Volume 7, Chapter 68 – Companions After Power-Up

After sending Yisi off as she jumped into the collapsed sinkhole, Laxy fought back the urge to follow her and stiffly turned around.

There’s no time for idle thoughts.

In the time it took to have that conversation, the number of monsters crawling out of the giant pit had increased by thirty percent. Among them, undead monsters shrouded in necro-flies had appeared. Only holy and light attribute magic could completely eradicate the undead; otherwise, even if they were smashed to pieces, they could regenerate after a period of time. And the only people on the field who could use light magic were a few weak paladins. With such third-rate magic, even with the attribute advantage, they would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Yisi’s decision to leave her on the surface was very correct. If she wasn’t here, the defensive line formed by ordinary soldiers would collapse in no time.

Is it because she saw this that she left me behind…

Although she was reluctant, even exceptionally unwilling, Laxy could only admit that she could not follow Yisi deep into the labyrinth.

“Miss Laxy, could I ask you to defend the eastern front? The soldiers over there are about to break.”

Refina, having disengaged from the battle, came to Laxy’s side. Due to the presence of Rock Golems and Flame Weasels, the southern front was initially the most precarious. But with the help of a Charles and Camilla’s group, it had become the most stable—Charles only needed to release its pressure while standing at the edge of the pit, and the monsters that sensed the dangerous aura would consciously avoid it and scatter to the other two sides. Then, a small number of soldiers, in coordination with the greatly strengthened Camilla and her party, defended the left flank, while the majority of the remaining soldiers held the right side. The southern front was completely secure.

But the trouble that followed was that, as the monsters scattered to the sides, the pressure on the other fronts increased sharply, especially the equally precarious eastern front. The already overwhelmed soldiers were beginning to show signs of retreating under the onslaught of the rapidly increasing number of monsters.

Laxy frowned slightly.

“My lord’s mission for me is to protect you all. I cannot allow for the possibility of you being harmed for the sake of others.”

It wasn’t that she disregarded human lives, but that everything had to be prioritized. The most important task now was to protect Mary’s group from any powerful monsters that might appear. Even if Yisi hadn’t given her this instruction, she wouldn’t have casually left the team. The Gospel had recorded that the hero would be surrounded by a group of supporters, and the four most outstanding among them were called the Four Holy Spirits of the Revelation by the Gospel. To fulfill the grand wish of saving the continent from the Demon Lords, not a single one of these four could be missing. And now, these four Holy Spirits were undoubtedly among Yisi’s family.

If some of the Four Holy Spirits were to die prematurely due to negligence, Laxy could assert that no one in this world could bear such a responsibility. To put it another way, if the sacrifice of a few people could be exchanged for the peace of all the people on the continent, then Laxy believed that such a sacrifice was worth it.

“Refina, to your right!”

“Eh?”

Refina subconsciously looked back at Camilla. By the time she realized what Camilla meant, an exceptionally strong goblin had already leaped in front of her.

She immediately crossed her arms to block.

But it was too late.

“Hmph, a monster with the blood of a demon flowing through it should be purified!”

[Sacred Fire]

White flames suddenly burst forth. Laxy swung her rapier at the attacking goblin warrior.

Crack.

A clean strike easily split the goblin warrior in two. And because the [Sacred Fire] had cauterized the wound, the goblin’s corpse didn’t even spurt any blood.

Slowly opening her eyes, Refina panted in fear as she thanked her.

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“Th-thank you, Miss Laxy.”

“It is my duty. Go to the front, Refina. Without your assistance, Mary alone cannot hold on for long.”

“Understood.”

Refina’s specialty, earth-type magic, allowed her to act as the team’s second vanguard, sharing some of the pressure for Mary. On the second day that Laxy had joined the group in the labyrinth, she had made suggestions for everyone’s position in the Margaret adventurer team. Among them, having Refina change from Edith’s vassal to the team’s second vanguard was the most effective change. After Refina became the second vanguard, the entire team’s sustained combat ability had increased by thirty percent.

“Edith’s fighting style is only suitable for solo skirmishing. It’s too difficult for the lower-leveled Refina to coordinate with her…”

While watching the battle of the Margaret group, Laxy muttered in a low voice. Currently, the group had Mary and Refina as the vanguard, Camilla and Tiffany as the rearguard, and Edith weaving between them. Although the lack of a mid-guard could easily cause the team to become disconnected or even surrounded, it couldn’t be helped under the current limited conditions. If Tiffany, who could use reinforcement magic, were a knight instead of a priest, the team’s structure would become quite stable.

“Mary, Refina, we’re going to the right.”

Camilla, who had been observing the situation, urged in a low voice.

“Eh? The right?”

Pushing the monsters back into the sinkhole with their shield and gauntlets, Mary and Refina looked to the right.

“Are we going to deal with that Rock Golem, Miss Camilla…”

“A threat.”

Tiffany nodded with a rare, serious expression.

While the group was fighting hard to push the defensive line back to the edge of the pit, the left flank of the eastern front to their right had already collapsed due to a Rock Golem. If they didn’t deal with it in time, it was only a matter of time before the eastern front completely collapsed.

“But spears and magic are not very effective against Rock Golems, and we don’t have anyone who uses blunt weapons…”

“Let Mary do it.”

“Yes! A guy like that can be taken down in just two hits!”

Mary raised her shield with great enthusiasm.

Remembering Mary’s attack magic, a glimmer of hope flashed in Refina’s eyes.

“I understand, Master. We’re going to the right!”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.”

Leaving a Charles to hold the southern front, Camilla’s group quickly moved to the nearby left flank of the eastern front.

“Captain! The left flank has fallen! The left flank has fallen!!”

“Have the reserve shield-bearers form a new defensive line!”

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“Yes!”

“A r-rock golem!”

“Raise shields! Everyone, raise your shields!!!”

The Rock Golem, made entirely of brown stone and nearly ten meters tall, strode up to the shield-bearers who had formed an emergency defensive line. As if mocking their weakness, it gave them a seemingly powerless, light kick.

A slow-looking kick, once combined with the massive size of the Rock Golem, contained an unstoppable force.

Bang, bang, bang.

A series of heart-stopping sounds of shattering shields—not just cracks, but completely splintered like weathered, brittle wooden planks. The scattered wood fragments, along with the flying soldiers, were thrown far behind the magic chanters they were protecting.

“GAGAGA—”

In the posture of a predator toying with its prey, the Rock Golem did not immediately stomp on the magic chanters’ heads, but held its stomach with both hands, letting out a mocking cackle.

“How dare you laugh at us, you damn monster—[Fireball]!”

A head-sized fireball flew straight at the Rock Golem, but because it didn’t have enough range, it only hit the golem’s knee and disappeared with a pop.

“It had no effect!?”

“Only earth and dark-element magic can deal with Rock Golems.”

“Do we have any earth-element magic chanters here?”

There was no answer.

But even if there was, it was already too late. The enraged Rock Golem once again raised its right foot, preparing to teach these noisy, disrespectful bugs a harsh lesson.

The shadow of death instantly loomed over the soldiers. A blow that could shatter shields, hitting them directly. What kind of painful death would that be? Uncontrollable fear instantly gripped their hearts. They subconsciously backed away, as if by doing so they could avoid the danger.

A kick powerful enough to break through a city gate reached the magic chanters in the blink of an eye.

“D-don’t come any closer!”

“Eee, eeeeaaaaaah!!!”

“Miss Camilla!”

“[Aegis of Arcus].”

CLANG.

A dull sound, like hitting a bronze bell.

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The expected excruciating pain did not arrive. The magic chanters subconsciously opened their eyes. What entered their vision was a shield-bearer who was much smaller than them, about the size of a child. But what made everyone’s eyes widen was that this seemingly frail half-elf had blocked the Rock Golem’s attack all by herself.

“What is this?”

“Hey, hey… am I dreaming? Is that a child?”

“A half elf shield-bearer girl… it’s the shield-bearer those adventurers were talking about! Just like the legends, she can even block a Rock Golem’s attack!”

“She’s a fortress!”

Although there was a short distance between her and the soldiers, Mary still heard their exclamations. As she forcefully pushed the Rock Golem back, she shyly hid her face in her shield.

“Ehehe…”

If this were the Mary who had just arrived in Gota, she would have absolutely been unable to withstand the Rock Golem’s kick. But after more than half a month of training, she had already grown to level 18, and her strength had taken a qualitative leap.

Unfortunately, the weakness of not being able to use defensive and support magic had not been remedied. She had even gained another attack spell. Although it was a great departure from the needs of a shield-bearer, because the crown-shaped pendant on her neck would emit a golden light when she entered a defensive state, boosting all her stats, Laxy had evaluated that even without using defensive magic, her defensive ability was stronger than most shield-bearers who did use it.

“Stop being so shy. Edith is buying you time.”

With the help of communication magic, Camilla’s voice appeared in Mary’s ear. As if someone had pinched her waist, Mary straightened up and answered in a fluster.

“Y-yes!”

And because the target of [Aegis of Arcus] had been shifted from Mary to Edith, the thoroughly enraged Rock Golem turned to attack the more agile Edith.

This was, of course, a futile act.

Even the fast-reacting, eight-legged Frost Spider had been unable to deal with Edith. The slow-moving Rock Golem would be even more helpless.

Flapping her wings to leap forward, Edith narrowly avoided a blow. Then, taking advantage of the moment the Rock Golem’s body was stiff, she swung Gungnir in a backhand motion. However, after the blow, which was powerful enough to shatter stone, hit the Rock Golem, the feedback she received was an immense force that almost made her lose her grip on her weapon. Her full-strength strike had only caused a small crack on the golem’s body.

Just as skeleton-type undead had an innate [Piercing Resistance] and [Arrow Resistance], Rock Golems had [Low-Tier Magic Nullification] and [Slashing Resistance], which greatly reduced the damage from sharp weapons.

But in contrast, Rock Golems and skeleton-type monsters had the same weakness—or rather, a debuff: [Increased Blunt Damage].

“—□□, [Strength Boost].”

A layer of pale golden light from Tiffany’s chant enveloped Mary. Mary, in turn, held her shield horizontally with both hands, gathered all her strength, and took a deep breath.

“Miss Edith, you can fall back now!”

After shouting this, Mary’s magic points suddenly dropped by half. Then, the steel shield in her hands, shaped like a cross, suddenly flew from her grasp.

[Shield Crush]

She had used this skill before when rescuing Nana and dealing with the Steel-Blade Bees. But at that time, the skill had not been solidified in her soul, and she could only guide its release with her Fallen ability. But now, with her level increase, this attack method has become one of her skills, named [Shield Crush] by Yisi, a long-range, high-power, sure-kill magic.

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With a whistling sound that cut through the air, the cross-shaped shield drew a perfect circle as it spun rapidly, heading straight for the Rock Golem’s head.

However, because its flight speed was too slow, and because of the whistling sound it made, the Rock Golem quickly noticed its existence. But because the shield was insignificant compared to its size, the golem did not use any resistance-boosting magic and simply blocked with its hands.

And so.

BOOM!

Like a cannonball blasting through a city wall, a violent cloud of dust and stone fragments appeared before everyone. The Rock Golem’s body first swayed, and then, with a series of glass-shattering cracks, one fissure after another appeared on its body, starting from its head.

“[Will of the Earth].”

Refina, who had quietly approached and leaped into the air, struck heavily at the back of the Rock Golem’s head.

Having also gone through the labyrinth training, Refina, who was already level 17, was now close to level 20. Becoming the last straw that broke the camel’s back, her blow, infused with all her magic power, completely reduced the Rock Golem’s HP to 0. With a loud roar, the golem crumbled into a pile of rubble.

“They actually took out the Rock Golem?”

“Are these really adventurers? How are they nothing like the ones I’ve seen?”

“Whose children are they…”

“Stop talking! The undead are coming! Reform the defensive line!”

“Yes!”

Because the collapse of the Rock Golem had temporarily made the monsters afraid to attack this direction, the soldiers had a moment’s respite.

Laxy, who had been secretly on guard for assassin-type monsters, frowned slightly.

“Although it was well done, they consumed too much magic power. If this continues, the battle line will collapse before the city’s residents can be evacuated. And the number of undead is also increasing.”

On the premise that she could not leave casually, if she wanted to minimize human casualties as much as possible, she could only think of a way to lure the undead to her and annihilate them in one fell swoop.

But how could she attract the undead in a place with so many living beings? The undead, who hated the living, would kill any creature they could touch. If this were a barren wilderness with no living creatures, then she would only need to sprinkle her blood, and the undead, smelling it, would gather like bees to nectar. But the plaza was filled with blood and humans who exuded the scent of the living. As a non-living angel, she could find no way to attract the undead.

Just as Laxy was at her wit’s end, Camilla, who had been conserving her magic power and had not directly participated in the battle, walked to her side.

“The order Onee-sama gave you was to protect us. If we go near the undead, you will have a legitimate reason to participate in the battle—to annihilate them. I will support you.”

It seems this human woman is not so bad after all.

As Laxy let out a light huff, her furrowed brow finally relaxed, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on her face.

“Thank you very much.”