Chapter 39: 38

38: [STAGE 2] Nothing better than the good ol’ quantity (3)

Hostile NPCs.

They were quite literally, as the name suggested, NPCs who were hostile to the player.

These bastards intruded into the stage and screwed over the player, and they were mainly divided into two categories.

The first one was the type that directly engaged in combat.

They appeared as units that possessed skills, ultimates, and traits, just like playable characters.

Those NPCs were considered Named NPCs, which meant that they were very strong.

The second type was the type that indirectly harassed the player.

Although they didn’t directly participate in battles, they harassed the player with a special ability.

They could control the weather, and spread curses, among other things.

‘That bastard belongs to the second category.’

I glared at the bard with a cone hat as I ground my teeth.

‘He can order monsters around with his flute.’

Right, I’d already met him in my past playthroughs many times.

However, he wasn’t this annoying in my past playthroughs, and that was why it took me a while to remember him.

He was an NPC from the Lake Kingdom.

He had no real combat ability, but he was a bard that could order monsters around with his flute.

The players call him—‘The Pied Piper’.

Except for a few special cases, most monsters have extremely simple behavior patterns.

They simply run to kill the closest human being.

But when the Pied Piper appears, things change.

The monsters will prioritize attacking the target that the Pied Piper designated.

“Demian! Quick, shoot him down!”

“......”

“Demian!”

Demian couldn't move as he aimed his crossbow.

Meanwhile, the Pied Piper put his flute back into his inner pocket and disappeared as if his work here was done.

“I-I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

As Demian lowered his crossbow slowly, he lowered his head too.

“But… Even if he’s an enemy… Shooting a person, for me is… just…”

“......”

I tapped lightly on Demian’s shoulder.

“We can talk more about this later.”

Demian was a healer, to begin with. He was a young boy whose main job was to save people, not murder.

During his time fighting on the monster front here, he had many experiences killing monsters, but he never had any experience killing a human.

‘However, among the enemies that we must fight against, there are plenty of humans.’

Inevitably, there will be times when he will have to fight against humans.

If he cannot overcome this problem, then Demian’s combat ability is as good as being cut in half.

I turned my head and shouted at the soldiers.

“Artillerists! Archers! What are you doing?! Focus your firepower on the center! Take them out, all of them!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

The aiming of cannons and ballistae moved to the center of the wall. Soon, cannons and ballistae began pouring out shells and arrows.

Boom! Ka-boom!

Clatter…!

It was a massacre.

In the explosions and raining arrows, the rats died in an instant and collapsed.

However, that was only for a moment.

Squeak! Squeak!

The gutter rats began to advance steadily, hiding among the corpses of their comrades.

A wall of corpses piled up like a mountain turned into a barricade that was blocking the attacks.

“They’re continuously attacking the walls! The walls are being destroyed!”

I tried my best to look calm as I heard Lucas’s urgent shout.

“Do not worry. We simply have to kill them all while the wall stands strong.”

Even though it was urgently repaired, and had flaws, it was still the wall of a fortress. It won’t be easily penetrated.

“You ain’t going to easily force your way through this fortress wall built by the Empire, you little shits!”

I shouted as I turned my head.

“Jupiter! Time to work! Get over here!”

“I was expecting you to say that.”

Spark, ptsss…

Jupiter, who was already standing behind me and preparing her magic, raised her hand high. I shouted as I stretched out my hand.

“Fry’em up-!”

Jupiter also stretched her arms forward as I did.

Thunder…

Light scattered from the dark clouds gathered in the sky,

Flash-!

Dozens of lightning strikes landed on the rats.

Boom!

The thunderbolt turned the rats that had flocked together to ashes at once. It was an inexorable force.

However, this cannot end here. I shouted at Lily who was in charge of maintaining the artifacts.

“Lily! Prepare the flamethrowing artifacts!”

“How many should I activate?”

“All of’em, of course! At maximum power!”

I pointed at the mountain of gutter rats.

“Burn’em all down!”

“Activating flamethrowing artifacts!”

On Lily’s order, the alchemists activated the artifacts.

After not even a few seconds,

Whoosh!

The artifacts installed at the edge of the fortress fired out blazing flames.

The flames turned all of the rats' corpses into ash, including the rats hiding in between.

And there we stood watching the battlefield engulfed by lightning and flames.

Everyone gasped as they watched the scene.

“It’s fine. We can do this.”

I said with force.

Even though I was a little flustered because they were starting to break the wall down.

However, all I have to do is think simply. All of them are being guided to converge into one single point.

“We just have to focus our crossfire on the point they gather! Don’t worry!”

All I have to do is turn the area in front of this wall into a Kill Zone.

We must maintain ourselves before the 2nd wave approaches. And as I was just about to give out an order–

* * *

* * *

Ring!

The alarm sound of the system.

Knocked on my eardrum at a very ominous time.

I honestly didn’t feel like it, but I turned my gaze to look at the system window that newly appeared in front of my eyes.

[Enemy Information - STAGE 2]

- Lv.30 Ratman Champion : 3

- Lv.5 Giant Gutter Rat: 1574 (Kill Count: 1677)

The names of the boss monsters that had been displayed as ??? were revealed.

The Ratman Champion.

It was the highest rank among Ratmen—known for its extremely strong tenacity.

And the fact that it had just been revealed meant…

Kyeeeegh-!

It meant that they appeared on the battlefield.

Leading the second wave of rats behind, three level 30 Ratman Champions appeared, waddling their large bodies.

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They had almost the same appearance as the Ratman we encountered in the dungeon.

The only difference was that these Ratmen are double the size of the one we met in the dungeon, almost the size of an elephant.

‘Usually, they’re nothing but meat shields.’

They were nothing but a bunch of tanky monsters that could be killed by focusing our firepower on one at a time.

However, what about in this situation?

In the current situation where all the monsters are trying to break through a single point of the wall-

Thud!

One of the Ratman champions kicked the ground.

Then, running on four legs, it began to charge toward the wall at a speed that was unbelievable for such a giant body.

“Stop it.”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

I shouted as I watched the monster get closer rapidly.

“What are you standing still for?! Stop it-!”

The soldiers who came to their senses then fired cannons and ballistae.

Boom! Ka-boom! Clatter…!

However, the Ratman champion did not budge as it continued to sprint toward the fort wall.

Ratatatata-!

When it came within range, the auto defense turret reacted, firing rounds like shotguns.

Twak! Twak!

The terrible sound of the magic bullets piercing the skin resounded.

Kyeegh!

The Ratman champion gave a desperate cry and fell as its foot got twisted right in front of the fort wall.

Its massive body rolled on the floor several times, raising clouds of dust, then stopped.

A moment of relief flashed across everyone's faces. But it was not the time to be relieved. I yelled in succession.

“Here comes more! Get ready-!”

The two other Ratman champions,

And the rest of the 1500 gutter rats, started rushing all at once.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Du-du-du-du-

The earth trembled.

I took a dry gulp.

The swarm of rats rushing to a single point could not be described as a mere gray wave any longer.

It was almost a tsunami.

“The Ratman champions must be killed first!”

I pointed my index finger at the second Ratman champion that came in front.

“Fire! Don’t spare a single shot!”

Cannon shells and arrows were shot all at once.

However, the gutter rats around it took the attack instead, protecting the Ratman champion.

Clunk! Clunk!

The auto defense turret entered the reload sequence as it ran out of ammunition.

I clenched my teeth. Those are some tough and tanky monsters… At this rate…!

“Jupiter!”

“Already on it!”

Jupiter cast her magic for the second time.

“Lily, activate the magic-amplifying artifact! The target is Jupiter!”

I even turned on the single-use damage-boosting artifact. A subtle buff aura hung over Jupiter's body.

“Eat this, you little rats.”

With blue light streaming from her only eye, Jupiter stretched out her hand.

Dark clouds gathered and poured out dozens of lightning bolts. A thunderbolt struck the frontline of the oncoming rats.

Thunder-!

And the effect was, as always, powerful.

The area struck by the lightning was burnt to coal.

However, there were too many rats.

Because of the rats that jumped in to take the damage instead, the thunderbolt was dispersed. And the Ratman champions, although hit by magic, endured the damage and continued to rush.

“Dammit! Was it not enough?!”

Jupiter clicked her tongue.

Jupiter was a mage that specialized in AoE magic in the first place. In this melee situation, it was unreasonable to expect her to hit a single object accurately.

Therefore, it cannot be helped.

“Lily! The flamethrowers!”

“Pardon? The flamethrowing artifacts are still on cooldo—”

“Then you’re gonna have to be my flamethrower instead!”

I snatched Lily's wheelchair and ran to the edge of the wall. Lily was in tears, but she calmly gathered her mana.

“I knew things would end up like… this!”

A large fireball was shot from Lily's fingertips.

Ka-boom…!

The fireball exploded right at their frontline.

The entire body of the Ratman champion at the frontline was scorched black. But it kept trying to come running.

Thwack!

And an arrow landed on its left eye.

It was an arrow from the crossbow that Demian had. The arrow that pierced his eye stirred his brain like bread dough.

Kyeegh…

Thud!

And there went the second Ratman champion.

However, the third Ratman champion running right behind him was alive and well.

It leaped lightly over the corpse of its comrade and sprinted forward.

It was only a few steps away from reaching the wall.

“Haa-!”

Swish!

Lucas drew his longsword from his waistband and threw it at the Ratman.

The longsword flew spinning and landed between the neck and shoulder of the Ratman champion. Blood spattered profusely.

However, it wasn’t enough to kill it.

In an instant, I called out the name of our sniper.

“Demian, quick-!”

Click!

Demian, who slowly but surely loaded the next arrow, jerked the crossbow up.

Twang-!

And shot it.

The arrow flew in a perfectly clean trajectory,

Thwack!

Then it penetrated the right eye of the Ratman champion that was about to reach the fort wall.

“Yes! We got hi—“

I shouted out in joy without realizing it.

However, that wasn’t the case. I called it too early.

Kyeeeegh!

Even though it was critically wounded, the Ratman champion pushed itself and used its last strength.

It slammed at the crack made earlier by the first wave of the gutter rats.

It threw its own body at the very place that the first wave of rats dug into.

Crash-!

The Ratman collided against the wall.

The top of the fort wall shook greatly. All the soldiers screamed and held onto the wall.

“Your Highness!”

Lucas grabbed me as I was about to fall.

Barely holding on, I looked down at the walls.

Toward the lower part of the fort wall, which was thick with clouds of dust, the gutter rats were pouring in like sludge being sucked into a drain.

I gritted my teeth.

I got a gut feeling.

The wall was breached.

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