Chapter 1083

Before us was a barren wasteland covered in sand and dust. The ground was dry and reddish brown, without any trees or even shrubbery.

This border zone between the kingdoms of Kranzel and Shallus had little value, so neither country bothered to make a claim for ownership. Instead, they decided to draw the border straight down the middle of the wasteland.

And within this desolate region, we saw an army advancing forward in complete silence.

The only audible sounds were the crunching of the dirt under their feet and the unpleasant noise of armor plates scratching against each other. There was no idle chatter, nor even the sound of breathing.

And rightfully so.

Because the army marching in did not have any people.

The majority were undead, equipped with armor and carrying spears. A legion of zombies capable of walking tirelessly at the same speed.

Both the undead and their equipment seemed pretty subpar quality, so they weren’t much of a threat. Seeing as how their numbers exceeded 5000, maybe they were intended to be used for occupation or as a diversion.

Leading the undead at the head of the army were golems with a jewel-like luster.

However, these golems were carved from magic stones rather than jewels. The sight of over 100 strangely-deformed golems lined up was pretty spectacular.

Following quite far behind the nonhuman army was a human one, likely the Kingdom of Shallus’s main forces. I guess they were afraid of the undead or something, because they maintained a distance of about a kilometer behind.

（Magicite golems.）

『Yeah, those are definitely Raydoss forces.』

Dunno if Zelyse or his disciple Ansel is responsible, but at least one of them is clearly involved in the invasion.

「Didn’t I see those guys somewhere before…?」

「Zelyse’s magicite golems.」

「Oh yeah! From back then!」

Gamudo clapped his hands together with a shout. He must have remembered the magicite golems operated by Zelyse during the Bulbora incident. Back then, a small number of golems managed to drive an entire crowd of adventurers into a corner.

Even Gamudo himself had trouble against one with a reflective ability. Moreover, the magicite golems in front of us were stronger. They clearly moved with much more finesse than the ones we fought before.

Guess they got updated to the latest model? Anyway, these are definitely the strongest magicite golems we’ve seen.

『Well, not like it really matters how strong they are with us here.』

（Nn! They’re all your food!）

『Hahaha, exactly! We should thank them for the meal!』

That said, we still need to stay vigilant. Who knows what kind of attacks they are capable of.

「Gamudo, I’ll take the magicite golems.」

「Oh right. You had a skill to beat them in one hit, yeah?」

「Nn.」

「Great! Then leave the undead and humans to us.」

「Nn, help him Urushi.」

「Woof!」

Urushi tried to nod his head, but Gamudo stopped him.

「Nah, he won’t be necessary.」

「What do you mean?」

「Can you feel it?」

「…? Oh, someone’s coming…」

Fran and I noticed it at the same time, a flying entity approaching us with immense speed. After a short moment’s wait, we recognized it as a brownish figure resembling a wyvern.

However, the wyvern had parts of its body rotting away, with exposed bones and internal organs. It was clearly an undead wyvern, though not one serving Raydoss.

「Diaz, Felmus, and Eiworth.」

『The strongest old men in the world gathered in one place?!』

Fran called out the names of the three old men riding on the back of the undead wyvern.

「Welcome to the show, guys!」

「Long time no see, Gamudo. I see you are as overzealous as ever.」

「And you’re still the same old frail-looking Eiworth.」

Eiworth, who we fought alongside at the royal capital, was holding the undead wyvern’s reins. Is he really capable of controlling such powerful undead with his rather low level in necromancy? Well, I guess it isn’t that surprising considering his immense knowledge of magic.

「Eiworth has always been pretty unhealthy.」

「And I see you still enjoy talking out of your ass, Diaz.」

Diaz, Ulmutt’s guildmaster and active Rank A adventurer. We had an intense battle with him during the martial arts tournament. He is also one of the few people who knows my identity.

「We are on a battlefield, so stop with the bickering.」

「Hahaha! Yeah, you two. Stop making trouble for Felmus already!」

「Tsk.」

「Hmph.」

Felmus the owner of a restaurant featuring dragon cuisine, the Dragon’s Dining Table, as well as a master of using threads. The elderly man was as handsome as ever, looking so young that it’s hard to believe he’s in the same age group as the others.

The four members of the legendary dragon specialist party: Gamudo the Dragon Feller, Eiworth the Dragon Binder, Diaz the Dragon Repeller, and Felmus the Dragon Hunter. They had all once been Rank A adventurers.

「I called over the boys to help defend Bulbora!」

「Protecting some random town sounded like a boring task, but this is turning out to be more entertaining than I thought!」

「Shallus was a huge pain in my butt during the martial arts tournament. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to teach them a lesson?」

「Please refrain from getting too excited.」

All of them seemed very motivated. That said, the members of this party were certainly very unique. I can only imagine how much effort it took Felmus to keep them all on the same track.

「Leave the magicite golems to Fran. We take on the undead and the Shallus army behind them. Everyone clear?」

「Leave it to me!」

「Roger that.」

「Got it.」

No one so much as voiced a single concern for Fran. No doubt they were well aware of her abilities.

But there’s still one thing bothering me.

『Diaz, should you really be here? I thought you would have been called over to Alessa or the capital.』

（Hahaha, the knights can take care of the capital on their own. As for Alessa… they should be fine too.）

『…Oh yeah, weren’t you afraid of Klimt or something like that?』

（N-No, of course not! I wouldn’t come all the way here just because I was scared to fight alongside Klimt-dono! I just couldn’t abandon my old friends!）

This guy sure is a free spirit. Well, I guess that applies to everyone here.

「Okay, here we go!」

「Nn.」

「「「 Yeah! 」」」