The Kidnapping of the Saint
The battle was a chaotic melee. Fighting erupted simultaneously along the wooden palisades and across the open plains, as the punitive force clashed directly with the monsters of the Legion of Wrath, who were masquerading as the Demon King’s army. Orcs from the south, undead and crow-kin from the east, and a relentless rain of arrows pouring down upon the soldiers’ heads—they were being pincered from three directions, and the front lines were slowly buckling. Though the punitive force held the numerical advantage, the monsters of the Las army, each one individually powerful, were methodically whittling down the human strength.
"WROOOOAR!" The orcs swung their weapons, smashing into the front-line soldiers with raw, unadulterated strength. They fought without technique, relying solely on brute force to shatter the human formation, and one by one, the soldiers' equipment began to fail.
"Aaaargh!" A soldier whose weapon had been shattered found himself forced into a desperate physical struggle against an orc whose own weapon had broken. The orc raised a massive fist and landed a straight punch square into the soldier’s face, knocking him unconscious with a shattered nose.
"Kyahahaha!" The Harpy Angels soared above, circling the punitive force and hurling debris at random. Most of it consisted of fragments from destroyed houses, and a rain of sharp wooden splinters fell from the sky. It was bearable when it struck their armor, but when it hit bare skin, it stung like a hornet’s nest.
"Kill them all, Las!!" The crow-kin tore through the ranks on the ground, their talons slashing at the soldiers. The soldiers sneered at the approaching crow-kin and met them with their swords. Clang! The soldiers were taken aback. Far from being severed, their steel swords were nearly sent flying by the recoil. The crow-kin’s honed talons were harder than most steel, and their tips were sharper than any awl.
Squelch! The talons buried themselves into the soldiers' necks. Then, ghouls lurking among the crow-kin swarmed the soldiers' lower bodies. Crunch! "Aaaargh!!" As a crow-kin pinned a soldier down, two ghouls would pounce instantly, burying their teeth into the soldier’s exposed flesh. The soldier writhed in agony, but it was useless.
The momentum of the Las army was truly unstoppable. The orcs at the palisades were slowly pushing the soldiers back and over the barricades, and with the ghouls and crow-kin wreaking havoc in the east, the soldiers were naturally forced toward the northwest. They were on the verge of being pushed back until their backs were against the river. But the soldiers could not retreat. The two knights who should have been issuing the order were currently pouring all their focus into protecting the priest, Francis.
"Grrrroooar!!" The orc in the robe dodged an incoming arrow and swung its flail. Gei blocked the flail with a round shield he’d scavenged from the ground, but the shield shattered shortly after. Gei realized he couldn't handle this alone.
"Sir Paiz!"
"Die, you monster!" Knight Paiz thrust his pike forward. The orc twisted its waist to avoid the spearhead. However, because the orc’s waist was so wide, the tip of the pike eventually pierced its side. Squelch!
"What?!" The pike slid off after piercing the orc’s robe. Paiz had clearly felt the sensation of stabbing into belly fat, but the spear had only poked a hole in the fabric, causing no damage at all.
"Stupid fool!" The orc grabbed Paiz by the collar. Before Paiz could even attempt to resist, the orc drove the sharpest point of its flail upward, right under Paiz’s chin. Thwack!
"Gyaaaargh!!" Paiz let out a pained scream as the heat flared beneath his chin. The pain of the flail tip striking his jawbone was agonizing, but more than that, the grip of the orc’s hand on his collar felt as if it were tearing his skin right off. Paiz’s vision blurred.
'You... son of a...!' He had to escape, even if it meant dropping his spear. Just as Paiz began to channel his mana to pull away from the orc—thwip. A wind arrow, fired from somewhere, pierced Paiz’s neck. Paiz, still held by the collar, went limp. The orc set Paiz’s head on fire and began to run toward the front, where the priest Francis was located.
"Move, move, move—!!" The orc charged forward, using Paiz’s corpse as a makeshift bunker. The adventurers who had gathered to protect Francis fired arrows in a panic, but every single one of them just embedded itself into Paiz’s back, causing no harm to the orc.
"You damned wretch!"
"Goddess, grant us the strength to strike down this monster!!" One by one, the adventurers drew mana, tracing the sign of the cross to the Goddess. A silvery aura began to coat their weapons. There were many adventurers blessed by the Goddess. Slash, slash! Every time they swung their weapons, the orcs' weapons were severed, and the crow-kin’s talons were sliced off. When the archers fired into the sky, the Harpy Angels’ wings were pierced with precision, sending them crashing to the ground.
The punitive force grew stronger under the Goddess's blessing. Gei cheered at the sight of the monsters' numbers slowly dwindling. 'As expected, this battle is our—'
"Ngaaaaaaa——-!!" The orc roared toward the sky. Gei’s stomach turned as he watched the orc lift the burning corpse of Paiz high and beat it repeatedly with its flail. The cruel act of using a knight’s body like a drum was too much to watch. Thwack, thwack-thwack-thwack! But as Paiz was reduced to a pulp, a red light began to spread from the orc’s tattoos in all directions. That red light infused the monsters of the Las army, settling on them like war paint.
"Accept our wrath!"
"Accept our wrath, Las!!" The orcs whose weapons had been broken grabbed the blades with their bare hands and snapped them. The crow-kin whose talons had been cut off used their beaks, which were harder than their talons, to peck out the soldiers' eyeballs. Excited by the roar the orc let out in the middle of the battlefield, the monsters of the Las army began to exert even greater strength.
"Ugh...!" If this continued, the casualties would be catastrophic. The adventurers, experts at fighting monsters, were doing a great job, but because of the Harpy Angels in the sky, they couldn't assist the other soldiers.
"Die, you little human pests!!" Two Harpy Angels folded their wings to dodge the arrows. Like birds of prey snatching their quarry, the two simultaneously grabbed the adventurers' shoulder armor with their talons and soared high into the sky. Ordinarily, they might have lacked the strength, but empowered by the aura, the harpies lifted the adventurers into the air with ease.
"Let go, you monsters!"
"Yeah!" Drop. The Harpy Angels released the adventurers from higher than the palisades. The pale-faced adventurer fell straight to the ground, landing on his head and snapping his neck. There were many such adventurers and soldiers.
"Sir Knight!!" The adventurers screamed. The orc’s demonic hand, reaching toward the unconscious priest Francis, showed no signs of stopping. Gei felt tears welling up, wondering where such monsters had even come from. Still, he had to protect Francis. His status, which couldn't simply be called that of a priest, was something he had to protect as both a knight and a noble.
"Argh, you block everything so annoyingly! Let’s see if you can block this!" The orc swinging the flail threw it to the ground and shouted, "Gremory——-!!"
Flap, flap. The Harpy Angels flying in the sky all soared upward at once. As soon as the orc shouted, Gei screamed as if he were spitting blood at the massive magic circle forming above the watchtower. Gremory. The 7th-circle elementalist demon, ruler of the 56th dungeon.
"Everyone, get out of the way!!" No sooner had Gei’s shout echoed than a fireball the size of a house was launched toward the adventurers gathered around the priest Francis. The adventurers fled in a panic, and only the female adventurer who had been carrying Francis on her back let out a hollow laugh before fainting on top of him.
The red-haired witch on the watchtower twisted the corners of her mouth and slammed her staff down. "Flame!!" The fireball, looking as if it were about to explode at any moment, flew straight toward Francis. It was clear that if the fireball landed, both of them would be burned to death. Someone had to go save them—or at least save Francis. Gei had the ability and was close enough, but he couldn't bring himself to step forward. 'What if I step in and get sniped? I have to protect him, but do I have to risk my life for it? Even for him?'
While Gei hesitated, a black shadow ran beneath the fireball and snatched up the adventurer and Francis. "Ugh-yo-ooooh!!"
"What—"
The one who had taken Francis was the crazy orc. The fat orc ran at full speed, carrying the two humans on his hips. Moments later, the fireball hit the ground where Francis had been, causing a massive explosion.
Explosion
□□□□□□□!! A massive pillar of fire soared high into the sky. Even though he was far away, Gei couldn't regain his senses due to the intense heat. He had been momentarily distracted by the explosion magic cast by a 7th-circle mage, and he hurriedly pulled himself together and turned his gaze.
"Hahahaha! Finally caught you, you loach-like bastards!!" The orc laughed heartily, his entire back scorched. He had protected Francis from the aftermath of the explosion.
"Ah, ahh, ahhh...." The female adventurer he had been holding in his other hand had taken the full brunt of the explosion and was rolling her eyes back. The orc threw the roasted female adventurer to the ground, then turned around, carrying the unconscious Francis.
"All troops, return to Las Vegas!! Retreat!!" The obese orc kidnapped Francis without a moment’s hesitation and ran into the city. The orcs and crow-kin rushed through the holes in the collapsed palisades, and the Harpy Angels grabbed some of the monsters and flew into the sky.
"What...?" If they had maintained the offensive just a little longer, the punitive force might have been wiped out. That was how dangerous the presence of the mage was, and numerical superiority meant nothing. Yet, the orc had shown the eccentric behavior of ignoring the order to advance and fleeing with only Francis. Even the fact that the orc who had been molesting the captive woman on the palisade platform had abandoned her to take only Francis was difficult to understand.
"Why, exactly?" Gei stood blankly, watching the retreating back of the Las army, and dropped his sword in despair. The punitive force had achieved a victory that wasn't a victory, suffering over 300 casualties and the kidnapping of the priest Francis. In contrast, the enemy numbered at most 100. Gei clenched his fists. Whoosh— A bleak river breeze brushed against Gei’s spine. The orc archers on the watchtower even lowered their bows, as if mocking the confused human soldiers. Gei bit his lip in humiliation.
"...We are temporarily returning to the main camp. All troops, retreat!!" Gei had no choice but to lead the demoralized soldiers back to the main camp.
* * *
I had passed over a fairly decent female adventurer to take the priest Francis. I’d learned the priest’s name because the adventurer who had been following him around kept screaming "Francis-nim!" Francis seemed to have fainted from hyperventilation caused by the aphrodisiac.
"Master, you haven't had a change in sexual preference, have you?"
"Is Master into men?"
Ryun and Andras blurted out some strange things, questioning my sexual identity. I loved Las more than anyone, but I absolutely declined any same-sex relationships. "I am not into men. However." I declared to them with a serious face. "I am always welcome to intervene in a 2P yuri session."
"I’d be relieved if that were the case. You looked like a woman, so I was worried." Even Eila stepped up to suspect me. In the end, I had to explain why I had chased Francis all the way to the north of Las Vegas.
"This guy knows where Tural is."
"Who is Tural?"
"A guy who’s an idiot but a good one. An orc way stronger than me. My savior. My soul partner. My only brother." For some reason, as I went on, it turned into my own wishful thinking, and I felt unnecessarily shy. I hurriedly changed the subject and pointed to Francis, who was bound with rope. "So, I need to make him spill the information about my friend, but is there any good way to do that?"
"...Dad, ahem. Legion Commander!" Lancelot raised her hand, her eyes sparkling. "I have a great plan!"
"......." That was the same expression she had when I was bluffing against Forneus. If she really inherited her genes, I was essentially inducing Francis to be eaten by Lancelot. I had extracted information from Eila, but could Lancelot really do it? Or was I just having excessive delusions? Couldn't I just use violence, like hitting him, to extract the information?
"...Can’t I do it?" Lancelot twisted her body, acting coy. My pretty daughter, whose only green thing was her skin, was acting cute, and my heart melted. I patted Eila on the back. "Eila, you keep a close watch by her side. Lancelot, you must never kill him. Got it?"
"Of course! Hehehe." Lancelot drooled, picked up Francis, and disappeared into a dark alley. If you only looked at their faces, they were a perfect match of a handsome man and a beautiful woman.
"Hehehe, I’ll eat well~."
"......." No way. It couldn't be... right?
