The Mana Energy Flood (5)
The scene was truly majestic. Students who had never received any proper military training stood in orderly ranks before the barricade, maintaining their vigilance. It was a formation Sergei had improvised on the spot, taking into account each student’s specialty magic, mana capacity, and countless other factors.
If the first defensive line fell, they would abandon the fields and pastures and retreat into the village. If the second line collapsed, they would give up the residential areas and fall back to the central fortress. And if even the third line was breached… that would be the end.
Tension and fear mingled on the students’ faces. They had heard they would be fighting monsters during practical training, but none of them had imagined they would actually be facing a monster wave.
Darkness had already settled over the village, and an ominous aura began to swirl through the air.
“Have all the residents been evacuated?”
“Yes, Professor. Everyone has moved to the air-raid shelter.”
There should be no one missing. Even though such incidents didn’t happen often, they occurred from time to time, so the villagers here conducted evacuation drills almost every month.
“They’re coming.”
Sergei murmured in a low voice. The students only tilted their heads in confusion, but I could feel it too—the heavy vibrations shaking the ground as the monsters approached.
Normally, monsters of different species would fight each other on sight. But when they sensed something completely foreign, they would stop quarreling among themselves—at least long enough to rush together and eliminate that alien presence.
Just like now.
“Oh my god…”
The vibrations grew louder, and the small trees at the edge of the Wist Forest began to snap and fall. What burst out from behind them were black dogs, orcs, and… damn it. Was that a Fenrir?
In any case, it was a rare and precious sight—monsters of all shapes, sizes, and species tangled together in a massive horde.
“Everyone, prepare for defense! When your mana runs out, replenish it with your personally issued mana stones! If you show symptoms of mana energy poisoning, drink the antidote! But we don’t have much of it, so use it sparingly!”
Sergei ran back and forth, relaying orders. He could have used magic to amplify his voice, but it seemed he wanted to conserve every last drop of mana.
This was the real beginning.
The battle I had described in the novel as the worst fight imaginable… the one even that tough bastard Hurtlocker had admitted was incredibly difficult.
Now that I was facing it myself, my mind felt strangely empty. Only the tasks I needed to carry out surfaced clearly in my head, one after another.
“Professor.”
“…?”
A hand suddenly landed on my shoulder with a thud. When I turned, Trie was smiling brightly at me. At some point she had borrowed armor from the village guards and now wore a sword at her waist.
“It’s a shame there was only one real sword. If there had been two, I would’ve given you one.”
“It’s fine. It would have been too heavy for me anyway and would only get in the way. I’m more comfortable with magic.”
“For someone who’s going to become a magic knight in the future, that sounds awfully deceptive.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hehe.”
Maybe it was thanks to her that I couldn’t feel much tension. Having Trie around was reassuring. Especially when she was holding a sword.
“I did prepare one gift… but I’m not sure if it’ll arrive in time.”
“A gift?”
“Don’t get your hopes up too much! Anyway, I’ll head to my position now!”
“…?”
Spouting some cryptic nonsense, Trie ran toward the first defensive line with the other guards.
“Thirty seconds until the first wave arrives! Prepare wide-area magic!”
“…”
Sergei shouted and gave a signal to the students in the front row. I was also in the first line, assigned to cast wide-area magic, but I only planned to pretend to shoot it. Even if I fired something with my measly 1,000 mana, it wouldn’t make any noticeable difference anyway.
I was saving Selection and Concentration for a more important moment later.
“Wide-area magic! Fire!”
Flames. Lightning. Sound waves… Various wide-area spells shot forward all at once. Individually, none of them were particularly impressive, but when dozens merged together, they unleashed a truly massive barrage that swept away the monsters charging mindlessly ahead.
So this was why mages were treated as tactical weapons on the battlefield. It made perfect sense that a specialized unit like the one Hurtlocker belonged to—one that hunted only mages—would exist.
“Second row! Begin sniping!”
Flashes, arrows, and blasts of wind screamed through the air. Monsters collapsed, and those behind them tripped over the corpses, causing bottlenecks here and there. But it still wasn’t enough to completely block their advance. In the end, the delay was only temporary. The creatures had nearly reached the barricade.
Now the real fight began.
“Hold the line!!!”
The monsters slammed into the wooden barricade, making it shake violently. The guards braced it with their bodies while thrusting spears through the gaps between the posts. Despite their efforts, the monsters kept piling up, and the barricade slowly began to tilt.
Still, during that time, magic continued to rain down on the surging horde, thinning their numbers considerably.
“Abandon the wall! Retreat!”
At Sergei’s shout, the guards all turned and began running. At the same moment the barricade collapsed, it looked like the pouring monsters would overwhelm them, but—
“Graaaaaaaaah!”
“Whoa…”
The massive barrier Sergei had deployed blocked the creatures, buying the guards time to escape. He was holding back the weight of thousands of monsters pressing against such a wide-area barrier.
In the original story, Sergei had rarely shown himself using magic, so I hadn’t truly appreciated it… but this guy really was an absolute monster.
The barrier lasted a full thirty seconds before it finally shattered. Well, it had been overly ambitious to begin with—trying to protect the rice paddies and fields from such a flimsy first defensive line.
From now on, they could defend from a much taller, sturdier stone wall.
Soon the monsters crossed the fields and reached the ramparts.
“If you run out of mana, fall back and replenish! The second row will fill in the gaps in the meantime!”
Sergei was giving reasonably systematic commands, but a chaotic melee soon broke out. Fireballs flew everywhere, arrows whistled through the air. The brainless black dogs simply hurled themselves at the wall in droves and died. Their corpses became stepping stones, steadily piling higher.
The orcs hung back and hurled rocks, steadily increasing the number of injured on our side. The Fenrirs, with their tough hides, used their massive bodies as living shields.
Scouts, damage dealers, and tanks. Was this some kind of fucking dream team? What a perfect combination.
“Cough! Urgh…!”
Students began vomiting or bleeding from the nose one after another. The mana energy in the village had grown far too thick. Everywhere, people were gulping down antidotes.
If they kept drinking that fast…
“Professor! We’re out of antidote!”
Of course it would run out quickly. The stockpile had only been meant for the village guards. With dozens of students suddenly added to the mix, it was inevitable. Especially since these kids were burning mana like crazy and breathing several times faster than normal people.
But around this time…
“Professor! We found more antidote in the warehouse!”
“What? How many bottles?”
“Ten bottles. But… the concentration is incredibly high. It looks like they’re worth about a hundred regular bottles combined!”
“Huh…!”
It must have been the mana energy antidote I had deliberately left out. This should let them hold out a while longer.
“They’re climbing…!”
“Orcs! Orcs are getting over the wall!”
After fighting in a frenzy for some time, one side of the wall had grown noisy. Sure enough, orcs were scrambling over the ramparts while guards and students desperately tried to stop them.
Damn it. The mountain of black dog corpses had grown high enough for them to scale the wall. At this rate, the second defensive line would fall too.
“Clear a path!”
“Professor Schluss. I’ll go on ahead.”
Something shot past me on both sides with a sharp whoosh. Trie and Sergei. Sergei was carrying a massive club he must have picked up somewhere, while Trie had drawn the real sword she brought and was charging forward.
The two of them cut down every orc that tried to surge over, smashing them back to the outside before they could gain a foothold. With the monstrously strong Sergei and the tireless Trie working together, that side was completely secure. Even if a pack of superior monsters like Fenrirs poured over, they could handle it.
But if the other sections of the wall also built up enough corpses for monsters to climb…?
“Kyaaa! Over here too!”
“Grrrr!”
Damn. The situation I had feared had arrived sooner than expected. Fenrirs were crossing the opposite wall alongside the orcs. The students who suddenly found monsters right in front of them fell into complete panic.
“Retreat! Fall back to the third defensive line! If you have any strength left, withdraw slowly and help your allies retreat!”
Unable to watch any longer, Sergei finally gave the order to abandon the wall. The third defensive line was an extremely tall spire. In theory, it should be impossible for the monsters to break through.
But they would still smash every last house to pieces. We might save our lives, but it would still be our defeat. Knowing that, Sergei must have hesitated. His instruction to stay if you had the strength came from the same logic. First, pull back those who had panicked since they were useless. Then the ones with real combat ability would fight, and if an opening appeared, they would drive the monsters back and try to hold the second line again.
“Are you Schluss Heinkel?”
“…?”
At that moment, someone tapped me on the back. I spun around in surprise. An old woman stood there, holding something wrapped in a white veil. Even as students screamed and fled in all directions, she stood straight and looked directly at me. She seemed to be a local resident, and a fearless one at that.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Then take this.”
“This is…?”
I accepted the long, veiled object with both hands. The old woman immediately pulled away the cloth. A sword of dazzling beauty flashed in the darkness.
This was… the training sword I had used when sparring with Trie earlier, wasn’t it? No. It looked the same, but it was different. The blunt edge that had only left bruises and pain when it struck had been sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Had she taken it to the blacksmith and asked them to sharpen it for me in such a short time?
“Excuse me, who—”
“…”
When I tried to ask, the old woman had already vanished. What a mysterious person.
I turned and looked at Trie, who was still slaughtering monsters in front of the wall. She didn’t even have a moment to spare me a glance. So this was the gift Trie had prepared for me.
At a time when I couldn’t use mana or my abilities, I had received something incredibly valuable.
“Grrrrr…”
Just then, a Fenrir that had completely scaled the wall stood before me. By now, all the students and guards who had been defending this section had fled. Or rather, retreated. Since the order to withdraw had been given, calling it fleeing was inaccurate.
In any case, I was alone here now. No matter how strong Sergei and Trie were, they couldn’t abandon the massive horde they were dealing with to come help me.
“Grrrr!”
“Hoo…”
Fuck, this is terrifying.
Still, I had no choice but to fight. If I ran, the slower orcs might be one thing, but if I let a Fenrir loose, the retreating students would have their throats torn out.
I raised the sword above my shoulder and took a stance—the most advantageous position when facing an enemy larger than myself.
Then, without warning, the scenery before my eyes changed. The landscape instantly swallowed reality whole.
‘Huh?’
A pure white snowfield. A massive wolf-like monster baring its fangs. And a lone boy standing before it.
It was a scene I had seen once before through Memory of the True Body. Except for the fact that everything was covered in snow, the situation was almost identical to now.
That’s right. Schluss had accomplished this at such a young age. It would be ridiculous for me—an adult in body—to feel fear now.
As that thought crossed my mind, confidence surged through me and a natural smile formed on my lips.
The moment the white wolf charged at me, the snowy landscape melted away like mist, returning me to reality.
“Come at me, you mutt.”
“Graaaaah!”
The Fenrir’s body hurtled toward me. Its movements looked strangely slow.