Ch.7373. The Free City of Lachburg (2)

The moment the bell rang, announcing a crisis in the city, citizens rushed to their homes.

Seeing this, Sophia and I naturally assumed they were simply seeking shelter in the relative safety of their homes, but…

Our assumption turned out to be completely wrong.

The citizens of the Free City, except for the very young, were all prepared soldiers.

Every household was equipped with various weapons as a basic necessity.

Most had acquired cold weapons like longswords, hand axes, shields, or barbed spears—at least one per person, according to their means.

What particularly surprised me was seeing citizens among the armed forces heading somewhere with expensive equipment like crossbows or chain mail armor that didn’t come cheap.

“Come out! Come out!”

“Fight! Protect our homeland!”

“For the War God! For the bloodstained blade!”

“Golden Hand of Justice, answer our call!”

They armed themselves regardless of age or gender and rushed into the streets.

Officers in distinctively ornate attire appeared among the crowd, gradually taking command of this reserve force—this militia.

Seeing this, I recalled reading a book about Free Cities.

In this harsh and dangerous world, a ‘Free City’ needed its own military force to survive, which is why most Free Cities implemented conscription, turning countless citizens into soldiers.

It’s a basic qualification for citizens of the Holy Empire’s Free Cities to be able to swing a sword and handle a spear, and furthermore, to form a battle formation with fellow citizen-soldiers, load crossbows, and fire them.

I had thought the book was propaganda due to its overwhelmingly positive portrayal of Free Cities, but… to think those cringeworthy, glorious descriptions were actually true.

So while we were watching the city’s transformation with curious eyes,

Sophia and I suddenly felt an explosive increase in life force emanating from nearby.

“…?”

“…underground?”

The source was none other than beneath the ground. As if something was tunneling underground toward the heart of the city… specifically toward this district where we were located.

Originally, not being citizens of this city, we had no intention of getting involved unless the situation became dire.

But… if we were to get caught up in it, that would be a different story.

[Something’s coming from underground! Something’s approaching!]

“…?!!”

When I shouted with magical power, everyone in the street briefly paused to look at me, then seeing my silver-grade adventurer badge… or perhaps feeling the vibrations spreading from the ground, they began to move quickly.

I wanted to create an earthquake to sweep away whatever was approaching through the tunnels, but doing so in a populated area could cause untold casualties and property damage.

Therefore, Sophia and I chose to wait cautiously.

“Robo, Corin! Astra!”

“Minerva, come forth!”

After summoning animal companions suitable for urban combat, we began casting various spells one by one to be ready for anything…

-CRASH!!

Around that time, the paving stones shot up into the air, and through dozens of tunnels formed in the ground, the culprits behind this bell-ringing revealed themselves.

※ ※ ※

When I first saw those creatures crawling up from the tunnels,

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at the bizarre arthropod or insect-like lifeforms.

If I had to describe them, perhaps a mix of scorpion, spider, and mantis?

With my crude drawing skills, they had roughly this body structure, though several times more hideous than the insect in my sketch.

Their entire bodies were protected by hard chitinous exoskeletons, with sharp spines protruding at various points, giving them an even more ferocious appearance.

Additionally, their protruding forelegs had sharp blades, presumably used for digging, and their heads resembled alien insects with reptilian features like lizards.

These were a type of insectoid magical beast that I had read about in books before.

Their formal name was Cave Vermin. To make it easier to understand, they were similar to the “alien insects” often depicted in science fiction media.

They had a mental network centered around a ‘Queen’ specimen, who could birth various types of Cave Vermin according to need. Each had different appearances and abilities based on their roles.

Among these Cave Vermin that seemed to belong in a different genre altogether, the specimens before us were the most basic “soldier” type.

Of course, “basic” is relative—they were actually as large as horses or bears…

“Thrust! Thrust!”

“Spearmen forward! Halberdiers forward too!”

“Respond calmly in formation! The enemies are few!”

Despite these beasts swarming in droves, the citizen militia was responding calmly under the officers’ directions.

Citizens with spears or halberds formed a pike formation to block the Cave Vermin’s approach, while wealthy citizens with crossbows in the rear shot bolts into the creatures’ bodies.

Meanwhile, the rest were far from idle.

“Strike! Press down!”

“Shields up! Hold tight!!”

Halberds interspersed among the pike formation slashed down with all their might to cut through the Cave Vermin’s exoskeletons whenever possible.

Soldiers with shields and one-handed weapons endured while looking for opportunities, as soldiers wielding large, beautiful longswords in both hands attacked the Cave Vermin.

The ‘citizen militia’—conscripts—were surprisingly well-trained and maintained excellent discipline, but…

[[[■■■■■■■───!!!]]]

In the end, they were still ordinary infantry with limited training. Against the endless waves of Cave Vermin, they could only hold out as best they could.

Of course, looking at it another way… they could at least fulfill the role of the ‘anvil’ in the ‘anvil and hammer’ strategy.

The ‘anvil and hammer’ tactic—to use a gaming analogy, the ‘tank (anvil)’ holds the enemy and buys time while the ‘damage dealer (hammer)’ destroys the enemy—a strategy used since ancient times until now.

This tactic is practically the standard for almost all tactics and strategies in this world, so I decided to utilize this excellent approach as well.

While the citizen militia unintentionally played the ‘anvil’ role through their desperate resistance, the two of us acted as the ‘hammer,’ targeting the Cave Vermin’s flanks.

-CRACKLE!!!

[Split apart—!!!]

Corin’s lightning coursed over the thick carapaces, lightly searing the Cave Vermin, followed by my slashing attacks raining down, instantly dismembering and disassembling hundreds of enemies.

Meanwhile, on another front, Sophia was riding Astra, moving around to reinforce the battle formation.

[—Push forward, Barrier of the North Wind!]

[Nature, please heal!]

[Shoot, Essence of the Forest!]

While Sophia’s wind barrier gave the exhausted citizen militia a moment to catch their breath,

Astra’s healing light restored the wounded, and Minerva’s nature energy spheres exploded in the midst of the vermin.

“””””””””WAAAAAAAAAH!!!”””””””””

For the citizen militia’s formation that had begun to falter, Sophia’s support was like rain on parched earth, allowing them to recharge their faltering morale and enthusiasm as they shouted battle cries and returned to the fight.

And in this situation… I transformed into a basilisk using wild magic to create a shell, and together with Robo, happily “cleaned up” the vermin.

When facing numerous enemies, unleashing wide-area magical attacks would normally be more powerful than transforming into an animal and picking them off…

But there are always exceptions in this world.

[—■■■■■■■■■!!!]

Basilisk. This giant reptilian magical beast’s petrifying magical eye turned all the vermin in my sight to gray stone.

-Crack…

The Cave Vermin infiltrated by petrification magic either died instantly, becoming statues, or had their surfaces turned to stone, leaving them alive but immobilized.

And these neutralized vermin would shatter with just a magic-infused charge from Robo.

At this point, the fate of the Cave Vermin that had infiltrated the city center was all but sealed.

Shattered stone fragments and bloody flesh fell to the ground. With each simple movement of the basilisk, dozens of Cave Vermin lives were extinguished.

And so, the unexpected urban battle ended in victory for our side.