The sound of rifles firing was interspersed with the cleavings of scimitars as the encircled knights made their last, desperate stand.
“Tsss…?!”
“Ahhhhh…!”
One of the scimitars had been wrapped in layer after layer of spider silk and lost its sharpness completely.
Completely battered and exhausted, Rameau rode on the back of a female half-human spider. One of his hands was holding her neck in a tight grip while the other was pushing her head down.
Dense drops of sweat covered his cheeks and slid downwards, a clear testament to the sheer amount of force he expended.
“Ka-ka-ka, Tsss…” White foam emerged from the corners of the half-human spider’s mouth. Its white human hands swung chaotically in the air, but to no avail.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of breaking bones, its rather sturdy neck was twisted askew.
Rameau immediately collapsed face-down onto the ground, incessantly panting beside the spider monster that had breathed its last.
As the one leading the charge, his body had long since been covered with cuts and bruises.
Luckily, this species of spider monster didn’t seem to possess any venom. Otherwise, Rameau reckoned that he would already be on the path to the netherworld.
Just like that, he laid with his eyes closed. With no one coming forth to help him up on his feet, he listened to the anguished wailing and roars surrounding him, deeply aware of what they meant.
A battalion of knights including himself had been completely decimated in less than half an hour, while only managing to slay less than 5 enemies…
It was truly an unsightly outcome. However, even if the battle was lost, punishment from the Temple Association would probably be of no concern to him.
“Bang, bang, bang…!” Like orderly drum beats, the sound of magic rifles resounded.
“Mhm??” Rameau narrowed his eyes as traces of astonishment flitted past his eyes.
The climactic stage of the battle had long passed. After the enemies had closed the distance, the magic rifles in the gunmen’s possession were of less use than burning sticks. If they were given practically no chance to fire the rifles in their hands, how could an orderly salvo of gunfire occur?
“Tsss…!?” Several half-human spiders obstructing the path out were attracted by the sound of gunfire and slowly turned their massive body around to the rear.
Before they could even ascertain the situation behind them, a black silhouette fell from the sky.
Draped in a black cape, a gorgeous, fully-enclosed plate armor made from precious metal appeared. A gloomy and cold glint flickered from the seams of its helmet as a long halberd in its hands descended with a whistle.
“Crack!” As if it was chopping a watermelon, the halbert split the head of a half-human spider in two, causing faint-black liquid to splatter onto its owner’s pale-golden shoulder armor.
“Tsss…!?” The monster was terminated. Upon seeing the situation, one of its comrades next to it opened and shut its jaws before leaping its massive and cumbersome body into the air, intending to crush the human before it into bits.
Despite that, the armored man didn’t hurry. With an extremely skilled movement – well suited to handle the situation at hand – he ferociously raised his halberd upwards and, to everyone’s surprise, pierced through the spider which was many times larger than himself and flung it to the side.
Before it could even get back on its feet, the halbert’s hilt had ruthlessly crushed its skull into pieces.
With two half-human spiders taken care of in one swoop, the armored man waved his hand, causing the fully-armed knights behind him to flood into the city like a tidal wave.
“S-Sire! Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived!” With the pressure weighing on him greatly reduced, the similarly-injured aide-de-camp hurried towards Ramaeu to help him up.
“You don’t need to say it that loud. I can see it too.” Rameau eyelids’ lowered as he stared at the setting evening sun in the distance.
‘Did that accursed God finally listen to our pleas?’
“Bang, bang, bang…!” Magic riflemen took turns participating in battle and reloading their rifles, causing gunshots to ring out continuously.
Sparks splattered onto the spiders’ skin and hair, directing their aggression towards the newly arrived group. Leaving the severely-injured knights behind, they turned around and shifted their attack to new targets.
The magic riflemen retreated, while shield-bearers took charge of picking up the wounded knights that had fallen unconscious and bringing them to the back. As for the armored man, he was walking ahead of his group, standing out like a moon in a sea of stars.
“Sire, are you alright?” The aide-de-camp hurriedly asked as he supported Ramaeu with one arm and retreated behind the reinforcements.
“That won’t kill me. You’re a man, so stop being a broken recorder that asks the same question all the time.” Rameau coughed twice.
“Heh heh… But which Chivalric Group does this knight belong to? There’s no emblem on his arm.”
Rameau didn’t say a word, his eyes fixated on the lofty figure at the front.
The armored knight rushed forward without the slightest bit of carelessness in his movements. With his body stooped and a sweep of his pole grip, a massive chariot-size spider monster lost its balance, tumbling around in circles before falling down to the ground into a disorderly heap.
His heavy halberd didn’t rest in the slightest. In the hands of the armored knight, its move appeared so natural that it seemed like an extension of his body.
The long halbert powerfully cleaved downwards and ruthlessly cut off the head of a half-human spider.
“Uoooh…!” Behind him, the wounded knights felt hot blood rising through their body as they witnessed the scene. In between their emotional sighs was curiosity towards the exact identity behind that knight. A single halberd blow of his could reap the life of a spider monster that over 300 of them couldn’t stand against.
“Tssss…?!” He thoroughly pierced through another large spider that refused to believe in the threat he posed. Like barbecued food on a skewer, it hung on its halberd and would not fall down again.
“Milord! …Who exactly is that? No, is that person even human in the first place?” The aide-de-camp asked, flabbergasted.
“I might have heard about this person before. It seems like, he’s…” Rameau slightly knitted his brows.
“Tsssss!!” The ferocious spider monsters gave up on fighting him one-on-one and decided to swarm him all at once.
Just as they were harboring such thoughts, a black chariot-sized silhouette smashed towards them like a bowling ball and sent three of them flying away.
The half-human spiders stared at their comrades that were thrown away in shock before directing their gazes on the knight clad in precious metal armor once more. He was standing at the same spot where he had been earlier, with his arms crossed and his halberd standing upright on the ground.
Stretching out his gauntlets, he curled his fingers at the spider monsters in a provocative manner.
“My god…! Is the one inside that precious metal armor really a human???”
“Keep your voice down! You’re going to drag me down with you when you get beaten up later.” Rameau impatiently knocked against the helmet of his aide-de-camp at his side.
“Tssss…!!” The spiders were enraged. Although such monsters seemed horrifying, they typically had low intelligence.
Judging from how they were charging towards him all at once, the armored knight in front of them had attracted all half-human spiders’ aggression.
The armored knight pulled his halberd out the ground, and, instead of retreating, advanced with his weapon’s tip facing forward like a moving fortress.
“Crack, crack, crack…” Its sharp blade deeply pierced the body of a half-human spider, pushing it through a broken wall which shattered into pieces.
“Crap!” Rameau’s eyes constricted.
This action was filled with major flaws for the nimble, armored knight.
Unsurprisingly, before the armored knight could pull out his halberd, a spider at his back had made use of the time to pounce at him.
Its sharp pincers attacked, purposely stabbing his abdominal area that was not covered by armor.
The armored knight didn’t dodge; Rather, he had no chance for that.
“Stab!” A sound of flesh being pierced resounded as its fangs ruthlessly penetrated into the knight’s abdomen.
“Over, it’s all over!” The aide-de-camp incessantly chanted with his hands wrapped around his head.
Ramaeu slowly heaved a sigh.
However, the companions the armored knight brought along didn’t show any reactions, almost as if that was something they were accustomed to.
Before it had time to rejoice, the spider monster immediately sensed that something was amiss.
The fully-armed chunk of metal before it didn’t display any sign of pain; Even the trembling or fear one encountered before death was absent.
“Crack, crack…” The armored knight tilted his head and stared at the fangs that had pierced his body. After which, he placed his halberd to the side and pulled them out in one fell swoop.
Not a single drop left the wound, nor did any intestines or the like hang out. It was completely clean.
Immediately after, he picked up his halberd and swung it at the large spider next to him like a baseball bat, sending it flying.
“…Oh my momma! So that is actually not a human after all??”
“I remembered…” A lightbulb suddenly turned on in Rameau’s head.
“He is… The current president of the temple association 一 The Immortal Knight.”