STAGE 8.

Morning broke over the eighth defense at Crossroad.

As the entire force was being mobilized to face the emergence of the monster army, Kuilan gathered his subordinates and spoke candidly.

It was the same kind of talk he’d given to his older brother.

"What do you think ’Penal Squad’ means? It’s basically labeling us as disposable," Kuilan said.

His men listened attentively.

"In battle, when they need a meat shield, they’ll put us right at the front. They’ll force all the dangerous jobs onto us. In the end, we’ll face more peril than the regular army. If we play it safe, not just three years, we won’t even last one before we’re wiped out."

It was a very reasonable argument.

Though they were former bandits, they’d been treated more or less the same as other soldiers for a few days. However, when lives were at stake, that treatment would surely change.

"Don’t work too hard just because they’re paying us and feeding us. Don’t risk your lives; just pretend to be diligent. Once Kureha recovers and surveillance on us lightens, we’ll escape this city," Kuilan said, scanning his subordinates with fierce, tiger-like eyes.

"Got it?"

"Okay, boss!"

"We were actually worried you were being too cautious, boss."

"Let’s just do enough to get by and scram!"

Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong—!

Just then, the bells rang loudly, signaling the monsters’ invasion.

Other defense squads assigned to this frontline were quickly appearing and assembling on the fortress walls.

Exhaling deeply, Kuilan looked up at the fortress walls.

"Let’s go. We still have to earn our keep, after all."

Standing upright atop the walls was Ash, the commander of this frontline, staring intently beyond the walls.

***

"...”

I clenched my mouth shut and focused on the southern plains.

Gloop, gloop...

Massive jelly-like slimes were filling the southern plains, inching their way towards the walls of Crossroad.

[Enemy Info - STAGE 8]

- Lv.? ??? : 1 unit

- Lv.30 Acidic Slime : 526 units

- Lv.25 Tricolor Slime : 488 units

Jelly monsters advancing like sticky rice cakes.

‘They look kind of cute at first glance.’

But in essence, they’re repulsive creatures.

Slimes have quite a high resistance to physical attacks.

If struck with a cutting attack, they’ll split apart; they barely take any damage from piercing attacks.

However, they are weak against blunt attacks, so they can be easily defeated with clubs and such.

Also, their resistance to magic is at the same level as normal monsters, so magic attacks are effective.

‘...Normal slimes are one thing, but these incoming Acidic and Tricolor slimes are a bit problematic.’

Acidic Slimes corrode weapons when attacked directly. Moreover, they explode upon death, causing acid damage to the surrounding area.

Given that their whole concept is to counter melee classes, it’s best to deal with them using ranged attacks.

Tricolor Slimes can absorb up to three magic attacks. Their name comes from the fact that their body changes color according to the type of magic they absorb.

From the fourth attack on, they take normal damage, but being immune to magic for the first three strikes is a real headache.

Moreover, this creature also explodes, dealing the elemental damage it had received upon dying.

Well, despite these assorted difficulties with the opponent,

"It’s been a while since we’ve had monsters that make for a good kill zone!"

I exclaimed with delight.

At the end of the southern field, a dense wooden fence had been set up after a long time. It was a kill zone that forcibly directed the path of enemy monsters.

Around a thousand slimes oozed their way into that kill zone. I gave my orders to the artillery.

"Show these monster bastards the fiery spirit of humanity!"

Immediately afterward, the cannons roared.

Boom! Rumble-!

Kwaaang!

The familiar sound of artillery echoed, followed by the explosive noise as shells hit the ground.

Slimes caught in the crossfire burst apart without resistance. Watching the slimes pop and dissolve, I clenched my fist. Yes!

’This is what a defense game is all about!’

But my joy over forming a kill zone after so long was short-lived.

Boom! Sizzle!

The acidic slimes, which made up more than half of the slime army, exploded and began to spray acid all around.

Sssss...

The wooden fence touched by the acid could be seen melting even from here.’Damn, just when I thought I could enjoy the sweetness of a kill zone.’

I clicked my tongue. The kill zone was effective, but it wasn’t going to last long.

By the time we had crushed about a hundred of the leading slimes with cannon fire, the wooden fences eroded by the acid collapsed en masse.

Like a dam breaking and unleashing a flood during monsoon season, the slimes all broke out of the kill zone and began their oozing march.

"Keep firing the cannons non-stop! We have to reduce their numbers as much as possible!"

Because penetrating physical attacks like ballistae and arrows were less effective against them, most of our siege equipment had been switched to cannons.

For the same reason, we had cleared away other types of obstacles in the field, leaving only wooden fences.

The slimes approaching across the field paused momentarily in front of the wooden fences, and each time, our artillery rained down shells on them.

Boom! Rumble-!

During my absence, newly developed landmines were also doing their job well.

The slimes unsuspectingly stepped over the mines scattered throughout the field and burst apart in large explosions. Excellent. It’s working well.

Anyway, by the time the slimes had crossed about half the field, about a third of them had been pulverized.

However, put another way, that still left about two-thirds remaining.

And now, they were in the center of the field—within range of our mages.

It was finally time for the mages to do their part.

"The tri-colored slimes are immune to magic up to three times."

I turned my gaze towards our mages.

"As instructed in advance—Lilly and Junior, you two will cast area-of-effect spells three times to deplete their magic immunity stacks."

Lilly once, Junior twice. Just like that.

Lilly, sitting in her wheelchair, was visibly sweating. Junior, standing next to her, looked somehow dissatisfied.

"And once their magic immunity stacks are all depleted, Reina."

I locked eyes with Reina, an officer of the reinforcement troops donning the Empire’s military uniform.

"You’ll sweep them away."

"A wise tactic, Your Majesty."

Reina gracefully bowed her waist.

"My wind magic is powerful. It’s too much of a waste to simply let it be consumed by such trivial monsters."

"..."

Junior, who was assigned the role of ’being consumed,’ seemed quite displeased as she glared sharply at Reina.

Reina directed a smile at Junior, tinged with a bit of arrogance.

Ignoring the tension between the two mages, I moved to stand next to Lilly.

"Begin when they’re well within range. We need to hit as many as possible."

"Ah, I understand, Your Majesty..."

Lilly was a fire mage, but her skill set focused on single-target damage. Her first skill was to throw a large fireball. Because she had been away from the front lines for a while, her leveling had been slow, and she still hadn’t unlocked her second skill.

She was practically semi-retired from fieldwork due to a leg injury.

Asking Lilly to cover a wide area with her fire was perhaps a challenging request.

However, if we could reduce the magic resistance stacks of the tri-colored slimes even once without exhausting our main mages, it would be a definite win.

That’s why I called her to the front lines.

"When will these patchwork deployments finally end...?"

Lilly grumbled as she gathered her magic power. I responded with a grin. Who knows? Maybe it’ll take around three years.

"Cheer up, senior mage."

"You only treat me as a senior when it’s convenient... Sigh."

Whooosh!

Fire emanated from Lilly’s fingertips. Drenched in sweat, she conjured a massive fireball above her hand.

"Haaap!"

With a shout and a mighty swing, she threw it.

The fireball soared like an artillery shell, covering the southern plain. Then Lilly stretched her palm forward and clenched her fist as she rotated her hand.

Boom!

The fireball exploded.

A shower of flames rained down onto the plains from the exploding fireball.

The acidic slimes exposed to this fiery deluge popped like bubbles, and the tri-colored slimes absorbed the magic, their lower halves turning red.

"Haa, haa!"

Having pushed her limits, Lilly was sweating buckets. I clapped my hands. You’re doing well, aren’t you? Quite formidable for a fire mage.

"Lilly, how about you return to the front lines? We could even do dungeons together..."

"I, I should get back to the artifact team! Goodbye!"

Lilly hastily wheeled herself away to the distant artifact zone. Jeez, can’t even take a joke.

"Junior, it’s your turn. Are you ready?"

Upon asking Junior, she twirled a magical staff in her hand as she moved to stand beside me.

This time it was the Rod of Crimson, made from Celendion’s magic core.

"Your Majesty.""Yes?"

"If I can take out all those slimes from my position, we don’t have to give that woman a chance, right?"

Junior glanced at Reina as she asked. I chuckled.

"Of course, but... can you actually do it? Won’t you be pushing yourself too hard?"

Unfit for combat, and yet she talked about casting area-wide spells three times in a row. Was it worth it, risking her physical well-being just for the sake of pride?

However, Junior grinned and held up the staff in her hand.

"I’ll show you how wonderful this new staff from His Majesty is."

Standing at the edge of the fortress wall, Junior raised her staff high. A red aura emanated from its tip.

The special abilities of the [Lord of Crimson] were as follows:

- Absorb essence upon killing an enemy, storing up to a maximum of 10.

- Use stored essence to recover HP or MP. (10 percent per essence)

- Consume 10 essences at once to cast a random Blood Magic.

Ten tiny slots on the head of the [Lord of Crimson] were all filled with fire.

She had stored 10 essences during the last free exploration.

It allowed her to use Blood Magic once, free of any Magic Power expenditure.

Whoosh!magic

Junior did not hesitate to expend all 10 essences as she cast her Blood Magic.

"The type of Blood Magic changes every time, it seems, but…"

A crimson mist erupted from her staff and rained over the heads of the slimes.

"This time, I got something useful!"

Sssssss!

Bloodmist.

A commonly used Blood Magic among vampires, it blocked the enemy’s sight and slowed their movements. The tricolored slimes resisted this spell as well, but it did consume their magic immunity stack.

The tricolored slimes absorbed the mist, and a layer of red appeared within their bodies.

"One more time!"

This time, a cerulean magic element gathered at the tip of Junior’s staff.

Whooshhh!

Rain poured from the sky. It was Water Magic.

The tricolored slimes gulped down the rain, a blue layer forming on their bodies.

All of their magic immunity stacks had been consumed!

Moreover, soaked by both the mist and the rain, they were still sopping wet.

Rumble, rumble…

Thunder roared from the storm clouds that had poured out the rain.

Sssst.

Wearing a smile that strongly resembled the mage who had named her, Junior thrust her staff forward.

This time, a bright yellow magic element was gathering at the tip.

"I’m a mercenary, Your Majesty."

Crackle, crackle!

With the sound of crackling lightning,

"There’s no way I’d give up my specialization—!"

Lightning bolts descended from both Junior’s staff and the storm clouds, striking simultaneously.

Boom!

And then, the slimes—colored in tri-colors due to the consumed magic immunity stacks—were all fried to death.

***

"Hoo…"

While looking at the field that was burnt black and smoldering,

Junior exhaled deeply, regaining her composure. Her complexion was pale, probably because she had expended all her Magic Power, but she looked pleased.

Junior turned her head with a smile, and Reina looked back at her, her lips curling upward, as if to say, ’See what I can do?’

’Wizards really are the most dignified...’

Whether it was a skirmish or not, it seemed like this defensive battle would end smoothly, thanks to our strategic weapons. I opened the enemy information screen for this stage.

[Enemy Info - STAGE 8]

- Lv.? ??? : 1

- Lv.30 Acid Slime : 26

- Lv.25 Tricolor Slime : 33

Almost all of the Acid Slimes and Tricolor Slimes were defeated. It seemed we just had to finish off the lucky few that survived the magical bombardment.

’Wait a minute…’

I blinked as I sensed something was off.

’Where is the boss?’

...Why hasn’t it appeared yet?

--TL Notes--

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