"There’s a possibility of a Brigadier-class monster with flight capability! If you spot anything with an eight-ring crest, those below mid-rank should run immediately! You have no chance of winning!"
Monty issued a stern warning to the adventurers near the wall.
Adventurers were roughly divided into three ranks:
Upper rank: Level 70 and above
Mid rank: Levels 69 to 40
Lower rank: Levels 39 to 5
Levels 4 to 1 were still in training and not considered ranked.
"Even if we don’t have a chance, wouldn’t running away be impossible against something that can fly?" Kazui muttered doubtfully.
Right after he spoke, Monty shouted loudly:
"The enemy is powerful! It’s going to be a tough fight, but don’t give up hope! Hold out until the reinforcement unit arrives somehow!"
"Will the reinforcement unit even come?" Kazui asked.
"They sent a request to the guilds in nearby cities, so they should come," Yuri answered. "If they do, we might be able to hold on..."
"Or we might all be wiped out before they get here."
While fiddling with his cowlicks, Kazui continued:
"They had to send someone all the way to another city, so the chances of the reinforcements arriving in time are pretty low, right?"
This world basically had no wireless or wired long-distance communication. Massive amounts of mysterious particles floating in the atmosphere interfered with it, making even wired communication over long distances impossible.
Therefore, to request reinforcements, someone actually had to travel to nearby cities. The nearest city from Aquila took at least one hour one way — two hours round trip.
The information about the brigade’s attack had reached Aquila one hour ago. Several adventurers had immediately left to request help from the nearest city.
Even if they could organize a reinforcement unit right away, the earliest they could arrive in Aquila was estimated to be one hour from now.
With Aquila’s current fighting force, the chance of holding out against a brigade for a full hour was low, so the likelihood of reinforcements arriving in time was also low.
"If this were Japan, we could just use a smartphone..." Kazui started, but before he could finish, Monty shouted again:
"Here they come! It’s the skeleton horde! Rear guard, fire at will!"
The rear-guard adventurers in front of the wall once again launched a coordinated long-range attack. Light projectiles and beams rained down once more.
The rain of light attacks shook the air as it poured onto the massive skeleton horde that had just emerged from the forest. Skeletons were monsters that looked like moving human skeletons, armed with swords and protected by armor and shields.
While they were among the weakest types of monsters, in large numbers they became troublesome. The adventurers in the forest had reduced their numbers somewhat, but roughly a thousand still remained.
Just as the skeleton horde surged out of the forest like an avalanche toward the grasslands, they were hit by the adventurers’ long-range attacks. Explosions from the spells erupted one after another around the skeletons, shaking the air.
About thirty percent of the skeletons were blown away and destroyed by the barrage.
But the rest survived and charged straight toward the wall. Long-range attacks alone clearly couldn’t stop the horde.
"Ahh, we’re definitely gonna die," Kazui grumbled while watching the avalanche of skeletons rushing forward.
"You always say stuff like that, but you’re actually the type who refuses to die, Kazu," Yuri said, adding his reasoning:
"You’re bad at giving up and always desperately struggle to survive until the very end."
Kazui and Yuri had already experienced real combat many times. Despite being at the lowest level and taking the dangerous vanguard role, Kazui had come close to death several times. Yet even while saying "I’m gonna die," he had desperately fought his way out of deadly situations each time. That was why Yuri could say this with confidence.
"Well, if I give up, I really will die. Until I die, I’ll do my best not to die," Kazui replied.
Right after he answered Yuri, Monty’s sharp voice rang out near the wall:
"Vanguard, charge! Don’t let them get near the rear guard or the wall!"
Monty added another instruction for the vanguard:
"Don’t get too close to the forest or you’ll get hit by the rear guard’s attacks!"
Even after the vanguard charged, the rear guard continued their long-range attacks on monsters emerging from the forest onto the plains. If the vanguard got too close to the forest, they risked friendly fire — that was why Monty added the warning.
"Well then... guess I’ll go. Even though I really don’t want to," Kazui said unenthusiastically.
Yuri called out to him, "Don’t push yourself! If it looks bad, run!"
"You don’t have to tell me that — I’ll run!" Kazui replied, then muttered quietly to himself:
"...If there’s even anywhere to run to."
There were simply too many monsters. It felt to Kazui like there wasn’t even a place to escape to.
Grumbling, Kazui charged toward the skeleton horde along with the other vanguard adventurers.
Most of the vanguard wielded swords, spears, and other weapons. Normally, weaponless fighters like Kazui could run faster than armed martial artists.
But the other vanguard members were running much faster than Kazui. Most of them possessed movement-enhancing skills such as "Aura Speeder" (which boosted running and jumping power) or higher-tier versions like "Rapid Yalt."
(Back in Japan, I was pretty fast on my feet...) Kazui thought grudgingly while looking at the backs of the faster adventurers.
(I really want Aura Speeder...)
Slightly behind the others, Kazui finally reached the area where the skeleton horde was. He engaged in close combat with a large skeleton around two meters tall wielding a dull-gray round shield and a longsword.