Chapter 354 - Isolation (1)

The lakeshore where our garrison stood was one of the few safe zones on the Dark Continent. But that only meant monsters didn't spawn there naturally, not that it was absolutely safe.

Monsters weren't the only dangers in the Labyrinth.

Case in point.

WEE-OO! WEE-OO! WEE-OO!

Having detected enemies, the alarm spell blared like an emergency siren. Who those enemies were was obvious. Even if monsters had happened to wander in, monsters didn't fire mana cannons.

“It's Noark!”

“They're attacking!”

But that raised another problem. We knew who the enemy was. The question was how they'd gotten here. Surely the main force that had gone ahead would have searched the area thoroughly as it advanced.

'First of all, there's no way the main force has been defeated.'

I started with that premise. Just how many troops were in the main force? There was no way that many soldiers could have been wiped out in so little time. If things were that dire, they would at least have sent word, and if word had reached us, our Third Army Corps would have immediately gone to reinforce them.

Which meant...

'They slipped past the main force and attacked us here.'

That was the most plausible possibility. If that premise held, the attackers were likely few in number. A small elite force made far more sense for evading the main force's notice.

Of course, I didn't know what the actual situation was...

“Mister...! What are you doing? Hurry up and get out here!”

For crying out loud, it's Rihen.

Though with Raven already getting the wrong idea, maybe there was no need to bother correcting her?

“Right. Let's get outside first.”

Finishing my brief assessment, I hurried out of the tent.

And at that very moment...

“Uh, uh...!”

I saw a shell of pure mana coming straight at us.

Whew. Good thing I'd gone first.

BOOM!

The shell exploded against my shield, scattering residual mana everywhere. The impact was considerable, but not enough to drive me back.

The Guard Corps’ Symbol absorbed fifty percent of it, after all.

“A-are you all right?”

What a scaredy-cat. Was it because his magic unit had always stayed in the rear?

“I'm fine.”

Reassuring Raven's aide, who'd been startled by the mana shell exploding right in front of him, I quickly issued orders.

“Alex, was it? Stay close behind me.”

“Y-yes!”

“Emily, Erwin, follow behind and protect this man.”

“Yes!”

We formed up in an instant. Ordinarily, that would have been the job of Alex, our squad leader...

But from the look of things, he was the type who was only good at doing what he was told. He didn't seem to resent me giving orders, either.

“Alex, where is the deputy commander's tent?”

“O-over there!”

“Then we'll head there first. Keep up.”

“Yes!”

While the other explorers poured out of their tents, gathered into squads, and headed outward, we moved deeper into the garrison. Our squad's objective was to protect a VIP, after all.

... Honestly, that was just an excuse. I'd decided that heading to the command staff would get us more detailed information about the situation.

'Raven might be in danger, too...'

Picking up the pace, we reached the tent where Raven should have been. As it happened, she was standing right outside. Uniformed mages from the Magic Corps crowded around her. They'd drawn a magic circle on the ground and looked as though they were performing some kind of ritual...

“Deputy Commander Raven, what exactly is happening?”

I hurried forward to ask, and Raven frowned.

“Why are you people here...?”

“It's an emergency. Naturally, we've come to carry out our assigned mission.”

“Oh...”

Raven nodded in understanding. Apparently, she'd remembered that she'd reassigned our squad to guard her.

But something still seemed to bother her.

“Assistant Adjutant Alex Halo, why is this man giving the report you should be giving? Aren't you this squad's leader?”

Under Raven's glare, Alex froze, unable to hide his fluster.

“Th-that's a good question...”

Somehow, he seemed to have only just realized that I'd naturally taken charge of the group.

Not that that would count as a mitigating circumstance.

“That's a good question...?”

“No, I'll c-correct it!”

“What exactly are you going to correct, and how...? Sigh. Never mind. We don't have time for this.”

“Deputy Commander, mana charging is complete!”

At one mage's shout, Raven ended the conversation and stepped into their midst.

Then...

「Allua Raven has cast the Grade 2 defensive spell [Wall of a Thousand Metals].」

An enormous iron wall covered the entire lakeshore in a dome.

* * *

Honestly, my jaw dropped the moment I saw it.

'Wow... She can cast Grade 2 spells now?'

The Grade 2 defensive spell, Wall of a Thousand Metals.

Dozens of mages had poured mana into it, but ultimately, Raven was the one at the center doing the casting. Simply put, she'd grown enough to cast Grade 2 magic as long as she had sufficient mana.

'What a strange feeling...'

A deputy commander of the Magic Corps. And with an epithet like the Mage of Gold, I'd expected her to have gotten quite strong...

But could I really bring someone like her back as a companion? As the deputy commander of a corps, she'd have a secure future without ever needing to live as an explorer again.

“That buys us some time, at least. Good work, everyone.”

“Not at all, Deputy Commander!”

“Everyone, follow me.”

Raven set off, radiating the air of a boss, and the corps' mages followed. I quickly picked up my pace and fell in beside her.

“Where exactly are we going now?”

I was inwardly worried even as I asked, but fortunately, Raven just glanced at me and answered with an annoyed expression.

“... Third Army Corps command contacted us. We were told to activate our defensive spell first, then report to central headquarters. If that answers your question, don't ask any more. I already have enough to think about.”

Knowing full well how irritating it was to have someone interrupt your thoughts, I just shut up and followed.

We soon arrived at central headquarters, and Raven slipped inside alone. I tried to hurry after her, but...

“... Why are you following me in here?”

“Our squad's mission is to guard—”

“Stop talking nonsense and stay outside. That's an order.”

With Raven drawing such a firm line, I had no choice but to back off this time.

Damn. I'd wanted to hear what the top brass would discuss inside. Wasn't there some way to eavesdrop?

I asked Erwin and Amelia, but they didn't seem to have any way to do it either.

How long did we spend just waiting?

“Deputy Commander!”

About thirty minutes later, Raven emerged from the tent. Seizing the opportunity, I hurried to her side and asked how things had gone, only to receive a cold reply that she couldn't tell me.

'Ha... She really doesn't cut people any slack if she isn't close to them.'

I missed the old Raven. She used to do everything I asked, even while making a face of utter disgust...

“Emily, could you find out for me?”

“I was already planning to.”

Information was worth more than a fortune at a time like this, so I gathered it through Amelia. She must have had plenty of experience with this sort of thing, because it didn't take long.

“For starters, they say communications with the main force have been blocked.”

“Does that mean we can't get reinforcements from them?”

“Well, not necessarily. They normally contact each other at regular intervals. Once that stops, the other side should realize something has happened here.”

“Then the question is whether we can hold out until the main force returns.”

Nearly ten hours had passed since the main force set out. Even if they turned back after losing contact, it would inevitably take them considerable time to return.

“How are the explorers taking it?”

“Not too badly. They mostly trust the Mage of Gold. They seem to believe everything will be fine this time, just like last time.”

“Last time?”

“Oh, I know about that!”

Erwin jumped into the conversation, seizing her chance.

Apparently, the garrison had been attacked exactly once before. That had been in the early days, when neither side had much information about the other.

“That woman summoned this wall back then, too, by pouring mana into a magic circle she'd set up beforehand. Noark tried to break through it for hours, but in the end, they couldn't and fled.”

For the record, that incident had earned Raven the epithet “Mage of Gold.” Afterward, Noark had realized that Raven always guarded the garrison and never tried anything like it again.

Yes, not until today.

“Something's strange.”

“Definitely...”

Unlike Amelia, who agreed with my muttering, Erwin tilted her head.

“Strange how?”

“Well, you said they failed back then and never repeated the same mistake, right?”

If they'd reused a strategy that had already failed, it was more reasonable to assume they'd prepared a way through. Those Noark bastards weren't fucking idiots.

Previously, they'd even anticipated our key fighters escaping through a dimensional gate and prepared a massive explosion spell. And now they were just giving this another shot?

That made even less sense.

'The question is how exactly they plan to break through...'

I thought back over the Wall of a Thousand Metals spell. It was a high-level spell that required mastery of both earth and lightning magic at their utmost limits.

As for its characteristics...

'For starters, it isn't a channeled skill.'

Unlike other spells that needed a continuous supply of mana to maintain their physical form, this one's duration was determined by the amount of mana used when it was first activated.

'Plus, if it takes damage, you can pour more mana into it to repair it.'

I could see why the explorers didn't consider our situation all that hopeless. We had an entire corps' worth of mages gathered here, after all. If the wall was damaged, they could simply repair it. Beyond repairing it, they'd probably be able to cast the spell again at least twice.

But...

'No matter how I look at it, I can't see this ending so easily.'

Hadn't I met a Hans just a little while ago, too?

I racked my brains on the assumption that the enemy had some kind of trump card.

“Um... Mister?”

“Leave him be. He seems to be thinking about something.”

How were they planning to break through this wall? Had they brought along a high-level mage like the Scholar of Destruction?

No, in the first place...

'... Do they even need to break through?'

If I were them, I wouldn't have fired mana cannons from afar. I'd have closed the distance with a surprise attack and forced a chaotic melee.

But they hadn't done that. They'd attacked from a distance and given us time to use Wall of a Thousand Metals.

Almost as though they'd been waiting for that very moment.

'In other words, they wanted us to use Wall of a Thousand Metals.'

Then why? Once I considered it from their perspective, that answer came quickly, too.

“Because they've already snuck inside.”

Nothing was easier than taking down an unsuspecting enemy from within.

But had she not understood what I meant?

“... What does that mean?”

Instead of answering Amelia's question, I looked at the Wall of a Thousand Metals covering the lakeshore and asked one of my own.

“Do you happen to know how long this wall lasted last time?”

“About... eight hours, I believe. They say it stayed standing for quite a while even after the main force arrived.”

Right. So that was how it was.

'Eight hours...'

That was how long we'd be trapped inside this wall.

* * *

The moment Noark's plan took shape in my mind, I went straight into Raven's tent.

“I have something to tell you.”

“I'm quite sure I told you to wait outside the tent. Did that woman tell you to copy his rudeness, too?”

Raven scowled, but it wasn't as if this was the first or second time I'd seen that expression. Ignoring it, I told her everything I had to convey.

At first, Raven seemed bewildered by what was happening, but her expression changed as I went on.

“Why would Noark repeat a pointless attempt? That certainly was something we were wondering about, too. And your argument has merit. I'll organize your thoughts and immediately relay them to my superiors—”

“You shouldn't just relay them. You need to come up with countermeasures right away.”

“... I'll take care of that myself. You may leave.”

I'd even interrupted her to make my point firmly once more, but unfortunately, it hadn't worked very well.

Sigh. Was it because I wasn't talking like a barbarian?

“That doesn't seem to have gone well.”

“We can only hope Raven passes it on to her superiors properly.”

We'd left the tent and were spending our time standing guard outside when it happened.

SPLAT!

Out of nowhere, something blackish sailed through the air and slammed down in front of us.

Then it slowly rose to its feet.

[“Grrrrrr...!”]

It was a corpse with wet, slimy skin.