Chapter 83: Guarding The Border (2)
The situation had already been troublesome, but it became even more of a headache.
Moreover, the necromancer was an opponent he had never fought against before.
Without information, it was impossible to prepare.
Therefore, it was more advantageous to proceed quickly.
Ray wrapped mana around his legs and increased his speed.
As soon as the day broke, they moved, and the troops were able to reach the border.
Seeing the undead and monsters that were now close enough to be seen with the naked eye, the captains began to take deep breaths.
Thinking that they would have to clash with this enormous force made them lose confidence in returning alive.
Numerically and qualitatively, they were at a huge disadvantage, which was a natural thought.
Even a rough estimate with eyes suggested that the difference in the number of troops was more than tenfold.
If the monsters that were not yet visible were also counted, it would be even more. It was truly a massive difference.
From the rear, the captain of the guards shouted toward the surroundings.
The enemy is right in front of us! Everyone, check your status once again!
The tense men checked their weapons and armor in response to the captains words and answered.
Yes!
Yes!
Each person checked the status of the troops under their command.
The border guards aimed their holy water-soaked arrows from atop the walls.
Growl
Roar!
The roaring of monsters that seemed to boil their throats started to be heard from afar.
The murderous howls and the earth-shaking heavy bodies pressured them.
Their spines tingled.
The sheer number made them lose even their fighting spirit.
The captain of the guards gave a hollow laugh at the sight.
This was nothing short of a dogs death.
The situation looked tough with just the undead, and now there were even more medium-grade or higher monsters overflowing.
His Holiness the Pope has gone too far.
The captain of the knights shouted to the defenders on the walls.
Prepare to fire! Shoot as soon as the undead emerge from the forest!
Yes!
Yes!
Tension filled the arena.
In front of them were undead who did not fear death.
When a couple of undead emerged from the forest, the captain of the knights shouted.
Fire!
Thack- Thack-
Swoosh-
With a tremendous blast, arrows left the bowstrings and flew toward the undead.
Thud- Thud-
Screech!
Roar!
The holy water-soaked arrows were quite effective.
For instance, the skeleton warriors at the very front were completely disabled with just two or three shots.
But that was only effective against the skeleton warriors.
The skeleton knights coming from behind the warriors showed no reaction even when hit directly by the holy water-soaked arrows.
Feeling anxious, the captain of the knights gritted his teeth and charged.
Follow me, knights! We must not let them cross the border!
Yes!
Yes!
With a thunderous response, the Paladin Order charged in unison.
With a mere five hundred, they had to hold off over seven thousand undead.
The Holy Order began blessing the knights as they charged forward.
O God, bestow upon us your blessing. Bless.
May our bodies not suffer from the enemys attacks Holy Protect.
May strong power reside in our flesh Strength!
The Paladins, having received various blessings, displayed tremendous strength.
Clash-
Squeak-
The undead, slashed by the holy swords of the Paladins, could not rise again.
However, the ones who were cut down were the weakest among the undead, the skeleton warriors.
As the tension did not wane, soon enough, a piercing scream rang out.
Aaaaaah!
Squeeeeeeeak!
The haunting wails of female specters, crying bloody tears, spread far and wide.
The banshees, with their tear-streaked faces, charged at the Paladins.
Seeing this, the commander of the knight order shouted in alarm.
Its a banshee! Everyone, be careful!
The banshees hovered in the air and then, with their long, sharp nails, swiped at the Paladins.
Despite the blessings, the bodies of the knights were torn apart as if made of paper.
Aaaaargh!
Huff Huff
Blood sprayed into the air.
The banshees, with blissful expressions, basked in the spray of blood as they charged again.
Clang- Bang-
The commander of the knight order blocked a banshee with his sword.
Meanwhile, the Holy Order quickly began healing the injured.
Heal!
Heal.
The wounds, torn open to the shoulder, did not heal quickly.
As the blood slowly stopped flowing, the banshees shifted their target from the knight order to the Holy Order.
Aaaaaaaaa!
The tremendous noise terrified some of the Holy Order.
Ah!
Please, save me!
Dont worry, just heal the knights! Well protect you!
We dont have time for this!
The guards shouted as they blocked the swooping banshees from the sky.
The Holy Order was mainly composed of young individuals.
Therefore, some fell into a state of panic during the battle.
Consequently, casualties began to occur.
Aaaaaargh!
Cough
The knights were pierced through the chest by the swords of the skeleton knights and fell dead, their waists cut off.
Then, the corpses that had just fallen began to rise again.
The comrade who had just been fighting beside them became an enemy, blocking their way.
A middle-aged knight choked on his tears as he shouted when his friend of twenty years turned into an undead in an instant.
Snap out of it! Its me, Nara! Dario!
Youre the one who needs to snap out of it! Thats an undead now!
Just moments ago, he was a comrade who had my back, but now he was no different from a monster.
I cut down my fellow comrade, who had lost consciousness and was charging at me, with tears of blood.
The undead, upon contact with the sacred power that I had used just moments ago, let out a painful scream and died off.
Kraaagh!
Watching the painful sight of his close friend, he severed his neck.
Squeak-
Im truly sorry I will follow you soon.
Stop that unlucky talk! No matter what happens, we must survive and return!
The situation was truly chaotic.
The undead were pushing in, while we gradually retreated and defended ourselves.
Among us, those distracted by the fact that their comrades had turned into undead began to fall.
The temple was especially bad.
As much as they were young, there were those among the temple who shared love with each other.
They quickly fell into panic when their lovers turned into undead and became monsters.
Uaaaaah! Silia!
Yes Lets die together, Zelenia.
Those with weak faith and weak minds started to give up on life and choose death.
To them, the leader and the vice-leader of the temple shouted.
What are you doing! Your close friends have been murdered, and youre just going to sit there and offer your necks?
We should be killing more undead! Everyone, stand up!
That was what the usually quiet leader and vice-leader said.
Their voices began to gather those who had fallen into despair, fueled by the anger of having their close friends murdered.
The light in their eyes that had given up on life quickly turned fierce.
The gentle demeanor of the priests and priestesses was nowhere to be seen.
There were only those with their comrades blood splattered on their faces, glaring at the undead.
They muttered to themselves and began to rise.
Yes. We must take down even one more.
We cant falter here.
Heal!
Holy Shield!
The support from the back that had stopped began once again, and the knights also began to charge from the front.
Eat this!
He cut down the undead knights with a sword infused with sacred power.
It was a truly miraculous power.
Forces that seemed as though they would be pushed back and have their borders taken over began to move forward little by little.
Hoho This is quite enjoyable! Kikikiki!
A brown-robed figure watched their battle from the back and burst into a grotesque laugh as he waved his hand.
Then, dark-colored mana spread out from his hand gestures to the surroundings.
Flash-
The energy of the undead intensified.
Clang- Crash-
The undead warriors, who had been easily fending off attacks just moments ago, began to block the attacks with swords.
The forces that had been dominant in strength began to be pushed back.
What, what kind of power is this! It even cuts through whole swords!
The powerfully swung sword was even mixed with magic.
The fact that mere forces were wielding magic was unheard of.
Naturally, we began to be pushed back instantly.
The expressions of those who had been overflowing with morale slowly filled with despair.
What is this mana?
As Ray headed towards the border at an astonishing speed, he frowned and looked around.
A sticky and unpleasant mana was encroaching on the surroundings.
And the range of it was tremendous.
Such a range of mana he had never seen before.
If we talk about the range, it could be similar to or even more than that of Aila.
But when it came to density, it was awful.
Even a small amount of mana in the air could easily dissipate it; it seemed like the mana was spread widely just for the sake of spreading.
Is this Magi?
Ray touched the Magi with a serious expression.
But even before he could touch it, it was purified.
The three major types of mana.
Mana, divine power, and Magi.
Among them, Magi was a type of mana that could not be collected in this Middle World, so it had to be gathered by special means.
And there existed a being that could scatter such Magi to this extent? Was it really the Necromancer who brought the Magic Age to ruin?
He did something quite interesting.
If ordinary people were exposed to this Magi, they would suffer from skin or lung diseases, or their limbs might rot away.
Although the density was nothing compared to his own, for ordinary people, it wasnt the case.
Soon, there would be no humans or animals found here.
Once the Magi scattered, the fight already started.
If a fight started, he could roughly guess what the situation was like.
They would be swarmed by the undead and eventually have to defend.
At least, they could hold out for a day.
But what if there were airborne monsters or undead?
At most, three or four hours was all they could last.
If the border was breached and the castle was taken over, it was evident that the defending troops would be annihilated.
Not only that, the undead would then invade the Holy Kingdom, and people, whether they were commoners or nobles, would all die.
Eventually, the Holy Kingdom would fall.
Moreover, it seemed like the enemy forces were also launching internal attacks, as forces that were not seen in normal times started to rise, taking the opportunity of the papal usurpation.
It seemed that they decided to side with them.
To prevent them, the main forces of the Holy Kingdom had all been deployed internally, and he and a few other units were ordered to die at the border.
If they couldnt hold the border, somehow, the survivors would be blamed and killed.
Anyway, since they received orders and failed to defend the border, they tried to pass the responsibility to the survivors.
It was indeed a stupid and primitive thought. If the border was breached, the Holy Kingdom would fall, so where did the responsibility lie?
Ray sighed.
As soon as I crossed into the Holy Kingdom, it was nothing but hardships. What kind of saint asks to die at the border? Damn.
He disliked God even more at that moment.
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