"Roar roar roar......"
Dull wolf howls came from the distant Holy Lord City, their momentum vast and powerful, yet they didn't cause Sir Wayne the slightest concern.
The Holy Inquisition Tribunal's reputation as the world's foremost combat force wasn't empty boasting—it was earned through genuine blood-and-fire battles.
When the Pope dared claim possession of invincible power throughout the world, he was precisely referring to the Holy Inquisition Tribunal!
Although the Holy Inquisition Tribunal had never appeared on conventional battlefields, focusing primarily on decapitation missions, no royal family of any nation had ever managed to resist their assassination operations.
While their individual might still couldn't compete with catapults, it had clearly surpassed human standards.
One might consider them a group of Captain Americas who never grew tired, required no sustenance, needed no rest, and possessed no minds.
After all, they bore extremely meager amounts of Divine Blood—just a single drop each.
And this already represented the maximum limit that humans could endure.
The rainstorm had already swept down, but the wolves' low growls and thunderous charge drowned out even the sound of rain. Even though they were still some distance from Holy Lord City, one could clearly feel the ground trembling faintly.Sir Wayne sat expressionless in the luxurious Church carriage, gazing coldly toward the direction of Holy Lord City.
His position was further back, since a great battle was about to begin and he had no desire to be torn apart by the aftermath.
The pouring rain didn't trouble him in the slightest, but the two hundred missionaries following as logistical support were all drenched like drowned rats.
Accompanied by a blinding lightning bolt in the night sky, a black tide of Werewolves swept forward.
"Unclean! Unclean! Unclean!!!"
The Holy Knights, who had sensed the Werewolf presence immediately, almost simultaneously raised their golden Great Swords, their golden armor seeming to emit a faint glow in the night.
"Whoosh!!!"
Heavy breathing sounds like jet engines thundered through the air as the black tide crashed without evasion directly against the golden defensive line.
"Awooo......" Piercing wolf howls accompanied the falling of great swords as the five hundred Holy Knights held firm against the wave-like Werewolf attacks without the slightest wavering.
Golden Great Swords rose high and fell with each swing, cleaving Werewolves cleanly in half—no Werewolf could withstand this tremendous force.
The Holy Knights fought like true steam-powered machines, battling the incoming Werewolf tide without fatigue or fear.
Blood sprayed upward, mixing with the rainwater and spreading everywhere.
The first wave of charging Werewolves crashed hard against the Holy Knights' defensive line, almost immediately being chopped into dismembered limbs and bloody pulp.
Any creature facing death experiences an instinctual fear.
But these gathered Werewolves, in this moment, acted like Holy Knights infused with Divine Blood—fearless of death!
Countless Werewolves charged forward continuously, surrounding the Holy Knights from all directions and launching frenzied assaults.
The black Werewolf tide had completely enveloped the Holy Knights' formation, and their terrifying numbers finally made Sir Wayne change expression.
"Damn it! How are there so many Werewolves?"
Sir Wayne looked at the black tide that nearly covered the entire mountain in the distance, feeling his scalp prickle with fear!
"Bastard! Bishop Doxia harbors evil intentions and deserves death ten thousand times over!"
They had specifically investigated the approximate number of Werewolves in Holy Lord City before coming—the Church might be corrupt, but they weren't idiots. The responsibility for scouting the numbers fell to the Rino City church under Bishop Doxia's control, since he was closest.
According to Bishop Doxia's information, Holy Lord City had at most two thousand Werewolves.
But looking at the swarmed mountain and the continuous stream of Werewolves still coming from the direction of Holy Lord City, the Werewolf numbers likely reached twenty thousand!
If this was done intentionally, then Bishop Doxia's intentions became quite interesting.
Sir Wayne grew uneasy.
Five hundred against two thousand—the advantage was ours! The Holy Knights' formidable combat strength and steel armor could easily overcome this slight numerical disadvantage.
But five hundred against twenty thousand—this wasn't even the same scale! These Werewolves could simply overwhelm the Holy Knights through sheer numbers!
No matter how defensive that steel armor might be, it was still just steel armor—Little Norton had personally verified that this stuff could be dismantled and deformed by Werewolves.
No matter how powerful the Holy Knights were, being pressed by endless Werewolves would eventually knock them down, and nothing good awaited them then.
The black tide had completely obscured the five hundred Holy Knights from view. The rainstorm washed over the earth, yet couldn't cleanse the continuously accumulating bloody mud on the ground.
Seeing the Werewolf figures that nearly covered the entire mountain before him, Sir Wayne could barely remain seated.
He panicked, he despaired completely.
Although the besieged Holy Inquisition Tribunal still burst forth with tremendous power, occasionally tearing large openings in the dark Werewolf tide, Sir Wayne could clearly see that Holy Knights had already begun to fall...
Werewolf dismembered limbs and mutilated corpses were trampled into the blood-mixed mud by their Same Species from behind. A golden steel helmet with two small wings was squeezed out from the struggle's center, already severely deformed.
The Holy Knights' battle cries and Werewolves' piercing howls drowned out the furious rain, and already a black tide of Werewolves had separated from the main struggle, sweeping toward Sir Wayne's position.
"Huff!"
Sir Wayne took a deep breath, his trembling body clearly revealing his inner fear.
But even so, he struggled to support himself on the carriage handrail and stood up.
The determination shining through his terror-stricken face seemed to genuinely embody the so-called holiness the Church loudly proclaimed.
"Swish!" He suddenly drew the holy sword from his waist, cutting the hemp rope connecting the carriage to the horse with one stroke. His knees weak, he struggled to climb onto the horse's back, then raised his arm and shouted: "The Church's holiness is noble and cannot be insulted! His Holiness's dignity is sacred and cannot be violated! Missionaries, charge with me!!!"
Sir Wayne took the lead, urging the specially trained warhorse beneath him to charge toward the approaching Werewolves.
"Kill them!!!"
The two hundred missionaries trained through inhuman methods had been thoroughly brainwashed. Even facing mountains and plains of Werewolves, even though this charge meant certain death, even though each was terrified to the point of weak legs—they didn't hesitate in the slightest. Howling, they followed closely behind Sir Wayne, meeting the incoming Werewolves head-on.
They would uphold their inner faith until entering Heaven!
But unfortunately, this so-called faith they upheld was merely something the Church had indoctrinated into them.
The rain grew heavier, the storm's sound finally overwhelming the battlefield noises.
The blood that previously couldn't be washed away finally diluted rapidly under the furious downpour, until the horrific scene completely disappeared.
"Patter patter......"
The rain fell bleakly, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.
Norton reached out to catch some rainwater, then withdrew his hand and used it to wipe the stains from his Clock Tower floor.
Damn it, these bats kept defecating everywhere, making the Clock Tower stink unbearably—Norton simply couldn't stand it anymore!
Recently, even the Church Knights searching the Clock Tower could barely tolerate the stench of bat droppings, giving the tower only a cursory glance before never returning.
In this world, bats weren't associated with Vampires, and this era was particularly suitable for bat survival. Bats flew everywhere come evening, so the appearance of a few bats in the Clock Tower didn't raise any alert among the Church Knights.
After all, in the previous world, the reason bats became associated with them was because bat wing appearance and living habits somewhat matched the demon role in folk legends, leading to their connection with Vampires—essentially a metaphorical device linking to imaginary creatures.
But this world actually had real Vampires, and they were completely different things, so there was no need nor possibility for such association.