Ch.975Deep Forest War

======[ Several days later. Central Front of the Holy State. ]======

Several days later. All forces within the Holy State, except for the three-person infiltration team, had gathered at the frontline of the central front.

This was the complete opposite of their previous strategy, where they had been forced to disperse their forces according to the fairies’ intentions due to being unable to match the speed of their surprise advance.

What made this possible was entirely due to Haschal’s reputation.

“If we were to deal with each fairy one by one, it would take more than a decade to finish. What we need to target is this. That large log sitting in the center of their capital.”

Dressed neatly in her saint’s attire unlike her usual self, and even speaking with proper formality as if conversing with the Emperor of Light, Haschal expounded on her plan to burn the World Tree.

After their own deliberations, the high-ranking officials of the Holy Corps gathered at the military council eventually accepted her proposal.

Knowledgeable advisors expressed concerns that the operation had a low chance of success and high risk, but most clergy were people who lived by faith rather than intellect.

They trusted the goddess’s representative, who had never lost on the battlefield, thousands of times more than the “rational” strategies and tactics advocated by the advisors.

“…I agree. If the Saint of Astica says so, then surely there must be a chance of victory. Would the legend of the undefeated speak falsely?”

“Hmm… as long as the evacuation of the northwestern and southwestern citizens is guaranteed…”

“The Saint is the representative of the goddess of order and justice, blessed with her favor. So this must also be what the goddess desires.”

“Indeed. Astraea has revealed to us through Lady Astica. The time has come to burn that abominable giant tree, the fairy tree that dares to impersonate a god.”

As a result, all of Haschal’s proposed measures were passed without a hitch.

Whether this was truly a wise decision or a gamble by fools who didn’t use their brains, only the outcome would prove the answer.

The Great Forest War had resumed. After eight hundred long years.

A war where a new warrior who inherited the holy sword and five descendants of the Great’s Twelve Knights gathered to kill fairies.

Only two of the five were proper successors, but nonetheless, it was truly a fight worthy of being called a reenactment of the ancient war.

—-

By the time the support forces from the Imperial Archdiocese responsible for the northwestern front joined the central army, the main force had already completed all battle preparations.

Thus, the central army mobilized all its core forces the very next day to attack the border of the Great Forest.

“March forward! The task that the great Carlos the Great and his knights could not complete eight hundred years ago. Today, we shall finally accomplish it here!”

“Gods, protect us!”

At the central border area where trees as massive as bell towers stood densely packed.

The first attack was launched by the huge red-scaled weapon positioned at the rear of the formation.

“KYAAAAAAAAK!”

A roar that echoed like thunder. The red-scaled beast, which had descended to the ground perhaps to guard against anti-air fire, opened its maw wide as it glared at the Great Forest.

Then.

– Kwaooooo…!

From within that dark throat, a dark red flame carrying terrible heat burst forth like lava, extending in a straight line toward the forest.

A river of fire swept through the forest.

The trees didn’t just catch fire—they turned to ash the moment they were touched by the flames, so intense was the heat.

The blood-red sun-like flames erased over a hundred giant trees in an instant, and the spreading heat ignited new fires that blazed through the surroundings.

Twenty seconds passed like this.

After spewing the river of fire for quite some time, the fire dragon closed its mouth and drooped its head as if exhausted.

It seemed it would need to rest and recover its strength for a while after exhaling its breath for so long.

Of course, this didn’t mean the baptism of fire was completely over.

Among the many powerful beings gathered in the Holy Corps, the fire dragon wasn’t the only one capable of wielding widespread fire power.

“Vanish into ashes.”

A paladin who had converted to the Church of Elpinel. However, he was still the strongest paladin of the Sun Church, serving Saulite, and now he drew his sword.

The master of the sword of radiance, Hauteclere.

Perlien de Genes, descendant of Olivier, one of the Great’s Twelve Knights.

“In the dawn illuminated by the sun’s blade!”

The power granted to him by Saulite, the Dawn of the Sun Blade, reduced an area of twenty meters in radius to ashes.

Perlien, literally becoming a small sun, charged into the Great Forest. The trees of the forest twisted their trunks and branches while screaming.

“How dare these Holy State bastards! Do they know where they are?”

“Report to the Guardian! Tell them these madmen have launched a full-scale attack!”

Perhaps they had just arrived at the battlefield. Furious fairy sentinels revealed themselves one after another, leaping onto trees that hadn’t been touched by the flames.

“The forest is burning! These bastards really came prepared!”

“Damn it, how are the preparations for the ‘flood’? No, here we need rain streams…!”

“For now, use wind and ice! Suppress the flames with elemental arrows! We need to minimize the damage!”

The sentinels, though bewildered by the fire that was more intense than usual, quickly prepared themselves.

Sentinels who had climbed onto trees loaded arrows made from crushed elementals onto their bowstrings, while other sentinels drew upon the blessing power of the World Tree to move parts of the trees themselves.

– Kwaddddd!

Tree roots that had pierced through the ground pounded on the defensive barrier of the Holy Corps like spear tips, and leaves and branches turned into small thorns that rained down like arrows.

Perhaps judging that mere tree roots couldn’t stop Perlien who had become a human sun, they ignored him and targeted only the Holy Corps.

“So, moving the fire dragon to the central area was a setup for an all-out attack?”

“Not a chance, you inferior short-lived species!”

And finally, the fairy guardians arrived.

Five regular guardians and as many as eighteen mass-produced guardians joined the battlefield, summoning high-level elementals.

Alvheim had also concentrated its forces in preparation for an all-out attack. All the guardians deployed in the war against the Holy State were gathered here.

“Short-lived monkeys like mayflies. I’ll turn you all into forest fertilizer!”

“It’s you who will be short-lived! Arrogant and vile vermin, the wrath of the gods shall fall upon you!”

A giant made of rock rose up and brought its fist down on the Holy Corps’ barrier, while Ceylon, who had cast “Judgment Day,” swung his thorn-wood sword at the rock giant.

“Ah… this moment has finally come. Thank you, Elpinel!”

Lacy prayed with her hands clasped together in ecstasy.

The moment to erase the hatred she had harbored since learning part of the history between fairies and humans—her wish, her desire, her hope—had finally become reality.

Lacy was certain. Her entire life, her past twenty-some years, had existed solely for this moment.

“For allowing me, who am inadequate, foolish, and weak, the honor of purifying their sins with fire!”

A pillar of pure white holy light burst forth.

A snow-white circle that appeared in the air spewed “Celestial Fury,” blowing away the upper body of a high-level elemental, and the holy fire scattered by the swing of her cross spear burned the sentinels it touched.

“Gack, gyaaaaaargh!”

Elpinel’s flames that burned evil. The sentinels touched by the holy fire, without exception, immediately became fairy torches, burning fiercely.

A firepower exceeding that used against serial killers or child rapists. The flames clearly revealed Elpinel’s hatred toward fairies, to the point of being blatant.

“Now, attack! Burn everything! For the glory of the gods and humanity!”

Lacy spread her arms wide and turned to look at the paladins lined up behind her with an exceedingly bright smile.

The shadows of holy fire, sunlight, and dragon flames mixed and distorted chaotically, hanging over her head like a red halo.

“Special Crusader Unit, battle formation! For the glory of the celestial gods, for our human revenge-!”

Belth Rugna, Lacy’s guard paladin and fervent follower, raised his pure white sword and shouted.

“For God’s glory and our revenge!”

Following this, the Special Crusader Unit that Lacy had personally trained responded loudly, spewing fierce killing intent toward the fairies.

“There is only one god here! And it’s not your god!”

Finding this sight quite disagreeable, a fairy guardian sent a giant lightning bird toward Lacy with an irritable tone.

While ordering the high-level lightning elemental to attack, he simultaneously transformed dozens of lower wind elementals into elemental arrows and fired them, and if that wasn’t enough, he also freely employed the blessing power to control vegetation.

“Caaaaaawk!”

The lightning bird charged with a sharp screech, followed by small storm arrows pouring down.

– Kwaddddd!

And on top of that, a wave of tree roots that advanced with a rumbling roar. It was a fierce attack imbued with the fairy guardian’s sincere killing intent.

“Incompetent bitch of Elpinel. Try to block this if you can!”

After roughly gauging the difference in power between the two sides, the guardian was confident he could wipe out at least half of the Special Crusader Unit.

Just as he spewed insults at Lacy with a confident face,

“A corpse is speaking.”

With a voice as cold and eerie as a winter lake, the guardian’s head rolled down to his feet.

【 Defying Fate 】

It was Haschal’s surprise attack, who had been quietly hiding among the trees before charging at a speed the guardian couldn’t even react to.