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< 47 : The Battle of Cuebaerg (2) >
Revalt Birch Forest, Liotes Region.
There, Gedur, who had set up his camp in front of the castle, checked the strength of Cloud’s troops.
The number of hunters who had gathered around the Liotes branch had already exceeded two hundred.
Each and every one of them was not a mere soldier, but an elite who had passed Cloud’s entrance exam.
Their opponent was a monstrous beast with a huge size.
They couldn’t win with just numbers.
The members of the hunting party also needed to have a matching strength.
“…I don’t like this.”
Even so, Gedur showed a displeased expression as he looked at the two hundred hunters.
In Gedur’s eyes, the number of magicians was quite insufficient.
Among the participants of the Cuebaerg hunting party, there were only about thirty magicians.
Gedur had gathered them together and formed a magic corps.
But he had doubts about whether they could provide enough firepower.
The enemy was too large, so he assumed that its durability would also be proportional.
“Why are you so worried? If worse comes to worst, you can just step in yourself, right?”
Another branch chief who was next to him answered him as he saw Gedur’s grumbling.
Indeed, as he said, Gedur was the strongest force here.
He was a person who was close to being first-class in both achievements and skills.
Of course, it was natural for Gedur to step in if the worst situation came.
But Gedur wanted to finish the job as surely as possible.
If he failed to stop it, the birch forest would be ruined, and there would be noise in his promotion.
“I prefer certainty.”
“That’s true, but wouldn’t it be over quickly if you or I stepped in?”
“Don’t be too complacent.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to report your achievements to the higher-ups.”
Gedur suppressed his anger at the sight of the lax branch chief.
He couldn’t beat up the guy who said he would report well to the superiors.
How did such a guy get into Cloud?
He felt annoyed and put more strength into his hand holding the ax, when he heard a suspicious sound in his ears.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
A mysterious roar began to echo from somewhere.
When he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw a huge body approaching the hunting party.
“…!”
The Abyssal Lord Cuebaerg.
The moment he faced the monster he had been longing for, Gedur felt like his breath stopped.
It was ominous. And unpleasant.
The distorted appearance made him feel like he was looking at something he shouldn’t.
It was a creature that shouldn’t exist in this world.
Was this what it would look like if all the unpleasantness in the world was tied together in one lump?
As he watched the approaching creature, Gedur felt a nauseous feeling in his stomach.
The pupils of the hunters who faced Cuebaerg began to lose their focus.
One of the hunters who was at the front shouted with a broken voice.
“The monster is coming!”
Woo woo woo woo!
The horn players who had joined from the birch forest began to blow their horns with a rattling sound.
An unidentified monster was approaching.
They couldn’t afford to be stunned, no matter what kind of being it was.
The hunters began to regain their senses at the sound of the horns in their ears.
Gedur, who had calmed himself down, also looked at the hunters and gave orders.
“First line! Prepare the barrier scrolls! Magic corps, prepare your magic as planned!”
Cuebaerg’s size was reminiscent of a small hill.
If they held up a normal shield, Cuebaerg would crush them just by walking.
That’s why Cloud had prepared a large amount of scrolls for this battle.
They wanted to avoid direct contact with Cuebaerg as much as possible.
If the worst situation came, Gedur would draw his aura and step in himself, but until then, he intended to keep his distance from Cuebaerg as much as possible.
Everyone prepared for their roles with tension as the distance between them and Cuebaerg got closer.
“The enemy is coming!”
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Cuebaerg, who had stretched out countless tentacles, moved his tentacles at a fast speed and advanced toward the castle.
It was a surprisingly agile movement for such a large body.
If it kept coming at this speed, it would soon face the entire troop.
The moment Cuebaerg passed over the mark of the hunting party, moving at such a fast speed.
Gedur raised his ax high and ordered the magic corps.
“Activate the trap!”
“——Dig!”
The magicians who received Gedur’s order began to activate the magic circles they had prepared in advance.
Kwaang!
With a huge explosion, the ground that Cuebaerg was stepping on collapsed.
The magic circle that the hunting party had set up created a large pit.
Cuebaerg’s body twisted due to the sudden hole that appeared on the ground.
Kwoong.
A heavy sound echoed and dust rose from where Cuebaerg was.
“Tsk. I made it too small.”
Gedur’s eyes pierced through the dust.
He saw Cuebaerg’s body hanging over the huge pit that the magic circle had made.
Gedur clicked his tongue as he saw Cuebaerg stuck in the trap.
It was because Cuebaerg’s body was so huge that the plan to drop it into the pit had failed.
“The enemy has stopped moving!”
“Activate all the remaining traps! Block the enemy from moving and start shelling!”
“Stone Spike!”
Despite that, the trap that had been activated earlier was not completely meaningless.
Cuebaerg, who was startled by the sudden trap, stopped for a moment.
Gedur ordered the rest of the traps he had prepared to prevent Cuebaerg from moving.
Kugugugung.
The earth where the magic circles were engraved vibrated and huge spikes of rock began to rise.
A mid-level earth magic, Stone Spike.
The magic that created spikes of rock was activated and numerous spikes popped out of the ground.
The spikes that popped out overlapped over Cuebaerg and blocked its movement.
-Gwooooh.
Some of the spikes pierced Cuebaerg’s body, but they broke without piercing its skin.
It was proof that Cuebaerg’s skin was tough and hard.
There was a high possibility that ordinary weapons would not even scratch Cuebaerg’s surface.
Only high-level magic prepared by the magic corps could inflict wounds on Cuebaerg.
Gedur, who had blocked Cuebaerg’s movement with traps, immediately ordered the magicians to attack.
“Magic corps! Start attacking!”
“——Giga Lightning!”
“——Fire Storm!”
“——Flare!”
Powerful magic that the magic corps had prepared in advance began to pour down.
They were strong magic that several magicians activated simultaneously with coordination.
Kwreng! Kwreng!
Lightning fell from the sky in heaps and struck Cuebaerg’s body.
As the lightning fell toward it, Cuebaerg twisted its body, and then a storm of fire flew toward it.
Kwagwagwagwang!
The heat storm that exploded the air and wrapped around Cuebaerg’s body continued to burn it.
Was it because even a strong monster couldn’t ignore the high-level magic?
Cuebaerg screamed as it was bombarded by powerful magic.
-Gwooooh.
Rain of lightning. And a storm of fire.
Cuebaerg writhed under the wide-range high-level magic that inflicted continuous damage.
Tuduk. Tududuk.
As Cuebaerg showed violent convulsions, the spikes of rock that surrounded it began to crack.
The magic that restrained Cuebaerg was about to break.
The magic that was breaking under the power from the massive body made the commander of the magic corps shout.
“Prepare the next magic!”
If Cuebaerg ran wild with its huge body, it was obvious that this area would be devastated.
They needed to keep pressing Cuebaerg and accumulate damage.
That was also the first plan that the Cuebaerg hunting party had planned.
The magic corps tried to prepare more magic to keep pressuring Cuebaerg as the restraint began to loosen.
“Stone Spike!”
“Fire Storm!”
-“Foolish humans.”
If Cuebaerg hadn’t brought out new eyes from its skin, that is.
Squeak.
The darkness on Cuebaerg’s surface split and a huge eye appeared.
The eye that popped out of the dark was bloodshot.
A creepy and grotesque black pupil.
The hunters at the front closed their mouths as they faced Cuebaerg’s eye for the first time.
-“I will bring you death.”
The moment Cuebaerg opened its eyes and pronounced death to the hunting party.
Kugugugung.
The ground shook and a massive amount of magic gathered in Cuebaerg’s eye.
Everyone in the front line sensed it with a clear magic light that could be seen with the naked eye.
A powerful attack was coming.
An attack that was different from ordinary magic would come to them.
One of the branch chiefs who felt the threat of the upcoming magic ordered his hunters.
“First line! Prepare the barrier magic…”
“Scatter.”
But Gedur cut off the branch chief’s order and ordered to scatter.
The branch chief, who had received all kinds of expensive scrolls, couldn’t understand Gedur’s decision.
The scrolls he had received this time were equipped with the latest magic made by the Central Tower.
“What are you talking about? Why are you breaking formation when we have the 12-layer barrier scroll from the Central Tower…”
He protested against Gedur’s decision and pleaded with him.
Cloud was originally an organization specialized in small-scale actions.
As the enemy’s attack was approaching, there was no time to delay.
Gedur, who was furious, grabbed the branch chief’s collar with one hand.
The branch chief’s body was lifted into the air by Gedur’s strength.
Maybe he felt the ominous atmosphere.
A lieutenant who was nearby shouted at Gedur.
“We don’t have much time! The attack is coming soon!”
“…Damn it.”
“Please give us an order!”
“Deploy the barrier!”
“Barrier deployment!”
Gedur reluctantly ordered to deploy the barrier in a hurry.
The soldiers tore the scrolls and deployed the barrier magic at once.
Woo woo woo woo.
The surrounding magic shook and the latest barrier magic developed by the Central Tower unfolded.
The thick barrier composed of 12 layers looked sturdy enough to compete with the castle wall.
It was something that would give peace of mind to the soldiers inside in any situation.
If only the enemy in front of them didn’t have a hill-sized body.
Gedur’s eyes were filled with deep anxiety as he looked at the deployed barrier.
“Magic corps! Deploy the barrier!”
“Barrier deployment!”
As the magic corps deployed the barrier, a black beam shot out from Cuebaerg’s eye.
The evil magic vibrated the air that it penetrated and stretched out the light of destruction.
Kwagwagwagwang!
The black beam destroyed all the spikes it encountered, and approached the hunting party that had deployed the barrier.
As Cuebaerg’s black beam crossed with the barrier that was deployed at the front line.
Gedur, who had thrown the branch chief to the ground, clenched his teeth and pulled out his aura.
“…Huh?”
“The barrier is…”
“Aaaah——!”
Crack.
The barrier collapsed and the black beam swept past the hunters at the front line.
The screams of the hunting party echoed around as the barrier collapsed in an instant.
The barrier that the empire was proud of was meaningless in front of Cuebaerg’s black beam.
The barriers that were stacked up broke one by one and the black beam swept through the hunting party.
Some of those who were hit by the black beam disappeared from the front line without even screaming.
-Gwooooh.
After the black beam that made a loud noise tore through a formation and disappeared.
Gedur, who had been preparing for Cuebaerg’s attack, looked around the front line with a blank look in his eyes.
——Hoo.
Gedur’s sigh filled with emptiness leaked out on the battlefield.
What reflected in Gedur’s eyes, who had raised his axe, was the sight of the first line that had completely evaporated.