Chương 77: Two More Battles

Miner shined his [Light] down from the gatehouse. It was easy to find where the elf landed because a line of mucks had peeled away from the checkpoint to chase him down.

"Run!" he yelled, hoping to be heard over the storm. Though he didn't know where the elf should run to. With the creatures swarming in from both shores, the only other direction was through Merchant Town, where a horde was tearing through the tents. Instead of running, the elf faced the oncoming mucks, stretched out his arms, and lit up the field. Miner couldn't recognize the spell at first. It wasn't anything like he'd ever seen before, so he thought it must be incredibly high-tier.

Then he slowly came to realize that it was [Firebolt]. The most basic of attack spells, cast so fast that it blended together into the illusion of something more. Not a single muck could get close. Even when the great mass turned away from its pounding at the checkpoint to swarm toward the lone mage, it was quickly vaporized in a thick volley of perfectly aimed bolts, each one dead on target.

The longer he watched, the more Miner decided that this strangely chaotic dance, with the elf spinning and pointing his hands every which way, might itself be performance. Surely a mage with such perfect control over his spells wouldn't need to point them. The elf began moving toward Merchant Town, drawing the mucks away from the checkpoint and leaving behind an eerie calmness at the pass. Miner exchanged a glance with the checkpoint guard.

He was starting to think that maybe the bronze badge worn by the elf was a fake.

Havlo was holding back. Under the circumstances, [Fireball] would have been more efficient. But he didn't want to risk burning down the merchant town—or what remained of it. His hope was that in the morning, the merchants would have something left to salvage of their lives. He'd come out to the pass after realizing that he was getting nowhere with the scholars.

He had an idea that the checkpoint's visitor list might hold some clues, but that line of inquiry had been foiled with the destruction of the field office and the records contained therein. Though perhaps it was fortunate that he'd come out this way when he did. The peninsula was safe, he was sure, under Lady Amberlin's protection. But the defensive efforts required supplies from outside the peninsula, which were at risk of being cut off. He had to secure the pass and the delivery routes.

The merchants were just up ahead. They'd come to a stop, having taken notice of his approach. They had their own hired guards, who by the look of them would have struggled to take down a single muck. Not so surprising—this was supposed to be a safe region, after all. They appeared confused and only mildly concerned. He supposed this was natural, since they could only see how easily he was destroying the mucks.

"You need to get into the pass," he said.

"I'll protect you, but be quick." On the way in, they passed through the devastation of the merchant town. He had one of the merchants rummage through the wreckage of the banking tent to find the Bet-on-Wood tablet. Seeing them coming, the garrison commander ordered the checkpoint opened. Once they were safely inside, the gate was closed and barred once more. While the new arrivals got themselves sorted, the garrison commander approached Havlo.

A new mass of mucks had formed at the checkpoint and resumed their pounding.

"We should be safe here through the night," the commander said.

"These gates have withstood worse monster incursions. Will you be sticking around?"

"I'm going to check the roads for other unsuspecting travelers. Then I'll see how far along the coast the mucks are landing. Let's hope they haven't made it to any of the villages." The commander nodded.

"I'll have my staff try to reconstruct the visitor list that you need."

"Much appreciated. Let me know if anyone particularly suspicious has passed through here."

"You mean except your lot?"

"Oh, and remember, I haven't used any magic above Tier 3," he said before jumping back down into the new horde below.

Dory had experience fighting in the rain, but that didn't make it any easier. Your feet couldn't get the same sort of traction on the wet ground, and that changed the way you managed your weight. The mucks were similarly affected, but they were already clumsy to begin with. As funny as it was when one slipped and fell, there wasn't any time to laugh before another one surged forward in its place.

"Hold the line!" Major Holfast yelled from the side. They were holding, but Dory refocused. This line wasn't going to break because of her. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. They'd managed to push the mucks far enough back to secure the inner tower. The tower attendants had dropped the rope ladder, which the mages were currently trying to climb against all sense of self-preservation. As hard as her job was, Dory wouldn't want to swap places with them right now.

Despite their best efforts to hold them down, the flimsy ladders whipped wildly about in the wind. Not many mages cared to train their upper-body strength, so she could only imagine how it must feel to be clinging on for dear life with noodle arms. For Dory, this was all worth it to save her home. But not everyone here came from the bay. There were knights and adventurers from across the region. Yet they all fought just as hard as she did. She was proud to be fighting by their side.

And she was especially grateful to Maelle. Maelle was the one who'd given them this opportunity, and it was only thanks of her continued support that they'd gotten this far. Dory wanted to prove that the adventurer's faith in them was well-placed by completely clearing the mucks from the entire sector. Dory was about to swing again when the top half of the muck in front of her burned away. The [Firebolt] had come from the tower, and it would be the first of many.

As more mages completed the climb, the spells rained down in glorious volleys. A roar ran up through the line. Dory joined them with her voice. Together they pushed forward with renewed vigor. To the buffer gate! To the perimeter!

Maelle didn't want to admit it, but she was beginning to understand Amberlin a little bit. In particular why she never used any spell other than [Fireball]. There was something exciting about watching tightly packed bundle of energy flying toward its target. Even when a muck stood alone and it would be so oh-so-wasteful to expend all that mana on a single target, wasn't it all worth it to see that goop blow up into the air where it would come down like slimy rain...

And she loved the way the regular rain sizzled and steamed against the ball as it flew. The anticipation as it closed in on a dense cluster of monsters... She had to try very hard to suppress the grin so that the humans didn't think she was a battle maniac. It wasn't that she liked fighting. She just found joy in popping slime balls. It helped that the flow of battle was well in their favor. The mucks were being pushed back! The humans were so tenacious, it was kind of scary.

Maybe they hadn't needed her help after all. Even so, they liked to show their appreciation. The soldiers, in their spare moments, would turn and raise their fists to her in a cheer. She would raise one back in solidarity. She knew what it was like to lose your home, and very much wanted to spare others the same pain. When the first [Firebolts] came down from the inner tower, their voices erupted. There was a sense of power in their war cry that turned her knees to jelly.

She couldn't imagine how she'd react, had she been on the receiving end. If the mucks were creatures of conscious thought, they would have surely fled. Somehow the war cry spurred the defenders on fiercer than even before, and soon the mucks were pushed completely out of the inner zone. Without any targets left for her [Fireballs], Maelle climbed down off the perimeter wall and proceeded to the divider between the two zones. The humans moved aside and let her through. At the buffer wall she tried to climb up.

The rain-slick surface made it tricky, and she fell back down on her tail. She was too embarrassed to look around, but plenty of people must have seen.

"Here, let me give you a boost." One of the soldiers approached and crouched in front of her, cupping his hands together to create a step.

"Thanks," she said a bit awkwardly, and the soldier grinned like this was the highlight of his day. Once she was up on the wall, other mages climbed up to join her, and together they began to thin out the mucks in the outer zone. As a princess, Maelle never got to experience being a part of a team. Her father always said that a king stands alone. As the emperor, he should know. But it meant that she never got to fly around with the other children.

She never got to play Hunt the Scorpion or Burn the Flag or any sort of team sports. She was told it wasn't necessary for the development of a princess. And maybe that's why, at this moment, she felt closer to these humans than she did with most of her kind. Her people didn't want her. That's why there'd been a coup. But these humans were happy to take her as one of their own.

"Are you crying?" Remore's voice jerked her from her thoughts. Dory's brother had climbed up onto the wall beside her.

"It's the rain," she said.

"It can be both," he replied.

"Why do you want me to be crying so badly?" He held up the broken parts of his instrument.

"It's a sad day for everyone."

"Your gittar!" she cried.

"Fallen in the line of duty. Funny how a bit of mana can mend broken bones, but nothing can mend a broken gittar. Much like a broken heart."

"Can't a carpenter just glue it back together?"

"It'll never sound right," he explained.

"Like when you let a bone heal on its own without magic."

"What will you do now?" she asked. All this while, she'd been keeping up her spellcasting.

"I've still got my voice. Maybe I can whistle some tunes. It'll be hard to hear over the storm though." She considered offering him Havlo's flute, which had been passed on to her in case Amberlin needed it when he wasn't around. But it didn't feel right, since the flute seemed precious to Havlo, and maybe instruments were too personal a thing to be shared around—like underpants.

"I've love to hear you whistle," she said.

"Maybe you can teach me later." For some reason this made him really happy.

"I'd love to! I'll have you spitting tunes in no time."

"Maybe a clean technique if you've got one." Remore began whistling. It was a simple melody, but she could feel her mana recovering faster. It wasn't like she needed it, as she still had plenty of reserves, but it made her grin all the same. Maelle stood there on the wall, in that line of human mages, Remore whistling by her side while Dory fought down below, and felt like she was fighting alongside friends. The struggle for the outer zone lasted another hour.

Having the support of that extra tower helped, but most of the mages had exhausted their mana and were casting on their regeneration. Maelle was alone in never stopping her casting. With Remore's whistling and her own deep mana reserves, she held their hard-earned gains while the other mages cycled on and off. Until at long last the outer tower was filled, and the ground forces made the final push to clear the sector of mucks. Only once the outer gate was secured did Maelle step down from her perch.

She was helped by Remore and a couple of knights, for her legs were wobbly from standing in one spot. The storm eased off in the night, and thankfully when morning came, the mucks burned up like usual. The cheers that went up were particularly joyous, and Maelle's voice sounded loudest among them.