A short while ago, at the West Gate.
The moment Junior had just joined the defense of the West Gate.
Climbing atop the fortress walls, Junior’s eyes widened in shock at the sight before her.
"What is this...?"
Outside the West Gate, several soldiers were ensnared by werewolves.
The werewolves were using these soldiers as human shields and were advancing, while the soldiers on the walls, their bows aimed, trembled with fear.
"What on earth is happening?"
"When the werewolves first invaded... Captain Hans of the West Gate defense led a chase."
One of the archers answered Junior’s question.
"It was a trap. Dozens more werewolves appeared... and our entire pursuit team was captured."
"These fools! They should have just defended. Why chase them?"
"Half of the defenders were killed in their first assault."
On the wall, soldiers lay scattered. The explaining soldier gritted his teeth.
"Hans said he couldn’t let the fleeing ones go, so he pursued."
"Even so...!"
At that moment, the youngest among the captured soldiers - Captain Hans - shouted loudly.
"What are you all doing! Shoot!"
"...!"
"Do you want to endanger everyone inside the wall because of us?! Shoot, now!"
Hans yelled towards the soldier beside Junior.
"Shoot, Miller! Now!"
"Ugh...!"
But the soldier, Miller, choked back tears as he slowly lowered his bow.
"I... I can’t shoot."
With a trembling voice, Miller tried to explain to Junior.
"Hans, that guy... He’s my friend. We grew up together, like brothers. How can I... How can I kill him with my own hands?!"
Outside the wall, Hans gritted his teeth.
"It’s a commander’s order, you idiots! Shoot now!"
At the command, a few of the shivering soldiers released their arrows.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Arrows rained down. But the werewolves calmly raised their human shields, blocking the onslaught.
"Arg! Aaaargh!"
"Oww! It hurts!"
Pierced by arrows, the soldiers screamed in agony. Hans, with arrows stuck in his abdomen and knee, couldn’t hold back his groans either.
The werewolves closed the distance to the wall, laughing all the while.
The faces of the soldiers on the wall turned deathly pale.
Feeling the rapidly waning morale of the defense squad, Junior stepped forward.
’I have to stop them.’
As she began casting her magic, Junior tried to think rationally.
’Once captured by the werewolves, those soldiers are as good as dead. Now’s not the time for sympathy. I have to wipe out the werewolves with an area spell...!’
But then, even though she knew it logically, images from Junior’s childhood flashed through her mind as she summoned the elements of lightning and wind.
The screams of soldiers being used as human shields overlapped with memories of people in his childhood village dying from lightning.
’No, it’s not the same as that day!’
It was a necessary sacrifice.
A sacrifice for a greater cause...
’Who decides what that cause is?’
Junior hesitated.
Weighing the value of a life, doing the math of addition and subtraction, and if necessary, readily sacrificing the lives of allies.
Junior lacked the leadership ability to make those decisions.
Frozen in place, he couldn’t unleash his magic at the hostage. And in that moment, the fate of the western gate was sealed.
Thump-!
Judging they were close enough, the werewolves all began charging at once.
In desperation, Junior swiftly changed her magic element to water and released a massive surge, but it was too late.
Splash!
Dozens of werewolves engulfed by the torrential water blast were thrown aside.
However, a few at the forefront managed to penetrate the water barrage and got as close as the gate itself.
Thump-!
Leading the pack, a colossal white werewolf fiercely leaped, scaling the fortress wall with an unbelievable agility.
White Werewolf.
Only four of these elite monsters existed in the Werewolf Legion, ranking second only to the Wolf King.
Dodging consecutive water bombs Junior hurled with impressive agility, the White Werewolf reached the top of the fortress wall and lunged at Junior, slashing its claws.
"Gah!"
While grappling with the massive creature, Junior shouted at her troops.
"I’ll handle this beast! Hold back the other wolves!"
"But, but..."
"Keep them at bay!"
As she deflected the wolf’s fangs with her staff, Junior’s shout sounded almost like a scream.
"Hold them back-!"
The shaken soldiers began releasing their arrows once more towards the battleground.
However, their response was too slow.
Dozens of werewolves had already climbed the wall, swarming the fortress.
The defense, having lost a significant number of men and their captain captured, lacked the strength to fend off the invaders.
Eventually,
Growl... Growl...
One by one, werewolves began to stand atop the wall.
Thwack! Thwack-!
From the southern wall, Damien hastily began to offer supporting fire, but it was too little too late. The number of werewolves on the wall rapidly increased.
Swoosh! Swish-!
"Argh!"
"Please, spare us!"
The monsters’ claws and fangs didn’t take long to ravage the soldiers defending the wall.
The soldiers, who served both as shields and hostages, were discarded atop the wall like trash.
Hans, struck by friendly arrows and stabbed by a werewolf, lay in a corner of the wall coughing up blood.
"..."
Miller, completely drained of morale, slowly knelt in front of the ailing Hans. Hans murmured weakly.
"Idiot, bastard..."
Miller whispered hoarsely, "I’m sorry."
Slice!
The claw of a charging werewolf slashed Miller’s throat. As Hans blankly watched this, the light gradually faded from his eyes.
The wall was completely overrun, and in mere minutes,
Creak- Groan...
The gates were opened by the werewolves who had entered.
The fall of the western gate was completed so unceremoniously and swiftly.
Howl! Howl-!
The howling werewolves began to invade the inner city.
Leaving only about ten surrounding Junior.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
Surveying the werewolves encircling her without any gaps, Junior’s eyes darted around.
She was a mage.
With a colossal firepower and the ability to think on her feet, she was still the epitome of a classic mage.
Vulnerable in close combat, with pitiful defenses, and if she didn’t have a spell cast, she became incredibly weak.
A glass cannon that would easily break without a party member to take the vanguard.
And now, around ten werewolves, creatures specialized in close combat, surrounded her, with one of them even being the elite White Werewolf.
Junior believed she could handle at least half of them, but she quickly realized that her own life was at stake.
Biting down hard, Junior thought, ’In a place like this...!’
Just then,
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Arrows of wind flew in, piercing through the necks of the werewolves.
The startled werewolves turned to see a more ferocious windstorm approaching, knocking them off their feet.
"I thought the city seemed too noisy, so I came out to check…"
It was Reina, gracefully ascending the city walls on a gust of wind magic.
"These wolves sure are causing a ruckus."
Wearing a hospital gown overlaid with an imperial coat, and a cigarette hanging loosely from her lips, Reina extended her forefinger and released another volley of wind bullets.
Thwack!
A fierce wind blew, and simultaneously, Junior unleashed torrents of water in all directions.
Chuckling, the werewolves were thrown into chaos. When another powerful mage appeared and they began their combined assault, the White Werewolf quickly commanded its subordinates to retreat.
Although Junior and Reina continually bombarded the beast with wind and lightning, the White Werewolf managed to escape through the flames, even as its fellow werewolves were dying around it.
“Haa, haa...!”
Reina, leaning on her staff, approached the heavily panting Junior.
"Are you okay, Jupiter’s daughter?"
“I…"
Looking down at the opened city gates, Junior’s eyes narrowed.
“I made a mistake."
"…"
"If I had just used my magic! Regardless of those monsters taking hostages, I could have burned them all! Then the other soldiers wouldn’t have died, and the gates wouldn’t have been opened…"
"Yes. Had you done that, you’d have been an exceptional mage," Reina said in a tone neither cold nor tender.
"But the moment you do such a thing without hesitation, you cease to be human."
Reina, standing beside the guilt-ridden Junior, gestured towards the interior of the gate.
"Lift your head, kiddo. Only the gates have opened. The world isn’t over yet."
"..."
"What’s done is done. Now, we need to rectify it."
Reina smirked.
"A mage is the only one who can put the spilled water back into the jar, right?"
"…"
Junior, rejuvenated by these words, quickly splashed water on her face and widened her eyes.
Both mages simultaneously leapt off the city walls.
They were determined to hunt down and eliminate every last wolf-monster that had infiltrated the city.
***
There were several prisons located on the outskirts of Crossroad, but the prison where the death row inmate Camus was held was to the west.
"...Hmm?"
Camus, who had been dozing off in the cold cell, squinting on the bed, slowly opened his eyes.
Monsters had entered the city!”
“We have to stop them. Let’s move quickly!”
There had been disturbances outside for a while. Now, the prison guards were seen hurriedly conversing amongst themselves.
“But watching over the prisoners is our primary duty...”
“Damn it! Are these prisoners the issue right now? If monsters get further into the city, civilian casualties will snowball!”
“Grab your weapons! Join the defense!”
The guards swiftly poured out of the prison.
Camus stared blankly at the scene before sinking back into his bed.
He was set to be executed soon.
It didn’t matter to him what transpired in the outside world. He just wished for the tedious hours to pass and to face his imminent death...
Then it happened.
Bang! Crash!
Growl!
“Aghh! Nooo!”
“We messed up! We did! Please, spare us!”
Not long after the guards had left, they were violently thrown back into the prison.
The sound of metal being twisted, bones breaking, and the growling of a wolf-like monster echoed throughout.
‘...What the hell?’
Camus, roused from his sleep, sat up. Beyond the bars, he saw a wolf monster vigorously chewing on two guards.
As Camus tried to make sense of the situation, the werewolf grabbed the bars of his cell with both hands and forcibly pried them open, entering his cell.
Grr! Grrr!
The beast’s bloodshot eyes blazed with hunger.
In the next instant, Camus hurled himself behind the corpse of a guard lying on the floor. His hand reached the sword sheathed by the guard’s waist.
Swoosh!
With deft skill, Camus drew the blade, dodged the descending claws of the werewolf, and in a fluid motion, plunged the sword into the wolf’s throat.
Thud!
It was the masterful swordsmanship of an SR-grade hero character, powerful enough to end the life of the unsuspecting werewolf.
Growl... Grr...
The werewolf, vomiting blood, collapsed lifelessly to the floor. Camus clicked his tongue.
“I’m sentenced to execution, not to become food for monsters like you.”
Howl-
Howl-
The distant cries of monsters echoed from outside the prison. Camus narrowed his eyes, glaring out.
“...What in the world is happening?”
Still, it might be a blessing. After all, he was a prisoner and shouldn’t venture outside.
Camus intended to curl up on his bed and sleep once again.
However, he saw that the werewolf he had slain had ruined his bed, spilling its hot blood all over.
“...Sigh.”
Camus let out a long, weary sigh.
“It’s even hard to die peacefully...”
--TL Notes--
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