※Below was translated by Sephallia. Thank you very much.
The fight very quickly devolved into an absolute mess. With no time to organize into rank and file, we were faced with a massive horde. While our forces remained scattered and unorganized, the fight found its way to us.
“Huff… Hrgh…! Why you…!”
The monsters assaulted us from every direction and angle. Even worse, just as Pipi-san had said, they were not just a mob, but seemed to be coordinating their attacks in threes. They actually displayed teamwork.
Even in this moment I faced a crudely equipped ant, a heavily geared praying mantis, and a fly rushing in for a suicide attack from the air.
And that wasn’t all either. The other monsters surrounding me were primed to strike the moment I showed any opening. I cut the monsters that had entered my strike zone one after another, but it almost seemed to make no difference. There was no way I could keep this up for long.
“Pipi-san! We have to do something and establish a formation!”
“I’m doing what I can’t but it’ll take time! The attack on the outskirts might’ve been a decoy. Their real objective may have been our roads!”
As though proving Pipi-san’s conjecture, moment by moment, the number of monsters only seemed to increase exponentially.
“What would help the most right now!? Any orders!?”
“Do whatever you can to prevent them from moving further in! It’ll be rough, but hold on just a bit more!”
“Understood!”
That said, how much could really be done?
“Alea-chan!”
“What! I’m a little busy right now!”
“Rele-chan!”
“―! That’s right!”
Retrieving “her” from my pocket, I dropped her down next to my feet. She wobbled slightly before settling in place and looked at me.
“Rele, I’ll leave the healing up to you!’
“Uyu!”
Rele was a slime that could use healing magic. If she remained close by and healed, I’d be able to fight much more safely.
With this I wouldn’t have to worry as much about my stamina.
“Lily-sama, Simone!”
“We’re safe!”
“I’ll shave away at them from afar! I won’t do anything reckless!”
“Receiving Simone-chan’s support, Lily will continue cutting them down too! Alea-chan, how about you!?”
“I’m going to use one of my big attacks, so make some distance.”
“Okay!”
Sensing that the two of them had moved out of the way, I locked my gaze on the encroaching waves.
“A monster is still a living thing, but if conflict is what you desire you leave me with no choice!”
Holding my sword straight before me, I crouched, readying myself. The next moment I sprung forward like an arrow released from a bow.
“Fierce Assault Sword Dance!”
As I rushed forward my sword flowed in a dance. All the monsters along my path were deftly cut one after the next. Fierce Assault Sword Dance―a move that I unleashed against Mei a couple of months ago in the exhibition matches―at that time, I used it to cut away Mei’s sleep mist and close the distance, but it was originally meant to be used to suppress the enemy like this when outnumbered. Connecting slashes one after another, the technique allowed me to move, attack, and defend myself all at once. It was exactly the technique for the situation.
Unfortunately―
“There’s just… too many…!”
Even using Fierce Assault Sword Dance, a technique meant to cut down large numbers in sequence, the waves of monsters remained relentless. As new monsters endlessly replaced the ones that I’d just cut down, my rush lost its momentum.
“Krh… I’ve gone too deep…!”
Since my technique carried me deeper into the wave of monsters, I found myself stranded. Even though I wanted to use the Fierce Assault Sword Dance in the opposite direction to retreat, the monsters’ relentless attacks didn’t give me that chance.
“In that case…!”
I stopped in place, crouching slightly before focusing on my surroundings. I had to imagine an absolute barrier. A barrier of sword strikes that separated what was inside and out.
“―Slash Domain.”
In all four directions, both vertical and horizontal. As I stood within the horde of monsters, I repeatedly slashed around myself. Any monster that entered the range of my barrier was cut immediately.
“… I should be able to last for a while with this, but…”
This technique was ultimately a defensive one. Even if I could maintain this barrier and my position here, if humanity’s line of defense were to collapse, it would hold no meaning.
“Pipi-san said to hold on… for just a bit more…”
Maintaining my barrier and cutting everything around me, all I could see was the horde. The dense horde completely enshrouded my barrier and monsters rushed in one after the next in a desperate attempt to break my barrier even at the cost of their lives. While maintaining my technique, I tried to sense for the presence of the other humans. While they’d managed to organize into some sort of formation, something about their movements felt off to me. Our allied forces' attempts to form into rank and file was opposed by an opposite flow of people.
It was as if… they were trying to get in the way―
“At this rate the situation will only get worse…!”
The sword was a powerful weapon, but compared to magic its range of effect was a huge disadvantage. Especially in a situation like this where it all came down to the numbers, the sword had its limits.
“There must be… some way…”
Rele wouldn’t be able to sustain her healing magic forever either. If this continued, I’d eventually run out of stamina. Then, unable to keep up with the monsters, our line of defense would crumble.
“If only my colorlessness was working, then I could use it to enhance my physical abilities―!”
I was desperate enough that I found myself begging for something that I couldn’t do anything about. With both mind and body worn down, I found it harder to maintain the strength in each of my limbs. My body ached, screaming that it couldn’t keep this up any longer.
But even in that situation, my consciousness alone remained clear.
Amidst the struggle, I felt as though my spirit was being refined. What I needed to do next, where I needed to cut to land the most damage, all of that seemed to come to me automatically without the need to actively think. It was a strange feeling, as though I was optimizing myself for combat.
(I feel like… I’m on the verge of a breakthrough.)
My growth as a swordswoman had long been stagnant. There’d been no significant growth after I’d received the title of God of the Sword and developed Null Blade,
But now, driven to a corner, I found myself on the verge of―
In that moment a sound reverberated across the battlefield. At the same time, a large number of monsters in a very wide area collapsed. When I looked, it appeared they’d fallen asleep.
“We made it…”
“Pipi-san and Loretta-san…?”
“We kept you waiting, huh, Alea-chan, from here on leave it to us.”
Pipi-san held something that looked like a violin. Come to think of it, I’d heard about this from Mother Claire, that PIpi-san’s magic was based on sound.
“Serenade!”
When Pipi-san’s bow made contact with the violin’s string, a huge number of monsters surrounding her fell all at once. While the magic wasn’t lethal, it was perfect for our situation. When fighting off large hordes, attacks with a large area of effect were key.
“Fire!”
The sleeping monsters formed something of a wall, slowing the movement of the rest of the horde. This time, it was Loretta-san’s turn. Commanding her army, they unleashed a rain of magic on the immobilized horde.
“It looks like… we’re through the worst of it.”
“A-Alea-chan!”
When I turned toward the voice, I saw Lily-sama rushing toward me.
“Lily-sama… What about Simone?”
“Lily left her with the people at the checkpoint. Lily will help too.”
“With Lily-sama here, we’ll be one-hundred strong. The battle has equalized to about fifty… no, forty-sixty, this will be our turning point. We’re not going to give them any time!”
“Yes!”
Lily-sama used Boost to strengthen us while Rele healed my wounds. Whatever I’d been on the verge of grasping moments ago had disappeared far into the distance. But now, all that was left was one last struggle.
“Okay, let’s go, Lily-sama!”
“Right!”
I once again used my Fierce Assault Sword Dance. With Lily-sama’s Boost magic, it was a lot stronger than before. In addition, I had support from Loretta-san’s troops as well as LIly-sama right by my side.
I swung my blade, cutting through monster after monster, but then―
“!?”
An unexpected sight caused me to stop completely. It was then I noticed that there were humans within the monsters’ ranks.
“It’s dangerous! Hurry and get away―!”
“―is salvation.”
“?”
I thought the woman was a straggler trying to evacuate, but she held her hands together in prayer as she repeated something over and over.
“―is salvation… Destruction is salvation…”
“What… just what are you saying…?”
When I looked, it wasn’t just a few people but an entire line of people marching in line with the horde as though to shield it.
“Alea-chan, don’t bother and just cut!”
“B-But!”
As I continued to hesitate, Loretta-san screamed,
“They’re the Heretics―people who worship the demons…!”