“Very well. Then let us go.”
Pressed by that silent insistence, the dragon issued the order. The monsters nearly burst into triumphant roars, but restrained themselves and began to move. Or rather, movement came from one particular kind among them.
“Now, use your Arts! Work together and camouflage us!”
This cry came from a monster resembling a bipedal cat. If it had merely been an ordinary cat walking on two legs, it might have been cute, but its upright height was comparable to that of a small human. Combined with the simple weapon it held and the expression on its face, it gave the impression of a lightweight beast-warrior.
The cat used its Art, and the rest of its kind followed suit—not just one or two of them, but all one hundred cats present in the army. The Art they employed created illusions. The mixed army of monsters, along with the regular troops they had brought from Oseo—around two thousand in total—was completely enveloped and concealed.
From the outside, it looked as though the trees themselves were swelling unnaturally; from the inside, it felt as if they were wrapped in a dense mist.
“So this is...the kind of Art monsters can wield?”
One of the accompanying Oseo soldiers murmured this. In response, the dragon began to explain as if it were nothing special.
“I see. It seems that knowledge has not been passed down. Then I will explain briefly. Among all intelligent beings, humans included, each race has Arts it excels at.”
He began to recount knowledge that had been lost over ten thousand years.
“Bipedal cats, as the humans call them, specialize in what is known as Illusion Arts: the art of creating phantasms. These illusions have the power to deceive the five senses. They do not merely ‘look’ real. If you try to touch them, it will feel as though you did.”
Hearing the dragon’s explanation, the Oseo soldiers reached out to touch the surrounding illusions. Strangely enough, it truly felt as if they were touching something. When they brushed against the branches of an illusory tree, those branches actually moved. On the other hand, if one tried to grasp and pull them, or attempted to hang from a thick branch, their hands cut through empty air. It was as though a powerful hypnotic spell had made them believe that real trees stood there.
“I’ve heard that there are rare humans who can use the same kind of power, but from what I understand, they can only create illusions that deceive from afar. If you touch them, their true nature becomes obvious.”
“I-I see...”
Those of us who know this is an illusion can tell... But from the outside, no one would notice. Especially if it were the first time they’d ever seen it!
The Oseo soldiers approaching the fortress wore cruel smiles within the illusions.
If we can get this close, there’s no way we lose!
A fortress was certainly strong. Once defenders holed up inside, they could resist forces several times their size. Against an enemy with fewer numbers, defeat was almost impossible. But that was only after the fortress had been sealed. A fortress still had gates and doors, and except in emergencies, they remained open. Even doors that were locked merely needed a key to be opened, not barricaded as they would be during combat.
Beyond the illusion, peaceful-looking Jigsaw soldiers could be seen. The sentries were looking in their direction, but the illusion blocked their awareness.
We’ve won...!
The Oseo soldiers licked their lips. It was the expression of a carnivorous beast lurking downwind, having crept to point-blank range without its prey noticing. As soldiers, they knew how much time it took to do something as basic as closing the gates. They knew how fragile a fortress was when it was not in a combat-ready state.
“Their Illusion Art, False Reality, can produce images and sounds, but it cannot erase what actually exists. If trees suddenly appear in a place with no cover at all, there’s no reason they wouldn’t be noticed.”
The dragon, commander of the monsters, apologized to the Oseo commander with a slightly tense expression.
“I’m sorry, but from here on, we can no longer hide within the illusion.”
“What are you saying? This is already more than far enough.”
The Oseo commander instead wore a brutal, confident smile. The entrance to the fortress was now right before them. If they charged from here, they could reach the gate before an alarm was even sounded.
“Indeed. Then—!”
At the dragon’s signal, the bipedal cats dispelled the illusion. In that instant, the roughly two thousand soldiers who had been hidden by the illusion were laid bare.
“Huh...?”
The sentries and gate guards who saw it doubted their own eyes. It felt as though they themselves were seeing an illusion. Tragically for them, it was reality.
“Aaaaahhhh!”
Human roars and the roars of monsters rang out, intermingling for the first time in this world’s history. Years of frustration and anger overflowed into morale as they surged forward, intoxicated by their overwhelming advantage.
“Wh-What...?”
In contrast, the Jigsaw soldiers were far too defenseless. Faced with the avalanche of charging monsters, they had no way to respond. They could not even sound the alarm before being swallowed by a storm of violence.
“Ha ha ha ha! We’ll slaughter every last one of you!”
For the mid-tier nation of Oseo, Arcana—which had driven them to the brink of collapse—was certainly a hated enemy. But nearby Jigsaw, which had exploited them repeatedly for generations, was another long-standing foe. Drunk on the pleasure of unilaterally trampling the fortress of a great power, the Oseo soldiers reveled in it.
“N-No— Gyaaah!”
“Ha ha ha ha! Just like the legends say—humans really are weak!”
And the monsters grew even more carried away. Bipedal rhinoceroses, bipedal bulls, bipedal dogs—countless monsters towered over the humans, heavily built and fully armed. They laughed uproariously as they scattered the disorganized rabble in chaos.
“Ah-oooh!”
A bipedal dog chased after fleeing humans. The Jigsaw soldiers desperately ran through the fortress, but the bipedal dog, with its long limbs, easily caught up to them. It was not using any special Art; dogs—even bipedal ones—were simply faster than humans. This was a difference of species, and therefore absolute—not some trivial gap like that between a fast human and a slow one.
“Ah-ooooooh!”
The bipedal dog swung the one-handed sword it held, slashing open the backs of the fleeing soldiers. The attacked soldiers lost all strength and collapsed to the ground, unable to rise again. Without the slightest hesitation, the bipedal dog stomped on their backs and leaped toward yet another human.
“Ngh!”
A bipedal bull raised its one-handed axe and charged at a Jigsaw soldier. This monster possessed a body as large as, or larger than, an ordinary farm cow. Facing such a terrifying form, a brave Jigsaw soldier tried somehow to resist.
“D-Damn you... You monster!”
He raised a metal shield, attempting to block the axe blow. He lowered his center of gravity, braced the shield with both hands, and poured his entire being into defense. He did not even consider counterattacking. The tactic was passive, but solid; against a human opponent, he might have endured several blows.
“Ugh...!”
But he could not withstand even a single strike. The blow from the bull monster’s axe crushed the shield he held, and the impact hurled his body through the air, smashing him into the wall. With a difference in weight greater than that between an adult and a child, there was no way he could have stopped it, no matter how hard he tried. Taken to the extreme, even a simple slap would have killed him just the same.
“D-Dieee!”
A Jigsaw soldier used fire magic. He set his sword ablaze and slashed at the back of a bipedal rhinoceros. If the opponent had been human, the massive blood loss and burns would have been fatal, but to any living creature, it should have still been an effective attack.
“Ahh?!”
The bipedal rhinoceros was struck by the flaming sword. Focused entirely on attacking, it had been caught off guard.
“That’s gotta hurt!”
The burning blade was not completely ineffective. However, clad in armor and possessing thick hide, the bipedal rhinoceros did not suffer a fatal wound. Perhaps with several more successful strikes it could have been brought down—but that future no longer existed.
“Hkk—!”
The bipedal rhinoceros’s thick arm—no, the even thicker club it wielded—smashed down onto the brave soldier’s head. Helmet and all, it was crushed into pulp.
“This is great! The best!”
Watching the rampage, the Oseo soldiers rejoiced that these beings were on their side. It was not a matter of having one or five strongest warriors. Elites of many races had gathered together. Everyone was intoxicated by the overwhelming destructive power of this mixed army. Thus, the fortress was annihilated in an instant. And the stockpiles—“supplies meant to conquer an entire nation”—were about to be used for precisely that purpose.
Several days later, an unbelievable report reached King Jigsaw.
The fortress that had stockpiled provisions and weapons had been utterly destroyed—in just a few hours. A horde of monsters had appeared out of nowhere, truly without warning, and had assaulted the fortress, looting it without restraint. While most of the leaders refused to take the report seriously, the king alone clutched his head in despair.
“What in the world is happening...?”
The world was changing—changing in ways he had never wished for. The king of a great nation writhed in anguish.