A part of the front line was breached.
The entire front line had to retreat.
An emergency communication about magic tools was sent to homeland headquarters, notifying each front-line headquarters.
The homeland deployed troops led by mages to the breached area.
They tried to contain the spread of damage.
Fatiah and her group joined that unit.
Prevented from retreating to their homeland, they were assigned to rear support.
“No way…”
The horses that had been running at full speed were already at their limit.
It wasn’t impossible to return to their homeland on foot, but…
If they returned ignoring orders, even harsher reassignments awaited them.
Therefore, whether they liked it or not, they had no choice but to cooperate with the intercepting unit.
“Take out the magic stones—”
“Release the arrows—”
A simultaneous attack was launched at the corrupted soldiers and their carts of corrupted horses.
Magic stones were precious.
But they were trump cards to be used at critical moments.
Magic stones that had reached their critical point were launched in an arc using wind magic, with as little impact as possible.
If impact was applied, a radius of 6 to 7 meters would be blown away by the explosion.
“BOOOH—”
As the corrupted soldiers and their carts of corrupted horses were blown away each time a magic stone was launched, the soldiers who managed to escape cheered.
Conversely, those who came as an intercepting unit were grim.
They were anxious because the corrupted soldiers (enemies) showed no signs of being intimidated at all, and their numbers did not seem to be decreasing.
Magic stone bombs were indeed powerful, but…
They were disposable and few in number.
Magic stones consumed an extraordinary amount of mages and time to produce.
It would be a little easier if they could take magic stones from the monster enemies, but…
The corrupted soldiers and corrupted horses had no large magic stone-like lumps within their bodies.
They were like grains of sand. If collected and solidified, they could perhaps be called magic stones, but…
There was no time to collect them in the current situation.
The enemies were constantly approaching.
It was good news that the carts were serving as a breakwater, slowing the enemy’s advance, but it was only buying a little time through sheer numbers.
“Take up arms— We absolutely must not let them reach our homeland! Take up arms— Kill as many enemies as possible—”
“Release your arrows— If you have no arrows, then launch whatever you can with your bows— If you have nothing, then take your swords— Do not let them set foot on our homeland soil any further— Attack—”
Survivors from the front-line staff headquarters.
The commander of the intercepting unit.
He rallied all the soldiers present to stop the enemy.
He also shouted out the reason for it, forcing them to fight.
“Someone, please give me a weapon—”
I don’t want to face the wave of corrupted soldiers with just a knife.
Someone, please give me a spear or a longsword!
Fatiah’s knife had zero reliability.
The corrupted soldiers were rotten. No, they were on the verge of rotting.
When attacking with a knife, the stench of their bodies, their bad breath, the splattering of dark red blood from their wounds…
All of these were elements that Fatiah, as a woman, absolutely did not want to get close to.
“Fatiah…”
Rayos, despite being given time to escape, was forced to participate in the battle by the intercepting unit. If he ignored it, he would be separated from Fatiah…
“This is a joke!”
Rayos, abandoning his knife, looked around for someone who could keep the enemies away from Fatiah.
“Uoooooooh!”
“Uooh…! Ueeeh…”
He watched the battle between the soldiers and the corrupted soldiers.
A soldier had skillfully pierced a corrupted soldier’s throat with a spear.
However, the corrupted soldier did not become incapacitated by it.
Rather, their weapon was rendered useless.
“It’s… stuck—GYAAAAAH!”
“Aaah…”
Gulp.
Riiip.
Munch.
A corrupted soldier bit into a soldier’s jaw.
The soldier, trying to pull away, screamed in agony as flesh was torn from their jaw.
They let go of the spear they were holding and tried to leave the area, clutching their wound with both hands.
“Ooooh…”
“Gugyaaaaaah!”
From behind the corrupted soldier in front, they were caught by the hands of two more corrupted soldiers.
Unable to escape, they were eaten alive by the three corrupted soldiers.
“Uurgh… Gross…”
Rayos shouted to Fatiah, who was desperately searching for a weapon below (in her nightgown) (though she couldn’t hear him because he was in Astral Body form), that spears and longswords weren’t useful at all.
“YIIIIIAAAAH!”
“Bufuu…”
Two female soldiers were killed by corrupted horses.
“Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”
My potential harem member! How dare you! How dare you! HOW DARE YOOOOOOOU!
Rayos flew into a rage.
“You damned rotten horses! With meat that wouldn’t even make good horse sashimi!”
He looked down from the chaotic battle, searching for something that could kill them gruesomely.
“The magic stones ran out!! Someone!! Buy me time to chant magic—”
He could see a rear support member panicking as several enemies broke through from the front line.
“Those guys are expendable. In fact, they should be reduced further.”
Rayos realized he was thinking such thoughts.
He looked for something that could serve as a weapon to kill them gruesomely.
Fatiah managed to pick up a fallen shield and,
somehow, without dying, prevented the corrupted soldiers’ bites and scratches.
“Don’t come near me! You reek!”
“Ugh! Ooooh…”
Rayos, having manifested as something that could gruesomely kill corrupted horses and corrupted soldiers. A spiked flail on a chain. In other words, a morning star.
“Ora, ora—”
With one swing,
the spiked ball and chain knocked two or three enemies to the ground.
Carrying the momentum of the swing,
he aimed the spiked ball towards the sky, and when the chain extended to its limit, it struck one of the enemies who was trying to get up from the ground.
The residual force of the direct hit created a shockwave attack against the remaining enemies.
“Gweeeugh…!”
“Fuhahaha!”
Rayos went on a rampage, annihilating the enemies.
The surrounding soldiers were too busy dealing with the immediate threat to notice the weapon moving on its own in the air, mincing enemies.
The fact that the weapon was speaking was irrelevant compared to eliminating the threat before them.
Thanks to the efforts of Rayos and some heavily armored soldiers, the enemy’s advance was halted.
Once halted, they could deal with the situation more calmly.
With a calm mind, they thought,
We will not lose to these dead people.
They launched active attacks, eventually rendering all the corrupted soldiers completely incapacitated.
Fatiah and the others somehow achieved victory.
It took more than half a day to dispose of the enemy corpses.
Camping tents were set up, and sentries were changed in shifts.
The messenger who had been sent to the homeland with news of victory returned.
“What did the homeland say?”
The messenger conveyed, “His Majesty the King must be most pleased,” while handing over a new directive.
The commander skimmed the directive.
“Hm, hmm?”
The commander’s expression changed. For the worse.
“The homeland has issued such an order…”
“Yes, the directive is genuine.”
The commander had hoped the messenger would say it was a mistake, but…
The messenger, taking it as a potential forgery, denied it with a smile.
The commander told the messenger to rest and reread the directive.
“Retreat the front line… We don’t have enough supplies. Not enough personnel.”
Ignoring the directive meant severe punishment.
Failing also meant severe punishment. Attempting to flee and being caught meant severe punishment.
“For now, the directive will be put on hold. The priority now is to dispose of the enemy corpses. If left like this, an epidemic will spread.”
The commander went to check on the progress of corpse disposal.
As he passed, Rayos, in his Astral Body, remained at the scene.
“What’s this… Retreating the front line is not permitted? We can’t afford to lose any more female soldiers!”
He returned to Fatiah’s side and persistently negotiated, trying to find a way to get them out of this group.
“I won’t let you die.”
He thought of the face of his birth mother in this world.
And at the end, the faces of Shifuru and the others.
“Fatiah and I haven’t loved each other (had sex)!”
He was going to use all his eloquence, negotiation skills, and all his experience. Although some of it was rendered meaningless by the differences with Earth, he was determined!
