### Chapter 180: Cleanup (Part 2)
Retreat!
At this moment, he was hastily considering giving an order, but as the thought emerged, he realized it was already too late.
“Hold the line…”
Old Pope Anseier stared into the distance, speaking in a daze.
The sound of that shadow approaching seemed like the d*ath knell for everyone. The old pope’s heart finally revealed a terrifying truth, something that all the knights, including Captain Salamus, could vaguely grasp at this moment — Sister Kaimilante was most likely gone.
Moreover, among the enemies who had rushed to reinforce, there existed a formidable being whose powers were nearly divine.
The judgment of the Choir of Saints was rational and correct.
However, the military formation outside the town had long been primed, and the order to retreat had hesitated to be given; now it was already too late.
“Hold the line!”
“Hold the line—”
The command rang out like a chorus, allowing the flag bearers to rush along the line, while the knights’ expressions turned from anxious to serious. The line, which had grown a little lax from waiting too long, quickly tightened. The sounds of lance prodding and shields bracing filled the air; behind them, clerics bathed in holy light, while the thin barrier of sins shimmered in front of the line. Amidst the swirling golden light, Captain Salamus hastily commanded, “Prepare the Holy Lances!”
The young man remained calm, merely casting a dispassionate glance at the old pope before locking onto the two enemies rushing in like the wind. Riding on the back of his beast, he raised his right hand, waited a moment, and suddenly swung down: “Fire!”
Buzz—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Countless sharp gusts leaped over the military formation, drawing a huge arc of light in the distance, crashing down upon the snowy ground a kilometer away. In an instant, it stirred up a wild tempest of snow; mud, stone, and broken trees surged and exploded, rising up to tens of meters high. The astonishing racket completely buried the lightning that raced close to the ground, while that shadow flying through the sky abruptly soared higher, dragging trailing bright starlight with it, bursting through the lance net with a deafening sonic boom, rapidly approaching the high sky that was about to be engulfed by the night!
Boom, boom, boom, boom!!!
“Prepare!”
As the violent wind whipped in, the young captain faced it unflinchingly, squinting his eyes while continuing to issue orders: “Fire—”
The second round of Holy Lances whistled out, carrying an imposing aura as they scattered towards the invading foes. However, this time, the enemy didn’t even attempt to evade, bulldozing through the lance rain. Whenever a lance approached them, it would suddenly be blocked by an arcane ice shield that appeared out of nowhere, bouncing harmlessly off without even leaving a scratch.
In an instant, figures neared them.
“Engage the enemy!!!”
Captain Salamus roared, unsheathing his sword with a clang as knights behind him followed suit, drawing their blades. The front-line shield-bearers methodically retreated, immediately raising their shields next to each other. The arched long shields tightly connected while sharp lances thrust out between the gaps, forming a dense shield formation that firmly protected the commander and elite cavalry behind them. The clerics withdrew to the side, as dozens of elders riding horned horses stomped close, hearing the commander’s calm and commanding call: “Bring him down—!”
Buzz!
A divine miracle rang out, and several light projectiles soared skyward from the whispers of the elders.
“Close your eyes!”
“Close your eyes—”
At another command, the battle flags were gathered, and the ordering voices rang out in succession. The knights promptly shut their eyes as the light projectiles dashed towards the front line, suddenly exploding in the gray half-light, illuminating the snowy fields as if daylight had returned.
This series of responses, the calm judgment, the unflappable command ability, and the knights’ resolute obedience were the biggest reasons why Salamus, at such a young age, could sit firmly in the captain’s position. It was only at this moment that Old Pope Anseier began to react.
After closing his eyes like the knights, the elder clasped his hands in front of his chest and quietly chanted, allowing a thin arcane shield to quietly envelop every warrior.
“Open your eyes!”
“Open your eyes—”
When the dazzling white light quickly dissipated, the sky returned to a gray hue of the dusk, and the young captain suddenly opened his eyes. He heard something crashing against the barrier of sins, knowing that the enemy had been caught by the projectiles and had fallen before the army. He turned his head, commanding Anseier, “Bell!”
Before the battle line, he was the supreme commander here.
The old pope clearly wouldn’t quibble about such a matter with the enemy at this moment. After opening his eyes, he quickly scanned for the position where the enemy had fallen — he found it soon. But the next moment, the miracle’s execution was momentarily delayed due to the old man’s mind being shaken, causing him to hesitate for a second or two.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
In his view, just a hundred meters away from the army, a figure wrapped in a cloak suddenly crushed through the barrier of sins, enveloped in a white frozen aura, lightly and unassumingly landing within the army.
A very small figure…
A child?!
Not injured by the projectiles…
Not even acknowledging their numerical advantage, intentionally stepping into the encirclement; was this extreme arrogance??!
“Old Pope Anseier! What are you doing—”
“But he’s fallen into the army!”
“Fire! Golden! Bell—!!!”
Facing the furious roar of the young captain, the old pope gritted his teeth and raised his hand to unleash the miracle. Just as he lifted his hand, he noticed that the enemy was moving closely behind, ignoring the knights raising their swords against him, with his right hand lightly snapping his fingers.
!!
In an instant, the old man felt a chill running through him, as if he had fallen into an ice cavern. The breath of d*ath rushed towards him, a sense of crisis flooding his heart. At the brink of danger, he shifted the miracle he was about to unleash and could only turn his head to shout at Salamus: “Run!” His frail body vanished in a burst of golden light, leaving only the horned horse stamping and neighing in place.
The next moment, frost descended, and the air seemed to suddenly freeze.
Caw—
High above, the raven circling above like a spectator suddenly seemed as if its tail feathers had been stepped on, frantically climbing higher. Below, on the originally white and snowy ground, brilliant blue ice crystals soared into the air, stars twinkling, dotting this pure white world, decorating the golden armored knights clustered like ants.
The area was vast, almost covering the entire army, stretching over a thousand meters around.
Those knights faced towards the most chaotic direction in the formation; some stood holding swords, some sat on the backs of robust horned horses, while others raised their blades, charging toward the chaotic area. Some had just released the Holy Lances and had just retreated to the back of the formation to observe, their faces filled with shock, alarm, or anger and seriousness.
Those crouching with shields had their visions completely obstructed by large shields in front of them, still uncertain about what was happening.
With various poses and expressions frozen on their faces, countless knights and clerics remained in their previous stances, unable to move any longer.
An icy world.
A large-scale, indiscriminate, instant-d*ath attack that hadn’t been tried for a long time.
In an instant, it froze all living beings within a thousand meters of the snowy fields into ice sculptures, even the once soft snow on the ground turning into rock-solid ice.
Only those knights stationed further away, guarding other pathways, remained unaffected. They looked on from afar at the strange and indescribable scene, feeling the biting cold wind, standing dazed and trembling. Even the best knights became blank-minded; even fleeing seemed to have slipped from their memories.
Incredible…
Unbelievable.
Buzz— The flustered figure of Old Pope Anseier appeared with the golden light on a snow hill not too high or low, violently coughing, before kneeling down with a thud.
“What is this…”
“What is this!!”
The old man, having spent his life quelling wars in the Eastern Continent and slaying countless heretics, even at such an age could still assist in battle, annihilating the powerful heretics that had returned for more, and combating the divine form of the shattered Land of Dragons…
In his lifetime, he had seen and experienced everything.
He knew every powerhouse in this world and laughed and chatted with those young peers standing at humanity’s pinnacle.
However…
The old man had never witnessed such a terrifying power that could extinguish everything in the blink of an eye as he saw today.
Sister Kaimilante was dead, without a doubt.
Before such an enemy —
Who could struggle and live?
“Pope…”
The old man knelt on the ground, his lips cracked and frozen, his body trembling, his murky eyes staring blankly at the now frozen snowy plains, at the countless frozen knights turned into ice sculptures. He murmured, “The north is going to lose; I’ve let you down!”
Buzz—
Suddenly, another miracle rang out. Captain Salamus’s figure appeared not far away, holding a fading orb, his helmet gone, his disheveled hair glistening with frost.
The old man was taken aback, a look of joy spreading across his face: “Salamus, you… you’re still alive…”
He hastily rose and stumbled towards the young man, but the man stood there, silently dropping the orb, staring blankly at the distant icy ground, like a statue, motionless for a long time.
When the old man drew near, he suddenly pulled out his sword and struck in anger.
“You—”
The old man stepped back in vigilance, narrowly avoiding the strike, staring at him in shock.
“Why didn’t you tell me when there were changes in the battle?”
Salamus spoke without expression, after one strike, he remained still, his voice prodding into the old pope’s heart: “Why did you refuse to tell me the reports from the Choir of Saints that came after?”
“How many times have I asked you?”
“Why hesitate?”
“Why do you always refrain from allowing me to control the situation?”
“Battlefields change rapidly; one wrong step can’t be undone. Why do you always act impulsively, never willing to let Tarlasya and Sister Kaimilante follow my orders directly? Even the command of the Choir of Saints has never been handed over to me?”
“Old Pope Anseier, you killed my best elite knights.”
“You caused the deaths of two thousand brave warriors from the Fourth Knights Order.”
“Enough!”
The old pope was provoked to fury by these words. He no longer maintained his composure, shouting out, but still dared not look into Salamus’s cold eyes: “There’s no point in saying all this. We need to get out of here, alive… alive to return. You know this isn’t anyone’s fault; we must prioritize our survival.”
“Alive to return?”
Boom—
The howling wind whipped their ears as it swept over the snow hill, almost blowing their figures off-balance. Struggling to stand firm, they took a few steps back, and as their vision cleared, they saw the small figure wrapped in a cloak and wearing a mask had already caught up, standing on a rock twenty meters away.
“You two still haven’t woken up?”
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!
Then, another figure, crackling with lightning, encircled them from behind, similarly standing silently not far away.
