The moment I ran up the stairs, what unfolded before my eyes was, quite literally, hell.
“Fuu—uck! My arm!”
“Fall back! It’s coming!”
A soldier groaned, clutching a shattered shield.
Corpses lay draped over the ramparts, spears still in hand.
Blood soaked the floor, and arrows were still flying in without end.
The sky was covered in black dots.
“Arrows! Duck!!”
I instinctively lowered my body.
Thud, tik-tik, tick, thud.
Sharp cracking sounds grazed past my ears.
Some arrows lodged in the wall, and some struck men squarely in the forehead.
“Shields! Raise your shields!!”
One soldier shouted, but before he could even lift his shield, another rain of arrows poured down.
In the end, he collapsed with a thump at the very moment his words ended.
Two arrows were buried in his back. Blood sprayed out, staining the surroundings red.
“Ugh, mister!”
“Urgh, hrrrgh…”
Rimson.
The hairy middle-aged man who had been standing by with us on the wall for the past few days.
Before he could even raise his shield, an arrow struck his abdomen and he crumpled.
Blood flowed out between the plates of his armor, soaking the stone floor beneath his feet.
I peered through a narrow gap, beyond the moat.
Not far away.
A group had set up formation with the moat between us.
They were arranged in a fairly orderly formation.
In the front row stood shield soldiers holding broad shields.
Long spears showed through the gaps, and behind them, archers raised their bows in unison.
Their clothing, the state of their weapons, the precision of their movements… This wasn’t just a band of ordinary bandits.
“What… the hell is going on…”
“Attack!”
A soldier yelled.
Only then did our side begin to counterattack.
The shield-bearing soldiers at the front staggered into position, and behind them the archers hurriedly took out arrows and nocked them.
Bowstrings thrummed as arrows flew one after another.
The sound of iron arrowheads cutting through the wind rang across the wall.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Screams from the bandits came from the direction the arrows had flown.
But they didn’t just stand still either.
Arrows flew back from the other side once more.
“Haa, hoo… Haa, hoo…”
I repeated deep breaths, calming my mind.
My heart was pounding like it would burst, and my fingertips trembled, but… I couldn’t stop now.
I pulled the staff from my waist.
Mana began to condense at the tip of the faintly vibrating staff.
A thin membrane formed, and the energy of water gathered at my fingertips.
“Aileen!”
“…!”
Aileen raised her head at my shout.
She had been curled up behind the wall, trembling, but the moment her eyes met mine, her pupils shook.
She looked at me like that for a long while, then pressed her trembling lips shut and quietly nodded.
She slowly rose, and strength returned to the hand gripping her sword.
Sailun was still holding his bow, only poking his head up and down, but he was moving one step at a time while holding his breath.
“Don’t fall back! Nock arrows again!”
“Keep attacking! Don’t break away!”
The soldiers’ shouts cut across the wall.
This place was now a battlefield.
I put even more strength into the hand gripping my staff.
[Waterflow Barrier]
Swaaaaaash.
A single drop of water formed at the tip of the staff, and in an instant, a defensive membrane took shape.
A current of water swirled, wrapping itself over my head.
“What is that…!”
A soldier who saw the barrier floating above my hand stared at me with startled eyes.
It was a gaze still unused to magic.
But I had no time to care about how people looked at me.
The next step had already been decided.
I forced mana into the tip of the staff.
The water gathered inside the staff, and the water in the canteen at my waist.
When even that wasn’t enough, I melted down part of the Waterflow Barrier and condensed the moisture.
Blue droplets rose into the air one by one, and as they gathered together, they began to grow larger and larger.
The crystal orb attached to the end of the staff trembled strangely, vibrating wildly.
Woom, woom, woom, woom.
The moment the arrow barrage had just ended and a brief silence fell over the wall.
As if seizing that opening, some of the bandits began to rush forward.
“What are those bastards doing?”
“What the hell, are they insane?”
Several bandits threw away their weapons and sprinted toward the castle barehanded.
At that mad sight, the soldiers on the wall exchanged bewildered looks.
“They already raised the bridge. Even if they run, they’ll fall into the moat… Are they in their right minds?”
“Stop them! Shoot! Don’t let them come!”
At the guard captain’s command, as if he knew something, the archers on the wall nocked and fired arrows all at once.
However, the bandit archers following behind accurately returned fire, scattering our arrows.
In that gap, the bandits who had charged ahead reached the very edge of the moat.
And then they suddenly stopped.
“Wh-what are those bastards doing…?”
As everyone watched, they reached into their pockets and took out black stones one by one.
“Wait, those are…!”
An ominous luster engraved in my memory.
A stone rough as charcoal, with a strange energy swirling around it.
[Demon Stone]
“Stop them—!!”
A cry mixed with screams rang out, but it was already too late.
The bandits swallowed the stones without hesitation.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
At that moment, the bodies of the bandits who collapsed while twisting all over began to boil as if enveloped in intense heat.
Their skin burned black, and the horrifying sound of bones twisting echoed out.
Their fingers bent like hooks, and their gums tore as teeth jutted outward.
Their eyes reddened as if they would burst, and their human shapes collapsed.
“They’re turning into monsters…!”
“Damn it… Are they trying to become monsters on purpose?”
Voluntarily swallowing a magic stone that turned people into monsters.
The bandits’ plan was truly insane.
They were no longer human.
Now monsters, they jumped down into the moat.
Then they began crawling up the moat wall like insects.
Crack, crack, crack!
Their claws gouged into the wall as they climbed, as though carving flesh.
Monstrous howls burst from their mouths.
“Kraaaaaaaaaagh!!”
“Shoot! Shoot! Knock them all down!!”
Amid shouts full of terror, arrows rained down without pause.
But the monsters crawling up the moat did not stop.
Dozens of arrows were already lodged in their skin, but they raised their heads, bared sharp teeth, and kept climbing.
“Shoot! Shoot more! Push them back!!”
The soldiers shouted from atop the wall.
But at some point, a strange change began in the monsters’ bodies.
“…What is that?”
“Why is its body—”
One monster, among those that had finally fallen, reached the castle gate.
The monster’s torso began to turn blood-red.
Veins bulged out through its skin, and its body swelled like a balloon.
The mass of flesh vibrating like a heartbeat expanded with a sticky sound.
“Get away! Get down!!”
“It’s going to burst!!”
Kwaaaaaaaaang!!
Before the words had even finished, its body exploded into pieces.
A shock powerful enough to shake the wall.
A metallic ringing and screams that pounded irregularly against the eardrums.
All sorts of fragments flew in every direction, and drops of blood and chunks of flesh rained down.
Piiiiiiiiii—
Having been close to the explosion, my ears went numb and my vision warped for an instant.
It felt as though the world was moving slowly.
Someone was screaming, someone was collapsing covered in blood, but every sound flowed past, muffled as if through a layer of filtering.
“N-no, another one!!”
A second one. This time, its body reddened a little closer, and before people could even get out of the way—
Kwaaang!!
—it burst.
Boom! Kwaang!
And then another.
And another.
Every monster that climbed up the wall was a suicide weapon.
They swelled their bodies, burst their hearts, and charged in, sacrificing themselves to destroy the gate.
“Stop coming, aaaaaaagh!!!”
“Move! Don’t block me!! Agh!!”
Just as everyone was thrown into panic and unable to collect themselves, they began to move in earnest.
Like pirates who had discovered treasure.
The moment they saw the hole in the gate, an ominous light flashed in their eyes.
“It’s breached! There’s an opening!!”
The bandit horde began to surge toward the cracked stone wall.
Our side, having only just regained their senses, reflexively launched a counterattack, but the balance had already collapsed.
“By the moat! They’re laying bridges!!”
Someone shouted from behind.
When I turned my head, I saw them unfolding makeshift bridges they seemed to have prepared in advance to cross the moat.
They were temporary structures made by connecting several log planks, but they were being laid at an astonishing speed.
Several lines had already crossed the moat and were nearing our side’s boundary.
“Oil! Set them on fire!! Burn those bridges!!”
“It’s too late! They’re coming up!!”
Someone shot flaming arrows at the bridges, but before that, the bandits began climbing the walls on ladders, and even heavily armed men started rushing over the bridges.
“Stop them!! They’re coming in!!”
Spears and shields clashed as shouts rang out, and the sound of metal and screams burst from every direction.
“Over there too! Ladders! They’ve set up ladders!!”
Someone shouted, and when I turned my head, dozens of ladders were being propped up against the high wall at once.
Bandits began crawling up them like beasts.
“Stop them! Bring boiling water!!”
“They’re coming up!!”
Some pushed the ladders away, and some poured buckets of boiling water straight down.
Screams burst out along with the smell of oil, and figures that could barely be called men or beasts fell from the ladders while engulfed in flames.
A desperate chaos.
Spear tips collided, and arrows tore past my eardrums.
Clatter.
A ladder was set right in front of me as well.
Damn it, I haven’t finished gathering it yet.
“Hell with this!”
Thwack!
Baldik kicked the end of the ladder.
The ladder fell down the wall with a thud, and at the same time, an arrow grazed past his cheek.
“Shit, that scared me!”
He wiped his cheek in surprise, then grinned.
“How much longer is that going to take!”
“Just a little more.”
At my words, he swore briefly.
“Damn it.”
He probably didn’t even know what I was doing, but he still trusted me.
That trust felt like pressure, and at the same time, support.
Baldik threw himself toward the ladder again.
In the end, several bandits began climbing the ladders onto the wall.
“One’s coming up!”
Before I could even shout, Sailun swiftly fired an arrow.
Thuk!
The arrow pierced the eye of a bandit who was peeking his head over the top of the ladder.
The man’s head snapped back, and he toppled down below the wall.
“Ugh, I got him!”
Sailun pulled out his next arrow and quickly drew the string.
But more were coming up the ladder.
Above it, two bandits showed their heads at the same time.
“Gah!”
The moment Aileen lost her balance after misstepping, one bandit climbed onto the wall and swung a dagger.
I reached out, but it was already too late—
Bang!
Baldik charged in from the side, shoved the bandit back, and threw him down from the wall.
“One down! You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine!”
Aileen caught her breath and stood up.
But another bandit immediately crawled up onto the wall behind her.
“Behind you!”
At my shout, Aileen twisted her body reflexively.
Clang! Clatter—!
Two daggers collided sharply.
Aileen barely managed to block the bandit’s incoming strike.
With the sound of metal rebounding, she nearly lost her balance, but she clenched her teeth and held firm.
The moment the bandit rushed in to push her back—
“Move!”
Baldik sprang out from the side and swung his dagger vertically.
Slash!
The blade glanced off and sliced the bandit’s thigh, and the bandit screamed as he retreated.
Aileen didn’t miss the opening and regained her stance.
The two moved almost simultaneously and launched a counterattack.
Dagger and dagger interlocked like breathing.
After a brief exchange, the bandit staggered backward clutching his waist, and soon he was driven back by the spears of other soldiers and sent tumbling away.
A moment of breath.
After the short but sharp clash ended, Aileen gasped for air and said,
“…Thank you!”
“Say that later! It’s not over yet!”
Baldik adjusted his grip on his dagger and looked around.
Meanwhile, the sphere of water gathered above my hand began to hum and vibrate.
As if it had finally reached its limit, the surface warped unevenly.
“They’re coming again!”
Sailun shouted in a low voice.
“I only have three arrows left now!”
“It’s done!!”
I clenched my teeth and gripped the staff again.
Lowering my body as much as possible, I stuck my head out through a gap in the wall.
Then I raised my staff high.
[Water Bomb]
Swaaaaaaaaaash!
The water sphere spun rapidly and cut through the air.
Its trajectory looked like a glass bead with glittering scales.
Kwaaaaaaaang!!!
Beyond the moat, the temporary wooden bridge and the entire bandit group crossing it were swallowed whole by a massive explosion of water.
“Aaaaaagh!!”
“Kraaaagh!!”
A pillar of water surged up like a gigantic wave.
Amid the collapsing bridge structure, mud and bandits mixed together and were hurled into the sky.
Along with the broken remains of the bridge, the debris fell one by one into the moat below.
Splash, splash.
A sound like silence echoed one after another over the water mixed with blood and mud.
And over it flowed a brief, strange stillness.
It was quiet enough to clearly hear the sound of someone swallowing.
Sailun breathed out in awe.
“This is magic…?”
The enemy formation collapsed.
The bandits swept up in the water explosion staggered about, tangled in mud and blood, and seizing that gap, the soldiers began to move all at once.
“Now! Break through!”
“Take down the archers first—!”
With those shouts, the soldiers on the wall charged together.
They pushed forward with shields raised, driving back the bandits with short swords and maces instead of spears.
The mercenaries who had scattered also caught their breath and returned to formation.
“Uaaaaaagh!”
“Strike down! Push them back!”
The bandits, thrown into confusion, were driven back without even a chance to resist.
They had been at a numerical disadvantage from the beginning, and the makeshift ladders fell away one by one under the soldiers’ struggle.
The magic had only been used once, but that one time bought us enough time to reorganize.