I turned my head.

Those lined up beside me were just gulping down their saliva. The soldiers understood. But even the commander shouldn’t be frozen. I yelled at the deputy beside me, in a dignified tone.

“Jitter! Jitter! Can’t you hear me!”

At the protagonist’s shout, a knight flinched and straightened his posture. It couldn’t be helped. Mordon had put thick armor on them, saying that even slaves should be used. It was because there were no one else to fight. Even this was an improvement.

“Yes! Baron! What is it!”

“What is it? What do you mean, ‘what is it’?”

Among the three, Jitter was the only one who had experience as a captain. He had a record of leading as many as nine bandits and raiding merchant caravans three times.

He couldn’t conquer a castle on the fourth try. He was captured and became a slave. Even a guy like that was in this sorry state. I suppressed the curses that were about to burst from my throat and chose my words. Now was the time to engage in battle.

“Are the enemies not approaching! Then what is your job!”

“Uh, uh. Prepare to fight the enemy?”

“Damn it, shouldn’t you be shooting arrows right now! Give orders to the crossbowmen!”

“Ah!”

Jitter looked as if he had realized something profound. He squeezed his eyes shut. It was terrible that this was the improved version after Mordon’s training.

Not to mention the others. Dammit. It was all because of these guys who had never even fought a proper battle. The people in the village fought better. That was the case for large villages. They at least didn’t forget the obvious fact that when enemies approached, they should throw stones or shoot arrows.

“Prepare! Get ready! Shoot when they get close!”

I shouted at the soldiers. Arrows only work effectively when fired all at once. One shot could be dodged or blocked, but if hundreds poured down, there was no way to endure it.

The Demonkind army slowly approached. The moment they entered the range of the bows, I shouted. Arrows rained down. The Demonkind knelt on one knee and raised their shields. There was no significant impact. Before long, arrows also flew from the enemy side.

“Aaaaargh!”

“My, my arm!”

They exchanged arrows. One of the soldiers was hit by an arrow and screamed, falling to the ground. Voices filled with pain were heard from all over. The protagonist also shouted at the top of his lungs. He had to constantly shout to keep the soldiers from forgetting their duties.

“Block! Block them!”

“Damn it! I can’t hold on!”

“Carlson, you damned bastard! If you run away, I’ll kill your wife and children first!”

Jitter’s expression was not good. He was as terrified as a three-year-old child who had wet his quilt.

“Sir, the ladders are coming up!”

“Yell at the soldiers! Don’t let them forget their duty!”

Jitter shouted at the soldiers. But the soldiers, gripped by fear, couldn’t hear him and just clutched their spears tightly. Unable to watch any longer, Jitter ran towards them. The enemies were already climbing up.

“Block them! Use your spears! The enemies are coming up!”

He had to do everything for them, from start to finish. He scratched his head. This was also an experience. On the battlefield, just moving normally was a great feat. The protagonist had gone through a difficult battle. But his opponents had not.

“Me, Baron! The enemies are too strong! I don’t think I can handle them with my skill!”

“…Wait!”

Before long, a groan was heard. Jitter was being pushed back. His armor was already dented from several blows. In front of him, a wolf-headed beastman was attacking him with a longsword.

He cast a spell. Instantly, ice arrows appeared above his staff. He unleashed all of them.

Even the chieftains found it difficult to avoid. The Wolf Hand Seal barely dodged one arrow before dying. As more enemies climbed up, he killed them with every spell he cast, and made the soldiers break the ladders.

“Huff, huff. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”

Jitter, taking a breath, inhaled deeply. There were countless corpses around. Jitter’s expression trembled.

There wasn’t much difference between him and a soldier. Even if he learned shieldmanship, he couldn’t endure if the skill gap was too wide. If it weren’t for his armor, he would have been lying dead just like them. He sent him back and shouted,

“Just focus on enduring! Then you won’t have to worry about dying.”

He shouted loudly. The soldiers’ faces seemed to have improved. It was more manageable than he thought. At most, it felt like fighting orcs. It shouldn’t have been this easy.

“Yes, Baron! I’ll trust you and endure!”

Jitter shouted with a determined face. The dazed expression he had just moments ago was nowhere to be found. He thought that after this battle, he would be a completely different person. The crucial thing was whether he would still be alive tomorrow.

He moved his steps. Pushing through the chaotic crowd, he saw orcs standing firm.

“Norkin! Aren’t you fighting!”

“I was going to, but those guys told me not to fight.”

“Those guys?”

He turned his head. Even looking where his finger pointed, he didn’t understand. But Norkin’s eyes seemed to see something else.

“The nobles are watching. If I step forward, they will step forward.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“They dislike getting involved directly. They don’t even set foot on a battlefield that doesn’t suit their status. But that doesn’t mean they’ll fight a losing battle.”

He let out a hollow laugh.

The nobles on that side were incredibly picky. But it was a good thing for the protagonist. If strong individuals like them stepped forward, it would surely turn into chaos.

“So they only step forward against opponents who are moderately weaker than the protagonist?”

“I am stronger than them. If they all attack together, I would lose, but their pride would likely not allow it.”

He added a postscript. He said that if he went wild, there was a high probability that they would come forward even if they swallowed their pride. The looks he was getting now were a kind of threat.

He thought he knew why Battlefield was so easy. The extremely powerful ones didn’t even come forward. They were all heavy-bottomed.

KWAANG!!

He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears.

His head rang with the tremendous roar.

What in the world happened, Beggar? It was a sound from the City Gate. There’s a Golem there. As long as he gave the command, the Golem would carry out its role on its own. But his head was throbbing. It meant the Golem was going crazy. He had to go see what was happening.

“Absolutely do not go ahead and fight, just shout at the Soldiers. If you think it’s really dangerous, ask the Orcs for help.”

“And the Baron?”

He moved his body even before he could answer. There was no time to delay. The Protagonist had to stop it.

“I’m going to the City Gate!!”

The City Wall was in immense chaos. It would be difficult if the Protagonist left. If it was really dangerous, he asked Norkin to step forward. It didn’t matter if the Nobles stepped forward. It was better than the City Wall being breached immediately. He nodded.

He ran down the City Wall stairs towards the City Gate. In front of the City Gate, there were many bloodied Corpses. In the center, a Golem was barely holding its own against an Ogre.

It was a Golem that had its core embedded, so it wouldn’t budge from most attacks. If it hadn’t been reinforced, it would have been pushed back long ago.

“Mordon! Where is Mordon!”

“I don’t know!”

‘Damn it! Could he be dead!?’

He gritted his teeth. Mordon wouldn’t die easily. There were still Nobles on the scene. Unnamed Knights were fighting valiantly. They were busy fending off the incoming Monsters. If the Golem fell, it was over.

He hastily chanted a spell. The Ogre was holding a huge Weapon that fit the Protagonist’s physique. The way it swung the Club with both hands was unusual.

It was too big. Even Trolls struggled, so he couldn’t hit its vital points like that. Most Arrows were like being pricked by a thorn.

“Freeze!”

But the Protagonist’s Arrow was different. It could freeze the hit area. As he fired Ice Arrows, the Ogre screamed. It was too big, so freezing it was difficult. It only slowed down after a hundred shots.

“Baron!”

“Where have you been!”

Mordon appeared with a Soldier trailing him. He looked haggard. His Armor was stained with blood.

“Enemies have poured in through the City Wall that the Ogre broke down. We are outnumbered.”

“City Wall?”

“The Alligator-headed Being is too strong. We must escape quickly.”

“To where?”

Mordon was speechless. There was nowhere to run inside. Even if there was, the outcome would be the same: death.

“What do you intend to do by running away from here?”

“You still have many years to live.”

He shook his head. Mordon’s face became frantic. He reached out and drew a sword from his waist. His actions were incomprehensible.

“Didn’t you swear an oath to me? If you oppose me, you’ll die spitting blood, won’t you?”

“This is for the Baron. It does not go against the oath. And even if it is considered a breach of the oath, it doesn’t matter. Please forgive my disrespect.”

“Mordon!”

He gasped and shouted. Mordon did not reply. He approached. It seemed he intended to knock the Protagonist unconscious. He couldn’t let it end like this. But Mordon put down his sword. Something had happened that left him no choice.

“It seems they’ve already arrived.”

A scream came from one side. An Alligator-headed Being was rampaging. Every time it raised the spear in its hand, the sound of lightning striking could be heard. Each time, twenty people died. It was tremendous.

After using lightning once, it seemed to need to gather power, as it only swung its spear for a while. Still, it was absurd. Its skill with the spear was so immense that even Orcs were no match.

The attire it wore was quite luxurious. It was highly likely to be a Demonkind with a title. The Protagonist didn’t know if he could win. He looked at the direction where the Golem was fighting.

Boom.

An Ogre fell. Its large size made its fall a spectacle. A corpse blocked the City Gate. It was good that he had weakened it earlier by casting spells. The Ogre was just a slightly larger creature than a Troll.

The alligator-head was the same. Despite its incredible skill, it would die if hit by magic. An Ice Arrow probably wouldn’t kill it. An Ice Spear, however, might.

“Are you still thinking of running away?”

The enemy was right in front of them. If the Protagonist, as Commander, turned his back here, the people would collapse and be killed by the pursuing enemies. There was no choice but to fight. Mordon shook his head heavily.

“This is an order. Survive this battle. With that, I will forgive your disrespect.”

“Baron.”

“Trust me. I can finish off an alligator-head like that with one spell.”

“…Understood. I, too, will strengthen my resolve.”

Mordon’s expression hardened. It was a look of determination. He shouted to the Soldiers. They had to protect the Mage. That’s what he said.

The opponent was strong. Shouting shouldn’t have been able to quell the confusion. But the Soldiers regained their composure and formed a battle formation.

The surrounding Soldiers saw the Ogre fall. The Mage had brought it down. A monster of a size that human strength couldn’t contend with had died. It was purely thanks to the Golem’s strength and the Mage’s spells.

The corpse of the Ogre in front of them boosted the Soldiers’ morale. It was more manageable than they thought. If the Soldiers held out, he could kill it.

He cast a spell.

It wasn’t the great magic the Dragon had taught him. She had said that in dangerous moments, the spell would come to mind. It wasn’t coming to mind now. It didn’t seem to be the crisis she had spoken of yet.

The screams of people and fierce shouts pierced his ears. It was incredibly difficult to keep his mind straight. But even harder than that was the feeling of death approaching. As the enemies’ shouts grew closer, goosebumps ran down his spine.

He lifted his head.

Above the Protagonist, a massive ice spear had appeared. Looking ahead, Soldiers lay dead in heaps. Many Orcs had also died. It was magic created from their blood. Now, the price of blood had to be paid.

It was at that moment.

The Alligator-headed Being, perhaps in a panic, threw the spear in his hand. The spear flew with incredible force. Mordon turned his head, but it was too late. The Protagonist was also too late. He just needed to chant the incantation, but the spear was too fast.

The spear pierced the Protagonist’s abdomen. Or so he thought. When he regained his senses, the spear had been deflected. Someone had knocked it away.

“Rael!”

Charlotte’s face was visible. He couldn’t help but be thrilled to see her face like this. Even though she was covered in dirt and blood, it was still true. She shouted,

“Finish it!”

He nodded. He immediately fired the Ice Spear. The alligator-headed being’s expression was covered in despair. He snatched a sword from a nearby Soldier and swung it. It seemed he was trying to cut down the incoming Ice Spear. But he was not Norkin.

The Ice Spear pierced the alligator-headed being’s chest. The sword in his hand was broken. Another Ice Spear followed, blowing off his head. Shards flew as screams erupted.

It was an incredible sight. The Soldiers cheered. Some even shed tears, grateful to be alive. With the Ogre and even the Noble dead, the enemies retreated.

He slumped to the ground. As he sat there, someone approached. Charlotte was holding out her hand. He grabbed her hand and stood up.

“Did we survive?”

“At least for today, it seems so.”

“That’s a relief.”

He smiled. Charlotte smiled back. They had survived together. It was a relief. At that moment, an arrow struck him in the back. The arrowhead, which had pierced his heart, protruded from his chest.

“Uh…?”

He couldn’t help but make a dumbfounded expression. He didn’t know where it came from. Suddenly, something someone had told him came to mind. It was that a Mage could die at any time from a stray arrow. It seemed that was the case now.

“…Rael?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Wh-why? Why is there an arrow in my chest…? Who! Who did this?!”

Charlotte’s face, which had been smiling just moments ago, was a mess. She couldn’t accept the current situation. An arrow was in his chest. He was clearly going to die. Her expression seemed to say she couldn’t accept it.

As his mind clouded, only one thought remained. He was sorry to her. Charlotte had thrown everything away and come to the Protagonist. If the Protagonist died, it would be as if she had lost everything.

It wasn’t like he was doing something he didn’t usually do. Hansen also died doing that. As his mind blurred, he closed his eyes. His body swayed limply and he collapsed.