Antfolk Extermination Battle (4)

Damn the Kingdom of Hameil! They even gave them magic stones!

We had already used up all our magic stones. The antfolk must have been hiding them. I never imagined they had given them magic stones as well.

"Otto! Someone, seal the gap in the front line!"

Otto had fallen and wasn't moving a muscle. We couldn't get close enough to check whether he was alive or dead. A gap had opened in the front line, and antfolk were pouring through it.

Kyle led the soldiers around him in an attempt to block the gap, but the situation had already become desperate. There weren't enough soldiers to seal it completely.

But we had already used up our reserves, and there was no one free to spare.

If anyone could, it was me.

"Kolts, Belt, Ban. Follow me!"

I raised my blade and charged toward the gap alongside the standard-bearer and trumpeter.

"Romelia!"

"Romelia-sama?"

Sensei and Mia-san tried to stop me from behind, but we were the only ones who could seal that gap.

I raced straight down the hill and reached the front line.

"You there, soldier, over here. Seal that gap! You three, come here!"

I took up a position at the front and tried to command the soldiers, but in the melee, I couldn't give orders effectively. The soldiers were struggling just to deal with the enemies in front of them.

Reorganize the units. Bring in the wounded. Support isolated allies.

There were so many things I needed to do, yet I couldn't do any of them.

Frustration coursed through me. I felt like I could do more—do it better—so why couldn't I?

"Romelia-sama, fall back!"

A soldier shouted from behind, but there was nowhere left for me to retreat. I urged the soldiers on, trying somehow to command them, but at last a soldier ant broke through the front line and burst out.

"I won't let you!"

I thrust my slender sword at the black, armor-like exoskeleton.

This custom-made sword was a master smith's handiwork. But its tip slipped across the insect's hide, leaving only a faint scratch.

"Damn it."

The antfolk stared me down with its compound eyes. It opened its split mandibles and made a sound like glass scraping against glass.

It swung a stone spear. I tried to block it with my sword, but the blow knocked the sword away and struck my helmet.

The impact knocked me onto my backside, but my body felt no pain. My helmet flew off, but it had absorbed the force of the blow and spared me the worst of it.

I wasn't injured. But I couldn't move. Facing the antfolk with hostility gleaming in its compound eyes, I couldn't make my legs move.

The antfolk thrust its stone spear at me.

I'm going to die!

I envisioned the future in which the stone spear pierced my head.

That was when it happened.

Suddenly, the world changed completely.

Color vanished from my vision, and sound disappeared. Time began to flow so slowly that I thought it had stopped altogether.

(What is this?!)

The inexplicable sensation bewildered me, but strangely, I wasn't afraid.

In the slowed-down flow of time, I could make out each individual facet of the antfolk's compound eyes. I could even see the roughly chipped face of the stone weapon it thrust at me and the splinters sticking out of its crude wooden shaft.

In this world where time had stagnated, I could see everything. But seeing was all I could do; my body would not move at all. I could only watch as death approached me.

The crude weapon, as though unearthed from some ruin, came right before my eyes. But just before it reached me, a club thrust out from beside me and smashed one of the ant's compound eyes.

"Are you all right, Romelia!"

Velli-sensei was the one wielding the club. With a desperate expression, Sensei swung the unfamiliar club and smashed the antfolk's head again and again.

I got to my feet and looked around.

"H-hey, Romelia. Are you all right?"

Behind me, Sensei kept the antfolk at bay with the club. Although Sensei should have been out of my sight, I knew exactly how Sensei was moving.

It was a strange sensation.

I thought it might be a temporary sensation brought on by facing death, but it wasn't. The inexplicable phenomenon was still continuing.

Color had vanished from the world, leaving everything dyed gray and black.

Even the azure sky looked gray to me now. But my vision hadn't grown dimmer. If anything, it had become clearer; I could see the grass on the ground, the dust swirling into the air, and even droplets of blood spraying around us.

My hearing was strange as well. The soldiers' shouts and the clashes of weapons should have been erupting all around me, yet those sounds seemed distant. But Sensei's voice, the footsteps of approaching enemies, and the faint voices of soldiers calling for help came through with such clarity that they seemed to be whispering right beside my ear.

"Hey, Romelia. Damn it, don't come any closer."

Stranger than anything else was how clearly I could sense everything around me.

I could sense Sensei's movements behind me even without looking.

It wasn't just Sensei. I could sense the movements of many of the soldiers around me, as well as those of the antfolk. It was as though I were looking down on the battlefield from the sky, seeing it from above. I felt like a bird.

I didn't know what this phenomenon was. But I felt as though I could do it. I could do it now.

"Romelia, this position is lost. Retreat. At least you get out of here."

Sensei shouted while holding back the antfolk.

It was true that the battle line had already collapsed into a melee. With the center meant to hold back the enemy this hopelessly tangled, it was fair to say our original plan had collapsed.

"No. I'll rebuild the battle line now."

"Rebuild it? You can't do that from here."

Indeed, with everything this tangled, there was no chain of command—or anything else left. Even issuing orders was a struggle.

But somehow, I felt that I could do it now.

I picked up my sword, which had been stuck in the ground nearby, and used it like a baton to direct the troops.

"Ressen, Ufu, Koreru! Come here and help me rebuild the battle line!"

I gave orders to the soldiers who had just defeated the antfolk in front of them and were looking for their next enemies. They were the three who had been in the reserve unit. I was fairly sure I had their names right.

The three soldiers I called looked at me in surprise. I understood their surprise, but we couldn't waste time.

"Come quickly! Protect Sensei and the healers. Kolts the standard-bearer is over there, right? Belt and Ban, the trumpeters—come here, quickly. Sern! Once you've taken down that enemy, support Boa behind you. Once it's down, both of you come over here. Beers! Miles is wounded on the left. Drag him over here. Gossen, Anto, Fuki, Soshue. Three antfolk are coming from the right. Meet them head-on!"

In the chaos of the battlefield, I worked outward from those around me. The soldiers began gathering, surprised though they were. With soldiers converging around us, our safety was gradually secured.

"Sensei, I'll gather the soldiers, so reorganize them into units and establish a defensive line. Mia-san, I'll gather the wounded. Treat them. Karlman, triage the wounded. Divide them into three groups—lightly wounded, seriously wounded, and dead—and deal with them accordingly. Stop the bleeding of the lightly wounded and return them to the battle line. First stop the bleeding of the seriously wounded and keep them alive. Full treatment can wait."

I gave no instructions concerning the dead. It was heartless, but this was the best way to minimize the number of deaths.

"O-oh, right. Got it."

"Y-yes!"

Though surprised, Sensei, Mia-san, and the others followed my orders. They had never imagined that we would reorganize units and treat the wounded in the middle of a battlefield like this. I hadn't imagined it either, but I could do it now—and I would.

"Belt, Ban! Blow your trumpets—the signal to assemble. Call out to those around you to gather beneath this flag!"

Once enough soldiers had gathered, those nearby began joining them on their own. I left the nearby soldiers to the trumpeters and pointed my sword toward Graves's group, which was moving together amid the chaos of the battlefield.

"Graves!"

Amid the confusion of the battlefield, my voice shot out like an arrow and reached Graves.

Graves himself looked surprised that my voice had reached him, but I ignored that and began issuing orders.

"Three soldiers are isolated on the left. And enemies are approaching from behind! Split your unit in two and send one group to rescue them and the other to defend! Miecha, you have one ally on the left and two ahead. Take down the enemies and rejoin them. Sei! You've advanced too far. Rejoin the allies behind you! Ben and Hans's unit! An enemy group is coming toward you—move to the front!"

I also issued orders to the members of the Romelia Squad fighting valiantly on the battlefield.

"Borel and Gatt's unit! Three soldiers to the left. One more farther left. Four soldiers are isolated behind them. Go rescue them. Once you've finished the rescue, assemble here. Glenn and Zeze's unit, keep holding back the enemy where you are. I'll definitely come help you later!"

I sent orders flying like arrows from the rear. The clash of weapons and shouts around me created enough noise to drown out any voice, yet whenever I pointed my sword and called out, my voice reached them and they turned to look at me. It was strange.

Hearing the trumpets, the soldiers around us had largely gathered. Treatment of the wounded had begun as well; the lightly wounded returned to the battle line, while even those who had seemed certain to die were barely clinging to life.

The confusion in the rear was subsiding, but the front line was in terrible shape. Kyle was fighting like a lion, but antfolk surged toward us like a tsunami, climbing over corpses to attack. Gran and Ragun's units were sending reinforcements our way, but the fighting was so fierce they could not get close.

I could see a group charging like an arrow from the antfolk formation. Their target was Kyle, who was fighting desperately. They intended to break the lone man holding the battle line and decide the outcome.

Kyle was already fighting as though buried beneath the enemy. Unable to make use of his characteristic mobility, he would have no chance of surviving if they swarmed over him and attacked.

"Otto! Wake up!"

I shouted at Otto, who lay sprawled on the ground without moving. Immediately after my voice rang out, Otto, whom everyone had thought dead, opened his eyes wide and leaped to his feet.

"Oooooooooh!"

Otto sprang up, carrying his momentum through as he swung his enormous hammer. With a war cry, he swept away the charging swarm of antfolk in a single swing.