“Fuck! This is a waste of time!” Shumea cussed after cutting down the elves blocking their way.
Shumea and the elven escorts protected Selena as they ran away from the black smoke.
“Why are elves so stubborn!?” Shumea complained as she roughly wiped her cheeks of soot and blood.
“S-Sorry…” Selena found herself apologizing for some reason.
“I’m not blaming you. Anyway, let’s hurry. They know we’re here.” Shumea wryly smiled and rubbed Selena’s head.
After catching some elves to ascertain Pale’s location, they ran through the smokes and the flames.
“…What are you going to do once we find her? You have thought of it, right?”
From what they’ve gathered, Pale was currently leading an army of elite soldiers.
Shumea has already considered the worst possible scenario, but despite that, she didn’t have any intentions of dissuading Selena from meeting her.
“I don’t know, but I think I’ll know once I meet her. At that time, I don’t think I’ll regret it even if I end up as the king’s enemy.”
“I’ve always liked how gutsy you are,” Shumea said, then she turned around to the elven escorts given to them by Fei. “You can go back now. If you keep following us, you might end up drawing your bows against your master,” she said.
The elves looked at each other, then one of them stepped forward.
“Our duty is to protect you, Lord Shumea. We will accompany you until we have ascertained that you are indeed Forni’s enemy,” the elf said.
“Naive. Or maybe you’re stupid… Well, I don’t hate that though. I’m kinda like that myself after all.”
After running past the black smoke, Shumea looked around her.
“We’ve arrived at the eastern side. That way should be the north!” Shumea said.
“Can I ask you a question?” One of the elven escorts asked.
“Make it short,” Shumea said.
“Lord Pale is the enemy commander. Surely, she will be accompanied by many soldiers. What will you do about them?” The elven escort asked.
“We’ll break through,” Shumea matter-of-factly said.
The elven escorts were speechless.
“Do you have a plan?” The elven escort asked.
“Of course not! The only thing I’ve got is a girl’s guts! So if you’re going to tag along, you better make sure you don’t wet your pants!”
As they ran, the figure of the goblin king and the elves fighting came to view.
“Is everyone ready?” Shumea asked.
When they nodded, she narrowed her eyes.
“Let’s take happiness with our own hands. Even if it means prying it from fate’s mouth by force.”
Loved by a resident of the fire god’s household, the god of flame, Hektokrups, Shumea smiled fiercely in the face of battle as she cried out to foe and ally alike.
“Ora ora ora! Get out of the way! A human is passing through!!”
◆◆◇
Rashka’s black light blew up on the tightly packed enemy formation. His speed didn’t slow down even a little as he charged toward the enemy. That valiant charge of his affected the other warriors, and we followed after him.
Rashka swung both of his clubs at every direction. Battle-wise, he was indeed one of the best among the goblins.
His great strength bore a hole in the armored elves’ line. As his rampage continued, the elves’ movement gradually became duller.
“Just a little more and we’ll be able to win! Don’t slow down even for a moment!” I said, causing the goblins to cry out in response along with the Fang Tribe and the elves.
But then a rain of arrows descended where Rashka was.
“Nu!?”
When I turned around, the enemy was there.
The light infantry that arrived aimed at Rashka. Their movements were like the turning of the waves. There was not even a single hint of hesitation in them as they attacked in turn. But what was most conspicuous of all was the great morale they had!
—So you’ve come, Pale Symphoria!”
The chiefs or the tactician. Whose head should I pluck?
For a moment, I wasn’t sure what to do, but in the end, I decided to go for the enemy chiefs.
I ordered Rashka to proceed while defending only as much as necessary.
Selena and Shumea couldn’t reach her in time, it seems.
Alas! I cannot hold back in battle! Especially, one so strong!
“Rashka, keep going like that and take the heads of the enemy chiefs! That will be the greatest achievement in this battle!” I said.
“Alright!” Rashka fearlessly smiled as he raised his clubs.
“Fei, Mido! We’re intercepting the new enemy! Follow!”
“Understood!” Mido said.
“As you wish,” Fei said.
I aimed my sword at the new enemy.
They could move quickly, but they had to sacrifice their armor to achieve that.
Wielding my sword by my side, I swung it from below.
—Pale Symphoria is up ahead. I should take her head myself. It is only courteous to do so.
As ether coursed through my legs, I lowered my body enough for Flamberge to touch the ground.
The main force was with Rashka. As for the rest: the remaining demihumans, the elves, and the rest of the goblins – they fought with me.
“My life is like dust!Accel”
◆◆◇
After confirming sighting of the chiefs’ army, Pale gave orders to the soldiers.
“Platoons, advance in line! Avoid the goblins as much as you can. Felbi second platoon, to the front!”
Pale ordered the second platoon that was protecting their rear to go to the front. In exchange, she ordered the third platoon to move to the rear.
When Pale sent a fleeting glance at the goblins, she immediately noticed their high morale, then she looked toward the front again. The giant black goblin was leading an army of demihumans, elves, and goblins. There was a leader for every group.
Could she really do this? She asked herself as she looked up.
“Everyone, give me strength.”
Suddenly, she closed her eyes and thought back to the days when she fought with the members of Clan Elks.
Pale’s quiet mutterings were drowned out by the sound of war.
“I can do this! I’m going to protect my family!” Pale opened her eyes and said that to herself.
Their aim was the three-headed beast of an army that was headed toward them.
“Archers, parallel volley! After me!”
Pale pulled an orichalcum arrow from her quiver and filled it with ether.
“Second, fourth, fifth, and sixth platoon! Parry the enemy ahead! We’re going to graze past their nose and save the chiefs!”
She intentionally spoke like that. Normally, she preferred to speak with more formality, but that kind of language was unsuited during war.
The various platoons cried out in response to Pale’s commands.
As she released the string of her bow, the sound of wind cutting echoed alongside the cries of the orichalcum arrow. It flew fiercely through the air as it shot forth toward the enemy.
“Winds, give me power!Wind Shot”
Her target was the Fang Tribe member leading the demihumans.
That was none other than the man who double-crossed them. If she recalled correctly, his name was Mido, a Fang Tribe chief.
The enemy’s vanguard was pursuing after the chiefs.
As she watched the rear guard be torn apart all at once, she followed after the arrow with her eyes. A fearsome scream resounded at its descent as Mido repelled it. But that one shot wasn’t enough to break the enemy’s formation. When the rest of the archers shot their arrows, the enemy forces finally stalled.
The second shot.
This time their aim was the elven army, which sought to stop them.
“Winds, give me your blessing!Barrel Shot”
But the enemy noticed what they were trying, and their arrows passed by each other at roughly the same time. The wind pressure from their arrows altered each others’ course, leaving behind a streak of red blood across Pale’s temple.
Though they failed to follow-up that arrow, they still managed to hit the shoulder of the second head.
“Next!”
“GURUUuoOOOAaOA!”
As Pale drew her bow again, a world devouring howl bellowed. Its great pressure bore down on them as the Goblin King swung his black burning great sword to cut down the elves in half.
The light infantry wasn’t his match.
Pale immediately gave out orders.
“Third and fourth platoon, go to the chiefs! Second platoon, make two lines from the front to the rear!”
Pale ordered the second platoon to make several layers of walls between her and the black goblin.
“Over here, monster! I’ll be your opponent!” Pale said.
She mustered all of her ether and gathered it onto her arrow.
“In the name of the fierce winds!Storm Bullet”
The gathered winds blew behind the arrow, propelling it forward as they drew a helix shape on the air.
“GURUuuOOOAaAOO!”
But just when the arrow seemed like it was about to hit the Goblin King, the Goblin King swung his black burning great sword, causing the collision of two great masses of ether.
The two masses of ether sought to destroy each other. The black flames tried to devour the arrow of wind, white the latter tried to bore through the black flames.
Pale was already at her knees due to the great consumption of ether.
The Goblin King ground his teeth and put forth even more ether into his great sword.
Pale finally understood that a direct confrontation was disadvantageous, so she switched roles from a warrior back to a commander.
After receiving the charge of the elves, the goblin forces were in chaos. Forcing their way through the interim of the goblin forces and the chiefs’ forces was exactly Pale’s plan.
With her elven forces attacking the goblins from the flank, the battle had slightly swung to their favor. But at this rate, they will have no choice but to withdraw from the battle and run. She looked at the rear and the front.
The rear was being held well by Felbi, while in the front were wounded demihumans. Despite that the elven forces had slowed down their momentum.
Pale figured that it should be possible to make use of the time difference to cut their way through.
“GURUuuOOOAaA!”
—That’s if we can take down this monster, anyway.
The Goblin King, who could stop even Pale’s attack, was unstoppable. He was like a storm as he mowed his way through to Pale.
“Second platoon, move to the flanks!”
Pale was so spent that even her throat felt like it would burst from giving orders.
By moving the second platoon to the flanks, there would be no one to stop the Goblin King.
Hands shaking, she drew her bow once more.
“Come,” she said.
Her hands no longer shook when she held her arrows. Her focus, which she had sharpened all her life, allowed her to become as still as tranquil waters.
In her hands was a special Srilana (Blue-Silver Steel) arrow.
Her aim was the unstoppable Goblin King’s forehead.
Perfectly focused, she calmly aimed her bow.
