Spider monsters as big as houses ran through the streets, eliminating the cleric-soldiers of Jechi one after another.
The staff-like protrusions growing from the monsters’ backs emitted flashes and thunderous noise, and at the same time the cleric-soldiers struck by it burst apart.
Literally—the torsos exploded. Of course, it was instant death.
Some were reduced to chunks of flesh, some were crushed under gigantic legs, some were knocked flying by forelegs.
It was outright trampling.
The spider monsters seemed to be targeting the cleric-soldiers of Jechi. They did not so much as look at the residents running away or hiding in their homes. Some residents grabbed farm tools and swung at them, but those were not treated as opponents at all—just blown away by a passing step and seemingly knocked unconscious.
After the invasion by the giant spider monsters began, about a quarter of an hour passed. This time, large numbers of four-legged monsters about one size smaller than horses began entering the town. Behind them, monsters with angular torsos and two legs—about the height of a person—walked in.
Large monsters collapsed the fighting strength, and small monsters followed to secure control.
It was an extremely tactical movement, making it impossible not to imagine the presence of something behind it all, issuing commands.
The priest ground his teeth as he barricaded himself inside the chapel—the last bastion—together with the residents who had fled there.
It seemed most of the cleric-soldiers of Jechi stationed in the town had been killed. Three cleric-soldiers of Jechi had escaped to the church while escorting residents.
And there were two Holy Soldiers Saldard who had been on duty inside the church and had missed the chance to sortie.
The remaining fighting strength was only six people.
There was no way they could fight those monsters with that number.
But as those who served God, it was not permitted to run away and abandon the residents they were meant to protect.
They had to resist to the end.
“Cleric-mages, and you sons, Jechi Boga. This will be a hard road. Will you follow?”
“Amen, Father.”
“““Amen!”””
No matter how much despair they faced, they would not give up.
Because they were Jechi Boga, Children of God.
Behind them were the residents they had to protect.
Monsters were trampling their town.
They were the last bastion.
With that resolve, six people formed up in front of the chapel doors.
The spider monsters had completely surrounded the church.
The main gate of the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ church was shut. But from atop the perimeter wall, the shapes of spider monsters walking around outside could be seen.
“They aren’t trying to come in, but...”
“...Those are being led by something. They’re watching what we do.”
The priest answered with certainty.
And just as he said—
They must have been waiting for all six to gather.
A particularly huge spider monster rose up and looked down at them from beyond the main gate.
“...!”
Big.
The spider monsters that had invaded were huge, but the individual in front of them now was probably twice that size.
That enormous monster extended its legs and stepped over the gate.
The wall surrounding the church grounds had been built solidly, assuming the worst. It was tall enough that an adult man could not reach it even jumping with all strength.
But that was nothing. It was no obstacle at all.
Everyone had missed it because the monster was so large.
Multiple human silhouettes standing on the monster’s head.
“...Someone’s there!?”
“!?”
Keeping a distance of about fifteen paces from the six who had braced themselves, three figures jumped down from the monster’s head.
Even with a slight forward hunch, the monster’s head was far higher than the second floor of the church.
They had leapt down from there with ease. They could not be ordinary humans. Cleric-soldiers of Jechi could never pull off something like that.
“Do you understand the language.”
The leading figure spoke.
The pronunciation had no flaws. Beautiful Divine Kingdom language.
But the quality of the voice was the problem.
A clear voice, like a young girl’s.
“Wh—what is your purpose!”
The priest shouted, speaking for them.
“Surrender. If you lay down arms, nothing bad will happen. But if you resist, you will be eliminated.”
The priest’s question was completely ignored. At the demand to surrender, the priest shook his head.
“We are Jechi Boga, Children of God. Surrender is impossible.”
No room for negotiation—the priest judged that at once.
Naturally. They were completely surrounded and outnumbered. They had not shown the strength to even propose negotiations. The enemy was trying to crush them with overwhelming power.
Without any signal, all six moved at once.
The front was the two Holy Soldiers Saldard. The priest followed behind. The three cleric-soldiers of Jechi ran with a slight spread, drawing an arc.
“...”
Facing them were three from the enemy. From the voice and build, probably female, and quite small.
Suppression would be over in an instant—that was what the priest thought.
The moment the six moved, the three reacted immediately as well. They brought some kind of tool they had been holding to a low ready at the waist.
Both the Holy Soldiers Saldard and the priest clearly caught the motion. There was a hole in the tip of the tool, and it was being aimed at them—some kind of projectile weapon. It looked very similar to a weapon called a gun, which they had learned about in training facilities.
In that case, they only had to escape its line of fire.
They put power into their legs and shifted course slightly—getting out of the line. The weapon in the enemy’s hands spat out a flame like a small explosion, and at the same time small stones shot out from the muzzle.
It would not hit. They were already moving.
A Holy Soldier Saldard closed the distance in an instant and swung the machete. The slash looked like it had cut the enemy—but it was shallow. The projectile weapon the enemy seemed to have let go of split cleanly in two, but in that instant the enemy slipped back. At the same time, the enemy drew a cutlass.
The priest did not swing the machete. He thrust it.
It was truly godspeed.
But the opposing enemy reacted cleanly. Leaning back slightly and twisting, the thrust was avoided by a hair’s breadth. The muzzle of the projectile weapon, held one-handed, turned toward the priest’s torso.
But that was within expectation, too. Keeping the right hand on the machete, the priest scooped up from below with the left hand, knocking the muzzle off line.
The enemy’s finger tightened—he could see it. The next instant, flame burst from the muzzle and small stones flew out.
Fast.
But with the muzzle forced aside, the stones flew off in the wrong direction.
At that speed, even a direct hit could probably be endured. But posture would be broken for sure. This enemy had the ability to respond precisely to their movements. Even a tiny opening could be fatal.
A clash of only a dozen seconds.
Both sides had blocked each other’s attacks completely, and a fleeting gap appeared as they tried to take the next step.
A worthy opponent had appeared.
For an instant, they let other things slip out of awareness.
No—it was probably wishful thinking.
If they killed the enemies in front of them, the situation would turn.
A shell fired in from outside their sight at an untrackable speed turned the three cleric-soldiers of Jechi into a mist of blood first.
The spider monsters that had trampled their town—
Those were the real problem.
The three enemies who had appeared—if they could have been taken prisoner, made hostages, there might have been room to negotiate. But they failed. They rushed each target, were blocked, and then opened distance.
◇◇◇◇
Using sensor data from the doll-machine communicator and the multi-legged ground carrier platform, they aimed over the wall. The main gun of the multi-legged tank—the railgun—spat out a shell with a muzzle velocity of 4,000 m/s.
The cleric-soldiers did not seem to have the ability to evade a shell fired from outside the field of view. The doll-machine communicator deftly manipulated the cutlass, knocked up the opponent’s blade, kicked the torso away, and created distance. In that instant, a 100 mm armor-piercing round struck the cleric-soldier dead on.
Maybe there had been some kind of defense, or bodily reinforcement.
There was a slight resistance, but in the end it was pierced through, and the shell destroyed the body.
No living creature could keep functioning with the entire core blasted away.
And the priest, who seemed a step stronger than them, could not stand against a multi-legged tank, either. In a one-on-one fight, with the additional condition of sealing projectile weapons, it might have been possible to overwhelm the priest.
But a tank’s true strength was its main gun.
A barrel fed with a massive current accelerated a steel shell all the way to 7,000 m/s.
The instant the priest opened distance to escape the line of fire from the assault rifle held by the doll-machine communicator, a hypersonic shell erased the priest.
