“Al, can you somehow defend against that attack?” Kent asked Al, inquiring if he could block the oncoming assault.
“This is a piece of cake. Torrr!”
“Ooooh!”
Al immediately acted upon Kent’s command. He summoned giant vines from the ground using magic, deploying them in front of the Holy Knights to absorb all incoming magical attacks. The vines, having served their purpose, crumbled and disappeared into the earth. The Holy Knights who witnessed this spectacle cheered.
“Master, why did you order Al to take the vanguard instead of me? It’s a shame you didn’t order me,” Emily protested to Kent, seemingly dissatisfied that Al alone was given the first command. Al then provoked Emily, adding fuel to the fire.
“Nonsense, it’s not about superiority. Al can deal with the enemy’s attacks on a line, but Emily can only deal with them on a point. To protect all the Holy Knights, I judged Al to be more effective. There will surely be opportunities for Emily to show her prowess, so please be patient until then.”
“Is that so? If Master says so, I will endure.” Emily calmed down, accepting Kent’s words.
“That fairy with the yellow-green hair is no ordinary person. She easily blocked the barrage of magic attacks. Sarah, can you handle her?” Cedric asked.
“It seems my turn has finally come. If I had joined the attack earlier, my power would have been too high and canceled out the other fairies’ magic, so I couldn’t participate. Now I can show Master something good. Sarah, here I come!”
Sarah, the fairy who had been accompanying Cedric, had not participated in the attack thus far. Her power was so immense that if she joined in a coordinated attack, she would cancel out the magic of other fairies. For this reason, Cedric, understanding Sarah’s intentions, had only ordered the lower-ranking fairies to attack. There was another, even bigger reason, but Sarah never mentioned it to Cedric. Following her master’s orders, she targeted Al and launched her attack.
“Eat this!”
“Is this all you’ve got? Ouch, ouch ouch ouch!”
As the Duchy’s Army’s magical assault subsided, Sarah’s fire attack flew towards the Holy Knights positioned near the entrance of the sanctuary. Al instantly summoned giant vines to defend, but they were all burned away, and he suffered minor burns.
“Al, are you alright?” Kent asked.
“It’s just a minor burn. I can still fight. However, while the previous magical attacks were from lower-ranking fairies, the one who attacked just now is a mid-ranking fairy, and it seems to be a powerful fire attribute. I’m wood attribute, so our compatibility is the worst. Oh well, I’m strong, so I don’t think I’ll lose even with a disadvantageous attribute.”
“If you don’t think you’ll lose, then I’ll leave that red-haired woman to you,” Kent declared.
“Understood.”
After Sarah’s fire attack, the tips of Al’s yellow-green hair were scorched black, and there was a lightly reddened area on his left hand. Kent, judging that the Holy Knights would surely suffer many casualties if they received that attack, believed Al’s words and ordered him to hold back the red-haired fairy.
“Alright, while Al is engaging the yellow-green haired fairy, the rest of us will attack the knights in white armor. Fire!” Cedric commanded.
While Al and Sarah were fighting, Cedric ordered the other fairies to attack the Holy Knights. Each master gave instructions to their fairies, and a barrage of magic attacks began.
“Everyone, raise your shields and defend against the enemy’s magic attacks!” Otsupain instructed the Holy Knights.
“Guh, the distance to the enemy has closed, and it seems the magic’s power has increased.”
“But we’ve endured harsher training than this! We won’t fall for something like this!”
The Holy Knights had trained to defend against magical attacks with the help of the fairies they contracted with. Thanks to this, they were skillfully defending against the Duchy’s Army’s magical onslaught as they had trained.
“Uwah!”
“One of them is down. Withdraw the injured person to the rear.”
Although the Holy Knights had undergone anti-magic training, their defense was not perfect, and one Holy Knight was injured by an attack that their shields couldn’t fully block. That Holy Knight was immediately taken back for treatment, and a replacement Holy Knight moved in to cover the weakened defense.
“Emily, please heal our injured comrade.”
“Understood. I will begin treatment.” Kent requested. Emily immediately rushed to the injured person and began healing them with recovery magic.
“Thank you. Alright, let’s return to our positions.” The Holy Knight, now healed, quickly prepared and returned to his post.
“Damn it, the Royal Guard knights in the castle were easily defeated by magic attacks, but these guys in white armor don’t seem to be affected much. Even if we inflict damage, they just recover and return. We’re at a disadvantage since we don’t have recovery means. Alright, switch from mid-range combat to close combat. You all prepare yourselves.” Cedric assessed that mid-range attacks with magic were not yielding significant results. He reasoned that if this continued, they would only be depleting their magic power, and fairies whose magic was running low would be unable to participate in the battle, potentially leading to a decline in their forces. Therefore, he decided to switch to close combat, which combined physical attacks to conserve magic and aimed for a quick decisive battle, even at the cost of some damage. Upon receiving the order, the soldiers readied their swords, and the battle transitioned to a combination of physical attacks and fairy magic.
“You’re quite skilled, despite fighting with a disadvantageous attribute,” Sarah commented.
“You too. Although, compared to *that*, you’re nowhere near,” Al retorted.
“I don’t know what ‘that’ is, but are you saying I’m weak? Let me show you my strength firsthand.”
“Whoa, that’s dangerous. If that hits directly, I’ll die.”
“I’m firing with that intention, so just accept it and turn to ash.”
Meanwhile, Al and Sarah were engaged in a fierce battle. When Al summoned vines to try and immobilize Sarah, she burned them away with flames. When Sarah attacked with fire, Al narrowly dodged. Although they were both mid-ranking fairies, Al, who was at a disadvantage due to their attributes, compensated with his combat experience, resulting in a back-and-forth struggle.
“The enemy is advancing! Front-line units, draw your swords and engage!” Otsupain commanded.
“Ooooh!”
In response to Cedric’s order for the Duchy’s Army soldiers to advance, Otsupain instructed the front-line Holy Knights to counter. The front-line Holy Knights stopped holding their shields with both hands and adopted a stance with their swords in their dominant hands.
“Please cast enhancement magic on our attacks!”
“Aye aye!” A fairy specializing in support magic, following her master’s orders, cast enhancement magic on the attacking Duchy’s Army soldiers.
“Whoa, what is this power?”
A Duchy’s Army soldier swung his sword down, and a Holy Knight blocked it with his own sword. However, because the soldiers were originally an elite unit and were further empowered by enhancement magic, the Kingdom’s Holy Knights were clearly outmatched in strength.
“There are few enemy front-line units. Engage them with numbers!” Otsupain noticed the unfavorable one-on-one situations and immediately ordered multiple Holy Knights to engage a single enemy.
“Uwah, I’m hit!”
“Emily, be mindful of your surroundings and go directly to heal them, please.”
“Understood. I’m off.”
The Duchy’s Army was now using magical attacks in conjunction with physical attacks. The magic that could barely be blocked with shields held in both hands could no longer be defended against with one hand, and casualties began to mount on the Holy Knights’ side. At this point, they had no luxury of withdrawing the injured, so Kent ordered Emily to heal them on the spot.
“Excellent, we’ve drawn out the blonde fairy. Concentrate your attacks on her!” Cedric saw an opportunity when Emily moved from the rear to the front lines where the battle was occurring to provide healing, and he ordered them to attack her intensely.
“Target that blonde fairy!”
“Roger that!” Soldiers belonging to the Duchy’s Army Magic Squad, recognizing that magic was effective against fairies, were ordered to focus their magical attacks on Emily.
“This kind of magic won’t affect me. Yes, treatment finished!”
“What did you say?!” Cedric was surprised by Emily’s unexpected actions. He had perceived her as a specialized healer, but she was skillfully dodging and blocking magical attacks while treating the injured Holy Knights one after another. The healing process took only a few seconds, making it incredibly frustrating for the Duchy’s Army, who had risked injury to inflict damage, only to have their hard-won victories nullified instantly by Emily’s swift healing.
“I thought there was only one troublesome fairy, but another one is also a formidable opponent. This was not anticipated. Now, what shall we do?”
“Master. I have a good idea.” Sarah, engaged in a fierce battle with Al, spoke up during a lull in the fighting, telling Cedric she had a proposal.
