Published: July 3, 2025
Before Ryo and the others emerged onto the surface, time rewound a few hours.
In front of the 'Autonomous Bureau,' fierce battles were taking place.
The Autonomous Bureau had closed its doors after accommodating twelve individuals from Viscount Westwood's Residence.
For a while, everything was calm.
Of course, non-human beings tried to attach themselves to the walls and gates, but by shooting through the windows on the second and third floors, they had been preventing a crisis in advance.
The change came around midnight.
What had previously been a mere surge of movement transformed.
They began to gather in groups, pushing forward, then retreating at the right moment.
It was as if a commander had appeared to orchestrate their actions.
“Lady Granny, this is…”
“Indeed. It seems a troublesome individual capable of commanding them has arrived. A mastermind… or perhaps an abomination that can dominate them all by sheer force…”
Lady Granny answered Sera's inquiry with a frown.
It would be better if it were just a mastermind.
If someone could control them by force, the Autonomous Bureau would scarcely hold out.
“Nevertheless… the fact that no counterattack has begun from anywhere after all this time means that the knight order and the royal capital’s forces are already gone…”
“Does that mean we’re the last two?”
Lady Granny's mutter was answered by the two knights who had taken refuge, Zack Cooler and Scotty Kobuck.
They hadn’t been asked, but still spoke up.
“A precious survivor, indeed.”
Lady Granny said with a slight smile.
At that moment, a sudden roar assaulted the surroundings.
“What was that?!”
Zack instinctively shouted and quickly realized the reason.
His gaze was fixed on the spot where the ‘gate’ had been. It was the sound of the gate being blown away.
No one could move in the face of that unexpected sight.
Well, except for one.
“Everyone, prepare for close combat!”
Only Sera raised her voice, bringing everyone’s awareness back to reality, and drew her sword, standing firm in front of where the gate had been.
Those who had been freed from their dazed state, albeit a moment too late, hurriedly grabbed swords and spears and headed to where the gate had been.
From the second and third floors, those who had been shooting arrows at the beings trying to attach themselves to the gate and walls continued to shoot with even greater speed.
It was only natural that, having destroyed the gate somehow, they would come attacking with numbers; even a child would understand that reasoning.
As expected, the situation turned into a fierce close-quarters battle.
As expected, Sera, along with Zack and Scotty, were part of the active Royal Knight Order.
While they couldn’t match in archery, their sword handling was far superior to that of ordinary elves.
With the swords of these three at the center, the others used spears to prevent invasions, while those on the second and third floors continued to shoot arrows.
Such formations and methods of fighting had somehow been established.
However, after holding out for a while… the first signs of collapse were about to arrive.
“Lady Granny, we’re running out of arrows!”
A shooter on the second floor shouted toward Lady Granny in the courtyard.
“Damn, at this timing?! I knew it would come someday… It’s an embarrassment for elves to run out of arrows. If we survive, we must stock tenfold or even a hundredfold of arrows! Understand? I command this clearly!”
Lady Granny sternly ordered Commissioner Carson of the Autonomous Bureau who was standing nearby.
Running out of arrows was a sign of incompetence.
That was certain, but in this defense battle, the archery skills of the elves were undoubtedly top-class in the kingdom.
Even so, running out of arrows was simply due to having too many enemies.
The voice calling out about running out of arrows reached Sera's ears as well.
(From here on, we’ll have to use magic to take them down… magical power is finite. More finite than arrows. With this many enemies, we’ll consume our magical power at a rate that far exceeds our recovery speed. This is, without a doubt, tough.)