Mazel was right in front of me, that much I could understand, but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how it all added up. I opened my mouth without thinking. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, that’s complicated. For now…” He turned his gaze back to the Demon Commander. I still couldn’t believe he could stand before such a monster without any hint of fear. “We better take care of this first.”
“Right.” As soon as I stood up, Neurath, Schünzel, and I were bathed in light. Another figure appeared, and while I was glad to have her here, I didn’t understand why she’d arrived either.
“Your Highness.”
“Just call me Laura.” The holy woman flashed me a glowing smile. Maybe I should have just shut my brain off. Sharing a battlefield with the Hero and his party was crazy talk.
Still, what she cast on us must’ve been full-body healing magic. I had never experienced such high-level magic before, so I couldn’t say for sure. I was still exhausted, but my body felt much lighter. My wounds must’ve been disappearing, but I didn’t bother to check.
Next to Laura was an old man with a dignified air about him but also a hint of eccentricity. “So,” he said, “you must be Werner.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Sir Almsick.”
He was none other than the old mage of the Hero’s party, Uwe Almsick. It was my first time meeting him, but I knew him well—in the game, of course. But what was making him look so disapproving of me?
“You may call me Uwe. I have much to ask you, but that shall come later.”
“Hyaaa!”
That voice made me jump. I turned around to find Luguentz swinging at the Demon Commander. He didn’t cut off an arm like Mazel, but his strike left quite a mark. Fresh blood spurted out of Gezarius’s lion body and rained down on the ground.
It was on a whole other level compared to the single hit I was able to get on him—or really, just happened to get on him. The Demon Commander couldn’t even dodge. He was crazy quick considering his giant sword.
Erich and Feli followed Luguentz’s attack. Could I even win against Feli right now? With his speed, his opponent was putty in his hands.
Erich was…that’s right. Monks were stronger when fighting barehanded. Since this was a game, I thought that made sense to me, but I really didn’t want him tossing a four-meter-tall Werelion around with his bare hands when they weren’t even a stone’s throw from me.
“Lord Werner!”
“Are you all right?!”
“Neurath, Schünzel, I’m fine! Take our men and close the gate!” The two stood a bit aways from me, and I ordered them to seal the doors to prevent any Demons from slipping inside.
The smashed-open gate and the area outside was currently an empty void in the battle, but there was a chance monsters would run through it in an attempt to escape the knight brigade. We couldn’t just leave it as is.
Neurath and Schünzel must have heard my orders. They called out to those around them and headed for the gate. Wait, weren’t those the members of the Iron Hammer with them? Huh? Oh.
“Skywalk Boots, huh?”
“Indeed.”
Skywalk Boots could only carry so many people, so the Hero’s party had the Iron Hammer divide into two groups, and then each group moved to Anheim with half of the Hero’s party. The Iron Hammer had visited before, so they knew how to get here.
The knight brigade had collided with the Demon army in a free-for-all melee. Since Gezarius had pushed himself inside the town, the area around the walls was oddly empty. Thus, they would’ve been able to hop over the Demon army and knight brigade to the area around the town and then rush into the city with their own feet. That must have been how Mazel and his friends were able to enter the town alone despite having traveled with the knight brigade.
I had just figured all that out when Uwe cast some kind of spell. With a thunderous roar, a fireball the size of a compact van crashed into the Demon Commander and burned him. But for real, how could I be perfectly cool over here with something like that around? Magic really was pure fantasy.
“The Demon Commander truly is a tenacious—” I couldn’t hear the rest of what the old man said. Werner had landed another blow on the staggering Demon Commander and flashed me a smile. “It’s been a while since we last fought together, huh?”
“…Yeah, it has.”
As students, we fought together quite a lot, like in group warfare class or monster hunting drills. Damn, it felt like so long ago.
Honestly, I didn’t think I needed to be in this fight, but if my best friend was inviting me, I couldn’t say no. Fighting alongside the Hero’s party was an experience hard to come by. I took my stance with my spear and stood by Mazel’s side. Mazel spoke to me as if he was having a blast, which was kind of crazy, considering there was an injured Demon Commander standing right in front of him.
“What are we gonna do?”
“I’ll match you. Just do what you always do, Mazel.”
“Roger that!” As he spoke, Mazel stepped forward, leading with a cut. I saw that Feli seemed to notice that Gezarius was blind in one eye and was moving to that side. Erich was focused on knocking him off balance. That meant that I…
“I’m right here!” I deliberately stepped into Gezarius’s line of sight and sent a low stab at his leg. Gezarius dodged my attack, immediately following into the next as he approached me and swung down his fist. That was a close one, but it was also exactly what I was hoping for.
“You’ve got openings all over you!”
He was now in range of Luguentz. Not to mention, Gezarius had only one hand now, and he couldn’t block and attack with it at the same time. Luguentz’s blow lodged into Gezarius’s shoulder as he bellowed his rage. Once the Demon Commander turned to face him, Feli made his move. He stabbed his sword right into the wound left by the ballista, opening it further.
To prevent him from targeting Feli, I thrust my spear toward his face, making it look like I was after his other eye. Given my position, he had no choice but to fall back. But that put him in range of Erich. His blow slammed straight into the Demon Commander’s side, stunning him for a moment. Mazel took the opportunity to swing down his sword. The sound of splitting meat reverberated in the air.
The moment the outline of the Demon Commander switched with that of a human, Laura used debuff magic to fetter his movements, restraining him in shackles of light.
It was fun fighting next to such reliable comrades. Maybe it wasn’t quite the time for it, but I couldn’t stop myself from grinning.