Chapter 343: 180. Avaldi’s Armament (Part One)
Chapter 343: 180. Avaldi’s Armament (Part One)
Translated by A Passing Wanderer
Edited by RED
I looked down at the situation on the ground below from the top of the citadel. The Heavenly Army was entering the city limits.
The soldiers were clad in the Rune armour that boasted impressively large frames. Each unit exceeded well over two metres, making me momentarily think that I was staring at mech suits found in a sci-fi movie, or even smallish golems.
The golden light emanated from the Aztal Rune. As if that was the signal, the Paladins wielding muskets aimed their muzzles at the Jötnar in perfect unison.
“Fire-!”
The barrage of holy bullets fired all at the same time, and punched through the Jötnar cleanly. The giants flailed about awkwardly and stumbled back. The Paladins matched that by striding forward while slinging the muskets on their backs.
They then gripped shields in their left hands, and their right hands yanked out their gleaming swords.
“Fuu-wuu...”
Their deep, heavy breathing leaked out from beneath their helms. The surcoats slung around the large armour flapped noisily in the wind.
Their steady but slow steps gradually picked up pace, eventually turning into a full-blown sprint.
“For the glory of our Theocratic Empireeeee-!”
They gallantly leapt up towards the Jötnar. Hundreds of Paladins landed on each and every Jötunn like leeches. Their divinity-infused swords swung mercilessly around to hack and chop the giants all over.
When the Jötnar flailed their arms about to throw these human holy knights off of them, sturdy chains flew in and wrapped around the giants’ limbs. The Jötnar flinched in shock and hurriedly shifted their gazes to the nearby ground. Dozens more Paladins were grabbing onto the chains to pull at them.
The golden runes engraved in their armour glowed brightly, and particles of divine energy floated up from their figures like some kind of gentle steam.
“Pull-!”
The captured Jötnar staggered, before falling to their knees. The giants were actually being suppressed in the strength department now!
One of the Jötnar roared out and viciously swung its arm around. As if they were waiting for that, dozens of Paladins quickly gathered in a group and raised their sturdy shields together.
“Parrying-!”
A transparent barrier materialised in front of their shields and deflected away the incoming giant’s arm at an angle, completely negating the impact force in the process.
While all this was happening, cannons were positioned behind their lines.
[Evade, now!]
A voice was transmitted to the Paladins, just like wireless communication. Orders were being sent out through the refined Aztal Rune that Hans had researched and developed.
The Paladins hacking away at the Jötnar quickly retreated.
“Fire!”
KA-BOOOOM–!
The cannons were shoved back from the recoil, and their shells blew the heads of the giants clean apart.
I could see that the Jötnar were quickly being subdued.
“Evacuees have fled from the city, but the vampires are chasing them as we speak. Go and protect the innocent citizens.”
I heard a voice I had missed a lot just then. There she was, Charlotte riding on the Unira, commanding the troops while heroically swinging her sword around.
A portion of the Paladins split off from the army and rapidly moved their heavy-looking suits to leave the city limits. Probably to help out the evacuees, I figured.
Charlotte seemed to have sensed my gaze on her, because she turned her head and looked at me with a surprised expression on her face. She even hesitated for a bit.
Eventually, though, she dismounted from the horse and approached me. After placing a hand on her chest, she knelt on one knee. “It’s been too long, Your Majesty.”
“Yeah, it’s been a year, Charlotte.”
She’s still as stiff as ever, huh.
But that was so like her, which was nice to see.
I extended my hand. Charlotte stared at my offered hand for a bit, before accepting it. She stood back up to her feet.
A gentle smile floated up on her lips, while I chuckled lightly away, “Thanks. Thanks to you, I get to keep my head for another day.”
The Jötnar continued to scream tragically as they fell one by one. In the end, they were all hunted down. It didn’t take the army that long, either.
As expected of the Rune armour, though. Since these sets of armour had been based on the internal structure of the Cyclops Golem found back in the ancient Aslan tomb, the power they offered to their users was quite considerable.
To complete them, we needed to work with many famous Alchemists hailing from all corners of the continent, as well as the top magicians of Aihrance. We also received near-endless financial support from the countless allied kingdoms, too.
All that hard work was paying off handsomely right now.
I looked over to the Skeleton King. Now that their tasks had been completed, the Skeleton King, Rahamma, Kasim, and Nasus dissipated from the world. At the same time, tidal waves of fatigue and drowsiness crashed into me.
I plopped down on the ground and leaned my back against a nearby demolished wall.
Charlotte was immediately flustered by that. “Your Majesty?!”
“I gotta take a quick nap. It’s been a long while since I went all out like this, and that pooped me out a lot, you see.”
If only I had my staff and the grimoire with me, things wouldn’t have been this taxing on me. I felt like a wet sponge right now.
Still, I figured sleeping for two, maybe three days straight would do the trick.
Charlotte could only smile bitterly before gesturing with her hand, issuing new orders. Paladins hurriedly rushed up to us and began setting up a tent for me, then went onto create barracks as well.
“Please, take a much-deserved break, Your Majesty.”
“Alright. I’ll leave the rest of the mop-up operation to you.”
**
A carriage that had safely escaped from the Duchy of Ariana was quickly travelling across a rural road. Fortunately, the people riding on this carriage had been able to evade the giants.
The knights accompanying the carriage felt relieved, but not too long after that, a new problem reared its ugly head.
A soldier riding on the carriage driver’s seat scanned the surrounding forest.
The sun had set, and that signalled the monsters of the night to begin their speedy pursuit from within the forest’s darkness.
‘...Vampires!’
The bastards had begun sneak-attacking the fleeing survivors. They chased after the refugees that had successfully escaped from the city limits, hunted the humans down, and drank their blood.
Now, it seemed that they were getting ready to hunt the important personage riding on this carriage as well.
“How dare a stinking undead...!”
A knight yanked out his sword. He hurriedly pulled on the reins of his horse and glared sharply at the forest, but his head was ripped apart in an instant after a vampire pounced on him.
“Keep running! It’s difficult to hunt the undead down without Priests!” the soldier on the carriage driver’s seat yelled out. His head snapped back to ahead on the road, only for his expression to harden.
There was a vampire with an upper torso of an old man and a lower torso of a crocodile up ahead on the road.
‘Oh my gods!’
The existence of several vampire ‘nobles’ became widely known after the war against the vampires. Among them was a Duke-class Progenitor who had fought against the former Crown Imperial Prince White.
Duke Agares! That very creature was now standing in front of their carriage.
The vehicle couldn’t be turned around anymore, nor could it be stopped now. Since that was the case, it simply had to plough through.
“Company of knights-!”
The knights rode up ahead of the carriage.
“Get ready-!”
They raised their lances and pointed them. Their horses charged forward at top speed. They gripped the lances’ handles tightly, and braced the weapons by using their waists and elbows.
The knights lowered themselves even further in their saddles.
“Chaaarge-!”
The hooves roughly pounded on the unpaved surface. Their spirits were powerful and wild enough to seemingly crush even someone like Duke Agares.
“Did you really think you can win against me, when...” Duke Agares’s lower torso, the crocodile, suddenly lifted up its legs. “...You are not even Paladins, never mind offspring of the Imperial Family?!”
Those monster-like legs slammed down hard on the ground, rocking the earth below.
The terrain split apart, causing the horses to tumble and the knights to fly out of their saddles. The same thing happened to the carriage, its wheel falling into the fissure on the road, and it overturned.
“Protect the Young Master!”
The knights hurriedly rushed over to the carriage, but more vampires jumped out from the surrounding forest to rip them apart. As the tragic screams of the dying knights reverberated throughout the night sky, Duke Agares closed his eyes and lost himself in the pleasure of it all.
‘Yes, this is what it means to be creatures of night.’
All the humiliation they had suffered until now...
They were hunted down by the likes of measly livestock. They had to taste defeat and be constantly on the run. And now, they had to grovel before the Jötnar as slaves, too!
It felt like their trampled pride and honour were being restored at least a little bit today.
“Well then. It’s time to enjoy my meal.”
It certainly had been a while since Agares got to enjoy fresh meat. Although the blood of human nobles was no different from the other, more mundane livestock, a young master or mistress from a noble household should still taste rather delectable nonetheless.
Agares strode over to the carriage, reached out and yanked the vehicle’s door wide open. Right at the same time, a sword came flying out from the inside and stabbed into the vampire’s shoulder.
Duke Agares crumpled his expression and glared at the culprit responsible, only for his mouth to clamp shut.
“Huff... pant... A measly vampire... dares to...”
The occupant of the carriage turned out to be a bleeding young man in his mid-twenties. And it was none other than the Sixth Imperial Prince of the Imperial Family, and the son of Duchess Runan from the Kingdom of Frants.
Marcus Ariana, blood trickling down profusely from his head, was glaring murderously at Duke Agares.
“...”
The expression on Agares’s face while taking in the sight of Marcus was a lot closer to despair than sneer at this point. “What rotten luck is this? Why did it have to be you, of all people...?!”
To think that its raid target was someone from the Imperial Family’s bloodline!