Chapter 623: Battle to the Death
Under the artillery bombardment, the church’s formation broke apart and scattered. The Judgement Army stumbled and bunched; the God’s Punishment Warriors, immune to panic, accelerated and left them behind.
Then Lightning noticed something wrong.
A rider in priest’s vestments crested the ridge road from the rear, trailing a halo of yellow light. Wherever the rider passed, the scattered men steadied and closed ranks again. The army reformed—this time loose rather than ordered, individual spacing too wide for a single shell to destroy a column the way it had before.
A pure witch. Lightning was already calculating targeting angles when Maggie screamed.
“Careful!”
She pulled hard upward—ten meters, fifteen—as a brown cloud swept through the space her body had occupied. The cloud twisted, resolving into the blurred silhouette of a man.
“Rotten bastards!” The swarm’s voice was shrill with fury. “You dare go against the church? Die!”
“Killing your own kind, and you’re proud of it?” Lightning leveled her pistol at the mass of locusts. “Maggie—keep guiding the cannons! I’ve got this one.”
Enemies filled Danny’s vision.
Far more than the last wave. The misty mountain slopes gleamed with the sheen of armor from ridge to ridge, and the God’s Punishment Warriors came at a dead run from the first moment, no shields, no measured advance—just speed and mass. He had seen something like this once before, standing on the wall during the Months of Demons, watching thousands of beasts charge in a tide that didn’t know how to stop. That had been frightening. This was worse: these things wore faces.
But he was not afraid.
The demonic beasts hadn’t broken that low stone wall the Militia had defended, and the God’s Punishment Warriors would not break through the First Army’s line. He was certain of it.
Besides—she was somewhere behind the position. That morning, stepping into the trench, he had glimpsed green fabric turning toward him, a face that smiled before looking away. He knew it was only courtesy. The smile had taken root in him anyway.
He would not let the line break.
It was a pity Iron Axe had pulled him from the sharpshooters after the discipline violation. The revolving rifle felt crude in his hands now. He could have taught the God’s Punishment Army a sharper lesson with his old weapon.
“Three hundred meters!” Malt called. “Javelin range!”
Danny pressed a hand briefly to the top of Malt’s head. “Watch yourself.”
Malt had recovered from his injuries and been demoted back to standard infantry. His punishment had been lenient—one month’s pay docked, no confinement—since the commander-in-chief had judged him an accomplice rather than a ringleader.
The enemy’s charge was faster than the four machine gun forts could fully suppress. Smoke from field artillery and the God’s Punishment Warriors’ own dust cloud opened gaps in the interlocking fire. Then the first warriors crossed the red warning line.
“Two hundred meters—spears!”
“Down!”
“Get down!”
Danny emptied all five rounds in a single burst and dropped flat. He reloaded in the dirt. When the volley of javelins had passed, he rose, picked his nearest target, and fired into the stone-carved face.
God’s Punishment Warriors did not flinch at muzzle flash or the man next to them dying. They marched through it. Only when a bullet found a critical spot did one stop—not from pain, but from physics. This one took a round through the chest and neck. Blue blood sprayed, and the body tilted like a felled tree before it fell.
Danny burned through three preloaded cartridges, moving back by stages to the second trench as the line compressed. He swung himself over the trench wall—
And a shadow fell from above.
A God’s Punishment Warrior had cleared the barbed wire in a single leap. The greatsword was already swinging when Danny registered it. He grabbed Malt behind him and pulled the smaller man into his chest.
The blade came down.
A crash of steel. Danny’s arm went numb. When he opened his eyes he was on the ground, and Malt was still in his arms—but only the top half of him. The cut was clean through the waist. Malt’s mouth was open. He looked at Danny and tried to say something. Blood came instead of words.
The God’s Punishment Warrior stepped over them both.
A sword blow struck Danny’s forearms. Another swept toward his face. He had time to register the rough edge of the blade, dark with his own blood. He thought of green fabric and a smile that was probably not meant for him. That was all he had time for.
Cold light. Two swords collided, sparks biting the air between them. The God’s Punishment Warrior’s weapon twisted free of its grip and clattered into the trench.
A woman stood over the position like a wall: long black hair, golden light burning in her eyes.
The warrior lunged with bare hands. She caught it, and where her fist landed the skull caved without ceremony. Blue-white matter spattered across Danny’s face and chest.
“Up,” she said, glancing at the soldiers still in the trench. Then she turned and engaged two more warriors who had come over the wire.
“This man’s injured!”
“Get him out of here!”
“Malt.” Danny’s voice had gone hoarse. He tightened his remaining arm around the small body. “Take Malt too.”
“He’s dead!” a voice snapped. “Do you want us all killed?”
Hands seized Danny’s arms and dragged him rearward. The trench, and what remained of Malt, receded from his sight.
Lightning banked hard and chased the swarm.
She had worked out the enemy’s logic. The swarm witch had split her magic among too many individual bodies—a strategy that made her difficult to kill outright, but also meant each insect was vulnerable. Maggie had transformed into a swallow, the natural hunter of locusts, and kept herding the cloud into a tighter and tighter knot, compressing it, preventing it from dispersing into an unshootable mist. Lightning unloaded her pistol into the mass whenever it bunched. The swarm’s voice was weakening.
When she moved to reload, the swarm suddenly reversed direction—streaking not toward her but toward the ground.
“Maggie!”
A goshawk folded its wings and dove.
“What—what is this—impossible—!”
The swarm tried to scatter. Too late. The goshawk’s beak opened, and the cloud simply vanished into it. Maggie landed on the rocky ground, shifted back to her own shape, and chewed with an expression of profound disgust.
“Terrible.”
Lightning holstered her pistol. “Because they aren’t roasted.”
Only then did she register the blood on her own skin—red across her forearms, from the early passes when she hadn’t kept her distance and the locust mandibles had found her. Hard little rasps. Against an ordinary person, that swarm would have been devastating.
She looked down at the camp: craters, scattered bodies, the smoke of a dozen small fires.
“Artillery guidance isn’t needed here anymore.” She pointed south, toward the command platform. “Let’s support His Majesty.”
“Awh!”
Chapter 623: Battle to the death
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Under the artillery bombardment, the church disorganized and gradually separated, while the God’s Punishment Warriors, who were unaffected, hastened their advance and left the Judgement Army behind.
Suddenly, Lightning noticed a strange scene.
A rider dressed as a priest, shining with yellow light, quickly traversed the rugged hill road from behind and stabilized the scattered army again. The army proceeded along with the rider’s guidance. This time, instead of being lined up in orderly rows, they were dispersed so that the later grenades failed to achieve the first significant results.
That was a pure witch.
She was preparing to arrange two cannons to attack the area where the pure witch of the church would soon pass, when she heard Maggie screaming.
“Careful!”
Lightning suddenly pulled her figure more than 10 meters upward, before a swarm of locusts passed beneath her feet like a brown cloud.
After failing to attack, they twisted together to form the vague appearance of a man. “Rotten bastards, how dare you to go against the church? Go to hell!”
“Maggie, continue to guide the cannons!” Lightning pulled down the windbreak, pointed a pistol at the swarm and said, “Killing compatriots make you feel so glorious? Go die!”
…
Enemies entered Danny’s vision. This time they had many more warriors than previously. The misty mountains were covered by the sheen of armors. The God’s Punishment Warriors did not use the tactic of a slow forward covered by shields, but rather charged right from the beginning.
Looking at the ocean of rushing enemies, he could feel their great momentum. His sweaty palms made his gun sticky. He had only seen this scene on the wall when the Months of Demons came, thousands of demonic beasts, regardless of death, insanely charged at the walls. Anything in their way would be ruthlessly torn apart. But now, the First Army was facing enemies more powerful than the demonic beasts.
But Danny did not fear it. The demonic beasts could not break that low stone wall that the Militia was fighting atop of, and now the corps of the church would be barricaded by the First Army’s defense in flesh!
What was more, the woman he wanted to protect was just behind their position.
When Danny stepped into the trenches in the morning, he saw a familiar figure in green that turned around and smiled at him. Despite knowing that it was out of courtesy, that smiling face was still like a blooming flower bud rooted in his heart.
He had never thought that she would come with Roland to this battleground.
Anyway, he would not allow the enemy to break through the line of defense.
It was a pity that Lord Iron Axe expelled him from the precision shooting team after he violated military discipline. If his weapon had not been replaced with a revolving rifle or he would have taught the God’s Punishment Army a lesson.
“They just crossed the 300-meter line!” Malt reported the distance of the enemies. “Spear throwers!”
“I see it.” Danny patted the little man on the head. “Take care of yourself.”
Malt, who was the victim of his own actions, after his injuries had healed, was demoted back down to normal flintlocks. However since he was an accomplice, rather than confinement, the commander-in-chief was lenient and only docked him a month’s salary.
The truth was that this time the enemy’s offensive charge was so rapid that four machine gun forts failed to completely suppress the God’s Punishment Army. As dust in the wake of the God’s Punishment Army and smoke from the field artilleries filled the air, several loopholes in the interlaced fire network appeared.
The God’s Punishment Army soldiers that rushed ahead crossed the musketeers’ red warning line.
“200-meter line, throwing spear!”
“Lie down!”
“Lie yourself down!”
Continuous cries came from the trenches. Danny shot all five bullets in a round at a stretch and then fell down to the ground. At the same time, he reloaded the gun. After the attack of the spears, he got up and pulled the trigger, firing toward the nearest enemy.
At that distance, revolving rifles were as powerful as the new weapons. Danny could almost see the stony faces of the God’s Punishment Warriors which looked as if the surrounding artillery and gunfire had nothing to do with them. Until a bullet penetrated the God’s Punishment Warrior’s chest and neck and blew his head, did he tremble to stop and spray the blue blood.
As more and more enemies crossed the line of fire, Danny quickly used up three preloaded cartridges. According to the predetermined plan, he quickly brought a gun to the second trench.
Just as he got into the trench and saw his team-mates, a black shadow fell from the sky. Suddenly a God’s Punishment Warrior jumped up and crossed the barbed wire in front of the trench waving a big sword to split him apart!
“Run!!!” He caught Malt behind him and pulled him to his bosom.
There was a loud noise!
Danny suddenly felt that his hand was numb and fell down.
When he opened his eyes, Malt, who was in his arms, was cut off at the waist.
Malt watched him, with his mouth open. He spat blood but could not speak anymore.
Danny felt a buzz in his brain and shouted, but the God’s Punishment Warrior had already rushed over him. Danny’s arms were sliced off and his face was nearly split by the God’s Punishment Warriors.
Suddenly Danny could even see the rough blade, stained with his blood.
Just as he thought he was going to die, another cold light flashed in his eyes. The two swords rubbed burst into flame and the God’s Punishment Warrior’s weapon was dropped to the ground!
A woman with a long black ponytail that hung down to her waist and eyes flashing with a golden light appeared above the tunnel like an insurmountable mountain.
The God’s Punishment Warrior that lost his swords did not flinch at all and punched to at her.
In an instant, he fell to the ground dead. Without any resistance, his head was crushed.
The blue-white mixture splashed on Danny’s face.
“Let’s go.”
She glanced at the frightened soldiers and spat out her words coldly before engaging the other two God’s Punishment Warriors that had rushed over.
“This guy is hurt!”
“Get him out of here!”
“With Malt,” Danny said in a hoarse voice, hugging the little man in what was left of his arms.
“He’s dead!” Someone shouted. “Do you want to kill us all?”
The teammates behind him grabbed his severed arms and pulled him towards the back of the trench as the lifeless Malt gradually disappeared from Danny’s vision.
…
Lightning flew to the back of the swarm at full speed and pulled the trigger.
She had figured out the details of the enemy. Killing every insect in the swarm would be an arduous task, and the pure witch had already lost some magic, especially given that Maggie metamorphosed into the natural enemy of the locusts, a swallow. Maggie kept herding the swarm over and forced it into a ball before pulling out a pistol shooting it. Finally a vicious curse and then a roar entered her ears.
The pure witch could not survive for too long.
When Lightning was to about to withdraw and reload, the locusts suddenly turned around and rushed toward the ground.
“Maggie!”
Cried the little girl.
“Owh!”
Goshawk folded her eagle wings and swooped down to the swarm below with her ferocious mouth.
“What’s this? It’s… impossible!” The sound of the locusts turned into a cry. It wanted to turn around to escape but it was too late.
Maggie swallowed the swarm effortlessly and chewed twice. “Terrible!”
Lightning shrugged and stuck her pistol in her belt. “Because they aren’t roasted or seasoned.”
Until then, she had not noticed that there were more bloodstains on her body. During the first explorations, she came into contact with the swarm several times and the teeth of these locusts were like hard rasps. If they were ordinary people maybe they would not easily avoid this flexible attack.
Looking at the camp covered with craters and corpses, Lightning took a deep breath. “We don’t need artillery guidance here. Let’s support His Majesty.”
“Awh!”