I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 660: The Beginning of the Holy War (2)

Those who gathered to subjugate the Demon King Heathcliff called themselves this: The Holy War Crusaders.

"Then we are the Demon King's army."

Rudger was also fortifying his defenses in his own way.

The first thing he did was to use the awakened Hans to push people out of the city.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing."

Alex, standing on top of the castle wall, was speechless at the sight beyond.

"I know he can handle that monster's power, but wasn't it not this extreme originally?"

The first thing that caught Alex's eye was the first checkpoint city outside the outer wall.

If asked to describe the cityscape, one could only say it was 'black.'

Though it was night, there were no clouds in the sky, so the moonlight was strong.

Moreover, since the city's buildings were made of Holy Stone, they emitted a subtle glow even at night, reflecting the light from the street lamps.

That's how Bretus could claim its name as a holy nation.

Now, darkness covered Bretus.

What should one call this?

The world's malice? Writhing shadows? A black tsunami?

Whatever it was, it didn't matter.

The power itself was real.

Hans, the creator of shadows, had been sitting still in his place for a while.

What they thought was a cloak—that black something—continued to squirm and spread across the ground, and black beasts continued to be born, wriggling and overflowing from within.

"The size has decreased compared to before, but the speed and amount of creatures being produced seem to have increased significantly."

"I suppose that's because he's awakened."

"Is that even possible? To endlessly produce beasts from such a small body?"

For Alex, a knight, the sight Hans was showing was far beyond common sense.

It's true that knights possess superhuman physical abilities that surpass ordinary people.

As such, knights generally have active metabolisms and consume a lot of energy, requiring a lot of input to match.

Alex, though lean on the outside, ate more than most big eaters.

Creating something requires energy or strength to be consumed.

But now, Hans, transformed into the Beast of Gevaudan, was completely ignoring such fundamental principles.

"If you're going to question that, the principles of such magic don't make sense either, do they?"

"Well, I guess so? So, how many can he produce?"

"Probably, if he doesn't stop, they'll continue to emerge indefinitely."

"...To that extent?"

"The Beast of Gevaudan is ultimately the crystallization of cryptids formed from the world's negative energy. Its power source, in the end, originates from the world."

In other words, to stop it, all anxiety, fear, and dread in this world would have to disappear, leaving only peace and serenity.

But the world usually doesn't flow that way.

Everyone has their own darkness and suffering.

Such negative emotional energy surely remains.

"Those beasts that Hans is summoning now are the materialization of that power."

"...I see. Roughly speaking, the filth of this world is accumulated, and Hans has become a channel for opening up that accumulation?"

How long has the history of the continent been?

Since the birth of humanity till now, as civilization developed, how many people have been born and died repeatedly?

The amount of negative power generated that way is immeasurable in figures.

"Negative filth covering a holy city. We're truly playing the role of villains, aren't we?"

"Isn't that what you've anticipated when you came?"

The black beasts engulfed the First Checkpoint City.

The citizens had already evacuated to the Second Checkpoint City, and all that remained inside were the remnants of Bretus' forces.

They were helplessly devoured by the swarms of black beasts surging like a tsunami.

"What in the world is this! Where did these damned things come from!"

"Don't retreat, any of you! Fight! I said fight!"

"They're endless! Oh Lumensis! Please grant us strength!"

They fought with faith and did their best, but as humans, they had clear limitations.

Eventually, a significant number of troops were bitten by the black beasts or swept away by the turbid flow, becoming one with them.

Anyone who fell into that would probably not even have their form properly preserved.

With the first checkpoint city completely covered in darkness, the black tsunami didn't stop.

The turbid flow continued to push forward like a wave ignoring a breakwater, heading towards the second checkpoint city.

Unlike the First Checkpoint City, the functional Second Checkpoint City would prepare its defenses accordingly.

"It will collapse soon."

The future was roughly predictable.

To stop this, one would need to deal with Hans directly, but there were many mountains to climb for that.

To break through such an army, one either needed a group of elites for a focused breakthrough or had to sneak around for a surprise attack.

But the first checkpoint city was already engulfed, and the second checkpoint city lacked personnel for attacks, focusing solely on defense.

The outcome of this battle was too obviously predetermined.

-Grrrr! Woof woof!

-Awoooo!

The beasts howled.

Black beasts with slimy bodies struck the outer walls of the second checkpoint city.

A fortress built to defend against possible external attacks.

Slimy filth began to stain those clean and holy walls.

"W-what is this...?"

Soldiers on the wall were appalled by the sight before them.

From right below to the edge of the horizon, it was as if a black swamp filled the entire world.

The swamp rose and fell repeatedly, bubbling and churning but a closer look revealed they weren't ordinary bubbles.

-Grrrrrr!

-Woof! Woof!

What they thought were bubbles were the heads of beasts.

Red eyes floating above the black swamp stared at the soldiers, holy knights, and priests on the wall.

What was contained in their gazes was endless malice and hunger.

Even brave soldiers involuntarily felt weak in the knees facing this.

"Don't be afraid, everyone! They're just mere beasts after all!"

Holy knights issuing commands encouraged them, raising the golden holy power.

A holy knight, holding it up like an Olympic torch, shouted.

"Cryptids lack intelligence, so if we just endure until reinforcements arrive..."

-BANG!

The holy knight couldn't finish his sentence.

Only his lower half remained, with the upper part completely erased.

"...Huh?"

The aide standing blankly nearby involuntarily made a stupid sound upon seeing the sight.

A holy knight was taken down. How? The beasts couldn't climb the wall.

The trembling gazes of the soldiers turned towards the black swamp.

Beyond the endlessly surging black swamp, they saw something massive rising up.

It was a giant deer.

With antlers standing tall where its head was, walking on four legs, and with red markings engraved on its body.

The deer's red eyes quietly gazed at the wall, and black energy gathered around it.

The gathered energy took direction and was shot like a shell.

-BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

In an instant, holes were punched through the sturdy walls like cheese.

The black swamp, seizing the opportunity, seeped through the holes.

"T-the wall has been breached!"

"Damn it! Block it!"

"Block it? How are we supposed to block that!"

"Everyone, run!"

Command was in disarray.

They had to defend the city with the remaining forces, but it seemed impossible to stop the black swamp covering the visible horizon.

Above all, the deer, which appeared to be an elite individual, was the problem.

Every time it fired a black shell, a portion of the wall crumbled.

The black tsunami, momentarily stalled by the wall, now surged through the opened paths like a torrent.

"Run!"

"Aaaaah!"

The Second Checkpoint City was dyed in chaos.

Soldiers who resisted inevitably became food for the beasts.

Holy knights, who fought on the front lines with holy power enveloping their weapons, met a miserable end surrounded by black beasts.

Blood and screams flowed into the wolves' mouths.

"Eek!"

The citizens of the Second Checkpoint City froze at the sight.

The beasts that had devoured the holy knights turned their heads sharply and glared at the citizens.

At that sight, people either sat down on the spot or knelt, wailing and praying.

Soon, they too would become the prey of those monsters.

However, surprisingly, the beasts withdrew their gaze from such citizens and ran elsewhere.

The beasts only targeted those with weapons and, not satisfied with that, began to overtly destroy the buildings of the second checkpoint city.

"A-are they not targeting us?"

People were puzzled by the sight of monsters not showing interest in them, but now was the opportunity.

They needed to flee quickly, not knowing when they might suddenly change and try to maul them.

The citizens fled to the Third Checkpoint City, which could be considered the last bastion.

It was an ironic situation.

There was only one emotion in their minds: they had to escape from Bretus.

The Second Checkpoint City couldn't withstand. There was no reason the Third Checkpoint City would be safe.

The only way to escape from those monsters was to cross the sea and leave the holy nation.

The aura flowing from the beasts instilled fear in the citizens, accelerating their evacuation.

"How kind. Not touching ordinary citizens and just chasing them away?"

As the city's fall was coming to an end, Surna climbed onto the wall and approached Rudger, asking.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm asking why you had to do such a troublesome thing."

"Eliminating the holy knights, priests, and soldiers is sufficient."

In fact, even wiping out those who had lost their fighting spirit left a bad aftertaste.

"The Holy Emperor would conduct a total war without caring about such things, though?"

"I fight my own way of total war, that's all."

"Well. Looking at the current situation, it's clear that he alone can face an army."

Hans, transformed into the Beast of Gevaudan, was indeed impressive.

A single individual capable of significantly altering the tide of battle.

However the upcoming war was not an ordinary one but a Holy War.

For that, the continent's forces were mobilizing.

"With the power of brainwashing, the continental leaders have already fallen into Salesin's grasp. The forces they lead will far surpass whatever we can imagine."

"I know."

"But what do we have? Helia and I are strong, but considering the enemies we'll face, it's still not enough."

Rudger didn't answer.

Instead, if one should say, his gaze dropped from the hellish scene unfolding on the ground and turned towards the clouds in the sky.

Both Alex and Surna naturally followed Rudger's gaze toward the clouds.

There was no need to ask what they were looking at.

With their sharp senses, they naturally felt something approaching through those clouds.

"What is it?"

The presence was more than expected. No, what was coming now was something very large.

"What else could it be? Reinforcements, of course."

Eventually, a massive ship emerged through the clouds.

It wasn't the steam-powered ships commonly used by the military but a ship-of-the-line, the final form of wooden sailing vessels.

Seeing the strange sight of an old ship sailing through the sky with its sails unfurled, Surna immediately realized whose ship it was.

"...The Monarch Mercenary Group?"

The Monarch Mercenary Group, led by Caroline Monarch.

And the name of that ship was the Golden Monarch, which could be considered the trademark of the mercenary group.

"Don't tell me you hired the Monarch Mercenary Group?"

The Monarch Mercenary Group always held the top position in the mercenary industry.

It was natural.

After all, the person leading the mercenary group was Caroline Monarch, one of the 6th tier Lexer-grade magicians.

Where else in the world would there be a mercenary group led by a 6th-tier magician?

"How much did they charge?"

"I didn't hire them with money. I promised them before."

"A promise?"

"Yes. That they would help me once, no matter what happens."

The flying battleship, the Golden Monarch, stopped in front of the castle wall where Rudger stood.

The Monarch Mercenary Group appeared on the deck.

The most familiar among them was, of course, the small-statured Caroline.

"It's been a while, teacher."

Caroline greeted Rudger, facing him.

"Or should I call you Demon King?"

"Whatever you prefer."

"Do you know why I came?"

Rudger nodded.

Caroline gave Rudger a stern look and then clicked her tongue.

"Sigh. I never thought I'd end up helping a Demon King in my life."

"If it bothers you, you can still withdraw."

"Withdraw?"

Caroline frowned at those words.

"The Monarch Mercenary Group always keeps its promises once it accepts a request. I'd appreciate it if you didn't consider us as mediocre mercenaries."

Despite her words, the subordinates around her silently listened to Caroline.

"I, Caroline Monarch, and the Monarch Mercenary Group, will accept the request of Demon King Heathcliff. Because that was the promise."

Caroline smiled fiercely, showing her teeth.

"We'll fight alongside you against the world."