Chapter 19 - The Magic-Sealing Ring
Once, the town of Nakanohara was located in the plains on the north bank of the Nakanohara River. To the west was a ridge continuing from the northern mountains, and the church was built on a part of that ridge that jutted out to the east. The church looked down on the town from atop a cliff.
About sixty years ago, the ridge was leveled into a plateau, and the entire town moved. The reason was that it's easier to withstand enemy attacks from a higher position.
The current church is located at the eastern end of the town, which is shaped roughly like a rectangle elongated from east to west. In other words, the west side of the church is adjacent to the town, but the other three sides are cliffs.
On the north side, there is a communal cemetery at the bottom of the cliff, and on the east side, the ruins of the old town area also spread out at the bottom of the cliff. The main gate is installed at the bottom of the southern cliff.
Those coming from outside the town must first cross a bridge. This is because there is a moat dug north to south in front of the main gate. That moat connects to the river and extends north along the cliff adjacent to the church to near the stone wall surrounding the communal cemetery. After crossing the bridge and passing through the gate, there is the outer wall surrounding the church grounds on the cliff to the right. Going straight west leads to a wooden slope for entering the town on the plateau, and climbing that leads to the second gate. Since thick town walls run around the perimeter of the town, anyone who passes through the main gate is looked down upon from all sides.
Guarding this narrow sector is the town guard. They guard the two gates day and night. Originally, the guard unit consisted of a hundred people, but fifty are participating in the Demon Lord Subjugation Army along with the Kingdom's garrison. Furthermore, twenty-five are participating in the anomalies to the east and west, so only twenty-five remain tonight. It is an emergency.
The drawbridge, which is usually lowered even at night, had been raised. And swarming toward it were Revenants that had crawled out of the cemetery.
By the time Hans and the others arrived at the main gate, the moat in front of the gate had already lost its defensive capability.
The swarm of Revenants that had invaded marched straight toward the moat and fell right in.
They seemed stuck in the moat with no way out, but because they kept coming one after another, the moat was finally filled with Revenants.
The following Revenants were swarming the drawbridge, treading over the thirty or so Revenants writhing in the moat. Three guards were firing fire arrows from atop the gate, but the Revenants seemed to feel no pain or irritation, and were trying to break the drawbridge by punching it with fire arrows still stuck in their bodies.
Normal defensive tactics were almost completely ineffective. The two ballistae ran out of ammunition without any effect no matter how many they fired.
"Do we know the numbers?"
When Hans shouted in a loud voice, one soldier shouted back, "Over three thousand!"
Everyone was speechless at that number.
Too many... Hans bit his lip.
He had heard that the Revenants that attacked several villages to the east were about twenty each. If there were only about twenty Revenants, they could manage somehow if they could just stall them and cooperate with the priests who could use purification magic.
Of course, he had also anticipated that the town of Nakanohara might be attacked. Considering the number of eastern villages attacked and the scale of the raids, Hans's estimate was a hundred to at most three hundred. If it were that many, he thought they could somehow prevent an intrusion with the town's defensive facilities, given that five priests remained at the church. Besides, he thought that if a certain number of Revenants were wandering outside the town, the Engrio army, which was supposed to be nearby leading five thousand soldiers, wouldn't attack.
Even if they couldn't repel them in the worst case, if they held the main gate, the priestly force led by Bishop Catherine that had headed east would return. It was just a matter of enduring until then. That's what he thought.
However, an attack by over three thousand Revenants was far beyond expectations, and Hans's defense plan was completely shattered.
"Can you use purification magic?"
Hans asked Marcelo, who was next to him, in a deliberately calm tone so as not to let those around him notice his agitation.
"I can, but there are too many. For me, it's at most twenty at a time. And ten times is about the limit for the number of uses."
Two hundred, huh... Won't even be a distraction...
Hans knew that there weren't many priests who could purify twenty Revenants with a single spell, but if the opponent exceeded three thousand, it was completely insufficient.
"Acting Captain! Ones with axes are coming!"
They're carrying weapons...
Everyone present was horrified. They had never heard of Revenants using weapons. And, though it was unthinkable, there was someone supplying weapons to the Revenants.
"Stall them!"
"It's impossible! They don't care if fire arrows hit them. They approach while their bodies are burning..."
The soldier couldn't finish his answer. An arrow pierced his throat as he was looking down, and he tumbled over the gate just like that. What was fortunate for Hans and the others was that because he couldn't make a sound with his throat pierced, they didn't have to hear the death cry of the soldier who fell into the swarm of Revenants.
"Stay low!"
When he shouted toward the top of the gate, two soldiers hid behind the parapet.
First, they had to block the arrows that easily flew over the outer wall. If fire arrows were fired all at once, there was a possibility of a fire breaking out. There was also the possibility of human casualties from stray arrows. If they just stayed hidden, the main gate would eventually be breached.
"Can you block the arrows with wind magic?"
Hans asked Paul.
Paul was once renowned as a high-level mage. Although he was currently suppressed by a Magic-Sealing Ring, he should be able to use intermediate magic.
"Is the space between the main gate and the second gate okay? Let's see... if I cast it strongly, I can make it last for about half an hour."
"That's plenty. I'm counting on you."
In half an hour, the opponent's arrows would likely run out.
Paul, who was about to cast the magic, suddenly asked Marcelo, "Can you remove this ring?"
Marcelo and Angelica had already removed their Magic-Sealing Rings. Marcelo, in particular, was originally a priest who used high-level holy magic. Even though he had returned to secular life, his magic control itself had not been lost. And currently, he was the owner of a magic tool shop who even handled the creation of magic tools. His knowledge and experience might be useful. That's what Paul thought.
"I can remove it. I'm the one who made it, after all."
Paul was surprised, but then he grinned and slapped Marcelo on the shoulder.
"If that's the case, I can use magic to my heart's content tonight without worry. If it looks like I'm about to fall into darkness, I'm counting on you to seal my magic."
If anything happened, it could be sealed immediately. He could use high-level magic to his heart's content. It was a more than sufficient reason to remove the psychological barrier of his past fall into darkness.
When Paul held out his right hand, Marcelo touched the ring and chanted the password for release.
"Paul-san, it's time to wake up."
For a moment, the ring was enveloped in a faint light.
"What's with that weak password? You were sealing my magic with something like that?"
"You don't like it? I thought it was quite clever in my own way."
Marcelo laughed mischievously.
"Well, fine. Now then, shall I get serious for the first time in a while?"
Paul, having removed the ring, cast magic with his eyes sparkling.
"Wind Curtain!"
A wind like a slow-spinning tornado rose from above Paul's head, and its radius expanded in the blink of an eye. In no time, it enveloped the space between the main gate and the second gate. A massive wind barrier had been completed.