Which makes hard to deploy any heroes now. I need to keep them on standby for the bosses. The problem is MP. Unique skills use up a large amount of MP, and I don’t want anyone getting low on mana or running out before we fight the disciples. There are two ways to recover your MP, leveling up and sleeping, but—
“Report!”
It was a courier from the center of the front line. A short while earlier, Mira’s Band of the Sun had joined the fray and were operating alongside Asagi’s group—and I had asked them to test something for me on the battlefield.
“Allow Asagi’s group to land the finishing blows on those eucharists as often as possible,” I’d requested—and the courier was now here to deliver a report on the experiment’s results.
“As ordered, the heroes have been granted as many killing blows as feasible during the fighting, but…”
Doesn’t look like this is going to be the result I was looking for. I can see it already written on the man’s face.
“At present… None of the heroes have leveled up as a result.”
“Understood. I’ll be counting on you for further updates.”
The courier retreated.
Turns out, my bad feeling was right.
“We can safely assume that Vicius has made it so her eucharists don’t grant experience points,” I said to Lokiella.
“So it would appear…”
There’s a possibility that the heroes are still receiving a very small amount of EXP, in which case, killing a massive number of those things might trigger a level up. Using up all that MP on the off chance that might happen would be too much of a risk, though. We should work under the assumption that the mana we spend isn’t coming back during this fight—not unless we sleep, at least. It’ll be hard for the heroes to use their unique skills on this battlefield. Fighting without unique skills will also tire them out. They’d need to rest before continuing.
“It’s not clear how many reinforcements the enemy has at its disposal. I want to keep soldier casualties to an absolute minimum, so our numbers don’t dwindle.”
“If you want to keep your soldiers alive, sending in the heroes might be the most effective way to do that,” said Lokiella.
“Especially Hijiri and Sogou, given that their skills can take out enemies in a large area,” I agreed. “The S-class abilities would also be effective against the bigger eucharists, I bet… Well, I suppose I could step in as well.”
“But in fights against whole armies…”
“Yeah, my status-effect skills won’t be as effective against large groups.”
…The white waves kept coming.
Then I saw it. Off in the distance, the shadow of a giant eucharist.
I might have to be the one to stop that thing. Luckily, my status-effect skills barely consume any MP when I use them, and I’m not that worn out right now. But…what if that giant eucharist is bait? What if Vicius is concealing herself inside of it, waiting for an opening to strike me?
There are several possibilities to consider:
One, Vicius is here on this battlefield.
Two, Vicius isn’t here, but she’s heading for Yonato instead.
Three, Vicius is still in Alion—in the capital of Eno.
In terms of odds… I reckon that the third possibility is the most likely one.
I had talked through all of this with Lokiella before the battle began.
“The position where she opened that gate… She shouldn’t be able to change its location from where it’s set, right above Eno. Or at least, it should take her six months to change it. If she’s going to open that gate again once the Holy Eye of Yonato’s been destroyed, she’ll need to stay in Eno to be the one to activate it. That means, if she intends to run off with her winnings like I think she’s going to, there wouldn’t be much point to her leaving Eno. If she’s gone to Yonato in person…that would leave the anti-divine eucharist army she’s created completely undefended in the capital. There’d be no point to destroying the Holy Eye if it would cost her the army she intends on using to invade the heavens. And if she went all the way to Yonato, she’d have to come all the way back to Eno to open the gate. That seems like an inefficient use of time.”
Lokiella’s speculation sounded reasonable to me, but it was also possible that Vicius had stayed put and sent her disciples out to fight us. She could also have split them between here and Yonato, or, well, kept all three in Eno. She might even have some completely unknown strategy coming out of left field to outwit us, such as leaving Eno and coming right here in person to crush us.
Maybe she wasn’t even thinking about opening that gate immediately after destroying the Holy Eye. Maybe she just wanted to finish this. It was possible.
She might intend on wearing down the heroes with her eucharists, then showing up to kill them in person. I don’t think that’s a possibility—but maybe that’s why it’s something she’d try. Something to outwit us. What we need is solid information… Anything provable. The greatest thing that we could know for certain is whether Vicius is currently in the capital of Alion or not. If only we had some solid intel. If I could just know that, I could send out our heroes without worrying so much about their safety in the field.
“There’s no end to this wave of eucharists,” said Lokiella. “There are more and more enemies arriving at the front lines. Vicius… Do you think she’ll come here to finish the job? Or…”