The Paramere Subjugation Battle (8)
The Paramere Subjugation Battle (8)
Ashval Haltz understood.
The power of the churches.
It was stronger than he had ever imagined! Staggeringly so!
"Raaaaaaaaah!!!!"
With a bursting battle cry, the rotten monsters exploded in every direction. Spears of bone were ground apart while still alive, reduced to powder by flames wreathed in Sacred Power.
Vanguard commander Rosemary.
The pink-furred cat Beastfolk leading the charge swung her axe with ferocious force. As it collided with the spinning circular saw-blade, a giant monster's head was crushed whole.
BOOM!!!
Ashval was left speechless by the surging storm of fire.
That... is just an inquisitor?
Most knights of the Empire couldn't even hold a candle to that level!
The other inquisitors following behind her were the same. Every single one of them was knight-class. Their surging flames carried will, and the weapons they thrust forward brimmed with sanctity.
The legion of rotten corpses blocking their path scattered like scraps of paper. Whatever the cat Beastfolk missed was torn to shreds by the inquisitors' hands.
FWOOSH!
"How dare you stinking things?!"
"Smash them all!!!"
"In the name of Ra!!!"
"We'll return you all to nothing!!!!"
The Inquisition Office of the Church of Ra. A place counted among the church's most exceptional combat forces.
But he had simply thought of them as a setting sun. Any knight of the Empire would have thought the same. Ashval was no different.
He had thought only a few were worth noting. The rest were just a mediocre rabble.
But what was this?!
Their strength was nearly on par with a knight order!
Compared to them, this side...
"Annoying."
CRASH!!!!!!
With a single flat word, the rotten corpses were ground away in an instant. A massive black whip tore the terrain apart wholesale.
Ashval quietly withdrew the sword he had been about to use to bisect a monster before him. He didn't even need to swing. The strength to single-handedly tear apart the suffocating waves of rotten corpses pressing in.
If the Church of Ra was uniformly strong as a whole, then on this side, only a single person stood out.
Scattering black hair. Whenever weariness settled into those violet eyes, one wing of the rotten army was sent flying without fail — merciless destruction.
This was not on the same level as crushing, tearing apart, or slaughtering.
It was simply trampling.
Overwhelming power that rendered numbers meaningless.
"...Apostle Estelle."
He had heard of her. The reason the Serpent Church had survived despite being branded heretics in the Empire's north was because of its two apostles.
Apostle Estelle, responsible for one of them. The Butcher of Adalan.
But Ashval had thought the name was only widely known because of the tall tales of religious folk. Like how they babbled among themselves about who was strong and who was weak, he had considered her strong only within the world of the religious.
But now that he saw it plainly, wasn't this absurd?!
This was power that even renowned strongmen of the continent would have to yield to. Power that even he, who had rolled through battlefield after battlefield, had rarely ever seen.
As if... comparable to a Sword Star...
"I-It seems like there's hope...!"
"Aren't they just going to sweep everything away at this rate?!"
"Follow Lord Ashval!"
"The Empire's lion is rampaging!"
No.
He wasn't rampaging at all.
Ashval swallowed his words. He hadn't even properly swung his sword once yet, but he squared his shoulders and pretended to be composed.
The rising morale of the soldiers was certainly a good sign. Holding onto hope in such a vicious and savage battlefield would surely become a foothold to push through to the end.
Breaking the misunderstanding would be the worse move.
Ashval raised his sword high. He shouted shamelessly.
"We advance straight to the heart of Paramer! We will not fall!"
"Waaaaaah!!"
"Ashval Haltz! Ashval Haltz!"
"For the Empire!"
Dimona glanced back at him.
"You're surprisingly shameless, Your Excellency."
"I thought this would be my final stage, but looking again, I'm just a supporting actor. My heart's gone cold. Since the heat's gone, I'm trying to survive rather than fight."
"That's not wrong."
"And yet you, Judge, also seem to be holding back... Don't tell me... Inquisitor Rosemary over there isn't stronger than you, is she?"
"I'm just conserving my strength, Your Excellency. Because..."
In an instant, a black shadow covered the army. Dimona flicked her gaze upward.
"Because I thought something like this would happen."
Ashval raised his head. The sun was being blocked out. Around the giant monster that had risen from within the vast interior of Paramer, hazy clouds of dust surged outward.
"Th-that... is...?"
Rotten flesh visible beyond the collapsed outer wall. As if countless corpses had been stitched together haphazardly, screams rolled off the surface of the rotten giant.
The eeriness of it was as if the air itself was being sucked in.
A thing large enough to momentarily block out the sun turned its head. Flesh that fell from its surface crushed buildings.
It was huge.
So huge his mouth fell open on its own. He hadn't realized while it was sitting, but once it stood, it was absurdly massive — comparable to a grand royal palace!
"That... something that big... can move?!"
Ashval Haltz's voice trembled.
Even Ashval Haltz, who had been through countless battlefields, had never seen a monster of this form.
The monster, moving through blood that squelched and dripped down, raised its hand. A mass whose sheer size alone could crush an entire army of over two thousand people covered the sky.
KUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGU...
The raised giant hand stopped.
Then, slowly — it began to descend.
"Wh-what?!"
"What in the world is that?!"
The horses screamed in terror. Soldiers dropped their weapons without realizing it.
The sound of air tearing.
The air shattered. Amid the slowly pressing-down pressure, a maddening wind blew. Dimona's hair whipped violently in the gale.
"...I thought it wouldn't end easily, after all."
Rosemary, who had been scattering flames, looked up. For the first time, a scream leaked from her open mouth.
"This... insane... how do we block something like that?!"
Radatok, who had been tearing the bodies of the Rotten blocking the way in half, wiped the blood from his face. His hardened expression twisted.
"...The devil's trickery."
Isabella shook the rotten flesh from her sword. She gritted her teeth.
"Just when it seemed like there was hope, now something like that...!"
Apostle Estelle clicked her tongue. She retrieved her weapon, the Serpentine Sword.
Her bored expression turned serious. But before she could move, Dimona stepped forward.
"Leave this to me, Estelle."
"...Hm?"
"This is what I was conserving my strength for. Something that size can't be controlled from a distance. Doing so would waste an enormous amount of power. Whatever monster it is, it would know that controlling something like that remotely is a fool's errand. Even more so if it's using twisted souls."
Ashval Haltz realized from those words.
"You mean the mastermind of Paramer is inside that monster?!"
"At the very least, something equivalent is inside it. Estelle, please face the monster inside."
Dimona raised her sword. A surging red flame coalesced on the blade.
"That hand, and this army — I'll handle them."
Estelle said expressionlessly.
"Impossible."
She shook her head cleanly.
"That is a power a mere paladin cannot overcome, Divine Judge."
"Any other Divine Judge couldn't. But I can."
"Wh-whoever does it, can't someone just do something?! We're all about to get flattened!"
Dimona took her stance. She sheathed her sword deep into its scabbard and glared at the empty air.
"I..."
The corners of her lips, curling into a smirk, resembled someone.
"...am a genius!"
Immediately after—
Red flames erupted madly from the scabbard.
. . .
I spun my sword around. I glanced around the surroundings.
Just as expected. Rotten flesh was clinging to me.
But something...
It's few?
"Why is it only you guys?"
The rotten waves were still surging in. But it was a bit few. How to put it... far fewer than I had expected.
I had sent the elves ahead, but with numbers like this, I wondered if I hadn't needed to send them ahead at all.
Why are they going easy? Don't tell me they all slipped out of Paramer?
But Aris usually... doesn't stray far from the Clock Tower?
Why is she over there by the outer wall?
Questions kept chaining together. I casually swatted away the rotten monsters lunging at me.
I could handle this many while eating a meal.
Well, good is good, so I'll just head straight to the treasure vault like this...
BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
An explosion erupted from somewhere. In an instant, a fierce wind surged.
Wind pressure. As if a powerful explosion had gone off somewhere, all of Paramer shook. I turned my head.
The hand of the rotten giant that had been reaching out beyond the city was splitting in half. The cause was a pillar of fire rising from far below.
".......?"
Wait, don't tell me that's...
Isn't that the Flame of Ra?
"...No way?"
The flames surged. There were only a handful of people within the church who could wield that much Sacred Power.
Archbishop-level or higher. At least that level had to be present. If it was an archbishop-level who would willingly stick their neck into this Paramer...
"Dimona?"
She really... really came?
My feet moved before I knew it. No. If she had come, it was impossible for Dimona alone to face Aris.
That rotten giant, the Palace of the Rotten, was no pushover. That massive body was nothing but a weapon, but it was a monster whose advantages more than compensated for its weaknesses.
Mass beyond all reason. Infinite regeneration that even Holy Arts specialized against twisted souls could not dismantle.
A monster that was itself a nuclear bomb!
"Ah, shit! What do I do if she really came?!"
I ran. I gave up on drawing attention and bolted immediately.
Dimona. Why did you come all the way here? You really walked into this death trap on purpose?
...Because of me alone?
My foot compressed the ground as I stepped. I crushed building walls underfoot and shot forward.
The elves who had departed first were right in front of me. I scooped up the elf lagging furthest behind into my arms.
"Kyaaa?! Wh-who... Savior?!"
"Change of plans! Everyone run!"
"Wh-what... changed?"
"There's a Divine Judge outside! She's drawing Aris's attention! There's no time, so shut up and run!"
Flora, who had urgently matched her pace to mine, glanced at my face.
"But, Savior."
"I'm busy, what now?!"
"Why... are you smiling?"
...I'm smiling?
I raised my free arm. I touched my mouth. The corners of my lips were definitely lifted.
Why am I like this.
"...Don't ask, just run!"
The treasure vault was right in front of me. As if rolling, I snatched the key from Flora and slammed it into the door.
DRRRRRRRRRRK!!!
The treasure vault door opened with a massive vibration.
It's coming.
The time of judgment!
"Just wait right there, Aris."
With the addition of Divine Judge Dimona alone, my odds of victory were skyrocketing.
10%?
No... now it's almost 25%! A quarter! There's definitely a chance now!
You're done for. Clock Tower Slave Aris.
It's time for some real education!!
"Heh heh."
"Look at Savior's face."
"He really looks like trash..."
"...That's hot."
"Who said 'that's hot'?!"