Paladin of the Dead God
chapter-184

Chapter 184: The Battle of Elion (3)

Yulihida eyed the knight who emerged from the gates.

From the outset, it was clear that this knight possessed exceptional spirit and skill.

She wasn’t using her angelic powers at all. Even though she accepted the task at Isaac’s request, as a swordswoman and swordsmanship teacher, the opportunity to duel against Elil’s knights was exhilarating.

She didn’t want to waste that opportunity with heavenly powers.

Especially not if her opponent was a Swordmaster.

“Now, how will you entertain me?”

Yulihida waited to see what move Lianne would make first, intending to give her the chance to attack unless she was disappointing. However, Lianne approached in a peculiar stance on her horse, holding her sword loosely, and cradling something in her arms.

At that moment, Yulihida noticed what Lianne was holding.

“Meow.”

Bang. Yulihida suddenly leaped, springing off with such force that her horse collapsed where it stood. Yulihida leaped almost to the height of the fortress walls before landing with a loud thud. Both the Aldeon and Georg armies watched in amazement.

Lianne scratched the chin of the cat she held, which purred contentedly.

“Why is the Sword of May playing tricks all the way out here?”

Lianne said with a smile and a quiet voice. But Yulihida heard her words distinctly.

Without a hint of humor, Yulihida retorted, “How did you know I was the Sword of May?!”

“Were you trying to hide it? You could’ve at least changed your name. And your swordsmanship is the textbook style of the Paladin Order of the Codex of Light.”

They whispered so softly that neither army heard them clearly, but Isaac heard them, and he nodded in agreement with Lianne’s statement.

Yulihida ignored Lianne’s comment and snapped back, “Bringing a cat to the battlefield!”

“I didn’t think you’d harm this poor thing. The duel is not with me, but with this cat. Let’s call it the ‘Meowing Knight.’ Yatta!”

Lianne lifted the “Meowing Knight” with both hands and approached.

Yulihida, snorting, backed away. Although it was unclear why she had a trauma regarding cats, Lianne seemed well aware of this weakness.

Or perhaps one of Elil’s angels had whispered it to her.

Isaac thought it was more likely an angelic intervention.

“Yulihida, switch out!”

Either way, the battle needed to be managed before it became an angelic showdown. Isaac quickly mounted his horse and rode forward. Yulihida, as if having no choice but also as if expecting this, bounced away into the mist.

Seeing Isaac riding forward, Lianne shouted, “Are Aldeon’s knights only hiding behind foreign heretics? Are there no true knights under the Aldeon banner? When did Elil’s battlefield become a gambling den for mercenaries?”

***

Immediately, shouts of anger erupted among the Aldeon knights.

Knights sporadically emerged from among Aldeon’s forces.

“It’s me! I, Dalton, the captain of the Carvanner Infantry, will face you!”

“Hear the roar of the Hillsner Order!”

“The Aldeon Knight Order, Reyna Hild! I challenge you to a duel!”

Isaac felt the urge to scream as he heard the shouts. Never mind the noble knights, what was he supposed to do if even the Aldeon Knight Order, who should have stopped this, joined in the chaos?

Mors Gideon looked resigned, as if he had given up.

Isaac realized that Mors’ strategy had failed. He should have gone out from the beginning.

“…Who would have predicted an angel would run away because of a cat?!”

But he, too, would soon have to accept the situation.

This was the Kingdom of Elil. Isaac was the odd one out. He knew this was the Kingdom of Elil and had accepted Mors’ strategy.

Lianne waggled her finger as the charging knights approached.

“Not worth facing one by one. Come at me all at once.”

The knights shouted in fury as they all charged simultaneously. Although Isaac was at the front, it was clear that this place would soon be a mess. Isaac wondered how Lianne would handle this joint attack, but then she surprised him.

She turned and started running toward the fortress.

Her seemingly fleeing behavior only fueled the knights’ fury as they charged, spurred by the vision of defeating a Swordmaster.

Isaac shouted in horror, “Wait, you fools! Can’t you see the fortress?”

Of course, they saw it. That only made them more eager to catch her before she entered the fortress. The gates of Elion citadel reopened. But just before she ran in, Lianne quickly changed direction and threw the cat she was holding toward the walls. The cat leaped tens of meters up and landed safely.

Lianne then turned and ran toward the charging knights. Behind her, knights from the Elion Knight Order surged out of the fortress. The Aldeon knights, seeing the charging knights, only roared louder.

“Elil! Elil! Elil!”

Isaac gritted his teeth and urged his horse faster.

Bang. Clashing metal echoed around. The first to collide were Isaac and Lianne’s swords. Her eyes, which had seemed weary, now twinkled with a thin smile.

“Not bad on your side, either?”

Thud.

The surface of the Luadin Key, which had been heated, turned black as Lumiarde’s chilling cold enveloped it. Even among relics, Lumiarde held a higher rank.

After all, it was a weapon once wielded by Elil.

“Fight! Elil governs this battlefield!” Mors’ voice boomed behind them as he directed the troops, seemingly at the top of his lungs. At some point, almost all of Aldeon’s soldiers and knights had charged, colliding with Georg’s forces. The knights who had initially surged forward were now closely followed by the rest of the soldiers. The immense pressure from the simultaneous collision of so many soldiers created a cacophony of tearing metal.

Isaac realized that Mors’ strategy had succeeded. Mors wanted to draw Georg’s forces out of the Elion citadel. Despite the chaos, he had achieved this. Georg’s forces had rushed out of the Elion citadel to join Lianne in battle.

Well, Lianne had no choice but to oblige. The anger and frustration inside the citadel had already reached a boiling point. If Yulihida hadn’t provoked them, they might have charged out on their own.

In the end, the stage was set, and the battle was underway.

Just as everyone wanted.

Clang!

Isaac felt a freezing pain each time their blades clashed. Fortunately, Lianne was restraining Lumiarde’s abilities. Her cold affected friend and foe alike. In the chaos of battle, the Holy Sword’s cold would likely cause more harm to their own forces.

And the same applied to Isaac.

His lethal sword aura left scratches and bite-like marks even with a mere touch. The two had no choice but to restrain themselves to a moderate level.

Since he needed to focus on keeping Lianne occupied rather than killing her, Isaac naturally kept an eye on the entire battlefield.

A dizzying melee.

Blood pooling around their ankles.

Elil’s prayer chants piercing their ears.

“Give me your head!” In the distance, Reyna Hilde, mounted on her horse, was stabbing at a Georg knight’s neck. It seemed she didn’t notice someone jabbing her side with a spear. The enemy’s neck appeared to be broken.

“Eight, nine!” Delfric Hilde lowered a soldier’s height by a hand span with each swing of his hammer. In such chaos, command was useless. The enemy didn’t seem to have any intention of commanding either. Their sole objective was the outpouring of hatred and violence.

“Give me the blood to wash away my brother’s disgrace!” Villon Georg roared as he swung his spear. The spear, wielded with tremendous strength, impaled a knight, leaving nothing of his upper body below the waist. Villon himself had two spears embedded in his torso, but he didn’t seem to care. As he raised his spear, blood poured down on him like a waterfall.

It was as if he was bathing in blood.

A hymn praising Elil’s glory resounded.

The hymn mingled with screams as if in accompaniment.

The screams buried groans and sobbing.

Below that was the silence of the dead.

Isaac listened to the silence no one else heard.

It was the sound of the Kingdom of Elil’s downfall approaching.

***

In a sense planned, in another sense spontaneous, the battle ended in the afternoon.

It concluded when Mors ordered a retreat after receiving reports of Georg’s cavalry mobilizing from the rear. This resulted in a narrow victory for Georg’s forces, though casualties were even.

“Actually, it’s more like a victory for Aldeon’s forces.”

Had Georg’s forces fought while holding the citadel, they would have had a much better position to inflict damage on Aldeon’s forces. However, because Lianne charged out and triggered the battle, Georg’s forces suffered unexpected losses. This could be considered a strategic victory.

However, Isaac doubted whether Georg’s forces would see it that way.

“Georg’s lot fought well! Truly lived up to their reputation!” Reyna, lying on a bed in the barracks, cheerfully waved her arm. Her abdomen was pierced, and her intestines were spilling out, but her boar-like stamina and miraculous power kept her alive. Of course, the fact that she could use miracles herself was a fortunate factor. Many soldiers and knights weren’t so lucky.

But the other patients in the barracks shared Reyna’s sentiment. As Isaac moved among the beds, helping with treatment or boosting morale, he heard the soldiers’ voices.

“I heard Georg’s wolves had sharp teeth. Didn’t expect them to be sharp enough to take my arm.”

A soldier whose arm was severed below the elbow spoke cheerfully.

“I heard they were despicable traitors, but they had the courage of Elil’s followers. Charging out of the citadel to wield their swords! I liked that they seemed crazy.”

A knight whose left eye and skull were shattered spoke, his head wrapped in bandages. If the blade had been sharper, his head would have been split in half.

Isaac wondered if these responses were a façade to mask pain and fear, but he soon realized they were genuine.

So he knew that similar sentiments were probably being shared in the hospital beds of Elion citadel.

These war-mad fools were the type who bonded through fighting.

Isaac swallowed back the words “like children” and silently focused on treatment. The Elixir of Carlyle was a great help. And though it involved some packaging, lies, and trickery, Hesabel also greatly assisted with treatment. The miracle of the Red Chalice, which governed bodily pleasures, was useful for healing.

After tending to the patients, Isaac stepped outside the barracks, where Edelred awaited. Isaac walked with him, curious about what he thought of today’s battlefield.

“What do you think, sir? Don’t they seem like children bonding through fighting?” Edelred’s first words made Isaac smile wryly.

“It feels strange to say it.”

But it was true that there was more goodwill toward Georg’s forces now than before the battle. Sometimes, people praised and embellished the enemy to mask their fear, but this seemed different to Isaac.

“I also realized today that perhaps what these fools needed wasn’t a forum for dialogue, but an outlet for their anger.”

Edelred muttered as he looked at the front of Elion citadel, where the battle had occurred.

“Perhaps Lianne knew this too, and that’s why she deliberately brought the soldiers out of the citadel. So they would realize that the people they were fighting weren’t greedy pigs, but fellow Elil believers with flesh and blood.”

Isaac thought about Lianne’s tired face and her words. Then he reached a conclusion.

“No… I think she knew they would end up fighting each other anyway.”

“…Well, that does seem most likely.”