But he was still dazed. He was even bleeding from the head. Edith was in the middle of picking himself up, when he saw the shadow. The Atrocity loomed over him, about to crush him. No, not like this.
He panicked. And it was only thanks to his companions that he survived. An explosion knocked the Atrocity of balance. Dozens of arrows landing on its back. Each sent a shockwave that even Edith felt, but he ignored it, seizing his opportunity.
The Inquisitor brought his sword down on the Atrocity once again, despite hacking at it with all his strength. Once again, his blade pierced into its body, lodging itself inside the wound. But instead of trying to pull it out, he pressed the mana crystal on it.
Once again, Edith’s sword flickered. Almost as if it was winked out of existence for a moment. And when it reappeared, the Atrocity was already falling. This time, fully cut in half by the attack.
"Sir, are you ok?" Hadi ran up to him, laboring with each breath.
Edith tried to muster up a reply, but found that he could barely even speak. If the Elf woman was breathing hard, he did not want to know what he sounded like. He shook his head, and pointed at another Atrocity.
"We...kill...them…"
It was coherent enough to understand. Even if Hadi gave him an odd look for it. She nodded her head, and focused on the next Atrocity.
The first one to engage it this time was the axe Inquisitor. He too, tried to use his enchantment to bring it down quickly. And it almost worked. It was nearly a clean cut, right up until it stopped three quarters of the way through the Atrocity’s chest.
The axe Inquisitor tried to pull it out, but it was too far in. Completely stuck. He tried letting go of his weapon to back up, but it was already too late. The Atrocity grabbed him by his arm, and pulled. The man screamed as his arm was ripped off like it was nothing, before being quickly silenced by the next hit.
There was a shout of anger. The Inquisitor with the sickles charged at it, as arrows exploded around the Atrocity. And together with Hadi, they managed to bring it down.
But there were still more. Another Atrocity came running for the Amalgamation, and once again, the Inquisitors intercepted it. They managed to bring this another four down without casualties, choosing to engage as a group rather than on their own. But then three Atrocities came together, and another Inquisitor fell before they could take them all down.
There’s too many of them.
Edith was briefed on what the Holy Xan Empire knew about the Abominations before he was sent on this mission. They knew the capabilities of the Atrocities as these special Abominations that rarely showed up— the key word there being rare.
This? This was not rare. They had encountered a dozen Atrocities at this point. Far too many in this group of a few hundred thousand. Edith was told that there should have only been one in every hundred thousand. Or at least, that had been the approximation from what they encountered from Hell.
It was different here. This was not Hell. Somehow, something created more Atrocities here than in Hell. He did not know what, but now was not the time to theorize. When the Inquisitor with the sickles finally fell, and it was him and Hadi left, he had decided enough was enough. They had to retreat—
A piercing scream erupted through the city. No— not just a single scream. It was the simultaneous screams of tens of thousands of bodies at once. Edith looked in the direction of the noise, clasping at his ears as he did.
And he saw the Amalgamation fall. The Oligopolis of Bys was destroyed, and the titan that stood on top of it had collapsed. Its body— its bodies— falling apart into thousands of pieces. There was a laugh.
"How’s that for an Abomination, you stupid—" Saintess Lilith happily jumped back to the group, only to see that there was only two of them left. "Oh…"
"Saintess, we need to—" Hadi began, only to be cut off by the other woman.
"Watch out!"
The Saintess cried out, throwing her spear at the Elf woman. Hadi’s eyes widened, and she flinched—
But the spear shot past her. Straight at the Atrocity charging her from behind. The force of the throw was stronger than any ballista Edith had ever seen. It skewered the Atrocity, pinning its body on the cobblestone ground. But it was still alive.
The Atrocity struggled where it laid. It tried to pull itself up, but before it could, another dozen spears rained down on it, covering it like it was a pincushion. Eventually, the Atrocity stopped struggling, as the last spear of ice landed on its head.
"Whew, that was close," Saintess Lilith sighed, wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. She walked over to the dead Atrocity, prying her spear of its corpse. "Well then, let’s get out of here, shall we?"
And for once, Edith agreed with the annoying woman.
It was not too difficult for the three remaining survivors to escape the city. After the Amalgamation died, the coordinated attacks from the Abominations stopped. They almost looked confused, as if they were not sure what to do now
Some of the Abominations began to just leave the city, searching for something to attack. While others just stood around, waiting for something to come to it. And certainly, the Abominations that the two Inquisitors and one Saintess came across did try to attack them. But with very little success, as they were dispatched off in seconds.
Finally, the group could rest, although not before mourning their dead. Hadi was shedding tears for their three deceased companions and Saintess Lilith spent some time comforting her, while Edith
