, are you…?

“Chancellor. Can we attack through the barrier?”

“…Yes.”

—CLICK.

Her red eyes, usually filled with intelligence, lost their light and were completely consumed by anger as she stared at the Imperial Palace. Her gun barrel, as if representing her will, began violently spewing bullets. She’s completely lost it, hasn’t she?

—BANG! BANG! BANG!!

As Ragni’s bullets began destroying the cannons that had fired at us, the bombardment decreased significantly, but it also signaled to the enemy that we were still alive, and they continued their attacks.

Hmm, at this rate, we can only follow behind? We can’t move ahead of the barrier.

“Ragni. Calm down a bit. Even with the Chancellor’s barrier, there’s no need to keep firing and revealing our position.”

“Breaking through directly is the fastest way! They’ve been tracking our position and sending paladins after us all along!! If we leave Salver the Chancellor unchecked, the Empire! The capital will be completely destroyed!!”

Ragni continued firing even as she spoke, and with the ongoing bombardment, our pace became much slower than if we were simply running. No, at this rate, wouldn’t it be faster to just go around behind the buildings?!

“R-Ragni! The bombardment is getting more intense!! The Chancellor can’t keep holding on alone…!!”

“It doesn’t matter. Iron cannons without magical power, I can block them for three days without eating or sleeping. More importantly…”

The attacks that initially launched undead knights and paladins like the first bombardment aren’t continuing. According to the Chancellor, if we continue like this, albeit slowly, we’ll definitely reach the Imperial Palace. However, the Chancellor began looking around at the continuing bombardment as if something was strange.

“…It’s as if they only need to know our position.”

Buildings that should provide cover are being destroyed by the bombardment, becoming useless debris. Whenever we approach an alley that might allow us to change direction, shells rain down as if targeting the buildings themselves, clearing our view of the Imperial Palace.

Though slow, if all the surrounding buildings collapse like this, the path to the Imperial Palace will become a straight line, making it no different from going around…

“…A straight line?”

—BANG!!

“Huh? What did you say?!”

Ragni couldn’t hear my muttering due to the bombardment and her own gunfire, and she tilted her head, about to speak, but the answer came from elsewhere.

“Master! This feels like a trap!!”

“Eh?”

“Ira?”

“Wait, expl—!!”

—BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Just as the Chancellor noticed something from Ira’s words and tried to move, an intense concentrated bombardment, incomparable to what we’d experienced before, began mercilessly tearing apart our surroundings. Even the Chancellor’s barrier, which she claimed could withstand attacks without magical power for three days and nights, began to crack.

A trap?! Ira!! Ira!!

“Too la—!! Grab someone clo— to you!!”

In the situation where voices could barely be heard due to the explosions, I could see the Chancellor struggling to maintain the barrier while reaching out to Ragni beside her. I immediately turned around and ran toward Ira, who was with Ray and Gore, but.

—BOOM!! CRASH!!!

“—re?!!”

Whether this bombardment also contained paladins or not, Gore, who blocked a distorted paladin’s sword aimed at me with his body, was pushed back slightly and separated from Ira, blocking my path. I turned around a beat late and extended my hand toward Ira with all my might.

“—ppa!!”

“—ra!!”

I could see Ira extending her small hand toward me from beside Ray, allowing me to feel a little relieved. Forward, just one step to my sister!!

—CRACK!!!

“—trap!! —one will be scattered!!!”

However, my brief relief at seeing Ira safe was short-lived. Along with the Chancellor’s urgent voice, I heard the sound of something other than bombardment tearing through the barrier. The sight of Ira before my eyes—no, the entire surrounding landscape—completely disappeared.

*

“As expected, they used teleportation.”

“Yes! Just as you said, when they became desperate, they immediately vanished.”

In the Chancellor’s office at the top of the Imperial Palace, a priest of the Holy Empire and the Chancellor were looking at the capital devastated by bombardment, raising the corners of their mouths and even enjoying wine as if delighting in the current situation.

“Even the continent’s strongest magician is still a lowly human who doesn’t believe in God. When faced with a surprise attack from a demon, especially one of the Seven Deadly Sins, it’s only natural they would flee using what they consider their specialty.”

“Well, I was honestly worried. With that princess by their side, I thought they might notice it was a double trap.”

Clinking their wine glasses together, the men laughed maliciously as they wet their throats. Meanwhile, a paladin entered after knocking on the door, and upon hearing his report, they laughed even more gleefully.

“Hahah!! So the magician and the princess have conveniently come ‘here’!!”

“It seems the rest have also been properly transported to the church and clock tower. All thanks to Chancellor Salver’s perfect assistance.”

“No, no. It’s all thanks to High Priest Torrens’ meticulous and flawless strategy!!”

First, they used the initial bombardment with paladins—those consumed by the demon of Greed—to make them focus on defense and slow their pace. When they reached the center point of the pre-prepared Imperial Palace, church, and clock tower, they used the latest weapon from Aiti called [Magic Cannon] to completely bind them in place. After that—

[Give, give me. Food. I’m hungry. Give me food… I did what you asked…]

“Hmm. Will you continue using this demon? It doesn’t seem to have much life left.”

“Yes. We should use it while we still can. Although it lost its attack power due to the disappearance of its main body, being a fragment made it easy to capture and utilize.”

In the corner of the Chancellor’s office, a demon fragment with its limbs severed and only its head remaining was bound by holy magic, and they directed attacks using the remaining fragments. Then, the enemy, confused by the new weapon and the demon’s joint attack, would surely try to escape using the troublesome magic called teleportation. Not knowing that ‘this was the trap prepared for them.’

“Demon. Church or clock tower. Which would you prefer to go to? There’s a meal for you there.”

[…Clock tower.]

“Kekek. Even in this state, as a demon, you instinctively avoid the church?”

Using a trap composed entirely of holy magic without any regular magic, they forced the teleportation spell used by the supposedly strongest magician to ‘forcibly’ transport them only to designated locations, and to be separated.

Honestly, they had used quite a few paladins because they were concerned that the woman called ‘The Blue Wisdom of the Empire’ might detect this, but who would have thought things would go so smoothly? It was laughable to see her firing long-range magic bullets, apparently distracted by their bombardment.

“Fufu. It seems so. Then, send your connected fragment to the clock tower. Eat the one with ‘the strongest magical power’ who has fallen there.”

[Food…]

They didn’t release the captured fragment. They had captured two fragments, and were using one to direct and command.

“Well then, I shall make my move as well. The Chancellor woman seems quite dangerous, not to mention the princess.”

“Yes! Be careful. That princess truly has a mind that doesn’t seem human.”

After drinking one more glass of wine poured by the Chancellor, the High Priest smiled and left the office, heading down to the lower part of the castle.

“High Priest Martini. The appearance of Naika, the Chancellor of Neiti, and the princess has been confirmed on the second floor. Currently engaged in combat with the corpses controlled by Greed.”

“Hmm. Let’s go. I’ll handle this personally.”

As he moved, priests in white uniforms and paladins with swords began to follow him.

[-Occupation: Raid Boss- Level: 730 Name: Torrens Martini, Cardinal.]

The man who had heard even the sound of cold sweat dropping from the Assassination Squad Leader, Dolph, began to move during ‘the time before he became a Cardinal.’