Chapter 485

Chapter 108: Iron Bones Resound and Blood Burns – Part Seven

“Aaaah!!”

Barry shouted as he could barely open one eye, sensing a burning smell in his nose. The heretic before him did not fall. He ignored the pain on half of his face as the heretic slashed at him from the left. In a hurry, Barry lifted his left arm, wrapped in sturdy armor—

Clang!

The flaming blade was blocked by the iron armor, leaving Barry’s arm nearly numb. He couldn’t help but take another step back. His long sword slipped out of his hand, embedding itself into the heretic’s chest. The heretic staggered, blood oozing from his mouth and nose, yet he wore a sinister grin, making him look terrifying.

“Hahaha! I’ll crush you!”

A companion on the side stabbed at him with a sword, but the heretic parried with his blade and grabbed Barry’s neck with his other hand. The young knight couldn’t dodge in time and was almost lifted off the ground. A companion tried to rush over to rescue him but was kicked several meters away. The heretic tightened his grip around Barry’s neck, cutting off his breath, his face turning red.

“Uh… Mm…”

He strained to grab the long sword in the heretic’s chest, but the next moment, the blade swung towards the young knight’s head. At the last second, a whoosh of wind passed his ear, striking the heretic’s forehead, sending him reeling backward. The heretic loosened his grip, allowing Barry to break free. He glimpsed a short sword embedded in the heretic’s forehead as the heretic stumbled back.

“Barry—”

Hearing Mor’s call, the young knight instantly understood his meaning. Coughing violently, he stepped forward, pulling out the sword embedded in the heretic’s chest, and shouted as he swung at the heretic’s neck.

“Die! Aaaaah!!!”

Pth!

This blow nearly severed the heretic’s neck, spraying blood mixed with flames. Barry narrowly avoided it, gripping the sword tightly and pulling hard! The heretic’s eyes bulged as his head separated from his body. Barry panted heavily, stepping back to avoid the splattering blood. Watching the heretic’s body fall, his heart still raced, but there was no time to catch his breath as another heretic, engulfed in flames, lunged at him.

“Go to hell—!”

With a roar beside him, a companion, half his body wrapped in bandages, charged out, tackling the oncoming heretic. They rolled aside amidst the chaos, the heretic’s blade slipping out of his hand. The two struggled.

The companion was seriously injured, having been cut during their brief encounter. Blood flowed from his chest as he tumbled on the ground. The heretic pinned him down, igniting the bandages, causing a piercing sound as the fire burned his skin. The knight’s expression twisted in agony. Baring his blood-stained teeth, he shouted at Barry, “Act now!”

“Ughaaaaaah—”

Barry roared and rushed forward, slashing at the heretic’s head. The heretic tried to dodge, but the burning companion grabbed his head with both hands.

“Kill him! Kill—”

The heretic’s blade sliced across the companion’s throat, blood gushing out like a fountain. The companion’s voice abruptly ceased, but his hands clung to the heretic’s head. With his fading consciousness, he lifted his legs, wrapping them around the heretic’s waist, pinning him down. His bloodshot eyes stared directly at Barry.

Damn you!!!

Barry felt waves of rage surge through him as he swung his sword again and again at the back of the heretic’s head, until the flesh was a bloody mess. The heretic’s body fell limp, pressing against the already dead companion, then Barry kicked him away.

The companion’s lifeless eyes stared blankly. Barry remembered how this knight, not quite familiar to him, had come down from the city walls injured, nearly half his body burnt black. Only under Lylis and others’ care had he regained some spirit. One night, in great pain, Barry stayed up half the night talking with him, hearing about a foolish woman waiting for him back in Hellingtler City.

Before he could say anything more, he died here.

In that daze, he heard a whistling sound. Barry turned sharply as a fiery ball, the size of a fist, shot between the battling figures and exploded near his feet—

Boom!

As debris flew, Barry was thrown to the ground, feeling like a heavy stone was crushing his chest. It took him a while to catch his breath, his stomach convulsing, tasting rust in his mouth. Struggling to get up, he was tackled and rolled to the side.

Another explosion rocked the area, a scorching rock hitting his head. Barry felt a sharp pain and his vision blurred. Faintly, he heard someone shouting angrily, “What are you thinking!? The enemy is right in front of you!”

It was Mor.

The two quickly stood up. Barry shook his head, feeling blood trickle down his forehead. In his sight, the companions and heretics clashed in a chaotic melee. Blood and fire spread everywhere. A knight with his left arm severed fell down, the heretic pulling out the long sword from his abdomen and laughing as he advanced.

“Damn it…”

Mor held his slightly deformed sword from the flame burn, fearless, stepping forward to engage the heretic. Barry felt his hand tremble and the burning sensation on his face intensify. Panting heavily, he suppressed his deepest fear, shouting, “Ah!” and charging into the fray.

Bloody and brutal combat spread throughout the city.

A massive wave of heretics surged through the breached walls, launching a fierce assault on the defending knights. Blood and hellfire crisscrossed under the starless night, countless people fell beneath blades and swords. Warriors stepped over the fallen bodies, gradually piling up a gruesome heap of flesh at the breach in the wall.

“Gate!”

A knight, his face smeared with blood, was pierced through the chest by a flaming arrow. Before he fell, he shouted desperately, “Hold the gate—”

Two hundred meters away from the breached wall, at the Northern Gate, heretics who had flooded into the city and broken through the first line of defense of the knights’ ranks were screaming as they charged towards the flanking towers. Someone threw black pellets at the knights guarding the towers; the smoke from the plant spread out, and the knights, their faces covered with wet cloths, fought to the death with the advancing cultists.

The killing aura swirled incessantly within the city. A wounded knight, dragging his severed leg, lunged at the frenzied heretics before him. He took out a golden sphere from his chest, and blinding white light burst forth from it, followed by a shocking explosion. Amidst the earth-shattering “boom,” the rampant golden-white light instantly consumed the knight and several heretics around him. Limbs flew high into the air, and thick blood spread across the ground.

On the towering tower, the bishop and monks of Aletheia maintained the barrier sealing the gate while counterattacking the heretics below. The golden-haloed holy lance whistled out, constantly striking the raving heretics. One after another fell, yet the devils’ advance never ceased.

Heretics laughed maniacally, stepping over their comrades’ corpses to attack the knights. Flames raged, flesh and blood scattered, the knights’ formation was shattered and retreated. Some screamed in the fire, sporadic projectiles flew toward the tower, and struck-down monks fell amidst the chaos.

On the eastern wall, Sir Williams, with eyes red as blood, led his men in a bloody battle, already drenched in blood. He slashed down a heretic attempting to climb the wall, then looked out at the dense crowd outside, all surging towards the western gap, one after another, fearlessly. Giant fireballs continued to fly in from afar, shaking the wall. He glanced around at the knights still fighting and falling, a sorrowful look on his face.

“We must hold…”

Fierce heretics rushed from the side. His personal guard reacted swiftly, swinging their sword at the opponent, but unexpectedly, that person did not dodge or evade. Pierced through the body by the longsword, blood gushed out continuously, yet he still charged forward desperately, grabbing the blade and pushing the guard back several steps. Approaching Sir Williams, his body rapidly expanded.

“Oh great God of Truth, grant me eternal invincible power—”

“Ha ha ha!!!”

The heretic let out a maniacal laugh, his bulging eyes fixed on Sir Williams. About to self-destruct, his personal guard released the sword, throwing himself onto him and rolling aside. Both bodies fell off the wall—

Boom!

The explosion sent out scorching flames, turning Sir Williams’ eyes even redder.

“Hold this city—”

He roared to those around him, “My brave knights! This is the most brilliant moment of your lives! You are building an impregnable wall with your flesh and blood, protecting tens of thousands of citizens within! Today, right now, you shall dye every inch of land under your feet with blood! Not yours, but theirs!”

“Always remember, when rivers of blood flow here, I am with you! Your commander, and your brothers, are with you! Your glory, whether in life or death, will be remembered by the world!”

Amidst the battlefield, his voice roared like thunder.

“There’s no retreat behind us, no one is allowed to retreat!!!”

“Follow me, tear apart the enemy—”

Heretics swarmed like ants, the knights’ tragic cries echoed on the wall.

“Charge!!!”

Smoke obscured the sky, dimming the light.

At a certain moment, a knight named Barry stood up from the pool of blood.

His armor was cracked, his face charred, his left arm severely burned, dried blood staining his hair. He struggled to rise, someone reached out to help him, Barry looked closely and saw it was a woman he thought was dead.

“You, how are you…”

The woman named Lilith, her face dirty, as if just pulled out of a mud pit, her once beautiful appearance gone, only her eyes remained lively, looking somewhat helplessly at the wound on his arm: “You’re injured, but… medicine and alcohol were buried in the explosion…”

Barry stared blankly at her for a moment, then reacted, pushing the woman, “You leave quickly, where are the heretics!?”

He looked around, seeing corpses strewn about, some heretics, some allies. Flames had ignited nearby houses, a few knights covered in blood stood nearby, Morle sat on the cold stone slab, and a surviving technician knelt beside Lilith, bandaging his wounds.

“They… died?”

Barry was stunned. He couldn’t recall when he lost consciousness, nor how many heretics he had killed. He thought he was going to die here, but unexpectedly… this skirmish ended up being a victory for their side.

“Yes.”

Morle, another knight, raised his head, his voice hoarse, “Congratulations, Barry, you’re still alive. But don’t celebrate too soon… listen to that sound, the battle inside the city has just begun. From now on, we’ll have to risk our lives.”