The shot arrows were like a sudden guerrilla-style heavy rain.
“Wow, that’s insane.”
Having moved most of her belongings, May found herself blankly staring at Eris’s barrage of arrows.
It felt like a single person unleashing their full power could turn the tide of battle.
Eris, the Guardian, wielded her bow with such power and destructiveness.
Of course, the Ancient Beasts were still just lurking at the forest entrance, not yet joining the fray.
Anyway, with the knights joining in, the backup support matching Eris’s one-person army was shining brightly.
“Geez, at this rate, we’re gonna lose the fight.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Eve sighed beside her, shaking her head. How could a mere academy student possibly win against the officially recognized strongest Guardian of Yggdrasil?
“Well, I could show off my own charm or allure…”
“Oh, that’s what you meant? But… does May even have allure?”
“Look at your tits, they’re impressive.”
Grumbling, May felt annoyed. As Eve gave a vague smirk, May exaggeratedly rolled her shoulders and stepped forward.
“Let’s go, we need to move the injured.”
“I think if Daniel picks May in the end, it’ll be a little shocking.”
“You act shy yet somehow say everything, huh?”
May and Eve headed towards the battlefield to bring back the injured or those unable to move.
“That guy looks like he hurt his leg.”
“Looks about right. I’ll go.”
“Not happening, I’ll go since I’m not carrying anything heavy. You just get ready for transport!”
Even though retrieving the injured from deep in the battlefield was dangerous, May strengthened her body with mana and charged ahead.
At first, she wondered how she, just a young student, ended up in this situation.
But seeing knights wielding swords to protect the kingdom and continent in front of her, she couldn’t just stay back and think only of her safety.
“Hey, Mom! Moooooom!”
The fallen Paladin, with both legs caught by the beasts, crawled on the ground calling for his mother. You’d think a Paladin would call out to a God in such a situation, but they were just normal people too.
“Let’s go see Mom!”
Awkwardly bandaging the leg, May fed the knight some candy, stripped off his armor, and lifted him up.
Even with her enhanced body using mana, it was a struggle to move an armored knight.
Just then.
“Looks delicious.”
“Huh?”
Darkness loomed over the cloudy sky again. May sensed something strange and looked up to find an Ancient Beast with devil horns and bat wings looking down at her.
“It’s been a while since I’ve thought about eating a fresh, young woman, and it’s quite thrilling.”
“……”
Her hands and feet wouldn’t move. It was the first time she felt such fear, and her body felt bound.
“Virgin? A virgin? What a delicacy you’ll be!”
The Ancient Beast cackled in delight. May mustered her strength and, despite the unseen pressure, managed to utter a word.
“I’m taken, you bastard!”
She exhaled and began to charge forward.
While she couldn’t run freely with an injured person on her back, letting go of them was out of the question.
“Pant! Pant!”
“Yeah, run! Hunting prey like you…!”
Bam!
Magic poured over the beast’s long face.
Seeing May being chased, Eve tried to shoot magic in defense. But Eve was more of a scholar, teaching theory rather than using magic in real combat.
The effect was minimal.
“Oh, you look tempting too!”
At first, the Ancient Beast was ready to tear Eve apart for casting magic on it, but when it saw her face, it licked its lips in greed.
Eve felt a chill run down her spine, but thinking she needed to protect May, she continued casting distraction magic in distress.
“Ha ha! Keep it coming! I can smell your lewd scent from your magic!”
“That guy’s totally crazy!”
What smell could magic possibly have? May felt disillusioned by the presence of the Ancient Beast as she continued to flee.
Even though she knew that beast could kill them at any time, she had no option but to keep running.
“Ugh!”
For the first time, a groan-like sound escaped the beast. The rain of arrows that had poured down like a heavy rain suddenly focused on the bat-winged beast.
It staggered and fell to the ground but barely managed to conjure a defensive spell to block Eris’s arrows.
“Yeeoooow!”
Amidst the one-sided bombardment, the beast could do nothing but scream and struggle to gather mana to fend off Eris’s arrows.
“Oh wow, I almost fell for that!”
May thanked Eris and joined Eve in moving the injured to the back.
As the arrow barrage around the battlefield dissipated, the other beasts became fiercer, but Eris knew she had to reduce the number of Ancient Beasts when the opportunity arose.
Seeing the unyielding magic of the beasts, Eris bit her lip and pushed herself even harder at that moment.
“Ha ha! Look at that, Beltan! You’re struggling against an elf!”
The goblin, wearing a drum on his waist, stepped forward.
He began banging the drum like a military band, causing sparks to fly from his club.
“The annoying elf’s gaze must have caught your attention, Beltan! Let’s go, go, go!”
The reason the Ancient Beasts hadn’t charged forward until now was that Eris’s firepower had kept them at bay.
With the demon named Beltan blinded by lust for women taking the lead, the other Ancient Beasts began to move easily.
‘Was this a mistake?’
Eris briefly pondered but shook her head.
If she hadn’t dealt with the demon Beltan right now, it wouldn’t just end with May and Eve dying but also have thrown the battlefield into chaos.
To counter the marching goblin, Elise, wielding a winding golden sword, charged forward.
Her ring emitted a rainbow light, empowering Elise’s sword as she swung it at the goblin.
But the goblin countered with his club.
“Heh, the young lady is quite aggressive!”
Although her strike carried the momentum of her horse’s charge, the goblin was astonished that a delicate girl was matching him in strength.
However, the goblin didn’t plan to simply brawl.
Lightning surged.
Startled, Elise hastily tried to pull back her sword, but the yellow lightning from the club ran along the ground, incinerating her steed.
Left with no choice, she had to jump off her horse to apologize.
The lightning poured down toward the knights chasing from behind. Though the knights quickly turned their horses to dodge, a wall of lightning had risen, isolating Elise.
“This is a bit dangerous.”
She recalled Apviel, whom she’d observed during a previous festival. She remembered him possessing considerable power.
Apviel was strong enough, but Elise instinctively felt the goblin in front of her had strength greater than his.
It wasn’t just the demon and goblin that began to move.
King Mihu and the red serpent also commenced their actions.
They toyed with the knights, killing people as if they were utterly insignificant.
Even though they were humans and knights of strength, those on the battlefield felt like they’d become mere insects.
The Ancient Beasts began to showcase their overwhelming power, dominating the entire battlefield. While Eris had momentarily shifted the tide, they functioned as a single force, swirling to consume everything in the battlefield.
Although Eris could barely restrain a demon, she bit her lip, trying to find the next course of action.
As always, that man appeared at an unexpected time and place.
A blue light dropped from deep within the forest.
The moment she saw it, Adriana, wielding her staff and casting magic, let out an almost ecstatic scream.
“Ahhh… finally!”
Since Adriana was here, the Grand Witch had thought there was no way he could come over from the Beastman’s land.
But that wasn’t actually the case.
When Adriana had initially teleported to chase after the Priestess of Time and Kurika, she had given Daniel her ring once more.
At that time, she had given it to him for emergencies, if their lives were ever in danger from the Priestess of Time and Kurika.
“I absolutely won’t use it that way.”
Just like the last time, when wiping out the Tudogs and now.
To crush his enemies, that man had been using his ring.
He dropped in via warp, and even from a distance, he exerted a violent pressure over the entire battlefield.
Feeling the enormous energy from the forest, the Ancient Beasts, who had been enjoying their slaughtering spree, all turned their gazes towards the forest.
“Kiieee!”
The red serpent opened its mouth wide, screaming towards the forest’s depths. It was the first sign of fear from a creature that until now had been quietly devouring humans.
“Interesting.”
The goblin facing Elise bit down hard on its thick lips, steadying its breath. It felt the same sensation when it faced an opponent it desperately wanted to avoid.
“Hero…?”
Both the Tyrant and Hero were dead.
This time, King Mihu, who had firmly resolved to sit upon the throne, felt a slight tremor in his voice.
He had lamented not being able to fight them, but his body honestly began to coil back in fear.
In the pitch-blackness of the deep forest that was entirely devoid of light, a new king was approaching.
