A short time after Selma issued the emergency declaration to all residents of Tsutrail, both the city and its surroundings had turned into hell.
Fires rose here and there throughout the city, and screams rang out without pause.
Outside the city, magical beasts were pouring onto the surface not only from the Second Labyrinth that Selma and the others had been heading toward, but also from the Fourth Labyrinth that Katina and her group had been checking.
A large number of magical beasts were advancing toward Tsutrail.
"Damn it, no matter how many we kill, they keep coming without end!"
Barnard, a defender belonging to the Night Sky Silver Rabbit who had been assigned to the group suppressing the magical beasts coming from the Fourth Labyrinth, grumbled at the situation where the number of magical beasts showed no sign of decreasing.
"If you have the energy to complain, kill even one more!"
Ansem, who also belonged to the Night Sky Silver Rabbit, reacted to Barnard's words.
"I know! Still, this might not be the time to say it, but it has been since last year's training exploration that we fought together. You have improved quite a bit."
"You are the one with plenty of composure, making light remarks in this situation."
Ansem and Barnard were the two defenders who had accompanied the Night Sky Silver Rabbit as leaders during the training exploration conducted a year earlier.
The parties both of them belonged to had reached the eighty-ninth floor of the great labyrinth.
"I do not have any composure. I am only doing this because otherwise I could not keep going!"
While occasionally exchanging words, the defenders centered around Ansem and Barnard drew the majority of the magical beasts and prevented their advance.
At that moment, Katina, who was in command of the group, sent her voice to the explorers through a voice-amplifying magical tool.
"Twenty seconds until the rear attackers' interval ends! Once the interval is over, we will switch back to wide-area attacks by the rear attackers! Front-line attackers, pull back once! Defenders, maintain the front line as is!"
Upon receiving Katina's instructions, the front-line attackers timed their retreat behind the defenders, and the mages who had been resting began constructing spells.
Then Katina once again sent her voice through the voice-amplifying magical tool.
"Wide-area attack, count! Three, two, one, begin attack!"
At Katina's signal, a large number of attack spells rained down on the swarm of magical beasts.
At the same time, Ansem and the others switched with the other defender team.
Although the explorers were forced into an inferior position by the overwhelming numbers, the strength of the magical beasts was comparable to those inhabiting the middle floors of the great labyrinth, so they somehow managed to hold back the advance.
"Hah... hah... This number is seriously tough... I wonder if the inside of the city is all right..."
Barnard, who had pulled back from the front line to catch his breath, muttered while looking at the many columns of smoke rising beyond the outer wall.
"This is not a situation we can view optimistically. This is almost certainly an attack by the empire. We have to consider the worst-case scenario as well..."
"What do you mean by worst-case scenario, Ansem!"
Barnard pressed Ansem, who had a pained expression.
"The enemy struck first at the guild, which has the strongest organization in Tsutrail. The next likely targets would be either inflicting damage on the nobles including Marquis Forgas, or attacking us, who have the next strongest organization after the guild..."
Barnard had vaguely sensed this as well, so he could not argue against Ansem's words.
Most of Tsutrail's explorers had been sent out to deal with the magical beasts advancing on the city.
The remaining explorers were assisting the territorial army in guiding non-combatant residents to safety.
"Right now we cannot leave this place if we want to keep the magical beasts from entering the city. All we can do is pray that our clan members have evacuated safely."
Even after that, Ansem and the others continued to cooperate in holding back the ceaseless advance of the magical beasts.
At that moment, a huge magic circle appeared overhead, covering the sky.
Something massive fell from it to the ground.
"A giant magical beast!?"
Until now, even though there had been many magical beasts, they had been weak, so the explorers had somehow managed to hold them back.
Now, onto that battlefield, a giant magical beast appeared that carried an atmosphere comparable to a deep-floor boss.
What had fallen from the sky was a one-eyed giant, a cyclops.
The explorers showed confusion at the sudden intruder.
The cyclops did not wait for them to calm down and immediately took action.
A reddish-black, high-density sphere of magic power appeared near the cyclops's eye, and it fired the sphere toward the explorers.
"Ah..."
Some explorers felt their own death in the face of the magic bullet that carried enough power to annihilate them.
The ones who responded instantly to the sudden change on the battlefield were the two from Red Copper Evening Glow.
"Barrier magical tool, activate!"
In response to the cyclops's attack, Katina and Huey of Red Copper Evening Glow activated the magical tools they had received from the Downing Trading Company.
A wall of magic power appeared in front of the explorers on the front line.
When the barrier and the magic bullet collided head-on, a massive explosion and a strong shockwave spread around them.
After confirming that the magic bullet had been blocked, Katina quickly scanned the explorers.
"No casualties. Good."
She let out a voice of relief upon confirming there were no casualties among the explorers.
However, she could not let her guard down yet.
Even if they were physically unharmed, the sudden appearance of the giant magical beast and the attack that had made them sense their own death had inflicted immeasurable mental damage on the explorers.
"Huey, how many more times can we use the barrier magical tool?"
Katina asked Huey, who was beside her.
"The durability is being worn down more than expected. Probably two more times at most."
At Huey's reply, Katina frowned.
She then brought the voice-amplifying magical tool to her mouth and raised her voice.
"The extermination of the cyclops is now the highest priority! Upper-rank explorers, deal with the cyclops! That attack from earlier can be blocked two more times, so..."
Katina's voice, which had been giving instructions to the entire group, gradually grew weaker.
That was because another reddish-black, high-density sphere of magic power had formed near the cyclops's eye.
Fuuka had told her that modified magical beasts created together with the cult would attack Tsutrail, but were the modified magical beasts this ridiculous?
Originally, a cyclops was a magical beast with high durability that ignored the explorers' attacks and closed in for melee combat.
It did not possess attack methods like firing magic bullets.
Katina had assumed the cult's modifications had added mechanisms that were not originally present.
For that reason, she had judged that there would be a suitable interval before it could fire another high-power magic bullet and had been planning a strategy to defeat it before the next shot.
But that plan was mercilessly shattered.
Still, it could not fire magic bullets without any interval unlimitedly. There must be a limit eventually. But when? If it still had enough power left to fire three more times in a row...
Katina shook her head several times as if to shake off the negative thoughts.
She then opened her mouth again to instruct Huey to use the barrier magical tool once more.
"Huey, one more time with the barrier magical tool."
"Do not waste it here! Leave this to us!"
A man's voice cut in from behind, overlapping with Katina's instructions.
"Who!?"
Katina turned around with a surprised expression. Two figures passed by her side.
They were a large, dark-skinned man wearing armor and a girl wearing a pointed hat.
The pair ran straight past the defenders who had been holding back the magical beasts' advance while in confusion and reached the front line.
"Why are those two...?"
Huey muttered with a surprised expression, just like Katina.
They were the explorers who had been the most famous in Tsutrail until last year.
"Orun's Instant Ability Super Boost is not here, so get serious, Derrick!"
"You do not need to tell me that! You better be able to kill that thing without Instant Ability Super Boost, Aneli!"
"Of course. I will not show such a disgraceful sight again!"
The former hero party, Golden Dawn's defender Derrick and rear attacker Aneli exchanged light banter.
They then overtook the defenders on the front line.
Only magical beasts stood before the two.
At that moment, the cyclops fired another reddish-black, massive magic bullet.
It was a magic bullet with enough power to annihilate the other explorers.
Facing it, Derrick showed a fearless smile and raised his large shield.
The large shield and the magic bullet collided, and once again a massive explosion and a strong shockwave spread around them.
"Hah! Too weak!"
Derrick, who had taken the magic bullet head-on, showed no sign of concern at all and remained completely fine.
From behind Derrick, who had blocked the magic bullet, Aneli pointed her staff at the cyclops.
"It is big and easy to aim at. Die, you big oaf!"
Immediately after, a large number of magic circles covering the cyclops appeared, enough to hide its massive body from view.
Last year Aneli and Derrick had shown an embarrassing display, but they were still the first humans to set foot on the ninety-fourth floor of the great southern labyrinth.
The two had already broken free from Philly's recognition alteration curse.
Aneli had served as the rear attacker of the Golden Dawn even with Luna, who could freely handle spirits, present.
That was naturally because Aneli had greater aptitude as a rear attacker than Luna.
Aneli's greatest strength was the number of spells she could construct simultaneously through parallel construction.
That number could be described as abnormal.
When it came to parallel construction alone, she even surpassed Orun.
"Element Javelin of the Six Systems."
In response to Aneli's chant, spears wrapped in one of the six attributes, earth, water, fire, wind, ice, or lightning, shot out from the large number of magic circles covering the cyclops.
Whenever the number of spears decreased, she constructed new spells and poured magic power into them.
After confirming that the cyclops had turned into black mist, Aneli did not stop there.
"While we are at it, you small fries can die too!"
Next, a large number of magic circles appeared in the sky just like when the cyclops had appeared, and the spears raining down now targeted the magical beasts trying to invade Tsutrail.
And in the blink of an eye, the magical beasts were literally wiped out.
"Phew. That should do it. Katina! I think you already know, but the overflow will continue until the battle is over. Get your formation in order while you can!"
After finishing the extermination of the magical beasts, Aneli approached Katina in the rear while calling out to her.
"Defender team, take a break for now. I will hold the front line for a while."
Derrick, who remained on the front line, told Ansem and the other defenders that, then headed toward the new magical beasts coming out of the Fourth Labyrinth.