I walked westward with Hong Yeon-hwa.
The city walls and gates, which had appeared faint in the distance, gradually came into clear view.
The line of evacuees also grew larger and larger.
Families fleeing together, craftsmen who had abandoned their work, gentlemen neatly dressed in suits, and mercenaries with weapons strapped to their waists or backs…
Here and there, I could spot students wearing the Dragon Slayer Academy uniform.
I even see some familiar faces.
Some were classmates like Choi Jeong-pil, the spear-wielder Yang Ji-hong. They were faces I was quite familiar with.
On the other hand, they didn’t seem to recognize me at all. That meant the [Handkerchief of Deception] was doing its job properly.
Guess it’s not defective after all.
It was just that Hong Yeon-hwa had a sharp intuition.
The reason students had joined the line of evacuees was probably one of two things.
It could just be simple curiosity.
What does the barrier look like up close?
Is it really impossible to pass through?
And if you can, what’s on the other side?
All valid questions worth checking out.
Or maybe they just feel like something’s about to happen.
With a barrier up, it’s inevitable that people would gather around it. And where crowds gather, incidents always follow.
Thinking along those lines, we followed the stream of evacuees through the gates and soon arrived at the barrier.
– Murmur, murmur…
The area near the barrier was packed with people.
Beyond it, nothing could be seen, as if it were shrouded in a thick, blood-red mist.
Some people pressed up against the barrier, pushing, pounding, or kicking it. But naturally, it didn’t budge.
Eventually, a man who looked like a mercenary stepped forward.
“Let me give it a try. Please stand back!”
The crowd stepped back slightly, creating some space for him.
Soon, the man drew his sword and began to gather mana.
He enveloped the blade in a vivid blue aura and then slashed forward.
Creaaaak!
Despite the impressive strength of his strike, the barrier wasn’t even scratched.
This only added to the evacuees’ confusion.
– Even that mercenary couldn’t break it?
– Then are we stuck here?
– It’s still too early to give up.
– Let’s concentrate our firepower.
– That sounds like a good idea. Everyone, gather up!
Those with any combat ability grouped together and repeatedly slashed at a single section of the wall.
Hong Yeon-hwa glanced sideways at me and asked,
“Should I… give it a try?”
“It’d just be a waste of mana.”
I lightly shook my head.
This was a barrier set up by an S-rank dragon after years of preparation.
Even an attack of equal rank might not be enough to break through, let alone anything weaker.
And more importantly, even if we could get outside the barrier, that wouldn’t be the end of it.
Things were never going to be that easy.
I added one more thing.
“Still, get ready. It’s coming soon.”
“……!”
Without asking what I meant by “it”, Hong Yeon-hwa immediately began chanting a spell.
Meanwhile, despite multiple bursts of combined firepower, the mercenaries had achieved no noticeable result.
Still unwilling to give up, they prepared to strike again…. until one of them suddenly stopped and said,
“Hey, hey, wait a second. Hold on.”
“……?”
The others paused as well and quickly understood why he had spoken up.
Rumble rumble rumble…
The ground was trembling continuously.
Like the earth-shaking impact of something huge charging forward.
And judging by the vibration, it wasn’t just one thing.
The tremors seemed to be coming from beyond the barrier and growing closer by the second.
Rumbleee rumbleee rumbleee.
People exchanged anxious glances.
Even the mercenaries took a step back, their faces tensing.
All the while, the tremors kept approaching, and before long, something began bursting through the blood-red barrier.
“Gruooooooooh—!”
Ogres, trolls, and other mid-sized monsters.
Even taking down just one of them was no easy task, but now there were too many to count.
The moment they appeared, the creatures began swinging and slamming their clubs without mercy.
Refugees near the barrier were instantly torn apart.
– Kyaaaaah—!
– Aaaaargh!
The entire area descended into utter chaos.
Refugees ran with all their might toward the city, while the horde of monsters chased them down.
Unfortunately, ordinary humans couldn’t hope to outrun an ogre.
The creatures quickly caught up to the fleeing people and swung their clubs. With every strike, human bodies were sent flying like trash.
But not everyone was running.
Some stood their ground and fought back.
Mercenaries, artisans armed with guns, and students from the Dragon Slayer Academy.
Shhk—!
Boom boom boom!
With every flash of a sword and every explosion, ogres and trolls fell one by one.
Hong Yeon-hwa also unleashed her fire magic without holding back, roasting monsters in waves.
But even now, the mid-sized monster horde kept pouring through the barrier.
For every two or three that were taken down, ten more took their place.
To make matters worse, strange beings were mixed in among the ogres and trolls.
The [Dragon Compass] pointed toward the nearest one.
So they’re finally coming out.
They resembled humans but had the heads of dragons, and their bodies were entirely covered in armor made of thick, rugged scales.
Monsters born from the scales of the Craftsman Dragon.
Dragonscale Soldiers.
The creatures calmly scanned the battlefield, then fixed their sights on a group of mercenaries putting up fierce resistance.
They approached and swung their huge hands.
Boom!
A huge force struck, blowing a mercenary’s head apart.
Then another. And another. One after another, their heads were crushed, and the mercenary group was annihilated in an instant.
The Dragonscale Soldiers then turned their attention to the students of the Dragon Slayer Academy.
Not far away, Yang Ji-hong was darting between ogres, driving his spear into them.
One of the Dragonscale soldiers approached and swung its arm, but he dodged and immediately counterattacked.
Thwuck.
The spearhead slipped between the creature’s scales and drove deep inside.
However, the spear didn’t pierce very deeply. Which was unsurprising, given the superior defense granted by dragon scales.
“Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue, Yang Ji-hong retrieved his spear.
In the very next instant, a huge force surged in from another direction.
Another draconic soldier had joined the fight.
Yang Ji-hong barely dodged the attack and soon found himself locked in a fierce two-on-one battle.
He was doing his best to be fair, but the difference in strength was obvious.
As the fight dragged on, he grew increasingly pressed, until at last he failed to dodge a critical strike.
Boom!
“……!”
Yang Ji-hong staggered.
Before he could even recover his stance, an ogre’s club came flying toward him.
His body bent unnaturally at the waist as he collapsed and then vanished, as if he had evaporated into thin air.
A short distance away, Choi Jeong-pil was similarly being attacked by a group of Dragonscale soldiers.
He wouldn’t last much longer either.
I figured it would come to this.
Dragonscale soldiers were ranked C+.
Roughly on par with, or just slightly below, a first-year student.
If several of those showed up on top of the ogres, there was really no winning that fight.
And things are only going to get worse from here.
If they were struggling this much against the lowest-tier dragonscale soldiers, then dragonfang soldier or dragonwing soldiers weren’t even worth thinking about.
Still… I wanted to save them if I could.
Unfortunately, they were too far away to help.
If I left my position and Hong Yeon-hwa got hurt, it’d just be a bigger loss.
To make matters worse, our situation started to deteriorate even further.
Mana gathered above my head, and a large trumpet materialized out of nowhere.
Then it blared out with a fanfare loud enough to shake the entire area.
Ba-bababa-baaaam~!
So it really does make you easier to detect.
It seemed the side quest handicap had kicked in.
Thanks to that, all attention in the area was now focused on me and Hong Yeon-hwa.
Draconic soldiers and ogres were closing in from every direction, tightening the noose.
– Kwoooooaah—!
Hong Yeon-hwa cast Fire Pillar after Fire Pillar, even summoning a Hydra….but the numbers were still overwhelmingly against us.
Guess it’s time for me to start fighting too.
I took a step forward and clenched my fist.
Then I thrust crimson-black flames at the draconic soldier who had come too close.
Boooooooooom—!
A storm of fire swept through everything in front of me.
The ogres and trolls in the path were wiped out instantly.
In contrast, the dragonscale soldier, while badly battered, managed to endure.
It was because, having focused on defense, it possessed several related traits.
The most notable being [Elemental Resistance], C+ rank.
I do need to finish it off.
It was on the brink of death but still dangerous if left alone.
Still, using another Inferno Fist felt like a waste, so I signaled to Hong Yeon-hwa.
Immediately catching my intention, Hong Yeon-hwa directed the Hydras.
Balls of fire rained down on the dragonscale soldiers.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
But it only collapsed after holding out for quite a while.
Glancing at its fallen form, I sent an Inferno Fist toward another spot.
Whoooooooooooosh—!
Another wave of monsters was obliterated, while the dragonscale soldier withstood it.
And once again, Hong Yeon-hwa finished the job.
Things are getting a bit off track.
The ideal scenario was for us to unleash wide-area skills without pause, sweeping them away.
But because the dragonscale soldiers didn’t go down in one hit, Hong Yeon-hwa kept having to handle the follow-up.
Her focus was split, and that meant fewer area of effect spells.
Noticing that, the dragonscale soldiers also seemed to change tactics.
They began appearing from all directions, seemingly deciding to overwhelm us with sheer numbers.
I briefly considered whether we should retreat but instead, I stood my ground and hurled another inferno fist.
They should be arriving by now.
Tududududu!
Magic bullets rained down, pounding the dragonscale soldier’s body.
At the same time, razor-sharp wind swept through the monsters like blades.
Creaaaaaaaaaaaak!
“Kim-hyung.”
“Give me an encouragement reward.”
Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in had completed their assigned tasks and joined us.
With the full party assembled, the battle became noticeably easier.
Whoooooooosh—!
Hong Yeon-hwa focused once more on wide-area magic.
Pillars of fire erupted everywhere, and the Hydras continuously spewed fireballs.
Most of the mid-tier monsters were swept away before they could even get close.
Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in took over the role of finishing off the draconic soldiers, sometimes concentrating their firepower to take them down one by one.
[Draconic Soldiers Eliminated]
▷ Dragonscale Soldiers: 14
After a while, the battle came to an end, and there was nothing left around us.
The draconic soldiers stared at us from a distance, then turned and led the monster army toward the city’s outer wall.
Rather than wasting troops for no gain, they seemed to be refocusing on their original goal of capturing the city.
Go Hyeon-woo watched them with a worried look.
“Should we go help?”
“No. They won’t last long anyway.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ogres slammed their clubs down like mad, and with each blow, the outer wall crumbled little by little.
With not just one, but nearly a hundred mid-tier monsters, the attackers held a clear advantage.
If we stepped in, we might buy some time but the real problem was that the city walls weren’t limited to just this spot.
Inevitably, another section would fall.
“We’ve got our own job to do. First, let’s grab the loot.”
Cards were scattered all around, glittering on the ground.
We picked up every last one, and when combined with the cards our party members had collected while circling the city, the total came to several dozen.
Still, we decided to hold off on sorting them for now.
Together with the others, I headed toward the barrier.
The ominous blood-red shimmer still rippled, blocking any view beyond.
Even so, as I felt around here and there, the instincts and experience of a stagnant water picked something up.
This spot looks a bit weaker.
Without hesitation, I raised the Crow Staff and pointed it at that area.
Then, clearing my throat, I shouted the activation phrase.
“Caa—aw—!”
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