What Stirs Beneath the Fortress
The real battle had begun.
When monsters invaded a human fortress, the odds favored humanity almost every time. Creatures of low intelligence possessed no weaponry and no siege craft whatsoever — they could only throw themselves against the walls in a futile scramble, meeting a hail of arrows until their corpses piled neatly atop one another.
A fortress, it turned out, was a far sturdier shield for mankind than anyone gave it credit for. That deterrent power was one of the great reasons humans could hold their territory at all against monsters superior in strength, size, and speed alike.
And so while monsters might sack a village and leave it a scorched wasteland, entire territories rarely fell to them. More often than not, the border between monster and man simply formed wherever a fortress stood.
But.
"What the hell is that thing!"
This enemy — the Mimics — were remarkably unique. They hauled in captured battering rams and put them to use, and like humans, they wove wooden ladders and leaned them against the ramparts to climb.
It truly felt like fighting an army of men.
"That much is only natural."
Lorraine murmured.
"They're the horde that took thirty-nine out of forty fortresses. Of course they've learned how humans siege."
"That's kind of terrifying...... whoa! There's a ladder up here too! They're coming!"
"Leave it to me!"
Eshu bravely swung her arm. Her adorable curse dolls scurried over, latched onto the ladders, and dragged them down — then froze midway.
⟨ Decay ⟩
The curse inscribed inside the dolls activated, and the rungs of the ladders rotted straight through. The ladders crumpled and collapsed in a lifeless heap.
"Nice one, Eshu!"
Simon fought along the top of the wall as well.
THWACK!
Crack!
One dazzling kick after another sent Mimics tumbling off the wall they'd just scrambled up. At his beckoning gestures, bones danced downward, tearing through the Mimics' bodies and slashing the ropes holding their ladders in place.
The battle was still in its opening phase, so Simon refrained from heavy-hitting techniques like the Imperial Guard or Chaos, relying mainly on his matou and Bone Armor.
"Corpse Explosion."
When Simon murmured the words and clenched his fist, booms rang out all around, shaking the ramparts. He had sent zombies down below the wall to detonate and annihilate whole packs of monsters at once.
He gave a satisfied nod and glanced over.
"Lorraine! I'm leaving the left wall to you!"
"Understood."
Lorraine was mounted on a skeleton horse. Reining it in with jet-black bridle, she cut across the ramparts, coating the long spear in her hand with jet-black as she swung.
Each time her spear left a black tail behind it, a Mimic climbing a ladder lost its head — or had its heart skewered clean through.
The skeleton horse, too, showed perfect coordination, kicking Mimics away with its hind legs and angling itself to open the most convenient line for each of Lorraine's strikes.
"Hah!"
Toto wasn't falling behind either. He drew a magic circle on the ground and summoned several small Death Worms inside it, which stayed anchored in place and spat corrosive bile, repelling the Mimics.
"Ðⴆŀº!"
"ⴆŀⴘⴝ!"
The Gahal warriors cheered at the stunning performance of the necromancer students, whose unexpected arrival they'd never anticipated. Spirits raised, they screamed and loosed arrows with renewed ferocity.
Though none were channeling mana like knights, quite a few of them were clearly seasoned fighters reinforcing their bodies with mana as they battled.
Our defenses are holding up well enough.
At Simon's flick of the hand, sharp bone shards skewered monster after monster in succession.
-We need backup at Group 1-A!
-Group 3-B's in trouble too!
Listening in on the communication crystal orbs, Simon could tell the other groups were in crisis. Monsters didn't assault a wall with uniform force — their offensive surged at some points and lagged at others.
-Group 6-D! Eleven ladders went up! It's chaos over here!
Meanwhile, the defenders, forced to cover every direction, had spread their troops out evenly. To mount an effective defense, their own side would have to change tactics too.
-From this point on, everyone I call out joins the support squad. Leave your assigned sectors and prioritize the zones calling for help.
His thoughts apparently matched, Hector's voice rang through the crystals.
-Simon Polentia, Aseraz Mikel, Guinevere Benders, Chendra Gliwice.
Hector reorganized the students strongest in live combat into a dedicated support unit.
Simon turned around, and Lorraine gave him a nod.
"Don't worry. I'll hold this side with them."
With Lorraine watching over Toto and Eshu, this stretch was as safe as could be. Simon nodded, his winter coat flaring, and sprinted off.
Nearest sector first!
He made for the area where Group 4 was stationed — and his heart sank. This place was on the very brink of falling.
"Graaagh!"
The Group 4 leader, who'd played cards with them just the night before, was fighting tooth and nail, but he was no match for the flood of Mimics pouring in. The Gahal warriors were being slaughtered helplessly, and one group member lay collapsed on the ground, unconscious.
Fastest ones first!
Simon pulled four ghouls out of his subspace all at once and hurled them forward. Ahead, the Mimics were raising swords over the fallen student.
Focus!
Simon's eyes went wide.
His perception expanded; time stretched thin. Four magic circles shimmered before his eyes like heat haze. The moment his concentration peaked, power flooded into Simon's gaze.
Reno's Golden Line!
The image of four floating magic circles splitting cleanly down the middle. The ghouls' eyes blazed, and jet-black burst from the orifices of their bodies like steam engines as they tore across the ground at blistering speed.
Just as the raised blade was about to fall on the unconscious student, Simon clenched his fist.
Corpse Poison Explosion!
KWAAAAAAAAM!
KWAAAAAM!
The ghouls, having crossed a hundred meters in an instant, erupted in a chain of detonations. This was nothing like the Kavara's poison he'd used back in the practical assessment — the first wave of corpse gas blasted every nearby Mimic clean off its feet.
"Hngh!"
Simon came sliding across the ground and swung the two arms he'd drawn back behind his waist in a broad lateral sweep, rough as hanging laundry on a line.
SHWAAAAK!
SHWAAK!
Dozens of white bone shards cascaded out like rays of light, snapping snugly into place over the bodies of the embattled Gahal warriors and the fallen student alike. In moments, the Bone Armor was moving their limbs for them, punching through the encirclement and carrying them to safety.
"Whoa!"
The Group 4 leader turned belatedly.
"The President! Simon's here!"
A single arrival turned the tide in an instant. Simon drew a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Ðⴆŀº!"
The Gahal warriors' eyes went round as saucers — then they thrust their spears skyward and roared in answer.
"Ðⴆŀº!!!"
RUAAAARGH!
With a war cry, the Gahal warriors threw themselves back into the fray, cutting down the Mimics swarming up the wall.
Simon grabbed hold of space itself, wrenching open a colossal subspace.
"Fire! Mages!"
⟨ Dark Blaze ⟩
Black flames gushed from the subspace, reducing the Mimics to smoldering ash.
Simon, finally able to catch his breath, strode over to the Group 4 leader.
"What was that, Simon? Do you actually understand what they're saying?"
Simon shrugged.
"Nah, I just took a shot. Watching them this whole time, that cry seems to mean 'let's fight.'"
"......u-ugh."
Just then, the student who'd been knocked out winced and lifted his head.
"You okay?"
Simon asked after him as he swept his left hand in a horizontal arc. The scattered bones shot back at blurring speed, clumped together, and took the shape of a Bone Spear, skewering monster after monster.
The revived student chuckled weakly.
"......th-that was stupidly flashy. Anyway, thanks for saving us."
"Can you hold this wall by yourselves?"
"Sure can."
With the monsters pushed back once, this stretch of the rampart had stabilized. Simon answered a call on his communication crystal orb and moved to the next hotspot.
Beyond the fortress walls.
"Fighting well, aren't they. Fighting very well indeed."
The Butcher murmured, two enormous cleavers slung over his shoulders. He stood rooted in place, quietly studying the ramparts.
"They're holding out in a way that's just barely short of collapsing. You sure these are really students?"
"I told you already."
His partner, the One-Eyed Gentleman, drew near.
"Even with our meddling, monsters alone cannot break them."
"Which is why—"
The Butcher glanced back over his shoulder.
"—we meddle one more time, eh? Here it comes."
Behind the two of them, a band of masked assassins in black crouched low, hidden in the brush. The Butcher whistled and readjusted his grip on his cleavers.
"Though, weren't we supposed to go in alone, just the two of us?"
"That was the original plan."
"Honestly, these are useless. Skill aside, one look at them and you can tell — 'hey, we're assassins!' Walking a whole troupe of them in just means the commotion gets bigger......"
"You needn't worry about that."
The one-eyed Gentleman gave a slight nod. The assassins each drew a single vial from their cloaks.
"For the Society."
"For the Society."
They uncapped the vials and poured the contents down their throats without a moment's hesitation.
"Kkh—!"
Thud!
Crash!
Vials dropped from their fingers as they clutched at their throats and began to writhe in agony. Drool streamed from their mouths as they convulsed violently.
Grind...
Crrrunch...
Something writhed beneath their flesh, straining to burst out from every part of their bodies.
"Kgh— KHHAAAAAAGH!"
"AAAAAAAAGH!"
Thwack!
Crunch!
Skin sloughed away. Faces twisted. Bodies grew gaunt, limbs shrinking shorter and shorter.
"Heh. Well, I'll be damned."
The Butcher laughed as if he found the whole thing absurd.
"Now then."
The One-Eyed Gentleman straightened his hat and continued.
"Allow me to explain the plan."
"Hahahahaha! Now that felt good!"
CHOMP!
Grelion, having rampaged outside the fortress in his chimera and slashed the monster population down by a vast margin, returned inside. Dropping onto a rooftop, he seized the handle jutting from his abdomen and gave it a pull — the chimera's flesh peeled away with a wet rumble, and he was soon back in his ordinary pack form.
"Can't believe I've already lost this much muscle. I'll have to build another body."
Grelion smacked his lips. He was noticeably leaner than he'd been in those days of comically intimidating bulk before the war.
"You've worked hard, Professor Grelion."
Aaron walked up to him.
"Still the same as ever, I see."
"Hahahahaha! That's right, that's right! Anything amiss inside the fortress?"
"No, sir. But something is undeniably off."
Aaron ran a hand through his disheveled hair as he went on.
"Monsters from the other fortresses are converging on us. And there are Mimics displaying unnatural behavior that's never been observed before. This is, without a doubt......"
"Just how far do you see, working as a professor?"
"Sir?"
Grelion plopped down on the rooftop and chuckled.
"Back in my day, we took a field lesson to the seaside, and a twenty-meter tsunami came crashing in out of nowhere."
"......"
"It was back when the Kalos Kingdom and the Baldwin Kingdom were at each other's throats. Kalos mobilized its mages to erase Baldwin's crown prince. The man was the heart of the anti-Kalos faction, you see — dangerous, they figured, if he graduated and became the core of Baldwin's power. So they moved to eliminate him early."
"A natural disaster as cover for an assassination."
"They once sent a hundred assassins to the students' off-campus lodgings, too. That's the kind of place Kizen is. Things are peaceful these days, but if we're going to trade stories like that, one night wouldn't be enough."
Grelion wiggled his fingers idly.
"Bear this in mind. Kizen is strong, but it is not a unified organization. Countless factions and currents exist within it. The whole machine only turns because every one of them bows its head before Lady Nephthys's power — their goals, their interests, their desires are all different."
Aaron nodded in agreement.
"Four great kingdoms and seventeen powers, bound together by force into this thing we call the Dark Alliance. Same bed, different dreams. Of course it can waver."
"The Pope who built the Holy Federation on the bedrock of religion is a clever one, I'll give her that. Though from what I hear, they've got their own mess of problems — heresy trials and the like...... but anyway, my point is this."
Grelion rested a hand on his chin.
"Anything can happen to the students out here. A natural disaster could strike. Someone could goad the monsters and send far more of them our way. Assassins could come in person."
"......"
"It's our job to prepare for all of it — and to overcome it."
Aaron bowed his head.
"I'll contact headquarters. It'll be hard on the Gahal, but if we could get approval for a teleportation circle to bring us back to Kizen......"
"When Kalos sent those hundred assassins—"
Grelion grinned.
"I killed seventy. Students passing nearby killed ten. And the crown prince killed the last twenty all by himself."
"......"
"Act like Kizen. We came here with Kizen's name on the line — we cannot pull our hands away and abandon civilians. If you want to keep your professorship, don't take your eyes off the students. And—"
Grelion pulled out a fresh pack and strapped it onto his body.
"—trust the students you taught."
"Haah! Phew!"
Simon was sprinting along the walls in a blur. He'd already made two more rounds, shoring up the most dangerous sectors.
Mr. President! Sorry, but could you come to Group 11 too?
"On my way!"
Still holding one communication crystal orb, Simon flicked another one open and shouted.
"Toto!"
Yeah! You're clear to drop!
At those words, Simon kicked off the rampart and launched himself toward the fortress interior. His body plummeted toward the ground at frightening speed.
KUKWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
From below, Toto's trusted Death Worm burst out of the earth and swallowed Simon whole. The worm bored along just beneath the surface at high speed.
We'll reach the far wall in about five minutes.
"Thanks."
Toto's summons were useful in all sorts of ways — the only downside was the smell.
Simon spread a barrier of jet-black to keep the saliva off him, then readied himself for combat.
......
But as he rode along inside the Death Worm, Simon's face went rigid.
"What was that just now?"
It wasn't the worm. A strange vibration was rising from deep beneath the earth.