The Blessed

The demons outside already see him gradually weakening. Soon, the Servant of God would fall. Cackling mischievously, they anticipatingly waited for his demise while continuously attacking the barrier.

Slowly closing his eyes, he awaits his eventual doom.

Suddenly…

"Aid Master Noah!" From behind, shouts filled with hope and vigor sounded. Noah was awakened by the loud voices behind. As for the demons, they were confused at first, but gradually, shock and fear slowly overtook their minds.

Hundreds of people, some old and a great number of younglings, ran towards Noah to protect him while basked in divine light. Déjà vu struck the demons as they felt the energies surrounding the people below.

"The Princes of Creation, Heimdall, Sariel, the Heavenly Army? What are they doing here?!" They shrieked.

"Ready? Shoot them down!" Elric, who was at the forefront, swiftly swung down his hand, directing all of them to fire.

Boom!

At his command, several beams of divine light blasted towards the enemies like a volley of arrows. Of course, majority of the projectiles missed, but for those that were hit, all of them fell from the skies with melted wings, a hole in the chest, a missing head, or missing limbs.

For those that survived the first volley of attacks, they were already fearing for their lives. In the beginning, they thought that this campaign would just be an easy win, but it seems now that the tide has turned. Turning around, they quickly ran for their lives.

"S-Stop." Seeing that they were still trying to catch the demons, Noah called out to them. As soon as they got near, Noah grunted, "R-Rescue those that are s-still outside." After saying that weakly, Noah finally fell down on the ground, exhausted.

"Shina, tend to Master Noah. As for the others, separate into groups of ten and rescue our people outside!" Without Noah, Elric assumed command over the Blessed. Nodding, they all separated into different groups and dashed towards the known camps of Templars outside.

The entire day, fights surrounding the village erupted, even at night. Soon, all of the Knights Templar and their companies were taken back to the village.

When the report came back of their incursion, Noah was taken aback, quite impressed. "All the demons surrounding the village has been either banished, killed, or made to retreat…"

Noah, sitting on the bed, turned and looked at Ilmar and Elric who were standing next to his bedside, "How many villagers became Blessed?" He asked the two curiously.

"Including myself, precisely 101, Master Noah." Elric answered, "Currently, the rescued templars are also undertaking the ceremony."

Ilmar then added with an optimistic expression, "If this continues, we would even be able to start an aggressive crusade into the City of Luciferius!"

Noah was silent. He knows to himself that such thoughts are too optimistic. Luciferius is the capital city of the Nephtal Empire, where the emperor, Nefarius, resides with his army of the most elite Nephilim and demons. Even if their numbers reached tens of thousands, it would be nigh impossible for them to even penetrate the walls of Torient that is made from the hardest mineral on the planet.

Thinking about Nefarius, even Noah, who faced the beast Leviathan, felt a little apprehensive. Nefarius was a demon that embraced his fate as a True Demon, and also as the Prince of Demons.

There was a legend that Lucifer himself appeared in his son's coronation as emperor of the Nephtal Empire. With his blessing, Nefarious ruled over all of Earth with his legions. No human could even dream of opposing his rule. Although Noah was sure that the Divine Authority is more powerful than the Unholy powers, it is also still a fact that Nefarious is, by far, older than him, and has wielded his power longer than himself.

Considering that the Blessed are just starting, they must not become too arrogant, lest they immediately fall into the hands of the enemies.

Noah was going inform Ilmar of their current powerlessness over the army of the Nephtal Empire, but it seems that he doesn't need to do so anymore.

"Lord Ilmar…" Elric, who had been silent this entire time, suddenly spoke. When Ilmar looked at him, he continued, "…the army of Luciferius itself overpower us 1000:1. Although we have acquired the blessings of divinity, it is of utmost importance for us to analyze our strength levels first. In estimation, we would need ten years to amass a power that is barely enough to fight against their army, excluding the entire force of the Empire."

"Oh…" Ilmar's fighting spirit was immediately extinguished. Suddenly, he thought of a terrifying possibility, "What if they assemble their entire army to force their way into the village? Wouldn't we be slaughtered?"

Elric didn't answer and instead turned and looked at Noah for the answer. Seeing that, Noah smirked, "They wouldn't dare."

"They wouldn't dare?" the two tilted their heads in confusion. In response, Noah only looked at the direction of the sacred site and smiled.

After a period of silence, Noah once again turned around and said to them, "Now that the issue of the invasion is temporarily gone, continue our research in constructing the Ark."

Nodding, the two bowed and left, letting Noah have his deserved rest. As ordered, the delayed research continued, this time, with the people participating driven by the powers of divinity.

With their blessings and the additional manpower from the outside world, the research went more than two times faster than usual, which is the best-case scenario. Two hundred years had passed from when he accepted the quest of gathering the essences of animals throughout the world. He then confirmed that another hundred and fifty more years passed when he fought the Leviathan at sea. That means that three hundred and fifty years had already been used up, and they only have less than two hundred years left to accomplish building the Ark, evacuating all the believers, preparing for rations, and also resisting the Behemoth. Although it would seem that two hundred years is still a lot of time for the, there are still a lot of variables that must be accounted for.