Chapter 45: White Knight (4)

The ogres were lumbering toward Rivera Citadel with a slow, bothersome gait.

When they charged at Afungi, it was like a dump truck flooring the gas pedal on grass, but now they moved as sluggishly as a well-fed elephant, ambling along without a care.

‘…Well, thanks to that, we had enough time to prepare.’

The Rivera Soldiers had positioned some on the castle walls as planned, while the rest waited in front of the castle gates.

I once again explained the operation overview to Jeanne d’Arc and the Rivera Soldiers.

There were three main orders:

1. Spread the “items” I sent evenly across the ground in front of the castle gates.
2. Position piles of stones and soldiers ready to throw them on the walls.
3. Prepare training wooden sticks—big and sturdy ones.

Thud! Thud!

…Finally, here they come!

At last, one of the ogres slowly approached the Rivera castle gates.

At that moment, something shiny caught the eye of the ogre moving forward.

The ground in front of the gates glittered brilliantly in gold and silver.

“Ugh, uuuugh?!”

The ogres were demons who couldn’t resist anything shiny.

Sure enough, drooling heavily, the ogre immediately stretched out its hand toward the sparkling ground.

Then.

Screeeech!

In the blink of an eye, the ogre’s palm was stuck fast to the ground.

“…I knew you’d like it. ‘Glitter Glue,’ of course.”

The object that made the ground sparkle with all colors was none other than Glitter Glue.

The ogre struggled and huffed, trying to pull its palm off the sticky ground in the middle of the path.

But once stuck, the palm showed no sign of coming loose.

And then.

“Now! Drop them!”

Jeanne d’Arc gave the order, and the soldiers on the walls simultaneously poured down piles of stones.

Thud! Thud! Thuddududud!

Relentless heaps of stones rained down on the ogre’s head.

The ogre crouched even lower to avoid the falling stones.

There was no significant damage inflicted, but that didn’t matter.

The goal was to make it duck from the start.

“Sto-ooone!”

With Jeanne d’Arc’s shout, knights bearing huge wooden sticks rushed out fiercely.

Thwack!

A direct hit to the ogre’s head with a wooden stick!

Normally, targeting the head of an ogre standing three meters tall was nearly impossible.

But right now, for various reasons, the ogre was hunched over as far as it could go.

So just charging forward meant a clean headshot.

‘…Glitter Glue and the piles of stones were just to zero in the wooden stick strikes!’

The ogre staggered with a dull expression as if its skull was buzzing.

“Again! Sto-ooone!”

Then the second wooden stick strike blasted onto the crown of the ogre’s head.

Thwack~!

“U-ugh…”

Eventually, the staggering ogre collapsed helplessly onto the glitter glue.

A moment later.

The second ogre charged in.

“Ough? Ouuugh~? Oh?!”

Staring gloomily at the fallen comrade, the second ogre soon fixed its gaze on the glittering ground.

Then, just like the first, it stretched its hand toward the ground without hesitation.

‘…Those guys really are stupid.’

And the same scenario played out minutes earlier.

“Drop them!”

Thud~! Thuddududud~!

“Sto-ooone!”

Thwack~!

Another perfectly placed wooden stick strike landed on the ogre’s brow.

“U-ugh…”

Thud!

The second ogre also collapsed onto the glitter glue, unable to support its massive body.

“Waaahhhh!”

“We’ve knocked down an ogre!”

“Thanks to the sacred glue bestowed by God!”

“Long live! Long live! Praise God! Praise the Saintess!”

The Rivera Soldiers embraced and cheered wildly.

But.

Thud! Thud~!

There were three ogres in total.

Moreover, the last ogre was much bigger and fiercer than the first two.

It also clearly had more brains than the others.

After glancing at its comrades sprawled on the glitter glue, it quietly began to climb the castle walls.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The huge hands gripped the wall as the final ogre climbed up.

The soldiers on the walls shouted helplessly.

“Damn! The ogre is climbing the walls!”

“We’re out of stones! There’s nothing left to drop!”

“W-what do we do now?!”

“Ahhh…!”

Unlike the panicked soldiers, Jeanne d’Arc’s expression remained calm.

Then, raising her Jeanne d’Arc’s Holy Sword high, she shouted to the soldiers.

“Everyone, stay calm! God is with us.”

The soldiers’ murmurs slowly quieted, captivated by Jeanne d’Arc’s noble composure and fearless stance.

And indeed, things were okay.

Because there was one more item I had brought just in case.

‘I really didn’t want to use this… but oh well, it’s an ogre, so it should be fine.’

I forced a bitter smile as I sent the vial in my hand through general transmission.

Soon after, a blood-red glass bottle materialized on the walls, glowing white.

Thanks to the general transmission, the bottle was about the size of an average adult man.

Jeanne carefully looked up at the glass bottle and asked.

“God, please tell us how we should use the item you’ve bestowed upon us.”

“…Instead of stones, pour the liquid inside the bottle onto the ogres.”

The soldiers on the walls swallowed nervously and cautiously opened the glass bottle’s lid.

Inside, a blood-red liquid shimmered.

Following the instructions, several soldiers gathered and slowly tilted the bottle.

“Hoist! Lift it a bit more on that side!”

“Handle it carefully! It’s a precious weapon bestowed by God!”

“One… two… three… now!”

Then.

Thud~! Thuddududud! Thud!

The blood-red liquid began to pour mercilessly down the walls.

The ogre, climbing fiercely, suddenly got drenched by the red shower.

Seething in rage at the unknown circumstance, it opened its huge mouth and let out a deafening roar.

“Uooooohhhhh~!”

As a result, a pile of the blood-red liquid poured directly into the ogre’s mouth.

It probably didn’t realize how foolish that was.

‘…You shouldn’t have done that.’

I quietly offered my condolences.

Sure enough, the ogre started reacting immediately.

“Ugh? Guh-ooohk?!”

It stopped climbing and writhed in pain.

Steam rose from its skin where the blood-red liquid touched.

The worst pain was in its mouth.

“Gwahhhhhh!”

Hanging on the walls, grimacing and clutching its mouth, the ogre even shed tears from the stinging pain.

The soldiers watching this were left speechless.

Even when hit by hard stones, the ogre didn’t budge, but now it was in agony thanks to a whole new level of destructive power.

Jeanne d’Arc slowly read aloud the letters on the bottle.

“Al… bo… chil?”

[Albochil (Albochil) Concentrate]

The liquid the ogre had been doused in was the notoriously painful oral inflammation treatment known as Albochil.

‘…And it’s undiluted 100% concentrate!’

At that moment, the soldiers on the walls started throwing spears and shooting arrows at the halted ogre.

“Attack, everyone! Let’s drop it off the walls!”

“Here, eat this!”

“Oh…? The attacks are working! The ogre’s vulnerable!”

Normally, arrows and spears couldn’t pierce an ogre’s thick, tough skin.

But in one place only—

Where the ogre’s skin was blistered bright red from the Albochil—arrows and spears easily lodged.

“Uwaaaagh!”

Thud!

The ogre, wracked by unbearable pain and a barrage of attacks, eventually tumbled down from the castle wall.

But it immediately staggered to its feet as if nothing had happened.

Though its skin was reddened in patches from the Albochil, it was still alive.

Regaining composure, the ogre roared loudly and started climbing the walls again.

It was furious, climbing much faster than before.

Panicked, the soldiers on the walls grabbed the empty Albochil bottle and threw it in desperation.

“Here! Eat this!”

“Please die!”

Clang!

But the empty glass bottle shattered against the ogre’s hard head, doing no damage.

“Ah! The ogre’s climbing up!”

“Stab it with spears! Stop it from coming up!”

“Damn it, is there no other way…?”

With Albochil failing, the soldiers were in full panic.

If this kept up, it was only a matter of time before the ogre broke into Rivera.

[Divine Power: 30/480]

It takes 50 Divine Power points to directly use physical force on an ogre.

But after sending so much Glitter Glue and Albochil, Divine Power was low.

‘…No good. I need to find something else useful.’

I hurried to return to the real world.

Then.

“Lick~! Lick~! Lick~! Lick! Lick! Lick! Lick! Lick~!”

Afungi was licking her palm fiercely, swinging her horns left and right.

“W-what? Afungi, what’s wrong? We’re kind of in a hurry right now…”

Afungi raised her horns and pointed toward the edge of the wall.

Following her gaze, I soon saw a group of pure white lights dashing across the wall.

‘…Ah, that changes everything.’

I grinned and stopped my steps toward the real world.

Then a clear voice rang out across the wall.

“…Everyone, fall back!”

Swoosh!

At the same time, a girl clad in pure white armor leapt onto the wall like a nimble cat.

It was Jeanne d’Arc.

“Saintess, that spot is dangerous! The ogre is about to come up!”

“Sa-Saintess! What on earth…?”

“Ahhh?! The Saintess just jumped down!”

Ignoring the soldiers’ shocked cries, Jeanne lightly jumped over the wall.

Two seconds before colliding with the ogre.

Swish-!

Jeanne drew her Titanium Alloy Twin Dragon Sword and charged at the ogre.

One second before the clash!

Jeanne muttered with determination.

“This is the end…”

Half a second before impact!

A dazzling flash rained down on the ogre.

Chaaaeng~!

“…No entry!”

Jeanne d’Arc thrust her Jeanne d’Arc’s Holy Sword fiercely into the ogre’s shoulder blade.

Pfuuk!

The Twin Dragon Sword, driven by the force of the fall, pierced through the ogre’s thick skin easily.

“Ooooooh~!”

The ogre screamed in pain.

Struggling, it wobbled and then began to plummet from the wall again.

Kraaaang!

With a thunderous crash shaking the earth, the ogre hit the ground.

Meanwhile, Jeanne d’Arc used the falling ogre’s body as a stepping stone.

Just before touching down, she lightly spun her body and landed gracefully.

The unbelievable sight before their eyes left the Rivera Soldiers stunned.

They had never heard of anyone facing an ogre alone.