CH 8

Monster Stampede 2

“Please lend me your powers too, spirits.”

I asked the spirits to help me, and scattered five magic catalysts, which in turn became stationary around me and began to glow. I verified the effects and began the incantation.

The effect was… quite different, I didn’t feel nearly as fatigued as I did before, and I could use magic more smoothly. I would like to use the catalysts all the time if they didn’t have to be consumed on use, but I will have to train more in the future because relying on this won’t count as my strength.

“~~~~♪”

There are several types of incantations. First of all, there’s the so-called normal chanting, which involves reciting a fixed incantation while imagining the effect. Its advantage is a fixed effect for everyone, regardless of their skill. Secondly, there’s a type that makes use of blood, but it’s limited to elves and other races with high magical qualities, so it cannot be used by humans and beastfolk. And then there’s what I am using now, the musical chanting. The special and most of the completely brand new spells use musical chanting, mainly because normal chanting has limited effects with only little to no possibility of tweaking. It is said that all magic started out using musical chanting, but because it was extremely difficult and the magicians nearly went extinct for a while, the Mages of the time simplified magic to increase the number of magicians. Therefore, musical chanting is also a proof of competence for the magicians.

“Rainbow Blast.”

A torrent of light shimmering in seven colors captured the monsters charging from the front lines. The effect was tremendous, even though it was the lowest of the dragon species, the wyvern disappeared in the aftermath alone, and quite a lot of the monsters on the ground disappeared as well…

(Weird… the number of monsters is different from the intel.)

“Mother, the number of monsters seems to be less than what the intel said.”

I couldn’t figure it out on my own, so I tried asking my mother after shooting the spell.

“Indeed… our Intelligence Department wouldn’t make such a rudimentary mistake… but maybe they cannibalized each other because they are monsters, or maybe the ruler couldn’t manage them all so they split up…”

Mother seemed to notice the strangeness and was mumbling something under her nose. There are not 10,000 monsters no matter how you look at it, there are 5,000 of them at most. They could be hiding before us if it was a small group, but a large number of monsters like this would normally just charge in… are we missing something? No, I wouldn’t deny being wrong if it was just from my observation, but this was investigated by the country, and reporting twice the number of monsters attacking wouldn’t make sense, so I don’t see how 10,000 would be mistaken for 5,000.

“We cannot leave it as it is, someone, scout out the surroun… guh.”

When my mother tried to inform a nearby soldier to scout out the surroundings, she suddenly collapsed.

“… Eh? M… mother?”

She wouldn’t suddenly trip just by turning around, so I hurriedly ran over to her to see what happened. Then, what I saw around the place where Mother collapsed… was blood!

“Why!! Mother! Mother…”

What do I do, what should I do at a time like this… huh? What am I supposed to do again?

“… Cal… m… do… wn… tell, Orber… be care… full of the surroundings… monsters… surprise atta… ck.”

That’s right! I have to calm down… erm, what should I do again?… Yes, take a deep breath… inhale~ exhale~

“Yes, I’m fine now. I can heal Mother’s wound, so I better be on alert. They will attack again if she’s their target.”

My mother is the commander of the Magic Division and you can simply tell just by looking at her. It’s normal for the commanders to wear extravagant attire or armor while staying in a place where they stand out, but… that’s not something monsters would understand and aim for. People are able to defeat monsters because monsters don’t have such profound thoughts. The Guild has ranked the monsters according to their strength, but if a monster shows even a little bit of wisdom, their rank is going to increase. However, beings like Goblins and Orcs are apparently acting on instinct, so their use of weapons is not because of wisdom. It’s difficult to decide where to draw the line.

I was on immediate alert next to my Mother when the deputy, err… Mr. Orber came over. When I conveyed the situation to him, he ordered others to form a circular formation around us, but we won’t stand a chance if the rest of the monsters target us. Father is trampling down upon the monsters at the frontline together with his Knights and the adventurers, so there are no more than a hundred guards here and magicians are weak at close combat, so they will be overrun when the monsters cross a certain line. And this time, the Magic Division Mother is leading… is so weak that they are disgracefully called the weakest on the continent. Eighty of them can only use advanced magic up to three times and some of them were already on their knees.

(We cannot win with these members… but Father and others will be pincered if we withdraw from here. Father won’t die even if he gets injured, but the Knights Order and the adventurers will have huge losses… what do I do?)

It was not only luck that we were missing, but the number of magicians we had in the Magic Division that was mostly composed of Magician-ranked members was also a big part of the problem. The experienced magicians are constantly stationed around the borders to suppress the movements of the Imperial troops. Monster Stampede is certainly a big problem, but the Imperial troops would invade us the moment they saw the opening, so we could only bring the young magicians and some teachers from the castle. That’s why we were forbidden from approaching the frontlines and were to support the main forces from the rear.

“My father will get angry at me later, but I will take the command temporarily, lend my your strength.”

I gave my mother an emergency treatment, so she should be fine. She got stuck with two small arrows in her shoulder!! The arrows seemed to be poisoned too, so she won’t be able to move for a while. I can cure poisons too but that’s not something I can do right away, so we cannot count on her power for now. Therefore, everyone will fall prey to the monsters if I don’t act, considering that I am the one who has the most magical power left here (about 50%), and that there’s a dust cloud caused by the monsters rushing at us approaching.

“His Majesty strictly prohibited us from sending Princess to the frontlines.”

“Now’s not the time for this!! You can blame me for everything. Father and others will be in danger if we retreat here.”

At first, Mr. Orber was dismissive and didn’t listen to me, but when he saw the size of the dust cloud in the distance, he grew paler and paler and entrusted me with the command. I’m sure my father and mother will be very angry with me later, but I can’t help it, I’m afraid, but in order to prevent Mother from getting hurt further (the first goblin that shot her was killed instantly by the guards), I’m going to ask those monsters to… disappear.

“I will make a preemptive attack, then create an improvised obstacle, which the Magic Division will attack from. The target are the monsters that will avoid us and head for the frontlines.”

“That would leave this camp defenseless! Princess, are you intending to die? I should take the command back…”

“I will hold them back. The Spirit of Earth will assist me with the creation of the obstacles, so they won’t break easily, and Father’s side will come to our aid if we can hold back for an hour… it’s our job to buy time and make sure to keep the monsters out of Father’s way.”

This is for the best… I think. I am often called a genius, but I don’t consider myself that clever, I just have a lot of knowledge for my age. So I can’t really say with my heart whether this is the best way. But this is all we can do. If we can’t reverse this power gap even if we fight on equal terms, then we can only entrust it to my Father and buy as much time as possible.

Mother fainted during the treatment, so I have to hide her with physical protection and concealment magic. This way, she won’t be discovered, so she will be fine even if we lose… I don’t want to lose, though.

“What I seek is a prison of absolute zero. Ice Age.”

When I hit the ground with my wand, ice stuck out from the ground before me. My allies were behind me, so the rear wasn’t affected, but I had to consume six auxiliary catalysts to use this magic. As expected, advanced level magic spells consume catalysts fast, but as a result, approximately 300m of the field was closed off by the ice and many monsters were defeated in the process while the movements of the rest were stopped.

“Here I go… Close the ice of eternity, walls of ice protect us, Royal Freeze Wall.”

Suddenly, blocks of ice rose up from the ground, creating a three-meter high ice wall around the Magic Division.

“… I need a little break.”

I got tired out from doing two advanced levels in a row. The cheaters from stories may be able to handle it, but my magical power is not infinite, so I have to take a break or I will run out. When that happens, the recovery speed of my magical power becomes extremely slow, so I can’t push myself any further. Well, I have been told that I have an extraordinary recovery speed, so in five minutes I will be able to use intermediate level magic in rapid succession again.

“Princess… please have a potion.”

“I don’t need it… I will recover in a little while, so let someone else who needs it drink it.”

The unexplainable recovery speed of my magical power will be my trump card this time, and while I have many other abilities, this will be enough for now.

“I think this will last for a while but… I need you to stay in the back of the formation, Princess…”

“Not possible, large scale defensive magic is weak to concentrated attacks. They are going to break through if I’m not in the position where I can repair it immediately.”

There’s nothing I can do about this defect now. Cyclops, Ogres, and other B-rank and above monsters will be able to destroy the wall. Of course, even monsters ranked above B will have a difficult time because the wall’s density has been increased with the power of the Spirit of Water, but they have no choice but to break through the wall to advance, so even with the consideration of my powers, it’s going to be tough… even if my magical power recovers quickly, I won’t be able to shoot any advanced magic anytime soon, so I will have to do with intermediate and elementary level magic spells at best.

“”””We will protect you with our lives.””””

The guards gathered around me, but…

“No need for that. You better run away when in danger.”

I don’t want them to have such a resolve. I really don’t want to see anyone die for me… that’s why I will do my best.