Chapter 128: The Demon Appears

After a while, in the camp at the foot of the mountain for the expeditionary vanguard.

Inside a tent, dozens of severely injured Temple Knights, just returned from the front lines, were lying on makeshift beds. Priests and nuns hurried back and forth, urgently treating their wounds.

Meanwhile, the leader of the expeditionary army, the Saint of Bright Light Yuna Summerfield, had also arrived here with a certain Miss White Fox who wanted to join in. After giving a few orders, she came over to check on a severely injured Holy Knight and personally administered treatment.

A faint golden light poured from the fingertips of the Saintess, mingling with the hollow chest of the Holy Knight whose armor was noticeably dented. His injuries were among the most severe in this tent.

Miss Vilyric watched closely, realizing that this man’s entire chest cavity had been crushed in by a massive force. For most normal people, such injuries would be instantly fatal. If it weren’t for the impressive healing powers of faith-based magic, which allegedly kept him alive during the journey here, he would have probably breathed his last long ago.

After a moment, seeing the golden light from the blonde girl’s palm fade away, a man wearing leather armor, with a short bow and sword slung over his back—most likely a high-ranking Arbiter from a special forces unit—cautiously opened his mouth.

“Your Highness, he…”

“His life has been preserved for now, but with injuries of this severity, time is of the essence—he can’t be immediately healed back to normal. Take good care of him, and once we reach Hua City, we can have the Redeeming Saintess there treat him personally; that should be fine.”

After offering a few comforting words, Yuna scanned the temporary treatment area filled with the smell of blood and moans, finally stopping her gaze on the Arbiter whose attire was clearly different from the injured soldiers.

“Are you… the captain of this Holy Knight’s squad? Please tell me about the situation you encountered on Mount Saint Pelgen.”

When the Saintess spoke, the Arbiter naturally dared not say much, immediately bowing and nodding in response.

“Yes, Goddess of Praise, this way please.”

This was certainly not an appropriate place for conversation. As the Arbiter led her outside, he quickly explained.

“My name is Felix; I am a human half-breed with a touch of Bird-Human blood. While I didn’t inherit the ability to fly, I possess excellent eyesight and a keen sense of danger due to my bloodline. Therefore, I am responsible for leading a hundred-strong vanguard reconnaissance team.”

“About two hours ago, the advance forces of our vanguard army arrived at the foot of the Saint Pelgen Mountains. According to the orders passed down, including us, five detachments are acting as the first pioneers, spreading out to investigate the mountain, aiming to find and eliminate any resistance that our main force may encounter.”

Including Felix, Yuna, a few holy warrior guards, and the guest Miss Fox, they walked and talked, soon leaving the tent and arriving by a large rock within the camp.

The reconnaissance team leader took out a piece of leather parchment from his bag, laid it out flat.

“Please take a look.”

This was a hand-drawn map depicting the terrain of a mountainous region and the distribution of various creatures’ habitats. Many details were annotated with small notes, drawn quite meticulously. If someone wasn’t particularly familiar with the area and hadn’t gone back and forth for years, it would be impossible to create such a product.

“Among my team, there are a few members who live near the Saint Pelgen Plains. They are familiar with the surroundings, and the one you just saved is one of them. I had them prepare this map in advance for reference during this reconnaissance. Unfortunately, the others…”

A fleeting sadness crossed Felix’s face, but he quickly continued without pausing.

“It’s well-known that the Saint Pelgen Mountains are exceptionally hard, far superior to ordinary rocks, making it nearly impossible to tunnel through. Therefore, to cross what is known as the Wall of Heaven, aside from special methods like flying or space magic, one has to rely on pure endurance to climb thousands of meters of treacherous peaks or traverse through a few naturally formed gaps…”

“Get to the point, Arbiter Felix.”

Raising her hand, the Saintess quickly stopped him from continuing with unnecessary explanations of known information; the situation on Mount Saint Pelgen was still unclear. Although new personnel had been sent for further investigation, that was merely a probe.

Once she grasped the basic intelligence, she needed to make targeted arrangements and deployments without wasting any time.

“Uh… Yes, Your Highness, this gorge the expeditionary army is planning to pass through is relatively wide and flat, but the mountains of Saint Pelgen are steep. If someone were to launch an attack from above while the army is passing or block off the entrances on either side, it would cause tremendous casualties.”

“Thus, to prevent this, the primary mission of our team is to investigate the mountain regions on both sides of the planned route through the gorge.”

The Arbiter, appearing to be in his thirties with dark blue short hair, showed a serious expression as he pointed to several nearby areas on the map that were marked with red circles.

“Look here, here, and here; we have discovered very large footprints.”

“Large footprints, you say… How large are we talking about?”

Hearing the Saintess’s question, Felix glanced around before finally pointing to the large half-circle rock they were standing before, which was around two or three meters wide.

“The cross-section is no smaller than this rock. After discovering the footprints, we compared them to some creatures of similar size and quickly determined that these were likely left behind by a Giant Hammer Demon.”

“A Giant Hammer Demon, you say…”

Slightly serious, the Saintess frowned, and upon hearing the name, Miss Fox immediately recalled some descriptions she had read about such demons in books.

Giant Hammer Demons are among the main battle demons under the ruler of the Demon Realm known as “Killing.” An adult Giant Hammer Demon usually stands at least ten meters tall, with those of commanding rank often being even larger—compared to them, even creatures like Bright Crystal Beasts would appear as little dwarfs.

The name of this demon comes from the massive hammer-shaped weapon they carry upon their appearance, a long-handled weapon with pointed and flat ends weighing tons. Just holding the handle is as sturdy as a beam of a house; probably only a massive creature like a Giant Hammer Demon, who is both enormous and possesses immense strength, could wield it as easily as a finger.

While they don’t possess any particularly peculiar or unique abilities, just their enormous size paired with their almost indestructible terrifying weapon, along with simple heavy armor, is enough to make Giant Hammer Demons a nightmare for most armies on the battlefield, capable of recklessly assaulting smaller city walls and fortresses.

The strength of demons cannot be fully classified according to the levels commonly used here, but if one had to provide a concrete assessment, an adult Giant Hammer Demon could at least contend with creatures at the Earth Peak or Sky level in one-on-one combat. In large-scale battles, their contribution could even approach that of legendary figures.

“Battlefield meat grinder” is the most fitting description for this type of demon; in any past demon battle, even the appearance of a single one would instantly become a target for full alert from the Holy Empire.

   

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