Of course, the half-nymph Viola and Lyle-sensei traps that produce poisoned grass on wells are also being utilized in this war.
From the territory of the Lauren Knights to the City of Spike, the soldiers and horses must have drunk a lot of poison but no one fell.
「It seems like the empire has switched its focus in supplying antidote potions.」
「Does that mean that there are people in the empire that know about it?」
The cause of the mysterious plague has not yet been discovered to be "nymph poison".
They still don't know what kind of poison it is until now because no one had thought it to be the curse peculiar to nymphs.
However, even if the cause is unknown, they knew from the previous battles that it can be treated with antidote potions.
There are logistics officers in the empire who know what they are doing.
「In addition to the 70000 troops, there are also horses. They will never be able to procure enough recovery potions for them so it makes sense.」
However, not being able to stop them hurts a lot.
The empire is also in a total attack mode to bring forces that you would normally leave behind to control your country. They are desperately advancing their troops to end this as soon as possible.
So, as the imperial troops made their way to the City of Spike, they were stopped by a large number of monsters from the Oracle's Great Cave.
It wasn't enough to hurt them but it wasn't something they could ignore either.
The imperial army in the vicinity of the cave was a mixed battalion of 5000 men composed of knights and mercenaries gathered from one of the three state kingdoms of the empire, the one on the northeast, the Kingdom of Rastoir.
The Rastoir General Rai Rakan was reluctant to accept the order from the empire's headquarters to go down the Oracle's Great Cave.
Going westward to the Silesie Kingdom, the honorable knights of Rastoir were made to do trivial tasks such as guarding the siege weapons.
This time, they were ordered to imitate adventurers.
However, an order is an order and they had no choice but to do it.
「Brave warriors of Rastoir! Let's get rid of the monsters in our way.」
General Rai is wearing an iron helmet and a lamellar breastplate on top of his chainmail. He is also wielding a big sword and riding a horse as he orders the battalion under his banner to attack the cave.
The Rastoirians, who live on the border of the human world, are accustomed to fighting demons and in peacetime, they are doing things similar to what adventurers and mercenaries would do.
They probably thought that conquering the basement level of a dungeon would be a piece of cake.
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—Scene Change—
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The Oracle Great Cave, which has been closed for a while, is now fully mobilizing miasma from the ground to spawn monsters.
Instead of using them to protect the dungeon, they are being used to attack outside.
If Oracle-chan, the dungeon master, were here, she would probably lament that this is an evil way but this place is currently in automatic management.
As the avalanche of ogres and goblins made their way out of the dungeon, the volunteer corps and the knights of Viscount Oracle's domain lurked in a hidden room, watching.
「Oi, quack captain. Are the imperial troops really coming this far?」
A female knight, Dross Tocord, wearing full plate armor in the service of Viscount Ortholet, asks a niichan, a brown-haired man in leather armor, who is scouting the outside of the dungeon using the viewing window next to him.
「Dross-oneechan, stop calling me a quack and let me remind you that my name is Mars!」
The brown-haired niichan, who looks like a punk, is the general of the Oracle's Great Cave Siege Army of less than a thousand men.
He is the son of the village chief of Ona Village, where the base camp of the volunteer army is located. He has been given the title of first captain of the volunteer corps.
However, for the odd reason that he is cheerful and has a loud voice, he has become the leader of the ex-local troops of the Ona Village, and every one of them is now a veteran.
He is the son of the village chief, and even though he is their captain, he has an open and honest personality which makes him a surprisingly capable general.
「You are the one who should stop being a sissy. This sister is a proud knight.」
「I'm a proud captain too. And let me remind you, I was personally appointed by Hero Takeru-sama.」
The black-haired female knight signs when she sees the brown haired punk laughing proudly.
From a knight's point of view, the battle of the young volunteer army looks like peasant children playing.