The situation in Crossroad city was dire, as a legion of goblins poured into the streets.
The most populated place in the city at the time was the temple, and the goblins, drawn by the scent of humans, swarmed towards it.
Bang! Crack! Boom!
There were two doors in the temple at Crossroad – a large main door and a smaller back door.
Both were littered with the corpses of goblins, hastily barricaded with chairs and desks.
The sound of the goblins violently hammering on their weapons outside the barricade echoed menacingly.
"Huff, huff..."
Torkel, leader of the Leprosy Extermination Squad, gasped for air as he glared at the recently closed main door of the temple.
His bandage-wrapped body was smeared with blood from the goblins and his own wounds.
But Torkel had no time to care how filthy he was.
"Anyone who can fight, grab a weapon!"
Torkel shouted towards the inside of the temple.
But how many of the wounded could actually fight, and how many weapons did the temple have?
Torkel, clutching a kitchen knife from the temple's dining hall and a round table tied to his left arm as a shield, realized something.
If reinforcements didn't arrive, everyone in the temple would die.
And considering the monsters had reached this point, expecting help was futile.
"Issue an order."
Torkel was not about to lie down and die quietly.
"Block the back door. The path is narrow and the fence high, so four of you should be enough."
"And you, Captain?"
"I'll defend the main door with the other injured."
Fortunately, the temple's fence and stone wall were enchanted with holy protection magic.
The goblins focused on breaking through the doors rather than scaling the fence, making defense tactics feasible.
Bodybag and Burnout, in charge of setting up barricades, were piling obstacles around the temple.
Even the injured brought in during the defense were picking up weapons and joining in.
Following Torkel's orders, the rest of the Leprosy Extermination Squad went to defend the side door.
Torkel hastily organized the soldiers gathered at the main door into defense positions.
"I'll help too!"
Saintess Margarita cried out as she ran forward.
"I can cast shield magic. It'll be useful."
"..."
Torkel wanted to tell her to go inside, but there was no time.
Boom-!
The barricade at the main door was shattered.
He hadn't expected it to hold long, but the breach was quicker than anticipated.
It seemed the goblins had suicide bombers in their ranks.
"Push them back-!"
Gritting his teeth, Torkel charged forward. Bodybag, Burnout, Saintess Margarita, and the other injured joined him in a desperate effort.
A fierce battle ensued.
Despite their injuries, there were many skilled soldiers. Goblins fell one after another as they tried to enter the temple.
Torkel and Burnout crushed the goblins with overwhelming combat prowess.
Saintess Margarita cast shield magic on the soldiers, and Bodybag continuously repaired the barricade with psychokinesis.
For a while, it seemed they were successfully holding off the goblins.
Screech!
Shriek-!
That was until goblins suddenly appeared from behind.
"What the-?!"
"Why from the back!"
"The back door must have been breached...!"
Torkel gritted his teeth as he shouted.
As he had feared, when the front defense held firm, the goblins concentrated their attack on the back door.
Even though the members of the Leprosy Extermination Squad defending it were skilled heroes, they couldn't last long with injuries and inadequate equipment.
In the end, all four of them resisted to the last and met their fate.
Then, through the breached back door, goblins poured in and attacked the main door defenders from behind.
"We must retreat, retreat!"
In the face of being surrounded on both sides, fighting was no longer an option. Torkel, having no choice but to abandon the defense of the main door, shouted.
"Inside the building! Hurry!"
The survivors barely managed to break through and retreated into the temple.
After closing and locking the door, Torkel, barricading the entrance with obstacles, cried out.
"Block the windows, gather everyone in one place! Immediately!"
But there was no need to gather people.
Everyone was already huddled in the central hall's corridor, trembling and praying.
Soldiers too injured to fight, priests without combat skills, all were shaking before the imminent death, praying to the goddess.
"..."
Outside, the goblins were fiercely howling and straining to open the locked doors, but inside the temple, there was silence.
This dissonance was disconcerting. Torkel slowly walked towards the inside of the central hall.
There it was.
The statue of the goddess.
The face of the goddess he had always watched from afar, never seen up close.
"The goddess..."
Torkel murmured blankly.
"...had such an expression."
The face of the goddess looked down with pity and sadness.
Then, his vision started spinning.
"Ah."
That's when Torkel realized he was bleeding.
A knife and a spear were stuck in his back. Apparently, a goblin had thrown them during the retreat.
His numb skin hadn't even felt the attack, but the damage was clear. Torkel knelt in his own pool of blood.
"Torkel!"
Saintess Margarita rushed over, pulling out the knife and spear from his back, applying healing magic, and wrapping bandages.
Her priest robe was so stained with the blood of the injured that its original color was unrecognizable. Torkel muttered as he watched her struggling.
"Stop it, Saintess. It's no use now."
"..."
"We're all going to die here."
Torkel slowly closed his eyes.
"It's been a terrible life."
"..."
"Suffering from leprosy all my life, ostracized, pointed at... And now to die at the hands of goblins."
"..."
"For the first time, I saw the goddess's face and I want to ask... Why did you give me such suffering."
Torkel clenched his hands and spoke with a suppressed voice.
"Please, tell me that I am being punished for sins in my past life, or for the sin of being born, as I have always believed."
"..."
"If there's no such cause and effect, a life of mere suffering is... too irrational."
But even praying to the goddess's face for the first time, there was no answer.
Instead, Saintess Margarita, having tightly wrapped the bandages, spoke in a businesslike tone.
"I'll say it again, Torkel. There is no such sin."
Torkel opened his eyes and looked at Margarita. She, as always, had an impassive expression.
"There's no sin in being born. Your suffering isn't a punishment from someone."
"Then, why? Why did I suffer?"
"Because... that's just the way the world is."
Having finished the emergency treatment, the Saintess spoke calmly.
"The world is inherently irrational, doesn't care about cause and effect, and is painful."
"..."
"We're all struggling to live in this hell together."
Torkel, lost for words, stammered.
"Then in this terrible hell, what are we supposed to do?"
"Struggle."
Saintess Margarita smiled slightly.
"Until the very end, with all our might."
"..."
"And finally, we pray."
Margarita extended her hand.
"Here, take my hand."
The saintess, her hand stained with blood, grasped Torkel's bandage-wrapped hand. Then, Margarita closed her eyes and prayed.
Torkel stared blankly at her.
Ever since he contracted leprosy, it was the first time someone had held his hand.
And the first time someone prayed with him.
Bang! Boom-!
The locked doors of the temple shook violently. Sounds of shattering glass echoed from all sides.
Soon, goblins would swarm into this corridor.
Clang!
The stained glass on either side of the door broke, and goblin archers infiltrated inside.
They launched arrows at the people in front of the goddess statue.
Instinctively, Torkel tried to shield himself from the attack.
But, he was pushed aside.
'What?'
Pushed aside, Torkel saw who had pushed him.
It was Margarita.
She had wrapped herself in shield magic and took the arrows for him. But, she had already exhausted her strength.
Clang!
Unable to block the last arrow, the shield magic faded,
Thud...!
An arrow lodged itself in the priest's robe.
Margarita quietly collapsed without a groan.
While other soldiers rushed and killed the goblin archers, Torkel cradled the fallen Margarita in his arms.
The priests tried to heal her, but the arrow had hit a critical spot, tearing through her left chest.
When the healing magic failed, the priests shook their heads slightly.
"Why?"
Torkel genuinely couldn't understand and asked.
"Why, for someone like me? Why did you...?"
"I am a priest, and you are a patient."
With blood-soaked lips, Margarita struggled to answer.
"To save a patient... we do whatever it takes, that's who we are..."
"But I am a loathsome, filthy leper... Why would you do this for someone like me..."
"You and I, we are all the same."
Margarita's voice rapidly faded.
"We're all just pitiful lives struggling to survive in this terrible world..."
Margarita lifted her blurry eyes.
In the obscuring world, the statue of the goddess looked down at her.
"...Torkel. What face did the goddess you saw for the first time have?"
Torkel answered with a heavy voice.
"She had a face like she was looking at something very sad and pitiful."
"That's how you see yourself."
"Excuse me?"
"From my view, the goddess..."
A smile flickered across Margarita's lips.
"...is smiling very brightly..."
"..."
"I wish you could see this smile too..."
Margarita slowly closed her eyes.
And then she breathed no more.
"..."
Torkel gently laid her body on the ground.
He picked up the kitchen knife he had set down and tied the table back to his left arm.
"The last prayer has already been said."
And it was a luxury like no other in his life – the saintess had held his hand and prayed with him.
"So now... there's only struggling until the end left to do."
Hearing his words, the injured soldiers and priests crouched in front of the goddess statue began to rise one by one.
They all had heard the conversation between Margarita and Torkel. And they had all witnessed her death.
No more words were needed. People ended their final prayers and grabbed something in their hands.
For the last struggle.
If this was all they could do in this terrible world, then willingly.
Thud! Thump! Thud...!
The temple's door shook as if it would break apart at any moment.
With their final resolve strengthened, Torkel at the forefront, everyone was preparing for the decisive battle when-
Tatatatatata...
A low, rhythmic sound began to echo from afar.
At first, they tried to dismiss it as the din of battle, but the sound gradually grew louder and closer. Torkel glanced upward, puzzled.
'What is that? A mechanical sound?'
Then, right above the temple, the source of the sound came to a halt-
Dududududu-!
It emitted an ear-splitting firing noise.
Everyone inside the temple panicked and pressed themselves to the floor.
The terrible roar and vibration continued for a while.
The sound of bullets whizzing, the ground being torn apart, and the goblins' screams were so loud they were deafening.
After a while, the roaring stopped. Torkel realized that all signs of the goblins at the door had vanished.
Creak. Clank.
Torkel carefully removed the obstacles at the door, unlocked it, and looked outside.
"?!"
The goblins that had been swarming the entrance of the temple were all reduced to pieces of meat. The ground was littered with bullet marks.
"...What is this?"
Confused, Torkel looked up at the sky, which was turning red as evening approached.
Then his eyes widened.
"That's...!"