Miguel's eyes widened to the point of tearing. The barbarian warriors froze as well, their movents locking in place. Even the darkness that had been surging with monsters fell silent, as though ti itself had paused.
Swoooosh...
Ti had not truly stopped. Even now, the red haze spreading across the warriors was growing clearer by the second.
Then, a thunderous roar shattered the silence.
"------!"
This ti, it was the demon's roar. Yet the sacred fire did not waver, nor was the surrounding light pushed back by the darkness.
The sound rely snapped Miguel back to his senses. Gasping, he turned toward the source of the blazing cry.
Far beyond the darkness, now stirring once more, a red light was charging toward them, leaving a burning afterimage.
"Everyone, raise your weapons!"
The shout rang out among the barbarian warriors. It was the cry of Centurion Askel, raising his axe as sparks flared along its edge. Looking back at the warriors with eyes shimring with red divinity, he roared with blood-boiling fervor.
"Our Great Warrior has returned!"
"Ooh... ooooo—"
"O superhuman of the North!"
At last, the barbarian warriors lifted their weapons and roared in unison. The red divinity forming around them flared and spread. However, the growing brightness of the battlefield was not due to the Blessing of Battle alone.
Fwoosh!
The sacred fire burned higher and fiercer as well, having fully reclaid its deep orange hue. Yet Miguel’s gaze did not return to the brazier.
"Lu Entre...," murmured Miguel. His gaze was fixed instead on what followed behind the approaching red light.
A white horse erged, its form faint yet unmistakable. Even in the darkness, it stood out clearly, flas flickering along its back. It was the sacred fire itself, borne by the rider astride it.
Behind it, the figure of a knight clad in full plate armor shimred like a mirage.
"Fight! The Great Warrior stands with us!"
"Battle! Eternal battle!"
That was when the barbarian warriors rushed forward with howls. To Miguel’s eyes, they looked like a red wave spreading in all directions. Sparks leaped from their weapons, twinkling as they tangled with red afterimages in a dizzying blaze.
"For the Superhuman of the North!"
"Karha— Watch over us!"
Unlike before, there was no hesitation in the back of the barbarian warriors as they charged into the darkness. If anything, it felt as though they were the ones driving it back. For a brief mont, the writhing shapes of countless monsters were briefly revealed.
Screech! Crunch!
The monsters’ shrieks collided with the warriors’ roars. The crack of shattering bone and the rip of torn flesh swallowed the battlefield in an instant. Sparks burst from all directions, stitching blinding flashes across the darkness.
"------!"
A demon’s roar followed, echoing through the air.
Miguel reflexively looked up at it.
The screams no longer felt as unbearable as before. And it wasn’t just because of the sacred fire’s protection. The demon’s six purple eyes were locked onto the red streak charging in from afar.
"Priest Miguel!"
The carriage jolted, and a heat-tinged voice ca from behind him. Miguel finally turned back and froze.
Every ember priest was staring at him. Alec and Monger, standing on either side of the brazier, stood out in particular. Though drenched in cold sweat, their faces were lit with emotion. Like Miguel, they must have spotted the white horse charging toward them.
"Let us fight as well!" Alec cried out, his voice surging with raw emotion. The skin on his right hand, burned a deep red, was already peeling away as fresh flesh ford beneath it.
"Damn it. Let’s do it." Miguel felt the sa resolve. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he looked back at the priests. After a brief pause, he nodded.
Click— Clatter!
The priests moved in unison. With their right hands, they drew the flails at their waists. With their left hands, they pulled free the torches fixed at an angle behind their backs. Crossing flails and torches before their chests, they bowed their heads.
"Burning away the wicked darkness..."
"O blazing passion that consus..."
As they murmured the prayers, a reddish glow rippled along their jaws, as if their veins themselves were heating. Sparks spread across the flails, while sacred flas blossod at the tips of the torches almost at the sa ti.
Opening their eyes, they raised the torches high and turned.
"Lu Entre!"
"Glory to the Blazing Goddess!"
Scattering in all directions, they shouted battle cries like barbarian warriors. With their arrival, the legion grew even brighter.
Screech! Screech!
Crunch! Crack—
The battle continued ceaselessly. The barbarian warriors threw off their masks of caution and experience, entrusting themselves to fighting spirit and passion as they rampaged.
"Fight—"
Even those who had been resting due to injuries had all joined the battlefield without exception. Better to die in battle and beco warriors of Karha, they must have thought.
Miguel staggered as he turned, one hand gripping the axe at his lower back. The carriage lurched violently once more.
Snort!
Mane rippling with flying sparks, Nila was looking back at him. It bucked restlessly, as if demanding to be freed from the yoke binding it. It looked ready to tear it apart by force if needed.
"No! Wait! Don’t!" Miguel shouted in alarm and rushed toward it.
Bending down, he undid the knot of the rope connected to one of the shafts. His movents were slow, not only because he had one arm, but because the hand that was recovering from burns felt dull and unresponsive.
"-----!"
That was when an ominous roar burst out overhead. Miguel looked up, only to freeze again.
Wings spread wide, the demon was diving, carving a purple trail through the darkness.
Roar—
It even traced a smooth, gliding arc as it descended. It wasn’t plumting like a shell—it was clearly trying to sweep across the battlefield. If caught in that massive trajectory, even barbarian warriors under the Blessing of Battle would have every bone in their bodies crushed.
Still, Miguel didn’t warn them. With eyes wide, he stared at the space beside the descending arc.
Crash! Crunch!
A red trail was already closing in beside it.
Charging forward with Ian astride its back was a black horse clad in heavy barding. Blades protruding like horns from its helt swung wildly as it ramd through the monsters in its path.
Grrr-!
Violet light blazed in its eyes, and black smoke tinged with purple billowed from it like thick fog. Miguel had no way of knowing that this was the result of Ian’s divinity clashing with the chaos the creature harbored. Nor did it matter.
"Brother!"
What mattered was that Ian was crouched low atop the saddle. His cloak stread behind him like a tail, leaving a long, blazing red trail in its wake.
Boom—
The mont after, Ian kicked hard off the saddle and leaped.
The burst of air blew the dark purple mist aside, and Ian’s red trail split the sky like a fire arrow.
Swoosh!
Even so, it seed impossible to stop the descending demon. The distance was simply too great. That urgency was why Ian had thrown himself forward.
Whoosh—
As expected, the demon folded its wings and shot past Ian at trendous speed.
Miguel’s eyes widened further in the next instant.
Boom! Crash—
The demon’s body slamd into the ground out of nowhere. To Miguel, it looked as if sothing invisible had struck its back.
The demon bounced violently upward, the remains of crushed monsters scattering through the air along with it.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The red trail pierced through the chaos.
It was Ian, holding a greatsword in one hand, drawn at so unknown mont. The blade, its tip thrust sharply forward, was wrapped in a clear halo of Lu Solar’s divinity.
Even as it bounced, the demon twisted with desperate force, swinging its arm toward him.
Sizzle!
The greatsword struck first.
The blade drove straight into one of the demon’s heads, carving diagonally through the griffin’s skull and burying itself deep into the neck beneath.
Boom!
An invisible explosion erupted from the blade a heartbeat later. The griffin’s head shattered, the neck beneath it bursting apart. The greatsword rebounded skyward, and Ian was flung back with it.
"-----!"
The demon was hurled away as well. Even as it flew, the arm it had swung left long claw marks hanging in the air like afterimages.
Thud, thud, thud...
The demon rolled across the ground, heavy impacts sending tremors through the earth. Miguel’s gaze, however, remained fixed on the retreating red trail wrapped in a fluttering cloak.
Ian vanished, sinking into the writhing darkness. There was no need to wonder where he had landed—straight into the heart of the monsters.
Rumble—
A red trail laced with radiant light spiraled outward in a wide arc monts later. Shredded monster remains were hurled skyward in every direction.
"Ooooooh!"
"Superhuman of the North!"
Roars of the barbarians erupted from all sides. Even amid the relentless fighting, there were clearly those who had witnessed what had just happened.
Snort!
The burst of hot breath snapped Miguel back to his senses. Nila snorted against him and shifted restlessly.
"Alright, I get it, just wait, damn it. Don’t break it. If you do, we’ll have to push the carriage ourselves!"
Muttering hurriedly, he finished untying the knot. The instant he straightened up to move to the opposite shaft, the area flared as bright as midday.
Boom! Rumble—
A blinding explosion erupted, orange flas spreading in all directions. Miguel raised an arm to shield his eyes, then slowly lowered it, his mouth falling open.
Beyond the fading blast, a white horse and its riders ca charging through.
"Lucy!"
Miguel breathed the na in a trembling voice as he caught sight of the rider wrapped in a hooded cloak, flickering with holy fire. For so reason, he couldn’t make out her face at all, but her build alone told him she wasn’t the High Priestess.
Crunch, crack—
Moreover, v was riding behind her. Swinging a sword blazing with sacred fire, she cut down monsters rushing in.
Miguel drew in a sharp breath and bit down hard on his lower lip.
"------!"
The demon's roar pierced through the noise of the battlefield. Unlike before, it felt like a scream filled with pain.
And indeed it was. The creature was slumped on the ground, struggling to raise its upper body, one of its three heads already gone. Beneath the severed neck, muscle fibers writhed and knitted together like tendrils, yet the lost head showed no sign of regenerating. Even if it could, it would take ti.
Rumble!
More than that, what caught Miguel’s eye was a black trail rushing toward the demon’s torso as it struggled to rise. Ian’s black horse was charging straight at it.
It thundered forward, then twisted sharply to the side, driving its heavily armored flank into the creature. Any ordinary horse would have been torn apart on impact, but it remained perfectly unscathed.
Clang!
The collision struck the demon’s abdon like a cannonball. A shockwave tinged with violet burst outward, and the black horse was hurled back, spinning through the air in a wide arc.
Still, it was enough. The demon lost its balance and collapsed once more.
Whoosh—
With his cloak fluttering like a tail, Ian brought the greatsword down with all his might, gripping the hilt with both hands. A haloed trail followed the blade as it fell upon the demon’s middle head.
Sizzle...
The greatsword sheared through the antler-like horns and split the reindeer-like head vertically, biting deep. The blade did not stop until it had cleaved halfway through the thick collarbone, clunking to a halt.
Ian leaned into the hilt, forcing his weight forward. The demon’s massive body tilted backward once more.
"-----!"
Even so, the head did not burst apart. As it fell, the mutated, bear-like head howled, the chaos-laden wave carried in its scream scattering the spell.
Thud!
It even thrust its head forward as if to bite Ian whole.
At the last possible mont, Ian released the hilt. His crouched body dropped straight into the demon’s gaping maw.
"What the—" Miguel gasped, then froze.
The demon could not fully close its maw.
Thunk!
Curled tight, Ian gripped the teeth jutting from its upper jaw with both hands. As he slowly straightened his bent legs, he pushed the lower jaw away with both feet. A red haze blazed across him, flaring brighter by the second.
Creak... Crack!
The demon’s maw opened again—backward. Slowly, relentlessly, even as the jaw dislocated and flesh tore apart.
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