“Before the real battle begins, first…”
I pulled out my staff, [Maestro], from my cloak and waved it around.
“Shall we get a buff for old time’s sake?”
At my words, all the main party members stood in front of me and held out their palms.
“…?”
The new recruits around us watched this bizarre scene with confused looks, but pay attention. You might have to get hit by this later too.
Slap!
I lightly tapped each of their palms, and they each received a random buff.
“Huzzah! I’m overflowing with power!”
Evangeline, who shouted spiritedly, stomped her feet with sparkling eyes.
“I’m ready! Hurry! Hurry and launch me! Quick!”
“I’ll launch you without you rushing me. Now, go get on.”
What I pointed to was… a catapult.
That’s right. A siege weapon that throws stones. A catapult.
I was going to put Evangeline on it and ‘launch’ her.
‘Normally, launching a person on this thing is insane.’
But this is a front line that can’t be cleared with a sane mind!
With Evangeline’s current tanking ability, the impact of being launched by a catapult is nothing to her.
When this Stage 26 was confirmed to be an aerial battle, I tested several new pieces of equipment in advance. This Evangeline-catapult was already tested and proven.
“I love this so much!”
Evangeline giggled with a flushed face as she climbed onto the catapult. I instructed the soldiers operating the catapult.
“Aim towards the Sky Knights. Launch her as close as possible.”
“Yes, sir!”
Screech-
The device was pulled back taut. Evangeline shouted excitedly.
“Evangeline Cross! Launching- Ah!”
Thwump-!
With a heavy launch sound, the catapult activated, and Evangeline was shot into the air like a shot put.
“Kyaaaaaa~!”
She flew far away, enjoying it as if she were on a ride….
Lucas, who shook his head slightly at the sight, bowed his head slightly to me.
“I’ll be back, my lord.”
“Yes. Don’t overdo it.”
I say this while ordering him to do something reckless.
Lucas smiled slightly without answering, then placed his foot on the edge of the rampart.
Thwack-!
He lightly kicked off and shot into the air.
The floor of the rampart where Lucas stepped off was dented. It was Lucas’s movement skill, [Step of Conviction].
Using this movement skill, which was almost a short-range teleport, Lucas jumped into the air, then-
Tap!
He stepped onto the back of a beetle that flew close to the rampart.
And then, continuously.
Tap! Tap! Tap-!
Onto the back of the next beetle, then the next, and the next.
He crossed the air as if stepping on stepping stones.
It was an absurd feat, no, a technique close to a divine skill.
The new recruits dropped their jaws, and even our heroes looked at Lucas’s receding back with faces that seemed to say, ‘Is that even possible….’
In any case, both Evangeline, who was launched by the catapult, and Lucas, who was running on the backs of the flying monsters, quickly advanced towards the Sky Knights.
I turned to the rest of my party members—Damien and Junior—and shrugged.
“We can’t just let those two have all the cool scenes, can we?”
Click!
Instead of answering, the sniper and the mage aimed their weapons forward.
***
Meanwhile, the Sky Knights were in a crisis.
“Kuh?!”
“Your Highness! At this rate!”
They were completely surrounded by beetles and were desperately trying to break through their retreat.
The problem was a giant beetle that suddenly appeared.
This giant beetle, which was clearly an elite monster, had such thick armor that it easily withstood the Sky Knights’ attacks and blocked their path.
In the end, Mikhail, who was blocking the other beetles at the rear, had to force his way to the front with his griffon.
“Get out of the- wayyyyy!”
Mikhail gathered all his strength and conjured magic. Dozens of orbs of magic gathered around his rapier and were forcefully shot forward.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh-!
The giant beetle, hit by the desperate attack, finally fell. Watching the falling monster, Mikhail smiled with a sweat-soaked face.
“Good, I took care of it….”
Immediately after, the smile disappeared from Mikhail’s face.
Whoooosh…!
Behind the slowly falling giant beetle… a dozen new giant beetles appeared.
On the other side, there were hundreds of ordinary beetles.
The monsters were closing the distance from all directions in an instant.
“……”
“……”
The tips of the Sky Knights’ spears wavered for a moment and fell downwards.
They were also guardians from another world who had faced countless monsters. That’s why they sensed it.
That they couldn’t win.
That they couldn’t survive this place.
“…Your Highness. We will make a path for you.”
“No, it’s the opposite.”
Mikhail stared at the approaching giant beetles with hollow eyes.
“It’s my fault that I brought you to this death trap, so it’s also my responsibility to save you. I’ll make a path.”
“What are you saying!”
“Don’t make me say it twice. They’re coming!”
Raising his rapier forward, the young knight was deeply regretting his actions.
‘It’s my fault.’
He thought that the monsters he had faced in his hometown were all there was, and he underestimated the monsters on this monster front.
‘I was a frog in a well…!’ [A common idiom meaning someone with limited experience or knowledge.]
He didn’t know the enemy properly.
Even though he didn’t know, he rashly stepped forward.
Even after realizing the enemy’s strength, he was overconfident and insisted on fighting more, missing the right time to retreat.
As a result, everyone was about to die here.
It was just as Prince Ash had said. If only he had listened to his words….
‘What’s the use of regretting it now!’
Mikhail gritted his teeth.
The Sky Knights were just loyal subordinates who followed him. He couldn’t let them die because of his immaturity.
Mikhail decided to let his subordinates escape, even if it meant his own death.
Thud thud thud!
The giant beetle at the front was now right in front of him.
The young knight gripped his rapier, pulled on the griffon’s reins, and shouted. And he charged forward for the final assault.
No, that’s what he was about to do.
At that moment.
Swish-
A sound of wind tearing through the air came from above.
Mikhail looked up in confusion, and then his eyes widened.
“What…?!”
A girl was flying in like a cannonball.
Straight towards them!
“Found you~!”
With her platinum blonde hair disheveled by the rushing wind, the girl flying in like a cannonball—Evangeline—smiled like a mischievous child.
Her body, launched by the catapult, reached its peak in the air and began a gentle descent.
Evangeline stretched out her arms and legs like a flying squirrel and simultaneously deployed her armor, [Snow White].
Shhh-
The pure white armor created from her bracelets and anklets was fitted to her body, and a white cloak fluttered behind her.
Below that, a halo of magic gathered at her shoulder blades and shot out like a booster.
Thwack-!
Literally flying through the sky, Evangeline descended above the Sky Knights and landed precisely on the head of a giant beetle.
Thump!
“Huzzah!”
At her appearance, both the Sky Knights and the beetles were shocked and looked up at her.
How did she get here?
“I’ve come to rescue you- Ah!”
Burning pure white magic from her whole body, Evangeline slammed the shield on her left arm downwards.
Flash!
Evangeline’s white magic spread out around her with a flash.
The white magic dispersed to the Sky Knights and the griffons they were riding, and then formed a rectangular shield.
Evangeline’s ultimate skill, [The Last Fortress].
A wide-area ally protection skill that grants a [Damage Save] effect to all allies in the area.
The beetles that rushed towards the Sky Knights from all directions fiercely stabbed with their horns and snapped with their pincers, but the Sky Knights did not take any damage.
Instead,
Whoooosh-!
The damage taken by [Damage Save] was being accumulated in the cavalry spear held in Evangeline’s right hand.
A huge torrent of light swirled from Evangeline’s cavalry spear. Without hesitation, Evangeline unleashed the [Damage Payback], which had been accumulated to its limit, downwards.
The tip of the spear touched the giant beetle’s armor,
Kwagwagwagwang!
The next moment, the giant beetle exploded and fell apart.
While all the Sky Knights were gaping at this sight, Evangeline, who had soared upwards using the recoil of the explosion, was landing on the next giant beetle.
Right after.
This time from behind.
Shick! Shick! Shickaack!
Holding a sword made of light, scattering sword light in all directions—Lucas, who had been cutting down beetles and simultaneously running through the air by stepping on them, lightly sat on the head of one beetle.
“From now on, we will take charge of this airspace.”
Clang-!
A giant beetle flying towards them was cut in half by Lucas’s powerful slash.
Lucas, who flicked his sword, muttered in a cold voice.
“Retreat to the rampart.”
Mikhail, who was dumbfounded as he watched the prowess of these two knights, stammered.
“B-but…!”
“I won’t say it twice.”
A golden aura exploded behind Lucas.
Ultimate skill, [Divine Descent].
Lucas, wrapped in a golden aura like a cloak, lightly swung his sword,
Kugwagwagwang!
The [Strike of Will], which was converted into a wide-area attack by the ultimate skill effect, tore apart all the beetles that were flying behind Lucas.
“Value your lives.”
Lucas, who had unleashed a barrage of sword attacks without blinking an eye, stared at Mikhail and spoke without inflection.
“Because you are also people that my lord wants to protect.”
“……”
Mikhail bit his lip, then bowed his head to Lucas and Evangeline once each.
“…I’ll thank you properly later.”
Following that, Mikhail shouted to his subordinates.
“Let’s retreat! Hyah!”
“Yes! Hyah-!”
“Retreat! Return to the fortress-!”
The Sky Knights left their positions.
Lucas took a light breath. When the beetle he was standing on twisted its body and tried to attack him, he stabbed his sword downwards to kill it, then immediately moved to the next beetle.
At the same time,
Krrr, krrr….
Flash-!
Lightning fell from the sky,
Bang! Bang! Baaang-!
Magic bullets fired from the rampart began to rain down. It was Junior and Damien’s ranged fire support.
The lightning indiscriminately fried the ordinary beetles, and the sniper shots accurately shattered the cores of the giant beetles.
Tap-!
Lucas, who was cutting down and running through the beetles swarming the sky, frowned slightly.
There were no more beetles to step on. The next wave was a bit far.
‘Is this the end? Should I use the device my lord gave me….’
Lucas was pondering for a moment,
“Hey~ you grumpy knight over there!”
Then, Evangeline, who had kicked off the back of a giant beetle from below, flew up next to Lucas and held out her hand.
“Shall we dance?”
“You can’t even dance…”
Even while grumbling, Lucas reached out his hand. Evangeline giggled and snatched Lucas’s hand.
Thwack-!
A halo gathered near Evangeline’s armor’s shoulder blades, and a booster was fired.
Using that propulsion, Evangeline soared into the sky for a short time and swung her arm, throwing Lucas upwards.
Lucas, who soared into the sky, safely landed on the next wave of giant beetles. Evangeline fell next to Lucas with a “Whoaah!” sound.
“Me too! Catch me and throw me too!”
“…Come here.”
This time, Lucas stood firm on the giant beetle, grabbed Evangeline’s hand as she was about to fall right next to him, and spun his body, throwing Evangeline forward.
Lightning continued to fall and magic bullets poured down from the side.
The two continued to step on beetles, kill them, run, and throw each other forward.
In the midst of the lightning and magic bullet rain that filled the sky, the two knights’ sword dance showed no sign of ending.