DGDITMIAE 12

Chapter 12

“It seems we’ve entered the border area.”

Isollic looked at the holy knight speaking with a troubled expression and thought.

*’So you marched out without even considering that this might happen?’*

Before he could voice those words, the hideous screams of monsters rang out.

Ever since traces of a demon summoning ritual were discovered in the capital, the number of monsters appearing at the border had increased dramatically.

There weren’t many Oket tribe survivors left, but they had desperately headed toward the border.

He couldn’t understand demon worshippers, but it seemed the demonic energy at the border was running rampant.

Of course, as always, Isollic thought his father, the Pope, had overreacted, but his hand was already cutting short the breath of the Oket tribesmen begging for their lives.

“You damned holy knights! The day the demon rules the world will surely come! Until that day comes, try to survive like the mayflies you are!”

An elderly Oket tribesman, missing teeth, hurled curses.

The old man, crying out with bloodshot eyes, looked pitiful, but as a demon-worshipping tribe, his voice sent chills down the spine.

However, Isollic showed no change in expression as he cut the old man down.

And he thought.

*’Rather than that demon, you’re about to die at the hands of the monsters right now.’*

The smell of human blood must have spread, as the sound of flapping wings could be heard from all directions.

The creatures, moving their single eyes here and there, were utterly disgusting.

They would attack whenever they saw an opening.

Several holy knights had already been snatched up into the air and carried away.

“Why do they leave the corpses behind and take the living knights?”

“That’s why they’re monsters.”

All of this was because they had desperately chased after the Oket tribe, who had come up to the border to survive, in order to capture them.

Hearing their screams and seeing their corpses, monsters from the surrounding area had swarmed in.

Isollic roughly wiped the blood splattered on his cheek with his hand, pondering what to do.

If he were alone, he could escape alive, but all the other holy knights here would die.

“Sir Yennier!”

At the warning call of his name, Isollic lightly cut down a bat-like monster attacking from behind and spoke.

“All surviving knights, gather together! Leave the Oket tribe be. They’ll be wiped out here anyway.”

“W-we… we’ll be able to go back alive, right, Sir Yennier?”

A trembling face looked at Isollic with desperate eyes—it was the youngest of the Helgia Count family, who had recently joined the order.

The image of him dousing his head in expensive perfume on the day of the march, wanting to look good to passing ladies, was nowhere to be seen.

Isollic didn’t answer and turned his head, thinking.

*’For someone raised nobly, that large frame of his is good for nothing but trembling.’*

Looking back, it seemed the Oket tribe living near the border had been a fairly good idea.

In the end, even the holy knights who had flocked here to kill them were all about to die.

*’…The worst judgment.’*

That was how he evaluated the Pope’s orders.

But there was no more time to delay. He had to make a decision now.

“Uh, Sir Yennier… over there…”

Following the finger of a knight pointing into the distance with a dazed voice, Isollic turned his gaze and saw a massive monster looking down at them from a low hill.

The monsters that flew through the sky like crows and attacked the knights were numerous, but fortunately, they were small in size and had thin hides.

But even to Isollic, that huge monster in the distance, licking its chops as it watched the knights, seemed like something none of the knights here could even scratch except for him.

*’Should I order a retreat even now?’*

But he quickly changed his mind.

The moment they showed their backs, the monsters would pounce without hesitation.

That would be no different from collective suicide.

*’I was being too foolish to even recognize my own grave.’*

Isollic eventually sighed and gripped his sword tightly.

The sword imbued with holy power emitted a faint white glow, and just as he was about to swing it at the charging monster accompanied by a grotesque sound—

*Clang—!*

“Kyaaak!”

The monster dropped ungracefully with a thud.

And that was only the beginning.

In succession, with the sound of gunfire, the monsters that had been flapping their wings in the sky and licking their chops began to fall one by one.

The knights, who had thought they were about to die, looked bewildered at the unexpected turn of events.

Isollic quickly located the source of the sound.

And he widened his eyes in disbelief.

A slender woman was holding a white musket and shooting the heads of the monsters one by one.

And her marksmanship was so extraordinary that not a single shot missed—all the monsters hit by her bullets fell dead.

The man standing behind the woman was leisurely watching the scene, but from his respectful demeanor, the woman appeared to be of higher status.

*’You can kill monsters with a musket…?’*

Though doubtful, Isollic quickly snapped out of it even in this unbelievable moment and began to clean up the remaining monsters.

The number of monsters that had been numerous enough to cover the sky quickly dwindled, but when the massive monster that had been watching from afar approached, chaos ensued once more.

The precious sons of noble families, who were of no help, trembled in terror as the huge monster approached with heavy thuds that shook the ground.

Some were so frightened that they dropped their swords.

Should he consider it fortunate that at least no one was screaming and running away?

Isollic gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Get a hold of yourselves! Anyone who drops their sword will be considered as wishing to die!”

“U-uaaah…!”

“No… I, I didn’t come here to die in a place like this…”

They looked completely different from when they were killing the Oket tribe, who were mostly weak children and elderly, under the name of judgment.

At their disgusting behavior, Isollic grabbed the back of the neck of a knight who had collapsed with trembling legs, forcibly lifted him up, and spoke in a low, growling voice.

“Stand up straight if you don’t want to die.”

“H-hic…”

And while this annoyingly pathetic holy knight order was cowering in fear and flailing about in despair, a cheerful voice came from behind—the woman who had been shooting.

“Argo, do you have any more bullets?”

“Hmm, what we brought is all there is.”

“Already? I hate getting blood splattered on me, but I suppose there’s no choice.”

“We’ll have a hard time avoiding Lady Kiraldu’s nagging today…”

Ignoring the man’s muttering, the woman shoved the gun she was holding into his hands.

At a glance, the white musket looked like a decorative piece, but Isollic had clearly seen its power just moments ago. Yet the woman didn’t seem particularly disappointed.

Then she lightly picked up a fallen greatsword lying on the ground with one hand.

Isollic stared blankly at the woman, astonished by the monstrous strength that seemed impossible for her slender and delicate frame.

As if the greatsword was as light as a feather, the woman twirled it lightly with one hand as she walked slowly forward.

Her wavy golden hair cascaded down to her waist, swaying gently.

Her violet eyes, symbolizing the imperial family of the Pabelon Empire, sparkled with mischief.

Even on her pale skin, her cheeks were adorably flushed.

Isollic was certain he must be wearing a foolish expression, but he simply couldn’t tear his gaze away.

The woman passed by Isollic and stood before the monster that was several times larger than herself.

Then, tilting her head, she waved her other hand around as if measuring where to cut.

Displeased with the monster’s protruding belly, she frowned and said.

“What’s this… there’s nothing worth selling?”

“Only the horns would have any value.”

“Tch.”

The monster, displeased that the woman before it showed no fear, quickly swung its large, thick hand.

Isollic instinctively took a step forward to rush in, then faltered.

He had sensed something was wrong.

The massive monster screamed.

True to its size, its voice was loud and booming.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

Dust clouds rose, and a small silhouette leaped out from within.

Then, in one swift stroke, she cut off the neck of the monster that was crying out in pain from its severed hand.

The monster’s head fell to the ground, the cut surface cleanly severed.

Whether she was aware of it or not, the woman received the gazes of the holy knights who had been breathlessly witnessing this unbelievable scene, all focused on her. She casually grabbed one of the monster’s horns, which was as large as her own torso, with one hand.

Then she spoke to the monsters that were still surviving, flapping their wings in the sky.

“Get out of my territory.”