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Chapter Twenty: The Onslaught Begins

Gaige's voice quivered as he relayed the ominous news to the group. "There's a lot more coming!" Though his speech difficulties lingered, the tension and adrenaline coursing through him were undeniable.

Initially, Gaige counted ten purgers, but their numbers swelled beyond twenty, eventually surpassing fifty. He kept his composure, not wishing to alarm the weaker returnees on whose survival he bore responsibility.

"Should we retreat?" Andy's voice quivered as he posed the question, echoing the concern in Minka's shaky tone.

"Where could we even retreat to?" Minka added, voicing the grim truth: they were completely encircled with no escape route.

Sweat beads glistened on Gaige's forehead as he wracked his brain for a strategy to survive the impending onslaught of purgers.

Fifty was a staggering number, well beyond their preparations for roughly twenty opponents. They had never anticipated facing more than fifty purgers simultaneously.

Gaige mused, "Could there be other tasks for purgers? Is that why there are so many?" But he couldn't dwell on this thought for long, focusing instead on his immediate challenge.

With a burst of divine energy, Gaige conjured a dome-like, holy shield encompassing their entire building, blocking the first wave of purgers now at their yard's edge. He gritted his teeth while chanting prayers, harnessing his divine powers and fortifying his body's strength and resilience. After transferring control of the shield to Minka, Gaige leaped from the rooftop.

Minka had grown accustomed to Gaige's sudden kisses, her mouth receiving his divine infusion without surprise. She yearned to understand Gaige's plan, but she dared not open her mouth, lest she release the vital divine powers she was holding.

With Andy at her side, Gaige entrusted communication outside the building to him, as Minka remained temporarily mute due to her role in maintaining the divine shield.

Meanwhile, Gaige, positioned in the yard, brandished his sword in one hand and a makeshift pot lid in the other. He infused the latter with aura, intending to soar into the swarm of purgers.

He briefly regretted leaving his armor behind at the arch, realizing he was squandering precious energy to form a transparent silver aura around his body—a makeshift substitute.

Gaige grinned, muttering to himself, "Stupid to think I won't commit mass murder again." With a graceful leap, he soared skyward, becoming visible beneath the moon's glow. The purgers, formerly focused on attacking the shielded building, shifted their attention to him.

No one viewed him as a threat, allowing Gaige to initiate the attack. His emerald eyes, enhanced by the angel's sight, identified vulnerable purgers as he passed, swiftly severing their limbs and necks.

The ground became a gruesome tableau of entrails, the air tainted by a nauseating stench. Bullets soon whizzed past him, but Gaige's agility allowed him to evade them. He was caught off guard by a cannon shot, sending him hurtling into a building.

Unperturbed by his injuries, Gaige promptly rose to his feet. "How did I miss a cannonball?" He blinked several times to restore his blurred vision. Intent on locating the cannon wielder, he observed the distant periphery.

However, before he could adjust his vision further, a cannonball materialized mere feet from his face, forcing him to shield himself with his arms.

Gaige crashed into multiple buildings, inadvertently injuring civilians who happened to be in the vicinity. Some soldiers, mistaking him for a terrorist, also joined the chaos, and several met their end, but Gaige couldn't afford to concern himself with them. Blood covered his face, and his exposed bone fragments ached.

Though several fingers were missing, he clasped his hands, fervently reciting prayers with increasing fervor.

"Lord Ydnah! Assist us! Lend me your power and strength to vanquish our foes seeking our demise! Aid us in our survival!"

Gaige repeated his prayer as bullets and cannonballs bore down upon him. Unblinking, he watched as a brilliant, silvery light intercepted the projectiles on his behalf. Though his wounds had yet to fully heal, he was now capable of wielding his sword once more.

Above him, his divine powers clashed with the purgers' relentless assaults, as Gaige maintained his prayer. He glanced at the distant cannon wielder, though he was surrounded by over twenty armed purgers, some bearing assault rifles, machine guns, or handguns, while others acted as snipers in the distance.

His gaze finally settled on the cannon user. "They're shooting me from three miles away?" Gaige marveled, doubting whether he could cover that distance to eliminate the threat. He suspected that the cannon's objective was to taunt him rather than attack their building.

Gritting his teeth, Gaige focused on the purgers nearby. "I must deal with them first before confronting someone three miles away."

However, the cannon user wasn't his sole concern.

"Sweet! A thousand points!" a purger with a submachine gun declared, suddenly appearing and firing a barrage of shots at Gaige.

Gaige used his sword to deflect the bullets while evading another peculiar purger. "Am I worth a thousand points? Is that why the cannon user didn't target the one inside our building?"