"Forming a line and pointing your weapons towards my Lord...Ahh, how stupid."
The summoned Anko muttered some words looking at the 4,000 soldiers in front. It was a gentle voice, similar to one speaking to a dying person.
"Let's go."
With the instructions somewhat given, I signaled the start of the operation.
Immediately after, Anko suddenly moved to the middle of the enemy camp using "Darkness Transfer". Any shadow that was visible to her was a potential target for the transfer.
"――Wha-...!? "
One soldier from the Sacred Country Kamel voiced, flustered with surprise. Well, that's to be expected. After all, the woman clad in black that should've been far away at the enemy line suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Stupid humans."
Muttering some words, Anko followed by using "Darkness Shift".
Darkness twirled and melted, and from that spot, a large 2-meter black wolf appeared―― And so, the soldiers were terrified.
"A m-monster――! "
Why is there a monster here!? Like that, confusion spread, and then.
"Don't falter! Surround it! We have the advantage! "
They pulled themselves together.
The soldiers surrounded Anko, rushing at her with spears.
Dozens of spearmen pierced the wolf-shaped Anko at the same time. That looks like "Silver Spearmanship", huh? Well, not like it matters. After all...
"It didn't work, right?"
Looking at it from a distance, I muttered to myself. For some reason, I felt a bit sympathetic to the soldiers of the Sacred Country.
Why it didn't work, you wonder? The reason is simple. It's the basics of the Darkness Wolf taming, 「Physical attacks are nullified when in wolf-form, magic attacks are nullified when in human-form」.
"I-It's uninjured...!? "
The battlefield was a wreath of chaos.
The deadly attack that everyone believed would be fatal to the monsters who had suddenly appeared, didn't work.
There's nothing we can do against it――They thought. Or at least by their expressions, I'm sure all the soldiers thought so.
"! "
Immediately after, Anko made an inhaling motion. That's "Darkness Howl". A wolf-form only skill an ultra-long-range attack that combines both magic and physical attributes.
As an attack, it isn't that hard to avoid...But, what will they do?
"Something is coming! "
"...R-Retreat! "
Seems like they'll run from it. Yeah, that's the correct choice.
"! "
An ominous mass of darkness gushed out from Anko's wide-opened mouth. She was deliberately shooting it 'diagonally up'. It seems she was playing it smart.
"H-HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!! "
The Kamel soldiers let out a pitiful sound in fright. Here, on the other side, the Castall Kingdom's soldiers were also quite scared... well, it doesn't really matter.
"Alright, it seems it's now my turn."
Seeing the Sacred Country's soldiers beginning to withdraw, I activated "Spirit Summoning".
"（Possession. ）"
"（As you wish. ）"
Before Angolmois started to rage about Anko, I immediately ordered him to use "Spirit Possession". Right after that, a rainbow-colored aura exploded.
"Ohh...!? "
From behind me, I heard some murmurs from what seemed to be the Margrave's soldiers. This might be the first time they witness Spirit Possession. I know, I get it, it looks very cool. Me too, when I was a beginner, I yearned for it.
"It's hunting time."
"（I see. My blood is boiling! ）"
Silently sharing my thoughts, I rushed forth. My aim was their flank. With a high-speed movement that left behind afterimages, I closed the distance with the enemy soldiers in the blink of an eye.
"Sorry if you die! "
After uttering a few words, I prepared "Dragon King Swordsmanship"...And exactly four seconds later, I unleashed it, drawing a line just by their flank.
"Here I come! "
The shock wave moved through the ground with a roaring sound, dirt, and sand blowing sky high almost like a wave of earth.
"HIII!? "
Some of the enemy soldiers got so scared they soiled their pants.
When the dust settled down, the gouged ground revealed a beautiful straight line, just as I intended. This was a warning. A warning that if they go beyond here, I won't guarantee their lives. And sure enough, the soldiers of the Sacred Country Kamel continued their desperate retreat, keeping away from that gouged line.
"What is that!? What the heck is that!? "
They no longer looked like enemies. However, as one would expect from trained soldiers. Their formation had yet to collapse.
"――Ufufufu. Welcome."
Before I knew it, Anko changed into a human form using "Darkness Shift"and used "Darkness Transfer" to appear in front of them.
In their eyes... Despair. At that moment, the soldiers' feet completely stopped.
"Come, Dark Flame Spear."
Anko used "Darkness Summon"――And a huge spear, one that looked to be three times her height, materialized. Even I was prepared back then, thinking "If she brings it out, it's over". Her strongest and most terrifying weapon. In other words, Anko entered "Mighty Mode".
"Fufu..."
With her eyes sharply narrowed and her mouth in the form of a gentle smile, Anko swung the spear as if it were a wooden stick. At the same time, black flames gushed from the tip of the spear, scorching the ground in an area of about ten meters beyond her, but the firepower still flew beyond that.
The earth, rocks, encampment tents, and even the barricades were burnt to cinders. Every time Anko swung her Dark Flame Spear, everything beyond her instantly turned into scorched earth.
"Whaaaaaaa! "
The soldiers could no longer keep up with what was happening before them.
Escape? No, Flee. Completely losing their will to fight, they all turned their back to Anko and fled in fear.
"We're still not done here."
Did they think I would let them escape? When I saw them running towards here, I once again used "Dragon King Swordsmanship". Seeing the explosion of flying debris, like a volcano erupting before them, they were forced to change their route.
Anko is in front of them, I'm on their left, and the Margrave's army is at their backs. Thus, they inevitably tried to escape to the right.
"I can't allow you to."
Once again, Anko used "Darkness Transfer" to instantly move to their right side.
They made an "Oh, please give me a break! ", sort of face. I could almost hear the voice in the soldiers' minds.
Without any choice left, the soldiers then ran away to the front, to the place where Anko was at just a little while ago.
"That won't do."
Preparing "Dragon King Archery", I targeted the place just before them.
"Dragon King Archery" is a skill that lands a very powerful ranged attack at the point of impact. Its preparation time is 6 seconds, which is long, but the range and power have nothing to criticize. This is a [Archery] skill with limited uses.
Zudon! After that sound, the impact caused a shock as if a bomb had fallen. The landing point of that "Dragon King Archery" shot was a gouged-out circle, resembling a crater.
"UUAAAAAAAA! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, SERIOUSLY!?! "
The 'hunting time' was proceeding perfectly. Almost too perfectly.
Then, for a few more minutes, they were sandwiched between me and Anko and were being toyed with as if we were playing dodge ball.
At one point. I casually noticed enemy soldiers approaching my location. A cavalry squad. So, they finally came! Their aim should be to break through me since it's impossible for them to defeat Anko.
Certainly, with "Spirit Possession" having ended already, I'm currently just a single man. And, for all intents and purposes, I'm just a normal human being. They might be thinking, "We can beat this guy", "It's way better than fighting that monster".
"We—–ll, it's a shame! Transform! "
The moment the cavalry was about to strike me, I activated "Transform". I used the 8 seconds of invincibility of the "Transform" skill to knock down the attacking cavalry. The attackers felt as if they had hit against a wall, and most of them had fallen and no longer functioned as cavalry.
However, it wasn't possible to stop them from follow on that attack. Thus, I was surrounded by enemy soldiers in no time.
"Take this! "
Out of the 8 seconds, six are used to complete the transformation. In other words, there are two more seconds of 'moving while invincible; that's the real thrill of the "Transform" skill.
As the enemy soldiers surrounded me, I simply ran around the rest of the cavalry, knocking them down with an innocent smile. Then, while I prepared a combined skill of "Soldier Archery" and "Fire Attribute・First Form"'s [Magic Archery] in those two seconds, I sent out the 'signal'. Afterward――
"Welcome back, my Lord."
Just as planned, I was now being held in her chest after she used "Darkness Summon".
All the soldiers surrounding me went "Huh!? ", judging from their expressions. It looked like some sort of magic trick.
"...Well then."
The enemy soldiers who ran away in fear of Anko are considerably in the back. We stood there, with our backs to them. As for the reason...
"Sounds like they've come."
Listening carefully. From beyond the darkness, the sound of thousands of military boots and clinking armor echoed.
The ambushing troops――In other words, the reinforcements from the Sacred Country Kamel.
Their numbers, as estimated by Windfield, were eight to ten thousand.
"Please leave this to me."
Anko gave me a heart-felt smile, putting away her Dark Flame Spear afterward.
The dim moonlight together with the torches burning in the rear of the Sacred Country soldiers' formation revealed their numbers. Forming rows and rows, the reinforcements approached in a siege formation.
Seeing this made a chill run down my spine. No matter how strong we are, getting surrounded by this number of enemies will be tough. An instinctive fear started to swell inside me.
"Here I come."
Uttering those words, Anko left without even an ounce of fear, and after quietly walking a few steps, disappearing and appearing in front of them with "Darkness Transfer".
Those soldiers must've been puzzled. What is a woman alone going to do against ten thousand soldiers? They wondered.
And thus...Their strategy of hiding in the dark and trying to make a surprise attack would end up backfiring on them.
"Fufu, FUFUFUFU! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHA! "
An alluring laugher, loud enough that it was even heard at my location.
And, in a moment――An evil "mist" erupted from Anko, dark enough to be clearly seen even in the obscurity of the night.
Suddenly, my heart felt hard-pressed, and my body stiffed. My brain, knowing the terrible and deadly nature of that [Magic], started to unintentionally give off warning signals.
"Darkness Magic"...Anybody whom that dark mist touches will have their HP forcibly lowered to 1.
That fear. This fear of theirs. I can't even begin to imagine it.
In the darkness of the night, a laughing woman and a mysterious black fog suddenly appeared. And without warning, in a place where you can barely make up the distance to the soldier next to you, your HP becomes 1――
"WOAAAAAAHHHH!! "
Panic ensued.
Only a few hundreds to a thousand of the soldiers that were at the front rows were hit directly by "Darkness Magic". However, only that was enough to drag them all to a hellish fear.
No. This wasn't something as mild as panic. What would happen if you're in the middle of a restless mob with just 1 HP left?
To put it simply, you'll die. If you were to fall, you'd die soon after.
The people desperately running from the front in horror collided with the people marching forward and died. And the ones advancing just saw them die without knowing the reason. Such abnormal sight was happening here and there among the platoon of soldiers.
Some of them appeared to be drinking potions, slowly recovering. However, potions that quickly recovered from being left with 1 HP were expensive, so they were rarely distributed among the normal soldiers. They had no room to wait for the recovery magicians to arrive, to their only remaining option was to keep drinking a number of cheap potions. In that way, with some people died and some on the brink of death, the morale finally collapsed, leaving them in no shape to put up a fight.
"Retreat!! "
And thus, in the middle of the darkness, with fear and confusion spreading, many of the Sacred Country reinforcements were either dead or dying, therefore forcing them to withdraw early.
"Darkness Magic" has a cooldown time of 3,600 seconds. Meaning, it can't be used for another hour...However, that's a fact the enemy commander wasn't aware of. So, not knowing when that frightening fog would descend upon them again, they had no other choice but to escape.
"Ahh, how cute. Come on, run away faster."
Anko used "Darkness Summon" to call forth her Shadow Cane. With dreadful force she slashed at the ground, making pebbles rain on their armor. Anko's voice, the sound of the raining dirt, and even the sound of the forcefully swung cane must've been terrifying for the soldiers.
"It should be time."
After seeing the entirety of the reinforcements starting to withdraw, I gave Anko a signal. The next moment, I was on her chest. I don't think this...No, it definitely doesn't look cool at all. Well, not like I can do anything about it.
"Behold! "
I prepared the most conspicuous [Magic]spell I had, "Lightning Attribute・Fifth Form", and aimed it at their rear. The Fifth Form spell flew at high speed, like a missile, and then landed.
Baribaribari! With that sound, the electric shock raged as if coming from a cumulonimbus cloud. Despite it being night, the area was lighted by the lightning strike in a way similar to a disco ball, and the thunderous roar echoed across the land.
This somehow drew the enemy's attention. Taking a deep breath, I broke the silence.
"I'M SECOND FIRSTEST! DONT FORGET MY NAME, YOU ASSHOLES! JUST TRY THIS AGAIN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU! I WON'T JUST LET YOU LEAVE! I ALSO KNOW ABOUT THE CARAMELIA! TELL THE IDIOTS IN YOUR FAITH THAT THEY BETTER NOT LOOK DOWN ON ME! IF YOU GET IT THEN LEAVE AND GO HIDE BENEATH YOUR MOM'S SKIRT! ALSO, RETURN THE PRISONERS, YOU IDIOTS! "
"...Uhmm, Lord Second. By any chance, are you crazy? "
"You sure are rude, huh!? "
Everything was now over. When I thought what would he say to me, the first thing that came out of Margrave Steam Bitter-Valley was some criticism while half laughing. Still, I don't hate him.
"I was just kidding. I was looking down on you...I'm ashamed to admit."
"That's right. If that's true then you should be more ashamed."
"No, well, let me explain. I think it was only natural for me to make light of you. What was with that attitude? Are you here just to play around? That's what I thought. But I guess that attitude was only natural for you. After all, you really did come to just 'play around'."
"Ohh, don't praise me so much. It's a bit embarrassing."
"I wasn't praising you. No, well, it might've sounded like praise, but it wasn't."
"What's with you...?"
"The prisoners of war were returned while being treated quite politely. Over 14,000 of the Sacred Country Kamel's soldiers have withdrawn. They have been instilled with a fear they'll never forget. And, our side came out totally unscathed. Do you understand what this means? "
"A great success, right?"
When I answered with a laugh, Steam also laughed.
"Thank you. I'll say it as many times as I need. Thanks. Thanks. Thank you...! "