The Defense of Ireves (2)

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Your 【Mana Precision Control】 level has increased.

Your 【Earth Magic】 level has increased.

You have learned the new spell Earth Fang.

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It was midnight in-game. This was an advantageous time for those of us with good night vision. We had completed every preparation we could make in advance. If we failed to destroy the gate after all that, we would have no choice but to quietly join the monster army and do our part. Hopefully, everything would go smoothly.

"Izam, the monster army has begun its advance."

Moss-san was the one who landed on my staff with a flutter. Like Nanako, Moss-san could fly, so I had entrusted him with scouting. Nanako, meanwhile, was working with Shiitake and me to recover our mana in the mana-gathering array.

I had made the two of them expend a great deal of mana for my impromptu plan. After we finished our preparations, they had focused on recovering it and were nearly back to full, but I still felt bad for involving them in a spur-of-the-moment idea, especially since it had turned out to be even more tedious and monotonous than I had expected.

"All right. From here on, we'll continue surveying the battle from a distance. Once we find the right moment, we'll destroy the gate and charge in all at once."

"I-it's finally time!"

Eiji openly revealed his nervousness and excitement as he snorted heavily. When someone with a pig's head starts snorting, well... it was quite imposing. Knowing that he was a good young man on the inside made the contrast all the more incredible.

Apparently, in real life, he hated his own skinny physique, which he described as frail, and had long admired the sturdy body of a professional wrestler. That was why he had become an orc, a creature with a build diametrically opposed to his own: solid muscle wrapped in fat. It certainly wasn't for any vulgar reason.

"Moss-san, did you find a good spot?"

"Yes, I did. I'll lead the way."

"That's reassuring, indeed."

Well, it seemed he had found a conveniently located spot for us. We would move there and patiently wait for the right moment.

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By the time the waning moon had climbed to its zenith and illuminated the world with its pale-blue glow, the reorganized monster army had descended upon the city of Ireves. At its head was the Troll King, who had not appeared in the previous battle.

The Troll King's appearance—he was the top of the pack and unquestionably its strongest member—made their determination unmistakable. They intended to settle everything in this battle.

"All of you, follow meee! Attack!"

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

With the Troll King's thunderous command as he led the vanguard, the monster army launched its attack all at once. The mere force of their war cries shook the air, and the tremors from their advance were strong enough for those standing on the walls to feel them clearly. The spectacle was so imposing that the previous assault seemed like child's play.

"I-it's coming! Everyone, focus fire on the vanguard as planned!"

The situation was enough to make anyone freeze, but humanity had not given up either. With nowhere to run, they were fighting for their lives.

The instant the Troll King's vanguard entered the range of the bows and spells, ranged attacks rained down in torrents. Every one of them was aimed at the Troll King. They understood perfectly well that humanity would win if they could defeat him.

"Guhahahaha! Do you really think attacks that weak can hurt meee!?"

However, the Troll King did not stop. He could not even be slowed down. His sheer toughness was one factor, but above all, his equipment was uniformly the finest in the monster army.

If one looked closely, the Troll King was taking damage intermittently, but his monstrous natural regeneration healed him immediately. Even fire-attribute attacks—the Troll Race's weakness—had the same result. This was not something he had overcome gradually over time like Izam; he had simply equipped armor and accessories that nearly nullified fire damage.

Furthermore, although this was not limited to the unit led by the Troll King, the monster army included mages and priests. They provided magical support and sent out healing spells, making matters even worse. Even when the humans tried to attack them, the Troll Knights protecting them prevented the attacks from doing any real damage.

Thus, to defeat the Troll King, they needed to destroy that equipment somehow, keep dealing damage that exceeded his regeneration, or cut off the support from the rear. But if any of that were easy, they would not have had such a hard time. In the end, with perhaps only ten percent of his health gone, the Troll King reached the city gate.

"Siege Axe Strike! Shatter!"

The Troll King possessed a Skill called 【Ogre Axe King Arts】, which appeared when a king of ogre-type monsters evolved 【Axe Arts】. True to its grand name, it allowed him to use martial techniques far more powerful than ordinary Skills.

A massive battleaxe, larger even than the Troll King's gigantic body, was slammed into the gate while wrapped in a dull golden phosphorescence. The blade sank into the gate with a tremendous crash. He was supposed to be using a stone axe, but perhaps the stone was made of a special material, because it easily punched a hole even through the metal-reinforced gate.

"Guhahahaha! Fragile! So fragile... huh?"

The Troll King let out a booming laugh as he imagined himself and his minions pouring through the opening, but he had spoken too soon. The hole he had made was rapidly closing right before his eyes.

"Don't underestimate humanity, you monster!"

"A fight isn't all about killing each other!"

The ones who made their mark here were the city's alchemists. They were using Repair, the spell learned when the 【Alchemy】 Skill reached level 25. It repaired items whose durability had fallen. Production classes were poor at direct combat, but that simply meant they should shine in their own fields of expertise.

"Insolent wretches!"

The Troll King seemed to take it as a blow to his pride that the damage caused by his martial technique had been repaired. With an angry roar, he began repeatedly slamming his axe into the gate. He was not using a martial technique or anything else, but the Troll King's raw physical strength was terrifyingly high, so there was no dealing with him. Each blow was nowhere near as powerful as his martial technique, but repeated strikes might ultimately deal more total damage.

"Don't skimp on materials! Keep bringing more!"

"It's being worn down faster than we expected! Keep repairing it at full speed for as long as your mana lasts!"

Even so, the alchemists—players and NPCs alike—desperately kept repairing the gate. But that could not go on forever. Repair was not such a convenient spell that it could keep fixing things indefinitely as long as one had mana. Materials were needed to patch the damaged sections.

Repair could technically be used without materials. However, that method slightly reduced the item's durability and quality. If it were repeated too many times, the gate would still look like a magnificent castle gate, but it would become so soft that it could be destroyed more easily than the door of a ramshackle hut.

"No way we're letting the production classes steal all the glory!"

"Come on! Die!"

Since this was a war event, the combat-class players had assumed it would be their exclusive stage. Yet they had not exactly distinguished themselves during the fortress defense, and now that the city defense had begun, the people doing the most work were those capable of repairing the city gate.

This left them with no chance to distinguish themselves. Refusing to suffer any more humiliation, the combat-class players rallied. Those with 【Archery】 or 【Throwing Arts】 were not the only ones contributing; even those without them ran around replenishing arrows and other ammunition.

"Nuo-o-o-o-o-o...! How annoying! You there! Help me!"

"Yes, sir!"

The army led by the Troll King had reached the gate, but that did not mean the other monsters were simply standing around watching. The remaining monsters attacked from below, climbed the walls, and even tried to destroy the walls themselves.

Among them, the monsters commanding the units on either side of the Troll King's main force came rushing to the front of the gate. They were Troll Generals, monsters in the level sixties. Among the monsters, they were second only to the Troll King in strength.

These monsters entrusted command of their respective units to comrades leading the remaining forces and hastened to join their king. The assault on the gate, which had already seemed impossible to hold back, grew even more intense.

"GROAAAAAAAH!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Damn, damn, damn! Focus all fire on those guys! If this keeps up, the gate's going to be destroyed!"

From humanity's perspective, this was intolerable. Even those who had been attacking the enemy mages and priests hurriedly redirected their attacks toward the Troll King and the Troll Generals. A barrage capable of killing an ordinary player in under a minute rained down upon them, yet the three monsters' HP barely decreased. At this rate, the gate's destruction was only a matter of time.

"The city gate might be destroyed...! This is my time to shine!"

"What!? Hey, where are you going!?"

"Don't go doing whatever you want! We discussed this, remember!?"

At that moment, one player left his post without permission and ran toward the city gate. Naturally, the NPC commander and the player coordinators under him tried to stop him. But that player refused to listen.

"Shut up! You're weaker than me, so don't order me around!"

His name was Arthur. He had not won the martial arts tournament like Luke, the 'Hero,' nor was he the leader of a large clan. He had no particularly notable title, so why was he making such a bold statement? Because he had been the first player to reach level 50, and simultaneously the first player to evolve from Human to High Human.

Being 'the first among all players' did not earn him any special preferential treatment. It was not even reflected in his Title. However, the system had formally proven that he was the highest-level player among them. His certainty that he was further ahead than anyone else had gone to his head.

"I'll do it... If I kill that boss monster, I'll become famous overnight...!"

That pride ran wild, driven by a single impulse: vanity. He intended to personally defeat the culprit behind this event and make a name for himself.

It was said that anyone who wanted to solo a monster with King in its Race name needed to be at least within the same level range as their opponent, as well as possessing player skill a cut above that of the other players. He knew none of this. To those with the necessary knowledge, his challenge was nothing short of suicidal.

"Hey, you wanderer over there! What are you doing!?"

Ignoring the NPC's call demanding to know who he was, he drew his sword as he leaped down from directly above the city gate. He used the only 'Ultimate Technique' he could currently use. He had deliberately used an 'Ultimate Technique' partly because it was powerful, but more than that, he wanted to show it off to the other players and bask in the satisfaction.

"Here I go! Eat my 'Ultimate Technique'!"

"Huh? What's that?"

The Troll King had been punching the gate nonstop, but when he happened to look up, he was bewildered by the small shadow falling toward him. As far as he was concerned, even the highest-level player at the time was merely a weakling on par with a Troll Knight. What could a single piece of trash possibly accomplish?

"Ultimate Technique! Heavenly Flight—Guh-aaah!?"

"I'll eat you wholeeee!?"

As it turned out, Arthur's self-proclaimed deadly 'Ultimate Technique' never got its moment in the sun, nor was he eaten alive by the Troll King. The reason was that the ground directly beneath the city gate suddenly exploded.

"Oh, it had more power than I expected."

It was then, they say, that the skeleton magician responsible for all this casually muttered those words.