“Balto! Balto! Come on, get a grip!”
My eyes snap open.
What was that?
…Oh, right, my life was flashing before my eyes.
Does that mean I’m dead, and this is the afterlife?
“Balto! You’re finally awake?!”
“Nngh… Sanatoria? Did you die, too?”
“Have you lost your mind?! I’m still alive, and so are you!”
As my consciousness gradually returns, my mind clears, and I finally grasp reality.
I’m…alive?!
“Urgh! What’s going on?!”
“The front line hasn’t fallen yet. Kogou is holding it steady.”
I jump to my feet at that, only to be rewarded with a fresh jab of pain behind my forehead.
An attack must have struck my head during battle and knocked me out for a moment.
I’ve been doing nothing but desk work for so long that I’m no longer in prime condition for fighting on the front lines.
What’s more, I haven’t even had time for training lately. My strength has definitely dulled.
I shake my head to pull myself together.
When I finally refocus on the battlefield, the situation is far from favorable.
Everywhere I look, soldiers are locked in battle with spider monsters.
Our battle formation hardly matters anymore.
The spiders have jumped across every line, infiltrating our ranks with ease.
On top of that, the larger, evolved individuals have far higher stats than the small ones.
While there aren’t as many of them as the smallest kind, the mere arrival of such a large monster inevitably breaks through the lines.
Then a swarm of smaller spiders pours in through that opening.
The result is a chaotic melee in which friend and foe are all jumbled together.
As I take all this in, my legs nearly give way beneath me.
That’s not a good sign. I must not have fully healed from the damage yet.
I instinctively reach out and grab something nearby for support, which helps me avoid falling right back down onto the ground.
But my eyes widen when I see what I’m holding on to.
It’s the corpse of a gigantic spider monster.
…Ah, that’s right.
This thing charged toward me and struck me on the head…
Someone must have defeated it after I was knocked unconscious.
Which means Sanatoria was likely the one who took command of that fight.
“Thank you, Sanatoria.”
“Don’t mention it.”
I shake my head again, trying to concentrate.
Then I reach up a hand to my still-throbbing forehead and use Healing Magic.
“Actually, Balto, the healers are running low on mana. If you can use Healing Magic, could you focus on that instead?”
“The mages?”
“Mm-hmm. These things aren’t much of a threat individually—it’s the poison that’s the problem.”
“Ah…”
That certainly is a problem.
As far as I can tell, the small spiders are fairly weak.
Any of our soldiers can easily defeat them with a single blow.
However, there are so many of them that it’s impossible to wipe them all out without taking any hits at all.
Their stats seem to be low enough that being surrounded and bitten by them wouldn’t cause much damage. But if those fangs are poisonous, that’s another story entirely.
“All right. I’ll go around and cast antidote spells.”
“Thanks.”
I rushed around the battlefield, using antidote magic on the sick-looking soldiers.
The small spiders aren’t a major threat.
They’re light and can jump long distances, enough that they were able to make a mess of our ranks at first, but once we’ve learned the pattern, dealing with them is simple.
As long as we stay calm and stick to a strategy, there’s no problem.
Their stats are so low that even a bite would barely amount to a scratch.
If someone gets poisoned, I or one of the other mages can heal them.
And so we gradually rebuild our ranks, and with help from Kogou’s frenzied fighting on the front lines, we manage to make steady progress in battle.
The biggest difficulty is the larger spiders, and the even larger ones that seem to be a more evolved variety.
These giant, evolved spiders are strong enough to take out several soldiers at once, but our men and women are already fighting fiercely with the assumption that they might not survive.
Their reckless attacks, heedless of injury, are able to take down even these giant spiders.
Morale is still going strong, even as several soldiers are sacrificed in the process.
If anything, our troops only grow more determined as time goes on.
A strange and powerful fervor spreads through the ranks.
It’s so strong that they don’t even seem to care about their own lives.
Normally, it would be dangerous to let this kind of fervor take control of the battle.
As much as it’s producing results, it’s also increasing the number of deaths due to desperate, self-sacrificial attacks.
If we were focused on the future, it would be better to withdraw and have them cool off.
But these soldiers are here to protect what’s precious to them, even if it means throwing away their futures.
So I must let this fervor take control.
We must surpass our limits, and keep pushing forward, forward!
Even I am beginning to lose myself to the feverish haze.
✦ ✦ ✦
But then something douses the flames.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What’s that?”
I might not have noticed it if I was fighting directly instead of focusing on giving orders and healing the poisoned or wounded.
It only caught my attention because I was keeping an eye on my surroundings to better inform my instructions.
Something strange was happening near the entrance of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
In that area, an intense battle was unfolding between the queen taratect and some ancient dragons presumed to serve the ebony god.
The rumbles and flashes of thunder and lightning reached as far as our side of the battlefield, and I could see fire dragons flying through the sky, raining fireballs on the ground below.
It was a downright hellish scene, taking place not just in reality but right before my eyes.
And a strange shift was occurring there now.
As I took a closer look, I saw a tidal wave of white burst forth from the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
Not water—but a swarm of white spiders.
“N-Nightmare’s Vestiges!”
This was a monster the human side warned me to be wary of in advance.
They said that even the hero’s party struggled to defeat a single one.
How can there be so many of such a powerful monster…?
The white wave gets swept up in the battle between the queen taratect and the ancient dragons, only to break through that hell and keep spreading across the battlefield.
They made it through that hellscape?! Our men can’t even get close!
I-it’s all over.
There’s no way we can win.
The thought that we’ll all die in vain rattles around my head.
“I-I’ll take the rear! Everyone! Run for it!”
As I stare in shock at the oncoming swarm of Nightmare’s Vestiges, a voice calls out from the front lines.
It’s Kogou.
“…! All units, retreat! Quickly!”
Kogou’s shout brings me back to my senses, and I call out an order.
The swarm of Nightmare’s Vestiges is still far away.
We can still get away if we move now!
“Hurry!”
I shout for the soldiers to retreat faster.
Then I see one group stepping forward in the opposite direction.
“Kogou!”
It’s Kogou’s squadron.
“Mr. Balto! The rest is up to you!”
“Kogou! Rrgh…!”
I swallow the urge to tell him to run and remain focused on evacuating the troops.
Kogou is a simple-minded man who worked his way up the ranks with nothing but sheer physical strength.
And yet he was always timorous and balked at the idea of fighting.
But that fainthearted man joined this battle of his own free will, and now, he’s volunteering to bring up the rear, knowing that he likely won’t make it out alive.
I must not let such resolution go to waste.
From far behind me, I can hear the sounds of battle.
And screams of death as well.
Even so, I cannot turn back.
“Retreat! Run for it!”
I keep raising my voice to spur the soldiers on, trying to get as many people out of here alive as I possibly can.
I’d like to ask you a question, Demon Lord.
Do you still see us as disposable, even as we fight so desperately?
Must we all die for your goals?
Would you truly say that demonkind’s days of atonement were all in vain?
Tell me.
“Damn it all!”
I’m not sure who shouted that curse.
Perhaps it even came from me.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
