Volume 6, Chapter 40 – The Defense of Airoll (5)

Translator Note

Not Fiene POV btw.

The knights who had taken over the posts from Fiene and her companions were raising the drawbridge as darkness fell, preparing for a siege.

In the dark forest, countless monster eyes glowed eerily, staring intently at the soldiers standing atop the castle walls.

They must have defeated hundreds, if not thousands, of monsters today alone.

Yet, the fact that their numbers showed no sign of dwindling illustrated just how massive the scale of this Monster Stampede truly was.

However, the town of Airoll was protected by the two things it prided itself on: its sturdy castle walls and its water moat, both of which had successfully kept monsters out until now.

There was no sign of the feared Ogres, and the dangerous swarm of Blood Crows had been completely wiped out thanks to the Saint’s quick thinking.

As expected, the town of Airoll was formidable.

Perhaps due to this sense of security, some knights could be seen chatting and laughing atop the walls.

“Still, the numbers are insane. I wonder why there are so few Higher Species among them?”

“Who knows. But isn’t that better? If there are no Higher Species, it’s just a bunch of idiots.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Hahaha!”

The captain reprimanded the knights.

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“Hey! Stop wasting time with idle chatter!”

The scolded knights hurriedly saluted and returned to their posts, but the relaxed atmosphere remained.

It was then.

“Captain, there’s something strange over there.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

The captain walked over to the knight and squinted into the darkness.

“Huh? I feel like something is moving, but what is that? Can we light it up?”

“Yes, sir!”

The subordinate knight tied a torch to the end of a long pole and thrust it forward.

*Rustle rustle rustle rustle*

“Ugh!”

“Whoa!”

The two cried out simultaneously.

Revealed in the torchlight was a massive swarm of glossy black cockroaches.

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“Damn it! Giant Roaches are swarming the monster carcasses! Get a Fire Attribute Mage over here, now!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

At the captain’s shout, one of the knights immediately sprinted off to fetch the resting mages.

“Dammit. Of all things, we have to deal with Giant Roaches too!”

“Captain, I mean, they’re definitely gross, but are they really that dangerous? We’re way up here, aren’t we gonna be fine?”

A young knight, not grasping the situation, asked the captain in a carefree tone.

“Y-You idiot. Those things… they fly.”

“Eh?”

*Bzzzzzzzzzz*

At that moment, the entire swarm of Giant Roaches took to the air with a thunderous buzz of wings, flew straight across the wide moat, and latched onto the castle walls.

Then, with sickening skittering movements, they began crawling up the walls.

“Aaaahhh!”

“You idiot! Don’t panic!”

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The captain barked at the screaming young knight. He then began issuing orders calmly.

“Everyone, knock down the Giant Roaches climbing up! These things are weak to fire! Use torches or anything to burn them! Do not let them into the town! They’ll devour all our food!”

“””Yes, sir!”””

The knights desperately pressed their torches against the Giant Roaches crawling up the walls.

The moment the flames touched them, the Giant Roaches let out a sharp sizzle, burst into flames, and tumbled back down.

“H-Hahaha… Damn it. You scared the hell outta me. I’ll burn every last one of you!”

Seeing that, the young knight did the same and reached out with his torch.

ut one Giant Roach slipped right past him, latched onto his face, and began gnawing away at his helmet, trying to bite straight through it.

“Get off!”

The captain drove his sword into the Giant Roach’s abdomen, tore it off the knight’s face, and hurled it over the wall.

Other Giant Roaches immediately swarmed the fallen one.

“Damn, they’re cannibals too?! Hey! Are you alright?!”

The captain called out to the young knight, but there was no answer; he seemed to be in a state of shock.

The spot where the Giant Roach had chewed on his helmet was chipped away a little, but it shouldn’t have been life-threatening.

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“Dammit! Fill the gap! Hmm? What’s that?”

As he gave the order, the captain spotted something vague and whitish approaching from the forest.

“W-Wraiths!? Why are Wraiths here!?”

Marching alongside the Wraiths were Zombies, Skeletons, and even Zombie versions of the monsters they had slain earlier that day!

“T-This is impossible. What on earth is happening!?”

The Wraiths glided across the moat as though it weren’t even there, then passed straight through the castle walls as if it were the most natural thing in the world, slipping into the town.

As though drawn by something, the Zombies also marched straight toward the town, tumbling one after another into the moat.

Even so, more and more Zombies kept throwing themselves into the moat until their piled-up bodies formed a bridge across it.

“A-A-A… Messenger! Messenger! Summon Saint-sama immediately and have her perform Purification on those Undead! Also, tell Captain Lazare to prepare for the Giant Roach infiltration!”

“Yes, sir!”

Upon hearing the order, the messenger sprinted toward the garrison.

Inside the town, the Wraiths had already broken in and were attacking the citizens; heart-wrenching screams for help could be heard from inside the houses.

The messenger froze for just a moment at those cries, but he shook his head as if forcing himself to push the hesitation aside, then sprinted toward the garrison.