Chapter 60
“Careful! It went there!!”
Fleck, a great shield user, raised his voice. The monsters rushed through the gaps between the skilled soldiers. A Highserk soldier swung down a short sword according to the adventurer’s warning, but only managed to cut a few legs.
Without looking at the soldiers, the “Centipede”, with countless legs, broke through the walls. An orc, a lizardman, and a goblin were riding on the back of the centipede that rushed. It was as if they were a single monster.
“Three monsters are on top of it!!”
The insect about 6m in total length crossed the castle wall and headed for the corner where refugees had gathered. Troublesome things, monsters straddling the back were scattered in the castle.
Walm wanted to smash the Kobold in front of him and go to support his fellow comrades as soon as he could, but instead, the orc swung up the war hammer to prevent him from going.
After deflecting his upper body and avoiding a heavy blow, Walm thrust his halberd into the gap between the ribs and skewered the heart. He kicked the dead orc out of the ramparts.
It wasn’t just Walm who lost time, but neither the Highserk soldiers nor the adventurers who tried to stop the centipede were in time. Damage to refugees who didn’t have the ability to fight was about to spread.
The centipede that carried away the monsters, opened the jaw for predation while lifting the head, but a shadow that suddenly jumped out of the refugees literally shattered the head.
Along with the hard outer skin, sticky body fluids were sprinkled everywhere.
“Huh?”
No one blamed Walm for his dumb voice. Depending on the growth, the centipede could reach A class. Among the refugees, if there was a person who could kill a B class monster and crushed it with bare hands, anyone there would be shocked.
It was a strong elderly woman with a well-rounded body who did that.
“Hah, the Highserk soldiers who flattened the neighboring countries are actually pathetic!! The active adventurers too.”
Although it was a provocation, there was no anger in Walm.
A lizardman and a goblin tried to slash at a middle-aged woman from the back of the now died centipede, but the sword was flipped with her bare hands, and instead, a fist-shaped wind opened a hole in the chest of the lizardman.
The goblin had a chance and tried to cut her feet with a sword, but the sword was kicked with her knees, and the upper part of its body disappeared as it was.
A woman who came to the wall couldn’t be stopped by anyone, neither humans nor monsters. Then, she ran up to the ramparts with a light footstep, contrary to what she looked like, she was nimble.
A skeleton wearing armor greeted her, but her fist crushed the spine through the armor, and it was kicked high in the sky.
“Mama!?”
“Deborah… what are you trying to do?”
Two men in panic were trying to stop the woman, perhaps they were her family.
“I’ll kill all the annoying monsters!!”
She lifted the spare bar for the gate that was leaning against the wall and swung around to wipe out the monsters that tried to crawl up.
“It’s a good weapon. Not bad!!”
A Lizardman tried hard to stick to the ground and finally reach the woman. It tried to attack from the side, but its head was wiped off with a back fist. It could be seen that she had multiple “skills”, at the very least, she had a skill with physical strengthening effects and skill with physical hardening effects.
“Yogim, Moyes!! You guys are coming too! Don’t slack off!!”
Two men named by an old woman called “Deborah” reluctantly crawled up to the wall.
At first glance, the two looked like a pair of slender parent and child, but their movement was sophisticated from the eyes of Walm. The father, called “Yogim”, slammed a short sword into the throat of a werewolf and pulled it out, ignoring the crumbling scaffolding.
A “Hellbat” in the sky tried to drop from the blind spot, but was welcomed by a sword and crashed while spreading the viscera into the sky.
The son, called “Moyes”, swung up a longsword with 《Super Strength》. The power he displayed couldn’t be imagined came from the limbs that looked like dry wood. He cut off the poisonous tail of a scorpion, and while smashing its scissors-shaped pedipals, he also stabbed his sword into the cephalothorax.
“What’s with this parents and child combination…”
Al spoke for everyone’s feelings.
“You guys, are you okay with losing to a citizen of Myrad?―― Clench your teeth! Move your feet! Put strength in your belly! Fight! Show off your power! FIGHT!!”
Walm shouted to boost the troops declining morale. Sure, human physical strength might be finite. Still, it couldn’t be said the same with willpower to survive.
Walm knew well what would make a person grow. Only in the deadly land, people would show their true value.
“Hahaha, monsters, monsters, monsters!! Monsters everywhere! I’ve never seen this many monsters in the same area, even when I was an active adventurer!!”
Invited by Deborah, who sprinkled blood and flesh, the soldiers fall into madness in the crucible of war.
◆
The twin moons were hit by the bright sun, which was about to climb to the sky.
It was almost the sunrise.
A group of people, regardless of age, sex, race, or country, was equally engaged in the survival struggle.
It wasn’t the prayer for peace or the words of fraternity that united the hearts, but the wave of imminent danger. Really, what an irony.
In a half-destroyed building, Walm finished less than two hours of sleep on a “clean” floor with only dust and dirt.
The familiar battle sound meant that the battle with the monsters was still continuing.
Walm was grateful that the temporary walls hadn’t been breached even after a long day. Once again, he managed to survive another day.
Despite the protracted battle, breakfast was waiting for Walm, who had just finished excreting yellow liquid in a “time attack” manner without even another drip from the lower body.
There was no problem with food, since many refugees who couldn’t tolerate the battle were the ones in charge of cooking, and the good news was that there was a big pot of soup in front of Walm.
An old woman with a thin body, who looked indistinguishable from the undead, and a girl who might have just reached 10 years old, poured an overflowing soup into a bowl and gave it to Walm. The food situation must have been “improved” since the number of personnel was reduced day by day.
Walm sipped the soup, chewed and swallowed a lump of unknown meat, bit the black-colored bread with his back teeth and with the help of the soup, it went into his stomach.
Good sleep and high calories were required to recover the consumed mana. The cobblestone bed with gravel and rubble was as comfortable as a feather bed. It was as if climbing to the heavens. All that remains was food.
Sticky blood and body odor were mixed, and the smell of viscera was drifting in the air. The mealtime was colored in red. In addition, a choir of screaming and swearing welcomed Walm. It was a “good place” to have a nice morning.
When he opened the folded poor cloth, he could see the hard-baked biscuits, which were preserved foods. Walm’s teeth beat the biscuits, albeit with water. When eating when there was no water, he substituted it by deploying the magic barrier to strengthen himself. It was an ironic scene. After all, he didn’t want to lose his teeth from eating rather than from a fight.
“I really need water”
Walm laughed a little when the figure of a former superior who was chewing on such a “weapon” came to mind.
Chewed the biscuits with a rattling noise and swallowed them with water. After repeating such actions several times, Walm’s breakfast was over.
He then ignited a cigarette, inhaled it as much as he could, and exhaled purple smoke into the air. He didn’t even have time to finish smoking.
Called on the soldier who was also sitting and eating nearby.
“Do you smoke? You can smoke the rest.”
“Thank you. As expected, Knight-dono is the same as us.”
It was unclear if the soldier hated the biscuit, but he gladly put them into his mouth with no front teeth. As he inhaled the cigarette given by Walm into his lungs, he spat words in a sloppy manner.
“May the fortune be with you. Good luck.”
Shaking the now small cigarette, the soldier saw off Walm.
After returning to the ramparts, Walm came to the side of Deborah, who now had a dead smell around her, and asked.
“How is the situation?”
Adventurers were sleeping. The four Platoon Commanders, Napolk, Wake, Friug, and Jol, who was entrusted to help Walm by the Wartime Brigade Commander Justus, were busy leading the troops. The only one who looked has free hands was Deborah and her family, who remained on the walls. That was why Walm asked her opinions without hesitation.
“Listen, I don’t remember becoming a soldier.”
Deborah, who crushed the goblin’s head in order as if she was playing Whac-A-Mole, changed the tone of her voice as she continued to speak.
“The pressure has weakened. It may have been caused by the fact that more than half of the monsters are following the Flame Emperor Dragon. Still, there must be other leaders.”
“It hasn’t been confirmed yet”
The living natural disaster “Flame Emperor Dragon” was classified as SS-class species. The lords of the great outbreak that were behind a flock of over 10,000 monsters couldn’t be just about A class.
“There must be other leaders and their followers. I wish they stay still.”
“Strangely detailed”
“Yogim and I, we’re retired adventurers… there was an outbreak, albeit smaller than this time, in the Republic of Falmunch when I was an adventurer. There were multiple Leaders at that time, but the one I fought together with the army was classified as “Lord” species.”
Walm explored his memory.
The Republic of Falmunch was a country that was destroyed by an outbreak more than 20 years ago, and the final remaining territory was annexed to the Highserk Empire.
“Soldiers and adventurers are all dying. Haha, maybe I should pray to God?”
Yogim who always had good luck, couldn’t help but have a forced smile on his face.
Walm didn’t believe in fate, and he knew that God must be a fucking bastard, if any.
The only hope for me to stay alive is…
“Don’t pray to me!!”
If Deborah was to leave the battlefield now, Walm would pray to God from the bottom of his heart, if that was the only way to stop her.