So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

Chapter 96: Phase 2 (1)

The Church of Light was known for receiving divine revelations most frequently among various religious orders.

Priests with holy power above the bishop level would consume their sacred energy to receive these revelations.

God is omnipotent and omniscient, so revelations cannot fail or be incorrect.

Of course, that's the "principle."

However, it was rumored that the accuracy of the Church of Light's revelations was lower compared to other orders.

Stories of incorrect revelations were often circulated.

But Gerard Martein didn't believe such rumors.

To receive a revelation, one must make a substantial donation to the church.

A significant portion of the Church of Light's annual income comes from revelation offerings.

As the captain of the Holy Knights and a viscount belonging to the order, Martein couldn't be unaware of this.

If a revelation was wrong, it was likely not a real revelation in the first place.

A corrupt bishop probably gave a false revelation for money.

But the revelation given to Gerard this time was real.

He would defeat the evil serpent and be victorious.

When he saw the horde of monsters rushing over the horizon,

The soldiers forming the battle line trembled with fear.

Even the holy knights following the viscount were tense.

But Gerard felt elation.

'So that's the evil serpent.'

The leader of the monster wave.

That monster was undoubtedly a snake.

The revelation was coming true.

"Kuku."

Viscount Gerard laughed.

The monster wave was enormous, and even with 3,000 soldiers and knights gathered here, victory was hard to predict.

His domain might soon be devastated, yet how could he laugh?

The viscount paid no attention to the gazes focused on him.

This wasn't the first time he had received a revelation.

In his now fading childhood memories.

He had received a revelation at the age of twenty as well.

The content of that revelation was utterly ominous.

Viscount Gerard had never told anyone about that revelation. Not a soul.

And today, he felt he could shake off that ill-fated revelation.

"Load the catapults."

The viscount gave his first order.

They had brought dozens of catapults used for siege warfare.

Since Martein's territory bordered the empire, even possessing these catapults made the empire uncomfortable. Today, they would prove their worth.

Soldiers loaded rocks onto the catapults.

"Prepare to fire arrows."

Viscount Martein, who was also a margrave.

His elite soldiers were gathered here.

The composite bows made from buffalo horns procured from the 'mountain range' were feared even by the imperial army.

"The Holy Knight Order will break through the center with the charging tactic."

Viscount Gerard rode his horse in front of the soldiers.

Raising his famous golden spear high, he shouted:

"Martein-!"

His voice, filled with magical power, resounded across the plains.

"Are there any cowards here who don't want to die-?"

"No, sir-!"

The soldiers answered resoundingly.

"Are there any greenhorns who haven't experienced a monster wave-?"

"No, sir!"

Martein's elite soldiers had experienced monster waves before.

This was because localized monster waves occurred periodically at the edge of the 'mountain range' bordering their territory.

"Your domain, your families will be trampled, are there any cowards who want to run away-?"

"No, sir!"

"I-!"

Whoosh.

An aura containing flames burst from the tip of Martein's spear.

The soldiers stared at it as if mesmerized.

Unlike those slackers in the center, Viscount Martein was the true hero who always stood at the vanguard.

"I will strike down the leader-!"

"Martein!"

"You just need to clean up the remaining dregs. Can you do that!"

"Martein!"

Meanwhile, the monster army approached.

Even among the soldiers shouting enthusiastically, anxiety was visible.

As they got closer, it became clear.

These weren't just numerous.

They looked huge and powerful.

True monsters that hadn't left the great forest for hundreds of years were mixed in.

Rumble rumble-

The ground shook.

Frightened soldiers unknowingly tried to release their arrows.

The commanders shouted to stop them.

The viscount raised his spear and shouted.

"Catapults-!"

The flag bearers raised their flags high.

"Fire-!"

The flags all went down at once.

Boom boom boom!

The catapults launched rocks into the sky.

==

An uncomfortable journey continued.

When parting with Nanaluk, this stupid chimera had taken the carriage where the humans were hiding.

Was it perhaps jealous of the humans conversing with me?

From the moment I was first kidnapped, I thought this friend might have quite a possessive nature.

The chimera wrapped the carriage with hundreds of branches and placed it on its back.

It's not a snail, for goodness sake.

Of course, the chimera's body kept growing larger, so it looked less like a snail and more like an adult wearing an elementary school backpack.

"Oh dear..."

The problem was that the distance between the carriage and me wasn't far.

I kept making eye contact with the humans through the gaps in the branches.

It was awkward, as if they were demanding an explanation for this situation.

It wasn't like I had ordered this.

It was the third day since they were trapped in the carriage.

Being weak humans, they often vomited from motion sickness.

Fortunately, there was water, so they wouldn't die of thirst, but they must be incredibly hungry.

I handed some food to the knight Zain.

"Saaak."

"I-I can't eat this."

I saw that he hadn't eaten a single meal, yet he refused.

Is this a knight's pride?

I pushed the food towards the refusing Zain once more.

"This, isn't this an insect...!"

Good grief.

There was a limit to what prey I could catch with my invisible hand while riding on the back of a running chimera.

I had caught a pillbug, which was somewhat edible.

"Saaak!"

"...I can't eat it."

The knight was ashamed of himself.

It's understandable.

The pillbug was food I had eaten after falling into the basin.

If you just remove the legs, the body is quite plump, and if you close your eyes while eating, it might taste like half-rotten shrimp.

Such a weakling.

Since he was being so picky, I had no choice.

?Using Magic: Invisible Hand lv10.?

The body of a huge giraffe running beside me.

I peeled off a rodent that was sucking blood from it.

"Sasak, saak."

Then eat this, human.

It's a Mosquito Rat.

"Thank... you."

Unable to refuse even rat meat, the knight accepted the Mosquito Rat.

Rania, who was nearby, made a crying face and clutched her hungry stomach.

You eat this.

I handed her a few bird eggs I had stored in my subspace.

"Thank you!"

"Ah, aah..."

Zain looked at Rania, who was slurping down the bird eggs, with a complicated expression.

Yes, now that they've eaten, they should have some energy.

In fact, they needed to forcibly gather their strength now.

"Oh, they're flying."

Indeed.

The catapults were fired.

Hundreds of rocks the size of human heads painted the sky.

Everyone, hold on tight!

"Saaaaaak!"

The humans trapped in the carriage screamed.

The rocks struck the ground, converting their potential energy into kinetic energy.

Boom boom boom boom!

Monsters hit directly were instantly crushed.

Blood, flesh, and rock fragments sprayed everywhere.

A rock fell on the head of the giraffe next to me.

The giraffe with its neck broken rolled on the ground, flailing.

The momentum of the rock didn't die even then, rolling and crushing the bones of several more monsters.

I prayed inwardly.

In the face of the falling rocks, there was nothing I could do, so I hoped the chimera snake wouldn't act stupidly and die.

My prayer was answered.

Branches erupted from the nape of the chimera snake's neck like a lion's mane.

And they wrapped around me and the carriage behind me.

It was like setting up double and triple barriers.

Thud!

One of the flying rocks finally hit those wooden branches and bounced off.

We were fine.