Battle at the Oasis (2)

"Whoa! Talk about flashy!"

Jigoro shouted excitedly from the tank's flatbed. I totally understood how he felt. The moment King Salmaan swung his sword, a flaming boar appeared. Just when I thought it had charged into the sandstorm, it exploded. The sandstorm cleared, revealing the enemy, the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord, screaming in agony. The Bigdaleio army charged as smoke rose from its charred exoskeleton, as though it were the signal flare announcing the start of the battle. It felt like I had stepped into a war movie with a production budget of several hundred million yen.

But more than anything, I was shocked by the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord's vicious appearance. The fact that it was a scorpion as large as Lord Agnasrelim was already impressive enough, but it had several other distinctive features as well.

The first thing that caught my eye was its pincers, which were nearly half as long as its entire body. They were covered in spikes as densely packed as the teeth of a bed of nails, and those spikes seemed to be what it had been firing at the scouting party. There was no mistaking it, since it was still launching them at the Bigdaleio army like rain.

Next, besides its pincers, the rest of its exoskeleton was covered in enormous spikes reminiscent of the Tarasque. 'Thornshell' was certainly an apt name. Its entire body looked viciously spiked.

And the final feature was its tail. It had no fewer than three of them. What's more, it fired poison from the tips like beams. It was terrifying. The liquid was both poison and a dissolving agent. Soldiers hit directly by it groaned in agony as their armor slowly melted away. The scene was simply horrific.

Fortunately, our preliminary investigation had revealed that the enemy was a scorpion, so we had been able to predict that it would use poison. During our preparations, we had stockpiled a large quantity of powerful antidotes, and even now, whenever someone was doused in poison, they used an antidote potion and escaped serious harm. But consumables would eventually run out. We had to finish this before that happened. If we were careless, the army would be wiped out.

"Then, we'll begin our operation as well."

"Sure thing!"

"Understood!"

We began moving according to the plan. After Iris secured herself to Kar with her tentacles, she flew into the sky with me to provide support from above. The remaining members of our group, meanwhile, immediately began firing spear-like bolts from the ballistae mounted on the tanks.

Besides the one we had ridden here, there were two more tanks transporting the mage unit, food, and other supplies. That meant Eiji, Toji, and Jigoro could each use a ballista. No one was allowed to slack off!

The bolts fired by the three of them flew off at high speed. They overtook us in the air and closed in on the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord, but none of them possessed a Skill useful for ranged attacks. Ballistae were designed to be easy to use even for people who weren't archers, but the distance was simply too great, and not a single bolt hit its target.

However, it seemed they had managed to draw the enemy's attention. It had probably realized that the bolts couldn't be ignored after seeing them plunge deep into the sand at its feet. It turned its head away from the Bigdaleio army and toward us. Hey, it's definitely aiming at us, isn't it!?

"Kar! Evasive maneuvers!"

"Grrrwoof!"

Perhaps it mistakenly thought that Kar and I had attacked it, because the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord fired its spikes at us. Kar evaded them in flight with acrobatic movements.

I couldn't perform aerobatics, so I hurriedly mounted Kar's back, but that may have been a mistake! Bleeghhh! I feel sick! I'm getting airsick!

"M-my head is spinningggg~~~!"

"Nghhhhh, Astral Magic Circle, Spell Adjustment, Paralysis!"

But! I still had a job to do! My role was to spam 【Curse Arts】 and 【Evil Arts】 and pile on debuffs. In FSW, it was difficult to completely prevent debuffs. Unless you had 【Status Effect Immunity】 like I did, apparently even the most high-end equipment had no item capable of completely nullifying them.

Of course, they could still resist normally, and if the opponent was higher-level or the Skill level was low, the duration of the effect would be shortened. Given the level gap, I would probably only be able to disrupt it for an instant, but that instant would be enough for the Bigdaleio army to launch a fierce attack.

All I could do was support them so they could move freely. They were unquestionably the stars of this battlefield.

"Bwooooooooooooooooooo!"

'Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!'

In the meantime, King Salmaan, who had charged ahead alone, collided with the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord. The greatsword and pincers clashed with a dull clang. W-wait, Your Majesty! Why did you charge ahead all by yourself!?

Apparently, he had the skill to get away with charging ahead. King Salmaan was crossing blades with the enemy on equal terms all by himself. No, he might even have the advantage. He was knocking aside the pincers while calmly cutting through the spikes growing from them.

Even so, it could hardly be called an easy victory. The spikes on the pincers were being sliced cleanly apart by his specially made greatsword, but the enemy was no slouch. It swung its pincers while firing spikes at the same time. King Salmaan dodged them with astonishing reflexes, but because of that, he couldn't close the distance any further.

Still, thanks to that, Kar and I were free to fly around, making it easier to fire 【Curse Arts】 and 【Evil Arts】 in rapid succession. Iris seemed to have calmed down as well and was tossing items that caused status effects one after another. As a result, the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord kept suffering from various status effects, then recovering from them, over and over. It seemed annoyed too, and its movements had become somewhat sloppier.

Gaaang!

'Gii!'

Oh, Toji's arrow hit it directly! But it couldn't pierce the exoskeleton, which looked even harder than metal. It was merely deflected, achieving nothing.

Still, it seemed to have drawn the enemy's attention for a few seconds. A truly first-rate warrior could achieve significant results with even that much time.

"Bwaaaah!"

King Salmaan seized the opening Toji had created and swung his greatsword through. The masterwork blade left a deep gash in the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord's pincers.

The cut probably couldn't be called a major injury, and it hadn't deprived the enemy of its means of attack. Even so, it proved that their abilities could inflict damage on the enemy.

'Gyaaah!'

Perhaps the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord had judged King Salmaan, who had wounded it, to be a threat and decided to kill him in earnest. Until now, it had dealt with him using only its two pincers, but at last it aimed one of its three tails at him. The other two were spraying poison to keep the army from approaching.

"Nghhhhhhh!"

It had only gained one additional tail to contend with, but the effect was enormous. Apparently, it was better at attacking with its tails than its pincers. The Thornshell Scorpion High Lord used its pincers to limit King Salmaan's escape routes, then drove its deadly poisoned stinger at him. Its movements were extremely skillful—a refined style of combat worthy of its high level.

But this was no time to admire it! At this rate, King Salmaan would be defeated. I absolutely couldn't let that happen. I was the only one who could prevent it.

"I'll support you! Magic Circle, Remote Activation, Holy Shield! Iris!"

"Yes!"

The Holy Shield that appeared between the tail and King Salmaan shattered from a single blow. As expected, my skill level hadn't been enough to withstand even one attack. But by its very nature, the Holy Shield could block any attack once. I just had to use it as a disposable absolute-defense wall, like always!

As a finishing touch, Iris threw an item. It was something like a firecracker, also used in Bigdaleio to repel monsters, and it produced a deafening bang. Perhaps startled by it, the creature stopped moving. Good, it looked like we had escaped the crisis!

"You have my thanks, guest!"

'Gigirigirigiiiii!'

"Kar!"

"Grrrwoof!"

A cry of gratitude and a cry of hatred reached me at the same time. By protecting King Salmaan, we had apparently been judged a threat as well. One of the tails that had been used to keep the Bigdaleio army at bay was now aimed at Kar.

Even after fleeing beyond the range of the tail that lashed like a whip, we could only dodge the poison sprayed from it like a beam. Our lives were now in danger, but that actually worked in our favor. While we were being targeted, the Bigdaleio army had managed to advance right up to the enemy.

"Shield bearers, forward!"

"Mage unit, fire! And whatever you do, don't interfere with the king!"

"Oooooooooh!"

The heavy infantry raised their shields in a solid formation with no gaps, while the mages behind them unleashed their magic all at once. They aimed at a single jointed limb. The magic struck almost simultaneously with the tail's blow against the heavy infantry.

"Guuuhhh!?"

'Gigaaah!?'

The infantry were knocked down, but their concentrated attack had achieved its purpose: the exoskeleton of the jointed limb struck by the magic was damaged. Even the fallen infantrymen immediately rose and re-formed their ranks. They truly were an elite unit.

"Now!"

Then Prince Jahal charged at the shattered exoskeleton at a terrifying speed. He was the second-fastest person after King Salmaan, and the reason he hadn't been there until now was that he had been waiting for this moment.

"Spiral Thrust!"

The Thornshell Scorpion High Lord's jointed limbs were slender by the standards of its enormous body, just like those of an ordinary scorpion. But that was only because its entire body was gigantic; in reality, each limb was as thick as a utility pole. A lightning-fast thrust from Prince Jahal's spear sliced one of those limbs clean through.

'Gyaaaaaaaaaah!?'

Incidentally, a scorpion has twelve limbs in total: two pairs of jointed limbs bearing pincers and six pairs used to brace against the ground. Of those, the pair with the large pincers was fully occupied fighting King Salmaan, while the pair with the small pincers hadn't moved from the start, perhaps because they weren't suited for combat. The creature was standing on the remaining eight legs.

In other words, losing one limb wasn't enough to knock it down. Even so, the blow that shattered its hard exoskeleton had left it shaken. Taking advantage of that opening, King Salmaan slashed at the pincers once more, while Prince Jahal... had climbed onto the enemy!? That wasn't merely bold; wasn't it just reckless!?

"Take this...!"

'Gii!? Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!'

The instant the prince took a mount position and tried to drive his weapon down into its body, the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord began thrashing as if it had gone mad. It swung its pincers and three tails wildly, stomping the ground in a frenzy with its seven remaining limbs as it tried to throw Prince Jahal off.

"Waaaaaah!?"

"Huh!? Jahal!?"

Prince Jahal hung on atop it like a cowboy riding a bucking horse. He held out like a rodeo rider, but he was finally thrown off. Hey, hey, hey, hey! The prince dying here would be no joke at all!

"Kar! We're going to save him!"

"Grrr!"

Kar slipped through the attacks of the Thornshell Scorpion High Lord, which was still rampaging like a mad creature, and approached the falling Prince Jahal. Damn it! At this rate, we wouldn't catch up!

"Leave it to me!"

Iris made an incredible play at that moment. She extended her tentacles, wrapped them around the prince's arm, and caught him just above the ground. The ground was sand, so the fall might not have killed him, but if he had landed there in this situation, he would have been trampled.

"Nice one, Iris! Kar! Retreat!"

"Grrrraaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Kar put all his strength into a steep climb and withdrew to a safe area. Prince Jahal must have been heavy, but Kar, a power-type Dragon, somehow managed it. Even though he was carrying Iris and me as well, he did a great job! Honestly, he was far too good a partner for me.

"Prince Jahal! Are you all right!?"

But right now, confirming the safety of our client's son was more important than praising Kar and petting him all over.

"Th... th... this..."

"Are you hurt anywhere!?"

"I'll get a potion ou—"

"This is the BEST!!! Wahahahahahahahahaha!"

...I thought he had suffered serious damage because he was hanging his head, but apparently I had completely misunderstood. This kid wasn't merely fine—he was overjoyed after that dangerous experience. I had heard he was a speed freak, but was he the type who wanted to ride roller coasters over and over?

"I've decided, Izam! I'm going to make that one my mount!"

"...Huh?"

What is this young master talking about?

"You'll help me, right?"

"Ah, uh, um, well..."

"Now that we've decided, let's act at once! First, we'll stop it and persuade it!"

...You've got to be kidding me.