340 - Power of the Temple 5
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: Posted in discord
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The adventurers regained hope and their strength after seeing Laurencia's divine armor and Irene's protective spells.
Why be afraid when enjoying the luxury of receiving overlapping overpowered skills from two 5★ Saint Candidates?
Although Irene's holy magic won't be refilled as she needs to head to the Imperial Palace with us, her passive skill that blocks a certain amount of damage should easily deflect stray arrows.
Thanks to Irene's preparation of porridge from the grain sack Han Se-ah pulled from her inventory, which she served to the ill like a nurse, everyone was able to restore their energy the next day.
Even if the slaves gathered to boil and eat dried grains, the harpies seemed to think of it as livestock feed, allowing us to wait for the commotion caused by the knight order.
"...Is it a racial difference? They think it's a livestock pen because there's a ceiling to block the rain, and livestock feed because we're boiling dried grains."
"I've heard stories of merchants bringing popular goods from the south, only to be shunned and go bankrupt in the north... The difference is so extreme when it comes to racial differences."
The stone dwarves and adventurers huddled together. As anxious yet hopeful eyes looked this way desperately, Grace and Katie seemed to try to ease the tension by exchanging jokes and stretching.
Unlike Laurencia, we plan to advance to the Imperial Palace, the center of the system. No matter how lacking the harpies are in strategic movement, they wouldn't leave a small armed force rushing towards the Imperial Palace alone.
Combat will be unavoidable, and since the Imperial Palace can be considered a boss stage, the palace guards defending it will likely be stronger than the harpy soldiers or commanders we've encountered so far.
"Irene, you're going to face the Harpy Empress, right?"
"That's right, Lori. Be careful when you escape."
"Thank you for worrying! I hope you can spread the name of the Goddess widely too!"
As the two Saint Candidates pray for each other's blessings, the sounds of battle echo in the distance. From the sharp sound of spears falling from the sky and embedding themselves in the ground, to the death throes of falling harpies, everything reverberates clearly through the imperial capital.
As if they couldn't just stand by at that sound, harpies quickly take flight and move from other areas. The shadows of harpies flying swiftly overhead were like a starting signal for us.
Donning robes and carrying military supply boxes as disguises, we slowly move in line from the stone dwarf workshop district towards the outskirts where fighting is occurring.
But that deception only lasts for a moment. While a mere ten people moving towards the slave workshops might not draw attention, when over a hundred humans and stone dwarves combined start sneaking towards the battlefield, it's bound to catch someone's eye.
"Stop! Where are you going?!"
"My faith is as solid as armor!"
"""Our faith shall smite the unbelievers without doubt!"""
The moment a harpy who had been flying urgently somewhere swooped down and perched on top of a high wall, Laurencia tossed aside the empty box she'd been shouldering. As if a flashbang had gone off, pure white divine energy scattered, instantly arming hundreds of people with armors of divine energy. This is followed seamlessly by the Temple Knights' holy magic.
Divine energy imbued Laurencia's massive hammer, the Temple Knights' swords, and our party's weapons.
So the vanguard Laurencia provides defensive buffs, while the supporting Temple Knights provide offensive buffs. As expected of paladins, a job class you can't leave out when talking about buffs.
It took only the blink of an eye for the suspicious slaves wrapped in robes to transform into vicious warriors capable of slaying even high-level monsters.
"W-what the--aaargh!"
"They're charging now?!"
"We've already been spotted, they're coming from behind!"
A harpy, unable to grasp the situation due to the flashing divine energy, had its lower body shattered into mana stones by the hammer. Han Se-ah seems a bit flustered by Laurencia's fierce attack that swept away both the harpy and the wall, but the rest of the group silently starts moving.
After all, harpies are monsters that combine eagles with humans. Even if their heads have changed to human faces, their eyesight hasn't deteriorated. They can't survey the ground while flying through the sky with poor vision, can they?
So the suspicious procession of hundreds had already been spotted by the surrounding harpies, in addition to the one that flew directly at us and turned to stone.
"They're coming! Run!"
"Sister! See you at the temple! We have to pray together!"
"Yeah, take care of yourself too."
At the adventurer's scream-like shout, Laurencia waved her hand, then shouldered her hammer that was bigger than her body and started sprinting forward, kicking off the wall.
A 5★ buff-type tank whos also received protective holy magic from a 5★ support. Even if our breakthrough power and destructive force are lacking or nonexistent, there's no need to worry with two defensive skills that have never dropped from the highest ranks of Heroines Chronicle.
As we watch the massive hammer turn buildings into rubble while advancing straight toward the cave, we turn around.
Our destination is, of course, the Imperial Palace in the distance, the largest and tallest building that's all too visible.
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Raei Translations
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Nearly a hundred white-armored individuals cross the battlefield. The harpies are bewildered by the sight of pure white divine armor bursting out of the city, while the knight order recognizes the divine energy and begins to assist them.
"Stop them! Stop them! Slaves are escaping! They can't repair the walls!"
"Cover the Temple Knights! Disrupt their supply lines!"
While the kidnapped adventurers were one thing, the stone dwarves were irreplaceable skilled labor. In short, whether they were captured or not could be seen as the key point in conquering the Harpy Empire.
Who else would repair the collapsed walls and rebuild the shattered barricades? Of course, it would be the stone dwarves. They were even using human adventurers for transporting supplies, so what would happen if the slaves disappeared?
Though it was just a hundred people escaping from the vast city, for the harpies it was an unprecedented major incident. As a result, more attention than expected was directed towards the stone dwarves waddling along in their pure white armor.
Enough for us to sneak up to the front of the Imperial Palace undetected.
"What's that, palace guards?"
"More importantly, there's no... road? Looks like we'll have to break our way in."
"I can see what look like sentries on top of that wall, but there's no road. Don't tell me they didn't make a road thinking the palace is off-limits without wings? ...At this rate, I'll use up all my mana on Earth Control."
-Our reliable hero (and master construction worker) Han Se-ah
-Back to your day job, eh Se-ah? Let's lay down a nice, smooth road
-Hanna? That guy always made roads for us
-The map design is pretty good though lol No entrance to the harpy palace
-Where do wingless f*ckers think they're going lol
We've stealthily approached the Imperial Palace beneath the anxious citizens and busy soldiers. While the journey here was smooth, it's a different story from the palace onward.
First of all, there's no road for slaves, so it's completely blocked off by a huge wall. Looking at the design, where there should be a large gate welcoming us or some kind of drawbridge, it's completely sealed off, which is a bit disconcerting.
Still, we're not blocked by some cliff or anything, so it seems we could easily infiltrate if Han Se-ah makes a small road over the empty moat and we break down the wall. Instead, the moment we shatter the wall, it'll turn from infiltration to an all-out war.
"No way to sneak in?"
"There are more guards than I expected. It seems the personnel guarding the castle haven't left..."
"Well then... we have no choice."
At Grace's words, I pull out my hammer as Han Se-ah naturally grips her staff. The harpies may fly high in the sky, but they can still observe the humans walking on the ground. No matter how high the castle walls are, they couldn't possibly miss humans approaching so blatantly.
A road of gravel and dirt piles appears over the moat, which was built properly by stone dwarves but abandoned without a gate.
Seeing this, the harpies spread their large wings and enter a state of alert. Proving they're a cut above the usual commander-class harpies, these ones are fully armed in armor mixing metal and leather appropriately from talons to thighs, not exposing any skin.
They're big too - are they confident in close combat? It would be really nice if they'd approach instead of just fluttering around at a distance.
"What is it, human?"
"If you don't stop, we'll shoot... kill you!"
Thinking this, I step onto the dirt road Han Se-ah made, and the harpy guards look down at me threateningly before immediately raising their talons and flying in to slash my throat.
But I was much faster charging like a madman towards the castle wall with my shield and hammer than their sharp blade-like talons could dig into my neck. Even for palace guards, it must be their first time seeing a slave smash their head into the castle wall - did they expect me to back down?
Hearing the sound of talons sharply cutting the wind as they pass behind my back, I drove my hammer straight into the castle wall.
Kaaang—!!!
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦
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