Chapter 38: 37

37: [STAGE 2] Nothing better than the good ol’ quantity (2)

Too many of them.

There were just way too many of them.

I took a dry gulp as I looked down at the waves of rats rushing toward the fort wall.

It felt like I was standing not on the wall, but on a harbor.

A harbor in stormy weather that was about to be hit by a giant gray wave.

Squeak! Squeak!

A gray wave made of monsters rushed toward the castle wall and was shattered like a wave hitting a breakwater.

It was because of the concentrated fire pouring from the top of the fortress wall.

“Fire!”

“Fire-!”

The soldiers drenched in sweat continued to shout. After that, arrows and cannon shells were poured out of the wall.

Boom! Ka-boom!

Clatter!

The gutter rats were burned in explosions and pierced by arrows.

It was hard to hit them when they were far away because they were small and quick.

As they got closer to the wall, the accuracy of our shells and arrows increased.

Not only that, but the barricades installed around the walls were also more compact.

Plus, the fragments of the Specter knight's greatsword, which were pulled out after getting stuck in the wall, played a significant role.

It was not uncommon to see rats stepping on metal fragments and being knocked out.

‘Not bad. Not bad at all, but…’

I moistened my parched lips with my tongue.

'The frontline was pulled much sooner than expected!'

The Kill Zone was neutralized too quickly, and the rats crossed the field to reach the fort wall too soon. It went much faster than expected.

Even if I consider the neutralization of the Kill Zone an unexpected event, it was my mistake for not properly calculating the running speed of the four-legged beasts. Shit.

‘Still, the defense is being carried out with ease.’

I skimmed over the fort wall.

The rat monsters reached the wall in an instant, but the soldiers did not fall into panic and were taking them out one by one as they had been trained.

It was partly thanks to the accumulated experience of the last stage, but also thanks to the large number of veterans who joined.

“Get yourselves together, boys! Stand on your legs!”

“Don’t overwork yourselves already! There’s still a few hours ‘til this is over! Go get yourselves some water!”

“Are you going to be depressed just because you didn’t hit the target? Just shooting has the effect of making the monsters retreat! Keep shooting!”

They were serving as mentors to the young mercenaries.

Even if I didn't give detailed orders, they were effectively attacking the rats on their own.

And our party members.

“Left line of defense! The firepower is getting weaker! What are you doing?! Keep the cannons going!”

Lucas was in charge of the frontline.

While I am responsible for issuing general orders to the entire frontline, Lucas is responsible for conveying the details to the soldiers.

Even if I, who doesn't know much about the military tactics of this world yet, give out orders in a way that’s very hard to understand, Lucas will understand perfectly and forward the orders accurately. Such a competent protagonist!

Clunk!

Twang! Twang! Twang!

Demian was sniping them down.

Slowly but surely, he was piercing the skulls of those rats approaching the wall.

Demian’s strength is ultra-long-distance precision shooting. However, his ability does take a step down from being overpowered in a material war like this.

But he is doing a great job just steadily building up kill counts. Keep the energy up.

“Gravity Field Artifact No. 1 will be down in 3 minutes! Please prepare Gravity Field Artifact number 2!”

Lily was in charge of managing the Defensive battle artifacts on-site.

She raised her voice and walked around busily as if she was appealing that she was working very hard.

Sorry, Lily. No matter how hard you try to appeal, you will be put to work if needed…

For some reason, it seemed that Lily was looking at me with a desperate gaze, but I tried my best to ignore it and looked away.

And next, the last member of our party, Jupiter, was…

“My, my~ Everyone’s working so hard.”

“......”

Just lying on the ground.

On the cot prepared inside the castle wall, with both legs stretched out.

I did tell her to wait comfortably, but I didn’t mean this comfortably. Does she think this is her bedroom or somethin’?

“Oww, ouch! My back is killing me as I try to gather some mana!”

When I gave her a gaze, she started shouting out loud as she grabbed her back.

“......”

I just silently ground my teeth. I couldn’t say anything to her since she was a precious mage… Sigh.

“You better work properly later, Jupiter…”

“Will do!”

Jupiter winked with her only eye and proceeded to take the drink next to her with a straw. I hate this old lady…

Anyway, thanks to everyone working hard except Jupiter, the frontline was well maintained even though it was quite tight.

Ratatatata

The firepower of the auto turret was especially something else.

Although it has the downside of consuming ammo quickly and taking a long time to reload,

While activated, it exerted absolute power. It was able to massacre the low-level and weak gutter rats in groups.

“Oh, how I love you so much!”

I affectionately patted the auto defense turret as it entered its third reload phase. Keep up the good work.

In front of the wall, the corpses of the rats piled up and formed a small hill.

I nodded my head as I looked down at the harrowing yet exhilarating sight.

‘As long as it stays like this, the stage will be cleared without any problem!’

Will I finally be able to clear a stage without any big accidents?

It was at that very moment, as I was lost in my carefree thoughts—

“...?!”

* * *

* * *

In the corner of my sight, I saw something.

Startled, I quickly turned my eyes in that direction.

A man dressed as a bard wearing a cone hat was standing there.

Without a doubt, he stood there on the far southern horizon.

He was standing still, looking at the fort wall where the rats were attacking.

‘So it turns out that I wasn’t seeing things!’

I activated the trait [Map Creation].

The traits I brought for this battle were [Attack Totem], [Defense Totem], and [Map Creation].

I brought it to accurately grasp the battlefield when it starts to get messy, but I used it right away without hesitation.

I had to find out who that man was.

A map in the form of a grid appeared in front of my sight. I looked at the map where the bard with the cone hat stood.

“!”

Normal monsters are displayed as red rhombi. Boss monsters are marked with red skulls.

And that bard with the cone hat was… displayed as a red circle.

A circle would mean an NPC.

And red means… hostile.

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“For fuck’s sake.”

Curse words flew out of my mouth involuntarily.

It was because that was the moment I finally found out the identity of the enemy.

‘A hostile NPC intrusion? In stage 2?’

Various events can occur during stages because all kinds of variables make the game that much more colorful.

A hostile NPC intrusion is one of those variables.

Whether it was the NPCs in the dungeon under the lake or other kingdoms that are hostile to the empire, all kinds of people can interfere with the progress of the stage.

However, this was only stage 2! An event like this wasn’t supposed to happen yet!

“Demian!”

The Director of the game that I can complain to wasn’t even here with me. I urgently called for Demian.

Demian, who was loading the next quiver into his crossbow, immediately came to my side. I pointed south with my hand.

“Do you see that man?!”

This time Demian saw him too. Demian nodded.

“Yes. You mean that bard, right?”

“Shoot him! Now!”

“Pardon?”

Taken by surprise, Demian opened his mouth slightly.

“But he looks like a person, not a monster…”

“That’s not the important thing right now! You have to shoot him down, now!”

I am sure he’s an NPC that came from the Lake Kingdom.

And that outfit. That characteristic minstrel outfit.

I finally found out the identity of the opponent. I know him. I’ve seen him multiple times during my playthroughs.

“You have to shoot him down before he blows the ‘flute’!”

I screamed as I grabbed Demian's shoulder, who hesitated and couldn't bear to shoot.

“I told you to be my trigger, Demian!”

“...!”

“If you don’t want to see more people die, then shoot him down! Now!”

However, it was already too late.

Within the few seconds that Demian hesitated, the bard already put the flute to his mouth…

Tooot-

And played it.

It was a small flute, but it made a sharp noise that echoed through the entire area.

Squeak?!

Squu-ee-ak?

As soon as the flute was played, the gutter rats stopped moving.

The thousands of rats across the wide battlefield all stopped in unison.

“Huh?”

“What is this?”

“The rats stopped? What’s happening?”

The soldiers who noticed this anomaly seemed puzzled.

And the next moment,

Tooot—-

A long sound of the flute echoed through the land.

Squeak!

Squiiik, Squeak!

Right after that, the rats’ eyes started to flash red, and their four legs kicked the ground to rush forward.

Before the flute, the rats only ran into the wall in an unorganized manner.

However, now they suddenly began to rush to a certain point on the wall.

“They’re gathering at one point!”

I shouted and clung to the edge of the wall.

“Where?! Where are they going?!”

“Right next to the gate, in the middle of the city wall! Th-that place is…!”

Lucas, who turned pale, slurred his words.

“Where they just finished the repair…”

Cannons and ballistae fired shots at the rats rushing to that point.

However, that wasn’t enough to stop all of them.

Their change in movement was too sudden, and the response of the defense line was not catching up in time.

The soldiers hurriedly switched the direction of the cannons and ballistae, but it was taking too long.

In the end, the lead of the rats who crossed the trench reached the wall.

Thud!

“...?!”

I was puzzled by the weak vibration that ran up through my toes.

What the?

What are they trying to do?

Thud!

The gutter rats didn’t try to climb up the wall. Instead,

Thud!

They started to run their heads into the wall.

Thud!

They were ramming their heads into the fort wall.

The very same fort wall that had just finished being repaired this morning.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The rats continued to ram their heads.

Until their skulls shatter, they will continue to ram their heads.

The rats in the lead hit the wall with their heads until their skulls shattered, and then fell covered in blood.

And the next rats, and the next…

“Wh-what the hell…?”

“What are they doing?”

The soldiers, lost in their bewilderment at the bizarre sight, murmured.

However, I was finally able to understand their intentions.

“These crazy bastards…”

The repair of the fort wall was completed just a few hours ago.

Everyone did their best in a short time, but the condition of the wall was unavoidably incomplete.

Because we were focused mostly on filling in the holes.

Inevitably, there was a gap.

And the gutter rats were digging between the gap with their bodies.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

They slammed their heads in, bent the iron plate with their claws, and chewed stones with their teeth.

They started to break the wall down.

In a way that only the rats could do, and no other monsters could.

Crack-

The terrifying sound of cracking iron plates surrounding the castle wall echoed.

Grinding my teeth, I glared at the southern horizon.

In the distance, I could see the bard with the coned hat, the Pied Piper, slowly removing the flute from his lips.

Perhaps, it was only an illusion.

But it seemed that he was smiling.

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