Ch.217Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front

The flames, which had grown as if to burn the entire mountain range, spread gradually with the wind.

Though they didn’t blaze like dry firewood due to being eroded by the cold mana from the rift, Camilla’s flames refused to be extinguished easily.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

The wind-borne flames rose passionately, using the dense forest as kindling. Through the magnificent blaze reminiscent of the Battle of Red Cliffs, terrible shrieks could be heard.

“KIEEEEEEEK!”

The horde of corpse spiders that had stopped before the flames rolled their eyes, which were as horrifying as their appearance. At the end of their ruby-red gaze stood Camilla, controlling the flames.

I put a bullet into the eye of a corpse spider that was glaring at Camilla. Shrieking in pain, the spider writhed and shook its massive body, eventually pushing another spider beside it into the flames.

A pair of gently folded violets flew toward me on the wind.

“Your marksmanship is impressive, Sir Military Officer. You seem quite familiar with it?”

“My profession is a soldier.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

“That’s exactly what I meant.”

Episode 11 – All Quiet on the Northern Front

Despite the raging snowstorm, the flames showed no signs of dying down. The fire, growing larger as it fed on dead trees and corpses, engulfed the area, and the heat of the battlefield intensified accordingly.

A forest burning while harboring cold. Camilla stood at its edge.

“Huff…! Hoo…!”

Camilla controlled the fire while catching her breath.

Though the flames she had created were now spreading down the mountain range with the wind, she continued to produce new flames without rest. The corpse spiders attacking the rift would charge forward with their red eyes gleaming, only to hesitate repeatedly when confronted with the towering flames.

I tapped Camilla’s shoulder as she concentrated and urged her:

“Save your mana, Camilla. If you collapse here, we’re in serious trouble.”

“I understand…!”

Without question, Camilla was making the biggest contribution to the current battle. If she were to faint here, nothing could be guaranteed.

Understanding my meaning, Camilla fortunately withdrew her hand from creating flames and took a step back to observe the situation.

Only then did the true state of the battlefield reveal itself before her.

“…How dreadful.”

Corpses were scattered everywhere. No matter where one looked, the bodies of dead Imperial soldiers could be seen.

Collapsed fortifications and burning covered trenches. Unable to withstand the heat, pillars collapsed, causing trench roofs to cave in. The corpse spiders, supplies, and someone’s remains that had fallen inside were buried along with them.

It was a horrific sight.

Most of the troops who had defended their positions for over 30 minutes had perished. Though some wounded had returned alive, they were few in number.

The one fortunate aspect was that the troops at the perimeter had pinned down the corpse spiders’ movements and held out long enough for the unit to recognize the attack and prepare adequately.

I scavenged ammunition from the bodies strewn across the ground and spoke to Camilla:

“Focus, Camilla.”

“…Yes.”

“We just need to hold out a little longer. Just a little bit more.”

Now that they were aware of the attack, the unit would have reported that the rift was under assault. The report would have reached Military Command Headquarters, and naturally, the units stationed below the mountain range would also be aware of the situation.

With division-level forces, everything would be over once they reached the rift. So we needed to buy even a little more time.

“Take this gun. Since the battle might drag on, it’s better to use firearms instead of magic for now. You’re familiar with Imperial rifles from our time at the southern resort, right?”

Camilla received the rifle and loaded it with rather skillful movements.

The flickering crimson light tinted her dimpled cheeks red.

“After spending days on assembly and disassembly, it would be strange if I didn’t know.”

Camilla began to face the corpse spiders with a rifle instead of using magic.

While it wasn’t good news that Camilla’s magic—which rivaled that of a battalion-level magician—was sealed away, the situation wasn’t entirely bleak.

Because we had another magician.

“Everyone, please step back three paces.”

Francesca, standing before the horde of corpse spiders, pulled her hand out of her pocket and swung it. Vials containing liquids of various colors flew through the air.

Like cats jumping over a fence, Francesca’s vials crossed over the fire barrier Camilla had created and descended upon the heads of the red-eyed corpse spiders.

Then.

*CRASH!*

The vials floating in the air shattered all at once.

As they broke, glass fragments burst out, spreading an unknown liquid. The corpse spiders huddled together in front of the flames blinked their red eyes as they were suddenly doused with the liquid.

And shortly after.

“KIEEEEEK!”

“SHAAAAA!”

Terrible shrieks clearly penetrated through the flames.

The desperate cries of the corpse spiders shook the northern snow mountains.

*

Beyond the flames, I turned to Francesca with an astonished expression as I watched the corpse spiders melting rapidly as if doused with hydrochloric acid. Francesca smiled back as if to ask what the problem was.

“What on earth is that?”

“It’s the essence of alchemy used during the Independence War. One of the ancestral legacies passed down in my family.”

“…And you just keep something like that in your clothes?”

“If you store it properly so it doesn’t break, there’s no problem. I’ve made it many times in my family’s workshop since childhood—surely you don’t think I wouldn’t know how to store it?”

As I’ve always felt about my sister, there truly seems to be no normal person among real magicians.

Thanks to Camilla and Francesca’s efforts, the corpse spiders couldn’t breach the perimeter. With time on our side and the front line stabilized, our chances of victory were steadily increasing.

However, even dogs and cats recognize their owners, and even beasts have the intelligence to return favors. The corpse spiders, blocked by the flames, quickly identified the source of their problem and began launching a new type of attack.

Just then, a spine that had pierced through the fire barrier landed nearby with a *THUNK!*

“Eeeek…!”

Camilla’s face turned pale at the sight of the sharp spine as large as her palm.

“What is this?!”

“It’s probably a bone from a person or animal.”

“W-what does that even mean?!”

“Corpse spiders are monsters that feed on corpses. They lay their eggs in corpses too. One of their characteristics is that they dissolve bones absorbed from corpses and transform them into spines. They use these bone spines to hunt prey—that’s their primary hunting method.”

“How is that even possible? Why are they even called ‘spiders’? Those are just Hydralisks!”

“They’re called that because they look like spiders, I guess. It’s a name given by academics, so ask a scholar. Conveniently, there’s someone here who knows all about it.”

The “someone who knows” I pointed to smiled brightly, holding swishing vials.

“I see you both have the luxury to joke around. While some of us are fighting so hard.”

Francesca, grumbling as if her feelings were hurt, shook the vial with her wrist.

The vial began to glow brightly. The legacy of the great magician passed down in the Ranieri family once again emitted radiance in the hands of its descendant.

The vial crossed over the flames and shattered in mid-air once more.

The corpse spiders instinctively retreated to avoid the liquid, but with so many gathered in one place, there was no escape to begin with.

Watching the monsters melt away with shrieks, Francesca reached into her pocket again to retrieve another vial.

At that moment, a corpse spider burst through the flames. Camilla, who had been shooting at the monsters with her gun, cried out in alarm:

“D-danger!”

The corpse spider that had broken through the fire barrier growled, its red eyes gleaming.

Ignoring the flames clinging to its legs and fur, it charged forward, heated up and ready to tear a person to shreds.

And as it happened, Francesca was closest to the corpse spider.

I turned to aim at the monster. However, with Francesca in the line of fire, I couldn’t pull the trigger to shoot the charging beast.

“Damn it…!”

A massive, fur-covered leg rose high into the air. Red eyes flashed with killing intent, and a sharp shriek erupted from the monster’s maw.

But Francesca merely smiled calmly at the sight of the corpse spider’s leg about to crush her.

Just as the monster’s leg was about to strike her snow-white neck—

*BOOM!*

A giant fist that appeared from somewhere smashed the corpse spider in one blow.

A clay figure resembling a giant broke the leg that had been swung at Francesca, then knocked down the corpse spider—which was nearly the size of an adult man—and began to repeatedly smash it with its enormous fists.

It was a golem.

*THUD! BOOM! THUD! THUD!*

The ground shook with tremendous noise as the golem’s blows and the corpse spider’s screams echoed across the snow field.

As I stood momentarily dazed by the sight reminiscent of meat being tenderized with a cutlet hammer, Francesca approached with a smile and nudged me and Camilla.

“You both seem quite startled. Thank you for your concern, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”

“That’s a golem, right?”

“Yes. It’s a golem I brought to guard the rift.”

Francesca waved her hand in the air and produced a cogwheel inscribed with strange characters. It was the core—the essential component in golem creation.

Looking closely, I could see a similar device embedded in the chest of the golem that was pummeling the monster in the distance.

Francesca caressed the golem’s core and said with a hint of regret:

“It turned out to be more expensive than I thought. I wonder if I should have gone to the Alchemy School that offers discounts.”

“Seeing you joke around, I’m certain you’re completely unharmed.”

I gave Francesca a disgusted look.

However, unlike my revulsion, Camilla’s eyes were sparkling.

“It’s like Titanfall…”

“What’s that, you nerd?”

Just then, a radio message came from the rift, saying that they had gathered troops from each perimeter post and the wounded, and all preparations were complete.

Looking at the flames burning vigorously, it seemed they wouldn’t die out anytime soon. Since the corpse spiders couldn’t cross over for now, I was confident we could safely reach the defense line.

“That should be enough, let’s head up now. Everyone move to the defense line.”

*

The Imperial forces defending the rift had formed a solid defensive line. Thanks to the sacrifice of the troops deployed to the outpost and the efforts of Camilla and Francesca, the Imperial army had secured sufficient time.

*BOOM!*

A thunderous explosion, no less powerful than a beast’s roar, shook the ground.

While the main gun stabilized after firing through the thick mist, the shell it had launched shattered the horde of corpse spiders with a massive explosion.

Meanwhile, the tank commander who had leaned out of the cupola grabbed the machine gun. The corpse spiders were torn to shreds by the fierce barrage of bullets, and when the main gun fired again, all that remained were fragments too mangled to identify.

Even at a glance, it was an extremely solid defense line.

Passing through the Imperial forces who were pouring all their firepower into defending the rift, I arrived at the defense line with Camilla and Francesca.

After walking past tanks, armored vehicles, and machine gun positions, we finally met Superior Lyudmila, who had come to the defense line to greet us.

“You’ve returned. Sir Military Officer, are you injured?”

“No. This isn’t my blood. None of us are injured.”

“That’s a relief. Let’s go inside.”

Superior Lyudmila began to guide us deeper into the unit.

Meanwhile, several soldiers accompanied us like escorts, but their equipment was subtly different from the troops deployed at the defense line, suggesting they were the escort forces that had followed her here. In the distance, I could also see the escort armored vehicle that Superior Lyudmila had arrived in.

They might be called escort forces, but they were essentially monitors. No matter how much attention the Military Command Headquarters paid, one should always question whether it truly stemmed from goodwill.

But that wasn’t important right now.

“Superior Lyudmila, what’s the current situation?”

I asked Superior Lyudmila about the battle conditions.

“Troops have been deployed to all defense lines.”

“From which direction is the attack coming? Are we surrounded?”

Superior Lyudmila shook her head.

“We’re not surrounded. Monsters are coming from the south and west where you, the Hero, and the Administrator came from, but the northern and eastern defense lines are fine. According to the unit’s assessment, corpse spiders were mainly spotted in the south and west.”

This meant that the corpse spiders’ habitat was likely in the south and west.

It could also be interpreted that the probability of monsters attacking from the north and east was low.

“That’s good news. Please continue.”

“Currently, the heavy weapons platoon is providing fire support. The fog is thick, making visibility difficult, but there don’t seem to be any major issues. And artillery support from below will be provided as soon as communication is established.”

“Is communication unstable?”

“They say the high concentration of mana in the atmosphere makes communication difficult. Fortunately, we requested support from nearby units when communication was available. Magicians from the division should arrive soon.”

Infantry, armor, artillery, magic—virtually every combat branch was gathered at the rift. Air defense was also present, but since corpse spiders couldn’t fly, it was excluded.

Suddenly, a peculiar popping sound could be heard from the distance. I caught a glimpse of Imperial grenade launchers firing grenades downward from the high ground.

The spectacle of grenades, tank shells, and mortar shells raining down relentlessly was magnificent.

However, unable to shake off a creeping sense of unease, I asked Superior Lyudmila with a slightly worried voice:

“I trust we have plenty of ammunition?”

“I believe we have sufficient supplies.”

At Superior Lyudmila’s answer, I nodded with a relieved expression.

“That’s good to hear.”

With ample ammunition, numerous troops, and control of the high ground, the defense line was unlikely to be pushed back easily.

Moreover, the artillery brigade stationed below would soon provide fire support, and magicians from the division were on their way.

With all that, we could handle not just corpse spiders but even manticores.

“That’s reassuring.”

“For now, please go inside and rest a bit. I’ll inform you immediately if anything happens.”

With those words, Superior Lyudmila left, leaving behind the escort forces.

Though a battle was raging, I couldn’t keep fighting indefinitely, so I intended to give water to the exhausted Camilla and Francesca and let them catch their breath.

But there would be no rest for us.

Hordes of corpse spiders began attacking the defense line not only from the south and west but also from the east.

And so, the rift where we were stationed was surrounded.