Chapter 915: Reinforcements
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A burst of chill air engulfed the entire valley.
Snowflakes began to drift mysteriously through the pitch black night sky. The Black Nightmare Army had just killed so many people within the royal army's siege that they had left a trail of blood. Both parties had been fighting in an extremely intense manner, and yet they were immediately forced to slow down, lifting their heads in confusion. All they could see above them was the location where Benjamin had swung the sword down; a gigantic crack in the shining wall of light had been smashed opened by him!
Moreover, after the breach, the line of priests stood rooted to the spot there, gaping at Benjamin. Unmoving.
In actual fact, they were no longer able to move. Under their skin, the blood of their entire body had been frozen solid in that instant. From the outside, they looked no different from the ordinary person, but inside their bodies, all life had withered away due to the sword that had not struck them at all.
After a second, with a few clunking sounds, a few dozen hard and stiff corpses fell, breaking into pieces like statues made of plaster.
The team of priests in the air was nearly wiped out. The remaining lucky survivors dispersed from their team formation; they had not been hurt by the 'sword aura', but they still looked badly shaken. Grant had even dissipated all three runes continuously to ensure that he would not be affected by the sword just now.
"What... is this..."
Grant was anxious and doubtful. Unlike their previous and usual encounters, he had not felt the aura of the Realm of God from this sword, nor had there been the flashing appearance of runes while the other party had brandished the sword. There had only been the basic spellcasting technique, in addition to the simple and crude accumulation of elements; these belonged to lower-level magic. However, it was exactly because of that that he was so stunned, because the lethality that had erupted from the sword had far surpassed even the power they borrow from the Realm of God!
Logically speaking, there was nothing in the world that could break through the sacred light wall that he controlled and a huge number of priests presented together.
How could it possess such a strong penetrating power?
However, before he could figure anything out, everyone watched as Benjamin gave the breach on the wall of light two glances, and looked at the sword in his hands that had shrunk by half. Then, he raised the long sword that seemed to be hiding an entire world of ice and snow once more.
The hair on the bodies of the Church members immediately stood on end.
"Quick! Those below us, come help!" At the sound of Grant's command, the priests that had originally been part of the siege on the Black Nightmare Army were forced to extract themselves. They turned around and flew towards him.
They tried to fix and fill in the huge hole on the circle of light, only to discover that the Holy Light on the crack seemed to have all been frozen. They could not repair it. Meanwhile, Benjamin had aimed the edge of the sword through that crack, right at Grant's location. They had no choice but to build a new wall hurriedly. Grant was also clutching a golden cross tightly in his hand, well-prepared at all times.
Then, within the next second, the Sword of Ice swung down once more.
The terrible blizzard erupted again. The entire valley became so cold that it was as though they had entered the Ice Age. The people below them were almost unable to fight or move. As for Grant, the main target of this blast of freezing coldness, he had unhesitatingly crushed that cross. In an instant, holy and pure light enveloped his body to form a gigantic sphere that protected him.
Immediately after that, cold air swept over them. Even the sphere, which was made out of pure Holy Light and therefore not a physical object, suddenly had frost over its surface. Inside, Grant could feel his body turn cold. He shivered subconsciously, as his perception of the outside world was completely cut off.
However... The sphere of Holy Light had not been destroyed. It had also protected Grant, who was inside; the blood in his entire body had not been frozen into ice cubes due to that.
"Frightening magic..." Even he said those words out loud subconsciously. A few seconds later, the ball of light dispersed, but the layer of frost that had formed was still there. Grant was even forced to shoot out quite a few limited light silks to free himself from that, and see what had happened outside.
However, he could not help but feel his heart sink when he saw the scene outside.
All he could see was a path of ice piercing through the encirclement of the royal army beneath him. From the center to the north of the circle, there were unmoving ice sculptures on both sides. Although the Black Nightmare Army had fallen all over the place as well, they were still sliding along the path of ice, going down the slope as though there was a strong wind pushing them from behind. The members of the Church did not have any time at all to stop them!
As for Benjamin... He was flying above them, escorting everyone as they withdrew.
"After him, quick!"
Seeing such a sight, Grant immediately roared.
He could feel that the water elements around Benjamin had wilted a lot more compared to just now, after the two swords had been unleashed. They must not miss out on such a good opportunity!
However, a priest suddenly flew over and leaned over to his ear, saying a few words.
For a moment, Grant's facial expression changed. He revealed a reluctant expression, as he looked towards the Black Nightmare Army that had already escaped from the encirclement. After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally waved his hand and changed his command. "Entire army, retreat! Quickly!"
Everyone in the royal army was stunned. They did not know what had happened; the enemy had not yet gone too far, so they could still catch up.
Nevertheless, they were powerless to go against the command of the Pope. All they could do was to halt quickly and begin withdrawing in the other direction.
Benjamin could not help but turn his head in confusion.
"They aren't chasing?"
At that moment, he immediately thought about various possible reasons. It was very likely that the Church had trouble brewing in their own backyard! There was a sudden idea in his heart to turn back and give chase. However, he took a deep breath, and restrained that impulsive urge.
The attacks just now had exhausted too much of his spiritual energy. At the moment, there was not much time left for the Descending of Water to continue. Grant also had many priests around him for protection. It was possible that he had means to preserve his own life that he had yet to resort to, and it would be very difficult for him to immediately kill the other party within minutes.
Furthermore, the Black Nightmare Army below him were already in a rather bad shape by now, after having to fight their way out to survive. It was not realistic to want a retaliation from them.
Because of that, he chose to continue the retreat after a moment's hesitation.
This valley was not too long. After ten minutes or so, they ran out from within. The terrain became extremely vast and open. Having confirmed that their surroundings were safe, they could finally stop to rest and reorganize themselves. Practically every person had blood on them, and many had been injured. It was good that they had magic to help with the healing, otherwise they would not have been able to find a single bandage in this desolate, barren mountain.
Benjamin maintained the healing drizzle as he confirmed the condition of their casualties.
"It's still alright, only a hundred or so died, you guys ran rather fast." The System seemed to be comforting him, but no matter how he listened to it, he still felt irritated. "And for some unknown reason, the enemy has withdrawn, so you could still go and collect the luggage and equipment you guys had thrown off in the valley later."
"...You shut up." Benjamin immediately scolded, getting it to go back in.
He looked at the soldiers who had decreased in number, and could not help but sigh.
However, it was at this moment that another army appeared on the northern horizon. They waved large flags, rushing over to them at an extremely high speed as the hooves of their horses caused the ground to tremble. Many figures were flying in the air, like a team of disciplined and well-trained spellcasters. Waves of magic oscillation were being emitted from them. Their grandeur was startling.
The soldiers who had been lucky enough to survive stood still in astonishment.
They could see that there were at least over ten thousand men in this army that was rushing at them. Grand and mighty, they could easily swallow them up in the blink of an eye. Right then, they had just escaped from a siege and were in an extremely bad condition. It would be very difficult for them to continue engaging in a battle.
Who on earth were they?
Benjamin took a deep breath and set himself on alert. A few seconds later, however, he relaxed again.
"...It's you guys?"
As the army arrived before them, all he could see was the commanding general in front, riding a horse. She took her helmet off to reveal golden hair, which was so pale that it looked almost white. She nodded, giving Benjamin a smile that showed no teeth; the great purple flags behind her fluttered in the wind.
"The royal army seemed to have noticed something." Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak slowly. "Too bad. My ambush army had almost intercepted them."