Large-scale Raid Begins

――The center of the royal capital.

――On the roof of the royal castle’s spire.

Five hours have passed since the cluster of dungeons around the capital simultaneously experienced Dungeon Collapse.

The royal palace gathered all forces in the capital—the Adventurer’s Guild members, the Royal Palace Knight Order, and the Holy Church—and issued a decree to intercept the monsters approaching the capital.

At the same time, using the precious consumable magic device known as a high-speed communication apparatus, they sent a request for reinforcements to the Adventurer’s Guild branch in Ardion.

The plan was to withstand the monsters’ assault to buy time and annihilate them by pincer attack when reinforcements from Ardion arrived――

“…That’s impossible, isn’t it.”

――That was the strategy the military affairs official serving the palace proposed to the Adventurer’s Guild.

“The capital can remain unscathed for at most three days. Reinforcements will arrive in a month—and besides, there are almost no farmlands or livestock inside the walls, so from a food perspective it’s not realistic.”

The Second Stigmata—the white-haired old woman, Johanna Hohenzollern, sighed in exasperation at the military official’s reckless plan.

Even an official in charge of military affairs is, in an era of peace, ultimately a civil servant.

However—the Holy Church is an organization that for years answered the palace’s unreasonable demands and rose to become the state religion.

They intended to struggle as much as possible.

“Judging by the monsters’ advance speed, they will reach the capital in less than ten minutes… Shall we begin?”

Johanna observed the horde of monsters, slowly but surely closing in.

It looked as if a black tidal wave intent on swallowing the capital was approaching.

Johanna’s current location was—the center of the capital—on the roof of the royal castle.

Climbing over the King’s dwelling like that would normally be an act of disrespect—but in a crisis, there is no time for such concerns, something the King understood best.

From that vantage point overlooking the area beyond the capital’s surrounding walls, Johanna dropped to one knee, formed a complex hand sign, and poured in mana.

“Barrier Magic—Holy Shield.”

――Kiiiiiiiinnnn!

Johanna’s class was Barrier Mage.

She could use skills to erect barriers.

Using that ability, she formed a massive barrier encircling the capital.

“Well—it’s only a palliative. When you try to maintain a protective barrier of this scale, its strength inevitably weakens.”

But—that was fine.

The true purpose of the barrier was less to keep the monsters out and more to cut off the retreat of the Adventurer’s Guild members outside the walls.

“By now the College of Cardinals is probably retrieving their relics in storage and preparing to flee by night using relics that enable teleportation. This operation is nothing more than a way to buy time for nobles and VIPs to escape the capital.”

The military official probably didn’t believe that such a plan would get them out of this predicament.

That was a public-facing plan aimed at us—the fighters working on the front lines.

The bigwigs are likely in the palace right now holding meetings about where to move the capital to.

Johanna thought.

What kind of strategy could get them through this situation?

“……”

There was no such plan.

The conclusion came immediately.

However—if she had to say something.

“An overwhelming army—one not of humans. A monstrous army matching monsters in strength, needing no rest or food, swearing absolute loyalty to its commander, perfectly disciplined—if we could intercept with such a force—perhaps.”

Ironically, she could think of only one person who might be able to pull off such an absurd thing.

＊＊＊

The Adventurer’s Guild gathered the forces in the capital—the adventurers, the Palace Knight Order, and the Holy Church—and divided them into four units: north, south, east, and west.

――The northern sector.

Because high-rank dungeons were clustered north of the capital, that battle zone was made up of veteran adventurers.

The leader was—an S-rank adventurer, Almugard Eldorado.

She—although none around her knew her gender—was clad in ebony full plate, standing firm like a guardian statue as the hordes of monsters surged forward.

“Hey, isn’t this seriously bad?”

“Is this my turn to pay the piper too?”

No matter how veteran the adventurers, they couldn’t suppress their despair at the grim situation.

But――even they straightened up when they saw the back of the strongest in humanity.

He had thrust a giant greatsword—worthy of being called an iron slab—into the ground, gripping the hilt with both hands and standing immovable like a rock, radiating the aura of an overwhelming warrior.

Perhaps—just maybe—the strongest human could turn this desperate situation around?

His silhouette carried such conviction that it made them indulge in faint hope.

“GROOOOARRRRR!!!!”

At last, the horde of monsters arrived before the adventurers.

Almugard drew her giant blade, led the charge alone against the horde—and made a single sweep.

――Slash!

With just that, dozens of monsters were blasted away.

Even after that, she wielded the giant sword—one an ordinary person could barely lift—as easily as if it were a tree branch, holding back the horde’s advance.

“Alright, let’s do this too!”

“We won’t let the strongest have all the fun!”

They too were battle-hardened veterans who had risked their lives in dungeons for years.

They were not such cowards as to leave everything to a single adventurer and do nothing.

Facing the approaching monsters, each took up their weapons and took a heavy step forward to intercept them.