The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 213 Queen
The afternoon after the first empress of the Delan Empire ascended the throne, the east gate of Lutia fell, and the demons quickly poured into the city, engaging in fierce battles with the stubbornly resisting defenders.

That night, the south gate fell, and the imperial soldiers and the Lutia citizens who remained in the city retreated to the west city to continue street fighting against the demons.

The battle raged from night into day, and then from day into night again, the flames illuminating the entire city, the largest and most prosperous city on the continent.

After today, the word "formerly" will be added before this title...

Eric, with a thought in mind, unleashed a powerful sword strike, cutting down the demon warrior who had been chasing him from around the corner.

Two more demon soldiers rushed over upon hearing the noise. Both their hands, the one holding the sword and the other, were trembling uncontrollably; he was almost powerless.

He had no other choice but to grasp the Holy Spirit pendant on his chest, and golden light emanated from beneath his feet.

Golden wings carried him into the air, and a blazing light emanated from his body, scorching the invading enemies.

Eric's field of vision suddenly rose, and he looked into the distance. Firelight covered the entire Lutia, and in the darkness, countless unseen demons were still surging towards them.

The crisis was temporarily averted, and he became the most dazzling presence in the darkness, only to bring about a new crisis.

And a turning point.

"His Highness is over there!"

As Eric fell, he heard a familiar voice beside him. When he landed, two church knights who had briefly separated rushed to his side.

"Your Highness!"

"Retreat immediately." The countless tiny wounds on his body had been healed by the holy light just now, and Eric felt that he had regained some strength. "At least a few dozen demons saw me and are rushing this way."

The two knights led him back, and Eric soon saw other knights guarding the entrance to the street, preventing the demons from advancing further.

One of the knights even brought a horse and pushed Eric onto it.

He settled firmly on his horse, glanced back, and could already vaguely see the western city wall behind him.

They are about to completely withdraw from Lutia, where they have held out for nearly two months.

Having fought to this point, sacrifice is no longer meaningful.

"Defend if you can, retreat if you can't," Eric said in a hoarse voice. "There are several more lines of defense behind us."

“I understand, Your Highness. Please go and rest in the rear,” Edward said, leading a few knights to continue clearing the road ahead.

Having exhausted himself to the limit, Eric did not linger. He rode back to the rear and arrived at the temporary camp under the city wall.

The ground was littered with wounded people. He found a secluded spot and lay down. When he woke up again, several hours had passed.

It was already daylight.

The empress, all alone, stood beside him, watching him with concern, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he opened his eyes.

"I thought you were dead."

“Your Majesty…” Eric got up, the aches and pains throughout his body almost making him cry out.

Don't call me that!

Mia glared at him angrily, "You killed Dad and put me in this position. Do you know how much trouble you've caused me?"

"All I know is that because of His Majesty's presence, the East Gate held out for almost two more days, and Lutia has not yet completely fallen."

Eric stood up. “Although we cannot see or touch you, your presence truly unites the faith of all the defenders in the city. They… we fight for you.”

Mia was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why can't we wait for Aunt Natalia to return and make her the empress?"

“If I had a choice, I would of course choose Princess Natalia.”

Eric looked around; there were more people lying in the camp than standing. "But she hasn't returned. The situation is urgent; I have no other choice. Now, you are universally recognized as Her Majesty the Queen."

"It's all because you killed Dad!"

“Yes, it was me. Your Majesty, please don’t forget who I am when you seek revenge. I didn’t even expect that arrow to be so accurate.” Eric’s gaze returned to her, too lazy to argue. “Once the demons are driven away, I am willing to accept any punishment Your Majesty may impose.”

The young empress stared at him, speechless.

“I remember His Majesty should have a separate tent…” Eric glanced around the camp. “You should go back to your tent.”

"I don't want to stay there! Nobody talks to me, and I don't know anything!"

“We don’t have enough manpower to report to you right now,” Eric thought for a moment. “You can also stay with the Grand Marshal, as long as you don’t interfere with him.”

"Can't I come with you?" Mia asked.

Eric chuckled. "Does Your Majesty intend to come with me to your death?"

"Aren't you a saintess? Why do you always have to fight those demons yourself?" Mia frowned at him.

"Because I can."

Eric half-squatted and half-knelt down, looking at the Queen who was even younger than his sister when he left home a few years ago.

"Hundreds of years ago, Your Majesty's ancestor, that heroic king, led from the front and never shied away from battle, thus saving humanity from peril. If you have the ability to fight, you should do the same. Of course, what you need to do now is protect yourself in the rear."

Mia looked at him silently for a while. "Can I really survive?"

Eric lowered his head, one knee on the ground. "I can assure you, His Majesty will not die before me."

"If the demons capture me too, will you shoot me with an arrow?" the empress asked again.

Eric looked at her. "I promise I'll try to kill you with one arrow and minimize your suffering."

"..."

"Therefore, it is not enough for us to protect you alone; Your Majesty must learn to protect yourself."

Eric stood up. "Alright, Your Majesty, would you like to return to your own tent, or go to the Grand Marshal's?"

The young empress was dissatisfied with having only these two choices, but she had no choice but to choose the latter.

Sending the trouble to his uncle, Eric climbed the city wall alone.

Black smoke billowed from the city of Lutia, a sign of the demons' rampage.

Edgar had just told him that the demons had slowed down their efforts to wipe out the remaining defenders, and that their army hadn't even tried to block their retreat from the other side since yesterday. Eric guessed they were busy plundering the richest city on the continent.

He looked towards the direction of the palace in the city, but no black smoke was rising from there, so the Demon King might have already moved in.

After descending from the city wall, Eric found his knights. They were all exhausted from a night of fierce fighting and defense, but fortunately, no one had been lost. They were now resting while maintaining vigilance.

However, this temporary peace lasted only until the afternoon, when a large number of demon soldiers suddenly surged towards the west city, constantly pressuring the remaining defenders' fighting space.

"What's next? Will demons come from outside the city to surround us?"

"Not yet, Your Highness."

Eric asked in surprise, "Do the demons want to destroy us, or do they just want to drive us out of Lutia?"

When the city fell the day before yesterday, perhaps thinking that the remaining defenders were doomed, the winged scouts scattered and fled. Their vision returned to the same dimension as the demons. Now, no one could answer his question, and battle was unavoidable.

A demonic force of more than ten people rapidly approached from the street to Eric's right. He selected a few knights to charge forward with him, while the rest were responsible for guarding the street corner and preventing enemies from approaching from another direction.

Storm footwork!

After charging a certain distance, Eric suddenly vanished, instantly reappearing behind one of the tall demon warriors who looked like a soldier leader, and thrusting a sword at his neck.

when!
The latter actually reacted, turned around to block his attack, and stomped heavily on his foot.

Eric leaped to avoid the invisible shockwave that suddenly spread across the ground, and after landing, he quickly pushed off again, appearing next to another demon soldier. The golden mark on his face had already appeared before he shattered its throat.

With his speed and strength surging dramatically, Eric attacked the demon soldier leader again, moving swiftly but delivering a simple, ordinary sweeping blow.

when!
As the blades clashed, the demon leader, though massive in size, moved with surprising speed, easily deflecting the sword strike.

Eric stopped his attack and then swiftly thrust his sword twice at the man's chest. One sword was blocked, but the other struck the man's heavy armor, failing to penetrate but instead knocking him back. Eric's own arm went numb.

"what!"

The demon leader roared triumphantly, sweeping his greatsword horizontally. The cold light from the broad blade and the sound of wind being cut swept over it together, fast and fierce, showing that he had not held back at all in this attack.

Eric had been waiting for this powerful and sweeping move. Just as the sword was about to strike his body, he suddenly leaped up, touched the greatsword with his toes, nimbly spun around in mid-air, and then unleashed a powerful slash!
Pfft!

The longsword struck the demon soldier leader's shoulder, but was blocked by the shoulder armor. It still cut in by five or six centimeters, but it wasn't the neck he had intended to sever.

"Aha!"

Having narrowly avoided a fatal blow, the demon leader roared again amidst pain and rage, his unarmed left arm whipping or rather slamming towards Eric like a giant whip.

Eric pushed off it, using the force to retreat, the huge arm swinging out with a whooshing sound, almost grazing his calf.

After landing, Eric immediately rushed up, circled behind it, and attacked with incredible speed, slashing, hacking, and thrusting. He failed to break through the heavy armor of the demon leader, but he finally completed all the preliminary moves of the War Soul, which most warriors considered useless.

The demon leader turned around again, only to be met with the final blow. "Die!"

Eric spun around and slashed down, while the phantom behind him wielded an even longer and larger invisible greatsword, cleaving down in unison.

The demon soldier leader, who was over two meters tall and covered in heavy armor, was cleaved in two from his right shoulder to his left waist with a single sword strike.

Blood splattered everywhere, experience flew into the body, and the other members of this demon team had already been dealt with by the other knights.

Eric had no time to rest. He led his knights back to the street corner to continue fighting the demons surging in from the other side.

After repelling several waves of attacks, the number of demons continued to increase. Suddenly, a rain of fire meteors fell from the sky, instantly repelling the demon soldiers who surged in from both streets.

Eric turned around, but the person who came was not Eileen, but a moon elf. It was not Eileen's teacher Agnes, but also a great mage.

The fact that the moon elves of the magic academy were finally willing to join the war between humans and demons was excellent news for the remaining defenders who were almost in dire straits.

In the brief conversation that followed, Eric learned that they had actually joined the battle much earlier—the demons hadn't failed to try to outflank them from outside the city, but the moon elves had blocked them from a greater distance.

"If you had joined this war sooner, the demons wouldn't have been able to enter Lutia at all!"

"Don't complain to me, Orieta's child." The female moon elf, who looked middle-aged, said coldly, "We can only hold off these demons for a while."

She continued, "We don't want to waste our strength in this pointless war either. We're only joining now because of you and Eileen, and..."

"—Then how about we burn all these demons to death to help me and Eileen again?"

The moon elf shook her head and continued what she had just said.

"And, your human reinforcements have arrived outside the city and are attacking the demon camp."

Eric was startled, suddenly feeling as if something had been pulled out of his body.

The reinforcements, whom we had been waiting for for over ten days, finally arrived after the fall of Lutia…

He then realized that it was no wonder the demons in the city had suddenly launched a fierce attack on their remaining troops; they were worried about being attacked from both sides.

However, with their remaining strength, they would be lucky to withstand the demons' attack; there was absolutely no possibility of a counterattack.

The moon elves had no intention of helping them counterattack. After helping them repel the most difficult wave of attacks, they stopped fighting and stood at a distance, staring at Eric with unfathomable eyes.

"Your Highness, that moon elf is still watching you..."

"I know."

Eric ignored it and told the Cavaliers not to get distracted and to continue their defense.

The demons' attack ended there. Eric saw a large number of demons retreating from the rear, presumably to support the battle on the front lines, leaving behind a small but threatening force to hold them off.

As dusk approached, a large wave of reinforcements surged in from behind them. It turned out that the reinforcements outside the city had cleared the road from the main battlefield to the west gate, relieving the pressure on the remaining defenders inside the city.

"Which one is Her Highness the Holy Maiden?" a knight wearing armor with the emblem of Kilan asked.

Eric stepped forward.

"Your Highness—"

The knight dismounted and bowed respectfully.

"Princess Natalia is on her way here and wishes to meet with you. We will take over the defenses here."

Eric and his knights exchanged glances and let out a deep breath.

"I'll leave this to you."

"Yes."

On the way, Eric looked around and found that the Moon Elf had disappeared.

He ignored it and went straight back to the temporary camp under the city wall at the west gate.

Natalia was riding across the drawbridge when she saw him in the distance. She quickened her pace to cross the bridge, then passed through the city gate and stopped in front of him.

The two looked at each other in silence. Natalia dismounted and reached out her hand, but Eric knelt down on one knee.

"I shot and killed Your Highness's brother, please forgive me."

"..."

Natalia looked down at him, her gaze slowly tracing his face, moving to his body, passing over the dents and patches of blood on his armor, then focusing on the obvious and inconspicuous wounds, before finally returning to his gaunt face.

"You shouldn't have brought this up when we first met."

"I don't want His Highness to harbor resentment towards me during our more important conversations to come."

Natalia's expression remained indifferent. "Do you mean I should forgive you immediately?"

Eric shook his head. "What I mean is that Your Highness can speak your mind, whether it's resentment or disgust."

She looked at him for a while longer.

"This is not the time to talk about these things. Where is the Grand Marshal? I want to see him."

Eric stood up, and the two looked at each other again.

"It is a great pleasure to see you back in Lutia alive, Your Highness."

“I wish this were our first words upon meeting,” Natalia said, extending her hand to shake his. “I’m sorry I came back so late.”

"His Highness has brought the reinforcements we need most."

"But what was truly important has been lost."

They remained silent.

“I will take you to see the Grand Marshal,” Eric said.

Upon arriving at the temporary camp and meeting Edgar, Natalia immediately told him about the situation outside the city.

After a round of clashes, the main force of the Grandia army is now facing off against the demon army, preparing to deploy around the western district of Lutia, using this as a starting point to gradually retake Lutia.

“Then I suggest we act quickly while the demons are still establishing themselves. They have just entered the city and are not familiar with the situation inside. In addition, Lutia has a large amount of supplies stored up. If we do not act soon, it will fall completely into the hands of the demons.”

"Very well. The Grand Marshal is more familiar with the situation inside the city. Please formulate a battle plan..."

"—Natalia!"

When Queen Mia received news of her aunt's arrival, she rushed into the tent.

Natalia hugged her tightly.

After letting go, she knelt on one knee before the new emperor and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty."

Mia was stunned.

"No, no... I don't want to be emperor anymore. Natalia, you be the emperor..."

"His Majesty!"

Natalia grabbed Mia's shoulders and stared into her eyes.

"Your Majesty, you are now the Emperor of the Empire and can no longer act willfully. The throne is a succession, not something that can be relinquished at will. You must not utter such words before anyone again. Please retract them..."

"I do not want!"

Eric left the commander's tent at this moment, climbed the city wall, and looked out over the city and the surrounding area.

More than an hour later, Natalia also arrived at the city wall.

"When I left here a year ago, I never imagined that when I came back, the person in charge, both in name and in reality, would be a different person."

Eric pursed his lips. "Are you now the eldest princess, or the new emperor?"

Natalia glanced at him. "It's the Grand Princess."

She was no longer the emperor's sister, but his aunt.

"It was my idea to have His Majesty ascend the throne, at that time..."

"I know. I know everything."

Eric paused, then offered no further explanation.

“Your Highness’s choice is correct,” Natalia said. “Otherwise, the Delan Empire would have perished days ago.”

She looked at him, “But the crisis of destruction is not over. I hope... you can take Mia and leave Lutia.”

(End of this chapter)