A Small War on Bukhan Mountain (4)

The instructions I gave the toys were two.

One was to protect the students. The other was to find the path.

"Everyone, signal me when you reach the mountain summit."

Without gathering every last ether stone, the maze would not open.

At least the summit was said to have plenty of friendly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠golems stationed there. My plan was to gather the survivors in that place and clear out the demonic beasts.

The moment they spilled from the gate, the Party Bears scattered in every direction.

Driven by their instinct to swarm strong opponents, they could not hide their excitement at the thick demonic energy of the evil spirits — steel needles already drawn, they went wild.

Over a thousand colorful teddy bears climbing tree branches, scaling cliffs, and blanketing the ground as they ran made for quite the spectacle.

The three Toy Soldiers, by contrast, were gentlemanly and composed. They snapped crisp salutes.

"We shall carry out our mission, Your Majesty."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Focus on keeping the stronger ones in check. You can sense things other than the evil spirits, right? If it looks like you can't win, run."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The toy soldiers drew their rapiers in unison and scattered in different directions. I prayed silently.

Please don't go down cheaply. You expensive little things.

Of course, their combat style was underhanded enough that they wouldn't fall easily.

But the opponent was an upper-rank ghost-type gate.

If evil spirits were the regular mobs, then the boss monsters would be something like a Specter King or a Phantom Lord.

One or two Toy Soldiers wouldn't stand a chance at that level.

"If only I'd had a little more time."

I bit my lip at the cruel reality.

I'd wanted to make more Toy Soldiers, but I didn't have the materials.

Theirs could only be obtained by harvesting mana wood that appeared at specific gates, at specific times, using specific methods.

It wasn't something you could supply indefinitely just because you had money.

If I'd had just a few more days, I could have made a noble. It was truly a regrettable shortcoming.

Elaine, who had been listening to my muttering, spoke with a cold look in her eyes.

"...So, Pecia."

"Hmm?"

"That just now was subspace magic?"

"Yep yep."

Elaine looked around.

Broken branches and leaves lay piled everywhere. The traces of the Party Bears sweeping through remained intact.

"How is this subspace magic? Hundreds of dolls just came pouring out."

"Guess even subspace magic can get constipated."

"Pffft!"

Elaine burst out laughing and looked off toward the distant mountains. She crossed her arms and spoke in an incredulous tone.

"Wow... how am I even supposed to respond to that? This is blatantly a monster gate, and you're just brazenly going with it?"

"..."

Elaine grabbed both my cheeks and stretched them.

"What the hell are you? A demonic beast?"

"..."

"No answer, so you really are a demonic beast. No wonder you sleep so long. A human couldn't do that. Right?"

...That's what bothered her the most?

I pulled Elaine's hands off and said,

"This isn't the time. We need to save the kids first."

I understood her shock, but the situation wasn't that leisurely.

I'd been expanding my sensory field for a while now, and there seemed to be some quite powerful entities a little ways from here.

The space was warping so freely that I couldn't get an exact level reading... but I estimated at least Specter King level.

If we were really unlucky, a Phantom Lord. We might even have to flee entirely into the amusement park gate.

"We need to move while they still don't know about the teddy bears. If it's just one boss, I can handle it somehow — but if the elite guard joins in, we'll be at an extreme disadvantage. We need to take them out one by one."

Elaine's grip on my arm loosened. She dialed back her intensity a little and asked worriedly,

"A boss...? Aren't the evil spirits the bosses?"

"There's no way they'd use a low-rank gate for a terrorist attack. The real ones are beyond those mountain peaks."

"...!"

Apparently she'd been inwardly relieved by the teddy bears' appearance.

Elaine asked with a startled expression,

"So even with all those teddy bears, you still can't handle them?"

"Ah, well, to be honest—"

At that moment, I felt a writhing mass of demonic energy from the left flank.

Sensing the threat instinctively, I threw enhanced Triple Pairs at the same time a long gray blade shot out from the underbrush in a surprise attack.

Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!

The cards cleanly sliced through the blades and embedded themselves in the ground.

Then the area around a tree about ten meters away shimmered, and a black form was revealed. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Some mosquito-like man was clinging to the tree like a spider.

Elaine drew her blue staff and whispered just loud enough to hear,

"They're after Senior and Rudi."

"Yeah. I know."

The claws had been aimed at the two of them, not us.

When I opened the gate, I'd paralyzed their cognitive functions. From the evil spirits' perspective, they would have looked like easy prey.

I'd used too strong a hypnosis in the heat of the moment, and this was the result.

Suddenly the evil spirit's head stretched out long and peered at the cards stuck in the ground.

"Hmm, what is thiiis?"

We didn't bother sharing its identity or how to deal with it.

Both Elaine and I were well-versed in upper-tier demonic beasts.

"I'll tank — you finish it off, Pecia."

"No, reverse that."

"Huh?"

"I'll charge in, so you pour on the attacks. Moving!"

In this situation, noblesse oblige was not on the menu.

Elaine wasn't a close-combat brawler like Kang Jihun — she was pure magic-type. Tanking against upper-tier demonic beasts would only cut her combat effectiveness in half.

Besides...

I pushed off the ground with my left foot, soared up, then as I dropped toward the forest where the evil spirit was, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I sprayed enhanced cards like a rain of falling flowers.

Cards loaded with various bolt magics began pulverizing old trees and rocks, turning the earth upside down.

KRA-KA-KA-BOOM!!! BOOM!

"Come on out. You five brothers."

In the dust-mixed fog, demonic energies writhed in urgent frenzy. Soon the ones that couldn't withstand the bombardment leaped out one after another with shrieks of "Kieeeee!"

But by then I had already landed. Hiding my body in the fog, I targeted one of the female entities with a Mountain Pair.

Pishook— Thud!

Five cards pierced the female entity's brow, completely blowing away one eyeball and part of her brain. The evil spirit fell limply.

I was about to finish it off when claws came rushing in from all directions. I sliced through the taffy-stretching things with Triple Pairs.

Ting-ting-ting!! Tatang!

I couldn't afford the leisure of before. Purely by level, they were a bit weaker than me.

To minimize injuries and mana consumption, I needed to end this as quickly as possible.

"Kieeeeee!! Die! Die!!!"

Pish!

An evil spirit's claw grazed my left shoulder, and a hot heat spread along with a metallic smell. I'd thought I dodged it, but it cut fairly deep.

"Pecia!"

"I'm fine! When I give the signal, spam your magic!"

I surrounded myself with Back Straight pairs like a ball of cards, blocking the claws.

As agile as they were, their physical durability was poor. Even mid-grade pairs like these could completely block their claws.

With so many enemies, it was an unavoidable choice.

The evil spirits responded with headbutts to break through the defense. Card pairs were indeed somewhat weak against heavy physical impacts.

Thud! Thud! Every time a head collided, three or four of the cards swirling around me fell away.

But powerful attacks come with risks. The moment the evil spirits confirmed the headbutts were effective, they drove both legs deep into the ground.

It was so they could swing their necks even harder.

"Now! Elaine!"

No sooner had I given her the signal... than the sky flashed.

Golden beams of light fell in zigzags onto the evil spirits' heads.

KRA-BOOM!

Yellow fog pushed outward for several meters in radius. Dirt particles sprayed in all directions as if grenades had gone off. At the same time, a gust of wind shook the surrounding old trees as if shoving them aside.

"Kieee..."

Round craters thigh-deep had formed. Evil spirits lay sprawled inside them.

Of the four, one had its head crushed and had stopped moving, while another was thrashing about clutching its pierced chest.

The remaining two were staggering to their feet.

"S-sorry...! This is the limit of my skill...!"

Elaine gasped out, panting.

"Don't worry. You did great."

Her face was pale — she'd poured her mana to the limit. Rather than dealing mediocre damage to all four, she'd decided to definitely kill two.

That was absolutely the right call.

On the battlefield, reducing the enemy's numbers comes first.

"Activate."

When I stretched my hand forward, five cards flew up in a line and began spinning around a virtual axis.

Right above the surviving evil spirits' hands.

Sparks flew from the center of the cards, and golden lightning poured down.

KRA-RUMBLE!

"...I almost got hit. How did you even notice?"

Elaine asked, looking down at the evil spirits' corpses. She'd been so focused on the first one that appeared that she hadn't known there were companions.

I replied lightly.

"I felt the demonic energy."

"Demonic energy...?"

"There's a thing for that. Let's move first. We need to put Senior and Rudi somewhere safe. And if there are other groups, we need to join up."

She nodded, then shifted her gaze to my left arm.

"You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine."

I clumsily pulled up my torn uniform.

But a whole chunk had already been cleanly ripped away, and corrosion was progressing from the claw's poison. The moment I let go, the uniform fabric crumbled again, fully exposing my white shoulder.

I briefly considered changing into my dedicated outfit.

...It should be fine, right?

Of course, the dedicated outfit wasn't a bad thing.

It boosted my stats and enabled hidden skills. In the current situation, it was actually an essential choice in many ways.

But I was hesitating to put it on because of an uneasy feeling.

When the previous life's Pecia wore this, she looked especially more insane. I knew all too well what happened when combat intensified.

"Whatever. I'll just try to control it."

The combat waves striking my skin grew more intense by the moment. It meant things were fierce even though the boss hadn't appeared yet.

This definitely wasn't the time for leisure.

Poof! As my outfit changed with a puff of white smoke, Elaine's eyes went round.

"You..."

"Ah, that was just a magic trick."

"So you weren't a demonic beast! There's no way a cute kid like this could be a demonic beast."

"..."

I opened my status window to check my body.

Changing into the dedicated outfit, HP and MP began recovering at a terrifying rate.

But then, an unexpected notification window floated before my eyes.

I stared blankly at the notification window, then swallowed.

"Party Bears...?"