Chapter 397

The vast, frozen plains outside the East Gate.

What filled those plains was an army of the dead.

Though shrouded in the darkness of dawn, Grant, the commander of the 1st Holy Knights, saw it clearly.

“Quickly, light up all sides!”

As soon as Grant’s order fell, all the fires on the city walls blazed, and mages shot beams of light into the sky, illuminating all directions.

Then, finally.

The enemy’s appearance was clearly revealed to everyone’s eyes.

“H-Huuuuh?!”

“U-U-Undead?!”

“W-What, why are there so many?!”

“W-Where did all those bastards come from…”

“D-Damn it!”

The faces of the Holy Soldiers hardened.

An army of an overwhelming number, one they had never faced or even imagined in their entire lives.

And it wasn’t just any army, but an army of undead.

It meant that a primal sense of revulsion and fear towards non-human beings couldn’t help but arise.

However, Grant, sensing the atmosphere among the Holy Soldiers, quickly raised his voice and shouted.

“Everyone, pull yourselves together! You are Holy Soldiers! It means God is with us! It is our holy army that defeats the darkness! Raise your spirits and sweep away the kin of darkness!”

Grant’s shout clearly had an effect.

“Y-Yeah!”

“We are the holy army!”

“God is with us!”

“For God!”

The Holy Soldiers, befitting a basically fanatical group, had their eyes burn with fervor and their morale greatly boosted when God was mentioned.

The mages who had come to support from the Tower of Light also raised their spirits, as if not to be outdone.

“It is light that dispels the darkness!”

“Light is indeed the natural enemy of darkness!”

“We will purify all the hideous appendages of darkness with light!”

The heightened morale felt like an iron wall.

A momentum that seemed capable of repelling any enemy.

The undead army clashed head-on with that momentum.

They had finally begun their charge towards the city walls.

“Come as many as you like!”

Grant’s thunderous roar announced the prelude to a great war.

* * *

East, west, south, north.

The undead army began to pound on the city walls from all four directions simultaneously.

It was a persistent attack, overwhelming with sheer numbers.

However.

“Hmph, they’re nothing special!”

“I’ll crush as many as you want!”

“Hya! Hyaaat!”

*Thwack! Thump! Thump!*

Every time the Holy Soldiers swung their weapons, the bodies of the undead climbing the ladders were mercilessly shattered.

Because the weapons of the Holy Soldiers were all holy weapons blessed by priests.

They wielded power stronger than any other weapon against the undead.

It wasn’t just the weapons of the Holy Soldiers.

The light magic of the mages from the Tower of Light also had a special effect on the undead.

*Kuaaaaaah!*

*Kwooooar!*

Undead helplessly melted away after being hit by beams of light here and there.

It was a scene that clearly showed that light was the natural enemy of darkness.

On top of that.

The overwhelming geographical advantage of the high city walls.

Anyone could see that it was the human army that dominated this battlefield now.

“Humans are indeed foolish. They get conceited so easily with just a small victory.”

A woman with a deeply pulled-down hood, who was observing the battlefield from a distance at the East Gate, muttered.

Two pointed, black ears indicated that she was not human.

Dark Elf Natasha.

It was none other than her, an executive of Red Rain.

“Heh heh, you’re right. Because they are foolish, they endlessly repeat the same mistakes and are an irredeemable race.”

The messenger standing next to her sneered and chimed in.

“Can those foolish bastards even imagine? That those skeletons are merely for filling up the numbers.”

The undead army.

It was true that it was a force secretly gathered for this day.

Because in the end, troops were needed to break through the defenses and open a path.

But that undead army couldn’t play a more decisive role than that.

Because they were fundamentally weak, despite their large numbers.

There was no way they could break through those iron-like city walls and solid defenses.

In the end, those guys were nothing more than pawns on a chessboard.

However, even pawns could sometimes exert great power.

If someone broke through the impenetrable defense and opened a path for them to advance.

Now was the time to move that ‘someone.’

“We will deploy the giants.”

The messenger said, his eyes glinting with cruel madness.

Giants.

Not real giants.

They had already gone extinct long ago.

These giants were imitations created by the Heavenly Lord.

However, even if they were imitations, they weren’t just any imitations.

Because they were a work of art created by the Heavenly Lord with a thousand years of knowledge and technology.

Their level of completion was not something that golems like the Guardians could follow.

The reason they could use the Guardians so freely in the imperial civil war was precisely because they had forces like the giants.

“Do as you see fit.”

Natasha said casually, as if she wasn’t interested.

“Yes, I will. Of course, we will also need Dark-nim’s power.”

“I will move as I see fit.”

“Haha, the others have probably started by now. I look forward to a performance that doesn’t fall short of theirs.”

“…”

Natasha didn’t even pretend to listen to the messenger who was speaking with a smile.

It didn’t matter.

Because she was someone who always did her assigned job reliably anyway.

The messenger twisted the corner of his mouth into a wry smile and turned around.

“Come forth, and destroy to your heart’s content.”

* * *

“Everyone, evacuate to the shelters! Hurry!”

Inside the Holy City.

Although it wasn’t a place where direct combat was taking place, the atmosphere there was just as tense and chaotic.

The people of the Holy City, who had been going about their daily lives, thinking, “Surely not,” even though the alert posture was serious.

But when a huge commotion broke out at the crack of dawn, before the sun had fully risen, it was natural that they fell into great shock and confusion.

“W-What’s going on, this is!”

“Y-Yeah! It’s chaos everywhere!”

“I-It’s the enemy! The enemies are attacking!”

“W-What kind of enemies are they?”

“I-I saw it! Demons! It’s an army of demons!”

“D-Demons?!”

People chattering anxiously, thrown into confusion.

“Stop it and move immediately! There isn’t much time!”

“If you dawdle at the front, everyone will suffer!”

The commanders from the Church shouted at the top of their lungs, trying to move people to the shelters, but it wasn’t an easy task.

Sweat dripped from the commanders’ foreheads.

It would be fortunate if they could repel the enemy at the city gates, but if, by any chance, the city gates were breached before the evacuation was complete, it would be a major disaster.

There were those watching the chaotic scene from a distance.

Saint Lepheria and Esron, the Guardian Knight accompanying her.

The Saint, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by Esron, clearly didn’t look well at first glance.

However.

“This won’t do.”

The Saint had an expression of someone who had made a great decision.

“Saint-nim?”

Esron’s expression hardened, sensing that something was amiss.

“Please wait here for a moment. It seems I’ll have to use my power.”

“N-No, you mustn’t, Saint-nim! If you recklessly use your power in your current state…”

Esron urgently tried to stop the Saint.

But the Saint shook her head.

“My body isn’t the only important thing. Is there anything I wouldn’t do for something more important?”

The Saint’s body slowly rose.

And that body soon shone with a brilliant white light.

* * *

“A-A-Angel!”

Who shouted those words first?

Words that sounded like nothing but the ramblings of someone in confusion.

But people soon confirmed it with their own two eyes.

That those words were not ramblings or madness, but the truth.

“A-Angel-nim?!”

“It’s an angel! It’s an angel!”

“G-God sent them to save us!”

“Oh, great God! Blessed angel!”

People knelt on the ground in unison and worshipped.

Towards the angel who had descended to earth, piercing through the darkness of dawn.

A brilliant white light, so incredibly holy.

The pure white angel’s wings, enveloped in that radiance.

No explanation was needed.

Believers and non-believers alike instinctively felt with their whole beings that this was a messenger of the great God.

Soon, a voice, so holy, clear, and pure, resonated in everyone’s ears.

Surprisingly clearly.

But everyone thought it was natural.

Because this was the voice of an angel.

– All humans, beloved creatures of God, listen well. Evil has once again befallen this peaceful world. It is a horde of evil that dreams of the Dark God’s resurrection. But do not fear too much. God is with all the humans in the blessed city of God. And He has given us the power to defeat evil. This is a holy war. The city of God will defeat evil.

“Ooooh, Angel-nim!”

“God has bestowed such grace upon us!”

“T-Thank you! Thank you, God!”

“Holy war! To God, the holy war!”

People erupting in fervor.

Shock and confusion no longer existed there.

– God wills it. That the weak, who must be protected so that God’s warriors can defeat evil without worry, evacuate to the shelters as quickly as possible. Do not forsake God’s will.

That one sentence was the end of it.

The people who had been difficult to control until now began to head towards the shelters enthusiastically.

It was a miracle brought about by the angel who had descended upon the Holy City, the city of God.

* * *

“Hah, hah…”

Ragged breaths.

Black blood flowed from her parted lips.

“S-Saint-nim!”

Esron’s face darkened rapidly.

It was because of the Saint’s condition.

The Saint.

She had drawn upon the power of an angel.

The angel who had just appeared was, in fact, the Saint.

To humans, it was like a miraculous power.

But she should not have used that power.

Because the Saint’s body was in a very bad state right now.

“…Calm down.”

However, the Saint, despite her pale complexion, raised her hand to calm Esron.

“Anyway, there isn’t much I can do this time.”

“Saint-nim…”

“I believe in everyone’s strength. And eventually, human strength will save this world on its own.”

Something that even she and the heroes of the past could not achieve.

But she held onto hope once more.

Because this era had its own heroes.

And especially at the center of it…

A faint smile touched the Saint’s lips as she thought of one person.

“Let’s go now.”

“Yes, Saint-nim.”

The Castle of Illusions, the final bastion.

The Saint intended to take refuge there.

Because she absolutely could not let the Heavenly Lord get his hands on the last fragment.

* * *

Underground in the Holy City.

A tension different from usual flowed there as well.

But it wasn’t a bad thing.

Rather, it was natural.

It would be stranger not to feel any tension before a great battle that would decide fate.

A moderate amount of tension was actually helpful.

In staying sharp and focused.

“Hmm, can we hold them off?”

Dunken’s soliloquy.

Anyone would have their mind focused on the outcome.

But I shook my head.

“It will be difficult. The enemy’s forces will be beyond imagination.”

There was no need to think further about how terrifying the power of the Heavenly Lord, who had accepted the Dark God’s power, would be.

The forces that the Heavenly Lord had deliberately mustered.

Perhaps it was a force that would make even the Guardians, who were powerful golems, seem insignificant.

Was that all?

Although I had reduced their numbers significantly, there were still executives, each a monster in their own right.

“Then, in the end, it means we have to move.”

*Crack.*

Dunken cracked his neck.

“That’s what we’ve been preparing for until now.”

At my words, everyone’s eyes burned with determination.

An expression possible only for those who had truly poured everything they had into a single purpose.

Truly reliable.

I could willingly entrust any mission to them.

“Everyone, prepare to sortie. We will open the path to save the world.”