kscans

Chapter 12 - The Siege of the City

"Do not falter! Burn every last one of the undead!"

"Have no fear! The grace of the gods will protect you!"

The knights and priests engulfed the undead in fire and light. Those caught in the flames were burned to the bone, while those bathed in the light collapsed to the ground, never to move again.

"Whoa, so that's Holy Magic, huh?"

It's just like in the games—super effective against the undead.

"Which means it's probably super effective against me, too."

Hmm, I'd rather not get close to that.

"But at this rate, sending in the undead is useless. Even if I drop them from the sky, they'll just get exorcised instantly if I miss... Ah, I've got it."

An idea struck me. I ordered my undead to avoid the two groups and immediately headed outside the town.

◆

By the time I returned, the situation had worsened considerably. Although I'd ordered my forces not to engage the knights and priests, my enemies had the home-field advantage. They'd used it to corner my undead, and their numbers had been significantly reduced.

"But they should be making more undead, so their numbers shouldn't be dropping that much..."

"Everyone, flee to the Church! The Church has divine protection! The undead cannot enter!"

I see. If the humans hole up in a place the undead can't get into, then there's no way to increase our numbers.

But if that's the case, I have other methods. I sent new orders to my undead and decided to deal with the priests first.

"Here we go!"

From high above, I dropped something right on top of the priests.

Whoooosh.

"Hm? What's that sound... Gubbah!?"

"Your Holiness!?"

"Wh-Why is there a giant tree here!?"

That's right. What I dropped was a massive tree I'd ripped out of the nearby forest. A tree dozens of meters tall has a much bigger hitbox than a human-sized undead.

"Aaalley-oop!"

I tugged on the rope in my hands, and the tree that had just crushed a priest was hoisted back into the air.

"The tree is floating!?"

When I'd attacked the travelers on the road, I'd helped myself to the rope from their wagons and tied it around the tree. Now I can reuse it as many times as I want!

"Here we go again!"

And so, I repeatedly hurled the giant tree at the priests.

"Gwaaaaaah!"

"Hieeee!"

"G-God! Grant us the sun's radiance to repel this evil! Holy Light! I-It's not working!?"

"""Gyaaaaaaaaaah!!""""

And just like that, the troublesome priests were annihilated by my giant tree attack.

"Alright, next up are the knights... I wonder if Ichigo-kun is okay."

I had left the knights to Ichigo-kun. Actually, he had gestured that he wanted me to leave them to him. He was probably eager to defeat the knights of the country that had betrayed him with his own hands.

"But their magic was pretty powerful, and Ichigo-kun only has a sword, so it might be tough..."

As I thought this, I looked over to where the knights had been. The red glow of their fire magic, which had been erupting moments ago, was completely gone. In its place stood Ichigo-kun, unfazed, in the middle of a sea of blood. Floating at his feet like leaves on water were pieces of silver armor and black robes.

"Wait, he took them all down by himself!?"

No, no, no, isn't he a little too strong, Ichigo-kun!? Thanks to his incredible performance, I didn't even have to fight the knights.

"Wow, Ichigo-kun is way more capable than I thought. Well, that just leaves the humans barricaded in the Church and that big mansion over there."

My eyes fell upon the Church where the humans were seeking refuge, and the grand mansion standing proudly in the best part of town. I didn't want to get attacked from behind, so I figured I'd start with the Church.

◆

After confirming Ichigo-kun's victory, I grabbed one of the smaller "Wolf-chan"s and flew up to get a bird's-eye view of the battle. From there, I could see the town's residents running toward the Church.

"'Wolf-chan's! Block that passage!"

"Awooooooo!"

At my command, the wolf let out a howl. In response, the "Wolf-chan"s on the ground sprang into action, getting ahead of the humans and blocking their path.

"Ugh! More of them! Why do they keep showing up wherever we go!?"

"It's like they're trying to keep us from reaching the Church!"

It's not like that; that's exactly what I'm doing. From my vantage point in the sky, I was tracking the humans' positions and deploying my "Wolf-chan"s to prevent them from reaching the Church. The howls of the wolf in my arms were my way of relaying orders.

For those who get it, the situation was basically like a top-down video game screen. The town was even rectangular, like a TV screen. It was a game from the enemy's perspective, where I had to stop the targets—the humans—from reaching the goal.

"Block that route! Over there, leave a deliberate opening in the encirclement to lure them in! Perfect, a clean sweep!"

Then, I'd drive the humans into areas where my Ghouls were waiting and increase our numbers.

"Excellent, troop reinforcement! Hehehe, having a destination like the Church has actually made hunting easier."

Alright, most of the humans heading for the Church have been dealt with. It's about time I attacked the Church itself. I sent orders to a few undead and had them advance.

"Now, what's going to happen?" There were no guards at the Church gate. There was a wall, but it was neither high nor thick enough to stop a horde of undead.

"But I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

A shiver ran down my spine. Was it because I'm an evil undead creature?

"Hmm, the entrance looks sealed, so climb the wall and get inside!"

I ordered them to enter as a test. The moment the undead touched the wall...

Bzzzzzzzt! With a sizzling sound, the undead recoiled and stumbled back.

"What was that!?"

Looking closer, I could see that the undead's bodies were scorched.

"Is that the Church's protection? A barrier with an anti-undead effect?"

It looked like a direct assault would be difficult. It wasn't a physical wall, so it seemed possible to force our way in, but I had a feeling that once inside, we'd take continuous holy damage, like poison damage over time.

"This is a pain."

So, a direct assault is a bad idea. In that case, I guess it's time for...

"This, I suppose."

I looked down at the giant tree lying abandoned on the street.

◆

CRASH!! CRASH!!

The Church was under an unprecedented assault. To be specific, a physical assault by a giant tree tied to a rope. Yup, if you can't get inside, attacking from the outside with a projectile is the best option. I swung the tree around and around, building up momentum, then slammed it into the Church with all my might. The stone building was sturdy and didn't break immediately, but the sound of the simple mass-acceleration attack taking its toll echoed through the air.

"One more time!"

After several more impacts, the sound of the building creaking echoed throughout the town. And then, the moment finally came.

CRRAAASH! RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE! A corner of the Church collapsed. From there, it was a rapid decline. With one section broken, that spot became the new target, and the Church's destruction progressed quickly. Humans began to pour out from inside.

"Run! We're going to be crushed!"

"Help! God, help us!"

Not wanting to be crushed by the falling debris, the humans fled the Church. They would have been fine if they'd stayed within the grounds, but in their panic, they ran outside seeking safer ground—unaware that they were running straight into the heart of hell.

""""Guuuuuuuh!!""""

"Gyaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Hieeeee!"

Attacked by the Ghouls, the number of victims grew.

"G-Get back! It's the undead!!"

They scrambled back into the Church grounds, but here, the stone rubble from the Church I was destroying rained down, crushing them.

"No! Not this way, agh-byaaaah!!"

Outside was no good, and inside was no good. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, they could only stand frozen in the area between the building and the entrance.

After a while, the unpleasant feeling I'd been getting from the Church suddenly vanished.

"Huh? The barrier's gone?"

Maybe since I destroyed the Church, the device generating the barrier broke too?

"This is perfect! Everyone, charge!"

At my command, the undead stormed the Church grounds.

"H-How did they get inside the Church!?"

"Wasn't this place supposed to be safe!?"

"V-Vile dead! Bow before the might of God! H-Holy Ligh—ugyaah!"

There seemed to be a few surviving priests, but they were too shocked by the Church's destruction to put up much of a fight and were quickly neutralized. And so, the place where the Church once stood became a complete pile of rubble, devoid of any sign of life.

"Alright, that takes care of most of the enemies. Now, let's go seize the throne of this town's ruler!"

Leaving the Church behind, I led my undead army toward the lord's mansion, where an unbelievable sight awaited me.

"Huh? The lord's not here?"

To my astonishment, while the mansion was full of servants and officials, the master of the house—the lord and his entire family—were nowhere to be found.