The village head's death sparked unrest not only among the residents in the refugee camp, but also among the soldiers fighting on the front lines.
Because of that, no one dared to rest. Everyone stayed on guard, alert at maximum vigilance.
Yet it wasn't his death itself that had heightened their alertness, but the fact that he'd been killed by outsiders—two people suspected to be the masterminds behind everything happening in this place.
The official Knight Order unit assigned to handle the trouble in this area wouldn't arrive until tomorrow night at the earliest. So, for just one more day, the Adepts still had to play their part.
The previous days had gone smoothly thanks to the reinforcement troops. But as though mocking them, when morning came, the Black Tide kept spewing out monsters in massive numbers along every defense line, cutting off communication between each team.
" ... Three hundred monsters, all at once, and that's just in our area...."
Felix trembled as he relayed that information to Kuon. He'd just finished counting the monsters by tracking the number of light trails Light Way showed him.
Honestly, three hundred wasn't really the problem, especially since Felix still had a large stock of arrows to work with. Even on his own, he could take out half of them. But the real issue was that this particular type of monster had extremely hard physical defenses, which meant the vital points Felix needed to hit with his crossbow were hard to reach, or often shielded by other parts of their bodies.
On top of that, they were agile, able to move just as easily alone as in groups. In short, these monsters were too versatile to be beaten with their usual strategy.
Command was currently split into three: Kuon, Humarc, and the leader of the reinforcement unit, a Gray Lupus. Kuon and Humarc were each given ten additional members from the reinforcement unit, while their leader commanded thirty people in total, including the surviving local guard units.
With the current troop numbers for each unit, their chances of an easy victory like the previous days were slim.
The monsters had already begun to move, and they needed to be ready to face the assault before the first wave reached their defense line.
Kuon racked his brain for the best tactic, but it was hard to think of anything beyond what they'd already done before. Unlike the previous days, this time he couldn't rely on Elie and Vierra's combined magic, since as a Magician capable of casting large-area spells, Elie was crucial for supporting Humarc's team.
On the other hand, Kuon had also briefly considered conjuring a snowstorm or ice storm using Kanon's magic, but that might not suit the situation, since Kanon's power was still needed as their primary finishing attack.
" ... Vierra."
"What? Have you already come up with a plan?"
Kuon stared intently at Vierra, which gave her a bad feeling. She tried to back away, but Kuon spoke first. "That wind storm of yours—can you make it stronger? At the very least, it needs to be able to lift thin sheets of iron plate."
Vierra thought for a moment before answering, "That depends on how heavy the iron plate you're talking about is. If it's at least a bit lighter than my dagger, I might be able to manage it.... Wait, don't tell me—"
By the time Vierra realized what Kuon intended, it was already too late to object.
"Then we can pull this off. Alright, let's get ready. We need to open with a strike. Felix, get ready and give directions to all the sniper units. And Kanon ... position the troops however you see fit."
"Wa— wait, Kuon! Are you sure you want to go through with that idea? It's too dangerous!"
"Not if we stand at a safe distance."
Kuon calmly brushed off Vierra's protest as he walked forward, arriving at the very front of their defense line. Ahead of them, the first wave of the monster horde emerged and began charging toward them—leaving behind the pool of Black Tide that had just spawned them.
With Miracle Manipulation, a mound of metal instantly formed beside him. His Aether drained partway, but it was a reasonable amount for this plan. Besides, his Aether would keep regenerating, even if slower than everyone else's.
"Get your magic ready. I'll start preparing my attack too," Kuon said as he pressed his hand against the mound of metal beside him.
A second later, light swallowed the mound of metal, and thinner shapes began emerging from it one by one.
With Accel still running and his mastery over material-manipulation magic, transforming an element from one form to another had become effortless for him, something he could do at an astonishing speed.
Just as Vierra finished conjuring a wind tornado in the middle of the battlefield, Kuon finished his own preparations.
" ... Are you really sure about this?"
Vierra's uncertain voice came from beside him, but Kuon merely lifted one corner of his mouth in reply. That made Vierra frown as she muttered anxiously, "Damn it ... don't blame me if something goes off track."
Despite her constant protests, Vierra still did her job. She stretched out her hand toward the hundreds—thousands—of small iron sheets Kuon had just created with his power.
What was there wasn't ordinary material, but zinc he'd instantly processed into small, thin sheets, each edge sharp enough to cut deep on impact.
Vierra's worry was reasonable—while she could control a storm, the other material inside it was an entirely different matter. Though it still fell under the branch of wind-manipulation magic, spellwork that controlled a swarm of objects was far more complex than it seemed. Not only did she have to calculate the wind's movement with precision, she also had to track the trajectory of every single object she was trying to control.
Vierra was capable of doing it, but only for two or three objects at the same time at most. The sharp zinc sheets Kuon had given her numbered in the hundreds, so she couldn't run all the calculations each object required in time, nor sustain it for very long. Because of that, instead of controlling them as a swarm of individual objects, all Vierra could do was lift them as a single, unified mass and let her wind storm handle the rest.
And so, an 'iron storm' was born.
"Seriously, this is genuinely dangerous. Please make sure no one gets near the radius of the storm, Kuon."
Kuon gave her a smug smile before saying, "A bit too late for that." Then he ran toward the monster horde now caught in the middle of the swirling storm.
"Wait—Hey! No matter how tough your body is, taking all those slashes would—huh?"
Vierra's eyes widened slightly as she watched Kuon stop short, without ever entering the storm's attack range. Still, he wasn't standing completely still either.
After observing the situation for a moment, Kuon nodded, satisfied.
Just as expected, even though the metal storm's attacks tended to leave only shallow cuts on their bodies, that was enough to disorient and scatter the horde.
'But this might only work on the first wave.'
Based on their previous battles, fights against Black Tide monsters usually wound down by the time midnight arrived at the latest. By then, Kuon's calculations had already tallied more than twenty waves of monsters arriving without pause.
"Kuon, do you need help?"
Kanon appeared not far behind him, several shards of ice shielding floating around her for protection. Glancing at her briefly, Kuon shook his head at once. "Not for now. Get ready for the next wave. Vierra and I can still handle this one."
The answer was reasonable enough, but for some reason, Kanon felt unsatisfied hearing it.
Her eyes had adapted enough by now, and although it still hurt to look directly at the Black Tide, Kanon could now see the flow of Aether from the monsters and her teammates far more clearly.
Now that she could manage all of that, she at least wanted to help more.
"I understand you want to help, but seriously, it's still not necessary right now. Besides, you'd better head back soon. I can already see Vierra's panicked face over there."
"Fufu, alright." Kanon smiled, unable to hold back a laugh as she heard Vierra's voice calling out behind her.
Before leaving, Kanon took a moment to conjure two ice spears, planting them into the ground nearby so Kuon could use them whenever he needed.
"Thanks for that," Kuon said, answered only by a wordless smile from Kanon before she headed back to the safe zone.
Kuon turned his focus back to the monsters still being battered by attack after attack from the razor storm.
Every time a monster managed to break free of the storm's range, Kuon dealt with it immediately. Thanks to that, the first wave ended without incident.
But the real trouble was only just beginning.
"Kuon! I can only hold this up for five more minutes at most!"
'Given the current situation ... that should be safe enough.'
After a quick assessment, Kuon nodded and turned to look back, staring straight at Vierra. "Alright, that's enough. You can stop now, Vierra. Get ready to lead the others. Save your Aether for another big attack later."
At his words, Vierra began cutting back the Aether she'd been feeding into sustaining the storm's intensity. Slowly, the tornado that had been wreaking havoc on the monster horde faded away, dropping every remaining iron sheet that had still been whirling through the air.
Now, lined up far ahead of Kuon, was another wave of monsters spat out by the Black Tide.
After extensive preparation, they'd decided to set the defense line some distance away from the edge of the Black Tide. This minimized the risk of anyone getting dragged in and swept into it. It was a choice they could only afford because of the additional troops they now had. Thanks to that, the defense zones could be divided more efficiently, even though each team now had to cover a wider area.
"Twelve o'clock direction, ready your arrows! Fire on my signal!"
From behind, Felix's voice rang out as every archer unit readied their bows toward the direction he'd called.
Compared to when Kuon had first met him, Felix now looked a little more mature, capable of leading his own group—setting aside the fact that his voice still trembled whenever he gave orders.
Meanwhile, Vierra was also giving instructions to every knight under her command, while Kanon chose to observe the situation for now.
The sound of explosions and battle cries had already begun echoing from other areas. That meant both Humarc's group and the knight unit had already engaged in their own fights. Kuon activated Accel and turned his focus to the horde rapidly emerging from the Black Tide.
Casually, Kuon picked up a shard of iron nearby and hurled it with all his strength into the middle of the group.
The result was like a knife launched at ultrasonic speed—the iron shard let out a piercing shriek along its trajectory before finally landing and crushing several monsters' heads at once.
The remaining monsters began to panic as the shockwave from Kuon's throw finally reached them, but Kuon didn't let his assault stop there. He quickly grabbed the two ice spears Kanon had prepared for him and pressed forward.
His first strike drove one spear's tip straight through the necks of two monsters standing in line, and that became the signal for everyone else to launch their own assault.
"Fire!"
Felix's voice was quickly drowned out as a volley of arrows fired at once, screaming through the air before landing in the monster horde.
"Reload, same direction, three seconds!"
Every instruction he gave was part of the process to achieve the most optimal outcome shown by Light Way, and fortunately, nothing disrupted his predicted lines. Thanks to that, every shot landed perfectly, taking down each monster it struck.
Three seconds passed, and another volley of arrows was loosed. The result was satisfying, leaving only a few dozen monsters still closing in on Kuon.
"Hold fire. Get ready for the next wave, and shoot any monster that breaks through Kuon and the other knights' defense."
The moment the rain of arrows from Felix's command stopped, Vierra sprang into action alongside the other knights fighting at the front. "Don't interfere with Kuon over there. Just take down every monster that isn't heading his way. Kanon, get ready for the third wave."
"Understood," Kanon answered briefly, nodding her head.
Once she'd confirmed the answer, Vierra leapt forward, her wind magic accelerating her movement. She arrived beside Kuon and began assessing the situation more precisely.
"Their numbers have dropped drastically, but ... looks like that damn Black Tide still isn't backing down."
Her voice sounded tired and resigned as she said it. Kuon's gaze followed hers, toward where other, larger and stronger monsters were beginning to emerge from the Black Tide.
Some of them were monsters that had already appeared several times in their battles on other days. Seeing all this, Kuon glanced at Vierra beside him. "Can you handle several of them at once by yourself?"
"Give me some space and a good weapon, and I'll do it for you. But why are you dumping that workload on me?"
As Vierra's face started to scrunch into a pout, Kuon answered casually, "I want the knights to conserve their stamina as much as possible early on. That way, we can pull back sooner than planned."
This time, Vierra looked intrigued. The corner of her mouth quickly curled into a sly smile as she shot Kuon a sharp glance. "Ohh? Didn't expect you to come up with an idea like that. Are you planning to abandon these knights?"
The question made Kuon let out a resigned sigh. He hurled his ice spear at the head of the nearest monster, then yanked it back out to strike another one close by.
"That's not it. Now that we have enough troops, we can afford to cast a few large-scale spells within a single day of fighting. I want you and Kanon to recharge your Aether. Of course, I need to do the same."
Right now, Kuon's Aether regeneration was far slower compared to Kanon or other Magicians like Vierra. Since Miracle Manipulation required a massive amount of Aether for a single activation, Kuon wanted to keep himself in a safe condition for as long as possible.
"Hehe, I know, I know."
'Seeing how smoothly things went this morning ... probably by afternoon or evening, huh?'
Except for when the Black Tide went wild and expanded its territory, the incoming monster waves always started out calm and grew frenzied as afternoon approached. So, in that case, it was already clear how things would unfold.
Vierra stood casually behind him, twirling the dagger in her hand as she watched Kuon cut down every monster that came at him. The moment she spotted one breaking away from the pack, she hurled her dagger and finished it off with a single strike.
***
Just as Vierra had predicted, the fight against the monsters stayed calm only until the sun reached its peak. Once afternoon passed, the Black Tide began spewing out powerful monsters without pause; some of them could even match Kuon's speed and had defenses that were nearly impossible to break through.
In the end, they had to think of another way to bring these creatures down.
Right now, the razor storm—the product of Kuon and Vierra's teamwork—was still wreaking havoc on the battlefield. But since most of the monsters gathering there were the type with high defense, the storm's attacks weren't really accomplishing anything beyond light scratches with no real damage. If anything, the storm itself had now become an obstacle, preventing the other members from advancing carelessly.
In the end, they had to abandon that attack pattern and switch to another plan—relying on Miss Kanon.
The sky began to darken, and the valley that had served as their battlefield had now become a frozen wasteland, snow and ice crystals coating everything around them.
Normally, ice magic wasn't particularly effective against Black Tide monsters, but Kanon only needed to pour in more of her power, and every troublesome monster instantly froze into an ice statue, which they then shattered without a trace left behind.
But this couldn't go on forever. Kanon's Aether had its limits, and the sheer intensity of Aether from everyone—and from the monsters—was starting to strain her eyes.
"How are the other teams holding up?" Kuon asked Vierra, who had just returned from exchanging information with the teams elsewhere.
In answer, Vierra shook her head. "Not great. They're overwhelmed too, especially old man Humarc's team."
Not including the knights, Humarc's team had only him as their front-line fighter, while Milia and Elie were Magicians specializing in ranged attacks. But like Vierra, Milia was the more flexible type, able to pitch in at the front line too, even though her abilities looked quite different from Vierra's.
Even as they spoke, the two of them never stopped moving, fighting off every monster that came their way.
It was at that moment that a monster nearly two meters tall—something between a wolf and a bear—appeared and lunged at Kuon.
With Accel still active, Kuon easily caught the jaws about to close on him, and with his free right hand, he swung Glans, tearing a clean gash across the monster's head. Still, it wasn't enough to kill it.
Vierra immediately leapt and drove her dagger into the creature's neck, drawing a death shriek from it as blood poured from the open wound.
Once the area was cleared, Vierra turned to look at Kuon as he wiped the bloodstains off Glans. That's when she asked.
"Seriously, what is with your body? You held back that huge creature's jaws with one hand without even flinching. Are you a monster?"
Kuon merely let out a tired sigh as he answered, "Can we drop that topic? There's no point asking questions with no clear answer."
"Heh, you just don't want to answer, don't you?"
"Ohh? You understand? Good, then I don't have to explain at length."
"Haha!" A loud laugh burst from Vierra as she swung her dagger wildly at another monster closing in. Kuon did the same, immediately moving again with all his weapons to finish off the remaining monsters.
"Kuon, go help Kanon and the others. I think I can handle this part on my own now."
The intensity of the monsters had lessened, but it was still dangerous enough to face alone. Even so, Kuon decided to trust in Vierra's ability.
"Alright, I'll leave this to you. Don't push yourself too hard."
"Heh, save that for yourself. I'll punch you if you make a girl as sweet as Kanon panic again."
The last time Kuon had made Kanon panic was when he'd lost consciousness mid-battle, letting instincts amplified by Accel take over his entire body.
Clearly, Kuon had no desire to relive that bizarre experience again, so all he could do was nod without the faintest hint of a smile.