CH 322

After traveling west from the floating island all night, they reached a desert region the next morning.

"Mm? Good morning... Oh? You're already awake?"

Merle noticed Sophie standing at the window placed in front of the cockpit.

Tam-Tam Mode Eagle would constantly use Merle's mana.

Wraith A's Mana Seed replenished her mana at regular intervals, but in case of an emergency, the tree team members slept there.

The summons like Wraith A would keep watch overnight, so they all could sleep without worrying, but the summon had alerted Sophie so she woke up early to see what was going on outside.

Merle had not noticed Formar was also awake already. He was reserved and silent like always, watching from the side windows while keeping to himself.

"I woke up just a minute ago, Merle. Just come look at this."

"Huh? What's that? It looks like purple slime on the sand."

"I fear that's what remains of an oasis. I heard there was a city built somewhere in the Muharino desert, next to an oasis."

"Eh?"

The light streak had gone straight to the west from the middle of the continent with the Confederacy.

It went down to the ground there in the middle of the desert, where a city next to an oasis once stood.

It was hard to tell how it used to look before, but the city itself was in ruins, and the oasis contaminated.

Looking at that, Sophie recalled something Allen had said.

Why had no one heard of other cities being under attack like Theomenia?

It was hard to say for the other two places, but Sophie could guess why the city under the western light streak had said nothing.

Going west from the Confederation led to a large desert.

It looked desolate, but was actually inhabited by some people.

Humans had formed settlements wherever there was an oasis, or an underground water reserve accessible through wells.

The cities dotted throughout the Muharino desert were all city-states, essentially independent of each other.

There were trading routes between all of them, cooperating to keep each other afloat without having to put stress on each other.

Unlike countries with abundant luscious nature like the Holy Land or Latash, the desert was vast and barren, meaning the cities were quite a distance away from each other.

In most countries, one could walk for two to three days and go from one decently sized city to another, but in the Muharino desert it would take at least ten days.

Sophie's team were looking at one such oasis, where a rather well-known city once stood.

With monsters roaming around, even if someone attempted to escape with enough provisions, they would be attacked in the desert before long.

If it was like in Theomenia and there was an outbreak of Pagan Worshippers, the people would have no place to run.

It was hard to tell how many tens or hundreds of thousands lived in the city, but it was clear that without a place to hide or run to, they either fell prey to the humans turned Pagan Worshippers, or became monsters themselves.

"This is so horrible."

Sophie had no more words after that.

Just thinking of how much people suffered there made her shake in anger.

It was not that they did not attempt to request help.

Seeing the state of the crumbling city next to the oasis made it clear they simply had no time to even ask for help.

"What should we do Sophie? Allen told us to only go to the city with the streak of light as the last one."

"I know."

Their main priority with this mission was to rescue the cities and villages.

There was a possibility that a Demon General was waiting at the source of the light streak, so Allen had told them to leave that for last when they split up.

"Lady Sophiarone, perhaps we should visit the village first? It shouldn't be too far from here."

"You're right."

"Village?"

Merle was the only one who did not understand what place Formar was alluding to.

"We'll tell you while we go. There's a place we'd like to go to."

"Okay, got it. Just tell me where to go."

Merle looked at the map projected by the Map Stone Slab, checking their current location and changing course.

They headed towards the direction Sophie indicated to her.

For a few hours, there was nothing but sand in sight.

"Ah, I see a big city! Wait, is that a tree?"

Merle spotted some large buildings.

Following Sophie's direction, they reached a city surrounded by a gigantic wall.

It was many times bigger than the outer walls of Theomenia, protecting the city inside.

But there was something even more striking in the city's center, an extremely tall tree.

It was at least a couple hundred meters tall, making the walls look small in comparison.

"Yes, it is. And it seems they're already engaged in battle."

"I see. Wait, what are those? There's something weird on the walls."

Tam-Tam Mode Eagle's cockpit windows had a magnifying function.

To see what those things wriggling on the wall were, Merle zoomed in on them, and it became obvious they were some sort of monster.

Their upper body looked human, wearing clothes that looked favorable for someone living in the desert, while their lower body was that of a scorpion, twice as large as the human part.

They were climbing up the walls, gathering in large numbers around the main gate, and striking it with the stingers on their tails.

"That's probably what the Pagan Worshippers of this region look like."

Seeing that weird mix of human and monster, Sophie assumed that was the shape Pagan Worshippers took to thrive in the desert.

Their lower scorpion body had made it easier for them to cross the desert, letting them attack the city.

The walls were wide enough for soldiers to climb atop and fight the monsters.

There were magicians inside the walls as well, sending fireballs across to burn the Pagan Worshippers, while archers shot arrows as well.

Other than the Pagan Worshippers, there were also large snake and lizard monsters that looked adept for life in the desert.

It was hard to say for how long they had been fighting, but they looked like they were holding out so far.

"Lady Sophiarone, we should help them fight as well."

"I know. Merle, get us a bit closer. We should rescue that village!"

"On it!"

Deciding to help that city gave them only one course of action.

They were still around a kilometer away from the city, but they were quickly getting closer.

Tam-Tam flew closer, dropping from 800 meters of distance to 500, and soon they were just 300 meters away.

"We might get caught by their attacks if we get closer than this. Try to hover around here, Merle."

They had stopped 300 meters away from the wall, but it was clear they had caught the attention of the soldiers atop the wall.

Some archers were already aiming at them, so Tam-Tam was left hovering in that spot.

"You two are going down there then?"

"Yes, Allen left only one Griff after all."

There was one Bird B summon waiting next to the exit.

Leaving Merle in the cockpit, Formar mounted on it with Sophie behind, and they waited as Tam-Tam's loading bay opened.

'I'll go ahead of you then, ukekekeke'

The Wraith A summon smiled eerily and took the lead in front of Sophie and Formar.

"That would be helpful. Let's go wild then!"

The Wraith A summon nodded, before free-falling towards the ground, wooden hammer in hand.

She held it in front, striking the sand when she landed.

'Earthbound Curse!!'

The impact created a circular shockwave that expanded across the sand.

'''Wahhhhahhhh!!'''

"""?!"""

The guards atop the wall were frozen in shock seeing the ghosts and skeletons crawling out of the sand, taking hold of the Pagan Worshippers and sealing their movements.

It was common for Allen's summons with strong powers to also have some limitations.

Even if they had powerful Extra and Awakened Skills of high ranks, they usually had less of them as well.

Wraith A's Awakened Skill [Earthbound Curse] stopped all movements from the targeted enemy.

The time that effect lasted depended on the monster's rank.

It had almost no effect on Rank S monsters.

Rank A monsters were stopped for around 10 seconds.

Rank B monsters were stopped for around 10 minutes.

Rank C or lower could not move for around one hour.

Monsters of any type could be stopped, except for flying monsters.

"They've started already, time to join in!"

Merle was able to equip 4 Vulcan Cannons (Small)

Tam-Tam Mode Eagle aimed the cannons at the monsters and fired wildly at the monsters, while keeping the wall intact.

The monsters that began to move ten seconds after the fight started were likely Rank A monsters. 

The Insect A summons, which had used Spawn and Coronation twice already, meaning in total there were around a thousand Bees, Queen Bees, and Beelings, used Minion Stinger on the Rank A monsters.

The party had split into three teams, so the most effective way to fight was to make as many minions as possible.

An hour later, all the Pagan Worshippers and monsters clinging to the wall had been killed.

The soldiers atop the wall were still a bit wary, but seeing that they had not been targeted so far, assumed Sophie's team were there to help them.

A few arrows had still been shot at them, but they carried so little force the team ignored them.

"Let's go meet them, Merle."

"Okay."

Merle stored Tam-Tam back in her Magic Board, and went to the city's main gate together with Formar and Sophie.

There was no reaction from the other side.

But Sophie just waited silently for the gates to open.

Dozens of minutes passed like that.

A soldier then came out from a side entrance located next to the main gate.

He wore armor, but had taken his helmet off.

His hair was ashen, and his long pointy ears had a dark brown color.

He seemed to be in his late teens, and once he was close enough he spoke to Sophie.

"This is Fabraze, the village of Dark Elves. We appreciate your help, but our village prefers to live without contact with outsiders. I'm sorry but we can't let you inside our...huh? Wait, are you-?"

It seemed they had been discussing whether to let them in during the time the team waited outside, and their decision had been to not allow them.

But the dark elf was unable to finish communicating that.

His eyes were focused on Sophie's golden pupils, unable to look away.