Flash-!
Lightning flashed inside the forward base.
Licking my parched lips, I waited and then yelled,
"Now! Everyone, charge-!"
Swoosh!
Lucas, leading the way with Torkel, Nobody, and Chain in the vanguard, dashed forward, followed closely by me, Dearmudin, Hannibal, and thirty soldiers.
"Gah?!"
"Let go, you monster bastards!"
"Break free! Everyone, snap out of it!"
In the center of the forward base, soldiers were barely managing to escape from the clutches of the scarecrows.
Since the scarecrows were not that strong individually, and most of the strength they had stolen from the victims had already been offered to the legion commander, the soldiers were able to escape from the scarecrows without much difficulty.
We rushed towards that spot.
"Waaaaah!"
"Die, you monster bastards!"
Heroes charging like bullets swung their swords and shields, Dearmudin fired magic, and Hannibal sent spirits flying.
The thirty soldiers closely following behind swung their spears ferociously in all directions.
Creak...
Crack, creak...!
The scarecrows retreated with bizarre noises.
All the captured soldiers were gathered in one place, so Zenis's ultimate skill managed to bring them all back to their senses, and we could rescue everyone, including Zenis, who had fallen into an exhausted state after fainting.
Whoosh! Whirl!
The scarecrows quickly retreated backward, escaping our range of attack.
In the center of the scarecrows stood the legion commander- 'The Oldest Scarecrow' growled.
"To interfere with the harvest's finale... you pests of autumn."
"Who's talking, damn monster."
Standing firm in front of the soldiers, I smirked.
"The hostages were the biggest issue, but now that's settled... we can beat you to death without hesitation."
"Really?"
The scarecrow legion commander's burlap sack mouth twisted into a hideously cheerful grin.
"Do you truly believe that to be the case?"
"...!"
The legion commander slowly opened his chest, which he had been covering with his arms.
There, Mikhail was being held.
"Ugh! Uuuugh!"
It seemed Mikhail had regained his senses due to Zenis's ultimate skill effect, but the scarecrow legion commander's strong arms wrapped around him, refusing to let go. The long fingers of the legion commander were pressing down on Mikhail's mouth.
Facing us, whose complexions changed, the scarecrow legion commander laughed with a creaking sound.
"And, I don't get it. Hostages aside... this place is already under our legion's control. Do you think you're safe?"
Rumble, rumble!
Scarecrows swarmed around us.
Their numbers had grown beyond what we had initially assessed. Hundreds? Perhaps thousands...
With the forward base front lined with felled trees, it seemed the legion commander had created a plethora of new scarecrows using his authority.
Startled by their numbers, Lucas shouted a question.
"Can monsters also multiply, my lord?!"
"It's not multiplication. They make new scarecrows from wood, and then that bastard legion commander infuses them with his malice to make them move like puppets."
Creak, creak, creak...
The swarming scarecrows, like a horde of locusts clashing limbs, made a menacing sound.
"Ugh..."
"So many..."
Both the rescuers who had rushed to help and the soldiers who had just been freed. Everyone's face turned pale as they sweated coldly.
Facing us, the scarecrow legion commander made a motion as if licking his lips with a non-existent tongue and laughed.
"I'll harvest you all as well."
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The scarecrows all at once started rushing towards us.
Although these flimsy monsters could barely muster the strength of wooden dolls without kidnapping victims, their sheer numbers were terrifying.
Our side has the majority of its forces captured and stripped of their power. The situation is undeniably disadvantageous.
'It seems it's time to test the performance of the new equipment.'
I glanced at the flagpole in my hand.
Nightmare Slayer, [Light and Shadow].
Normally, it can be stored at my waist as a ceremonial longsword, but by deploying it and attaching the sheath to the handle part using a transformation gimmick, it extends like a spear... thus, it can be used as a flagpole.
Flutter-!
Then, I equipped [The Great Commander's Flag], my exclusive gear, on this flagpole.
Flag and flagpole. When these two are combined, they finally form one grand commander's flag.
"This place!"
I shouted, planting the commander's flag into the ground.
"Is the frontline of the world-!"
My ultimate skill, [The Foremost Flag], was activated.
Sssshhhhhh!
A wall of summoned magic blossomed as if flowers were blooming.
The wall surged around us, protecting our allies as it rose. Suddenly, a new fortress was formed inside the forward base.
But even though the situation improved slightly, we were still overwhelmingly outnumbered and surrounded by them.
Creak!
Creak, creak, creak...!
Countless scarecrows began to climb the wall with their sinister laughter.
"..."
That's when Dearmudin gave me a significant look.
As if to say, show any more tricks you have up your sleeve.
As if to prove my determination further.
'I was planning to show you anyway!'
I gripped the new flagpole tightly.
Why is this equipment named [Light and Shadow]?
Where there is light, shadows are cast, and where there are shadows, light is shining.
Just as light and shadow are inseparable, so were the two archmagi, each other's replicas, doppelgängers, revolving around each other.
This Nightmare Slayer, [Light and Shadow], crafted from the magic cores of such two grand sorceresses, has a special ability...
'To replicate the user's [Trait].'
As if I were duplicated, existing as two.
Allowing the trait slots to double - up to six in total - and doubling their effects as well.
For any other character, it might not be so useful. After all, traits usually apply to individuals.
But my traits affect all of my allies.
The efficacy of these traits is incomparable to anyone else's!
[Attack Totem Lv.3]
- Merely by participating in the battlefield, it boosts the morale of all allies, providing a 15 percent bonus to all allies' attack power.
[Defense Totem Lv.3]
- Merely by participating in the battlefield, it boosts the morale of all allies, providing a 15 percent bonus to all allies' defense.
These are the traits I usually prefer to equip.
And, here's a new trait I acquired in the third year!
[Master of Nurturing Lv.1]
- Increases the experience gained by all allies participating in the sortie by 10 percent.
[Good Quartermaster]
- All allies feel less fatigue and can continue fighting to the last.
[Unbreakable Spirit]
- Boosts the morale of allies by one level.
And the final touch, the crown jewel.
[Super Buffer]
- Enhances all buffs provided by the commander character by one level.
With this conclusion.
I also possess traits like [Main Order] or [Mapping], but the ones currently equipped are these six.
Each equipped trait is already overpowered, and with [Super Buffer] enhancing them further, and then doubled by [Light and Shadow]'s equipment effect.
Plus, the [Great Commander's Flag] attached to this flagpole.
[Great Commander's Flag(EX)]
- Category: Flag (Accessory)
- Durability: 10/10
- Provides the following buffs to all troops commanded by the wearer
> Strength+10 Agility+10 Intelligence+10 Stamina+10 Magic Power+10
> Physical Resistance 10 percent increase, Magic Resistance 10 percent increase
> Physical Penetration 10 percent increase, Magic Penetration 10 percent increase
> All types of elemental resistances increase by 10 percent
> Morale does not drop below 'normal'
Buff!
Buff! Buff! Buff! Buff! Buff!
Truly a bombardment of buffs-!
Flash-!
Terrifying grey magic surged from the flag, and the buffs, exceeding their limits, began to pour down on all the allies around me.
Heroes and soldiers who came to the rescue, as well as those who had been sitting powerless after being drained of their strength, blinked in surprise.
"What, what's this? Suddenly I feel strength..."
"My fatigue is gone?"
"What's happening? I was trembling just a moment ago..."
"I feel like I can take on anything...!"
Soldiers, previously daunted by the number of scarecrows, regained their fighting spirit.
Picking up fallen weapons, donning stripped armor, one by one they started to stand by our side.
"What's this, the armor feels lighter...?"
"Gasp! Is it my imagination?! I can see ahead?!"
"Re, rejuvenation, rejuvenationaaaa!"
"Lord, this power..."
Torkel, Nobody, Chain, Lucas also looked at me, astonished.
"...What is this."
Dearmudin watched the scene, mouth agape.
"How can an individual... moreover, distribute such karma to his subordinates? What is this..."
I smirked.
"Dearmudin, you said to sacrifice those who are not elite to preserve the elite, to maintain the frontline."
"..."
"This is my answer."
Turning all my heroes and soldiers into elites by force.
Slathering them with equipment bought with money, leveling them up, and finally pouring my abilities into them as buffs.
If everyone becomes elite, there's no need to accumulate fatigue on certain heroes, nor is there a need to sacrifice anyone in particular.
Watching me as if astounded, Dearmudin shook his head.
"This is an expedient."
"I know."
"It's not a structural, fundamental solution."
"I know."
"You're depending entirely on one commander, creating an abnormal form of frontline."
"I know."
"Truly... can you handle it?"
"I will handle it."
Swinging the flag once, I also stretched out my hand forward.
"There's less than a year left until the monsters' final onslaught, there's no reason we can't endure it...!"
Simultaneously, automatic defense turrets formed around the magic fortress,
Tudududududung!
Spraying magic cannonballs in all directions.
The scarecrows climbing the walls shattered and scattered in all directions. I called out to the soldiers.
"Has everyone regained their senses!"
The soldiers unanimously responded.
"Yes-!"
"Don't be overwhelmed by their numbers! They're nothing but weak straw puppets!"
The monsters are worthless except for their ability to instill fear.
And their fear has no effect in front of my passive, [Unyielding Commander].
Numbers? What do numbers matter.
Right here, the soldiers are all bathed in the top-grade special buffs, each worth a hundred in battle!
"Strike them down! Don't let a single one escape, annihilate them all-!"
Waaaaaah-!
The soldiers roared and charged towards the edge of the walls.
And then, they engaged with the hundreds, thousands of climbing scarecrows.
***
Despite boosting the soldiers' morale with various buffs and morale-boosting traits,
The soldiers who had been captured and then freed were not in a state to fight normally.
They had suffered from the scarecrow legion's harvesting. Without regaining their stolen strength, normal combat would be impossible in the future.
For now, they could somehow fight because the regular scarecrow monsters were weaker than even ordinary monsters...
'We must regain the stolen strength.'
Ultimately, the main target.
The scarecrow legion commander must be defeated.
"Truly adorable."
And then, he... watched from a distance as his subordinates were torn apart by my walls.
The scarecrow legion commander smirked.
"Keep playing with my subordinates like that. I'll be absorbing the rest of this guy's power."
The scarecrow legion commander resumed harvesting Mikhail.
"Aaaaaah!"
Until now, he had been unconscious.
Conscious and screaming in terrible agony as his soul was being extracted, Mikhail let out a dreadful scream.