Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 223 Main Force
223: Main Force
223: Main Force
Looking out towards the fleeing citizens, many of them being chased down by imps deviating from the main force of the pack, I began to notice something.
They weren’t city guards, they weren’t Imperial Knights, and yet, somehow, a few of them were fighting back.
Did they suddenly gain a blessing from the Sun Father, the courage and strength to fight despite their plainness?
Of course not.
By sensing the chaotic flow of magic energy in the air, I followed the mysterious source of the rallying to a single hooded figure standing atop one of the nearby roofs, holding a staff high into the air with a storm of mana around them.
‘AOE buff magic…
or no, something like a ‘berserk’ effect…?’
If it was merely giving citizens a breath of power, I was sure most of them would only use it to run to safety faster, but that’s not what was happening.
There must have been some kind of mental alteration included to make them fight back, and somehow, it seemed to be working well enough at least to stop the imps from taking any lives unable to resist.
Either way, that person wasn’t the only one―seemingly appearing from nowhere, hundreds of men and women dressed like classic adventurers came out of the woodwork drawing weapons and casting spells, evidently either for money and fame or simply to defend their homeland.
As well as that, I began to spot more and more people sporting white robes appearing dotted throughout the battlefield, either using magic and blessings to heal the wounded or fight back with surprising force.
Priests, either having emerged from their temples spread all throughout the city, or more likely, those who simply happened to be nearby, converging here to fight back the Demon threat that had suddenly attacked.
For some reason, the Saint, one of the three former love interests, was nowhere to be seen, the same going for Joádin and the red-haired warrior, but I was sure that was no coincidence.
‘There’s no way they don’t have anything to do with this, but things having gone this far is just crazy!’
Shooting a glance back to Lucretia, who was being guarded from all sides alongside the emperor, she certainly appeared as outwardly composed as usual, but I could tell from the hidden undercurrents of her expression that even she knew something had gone wrong.
It was no surprise, and in fact only served to solidify my suspicion, but at the same time, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
‘Anyway, it was a shocker, but it looks like everyone else has things more or less under control.
I should probably get out of here before they try and execute me agai–‘
Turning my back to the warring citizens and imps, about to make a break for it before it was too late and I was captured again, I abruptly paused.
“-?!”
Suddenly being overcome with a surge of unease, I spun around, my gaze naturally drifting up to the dark portal sitting ominously still in the sky.
For a brief moment, I could have sworn I saw it pulse.
‘Surely not…’
A faint premonition coming to mind, I lightly grit my teeth.
And then, it happened.
“Tsk…”
From beyond the void-like fabric of the portal, evidently rough skin―a sickening blend of evergreen and tawny―gradually began to emerge.
This time, it wasn’t something so diminutive like an imp, and rather reminded me of an ogre or cyclops with its immense stature, trunk-like limbs and singular eye.
Slowly having its full body emerge from the other side of the portal, it quickly met the effects of gravity and fell to the ground, landing with a crash and completely decimating the wooden foundation that was the gallows, resulting in me almost getting crushed.
Rising back up faster than the ogre, I hurriedly recovered my standing and dashed away to a safer place, letting Sneak and the Draconic Shadow hide me as the monster slowly pushed itself up.
‘Shit…
That thing’s a hell of a lot stronger than those imps…’
And of course, it didn’t come alone.
Glancing up, more ogres emerged from the dark portal and fell, a collective few dozen, or perhaps even over a hundred metric tonnes of weight plummeting to the ground in seconds, and before anyone could know it, filling the area that was the exact place where my head was supposed to be separated from my body just a few minutes ago.
After that, the dark portal ultimately shrunk and closed, disappearing like it never existed, but it was already too late.
The ogres spread out, and though there were naturally fewer of them compared to the total number of imps even now, that didn’t make their proposed force any less frightening.
Like the imps had done before them, most of the ogres went in the direction the citizens were fleeing―the direction of the adventurers, the priests, the city guards, and most of the Imperial Knights.
Needless to say, I highly doubted that some AOE buffs on measly citizens and mediocre city guards would be enough to stop monsters like that, so they probably had to rely on the adventurers, priests, and knights to do the heavy lifting.
As for where the rest of the ogres were funnelling to…
[B-be careful, Enki!
You have to protect the Antagonist!]
“…I know.”
There was only one other place they could go, and that was behind, to the Imperial Palace.
‘Even if she wasn’t the Antagonist, of course I wouldn’t just stand by and let her die.’
Quickly noticing a small cohort of ogres split off from the rest and approach the emperor’s pack, I watched carefully as his personal guard stepped forth, having already dealt with the assaulting imps from before.
Before I even had a chance to blink, the coordinated effort had already downed one of the ogres, a feat even I was struck with awe by, and one those monsters surely didn’t see coming.
‘Those guys are a lot stronger than the ordinary knights…’
It was plain to see even to me who still wasn’t entirely used to combat, and after witnessing that, I was certain that the knights I had briefly scuffled with on my first day here were not her regular guards.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were even stronger than that Black Fang group, who, incidentally, I also had yet to see emerge to protect the city.
In any case, if Lucretia stayed with them, she would undoubtedly remain safe even in the middle of this abrupt battlefield.
However, what did that mean for what came after all of this was done…?
I would still remain a criminal who deserved nothing less than the death penalty, and not only that, but Lucretia’s protection would only increase more than any level it had been at in the past, meaning it would become practically impossible for me to meet her.
“…”
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures.’
Dismissing the Villainous Blade into Storage, I ensured Sneak was active and narrowed my eyes.
Fortunately, the guards were too busy dealing with the fierce onslaught of ogres to have any one of them missing from the fight.
That meant, even against strong fellows like this, there was a window of opportunity.
