Volume 10, Chapter 252: A Resplendent Enemy
Everyone who was there did not move even one fingertip, both the Philos city soldiers and the Heraldic soldiers. All of them did not move their bodies as they were crucified by their own shadows. They kept leaking quiet, hot breaths.
Maybe they couldn’t even move.
So, who would like to kill me, huh?
A tepid wind touched their cheeks. That voice seemed to freeze their viscera. Everyone felt something crawling around the ground, trembling from the toes and rising to their backs.
The only one among them, Roseau, felt his head heavy as if it was burned by a green flame. Everyone who stood under his eyes had been swallowed up by that unscrupulous monster. No, they were not swallowed only in spirit, but also in their souls. He couldn’t move one finger after witnessing such scene.
“What’s going on? Is this possible?” His voice was drowned in his thoughts.
Roseau’s heart screamed and warned him. That man was not evil or vice. He was an enemy. He must be his enemy, the one who shined brilliantly.
With his eyes wide open and his eyelids withered, Roseau ignited the figure of Lugis in flames with his own eyes. What sprung up in his chest was an ugly emotion. It was not something easy to describe. It was not something that anyone could tell.
Instead, Roseau spoke aloud, with enough force to radiate heat from his lips. He kept the color of his eyes calm, but his teeth and hands were quivering tremendously.
「…Births and deaths are obligations imposed on humans. As long as humans are humans, immortality is impossible. Everyone, bring your spears forward! 」
Everyone, bring your spears forward. That was one of the orders given to the Philos city soldiers.
If the Heraldic soldiers did not respond to Roseau’s mercy and continued to serve the Lord of Vice, they could no longer receive salvation. There was no choice but to atone with death.
Therefore, the only way was to kill them all. Roseau gave that signal.
In fact, the number of Philos city soldiers far exceeded that of the Heraldic soldiers. As Roseau put it, they just had to put their spears forward and get rid of them by fighting. Of course, they wouldn’t win victory without any damage, but it was not a big deal to kill them all.
The number easily exceeded the strength of an individual. No matter how vicious Lugis was, he could not resist the overwhelming power of the majority. That was a theory that even children could understand.
However, if people could move their shrugged legs with such logic, the world would be much simpler than it was now.
Listening to Roseau’s signal, the legs of the Philos city soldiers rose up, but did not move. Everyone had their bodies frozen. Their expressions showed that they were in front of a beast with deadly fangs. Their heads, which were full of a fever of faith, had greatly weakened.
The Philos city soldiers were not fighting bravely because fear and horror consumed their hearts.
“Certainly, there’s no doubt that we have an advantage. If we completely surround the enemy and take a step further, the tip of our spears will bite into the enemy’s flesh. Life will be easily taken. That should be the ultimate truth.”
“However, something that resembles a stain remains in the depths of my heart. It gets bigger and darker as time goes by. That stain is doubt.”
“Can we really kill that man named Lugis?”
Lugis was not killed by the large army of the Great Holy Church. Even as the army of God. Then, where was the evidence that Philos city soldiers could actually kill him? Roseau wondered if the man standing in front of his sight was just evil or an incarnation of something. If so, it would be a terrible and stupid act to thrust a spear and a sword at someone ominous.
The seeds of doubt and fear sprouted in their chests. Facts turned into delusions, and the possibilities turned into the impossible. Nothing flew as easily as the human heart, which once resigned and escaped. No matter how much they tried to hold it down, it would easily roll down the cliff.
Not everyone could be a hero. Rather, those who could not fight occupied much of the world. The world where many people could fight by biting their own fear belonged to a dream sequence. What if it became reality? It could ignite more fear.
Therefore, for most human beings, killing fear was nothing but another fear.
「Autonomous people, do you want to be immoral people? Of course, you can always choose to act differently. 」
Roseau’s voice was spoken in a relaxed tone. That voice stuck to everybody’s ears and made the spines of the Philos city soldiers agitate.
Immoral person was a stigma that surpassed death. Beyond that filthy name was a life that was simply trampled. In the heads of the city soldiers, they could see Philos Trait, who was tied to a chain and kept being struck by a stick until she fainted.
Now that Philos Trait had fallen, it was no exaggeration to say that Roseau was the city’s greatest authority. That authority gave him the prestige of the priest of the Great Holy Church; therefore, the stigma of the immoral became a weapon which his fingertips wielded.
Roseau was hostile to the Heraldic Order and those who did not take the spears were no different from the immoral.
The Philos city soldiers blinked their eyes. They had already come to a place where they couldn’t go back. Everyone finally realized that.
Amidst the burning impatience, Philos city soldiers decided what they were prepared for, to crush the Heraldics, the unscrupulous people, and then, protect themselves. They held their hands strongly, thrust their spears and took a step forward.
…On that moment. The head of the soldier who was advancing to the front exploded with a splash of blood.
Something hard and heavy dug into the skull, bit the flesh, and scraped life as it was. As the cold wind blew, the warm blood that flew around shook the white mist of their breaths.
The identity that took the life of a city soldier was called a throwing axe. An axe thrown at high speed hit the ground with a heavy noise while tearing the soldier’s skull apart.
The city soldiers, the Heraldic soldiers, and even Roseau opened their eyes wide and stopped their voices. Only the horse’s rustle and one voice roared through the hollow.
「Oh my, was my aim too good? 」 freewebnove(l)
A woman wearing a steel armor all over her body appeared from the highway. Her appearance looked intimidating. She was playing with her throwing axe as if it were nothing at all. Behind her, a cavalry and a few carriages were seen.
Seeing that scene, every soldier from Philos thought that something was wrong.
They were not soldiers from the Heraldic Order, as seen from her armor and cavalry. Rather than regular soldiers, they looked like mercenaries.
If so, they should be on the side of the Great Holy Church. Mercenaries were always interested in money and were often on the side of the strong. They would get on the winning horse, a horse that would get them a high pay. If they helped the Heraldic Order, their business wouldn’t thrive.
“That would be the normal occurrence. It should be a universal reason. But why are those mercenaries on the side of the Heraldic religion? Moreover, why are they here now?”
“Is this a mistake?”
The axe wielder in steel…Vestaline Geluah opened her mouth and uttered a voice, as if to dispel the small fragments of hope.
「We are the Belfein Mercenary Union. We have joined the Heraldic Order as partners. Forgive us for our late arrival, Lord Lugis. 」
Her clear voice resonated under the cold sky.
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