Merus sped towards Theomenia in an attempt to find any survivors, even though it was unlikely there would be any.
Merus' mission was to look for survivors, and to determine in what state the city had been left.
He could also teleport back to the [Nest] created by Allen's Bird A, and Allen could teleport to the [Nest] made by Merus.
Allen's group had arrived above Niel the morning after they received the emergency message, and there they watched as giant monsters, and humanoid monsters, swarmed the walls.
Those humanoid monsters were probably the same monsters the priest from Theomenia had mentioned, who had disguised themselves as people and attacked the city from inside.
They were attacking Niel together with the large monsters, so they were both on the same side.
The Trolls and Ogres continued clobbering the city's outer gates, warping them out of shape until the last hits made them crumble inwards.
It was a nightmarish opening.
Hundreds of unearthly monsters stormed the city.
The city's guards had been fending them off all night long, and even while completely exhausted they continued fighting until the end.
The priests raised their final prayers.
They had all run out of mana already, as even while they raised their staves, no magic came from them.
The Trolls were more than five meters tall, chasing their prey as saliva dripped from their mouths, hungry after attacking all night long.
The soldiers went into formation to resist the attacks from B Rank Monsters, but their bodies were shaking.
"Don't relent!! We'll protect the city!!"
"""Ohhhh!"""
They had no strength left.
But they had to buy at least some time to allow the weaker citizens who could not defend themselves escape to safety.
After an invigorating shout, the commander himself walked up to the front lines.
And then, a man wearing gilded robes that not even the pope would wear, and a staff with a large gem set on its tip, crossed the outer wall.
He rode an unknown beast, and once he pointed his staff to the monsters, the gem began to glow.
"Turn Undead!!"
His voice, that of a young man, rang clearly through the battlefield..
Flashes of light seemed to rain from high above onto the monsters crossing the destroyed gate.
Without heaving a single breath more, the humanoid monsters turned into bright ashes, their numbers quickly dwindling by the dozens.
The Trolls and Ogres were set aflame, writhing in pain and stopping their advance.
That was the Purification Skill Kiel had obtained when he became a Saint. A large scale spell of Holy Magic.
It was especially effective against the Undead and Zombies.
"Some of them are still alive!"
Even while set ablaze from the Holy Purification Skill, some Trolls had stood back up and resumed their attack, so Kurena confronted them.
"Sorry for that. Kurena, Dogora, could you deal with those that survived?"
Kiel offloaded the duty of finishing off the monsters that survived his Skill onto Kurena and Dogora.
"Yeah!!"
"Sure thing!!"
The three of them worked together to kill all the monsters in the destroyed gates.
"Oh, ohhhhh... That...that was a Saint's Purifying Light. Our God Elmea didn't forsake us after all..."
An elderly priest looked at the fight, the wrinkles in his face marked as he thanked God.
It was common knowledge there that the best healers were Priestesses(3 Talent Stars), or Great Priests(3 Talent Stars.)
No one knew Kiel was a 4 Talent Stars Saint.
"Hey, old men! Stand away, we three can handle this."
Kiel rode on a summoned Bird B, while telling the approaching priests to go away.
His blonde hair fluttered in the air, but his youthful voice was rather harsh.
Kiel used his Purification Magic on the monsters again.
The reason why he did not care if Kurena and Dogora were nearby, was that Holy Magic had no effect on human beings.
Rather than healing Kurena and Dogora, he focused on stopping the hordes of monsters entering through the broken gate.
Kiel looked conflicted.
The Purification Magic Skill was Holy Magic, having no effect on humans like Kurena or Dogora, but the humanoid enemies were turned to ash.
Allen watched from high above, outside the city, seeing how Kiel was doing below.
At Kiel's request, he summoned four Wraith B's, sending them into the battlefield.
[You defeated one Pagan Worshipper. You obtained 2400 EXP]
(So they are just monsters after all, they grant experience. From the name I'm assuming they're related to the Evil Gods too. That amount of experience means they're around C rank monsters, I guess?)
As Kiel's Purification Magic cleared the battlefield, an immense amount of experience from the defeated humanoid monsters were added to the Grimoire.
Those things looked like citizens with pale blue-ish skin, some even looked like priests in tattered robes, but they had all turned into Pagan Worshipper monsters.
How they reached that state was unknown, but they were all designated as monsters.
There were tens of thousands of monsters outside the city, amongst Ogres, Trolls, and Pagan Worshippers.
The guards of Niel continued retaliating against them from atop the outer walls, desperately throwing arrows and spears at them.
"It seems those three are enough to defend the gates. Let's get rid of everything outside. I'll go with Cecile one way, and Sophie, Formar, and Merle can go in the opposite direction."
Allen was still a distance away, together with Cecile, Sophie, Formar, and Merle, inside of Tam-Tam Mode Eagle.
Allen ordered them to separate into two groups to clear all the monsters clinging outside the wall.
"Huh, we won't save those people then?"
"Heaven's Blessing and Aromatic Vegetables had no effect. And Gold Beans restrain their movements like regular monsters."
"I see."
Allen explained that curing the people turned into Pagan Worshippers would be difficult.
At first he thought it was just a status effect that could be cured with Aromatic Vegetables, but it was of no use.
Heaven's Blessing was similarly fruitless.
Kiel's Purification Magic had also branded them as enemies, turning them to ashes.
Gold Beans did have an effect, and once they threw one in front of the gate, the monsters stopped going through.
There was still a chance that some Skill might be able to turn the Pagan Worshippers back into humans.
But they could not afford to spend more time trying to find a way to cure them, as with every passing seconds more people died in Niel and other cities.
Not to mention that maybe there was simply no cure at all.
Cecile looked downcast, but she made no complaints.
She, and everyone else, understood the dire situation the city was in.
Rather than waiting for his friends to come to terms with it, he decided to take the initiative and give them the answer.
The year before during the war in Rosenheim, rather than helping the innumerable wounded people in the city of Nest, he had prioritized going to Tiamo where the Queen was.
"Niel probably isn't the only city under attack."
"You're right."
There were many cities around the capital Theomenia.
Niel was the closest one to Theomenia, and large enough to have a magic device to send a distress signal to the rest of the world.
But the monsters were probably attacking other places as well.
Even if they saved Niel, the other cities might fall.
(Niel is a large city so it lasted for a while, but I doubt a smaller one could fight back.)
Even killing all the monsters attacking Niel as quickly as possible might delay them too much to help any other city.
Cecile agreed with Allen's point of view.
She raised her hand and pointed it at the crowds of monsters gathering around the wall.
"Shining Vanish!"
Specks of light began to gather in her palm.
Then they vanished, before appearing like a powerful beam directed at the center of the crowded monsters.
The Trolls, Ogres, and Pagan Worshippers seemed to evaporate instantly.
"Thanks. It seems Light and Holy Magic are their weaknesses."
Allen thanked Ciel for making that choice.
Unlike Kiel who generally was on healing duty, Cecile was an Archmage who focused solely on attacking, so the Trolls and Ogres could not resist.
"Oh, I still see a few standing."
"Troll and Ogre Kings. Hmm, I'll deal with them."
There were A Rank Monsters hidden in the crowd as well.
Overall, there were around a hundred of them on the battlefield.
They had been waiting for the B Rank Monsters and the Pagan Worshippers to make the openings first.
"I really need as much power as I can get. Come out, Bees!"
Buzzzzzzz
Multiple enormous bee summons appeared, together with the buzz of their wings.
[Species] Insect
[Rank] A
[Name] Bee
[Strength] 9000
[Mana] 4000
[Attack] 8900
[Endurance] 10000
[Agility] 10000
[Intelligence] 6700
[Luck] 5500
[Blessings] Endurance +200, Agility +200, Antidote
[Special Skill] Minion Stinger, Spawn
[Awakening] Coronation
'''Chitterchitter'''
"The big A Rank ones can be useful so take over them. Kill everyone else."
Obeying Allen's orders, the Insect A summons dove into the crowds of monsters.
