The starlight trembles.
Dozens of starry sword strikes embroidered the sky as they swept towards Ayane, who quickly retreated behind her doll shield.
Crash!!!
The doll burst apart like a shattered toy, scattering a massive amount of cotton into the air.
Amidst the drifting cotton, another doll appeared, blocking the Sword Saint’s path.
Five-meter-tall giant monkey dolls.
There were a whopping thirty of them, each one a level 110 doll.
The monkeys all used their long arms to overwhelm the Sword Saint.
Swish!!!
“…Damn it.”
Of course, they didn’t even touch a hair on the Sword Saint.
“Is this the end?”
“…You’re right, it’s a monster. Tougher than dragon scales.”
“It’s not even that tough.”
The Sword Saint laughed and raised his sword once more.
Ayane gritted her teeth as she summoned more dolls.
These ‘just this’ number of dolls wouldn’t stop the Sword Saint.
So far, she had tried countless tricks, from ordinary animals to fake dolls imitating strong opponents with special powers and even other rankers, but all had been thwarted.
If she wanted to succeed, she needed to use a scaled-up technique, but then Lily, who was said to be nearby, would also notice the fight.
If that happened, battling the Sword Saint here would be pointless.
“Getting caught would just lead to failure and waste time.”
The opponent wasn’t someone who would fall for puppet techniques, and the way to turn this situation around would be…
“…Fire Eagle!”
“What?”
Swoosh!!
From afar, a hawk doll flew in and snatched Ayane’s hand.
Seeing Ayane soar at a speed incomparable to before, the Sword Saint chuckled and amplified the starlight of the Meteor Sword even more.
At the same time, wings sprouted from her left shoulder.
Pure white wings.
It looked just like Lily’s, shocking Ayane and urging her to push the hawk even faster.
“Are you challenging me to a flying fight now?”
“…Hurry up!”
“You can’t fly for long with that!”
Boom!!
The Sword Saint’s speed surged dramatically.
Before they knew it, Ayane and the Sword Saint had exited the academy and arrived somewhere in the inner fortress, where countless residents roamed.
Just before getting caught by the Sword Saint, Ayane sacrificed the hawk and rolled on the ground in a hurry.
He rolled over.
Beeeee─!
The doll was split in half, defeated by the Sword Saint’s strike.
The Sword Saint laughed as he watched Ayane ugly sliding on the floor, folding his wings.
“Is running away all you can do? Just fight, and I’ll let you go.”
“……”
“This might really get boring. How about you just fight me now?”
“……”
“Just because you pretend to be dead doesn’t mean you are…?”
It’s quiet.
Uncomfortably quiet.
You would think the residents would be surprised by the ruckus just moments ago, but they all just stared vacantly at the main characters of the chaos.
The Sword Saint looked at Ayane with a hint of disbelief.
Ayane pulled her robe down low and muttered.
“I didn’t want to do this either.”
“…You.”
“Marionette.”
Pararararak!!!
The threads that had taken over the area began to move.
The threads simultaneously started to control the residents, and soon hundreds of them charged at the Sword Saint.
Though it was quite a number, he didn’t think for a second that a mere several hundred residents could stop the Sword Saint.
The residents barely had levels above 30, and the few guards didn’t exceed level 80.
Even if he controlled the entire army of Elbrite, including the Cavalry Commander, they wouldn’t be able to hold him back.
“But.”
“You must be afraid of Lily, right? If you are, you won’t be able to strike.”
“…Are you insane?”
“Who’s talking?”
Crash! The Sword Saint was buried in the crowd.
As he said, you would have to be crazy to dare attack Lily.
So, even Lily’s residents, the ‘NPCs’, couldn’t attack.
“Lily sees NPCs as people because she’s an over-immersed user!”
The Sword Saint tried to escape before getting trapped in the crowd, but the Puppet Technique was cast on him, creating a moment of stasis.
It was just a brief moment of ‘rigidity,’ but it allowed the residents to safely cover her.
“Ugh… Hey! Is this not coming off?!”
“Just figure it out and get out. You can manage that much, right?”
“Let me out! Can you say you’re not going to regret this after doing such things? If all the NPCs die…”
“I’ve never killed them. They’re all fine, as long as you don’t interfere.”
“!”
With that, Ayane quickly made her exit.
She probably won’t be able to come out for a while.
‘Too weak.’
Not the Sword Saint, but the residents.
The Sword Saint was incredibly strong, and because he was strong, it was dangerous for him to use even a little bit of power.
It was dangerous to use even a little power because being strong just made it worse.
Even a tiny root of magic could easily crush the fragile bodies of the residents.
They had probably never experienced anything like this, so they must be pondering how much power to use.
It’s not like it’s an incredible puppet technique, so after a while, it should wear off.
“…Well, this is completely messed up.”
Having a Sword Saint as an enemy is no joke.
Ayane sighed and hurried towards the Northern Region.
There was no time left.
■
“…This is a bit unexpected.”
“Wow?”
“No, just keep eating.”
Chomp, chomp, chomp.
Sre buried his head back into the bowl of food.
[LOL]
[How long has he been eating?]
[He eats well, lol]
[The Medium and Small Alliance is a bit underestimated, lol]
[What’s so unexpected?]
[Lily, please step up!]
[What’s unexpected?]
[?]
“The battle just now was a little surprising.”
I nodded while drinking a beverage.
On the magic screen, the Large Guild of the West and the Medium and Small Alliance of the East were fiercely fighting.
The Medium and Small Alliance was powerful, but the guilds from the West were holding their own in a tense exchange of blows.
Especially Black’s ‘Black Moon’ was putting up a decent fight.
It had been a while since the Medium and Small Alliance pushed into the West, but they weren’t seeing any impressive results.
In fact, in the previous skirmish, one guild from the Medium and Small Alliance suffered a huge defeat, losing three captured castles in a row.
[That’s for sure]
[There’s a reason for the Large Guild’s reputation]
[For real, lol]
[Black is pretty strong too]
[Who knows how this will turn out]
[Medium and Small Alliance, LMAO]
[Agreed]
[No one’s even mentioning Lasty anymore, lol]
Despite the ongoing fierce battles… my focus wasn’t on that.
“I never thought Aisha would lose.”
Ayane from the Medium and Small Alliance had invaded Eli Academy and faced off against the Sword Saint, Aisha.
With both of their names being so similar, it was impossible not to notice when they started fighting at the academy.
I wondered if they came for me, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
“To get through the North… well, it’s not like the West is easy, so it’s probably an obvious choice.”
The Siege War doesn’t end with taking the castle; you have to maintain control of it for that duration.
No matter how long the resurrection waiting time is, you can never be too careful, so there should at least be some personnel guarding the castle.
The more the Medium and Small Guild Alliance occupied the castle, the more their power gradually diminished, and they began to be pushed back by the western guilds.
On the other hand, in the Northern Region, there was the Eden Federation, but they were currently absent from the situation.
Unless they attacked the main base, it was highly likely they would leave the scattered castles in the outskirts alone.
“Shall we take a look?”
“Hmm… For now, let’s just watch.”
I answered Lasty in a voice not meant for the broadcast.
By the way, Lasty was clinging to my shoulder.
The first to notice the anomaly was Lasty, but I let it slide.
Before we took action, Aisha had blocked them on her own.
Considering her swordsmanship skills and her recent growth, she was more than capable of holding them off and even pushed back at one point.
But she had fallen right into the opponent’s trap…
If Aisha’s personality was as usual, it wouldn’t be strange for her to just push forward regardless of whether the opponent got hurt.
‘Did something change in her mindset?’
In some ways, it was a positive shift, but it was a bit disappointing that she tripped over her own tactics.
“Why?”
“Because they haven’t crossed the line yet.”
While they had used a large number of residents, as Ayane said, they hadn’t killed anyone.
Of course, if Aisha had harmed the residents to get away, not only Aisha but also ‘Ayane’ would have faced consequences, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.
It was an act committed with the certainty that they couldn’t act recklessly.
This much was within an acceptable range…
“Others might not know.”
─Ah! Once again, the Medium and Small Alliance has been pushed back! Almost all fronts except for some in the Northwest and Southwest are being heavily pressured!
─It seems the momentum is good, but they have lost a lot of power while defending the occupied castles. The disappearance of the key player, Ayane, is also significant.
─At this rate, they will lose most of the Western Territory, excluding the guild that Black Sword belongs to… The game dynamics are getting complicated.
─Some of the occupied guilds have launched counter-offensive operations after resurrection. Will the Medium and Small Alliance change their strategy? Or will they stick to their existing plan? It’s all very intriguing!
How those cornered would respond is what remains to be seen.
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