223: Main Force 223: Main Force Looking out towards the fleeing citizens, many of them being chased down by imps deviating from the main force of the pack, I began to notice sothing.
They weren’t city guards, they weren’t Imperial Knights, and yet, sohow, a few of them were fighting back.
Did they suddenly gain a blessing from the Sun Father, the courage and strength to fight despite their plainness?
Of course not.
By sensing the chaotic flow of magic energy in the air, I followed the mysterious source of the rallying to a single hooded figure standing atop one of the nearby roofs, holding a staff high into the air with a storm of mana around them.
‘AOE buff magic…
or no, sothing like a ‘berserk’ effect…?’ If it was rely giving citizens a breath of power, I was sure most of them would only use it to run to safety faster, but that’s not what was happening.
There must have been so kind of ntal alteration included to make them fight back, and sohow, it seed to be working well enough at least to stop the imps from taking any lives unable to resist.
Either way, that person wasn’t the only one―seemingly appearing from nowhere, hundreds of n and won dressed like classic adventurers ca out of the woodwork drawing weapons and casting spells, evidently either for money and fa or simply to defend their holand.
As well as that, I began to spot more and more people sporting white robes appearing dotted throughout the battlefield, either using magic and blessings to heal the wounded or fight back with surprising force.
Priests, either having erged from their temples spread all throughout the city, or more likely, those who simply happened to be nearby, converging here to fight back the Demon threat that had suddenly attacked.
For so reason, the Saint, one of the three forr love interests, was nowhere to be seen, the sa going for Joádin and the red-haired warrior, but I was sure that was no coincidence.
‘There’s no way they don’t have anything to do with this, but things having gone this far is just crazy!’ Shooting a glance back to Lucretia, who was being guarded from all sides alongside the emperor, she certainly appeared as outwardly composed as usual, but I could tell from the hidden undercurrents of her expression that even she knew sothing had gone wrong.
It was no surprise, and in fact only served to solidify my suspicion, but at the sa ti, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
‘Anyway, it was a shocker, but it looks like everyone else has things more or less under control.
I should probably get out of here before they try and execute agai–‘ Turning my back to the warring citizens and imps, about to make a break for it before it was too late and I was captured again, I abruptly paused.
“-?!” Suddenly being overco with a surge of unease, I spun around, my gaze naturally drifting up to the dark portal sitting ominously still in the sky.
For a brief mont, I could have sworn I saw it pulse.
‘Surely not…’ A faint premonition coming to mind, I lightly grit my teeth.
And then, it happened.
“Tsk…” From beyond the void-like fabric of the portal, evidently rough skin―a sickening blend of evergreen and tawny―gradually began to erge.
This ti, it wasn’t sothing so diminutive like an imp, and rather reminded of an ogre or cyclops with its imnse stature, trunk-like limbs and singular eye.
Slowly having its full body erge from the other side of the portal, it quickly t the effects of gravity and fell to the ground, landing with a crash and completely decimating the wooden foundation that was the gallows, resulting in almost getting crushed.
Rising back up faster than the ogre, I hurriedly recovered my standing and dashed away to a safer place, letting Sneak and the Draconic Shadow hide as the monster slowly pushed itself up.
‘Shit…
That thing’s a hell of a lot stronger than those imps…’ And of course, it didn’t co alone.
Glancing up, more ogres erged from the dark portal and fell, a collective few dozen, or perhaps even over a hundred tric tonnes of weight plumting to the ground in seconds, and before anyone could know it, filling the area that was the exact place where my head was supposed to be separated from my body just a few minutes ago.
After that, the dark portal ultimately shrunk and closed, disappearing like it never existed, but it was already too late.
The ogres spread out, and though there were naturally fewer of them compared to the total number of imps even now, that didn’t make their proposed force any less frightening.
Like the imps had done before them, most of the ogres went in the direction the citizens were fleeing―the direction of the adventurers, the priests, the city guards, and most of the Imperial Knights.
Needless to say, I highly doubted that so AOE buffs on asly citizens and diocre city guards would be enough to stop monsters like that, so they probably had to rely on the adventurers, priests, and knights to do the heavy lifting.
As for where the rest of the ogres were funnelling to…
[B-be careful, Enki!
You have to protect the Antagonist!] “…I know.” There was only one other place they could go, and that was behind, to the Imperial Palace.
‘Even if she wasn’t the Antagonist, of course I wouldn’t just stand by and let her die.’ Quickly noticing a small cohort of ogres split off from the rest and approach the emperor’s pack, I watched carefully as his personal guard stepped forth, having already dealt with the assaulting imps from before.
Before I even had a chance to blink, the coordinated effort had already downed one of the ogres, a feat even I was struck with awe by, and one those monsters surely didn’t see coming.
‘Those guys are a lot stronger than the ordinary knights…’ It was plain to see even to who still wasn’t entirely used to combat, and after witnessing that, I was certain that the knights I had briefly scuffled with on my first day here were not her regular guards.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were even stronger than that Black Fang group, who, incidentally, I also had yet to see erge to protect the city.
In any case, if Lucretia stayed with them, she would undoubtedly remain safe even in the middle of this abrupt battlefield.
However, what did that an for what ca after all of this was done…?
I would still remain a criminal who deserved nothing less than the death penalty, and not only that, but Lucretia’s protection would only increase more than any level it had been at in the past, aning it would beco practically impossible for to et her.
“…” ‘Desperate tis call for desperate asures.’ Dismissing the Villainous Blade into Storage, I ensured Sneak was active and narrowed my eyes.
Fortunately, the guards were too busy dealing with the fierce onslaught of ogres to have any one of them missing from the fight.
That ant, even against strong fellows like this, there was a window of opportunity.
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