### Chapter 108: Iron Bones Clash, Passion Burns (Part Seven)
“Ahhh!!!”
Barry shouted, struggling to open one eye, the scent of something burning tickling his nostrils. Yet, the heretic in front of him wasn’t going down anytime soon. Ignoring the pain shooting through half his face, Barry barely managed to raise his armored arm just in time as the heretic’s blade came crashing down from the left—
Clang!
The flaming edge of the sword clanged against the iron armor, sending a jolt through Barry’s arm, nearly numbing it. He stumbled back, dropping his longsword, which lodged itself right in the heretic’s chest. The foe wobbled back, bl**d gushing from his mouth and nose, but a maniacal grin spread across his face, making him look like a real-life horror movie reject.
“Hahahaha, I’ll crush you like a bug!”
Seizing the opportunity, a companion of Barry lunged from the side, thrusting his sword at the heretic. The heretic deflected the strike with ease, his other hand shooting out to grab Barry by the throat. The young knight barely dodged, almost being lifted off his feet. As if in slow motion, Barry’s companion tried to rush in for a rescue but was kicked several meters away. The heretic’s grip tightened, leaving Barry gasping for air, turning his face a shocking crimson.
“Ugh… Mmm…”
With all his might, Barry reached for the sword still embedded in the heretic’s chest. But in the next instant, a sword swung down toward his head. Just when it seemed all hope was lost, a whooshing sound zipped past his ear, hitting the heretic square in the forehead, sending him sprawling back. The grip on Barry’s throat slackened, and he broke free, noticing a short sword lodged where the heretic’s brain should be. That guy teetered, stumbling back a few steps.
“Barry—”
Hearing Mor’s shout, Barry instantly understood. Coughing violently, he lunged forward, yanking his sword from the heretic’s chest and hollering as he swung for the neck.
“Dieeeee!!!”
Thwack—
The swing almost decapitated the heretic, bl**d spewing out like a geyser. Barry dodged aside just in time, gripping the sword hilt tightly and pulling with all his strength! The heretic’s head rolled away in disbelief, and Barry staggered back a few steps, his heart racing. Before he could catch his breath, another flaming heretic charged at him.
“Go to hell—!”
With a roar, a badly bandaged companion suddenly burst forth, tackling the oncoming heretic. They went tumbling off to the side, and the heretic’s sword clattered away.
The wounded companion, apparently in pretty rough shape, had already taken a gash earlier. bl**d poured continuously from his chest, and after a couple of rolls on the ground, the heretic pinned him down, setting his bandages aflame. The agony twisted the knight’s face, yet he grinned through the pain, bloodied teeth flashing toward Barry as he yelled, “Get him!”
“Ugh ahhh—”
Barry yelled as he charged, sword raised, aiming for the back of the heretic’s head. The heretic instinctively tried to dodge, but just then, the burning companion clutched his head.
“k*ll him! k*ll——”
The heretic’s kn*fe sliced across the companion’s throat, bl**d gushing forth like a fountain. The companion’s voice cut off, yet his grip didn’t loosen. With fading consciousness, he hooked his legs around the heretic’s waist, squeezing tightly. The bloodshot eyes locked onto Barry.
Mother—!!!
Rage surged through Barry. He swung his blade again and again, chopping mercilessly at the heretic’s skull until it was a pulpy mess. The heretic crumpled down, collapsing on the lifeless body of Barry’s companion, before Barry kicked him away.
The dead companion’s eyes were still wide open, as if fixating on him. Barry recalled just a few days ago when this knight, who he hardly knew, had come down from the wall, severely burned, barely hanging on. With the careful tending of Lilith and others, he had recovered to some extent. One sleepless night, they talked for hours, and Barry remembered the knight mentioning a foolish woman waiting for him back at Helin Tier.
And just like that, he was gone.
In a daze, Barry suddenly heard a whistling sound and turned just in time. A fist-sized fireball zoomed between the fighting men, detonating near his feet—
Boom!
As debris flew, Barry was thrown off his feet, feeling as though a giant rock had landed on his chest. It took ages to catch his breath, and a cramp seized his stomach, metallic-tasting bl**d seeping from his mouth. He struggled to get up, only to be rolled sideways by someone landing on him.
With another “Boom!” a second fireball exploded next to him, a scalding rock hitting him square in the head. Barry felt pain explode through him as his head buzzed, vision blurring. He vaguely heard the person who shielded him yelling, “What are you doing!? The enemy is right in front of you!!”
It was Mor.
The two scrambled to their feet. Barry shook his head, which felt like a drum, a trickle of bl**d running down his forehead. The chaos continued to unfold around him, knights and heretics clashing, bl**d and flames everywhere. One knight with a severed arm collapsed as the heretic pulled a longsword from his abdomen, grinning like a maniac as he charged toward Barry.
“d*mn it…”
Mor, gripping a slightly twisted sword burnt by flames, stepped forward, eyes ablaze with determination, engaging the heretic head-on. Barry stood back, trembling slightly, feeling the stinging pain on his face intensifying. Gasping for breath, he channeled his fear and let out a primal scream, charging into the fray.
The bloody carnage spread across the city. A horde of heretics poured through the broken walls, launching a furious assault on the knights standing guard. bl**d and infernal fire wreaked havoc under the starless night, countless bodies fell to steel. Amidst the carnage, warriors climbed over the dead, slowly heaping up grotesque mountains of flesh at the breaches in the walls.
“The gate!”
A bl**d-soaked knight fell, pierced through the chest by a fire arrow. With his last breath, he shouted, “Hold the gate—!”
At the North Gate, two hundred meters from the crumbling walls, the heretics who infiltrated the city shouted madly as they rushed toward the towering towers on either side of the gate. Some hurled black pellets at the knights holding their ground beneath the towers. The smoke from the Lotus Seed Grass billowed out, shrouding the knights as they fought tooth and nail against the charging heretics.
A chilling atmosphere washed over the city. A severely injured knight crawled toward the crazed heretic, retrieving a golden sphere from his chest. Radiant light erupted from the sphere, followed by a staggering explosion. The world shook with a thunderous “Boom!” as the blinding golden light engulfed the knights and nearby heretics, severed limbs soaring high, bl**d pooling beneath.
Atop the high tower, Bishop of Alartian and the clerics maintained the Sin Barrier sealing the city gates while retaliating against the charging heretics. The glowing Holy Lance whizzed through the air, striking down the maddened foes one after another, yet the demons’ advance remained undeterred.
Heretics laughed raucously, trampling over the bodies of their companions as they continued to slaughter knights. Flames danced wildly, flesh flew through the air, and the knights’ formations crumbled under the assault. Screams echoed through the flames, and a few stray bolts flew toward the tower, hitting clerics who stumbled and fell in the chaos.
On the eastern wall, Captain Williams’ eyes blazed crimson as he cut down a heretic trying to scale the wall. Almost drenched in bl**d, he surveyed the densely packed crowd outside the walls, all pouring toward a breach on the west side, fearless in their approach. Off in the distance, massive fireballs continued to rain down, shaking the walls. He glanced around at the surrounding knights still battling and falling, his face twisting in despair.
“We have to hold this place…”
Before he could finish his thought, a vicious heretic charged from the side. The knights reacted, their swords slashing out, but the heretic charged straight through without a care, impaled on one of their blades, bl**d gushing as they continued forward, gripping the sword blade itself and pushing the knight back. Closing in on Williams, the heretic’s body began to swell rapidly.
“Great God of Truth, grant me the power of eternal life—”
“Hahahahaha!!”
The heretic cackled madly, eyes wide as they locked onto Captain Williams, about to explode. One knight from the group suddenly let go of his sword, sacrificing himself to tackle the heretic away, both tumbling off the wall—
Boom!
The explosion unleashed scorching flames, bathing Captain Williams’ eyes in a scarlet glow.
“Hold this city—”
He roared, “My brave knights! This is your shining moment in life! You are building an unbreakable wall with your flesh and bl**d, protecting thousands of citizens within! Today, right now! Make sure every inch beneath your feet is stained with bl**d! Either yours or the enemy’s!”
“Always remember, as this place runs red with bl**d, I stand with you! Your Captain stands with you! Your brothers are with you! Your glory, alive or dead, will be remembered by the world!”
On the battlefield, his voice roared like thunder.
“There’s no retreat left, no one is allowed to back down!!!”
“Follow me, tear the enemy apart—”
Heretics swarmed like ants, the knights’ tragic battle cries rose from the towers.
“k*ll ahhh!!!”
Smoke enveloped the area, and the sky dimmed.
At one moment, a knight named Barry rose from the sea of bl**d.
His armor cracked, his face charred, the burns on his left arm grotesque. Dried bl**d stained his hair, and he struggled to stand. Someone reached out to give him a hand; Barry squinted and saw who he thought was a corpse—a woman.
“You… how are you…”
Lilith looked like she had just crawled out of a mud pit, her once-beautiful features now covered in dirt, but those lively eyes still held some spark. She looked at Barry’s arm, concern etched into her face, “You’re hurt, but… the medicine and wine got buried in the explosion…”
Barry gaped for a moment, suddenly snapping back to reality as he pushed her away. “Get out of here, what about the heretics?!”
He scanned the surroundings, spotting bodies sprawled all over—both heretics and comrades. Flames licked the nearby houses, and a few bloodied knights were standing, Mor sitting cavelike on a cold stone slab, with a surviving healer nearby, bandaging his wounds.
“They…are dead?”
Barry felt dazed, not recalling when he lost consciousness or how many heretics he killed. He thought he was going to d*e there, yet… somehow, this skirmish turned out to be a victory for their side.
“They’re dead.”
Mor looked up, his voice hoarse. “Congrats, Brother Barry, you’re still alive. But don’t celebrate too soon… listen to that sound; the battle in the city is just beginning. We’re about to put our lives on the line.”
