NOVEL NEXT Chapter 123: Lord, You're Back?
Vikalina was still caught in her thoughts.
Reina, on the other hand, couldn't feel anything around her at all.
She stood alone in the tide of Blood Servants, like a huge stone in a flowing river valley, splitting the " water " apart and holding back countless monsters!
But she could only hold back a part of them. The rest of the "water" still flowed together, forming a new wave, surging forward. Her resistance, though loud and dramatic, was meaningless.
Vikalina held her weapon, slashing enemies as she moved, her expression confused.
She even saw the terrified eyes of the people behind her, and an old man suddenly shouted, "Do it! Do it!"
"Knight Lord, please!"
He roared on behalf of the common people.
Even though many people had their eyes closed, unable to watch what came next.
They knew that those who had been infected were no longer their family.
Vikalina's expression changed. Her eyes turned red. She picked up the knight's lance, and let out a sigh in her heart.
"Clang ——"
She still couldn't bring herself to do it.
She drove her spear forward, cutting down several Blood Servants around her.
The men with red eyes had already picked up iron weapons, slashing wildly. Just by the power they exuded, it was clear that this group was no longer ordinary civilians without any power.
At that moment, a chill ran through Vikalina's heart, but a sense of relief also arose: "It's over..."
The weapons of ordinary people couldn't kill her, but they were enough to slow down Vikalina's movements.
In the tide of monsters, once she lost her balance, it would take only a few seconds before the female knight would be overwhelmed by the frenzied Blood Servants.
In that situation, with her energy already nearly drained, she could very well be killed.
Still, these Blood Servants were able to go crazy and use weapons even before being infected. That was quite a discovery. If the researchers in the Church found out, they'd probably be really excited.
But it was a pity ——"Sivis..."
"I couldn't walk with you to the end."
"I still wanted to see what new things you could come up with."
"I was going to go with you to protect your goods when you sold them out."
"Ah... I still wanted to see how your territory was."
"I still... still wanted to see what kind of world you would one day change."
"Will the corruption of the Church be stopped?"
As Vikalina was about to die, a whole bunch of images flashed before her eyes like a slideshow, making her even more sorrowful...
The female knight wasn't willing to accept defeat!
But...
She suddenly realized —— something was wrong! She hadn't taken any damage at all!
The female knight looked at the approaching Blood Servant, gave her wrist a flick, and cut it down with her knight's lance. Then she took a small step back, putting herself at a safe distance.
Even though her expression was hazy, her body's instincts still let her complete the action.
Then, Vikalina looked around and her face twisted into an extremely strange expression:
"Is this...?"
These infected people shouldn't have been able to use weapons.
So ——
The weapons they used didn't attack Vikalina. Instead, they swung wildly at the many Blood Servants.
And each strike was powerful, smashing the monsters and pushing them back.
They hadn't been corrupted at all!
They just had some of the enhanced physical traits from the infection — but they remained fully conscious!
This... hmm.
That was even more shocking than Vikalina's earlier guess that the Blood Servants could use weapons.
But why did these people suddenly become immune to the infection, and even got a free boost in power?
It wasn't possible that so many infected civilians all simultaneously triggered a miracle, was it?
The only explanation —— Vikalina's mind flashed with a figure: Sivis. Only he had the ability to make these people immune to the infection, and just in the final seconds before they were transformed, they got a power boost without being corrupted.
In other words...She had finally waited for it. She had finally waited for Sivis's arrival!
Vikalina's expression was a little strange.
Not one of wild joy.
But rather, confusion after the weight of pressure had lifted.
Like a drowning person who had just made it to shore, gasping for air, surviving the disaster, and still not believing it.
At the same time, the civilians on the front line were too caught up in the chaos of battle to think too much. They were just pushing forward with whatever mind they had left, fighting as hard as they could.
They didn't realize they were immune to the infection. They just felt an endless surge of strength in their bodies.
The men thought they would soon become monsters, so they wanted to do something for their families in their last moments — even if that "something" might not have been meaningful at all...
Under the drive of their desperate will, and with their power suddenly increased, the group actually managed to hold back the wave of Blood Servants...
No, the civilians had changed nothing.
The number of monsters was just too high. These people had just gotten a power boost, felt confident, and then got a harsh reality check all over again!
The Blood Servants pushed them back, and the people now had more scratches on their bodies — some were even knocked to the ground.
Fortunately, Vikalina hadn't been attacked just now, so she could now come to their aid and save a few people, but still, some male civilians were pierced through by the Blood Servants even while they were guarding the front, their bodies nearly torn apart.
One clash, and they were already severely injured!
The sudden immunity and power boost had made absolutely no difference.
The civilians in the rear experienced a sudden emotional shift: one second, they were full of joy, thinking that their family members had somehow resisted the infection. In the short time, they hadn't even considered that it might be Sivis who had arrived — they were just relieved and happy!
There was hope!
The next second, their expressions became even more rigid. Whether or not they were infected didn't matter anymore — the line had already been on the verge of collapse, which is why so many had been infected in the first place.
Even if they had ignored the plague and gained some power, they were still just commoners who would be torn apart in an instant by the monsters.
It was over!!
At this moment, the monsters... finally had no more obstacles. After a few men were knocked down or injured.
The wave of Blood Servants surged directly into the factory, and the line was broken!
Once broken, it could never be reorganized again.
Inside the factory were only children, the elderly, and women — none of them had any fighting ability.
They could only use their flesh and blood to block the monsters' claws, and the only way to delay was to let the monsters devour them.
In this most desperate moment,
The elderly and women suddenly stepped forward with tears in their eyes, pulling the children behind them.
That was all they could do.
Even though, deep down, they probably knew it was meaningless.
But watching their men had fought and held the line until now.
At the end of their lives, they didn't choose to survive by cowardice, but instead chose to show the light of humanity as much as they could.
Vikalina gripped her knight's lance in complete confusion. In these last few seconds, she even didn't attack the monsters that passed by her side.
Mainly because her strength was almost completely gone.
The female knight didn't even know anymore what the meaning of fighting was...
Even if she killed the Blood Servants around her, more monsters had already passed through her body and rushed into the inner part of the line.
Vikalina herself had already used up all her strength and was now half-kneeling on the ground.
In a daze, she watched the screams of the people, the roaring of the monsters, and all the chaotic noises, the heavy scent of blood.
She just felt...
Her consciousness and soul had already flown up into the sky.
At this moment, some Blood Servants did try to bite or kill Vikalina, but they couldn't even scratch the armor's defense...
The civilians, one by one, gradually accepted the reality from their initial surprise and panic.
It was over.
It was really over.
From the beginning, full of confidence, then panic,
then the support from the Knight Order,
then the situation worsening,
and now.
Tired!
We did our best.
Some say when people face death, they first feel disbelief, then anger and denial, and finally reach peace and acceptance.
At this moment, the creatures in the factory base were showing exactly that kind of attitude!
The greatest sorrow of all is when the heart dies.
Until... a light flashed from behind, forming into a massive blade, like a javelin being thrown by someone!
It pierced through a Blood Servant with a forceful impact!
That light sword pierced through seven or eight Blood Servants like a bamboo through a gourd, and then exploded with brilliant light right in front of the frontline —
Boom!!
In an instant, the monsters were cleared out.
A real clear-out, not just a small gap like Reina made by spinning her giant sword, but a clean area with a radius of several meters, where all the filth and bloodied flesh had vanished completely.
The monsters that had broken through the line were also instantly killed!
Even the area around Vikalina was cleared out!
The light even made the female knight feel a burning heat on her body.
Some civilians guarding the front had their clothes burned to ash.
But the one who released the light sword seemed to have extremely refined control.
Even though their clothes were burned, at least the people inside were safe.
The only one affected by the aftereffect of the technique was Vikalina. She already had extremely high resistance, so the impact wasn't that bad.
Plus, a group of Blood Servants were right around her, wildly biting and tearing at the attack, which completely cleared out all her enemies nearby!
With this warm light, Reina was the first to react: "Master... Master, you're back!"
Even though she was infected by the blood plague, she had been feeling Sivis's holy light power all along. She knew that power better than anyone.
The maid's once-foggy consciousness suddenly cleared up!
She felt the pain in her body had lessened a lot.
With her joyful cry, for a moment, the countless pairs of confused eyes, the stunned eyes, and the eyes that were hard to believe they had suddenly been saved.
They became clear!