“Wait, this is no time to be marveling at her.” She was depleting mana rapidly. As she was preoccupied with casting the spell, she couldn’t replete her own MP, so I drank a mana potion in her place and transferred my MP to her.
Less than a minute later...
“H-Huh?!”
“The monsters are going back to the forest!”
“What the hell is happening?!”
The battlefield was filled with shouts of surprise. Despite my heavy exhaustion, I cast my eyes below. “The monsters really are retreating...”
And they didn’t seem to have been merely controlled either. Earlier, they looked to be in a trance, but this retreat seemed to come from their own volition.
I laid Claire down on the ground. She was panting and looked rather pained. “Are you all right?”
“I am. You’re amazing, Lloyd. I can’t believe how easily you managed such a feat...”
“No, I’m really nothing special. Anyway, what did you do? The monsters seemed to have left on their own.”
“I talked to the monsters and convinced them to go home.”
Convinced them? Could she chat with monsters? “Can you talk directly with the monsters, Claire?”
“I can. My magic does not just allow me to control them, but connects us together. Talking with them is just one of my powers. I can also force them to comply.”
So, she was connected to the monsters, and that allowed her to talk with them and order them around.
“The spell on them had already weakened, so I simply undid the magic and asked them to leave,” she said, glancing at where the horde had been moments earlier. “Oh... It seems a few are still left.”
A hundred or so monsters had decided to continue their assault—golems.
“They—the golems—intended on attacking the town regardless of my magic.”
Huh. So they must be the buffed monsters that demon mentioned.
“They’re the demons’ trump card.” Their presence seemed to differ from other monsters. I wasn’t sure how exactly they had been strengthened, but it was clear they had been. “Could you wait here, Claire?”
“Sure, Lloyd...”
“I’ll go see Yui and the others. Stay here until I’m back.”
Claire silently nodded.
All right, we still had a mana potion left. I drank the last one and dashed over to the moat where Yui and the others were.
✦ ✦ ✦
I climbed down to the guard tower and rushed over to the moat, where I immediately found the four of them.
“Are you guys all right?”
“Somehow! But we’d have been goners if you hadn’t done something about those monsters, Lloyd!” said Yui. Her expression was one of relief as she returned her sword to its scabbard.
Still, there were a hundred monsters marching on her—though, they weren’t as strong as they had been earlier.
“What?! But there’s only a few left!” The adventurer must have thought a hundred monsters would be a piece of cake. He rushed up to the golem leading the pack and swung his sword downward.
But it was repelled, snapping at the base, and the adventurer was flung backward by the golem’s giant right arm.
“Huh? Are those golems?” asked Yui.
“I think they’re the buffed monsters that demon was talking about.” Seeing that adventurer flying through the air had strengthened that conviction—these were far stronger than the average golem.
“How are we supposed to...?”
“I can’t fight those guys...”
The other adventurers had fallen to their knees, their faces filled with despair.
“What do we do, Lloyd? We’ll be invaded at this rate!”
Given how strong these golems were, if even just one made it into town, it would be a disaster. We absolutely couldn’t let them inside Ishtar.
“Yui... I’m going to cast buffs on all fifty people here.”
“Huh?! You can do that?!” she asked, her eyes wide open in shock.
“Not all at once, and I won’t be able to cast multiple buffs on the same person. But if I divide everyone into groups and cast a single buff on each of them, I can manage,” I said, taking my staff into my hands.
I had mentioned dividing the combatants into groups, and I had gotten a good idea of how to do that from up on the watchtower. First, I cast strength up buffs on those wielding swords and shields on the front lines. Then, I cast similar buffs on the archers, before finally casting a magic up buff on those wielding staves.
Once I had cast the last buff, I was overcome with lethargy. I was panting, and I fell to my knees.
“Y-You okay?!” asked Yui, looking awfully worried.
“Hah... I finished casting buffs on everyone, but... I don’t think I can move anymore. I doubt those buffs will last for long either,” I said, using the last of my strength to touch Yui’s sword and cast a buff on it. “So please... Hurry...”
“Right on it!” she said, dashing off to the front lines. Then, she turned around and let out a dramatic sigh. What was she planning?
“Hey, guys! Lloyd just cast super amazing buffs on all of you! Our enemies are tough, but that doesn’t mean we can lose here!” Everyone’s eyes turned to look at Yui, but she ignored them. “Lloyd’s buffs are like having a hundred-man army! We can all fight! Let’s beat these things!” she shouted, raising her fist high into the air.
“She’s right... My body feels so light!”
“Yeah! Wh-What the heck is this?!”
“So these are Lloyd’s buffs!”
Yui’s encouragement had rallied the adventurers’ and knights’ morale. Her words were embarrassing, and my buffs really weren’t all that strong. I tried to stop her, but I didn’t have the strength to yell. Actually, I didn’t have the strength to even move at all.
“Stop it...”
“To battle!”
“Wooooooh!” On Yui’s signal, they let out a thunderous battle cry as they dashed forward, drowning out my plea.
“Here comes the first!” shouted Yui, swinging her sword downward and cutting off one of the golems’ arms. It let out a scream as it swung the hand it had left.
“Nope! I knew you were gonna attack!” Yui nimbly dodged the fist and immediately cut off the golem’s other arm. Then finally, she severed its large body into two, causing it to collapse. “All right! We can do this!”
The other sword-wielding adventurers weren’t as strong as Yui, but they continued to carve into the golems, while the archers and mages at the back fired at those wounds from a distance.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wow! Our attacks are working!”
“You’re right! Though we still can’t move like Yui...”
“Are these really buffs? This feels beyond extra strength. I feel like a whole new person...”
The knights and adventurers let out one surprised exclamation after another, and all were about Lloyd’s buffs. They had heard he was a white mage of amazing skill, but no one had heard he was this talented. Their hope began to balloon.
“So it really was all Lloyd’s doing...” Rina muttered upon seeing that the other adventurers and knights had grown strong beyond recognition. She easily deflected a golem’s arm with her big shield using the only hand she had left. Due to her disability, she could no longer fight like she did when she was still with the Hero’s party. However, she was able to exhibit more strength than she ever had since Lloyd had left.
Once again, she viscerally felt how amazing Lloyd truly was—and the regret of what she had told him. “I can’t believe he’s come to save us despite my harsh words...”
Given what she had said, it was only natural he’d despise her. At least, that’s what Rina thought. She had prepared herself for criticism—even physical retaliation. However, Lloyd seemed to lack even a shred of ill will as he cast his buffs on her.
“You’re the worst...”
That’s what she had told Lloyd when they banished him. She could still remember it clearly, and she had regretted it ever since the day she had lost her left hand. “No, I’m the worst.” Those words naturally slipped from her lips.
I’m the worst. But that’s why...
“We need to prove victorious, so I can apologize to Lloyd!”
He had gone out of his way to cast his buffs on her. She couldn’t waste that opportunity. With such emotions in her heart, Rina held up her shield and stomped forward.
And it wasn’t just Rina. Everyone else in the fight fought through their pain with equally strong convictions. The sound of metal striking the golems’ hard bodies—and the cries of the adventurers and knights—filled the battlefield. The golems fell rapidly.
“Last...one!” Yui’s powerful strike cut the last golem in half. It collapsed to the ground, powerlessly and without even having let out a cry. Then, it was still.
Yui cautiously observed her surroundings, her sword still in her hands. There were no longer any golems or other monsters in sight. “Then...did we win?” She checked once again, but still didn’t catch sight of any foes.
That’s right. They had defended the city from the monster horde.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Then... Then we...”
Cheers erupted from the crowd.
“We saved Ishtar!”
“I can’t believe I’m still breathing!”
Some blissfully embraced each other.
“Phew... It’s over.” I watched this scene alone. I checked for any monster signals with my detection magic and found no suspicious signals. I could probably undo my spells.
But just as I made that decision, my vision went dark, and I collapsed on the ground.
Oh... I must have used up too much of my MP.
I gradually lost consciousness.