773: The Dwarves

「Ruoooogh!」

A swarm of antidemons closed in on the encampment made by the dwarves with a high-pitched roar. I’d say there’s about 2,000 of them.

Swordsman-types as the vanguard, archer-types in the rear, and a knight-type as the commander.

Although outnumbered, none of the warriors in the camp showed any sign of pessimism.

After knocking down the magic projectiles launched from the antidemons with their warhammers, the dwarves responded by firing arrows from their bows.

They did this completely silent and calm, showing no signs of impatience or excitement. It was as if they were all expert artisans.

The number of antidemons quickly began dwindling. Those who were lucky enough to break through the rain of arrows were unable to scale the wall.

The ones who tried were simply crushed by the hammers of the dwarves when they reached the top.

『Let’s head out too!』

「Nn!」

The dwarves were going to take all the enemies for themselves at this rate. Brunen wouldn’t be happy with that.

「We’re going in too.」

「Understood.」

Fran and Hilt’s party jumped out of encampment at the same time, starting to rampage in the middle of the antidemon army.

It didn’t take long after that.

They busted through straight to the enemy rearguard, destroying the antidemons as if they were racing with each other. Even the fierce attacks from the archers could do nothing to Fran and Hilt.

The only one in any danger was Phobos-kun, I suppose?

He was desperately dodging enemy attacks while following at the tail end of Hilt’s party. Colbert was watching over him though, so there’s not much for us to do.

「Haah!」

「Hilt is still amazing.」

『We would do well to learn how to keep such a wide field of view.』

Fran muttered in admiration as she watched Hilt’s battle from the side. Since they were all small fry, I’d rather destroy them with wide area magic, but this time we decided to fight alongside Hilt.

Well, it was certainly a learning experience.

Every one of Hilt’s movements was perfect.

When she used ranged attacks, she always shot them such that each blast penetrated multiple antidemons. Then in melee combat, she threw her punches to knock antidemons into others behind it.

It would only be possible to do that if she had a complete grasp on the movements of everything around you. Fran could manage something similar, but she would not be able to do it as perfectly as Hilt.

This was probably because of their experience in fighting armies. Colbert and the other disciples were able to do that as well, so maybe it was a normal part of their training.

And so, Fran and the others bulldozed their way through the swarm of swordsman-types, and defeated the knight-type commander in less than ten minutes.

『Huh. They don’t run away when their boss dies?』

「But they did get weaker.」

『I guess that means they can’t use tactics without the knight-type.』

The antidemons, who had been moving in an army-like formation, were reduced to a mere mob. Instead of running away, they just jumped on anyone around them without any thought.

That made them sitting ducks. The dwarves’ ranged attacks wiped them out in no time at all.

Back at the camp, Orfalve greeted us with a happy smile.

「That is what I am talking about! I did not even have a chance to show up!」

Come to think of it, Orfalve had said she wanted to show us her skill, but we had defeated the enemies so easily.

But that didn’t mean she had missed her chance permanently.

「More antidemons approaching from the west! Number estimated at 4,000!」

The ones we defeated earlier were not the only antidemons in the vicinity. Like the scout from Belioth stated, we saw a new army approaching us.

Fran tried to run out again, but Orfalve stopped her.

「Just a moment. This is perfect timing, so we shall take the next one. You can cover us.」

「Got it.」

「Understood.」

Fran and Hilt readily complied with the queen’s words. Since they were handed the previous fight, they knew that it was the other party’s turn now.

「All right, let us show them what we can do!」

Orfalve walked out of the camp and every last one of the dwarves followed.

That’s right, they simply abandoned the encampment they had just built.

They quickly formed up in a line formation without any complaints.

Two rows of 500 dwarves. That’s all there is to it, a simple horizontal formation. And Orfalve, the queen, was right there in the center of the front line.

「We would normally not need to take such an enemy seriously, but I promised Fran that I would show her my skill. After me, my men!」

「「「Understood.」」」

The dwarves didn’t even shout. However, the short, deep voices emanating from their mouths in sync certainly made the air around them tremble.

They all readied their weapons at the same time, a polearm with an ax on one side and a hammer on the other. It was a spectacular sight to see all 1,000 of them equipped with the exact same weapons and armor. Anyone would find them reliable.

Orfalve was pleased with the movements of the dwarves under her command, and quietly spoke a few words.

「Extra Skill “Brave March”, activate.」

The moment Orfalve uttered these words, a glow of magical power appeared from all the dwarves. It must be some kind of strengthening skill.

And it was not just any enhancement. The aura I felt from the dwarves had practically doubled. The buff to their stats must have been substantial.

Brave March, huh? She called it an Extra Skill, but the ability to greatly enhance the capabilities of one’s entire army is certainly worthy of that level.

It would depend on the abilities of your men too, but the effect would be immense for the dwarven warriors.

「Forward!」

「「「Understood.」」」

Orfalve led the way, and the dwarves made a rustling sound as they took their first step forward in a single, unified movement.

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