Chapter 205 - Northeastern Forest Night Battle
=== CHAPTER 205 ===
We have entered the third stage, as the sun has set and we have moved into the monsters' time. From here until the wooden tube-type magic catapults are restored is the third stage.
It was fine while the western sky was still bright, but once it grew dark, it became pitch black. I can't see a thing.
"They probably won't attack in earnest until late at night. The new moon is close, so I think we'll be fine if we repel them once or twice at most."
The squad leader is optimistic. I'd hate to think it's because he saw the Jaegers lined up before sunset, illuminated by [Light].
In night battles, [Sight] becomes unusable. To be precise, it becomes meaningless because night vision doesn't work. Instead, since we can illuminate things with [Light], our way of fighting changes.
When a swarm of Orcs came, based on Flora's scouting information, we once lowered the bowl near the ground and rolled four small [Light] spells in front of the enemy. We watched the situation from above, and when they got close, we made them all shine at once and attacked with magic and holy water arrows, causing them to flee. We only managed to take down five or six of them, but as long as the position is safe, that's fine. I offered a funeral prayer for the Orc corpses and continued scouting.
"It's become so easy. We struggled so much when we did position defense before."
"Is that so?"
At Beatrix's words, Mary and Flora, who hadn't participated back then, tilted their heads.
"Many people died then, and everyone from the Marcelo Company almost died several times too."
"Why has it become so easy now?"
"Flight magic and night vision. Also, the combination of [Camouflage] and [Magic Reflection], I suppose."
After all, at night, we can move and attack from behind and above without being noticed by the enemy. We ambush the enemy who intended to ambush us. They must be quite surprised.
"So you mean the level of the scouts has gone up?"
"Broadly speaking, that's it. But the overall tactics have changed."
When Mary said that, the Jaeger operating the bowl answered.
"Our basic duty is to prevent monster offensives, but the traps with holy water and magic circles are extremely effective. The monsters seem to dislike them too, and unless we advance like this time, they've stopped attacking."
Come to think of it, I received a medal for those two things.
"This time too, except for the positions we're guarding, everything is reinforced with magic circles."
It seems they are using the wooden tube-type instead of magic circles. Other positions seem to be equipped with catapults as well.
"Who drew them?"
"Half were by the Marcelo Company. The other half were summoned from the Royal Capital by Roberts-sama."
Lately, the wine we drink at the company has been high-quality stuff from the continent, and now I know why. It seems they've become purveyors to the Kingdom's Army without me knowing.
"That's why lately I've been made to charge magic into magic circles drawn on stones. The price is half that of a scroll. It's so inefficient it's ridiculous."
Beatrix complained. Looking at Lyudmila, she had her arms crossed and was puffing out her cheeks, pretending to be angry.
"They're selling better than scrolls."
"W-Well, yeah. About three times as much, I'd say."
Which means...
"Could it be that your salaries have increased?"
Both of them looked away at the same time.
Damn it! Am I the only one being left out?!
"Well, while keeping the monsters away like that, there's this flight magic. If you put about five archers on it and attack with holy water arrows from above, you'll almost never lose. It's thanks to those who are charging the magic."
The Jaeger was laughing.
"What do you do if Gargoyles or Wyverns come?"
"Previously, with Gargoyles, we would lure them to where the Anti-Air Ballistas were while fighting. With Wyverns, we would run away. However, as you know, lately we've become able to avoid being found by monsters. We've become able to stand our ground somehow."
"What do you do during night battles?"
"We hole up in the fortress. There's no chance of winning. If Goblins are assigned like in the Nakanohara Jaegers, things might change a bit."
I exchanged glances with Flora and smirked.
If Goblins scout while riding the bowl, they would demonstrate great power in night battles.
Though, they might not be able to use gunpowder since they'd faint.
"The mission of the Jaeger units is to infiltrate behind enemy lines, but being able to advance so easily makes it much simpler."
"But weren't you originally from the Magic Corps? That would be safer, wouldn't it? Did you volunteer?"
The tactless mage asked.
"My role is to operate the bowl and the magic catapults. So I hold concurrent posts. Even so, being assigned to the Jaeger units is the highest honor for someone who aspired to be a soldier of the Kingdom's Army."
When the talk of forming the Paratroop Jaegers came up this time, it seems everyone who could use [Wind Barrier] volunteered.
"I think just being a high-level mage is amazing enough, though."
"Well, it's a matter of values, I guess. Let's head back for now."
According to Flora, there are no monsters around.
There's a limit to how long we can keep flying in the bowl. We decided to return to the position and rest while we could.
We signaled the position with [Light] and landed. When we deactivated [Camouflage], we were welcomed with thunderous applause.
"So that's the rumored attack using light magic."
"That's incredible. they all fled at once."
Apparently, many soldiers were seeing it for the first time in actual combat. They must be the ones who were at the Higashinohara Jaeger fortress.
"That was the amplified version. I've been targeted by four of those simultaneously before. Pretty good, right?"
Of all people, someone was bragging about it. He must be reinforcement from Nakanohara.
Looking at his face, it's that bearded man from before.
"You were in a place like this?"
"I'm reinforcement. I volunteered and was able to come easily."
Wasn't he on road construction? I'd appreciate it more if he finished that quickly.
"Don't worry. The road construction is going well. It'll probably be done in July as scheduled. I was stationed at the old fortress, but since there was a change in assignment, I came to help out."
"Did you move?"
When Beatrix asked, he nodded with a "Umu."
"The church also made the gravestone for that grave. The new fortress is great. Come visit sometime. I'll show you around."
Apparently, this bearded man is a squad leader.
"So, will the land clearing begin?"
"Who knows. We'll have to build the road leading to the south first. Won't it stay as it is until then? Construction is supposed to start in April. But it'll probably take a year."
"I see. Thank you."
A year from now. It seems to have shortened a bit, but it looks like it will still take some time.
They said the Headmistress was at the field hospital, so when I went in, she was sleeping with a fur over her head.
"Oh. You're back? Good work. Bishop Catherine told me to tell you to sleep here when you returned."
"Not 'wake her up'?"
"She said being able to sleep anytime, anywhere is also part of the training. I'll wake you if anything happens, so sleep until then."
It's a type of training that makes me feel somewhat uneasy about the future, but if that's how it is, it can't be helped. We all decided to rest, lined up in the beds provided. The squad leader's optimistic observation was correct, and they didn't attack until late at night. Perhaps they just don't feel like it during a new moon.
And then, we entered the fourth stage. If we work hard from here until dawn, this training will be over. The monsters probably won't come for half a day once the sun rises.
Since it's a new moon, it's pitch black all around. To be blunt, I can't see a thing. I don't even know where we're flying.
Only the positions burning bonfires stand out in the darkness.
From out of nowhere, the howling of a Fenrir could be heard. It was gradually getting closer.
"They're here. Straight ahead. Seven Fenrirs, two Cyclopes, over a hundred Orcs, and probably Ogres too."
It seems Flora found the enemy.
I immediately woke up Beatrix and Mary, who were sleeping leaning against the bottom of the bowl.
"Are they here?"
Both of them were rubbing their eyes sleepily. I wonder how they can sleep so soundly.
"They're here. Get it together."
"Wyverns are here too. Five of them."
"Understood. I'll contact them."
I pointed the [Light] toward the position and sent a signal. Since I have a square wooden box covering my outstretched right hand, the monsters shouldn't be able to see it. It must be conspicuous in the pitch blackness. A Jaeger with good eyes should find it. As long as it reaches the Headmistress, it should be fine.
We took a position directly above the monsters. We stayed like that, occasionally throwing stones to observe the situation.
Every time I threw one and made a sound, the Cyclopes would stop, so it worked well as a distraction. Every time, the Fenrirs would growl, so they might have been getting scolded.
While continuing the pursuit, Lyudmila confirmed that a total of five [Holy] spells were fired from the position.
It's probably fine.
With this, we can counterattack.
Since we've lured them this far, I want to do something.
The Fenrir's howling stopped. That's because they reached the edge of the forest.
From here, the real battle begins.
We changed the bowl's position to near the ground in front of the monsters.
The monsters probably think we haven't noticed them. They are advancing slowly.
Just as the entire swarm came out with the Fenrirs and Cyclopes in the lead, three masses of water struck the swarm. I heard screams, so it must have hit.
The monster swarm stopped, and a Fenrir let out a cry. It must have deployed magic defense.
Right then, three [Fire Wall] scrolls held by Fiona exploded.
The walls of fire illuminated the monsters and simultaneously cut off their retreat.
The Orcs panicked and began fleeing toward the position.
As long as we can see them, it's enough. From directly above, Beatrix and Mary fired [Ice Cube] repeatedly. Since [Ice Cube] has no trajectory when the caster fires the magic, they don't know where it's being fired from.
The Fenrir redeployed its magic defense toward the position, but it was meaningless. The bowl had already moved to the upper right of the swarm.
The fire that should have gone out didn't, and while the monsters were scurrying about, jars of holy water were dropped from overhead.
We weren't in the forest. In a place with no cover, the jars demonstrated sufficient power.
Jars painted black for field use, flying from the pitch blackness, must be difficult for monsters to distinguish. Orcs in a state of panic fled left and right, but were blocked by the vertical trenches. Since sharpened wood is planted inside the trenches, they can't be easily breached. Their heads are just being frozen by [Ice Cube].
"Fiona. Good work. That was great timing."
"It's because everyone drew their attention with water magic. I'm glad it activated well."
From here on, it will be a chaotic battle. I had her return to the crystal.
The three decoys jumped out from the fortress. They were shouting something loudly.
One Fenrir that noticed let out a loud howl. It started running toward the position.
The Cyclopes and Orcs also seemed to have steeled themselves and began their charge.
They finally entered the impact zone of the catapults.
"Mr. Ice Mountain, it's your turn!"
From the side of the swarm, Flora activated a [Glacio] scroll.
Her sense for incantation keywords is as usual, but the power was immense, and half of the Orc swarm running behind the Fenrirs was frozen solid.
Against the Fenrirs and Cyclopes, the Anti-Air Ballistas and archers began a simultaneous attack.
We also attacked with magic and holy water arrows while pursuing from the diagonal rear in the bowl.
The trajectory of the magic no longer mattered. We aimed for the Cyclopes.
Everyone fired basic magic, and I fired amplified [Holy].
The two Cyclopes were riddled with many arrows and hit by a succession of [Wind Cutter], [Freeze], and [Fire Ball]. While screaming, they ran toward the position as if to escape, but as their movements gradually slowed, I finished them off by hitting each with four amplified [Holy] spells.
The lightning magic fired by the Fenrirs fell many times around where the three were, but there was no need to worry.
Conversely, I used amplified [Holy] to snipe the moments they braced their four limbs to fire magic.
From here on, it was the same as during the day.
Their path blocked by the three decoys, constantly targeted by ballistas and arrows, and toyed with by us—invisible and always moving—the Fenrirs gradually became unable to dodge the attacks. Finally, when they could no longer move, they were finished off by the three decoys.
Two that managed to break through the attacks tried to jump into the position, but were blown away by a massive light emanating from the position. It must be the Headmistress's [Over Flow].
We let the surviving Orcs flee.
As we flew over the position with that momentum, there was thunderous applause.
The Headmistress was also applauding for us.
However, it didn't end there.
After offering funeral prayers for the monster corpses, just as we were about to head back, Flora found something unusual.
"Many fire arrows are going up from the neighboring position to the north!"
Looking over, I felt like I could barely see several streaks of light.
"They got us. This place was a diversion. That one must be the main target."
The Jaeger clicked his tongue.
"Can we go right now?"
"We'll head back once. What you all do is Bishop Catherine's decision. Besides, I must also seek the squad leader's instructions."
If this place was a diversion, it means a powerful enemy has come over there. Quite a force.
"There are some flying in the sky. Probably Wyverns. About ten of them. There are Fenrirs too. It looks like there are quite a lot of Orcs."
I was startled to hear Flora's report. Ten Wyverns?
Using [Sight] to look toward the position, I could see flames being breathed from the air occasionally.
When Wyverns come, they basically hole up in holes, but if Fenrirs and Orcs come together, that won't work.
It's decided that we withdraw when it's truly dangerous, but even so, there will be casualties. We have to hurry.
When we returned to the position, the Headmistress came out to meet us.
She asked if we could still use magic, and we all answered that we were fine.
Bonnie was handed a quiver filled with Silver Arrows.
"I've handed over a magic circle for a simple barrier for now, so I think they'll hold out until morning, but they'll be occupied if they stay surrounded by monsters, so we're going to help. Jeanne, Beatrix, and Fiona are Team One. You're with me. Lyudmila, Bonnie, and Mary are Team Two with Flora. Team Two, circle around from the forest side and attack. Team Two, don't you dare touch the Wyverns."
Two people were extracted from the magic catapults to increase the speed of the bowls.
First Team Two, then Team One took off, seen off by the three decoys as we departed.