Chapter 14: Demon Lord

The church of Messiah City had not yet been destroyed.

Many survivors and soldiers had gathered at the cathedral, forming a rather unique stronghold.

This was news brought by the scout.

Because churches were often built in the central area of a city, the city center became extremely dangerous when the city was engulfed in flames.

The nuns and priests inside had most likely perished—that was what most people thought.

That was why the military camp had so few healers.

In Selina’s eyes, the church took on most of the functions of a hospital, but it wasn’t a hospital, so this design was somewhat flawed.

According to the scout, because the church was made of stone, it hadn’t been burned by the fire.

Furthermore, due to the fires all around, the monster troops chose to detour, accidentally avoiding this stronghold.

Moreover, Messiah was a truly large city.

Unlike the small church where Selina was with only a few people, the city’s church had a full staff.

Multiple priests, dozens of nuns and clerics, and likely even cardinals and bishops.

The clergy numbered in the dozens or even hundreds, and all of them could use healing magic.

If these people could be rescued, holding this city would be secure.

It was a blessing in disguise.

Without further ado, they immediately launched a rescue operation.

The city wall couldn’t spare more troops.

Considering the danger of the rescue, Kante thought it over and decided to take his Order Knight squad and a few elites.

The two priestess sisters staying here should be fine.

After a night’s rest, the soldiers had mostly recovered.

Without needing to say more, they set off directly.

The efficiency of the Order Knights was incomparable to those corrupt bureaucrats.

Donning helmets and gathering their teammates, they set off immediately.

Before leaving, Selina threw Paul’s money pouch back to him.

“Don’t die out there. Milia and Little Paul are waiting for you to come home. I’ll hold on to your will for you.”

Paul smiled, hung the pouch on his belt.

He was naturally one of the elites, following Kante and the others.

As she watched them disappear into the sea of fire, Selina felt a hint of unease for some reason.

….

Two days earlier.

“Bishop, is this route safe?”

“Nonsense! I’ve been a priest for decades and I know what I’m doing. This secret passage was built when Messiah City was founded, specially for evacuation in times of danger. It’s already generous of me to bring you along, so stop wasting time and move!”

In the deep tunnel, several priests and clerics walked together.

The surrounding visibility was almost zero.

Their only reliance was the lantern in the leading bishop’s hand.

This was an underground passage beneath the church, leading directly outside the city for a quiet escape.

No one knew when or who built it.

Inside the church, the nuns and brothers were kept in the dark, thinking their superiors had gone to discuss countermeasures with the city lord.

Meanwhile, outside the city.

Just as the bishop broke through the camouflage hiding the tunnel, a goblin appeared in front of him.

Their eyes met for a second, and both were startled.

The goblin’s cries quickly attracted other monster troops.

A few hours later, an officer came to this tunnel.

He glanced at the monsters that had discovered the passage.

The low-level monsters were still gnawing on the human corpses.

The women had been taken to expand the goblin forces.

With so many high-quality seeds, it was likely that many lord-level goblins would be born.

However, combat power of this level was not enough to change the battle situation.

The Order Knights and the Death Sanctum, these two human heavy-armor units, were extremely tough.

A few more goblins wouldn’t make a difference.

Compared to those clergy, the value of this tunnel was higher.

The walls of Messiah City were extremely sturdy and reinforced with powerful anti-magic runes.

Although not as strong as those of frontier cities, their troops had also suffered considerable losses to get here.

No matter how many ordinary goblins there were, they were useless—at most a nuisance to humans.

The front-line assault lacked elite combat power…

This tunnel might become a breakthrough point.

The officer smirked sinisterly and ordered the troops to gather at a certain location, ceasing the siege.

Then, he made some changes to his appearance and entered the tunnel alone.

Soon…

“As expected, there are no runes carved on the inside of the walls. That makes things much easier. Those foolish monkeys never dreamed they would be defeated by their own people! Hahahahaha… Ahahahaha… cough cough!!!”

….

Kante’s squad walked down the street, surrounded by a sea of fire.

Occasionally, they encountered a few lone goblins.

The combat power of these creatures was surprisingly weak.

One-on-one, even a ten-year-old could kill them.

Ordinary people without any magic level could smash a few with just a couple of swings.

‘I really don’t understand why these creatures can still exist in this world.’

Kante thought.

At first, they could still encounter a few monsters, but the closer they got to the church, the lower the frequency became.

So far, Kante hadn’t found anything strange.

He just attributed the low monster count to the armed personnel inside the church.

It wasn’t unusual for a large city like this to have a few paladins, but Kante still felt a sense of unease.

“Captain, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Keep moving.”

At the moment Kante gave the order, two figures appeared behind the smoke from the burning houses, and the sound of clashing weapons grew clearer.

Years of combat experience drove Kante to charge straight into the thick smoke.

The other Order Knights followed him into the smoke, leaving the other elites staring helplessly at the spot.

Kante didn’t have time to issue orders.

Every second of delay could change the battle situation on the other side.

Lightning began to coil around his banner lance, enchanting the weapons of the Order Knights.

They burst out of the smoke on the other side.

A demon wielding a greatsword was swinging down at a platinum-armored knight.

Two shield guards immediately ran in front of the platinum knight to block the heavy blow.

A knight with a greataxe charged forward and swung his thunderous axe down in a nearly identical stance.

The axe struck the demon’s armor.

The opponent was also equipped with the same heavy armor.

“Imperial Thunder Spear!!!”

Kante unleashed his ultimate move right away.

A spear of lightning appeared from the sky, its overwhelming energy seeming to tear the sky apart.

The lightning spear locked onto the demon.

Caught off guard by the sudden appearance of this squad, it took the hit solidly.

The demon’s skin was charred black.

After a roar, it actually spoke human words: “Don’t get cocky. This city will be ours soon! Await your doom, ants.”

It spread its wings and flew up into the air using the thick smoke.

The squad quickly lost sight of it.

Kante was about to chase, but the platinum knight stopped him.

“Don’t chase. That is a quasi-Eighth Rank demon lord. You have no chance in a direct confrontation.”

Kante looked in the direction the demon had disappeared, seeming somewhat regretful.

His strongest attack had not dealt much damage.

He channeled his magic and cast another spell to blow away the surrounding smoke.

To his surprise, their destination was already right in front of them.