n

n

nThe sun started to set, and darkness slowly enveloped the land. A cold breeze brushed through the forest; the paper-like sound of the leaves fluttering sounded across the area.

nThe scene was rather tranquil, but everyone standing on top of the northern tower, knew that this was the calm before the storm.

nRustle—!

nSoon, the silence was broken by the rustling sounds of the vegetation in the distance.

nStationed at the middle levels of the tower, I gazed into the distance. There were many black creatures in the distant forest, approaching our direction. Some were flying, whilst others weren't.

nThe atmosphere was heavy, and everyone on the middle level of the tower started to take out their weapons, as they quickly got back to their post, readying themselves for the upcoming battle.

n

"It's time we also get ready.

"

nWith the aid of my sword, I slowly stood up. Facing Ava, Leopold and Hein, I looked back towards the forest before muttering.

n

"This is going to be a long battle.

"

n***

n

"You two follow me an' dinna touch anything.

"

nFollowing the dwarf from before deep into the tower, Ryan and Smallsnake soon found themselves inside of what seemed to be the control room of the tower.

nThe layout of the place was quite simplistic, as the room was about the size of a normal living room. Around ten dwarves or so hurriedly paced around the room, looking through different holographic images, depicting different angles of the tower where the demons could be seen.

nIn the middle of the room was a large map filled with numerous dots; presumingly depicting the demons that were approaching.

nTheir number was quite large. Large enough to make Smallsnake gasp in shock.

nOn the other hand, staring at the room starstruck, Ryan couldn't help but let out an exclamation of surprise.

n

"Wow.

"

nRunning towards the map in the room, Ryan waved his hand over the map. His small hand passed through the holographic image.

n

"This looks so cool, how does it work?

"

n

"Ryan, calm down.

"

nSmallsnake hurriedly went to stop him.

nHowever, their disturbance did not go unnoticed as an older looking dwarf pointed in their direction and shouted.

n

"Oy, who let tha two o' them in? An' what be a child doing here?

"

n

"It's me.

"

nThe dwarf that led Ryan and Smallsnake in, raised his hand.

n

"Sir Bamus, I did this under the orders of Sir Orimdus.

"

n

"Orimdus? Tsk.

"

nThe older looking dwarf, Bamus, clicked his tongue.

n

"What be that guy thinking? Has he lost his mind?

"

n

"He said ta let them help out with tha miscellaneous stuff. Their combat power be fairly low, an' they may end up being more useful than ye can imagine.

nBamus rolled his eyes.

nAlthough he was the person in charge of the logistics in the northern tower, at the end of the day, Orimdus was the one in charge of the whole northern area.

nHe had to follow his orders.

n

"Alright, I'll do it.

"

n

"Thank you, sir.

"

nThe dwarf gratefully looked at Bamus.

nAlthough Bamus was ill-tempered, he was not someone who would refuse a helping hand. Furthermore, he really needed someone to help him out.

nThough he wasn't really sure about the ability of the two humans before him, the tasks he was about to give them wasn't too hard.

n

"You two follow me.

"

nFollowing Bamus, Smallsnake and Ryan stopped in front of a large wooden desk. Atop the wooden desk was a similar map to that in the middle of the room; the only difference was that it was much smaller.

n

"I won't give ye guys a hard task, ye see over here?

"

nBamus pointed at the map. More specifically the red dots around the map.

n

"This device over be a simplified version o' tha map in tha middle o' tha room, an' it gives us an overall outlook o' tha battlefield.

"

nTapping on a specific area of the map, a small square appeared on the map displaying the current situation of the area.

n

"Wooow!

"

nThis startled both Ryan and Smallsnake who looked at it with amazement.

nStaring at the two, Bamus's voice filled with pride.

n

"Your task be simple. What ye guys need ta do be report ta me every couple o' minutes how many demons be approaching from tha different sides o' tha tower. Ye guys can do that, right?

"

nTilting his head, Smallsnake asked.

n

"We can, but why cant the device count it?

"

nSince their devices showed the dots on the screen, couldn't they have a system that directly counted them?

nFully expecting the answer, Bamus answered.

n

"The main device can, but we do this just in case tha artifacts miscalculates some o' tha data. After all, some o' tha demons cou' be using some special techniques that avoid tha detection o' tha device. Sometimes, a discerning eye be better than a machine.

"

n

"...So that's why.

"

nRyan turned his attention back towards the maps.

nHe then tilted his head and mumbled something to himself.

nCrossing his arms, Bamus stroked his beard before turning around.

n

"Good, then I'll leave you two to—

"

n

"134 left, 56 right, and 329 from the front.

"

nHowever, before Bamus could leave, Ryan spoke up.

nHis eyes darting all over the map.

n

"H..huh?

"

nBamus who was just about to leave almost tripped over. Turning around, he glared.

n

"What are ye talking about? Are ye joking around?

"

nInnocently looking at Bamus, Ryan pointed at the map.

n

"You wanted to know how many demons are coming? Those are the numbers...

"

nRyan suddenly stopped. Blinkin a couple of times, he corrected himself.

n

"Oh wait, it's not 132 left, still 56 on the right, and 324 from the front.

"

n

"That's wrong Ryan.

"

n

"Huh?

"

nSmallsnake interjected from the side, startling Ryan.

nLeaning forward, Smallsnake tapped on the tower. Soon an image of the place appeared and Smallsnake explained.

n

"Ryan, you forgot to count the ones that have infiltrated, there's about twenty-two missing from your count.

"

nLightly smacking Ryan in the head, Smallsnake's head shook in disappointment.

n

"This is what happens when you're trying to show off.

"

n

"Sorry.

"

nHolding onto the back of his head, Ryan dejectedly lowered his head.

nStaring at the duo from behind, Bamus was speechless.

n

"What the.

"

nTurning around and walking towards the main map in the middle of the room, Bamus checked if what they said was correct.

nBefore long, his mouth opened wide.

n

"...Ah.

"

nTurning his head and looking towards Ryan who was still being scolded by Smallsnake, Bamus's eyes opened in shock.

nWhat they said perfectly matched what the artifact said.

n***

nFrom the looks of it, the enemy did not have any battle strategy prepared—Like a swarm of locusts, the demons charged from above. Demons riding onto huge beasts followed from below.

n—Rumble! —Rumble!

nThe ground shook, and a cloud of dust appeared in the distance.

nSHIIIIII—!

nThe next moment, the elves raised their hands and magic circles soon appeared on the palm of their hands. Before long, spells started raining down from above. Towards the demons in the distance.

nGazing at the scene from behind, I was impressed by the elves firepower.

nUnlike typical novels that had elves specializing in archery, I instead designed them to be good at magic rather than archery.

nProbably the only different thing that I did in my novel.

nEven then, that didn't mean elves were bad at archery, it's just that they were far better magicians due to their affinity with mana.

nOn a different note, it was quite easy to tell how strong an elf was.

nThis was measured by the hair color of an elf, with green hair signifying lower affinity with mana, and with silver, which was the hair color that royalty had, signifying the highest amount of affinity with mana.

nWHIIIM—!

nSuddenly, a tremendous spell appeared in the sky. Lingering in the air for a couple of seconds, it soon fell towards the demons in the distance like a meteor.

nBOOOM—!

nThe ground shook and hundreds of demons died instantly.

nTurning my head towards the elf responsible for the attack, I found out that it belonged to the elf that had greeted me before; his hair was a color mix between gold and green.

n

"Damn.

"

nEven though green haired elves had a low affinity with mana, that didn't mean that they were weak. The low affinity was only with respect to other elves.

nCompared to us humans, they were still a notch above.

nXiu—! Xiu—! Xiu—!

nOn a different note, the elves weren't the only long-distance damage dealers, as the dwarves shot the demons from above with an object that resembled a gun.

nAlthough the things they were holding did somewhat resemble guns, they operated differently as they shot projectiles made out of mana.

nThey were devastating as each shot equalled the life of a demon.

nTurning my attention away from the elf and the dwarves, and gazing below the tower, I found that despite the strong spells and attacks from the dwarves and elves, demons were still managing to infiltrate the place.

nThey were simply too numerous.

n

"Uuuaargh!

"

nUnfortunately for them, to those that infiltrated, the orcs were already waiting for them at the entrance as they quickly pummeled them down.

nWith their huge bodies, the orcs prevented most of the demons from infiltrating the tower where the weaker dwarves and elves resided.

nBecause they were so focused on the demons attacking, if a demon infiltrated, they would be left helpless.

nBANG—! BANG—!

nExplosions rang everywhere signalling that the war was in full swing; with both sides slowly starting to accumulate losses.

n

"Ren, what are you thinking? Should we help out?

"

n

"...Right.

"

nAt Leopold's reminder, I realized that we had still not moved yet.

nTo be honest, the reason why I did not move yet wasn't because I didn't want to fight, but because I found this situation a bit odd.

nAlthough demons were indeed a species that loved to fight, they weren't stupid either. For them to attack without any strategy was quite odd in itself.

n

"Ren?

"

n

"Coming, coming.

"

nWell, whatever, the dwarves were probably aware of this already. My job right now was to get rid of as many demons as possible.

nI'll leave the thinking to the dwarves for now.

n

"Step aside.

"

nWalking down towards the lower level, the demons continue to flood in from all areas of the castle.

nTheir incredible numbers made it hard for the orcs below to full stop them.

nBefore long, three demons managed to pass through the first line of defense and started rampaging through the inner sides of the castle where the elves and dwarves were left helpless.

nRaising one of his sharp claws, one of the demons approached a dwarf near me and screamed.

n

"Die you vermin

"

n

"Hiiik!

"

n

"Shut up.

"

n—Click!

nHowever, before the demons could do any significant damage, a subtle clicking sound rang out and the head of the demon rolled on the ground.

nApathetically glancing at the dead demon beneath my feet, and ignoring the stares coming from the dwarf that I had just saved, I calmly walked towards where the orcs were.

n

"Stop.

"

nJust as I was about to pass through the orc defensive line, the orc that screamed at me before, stopped me.

nHe had evidently not seen me stop the demons that had infiltrated the place.

n

"What are you doing, human?

"

nHe asked.

nA strong scent of blood exuded from his body.

n

"I'm helping out.

"

nI coldly replied.

nPutting his hand on my shoulder, the orc pushed me back.

n

"Get back human, you'll only be a hindrance, wait what are you..uuek!.

"

nSmiling, I grabbed the orcs hand that was on my shoulder. Squeezing tightly, the orc let out a groan.

n

"Ukkk!

"

n

"Know your place.

"

nI coldly muttered.

nTo think that an orc who was not even rank like me was had the audacity to try and stop me.

nHe wasn't even one of the strongest people present, yet, because he thought I was weaker than him, he tried to walk over me.

nWhat a delusional orc he was.

nColdly looking at him, I forcefully withheld my impulse to kill him right on the spot and let go of his hand.

n

"Next time you lay your hand on me, I'll cripple it.

"

nThen, turning my attention towards the demons in the distance, I tied my hair up and unsheathed my sword.

nSHIIIIING!

n

"Hein, Ava, Leopold, cover me.

"

nGlancing at the other's behind me, I shoved some of the orcs to the side and directly entered the battlefield, much to the shock of the orcs and others.

nI really wanted to see how long I could last without using the Keiki style.

n