Chapter 527: The End of the War
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Soon enough, the scene shifted from a messy battle to a slaughter.
The Holy Knights had lost any chances of escape as they faced soldiers who had beaten them at least ten times. Most of them died from being hacked and slashed by swinging blades, and less than a hundred of them chose to surrender. They threw their armor away and placed their hands on their heads while they kneeled humiliatingly before these ordinary soldiers.
"No.... Don’t kill me, I surrender..."
There were still the less devoted ones even among the Holy Knights. At this almost-fatal situation, they chose to betray the God that they preached, and became captives of war.
The Priests, on the other hand, were much pious than the Holy Knights. Those priests, who could not fly soon disappeared into the crowd and quickly became chilling corpses; those priests who could fly attempted to escape, but were stopped mercilessly by Benjamin and his mages.
At the end of the fight, there were almost 5000 water birds flying in the sky. They circled the air to form an intricate web, and it was so pressuring for the Priests within that they felt as if they were suffocating.
"This... What magic is this? How could he control so many things at once?"
The Priests activated their barriers to try and stop the continuous attack of the water birds. Even though they were not particularly threatening to the Priests, they still would not survive the ceaseless assault of the birds!
That was when they did not take the predatory mages around them into account.
Soon after the fight commences, the only thought left within the hearts of the Priests was for them to leave, as quick as they possibly could. They tried to dash past Benjamin’s blockade in a frenzy, but almost half of them were dead because of it. Finally, after a long process of unceasing fighting, almost a hundred mages managed to break past the blockade and disappeared from their sight.
Benjamin had the urge to hunt them down, but it was near impossible to do so. Thus, he gave up that line of thought.
The remaining hundred mages would be no threat to them, anyway.
"I....I.... God will punish you...."
The last Priest cursed with a vengeance as he fell to the ground. That marked the end of the war between Benjamin and the Church.
The soldiers raised their heads to see the King, who was still in the sky. Their eyes were weary but relieved, and their blood-splattered faces were framed by the warm glow of sunlight.
Benjamin too took a deep breath. He recalled the flying birds in the sky and revealed the beautiful, sunny day.
They finally won.
As he surveyed the corpses that littered the ground, Benjamin knew that this was a devastating battle for both sides. The final retaliation from the Priests and Holy Knights caused at least a few thousands of soldiers to perish. The air stank with death, the blood, and severed body parts filled the ground where they stood like grains in an overstocked granary.
To Carretas, this was an unfortunate result. But regardless.... They won.
At this junction named Merkel, the King’s soldiers were ambushed by the Church. The King’s soldiers emerged as the winner, and they defeated the Church by a large margin, causing massive damage to the Church’s army. This battle had altered the fate of Carretas - the Church had lost their grip in the Kingdom, and the King had regained his military power, which formed a solid military basis for their rebuilt of Gealorre.
That was how the future generations would describe this battle in the history books.
Benjamin smiled at the thought.
Suddenly, he turned to face the King beside him, "Your Majesty, we won the battle."
The King closed his eyes. He was shaking slightly, and it took him a few minutes to open his eyes again. He was silent as he surveyed the people below him, their black hair forming a sea of black due to the sheer amount of soldiers present. He took a deep breath.
"You did well." The king struggled to keep his composure, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. He spoke slowly, "You saved me. You saved the whole of Carretas. You.... You are the heroes of the Kingdom."
Tens of thousands of soldiers fixated their gaze on the King. A stoic silence overtook the scene.
The King nodded, finally taking in the situation.
The generals who led these soldiers all died in this battle. Now, what these soldiers need was not appreciation, but orders - they needed someone to announce the victory of this battle, and then tell them what they should do next.
This was just like a ceremony - a ceremony to return to the peak of power.
Thus, a wave of calm swept over the King, and a very kingly smile lit his face. "We won," he said, as he looked at his men, "It’s done. Now, clean the battleground, and we shall prepare our return to Gealorre."
The soldiers bowed their heads after they had gotten their order. At the command of the remaining generals, they kept their weapons, treated the injured, ordered the captives.... They started to sort themselves on this battlefield.
Meanwhile, the King returned to the ground with the mages.
"Mage Benjamin, I shall cut to the chase," The king patted Benjamin’s shoulder. "If it wasn’t for your help, I would never have reached this stage."
Benjamin shook his head with a smile.
"Your Majesty, now is not the time for us to relax," Benjamin stated, "The priests escaped towards the direction of Gealorre. We should march towards Geallore at the earliest notice to avoid any potential problems. We need to take back the city as soon as possible."
The King paused, clearly confused. "Um... What problems are you talking about? There’s only so much of them left, it’s not like they could effectively guard Gealorre, no?"
"Of course, it is impossible for them to defend Gealorre. However, if they are cruel enough, they might set the whole city on fire before they withdraw their forces from Gealorre. That, is totally possible."
The King’s expression changed immediately as he finally grasped the severity of the situation.
"Quick! Bring me to Gealorre, quick! It will all be for naught if Gealorre was destroyed by them."
Benjamin nodded.
After the ambush, the major troop of soldiers was left there to be managed by the generals and a few mages, and they will march slowly towards Gealorre. The King, on the other hand, was carried by Benjamin who flew at full speed towards Gealorre.
"Can we go any faster?"
The strong wind billowed past their cheeks midair. They could barely open their eyes, but the King showed no signs of fear. Instead, he felt that this was too slow.
Well, he could not help it. He was really terrified of the fact that they might only see an ocean of fire once they reached Gealorre.
"Don’t worry, Your Majesty. It is impossible for the Priests to fly faster than me." Benjamin seemed much calmer. "They started not long before us. We would definitely catch up with them."
The King inhaled deeply after that, slightly relieved by the news.
They were not too far away from Gealorre, and as Benjamin was flying at full speed towards the city, they managed to reach their destination in a record time of 4 hours.
The gate to Gealorre was shut tightly, and Holy Knights were patrolling on the top of the gate. The atmosphere was dead silent.
The King was immensely relieved at the sight.
"Thank goodness. They did not set the city on fire."
As he spoke, he turned to Benjamin, wanting to ask the younger one about his plans to enter the city. Instead, the mage set him at a location nearby of Gealorre, and flew alone to the gate.
"Who is it?"
The Holy Knights who were guarding the gate looked wary after they saw a figure in flight approaching them. Their question was cold and threatening.
Judging from their reactions, the escaped Priests had not returned. These Holy Knights were still obediently guarding the city gate, still oblivious that their major military force had all but perished just hours ago.
A cold smirk lit Benjamin’s face. He did not answer as he flew swiftly towards the city walls.
"You.... You’re the mage!" At that moment, the Holy Knights could finally make clear of Benjamin’s face. Shock colored their faces, and they were visibly flustered. They had no idea how to react.
Benjamin smiled sweetly at the Holy Knights.
A dense batch of ice blades suddenly rose from above him, aimed directly at the city walls of Carretas.