I want to be a faded person for life

"It's my fault. I only cared about the immediate goal and the enemy and ignored your feelings."

It is acceptable to be injured or even die in battle, but such harm should not come from partners who are advancing together.

The girl moved gently, held the other person in her arms, whispered comfort, and made a promise.

"I won't do this again next time, Mortis, please forgive me."

Syaoran's quiet dark golden eyes reminded her of someone from another world. If she combined this characteristic with Melina, perhaps they would be even more similar?

Even the name Mortis was originally intended for him, so it's really rude to think that way.

"Actually, the name 'Death' doesn't really suit her or you... Sorry, I accidentally said too much again."

Xiangzi glanced at the Holy Grail bottle, in which there was still a thin trickle of dew.

She held the bottle to the wolf cub's mouth, poured the dew on its rough tongue, and used the remaining blessing to heal the wound on Mortis's abdomen.

"A magic that makes the pain go away. Okay...it won't hurt anymore."

Xiangzi rubbed the little wolf's head again, smoothed back the hair that he had messed up, and then ended the summoning with the soul-summoning bell.

"Moen City..."

Although the city walls here are not as high as those of Stonewell, they are at least half as high as those of Hyde Fortress, and there are sturdy arrow towers several meters high on both sides of the city gate.

The inner walls and castles in the city are even more than ten meters higher than here. It is hard to imagine that they were built with human power.

If archers were deployed here to defend the city, it would probably cause some trouble to the girl, especially when all the ashes spirits needed to recover to some extent.

but.

Xiangzi didn't see any soldiers guarding the city at all.

Walking up more than ten stone steps, Xiangzi saw the wide-open gate of Moren City. Deer antlers and eagle shields were piled on both sides of the gate and were not used for city defense at all.

"Ok?"

Xiangzi stood at the city gate and looked towards the coast, where there was something that she cared about very much.

More than a dozen huge black swords were stuck upside down on the edge of the cliff.

Judging from the size from the distance, the shape of the sword can be seen from such a distance. I am afraid that any of the swords is larger than Xiangzi's body, and the largest one is even more than ten meters long.

"I hope you won't bring me some nonsense like a 'melee golem' again..."

"That's a sword stele, often used to record and commemorate important historical events at the border. It can be preserved for thousands of years if it's not intentionally destroyed."

Melina appeared again, but her figure looked a little lighter than usual, probably because she had consumed some energy while dealing with the previous monster fire.

Xiangzi was not quite sure how Melina existed. She could show up on her own without the need for a summoning bell, and her existence would not consume Xiangzi's magical power.

I don't know what kind of medium the other party's spirit is relying on. It can't be that it is just invisible and follows behind me, right?

If that's the case, Melina really is a natural assassin.

Thinking of how the other party seized the only opportunity to shoot down the Crazy Sun, perhaps this is not completely impossible.

"Want to go take a look...at that 'Sword Monument'?"

Xiangzi shook his head.

"Forget it. If the rebels in the city discover that the golem has been destroyed and close the city gates, that would be disastrous. History can be learned at any time."

"...Okay, I'll listen to you."

Melina disappeared again. After spending so much time together, Xiangzi finally understood the one-eyed girl's hobbies to some extent.

She is deeply interested in the history of the borderland, especially the part about Queen Malika, to the point of being a little paranoid.

This contrast is somewhat similar to what Deng did in the past...If she is not stopped, Deng will introduce her to each batch of Band-Aids in the marine life series and notebooks with different insect covers while starting the conversation.

If you think about it this way, the child was indeed interested in insects when he was on Earth - or rather, all round things would make the lamp feel cute.

But turning into a bug was still a bit too much. Recalling the feeling of being tightened by the limbs from behind, Xiangzi's face turned pale.

Even if it was the limbs of a lamp, it was still a bit...

And because I didn't pay attention and thought too far ahead about the issue of the lamp.

Xiangzi shook his head and walked into the dark city gate.

Two Grek soldiers wearing brass helmets and red-green barrel-shaped armor fell on both sides of the city gate. Judging from the state of their skin and wounds, they should not have turned into zombies before death.

But now, the soldier's face and neck are covered with traces of wild beasts gnawing on them. The body is destroyed in this state. Even if he can be resurrected, he will be completely transformed into a zombie.

There was a blessed light spot in the passage of the city gate, and Xiangzi successfully replenished the Holy Grail bottle and his own status.

After picking up a few spare weapons from the small room on the side of the passage, Xiangzi came to the elevator shaft at the end of the passage. With the rumbling sound of chains and gears, the wide wooden platform carried her upwards.

Before the elevator was halfway out of the well, Xiangzi smelled the stench of burning flesh.

This was even countless times stronger than the smell in Stonewell's kitchen. Fortunately, Xiangzi had already adapted to the stench of corpses. For her, this was just information that could be used to judge the environment she was in.

The elevator stopped at a platform, and the source of the stench was clearly exposed.

It was a mountain of corpses.

Thousands or even tens of thousands of corpses were piled up in the center of the square, all of them burned into a charred brown by the flames. More than a dozen wooden racks were erected on the mountain of corpses, and several other dead bodies that were smoked into charcoal were tied high up on the racks. It was just unknown what was so different about them that they received such special treatment.

Dozens of humanoid creatures with wings and long tails growing on their backs were crawling on the pile of corpses, kneeling towards the sky, as if they were holding a grand sacrifice.

-

[Sword Monument: Siege of Moren City]

The lone revenge hero stood up to fight, but was ultimately defeated by King Gefulei.

Chapter 38 Hybrid

If the kitchens and banquet halls of Stonewell City showed the morbidity and abnormality of Greg and the limb-jointed nobles, then the mountain of corpses in the city of Moren before them simply symbolized cruelty.

I'm afraid that all the residents of the entire city of Moren were piled up in the square, and the only things left here were monsters worshiping the embers and charred corpses or gnawing on the corpses.

"Summon me."

The female knight Doran, who had just tried to deflect the iron stake shot by the golem but was only half successful, took the initiative to speak.

"I'm more efficient than everyone else except the eagle."

"Okay, be more neat."

Xiangzi did not ring the soul-summoning bell directly, but first raised the weapon given by Roger and summoned four floating shining swords around him as a means of protection.

At this time, Xiangzi was already fully armed. The monsters who sensed the movement saw the silver-gray armor of the Lost Home Knight at a glance. They immediately roared and flapped their wings and rushed over.

At this time, Xiangzi rang the soul-summoning bell, and the blood knight Doran rushed forward with his greatsword. The greatsword that was broken in the battle had been restored to its original state.

That is not a real weapon, but a battle image temporarily awakened by the Soul Summoning Bell. No matter how many times it is destroyed, it will be restored in the next summoning.

Dolan's standard Stonewell Knight armor embroidered with golden trees and lions immediately attracted the attention of more monsters, and they roared and shifted their targets.

Xiangzi didn't know the reason for this phenomenon, nor did he intend to try to understand it.

She raised her staff and used the shining sword to kill the monsters surrounding Doran one by one.

Dolan's greatsword with serrated edges on both sides is extremely fierce. Perhaps it is not obvious enough when fighting Xiangzi, who can suppress him in close combat, but when dealing with other enemies, every slash will cause severe bleeding and extreme pain to the opponent.

The monsters howled in agony under her sword, and ugly flowers of blood and viscera bloomed around the knight.

The two monsters that attacked Dolan from behind were shot down by Xiangzi's shining sword. The knight suddenly turned around but missed.

"have a finger in the pie......"

The knight complained and looked at the four wild dogs that pounced on the girl not far away, with no intention of protecting them.

The skinny wild dog had a swollen belly, so it couldn't move very quickly.

Xiangzi kicked the wild dog on the nose, and the heavy iron boot instantly broke and deformed the dog's upper jaw. The dog fell out with a groaning scream.

The wild dog's teeth could not bite through the thick metal plate at all, and it only left a shallow white spot before breaking.

Xiangzi was too lazy to waste his magic power on such an opponent, so he swung his hound's fangs and chopped down the remaining three.

With her melee ability, she doesn't need Doran's close protection at all.

Because of this, the Blood Knights who were thirsting for killing were satisfied and were willing to serve her.

-

"Irena's father...isn't he in here?"

Xiangzi looked at the huge mountain of corpses in front of him. The completely charred bodies could not be distinguished from their original appearance. Some of them were even stuck together to form large pieces. Even digging and sorting them out was a huge task that was difficult to complete.

"Most likely not."

Dolan looked up at the still burning wooden frames and charred corpses with empty eyes, put away his sword and crossed his arms across his chest.

"The hybrids rioted and seized power, slaughtering Morn City probably out of hatred for the nobles. Look at those hanging there."

Xiangzi followed Dolan's gaze upwards. The dead bodies on the wooden racks had been completely burned to charcoal, but some complex patterns could still be seen on their broken and charred clothes.

"Those subjected to special executions were all nobles. Miss Irena's father was the Lord of Morn City. Even if he's dead, he'll probably be hanged in a prominent place."

"and......"

Dolan tilted his head as if recalling something.

"Lord Edgar of Morn, I remember him as a strong knight. Can these hybrids really kill him?"

"Hybrid?"

"You don't know? Those are the things we just killed, the defilers who were born to be pathetic slaves."

Xiangzi frowned and turned over a corpse.

Only by observing carefully can you find that the so-called hybrids are not sub-humans who look like monkeys or dogs. Their appearance is actually closer to humans.

They are just uglier, with features like feathers or scales all over their bodies, and some of them even have deformed wings and tails.

Compared to most demihumans who lacked intelligence, at least all the hybrids wore pants properly and could use weapons such as swords.

"...This thing is actually more like a human?"

"Or you could remove the 'more like' and call them hybrids simply because they were born with tainted traits. Perhaps hybrids will have a place in the future Mongwen dynasty, as that lord is a benevolent monarch, after all."

"..."

"Why, now you're sympathizing with these rebellious slaves. Do you regret killing them?"

There was a mocking smile at the corners of Dolan's blood-red lips.

"not at all."

The girl stood up and shook her head.

"First of all, they attacked me, so I certainly have the right to fight back."

"Secondly, if it's revenge, then you shouldn't have massacred all the residents of Morn City. I see no justice in this—only destruction."

Xiangzi saw many unrecognizable babies and children among the pile of corpses. She took off her cloak and covered one of them.

"Kenneth Hyde was able to work with subhumans, and I also knew Burke, a tailor."

"And this incident seems to be related to the Mad Fire. Just as you said—I'm afraid they alone can't deal with Edgar in Morn City."

"Finally and most importantly, I only came to Morn City to ask for help and deliver a letter. Don't put all the historical problems here on my head."

Dolan was somewhat surprised by the other party's unwavering attitude, and gave an unpleasant comment:

"You really are standing on your high horse and staying out of this..."

Xiangzi suddenly raised his hand to stop her from speaking, and the girl's ears moved twice.

"Listen... there's the sound of swords clashing."

Hearing this, Dolan turned his head and calmed down, no longer arguing.

"Yeah, I heard it too. It seemed to be on top of the tower."

"There are still people resisting in the city, probably Edgar and his personal guards."

Xiangzi looked around the square and roughly found the location where the sound came from. Unlike before, this time she did not have a map of the interior of Moren City.

"Have you ever been to Morn City?"

"No, I only saw Edgar at the training grounds in Stonewell."

In such a large castle, it might be a bit troublesome to find the correct route.