Joining Up
The Mammon followers who had fled into the underground mine felt like they were losing their minds.
Because of the pillar of light illuminating the entire city, their corrupted souls and Mammon's demonic power were laid bare on their skin, making it impossible to conceal their identities.
Moreover, the situation had erupted so suddenly that there had been no time to prepare anything whatsoever.
Consequently, most of the lower-ranking followers who had not even properly received Mammon's blessing were armed with woefully inadequate equipment.
Pistols.
At best, after firing a few shots from submachine guns at the Ketratus soldiers' armor, they were either struck by what were essentially cannons disguised as pistols and disintegrated on the spot.
"Burn them. Make it clean."
Or they were struck by the Igniter Squad's flames and reduced to ashes on the spot.
Of course, the Mammon followers were not fools.
"Machine gun!! Bring the heavy machine gun!!"
Since they had long used the mine tunnels as a base, they had stocked various weapons and equipment for emergencies.
Such as heavy machine guns set up in narrow passages.
Or indiscriminately firing flamethrowers.
Or throwing bombs to block the mine passages—they resisted with genuine desperation.
The problem, however.
"It's a heavy machine gun!! A heavy machine gun!! Then why are they perfectly fine?!"
Was that the armor worn by the Ketratus soldiers was made of magic metal, difficult even for heavy machine guns to penetrate.
And on top of that, they were wrapped head to toe in all manner of protective miracles, allowing them to simply advance while taking the bullets.
"Burn! Burn!! Burn them, I said!!"
"We wield the miracle of flame—did you think we would fear fire?"
The flames from the flamethrowers poured toward the Ketratus soldiers entering the narrow passage, only to be sucked directly into their hands and then shot back in reverse.
".......Priest. Those bastards are clearing the boulders with their bare hands, you see?"
Even when the tunnels were collapsed with bombs, they performed absurd feats—moving the boulders with impossibly powerful strength and reopening the passage—rendering every defensive tactic utterly useless.
While their attacks had no effect no matter how many were poured in.
Each and every Ketratus attack was utterly horrific.
The greatswords and hammers the Ketratus soldiers swung were of a size and weight that ordinary people could not even lift, let alone swing, so even a glancing blow instantly crushed a body into pulp.
The bullets they fired not only tore through body armor and the flesh within.
They also easily pierced steel and rock cover and shredded the enemies behind it.
And that was not all.
Even the followers who had received considerable blessings from Mammon and shed their human flesh, granted far more powerful bodies.
Even the Abominations had their bodies bursting apart explosively from a single pistol shot.
When they saw an Abomination—which had ripped a thick steel door from a tunnel and was charging with it as a shield—explode after being struck by a bullet that pierced clean through the steel door, the Mammon followers had no choice but to lose all will to fight.
"How on earth... are we supposed to stop that."
Retreating again and again, the followers were finally driven back to what could be called their main base, and once they were cornered there, two opinions emerged among them.
"Let's flee while we still can! We must escape with the resentment we've gathered here!"
"They likely haven't identified the secret passage yet! If even we can escape and survive, we can plan for the future!!"
There were those who argued for flight, but the opinion that they could not do so was just as strong.
"Do you not know that the chosen one Mammon has spent decades preparing still slumbers here?!"
"The moment we abandon the chosen one and flee, far from planning for the future, we will incur Mammon's wrath and might all be dragged to hell to burn for eternity!"
The two opinions clashed sharply.
"Then what do you suggest? That we just wait to die against those monsters pushing through?!"
"There's no way to deal with Dulanear's sons of bitches! Mammon's authority is diminished, and because of that damn pillar of light, neither black magic nor sorcery can produce their proper power!"
Amid the deepening conflict.
One black magician slammed the table and silenced everyone.
"Let us awaken the chosen one instead."
Everyone was appalled at those words.
"Are you insane?"
"He is not yet complete!!"
"If he learns he was awakened in an incomplete body, we will all die by his hand!!"
"Either way we die—this way or that!!"
All dissenting opinions were silenced by that single sentence.
"If we make him able to move and then escape together, we won't have abandoned the chosen one, so Mammon will not reproach us! Moreover, although incomplete, he is the one Mammon personally selected! He will be able to tear apart Dulanear's bastards with ease, so he will be a help in our escape as well!"
No one opened their mouth at that, but everyone tacitly agreed.
In the current situation, that absurd proposal was practically the only solution.
"We must concentrate all the resentment we have gathered so far and pour it into awakening the chosen one. We must hurry. Time is short."
The black magician clutched his convulsing hand and spoke in a trembling voice.
"Let us pray this plan works. At least ten minutes are needed to awaken the chosen one. I will awaken him, so the other priests and magicians must hold back the advancing enemy. Ten minutes. You need only hold for ten minutes. Hold them for ten minutes, by any means necessary."
The probability of being torn apart and killed by the chosen one once he realized he had been awakened in an incomplete state, and the probability of dying while holding back the advancing Ketratus.
Unfortunately for the followers, those two probabilities were roughly equal.
"Damn it all. How did it come to this......."
At someone's tearful voice, all of Mammon's followers clenched their fists.
That was exactly it.
Just how had it come to this.
***
As they drew closer to the Mammon followers' base deep underground, the Ketratus advance began to slow.
This was partly due to the stamina and holy power they had expended to get that far, but also because the followers, previously scattered everywhere, were now concentrated in one place, making the intensity of resistance far greater than anticipated.
"Hold them!!"
[For Mammon!!]
The numbers of black magicians and Abominations had now grown large enough to become burdensome.
Moreover, they did not hesitate to strap bombs to their bodies and charge in suicide attacks, so casualties inevitably accumulated exponentially in various ways.
On top of that, the followers' vile tricks were more than a few.
"Mister! Please save me!"
A child who looked about four years old limped toward them, shedding sorrowful tears, leg injured.
With a bomb strapped to their back.
"Please! I am not a follower! I-I was brainwashed! When I opened my eyes, I was here! My child is waiting! I miss my child! Please save me!!"
A beautiful woman claimed she had been brainwashed and wept pitifully, imploring them.
While hiding a cursed dagger at her waist, ready to turn hostile and drive it into their vitals the moment anyone showed her a little sympathy or kindness.
"Brother! I've wounded my leg! Help support me!"
There were also wicked attempts at deception by pretending to be other Ketratus soldiers.
"Fight amongst yourselves!!"
The black magicians also tormented the Ketratus with all manner of hallucinations and illusions.
Booby traps had naturally been installed in every passage, and ammunition was steadily running low because of the followers who threw away their lives to charge at them.
But nothing could stop them.
"Show no compassion whatsoever!!"
Whether an injured child was weeping or not.
Whether a beautiful woman begged, claiming she missed her child and had been unjustly dragged there after being brainwashed.
Whether other Ketratus—who looked identical to anyone's eye—requested help or not.
They silently used miracles to confirm the followers' identities, then planted bullets and weapons into their bodies to neutralize them.
"Doubt everything!!"
They detected booby traps and pitfalls with miracles in advance, then neutralized or dismantled them before passing.
"If you have no bullets, pick up a stone from the ground and throw it! Kill them with miracles and flame!! Show no mercy whatsoever!!"
Even a heavy cobblestone lying on the ground, once picked up and thrown by a Ketratus hand, transformed in itself into a brutal ranged weapon.
An Abomination struck by a stone had its body punctured clean through, and the brains of lower-ranking cultists were crushed and burst open.
The white flames created by a mixture of gasoline and elixir, ignited by holy power, still burned the wicked without issue.
But it was also unavoidable that limits were gradually approaching.
"We are out of ammunition."
The ammunition used by the Ketratus was 20mm caliber.
It was powerful ammunition containing a tungsten penetrator and a special propellant consecrated with holy power, capable of making any monster's body explode from a single hit, but for that very reason, the number of rounds each soldier could carry was necessarily small.
"We have a wounded soldier. Company Commander. Brother Lomalo can no longer advance."
"Call a medic!"
One by one, comrades began to be left behind, and because of the resulting shortfall in firepower, a vicious cycle repeated itself in which the advance slowed even further.
But their fighting spirit never broke.
"Recite the Codex Proelium! Summon your holy power! Brothers! If we fall, those creatures will destroy humanity! Even if you die, die fighting!"
Throwing stones and swinging swords and hammers, they continued the desperate battle.
And at their vanguard, Grand Master Al Madai fought harder than anyone, carving out a path forward.
"Look! You can feel the concentration of resentment growing thicker! Their base is not far!! Advance and burn them all to ash!!......"
Al Madai, who had been sweeping his greatsword and shield and advancing without hesitation, was ultimately forced to stop the next moment.
"Dulanear above."
As if they had deliberately lain in wait, dozens of Abominations and black magicians stood ready, fully prepared.
The Abominations were different from the small fry they had encountered thus far.
Massive bodies exceeding three meters shone with dozens of eyeballs as they stared at the holy knights, and the black magicians too glared at them while exuding an ominous resentment.
"Come in! Dogs of Dulanear!! We will tear you limb from limb!"
[We will devour you!!]
All manner of sorcery and black magic began to seethe up in a chaotic swirl, and bolstered by it, the Abominations began to shriek terrible screams that felt as though they might tear the soul apart.
If they fought those things, the Ketratus too might sustain considerable losses.
Perhaps even fatalities.
But even knowing that plainly, Al Madai and the Ketratus soldiers did not lose their will to fight.
"Let us go, brothers. Charge, for the most glorious death!!"
On the contrary, they spat fury and began to advance with even greater fervor.
Seeing the Ketratus like that, a faint hope flickered in the eyes of the black magicians and Abominations.
"Those fools are charging just as expected! Bring out what we've prepared! We'll show Dulanear's mongrels a bitter taste of......urk!!......bleeaarrgh!!!"
Suddenly.
All the black magicians screamed and convulsed.
"M-Magic power is backflowing......ack!!"
The black magicians collapsed, vomiting blood.
All the black magic they had been wielding dispersed futilely, and some clutched their heads and spasmed as if gone mad.
The moment the Abominations, who had been about to charge, turned their gazes in shock.
Their bodies began to be dismembered.
[Something is attacking us!!......]
[W-Where! Where is it! We cannot see it!!]
[I-I can't muster my strength properly! Mammon! Just who!......]
Apparently unable to properly see what was attacking them, they floundered this way and that, then began to scream and collapse.
The Abominations and black magicians were slaughtered so simply and futilely, unable even to mount a proper counterattack.
As the Ketratus halted their advance in surprise and stared blankly at the scene of slaughter.
[You are holy knights of the White Order, yes? We are not your enemy.]
Suddenly, a stiff mechanical voice came from the empty air.
With instinctive displeasure, Al Madai turned his eyes toward the sound, and faintly.
A very slight presence began to be felt beyond the air itself.
Al Madai slowly extended his sword, aflame with holy power, toward the source of the sound.
When he saw the holy power vanish and the flames wreathing the blade disappear, Al Madai let out a laugh.
"An anti-magic field. No wonder the black magicians and Abominations were felled so uselessly."
[Please do not approach too closely. If you enter the area, your holy power too will vanish.]
"I had no intention of doing so regardless. Assassins of the Black Fortress."
[Your saintess is descending directly through Tunnel 4, escorted by combat mages of the Magic Tower. If you advance just a little further, you will reach the enemy base. Your condition looks serious. We recommend you join forces and fight together.]
"The saintess herself? I must go. What do you intend to do?"
[We will infiltrate the base as we are and assassinate the enemy's black magicians and priests. Do not worry; we will avoid you so that our operational areas do not overlap.]
Al Madai chuckled.
"Assassins! I am in your debt. I will not forget it. For Dulanear!!"
From the empty air where no one could be seen, the faint presence answered his words.
[For His Imperial Majesty.]
The faint presence then vanished completely.