Chapter 23 Attack On Church

What is the reason why terrorists use bombs for their attacks?

One can say several things about this question, like, the immediate destruction, the less chance of getting caught and etc.

However, there is one thing that most people would ignore.

It is that when attacked with bombs, the sound of an explosion messes the victims' heads, and it clouds judgment.

In a sense, the reason why the soldiers in World War 2 or World War 1 got traumatized was also that.

The indispensable sound of ringing or tingling.

No matter what you do, this tingling sound doesn't go away.

And this, combined with the sudden scene of destruction, would make people freeze like a statute. It would cloud their judgment.

And this is one of the most advantageous things of using bombs or explosions.

Even though the trained soldiers would be able to overcome that sudden cloud in their judgment, normal people wouldn't be able to do that, and they would become an obstacle on the road to subduing the villains or, in other words, attackers.

And this is exactly what is happening in front of me right now.

<DING! Host, the quest [Attack on Church] generated.>

The moment I heard the system sound inside my head, the sudden sound of an explosion started ringing in my ears.

/BOOOM/ /BOOM/

However, since I sensed the fire-affinity mana particles gathering around on the roof of the church, I wasn't caught off guard and took cover while pulling Diana with me.

/CRASH/ /CRASH/ /THUD/ /THUD/

At that moment, I heard the sound of windows crashing as well as people landing on the ground.

"COUGH! COUGH! HELP! PLEASE, MY BROTHER, HIS LEG IS BROKEN!"

"PLEASE, SOMEONE, HELP!"

There were several people shouting, and in the midst of all those things, there were people with black robes appearing out of nowhere.

"Brother, what is happening?"

At that moment, I heard Diana asking.

"We are being attacked by a group of black-robed individuals you see out there. I have some speculations about their identity, but let's take a cover first."

Saying that we started running to a safe point.

But there is something I don't understand… Why suddenly is there an attack? In the game, there was nothing like that. This ceremony was supposed to be normal without any sort of attack, and there wasn't any kind of event in it.

And this group, how come they appear this suddenly?

Those people with black robes are the people who worship a God of Darkness from the Norse pantheon, Hodur.

It was said that one day this God of Darkness would come back to the mortal world, and he would reign over the world again. And this group is the believers of that god, and they are trying to resurrect him.

And he is a boss in the late-middle part of the game. And this group of people somehow managed to make Hodur resurrect, but there was a huge mistake.

The thing they thought as Hodur was not actually a god but an ancient lost species, Archons.

Although in the game, they didn't mention too much, the species Archons were said to be the rulers of the world in the second Era after the gods retreated from the mortal plane.

And that Archon was a pretty hard boss to cope with since it had access to ancient magic from the gods' era, and that itself made fighting with him very hard, even though all those restrictions were put on him by the World's Law.

However, right now, none of those are important. The important thing is that this villain group, the Syndicate of Doom, shouldn't appear in front of us right now. They were supposed to appear in the later part of the game, and they would antagonize especially the dukedom of Augustride since our household has one of the god's fragments with us which is one of the things they need in order to resurrect that supposed 'god'.

When we took cover, I closed my eyes and started sensing the mana around us, especially the changes in the dark mana.

Although the atmosphere has all attributes of mana, in normal cases, the portion of dark mana is relatively smaller than any other elemental mana, which is the result of the Blessing of the Goddess of Light, goddess Celestia.

However, right now, this is not true. The dark mana around us is denser than any other element. It seems the attackers are really prepared for this attack.

Sensing the mana particles moving around us, I identified 6 attackers using dark magic, and there were 2 others with dark mana sticking to them in civilians.

The moment those black-robed people landed on the ground, they started attacking the people without any discrimination.

Children, elderly, men, women, none of those mattered to them. They attacked and attacked.

"HELP!" "NO! DON'T KILL ME! NOOO!" "PLEASE, I WANT TO LIVE, PLEASE!"

None of those screams were helpful; there was only a massacre.

However, who is the Dukedom of Augustride?

We are certainly not your general noble family to just watch all the things happening in front of us.

No, the knights of the Dukedom of Augustride are all elite soldiers who are carefully picked by the knight commander itself.

And I don't need to say anything about the legion of Magicians, right?

The dukedom is known for its Lighting Magic and its super-progress in the research of Magic. Of course, the magicians of our Dukedom are all elite's as well.

"KNIGHTS! GET INTO THE FORMATION, AND PROTECT THE DUCHESS AND HEIRS. MAGICIANS, START THE PROCESS OF DISPELLING THE DARK MANA AROUND US!"

​ Just as I expected, suddenly, a huge sound roared in the cathedral.

The Knight-commander of Augustride Dukedom, George Hicks, is an 8-star knight and a greatsword user.

The moment he shouted, all the knights rushed to the side of Adelyn and circled her, Emma, and the main cast.

/CLANK/ /CLANK/

With the arrival of the Knight Commander, suddenly, the battle started becoming on our side.

"Young Master and Young Lady, please let us protect you."

And, of course, we were getting protected as well.

Suddenly four knights came near us and covered all the space.

'Hmm, one of them should be 4-star, and the other three all should be 3-star.'

At that moment, I thought while using my talent on the knights who came near us to protect Diana and me.

Although I didn't see their ranks directly, seeing the Aura they are excluding, I predicted their rank.

'This should be enough for now; the villains don't seem to have a high-ranking villain either.'

I thought and kept observing the battlefield.

/CLANK/ /CLANK/ /CLANK/

The sound of swords hitting each other…

/SPLURT/ /SPLURT/ "AAAAAAH!" "HELP ME!"

The agonizing screams of people getting injured…

It was just a normal terrorist situation where everything was a mess.

'How pitiful… All those small nobles who had the ambitions to get a favor of the Duchess or find an opportunity to devour the dukedom itself… They are all dying….'

I thought, but at that moment, I heard Diana screaming.

"Hiiiiiiiii! Brother, his insides are spilling to the ground. Brother, it is disgusting…."

Seeing the gruesome scene of fighting, she hugged me and started rubbing her head against me.

"Brother, it is disgusting… Are all those battles like that?"

She said while hugging me like a koala. This girl… She is doing that on purpose, doesn't she…

"Yes, all battlefields are like that. When it comes to fighting and putting your life on the line, honor, recognition, and elegance, none of those are important anymore. Only the smell of death and the primal instinct to live remains… This is how the battlefields are; it is not something like a shining hero fighting with his enemies and saving the princess. No, at the end of the battle, the reward is not a princess but a sudden sense of loneliness…."

I said while looking at Diana's eyes from above. Hearing my words, even the knights are a bit surprised, and I don't need to say anything about Diana, right…

"I see… As expected, brother, you are always right, aren't you?"

She said while hugging me. It seems she doesn't want to miss the opportunity to cuddle me like that, even in this sudden moment of attack…

I don't know if I should be happy that I have a yandere sister who is obsessed with me, or should I be weirded about her different common sense?

Just like that, the battle went on, and 4 out of 6 people died at the hands of the knight commander…

However, at that moment, I sensed a sudden wave of dark mana fluctuations around the cathedral.

'Wait! Don't tell me-'

/CRASH/ /BOOM/ /BOOM/

While I was thinking like that, we heard the sound of something crashing and the sounds of explosions for the second time…

/ROAR/ /ROAR/ /ROAR/

The sudden loud noise of a roar filled my eyes.

'Oh, no. The 8-rank dark attributed summoning magic, Kerberos.'

It seems the villains were not that stupid, either….