Ch.6969. Pagan Forces (1)

In a corner of the vast plain stretching across the southeastern Frankish Kingdom, two armies clash.

“Block them, block!”

“Don’t retreat! In the name of the War God!”

“In the name of the War God!!”

“Long live Cronima!!!”

“Great Cronima, look upon us with favor!!”

On one side are warriors in heavy armor with striking blood-red cloaks. These fighters desperately resisting while invoking the name of Cronima, the War God of the pantheon, are priests belonging to the Cronima Temple.

Befitting their status as priests of the War God, Cronima’s priests have all undergone military training and can wield various miracles specialized in “warfare,” while simultaneously being excellent warriors themselves.

They are outstanding fighters wrapped in full-body armor stained with the blood of heretics and cultists, armed with thick shields and beautiful war-weapons—appearing more like warriors than priests.

At the forefront of these warriors, who proudly wield equipment stained with cultists’ blood and whose bodies are wrapped in the War God’s spells—warriors who are essentially berserkers—stands their commander with dignity.

Right beside him is a brave standard-bearer who carries only a military flag engraved with Cronima’s emblem without any other weapon, while the commander himself, as if flaunting his position as leader of these fanatics, has hooks with enemy heads attached all over his body.

His identity is none other than a Paladin of the War God “Cronima.”

Priests are magic users who can also demonstrate their skills in close combat, and because of this, there are types of priests who enjoy close combat and devote great attention to physical training.

Among these priests specialized in close combat, there are rare cases where they awaken to auras while channeling magical power. These priests who awaken to auras while channeling magic are beings who are both priests and knights. Called “Paladins,” they occupy a unique position.

A Paladin, who wields and channels magical power imbued with sacred energy influenced by priestly power, is a powerful individual who can also cast magic through prayer as a priest.

Therefore, they are typically treated as elite forces dispatched where power is needed rather than being assigned to specific parishes, but the War God Cronima’s temple is an exception.

Perhaps because physical training is a basic requirement, the temple of Cronima has several times more Paladins than ordinary mid-level priests, and it is common for Paladins to rise to executive positions in Cronima’s temple….

“Kill them! Die! Kill them all!!”

“””WAAAAAAAAAHHHHH───!!”””

Sir Virius, the Paladin leading approximately 120 priest-warriors at the front, was one of these executives of the Cronima Temple.

And the beings opposing these formidable priests were an army of cultists who worshipped a foreign deity known as the “Dark God.”

Even at a glance, their numbers exceeded several thousand, and most were slaves to the foreign deity. Whether willingly or not, they were beings who had lost themselves after offering their souls to the foreign deity, the “Dark God.”

They wore armor that was little more than rags made of thin metal fragments, leather pieces, or cloth patches, and wielded crude weapons made from wooden clubs with metal fragments attached or modified farming tools.

These slaves, who were no better than a mob with nothing going for them except their numbers, made up the majority of the army of foreign deity worshippers.

“UWAAAAAAAAH───”

—CRACK!!

Of course, these slave rabble could not match the priests who were armed with good equipment and wrapped in various prayers.

“Die! Die! DIEEE───”

—SPLAT!!!

“Repent! Repent!!”

“Atone through death!!”

[Flames, burn these heathens!!]

—WHOOSH!!

When they approached, the slaves’ skulls were shattered by the shields and weapons wielded by the priests, and when they retreated, holy magic generated by the priests’ prayers burned them.

Despite their numerical advantage of tens of times more fighters, the foreign deity’s army could not easily push back the priests.

However… the battle situation could not be considered favorable.

The cult army of thousands, having become slaves to the foreign deity, charged recklessly without fear of death, and in the ensuing chaotic melee, unexpected casualties were inevitable.

“…Kuk!!”

“Br-Brother Senarius!!”

It was fundamentally a loss when priests—elite soldiers who each required at least a dozen years and several gold coins to train—were defeated by slaves of the foreign deity who could be mass-produced from anyone.

Moreover, the foreign deity’s army was not composed entirely of slaves.

Since the slaves, who had lost most of their judgment and reason, could not move without instructions, higher-ranking cultists were necessary to command these slaves…

[[…]]

Indeed, behind these thousands of slaves was the leadership of this army.

Unlike the slaves armed with hastily made crude weapons and armor, the leadership of the heretic army consisted of warriors heavily armed with equipment engraved with the emblem of the foreign deity, the “Dark God.”

Due to the blessings received from the foreign deity through evil human sacrifice rituals, they possessed physical abilities beyond normal humans, wielding bizarre powers or experiencing bodily changes such as growing extra limbs.

These mid-level commanders, who were not at all inferior compared to the priests, silently pushed the slaves forward.

The tide of battle gradually began to flow unfavorably for the priests of the Cronima Temple.

“Ugh, uuugh…”

—Thud!

“—Si-Sisteeeeer!!!”

After a long battle, priests who had exhausted their physical and magical energy to the limit began to fall one by one.

At this point, just over half of the slaves remained—a number too overwhelming for the exhausted priests to handle.

…In fact, it was already remarkable that they had held out this long against forces that outnumbered them by dozens of times.

And then…

—RUMBLE!!!

Suddenly, thunder loud enough to be heard from all directions reverberated, and a streak of golden lightning from the clear sky pierced through the center of the cultist army.

—CRACKLE!!!

With the characteristic crackling sound of lightning, the flesh of the slaves touched by the golden lightning burned and their blood vaporized as they collapsed to the ground.

Dozens of slaves instantly had their breath cut off and fell to the ground, and over hundreds suffered burns severe enough to impair movement.

Even one of the cultist warriors commanding these slaves was directly hit by the lightning and collapsed.

This unexpected attack, which no one on the battlefield had predicted, instantly changed the atmosphere of the battlefield.

Everyone fell into confusion, unable to properly grasp the situation.

The cultist warriors were thrown into disarray by the sudden attack against them, the slaves also ceased functioning, and the priests were purely confused, not understanding what was happening.

And into one corner of this battlefield… a massive wolf that appeared like a gray flash leaped into the midst of the cultist slaves.

—SLASH!!!

—CRUNCH, THUD!

When it swung its forepaws wrapped in magical power, several slaves were dismembered and fell to the ground in pieces, and when it charged with its gray-white fur-covered body, slaves were sent flying several meters to crash into the ground.

With a massive mid-level magical beast comparable to a 1-ton truck charging with magical power, there was no way that mere slaves and low-ranking cultist warriors could stop it.

Dismembered corpses poured down. Flesh was crushed and pulverized.

The scene of cultist slaughter, appearing so horrific, was more than enough to dominate the minds of the other cultists with terror.

And this scene of cultist slaughter was nothing short of salvation for the priests of Cronima.

“OHHHHH!!”

“O God! We never doubted!”

“O Bloody Blade!!”

The priests, believing all this to be arranged by the deity they served, went into a frenzy, instantly restoring their fallen morale and charging toward the cultists.

Of course, as countless otherworld humans have proven, it would be impossible to overcome material disadvantages through mental strength alone… but in this world where mysticism influences reality, the story is different.

The Bloody Blade, the War God of the pantheon. The mysticism of Cronima empowers these warrior-priests, and feeling this, the fanatics become even more consumed by madness as they charge toward enemies who outnumber them more than twentyfold.

Thus, with the situation completely reversed by external intervention, the leader of the cultist army, a foreign deity worshipper, genuinely frowned and gripped his staff topped with a skull and spine.

“That beast…”

He draws forth magical power and calls upon the power of the foreign deity. He offers the bodies of fallen slaves and warriors, or those who cannot move, to the foreign deity to amplify his power.

An aura like a shadow that completely absorbs light envelops the foreign deity worshipper.

The leader’s mouth corners at the foreign deity’s power flowing into his soul and the dizzying pleasure it causes…

“…!!”

—CLANG!

At that moment, the leader of the foreign deity worshippers barely blocked an invisible slash that originated from thin air, targeting him, by deploying a “veil.”

“…What?!!”

With his expression deeply furrowed at this attack that disturbed his mind, the foreign deity worshipper with his inflated ego followed the trace of magical power and turned his head…

“…Grrrrrrrr.”

“…”

There, a druid mounted on a massive hydra was looking down at the foreign deity worshipper.