“But we won’t die today,” seeing her eat the pill, the presiding judge waved his hand, ” At the moment, the God’s Army of Punishment is rushing over from the Cathedral. When they arrive here, the demonic beasts won’t be able to pass the North Gate. Take your people and send them to the assembly, and also remember to let them check if they still have their pills so that they don’t end like you and discover that their pills were destroyed when they needed it the most.”
The God’s Army of Punishment is the strongest elite arm in the Church! Alicia had already heard of them long before, but she had never witnessed them fight. But … even if the God’s Army of Punishment was as powerful as the rumors said, they were still humans right? With a human body alone, no matter how hard they trained, they couldn’t easily beat a crowd of mixed species.
But since the presiding judge said so, she had no way out from sending her eleven survivors to the north gate, close to the western side of the assembly.
Hundreds of troops had been gathered here after their retreat. They were standing in groups of two or three in the cold rain, disregarding the cold water that was flowing down their cheeks. Some of them even sat on the ground with a listless look on their faces. Only a small number of people had lined up a neat row, waiting for the enemy to arrive at any possible time.
If it were still some days ago, Alicia would certainly have stood up and scolded them, but now, she was at a loss. In order to establish this New Holy City, countless people were buried here. It could even be said that each brick was built with the blood of believers and people sent by the military trial. The Bishop had often said that Hermes was built on holy ground, the Capital of the Kingdom of God.
Today, however, the Kingdom of God seemed to be falling by the hands of the demonic beasts.
“The demonic beasts are coming!” someone suddenly shouted, “take your positions to meet the enemy!”
Alicia shouted loudly to raise the spirits of the soldiers, lifted her sword, and gazed at the fast-approaching horde: “For Hermes!”
“- For the New Holy City!”
Chapter 67 Battle of Hermes (Part 2)
The expected final battle didn’t happen.
A soldier went to a woman standing in the front line and pressed against her sword to keep her back.
“Stand back.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it was still clear and strong. Alicia noticed that even after the intervention of this unknown person, her side was still holding their positions. Looking closer, she could see a “I” on the man’s sleeve and under it was written “God’s Army of Punishment”
She tilted her head, and not far from them a team of tall warriors rushed out of the North gate. They were all dressed in the same whole body armor, which had a silver sheen under the rain, and their red cloaks waved in the wind. However, all of them had different weapons, some were holding swords and shields while others were holding halberds or Iron Axes. After they crossed the bridge, they didn’t march as a team. Instead, they spread out and went straight against the incoming demonic beasts.
What kind of tactic is this? They are creating a total mess! They faced the demonic beasts with power and speed that exceeded what was humanly possible by far. Do they want to fight the demonic beasts completely alone and without any order? Moreover, how could we let the God’s Army of Punishment fight alone against the demonic beasts?
“We have to support them!”
“No,” the unknown man shook his head, looking somewhat gloomy, “You have to stay back. If you rush into the fight, you will only drag them down.”
Drag them down? Alicia angrily stared at the man, could it be that her impression of the man was wrong? Was this person just a cowardly man? She clenched the hilt of her sword, ready to immediately join the battle — although the future of the New Holy City was unknown, at the moment of their biggest crisis when they had to face the enemy, she was only allowed to stand by as others fought for them.
Before she could even take two steps forward, an incredible scene happened in front of her.
Something came flying down from the sky; its shape was just like a Fallen Angel. Its huge wings were covered in gray feathers, and completely open, it had a wingspan of more than twelve feet. It had a head like a bird, but also a pair of long horns and barbed claws capable of cutting through a warrior’s breastplate like they were butter.
A vertical drop from the sky was the beast’s prefered kind of attack, covert and difficult to defend against. Even when holding a heavy shield, soldiers wouldn’t be able to defend themselves; the huge impact force would shatter their arms and crush their rib cages. Many soldiers had already died from their attack without any chance to retaliate. Their only chance to shake it off was by throwing themselves towards the ground, diving away from the dangerous blow.
But the members of God’s Army of Punishment didn’t think about dodging. A warrior wearing silver armor took a firm stand against the enemy, and at the last moment he reached out with his hands and grasped the incoming claws with his hands. The impact force was so strong that a screeching sound could be heard.
The warrior bent his right foot while straightening his left foot, stretching out his arms and forming so a straight line with his body, creating a counterpart with enough power to repel the impact. When another warrior saw that the demonic beast came to a stop in the air, he threw a javelin. The javelin was so fast that Alicia could only see a silver flash. It precisely went through the beast’s head, directly shattering it at the moment of impact.
The warrior who was still holding the beast’s claws threw the twitching body away. His arms were abnormally bent, it seemed that the bones in his arms had been broken. Apparently, he hadn’t survived the impact without any injuries, but he calmly took his iron ax and began to kill demonic beasts again.
They were only relying on manpower to withstand this herd of monsters. Seeing this, Alicia could not believe her eyes. Hundreds of soldiers of the God’s Army of Punishment poured into the herd of demonic beasts. Due to their red cloaks, it seemed as if they had merged into a powerful flood of blood, abruptly stopping the enemy from moving forward. She now understood what the soldier meant when he said they would “drag” them down. These warriors seemed to have the ability of ten men. Each of them had the strength, agility and reaction time comparable to that of a demonic beast — no, they seemed to be even stronger. In front of them, ordinary demonic beasts seemed to be almost like little children.
“They are too much!” Alicia could feel joy from the bottom of her heart. With such a strong group of warriors, Hermes’ Cathedral would never fall! “Ah, yes, I never asked you for your name, my name is Alicia Quinn, and what is your name, Captain? It appears that you already knew the fighting abilities of the God’s Army of Punishment?”
The Captain looked Alicia directly in the eyes, his look was as freezing cold as the rain. When he finally responded, he didn’t give her his name, he only muttered: “My brother is a member of the God’s Army of Punishment.”
“It appears that we will win.” said Bishop Mayne, who stood at the topmost level of the Cathedral, looking out of the window. Here, at the highest point of the New Holy City, he used a telescope to look over more than half of the battlefield. “Let the mangonels stop their attack, our army will soon start an attack to reclaim the city walls.”
“You know that winning wasn’t the main point, right?” Suddenly, another voice could be heard. The possessor of the voice wore the same gold clothes like Bishop Mayne, but the only difference was that his voice was much older, “The important part of this fight was that the armies of the four Kingdoms were destroyed.”