Chapter 51 - Cave Defense Battle (1)
Someone is shaking my body.
I feel like I hear the Headmistress's voice, but I'm no longer a student at the orphanage. It must be a dream. If it's a dream, maybe I don't have to wake up...
"Jeanne. Wake up. The enemy has come."
Hmm. Headmistress, you shouldn't appear in people's dreams... wait!
"Don't be half-asleep, wake up quickly!"
I suddenly snapped out of it and opened my eyes. I could see the Headmistress's face. That's right. This was the goblin cave. And the enemy... the enemy!
I hurriedly got up. Beatrix was sleeping next to me. In the back, Robinson-san was in the middle of being woken up by a goblin.
"This cave has been surrounded by a pack of monsters. There will be a battle. Get ready."
Looking around the cave, the banquet was already over. McBurn-san and Priest Williams were guarding the entrance to the Great Hall. Beowulf, Marcelo-san, and Emily-sensei were nowhere to be seen.
"Wake Beatrix up. You, don't leave my side."
A pack of monsters? Surrounded? What's going on?
The cave we were in was attacked by a pack of Orcs. The time was before dawn. A dawn raid. We were attacked in our sleep.
The wolves were apparently the first to notice.
It seems the guard squad and the hunters, including Angus-san, who saw the wolves starting to growl, had the Headmistress cast support magic on them and held the area near the cave entrance, supporting until the arrangements for the interception battle were ready.
It seems they fought quite fiercely, and casualties have already appeared. As long as the Headmistress is here, I don't think their lives are in danger, but I'm still worried.
The Headmistress and I are in charge of treating the wounded.
It's just like a field hospital.
The wounded man brought in was one of the guard squad, covered in blood with wounds all over his body. His leather armor was also in tatters.
A small room in the back of the Great Hall was assigned as the field hospital. It's the room for the goblin mothers and children. In preparation for the goblins getting injured, several of the mothers took out medicinal herbs and joined the hospital staff.
The goblins who can move will be in charge of reconnaissance under McBurn-san's command, with Robinson-san giving instructions.
Goblins, who can see ahead even without light, are perfect for reconnaissance.
Besides, many narrow passages that only goblins can crawl into have been dug in this cave. Only they can activate the several traps that have been prepared.
The wolves will be the final defense unit. By Robinson-san's judgment, they are waiting in front of the hospital.
This is probably because in passages limited to frontal attacks, they wouldn't be effective against monsters.
As a result of the reconnaissance by the goblins, the scale of the opponent was understood. Over sixty Orcs with spears and two-handed swords, and over five Ogres.
Apparently, the Orcs who were in this nest before escaped and brought another pack from somewhere.
I suppose you could call it a revenge visit.
That means the enemy's target is Robinson-san—in other words, humans. They probably intend to keep the goblins alive and work them as underlings.
Against them, our fighting force is sixteen humans and thirty-two goblins. However, excluding pregnant mothers and children, there are ten males and females. No, excluding the Elder, there are nine. Roughly seventy against twenty-five, so there's nearly a threefold difference. We're at a serious disadvantage.
Orcs are cruel monsters, and even if you surrender, several will apparently be tortured and eaten. We must win no matter what. To be honest, my legs are shaking and I can't walk properly.
The Headmistress is standing by my side, slowly stroking my head.
Even if the children aren't crying out loud, they are clinging to me while shedding tears, so I can't just be scared. If I'm scared, it will spread to the children. As a priest, I have to stand firm.
"An Orc or an Ogre is two silver coins each. Let's earn!"
The crazy mage's lighthearted voice seemed, belatedly, dependable.
That Paul-san was also now out on the front line and was not in this place.
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After receiving the report that they were surrounded by a pack of monsters, McBurn had to consult with Catherine and the others to think of a way to intercept them.
Orcs are strong.
They can't use magic, but for being about the size of a large human, their strength is simply great and they are skilled with weapons. It's considered that a normal human has no chance of winning one-on-one.
Despite the wolves' quite early warning of the enemy attack, they had suffered casualties while getting their own side's posture ready. This was because, while the narrow passages didn't allow for a simultaneous intrusion, the person standing at the front couldn't be rotated out.
It also had an effect that they were wearing light leather equipment intended for agile goblins, even though they were fighting opponents who usually equip chainmail and steel shields, albeit with support magic.
Even so, those who stood at the front held their ground to buy time. At least until Marcelo and Emily crossed the first intersection and reached the lookout room on the second floor, they had to maintain the first passage.
Thanks to the narrow passage, they couldn't swing their weapons at each other, and the attacks centered on simple thrusts and body slams. They deflected those with shields, parried with spears, and suppressed the initial moves to bridge the gap in physical strength.
The first person, despite desperate defense, had his spear snapped, his shield half-destroyed, and although they weren't fatal, he suffered multiple wounds.
Even with Catherine's support magic, a mere fifty percent increase in original physical ability cannot reverse the individual disparity with monsters. Though, a fifty percent increase in physical ability is an effect that can only be achieved by a priest who uses super-high-level magic like Catherine.
Behind the person who first became the shield, three guard squad members and three hunters were waiting.
He took an Orc's spear squarely in his right shoulder. Just as he was blown away by a body slam, Paul created a wall of air with [Skill: Wind Barrier]. He immediately released it, blowing the opponent away along with the Orc who had suffocated, and took some distance.
Then, he dug a hole with earth magic and used the dug-up soil as an embankment on this side of the hole to somehow stall them. The guard squad held up their shields, and the hunters fired arrows through the gaps, finally making delaying combat possible.
The fact that Ogres were mixed in with the enemy was also troublesome. Besides their great strength, they are excellent at magic defense. Since they have Catherine's support magic and Paul's magic defense, the damage from the enemy's attack magic can be reduced to a negligible level, but the power of our magic was also halved.
The reason Robinson gave up on controlling the Orcs while being there was also the presence of the Ogres. If he failed, there was a high possibility that Robinson would be killed, and then the purpose of this exploration would not be achieved.
Even Paul's magic could only blow the Orcs away and couldn't deliver a finishing blow. Needless to say, Beatrix's magic only served as a diversion.
On the other hand, they were able to deal sufficient damage with shooting.
Arrows fired from behind the embankment, riding the wind created by Paul's [Skill: Favorable Wind], were hard for the Orcs to see because the torches were in the background, and combined with the diversionary effect of Beatrix's [Skill: Hurl Stone] magic that launches pebbles, they proved effective.
Magic defense doesn't matter to arrows or pebbles once they've gained acceleration. Thanks to the skill of the hunters whose aim was accurate, they defeated five at the first embankment. The force of the wind also helped suppress damage by causing the enemy's arrows to lose speed.
The embankment piled at the edge of the hole was higher than an Orc's height from the bottom of the hole. The guard squad at the very front was holding their own by thrusting spears at enemies climbing the embankment while firing arrows from behind it.
Even so, a soldier who bled from his head and lost consciousness due to a human-head-sized stone thrown by an Orc's strong arm ended up being carried to the rear by Beowulf, who was the youngest and had the least combat experience. If one person is injured, even temporarily, one more person will leave the front line. Until Beowulf returns, they must prevent the enemy's attack with fewer people.
The dug hole was filled with the corpses of several Orcs, and newcomers began to step over them. Paul created a wind to blow the opponents away, and they retreated to the next crossroad to create a new hole and embankment for a defensive wall.
In the plan, this pattern would be repeated three times from the beginning, leading to the final interception in the Great Hall. Catherine's magic would settle it all at once, but they tried to defeat as many enemies as possible until they were drawn in there.