CH 59

「 Oh no, the gate is going to break! 」

Someone shouts in the midst of the gathering of adventurers and knights.

Three days have passed since the Undead began attacking the royal city of Aries, and the people participating in the defense are beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

The number of enemies is so great that they can hardly go on the offensive, and their morale has been lowered by the uncertainty of when the battle will end.

In the midst of all this, that shout echoed out, discouraging everyone present.

The large gate at the entrance collapsed with a tremendous sound, and a large number of undead appeared in front of it.

「 Isn’t that a Bloody Skull in the lead with the big shield? I can’t believe they even have that! 」

The first to emerge from the broken gate was a reddish-brown skeleton called Bloody Skull, who passed the gate while carrying a huge shield that covered most of his body, the so-called Tower Shield.

Despite its bony appearance, the Bloody Skull is an A-ranked monster that is almost impervious to physical attacks and nullifies most magic to some extent, and is said to be one of the most difficult monsters to encounter among those whose names are known.

A few adventurers cast spells, and a few more jump on it and slash at it with their weapons, but most of their attacks are blocked by the tower shield, and the attacks that do hit it are not very effective.

「 Get out of the way. I’ll handle it. 」

Virgilio stood in front of Bloody Skull as it tried to go forward, and when he pulled his sword from his back, it glowed a light green.

「 Let’s go, magic sword! 」

He stepped through the cobblestones and swung his sword, leaving a green trail that cut through the tower shield and bone in a single stroke.

Virgilio put his magic sword in its sheath on his back, and, not caring about the gaze of the adventurers, he stepped back and sat down at a distance.

He thought, having defeated a difficult opponent, they would now be able to fight the lower ranks for a while.

The 《 Magic Sword 》 is a sword that can forcibly cut down anything that it attacks, no matter how hard it is, even if the target is physically immune.

However, because it consumes its user’s magic power at a tremendous rate, it can only be used for a few seconds, and after using it, the user will feel exhausted, so the magic sword does not get used very often.

Virgilio looks at the gate, thinking that he will have to participate in the battle again soon, but at least he can rest for a while.

The Undead emerge from the broken gate, but it seems that the people there are able to handle the situation on their own, and they don’t seem to be in a hurry.

「 Felicy, They are coming over! 」

「 Yeah, I got it. Flame, come forth and burn my enemies, Flame Petal! 」

「 I can’t take a break like this. I don’t know what to do. 」

Letty, Kanna, and Felicy, along with the other adventurers, are on the front lines of stopping the Undead’s progress. So far, they haven’t had much trouble after the Bloody Skull fell, but they can’t let up as the Undead keeps popping up.

After about two hours of fighting at the gates, when everyone had retreated slightly due to sheer force of numbers, the Undead suddenly stopped moving.

「 I’ve improvised a warding system that should be able to stop any low-grade Undead from advancing for a while. 」

As the woman dressed in white said this, Hannotti walked up behind her, and beside him were Zanbara and Ars, an A-rank adventurer, with the title of 《 The Fastest Man 》.

「 I didn’t think that you were really connected to the city as you said. Are you really a member of the higher ups? Or are you really one of those guys who take orders from behind the scenes? 」

「 No way. I’m just an ordinary adventurer who’s good at hunting Undead. 」

Zanbara snickered and replied to Ars’ question. The three of them had entered the city from the outside using a hidden passageway that led to the city. It was one of the passageways that Zanbara had learned from Dell a long time ago, but he had not been told why such a passageway existed.

Basically, it leads to the building where the Knights belong, so I guess it’s mostly an escape route in case of emergencies.

Ars and the two Undead hunters, Zanbara and Hannoti, met in another town, Tornaria, where Zanbara’s mentor, Dell, was staying.

Seeing the serious expressions on their faces as they defeated the army of the Undead that had suddenly appeared there and how they immediately set out for the royal city of Aries, Ars offered to accompany them, thinking that something must have happened.

Seeing the several Undead that have entered the barrier, pushing aside the Undead that can no longer move forward in the barrier, Ars changes the complexion of his eyes.

「 That’s not good. Hey, the guy who came in is very strong. Take a few confident guys! 」

「 Got it! 」

「 You three are pretty strong. Can you handle that black one? 」

「 Okay 」

When he saw Letty and the other three Ladies of Eresbell jumping out first, he felt reassured and his cheeks relaxed.

Anyone would be pleased to know that others appreciate their work.

「 Fuu, I’m not going to be able to rest easily. 」

After looking at everyone on the move, Virgilio stood up, drew his sword again, and started running towards the Undead that passed through the barrier.

「 Hannou, can you still move? 」

「 Yes, of course. If we put up a stronger barrier, it would make it impossible to move, but that would be a bad idea in this situation. 」

With his own strength, even if he were to 『 Deploy a Powerful Barrier 』 it would only be able to surround the gate and would not be able to encompass the entire capital.

「 Well, I guess we’re also moving, then. 」

「 Let’s make sure that the Undead will remember the name 《 Immortal Hunters 》 since it is not yet well known in this country. 」

Zanbara drew swords from both hips and held them on either side, while Hannoti opened only one eye and smiled wryly.

An hour had passed since the gates had been sealed, and there was movement in the commoners’ quarter.

「 The wall’s down! Inora, go get backup ASAP, they’re rushing in! 」

「 Yes, sir! 」

The Undead, having given up on the gate due to the barrier, were all looking for another way in. There had been a few Undead that had been able to pass through the walls, but they had been few and far between, so it had been easy to deal with them, until now.

The wall broke down, and the third squad of Knights jumped into action, cutting down the Undead that were coming in droves and burning them to death with magic.

Eldgate Warbeck, captain of the third squad and sister of Ansel, vice commander of the Knights of the Royal City of Aries, spoke to Luttie, who was fighting nearby, with a complicated smile on her brave face, just like her sister.

「 Luttie, I’m sorry. It’s your first real fight, right? 」

「 No, captain, it’s ok. I intend to protect this city as a member of the Knights. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s my first time or if it’s a real battle. I am good at defending. 」

「 Hmm, you’re very dependable, but don’t be reckless. 」

「 Yes, I understand! 」

Luttie lightly fights off enemy attacks with her spear and pushes them back, nodding curtly as the other members of the group finish them off.

Originally, the weapon she was best at was the spear, which should be a compliment to whoever discovered Luttie’s talent, but she was recruited into the Order when she was playing with a mop at the orphanage.

When she met Toto for the first time, she was given a one-handed sword, which is commonly used in the Knights, because it was the middle of a festival and people were coming and going, there was little chance of a full-scale battle, and she was still an apprentice.

This time, Luttie is fighting with a spear because it’s a real battle, she’s already a member of the Order, not an apprentice, and she’s specialized in spear skills from her training.

「 Don’t be afraid, the enemies are only low-grade undead! 」

Eldgate shouted loudly to inspire the knights, and they all replied 「 Oooh! 」 with enthusiasm. The ground shook as everyone’s voices were in unison.

At that time, no one had noticed that there was a monster with four white arms and a serpentine tail that no one had ever seen before, deep inside the approaching undead horde.