Chapter 526: Mutiny
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The entirety of the battle froze.
Tens of thousands of soldiers of the church had lost their drive to battle as they blindly gazed at their generals. The remaining 3 of their generals could only bow their head in shame, speechless under the accusations.
The Priests still continued to slam Grenades of Holy Light into the crowd. Benjamin and the other mages worked hard to block the attacks, but there were still some that managed to get past their barriers and hit the soldiers on their shields. Almost a hundred of the King’s men sustained injury from that onslaught.
The King became anxious, "General Henry, as the lead of the Royal Guards, is this how you plan to defend the honor of Carretas? Head Knight Carlos, you safeguarded me for so many years, why are you aiming your sword at me now? Knight Taric….."
He looked around and kept calling the names of the ones that he knew. His worried eyes were like flames as they met the ashamed eyes of the soldiers and Knights.
Quite a number of people who were called by the King responded by showing hesitation, their fists tight by their side.
"Don’t listen to him! Quick, charge against them!" Someone, probably the leader of the Priest, became nervous about this turn of events. He grabbed the arm of one of the generals, and urged loudly, "There’s only so many of them. Everything will be over once we break their defense!"
"It’ll be over….. Really?"
"What are you talking about? This is the order of the King. Are you planning to resist His Majesty’s order?"
"I..."
"Enough! As a general of Carretas, I cannot believe your hesitation. The King is in Gealorre, waiting for your success and return. But now you’re stuck here, clearly misguided by the silver tongue of the enemy! You…."
It was as if a breaking point was tipped. The general, who bowed his head, growled in fury and swung his sword to hack the Priest beside him.
"Kill these damned Priests! Slaughter those Holy Knights, those sons of b*tches! I am a general of Carretas, the title was bestowed upon me by the Late King. How dare the likes of you command me like a man would to a dog?"
The head of Priests was stunned. The general’s sword was blocked by his barrier, and it would not even injury him slightly. Soon, he snapped out of his daze, and his gaze towards the general became hostile.
He took a cross from his clothes and broke it into pieces without hesitation.
With a cry of anguish, the general pressed his left arm with his palm, and fell to the ground, struggling. The life leaked out of him like water, fresh blood flowing from his mouth and nose. In a blink of an eye, he was quiet.
"You laughable, foolish commoner. How dare you resist the will of God." The head of Priests stared coldly at the body of the general, his eyes icy. His face showed despise as he mumbled to himself.
However, once he raised his sight once again, he saw how different his surrounding was.
All of the soldiers were piercing him with eyes of hatred.
The head of Priests had a double take, and recovered quick enough to attempt to explain loudly, "He went against the orders of the King, and that in itself was already a death sentence. I was just following His Majesty’s orders and executed him right here…."
The King interrupted his fumbling speech.
"There’s no need for any more explanations." The King looked at the head of Priests with indifferent eyes, as if the latter was a dead person. His words came slowly, "Listen to my orders, soldiers of Carretas. I, the first King of Carretas, order you to obliterate all Priests and Holy Knights. None of them should be spared!"
After a short deafening silence, all soldiers from the surrounded ones to the surrounders elicited a sharp cry.
"Charge!"
The cries for blood spread like a tsunami over the battleground, leaving the earth shaking in its wake.
Benjamin smiled. He dispersed the ice fog that was separating the two armies. At the same time, all soldiers withdrew their weapons and rushed towards the nearest Priest or Holy Knight. They swung their swords and knives with delight as if their long-suppressed confusion and anger could finally be channeled out and relieved.
The besiegement circle fell almost immediately, and everyone was thrown into one hell of a battle.
The Church’s side could not react in time.
The Holy Knights stared dumbly at the thousands of soldiers rushing towards them, their swords held limply in their hands. Their equipment was far better than these soldiers. But once they glanced at the countless people around them, their hearts plummeted.
Since the church came to power, their status within Gealorre rose like how a ship would in water. They were extremely arrogant whenever they met these ordinary soldiers. But now, the only thing they see when they scanned through the crowd of soldiers were brimming hatred.
These people…. They had been holding in for so long?
The Holy Knights were rendered helpless by shock, and could only react based on the muscle memory they obtained while they fought the soldiers from all sides.
Also, these Holy Knights were separated from each other due to the earlier formation. Thus, when the soldiers turned their weapons towards the Knights, they were immediately trapped in a very disadvantageous position, where 2 or 3 Holy Knights would be surrounded. Moreover, all of them could only fight on their own. There was no chance for them to reconcile.
Soon, the smell of blood spread quickly along the route.
The Priests would not fare any better than the Holy Knights. Their formation was just as bad as their counterparts, and they could only shield themselves using their barriers. The ones that could fly flew directly to the sky, and the ones that could not were limited to retaliation on the ground.
The power of the Holy Knight was indeed terrifying, as each attack from a Priest would take away 1 or 2 lives of the soldiers. However, these soldiers had lost their rationality amidst the killings and had no fear while they carried on their onslaught. Tens of weapons barreled into the barriers of the Priest at every second, and soon the golden shield shattered under the unyielding attack.
Some Priests did not react fast enough. Once they ran out of the Life-Saving Crosses, they died under the quick slashes of the swords; their bodies full of punctures and holes.
On the other hand, the remaining mages….
After all, Benjamin and his team of mages did not come here to watch a good show.
As more and more Priests flew to the sky in an attempt to escape and retaliate, they would immediately find themselves surrounded by dozens of water birds. Benjamin had no intention to kill them one by one, so he cast a few dozens of birds for every Priest. However, some Priests were not as skilled and would fall from the sky under the birds’ attack in no time.
On the other hand, those skilled mages just headed towards that general direction.
"Here, have a good feel of the ‘Power of the Devil’ that you have preached." Numerous shadows flew from Lara’s palm towards the escaping Priests, "Since you said we are devils, then we will show you what a devil is!"
"The Church, huh? Amazing and powerful, huh? I’ve waited for this since I was back in the Kingdom of Helius," Hundreds of Wind Blades flew from the sides of Frank. His long-suppressed pressure and fury finally exploded today.
The entire situation was so chaotic that Benjamin needed to carry the King further from the battle using his steam, in order to prevent any potential injuries.
Nevertheless, the result had been decided.
They had killed quite a number of Priests before, but this was the first time they had faced a battle head-on; a battle that consisted of thousands of Priests. This was the first time since they had escaped the Kingdom of Helius.
The fire of revenge had burned within them for long. Now, they were formally claiming retribution against the Church by returning the oppression they had experienced throughout the years to the Priests.