Semek was attacked, which sent a shockwave through the Infura Church Region.
The Holy Knight Brigade, known for rarely deploying, took this situation seriously enough for even them, a brigade of higher caliber than the Cathedral Brigade, to spring into action.
Every member of the Holy Knight Brigade was provided warhorses. With the sturdy and resilient steeds imported from the alliance of the eight brothers of the Orc nation, twenty-four holy knights charged toward Semek.
Divine energy spilled forth like white breath between the tightly shut visor of their helmets. Every breath released raw, unrefined divinity that leaked out like mist. The unrestrained and unrefined divine aura made the holy knights appear like berserk warriors.
As their horses galloped, a hazy trace of divine essence was left behind, marking that twenty-four, including the thirteenth Holy Special Ops Unit, had passed this way.
“I ask you, who is your enemy?”
Scarlet, the leader of the thirteenth Holy Special Ops Unit, spoke with a voice that was not loud, yet it echoed as if they were one person.
“All who oppose the Celestial God!”
Those who oppose the Celestial God are enemies of the Cathedral. To the Holy Knight Brigade, they are the main foes that must be annihilated.
“I ask you, who are the enemies of the Celestial God?”
“All those who disrupt the peace!”
Those who exploit even the bodies of those who have found tranquility in the embrace of the Celestial God. Those hiding in darkness, praising death, and further insulting the living to disrespect the Celestial God. To the Holy Knight Brigade, they, too, are the main foes that must be eradicated.
“I ask you, what do you do to those who dare oppose the Celestial God?”
“We will grant them a painful eternal slumber!”
Mercy holds no value for those who stand against the Celestial God. Mercy is for those who have a chance to repent.
A glimmer of madness flashed through Scarlet’s visor. Loyalty and faith toward the Celestial God. Such faith must harbor no doubt. There is no need for any mercy against those who oppose the Celestial God.
“I ask you, where are you headed?”
“To Semek, where the blessed rest in eternal slumber, guided by the Celestial God!”
The place where those led by the Celestial God finally lie at rest. At the very least, it is where no vile multitude should tread. That place, Semek.
“I ask you, why do you head toward Semek?”
“To awaken and placate the souls of those who were insulted, the deceased!”
“I ask you, how will you appease the dead?”
“With mace and shield, we will subdue them and return them to the Celestial God!”
Scarlet fell silent. As the leader of the thirteenth Holy Special Ops Unit, Scarlet held all command authority the moment they were assigned. With the absolute power of twenty-four, which would never lose against the undead, Scarlet headed toward Semek.
Scarlet was heading towards Semek.
To strike down the undead that had engulfed Semek once again with the iron fist of eternal slumber—
Scarlet, along with twenty-five members of the Holy Knight Brigade, was running hard.
“Don’t back down! We can’t let them through!”
‘Was it Luis, I think?’
Pulling out a cloth from her sling bag, Yona wiped off the fluid that had splattered on Kaiyak’s skin and briefly glanced ahead.
The members of the Holy Knight Brigade were fighting well.
You could easily see the massive wave of undead advancing, but those ten knights were holding them back with their shields.
Fortunately, the path was relatively narrow, so as long as they could fend off the advancing undead, it seemed manageable. But considering the number pressing against the shields, they might already be pushing beyond their limits.
“Yona, I’m good. Check on the knights.”
“Got it!”
Yona quickly responded and emerged from behind Kaiyak, dashing towards the Holy Knights.
James and Kaiyak had no issues dealing with the undead that managed to squeeze through the knights’ shields.
More than that, the warrior Ludvik, dancing gracefully through the throng of undead while scattering golden flashes of light, was truly something to behold.
Above his head, a continuous white blessing was shining down.
From afar, Vigrind was surely pouring out healing, various spirit buffs, and blessings without pause.
‘…I’m envious.’
That’s what a priest looks like.
And that’s what a saint looks like.
At least they’re the protagonists, right?
“Are you okay!?”
A claw had ripped through armor, blood streaming from the wound left by the slicing nails.
Yona forcefully pushed her hand into the gap to heal, stopping the bleeding, only for the purple corpse poison to ooze out afterward.
Wiping it away with her hand wrapped in the Sacred Barrier, it became clean.
“Thank you!”
Yona merely nodded at the knight’s words and looked around again.
Healers shouldn’t stand still.
While their position is right behind the guards, that’s because the guards have the highest probability of getting hurt. In reality, the healer must move while keeping an eye on the entire party.
Yona was following that principle.
Even if they were just zombie scum, small injuries were still happening continuously.
Those wounds might seem trivial, but it was the creeping poison that posed a real problem, so her help was essential.
The poison that coated the Sacred Barrier was purified by its divine nature and disappeared without a trace, leaving the Sacred Barrier as white as ever.
‘It really is different…!’
Yona marveled again at the surplus of divine power.
The efficiency of divine power varies with the grade of the Sacred Barrier. The lower the grade, the more divine power consumed for the same healing.
Higher-grade Sacred Barriers were tightly woven, drastically reducing the amount of divine power wasted as it circulated meaninglessly.
If 10 divine power was circulated, and 5 flew into the void while 5 was used for healing, now only about 2 would be wasted from 10 divine power, allowing 8 to focus entirely on healing.
“Well, if I say it, now only about 2 out of 10 of the divine essence is being wasted, allowing 8 to focus entirely on healing.
To heal 5, you only need to cycle 7 of the divine essence, so it’s quite the saving!”
“Whoa…”
Yona wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and turned around.
The carriage was still there.
That distant carriage showed no signs of trouble just yet.
There was Alex over there.
And Ceres, and Rubina, and Priest Vigrind too.
Her heart felt oddly uneasy.
– Clang!
Then Yona’s thoughts were shattered by a sudden metallic sound.
“Zombies!”
Kaiyak’s shout echoed, and Yona suddenly looked up at the shadow looming over her.
A drop of sappy liquid splattered onto her face.
A half-rotten, decaying face.
Skin that seemed to be melting away.
Fingers with long, jagged nails extending from both arms.
A creature with abnormally long arms and short, stubby legs fell towards her.
“Ugh, no…!”
Before she could dodge, Yona was wrapped up with the monster, rolling around like a tumbleweed.
During that tumbling, she could clearly see the creature’s pale, milky eyes staring at her.
“Yona!”
Kaiyak’s voice could be heard from somewhere far away.
But right now, there was no outrunning the zombie in front of her, and as she turned her head, the creature’s claws sank deep into the ground beside her.
“This damn…!”
“Yona!”
Just when she wondered why Kaiyak wasn’t coming, it turned out not to be just one zombie.
Zombies sprang over the Holy Knight Brigade that was blocking them, and among them, one lunged at Yona while another charged at Kaiyak.
“Oh crap…!”
Yona spat out a harsh curse, struggling to push the zombie off her.
Even if she called it a zombie, it was undead after all, and Yona poured as much divine essence as she could into the Sacred Barrier, reaching out to grab the creature’s face.
But in that moment, a zombie’s claw dug deep into her side.
Crack, snap, shred—
The horrific sound of ribs cracking, muscles tearing, and arteries severing echoed in her ears.
Despite the burning pain feeling like it was frying her brain, Yona bit her lip and clutched the zombie’s face.
The mushy and disgusting texture made her feel like throwing up.
Amid that nausea, the metallic scent of blood surged from her insides.
– Krrrrrreeeek!
With a bizarre scream, the zombie that had been on top of Yona shrieked and fell off.
Seizing the opportunity, Yona rolled to her feet but, with a shout of pain, dropped to one knee.
“Ugh…!”
As soon as she opened her mouth, black blood and chunks of shattered innards erupted in a messy spray.
Blood gushed from her side, flowing like a fountain, forming a puddle around her.
“Ugh…!”
Yona bit her lip and stood back up with determination.”
I bit my lip and suddenly jumped up.
Just because I was hurt doesn’t mean I’d get any mercy. Of course not. As soon as Yona got up, the ghoul, with its charred face twitching, charged at her again.
– Whoosh!
“Yona! Are you okay!?”
As an arrow lodged itself in the side of the ghoul’s head, I heard James’s voice.
Even with James’s voice ringing in her ears, Yona couldn’t shake off the feeling that a buzzing fly was mixing in with it.
“T-this bastard…”
Something touched the tip of Yona’s fingers.
That something was stuck to her thigh.
– I bought it for self-defense.
I seemed to hear Alex’s voice.
—I can’t die here.
If I die, that bald idiot will cry.
He has actually cried before.
I pulled out the hunting knife wrapped around my thigh.
I tried to grip it with my right hand, but the intense resistance told me that wasn’t going to work, so I switched to my left.
I was losing too much blood, and my vision was spinning.
I couldn’t understand why my self-healing wasn’t working.
“Damn… The Priest can heal, but this… this ridiculous fabric of clothes…!”
The fiery pain I felt felt like it was being burned now.
And then it happened.
– Thump…
With the sound that resembled a drumbeat, vitality surged back into Yona’s body.
Not just vitality; the wound on her side began to heal rapidly.
In the sky, a divine symbol the exact size of Yona hovered, showering her with radiant light.
“Vigr…!”
Healing.
Long-distance healing.
There was no doubt it was Vigrind’s magic, and Yona was immensely grateful for that.
But that wasn’t all.
It seemed even the hunting knife in Yona’s hand was imbued with divinity, as a pure white aura began to radiate from it.
– Bam!
Once again, the hammer of judgment fell atop the ghoul’s head.
Struck directly, the entire body of the ghoul sparked and burned with black flames, writhing in agony as it thrashed on the ground.
As the ghoul flailed, its sharp claws poking and prodding everywhere, Yona let out a grin.
“Our Saint is this fierce, you bastard.”
While Yona smiled confidently, she heard Lewis’s scream-like shout.
“We can’t collapse! Hold the line! Hold it—! Hold—!”
The Holy Knight Brigade, just ten men straining at the frontlines, began to falter.
Although the numbers had dwindled from the thousands, they were still vastly outnumbered, and eventually, one by one, they crumbled under the dead.
Beyond them came a giant that looked stitched together with chunks of flesh and skin, wielding a club made of meat that resembled a pile of corpses.
“…Oh, dear gods…”
Yona stared up at the grotesque sight in a daze.
The ghoul had burned down to charcoal, leaving behind only a foul smell.
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