(Fumina: I'm back! Sorry, my 1 day break kinda turned into a 2 day break.)
On the landships, everyone watched with bated breath as the aircraft arrived overhead. At this moment, they desperately wanted to know what secret weapon the nation had prepared to combat the Demons.
By now, their ammunition had been completely exhausted to cover the aircraft's approach. Some landships had even fired off their Originium Primes—intended for fuel—as makeshift shells. Since the principle of an Originium shell was essentially that of an oversized staff, any Originium product could be launched as a projectile.
In truth, if the Originium content in the bodies of the Infected weren't so low, Ursus had once considered using them as living bombs. Fortunately, that proved impractical.
Now, the soldiers, having drained nearly all their energy, looked to the sky. From the moment they received their orders, they hadn't considered the possibility of returning alive. In their minds, the aircraft must be carrying a weapon of immense destructive power, something so terrifying that even the Demons would fear it. They were prepared to sacrifice themselves for Ursus.
What would it be? The latest Originium bomb? A single-use staff inscribed with specialized Arts? It couldn't possibly be a giant Gundam, right?
As their imaginations ran wild, tiny droplets of rain began to drift down from where the aircraft had passed.
Rain? In this godforsaken place where even urine might freeze mid-air, it was raining? This was as unrealistic as durians falling from the sky!
Watching the aircraft fly by, they realized it was filled with nothing but water! This thing had come all this way just to act as a sprinkler! Was this some kind of joke? If they hadn't known that high-ranking officials from the capital were watching, they would have been jumping up and down, cursing up a storm!
We fought tooth and nail to assist the deployment of the latest anti-Demon weapon, and you're out here playing with sprinklers?
If you wanted to test water that doesn't freeze, couldn't you have found any other cold place? Is Ursus lacking in freezing environments?
While the confused soldiers were internally cursing the higher-ups, the Emperor's Blades, who had been fighting heroically, stood frozen in place. They clearly felt the Demon flesh within their bodies fall into a state of absolute silence. Those with a higher degree of integration felt as if they had completely fused with the Demon flesh, losing the usual boundary.
They couldn't understand what this rainwater was, or why it had such a potent effect on Demon flesh.
Among these Emperor's Blades, one felt a sense of extreme familiarity. The strange state of the Demon within him made his very bones ache. This power reminded him of the woman he had encountered on the snowfields, and the memory of being pinned to the ground by her and Patriot, nearly beaten to death.
After that mission, he had been urgently dispatched to the Northern Border. His task... was to use the specific Demon language he had learned to "exchange insults" with the Demons.
In his entire life, he had never received such an absurd assignment. He could never forget the look on his comrades' faces when he first did it—as if they were looking at a madman. Or the look they gave him after he actually insulted a Demon into a state of "depression"—a mix of "what on earth did you go through?" and certain meaningful, lingering smiles.
Later, they had apparently concocted a world-shaking love story between him and the Demon inside him, claiming he had studied the Demon language out of the power of love just to communicate with his "beloved"... There was no helping it; entertainment in this wretched place was scarce. Aside from fighting, their mental void was entirely filled by his eccentricity.
At this moment, the sounds of those loathsome Demons cursing seemed to echo in his ears again, but this time it was like a loudspeaker was pressed against his head. The volume was deafening. But unlike before, there were now sounds of pleading and agonizing screams... He wasn't mishearing; the surrounding Demons were indeed reacting this way.
He watched as the Demons touched by the rain began to melt. Their bodies, constructed from black, mist-like matter, were gradually dissolving.
He saw them, like snails in a pile of salt, completely defenseless against the peculiar power in the rain, meeting death amidst their howls. The lucky Demons who escaped no longer paid any mind to the enemies they had fought for years; they immediately began to retreat into the distance.
On the battlefield that had been a scene of carnage just moments ago, a buffer zone had appeared as if blocked by a heavenly chasm—a line the Demons could not cross—giving the soldiers a chance to breathe.
The rank-and-file soldiers, who had been angry about the "sprinkling," now looked on as if witnessing a divine miracle. They incessantly praised the Emperor's protection for bringing such a miracle to pass. Their previous irritation had vanished entirely, as if those angry men from moments ago were someone else entirely.
Unfortunately, to ensure the aircraft reached the battlefield, they had used every shell they had. Otherwise, they would surely have pursued the fleeing Demons—both to avenge their fallen brothers and to rack up more military merits.
"What is this rainwater? I don't sense any traces of Originium Arts. And strangely, why do I feel a sense of loathing toward mere water?"
Below the warships, the half-blood Wendigos, who had been fighting for their lives against the Demons, looked at the rain on their bodies with confusion. They felt a deep-seated repulsion and resistance toward the unique energy contained in the water.
Fortunately, the feeling wasn't overwhelming—it was like someone who hates cilantro finding their soup filled with it. It was a physiological disgust, not actual physical harm.
"Perhaps the special power within it affects our bloodline? I see the soldiers of other races don't seem to feel it. To them, it's just rain... perhaps the Great General would know why."
The speaker was a Wendigo who was clearly the leader. He was significantly larger than the others, and even his facial features were more terrifying. This proved his bloodline was purer than his kinsmen's, leaning closer to a pure-blood.
The "Great General" he spoke of was, of course, the last pure-blood Wendigo, Buldrokkas'tee. To them, purity of blood dictated how much knowledge they inherited from their ancestors.
However, even if they asked Patriot, he would likely answer that he didn't know, because his body had no reaction to this power. This was likely because Jeanne regarded him as one of her own, so the Holy Water would not have negative effects on him. Otherwise, the idea of Holy Water having no effect on a pure-blood Sarkaz would be quite unrealistic.
Holy Water's ability to suppress demons was nearly absolute. Against a true Sarkaz, a bottle of high-purity Holy Water was no different from pouring concentrated sulfuric acid on a human.
Of course, they weren't pure Sarkazs; they merely carried part of the bloodline. To them, the Holy Water was likely just like a very, very bitter medicine.
"Based on the results, this operation was undoubtedly a huge success. Lady Jeanne's Holy Water is nearly absolute in its suppression of the Demons. This will allow Ursus to take a breather from the war in the North."
On the landship, the Emperor's Blade was extremely satisfied with the outcome. Compared to the result, the act of spending a fortune to buy the Holy Water was a bargain that paid off immensely.