Black Badger

It would definitely be more interesting once more experience had piled up.

Kairos thought so.

Still, it was more than good enough. Even after pushing straight through with the Water Serpent and the Poison Bird, the formation hadn’t completely collapsed. It still seemed difficult for him to command multiple types of monsters at once—but even so, the skill with which he made the monsters form ranks and controlled them was first-rate.

Kraaaak!

The Poison Bird blinded the monsters.

Staggering under the toxic powder, the Water Serpent bit them one by one. An entity whose classification as a dragon was often debated—the Water Serpent.

In truth, it was closer to a gigantic snake, snapping up only the monsters’ heads.

Crunch! Crunch! Cruunch!

Once it had eaten its fill, it merely bit down at his command.

The monster horde split into two streams and began a pincer attack on the Water Serpent.

At Kairos’s will, the Water Serpent deftly evaded their attacks.

It won’t last long, but....

「Kyle said you weren’t in your right mind.」

From somewhere behind the monster ranks came a young voice.

Past the voice-breaking stage, but not long into adulthood.

It was filled with youthful aggression.

「He said you care about nothing but monsters. That you sold your honor and pride to monsters!」

「Ah. That’s not wrong.」

Kairos grinned, sending the Poison Bird aloft to spray a fog of poison dust over the remaining ranks.

「And you? Are you any different?」

The answer didn’t come right away.

「I’m not!」

With a single shout, the monsters charged him.

「I’m not someone who doesn’t know pride like you!」

Booom!

Just as the charging monsters were about to strike him with spear and body, Kairos snatched a flying Creature by the talons and shot into the air.

Losing their target, the monsters pitched forward.

They toppled like a sandwich, piling atop one another.

Kairos flexed his arm and swung himself up onto the flying Creature.

「You should learn to keep your composure a little better.」

Orange eyes gleamed with vitality.

「Still, it’s impressive that you didn’t forget to slam a herd of pigs into the fight in the middle of all this.」

He didn’t bother trying to locate the summoner.

「In monster combat, what matters isn’t numbers but the types of monsters summoned—and the summoner’s judgment.」

Kairos had grown up in a tribe where you survived by conquering.

That was why he felt none of an Earthling’s sympathy for those who died fighting on the battlefield. Unless someone had been sold off and forced into mercenary work, why pity an enemy who’d stepped onto a field where both sides wagered their lives?

When fighting the Empire, he’d achieved feats comparable to Kyle’s.

Even now, if he wanted to take heads, it didn’t seem like he couldn’t. Even if the young summoner was hidden by invisibility magic, Kairos could roughly gauge where the child was.

But the kid was too young.

Calling the descending Poison Bird back, Kairos made his decision.

He would clear out the summoned monsters instead of the summoner.

It would be better if the fallen monsters didn’t burn.

Ash had nothing left to absorb.

Hildebert loathed absorption with a passion, but until the war ended, he’d still struggle desperately to survive.

Boooooom!

A pillar of fire slammed down beside him.

Kairos added ten more monsters to his summons.

Then, weaving around the flames, he began dismantling the monster formation.

「Push all the way through.」

Issuing the command, Kairos began the purge.

***

“Good.”

Yehyeon let out a long breath.

Thankfully, they’d avoided being roasted alive.

The pillars of heat that had been slamming down vanished at some point—thanks to Hildebert drawing the mage’s attention. The white-haired Badger was pressuring the mage quite effectively.

He must have judged that attacking the mage himself was more efficient than trying to defend against his attacks.

And Hildebert’s choice had proven right—now, the pillars of fire were pouring down on Hildebert alone.

Ash-covered ground.

The thought that his opponent was inhaling toxic fumes—and might be suffering burns—kept nagging at Yehyeon.

Hildebert didn’t even possess an enhanced body.

Of course, now wasn’t the time to worry about him.

Yehyeon looked over the subordinates gathered in front of him, along with the four Titans.

Then his gaze settled on Igor.

“Please take care of it.”

He gestured toward Ro with an open palm.

“He’s not exactly... the sharpest, but his instincts are good.”

“Looks like it.”

Igor grinned.

Two people were selected to head outside the trench.

They needed escorts for Martin, who would emerge from the headquarters building. All the liquid needed to close the teleportation arrays was what remained inside headquarters—they couldn’t risk losing it. Someone had to protect Martin as he advanced carrying it.

So the choices were Igor, who used cold steel, and Giacomo Ro, who could also use cold steel.

A Black Badger who’d tested positive but showed no symptoms.

Ro used guns like the other Badgers, but when he ran out of ammo, he’d casually smash Creatures’ heads with the stock.

Meaning he was cleared to go.

“Ready?”

[All set.]

Ska, supporting Martin’s deployment from inside headquarters, replied.

[Route’s confirmed. Martin’s moving as a firefighting robot. Give the order and it’ll depart immediately.]

“Good.”

After a final check, Yehyeon looked around at those inside the trench.

“Anything else I need to know?”

Silence.

Only Yun spoke, dryly.

“I’d appreciate it if you acknowledged my hard work.”

“Get ready to write an incident report once this is over.”

Yehyeon didn’t even look at Yun.

After replying indifferently, he glanced at the headquarters building, the Science Wing, and the Medical Wing.

Crazy scientists.

The Supreme Commander felt a wave of dizziness at the thought of witnessing the scientists’ insanity firsthand.

He vaguely remembered seeing a report about building firefighting machinery—something deemed impractical for real combat and shoved into a corner of the Science Wing.

Martin was controlling that machine now.

The machine Yun had described as “kind of unnecessarily huge.”

It was about to come out....

“Move.”

[Martin deploying.]

Crash!

Crash, crash!

Booooom!

“...What the hell is that?”

The building broke apart.

The Badgers stared blankly at the Science Wing being destroyed.

Yo’s eyes went wide, and Deltei clamped a hand over her mouth with a scream.

In truth, there were few who stayed calm. It wasn’t easy not to be shocked by a massive machine bursting through windows like it was tearing open a flank, then clinging to a tall building’s wall like a spider.

Only Yun, Igor, Rose, and Ro remained composed.

Yun was communicating with Martin via a surviving tablet.

Igor whistled.

Rose was too busy watching Hildebert to notice anything else.

Ro picked his ear with his pinky.

Then offered his appraisal.

“Is this some nutcase’s project?”

“Go escort it.”

Yehyeon ordered, suppressing a stomachache.

“It looks like that, but it has zero offensive capability.”

The trench opened the moment he finished speaking.

Badgers braced themselves in case Creatures rushed in.

Igor and Ro didn’t hesitate.

Ro let out an “Oh,” took the axe handed to him, and sprinted out of the trench.

“Shit! I was bored to death!”

Igor laughed as soon as the trench door opened.

His mask hid his teeth, but his eyes curved. Drawing his sword from its sheath, he glanced in turn at Deltei, Yo, Rose, and Yehyeon.

The Sword Expert spoke.

“I’ll block from the north and come back.”

“Please.”

“Be careful!”

Yehyeon bowed politely; Deltei called out a warning.

Yo let out something like a sigh.

“That machine really going to work?”

“Martin sealed the last teleportation array too.”

Yehyeon looked sadly at the massive two-story-tall machine crawling down the building.

“It eats a lot of power, but it’s very capable. Help it out, and it’ll do fine.”

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

Igor answered, then leapt out of the trench.

***

Mages and knights don’t particularly like each other.

That was generally the case. Mages thought knights were fools obsessed with lumps of iron that tore flesh. Knights thought mages were arrogant cowards—desk-bound scholars without the courage to step onto a battlefield.

Probably because they were too different.

And because, when facing each other as enemies, the fight was neither fun nor easy, nor did it offer much to learn.

A battle without the pleasure of cutting.

It was never easy. He had fought flame mages before, but that one and Meierbold were on entirely different levels.

He was managing to keep pushing him back toward the south, somehow—

But landing effective blows on someone who could turn their body into flame wasn’t simple.

The surroundings didn’t help either.

How much toxic gas had he inhaled?

He was scattering the air around him with sword arcs, so it wasn’t lethal yet—but he could feel the adverse effects piling up.

I need to finish this quickly.

Just one solid hit....

KABOOOOOM!

Five pillars of fire slammed down in five directions.

I swung my sword high overhead and severed the flames.

The blade heated rapidly.

As I pulled it back toward my body to swing again, something shattered behind me.

Crash!

I spun toward the sound and froze.

Something enormous was clinging to the left side of the Science Wing.

「What is that?」

Even Meierbold sounded surprised.

The man surged upward through the burning flames.

「A monster?」

Reasonable reaction.

He wouldn’t be familiar with modern technology....

The problem was—I was shocked too.

What the hell is that?

“Go, Martin!”

Huh?

“Shut the portal!”

?

Martin?

Martin??

Martin from the Science Division?

I was too stunned to manage my expression.

Mouth agape, I stared at the machine crawling down the wall using eight legs.

That was Martin?

I couldn’t believe it....

“Raaaah!”

But it seemed to be something important.

Ro and Igor were charging toward it.

Ro, relatively short, and Igor, towering tall, ran side by side, slaughtering Creatures with axe and sword.

“Kwaahaha!”

...Ro....

The senior laughed with a face straight out of a villain movie as he split a Creature’s skull with his axe.

“Let’s go!”

“Idiot! Cut the yellow string-looking ones down the middle!”

“Okay!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thwack!

“Lanky bastard! You take the mushrooms!”

“Gladly.”

KABOOOOM!

As I advanced, carving through Creatures, I stared blankly at Ro and Igor reaching the machine that was hard to believe was Martin.

Monsters Kairos hadn’t managed to intercept while thoroughly slaughtering the Urkhai ranks.

Clearing them away, the two men began steadily carving a path for the machine to advance.

They work well together.

Of course, I wasn’t distracted from my fight by watching them.

「Vulgar creatures.」

I sensed the mage turning into flame in five directions, trying to widen the distance.

「So crude....」

The Grand Mage’s magic was undeniably powerful.

Pillars of fire slamming down from sky to ground like divine punishment; a body transforming into flame; even the ability to instantly create distance while in that form.

Neither offense nor defense was easy.

But there was one thing in which I did not fall behind him.

Experience forged by rolling through battlefields.

The sense of time fracturing into fragments whenever I immersed myself in combat.

The subtle shifts of air I felt keenly with every movement, and the opponent’s next move laid bare before my eyes—these were always the stepping stones to victory.

A Grand Mage was tricky precisely because even if you read his next move, responding wasn’t easy.

KABOOOM!

Still, reading the flow worked.

My prediction hit true.

The sword arc I’d launched while anticipating the mage’s next move struck the mage’s back as he instantly relocated near Igor and Ro.

「Ghk!」

Meierbold let out a short sound.

Good.

I closed the distance at once.

Press the advantage.

Bang, bang, baaaang!

I began driving the injured, slowed Grand Mage back into a corner.

The assault followed two currents. Swinging the sword to create a vacuum over the flames and extinguish the fire he cast. Then, blocking his movement paths and landing effective blows.

I kept up the pressure without pause.

Usually, my sword wasn’t this busy.

Even driven back to the front of the Science Wing, the mage didn’t break easily.

Impressive, considering he’d likely been holed up in a mage tower without real combat experience.

Still, small but meaningful hits were landing.

Good.

Catching the familiar scent of victory, I grinned.

Victory was just ahead....

「Meierbold.」

The smooth flow shattered at the voice dropping from above.

A woman’s voice resonated, booming through the air.

「Kyle told you not to bring out your main body.」

A gigantic face appeared in the Core’s empty air.

Six faces atop a neck, twelve palms.

The avatar of the Grand Mage Navarate floated there.

「You’ve only just awakened from mana feedback, your body isn’t at full strength, and you have no battle sense. If you face a traitorous Knight Commander like this, you’ll lose not just your eyes—but your head.」

「Navarate.」

「Let’s go back. You too, summoner kid.」

Amazingly, she too had awakened from mana feedback.

Navarate, the mage of many hands, glanced at the mountain of Urkhai corpses, then spread her twelve palms toward the Science Wing.

And said—

「I’ll help.」

Booooom!

A white blast struck the Science Wing head-on.