After wading through the defending troops, I reached Anastasia.
She is currently unleashing a myriad of lightning magic 'branches' at the
residents who have gone berserk.
The attackers who get hit by the lightning freeze their movements as if
paralyzed, then fall to the ground.
Perhaps it was a spell similar to a stun gun to block the opponent's
movements.
"Anastasia, I need to talk to you. Come over here!"
"Yuushin, can't you see how busy I am!?"
"We need your knowledge here. So come here, chop-chop!"
As I said those words, she glanced at the situation in front of her for a
moment, then after judging that the situation was now at a level where she
could leave it to her allies, she cast another spell.
Then, she rushed over to me, using the gap created by the spell on the
enemy's movements.
"This way. I'm planning to have Lucy listen in as well."
Dragging Anastasia by the hand, we returned to the center of the formation.
There, the wounded soldiers who had been rampaging were already being
subdued.
However, Anastasia was surprised to see the scene.
"Even our own soldiers are in the same situation?"
"Yes, but it is highly unlikely they are infected with a disease."
I began explaining to her what the military doctor had told me.
In the meantime, we arrived at the main camp where Lucy was.
"Commander, how's the battle going?"
"We are holding our own, but not well. They are gaining numbers, and we
are losing strength."
Lucy looked bitter as she said this.
We're now put in a situation where the soldiers must be brought back
immediately after being bitten by an opponent.
Even the slightest scratch in them is fatal.
As such, even the highly skilled troops under Lucy's direct command
couldn't help but feel overwhelmed, and morale was beginning to drop
among the reinforcing troops. If y ou ar e abl e to re ad th is mes sa ge, y ou
ar e re adin g from an una uth orized agg reg ate s ite. Re ad at my Word Pre
ss at st abbi ng w ith a s yr i nge. h ome. bl og to su p port me and my tra ns
lat ions.
It may only be a matter of time before the frontline collapses.
I faced Anastasia again and began to talk.
"I think this is the result of a monster using magic or something. Do you
have any idea?"
"Before anything, although I have more knowledge than you guys about
these things, that does not make me a monster expert, okay?"
"I don't care if you're an expert or not. What I need is your opinion,
whatever it may be."
Right now, we have very little information about our enemy.
And I need information in order to make a good decision.
Anastasia began to be lost in thoughts at my words.
After a dozen seconds, she looked up with a pondering expression on her
face.
"In the first place, there aren't many monsters that can use magic."
She folded her arms and began to explain.
"The lich is based on the corpse of the vampire tribe, making them scarce in
the first place. A dragon's breath is also a kind of magic, but the dragons'
numbers are even smaller. Thus, this leaves us with an even more specific
group of monsters that I know. But meeting them is just almost nigh
impossible."
"I don't care about their statistics. Just tell them what you know."
"Even if it's just a wild speculation?"
"We're a blank slate here. Anything can possibly happen." Lucy and I urged
her in agreement.
"The monster's name is Chimera. It's a monster with a lion's frontal
extremities, a goat's rear extremities, and a snake's head and a portion of its
body as a tail."
"You think that guy might be the source of this. And the reason?"
"I've only heard stories, but I've heard that anyone bitten by the Chimera
becomes their underling."
So the Chimera's bite is somewhat vampire-like in that it increases the
number of its servants?
Well, I doubt it's the vampires since the inhabitants who are 'infected' are in
high spirits even in the daytime.
"Also, the Chimera is a monster born from the synthesis of many beasts. It
fits the characteristics of our enemy."
"Certainly, we can see those characteristics in the inhabitants."
Lucy nodded at Anastasia's words.
The people on the rampage have lost their intelligence and have become
animal-like with their bodies covered with animal hair. Some even grew
tails.
Them growing fangs and claw-like nails are also animalistic themselves.
"While I use my magic eyes to control my opponents, in the case of the
chimera, maybe they're using bodily fluids as a magical medium to conduct
this deed."
Anastasia's story, in a way, explains the situation.
Now it's just a matter of how to solve it from there.
"Is there any way to reverse their berserk state?"
"As you can see, it is impossible to talk your way out of them. But if you
were to give them some big shock…"
"A big shock… will it help them return to their senses?"
Anastasia nodded at my question.
"In the first place, it is impossible to directly manipulate such a large group
of people at once, no matter how powerful you are. To do this, the Chimera
may have only tried to connect themselves in the innate mana they
possessed to transform their bodies and make them go wild."
"Could it be possible to undo this transformation without having to deal
with the Chimera?"
"Unless the Chimera is close, that wouldn't be possible as their link to the
source would be strong. But seeing that we have still not yet found signs of
this monster, I think we still have a chance."
But how can I give them a strong shock without hurting them?
I was reminded of Anastasia's electric shock magic earlier, but that won't
work in time.
I have to think of a low-cost and safer alternative… that also packs enough
punch to shock the opponents' nerves. Th is cha p ter tr ans lat ion is made
po ss ible by st ab bing w ith a s y ri nge tra nsla tio ns. Che ck o nly up -todat e tr an sl ations on my Wo r dp res s si te.
At that moment, I saw the huge fountain in the center of the square where
we had camped.
Around it, which would have been a place of relaxation for the inhabitants
in times of peace, were gathered soldiers who had gone berserk and were
being held captive.
"…That's it, let's use water. A splash of very cold water will definitely give
them a shock that will reach their cores."
"You mean via thermal shock? I see."
Lucy, who immediately caught up to my solution, asked Anastasia.
"Anastasia, can you use magic to create ice?"
"Yes, I can use most kinds of magic."
"Then please put some ice in that fountain to cool it down. Yuushin, please
get us a container to draw water."
With clear orders from the commander, we moved quickly.
Anastasia first produced a number of ice cubes, each about a meter on each
side, and deposited them in the huge fountain covering the square.
Then, I removed the soldiers' helmets and filled them with the same water.
Seeing nothing was leaking out of it, we made our next move.
"Now, wake up with this!"
The soldiers, already berserk, were barking at us, threatening to bite us like
beasts to spread the infection.
Facing them, we splashed their faces with cold water.
"Guurururu… gyaaaaah!!"
"Guuurruuu… hiyaaaaaaahh! So coldddd!!"
As soon as the water was poured on them, the soldiers, who had been going
wild up to that point, jumped like cats at once.
They writhed in agony while being restrained by the baptism of cold water,
which cooled their fever up to a point.
Some of them were already sneezing and shivering.
However, it has also lifted the magic link in them, as I observed that they
have returned to speaking normally.
As additional proof, the beast's ears, tail, fangs, and claws that grew on
them are gradually retracting.
As Anastasia said, the strength of the magic link itself must be low, even
though it can control a huge number of people.
"Hachoooo! What are you doing, Mr. Sanada?"
"Catching a cold is better than fighting amongst yourselves. You, too.
Throw some water on the rowdy ones to wake them to their senses."
I said this to the soldiers who had complained to me, and one after another,
senses returned to those who had been splashed water directly.
"You, too, wake the hell up!"
One by one, the soldiers would scream, bewildered as they felt an almost
freezing water hitting them in their faces.
And since the fountain was working in a steady flow, it was not until later
that we were able to splash each of them.
For now, these guys won't be able to harm our allies.
"Those of you who have free hands, cooperate with us. Spray water on the
inhabitants from one side to the other!"
After shouting this loudly, the soldiers used their helms one after another to
scoop water from the fountain.
Then, they went straight to the front line and splashed the water on the
inhabitants before pulling them away from the still-violent ones.
It won't be good for them if they get bitten again and go berserk.
(The water in the fountain is still gushing out. The magic ice is hard to melt,
so as long as we keep this pace going…)
Whether it's 1,000 or 10,000 people, we can bring them back to their senses
as long as the water continues to flow.
That's what I thought at the time.
Suddenly, another explosion of unknown origin occurred to the south of the
city square.