FSFSLU 58

chapter 58

Lister was breathing heavily, flustered.

With the overwhelming power befitting a proxy of a Seraph, Lister conjured massive hammers and iron maces of light, turning the rock golems into nothing but stone graves.

Even large and medium golems crumbled before Lister’s might, and the first points of impact completely disintegrated into dust.

As always, Lister had planned to clear the western wall in an instant and then support other areas alongside Zeronis.

But now, that was impossible.

“They’re sticking together again!”

A Zeronis unit member cried out in despair, and Lister raised his head with the same heavy heart. Again. After breaking them countless times, the remnants of the golems—now ground to gravel—clung together once more, forming a towering rock giant.

Lister had lost count of how many times this had happened.

The sudden appearance of this colossal golem threw them into a crisis with no warning.

Compared to Lister, its strength was not particularly exceptional, but the problem was its sheer mass.

Imagine a small hut with a ceiling just over two meters high. A rock of that size would weigh around 200 tons.

Now, this rock golem was 30 meters tall. Even though Lister had inherited Michael’s power as a proxy, he could not infinitely channel divine energy like Isabel. Facing a creature of that mass, even Lister’s stamina took a serious toll.

Worse, the colossal golem was regenerating itself.

No matter how many times they destroyed it, it would clump together again, restoring its form. Lister felt like he was losing his mind.

“Damn those bastards!”

The shout wasn’t Lister’s—it came from one of Zeronis’s troops.

Lister was usually strict with his subordinates’ language. As those who carried out God’s will on Earth, speaking foul words was akin to dishonoring the divine.

Yet even Lister now felt the urge to mutter the same words.

The Rudger Knights, who had been clearing the western wall with Zeronis, were no longer present. They had all fled across the moat, waiting for the gate to open. Even the knight commander Rudger was the same. Though he was far away, it was clear that all of them were in panic.

“Those unprincipled bastards…”

“Watch your words.”

Lister said firmly, his voice tired. The troop who had been muttering curses immediately shut their mouth.

Amid the chilling atmosphere, Lister muttered as he glared at the self-reassembling colossal golem:

“They were never suited for this place from the start.”

Lister himself was boiling with anger. He knew the Rudger Knights had already proven their courage. Despite being a newly-formed knight order assigned to the most dangerous wall, they had no complaints and, though inefficient, could handle medium and small golems.

Letting them panic or be killed by the colossal rock golem would be worse than letting them flee.

But that also meant Lister would have to face the colossal golem without additional support.

“Lord Michael, please watch over me. Let me not kneel before this hardship. And please… grant me strength.”

Lister could not know if his prayers reached Michael. The archangel rarely answered his prayers.

That was why, seeing Isabel freely communicate with the true angels, he had been reminded of his own limitations.

But this time… he would strike the monstrous rock golem, which restored itself endlessly, as many times as necessary.

“Please… answer me.”

Muttering this, Lister raised his mace and charged again, with his subordinates following behind him.

“Captain! Help me…!”

A shout from one of the mercenaries of the Blue Chain Guild was cut short.

They had been kicked dozens of meters by the colossal wooden golem.

It wasn’t the first time. Counting how many subordinates had been thrown aside by colossal golems had become meaningless.

“Damn it!”

Hetschel gritted his teeth, re-gripping his chains, swinging them high to wrap around the colossal golem’s neck.

He pulled the chains again, launching himself upward. His fist, imbued with impact magic, struck the golem’s neck, and he landed on its back to continue his assault.

Still, the golem did not even pause.

“Damn it… what a size…!”

Even the golem’s neck, the narrowest part of its body, was thicker than a medium golem’s torso.

In other words, unless his punches could penetrate the belly of a medium golem, it was impossible to stop it.

Hetschel looked down in despair from atop the giant. Remaining subordinates tried to use chains to halt the colossal golem, but despite their potion enhancements, they were dragged helplessly.

Those thrown far away were apparently unharmed thanks to protective shields, but most were unconscious or limping toward the wall.

Obstructing the advance had its limits. Soon, the golem would reach the moat. At its size, it would easily cross it and reach the walls, causing massive damage.

Their survival so far was entirely thanks to the divine protective shield cast by the priest. If time continued this way, countless casualties were inevitable.

Mercenaries lived and died for money, but taking on a mission certain to kill them was foolish.

If this were a normal situation, Hetschel would have led his men in retreat.

Yet he could not choose that, because of Galtan—the one who had cursed him the most since arriving in this city.

At first, he hadn’t cared about rumors or slander, preferring to focus on the management of the Blue Chain Guild.

But at some point, it began to bother him.

As a “wall-facing knight,” he had been mocked. Once a renowned knight commander on the continent, he was now a fallen husk. Perhaps that’s why Hetschel thought Galtan’s foolishness wouldn’t affect him.

But now it would. If he fled from the colossal golem, the Blue Chain Guild would collapse like Galtan’s order, and Hetschel would share the same fate.

A broken-hearted man cannot stand on the battlefield.

“Galtan wouldn’t live in seclusion like that. But I’ll never be able to work as a mercenary again.”

He refused to accept that. Even if it meant death.

So Hetschel fought bravely.

His courage, like Denk charging at an earth golem with a pickaxe, or Lister forcing his divine power to keep fighting, was fundamentally the same.

They were all brave, putting themselves aside for a greater goal.

Yet…

“…Huh?”

There was one with a different kind of courage.

Someone who genuinely empathized with the pain of others, someone who wished to protect them.

The world’s only second-run saint, Isabel—the one who remembered the first-run hero—hesitated not to sacrifice for others.

Denk and Konas, smashing the colossal earth golem; Lister, running forward in hope of Michael’s response; Hetschel, struggling alone to redirect the golem—all were trapped in a thick orb of light suspended in midair.

They weren’t alone.

All combatants were trapped in glowing spheres, like countless eggs radiating light. Within, they felt warmth, pain they could not sense in the adrenaline of battle, and the gradual easing of that pain.

“This is…”

“Who… did this?”

Everyone was shocked—except Lister.

He was stunned.

This was a special shield using divine power called a Cradle. Unlike the Blessing of Protection, it traps the target within the shield, and is rarely used except in emergencies because it burdens the priest heavily.

And now, this technique had been cast on everyone blessed by Isabel.

“No way…!”

Lister bit his lip, drawing blood.

He understood now. Isabel had chosen self-sacrifice.

Even a proxy like him would struggle. This was far beyond the usual city-wide protective shield.

She had applied this technique, which was nearly absolute against external attacks, to all 400 combatants.

Which meant…

“She risked her life?”

Lister’s veins bulged.

A well-trained priest could keep drawing divine energy as long as their body allowed, but overexertion could cost their life.

The Cradle was exhausting even for a single target. Yet Isabel had cast it on every combatant as if bestowing the Blessing of Protection on all.

“Isabel truly accepted the risk of death herself?”

Lister had never thought he would die at Casteltina. The golem defense was merely an annual ritual.

Perhaps that’s why he never considered death, even in this unprecedented crisis.

But Isabel had willingly put her life on the line here—to protect Casteltina and all combatants.

“Damn it…!”

His first curse ever.

The priest who had made him realize his helplessness, who first sparked jealousy in him—Isabel, proxy of the Archangel Smiel.

She was beyond the wall, ready to save everyone at the cost of her own life.

What was he to do?

What could he do?!

At that moment, all combatants’ gazes converged.

It was almost reflexive—they had experienced it twice already.

Once last night. Once this dawn. A pillar of brilliant light rising from the city center, radiating in all directions.

A divine shield enveloping the entire city.

It now appeared as a barrier between the Cradle-trapped combatants and the colossal golems.

Soon, the Cradles trapping them vanished.

“Ah!”

Those trapped naturally fell. Some quick-thinking comrades ran to catch falling allies, and thanks to remaining Blessings of Protection, injuries were minor.

There was no surprise.

The walls of pure light still blocked the steps of the colossal golems looming over them.

What else could they see?

During the battle, Isabel had been sitting on Liz’s shoulder, running across the city to treat the wounded.

When she noticed three colossal golems appearing beyond the Casteltina wall, she made full use of her somewhat imperfect judgment.

Liz, carrying Isabel overhead, had resigned herself to the thought: “Except for throwing me to the golem, I’ll do anything.”

Then Isabel suddenly grabbed Liz’s cheeks, bent down, and met her eyes upside-down.

She smiled.

“Why, why are you smiling…? It’s unsettling.”

“Don’t be startled, sister. Even if suddenly trapped.”

Isabel then jumped from Liz’s shoulder, trapping Liz in a Cradle.

Naturally, the same technique activated for all those receiving Blessings of Protection through Liz.

It would soon end, as contact between Liz and Isabel ended.

Yet Isabel did not stop. She grasped the Angelos Rod with both hands and activated her next technique.

Her goal: protect the combatants with the Cradle, buy time, and then use a city-wide shield to separate the golems from the combatants.

Having done this once in her first run, Isabel executed it easily.

“Hehe!”

Success. Without Smiel’s aid.

She was so overjoyed she barely noticed the strain of holding off three colossal golems alone.