Chapter 814

We were in the middle of a battlefield.

No matter which way we looked, it was all antidemons, antidemons, antidemons. We felt their killing intent coming at every angle, as they swarmed us without any fear of death.

Though it had a different sort of madness than a war between human opponents, this was still a battlefield where humans and antidemons fought to claim each other's lives.

「Haaaaaaah!」

「Gishaaa!」

「Cheyah!」

「Groooo!」

Fran's slashes cut through the antidemons, and Hilt's fists crushed several of them at once. Chelsea, Colbert, and Diggins also thrashed them around.

But no matter how many antidemons we defeated, they showed no signs of decreasing. There seemed to be an endless stream of them.

Even when we cleared the surrounding area with a spell, the antidemons would immediately rush in to fill the gap.

It was as if a wall of antidemons was constantly pushing in our direction. Still, Fran and her team moved forward little by little, cutting their way through the antidemons.

「Out of… my way!」

『Fran, take your time. Nadia's presence is still strong!』

At first, Fran tried to leap into the air so she could go to Nadia's rescue alone, but that failed spectacularly.

As soon as she jumped, she was bombarded from all sides by the long-range antidemons, including cannon-types. With over 10,000 projectiles fired at her without end, she had no choice but to descend to the ground, badly injured.

We might be able to do something against 100 or 1,000 projectiles, but 10,000 was way too much. I guess we might be able to manage if we really tried, but we couldn't afford to use everything we have just yet.

It wouldn't work if we tried to evade them with space-time magic either, since there were space-time attribute attacks mixed in. That was something we had heard from Chelsea earlier. Apparently, some of the higher level antidemons could even use teleportation.

In other words, they had countermeasures for space-time magic. After that, I considered using Dimension Gate to skip a majority of the horde, but that proved difficult too.

If we tried making a gate on the ground, the antidemon army would be physically in the way, making it impossible. Even if we made the gate in the air, it would be quickly destroyed by a space-time attribute attack.

《Planning solo entry allowing the usage of aerial hop, space-time magic, and dimensional magic while disallowing Potential Release or Sword God Transformation. Probability of success, 13%.》

『Slow and steady wins the race. Let's keep going like this.』

（……Nn.）

It seemed that if we wanted to save Nadia, we would have to physically make our way through these tens of thousands of antidemons.

And while we might not be able to do it on our own, we now had a group of friends to rely on.

We already knew the power of the Dimitris disciples and the adventurers under Diggins, but the others proved their strength too.

「Water Slicer! Uraaaaah!」

The dragonkin Chelsea wielded water magic and scimitars in each hand to deliver a series of furious strikes.

She was an attack-oriented magic swordsman who made full use of her physical strength and magical talents. The other dragon warriors had similar styles.

But that's not to say they were bad at defense. They could simply slay the antidemon before it hits them. Or, parry the blow and finish it before it delivers another. Then, their few wounds could be healed instantly by their high regenerative ability. They seemed to be a race that embodied the belief that the best defense was a good offense.

So far, all ten of them probably got as many kills as Fran or Hilt.

Also not to say it was surprising, because that would be pretty rude, but the knights of the kingdom of Segilusel ended up being very reliable.

Aside from Yagilale, they had stats and levels similar to Rank C adventurers, but their defensive power went far beyond our imagination. They had a talent not only in their own defense but that of their comrades.

Each of them was a veteran shieldsman with years of combat experience, along with the broad field of view and coordination skills befitting a knight. In addition, they had the knight mentality to protect their comrades.

They attracted enemy attention with their provocation skills, using themselves as bait to defend their allies. Thanks to their presence, everyone else suffered fewer injuries.

The mercenaries in the rear guard were also very precise in their support. Their claims to be elite mercenaries were proven by their expert use of multiple different types of magic.

At times, they enhanced their allies with support magic, and at others, they interrupted enemies with long-range blasts. Since half of them were capable of healing, it was like each performed the job of multiple high-level magicians.

We had the men brought by Sophie guarding the mercenaries. Though they were pretty much thrown into this battlefield with no motivation, they performed their duty well.

Sophie had not yet demonstrated her power, but that was part of our plan. Since we're on the battlefield now, her performance will draw the attention of all the antidemons.

That's why we kept her from performing until it was necessary. Even without her performances, she was still a capable member of the army, blasting down antidemons while riding on Urushi's back.

When the time for her music comes, Urushi would be enough to protect her.

Fran and her army continued to slaughter the antidemons, with a solidarity that would make anyone doubt they barely knew each other.

The bodies of vanquished antidemons turned into dust, filling the air as if black fireflies were dancing around us.

There was no smell of iron or blood, only the remnants of antidemons drifting everywhere. In the midst of this atmosphere of both beauty and sadness, more and more antidemons rushed at us.

And it wasn't only their numbers that were of note.

「Yeeeeee!」

「Mrgh!」

「These ones…… are pretty strong!」

They appeared before us about thirty minutes into the battle.

It was the first time Fran and Hilt's strikes were both blocked.

Our opponent looked almost the same as the knight-type that we had beaten so many times before. The only difference in appearance was the black horns protruding from its head.

However, the aura it radiated was completely different. The amount of mana emitted from within the black horned knight was also a different order of magnitude.

「Hah! Out of my way!」

「Double Palm Strike!」

Fran and Hilt kicked up their gears and defeated these new knight-types.

I see now, she knew it was different from the moment she slashed at it. Fran had intended to cut completely in two, but the blade only went from the shoulder to the stomach area.

She still defeated it since she was able to cut through its core, but that's worrisome……

Of course, she was not using her full power, as our priority was conserving our strength for an extended battle. But this meant the knight-type was strong enough to overturn Fran's estimations.

I'd probably give it a threat level of D.

「I was getting tired of all those weaklings! Now you're talking!」

「Nn!」

Still, this was not enough to stop the charge of the hundred. Hilt and Fran were back on their feet and ready to face off against these mighty foes.