Chapter 27 - The Containment Operation
Finally, the horde of Revenants broke through the main gate. To be precise, they dug a hole and crawled through.
Ignoring the burning timber set by the Old Man and breaking through it, they advanced toward the second gate.
How should I put it... a Revenant can only be described as moving rotten meat in the shape of a person. It was my first time seeing the real thing, and I gagged so many times I thought I was going to throw up. I couldn't believe Beatrix, who was telling me to "get it together" with a straight face.
Before long, the front row fell into a trap. Many wooden stakes had been driven into the ground, and wire had been strung around like a spider's web at ankle height.
It was an application of the fence used for rat extermination. Since rats that stuck their heads in got their legs or bodies caught and couldn't get out, I thought that stringing wire on the ground might serve as a deterrent. If they walked slowly while watching their step, they could probably cross it without trouble, but they couldn't walk slowly because they were being pushed by the ones coming from behind in succession. Once they tripped and fell, they couldn't easily get up. The more followers came, the more it would just lead to confusion.
When the number of caught Revenants increased, we threw several casting nets from above to further stop their movement.
Eventually, they became a piled-up mass.
"[Glaciate]!"
Angelica-san unleashed ice magic.
The mass of Revenants froze in an instant, and the ice grew with a cracking sound, covering the whole thing. The height of the ice became about as tall as a person.
Even the surrounding ground and walls were frozen by the cold air.
Perhaps the surrounding temperature had dropped; I felt a chill despite it being a early summer night.
It was high-level magic.
Unlike Paul-san's magic, it wasn't arranged or anything, but it still had impact.
The town guards were all in an uproar too.
Freezing the Revenants in a mass with magic was according to plan, but I hadn't expected it to go this far.
"That's amazing."
Hans-san, who had known Angelica-san for a long time, was also surprised.
"I worked a little hard," Angelica-san said bashfully, then hid behind Marcelo-san.
It's fine that she's cute, but things feel a bit loose, don't they?
Tug, tug. Beatrix pulled on my sleeve.
She was letting out an exasperated sigh.
"That looks like she's being humble, but it actually means she worked hard to narrow the range of the freezing."
Eh, she held back with that?
"If she got serious, probably an entire house and its yard would become a mountain of ice."
"Look," she said, and when I looked in the direction she pointed, a small part of the wall was broken because she had forced the ice to form. Paul-san was smirking while gesturing toward that part with his chin. Seeing that, Angelica-san stuck her tongue out at Paul-san and quickly pulled it back in.
"She probably wants to say there's a problem with the perfection because she didn't use her full power."
Hmm. Mages are deep, aren't they... I don't really get it, but aren't they being too particular?
At any rate, we managed to hold back the Revenants with the mountain of ice. It seemed the following Revenants couldn't climb the mountain of ice either, and were completely stalled.
I thought this might be enough, but apparently, if there's someone who can use the same magic, it can be easily thawed. For normal living things, that would be enough. However, in the case of Revenants who are already dead, they will return to normal and attack once thawed.
"[Clump Sand]!"
Angelica-san made her appearance again. This time it was mid-level earth magic.
She began digging down into a large amount of soil near the wall that served as the foundation for the second gate.
Paul-san, watching right beside her, gave a signal, and this time she began digging to create a slope with a hollowed-out center toward the mountain of ice. The dug-up soil flew through the air and kept piling up inside the second gate, and by the time she finished digging...
"Hey, Beatrix. Is that... by any chance, a dragon?"
"Even if it's not 'by any chance,' it is! I'm so exasperated I'm speechless!"
Before we knew it, the mass of soil had become a magnificent statue of a dragon with its wings spread, its right front leg raised, its head turned toward the sky in a roar, looking as if it were about to fly off at any moment.
Beside Angelica-san, who stood with her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out proudly, was Marcelo-san, sending her applause with a full smile. Hans-san was also overjoyed, spreading his arms wide.
"How wonderful..."
As for Paul-san, he was kneeling toward the dragon, dazed.
Um... weren't we in the middle of a war...
In the end, I decided to leave the strange people alone and nudged the Old Man from the workshop to proceed with the work. Fortunately, the Old Man had his arms crossed and a serious face.
"Old Man. About the next task..."
"That's right. I shall dust it with gold powder and turn it into a Golden Dragon."
This old man is...
In the end, I decided to leave the strange old man alone too and started on the next task with his apprentice.
We used a ladder to climb down below the gate. Facing the wall, I began marking the spots the apprentice pointed to with paint. The soil slope Angelica-san made was hollowed in the middle, and the part between the pillars was exactly the lowest. That was the part the apprentice indicated.
I began drilling holes in the marked spots with an awl. It was hard and didn't open easily, and while I was thinking that, a voice came from the town guard.
"The Revenants are carrying stones!"
Everyone, including those who had been rejoicing over the soil dragon, began moving in a panic.
That's why I told you to hurry! There's no way the opponent would do nothing!
Finally, the Old Man came down the ladder. I had him take over the drilling role and went up; sure enough, the Revenants were each holding stones in their hands. Some had axes. Fortunately, none had bows. Even if arrows flew, it would be safe because Paul-san was here, but having a high-level magic user free to use is completely different compared to not.
The Revenants that had been swarming the mountain of ice had halved, perhaps having withdrawn once, and were crawling through the hole under the main gate to carry the stones the town guard had thrown down. After piling the stones they brought in a corner, they would return to the hole under the main gate. They would probably bring more stones again. Some had even brought clumps of soil and were covering the stones with it. If we left this alone, they would become able to climb the town wall.
A Revenant with an axe began breaking the bolt of the main gate with the axe. At this rate, the main gate would be completely breached. While I was wondering what to do, Hans-san, the dragon-lover, came over to us.
"With this, we know the opponent cannot see what we are doing."
"What do you mean?"
"Even if they pile stones, if we turn them into a block of ice, they won't be able to climb, right? They probably intend to climb the wall, but if they had seen Angelica's magic, they wouldn't have made a move like carrying stones."
"But we can't defeat the Revenants with just that, right?"
"We don't need to defeat the opponent. We just need to buy time."
"I see, it's the opponent who's out of time."
If the Headmistress and Mayor Adolf return, the situation will surely change. We just have to endure until then.
"To see the opponent's hand, it's also necessary for us to do nothing."
Eh?
"Did you think we were playing?"
He was smirking while looking at me and Beatrix. Ah, damn. Somehow it's frustrating.
When Hans-san raised his right hand to signal, Marcelo-san, seeing it, held both hands toward the Revenants.
"[Purification]!"
It was magic to purify Revenants. Just as I thought the dozen or more Revenants breaking the gate with axes were enveloped in light, they turned into soil in the blink of an eye.
Amazing! Marcelo-san really was an amazing person.
Since it was my first time seeing Revenants, it was also my first time seeing purification magic. Purified Revenants really do return to soil.
A thought occurred to me.
I took aim at one of the Revenants carrying stones.
"[Clean Up]!"
Ah, the clothes of the Revenant I aimed at became clean...
"Don't you start playing too!"
I got scolded by Beatrix...
Angelica-san created a soil wall around the hole dug under the main gate with earth magic. When the Revenants with stones gathered around the wall, Marcelo-san used purification magic once more. The Revenants turned into soil, and the stones and soil they tried to bring in blocked the hole. It was immediately dug back out, but while we were buying time like that, the work of the two from the workshop finished.
As usual, Beatrix was called. This time Paul-san was with her. A call for evacuation was made. Everyone hid behind the battlements or the gate.
Beatrix fired a [Fire Ball]. A crackling sound could be heard. There, Paul-san unleashed his magic.
"[Wind Barrier]!"
It was high-level wind magic.
The crackling sound vanished... I still feel like the usage is different, though.
The original [Wind Barrier] is magic that compresses the surrounding air to create a solid air barrier in the sky to protect allies. It can apparently deflect not just arrows, but even stones thrown by catapults.
Paul-san had compressed the air into a bowl shape to cover the wall and silenced the sound within the barrier. Since the Revenants had carried stones, there was a possibility the opponent had learned of the destruction of the slope. There was a loud noise and wood chips flew grandly. It wouldn't be strange if it was found out. We couldn't afford to let any more of our hand be known.
"It seems it's already finished."
At Paul-san's words, I looked at the wall along with everyone who had been hiding. Several holes were open in the wall. It was where the marks had been put. The cracking was also terrible.
After the two from the workshop went down and inspected it, the 'no problem' sign was given. Several town guards headed toward the wall with hammers. It was to widen the holes in the wall.
"Impressive. We must learn from that adaptability."
Beatrix was impressed.
Yes, so you see, by using [Clean Up] to change the appearance of the Revenants... it's nothing. Don't glare at me like that. I'm sorry.
When the wall of the sewer collapsed and the hole was successfully widened, Angelica-san covered the surface of the slope toward the hole with ice. Then, she melted the mountain of ice made by freezing the Revenants in an instant. Before the thawed Revenants could start moving, the town guards chopped through the stakes fixing the wire fence with axes.
Now, everything was ready. All that was left was to watch the walking Revenants slip and slide into the underground sewer on the ice of the slope.
Since the sewer had its intake closed and its drain fully open, there was no water in the channel. Since the separate unit of the town guard should have confirmed the water was gone and made a barricade around the sluice gate, there was probably no worry about the sluice gate being broken.
The separate unit had another role: to fire arrows at the Revenants that slid into the sewer and guide them deeper and deeper. By doing so, after guiding all four thousand or so Revenants into the sewer, if Angelica-san blocked the hole with a soil wall, the containment would be a success.
It's not a pleasant feeling to have Revenants wandering under my feet, but it's far better than them attacking, so please consider it a good thing.
Around that time, a report came in that all the Revenants that had invaded the church's backyard had been purified. Currently, they seemed to be constructing a barricade in preparation for a re-attack.
Furthermore, by Hans-san's plan, it was decided to make the opponent think they had succeeded in breaching the gate by pretending to be people fleeing from the gate while screaming. Paul-san, who eagerly took on the role of the fleeing person, apparently gave a realistic performance. Despite having spoken to the vigilantes guarding the area beforehand, they gathered with weapons in hand, wondering if it was a real enemy attack.
He's an amazing person, but... he's an amazing person, but still. I wonder what it is...
Hearing that story, Beatrix looked up at the sky, and Hans-san spread his arms and shrugged his shoulders grandly.
By the time the last Revenant slid into the sewer, the eastern sky had begun to turn white. Soon, the morning sun would rise. We had protected the town.