“Confirmed enemy advance! All hands prepare for battle!”
A great shout came from the distance.
Everyone gulped down their porridge and went to battle stations.
If an army which was over 10,000 strong made its move, the air would shudder, to the point where it might even shake the walls of the city. It felt like the oncoming pressure would squash them flat.
In fact, Neia’s acute hearing had picked up the earthshaking clamor of an advancing army, and despondent wails rose up from the militiamen.
Morale was falling fast.
Still, there was nothing Neia could do, and she was not in a position to do anything either. Neia’s job was to fill every enemies who entered her range with arrows.
Ever since this city had been taken back, she had spent every waking moment practicing her archery when she had not been performing her duties as a squire. She mused that it was thanks to that practice that she had gotten used to Ultimate Shootingstar Super, and she was now able to use it properly.
Still, why are the demihumans attacking now? Attacking at night would be better for them… do they have something in mind? If the Sorcerer King were here, I could ask him about this…
The absence of the magic caster who had walked beside or in front of her for the past month made her feel like there was something important missing from her heart.
No. I can’t rely on His Majesty for everything. I need to stand on my own two feet… Although I’m not sure exactly what the demihumans are planning, there ought to be a reason for launching their attack in broad daylight. In that case, it would be best not to be careless.
As Neia observed the demihumans from the battlements, the frontline of demihumans drew her attention.
…Hey, that’s…
There was an Ogre standing three meters tall in the front rank. That demihuman carried a massive weapon.
It was some kind of ranged weapon that was protected by a wooden shield. It was a ballista. Although it seemed just right for the demihuman due to the latter’s massive size, the fact was that they could be used as siege weapons.
Many Ogres carried these weapons, which ought to have been mounted in place, and they stood in a row.
Had they scavenged them from a city and remodelled them for upright shooting?
The drums thundered, and the ballistas were prepared to fire.
And then―
―The city walls literally began to shake. The battlements collapsed in some places. While they would have to have been lucky not to take any casualties given the circumstances, luck was with them for now.
A gigantic arrow shattered the battlements. It was not so much an arrow as a javelin. A thick javelin that was longer than Neia was tall raced through the air and embedded itself in the walls. At this point, the only word for it was “siege weapon.” Surely nobody could take a hit from it and survive.
The Ogres looked like they were preparing for a second volley.
“You bastards!”
Neia stared at them.
The Ogres were far, far away.
Given the power of her bow, she could probably hit them at that range. However, its penetration ability would be greatly diminished, and the fact was that she could not practice long-range shooting like this within the city limits. She did not know the range to them, and she was not confident that she could shoot through the ballistas’ shields and kill their wielders.
That being the case, all they could do was open the gates and fight a pitched battle to kill the ballista team, but that would be an extremely foolish move.
In other words, all they could do was keep on taking this one-sided attack.
We have to pull back… but if we do, we can’t stop the enemy advance. What kind of plan does the brass have?
Although the enemy was only shooting so far, they would move to take the walls if the men retreated, and if the enemy seized the walls, then the city was all but lost.
They would take control of the stairs leading down from the walls and force the soldiers around it back to open the gates in order to let the main body of their forces into the city. All they needed to do was force that sequence of events through by dint of sheer power. There was nothing they could do about it. Even Remedios would have a hard time being surrounded by enemies in a melee.
In that case, all they could do was sacrifice their rear guard and flee the city from the east. However, that would probably lead to the situation they had discussed in a previous strategy meeting ― they would be harried along the plains, or they would be crushed between this army and the one arrayed against the south.
What would the paladin commanding the west gate decide?
Would he fall back, or would he fight to the end?
As Neia contemplated the matter, a second volley came from the enemy.
The walls shook again as the lance-sized projectiles struck it. The trembling felt more intense than the last time, and at the same time she heard an unrecognizable sound.
“Abbbahhhhh!”
She looked at the source of the sound and witnessed a horrific sight.
One of the ballista bolts had shot clean through a wall and impaled a militiaman hiding behind it. Blood bubbled out of his mouth. Several seconds later, the man’s twitching stopped and he collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The bolt had nailed him to the wall like an insect specimen, and his arms and legs dangled limply downwards.
Screams broke out from around her as the men saw the hideous corpse which had suddenly appeared among them.
Neia grabbed the necklace which the Sorcerer King had lent her, and bit her lip.
That was a fatal wound. No amount of healing magic could cure that.
The death of one soldier did not greatly affect their fighting strength. However, the fear generated by his gruesome death infected the surroundings. The thought that they might be next and that there was nowhere safe for them triggered the survival instincts of the men, and their bodies trembled.
“「Under Divine Flag」!”
Someone cast a spell.
The terror coursing through the militiamen was suppressed in that moment. This was the result of using magic to improve their resistance to fear. While the divine spell 「Lion’s Heart」 provided complete immunity to fear, it was only effective on a single target. In contrast, 「Under Divine Flag」 affected everyone in a sphere around the caster.
That was why the paladins stood among the militiamen.
“Don’t be afraid!” The paladin who had cast the spell shouted, “Take up your weapons to save those who have gone through the same pain as you!”
Spells and certain special abilities could briefly panic people, but the fear they felt now came from their own hearts. Under the effects of the fear-suppressing spell, the fire blazed anew in the militiamen’s eyes.
Still, that was simply covering up the actual problem. The important thing was whether they could do anything about the one-sided attack they were taking from the enemy. Otherwise, the only thing that would come of it would be more dead and wounded. However, Neia could not come up with any good ideas.
“Take cover! The enemy doesn’t have unlimited ammunition! They couldn’t have brought so much with them!”
I see, Neia thought. Most of their resources ought to be going to the south in order to provision the army standing off against the southern forces, so was that why they thought that they would not have brought enough ammunition for their weapons here? Still, even a captive craftsman could make a lot of those bolts in a short time, although the crossbows were a different matter. This was a gamble.
―The third wave came.
The ogres were not used to archery, and many of them missed their shots. Even so, many of the battlements crumbled under the third volley, and there were many casualties among the militiamen.