A troop of monsters was coming this way, and the whole school was in an uproar.
Most of the students had gathered in the auditorium.
Compared to the underclassmen, the upperclassmen were much calmer.
It was probably because, as the instructor said, they had to be mobilized in the vent of an emergency, and even the underclassmen whose families made a living out of fighting were unfazed.
Being accustomed to actual battles was exceptional.
Those who were absent were the elite upperclassmen and Epona.
Once you became an upperclassman, you would frequently join a team of five people and be dispatched, so you could immediately go into action even during such a state of emergency.
The most outstanding team even among our seniors was already off to intercept the monsters.
The instructor went on stage and started speaking.
[Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one reason why we have gathered you all here. Our academy is being targeted by a swarm of monsters. Hundreds of them are closing in from all sides, and their number keeps growing as we speak. Their troops are a mix of orcs and goblins. Even now, their number keeps multiplying. …And we are almost certain that there are demons among them.] (Instructor)
I figured.
Monsters were incapable of teleporting themselves.
It was possible that they had just spawned naturally, but it rarely happened, plus it was normally impossible for such a large pack of specific monsters to spawn en masse, or even march in groups like that.
This could only mean one thing.
There was a demon at work.
If there was a demon who could create and control monsters, this would easily explain the sudden appearance of the monsters, and if he could produce this many, then he had to be a fairly high-ranking one.
Those kinds of demons were most dreadful.
At any rate, if he managed to get over the outer wall by himself and summon large numbers of monsters once he was on the inner part of the campus, then most of the defensive fortifications wouldn’t change a thing anymore.
[I sent a request for knights to be dispatched here, but it will take them half a day to arrive at the earliest. And the enemy is at our doorstep. In other words, we teachers and you students will have to do something about them.] (Instructor)
That statement about knights arriving in half a day was no more than wishful thinking of the highest degree.
In reality, we wouldn’t see them before a whole- no, two whole days.
[Everyone, prepare yourselves. We have nowhere to run, so make every effort possible, for this is an all-out war! Those who don’t have any power, fight without it! We’ll never win if nobody here shows off their strength!] (Instructor)
The place turned silent.
Some of the freshmen were trembling.
They couldn’t help it since they were about to be forced into a scene of carnage without warning.
The instructor proceeded with his explanation.
Apparently, we would act in groups of one senior and five to ten juniors.
We would fight in accordance to his instructions.
And if we ever spotted a demon, we had to contact him immediately. Engaging the demon ourselves was forbidden.
…Because the demon lord and his men could only be killed by the hero.
Not because they were unbelievably strong, but because it was part of their natural disposition.
Hence the fact that the goddess forbade me from killing the hero until she had killed the demon lord.
Each freshman scattered and met up with an upperclassman.
But among them, one group was an exception.
[Well, who would’ve thought that we would be the only ones without a senior to protect us?] (Lugh)
I laughed lightly.
That’s right, among all the groups composed of one senior plus several juniors, only ours consisted of the usual members.
Or rather, it was the usual members minus Epona.
I thought our notoriety had dropped following our last battle, but perhaps it hadn’t after all.
[I don’t mind it. I’m guessing they couldn’t find any other capable fellow for us, so putting us in our usual group was the easier choice.] (Neusch)
Part of Neusch’s statement was just bravado.
The other part of it stemmed from his self-confidence, but even so, it didn’t hide his anguish.
Neusch lost confidence in himself after the battle from the other day, and this had been dragging on ever since.
The upperclassmen left the auditorium with the underclassmen.
They instantly gave their instructions, and the underclassmen listened and obeyed.
Only we were left behind in the vast auditorium.
However, we didn’t receive any instruction.
[Does this mean we have freedom of action?] (Dia)
[I don’t think that’s the case.] (Talt)
As if to match Talt’s statement, the instructor came to us.
[I want to give you four a special mission. I could say it in front of the regular students, but if this turns into a war of attrition, then we’ll undoubtedly lose. Because our last ray of hope is the hero, and there is only one of him.] (Instructor)
Although we had the perpetual killing machine known as Epona with us, there was only one of it.
Therefore, she could only defend in one direction.
And yet, the enemy was coming at us from multiple directions.
We couldn’t see the end of their reinforcements either.
Aside from Epona, everything and everyone would fall in a few hours, and the collapse of the places where Epona wasn’t would be clear as day.
None of this was a coincidence. The demons put together a strategy so it would play out that way.
In that case, we might as well turn the school grounds into a battlefield.
We could open the gates and draw the enemy in.
If enemies from all directions were gathered in a single place, we could leave it all to Epona afterwards.
…If we did that, most of the students would die, either from being overrun by monsters or in the aftermath of Epona’s attacks, but this was the most pragmatic method.
Although, Epona might hesitate once again for fear of getting her allies caught up in her rampage and become useless as a result.
Since there was that to consider as well, the instructors would probably not resort to that method.
[Lugh Tuatha Dé. There is only one condition for victory. Before we’re exhausted and invaded from somewhere, we search for the demon, then we have the hero defeat him. The four of you have one mission, to find the demon.] (Instructor)
This was our only option.
As long as the demon was defeated, the number of monsters would cease to increase, and they would be left with no leader.
If that happened, then the odds would finally be in our favor.
I exchanged glances with everyone here and nodded.
[Understood. Instructor, we shall prioritize the identification of the demon while defending the facilities.] (Lugh)
[And I shall keep hope.] (Instructor)
I think the teams made only of seniors were probably given the same order.
Simply put, all the people who had the spare energy to do something else while fighting at the same time were given this order.
_______________________________________
The war had begun.
We were in the east. Epona was defending the north, where there was the largest number of enemies, while on the three remaining sides, the enemy’s military forces were evenly split.
There were two lines of defense in the east.
The first line of defense was quite far ahead, with a team comprised only of upperclassmen putting up a fierce fight.
Their moves were highly advanced and coordinated, it was at a level where they could immediately make a difference even if they belonged to the chivalric order.
They paid no mind to the monsters they omitted, and kept their own physical and mental strength in check so as not to overwork themselves.
And as for the monsters they omitted, the second line took care of them.
That line was protected by teams of underclassmen led by their seniors.
The second line was divided into a vanguard and a rearguard, the vanguard was fighting so as to defend the second line of defense, while those in the rearguard were each casting their best magic spells from behind.
This was working well.
The upperclassmen were making good use of their inexperienced underclassmen.
Clearly defining what to do and letting them do only what they could do was a good initiative.
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