episode_0042

As soon as Shari returned, she floated around me in a fluffy manner, circling me a few times.

She had a look on her face as if she had something to say.

“Where did you go?”

When I asked, Shari spread her arms out to the sides and fluttered closer to me, sticking to my stomach like a magnet.

Although she had small wings on her back and didn’t need to flutter like a bird, I didn’t understand why she was doing it with her arms.

“Huh? This is….”

After a moment, Shari briefly showed me a few scenes in my mind.

It seemed like she was reproducing the situation around the Horn Canyon where the subjugation team was stationed.

“Are you…?”

Continuously, Shari conveyed to me the things she had seen, weaving them together like a panoramic photo.

A group of demons consisting of slimes, goblins, dire wolves, and ogres were visible.

The not-so-special group of demons was a ‘decoy unit’ that could be seen with the naked eye even here.

Next, not far from where we were, at the edge of a cliff at the end of the Horn Canyon.

There was a place that seemed difficult to approach, covered with rocks.

Behind a large rock with sharp spikes protruding like sea urchins, there was a wide cave.

Inside the cave were humanoid demons with dog heads.

Kobolds.

There were a total of 20 kobolds inside the cave.

They were all holding large wooden staffs reminiscent of shamans, standing in pairs of five on magic circles drawn on the ground.

And the magical energy flowing from the end of the staffs was supplying energy to four magic circles drawn on the ground.

They were not ordinary kobolds, but kobold shamans.

The scene shown by Shari ended there.

“You said you wanted to help, and you disappeared for this?”

I asked, looking at Shari who was sticking to my stomach with a surprised expression.

Shari rose up to my eye level and then nodded.

The information Shari brought could change the situation of the subjugation team.

Even though we had sent several scouts, we had no harvest, but this was really helpful.

Come to think of it, Shari was the best scout in this world.

As a ghost, she could ignore all terrain features and even fly in the air.

She wasn’t even visible.

After finishing the reconnaissance and returning, she could vividly convey the information she found during the reconnaissance by unfolding the scenes she saw directly in my consciousness, which was a unique way of communication rather than verbally explaining what she found during the reconnaissance.

Shari, you’re an amazing kid.

I exclaimed as I slowly reached out my hand to stroke Shari’s head.

My hand touched Shari’s small head, but I couldn’t feel anything.

However, Shari smiled as if my hand was really stroking her head, bobbing her head against my hand.

***

The next day, I immediately selected some members from the subjugation team to form a separate exploration team.

This was to find the cave at the end of the canyon that Shari had discovered and to subjugate the kobolds doing something suspicious inside.

I gave the exploration team a rough search range and included a wizard who could break rocks.

So, early in the morning, I sent out the exploration team, and it was already afternoon.

News arrived that the exploration team had found the cave where the kobolds were located.

The exploration team broke the rocks blocking the cave and cleared out all the kobolds performing a ritual inside.

And a member who was watching from a high peak hurriedly came down and reported to me and Mila.

“Uh… we have a big problem! Suddenly, a huge number of demon forces have appeared!”

I confirmed the appearance of a new demon unit beyond the gorge with Milaia.

On both sides of the two demon units that were previously visible, a large number of new demons revealed themselves.

“Did the kobolds in the cave hide those demons with magic?”

Not long after dealing with the kobolds in the cave, a large number of demons suddenly appeared as if they had fallen from the sky.

There were flying demons in the sky, demons as big as houses, and demons riding bone horses, all looking powerful.

“Yunoa… did you anticipate this situation?”

Milaia watched the newly appeared demons and spoke.

Even the other members of the expedition, who witnessed the overwhelmingly powerful demon unit, were astonished.

“What is that… if we had divided the unit and attacked as planned, by now we would have…”

“Milaia was right to bring that man…”

Damon, the knight representative who had suggested dividing the unit, turned pale and alternated between looking at me and the demons, at a loss for words.

“The demons are coming this way!”

“Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!”

The large demon unit in the distance began to march towards the gorge.

It seemed that with the deception tactic using kobolds broken, there was no need to wait any longer.

“Yunoa, give orders.”

Milaia drew her longsword from her waist and asked me.

Orders? I had prepared for defense, but how should I give battle orders?

Suddenly, my mind went blank.

Yunoa, who had built a defense as best as she could with her limited knowledge, was at a loss as to what orders to give to effectively repel the demon onslaught.

“Yunoa, give orders.”

Milaia drew her longsword from her waist and asked me.

Orders? I had prepared for defense, but how should I give battle orders?

Suddenly, my mind went blank.

Yunoa, who had built a defense as best as she could with her limited knowledge, was at a loss as to what orders to give to effectively repel the demon onslaught.

“The wyverns flying rapidly as the vanguard of the demon unit could snatch people like birds of prey. Even if you don’t get caught by the wyverns, their talons and teeth were venomous, so even a graze could be fatal. Ordinary arrows couldn’t penetrate their thick skin. Ballistae or ice spears launched by mages were effective against them.”

“All mages, ascend to the high ground! We need to shoot down the approaching wyverns with ice spears!”

Upon hearing the narration, I immediately shouted.

“The skeletal knights riding skeletal horses, spreading curses as they charge, would rise again unless their weapons were blessed with divine magic. The curses of hatred accumulated over hundreds of years were contained in the swords they wielded. When the skeletal knights engaged in battle, the blood and flesh of those they struck cursed rotted away. However, using a blessed weapon could prevent such curses.”

“Is there anyone who can bless weapons? Start blessing melee fighters first!”

I continued to give orders hastily in accordance with the characteristics of the demon unit described by the narration.

The mage adventurers ascended to the high ground to prepare ice spear spells.

Adventurers who could use divine magic went around the expedition, blessing weapons.

Monsters were coming down the narrow path, with regular soldiers stationed on both sides of the cliffs to drop rocks.

Knights and each adventurer balanced their roles to block each path of the canyon.

Mireia, the most powerful force in the extermination team, was with me.

She was practically the ultimate weapon of this extermination team.

“…The scale of the monster’s attack is huge.”

Mireia said, looking at the rushing monsters.

“There are more monsters than I thought. I’m not sure if we’ll be okay.”

“It reminds me of the old days.”

“….”

The old days.

What is she thinking about now?

“Shoot them down!”

“Fire!”

The wizards on the hillside sent ice spears made of magic towards the approaching wyverns.

The grotesque wyverns, looking as if they were about to turn into dragons, began to attack the canyon.

“Ahh!”

Some wizards screamed as they were hit by the wyvern’s claws and fell off the cliff.

The wyvern hit by the ice spears folded its wings and tumbled down the canyon.

This was not just a one-sided ‘extermination’ of monsters.

The extermination team had no choice but to endure the ‘war’ with casualties.

Shortly after, following the wyverns, ground monsters began to pour into the canyon.

The number was significantly larger than the extermination team, and with many powerful high-ranking monsters mixed in, the power gap seemed larger than expected.

As the battle with the monsters began in earnest, the surroundings quickly turned into chaos.

Mireia quietly surveyed the situation and asked me.

“Can I go?”

There was no need to seek my permission in this situation.

You are the real leader of the extermination team.

I naturally nodded.

And then Mireia, with her sword raised, leaped straight down into the cliff full of monsters.