A deep silence fell.

Although the square was filled with at least hundreds of people, not one of them opened their mouths to make a sound.

As if they were barely managing to accept the sudden change in the situation, or as if opening their mouths now would somehow make them responsible for this whole affair.

Among them, the first to come to her senses was Maris von Lennart, as her responsibility was the heaviest.

Maris approached Adelaide and supported her.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t seem to put strength in my body…”

“Get on my back.”

Maris didn’t even wait for an answer and piggybacked Adelaide.

A few bloodline members nearby were startled and tried to stop her, but Maris subdued them with just her gaze, as if this wasn’t the time for arguments.

After instructing her subordinates to take care of Sophia as well, she ran out of the square towards the outskirts of the city.

No one tried to stop them.

Most of the city guards had already fallen due to the successive battles, and the remaining soldiers were sprawled on the ground with half-dazed faces.

Above all, the single, overwhelming strike Adelaide had shown still lingered in the minds of the surrounding populace.

It was enough to make people hesitate even when an enormous reward like residence rights in the Kingdom of Heaven was offered.

If it was like that even when the lord was alive, now that he was dead and it was uncertain whether the reward would actually be given, not a single person tried to confront them.

That just now…

While the other bloodline members didn’t seem to have seen it properly due to the chaotic battle, Maris had clearly witnessed it.

The golden mana unique to the Lion Duke’s bloodline, and the violet lightning-like energy mixed in between.

As far as Maris knew, only three people in the bloodline had shown such a phenomenon in this generation.

And none of them were ordinary figures.

One was the sword of the northern front called the strongest in the bloodline, the second was the duke of Lennart’s guard knight, and the last was the Lennart’s gifted child who was leading the next generation competition.

Complex emotions filled Maris’ eyes.

And while she was lost in thought, the surrounding situation continued to change.

“T-the wall is crumbling!”

“Great! We can get out!”

“I’ll never come to this damn city again!”

Tourists escaping the city and the crumbling wall triggered by the collapse of the scale.

“The scale, its power is fading…!”

“Could something have happened to the lord, kuhek!”

“You fucking bastards, you cut off my brother’s head earlier!!”

“Now it’s your turn to prove your innocence! Try saying you have no sin after killing people as you pleased!”

The Justitia guards, belatedly realizing the lord’s death fell into confusion.

Outlaws who had been holding their breath under the guards’ oppressive attitude and force, finally seizing the opportunity to start their revenge.

“Lord Antonio, how could you leave like this!?”

“Ah, Lord, Lord! I have done nothing wrong!”

“You wicked evil ones! Divine punishment will surely fall upon you!”

Citizens mourning the lord’s death, fearing retaliation from the Kingdom of Heaven, or cursing those leaving.

Confusion and chaos filled the place.

It was the sight of all the resistance that had been forcibly suppressed by the scale’s authority and force bursting out at once.

As Maris continued moving forward, leaving all that commotion behind, it was then that someone’s shout reached her ears.

“Look, in the sky!”

At first, she ignored it as simple noise.

But seeing more and more people looking up at the sky following those words, Maris also stopped for a moment and gazed at the sky.

There was an angel there.

“──.”

People who saw that sight collectively held their breath.

It was difficult to make out the angel’s exact appearance due to the angel being high in the sky.

They couldn’t tell what clothes it was wearing, what its face looked like, or what expression it had as it looked down at the ground.

All they could tell was that it had a human-like form and huge wings on its back.

Yet, its intense presence was unmistakably felt.

The Lion Duke’s bloodline members with keen senses, or some individuals who could enhance their eyesight with mana, could see the angel’s appearance a bit more clearly.

The angel was wearing a pure white dress, but contrary to its beauty that exuded a holy atmosphere, its expression was twisted into a bored and sullen look.

Around the angel’s head, hats of various colors and designs were floating, numbering in the dozens.

Round and round.

Round and round.

Numerous hats rotated around the angel, each showing off its style.

The angel stared blankly at the procession of hats as if pondering which one to use, then with a short sigh, chose a very deep and dark blue hat and put it on its head.

Then an amazing change occurred.

Intense sadness settled on the angel’s face, which had looked like a dissatisfied child, and tears began to fall from its eyes.

The angel closed its eyes as if expressing condolences, and in that state, waved its hand.

The emerald barrier, which had crumbled and greatly reduced in size, responded to the angel’s gesture by turning into light and gathering around her.

The blue-green light turned into rain clouds, and soon a shower poured down, covering all of Justitia.

Shaaaaa.

“Damn, a sudden rain, huh?”

“Oh, ohhh!”

“Thank you, thank you…!”

Those hit by the rain were surprised at first, but soon wore expressions of deep emotion.

As the raindrops seeped into their bodies, all wounds on their bodies began to heal rapidly.

People knelt down, prayed towards the sky, and offered praise.

Even those who had been fighting shed tears and spoke of repentance in front of this overwhelming miracle.

Even the Lion Duke’s bloodline members could feel their accumulated fatigue and wounds recovering.

There was only one exception.

Sizzle.

Sophia’s skin, touched by the raindrops, burned and blistered as if touched by a dangerous chemical.

The bloodline member supporting her panicked and hurriedly brought suitable cloth from a nearby market to wrap her body.

At that moment, the angel’s eyes turned towards Sophia and Maris’ group.

The angel shook its head left and right as if sighing, then stretched out its hand towards the direction of the group.

Part of the rain clouds pouring rain on the ground transformed into a huge spear of water and was shot.

Crack!

“Kheuk!”

One of the clan members who tried to receive the water spear groaned and rolled on the ground.

The sword that collided with the spear was shattered in one strike, and a hole large enough to fit a human head appeared in the person’s chest.

It was undoubtedly instant death.

Maris shouted like a scream, “Don’t try to block, focus on evasion!”

That order was immediately proven futile.

With the angel’s second strike, another bloodline member died instantly with their head pierced.

“I-I’ll get down…!”

Adelaide slid down from Maris’ back.

However, her complexion was still pale.

Even the benefits given by the mysterious rain seemed insufficient to fully recover her exhaustion.

She grasped the sword held by a dead bloodline member and swung it with all her might towards the incoming spear.

Maris also sent out her sword as if to help Adelaide.

Paak!

The strike that was about to take a third life failed to achieve its goal for the first time and scattered in the air.

As a price, both Adelaide and Maris’ swords broke simultaneously.

And without even time to regroup, another spear was shot.

Adelaide tried to receive the attack once more with her half-broken sword, but as if that was arrogance, this time the sword completely shattered.

The remainder of the water spear that wasn’t fully offset lodged itself into Adelaide’s chest.

With a sound of air escaping from her stomach, Adelaide rolled on the ground.

Thanks to the belt’s body enhancement effect, she avoided instant death, but all sensation in her body disappeared and she couldn’t move a muscle from head to toe.

She heard a mixture of ringing in her ears and the sounds of bloodline members resisting.

And after a while, she couldn’t hear anything.

In this desperate situation, Adelaide smiled.

This smile wasn’t one ironically shown in despair, no.

Even if she couldn’t hear sounds, even if she had no bodily sensation, something still reached her.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ praises her for holding out well!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says to leave the rest to him!]

The words of her ever-reliable teacher.

In the sudden drowsiness that came with relief, Adelaide finally lost consciousness completely.

***

You quickly surveyed the surrounding situation.

Two of the figures who seemed to be Adelaide’s companions were already dead with their bodies pierced, and the rest, while avoiding instant death, were in tatters all over their bodies.

It was ironic that even those injuries that would normally require immediate first aid were gradually being healed due to the rain continuously pouring from the sky.

You had heard of giving the disease and then the cure, but this tactic of spreading wide-area healing on the field indiscriminately and then picking off targets one by one with instant-kill techniques was something even you were seeing for the first time.

A water spear flew in.

You swung your shield to receive the spear.

Watching the water spear burst like a water balloon upon touching the shield with a pung, you felt the astonishment of those around you.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says he’ll escort them, so let’s escape like this!]

“Everyone, Sir Tin will cover our rear, so let’s quickly get out of the city. And let’s take the bodies of our comrades as well.”

When Sophia, who was covered in some wide cloth but looked in poor condition as the cloth itself wasn’t waterproof, said this, the one who seemed to be the representative among them relayed the order again.

It was indeed professional to immediately take action without unnecessarily arguing this way and that.

Paang!

Another water spear burst on the shield you swung.

Not a single scratch appeared on either your body or the shield.

It wasn’t because the spear’s power was weak.

Rather, in terms of power alone, it was incomparable to anything except the Witch of the West’s mass attack and Kalidahs.

However, it was easier to deal with compared to them.

It seemed to be a technique of forming water into a spear shape and then wrapping it with emerald light before shooting, but the moment the shield and spear made contact, if you tore the surface coating, the rest was just forcefully shot water.

Unless the mass of the water itself was enormous or it was mixed with sand or iron sand like a water jet cutter, it wasn’t a great danger to you otherwise.

You wanted to charge at the opponent if possible, but no matter what, you had no means to attack an opponent so high up in the sky.

You decided to think of it as just some kind of gimmick battle and focused on blocking attacks and escorting the group.

The opponent’s reaction was strange.

Even though the attacks were being blocked one after another, not a hint of anger or impatience was evident in the attacks.

The woman in the sky directed the same emotions towards both the people she was healing with her ability and the people she was trying to kill with her ability, without any discrimination.

Mourning and lamentation, compassion and sadness.

That figure directing sympathy towards everything on the ground was, in a sense, extremely angelic.

How long had it been since you started receiving attacks like that?

Finally, when all members of the group escaped outside the range of the shower, the angel’s attacks also stopped.

Although it seemed possible to track you if she wanted, the sad-eyed angel just focused on sprinkling rain on Justitia.

You decided to extract Sophia and Adelaide from the Lion Duke’s bloodline and move to the place where you were supposed to meet up with Dorothea.

The other side seemed to have a lot to say in various ways, but they nodded at Sophia’s explanation that she would “come later according to the original plan.”

Leaving behind thanks for the help, you left the city of scales.

— Teacher.

— What is it, Langwidere?

While engraving in a corner of your memory the fact that the girl in the vision shown when Sophia entered the city resembled that angel.

***

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