But if I ran out of time mid-fight, if I burned out before finishing the job, the outcome didn’t bear thinking about. Best case, I’d end up as a breeding vessel for their next generation. Worst case, they’d tear me apart alive, piece by piece.
“My stamina and focus… At best, I can keep myself in peak condition for a few more hours,” I muttered to myself, eyes narrowing.
Any longer, and the window would close. The longer I waited, the more energy I’d burn, and the shorter my operational time would be once I triggered Magic Overdrive. If I was going to make a move, it had to be now.
No more stalling.
“Get the chief instructor and the knight commander. Now,” I said, turning to one of the students standing nearby.
She didn’t say a word, just nodded and sprinted off, her expression grim.
The decision I’d reached wasn’t to hold the fort at all costs. And it wasn’t a reckless solo charge into enemy lines either. It was something else.
We would all attack together.
If the gate was going to fall anyway, the damage would be catastrophic no matter what. So instead of sitting back and waiting to be overrun, I’d lead a concentrated charge straight into the heart of their command structure. Take out the core in one decisive strike. It was risky, sure, but it gave us a better shot at survival than waiting to be picked off.
That was the calculus. And in war, sometimes that was all you had.
Just then, the chief instructor came running up to me.
“Lady Cordelia? You called for me?”
“For the last time, drop the ‘Lady,’ would you?” I sighed. “We’ve been over this. You’re the instructor, I’m the student. Let’s not make this weird.”
Not that I was keeping things formal either, but battlefield protocol was a luxury none of us had time for.
“Understood. So, what’s the situation?”
“I’m proposing a full-force breakout. Everyone, all at once.”
He hesitated, brow furrowing. “Cordelia, are you saying… The knights and the guild members, yes, but you want the elite students involved, too? Even the ones from noble families?”
“If they think they can defend this fortress without me, the knights, or the veteran adventurers, then by all means, they’re welcome to stay,” I said coolly. “It’s their call. I won’t stop them. Not that I’m expecting much from them as fighters.”
A lie, of course. If we charged headlong into that ogre horde as a single force, even the pampered elites would feel the fire at their backs. And once they were thrown into the chaos of a real battlefield, I was hoping, betting, that their raw potential as top-tier students would finally kick in. They were strong. The numbers didn’t lie. They just hadn’t been pushed far enough yet.
“Tell them this, from me,” I added. “Bet your life on whichever path gives you the best odds of survival.”
As I finished giving orders to the chief instructor, a stir ran through the fortress, focused around the front gate. I turned at once, instinct already bracing for what was coming.
The fifty-first probing attack, I thought grimly.
But the moment I stepped through the courtyard and saw the road beyond the gate, my breath caught.
The entire highway leading to the fortress was carpeted with ogres. A solid wall of muscle and tusks and hunger. And it didn’t stop there. The forest that lined the road, the enchanted Maze Woods, was teeming with them, too. Shoulder to shoulder. Packed between the trees like termites in a nest.
Ogres.
Ogres.
Ogres.
Endless ogres.
“I underestimated them.”
I had guessed, optimistically, that they had around a hundred Ogre Generals left.
But from what I was seeing now? At least two hundred.
And the regular ogres? Two thousand, minimum.
Even if we had launched a full-force charge, we would’ve been slaughtered.
I turned my gaze to the chief instructor. He met my eyes, frozen for a moment. Then he gave the smallest of shrugs, helpless and grim.
“Lady Cordelia, you have to run. If it’s just you, you can make it. You’re the sword of humanity. No, someday, you will be. You have to survive. Grow stronger. Fulfill that role.”
I exhaled slowly.
“How many times do I have to say it?” I said. “Drop the formality. Just Cordelia is fine.”
But retreat wasn’t an option. Not when the city behind this fortress would be wiped out if we fell.
I stood in silence, calculating.
Then I drew the sacred sword from its sheath.
I drew in a deep breath and shouted with everything I had.
“Cordelia Allston, Hero of the North, takes the vanguard! All units, follow meeeeee!”
The chief instructor had some nerve, expecting me to retreat alone. As if a hero could ever abandon her people and survive with her pride intact. That wasn’t how this worked. That wasn’t how I worked.
“Fine then,” I muttered, tightening my grip on the sacred sword. “Let’s see how far I can take this.”
I launched forward, sprinting past the shattered gate, straight into the jaws of the enemy horde, only to stop dead in my tracks as something fell from the sky.
Steel. Dozens of them. Thick, thirty-centimeter-long metal spikes, each one crashing down like divine wrath. No, not spikes. These were spears, lances hurled by gods.
There were just over twenty, but every single one struck true, piercing the hearts or skulls of scattered Ogre Generals. And then, they exploded, not with flame or magic, but sheer force. No enchantments, no spells. Just gravity, speed, and precision. When a mass that size was magically accelerated and dropped from a thousand meters above at supersonic speed, it didn’t just pierce; it wreaked havoc. Craters bloomed where the bodies had stood.
I knew that technique. I’d seen it before. And I couldn’t help but wonder, between the two of us, who was stronger now?
I exhaled a long, weary sigh.
“Seriously, why is it always like this? Why does he always show up exactly when I’m at my limit every single time?”
Looking skyward, I threw up my hands in surrender and gave a small, helpless shrug.
“There’s just no way not to fall for him after that…”
But sentiment would have to wait. I turned to the chief instructor, who was still frozen beside me, mouth slightly agape.
“Instructor?”
He blinked, shaking himself back to focus. “Yes? Lad— Cordelia?”
“Hold the gate. Use everyone you have. I’m going out there alone.”
He stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Alone? Surrounded by this many ogres? That’s suicide!”
“No,” I said quietly, my gaze fixed on the ruined road. “This is a guaranteed victory.”
He didn’t understand. But he would.
“I’ve held the line alone for forty-eight hours,” I muttered, voice tight with fatigue and fire. “Letting him and that girl swoop in and take all the credit at the very end? Yeah, no thanks. Not happening.”
“Him? That girl?” the chief instructor echoed, blinking in confusion. “But even if we lock the gate as you said, without you, Cordelia… we can’t hold it. The Ogre Generals will seize the moment and throw everything they’ve got at us.”
“Just seal the gate!” I snapped. “That’s all I’m asking. Just lock it down tight!”
And with that, I bolted.
No more hesitation. No more fears clawing at the back of my mind. All I had to do now was tear through the enemy with everything I had. There was nothing left to worry about. Nothing left to hold me back. Even if I fell here, I knew Ryuto would cover the rest. He always did.
All right then… Let’s get this ogre hunt started.