Psycho was running herself ragged rushing back and forth to heal the soldiers along the wall.
Some of the winged ants had made their way in, targeting the soldiers on the ramparts. The longer the fight dragged on, the more monsters managed to slip past.
Healing Falmeyr and the others whose souls had been affected by the curse was proving to be difficult. There was little hope they would be rejoining the fight. Psycho had her work cut out for her as a healer, and she was falling further and further behind. But what else could she do? She knew her own fighting capabilities weren’t up to snuff. Even if she tried to help, she would only get in the way.
“Dammit! If only I could fight, too…”
Psycho cursed her own weakness.
Tsutsumi was stuck with Psycho as well, since she couldn’t use her poison for fear she would hit the others.
“I want to…fight, too…”
“That’s not a good idea. Under the circumstances, you know what would happen if your true identity was revealed.”
“I know…”
While their friends were out there making a real impact on the battlefield, Psycho and Tsutsumi were barely contributing. Homura might have lost control, but she’d still helped incinerate a whole battalion of monsters. Jin had taken out the source of the curse. And Proto was doing some impressive fighting out on the field.
Whereas the only contributions Psycho and Tsutsumi had to offer were underwhelming, like always. The two girls gritted their teeth in frustration, but the show went on with or without them.
Just then, from the corner of her eye, Psycho spotted the wall of ice begin to crumble.
“What?!”
Psycho couldn’t believe it. That ice wall had been as tall as the castle’s own walls, but a colossal creature was standing there now that was taller still. The colossus looked like an armored warrior, but it seemed to be formed entirely of stone. The grass in one area had been dug up, as if that had been the source of its stone.
“Maybe this is the doing of whoever made that stone wall in Wodtrim.”
Magic had been used to encase the neighboring town of Wodtrim in a wall of stone. And there was supposedly a magician in the Dark Lord’s army who had a knack for fortification magic. But maybe it wasn’t just structures. What if that magician could also create puppets? There were even huge divots of earth missing around the creature’s feet, as if it had been created on the spot.
The colossus began to move.
While each step was slow and lumbering, the way the earth rumbled beneath its feet was a testament to the creature’s massive size. They no longer had any Holy Protectorates on the field. And while Serena was conscious again, there was no telling how much protection she would be able to provide.
Any notion of joining the battle disappeared from Psycho’s mind in that moment. She was now focused on damage control. Anything she could do to avoid the worst would help. Maybe they could buy enough time for Falmeyr to recover.
“Tsutsumi, hurry! To the castle!”
“Okay…!”
The enemy’s ultimate goal was Falmeyr. As long as she was around, the Holy Protectorates of the Shield could fight for virtually forever. With Falmeyr’s healing abilities and the massive font of magical energy available to her, the protectorates could push themselves to the point of breaking. Even if they died, all she needed to do was resurrect them.
But that only held true so long as Falmeyr had the faithful behind her. The citizens, the sources of Falmeyr’s magical energy, had all gathered in the castle. They were the enemy’s target now.
Since the army had failed to eliminate Falmeyr directly, it made sense for them to go after the source of her magical power next. That was why the monsters were making a beeline for the castle, ignoring everything else in their path.
Psycho and Tsutsumi ran down the broad main street as fast as they could. They passed collapsed monsters and soldiers frequently as they ran. Once they had made it about halfway, they heard a huge crash coming from somewhere behind them.
“That thing’s already here!”
While they were still running, the colossus had apparently reached the wall.
“Fetters of light, bind the wicked.”
Instead of raising another magical barrier, Serena, who was conscious once more, cast a new spell to restrain the colossus’s arms and legs. Rings of light appeared around the colossus’s limbs, binding it in place.
While Serena held the colossus at bay, the airman ants continued to pour in from the sky. The flying ants that had made it in earlier had already reached the castle and were currently engaged in combat with the soldiers stationed there. Meanwhile, the infantry ants that the gold badges had failed to stop also moved toward the castle in a cascade.
Psycho and Tsutsumi made their way down the battle-strewn street, reaching the castle at long last.
“Ada!”
Just as Psycho passed through the castle gate, she happened to catch sight of Ada.
“Psycho, what are you doing here?”
“Ada, isn’t there somewhere safer than this?” Psycho said, rushing to Ada’s side and speaking in an undertone so that the others wouldn’t hear them. Ada was in charge of healing at the castle.
Large numbers of injured soldiers had been carried into the castle’s courtyard. Some had been covered in sheets. For them it was already too late.
“What do you mean, somewhere safer?! This is supposed to be the safest place there is.”
The refugees inside the castle did not know about the colossus yet. They must have assumed the huge crash earlier was just the sound of Seigrat fighting. Surprisingly little panic had broken out inside the walls.
Psycho nodded. This was good. “Look that way,” she said, gesturing past the gate and down toward the end of the main street. The massive colossus could be seen in the distance.