The Yellow-Haired Villain in Soaring Phoenix's Novels Also Desires Happiness Chapter 404: Battlefield

The cry of an infant echoed through the heavens.

From the earth, black rain began to fall—fine and drifting, as if drawn by strokes of diluted ink.

Yet here, in this holy land constructed through generations of Popes, refined and perfected as the foundation of the Sacred Domain, such a rain did not seem ominous at all.

On the contrary—it brimd with life.

Raindrops touched the steel ground, and silver-white vegetation sprouted instantly from the twisted cracks, unfurling and thickening in monts.

Then, like fruit trees sped through thousands of seasons, within just a few breaths the lush growth turned into towering trees.

Fruits swelled on their branches, ripened, and fell to the ground—just like a perfect cycle of nature.

But those fallen fruits did not continue the natural process of decay and renewal. The cycle broke. They began to twist and writhe.

Beneath their crimson skins, sothing alive squird and pulsed, forming grotesque outlines.

These were no fruits—these were monstrous wombs.

Shhk—!

Razor claws tore through the placental flesh, and countless creatures cried out as they were born into the world.

It was hard to describe their forms: human faces, serpentine scales, bestial limbs—stitched together in chaotic mockery of creation.

Even their vaguely human parts soon warped beyond recognition in a frenzy of mutation.

Everything was growing—wildly, hideously, endlessly. Crying monsters and swelling vegetation spread together like a living fungus mat, racing toward the nearest trace of life.

And what greeted them was a most passionate welco—artillery fire.

“Fire! Fire!!”

Captain Kans of the Steel Cavalry raised his chain-sword high, cleaving a charging monster clean in half as he roared, veins bulging on his temple like writhing snakes.

“Second squad leader! Where’s that new-type magi-cannon of yours?!”

“Coming, coming!”

Without need for more orders, the war machines from the Cathedral Foundry were already prid. The barrels glowed red-hot, and dazzling bursts of rainbow-colored fire blazed forth!

The rainbow beams swept across the swarming hordes, tearing open several clear ravines through their mass.

Countless monsters disintegrated into ash, yet the near-infinite spawn kept wailing and advancing, their fleshly growth relentless, knowing no pain.

Still, the brief breach carved by cannonfire was enough to give the elite knights their mont to strike back.

“Form ranks!”

“Prepare the Holy Light formation!”

“All units, hear ! We are to annihilate every last remnant of the Evil God—none must be allowed to defile the Goddess’s sanctuary! By Her divine command!”

“For the Goddess!!”

Blood and fire swept across the battlefield in an instant.

Captain Kans tightened his reins; the steel warhorse beneath him neighed fiercely, venting hot steam as it charged straight into a hulking monster ahead. He drove his massive chain-sword deep into its body.

“Raaagh!”

The creature’s cry turned to an agonized howl. Its deford body split open, flesh bursting; from within, fanged bone maws bit viciously toward Kans.

This one stood out even among the abominations—twice the size of the rest, devouring its own kind as it charged forward.

But Kans did not flinch. His chain-sword spun at full speed, shredding the beast into a storm of bloody at.

The foul spray splattered across his cold face, yet his expression didn’t change.

“Aaah!”

Suddenly, a knight behind him scread. Ripping off his visor, the man revealed a grotesque tumor bulging from one cheek. The lump writhed and split into thin tendrils that lashed toward another knight.

“Contamination!”

Kans’s adjutant shouted, slicing cleanly across the mutation with his sword.

He gestured for °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the healers—but realized they had already lost contact with the Holy Light formation. The other knights’ light had long since burned out in their near-mad charge.

“Captain!”

Kans heard the panic in his n’s voices. He lifted his gaze, scanning their surroundings, and his expression darkened.

Blades clashed with claws; blood and flesh flew. The battlefield had beco a living grinder—a human hell.

And yet through that hell, a silver torrent surged like a single spear, piercing the red sea ahead.

Kans himself was the tip of that spear. Under his lead, the formation had cut through hordes of monsters and advanced deep into enemy ranks.

But now, it seed they had gone too deep—an isolated island in a sea of blood, monts from being swallowed whole.

What to do... advance, or retreat?

Kans hesitated only briefly. Then, the image of a certain figure flashed in his mind—igniting his blood anew. Gritting his teeth, he lifted his chain-sword once more.

Just as he was about to give the order to charge, a shout rose from the rear:

“Holy Light!”

Gentle radiance descended from the sky. The scent of sanctity filled the air, sweeping away all impurity.

The monsters shrieked and scattered. The proliferating vegetation withered and rotted where it stood.

Corruption and decay were purged at a speed visible to the eye. The near-broken knights erupted with wild joy, raising their weapons and voices together:

“That’s the Saintess’s Holy Light Art! Her Highness has descended!”

In all the Church, only a handful could wield such vast Holy Light at a mont’s notice. Judging from the zones of responsibility, there was only one who could have co to their aid—Her Highness the Saintess herself!

The Saintess had personally intervened!

Every knight instinctively looked skyward, faces shining with hope. Even Kans’s eyes burned with excitent.

But... what fell from the heavens next was not the Saintess.

It was—

What in the world was that?

The object crashed down like a teor, and when the smoke cleared, it turned out to be... a pink teddy bear.

At first glance, it even looked a little cute—sothing that would delight children at a fairground.

Except... it had just flattened several monsters on impact.

“Damn that woman! She tricked into coming to this hellhole—sooner or later I’m getting even!”

“And these disgusting things—ugh, I just got my fur treated last week!”

The pink bear twisted its hips and yanked its oversized head out of the ground, ignoring the blood and gore clinging to its plush body. Under the stunned gazes of the knights, it unleashed a stream of fluent curses that would make a dockworker blush—then, from its cute bear mouth, stretched out a hairy middle-aged man’s hand.

The cheerful park mascot instantly turned into sothing straight out of a horror movie.

“Huh? Still so survivors, huh?”

The pink bear scratched its rear, scanning the area, and when its beady eyes landed on Kans, they suddenly brightened.

It slapped a paw—now clearly a human hand—onto Kans’s shoulder, pulled out two crumpled cigars, shoved one into the captain’s mouth (ignoring the monster gore still stuck to it), and grinned.

“Brother, got a light?”

“...”