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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Crafting.”
I enclosed the carriages with walls made of a mixture of soil and stone.
Unless they lifted the carriages, they would not be able to harm Karina.
I told the knights, who were startled by my skill, to guard her well, and then I rushed into the battlefield where the melee was taking place.
Goblins, orcs, werewolves, trolls, unknown monsters… In between, there were humans in suspicious attire shouting something and lunging at the knights.
Were those guys from the Halphas Cult?
What a mess this was.
Where did those bastards come from? And did they all drink something?
Why were their eyes so red?
Looking closely, it seemed like they were about to burst.
They clearly didn’t seem to be in their right mind.
It was obvious they were not in a normal state.
And what happened to those damn guards that no one noticed them coming this close?
Looking around, the soldiers were being eaten away little by little, unable to form their ranks.
Was the fact that nothing had happened for a month a poison?
Though the journey was overly loose, I didn’t think they would have relaxed their vigilance to the point of not noticing an attack.
In the first place, with such a large force, they might not have even considered the possibility of being attacked.
“…First, I need to protect the non-combatants.”
I quickly scanned the surroundings and spotted the priests and servants huddled together in one place.
The soldiers were guarding the perimeter, but they were gradually being pushed back by the troll’s fierce attack.
I kicked the ground and ran behind the troll.
Whether its weak points were the same as humans, I didn’t know, but dealing with the one giving the soldiers the most trouble was the priority.
Structures made of soil wouldn’t be able to deal significant damage, so this time…
I used the skill right behind the troll.
“Crafting.”
The ground sank.
The troll’s body, which boasted a height that seemed to be 5 meters, staggered as the suddenly lowered ground matched my eye level.
The soldiers’ faces were so startled by the sudden situation that I could see them over the troll’s shoulder.
Before the troll could come to its senses, I climbed onto its shoulder and struck the back of its head with the shovel blade.
Once, twice, three times.
They say there’s no tree that doesn’t fall after being hit ten times.
Even the troll’s unnecessarily solid skull started to weaken its movements when I madly struck it.
The soldiers also soon noticed and attacked the troll’s arms and legs so that it couldn’t attack me.
In the end, under our joint attack, even the terrifying troll had no choice but to lay its body on the dirt floor with its head split in half.
“Are you injured anywhere?”
“No. Thanks to you…”
Seeing the soup stain not yet wiped from the corner of his mouth, it seemed he had rushed to grab his weapon and fight while eating.
I looked at the soldier who had been caught up in this mess without even being able to eat properly and said,
“Then I’ll take care of this side, so go support the others. Spread the word to your comrades too.”
“What? But…”
“I have a plan.”
“…Understood.”
The fact that I neutralized the troll seemed to add credibility to my words.
Maybe it would be better to appeal myself more to the soldiers on this occasion.
In military terms, this side was equivalent to an engineering company.
Probably.
Fortunately, the soldiers didn’t stubbornly persist and scattered to help others.
The only ones left were the priests and servants.
I shouted to them, who were frightened.
“Priests! And servants! Please stay huddled together! Don’t move!”
At my words, the priests and servants clung tightly to each other.
Hmm, it’s good that they listen well.
This was all thanks to making all sorts of things during this boring journey.
I roughly checked the estimate with my eyes and plunged the shovel into the ground.
“Crafting.”
A huge hut made of soil, so crude that it was rustic, enveloped the priests and servants.
Since the only material was soil, it was difficult to say it was very sturdy, but at least it would be hard to break with thrown stones or clubs.
As a safety measure, I made a simple moat to block the goblins’ approach, just in case.
This should be fine for the most part.
I shifted my gaze away from them and looked around the battlefield.
Where did Millia and Renny go?
Renny would be fine somehow, but Millia’s combat ability was probably only enough to have a close match with a chihuahua.
I searched for Millia while kindly plunging the shovel into the heads of the goblins rushing towards me.
“Millia!”
“Johann! Save me!”
I looked at the orc chasing Millia, who was running towards me while sobbing.
The orc, holding a rusty axe from who knows where, seemed to find Millia’s red hair appetizing, and was moving solely focused on chasing Millia, not even paying attention to other monsters.
“Crafting.”
I created an ankle-height obstacle between Millia and the orc, and as the orc stumbled and exposed an opening, I kicked the ground.
The orc’s green bald head looked at me as it approached.
It tried to raise its axe to block the attack, but it couldn’t block it with its collapsing posture.
I pulled out the half-sunken shovel blade from the orc’s head.
Brain matter and blood flowed out mixed together from the split head.
It was a disgusting sight.
“Johann! I was scared!”
Don’t cling to me.
Brain matter splattered and made my clothes sticky.
“You see that building over there? Go there.”
“Okay!”
Millia ran into the building I had made.
Then, shall I keep moving?
I threw myself towards the front line that was being pushed back.
First, the guys dressed in Halphas Cult attire.
Although I felt reluctant to kill people, was there a need to hesitate at this point?
Hydras, bears, and humans were all the same living creatures.
I swung the shovel blade towards the neck of a human who was clearly an enemy.
An unpleasant and disgusting sensation flowed from my hand up to my shoulder.
The head fell to the ground, scattering blood.
It was a disgusting sight, but it might be a sight I would see countless times in the future.
I turned my gaze away from the corpse and rolled my eyes to find the next target.
Renny was single-handedly blocking one side of the front line, and the knights were defending the northern front in formation.
The place for me to go was the east.
I moved my steps towards the east, where orcs and goblins were clustered together, pushing the front line.
As I moved eastward, a heavy scent of blood wafted through the air.
The damage to the east was severe.
Roughly 10 people might have died.
I passed by the soldiers pulling the wounded and retreating to the rear, and approached the battlefield.
Come to think of it, it was my first battlefield.
But I wasn’t afraid.
After fighting a monster larger than an elephant for 10 years, one could maintain composure in any situation.
I plunged the shovel into the ground and closed my eyes for a moment.
I clearly visualized the image.
What structure was needed now?
I recalled the structures I had made.
Walls, pillars, moats, houses…
That would be good.
“Crafting.”
A wall rose behind the enemies.
It was a wall to separate the monsters that might be in the rear from the rampaging monsters in the front.
I repeatedly used the skill to split the eastern battlefield in half and put a period at the end.
“Crafting. Crafting. Crafting.”
No matter how powerful an army was, if the ground collapsed, they couldn’t exert their strength.
I created a barricade with sharp thorns protruding from the soil to block the rampaging monsters’ advance.
“Slowly retreat and reorganize the formation!”
Fortunately, the soldiers seemed to have heard my words, shouted to the point of making my throat hurt, and they slowly retreated and reorganized their formation.
Those who were too injured to fight withdrew, and those who could fight calmly dispatched the charging monsters with their shields.
No matter how madly the monsters charged, the numerical advantage was on our side.
After all, it was an expedition with no less than a thousand troops mobilized.
“The east is fine now, and the south is…”
…I didn’t check on Karina’s side while confirming the battlefield.
I immediately ran towards the carriage.
Fortunately, the area around the carriage was quiet.
The knights guarding the perimeter saw me and spoke with a relieved expression.
“What’s the matter?”
“How are things here?”
“The damn monsters did attack, but we repelled them all.”
I looked in the direction the knight pointed with his finger and saw the corpses of fallen orcs and goblins.
Seeing that two trolls had also fallen, it seemed that the elite knights selected to guard the saint had definitely dealt with the enemies, as befitting their title.
I turned my gaze and checked the wall.
Although there were broken parts here and there, it was still intact.
I repaired the wall with my skill and turned my gaze back to the battlefield.
The battle was not over yet, so there was much for me to do.
The night of the battlefield had not yet ended.
The battle that lasted from midnight until dawn finally came to an end when the morning sun peeked out.
The soldiers were all gathering the remains of their fallen comrades, and the priests were going around treating the wounded with healing magic.
The sight was so gruesome that it made me turn my gaze away.
A dark expression was evident on the faces of all who had participated in the battle.
It was only natural.
There was no one who would rejoice at surviving when their comrades and subordinates had died.
“Thank you. Without you, we would have suffered fatal damage.”
“…No, not at all.”
I couldn’t speak casually to an older person, so I tried my best to answer politely.
Carbonaro, a knight with a splendidly grown mustache, seemed to be sincerely grateful.
It was a bit burdensome when the gaze that had treated me as servant 1 until yesterday changed.
That kind of gaze was a bit uncomfortable.
Being looked at with such eyes by a man was not my taste.
If Karina had looked at me like that… Ahem.
“Young man, do you have any thoughts of joining the knight order?”
What kind of graduate student recruitment talk was this?
I had no intention of becoming a knight.
I just wanted to live peacefully, I couldn’t throw my body into danger.
“I have something to do, so no.”
“That’s a shame.”
I vaguely brushed off the invitation to join the knights and asked about the point I was curious about regarding this attack.
“By the way, what happened? Clearly, sentries were posted, but for them to be penetrated so easily…”
“…It seems the soldiers on watch were affected by illusion magic. To think they would bring monsters and launch an attack. It’s my fault. I should have thought of countermeasures against this type of attack. To think they would attack an expedition accompanied by this many troops…”
“We’ll have to be on alert from now on.”
“That’s right.”
An undisguisable worry was evident on Carbonaro’s face.
It was only natural.
It would take at least a month and a half to reach Kalon Academy at our quickest.
Our route was obvious.
The possibility of traps and ambushes along the route couldn’t be ignored.
Moreover, what they brought were not humans, but monsters.
They seemed to be brainwashing and bringing monsters around, although their method was unknown.
It meant that compared to us, replenishing their forces would be easy for them, making them a very troublesome opponent.
But we didn’t have many options.
Considering Karina’s current condition, it might be tight even if we rushed at full speed.
It was obvious that more attacks would continue in the meantime, and there was a possibility that they had set up traps.
But even so, we had to advance.
“…I have a method.”
Although it was a strategy that suddenly came to mind, it might be unexpectedly good.
“Oh, really? What is it?”
I began to explain the strategy I had come up with to the commander.
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