Chapter 111 : Fierce Battle

A few weeks peacefully passed like that, but—

KAN! KAN! KAN!

The bells of Lumillus rang in the dawn. Following that, the guards on patrol duty screamed, 「ENEMY SPOTTED! ENEMY SPOTTED!」.

The knights who guarded the city 24/7 had confirmed the appearance of their long-awaited enemy. Naturally, the leader of the demon race army was none other than Vassago.

「Has everyone woken up?」

When Aria confirmed everyone’s situation, Tama, who was nested on her chest, cried 「Nyaa(Of course, master!)」.

Stella, Lily, and Faeri also expressed their enthusiasm.

「Of course!」

「They have come at last!」

「I’m already itching to try my skill on the~m!」

「Well, let’s prepare for the battle. It seems they are targeting the south gate!」

Aria and co., who knew the direction of their incoming enemy because of the warning, finished their preparations and departed for the south gate.

◆

「Thank you for waiting! Alisha-sama, Vulcan-san!」

「We just arrived too.」

「Nya~! Here they come nyan!」

Alisha and Vulcan greeted Aria and co., who had just left Lumilus from the south gate.

As they looked around, they saw the important figures. Cedric had arrived in the city the previous day after subjugating one of the Four Demon Dukes. He had come here along with his subordinates. The native warriors and the adventurers had also gathered here.

Every one of them was betting their life to protect the people in Lumilus.

「FELLOW WARRIORS! The time for the decisive battle has come! Lumilus— No! The fate of this world depends on the results of this battle! 」

Prince Julius, who was chosen as the commander of this battle, gave an encouraging speech to his side.

The warriors raised a warcry upon hearing the encouraging words of a hero. Julius’s speech raised the morale of the warriors who were about to fight powerful foes. This scene was proof of Prince Julius’s popularity.

The tremors on the ground became more and more intense as the army of demons and monsters came closer to Lumilus. Fairly loud footsteps were also mixed among the tremors.

『Magic, FIREEEEEEE!』

A demon raised his voice as soon as he confirmed Lumilus’s vanguard. Thereupon, the demon race army fired a rain of wind bullets, stone bullets, and fireballs toward Lumilus.

「Lend me your power, Master(Husband)! Deploy, 《Dark Prison》!」

Alisha spun on her spot as she spoke in a quiet voice. Soon, a thin and transparent black membrane covered the dozen-meter area that Alisha had swept.

The magic volley from the demon side vanished as soon as it came into contact with the black membrane.

『The magic skill… vanished!? Kuh… We’ve no choice then. MONSTER SQUAD, CHARGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!』

The commander of the demon race army couldn’t hide his surprise upon seeing numerous magic spells vanish after just reaching their enemies.

However, he immediately recovered himself and ordered the monsters to attack their enemies. He thought that if they couldn’t use magic, then they could just open the path by force.

Goblins, Orcs, and Minotaurs attacked the dark transparent membrane.

But…

『GUGYAAAAAAAAAA!?』

The goblin who had arrived faster than the others raised a shriek as soon as its hand touched the membrane. From its pale face, it was apparent that it was losing its vitality. The goblin then fell on its knees.

《Dark Prison》― It was Alisha’s overskill of her darkness element, and it had been granted to her by her husband, the archmage. 《Dark Prison》 was a special barrier that could negate attacks at a certain level.

Moreover, the darkness element was the most powerful element. Its most notable characteristic was its ability to snatch the opponent’s life force. The goblin that touched the membrane had immediately died because his life force had been sucked dry.

『BUHI…』

『MOOO…』

Seeing the goblin collapse, the Orcs and the Minotaurs were forced to stop their advance. Even though they couldn’t understand what had happened… they at least knew that they shouldn’t touch that membrane.

「Woow! The goblin died just by touching it!」

「Aaah! As expected of the Sword Saint, Alisha-sama!」

The knights and the adventurers, who stood inside the barrier, let out joyful cries upon seeing such a spectacle. Their morale rose to another level upon knowing that they had another powerful protector on their side.

『Tch― As if the likes of monster need fear.〝Charge?!』

Seeing the monsters getting scared, the demon race army’s commander immediately issued an order in an annoyed voice. The demon race held absolute power over the monsters. Thus, the monster had to follow the orders of the commander and break the barrier by force.

The monsters raised a warcry, then they charged at the barrier with bloodshot eyes.

《Dark Prison》 was a powerful skill, but even a powerful skill couldn’t withstand the war of attrition against numbers. It was only a matter of time until the monsters would break through the barrier. And that soon happened. The worn-out barrier collapsed.

The first, the second, and then the third… monsters keep pouring into the crumbling barrier once after another.

Prince Julius looked at the scene with a composed look on his face. He had used the time bought by Alisha to issue an instruction to their troops: finish the formation. And then, he ordered them, 「VANGUARD, SORTIE」.

Vulcan and Stella, who stood amongst the vanguard due to their offensive power, replied in turn with 「Rogernyan!」 and 「Let’s crush ’em!」.

When the two of them charged toward the battlefield, one could see that their defensive equipment was slightly different compared to how it had been before. Vulcan had used these few weeks to make protector type equipment for everyone by using Vibram, the rare mineral that had been formed due to the effect of the fountain of life and the world tree.

Even though the shape of the new equipment was similar to their previous one, the new equipment radiated a silver light as if the equipment were being basked under the sun.

As a result, all members of Aria’s party had gained powerful armor that could absorb impact, and could also attack using an offensive skill called convergence, which fired the absorbed impact toward their enemies.

Stella mowed down enemies after enemies with her Claiomh Solais, while Vulcan smashed the enemies’ heads with her Mjolnir.

If the enemies tried to attack from their sides, their attack ended up being absorbed by the Vibram-made gauntlets or Caladbog, and then those attacks would be returned to the enemies.

「Tch… these two were hiding their power, huh?」

Ayla let out a wry smile upon seeing the figure of Vulcan and Stella rampaging in the midst of the battle.

They both put an end to the enemies who got blown off by the impact with the help of the amazoness corps.

It was a simple but the best method that took full advantage of the characteristics of Vulcan’s and Stella’s weapons.

However, no matter how many enemies they killed, the demon race army seemed never-ending.

Suddenly―

「OPEN THE PATH!」

――Leona’s voice resounded in the area.

Instantly, the members of the amazoness corps, Stella, Vulcan, and the other warriors opened a path right away.

「TAKE THIS!」

Leona, who had been standing right behind the vanguard, punched forward in the empty air.

As the demon race army wondered what had happened, two consecutive shockwaves attacked them.

The shockwaves sent the monsters flying backward.

This was Leona’s awakened skill, the skill that enhanced a normal attack and changed it into an AOE attack―《Shockwave》.

The monsters who had lost their footing became Stella’s and the other warriors’ prey. Stella and the others resumed attacking and steadily decreasing their enemy’s force.

◆

『GUH… such troublesome skills! I guess I’ve no choice but to use THAT to prevent the worst-case scenario. Come out―〝Nidhogg?』

Vassago, who had been watching over the situation from behind his army, heaved a sigh while cursing his enemy. The defending side was far more troublesome than his expectations. Such a thing was only natural since the defending side had Sword Saint Alisha’s assistance, but Vassago had yet to realize that.

Vassago then spread his hand, raised it to the sky, and shouted. Immediately, a gigantic magic circle appeared before him, from which a rainbow-colored dragon emerged.

Nidhogg—it was Vassago’s final and strongest summoned beast.

Vassago leaped on to Nidhogg’s back and said 「GO!」. Upon hearing that, Nidhogg raised a deafening roar as it spread the gigantic wings on its back and soared into the sky.