HOKOTATE

“This is… the ritual magic ≪Sanctuary»?”

The royal capital was enveloped in a bright white glow.

Looking at that, René searched for the answer by using the magical knowledge she had been given along with the Divine Protection Cheat.

High-level holy magic ≪Sanctuary».

It purified the surroundings and created a barrier that would keep out impure beings and powers.

If an undead were to jump into it, they would be purified in an instant.

Since it is deployed over such a wide area, it was probably ritual magic.

If a large group of people worked together to distribute the burden, prepared catalyst items to fuel the magic, and spent plenty of time on top of that, they could use advanced magic and display miraculous power. This was called Ritual Magic.

“… Alastair, what’s this?”

“I’m sorry. It’s a scenario that I thought was unlikely to be realized and was excluded.”

She asked how the operation would go in this case, and Alastair’s response was apologetic.

” I won’t be offended, just state your reasons for eliminating it. It might help us in the future.”

“Yes. First of all, it seemed unlikely that the Knights would have thought of using such large-scale defensive magic and requested it from the Temple. In the temple of the royal city, ritual magic is only used to resuscitate the dead, which is important, and the priests are not proficient enough to stockpile the catalysts. For these reasons, I had ruled out the possibility.”

“Hmm… let’s keep that in mind for now. And now we can recover from this.

The reason why the temple unexpectedly used ritual magic was also a matter of concern, but more importantly, what they needed to do something about it now was to get rid of it.

“The point is to break through the barrier, right?”

“Is it possible?”

” You can’t know if you don’t try.”

As René said this, a shuddering roar echoed through the air.

A projectile cannon was firing atop the city wall.

She didn’t know if it was a gunpowder detonation or magic, but at any rate, some kind of propulsion propelled the cannonball, and it didn’t … rain down on the undead line, but landed far in front of the line.

“A test run?”

“Perhaps. But in a war between humans, there are times when they fire their cannons at each other in a coordinated manner to start a war. Therefore, the roar of a cannon is considered a signal to commence war, and to fire a cannon unilaterally without sending a messenger would be the height of disrespect.”

“I see. The fact that defensive ritual magic was used, in other words, it was a declaration that the fight was on.”

“I think we can safely assume so.”

If they looked, they would see archers on the walls of the city, holding longbows. They were aiming diagonally upward, shooting arrows in a mountainous trajectory.

The range of the longbow exceeded that of a cannon. As for long-range attacks, it outperformed most magic in terms of power and range.

Ordinary arrows would not do much damage against the undead, but they would definitely soak the arrows in holy water before shooting them. The damage became a specialized one for undead just like a weapon affected by ≪Consecration≫.

” Hmph.”

Rene snorted irritably and held up the red magic staff.

“…[Performance Deviation: Range]≪Calamity Flash≫”

A reddish-black light the size of a soccer ball converged at the tip of the staff.

In the next instant, it passed over the heads of the army and headed in a straight line toward the royal capital with an enormous output resembling a geyser.

*

The first to notice the attack were, of course, the knights on the walls, who were ready for battle.

“Whoa!?”

Seeing the oncoming death flash, the gunnery men who were cleaning the muzzles of their projectile guns sat up.

But the flash stopped right in front of them.

It hit the barrier of holy energy and stopped, only to spark off again like a struggle.

Realizing that they were not going to die, the gunners stood up, wobbling.

A flash of red and black extended from right in front of them to the rear palanquin of the undead army, as if an invisible giant were holding a rusty iron rod.

“You mean to tell me they’re going to attack us at this distance!?”

“What terrifying magical power…”

Both the gunners and the archers around them were experts at long-range combat.

The distance of long-range attacks in large-scale battles was generally drilled into their minds.

This was a blow that betrayed that.

“A formidable magical force, to be sure. But… the priests prevented it.”

“Yeah.”

Someone said, and someone responded.

The thought that ‘the unity of mankind defeated it’, even though they felt the might of the enemy, was their hope for victory.

” We will not let the unholy undead overrun our capital. The gods are watching our battle. Let us pray together for victory. We will win. … Now is the time to break the nightmare of the former king.”

The death-colored flashes continued to play like water on a glass window at the boundary of the barrier.

Seeing that, the knights said a short prayer and moved for the next attack.

*

“I wonder if they have some fantasy about holy magic. Holy magic is only effective against the undead and curse magic because it’s the opposite attribute.”

The power of emotion detection was at work, and from the city walls, René detected a feeling of “faith”, … awe of a great being and clinging to it for help, and at the same time she could feel “fear” fade away, and she smiled.

In addition, this level of “hope” was outrageous.

The knights on the city walls seemed to think they had absolute protection.

“Magic of opposite attributes cancel each other out… which means it’s just a purely magical contest. The only reason holy magic does so much damage to the undead is because it can cut off the magic that animates them.”

Holy magic purged evil powers and beings.

…Why didn’t they think that it could be the other way around? Didn’t they think that the evil undead will wear their evil power to protect themselves from holy magic? Do they think it is not possible that the holy land, which had been purified, can be defiled again by evil magic?

How could they believe that their God alone was absolute?

“And then there’s … ah, yes, holy magic is boosted in power by the blessings of some God or other. Perhaps holy magic is the weakest Divine Protection Cheat that God can give to the human race.”

Or perhaps that was the root of the misunderstanding.

It was magic that borrowed the power of God and exercised a power greater than the magician’s own, so it must be superior to the evil one.

It was said that this world was once created by the “Mediator”, who existed alone in a space of nothingness, tearing itself apart.

Everything being balanced between positive and negative. If that was the case, then it must be as powerful as the God who gave Divine Protections to the human race … on the opposite side.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve got one of those Divine Protection too. I got a … special cheat from the Evil God, who is equal in power to the Great God!”

If René had used an offensive magic of another attribute, she would have been able to slip through the holy energy barrier and attack the city directly.

But René did not. The goal was to eliminate the obstacles and begin the operation.

” … Alastair. Can you have some Lich around here check to see if there are any more knights on the walls with the «Crystal Eye»?”

To give instructions to the undead she had created, she only needed to think, but if she needed an answer, it was sometimes easier for her to give verbal instructions from the beginning, because it was easier from a sensory standpoint.

When René ordered while holding her staff and continuing to radiate attack magic, Alastair commanded a Lich to do as she had ordered and listened for what was happening.

“The personnel stationed in the vicinity where the attack is hitting all appear to be Knights of the First Order.”

“All right. Then I’ll keep my aim on point…”

René laughed, a skeletal face with no facial muscles, but still laughing to the limit.

“Let them die.”

A flash of red-black death scorched and melted the white, clean barrier.