Chapter 26

A large sphere of flame formed on Byan's hand.

To put his authority simply, it could be seen as a grenade that deals damage with the pure power of the elements instead of shrapnel.

Byan threw the sphere with all his might, and it was sucked into the window of the building.

And a moment later.

The bursting flames swallowed the inside of the building like a greedy snake.

"Kuaaaah!"

A desperate scream was heard.

It was a hit.

Three soldiers engulfed in flames jumped out of the building.

Watching the White Hero soldiers desperately rolling on the ground to extinguish the fire, Lirisa's mouth was agape as if she was dumbfounded.

"My goodness.... Ryan. How did you know they were ambushing us?"

"It's obviously a good place to hide. That's not what's important right now.... First, finish those guys off."

I gave an order to the new recruits.

It was a simple task of just finishing off the soldiers who had already lost their will to fight.

It wouldn't matter if I, who was at the forefront, did it, but the three new recruits, whose only experience was hunting Labias Lizards, probably had never killed a person before.

I thought it would be better to let them experience it when we had the chance.

"Understood!"

Byan, who had been chided by me, was the first to swing his sword.

Byan's reaction after striking a soldier's neck was surprisingly calm.

In Latia's case, she charged in without a moment's hesitation, as if she had been waiting for this moment.

I honestly got goosebumps watching her grin as she looked at her trembling hands.

On the other hand, Sergel showed a textbook reaction, looking at his blood-stained hands and then being unable to bear it and squeezing his eyes shut.

He actually looked like he would be the most unfazed, but it was an unexpected twist.

Still, the fact that he didn't panic was something to be highly praised.

"If you're done, prepare for battle."

The number of enemies ambushing in the building was only three.

There were still 17 White Hero soldiers.

On the other hand, our number was five.

I immediately shifted my gaze to the rooftop of the building on the right.

As expected.

Three archers were aiming their bows at us.

"Hide!"

As soon as the order was given, Lirisa threw herself into a nearby building.

It seemed that trust had been built between us after having crossed the line between life and death a few times together.

On the contrary, the new recruits, with whom I had little interaction, did not react immediately.

At least Sergel managed to hide his body with some sense, but the other two did not.

In Latia's case, she couldn't even grasp the situation, and in Byan's case, his strong ego seemed to have delayed his actions as he tried to understand the meaning behind my order.

In the meantime, arrows flew.

I kicked Byan's butt, who was close by, and held up my shield in front of Latia.

Thwack! Thud!

A strong impact was transmitted to my arm twice.

The remaining arrow narrowly grazed past the head of the disgracefully fallen Byan and stuck in the ground.

"Damn it...!"

My arm was numb.

The impact was stronger than I expected.

This was proof that they were relatively well-trained compared to the enemies I had fought so far.

"...Hic!"

Latia, who had finally grasped the situation, covered her mouth and screamed.

Only after confirming that the two of them were scrambling to hide behind the building wall did I also hide myself.

The three archers on the rooftop were glaring fiercely, ready to shoot arrows at any moment.

The situation was not good.

It would be right to describe it as a dilemma.

If we continued along this path to our destination, we would be exposing our backs to the archers.

On the other hand, entering the building to catch the archers was not a very good choice either.

Inside that building, White Hero soldiers would be waiting for us in ambush.

It was no different from walking directly into the tiger's mouth.

My shoulders grew heavy because I was the field commander.

'If only I could get some artillery support...'

But the situation in the sky didn't seem very relaxed either.

Selina was fighting a life-or-death battle in her own way.

Four pairs of eyes were directed at me all at once.

If we stayed like this, the worst-case scenario of being surrounded by the enemy could happen. If there's no other way, we have to choose the lesser of two evils rather than the worst.

"...We're going in."

"......"

There was no answer.

But it wasn't that there was no reaction.

I could feel everyone steeling themselves in their own way with hardened faces.

"Byan. Use your authority on the rooftop of the building. The archers will probably hide to avoid the attack. We'll approach the building at that time. The entry order is me, Sergel, Latia. Check the front, left, and right in that order. Lirisa and Byan, check the rear. Any questions?"

"......"

"Good. Then Byan. Start."

"Understood."

With a firm nod, Byan immediately created a sphere of flame on his palm.

The sphere that left his hand drew a large parabola and narrowly fell onto the rooftop of the building.

The rooftop of the building became noisy.

The archers immediately scattered, and soon a storm of flames raged.

It would be convenient if all the archers died in this attack, but the probability of that was probably close to 0.

"Let's go."

We quickly ran towards the building.

A storm of flames was still raging on the rooftop of the building, and thanks to that, we succeeded in approaching the building without the interference of enemy

archers.

There were no major problems up to this point, but now is the real deal.

After catching my breath for a moment, I immediately kicked down the door and entered the building.

The front was empty.

"Uwaaaah!"

A shrill scream was heard from the right.

When I looked to the right, a White Hero soldier was dangling on the wall, impaled on Latia's sword.

Lirisa had discovered him trying to hide behind the door and launch a surprise attack, and had dealt with him immediately.

Latia, who had unconsciously taken her hand off her sword, was breathing heavily as she looked at the dying White Hero soldier.

"Latia."

"Ah, uh.... Yes? What is it?"

"Good job. But don't take your hand off your weapon. There's no guarantee that he's the last one."

"...Yes! Thank you for teaching me, senior!"

"...And keep your answers short."

"Yes!"

Latia's expression hardened.

We kept an eye on the stairs leading to the second floor while thoroughly searching the entire first floor.

It took some time, but it was a task that could not be neglected because we could die if we were caught from behind while heading straight to the second floor.

Once our safety was secured, we headed to the second floor.

"Attack!"

As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, attacks poured in from three directions at once.

I trusted my team members with the sides and focused only on the enemy in front.

I pushed forward with my shield, blocking the attack, and at the same time, plunged my sword into the enemy's abdomen.

"Keuuuk...!"

The White Hero soldier held onto my weapon with both hands even as he coughed up blood foam.

His crazed eyes were filled with a strong will to take me with him no matter what.

However, the White Hero soldier failed to achieve his goal.

Latia's sword and Sergel's spearhead blocked the attacks of the soldiers rushing from both sides.

I kicked the chest of the soldier who refused to let go of the sword.

I swung the sword, which came out dripping with blood, and cut off the necks of the enemies on both sides.

The White Hero soldier, who had suddenly been saddled with two comrades as traveling companions, died glaring at me with eyes full of resentment.

'...Is it over?'

The only sound to be heard was the repeated explosions from outside the window.

The only sound coming from inside the building was the rough breathing of the members of Unit 917.

"Lirisa and Byan, wait here. Keep an eye on the third floor and deal with any enemies coming up from the first floor."

"The first floor? Let's say the third floor is fine, but we came up after clearing the entire first floor. Is there really a need to check the first floor?"

Lirisa expressed her doubt.

It was a natural question.

It was no different from telling them to guard a place that had already been thoroughly checked, even by allocating the already scarce personnel.

However, with a little more experience, a day will come when not only Lirisa, but everyone here, will understand the meaning behind my words without any unnecessary additional explanation.

"A reasonably trained person can fall from the third floor and be fine. Besides, additional troops could rush in."

"......"

Lirisa, who had grasped the meaning behind my words, nodded with a slightly surprised expression.

It's a familiar reaction.

It felt like I was nurturing a new recruit I had just hired in D&K from scratch.

While Lirisa and Byan were guarding the stairs, I thoroughly checked the rooms on the second floor with the other two.

"Latia. Don't open the closet, just stab it with your sword."

"Yes!"

A scream was heard from inside the closet, and red blood flowed out from the gap.

"Sergel. The bed."

"Understood."

The moment Sergel, holding his spear in a reverse grip, jumped onto the bed and struck the middle hard, an armed White Hero soldier hurriedly rolled out from under the bed.

After striking his neck before he could get into a proper stance, I headed to the bathroom.

A large wooden bathtub with the curtain half-drawn.

It's a perfect place for someone to hide.

As expected.

Perhaps sensing the commotion outside, the opponent got up first before I could even approach the bathtub.

A shield in his left hand.

A sword in his right hand.

The same fighting style as me.

The man bared his teeth fiercely like a beast and glared at me.

"Damn it...! What the hell are you? To see through the commander's plan..."

"...Can you even call this a plan?"

It seemed like they had just picked up some strategy guide rolling around on some community site and were using it as it was.

It was so textbook that it was rather easy to read.

In fact, I was even grateful to the opposing player because I was able to easily reduce the number of enemies despite the 4-fold difference in troops.

I was just being honest.

But the opponent seemed to have judged that I was mocking his commander.

"I'll kill you...!"

The White Hero soldier, who had contorted his facial muscles ferociously like a demon, kicked off the bathtub and jumped up, then swung his sword with his full weight.

It's a typical fighting style that puts everything into a single blow.

Then I'll block and counter, the moment I made the judgment and held out my shield and took a step forward.

Crackle!

With a creepy sound, the dark room instantly brightened.

The sword the man was swinging.

A blue current was flowing through it.

And my shield is made of iron.

"...Damn it!"

I hurriedly rolled on the floor.

It's disgraceful, but survival comes before looking cool.

The man's sword hit the floor.

I could clearly see the blue current flowing along the floor.

The man's identity was a White Hero.

And a hero who uses the current-type authority, which is second to none in terms of being tricky in one-on-one combat.

The moment my sword or shield touches his sword, an electric current will flow in and paralyze my body.

The way to deal with it would be to use gloves made of an insulator, but unfortunately, the military uniform I was issued did not have such a function.

"......"

While the man was retrieving his sword and correcting his posture, I quickly assessed the situation.

The current location is the bathroom.

There is one window, but it's too small for a person to get in or out.

There is only one entrance, and my current position is closer to the entrance.

Judgment made.

I quickly fled out of the bathroom.

"...Huh?"

With the man's seemingly bewildered voice behind me, I roughly closed the bathroom door.