Ch.977Fierce Bloodbath

The clash of core forces between elves and humans in an all-out war was literally a natural disaster in itself.

Torrential rain poured down. The ground beneath had turned to mud. Tree roots extended from all directions like tentacles, and stems surged forward like waves.

Each elemental arrow summoned storms of mana, and high-level elementals as massive as ancient trees joined the fray.

For humanity of the current era, who had lived relatively ordinary lives thanks to Heaven’s Wall, this was an unimaginable sight and situation.

“GRAAAAARGH!”

“Rock giant! Defend!”

“No, it’s too late…!”

A rain of elemental arrows of all attributes except fire and lightning mixed with the downpour, while massive rock elementals cast shadows over the holy barriers before smashing them with boulders.

“AAAAGH! My leg, my leg—!”

“Damn it, grab my hand! I’ll pull you back, just don’t stop the healing spell!”

Paladins who took direct hits were crushed to bloody pulps, while the lucky ones who escaped with merely mangled limbs groaned in pain as they cast healing miracles.

“Where are Lord Richard and Sir Ceylon…!”

“Isn’t it obvious! They must be fighting the Guardians!”

Alvheim’s estimated forces included four regular Guardians, eighteen mass-produced Guardians, one hundred Patrollers, and one hundred forty apprentice Patrollers.

In other words, they had formidable forces equivalent to twenty-two powerful beings who had crossed the wall, one hundred Masters, and over one hundred and ten knights.

Since the strength of mass-produced Guardians hovered precariously between Hero and quasi-Hero levels, the quality of their top forces could be considered somewhat equal, but…

“Ugh…! The barrier can’t hold much longer…!”

“Hold! Somehow, hold! If the holy barrier breaks, our entire squad will be annihilated!”

The high-level elementals of the Guardians and the hundred Patrollers firing elemental arrows using the water-soaked vegetation as shields were truly catastrophic threats.

It was no different than having a hundred high-level mages firing spells in their direction.

“Rear line, cast purification miracles! We need to purify and destroy the elementals themselves!”

Thanks to the countermeasures I had taught them before, they could somehow match their opponents. Without them, the paladins and battle priests would have been wiped out instantly.

“O Elpinel! Cleanse these spectral beings with your light and return them to your embrace!”

“Goddess of order and justice, destroy these impure beings with your sword!”

“Menes of moon and dreams, grant these beings eternal night’s rest.”

“The radiance of the sun permits no shadow of evil; may its grace illuminate all creation!”

Prayer texts reflecting the characteristics of each church.

Several paladins who had focused on miracles rather than martial arts, along with battle priests in the rear, simultaneously manifested purification miracles.

“OGTHROD AI’F GEB’L-EE’H YOG-SOTHOTH ‘NGAH’NG AI’Y ZHRO!”

…There was one rather strange prayer mixed in, which probably came from a priest of the Church of Vimos.

I didn’t know what it meant, but it was likely their church’s own purification prayer.

– FWAAAASH!

Holy lights burst forth across the battlefield with the prayers. Various purification miracles swept over groups of Patrollers who were preparing elemental arrows.

– KYAAAAAAAA!

– SSSSSHHHHH!

– GROOOOOOO….

The elementals flickered like candles while letting out death cries, then gently dispersed. It looked like undead monsters being purified and finding peace.

“What’s happening to the elementals…?”

“A miracle that only kills elementals? Impossible. Did they develop something new?!”

The Patrollers were momentarily shaken.

They couldn’t help but be shaken. The fact that elementals are fundamentally not much different from undead is something few know, even among elves who use elementals as weapons.

So they mistakenly perceived simple purification miracles as new miracles specialized for “elemental slaying.”

“Don’t waver! How long can they keep this up? If they destroy our elementals, we’ll simply summon more!”

…Well, as that elf said, the situation wouldn’t improve much regardless.

While purification miracles could destroy elementals, it would ultimately become a war of attrition between those who destroy and those who create.

It might slow the elven offensive slightly, but it wouldn’t be the trump card needed to completely overturn the battle.

“Good, this works! Then charge! Advance while reducing the elementals as much as possible! Until our spears and swords are within reach!”

The paladins seemed to think that was enough.

—-

Hero-class warriors faced mass-produced Guardians and high-level elementals, quasi-Heroes tore through numerous Patrollers, and ordinary Masters fought fierce battles alongside paladins on the battlefield.

In the midst of all this, what was I doing?

– KWAAAANG!

“Direct hit! As expected, cold and wind work well against you!”

What else would I be doing? Getting thoroughly beaten up.

“Don’t stop attacking! We need to keep him pinned down!”

“I know! You focus on your job!”

“Both of you concentrate! If we lose track of his movements, it’ll be over in an instant!”

“Such unbelievable resilience…!”

Of the five regular Guardians participating in this battle, four remained after one died instantly from my surprise attack. All four were focusing their attacks solely on me.

Waves of vegetation that kept coming no matter how much I destroyed them, and eight high-level elementals that looked more like formless elemental masses.

On top of that, sixteen elemental arrows loaded four at a time on bowstrings, raining down without pause. Elemental bombardment was fiercely devastating the entire area.

“Ha, you’re clearly targeting just me. Am I that frightening to you?”

I cut through the rocks and trees weighing down my body with my space-cutting blade and leapt out, roughly wiping away the blood flowing down my forehead as I sneered.

This fierce attack would be difficult even for Lacy, who specialized in purification and mana defense, or Perlien, who was naturally the bane of elemental arts.

Among the humans participating in this war, it would be no exaggeration to say that I was the only one who could withstand such an onslaught.

To be honest, if this weren’t a rain-soaked forest, it probably wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but unfortunately, this was a great forest with pouring rain.

This was the elves’ home ground. Literally.

Perhaps because of that, or perhaps because these creatures were strong, the fight was more difficult than I expected. More precisely, approaching them was difficult. Well, I suppose that’s the same thing? Anyway.

[Indeed. I suppose there are significant skill differences even among Guardians. These enemies are stronger than expected.]

‘Of course. Since they’ve scraped together their remaining forces, these are probably among the strongest Guardians left?’

As Hersella said, none of the elf Guardians I had fought until now surpassed these four.

I wasn’t sure if the previous Guardians were weakened because of Heaven’s Wall, or if these four were simply the strongest Guardians from the beginning.

[Hmm… if these are the elves’ last bastion, the elves would have been annihilated eight hundred years ago.]

Hersella muttered with a questioning voice.

They were certainly strong, but apparently not strong enough to have stopped the Great’s Twelve Knights and Carlos in the legends.

They were powerful enough to summon and control two high-level elementals each, but even considering my skills equivalent to the Twelve Knights, it took four of them against just me.

That means it would take about forty Guardians of this level to stop the Twelve Knights.

And as far as I knew, even at Alvheim’s peak, there weren’t forty Guardians.

‘Well, maybe all the Guardians stronger than these guys died. Eight hundred years ago.’

So, agreeing with Hersella, I offered a plausible guess in response.

Perhaps the ancient Alvheim achieved enough success to halt the Imperial army’s advance by inflicting massive damage, but at the cost of losing their elite Guardians. Something like that.

It was a reasonable inference.

Since the Empire had more enemies than just the elves at that time, even with the Twelve Knights intact, if troop losses were severe, they would have had no choice but to negotiate peace.

Of course, the human side was in an overwhelmingly advantageous position, so the negotiations would have favored the Empire in many ways.

[I suppose that’s possible. The true powerhouses perished while stopping the Imperial army’s advance. What a shame.]

‘You’re the only one who thinks it’s a shame.’

Hersella lamented not being able to fight the powerhouses who had stopped even Carlos and the Twelve Knights, but I couldn’t sympathize with her complaint at all.

Even these four were enough to keep me pinned down in one place. If someone even stronger appeared, how much greater would the damage be?

Hersella might not care about casualties to the Holy Corps since she considered all lives except her subordinates and a few acquaintances worthless…

‘But I’m not like that.’

To me, each one of them was a precious life.

I had pushed them into this hellish all-out war for a quick and decisive victory… but that was only because it was necessary. My true desire was to minimize sacrifices as much as possible.

So, the weaker the enemy, the better.

[Well, I must say you’re quite befitting of a saint in your own way. Let’s see how well you do.]

‘You don’t need to tell me…’

I bent my legs and gathered strength in my thighs. To dodge, block, and counter the elemental bombardment coming at me once again.

‘That’s exactly what I intend to do!’

With a leap powered by superhuman strength, the tree roots as thick as a dragon’s tail burst from the recoil as my body shot toward the enemy like a cannonball.