8 Chapter 8: Final siege (2/2)
I turned my head when I heard someone snap at me. A big guy was glaring at me, chewing on the last of his bread. His hand was now empty, and he was gazing hungrily at mine. He narrowed his eyes when he saw that I had trouble consuming the bread, as if offended that I was going to waste such precious food.
”I don't feel well…” I glanced at the bread, and then tossed it at him. The big knight caught it, stunned by my action. I shrugged. ”I don't think I'll be able to keep anything down today. You can have that.”
”S…sure.”
Not one to waste food, the knight wolfed my bread down. I put my helmet back on before lying down on my reserved spot. It was a good thing that I had devoured an entire anaconda just the day before, so I probably had a lot of energy stockpiled inside my body. That meal should last me for quite some time.
Still, I wasn't sure I liked the implication of this. My body was undergoing some drastic change, and I didn't know if it was necessarily for the better.
*
The heroes finally emerged from the tent, along with the knight commander and his officers. Rousing the men from their sleep, the commanders quickly organized us in neat, orderly ranks in front of the triumphant heroes.
”Men! Today, we fight our last battle!”
”OOOOH!”
We roared our approval at our commander's words. Kobayashi smiled indulgently, and then stepped forward.
”General Harold, shall I?”
”S…sure.”
The knight commander looked taken aback by Kobayashi's bold intervention, but he didn't protest. As usual, Kobayashi couldn't stand it if he wasn't the one in the spotlight. Taking up center stage, he gazed upon the gleaming rows of armored knights.
”Brave soldiers of Legnica!” he boomed, sweeping his eyes across us. ”I know how much courage you must have mustered in order to fight alongside us heroes, to battle against horrifying monsters and superhuman demons with powerful magical abilities. Even though you're not as blessed as us, to have been bestowed by the Goddess Evelyn heroic attributes, you still take up your sword and fight. Fight for your homeland, for your families and loved ones…against these cruel, inhuman demons who seek only your destruction!”
Yeah, we heard that speech before. General Harold just delivered it last night.
”The hour of reckoning is finally at end! We will make the Demon Lord pay for all the atrocities he committed against us! Against you! Believe in us heroes, and we shall lead you to victory! With the blessings of the Goddess Evelyn, there is no demon who can stand against us! As long as you follow us and fight together, we will all win!”
”Yeah!”
The soldiers cheered. I forced myself to give a half-hearted cheer, but I couldn't stop glowering at the bastard from behind my helm.
”Do not shirk from your duties, brave knights. This is the final battle, the one battle to decide the outcome of the war. You all have your role to play. We need you to hold off the legions of demons guarding the Demon Lord's fortress long enough for us to confront and defeat the Demon Lord.” Kobayashi turned solemn. ”Make no mistake…it is a huge sacrifice I am asking of you. Many of you will die in the final clash. But your deaths…no, your lives! Your lives will be imperative for humankind's victory! Only if we stand together and pay the price of victory in blood will we be able to prevail over these accursed enemies!”
”Yeah!”
While the soldiers cheered Kobayashi's speech, I suppressed a sigh. The guy was obviously asking us to be his meatshields, his sacrificial pawns. In other words, Kobayashi was telling us to die so that he could achieve glory as the hero who defeated the Demon Lord. I bet he didn't care if the entire human army was wiped out, so long as he got all the credit for the eventual (pyrrhic) victory.
Unfortunately, the knights all believed him. Behind Kobayashi, the rest of our classmates were smiling, as if they were amused at how the residents of Restia were so easily suckered into sacrificing themselves for the heroes.
Bastards…
”We move out immediately! Stay close, and smash through the demons' defenses! We heroes will break through and end this pointless war once and for all!”
Raising his sword, Kobayashi shouted. The knights cheered and stamped their feet in a coordinated salute. Stepping back in satisfaction, Kobayashi returned the (non-existent) microphone to General Harold.
”All right, men. Pack up your stuff and get into gear. We leave immediately.”
*
We set off at noon. The sun was blazing overhead, reaching its zenith as it scornfully watched us march across the fields.
I marched on foot alongside the foot soldiers. There weren't enough horses for all the soldiers, so they were reserved for the cavalry, who rode ahead of us. The bulk of the infantry moved on foot, our metallic boots sinking deeply into the soft earth.
The heroes formed the vanguard, but from what I heard, they weren't going to lead the charge. No, the ones in charge of the suicidal charge were us, the foot soldiers. Once we arrived, we were to charge en masse toward the enemy gates and overrun the enemy demons.
There was no holding back now. The commanders were playing all their hand.
We would drown the enemies in our blood if we had to.
I glanced around. Even though our faces were concealed by our helmets and visors, I could tell that my comrades were nervous. Several of them were quivering, their silver armor trembling as they somberly marched forward. I didn't blame them, could even understand why.
We were being asked to march to our deaths.
I gulped, gripping the hilt of my sword tightly. Unlike the knights around me, I should be fine with my Regeneration. However, I didn't know if my special ability had a limit. If I sustained too much damage, it was possible I would die, my regeneration unable to keep up with the fatal injuries. And there was also the problem of having my cover blown…
”Halt!”
We pulled to a stop in reflex when the command sailed through the air. I blinked, confused. At some point I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that we had already reached the enemy's fortress.
It didn't resemble how I thought it would be. The Demon Lord's castle looked like a normal castle, just painted black. There were demons lined up along the gates, raising their staffs or various weapons and chanting some spells.
Boom!
An explosion sent several knights flying into the air. Several of the demons had launched a volley of fireballs and drawn first blood.
”Whoa!”
”No way!”
”We can't do this!”
”Hold your position!”
The commander barked, glaring at us when the soldiers started to panic. He drew his sword and pointed it at us.
”Any of you think of deserting, I'll kill you myself.”
There was no need to go that far. There was nowhere we could run to.
More explosions rang through the tightly packed ranks of the foot soldiers. Morale was crumbling, and the knights were cursing.
And then…
”Oh divine light, deliver the wrath of the goddess of justice and righteousness, and smite all evil in your path!”
Kishimoto Hikaru's voice rang through the air, as clear as a bell and as melodic as a song. Dressed in long, flowing white robes, she stepped forward and aimed her crackling staff at the heavily fortified gates of the castle.
”Divine Lance!”
A golden beam of light blasted out of her staff and seared through the fortified gates. The defensive runes glowed red-hot, a shimmering barrier holding the light at bay for a few moments. And then the runes blew up, losing their color. The transparent barrier collapsed almost immediately and the golden beam obliterated the gates, detonating and disintegrating the demon sentries who were stationed there.
”The castle has been breached! Charge! For the Emperor!”
”For the Emperor!”
Raising our swords, the knights hollered a fearsome war cry and sprinted toward the newly made hole. The demons were attempting to rally, gathering to plug the gape in their defenses, but the mass of humans stampeded past them. The few demons who began casting spells were picked off by the heroes, their magical projectiles streaking through the air and hurtling toward key enemy positions.
I noticed that a few of the heroes' spells deviated off course and accidentally crashed into the human lines, inadvertently killing a few of our men by friendly fire. Of course my classmates didn't care about us. To them, we were nothing more than non-playable characters, AI grunts who existed only to die for them.
That pissed me off somehow.
”Forward! Forward, for the Emperor!”
The knight commander shouted, waving his sword and gesturing at us wildly. We followed, pouring through the hole in the gate and flooding the insides of the fortress. The demons were already waiting for us and we crashed into their defensive lines.
More knights died, blown apart by spells or torn apart by brute strength. The demons growled and roared, several shapeshifting into terrifying creatures. Werewolves. Winged monstrosities. Hybrid creatures. Claw, fang, blade or spell, they ripped the massed ranks of knights apart as if we were nothing more than paper.
They weren't the only ones who could use magic, however. The knights began casting their own passive buffs, protective auras or strength enhancement spells. Several launched fireballs, icicles, lightning or other spells of their own. The magical projectiles collided and detonated, scorching both men and demons alike.
The demons were clearly superior to us, both in terms of physical strength and magical capability. However, we vastly outnumbered them. For every men they killed, three more poured in, reinforced by the never-ending tide of knights outside the fortress.
”Keep fighting! Don't let the heroes hog all the glory!”
Yelling himself hoarse, the knight commander blasted a nearby demon with a holy spell before slashing at another target with his sword, the blade glowing golden from a divine enchantment. Spurred on by his example, the knights rallied around him, using both bade and spell to drill a hole in the demons' defenses.
I followed suit, clutching my sword and tackling another demon, a long-eared guy in a weird suit. His white gloves glowed with sparks, but I hacked at his limbs, forcing him to cancel whatever spell he planned on unleashing.
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Behind me, more of my comrades rushed in, trying to overpower the demon I was fighting through sheer numbers.
The siege had begun.