123 – 123. Winds of Plague (5)
“Are you done?”
─Yes!
It was helpful not to let down your guard as instructed, and dealing with the rats that came out of the ground is not a big problem for the main unit.
The problem is the academy students who may not have noticed the wonder of this earthquake.
I immediately turned around and tried to support the students, but…
“It’s a bunch! Not only did the earth collapse, the bedrock that supported the entire cave collapsed and completely blocked the way!”
“Damn it… Completely split.”
The subjugation party, which takes those who fall behind one by one, becomes an outbreak of the Remteert Plague.
With that in mind, we tried to create a path forward with the widest arrangement possible, but the obstacle was that these predators were rats that live in burrows.
“What about the isolated numbers away from the main unit?”
“Even as a rule of thumb… Most of the students were in the rear at that time. Judging from the fact that a small number of team members split up, it is certain that there are more than then…”
“It’s impossible to break through on your own. Is that what you mean?”
“…Yes.”
Retreating here is time-consuming, but they don’t have much time either. Both were running out of time.
Once again, the moment of choice has arrived.
Rescue the academy student corps, which will not be able to break through on their own, or prioritize the main corps out of fear of increasing damage from the Lemtert Plague.
Originally, it is a scale that is difficult to tip to one side. Still, his choice weighs on one side of the scale.
“Run as fast as possible to Shetju, after maintenance, go rescue them by another route!”
Once again, at the same time as putting expectations on one person.
***
This is behind the mountain.
The battle is going on with a small number of soldiers from the main unit and most of the academy students who were in charge of the rear.
The battle started suddenly, but the confusion did not last long.
Unlike those restlessly and awkwardly holding weapons, it was because of one person who was the first to deal with the Witchbeast.
Now that he set an example by breaking the starting point, the future is obvious.
Everyone puts their best effort in dealing with the monsters with posture and display.
‘Is this possible only with the power of a leader…?’
Still, what is surprising is that most of them are academy students. If the people of the main unit see this situation, they will say this in unison.
How this arrangement was completed without even displaying or matching a word.
How is it that he is able to calmly deal with the academy students who must have had only one experience?
Even though they were an isolated group, they were showing very different powers than expected.
“Isn’t it amazing? The fact that the battle proceeds like this even though there is absolutely no agreement in advance.”
Senia, who took turns taking her breath at this time, answered Cain right next to her.
“It seemed like everyone was going ahead with their bodies first, with no questions asked, no requests, no actions, no words exchanged. Right?”
“…That’s right. At first, it seemed that way to me, so I tried to step in. Until senior stopped me.”
But even without Cain stepping out, the formations began to form little by little, as if scattered puzzles were finding themselves.
To the point where I think that if I had intervened, it might have been a hindrance.
“That’s someone’s specialty here. It seems to start with action, but strangely, he intervenes and coordinates things like combat breathing and deployment.”
“Without any prior arrangement…? Is that possible?”
“Yeah. Can’t believe it? I didn’t know until I looked closely.”
As Senia said, it was an unbelievable story. Is it possible to proceed without a word in the yard where problems often arise even if the tactical strategy is notified from force control?
And someone who can do that is here?
The moment this question arises, Cain’s gaze turns to one person.
─Wait a minute, do you want me to fall for you? Why?
“It’s because of the scar on your left arm.”
─Why is the left arm… Huh? When the blood…
“I don’t know if you remember getting rubbed on the tree earlier. Anyway, because of that blood, the demon keeps focusing on you. Just wait for a few minutes while you recover from the back until it hardens.”
—If I hadn’t told you, I would have been seriously hurt. Thank you, Junon.
Fantastic for blood, pull one person out to the rear to straighten out the formation.
It wasn’t long before the situation of imbalance was reduced and the situation of aiming for one target stopped.
It was a perfect response, starting for a trivial reason and correcting the formation that might have collapsed.
As Cain blankly watched Junon with her mouth wide open, Senia added another word.
“And remember how I said that the combat style against the Scourge should be mainly physical attacks, with exceptions like Michelle and Erica?”
That’s it, there was no way that Cain, who was delivered to Senia on the spot, wouldn’t know.
By the way, the fighting style of those in front of me was only now in my eyes. It was so natural that I didn’t even notice it.
No way.
Could it be that far?
This type of attack is being induced to block the infection path of the Lemtert Plague caused by the Scourge’s self-destruct attack that scatters bodily fluids?
“You know why I’ve been keeping my mouth shut all this time? If I just follow him, I’m sure everyone here will survive.”
Gulp.
This wasn’t just a joke.
Cain’s neck moved greatly up and down her to calm the goosebumps that had risen all over her body.
“Now is the time for us to join forces. Let’s go, Cain.”
“…Yes.”
***
Students who were flustered by the raid got the right arrangement and followed the lead runner’s posture and repeat the way they had prepared.
Thanks to that, there were no rats causing explosions. It’s risky, but because the power control is also actively adjusted to maintain the front line, it doesn’t happen that the power is lost before the beast.
That’s how much the magic beasts’ offensive was weakening. Very minutely.
However, not many people can notice this subtle change.
─Can we hold on like this? Because support will come…?
─Don’t take it for granted! The main unit will surely come to rescue us!
Those who had been concentrating on the battle until a while ago, not uttering a single pointless word, such as conveying the situation or mentioning the shift, begin to murmur.
Anxiety came to those who were ragtag.
An isolated place, a sudden encounter with a demon, a non-existent command center, delayed support.
Fear is, of course, contagious.
“Ac, what are you going to do with me like this! Get out of the way!”
“Hey! Why are you pushing!!”
At the same time, her man pushed a man who blocked my way.
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And at that moment, the close-knit camp on the human side is shaken. It was ready to fire a blazing fireball into an open space on one side.
“It should be dealt with in one shot, no need to drag while holding a weapon!”
Of course, he was not an academy student, but a person who easily solved the battle on the main unit side.
He began to gather his mana while talking about why he had not used magic and had been wearing a bag with his body.
“That idiot…!”
“Stop it right now! If you use magic now…!”
Senia and Cain turned around and tried to stop them, but the magic had already been released. The rats liked it and jumped into the fire like moths and attempted to self-destruct.
But the fireball disappears before it even reaches the rats.
“What, what! Who is my magic…!”
There are only a few cases where the ejected magic disappears.
Using reverse calculation, you can touch the place where magic flows, such as Jin or the magic field,
“What kind of bastard! Who tampered with my magic and got rid of it!!”
Something got in the way.
Currently, the direction of the fireball soaring into the sky or collapsing to the ground was not distorted, but more like an offset.
In other words, it should be regarded as blocked, not reversed.
‘A person with this kind of power…’
Junon. There is no other that has a unique magic called a magic shield.
First of all, this is not important.
Of course, the worst was averted due to Junon, but the monsters were already mad and caused a sudden change, and the human side suffered from the collapse of the formation due to the insider.
Senia struck her man in the stomach with her scabbard and grabbed her by the hair.
“Ouch…!”
“Look with your own two eyes. What just happened.”
—Hey, here it is! Help me!
─We can’t help either… Any recovered ones?
─It’s hard… Just one more person…
─No! It’s pierced here too!
“This, this…”
“Because you rushed to use magic, Jin, who was barely holding on until now, collapsed. Now that stupid head is back?!”
It was like trying to block my life with my own hands in a situation where I could see hope.
“Before you gossip about it as a parachute to the other guys, find out straight away whether you’ve lived comfortably since you started. You idiot.”
When she threw off the end of her head, her man’s face was distorted, as if she knew exactly what wrong she had done.
Junon, who used a lot of strength, is forcibly defending the camp that is on the brink of collapse by fully helping one side.
This unit was like a rubber band reaching its limit, ready to break.
Junon must have known that.
How will we move next? What to do now His next word alone will make the difference between life and death for this group.
So, Senia pushes her magic beast away and waits. Until life came out of Junon’s mouth.
However, it was not a commanding voice that was spoken first.
—By the way, don’t you think there are other people around here besides us?
—Uh, that’s right. It wasn’t my fault! Sounds like rats aren’t the only thing I hear here!
Junon listened closely to those words, and was able to grasp the fact that the rats’ voices were overlapping from a really far distance.
If you’re in combat, those who deal with the rats are more likely to be humans than demon beasts.
─Perhaps… Isn’t it the main unit? Maybe he’s here to save us!
If that’s true, that’s the best case scenario for now. There is no such scenario if an isolated group can bypass the rats with the support of the main unit.
“Then let’s go. If we divide it in half and buy time, we can get there.”
I made a decision to meet Junon, whom the academy students believe in and follow, and I gained strength by heading there.
However, only one person is uneasy.
“Senia senior? Aren’t you going?”
“Uh… That, yes.”
Senia was obsessed with the lake nearby.
No way.
No.
Meeting sirens here is not the best, but the worst.
***
There is no exception for sirens.
The ones that appeared with the ground shaking were devourers who dug burrows and called numbers from the ground.
But it’s obviously dealing with something different from humans.
It was because there was a guy who could be considered a rocky mountain just because of his size, and who could be called the mother of the Devourers.
‘How long can I last…’
Everyone here knows that retreat beyond this is impossible.
The moment the lake goes further south, it enters human territory. Being discovered by humans is tantamount to an imminent execution.
It wasn’t that there were no countermeasures against the Devourers.
If you grow Hyplicia and maintain a barrier, Devourers cannot easily approach it due to the nature of this plant.
However, this was also beyond their strength, and the future of the Sirens was bleak due to Shanberesh, who shook the ground where Hyplicia pinned by shaking the ground and collapsing burrows with his gigantic body.
It was in the middle of that.
“Come on, Elder! You must come quickly!”
“What’s going on? Is Shanberesh also advancing again?”
“No. It’s not Shanberesh, it’s…”
Seeing the man so flustered, I couldn’t help but question him.
Wanting to find out what happened, the elder heads to the west of the lake.
And then, the elder also stopped his steps in bewilderment.
“What the hell is this…!”
─What are those…? Not a demon, not a human…
—Sirens… What do you mean?
—Now, don’t play around. It’s a siren…
I see hateful people right in front of me. It also looks like it was chased by the Devourers.