Around half an hour later, we caught sight of the giant monster horde marching on us from the direction we had traveled. I hadn’t really thought about it when they just existed as signals, but seeing them in person was petrifying. The gaps between the trees were packed with monsters, and it wasn’t just the ground—some even flew through the sky.
“Th-There’s so many! How many do you think that’s gotta be?” muttered Yui as she watched the horde from our vantage point. The monsters marched on us with tremendous vigor, filling us with fear and panic. But not yet! We had to wait just a moment longer...
“Hey, Lloyd! Is it time?!”
“Not quite.” The horde grew closer. Almost. “Silica! Now!”
“R-Right!” Silica raised her staff on my signal. “Firestorm!” she chanted, directing it toward the monsters.
A conflagration appeared in the forest, creating a dome that engulfed the monsters.
“Wow...” Yui muttered as she watched the flames. “Hey, Lloyd? What’d you do to Silica? Her spell was way better than usual!”
“I just cast a magic up buff and MP consumption down buff.”
“What do you mean, ‘just’...?” Yui looked exasperated. I guess my support magic really did still have a long way to go. But I couldn’t be wasting too much MP right now.
“Silica, are you still good to go?”
“Yes. I think I can handle another five spells or so...”
Silica could cast Firestorm five more times. But considering what came next, she could only really afford to use three of those. “Once you cast the spell another three times, fan the flames with a wind spell. All you need to do is use your magic to create some gusts.”
“R-Right.”
Once I delivered that message to Silica, I approached Cross so we could move on to phase two. He was waiting on a ledge that stood above where Yui and Silica were, and once I got there, I used my storage magic to summon all of his remaining arrows.
Then, I cast buffs on each of them, one by one. Usually, I’d cast all the buffs at once, but I had decided to cast them separately to salvage some MP. It would take longer, but...that wasn’t a problem. I had already calculated accordingly.
“It’s almost time...” I said, looking into the forest once I had finished casting buffs on every arrow. Silica had already finished casting Firestorm and had segued into fanning the flames with wind. A large swath of the forest went up in smoke, partially blinding the airborne monsters.
“Cross! It’s time!”
“Right! Leave it to me!”
I placed my right hand on Cross’s head and activated thought sharing, directly transmitting the locations of the beasts via my detection magic. Now, he would know our foes’ positions even if they were hidden.
“So? Can you see them?”
“Yup! No problems here!” Cross shot down one monster after another.
All right. Perfect.
It would be impossible to individually control each monster in such a giant horde. They were likely moving according to simple orders.
“I guess it’s almost time.” I was quite certain we had already taken out the majority of the monsters on the ground. While a few had likely survived, they wouldn’t pose a problem.
I headed for Silica, who was still fanning the flames. “That’s enough wind magic, Silica! Move on to the next phase!”
“Right! However, I’ve nearly depleted my MP,” she said, seeming quite exhausted. It was clear her MP was nearing empty.
“Right... Got it. I’ll transfer some of my MP over to you. Use it.” I utilized Transfer MP to send ninety percent of my remaining mana to Silica.
I was suddenly hit with a dizzy spell and fell on my butt. I had heavily expended my MP, and it had been a long time since I had last used so much. It was only natural that I was having a bit of a hard time. If I had known this would happen, I would have bought some mana potions while in town. Thinking this was an A-rank quest had me letting my guard down.
“A-Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Anyway, hurry!”
“Right...”
Silica once again extended her staff toward the forest. Then, she took a deep breath before slowly opening her mouth. “Lluvia!”
Clouds suddenly appeared in the sky, pouring down a torrential rain. The flames of the fire were gradually quelled. We had successfully avoided a forest fire.
“I-I’m at my limit...” said Silica. She wobbled, then collapsed on the ground.
Thankfully, Daggers was there to catch her. “Good job. Leave the rest to us.”
“You take a break, Silica! We’ll take out the rest before you know it!”
“Just don’t push yourselves, okay...?”
“That’s kind of rich coming from you right now...”
Once he had confirmed Yui and Silica’s conversation had come to an end, Daggers gently laid her on the ground.
“Still... You’re amazing, Lloyd. I can’t believe you thought up all this,” muttered Yui.
“It’s nothing special. I’m just doing my job as this party’s support.” Giving orders and casting magic while keeping an eye on our backs was just part of a supporter’s job.
“There you go again...” Yui let out a dramatic sigh. “Well, whatever! You leave the rest to us and take a break too, Lloyd!”
“Yeah, thanks.”
But first...
I used my remaining MP to cast buffs on Yui and Daggers. I confirmed with my detection magic that there were only a few dozen monsters left. The ones which survived had to be on the stronger side, but they’d be no problem for Daggers and Yui.
“I’m pooped... I really still have a long way to go...”
From up on my ledge, I watched over the rest of the battle.