Chapter 197 - Saintess Tiamoe

Chapter 197 – Saintess Tiamoe

I left the town by merely walking down the highway.

With the city behind us, all I can see straight to the highway and to the left and right is a prairie. There are also many small hills but they are not big enough to block the view.

The east side to the city, this place has the widest prairie.

If we continue going to the east, we’ll reach the border of the empire.

More than half of the mercenaries are gathered in the east. I plan on using them against the arriving imperial army and not against the saint army.

I plan on using this area as the battleground against the saint army.

It the opponent will be the ordinary troops of the empire, the mercenaries can face them but it is impossible against the saint army.

「…..they came.」

Keira said that when I was thinking of various things while walking.

When I looked back at the city, there was a group of dull metal walking along the narrow highway.

「They is earlier than expected.」

After saying that, I took out the coupon sword from the item box.

My hand is now holding an excessively decorated long sword. I stared at the approaching saint army.

Impressive. The saint army is marching all at the same time and is equally lined up. Not a bit disordered.

I’m not sure about their exact number but they are about 1000 of them.

Depending on the lighting, they looked either silver or black.

「…By the way, where is the person that claimed to be a saint or saintess? That person should be there.」

When I mutter so, Brunhilde, together with my other companions who are lined up in a straight line in front of me, turned to me.

「We’re still too far to check it out.」

「You’re right. Since the kingdom and the empire are already at war, let’s do it loudly.」

After replying to Brunhilde, I opened my mouth.

「To the marching empire troops, though you probably already know, the international alliance decided to go up against the empire because the Rembrandt Kingdom is its member. If you continue to wage war, you will not be forgiven. If you’re prepared for that, come.」

When I declared so, the marching saint army stopped.

Though they are still 100 to 200 meters away, considering the range of magic, this distance is already a battlefield.

Meanwhile, a woman appeared from the saint army.

She has a charming silver hair that repels light. She’s wearing a priest’s hat over her silver hair that is dancing with the wind. Her white clothes seem soft.

Looking at her, she looks like the type of woman that will never participate in war but then I realized, she’s the saintess.

That woman is surrounded by the soldiers. She stares at me and opens her mouth.

「….I command the Melqart religion’s saint army. I am Tiamoe.」

The woman, who introduces herself as Tiamoe, introduces herself without saying the name of the empire and bowed.

I can neither see tension or fright from her movement and expression. Rather than those, I can see her confidence as she smiles.

Tiamoe looked at me and the others in turn.

「A very stouthearted reinforcement. I feel sorry for the Rembrandt Kingdom….ah, no, I apologize. If I’m not mistaken, you are the hero of the worthless fantasy and is called as the apostle of god?」

She covers her mouth while laughing as she said those words.

「You are like a small fry that doesn’t know he’ll be defeated. Saying more will be unnecessary….do you really have the resolve to join this war? 」

Tiamoe says that as if verifying things and smiles at me.

She’s clearly provoking me. I raised the edge of my mouth and nodded.

「Ah, then it’s okay. Well then, shall we start? 」

When I say so, Tiamoe bows with a smile then disappears into the soldiers.

After that, without a sound or signal, the saint army resumed its advance.

Rather than talking, it seems like the soldiers cough. Sherry placed her wand in front of her chest and groaned at the creepy sight.

「….wh-what’s this? It feels more creepier than Hastur. 」

When Sherry says that, Rihanna nods.

「As if monster armor that has nothing inside it is marching towards us….I feel that way. Ren-sama, looking at the enemies in front, I feel like they don’t have any intention of evading magic. 」

I tilted my neck to Rihanna’s words.

「Our purpose earlier is only to confine the enemy but it seems like we should not repeat that strategy this time. I did not use it because we’re in the city earlier but perhaps fire magic will be effective. 」

When I said so, Rihanna replied with a serious expression.

「Fire magic. I understand. There are a lot of us so I’m going to use high tier magic. 」

Rihanna sets up her wand after saying that. After seeing that, I gave instructions to everyone else.

「I’ll cautiously move while focusing on Tiamoe. Keira and Ataratte should be equally vigilant. Meldia, Sherry, and Rihanna will attack with magic. The rest will focus on defense.」

When I say so, everyone replies and begins to move quickly.

Brunhilde’s party moves naturally but Dan and Sherry’s movement have considerably improved.

By the time the front line of the enemy soldiers were about 50 meters from us, everyone finished their chant.

「Burn it all! Scorching true fire!」

「Turn everything to ash, come black flame! Dark inferno!」

「Eh ehtto! Crimson Explode!」

Rihanna, Meldia, and Sherry casted their magic nearly at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, a belt of flame extends like a flamethrower and black pillar of fire rises consecutively towards the soldiers in the front line of the saint army.

And red sphere leaves a trail as it heads towards the saint army. An explosive flame roars with a sound of impact shaking the atmosphere.

The highway has now a wall of flame that extends up to ten meters.

「Wh-what’s that!?」

「….that’s an advance level magic, right?」

When Rihanna and Meldia turned around and looked at Sherry, Sherry was staring at the wall of flame with rounded eyes.

「Th-this wand…amazing….」

Sherry mutters such a thing then loses her strength and starts to fall down. Dan, who’s standing nearby, supported her.

「Ah, areh…?」

「You don’t have sufficient magical power. Okay, drink this magic potion.」

Dan says so and serves Sherry a magic potion.

「….Sherry-san, now you can cast advance level magic over and over again.」

While Rihanna is still dumbfounded, Meldia quickly set up her wand with the wall of flame in her sight.

「It is probably the highest tier magic. It might be connected to the item Ren-sama lends us. Though it is interesting, we must ask about the details later.」

「Ah, th-that’s right! I’m sorry!」

After hearing Meldia, Rihanna raised her wand again in a panic.

Sherry dranks the magic potion to recover. The wall of flame started to weaken and everyone watched the black smoke covered place.

When the flame disappeared, everyone was surprised at the spectacle.

The front line of the saint army that receives the direct hit from the flam has collapsed.

A lot of them were blown off the highway.

However, that’s not the reason why everyone was surprised.

「Th-they can still stand…?」

Brunhilde said so as she narrowed her eyes.

The saint army’s frontline formation indeed collapsed and most of them fell on the ground.

However, some of them are already starting to stand and others are still standing strong while holding their shields.

There are even one of the fallen soldiers who is moving its body in a strange way.

Looking at that, Marina knitted her eyebrows.

「…no way, they really are undead? But they should be weak against fire magic. It didn’t work…?」

To Marina’s line, I shook my head and opened my mouth.

「No, it’s effective. To put it simply, they are high-rank undead. With this….my assumption was proven to be correct.」

When I answer so, I turn my eyes towards the saint army.

「…They are indeed puppet of a boss. Is it Nyarlathotep or Cthugha…should I consider dealing with the corpses? Once I kill Hastur, the effect of the barrier will disappear and they would be useless.」

I muttered so and looked up.

「….Now, if it comes here at the same time, things will be difficult.」

At that time, when I smiled bitterly, the saint army started moving again.

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