After calming the townspeople, Qina returned to the gate tower to report to Ertai!
"Damn it! So many people died. We failed them! Someone, drag that noble to the town center. I want to watch him burn to death in Holy Flame myself and avenge the people!" Ertai shouted furiously.
He had every reason to be furious. These beasts had not even spared the children. They had crossed a line no Holy Light Cleric could tolerate, and not one of the clerics nearby felt any pity for them.
The Holy Light Clerics never showed tender mercy to nobles who treated people as less than human. As long as there was sufficient evidence, they punished them severely under Holy Law.
"What are you doing? Let me go! My father is an earl!" the young noble cried in terror.
The Holy Light Clerics said nothing more. They simply seized him and hauled him toward the town center.
When the townspeople along the way saw the Holy Light Clerics escorting the town's viscount, they eagerly followed behind, talking among themselves.
"Haha! Serves you right! You never treated us like people, and now look at you-you're so scared you wet yourself!"
"That's right! This beast killed my eldest cousin just now. Thank goodness I ran fast enough, or I'd have died too!" a scrawny young man sobbed, having narrowly escaped death.
Looking at the townspeople gathering around, Ertai spoke with shame on his face.
"Everyone, the Holy Church has failed you. People who trusted us died horrible deaths at this beast's hands. As commander, I failed in my duty. First, I want to apologize to those who died! I promise that nothing like this will ever happen again."
When he finished, all the Holy Light Clerics bowed deeply to the townspeople gathered around them.
"It wasn't the Holy Light Clerics' fault! It was these nobles. They killed my child and my husband. I want revenge!" a woman sobbed.
"Yes, yes! It was all these nobles! We want revenge!"
"Revenge! Revenge!"
All the townspeople roared in fury.
"Rest assured, everyone! Today, neither this noble nor any samurai with your loved ones' blood on their hands will escape!" Ertai straightened up and shouted, his eyes red.
"Priest, ignite the Holy Flame! Make these devils pay for the blood they spilled!"
"Make them pay in blood!"
"Make them pay in blood!"
Hearing the people's cries, the priest said nothing more and began chanting an incantation.
A burst of white flame instantly set the young noble ablaze!
"Aah! It hurts! Father, save me! Spare me! I was wrong! Aah!..." Bound to a stone pillar, the young noble screamed and struggled frantically.
Enemies burned to death by a priest's Holy Flame were generally guilty of the most heinous crimes. The white flames looked gentle, but they inflicted excruciating pain. Unlike the fierce Judgment Technique, they ate away at a person little by little, from the inside out. The pain was at least a ten on the scale and lasted a long time, yet the process did not look quite so brutal.
Watching the young noble howl in agony, some of the onlookers screamed wildly, while others sobbed too hard to speak. They had waited who knew how long for this moment.
After dealing with matters in town, Ertai received word from the Holy Church's headquarters that a large force would be dispatched to the east for disaster relief. He was overwhelmed with excitement, feeling that with the Holy Light before them, nothing could stand in their way!
The eastern Land of Rain had become a paradise for countless rats. Gnawed wheat fields and corpses lay everywhere!
Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato kept using Ninjutsu to attack the rats surrounding them. A few days earlier, the three had accepted a B-rank mission to help defend the earl's estate against the swarms. They had thought it would be relatively easy, never imagining that no matter how many rats they killed, there would always be more.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Boom! A huge fireball swept through a mass of rats, burning them to a crisp and instantly clearing the surrounding area. A moment later, however, dense swarms filled it again!
"Yahiko, this isn't working! There are too many rats. Let's evacuate with the earl! At this rate, the estate is going to fall!" Nagato shouted.
"Paper Shield! Paper Thousand Cranes!"
Boom! Boom!
After clearing another wave of rats, Konan moved beside Yahiko. "What should we do, Yahiko?"
"Retreat!" Yahiko said with a frown.
"You useless ninja! How can you retreat? Everything I own is here. If I leave, am I supposed to live on thin air?" The elderly earl stamped his feet in rage.
Yahiko looked torn. "But if this keeps up, we'll all die here!"
"I don't care! You cannot retreat. If you do, I'll file a complaint with Hanzō!"
Seeing the rats closing in again, Yahiko had no time to keep talking to the earl. Faced with yet another gathering swarm, he had no choice but to continue using Ninjutsu.
Time ticked by. The three of them had less and less chakra left, and their strength gradually began to fail!
Nagato quietly approached Yahiko. "Yahiko, let's go. If we keep holding out like this, none of us will make it out."
"But what will happen to these people if we leave? Every one of them is a living person!" Yahiko said hesitantly. He truly did not want to give up on saving them.
Just as Nagato was considering how to persuade Yahiko to leave, a samurai shouted, "What is that?"
Yahiko and Nagato immediately looked over. Dozens of enormous shapes were flying through the distant sky-strange, ochre-colored craft with long, oval bodies and huge crosses emblazoned on them. Several thick, massive cannon barrels protruded from their rounded fronts.
Suddenly, waves of enchanting music drifted over, beautiful and melodious. The frenzied rat swarms froze where they stood, as though someone had pressed pause.
Yahiko and Nagato looked at the motionless samurai and rats around them. "Could those be the Holy Church's flying craft?" Nagato murmured, staring wide-eyed at the magnificent sight in the sky.
"Tower One, Tower One, please inform the main force behind us that we have reached the source of the rat outbreak! The Holy Cantors have temporarily brought the swarms under control. Requesting further instructions from Corps Commander Rich!"
"Understood, Captain of Airship Twelve!"
"Captain of Airship Twelve, Corps Commander Rich orders you to attack areas with dense concentrations of rats immediately. Do not attack residential areas, to avoid harming survivors! Await the main force's arrival for a thorough search-and-rescue operation!"
"Yes! Airship Twelve acknowledges!"
"All airships in formation, prepare concentrated-energy attacks on areas with dense rat swarms! Calculate your blast radius carefully. Do not hit residential areas!"
"Yes! Understood!"
"Understood!"
Energy steadily gathered at the airships' cannon muzzles, like twelve white suns appearing in the gloomy skies over the eastern Land of Rain.
Boom! Twelve balls of light shot off in different directions! Mushroom clouds rose one after another, and more than half the dense rat swarms on the plains were swept away in an instant. From above, it looked like a giant flatbread with bites taken out here and there.
All Holy Light Clerics aboard the airships, prepare to descend!
"Yes!"
"Everyone, the time has come for us to act! We must rescue the people still in danger and fulfill our duty! Eternal is the Holy Light!"
"Eternal is the Holy Light!"
The enormous airship doors opened, and a fierce gust laden with rain rushed in. The Holy Light Clerics cast shields on themselves and leaped out in quick succession.
White streaks of light scattered from the airships, as thick as raindrops.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The rapidly descending Holy Light Clerics steadied themselves. "Mixed Squad Eleven, assemble! We'll search those homes over there!"
"Mixed Squad Eight, assemble! Search and rescue to the southeast!"
"Mixed Squad Seven, assemble..."
"This... this is unbelievable!" Konan snapped out of the music's trance and stared, dumbfounded, at everything that had just happened.
Before you continue