Chapter 194. Decoy (4)

In the darkness of the forest, where moonlight shone through the trees.

With a vibration that shook the earth’s axis, the magical beasts fled in disarray, scattered in all directions.

Just as the horde of magical beasts, their iron-like black carapaces dripping with green light, crossed the forest’s boundary.

-Kiriririririk!!

It was then that the head of the magical beast at the very front crashed into the ground with a roar, shattering it.

Kuuuuuuuung!!

“Hmph~.”

The moment the magical beast, its head buried in the ground, tried to lift its head using its arms, a bare white foot gently stepped on its head.

“So weak~. Where do you think you’re lifting your head to?”

Sirocco, her ruby-like eyes shining demurely, lifted her smooth, bare leg and brought it down on the ground.

Instantly enveloped in the black ash that scattered to the sky, Sirocco glanced over her shoulder.

Then, placing a hand on her slender waist, she wagged her tail and quietly muttered.

“…Hmm, this is strange. It's really just like he said, isn’t it?”

The tide of battle had once again turned, and things were certainly flowing just as Enoch had predicted.

The battle on the plains beyond, where the freelancers were fighting the enemy, was already reaching its climax.

One of them, running at the forefront across the plains, gathered his mana and raised a mechanically designed staff high into the sky, shouting.

“Now, kill them all!!”

In an instant, a magic circle formed of translucent light in the air several meters above began to rotate and construct, and a rain of scorching fire poured down from the sky.

Hwaaaaaaaaak!!

Dozens of fiery bombardments rained down vertically in the darkness, piercing the enemies along with the ground.

The moment the scattered and disorganized magical beast hordes faltered, the other freelancers who had been waiting also charged from the darkness, aiming their respective magic gear.

Breaking through the flames raining down on the battlefield, they rushed towards the enemies in unison, deploying rotating magic circles at the tips of their tactical staffs and wands.

“Hmph, as I thought. He even knew about things like this….”

Just as Sirocco, who had been watching this intently, twitched her wolf ears and thought of the black-haired boy who had planned all of this.

Feeling a familiar presence right behind her, she wagged her tail happily and turned her head.

“Ah! You!”

“It seems to be going well.”

From the forest behind Sirocco, Enoch was slowly walking out of the darkness.

“Thanks to you, the plan succeeded, Sirocco. Thank you.”

“What’s this, you know me well. Hurry up and praise me.”

Sirocco walked confidently in front of Enoch, slightly folded her ears, and offered her head.

But even after seeing the bushy, lustrous tail wagging triumphantly behind her, Enoch nonchalantly shook his head.

“That’s for later. It’s not over yet.”

Just then, the other squad members who had been following behind Enoch walked out.

All of them, especially Alicia, seemed to have taken care of several fleeing magical beasts, as black ash was rising from the tip of her lance.

“…Hmph. Again.”

Sirocco, who had been staring at the girls who had followed him, for some reason, suddenly turned her head away.

At Sirocco’s unusually strange reaction, Enoch tilted his head slightly and asked.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

Sirocco quickly returned to her usual demure expression and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Hey, let’s get straight to the point. I’ve become certain of something while catching all these magical beasts.”

Then, the beast-kin girl glanced at Enoch and added.

“Before the leader regains control of these magical beasts, it would be better to hunt the leader first while they’re scattered.”

“Yes, definitely.”

Sirocco’s judgment was certainly correct. At a moment like this, when they were showing an opening, it would be a wise choice to strike the magical beasts’ leader when it was most powerless.

Therefore, there was no reason not to aim for the one that had revealed itself most defenselessly at this moment.

Just then, a quiet presence like a shadow approached from the side. When I turned my head, the hem of a black and white maid uniform skirt fluttered in the darkness.

Lien, who had been silently guarding Enoch's side as usual, was standing there.

“Lien.”

“There are many scattered magical beasts around.”

Lien, who had approached, calmly looked around and added in a low voice.

“I’ll eliminate them.”

Indeed, around me, the senses of mana revealed a chaotic mess of enemy presences.

I glanced at her and nodded.

“Right. In any case, in a complex forest like this, there’s no one else among us besides you who can eliminate the ambushing magical beasts one by one.”

“For the sake of the Young Master’s body, it’s best to eliminate variables like ambushes beforehand.”

With a slight nod, Lien spun around once in the darkness and disappeared.

I stared at her long, silver hair swaying from side to side as she moved away.

Having done several missions with her, I was well aware of her terrifying combat abilities.

Since I couldn’t know when and at what moment an ambush might create a variable, it had to be eliminated for certain.

And of course, Lien would be able to block it for sure.

First, I turned to Sirocco and Nano and added calmly.

“Sirocco, you and Nano join the freelancers here and drive back the enemy.”

“Alright, I get it.”

“Yep! Got it-ssumda!”

Sirocco spun around once, and Nano also lowered her visor and followed behind her, deploying her drone as she walked away.

And beyond the darkness of the plains where they disappeared, my gaze was suddenly stolen by a low roar.

It was hundreds of meters away from here, but I could see it more clearly than anything else.

The leader of the magical beasts, reigning over the land on all fours.

An experimental magical beast with a bizarre appearance, its back bent due to its heavy carapace, crawling on all fours.

The massive silhouette, like a small mountain moving, was truly a marvel.

Just then, from behind a tree a little way off, I heard a freelancer, who had forgotten to take cover and was staring up at the out-of-spec magical beast, mutter blankly.

“A M-Monarch-class magical beast, what in the world is that…….”

Frowning at the freelancer’s clearly strange expression, I asked.

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head blankly.

“Direct Lineage Member. I was fighting those leader magical beasts until just now. Did you perhaps not see what it used?”

“Used? What are you talking about?”

“If it has that, we’re all finished. From the beginning, there was no hope for us in this battle.”

Just then, in the distance, the leader magical beast, while still on all fours, slowly raised one of its huge arms forward.

And the next moment.

I, too, could immediately see the reason for his terror.

Jiiiiiiiing!!

The hand of the massive magical beast leader, wrapped in carapace and extended forward, slowly opened.

In front of the arm covered in thick carapace, crimson mana gathered and condensed like mad, and multi-layered circular magic circles rotated and deployed one after another on its arm.

-Kiiiiiiiiiing!!

The moment the mana at the end of the arm, extended like the main cannon of a giant tank, scattered a dazzling flash.

A massive pillar of light with a diameter of several meters swept horizontally, cutting through the freelancers’ ranks.

Chuuuuuuuuung!!

For a moment, it seemed as if a light flashed in the distance, and a single beam of light swept horizontally, grazing past my side at super-high speed.

The next moment, the objects on the line where the crimson trajectory had passed were torn apart, and the freelancers were split in two with a bizarre sound, scattering into the air.

“H-hey. Hey, why is only your arm….”

Beside me, a freelancer who had been evacuating an injured comrade with his arm around his shoulder until just now, stared blankly at his companion who had disappeared, leaving only a wrist.

When I reflexively looked behind me, I saw the entire battlefield torn apart by the crimson trajectory, turned into a crucible of frenzied screams.

Immediately, the terrified screams of the freelancers, shouting as if they didn't know what was happening, rang out from behind.

“What the hell!! We just got here as support, what is this!”

“Even if it's a leader-class, a magical beast using magic─!!”

Right beside me, one of the freelancers who had been supporting the team from a distance collapsed as if his legs had given out after seeing the sight.

He, who had fallen backward, muttered as if horrified, facing the hellscape spread out before his eyes.

“C-crazy……. At this level, it’s at least a 12th-rank magic……!!”

Just then, Alicia, who was closest to the dumbfounded freelancer, shouted at him.

“Get out of there, quick! The next attack is coming!”

But before she could finish her words, a second beam of light was fired, cutting through the night air and swinging towards the despairing freelancer.

Without another word, Alicia quickly ran to the side and pushed him away, narrowly saving him from the beam’s trajectory.

Hwiiiiiik!!

It was then that a rock the size of a house, its cross-section dyed crimson from being cut by the high heat, flew towards Alicia, who was too late to dodge.

Her clear blue eyes widened. I’m going to die.

“Aaaah!”

Just then, her long hair fluttered and a strong force pressed Alicia down.

The moment the Dragoon girl, realizing that the black-haired boy had snatched her and pressed her head down, opened her mouth and shouted.

“D-Direct Lineage Member!”

I, who had launched myself to snatch Alicia, wrapped my arms around her head and rolled on the ground once, gritting my teeth against a sudden surge of intense pain.

The moment a spray of blood hit my mouth and eyes, I let go of Alicia in my arms and staggered.

“Kuh.”

Blood splattered onto the ground as I knelt on one knee.

My brows furrowed on their own as I checked the state of my body.

It happened because I had moved instinctively without time to draw my sword or even get into a proper stance.

There was surprisingly quite a bit of bleeding. A fragment had grazed my thigh, so my movements would be restricted.

“Direct Lineage Member!!”

Just then, Alicia approached from the side, knelt down on both knees, and grabbed my arm with both hands.

Perhaps because she was very flustered, she was unusually disheveled and shouted, her dialect slipping out.

“Ah! D-Direct Lineage Member! Are you alright? It’s because of me…!”

Perhaps due to the guilt of me being injured because of her, tears welled up in Alicia’s eyes.

“The wound looks mighty serious! First, let’s retreat……!”

However, I shook my head, my head still lowered.

“No. The squad’s overall combat strength hasn't been lost.”

Ignoring the pain that assaulted my mind, I slowly stood up and raised my head.

Then, staring at the leader with cold eyes, I twisted my blood-stained lips into a chilly smile.

“The task hasn't changed. We will make the enemy retreat.”

“B-but!”

Glancing at the worried Alicia beside me, I added with my deep blue eyes.

“That's an order. Alicia.”

“…Ugh!”

The moment she met my deeply sunken gaze head-on, Alicia unconsciously flinched and sucked in her breath.

Needless to say, considering the goal I had set from the beginning, this was a sound judgment.

No matter how powerful the magical beasts' leader was, it had a separate escort unit around it.

Naturally, that was also proof that it wasn't invincible, and it also meant that it couldn't turn the tide of this vast battlefield on its own.

If so, then the current offensive needed to be maintained to make the enemy retreat once.

Finally, Alicia bit her lip once and, as if she had made up her mind, nodded with a resolute look in her eyes.

“I understand! I will make sure your sacrifice is not in vain!”

I almost let out a bitter laugh because of how seriously Alicia spoke, gripping my arm tightly.

……She's really laying it on thick.

Of course, regardless of Alicia’s intentions, she too would eventually know.

If she was a member of the Dragoon Corps, a famous elite unit in Victoria, her presence on the battlefield would surely raise the morale of the surrounding freelancers.

I spoke to Alicia, who was still glancing this way as if she had lingering attachments, in a reassuring tone.

“And you don’t need to worry, I’m fine.”

“Huh?”

“Thanks to having a good follower family, fortunately.”

I said, glancing to the side.

“…I have medical support from the Holy Séjour.”

As soon as the words were finished, Lily was already running towards me from the distance, holding her staff with both hands.

The last card I had prepared among the mages of this squad, although temporary, was absolutely necessary.

Lily, her neat nun’s habit sleeves fluttering in the wind, ran right up beside me and gathered her mana.

“D-Direct Lineage Member! I will begin treatment now! First, we need to stop the bleeding, so please sit down!”

Led by Lily’s hand, I sat down on a large nearby rock, and the young nun knelt down and hurriedly brought her wand to the wound with trembling hands.

The light of mana formed translucently around her body as she clasped her hands in prayer and gathered it.

For a moment, the pain of the wound seemed to lessen slightly, and I could feel the bleeding roughly stopping.

Perhaps because she was in a hurry, Lily, who was concentrating on her healing magic while sweating profusely, moved her lips.

“Ugh, I need to heal it faster…!”

I stared at Lily intently.

Come to think of it, the wounds I had always sustained in my inner world were much more severe than this.

Therefore, I didn't have any particular feelings about this kind of real-world injury now, but perhaps those around me reacted this way.

Just then, a huge roar echoed from near the magical beast leader.

Right after the massive, mountain-like body emitting a green light in the darkness let out a scream of pain.

For a moment, all noise on the battlefield disappeared.

Thud, and all the magical beasts stopped moving in unison and turned their heads in the direction of the roar.

The next moment, the surviving magical beasts on the battlefield began to move in an orderly fashion towards the leader.

They began to retreat, using their own bodies as shields against the attacks that the surviving freelancers were directing at the leader-class beast.

Finally, all the magical beasts disappeared from the battlefield, and only the living and the dead remained.

“Did I… survive……?”

The words muttered by a female freelancer next to me echoed as a hollow sound across the battlefield where a strong wind was blowing.

The next moment.

A drop of water fell on the smoke-filled ground.

From the sky, as if to announce the end of the fierce and brutal battle, cold raindrops began to fall one by one.