Chapter 217: Swarm of Ferocious Appetites

◆ Jairo◆

“Oh, so they’re here.”

A massive swarm of monsters was approaching from all directions to surround the World Tree.

To think they’d aim for the timing when Bro isn’t here.

“Th-That’s an amazing number!?”

Norb is already chickening out.

Good grief, even though he was trained by Bro, his faint-heartedness hasn’t been cured.

“It doesn’t matter how many there are! We just have to defeat them all!”

I smack the chickening-out Norb on the back to fire him up.

“It’s not just about defeating them. The enemies are aiming for the World Tree’s fruit. If we can’t stop their objective, it’s meaningless even if we annihilate the enemies!”

Then Mina started saying something troublesome.

“We just have to defeat them all before they climb up, right?”

“I think annihilating this number is impossible, honestly.”

“That’s right. No matter how you look at it, there are too many.”

Not just Norb, but Meguri also seems reluctant to fight them head-on.

Well, Meguri is a thief, so it can’t be helped that she’s bad at fighting with brute force.

“Either way, if we don’t repel the monsters, no one will escape unscathed. We’re completely surrounded, after all.”

As if to smack the butts of Mina and the others, Big Sis Liliera raises her voice.

Right! As expected, Big Sis gets it!

Being scared won’t change anything! In that case, before worrying, it’s better to defeat as many monsters as possible, as fast as possible, to reduce the enemies!

“Nn. We can fly, but everyone in the village who can’t fly can’t escape.”

“There’s no point in thinking in circles! If we can’t escape anyway, we just have to blow them all away together!”

“That’s why I’m telling you to think a bit more.”

Then what do you want me to do?

“I’ll fire off a huge magic to blow away the monsters on the front lines, and then Norb, you put up an outer wall outside the fort with barrier magic.”

“I can do it, but with that number, it’ll be a drop in the bucket, you know?”

There are so many, it makes you wonder where they all came from.

“Even so, having a wall will buy us some time. Time until Rex arrives.”

“Hey, hey, you’re relying on Bro right from the start? Let’s just handle it ourselves for once! We were entrusted with the defense of this place by Bro.”

“How do you plan to handle this massive army? Just so you know, even if I rapid-fire my strongest magic, my magic power won’t hold out.”

Good grief, Mina is also scared by the number of monsters and overlooking something important.

“For that, we do that. We aim for the boss.”

“Boss? But isn’t Rex out searching for it?”

Mina tilts her head with a ‘what are you talking about’ face.

“Nope, the boss is coming here.”

“Basis?”

“Because there are this many monsters. They’re aiming for the World Tree’s fruit, right? If so, the boss should be tagging along to make sure the underlings don’t eat it on their own. So it can eat it itself.”

“I see, that certainly seems possible. Even in a pack of beasts, the boss eats the best parts first.”

Big Sis Liliera agreed with my idea, saying ‘I see’.

As expected of a skilled adventurer, she catches on quick!

“Hmm, wild intuition, huh. I suppose that makes some sense.”

“Why can’t you praise me more honestly?”

Jeez, this one really ain’t honest either.

“Then let’s summarize. Our conditions for victory are three. Protect the World Tree’s fruit and the World Tree, protect the people of the village. And repel the monsters. Since annihilating the monsters is difficult, we defeat the boss, or hold out until Rex-san returns!”

“Yeah!”

“Understood.”

“Nn.”

“Understood.”

“And lastly, try not to die! As long as you’re alive, injuries can be healed, so fight so as not to die!”

” ” ” ” “Oooooooohh!!” ” ” ” “

At Big Sis Liliera‘s words, the Elves raise a war cry.

“Leave it to us! We’re used to getting injured just enough not to die!”

“That’s right! Thanks to Master Rex, we’ve become able to step into the world on the brink of death!”

“I kinda don’t want them stepping into that world too much.”

“Leave dealing with the monsters that board the World Tree to us. Weapons and armor forged with the blacksmithing arts imparted by His Majesty Honorary King Rex won’t let monster fangs through!”

The Dwarves are also fully motivated, clad in their newly made equipment.

“Alright! Then let’s go, you guysss!!”

◆Mina ◆

” ” ” ” ” “Ooooooooohh!!” ” ” ” ” ” “

Following Jairo‘s command, the Elf and Dwarf warriors raise a war cry and dash out towards the ground.

“That idiot! Even though my preemptive strike comes first!”

“Even though I’m the Warrior Chief…”

“…Do your best.”

Meguri lightly pats the shoulder of Sharaza-san, who was watching the dashing Elf warriors with a sorrowful face.

Wait, this isn’t the time to be watching such a scene leisurely! I have to launch the preemptive strike quickly!

“Then I’ll launch a big one! FROST STORM!!”

I unleash a storm of extreme cold towards the monsters surrounding the World Tree.

The storm instantly freezes the monsters advancing through the forest.

“Ooooooh!! The monsters are freezing right before our eyes!”

Furthermore, the fog filling the Forest of Straying further freezes the frozen monsters, turning them into a giant block of ice—no, an ice wall.

“Moreover, the frozen monsters have become obstacles and the monsters can’t advance!”

“A-Amazing. It has more power than our magic borrowing the power of spirits…!?”

Seeing the monsters trapped in the ice wall, the Elves raise voices of surprise.

Fufun, I fired it with a massive amount of magic power, after all. You have to be surprised at least this much.

“Haa, haa… Norb! The rest is on you!”

“Y-Yes!! GRAND CIRCLE TOCHKA!!”

When Norb activates his magic, the earth rises over a wide area, forming another fort to cover the Elves’ fort that covers the World Tree.

“Uwoooooh!? A giant outer wall outside the fort!?”

Moreover, perhaps Norb was being considerate, but the newly created outer wall was connected by passage-like walls in a spiderweb shape so it could easily coordinate with the inner fort.

“Wheeze… haa… W-With this, we should be able to delay their advance a little.”

“Alright! Leave the rest to us and rest! Let’s go, Big Sis Liliera, Meguri!”

As we slump down out of breath, Jairo and the others fly out with flight magic.

“Yeah!”

“Nn!”

“Don’t rely only on the guests! We will protect the World Tree!”

” ” ” ” “Ooooooooh!!” ” ” ” ” “

Furthermore, the Elves and Dwarves also dashed towards the ground.

“Well then, we should drink mana potions and return to the fight too.”

◆ Jairo ◆

“Uwoooooh!! FIRE STRIKE!!”

I use the great sword magic of flames surging from my weapon to slice through the monsters all at once in a horizontal slash.

“Hey! You can’t use fire techniques in the forest!”

“Eh? Ah, sorry!”

“It’s okay. The forest is filled with fog, so it seems it won’t spread.”

I was scolded by Mina, but Big Sis Liliera informed me there would be no damage thanks to the fog.

“Seriously! Lucky!”

“Even so, be careful. You were just lucky this time.”

Yeah. Even I know it’d be bad if I burned the forest down.

“Yeah! I won’t mess up next time! Even so, if I can’t use fire, what should I do? The only other thing I can use is healing…”

I can’t defeat enemies with healing magic.

“Hmm, Bro also said image is important for magic, so let’s try a new technique here! A magic that’s bright like fire or healing but doesn’t burn… ugh, this is a pain! Unburnable fire, come ouuuuut!!”

Getting tired of thinking halfway through, I pour magic power into my sword while praying for a fire that comes out but doesn’t spread even if it burns.

Then, a white flame different from usual came out of the sword.

“Ooh!? Something came out!”

I’ve never seen this white flame, but somehow I had the conviction that this would be fine.

“Alright, this should work! Eat this! My new finishing move! Umm, UNBURNABLE FIRE SLAASH!!”

My strike slices through the monsters along with the surrounding trees.

But the flame only cut the monsters, and the surrounding trees are safe.

Moreover, the flame shows no sign of spreading.

“Alright, it’s not burning!!”

This is usable!

“Wait!? What is that magic of yours!?”

“Heheh, amazing right? It’s unburnable fire magic!”

“Hah!? What is that!? When did you become able to use such magic!?”

“Just now!”

“Die.”

“Don’t suddenly use a serious voice… it’s scary.”

I reflexively stepped back at Mina‘s intimidating attitude suddenly brimming with bloodlust.

“Why is it that someone who hasn’t seriously studied magic becomes able to use such complex magic…”

“How should I put it, it’s a feat that’s possible exactly because it’s incantationless magic that doesn’t require chanting.”

“It’s too nonsensical.”

“I wonder if you call that kind of thing a genius?”

Fuffuffu, seems those guys are starting to understand my greatness too.

“Alright! I’m on a roooooll!!”

With the worry of the forest burning down gone, I became able to fire off magic without holding back.

Furthermore, the Elves swarm the monsters we couldn’t finish off, and from the rear, the Dwarves’ supporting spears and arrows fly in.

“Hehe, looking good!”

At this rate, we might manage somehow before Bro arrives!

We defeat the approaching monsters one after another.

“Now we just have to find the boss hiding in here… HEEEEY! You’re there, right, monster boss! Aren’t you ashamed of hiding among your underlings! Are you scared of us?”

I provoke the monster boss hiding in the swarm.

“You know, there’s no way a monster would understand human provocation.”

“You never know. It might react, right?”

It was then.

Suddenly, I felt a chilling sensation run down my spine.

And right after I evacuated high into the sky with all my might following my instincts, giant pincers shot out from the ground.

And the pincers snap shut as if to sever the place I was just in.

“That’s…”

Everyone’s gaze is also drawn to the giant pincers that suddenly appeared.

At the same time, the ground trembled and a single giant monster revealed its figure from within.

“Hehe, quite a flashy entrance you’re making.”

The presence emanating from that exceptionally large body sets it apart from the other monsters.

“No mistake! This guy is the boss!”