The Black Plague (4)
What had gone wrong? Had it been pure greed, trying to clear a "Monster Subjugation" run half-asleep?
Was finishing one last assignment before bed really such an outrageous ambition?
"Ah, damn it..."
On the screen, the boss raid warning flashed rapidly and then vanished. My mood plummeted right along with it.
My hands and feet were shaking. My head spun.
Regardless of how I felt, the darkened screen gradually brightened, revealing a landscape: a quiet stretch of mountain country, and nestled in its heart, a small rural village.
A countryside backdrop of crudely strung wooden fences.
Defend the base against the approaching enemies!
Victory conditions require satisfying both of the following:
1. Successfully defend the base for a set duration against the incoming enemies.
2. Successfully attack and subjugate the enemy boss.
If all allies fall or you surrender, the mission will be treated as a failure.
The raid had started out of nowhere, and the messages showed no mercy—they didn't wait for me. I read them as fast as I could.
A bit long-winded, but the content was simple and familiar.
"It's a defense mission."
Hold off the waves for a fixed amount of time. Same basic flow as any tower-defense game.
The only difference: I had to personally attack and kill the boss.
I shook my head hard, driving out the last of the sleep fog. Finally, my brain started working again.
"Okay... skills first. Yeah, I should check if I've got any skills."
This raid hadn't been planned, so I hadn't set up a skill loadout at all. Hoping against hope, I checked my skills first—and of course.
Not a single usable skill.
I was going to lose my mind.
Consume Faith to erect defenses and fortify the base!
A message popped up as if to hurry me along. The shabby wooden fence glittered.
I tapped it. The fence clattered and transformed into a sturdy-looking stone wall.
Right. I had to upgrade the defenses like this, at least.
Otherwise, there was no way I was clearing this.
"Arrow towers. Watchtowers? Raise those too. Dig a moat."
I tapped through options as fast as I could, and buildings shot up across the empty lots of the rundown village.
In moments a moat encircled the settlement, watchtowers rose, and defensive structures of every kind sprouted into existence.
My Faith gauge drained just as fast as the buildings appeared. I'd accumulated a decent stockpile with nothing useful to spend it on—and now it hit rock bottom in an instant.
"Ugh, this is driving me insane."
I bitterly resented the developers for not putting in even a single confirmation prompt before dumping me into a raid.
Was one confirmation message really that hard to implement?
Enemies will arrive shortly!
Defend the base until dawn and defeat the boss!
The screen began to flash red like a danger warning light.
Low, tense music swelled, ratcheting up the pressure—
—and through the darkness, enormous rats came charging.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Wh-what?! Who are you?!"
"Someone just went flying!!"
Hans's punch sent a man tumbling, and the people nearby erupted into chaos. Hans didn't spare them so much as a glance.
This was no time to care about that.
"Guh— blegh! You—what the hell are you?! Why would you hit a person—"
Just before his fist connected with the man's face, Hans barely managed to pull the power from the blow. If he hadn't, that man's head would have burst like overripe fruit.
Whether he understood how close he'd come to dying or not, the resident kept shouting up at Hans from the ground.
Hans strode over, seized the man by the collar, and hauled him straight up.
A full-grown adult male rose as if by some trick, feet dangling clear of the earth.
"Wh-wha—? What are you doing?! Why are you doing this?!"
Hans asked in a low voice.
"Where."
"Huh? Where what?!"
"The flower bracelet. What did you do with it."
"Flower bracelet? What flower bracelet... the—the witch's?"
Hans nearly snapped, but forced himself to hold it in.
He didn't even have time to waste on a scuffle.
"Talk. Fast. Where did you put the flower bracelet."
"Uh, uh... that is—"
When the man in his grip only stammered and stalled, Hans's eyes went cold.
Power gathered slowly in his free hand—and only then did the man squeeze his eyes shut and speak.
"I-I threw it in the forest!"
"Which part of the forest?"
"Over there—on the path up toward the mountain peak... I left it there..."
Hans released the man's collar. The man dropped hard on his rear with a startled yelp.
The mountain.
He had to go to the mountain.
Just as Hans turned his steps toward the woods, someone called his name.
"Hans!"
It was Rohan. He'd clearly run hard; his breath came in ragged gasps.
"Rohan—Daisy's on the mountain. We have to go get her."
"Hah— huff— Wait, the kid's on the mountain? In the middle of the night? You've got to be kidding me."
Rohan clapped a hand to his forehead. What on earth had gotten into that little girl, wandering a mountain in the dead of night?
When Hans tried to hurry on, Rohan stopped him.
"Hold it! You planning to climb a mountain barehanded at night? You'll die out there too!"
"Then what? Daisy is in that forest right now!"
"Damn it... Just wait a second. Seriously, just a second."
Rohan spat a thick wad of phlegm and sprinted off somewhere.
Only a moment later he came racing back with a leather pouch in hand.
"Catch!"
The pouch sailed through the air. Hans snatched it and checked inside.
"This is..."
Flint and rope, a torch and clean cloth, wooden stakes Hans himself had whittled, and a short dagger.
Hans looked at Rohan with fresh eyes. He'd gathered all of this already?
"Hah— damn. I'm about to drop dead. Climb a mountain barehanded in the middle of the night and you're finished, you idiot. At least take that with you."
Rohan wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at Hans. Then he said:
"What are you standing around for? Aren't you going? You said you were bringing Daisy back."
"...Thanks."
"Just come back alive. Don't go dying out there somewhere."
Leaving Rohan's words behind him, Hans kicked off hard from the ground.
The dark forest ahead looked like a beast with its jaws open, waiting for prey to walk in.
And inside it was Daisy.
Daisy...!
A girl as delicate as a wildflower—and just as tough.
Hans drove his foot into the earth even harder.
And threw himself into the throat of the forest where the darkness waited.
"First platoon to the west side of the village! Move all the villagers to the rear! Have the enemies been identified?"
"Hero! First platoon is in position!"
"All villagers except one have been transferred to the rear!"
"The enemy is still too far for identification! We'll report the moment we can make them out!"
Kenis directed her forces in a whirlwind of orders. Friga, who had scouted the surroundings and returned, came up beside her.
"Kenis, we need to hold them here. This whole area is thick forest—it works against us."
"...That's not good."
Shadows flickered across Kenis's face in the dancing torchlight. The situation was poor.
They had at least spotted the enemy's approach in advance, but they still hadn't identified what they were facing.
Their only defenses were crude wooden fences and a low watchtower. The dark of night left their own field of vision painfully short.
Kenis bit her lip in agitation.
"This is bad... If only we'd raised proper walls beforehand..."
If the experienced Demonic had been here, he would have prepared in advance—but Demonic was under disciplinary confinement and couldn't come.
It was Kenis's own mistake: she had combat experience, but not enough commanding troops.
As she fretted, chewing her lip, Friga seized both of Kenis's cheeks with a sharp clap of her hands.
"Hey! Get a grip. How many times did we deal with worse than this up north?"
"Eep!"
"If you're going to keep standing there like a vacant idiot, step aside. If you're going to fight, do it properly. You're our commander. If you lose it, we all die."
Kenis looked around. Countless eyes were fixed on her.
Yes—Kenis was the Hero who was supposed to be their hope. She couldn't afford to stand there empty-headed like this.
"Hah— you're right. We faced far worse in the north. I can't fall apart over something like this."
"Ha! Damn right. Up there we didn't even have rocks to throw—we fought with frozen soup."
"We did, didn't we. That stuff hurt terribly."
Kenis slapped her own cheeks a few times, then moved again with quick, sure steps, issuing orders.
"Lookouts, keep watching the front and track the enemy! Second and third platoons! Bring oil and water from the village and get them boiling—as much as you can! Fourth platoon, move to the eastern barricade!"
She would do everything she could, to the best of her ability.
And just as their preparations to face the enemy were steadily taking shape—
—Rrrrrumble.
"Whoa!"
"An e-earthquake!!"
"Everyone down!!"
The ground began to shake without warning. The tremor of the approaching enemy?
Kenis tensed, tightening her grip on her sword.
"Th-the stockade!!"
Someone's cry. Kenis's eyes snapped to the wooden palisade.
The half-rotted, haphazardly woven stockade... was sinking into the earth.
"What in the world..."
The ground split open along the line of the fence, and the stockade was sucked down into the crack—as if something were dragging it under.
And then—
—BOOM!
With a thunderous roar, a solid stone wall erupted from the ground. The newly risen wall stood tall, flaunting its strength.
"Whoa..."
Friga's breathless murmur of awe came from beside her.
The same phenomenon was unfolding all across the village.
—Crash!
The watchtower grew taller.
—BOOM!
A river surged up to ring the village in a long, protective course.
—Crash!
And at last, sturdy arrow towers rose as well.
Every soul present stared open-mouthed at the sight of buildings growing out of the earth. When the ground-shaking finally stopped, the village had become something entirely different.
A shabby country hamlet transformed into a fortified stronghold.
Kenis was the first to recover her wits.
This was the blessing of the God who watched over them.
The God who protected them, and set them to stand against wicked evil.
"The God—!"
Kenis drew her holy sword and cried out with all her strength.
They would offer this glorious battle to the God who watched over them.
"Calls us to a glorious battle!"
And the Apostles answered in an explosive roar.
"Calls us to a glorious battle!!"
Battle was waiting for the Apostles.