Episode 30 – ~Rampage in the Battlefield~~
The next day, wearing the already repaired mithril plate armor, I was in the middle of meeting with Marl and the light cavalry captain.
[Crossroad and, errmm…..]
[Telesco]
[Right, how’s the situation at Telesco?]
[According to the report that came this morning, those two cities seemed to have successfully repelled the monsters. Glaudis, on the other hand, is in a bad situation. Many flying monsters are attacking them, making them struggle to defend.]
Again, they had no real countermeasures against aerial monsters.
If they focused themselves to defend one part, the other had a risk of falling apart. This was dangerous.
[As I thought, it’ll be best for us to head to Glaudis. At oncel.]
[Yessir!]
After the one day break, the soldiers seemed to be refreshed as well.
I came to Berlion after a short break in the aftermath of defending the capital Alfen.
Anyways, my VIT that had gone to supernatural level allowed me go on almost indefinitely, but that’s not the case with the soldiers.
They also had to let the horses rest, or even find replacements in some cases.
[Their number have really gone down a bit…]
[Although their main task was only cleaning up, their opponents are still monsters after all.]
The light cavalry battalion suffered minor damage during the previous battle.
Fortunately, there was no casualty. But more than a dozens were seriously injured, forcing them to leave the frontline.
Even if healing magic was able to heal wounds, it’ll still take a few days to a week for full recovery. Months if the injury was severe.
That makes me wonder, that old spearman who injured his arm while fighting the troll, what was he doing right now?
After three days of travelling on horseback, I could finally hear the noise of the battlefield just ahead of us.
Much smaller, dragon-like monsters were flying around over the fortified city that was still some distance away in front of us.
Not only that, insect type and winged lion-like monsters were also wreaking havoc on the ramparts.
On the ground level, the monsters were either climbing the wall or, for those with huge and heavy bodies, like that club wielding giant, pounded at the wall or the gate.
No matter how good the 2000 strong reinforcement from the royal capital were, having to breakthrough the overwhelming opposition, casualties were inevitable.
[Hero-dono… what should we do?]
I shouldn’t be giving command if based rank.
The light cavalry captain should’ve consulted Marl instead since she’s the one with highest rank here.
As for myself, I planned to prioritize the monsters attacking the gate. If the gate was breached, the damage to Glaudis citizens would be severe.
Clean the sky, then wipe out the remaining monsters. Let’s make sure to kill as many monsters as possible along the way.
[I will open a path, so that we can join up with the reinforcement from the capital. Marl should go with the cavalry, and don’t push yourself too hard. After that, I will strike at those monsters attacking the gate. Tell the defensive forces leader to watch their attack.]
[Yessir!]
[Understood. Taichi-san, you shouldn’t push yourself too hard as well.]
[I will. Let’s go! Follow behind me!]
Getting off of my horse, I drew my bonded sword and started running.
Battlecries and horse neighings roared from behind me, followed by the noise of galloping horse.
[Blow away!]
From the bonded sword, I released multiple explosive magic bullets at the monsters standing on my path.
Explosion occurred one after another, sending the monsters flying around like gag comic. But saying it like gag comic is a bit off the mark, since those monsters had become bits and pieces.
Using the explosive bullet while there is an ally within my line of sight is a no go. Because of the large area of effect, using it in a huge melee might incur some friendly fire.
I have to use it carefully if I don’t want to accidentally hurt my own ally.
[Ora ora, move, you small friesー!]
I swung the magic infused bonded sword at the monsters blocking my path.
My casual swing alone was able to kill several enemies at once, but I felt like it has nothing to do with my lvl 5 Swordsmanship.
I’m not the M of the battle mania, but it’s not like I could stop swinging such a powerful weapon either! Let me take your life, and yours too.
Occasionally I had to jump up to widen my sight, so that I could use the explosive bullets more effectively to decimate the monsters.
This will be a lot easier if there is a magic that allows me to float in the air. Is there a wind magic or some sort that will allow me to fly?
I should’ve tried to search for it yesterday. I have too many unused skill points anyways.
As we fought, we finally managed to join up with the reinforcement army.
[He’s here! The Hero has arrived!]
[We can win this now!]
And my presence was more than welcomed due to their situation.
Although the language was slightly different, it’s a phrase I’ve heard somewhere before.
I kept killing nearby monsters until Marl and the light cavalry unit also joined us. She seemed to be alright.
[Now I’m going to clean up the gate. Don’t push yourself too hard!!]
[Yes, Taichi-san should take care as well!]
Watching Marl and the light cavalry battalion safely joining the royal capital reinforcement, I plunged into the monsters amassing nearby.
The horde truly had variety, ranging from the familiar orcs and goblins, to what seemed like giant mantis, and even something strange like a bipedal six-armed bear.
The goblin was simply kicked into fine dust, while the orc got its head blown away with magic. I ducked the giant mantis’ sickle swipe and countered with a slash from my bonded sword. It was scattered into pieces with that slash, and I think I saw parts of bear as well mixing in.
I cut through the monster horde, sometimes with bonded sword, sometimes with magic, other times with my punches and kicks.
I had made some distance away from the reinforcement army, and now am completely surrounded by monsters from all sides.
[Hahahahah! Blow away!]
Concentrating my magic in my whole body, I then released it all in the form of an explosion. The effect blew away the monsters on my surroundings. The feeling of ejecting large amount of magic like that was exhilarating.
At that point I started running towards the gate, in a haste.
Using one monster that was staggered by the explosion as a springboard, I jumped into the air while raining the monsters below with explosive bullets, and cleaned up my estimated landing point with a swing of my bonded sword.
Leaving mountain of corpses and rivers of blood along my path.
[UOOoooooo!]
The monsters’ size became bigger as I got closer to the gate.
A stupid looking chimera stood on my path.
Its body was like a lion but with scales, and it also sported three heads; a snake, a crocodile, and chameleon. Probably a reptile chimera.
『Kishhhaaaaaaa！』
The snake head hissed threateningly while spouting poisonous fog.
Unfortunately, I’m completely resistant against poison.
[Useless!]
Ignoring the fog, I plunged in and swung the bonded sword.
The upper body of the reptile chimera disintegrated. Ho, what a misery.
But this weapon is really strong it kinda scares me.
[Wind shield!]
Blocking projectiles, flying debris, breath attack, and can be used to reduce air resistance. Windshield is truly a very useful magic.
I started charging towards the gate once more.
[Ssoooiyaa!]
There were several muscular macho men around the gate. Two got blown away in the wake of my arrival.
After putting my bonded sword back into its sheath, I cracked the fingers of my fists. Swinging bonded sword carelessly may end up damaging gate, so I decided to go barefist this time.
『Gooaa！』
[Oraa!]
One of the giant macho men swung a club that seemed to be uprooted tree at me. I filled my fists with magic and struck at the club, crushing it into splinters.
Oh, this fellow has only one eye. So it’s a cyclops.
[Humph!]
The cyclops also lost its balance when I forcefully crushed its club, so I closed in and grabbed one of its legs.
The music that usually play during wrestling TV program started to replay in my head.
[Hyaaaaaaahhaaaーーー!]
Lifting a giant whose size was several times larger than myself into the ground, I spun it around to clear out the gate area.
Then I threw the still spinning cyclops unto the incoming horde of monsters behind me. It landed in a dull thud following the screams of the monsters that happened to be under it. Just like that?
Occupying the area in front of the gate, I spread my arms to the left and right.
Magic Convergence, activate.
[At the very least, die painlessly. Rest – in – peace!]
Streams of magic power burst out from my hands, exterminating the monsters trying to climb up the wall.
With no allies around me, I could afford to go all out.
Now I need to clear out the sky. So I jumped to the top of the wall.
[Ha, aaahh!!? Eee!?]
[Calm down. I am the hero dispatched by the kingdom as reinforcement. I will now clear out the sky.]
Ignoring the perplexed soldiers guarding the ramparts, I drew out bonded sword once more, now aiming at the flying monsters circling in the sky.
[Fuuu…]
Storing the corpses of the monsters that interfered with the traffic into my inventory, I sighed.
We won this time. But the aerial attack really did a number to Glaudis’ defence force, severely damaging them.
The reinforcement, having to breakthrough the horde of monsters, also suffered considerable damage.
[Thank you for the hard work, Taichi-san.]
[Marl! I told you to rest, didn’t I?]
[I’m alright, it’s nothing but a scratch.]
Marl said as she showed me her left arm.
The left arm part of the armor dress she’s wearing were torn apart, revealing her bare skin.
In this battle, Marl seemed to be focusing on healing the wounded soldiers, but a giant mantis managed to break through the defense line, and this happened.
Although Marl managed to kill the giant mantis with the help of the surrounding soldiers, she’s injured.
Fortunately it was just a scratch like Marl said, I was upset when I heard that she’s injured in battle.
[If you want this to be repaired, you’ll have to return to the Capital.]
[Uu…that’s right.]
We can’t find any craftsman capable of repairing her armor dress in Berlion, so Marl didn’t refute me.
The reinforcement army will also have to return to the capital to reorganize. Marl would tag along with them later.
[It’s alright, you’ve seen how extraordinary I am, haven’t you?]
[Even so… I’m still worried.]
[The same also applies to me. I feel worried when Marl is not around me. But it’s the safest way. If we go together…]
I was reminded of something.
Now that I remember, isn’t there space magic?
Can’t we just teleport in and out using that?
[Wait a minute.]
My current level is 61, and the level up spree had slowed down now.
STR, VIT, AGI which directly correlate with physical ability are over 1500 each, DEX didn’t seem to increase much at 446, POW at 884, and MP is over 4000.
And since I haven’t used it at all recently, I had a total of 239 skill points.
Inspecting Space Magic to check what it gives if I raise it to the max, what got displayed were Treasure Box, Short-range Transfer, Spatial Barrier, Spatial Cut, Long-range Transfer, Spatial Vibration, Spatial Expansion, Transfer Gate.
There it is, there it is! It’s there after all. It must be either the Long-range Transfer or this Transfer Gate!
[Tadaaaー, Taichi-san will now show you his Space Magic!]
Saying that, I casted a short-range transfer to teleport behind Marl. This short-range transfer seemed to teleport us to any place within my line of sight.
[What are you talking… ehh?]
[Wa!]
[Kyaa?!]
I hugged Marl from behind.
She was surprised, but calmed down as soon as she recognized me.
[Geez! What did you do just now! It surprised me!]
[It’s too early to be surprised though~!
Now let’s try Long-range Transfer.
Apparently I can teleport to any place as long as I remember it clearly. So I tried teleporting to the capital Alfen castle wall.
[Hee? Is, isn’t this, the capital…?]
[Umu, the lookout post that was set in preparation of the great flooding.]
I pulled Marl’s hand and moved out of the post.
The sight of the capital spread before us once we’re outside.
I carved the crater I made outside of the capital into my brain.
[Great success.]
[E, eee? What is going on… is this some sort of an illusion?]
[It’s space magic. It allows you to move from one place to another instantly.]
I teleported both of us back to Glaudis right where we were earlier.
The short-range transfer costs around 20 MP, while the long-range costs 100 MP.
[You’re getting further away from being a human.]
[Come on now, I’m a hero after all.]
[Is that really the case?]
[But isn’t it convenient? Now we don’t have to torture our butt by having to sit on a horse saddle all the time.]
[That certainly true.]
As we talked, Marl and me went to see the light cavalry captain.
Of course, it’s to make use of the Transfer Gate to move the troop quickly. It’s a huge advantage to be able to mobilize a lot of people with such a minimal time required.
Especially in a situation like this.
[Transfer Gate, you say?]
[Yeah, it’s a space magic. With it we can transport large number of people and supplies to any place that I’ve visited before.]
[That’s too good to be true…]
The captain was still doubting me.
Well, the idea might be too crazy to believe.
[Then, let’s do it this way. Please gather up some people. I’ll demonstrate it.]
Since I’ve given my words that I’d like to demonstrate how the transfer gate works, a group of six infantry and a non-commissioned officer were appointed as the volunteers.
All of them, including the officer, seemed to doubt me as well.
[Alright, I will now open the gate. It will bring you very close to the capital, on the crater I made to other day to be exact.]
That said, I started casting the transfer gate. It costs 200 MP, lasts for 10 minutes, and can be undone anytime I want.
When I successfully casted the magic, about 3 by 3 meter wide black filmy membrane-like thin layer was formed before me. So this is the transfer gate.
[Let’s see here.]
I slowly approached the layer and stuck my hand right into it. My hand went through without any obstruction.
[Nothing stick out on the other side!]
Marl who was watching from the side raised her voice. Then I suppose it works, so I decided to go all the way in.
Seeing that I arrived at the crater as intended, I passed the gate once more to inform that it’s a success. Now it’s the experiment squad’s turn to go through the gate.
[This is… certainly the royal capital.]
[Amazing! With this we won’t have to haul heavy luggage for a long distance.]
[I’ll be damned… my leg muscles will become dull at this rate.]
The test soldiers immediately spread out to check the surroundings while chattering in amazement at the seemingly impossible feat.
It seemed that there is no problem.
[Shall we try going back at once?]
[Yessir! Returning!]
Everyone turned back to re-enter the gate, and instantly returned to where they came in before.
The problem with this magic is the duration for its MP cost. How long it will take to transfer an entire battalion?
My current Mp recovery rate is 600 per hour. Three times in an hour――no, taking into account mp cost reduction, I should be able to cast it 4 times, so MP shouldn’t be a problem here.
With the success of the experiment, the reinforcement commander decided to keep 700 uninjured soldiers here, and send 350 to Berlion in order to maintain defensive line.
On the other hand about 1800 persons, which included the wounded, will be directly sent back to the capital Alfen.
[Marl should also return to the capital.]
[What about Taichi-san?]
[I will go to Crossroad.]
Although the situation was under control, it’s not like we could let our guard down.
The sooner I can help, the better. I had a lot of acquaintances on Crossroad after all, so that’s pretty much the next place on my priority list.
I wish I could just go and fly over there. But apparently I had to postpone that for now.
[No, Hero-dono. Hero-dono should also return to Alfen at once.]
I frowned at the commander’s words. But it’s not the time and place to get emotional.
After shaking my head and taking a deep breath, I listened to what the commander had to say.
[It seems that the second wave of the rescue unit, which includes militia and adventurers, has been organized back at the capital. We are in the dire need to increase our forces immediately, so I want you to take them along with you.]
[Roger that, pardon me.]
Even I cannot wipe out all of the enemy forces by myself.
All I can do is to tear them up, whittle down their number.
It takes a lot of people to hunt down the remaining stragglers.
I shouldn’t be arrogant. I may have great power, but still can’t fight alone.
Soldiers disappeared one after another passing through the transfer gate.
The current group was mainly consisted of wounded soldiers and supply troops, also the cavalry. Infantry will remain to be the main defense force in Glaudis.
The remaining 350 resupplied and gained new horses obtained from Glaudis. They will be posted on Berlion next.
Citizens of Berlion are already allowed to go out, making the processing of the monsters’ corpses to go faster.
If the corpses were not dealt with, it may cause plague, or worse case scenario, they would turn into undead.
Well, at least, they wouldn’t be lacking any meat for a while on Berlion. Although the people might have to be more careful about food poisoning.
For now, I had nothing else to do but overseeing the soldiers moving through the transfer gate.
I had to recreate the gate every 10 minutes. If you were in the middle of crossing the gate when the duration runs out, I’m afraid the result will be horrible, so the remaining time needed to be watched carefully.
Since
So I decided to look around.
[It’s boring, isn’t it?]
[Well, I actually don’t have much to do here.]
Marl was in charge of handing magic recovery potions to me.
All I could say about the potion is, it’s bitter. And the bitterness is different from that of coffee, tea, or pepper. God forbid it’s just that bitter.
[Marl, is it possible to make the taste more delicious?]
[It’s a type of medicine, so it’s only natural.]
[But I think the taste is also one of the most important aspects.]
[Uーn, let me think about it.]
Marl began to frown as she gave the idea some thought. Her alchemy skill had somehow reached level 3 recently.
All I hope is that for her to not only focusing on performance, but also taste.
This is soo bitter, I felt like I’m going to cry.
=====
[It’s amazing no matter how I think about it.]
[Yeah, Hero-sama, right? It’s like he’s not a human anymore, but a monster.]
[Well, the same also applies to Princess Mariel though.]
[Ha? You mean Hero-sama’ attendant? How nice, right? For Hero-sama to flirt with such a cute princess everyday.]
[It’s almost like her growth improve explosively. I mean her swordsmanship. A giant mantis managed to slip in to the rear, but the princess nearly managed to kill it by herself.]
[Hee, here I thought she’s just a decoration?]
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