Hooves thundered, yet the cavalry remained unseen.
It was like a blind man standing on the shore, facing the towering waves crashing toward him.
Invisibility and deafening noise intertwined into a terrifying overture.
But this overture was also the finale.
Because-
They had encountered Freeman.
The Freeman who understood exactly what he wanted.
Boom!
Flames shot into the sky.
Metal pellets blasted outward.
The wave of invisible cavalry toppled like wheat swept by the wind. As they tumbled, crimson flowers bloomed in swaths.
Men screamed and horses whinnied amid a chorus of agony.
Catherine's emerald eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
After confirming that the Eastern had docked at Xilond, the saintess of the Church of Pain had immediately chosen this spot as her group's staging ground. When making that choice, she had already sent mounted scouts to inspect the area-with the advent of gunpowder, traps had become easier to make and far more lethal. Given enough gunpowder, even a fully armed cavalry unit could be wiped out at any moment.
Catherine had no desire to see her Calamity Cavalry suffer inexplicable losses like that.
Thus, the saintess of the Church of Pain had been extremely cautious and had given her subordinates explicit instructions.
But!
What the saintess of the Church of Pain had not expected was that the explosion would come not from their surroundings, but from...
Freeman himself!
Yes, that explosion had erupted from inside Freeman's body.
And it was not just the explosion. Those metal pellets had also shot out of his body.
Did this bastard have a death wish?
That question rose in Catherine's mind.
Of course Freeman wanted to live!
But he knew even better that what he sought could only be won by staking his life!
So he had asked Amuel for explosives.
Not