Chapter 198: Land of Dragons (5)
The air was thick with a murderous intent, as dark red clouds rolled ominously across the sky, accompanied by the grumbling growls of thunder.
The nearly forty-year-old cleric’s eyes were bloodshot, brimming with fury as he urged his mount forward, a lone beast racing past me. Following closely behind were more clerics mounted on their horned steeds, cloaked in golden light as they charged off into the distance. Some were tearing off their arm bandages, some clutched wounded shoulders, spewing bl**d and spittle, while the iron hooves of the stampede kicked up havoc on the grasslands, with the howling wind brushing against everyone’s faces.
“k*ll the heretics!”
From the front of the formation came a long howl, met with a thunderous chorus from the back: “k*ll the heretics—!!!”
The fierce momentum made the horned steeds neigh in distress, thrashing about in chaos. Yet, the reality was that only a little over fifty of these “cavalry” men were charging forward—most of them wounded. As the galloping beasts passed by me and the Old Pope, droplets of bl**d trailed off towards the nearby grass.
Most of them were clerics from the Faith Organization, who usually cast miracles like Sin Barriers, Holy Lances, and Nephilodah’s White Wings, clearing a path for the heavy cavalry or knights charging in front. They would also provide protection, resisting enemy ranged attacks to ensure their formation could crash into the enemy lines, aiming to shatter the opposing forces with minimal casualties in the shortest amount of time possible.
They certainly weren’t the first to plunge into combat; in fact, they probably lacked such experience—today might be the first time clerics wielded long lances and faced enemies head-on.
No, perhaps it was the third time, considering they had charged in twice before.
They had consequently injured many, and perhaps more had died.
Their enemies weren’t any grand military formation, and they were nowhere close to the situation outside the Silent Fort or Alectine City. What they faced was a wild, chaotic mob—individuals who looked like desperate rogues. In reality, when fighting commenced, this disorganized rabble relied solely on sheer ferocity to clash violently. They might have some strength from Sin Fire to defeat the starving Third Knights Order, but against the coordinated efforts of the Faith Organization and the First Knights Order—elite divisions of the church—they would crumble like a house of cards.
This time, the clerics didn’t have enough knights to support them, and their enemy was far from a motley crew—there was only one of them.
An old man who possessed terrifying combat prowess rivaling that of any Pope Knight.
Thus, there was no strategy to be had.
It was like a pack of wild rabbits charging at a lion—this was a battle they had never faced; they lost their tight formation and the commands of high-level units. They were not totally fearless, but due to their unwavering faith, all they could do was let out the fiercest war cries and, with a heart ready to face d*ath, rush toward the powerful enemy in the distance, buying time for Miss Silvya.
One hundred of them.
The clerics leading the charge had already sprinted over twenty meters into view, while the more heavily wounded clerics and knights behind were just catching up to me, totaling just over one hundred.
Yet this ragtag mob’s shouts felt like thousands of them at once, resonating with the might of thunder, bringing me back to the day outside Alectine City, where warriors with bl**d-red eyes charged like crashing waves.
In the final moments.
“Ahhhhh——!!!”
The sheer power of their shouts set my bl**d ablaze.
“Child, we move!”
As the reeling warriors behind surged ahead, the Old Pope finally sprang into action. His agile beast raised its front hooves and leaped forward. I quickly squeezed its belly and followed behind, the iron hooves thundering faster and faster, overtaking the back of the line to move at a steady pace forward.
…Five hundred meters.
Up ahead, the beast-racing clerics were about five hundred meters away from the storm.
“O great Goddess of Sin, grant us the power of judgment…” the Old Pope beside me took a praying stance on his mount, voice low as he sang, “May this world be free from pain, free from sin, and free from the taint of demons… In the name of Onastath, grant the steadfast Sin Barrier to the righteous.”
Buzz—
The miracle’s light exploded, with countless threads of golden light cascading from the Old Pope, gathering in the sky above to form a river, swiftly flowing toward the front lines to condense into a translucent, thin Sin Barrier that hovered in front of the beast-riding clerics. The Old Pope raised one hand to his chest, the golden glow still radiating, as the barrier, more than thirty meters wide, let out a tremendous hum while the charging warriors pushed forward!
Four hundred meters…
In the next instant, a flash of swords came hurtling toward us.
It was as if a gigantic web of light spread out, with countless sharp lines of fire slicing through the air, tearing into the ground from the direction of the storm, lightning-fast, crashing into the Sin Barrier before anyone could react. The sharp clangs of the swords rang out like an endless volley of firecrackers, shrouding the scene in dust and debris!
“Ughhhh—”
An enraged shout came from the Old Pope beside me. I turned to look atop the beast and saw him, amidst the dazzling glow, pushing forward with one hand, desperately maintaining the Sin Barrier as bl**d streamed from his nose. Suddenly, his expression drooped, and clutched his chest, coughing violently, as the golden light quickly faded away.
“Old Pope!”
I shouted in panic, unsure of what had happened to him, but the next moment, there was a loud crash from the front, like something breaking—“crash!” In shock, I turned back, only to see the glowing fragments of the Sin Barrier exploding like fireworks through the swirling dust, scarlet sword lights slicing through the formation. Cries of distress, howls of pain, bl**d, and severed limbs flooded my senses in an instant.
The warriors’ advance faltered.
Yet in the very next moment, a rallying cry and fury erupted even louder.
“Ahhhhh—!!!”
Those few sword lights that broke through the Sin Barrier struck down among the beast-riding clerics, and in that moment at least twenty fell, their thick bl**d and innards splattered across the grass, obscured by the rising dust—but the remaining warriors didn’t flinch; instead, after a brief pause and some scattering, they surged forward with even greater speed, breaking through the dust to counter-attack!
Three hundred meters.
The golden light shone one by one at the front of the formation, more than ten Holy Lances streaking across the sky, howling toward the storm in the distance. The clerics roared like thunder. The knights, barely twenty in number, quickened their pace, shedding their pointed shields from their backs. They raced past the beastless clerics and lined up firmly at the front, shields raised as they continued their charge.
Buzz—
The power of the horned steeds huffed heavily as I crouched low, my anger boiling inside. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Old Pope clutching his chest once more, beginning to pray again as the radiant light of the miracle flared up, and a thin barrier enveloped everyone.
Two hundred meters.
Clang, clang, clang, clang—
The clanging swords began their assault anew.
“Mother of—”
The speed of the crimson lines was astonishing. With the absence of the Sin Barrier, in the blink of an eye, as I barely registered what was happening, dozens of fiery sword energies soared through the scattered ranks of the beast-riding clerics, knocking down more figures in a tide of bl**d and light. The streaks kept their momentum, tearing through the knights who had raised their shields!
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!
This time, the impact location was so close, the terrible thundering crash burst into my ears, leaving my mind blank. In a daze, I saw many figures fly upward, the barriers around them shattering, their shields breaking mid-air, followed by their bodies splattering down in a bl**d rain.
“Steady—”
“Keep pushing, keep pushing! Don’t back down!!!”
“I’ll fk your mom—!!”
“Ahhhhh!!!”
Frenzied roars, furious curses, and the heart-wrenching cries of the wounded suddenly overwhelmed the scene. The knights at the front who faced the sword energy were almost wiped out, their parts falling to the ground one after another. The heavy injuries of those struck struggled a bit before they could no longer rise, while the living clerics shouted loudly, stepping over the bl**d to advance.
“Heretics!!!”
Sprinkles of hot bl**d splashed on my face, igniting my rage to explode. Without thinking, I felt the blue light in my eyes ignite, frost forming in my palms as I was about to leap from my beast and charge toward the now-visible shadow of that old man.
“Don’t be reckless! Silvya!”
In that crucial moment, the Old Pope’s voice rang out beside me: “That heretic strikes with incredible speed. Once you’re caught by him—cough, cough!—you won’t be able to escape for a long time!”
“But I can’t just hide behind them! I won’t! I won’t watch them d*e!”
“Do you want their sacrifice to be for nothing?”
“I want to k*ll that old b*stard!”
“By doing so, you’re playing right into his hands! Those fallen warriors will d*e in vain! Do you think I want to watch them d*e? But this is the conviction of the church’s warriors! They are the heroes of the church! Heroes for everyone! They died to protect their people! Miss Silvya, do you see? Do you understand!?”
“Ahhhhh—”
I began to scream at the top of my lungs, releasing the pent-up rage within me.
I can’t hold on, I can’t hold on, I can’t hold on!!!
Yet the blue light in my eyes and the frosty air in my palm gradually extinguished.
I merely tightened my grip on Captain Gray’s scythe even more.
One hundred meters.
I bit my lip, riding the mighty beast over fallen corpses, looking up to see more bodies strewn across the grass, limbs severed, heads sliced off, bl**d flowing like rivers from those brave warriors left behind in the previous two charges.
Further back among the corpses, chaotic storms swept violently, crackling purple lightning roaring continuously, and there stood a hunched figure, sword held high, like an unmoving mountain before the tempest. His hawk-like gaze pierced through the approaching beast-riding clerics and cut through the myriad shadows blocking my view, locking onto me with an unwavering stare.
