Half Elf Ranger

Chapter 455 The Holy Avenger

There was a sea of ​​flames in Winter City.

Thick smoke and ash spewed out from the narrow streets and alleys leading to the gate outside the city, and the smoke crept into every roadside alley and every dilapidated stone house.

The roaring flames engulfed the fleeing crowd and licked the majestic city walls.

This place is simply a piece of purgatory on earth.

The fleeing civilians screamed and ran, holding the valuables that they took away when they escaped from their homes. Their stone houses had been engulfed in flames, and the things in their hands were the only property they could survive.

A woman was kneeling beside a burning stone house with her child in her arms, howling hoarsely. No one knew what happened to her, and no one would stop being chased by death to pay attention to her.

"It's a demon! Demons from the bottomless abyss are spreading in the streets!" The desperate civilians knelt in the direction of the Wizard Tower, desperately hitting their heads on the ground, cursing the demons incessantly.

There were also people who gave up resistance, looked in the direction of the temple area, and prayed with closed eyes.

"Hahaha... Judgment has come! Judgment has come! You stupid and ignorant sinners! The wrath and revenge of the gods has finally come! The demons of the abyss are the whips of the gods to beat sinners! Tremble! Welcome... "

A young man dressed in rags and covered in filth and blood all over his body struggled to climb to the top of the collapsed ruins. His messy long hair fluttered in the wind like a terrifying devil, and his blood-stained face carried a pious and crazy ferocity. , shouted loudly.

"Boom!"

A fiery dark red fireball fell from the sky, blasting the wanton laughing young man to pieces, sending the bloody corpse into the dark red sky in an instant.

"Welcome to the coming of the Dark King! All those who dare to stand up against the Dark King will eventually be knocked down by the hand of darkness! Let those fools who refuse to follow the Dark King and accept the great power meet the fear of the Dark King! Hahaha……"

A black-robed priest holding a skull holy emblem and wearing a metallic fear mask shouted frantically while looking at the fleeing crowd. He knelt on the ground and spread his arms as if embracing something.

"Pfft!"

The giant bull demon with tangled muscles lowered its bull-like head and uttered a barbaric battle roar. A pair of sharp and ferocious horns pierced through the black-robed priest's chest.

The strong giant bull demon raised its head and roared, and the fragile body of the dark priest was thrown into the sea of ​​flames.

Here, the darkness was dispelled by the raging fire, countless streets were illuminated by the roaring flames, and the smoke accompanied by the salty sea breeze greedily encroached on every corner of the entire city.

Deafening fireballs burst, rumbling houses collapsed, screams of panic and fear, and weird, terrifying, and excited demons laughed one after another.

Winter City.

Most of this seaside port city has been turned into ruins, and there are raging fires everywhere. From time to time, intermittent weak cries for help can be heard from the collapsed stone houses. Unfortunately, no one can rescue these poor people. ordinary people.

From the center of the city near the wizard's tower came the screams and the clamor of fierce battles, and the laughter of demons and the cries of fighting soldiers became louder and louder.

There are too many attackers, including demons from the bottomless abyss, devils from Baator Hell, sahuagins from the deep sea, depraved cultists, and even robbers and evil organizations who took the opportunity to make trouble.

A temporary line of defense composed of a dozen soldiers mixed with a small group of civilians holding long guns and some guards from the noble area was easily vulnerable under the attack of the devil and the devil, and then the two sides fought together again.

The two dark red torrents collided together, swirling wildly, and the clash of fangs and claws sent out the sound of gold and iron.

"Cough cough cough..."

A paladin crawled out of the ruins. Her legs hurt from the collapsed stone house, her eyes bled tears from the thick sulfur-smelling smoke, and her ribs, which were protected by armor, ached.

The clinking of gold and iron came again, and the screams were endless, as well as the neighing of horses and the howling of demons. She clenched the fine gold broadsword with a faint radiance in her hand, and stumbled away from the scorched face. The fire was raging.

Suddenly, a roaring flame burst from the window in front of her eyes, and she fell to the ground in shock, just sitting on a mangled corpse.

This is a slum, and just a moment ago it was just a muddy alleyway.

At this time, there were bloody corpses and belongings discarded by the civilians when they fled.

At this time, an adventurer holding a long sword flew out of the stone house and hit the ground heavily, his thin chest was completely collapsed.

He struggled to support himself with the sword, then suddenly gasped and coughed, blood spilled down the corners of his mouth onto his hands clenched tightly to the hilt of the sword.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

With trembling steps, a ferocious devil slowly crawled out of the room he flew out of. The shadow of death gradually enveloped the desperate adventurer.

The dark shadows echoed in the burning ruins, the dark red soul fire appeared in the eyes of the pale skeletons, and the corpses revived in the blasphemous language. They picked up their weapons and crawled stiffly, towards the panicked The crowd walks.

More screams sounded, more demons whizzed through the air, more sahuagin and evil fallen wandered around every corner.

The paladin, exuding an aura of despair, kept walking towards the west.

In order to cover the retreat of the civilians, she alone resisted a lone Berserker. Although she successfully killed the opponent by relying on her own strength, the last impact made her unconscious.

Fortunately, she was not in a coma for long.

"Sister Paladin!!!" An eleven or twelve-year-old girl turned out of the gap and ran over. At this moment, her expression was extremely frightened, and she cried with despair:

"Dead!...they are all dead!...all dead!...all dead!"

"what!!!"

Not far away, there was a scream of a satyr. The paladin was very familiar with this sound, because even though he was screaming, his voice was still so beautiful.

Even when he died, he never forgot that he was a hedonistic prodigal son. In a vague way, she heard the inaudible poem:

The wheel of day and night is driven by spirit,

Thinking about it for thousands of years still has a clear heart.

Because of all kinds of indiscretions,

Laughing loudly and even lingering in the ears.

The moon sets and the sun rises, and the moon rises and the sun sets,
I have never hesitated to pass the time.

…………

"Meow meow..." She heard the cat screaming again.

She is also very familiar with this voice, it is the voice of the mascot named Indigo in the satyr tavern.

It likes to listen to music very much. Being arrogant, it usually arches its body up and growls like a demonstration with its teeth grinning at those who try to touch itself.

The weeping little girl disappeared before her eyes, the beautiful poetry of the satyr disappeared, and even the kitten named Indigo disappeared.

The paladin walked staggeringly, like a walking dead.

Dark red fireballs kept venting in this bustling city, and the streets were burning like roaring red walls of fire.

A figure stood against the fire, blocking the figure of the paladin who was swaying towards the city gate.

It was a huge rider, taller than the burning roof. His horse was burning with pungent hell flames, striding forward, accompanied by a neighing sound, and two streams of thick black smoke spewed out from the horse's nostrils.

The rider looked down at her.

His helm, the paladin saw, was like a fluttering eagle, his eyes gleaming with vicious fire in the seams of his helm.

She also saw a runic broadsword in his low-slung steel gauntlet, the palm-width blade gleaming with evil runes and reflecting bright fire.

The knight's malevolent eyes stared at her coldly.

moment!

Fear froze the paladin's body, and the strong palpitations made her unable to hear the laughter of demons, the roar of flames, the cries of dying people and the shouts of city troops.

At this moment, for the paladin, the only thing that exists, the only thing that matters, the only thing that makes sense is fear.

She was a paladin, and fear arose in her heart.

This fear turned into a... death knight riding a nightmare horse and wearing an eagle helmet!

The death knight emerges from the raging flames.

The death knight raised his runic broadsword.

The death knight urged his horse to attack.

The Nightmare Steed emerged from the billowing cloud of smoke.

With roaring flames around its mane, tail, and hooves, this dark, mysterious nightmare moves with supernatural speed, appearing suddenly, and disappearing swiftly in a cloud of brimstone.

The death knight's shattered scarlet cloak was rattling, and the black wings on the helmet fluttered in the wind, like a soaring eagle.

And his helpless prey was already paralyzed with fear.

The death knight screamed horribly, brutally, triumphantly.

Nightmare horses, pure black plate armor that seems to have been burned by flames, flying broken cloaks, rune broadswords exuding evil aura, and sulfur flames lingering around.

The sacred brilliance of the paladin was dimming. She saw the shrunken and rotting flesh of the death knight, and saw the dark red flames dancing in the two eye sockets. The terrifying eyes made her feel cold and vicious. She closed her eyes in despair. Eyes closed.

She was alone, weak and helpless...she couldn't even move, couldn't cry out for help with a tight throat.

In desperation, she heard the wail of the nightmare horse and the roar of the death knight.

A blood-stained young man appeared in front of her. He was wearing a badly damaged armor, with a bloodstain on his chest and four claw marks on his arm.

He held a blood-stained steel sword in one hand and a dull holy emblem in the other. His broken body blocked the death knights who charged.

In a daze, the paladin clearly saw the pattern of the silver holy emblem in the hands of the young man standing in front of her: a pair of pale hands with red ropes wrapped around their wrists.

However, the holy emblem did not emit divine light, but instead became cloudy and black.

The paladin could even sense the anger and disappointment of the god of suffering, Irmat, towards the person holding the holy emblem.

This is a fallen paladin.

"Go!" A roar woke up the paladin.

A restless war horse came snorting and galloping.

The paladin struggled to mount his horse.

In a daze, she saw the young man bravely facing the death knight driving the nightmare, and she also saw the holy light emanating from the silver holy emblem lingering in the dark aura.

"If I hadn't seen the light, maybe I would have endured the darkness. But now... the divine light illuminates the despair in my heart even more despair."

The paladin sat in the saddle, grabbed the reins tightly, found support for his legs, and galloped wildly on the horse that could break her bones, galloping like crazy.

A dazzling fireball fell from the sky.

The frightened war horse neighed, raised its front hooves suddenly, and stood up.

"boom!"

The paladin was thrown heavily to the muddy ground in an instant, the foul-smelling sewage and scarlet blood splashed all over her face and all over her body.

"Boom!"

A loud noise as if the earth was trembling exploded not far away, rocks flew, and a splashed stone whizzed and hit her forehead fiercely, blood gurgling down her cheeks.

With a bang, the thrown horse fell into the mud beside her, splashing blood everywhere.

The dying horse groaned with difficulty, as if a lumberjack was sawing wood, but there was no wood here, only the wanton howling of demons.

"Let the flames purify all of this!"

A dark red figure with red flames all over his body appeared in the sight of the paladin.

The scorching high temperature exudes a strong smell of sulfur, instantly baking the muddy alley into a solid crimson.

The Barlow flame demon from the bottomless abyss held a storm sword that danced with dark blue lightning in one hand, and dragged a flaming long whip in the other hand, gently flapping its dark red wings, with a ferocious face of hatred and fury Step by step, he walked slowly towards the paladin who hadn't got up yet.

The flames and fear were spreading all over her body. She felt the sting of being baked by the flames, smelled the pungent sulfur smell, and also felt the fear of being unable to move.

"Pfft!"

Suddenly, a figure descended from the sky with the light of the sword, and shocking bloodstains spread down from the ferocious head of Barlow at an extremely fast speed.

In an instant, the hopeless demon was split in two like a log split by an axe.

An old man with a stooped body appeared in the sight of the paladin.

The weather-beaten old man had gray temples and a dull, wrinkled face.

If it wasn't for the long sword in his hand emitting a strange blue light that had just beheaded a Ballow demon, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is an old man who is about to grow old.

"May the eternal land of our family, the leaves grow evergreen." The old man sighed slightly, stretched out his palm and pushed towards the paladin.

Immediately afterwards, the body of Barlow's Balrog exploded with a 'boom' amidst the dazzling flames.

"what!!!"

The violent explosion instantly awakened the paladin.

She woke up, startled by her own screams.

The scream still echoed in the air, throbbing through her body, setting her parched throat on fire.

Her throbbing fingers clenched the blanket covering her body, and her whole body ached.

"Nolan, calm down." A familiar voice sounded to her.

The night was dark, the wind was blowing, and the surrounding bushes rustled peacefully and their branches creaked.

The paladin looked around blankly.

There is no frightening sea of ​​fire, no screams of demons, no cries of dying people and shouts of city troops, only this peaceful and comfortable night, only the gentle breeze blowing across the cheeks.

The bonfire beside him gave out warmth and light, and a sharp sword exuding pale blue light was inserted beside a figure, and the hilt wrapped in cloth strips and metal belts was illuminated red by the fire.

There were no other flames here, and the flames did not smell of sulphur, nor did the hand that was pressed to her brow smell of blood.

"Thorn... why are you here?" Paladin Nolan raised his head slightly and asked in surprise.

"You were dreaming just now, and it was a nightmare." Thorne withdrew his hand from her forehead and did not answer her question.

"Hmm..." The paladin nodded numbly, wrapped in a blanket, curled up her limbs tightly, two lines of tears slid down her cheeks, but still couldn't wash away the blood that had dried up on her face.

"I was about to go to Winter City, and I accidentally found you lying unconscious on the way." Thorne was silent for a while, looking at the lonely and helpless paladin and said, "Tell me about Winter City." What happened?"

He looked at Nolan with a slightly disturbed expression. Although he had already guessed the general result, he still didn't want this result to be confirmed.

"Winter City...has...become a ruin." The paladin hesitated for a moment, and finally said it.

In a trance, scenes from the nightmare reappeared in her mind.

She saw the screaming demons and devils, the fallen paladins rushing towards the death knight bravely, and even saw a group of unarmed refugees being drowned in the roaring sea of ​​​​fire under her wrong guidance.

"May the eternal land of my family...the leaves of the trees grow green..."

In the end, the sigh left to her by the old man who slayed the Baro Balrog kept lingering in her heart.

"I see." Thorn paused in throwing firewood, looked in the direction of Winter City, and sighed helplessly.

An unknown bitterness flowed from the ranger's eyes into the depths of his heart.

"It's just a dream, sleep well, it won't bother you anymore, I just poured you a bottle of healing potion, so what you need most now is to have a good rest." Thorne put the slipped blanket back on on her.

"Thorn..." The paladin did not obey the ranger's arrangement, but supported his heavy body with both hands with difficulty, sat up from a piece of animal skin, and put down the blanket wrapped around her body , looking blankly at the ranger beside him:
"I want to know why Winter City became like this? Do you know? I am a paladin who upholds justice, but I just watched those unarmed refugees die at my feet without being able to save them. I witnessed a group of A group of evils hovered before my eyes but could do nothing.

Even in the face of the death knight's charge, I am not even as good as a fallen paladin.I don't even have the courage to face evil like this, and what qualifications do I have to uphold justice and repel evil. "

As the paladin spoke, tears fell drop by drop, she was crying like a child with broken hopes.

The wind picked up suddenly, dark clouds covered the dim moonlight, and the howling wind bent the reeds and rustled the bushes around the campfire.

"You have worked very hard. It is not your fault. As a paladin who protects justice, you did nothing wrong. Remember, when you retract your fist, it is only for the sake of being stronger in the future." Fight back. As long as you are still alive, the determination to protect justice will always exist deep in your heart and will never be shaken!"

Thorne gently wiped away her tears, and comforted her very patiently.

He found that the brilliance on her body began to become dimmer.

In other words, she is about to lose the power brought by her faith, and the power of a paladin is moving away from this seemingly lonely and helpless girl, because her eyes are full of confusion and despair except for tears...

The bonfire was dimming, and the dead branches were burning red, crackling from time to time, bursting out golden and red flames.

"But I have already flinched. In the face of the abyss demons, hell devils, fallen cultists, death knights' charges, and the roar of Balor, I don't even have the courage to raise my sword. I am just an insignificant creature in front of them." Ant.

Facing the desperate and howling civilians, I have nothing to do. I can only watch them die at my feet, engulfed by the roaring flames. I can't do anything, I can't save anyone, I What kind of paladin..."

The paladin's hands were deeply trapped in the messy hair, and she recalled the tragic scenes of Winter City. A deep sense of powerlessness and despair spread at an extremely fast speed, devouring her body mercilessly. Holy radiance.

"Snapped!"

Thorne waved his hand and slapped the sobbing paladin on the face, knocking her down on the grass, a trace of blood slowly oozing from the corner of her mouth.

"That's because you're not strong enough!" Thorne stared at her expressionlessly, and said coldly, "Don't you know what kind of world this is?! This is a world dominated by gods. A world where the gods divide up the faith.

And what about Winter City?Winter City is a city abandoned by the good gods, a place where even the good gods don't care, what can you, a little paladin, do to save them? .
Count on your catchphrase?If you don't have the power to destroy evil, your so-called justice is just a joke. Do you think that as long as you believe in justice, you can save the world?Only an idiot would believe it. "

Thorn shook the paladin's numb shoulders: "Wake up quickly! If the slogan really works, what should we say about our compatriots who died in the Emerald Field? Who has saved them? Who has pitied them? ?”

Looking at the pitch-black sky and feeling the oppressive darkness, he continued: "So I only believe in my own power, only in the mighty power. This is a world dominated by gods, and it is also a world where great powers are gathered together. The world. Only we have the power to crush everything. When facing abyssal demons, hell devils, cultists, all kinds of evil, and even various races in the wilderness, we will not be as desperate and helpless as tonight or in the past. With crushing With all your strength, you can keep the justice in your heart."

"Only with the power to crush everything can you keep the justice in your heart." The struggling paladin trembled and gradually became sober in the silence. She seemed to understand what true justice is.

"That's right!" Thorne met her gradually sober eyes, nodded heavily, and said coldly: "The real strong dare to face the bleak life and face the dripping blood. And you? You are not qualified You are an idiot who only shouts justice and makes people look ridiculous. You don’t understand what real justice is, and what is the purest justice.”

"True justice! Justice in its purest form!"

The ranger's icy ridicule cleared away the last trace of doubt in her heart. The paladin Nolan clenched his fists, the dim holy light completely dissipated, and a strange aura gradually emerged. She slowly straightened up, her firm eyes faced the bleak night sky.

I do not know how long it has been……

Nolan took out the cloudy and black sacred emblem of suffering that had long lost any divine brilliance, which she regarded as the most precious symbol, and then indifferently threw it into the oppressive darkness, disappeared into the wilderness, and said firmly:
"Look for a powerful enemy without distraction. There is no mercy for villains. For justice, do whatever it takes. If you encounter evil results, do your best to make up for it."

After the enlightened paladin finished speaking, a burst of mysterious dark energy suddenly burst out from his body, and his originally extremely weak body instantly recovered to its original state.

"Hero level! Vengeance oath!" Looking at the changes in the paladin, Thorne finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Holy Avenger!
A group of paladins of lawful neutral and absolute neutral alignments.

In order to maintain the justice in their hearts, the Holy Avengers will even do whatever it takes.

This is a kind of paladin who masters the power of darkness, but the paladin who masters this power is the easiest to degenerate into an evil black guard.

What they guard is the justice in their hearts, not the beliefs of the gods.

For them, this is a battle of their own beliefs and wills.

Winning or losing is only a matter of thought.

Thorne came to the paladin, stretched out his hand to brush away the hair that covered her face, stroked her face gently, and said earnestly:

"Don't let your own path change. Each of us must make a firm choice for our own path. No matter what happens in the future, for yourself and for the justice that needs to be guarded in your heart, I hope you will not lose Self, being able to make every choice in life carefully and carefully, goodbye."

The ranger raised the sharp sword stuck in the ground, and disappeared in the direction of Winter City without looking back.

…………

Here's a note about Holy Avengers:

　The holy oath of the holy avenger is: Vengeance.

　　It is a solemn promise to take an oath to punish those serious crimes.

　　When evil forces massacre helpless residents, when all the people go against their will, when a Thieves Guild is too domineering, it is the paladin who swore revenge.

　　Known as the Holy Avengers, or sometimes the Black Knights, they will stop at nothing for justice, even at the cost of their own purity.

　　--------

　　Come on Zhengzhou!

　　Many of my friends were trapped in Zhengzhou, but fortunately they came back one day early, secretly rejoicing.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)