A few hours had passed since the Hero had left the Adventurer’s Guild. In a cleared swatch of land between the city and the forest, the adventurers and knights prepared for battle. Using shovels and earth magic, they dug into the dirt to create higher ground. Their progress was steady.
“Is this all right?” asked one of the knights to Vice Chief Ulgo, the second-in-command of the Adventurer’s Guild.
“Yes, that shall be fine,” he responded.
A deep moat spread out before the knights. It had been dug in only the direction of the monsters’ impending invasion, measuring three meters deep and four meters wide. It led to a dam, which was still under construction. As this was an emergency, they had received special permission from the nobles ruling this land to use it.
“Um... Will all this truly be enough?”
“Well, it shall certainly buy us some time. The rest relies on how fast Yui and her comrades can get here.”
“I see...” said the knight, looking rather worried. It was a natural reaction. None had opposed Rina’s plan, but they all had their doubts. They were putting their lives in the hands of a stranger, after all.
But they had all decided to remain regardless. They loathed abandoning the city. They wanted to protect the citizens who thought of them so fondly, or their families, or lovers... Those various wishes and hopes had realized their current situation.
“It’s too late to run anyway,” muttered one of the adventurers who watched the forest from the high ground. He could see the monster horde. A hodgepodge of beasts was marching on the city.
“They’re here! It’s the monster horde!”
“Right... Everyone, into position!” yelled one of the knights, making sure he was loud enough for all to hear. Those with heavy shields and swords stood in a line behind the moat. At their back were archers who had already readied their bows, and behind them were mages lying in wait with their staves.
“Archers, fire!” At the knight’s command, a flurry of arrows shot forth from behind. They pierced the monsters on the front lines, delaying the horde’s arrival.
However, not all of the archers were very experienced. While some arrows buried themselves deep into the monsters’ flesh, others only grazed them. Though given their great numbers, almost every arrow had hit a target. At the very least, the knights and adventurers had succeeded in damaging the horde. It was only slight, but they could tell the beasts’ advance had slowed. Some of the monsters even collapsed and stumbled. Their attack certainly had an effect.
The archers repeated their attacks, slowing down the horde further and forcing the beasts out of formation. But it wasn’t enough to stop their advance.
Even so, the knights and adventurers had predicted this and had easily imagined that the archers alone would not be enough to prevent this siege. Once the monsters had begun to close in on the city, the knight commander barked his next orders. “You’re up, shields!”
“Yessir!” The knights and adventurers equipped with large shields used them to create a defensive wall near the moat. Among them was a shieldmaster wielding hers in only one hand—Rina.
“You bastards!”
The knights and adventurers knocked down the monsters leaping over the moat. They fell inside, gradually filling the crevice. The beasts fell one after another, slowly accumulating inside.
“It’s almost time,” muttered a knight watching the moat from his vantage point. It was already half full, and it was no longer possible to see its bottom. No monsters had been killed, and they bumped and writhed against each other inside. One knight watched this scene, trying to judge the right timing.
“All right, magic unit! Fire!”
“Fireball!”
Dozens of fireballs erupted from the magic unit standing behind the archers. They burst through the shield unit, passing over the moat and slamming right into the monsters. Their flaming forms dropped into the moat.
Fireball was a beginner spell that any mage could use. The allure of this spell was its accuracy, combined with a low MP cost. Once a mage grew accustomed to the spell, they could fire it in rapid succession. While beginner, it was a convenient skill that even advanced mages would frequently utilize.
“We’re doing fine, right, Vice Chief Ulgo?!”
“Indeed... All is going according to plan.” He had been watching over the proceedings and sounded quite pleased with their performance. For now, the plan was certainly proving a success. No monster had broken through their defenses, and they had yet to suffer a single casualty.
“How amazing... This really is buying us time.”
The flaming forms of the monsters who had been hit with fireballs toppled into the moat, causing the flames to spread to others. Beasts were being roasted alive one after another, filling the moat with amorphous corpses. Some still exhibited slight movement, but this was no longer the energetic horde it once was. Plus, the monsters who had noticed the flames halted in their tracks.
“Rumi, Ange! You’re up!”
“R-Right!”
“Roger that!”
Two girls positioned beside the moat barked their response. They were B-rank mages, and thus the most elite fighters in this battle.
“Aqua Wave!” As soon as they cast their enchantment, water spurted forth from their staves—not at monsters, but into the moat. It washed away the monster corpses, as well as excess dirt, causing the moat to both widen and deepen. Now, they would repeat that process. That was the plan Rina and Ulgo had devised.
“Now it’s simply a fight against time.”
They had gathered up all the MP recovery potions—mana potions—in town. One half had come from the reserves of the knight brigade, while the other had been provided free of charge by shopkeepers concerned for the city’s safety. Thanks to them, they had a mighty stockpile, though one that was still limited. What would come first? Them running out of mana potions and losing their means of defending the city, or the arrival of Yui and her party? It was a complete toss-up.
Nerves filled the combatants as time marched forward and their potion stockpile depleted at a rapid pace.
“They’re still...not here?” muttered a knight as he examined the pile. Their once abundant stock was already reduced to less than half of what it was, and they had fired a hefty number of their arrows as well. They were running out of both supplies and stamina. The knight wasn’t alone in his fears—all present shared them.
“Damn it! We can’t hold them off for much longer!”
The shield unit on the front lines was worse for wear. Their equipment was rattled, and their bodies covered in wounds. Still, they fought on, even while many were on the verge of collapse.
But the monsters didn’t let up in their siege.
“I’m...at my limit...!” A man in the shield unit collapsed. He was an adventurer who had just climbed to E-rank.
The monsters didn’t ignore the gap. They immediately attempted to break through.
“I won’t let you!” Rina blocked the monster with her shield. It bounced off it, then fell into the moat.
The E-rank panted. “Thanks, Rina.”
“Don’t mention it. You did well for an E-rank adventurer. Rest up.”
“Th-Thank you,” he said, dragging his heavy body off of the battlefield. He had been the first, but the lower-ranked adventurers started to fall one after another, further opening the hole. Their formation gradually collapsed, encumbering the remaining adventurers and knights with an even heavier burden, and thus heavier exhaustion.
“This is bad. At this rate...!”
That’s when a maelstrom of fire swept over the monster horde, reducing them to cinders in a flash—a sudden attack from the opposite direction. They all focused their eyes on its source.
“Th-That’s...” Beyond the adventurer’s pointed finger were Yui and her four comrades, plus the beastwoman carried on Lloyd’s back.