Every single day, monsters flock to the royal capital where the Orb of Light is enshrined, like moths drawn to a flame.
As we stood before the city gates on this particular occasion, we saw a swarm of bugs approaching—and “swarm” wasn’t just a figure of speech. These were demonswarm—dangerous insects imbued with magical energy. Some of them were mothlike, while others more resembled beetles or praying mantises.
There had been a sudden demonswarm infestation in a forest located a short distance away from the capital, and a portion of them had begun to invade—seemingly drawn to the city by the Orb of Light, within which the Demon King was sealed. The entire Guard Corps had gathered in front of the gates to intercept them.
The fact that we were being invaded wasn’t a particularly big problem in itself; what was a big problem was what the horde had done on its way in. The creatures had crossed many fields full of crops as they’d headed toward the capital and had greedily gorged themselves on the bountiful harvests there, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake.
Since it was constantly beset by monster attacks, the royal capital of Astaroth was not very active in terms of merchant traffic. It wasn’t able to rely on foodstuffs coming in from beyond its borders; it needed to be self-sufficient. Having seen their already limited provisions devoured before their very eyes, the guards were incensed and out for blood.
“Let’s make those food-thieving insects pay!” one guard bellowed.
The others shouted out in a fiery chorus of agreement, then began turning their ire to the swarm directly.
“Keep your filthy bug mandibles off our human food!”
“Go back to sucking tree sap, monsters!”
My fellow guards swung their swords furiously, cleaving insect after insect in two, their blows far more powerful and piercing than they had been in the past. Their fighting spirit had certainly been bolstered by their anger, and no doubt their diligent daily training was also a factor; however, there was one other reason behind their vigor that overshadowed the rest.
“Sieg will take the enemies’ attacks for us!” Commander Bolton thundered. “None of us need to worry about anything at all besides tearing through every last one of these damn bugs!”
The Guard Corps responded enthusiastically. Having the ability to devote themselves to attacking without having to worry about defense was huge. When they were able to focus solely on striking down their enemies with all their might, the force behind each sword blow could be many times greater than usual.
For everyone else to feel safe while they’re on offense, it’s absolutely crucial that I do my job right on defense. I’m not going to let a single one of these things touch my comrades.
“Iron Target!”
That was one of the tank skills in my repertoire that let me take on every single attack dealt by my opponents. It forced the attention of the swarm in my direction—as if someone had picked them all up by the scruffs of their necks and made them focus on me, whether they liked it or not.
In battle, showing your back to your enemy meant certain death. The guards, seeing the insects’ open backs on display, did not waste the chance to strike; the demonswarm could do nothing, and their corpses began to pile up on the battlefield.
However, the enemy would not be fully vanquished quite so easily. There was one variety among the demonswarm that was proving a bit more complicated to deal with.
“Ugh! I can’t hurt this damn thing at all!”
A guard’s sword strike bounced harmlessly off the shell of a demonswarm that resembled a giant pillbug. Its round body was as hard as armor; swords and spears were unable to penetrate it.
The pillbug-like creatures then curled themselves up into balls and began rolling toward the guards at high speed, trying to bowl them over; however, once I activated my Iron Target skill, they all came barreling toward me instead. Considering their weight and the speed they had picked up, their rolling bodies had a considerable amount of force behind them.
If the guards took a hit from one of these, their armor wouldn’t do a thing—they’d be flattened into sheet metal. The bugs’ defense power is high enough to make swords and spears ineffective too, so our side is completely powerless against them. These things will be tough nuts to crack.
I wanted to finish our opponents off as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to attack power. Breaking through their defensive shells myself would be no easy task.
It would be a prodigy of a guard indeed that boasted both high attack power and high defense power—and, well, that guard wasn’t me. Nobody could master everything perfectly; whatever someone excelled at, there was always something else they were hopelessly lacking in.
But that’s what makes us human. That’s why people form bonds with each other—why they band together.
I didn’t have high attack power, but I had comrades who did—and they were more than willing to make up for my inadequacies.
“Hah! Step back, I got this—time to smash things up!”
Spinoza, the assault leader of the Fifth Squadron, dashed out onto the front line with her roughly person-sized war hammer lifted high above her head, then brought the weapon crashing down violently.
The strong shells of the pillbug-like demonswarm had deflected every sword and spear that had come at them—but Spinoza’s war hammer blasted through them like they were nothing. Her initial blow turned one of the creatures into a mangled pile of scrap, and a follow-up horizontal swing caved in over half of another opponent’s body.