have to keep on facing wave after wave of Angels. Waiting for the enemy to run out of magic
power was another idea, but by that time Gazef would have already exhausted all his strength.
As a matter of fact, the sword in Gazef’s hand was slowly getting heavier: His heart was beating
erratically.
「Instant Counter」was a skill that made it possible to follow up on an attack: It allowed the
user to return to his original posture after attacking once so that he can attack again. Although it was possible to attack again quickly, forcibly changing the posture of the body created a great
burden on it.
The 「Full Throttle」 technique allowed the user to temporarily speed up his mental state,
increasing the speed of his attacks. But continuous usage accumulated a huge amount of
mental fatigue.
Together with the use of 「Sixfold Slash of Light」, the burden on his body was immense, but if
he didn’t use it, there would be no way out of this.
“Doesn’t matter how many of you come! You Angels are no big deal!”
This roar full of vigor startled the Theocracy’s soldiers, but immediately a calm voice made them
regain their composure:
“Don’t mind him, that’s just the roar of a beast caught in a cage. There’s no need to be anxious,
just wear him down slowly and avoid getting too close. The claws of this beast are long indeed.”
Gazef glared at the man with the scar on his face.
If he could just kill that commander, it would be possible to reverse the situation. The problem
was the thing next to him, Angels different from those wielding flaming swords, in addition to the
distance separating them and the many layers of defensive barriers in front of him.
He was just too far away.
“The beast plans to break out. Let him know the meaning of impossible.”
The man’s calm voice made Gazef feel impatient.
Even if he used hero-level strength, for someone like Gazef who only knew about melee combat,
there was almost no chance of winning.
But—— so what? If this was the only way to get rid of the enemies’ commander, all he could do
was to use his strength to break through.
With sharp eyes, Gazef began to sprint.
But he knew this would be a difficult task.
The Angels continuously thrusted and slashed their raging flame swords at him, but he dodged
them and countered at the same time, only to feel a sudden pain after defeating them.
The pain felt like he was rammed in the stomach. Following at that direction, he saw a group of
Magic Chanters using a some kind of spell.
"Since you are priests, you should at least act the part by casting some healing spells, right?"
As if to deny Gazef’s sarcasm, he was hit by an invisible shockwave.
Even if it was an invisible attack, as long as there weren’t too many of them, Gazef was
confident that he could react and dodge the attacks by watching his opponent’s eyes. But since
there were more than thirty attacks, the best he could do was to use all his strength to protect
his head by using his sword and arms as cover.
He almost fell to the ground as his entire body cried out in agony, until it reached the point
where he became unable to tell which part of his body the pain was coming from.
“A-hak!”
Gazef’s throat couldn’t stand the taste of blood, causing him to spit out a mouthful of it;
The taste of iron coming from his throat made Gazef cough out a mouthful of blood. Being hit by
invisible shockwaves, Gazef took a few steps back, choking, trying to avoid being hit by the
Angel’s sword. He was unable to dodge the enemy’s sword and luckily it bounced off his armour,
but the impact of the attack still got through.
He reflexively swiped at an Angel, but since he lost his balance the Angel was able to dodge
easily.
Breathless, Gazef’s sword hand was trembling.
As if his intensely fatigued body was whispering into his ears, telling him to lie down and rest.
“It’s about time to enter the final phase of the hunt. Don’t allow the beast to rest, order the
Angels to press the attack.”
Even if Gazef wanted to catch his breath, after listening to the orders of their commander the
Angels attacked mercilessly one after another.
First he would dodge, then pierce it through the side with his sword. He would use his tough
armor to block the attack of the next Angel swooping down from the sky.
Although Gazef wanted to retaliate, there were just too many attacks.
The accumulated fatigue sapped his strength, he could only handle one enemy at a time now.
He practically had no more energy left to activate his special skills as one by one, his men fell to the ground, allowing the enemy’s attacks to focus completely on himself.
He was unable to break through the enemy’s encirclement and felt death slowly creep closer
and closer to him.
In a moment of carelessness he nearly crumbled to his knees, but without delay he raised his
spirit again and fought on.
And once again the magical shockwave flew towards Gazef, hitting him as he was struggling to
move.
The scene in front of his eyes swayed heavily.
Not good!
Gazef used all the remaining strength in his body to maintain his balance. But something
seemed to be wrong with it, since all his strength started to disappear.
Suddenly he felt the grassy ground pricking his face, showing that he had already fallen to the
ground.
Even though he tried his best to get back up, his body did not listen. At this moment, the swords
carried by the Angels signified 'Death'.
“Give him the fatal blow, but don’t do it yourselves, send in the Angels to assure his death.”
I’m doomed.
His trained hand trembled nonstop; he couldn’t even lift the longsword grasped in his hand, but
he stil wouldn’t give up.
Grinding his teeth, he let out a sharp growling sound.
Gazef was not afraid of death. He had already taken countless lives himself, so he was mentally
prepared to face the same ending on the battlefield.
As he had told Ainz before, there were people who bore grudges against him. One day, this
hate would become a sword and take his life.
However, he could not accept this current situation.
To attack so many villages, to murder unarmed, innocent villagers just to lure Gazef into a trap.
He absolutely couldn’t let himself die with this kind of shame, but most of all he couldn’t tolerate his own powerlessness.
“GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME——!”
With his whole body, he let out a huge shout.
With blood and saliva flowing out from his mouth, Gazef slowly stood up.
Feeling the awe-inspiring presence of a man who shouldn't even have enough strength left to
take a single step, the Angels could not help but fall back.
“Hu--—! Hu--—!”
The simple act of standing made it hard for him to breathe, his consciousness was fuzzy and his
whole body felt as if it was buried under a thick layer of mud. But he couldn’t rest, the moment
he did everything would be over.
Furthermore, even with this amount of pain, it could not be said that he would be able to
understand the pain of the villagers who died.
“I am the Knight-Captain of the Kingdom! For my beloved Kingdom, and to protect this
Kingdom’s people! How could I possibly lose to you scum who had tarnished this Kingdom’s
name───!”
This man will protect the villagers.
So the only thing he could do is to defeat the enemy in front of him to his utmost ability.