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164 [Altora] Fathie’s Eastern Front

 

At the same time, near Fathie.

Once again, a swirl of magic stirred the outskirts of the town, now cloaked in night.

「Thou art the great river that halts all journeys [Tidal Wave]!」

The unleashed water spell became a torrent, sweeping away the advancing horde of monsters. Even those that continued to resist were held at bay by Eria, who stood her ground with her staff raised high.

「Ghh…!」

「Altora, we’ll hold them off for a few beats! Catch your breath, at least!」

Behind Eria and Gordon stood Altora, his entire body drenched in blood—so much so that it was no longer possible to tell which wounds were his and which blood belonged to the monsters. Though he could no longer feel pain, the damage to his body was accumulating. His hands trembled slightly, dark shadows pooled beneath his eyes, likely a side effect of continuously overdosing on Verdant Decay.

「Damn it… shouldn’t have skipped sword practice…」

「Altora, you’re at your limit! Any more and you’ll really die!」

「Tch, Altora-sama doesn’t die that easy.」

He tried to sound defiant, but it was obvious to anyone that his body was screaming in agony. Gordon and Eria, too, had no strength left to spare, and the horde of monsters was gradually closing the distance to Fathie. When Altora looked back, the outlines of the houses were already clearly visible.

Grinding his teeth in frustration at the stalemate, Altora muttered,

「Don’t tell me… I can’t even protect the damn shop…! Finish your damn job already, Marge!」

His cry vanished into the night sky. But as if answering him, the ground suddenly began to shake.

「Wh—an earthquake!?」

「Now of all times…!?」

Even the monsters halted momentarily as the earth beneath their feet trembled violently. In town, several poorly constructed buildings collapsed one after another.

Worried about the bar, Altora instinctively glanced back, but Eria pointed in the opposite direction.

「Eyes forward. Toward the mountains.」

Even in the night, they could see it—a mass of pitch-black thunderclouds looming over the peaks. Lightning flashed intermittently, illuminating the mountains.

Altora looked up wearily. But vertigo struck, and he had to avert his gaze.

「So what about the clouds? Mountain weather changes fast.」

「These are no ordinary thunderclouds. The mana is circulating far too densely. Mana is an invisible force that flows through this planet, but in this case, the density is so high it’s condensed into visible form.」

「So what? Speak plainly.」

「Someone with overwhelming power is fighting. Judging by the location, it’s likely inside The Vigil’s End. The phenomenon is caused by the overflow of energy from that battle.」

「You’re telling me someone’s fighting so hard it caused a thunderstorm across the mountain range…!? Is it Marge?」

「Given the circumstances, that’s the most reasonable conclusion.」

Altora couldn’t help but look up again at Eria’s theory. A thundercloud thick enough to cover an entire mountain range—generated by a battle happening deep within an underground dungeon. That his own rival was likely at the heart of it was no small shock.

「That bastard’s fighting something that insane…?」

Such overwhelming power could drain the will from anyone.

When the body reaches its limit, the heart quickly falters. Even former S-Rank adventurers were no exception. Gordon muttered under his breath.

「…Is there even a point in us fighting anymore?」

「What?」

「I mean, think about it. While Marge is in some godlike battle, what the hell are we doing down here? Does he really think he can win against something like that? No matter what we do, if he loses, it’s all over anyway.」

「Don’t fuck with me!」

Altora cut Gordon off sharply and used his sword like a cane to push himself to his feet.

His legs could barely move—but that didn’t matter.

「So what, just because that bastard’s in a bigger fight, we give up in ours? We already can’t match his strength—are we gonna let him outmatch us in resolve too!?」

「I…」

「Like hell I’ll ever accept that! Even if everything ends the moment he loses, I will never be the one to kneel first!!」

Eria gave him a look that said she’d given up reasoning with him, but nonetheless tightened her grip on her staff. Gordon looked ahead with a mix of resignation and guilt.

「Hopeless. That idiot will never change. No—given resurrection magic exists, he probably won’t change even after death. So, adjusting him is out of the question. The real question is: what exactly do we do now?」

「S-she’s right. Even if we keep fighting on guts alone, we’re way past our limits…」

The monsters kept coming. Their side had little equipment left, no stamina, and no real plan.

Still, as long as they stood here, they had to fight. Eria was fully aware of that reality. And Altora had no answer.

「Dammit… there’s gotta be something. Anything…!」

There wasn’t.

He was caught in a mental loop with no exit—until a voice from behind cut through it.

「Altora-san!」

A blonde girl came running toward them. She was covered in scrapes, clearly from a frantic dash.

「Mina!? I told you to stay at the bar!!」

Altora’s anger erupted at the unexpected sight, but Mina stood firm.

「I can’t fight if I keep myself cooped inside the bar!」

「Just go back! Standing here isn’t gonna help anything!」

「No!」

Once she dug in, there was no budging her. Altora could only scratch his head in frustration. Monsters were closing in, and here came more complications.

「Mina, I didn’t leave you at the shop just because you’re useless in a fight. I told you—those Narshe bastards might poison the wells. Your job was to rally the folks in the backstreets and keep an eye out.」

「No rallying needed.」

He’d meant it as an excuse to get her out of danger—but Mina’s reply caught him off guard.

「Most of the people in the backstreets never left. They stayed and fought—to protect their homes and shops.」

「Seriously? That’s insane. They’re caught between an army and a monster horde.」

「But thanks to that, we’ve got plenty of hands! We even caught soldiers trying to poison the wells and knights looting the slums—we threw them in the sake cellar!」

「Are you sure they didn’t manage to poison it? Did you check?」

「No time to confirm, but we swapped the sake barrels for water barrels just in case! Even if something happened, we’ve got clean water for a while! Planning ahead feels great!」

「…Feels less great knowing an amateur ran to the front lines.」

Mina had been granted a healing skill, but she was still a combat amateur. Fighting while protecting her wasn’t realistic. If only she could defend herself—it might change everything.

And yet, even as he scolded himself for thinking the impossible, Altora noticed others arriving behind her.

Not just one or two—ten, twenty… and more.

「Heinz from the liquor store, Walter the barrel repairman… even the regulars from our bar and the folks from the neighborhood…？」

The people who had gathered were all familiar faces, people he knew from Fancy Mina. Clad in mismatched equipment—some clearly snatched from Narshe soldiers, others dug out of storage—the men were rallying around Mina with loud enthusiasm.