"Monster signal at this area? You mean they've already breached the outer
wall? Impossible!"
The fort commander cursed in front of me, but that was not enough to
change the situation.
I moved away from the window and quickly returned to Lucy's side.
"Yuushin, I'm going to meet up with the rest of the troops."
"I understand. Let's go."
In this situation, it was no longer a matter of diverting supplies.
I left the room, leaving the upset fort commander alone, and headed for the
barracks where the troops were stationed.
This fort has an abundance of spare barracks for reinforcements in case of
emergency.
If we could join them there, we would be able to manage almost anything.
However, on the way to the barracks, we already came into contact with
some goblins.
And since we had just bumped into each other in an intersection, both sides
were slow to react.
"Damn, they're already this far in!?"
Lucy swung her sword as quickly as she could and cut down the two
goblins in time.
Fortunately, those two monsters were the only ones that appeared here.
She calls out to me with her sword at the ready.
"The monsters seem to be spreading out. Let's quickly join forces and cut
off the source."
"Indeed. I don't know where they came from, but there must be an
entrance."
Lucy's troops will do their best to block the entrance and clear out the
goblins that have already infiltrated.
It is only then when we would finally mount a proper counterattack.
I moved after Lucy and returned to the barracks, but as expected, there was
also a skirmish on this side.
"Ha, fuuh! Where the hell did all these numbers come from?"
"They're so dispersed that they're troublesome to deal with."
Tilda and Anastasia were fighting near the gate.
Neither of them are that bad to fall behind a few goblins, but because they
kept getting attacked sporadically, they are a bit tired. If y ou a re ab le to re
ad this me ssa ge, yo u are re adi ng from an una uth or ized ag greg ate si
te. Rea d at my W ordP res s at sta bb ing wi th a syr ing e. ho me. blo g to
su pp ort me and my tran sla tio ns.
"Tilda and Anastasia, are you okay?"
I called out to them, and they also seemed to notice me.
"You're too late. I've already killed a hundred."
"The numbers popping up aren't that great, but they just keep coming up,
seemingly endlessly."
The girls seemed to be overwhelmed by the current situation in another
way.
The barracks in the rear also have soldiers of the transport unit with low
combat power, so they cannot just move freely.
"At this time, the troops should be ready to sortie soon… Oh, speak of the
devil."
Anastasia looks toward the barracks and sees armed soldiers coming toward
her. It was Lucy's unit.
"Commander! You're safe!"
The chief retainer old man in the front of the group is happy to hear that her
master is alive and well.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Rather than that, leave one unit here and prepare for
sortie."
"Is it to protect the Transport Unit? Understood."
He immediately realized Lucy's intention and ordered one of the three units
to guard the place.
Lucy then took the other two units and sent them out directly.
"We're going to the area with more monsters. We need to find the place
where the enemy has breached."
◆ ◆
We were heading towards the southern warehouse where the explosion had
taken place.
As we proceeded, the number of monsters gradually increased, with goblins
and hobgoblins attacking us in packs.
But Lucy's unit pushed back these attacks with the violence of their
numbers and skill level as they advanced.
"… I'm worried."
"About what?"
Lucy responds to my words.
"Usually, enemies of this scale are usually mixed with ogres and cyclops.
However, I don't see any at all now."
"No way. You mean there is a Goblin King?"
"If those sentient beings are present, they won't be scattered over a wide
area. In other words, there must be a problem with the monsters'
breakthrough that they are now scattered like this."
From what I can see from here, there is no indication that the fort's outer
wall has collapsed significantly.
If that's the case, the breakthrough must have happened in a more discreet
location or something.
The number of goblins is steadily increasing in this area.
Thinking for sure that the source of the outpouring was nearby, I carefully
observed my surroundings.
At that moment, I saw something moving at the edge of my field of vision,
where nothing had been there before. It was a goblin.
"…There they are. A few goblins just came out!"
Monsters came out one after another from the house I just pointed at.
Apparently, that building was the source of the monsters.
They immediately noticed us and attacked us ferociously.
"Surround that building! Fight off the surrounding monsters, and don't let a
single one of them get out!"
Lucy ordered, and the troops immediately moved in.
They spread out and surrounded the building from which the monsters had
emerged and intercepted the goblins coming out from the inside.
Soldiers were constantly switching places and attacking the goblins,
destroying them one after another like playing whack-a-mole.
Although the volume of the enemy is seemingly endless, Lucy's unit alone
was enough to handle the number of monsters, as only a few of them appear
at a time.
After 30 minutes of setting up a complete encirclement, the enemy's
momentum began to wane. Th is chap ter tra nsl ation is ma de p os sible by
st abb ing wi th a syr in ge tr ansla tions. Ch eck on ly up -to -da te trans lati
ons on my Wo rdpre ss si te.
Thinking it was about time, I advised Lucy.
"Commander. I think it's a good time for us to enter the building."
"You're right. Tilda, if you please."
She nodded and called for the strongest entity in the unit.
In close-quarters combat, individual strength is more important than
strength in numbers.
"All right, follow behind me."
Tilda changed from her long spear into a handy sword that could be wielded
indoors and stepped over the goblin corpses.
Then she dived through the broken door and went inside. Lucy and I
followed.
There we saw a hobgoblin trying to crawl out of a hole in the floor.
Ggagh!
The other side seemed to be upset by our sudden appearance, but Tilda took
the opportunity to cut him down with her sword.
Even without a spear, which is her weapon of choice, she is still powerful.
After the hobgoblin's corpse is removed, I saw a tunnel in the back of it.
"I'll go on ahead. Does anyone have a torch?"
"I have something better than a torch. Just a minute."
Anastasia, who was standing beside us, replied to Tilda's request.
She chanted a small incantation and produced a ball of light in her palm the
size of her fist.
She then said, "Wouldn't it be better if you have both hands free? Here.
Hold it in your hand and place it in the air. It'll float on that spot, keeping
its distance relative to the person who put it there."
"Thank you. That helps."
After receiving the light ball from Anastasia, she jumped into the hole with
her sword.
The next moment, a monster's scream was heard from inside the hole.
"We can't stay idle. Let's go too."
Lucy jumped in next, followed by me, Anastasia, and the other elites we
selected.
The hole was about 150 centimeters high and just barely wide enough for a
human to pass through.
Of course, there was no way an ogre could get in, and only goblins
appeared.
Tilda, the leader of the group, cleared all of them away, and the group
moved on.
But then various forks in the road appeared, forcing us to make a choice.
"…The enemy is coming from this way."
"Tilda, how do you know?"
She answered my question with a nod and pointed to her feet.
"The footprints are the most numerous on this side. If we follow them, we
should be able to get to where the enemy was."
Indeed, there were numerous footprints of goblins that looked like human
children.
Following the footprints, we went ahead, each of us dealing with the
goblins that came out of the bypaths.
"But then again, what in the world is this hole for? There are other paths,
and from the way it was made, it doesn't look like it was dug by goblins."
Lucy is right. The holes are reinforced with planks and other materials, so it
is hard to believe that monsters made them.
Besides, if it was just an entry route, there would be no need to make it so
complicated.
Then a possibility occurred to me.
"No way. Is this a tunnel to divert supplies?"
I have heard that secret tunnels are used for smuggling and border crossing
even in the original world.
So, although the worlds are different, maybe we are all thinking the same
way.
"That bastard fort commander, he dug his own grave because of his greed.
If you're going to destroy yourself, don't get others involved."
While spitting out these words, I illuminated my surroundings with the ball
of light that Anastasia had made for me and continued onward.
Then, I noticed a natural light ahead of me. It seems that we have reached
the exit of this tunnel.