Chapter 21: Emergency actions!

Upper Fire Month, 5th Day, 600 AGG

"It is you who does not understand the state the Republic is in!" one of the elder Viziers pounded the table and jabbed a finger at the birdman Vizier. "You dare bring shame and doom upon all of our heads by suggesting a ceasefire?!"

Varush watched as Vahanda Shadiya—the birdman Vizier in question—bristled in response. "His location completely vanished for more than an entire hour before becoming visible again. At this point, I can no longer help but conclude our foe has acquired all the information they desired. Their angels could come and claim our heads at any moment."

"You dare pretend to be reasonable?" another Vizier sneered in contempt. "Your clan has betrayed us all! There is no conceivable way someone as powerful as the Kshatra you sent would have been captured so easily, not unless you connived with the enemy for the lives of your own!"

"Traitor!"

"The humans could have never routed us by themselves!"

"Weaklings dare to scheme against us!"

The Raswaran Dham erupted in a cacophony of accusations and shouting. Varush resisted the urge to slam his head against the marble surface of the table. He had hoped for more, but it seemed that an outcome where everyone chose to blame and tear down each other was inevitable. Beasts sought supremacy over those they saw as their competitors after all.

No, he let out a small sigh—that was untrue. All beings that walked upon the world were like this, therefore this result was unavoidable. Perhaps it was his divinely-appointed punishment for failing to reign in the Council when he should have.

"Silence!" Varush roared, and the arguing gradually died down. "I do not believe Rajan Shadiya nor their clan to be so cowardly. With circumstances as they are, the humans can no longer be considered weak livestock to be raised for consumption. I also agree that now is the time to sue for peace—"

"Hmph!" one of the Viziers that had castigated Shadiya snorted in derision. "If you desire peace so badly, then go beg for it by yourself! Shouldn't the leader bear the burdens of leadership? You've done almost nothing useful for your entire tenure!"

'No thanks to all of you,' Varush kept his bitter thoughts to himself. He was well-aware of his position as one who kept the status quo. And now that the status quo was being disrupted, he would now also be the one to take the fall for it.

Vizier Veejanu gave him a disapproving side-eye. It was obvious what he was thinking; why do you suffer these fools?

'Would getting rid of them really help though?' Varush wasn't sure. Stubborn as the elder Viziers may be, they were still important to the smooth day-to-day operations of the Republic. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that their deaths would appease their foe. Crippling themselves on the off chance that the rest of them might be spared didn't seem like a wise choice at the moment. In the worst-case scenario, they would've destroyed their own leadership and still have to face an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

Begging for mercy really did seem like the best choice here. It wasn't as if he had any pride left to lose; his time on the Council had all but stripped it away.

"Very well," Varush leveled a stare at the elder Vizier. "I will petition the human leadership. Was there anything else all of you wanted to say?"

"You will go by yourself," one of the Viziers—Varush believed he had a sizable investment in the major stockyard that had been reclaimed by the humans—maliciously grinned. "We cannot expect the humans to trust us if you arrive with an armored convoy."

Varush nearly rolled his eyes. It was a petty decision seeing as he himself was strong enough to the point where a convoy would only get in his way during an emergency. It was clear as day that they wanted to send him up as a sacrifice.

"If the Council decides that is the best course of action, then I will acquiesce to their wisdom," Varush stood up, bringing to bear all of his impressive stature. "Unless there's anything else that has been neglected, I will set out immediately."

"Fool," Vizier Veejanu muttered under his breath, just barely loud enough for Varush to hear. The High Vizier smiled in self-derision.

Indeed, he was a fool. But perhaps he could do something useful for once as the High Vizier of the Vahasi Republic.

"This session is adjourned," Varush rumbled as he got up from his seat. It was a tad juvenile of him, but it was nice to see some of the Viziers flinch in response. "Until next time, Viziers."

The clatter of people leaving filled the meeting hall while Varush waited for the crowd to peter out. After some time, only Vizier Veejanu and Shadiya remained.

"Well?" Varush huffed in dry amusement. "The two of you have heard what the Council has decided. Staying near me may as well be a death sentence at this point."

"I cannot understand," Ithit Veejanu narrowed his eyes. "It would be trivial for you to slay them all in single combat—nay, all of them at the same time by yourself. The guardian of the humans will not kill those uninvolved with the conflict."

"That's untrue," Vahanda Shadiya suddenly spoke up. "Escapees from Stockyard-H Two have testified that the angel has the potential to be much less merciful than she was with you, Vizier Veejanu. There is no guarantee we will be shown mercy if we surrender the heads of the warmongers."

"Then should we wait until the angels are at our doorstep?" Ithit scoffed. "By taking the initiative now, we can at least claim plausible deniability."

"I will go," Varush interrupted their small debate with a tone of finality. "It does us no good if I stay, and even if I were to fall to the humans, it would only be quickening the inevitable."

"The line between bravery and foolishness is a thin one, High Vizier," Vahanda warned. "Your strength is not something that should be thrown away so easily."

"Then run away," Varush simply replied. "Run far, far away until the angels can no longer find you. There is no shame in fleeing from a natural disaster."

"..." Vahanda silently walked out of the meeting hall. The Buffalo Minotaur Lord's mouth curled up at the sight.

"I do not believe there is any place in this world that is safe from the grasp of those summons," Ithit said as the bird beastman's back disappeared behind the thunk of thick doors. "I will come with you."

"Foolish," Varush echoed Ithit's earlier sentiment towards him. "But I can see there is no convincing you otherwise. So be it! We'll teleport as close as we can to the western borders and walk the rest of the way there."

"Will we depart now?"

"There's no better time than the present," Varush mused, a heavy weight he didn't even know was there lifting from his shoulders. The task ahead seemed much less daunting with another by his side. "Say your farewells to your clan and meet me at the Archives. We may not receive another chance."

'Forgive me for dragging you down this path.'

"As you say," Ithit turned around and walked away. Given the remote location his clan chose to take up residence in, it would be at least a few days until the Rajan was ready. Varush watched the Direwolf Orthrous's back disappear in the distance before he also set off towards home.

Home. How long had it been since he last visited? Ever since he joined the gladiator rings, there was always more and more work that had to be done—more and more justifications to put off returning home. It had been easy to convince himself that his work would benefit his family, even if he never visited.

He regretted it now, of course. That this might be the last chance he would get to visit his parents in this life.

Varush snorted and headed towards the northern teleportation sigils. It was long past the time for regrets. What little he could grab now was likely all that he would ever get.

'There's no time to waste,' the setting sun was especially beautiful today. 'My final task awaits.'

"Why the hell did we come here again, Cerabrate?" Amrel Lucia Del Asturias furiously whispered under her breath as they hid inside the undergrowth near Almersia. Oh, did she mention they were smeared from head to toe in dirt? Yeah, they were covered in shitty fucking dirt too.

Alvarin, the ranger of Crystal Tear, didn't seem to mind. In fact, he looked like he was barely holding himself back from humming. Well, it was his idea in the first place she supposed.

'At least it works,' Amrel grumbled to herself while they watched the oblivious demihumans going in and out of the city with carts loaded full with humans. 'How the hell does a little dirt make us that much harder to detect?'

"The beastmen are on the defensive, Ams!" Cerabrate excitedly whispered back, pointing at the guards manning the walls of the city. "This is our big chance to hurt the damn demis!"

Amrel bit the inside of her cheek to keep from shouting at the stupid pedo-idiot. Upon hearing that Caldevera had been liberated from its occupiers, he had immediately decided that their next destination should be Almersia. Hence, why the past few days were spent on staking out the city.

"We should leave this task to the angels," Casilda Rois, their cleric, spoke up. "They will surely not spare the demihumans of this city from their righteous wrath." Amrel nodded her head in agreement. It would be a lie to say she didn't want to help, but some things were best left to more capable people.

"C'mon guys!" Cerabrate stopped his observations to turn around and frown at his team. "We're Adamantite Adventurers. We're Crystal Tear. What're the people gonna think if we just leave them out to hang because we were waiting for some angels?"

"You just want Queen Oriculus to praise you more," Amrel glared at Cerabrate. "We just got dragged along with you."

The payment they had been receiving for missions were abysmal—though it was now gradually improving as the Draconic Kingdom was no longer on the verge of collapse—and it was all because Cerabrate had an infatuation with the childlike queen.

Okay, she'd admit it; it was also because the Draconic Kingdom was her home. Casilda hated the demihumans, and Alvarin was… bored. Or something.

"Hey, don't tell me that looking at her doesn't make you want to protect her!" Cerabrate's eyes drifted off into the distance as a stupid grin crept onto his face. "She's so… cute. Plus, she definitely likes me! There was that one time where she went 'Sir Ce-Cerabrate! Thank you so much for saving those people from the meanie beastmen—!'"

"Talk about your pedo-shit with other people," Amrel twisted her face in disgust. "What's the plan? We've been watching them for a few days, so what do we do now?"

"Guards look like they're slacking," Alvarin mumbled under his breath. "But the shifts are still pretty tight. Think they got a higher up in there? Beastman Lord or something?"

"That just makes it more fair," Cerabrate rested his hand on the pommel of his bastard sword, Thunderous Rapture. "Al, you up for a diversion? Hit a few of the demis, and give the rest of us some time to sneak in?"

"Sure," Alvarin replied after a moment of consideration. "Think it might be better if we just took out a few guards and ran in together though. Like I said, they're slacking."

"All of you cool with that?" Cerabrate asked before continuing, the plan met with unanimous nods. "Awesome. Let's try to move around and get to that secret entrance. Uh, at least if it's still in the same spot I remember it being."

"Fuck," Amrel cursed out loud. "There better be baths in there. Can't stand all of this dirt."

"There surely will, Lady Asturias," Casilda reassured her with a grim expression. "I doubt the beastmen like their food dirty."

The mood of the team darkened with the reminder of why they were here. Before them stood the first city of the Draconic Kingdom that had been converted into a large-scale farm that processed humans. None of them could or wanted to visualize the horrors that lay within.

"Here," Alvarin pointed at the base of a tower that was watched over by only two guards who were sitting on the ground and chatting to one another. "Moment I shoot, you guys run like hell for that door, got it?"

Amrel nodded, Casilda and Cerabrate mirroring her motion. Alvarin raised his bow and carefully aimed to the far left of the two guards. Controlling an arrow's flight path with Martial Arts was trivial, so by firing in such a roundabout manner, they could eliminate the already slim possibility of the beastmen reacting to the attack.

"『Twin Seeking Shots』," two arrows were simultaneously loosed into the air, curving around as they buzzed towards the unaware beastmen. The two unfortunate guards were caught completely off guard by the projectiles, and their heads burst like overripe fruit upon being hit.

"Nice shooting, Al!" Cerabrate patted the ranger's back as the team rushed towards the now unguarded entrance. "Drag the bodies just a little under the entrance, Cas. Don't want the demis to find their friends too quickly."

Casilda nodded and quickly lugged the two corpses under the shadow of the not-so-secret doorway. Cerabrate headed to the front as Amrel took to the middle between Alvarin and Casilda who served as their rearguard.

"Think I should just break through the walls?" Cerabrate tapped the stone with his knuckles. "Crawling through the inside and trying to find a way into the actual city is gonna be a pain in the ass."

"Don't," Amrel shook her head. "We have no idea what or who's going to be on the other side."

"Right," Cerabrate clicked his tongue. "Would suck if we accidentally killed some people. You got anything for this, Ams?"

"Once we're back on top of the towers and walls, sure. No point wasting mana here."

"Sounds good," Cerabrate navigated the inside of the tower with a proficiency that spoke of great amounts of personal experience. Where he acquired that experience, Amrel didn't really want to know. "Everyone, keep your eyes open. We might get jumped the moment we're in the open."

A loud clamor suddenly arose from above them, causing all of Crystal Tear to jerk their heads up in alertness.

"The hell was that?" Cerabrate unsheathed his sword, the holy blade casting its light upon the dim surroundings. "Think they found us already?"

"They're moving away," Alvarin notched three arrows to his bow. "Should probably still be careful though."

"Does this tower not have direct access to the city?" Casilda raised an eyebrow at Cerabrate.

"Errr, no," he pointed towards a tight passageway. "Gotta head over that way, and there's an exit in the tower next to us."

"Why the hell does this one not have an exit, huh?" Alvarin let out an exhale. "Fucking hate crawlspaces."

"I wasn't the one who built this city," Cerabrate squeezed into the narrow passage. "Let's get on with it guys."

With a deep sigh, Amrel followed behind, defensive spells resting on her tongue to be cast at a moment's notice. Once they uneventfully reached the adjacent tower, Cerabrate peeked his head out before walking out into the tower proper, beckoning his teammates to follow upon finding that there were no guards remaining in the open space.

"The beastmen on guard shift must have been recalled for defense. I wonder who our unlikely ally is?" Casilda mused.

"Five gold says that it's angels," Alvarin's body tensed like a tightly wound coil as Cerabrate silently counted down on his fingers. On zero, he kicked it with fearsome force. The door shot out, ripped from its hinges, and shattered as it fell upon the ground.

"Hey, where the hell did you assholes—" the beastman's words were cut short by an arrow to the chest. It fell to the ground with a gurgle as blood dribbled out of its mouth.

"Let's get going," Cerabrate pulled his shield off his back and rushed towards one of the larger buildings close by. "Gotta make sure the distraction from our mystery friends doesn't go wasted."

The Holy Lord kicked this door off its hinges as well, revealing a horrific sight of human corpses being desecrated—cut apart like one would livestock—by beastmen workers.

"They're all dead," Casilda hatefully muttered under her breath. Amrel pointed her staff towards them.

"『Widen Magic - Lightning Burst』," arcane bolts surged outwards, frying everything it came into contact with. The beastmen were only allowed a brief moment of screaming before even that was silenced forever. Blackened, charred corpses collapsed to the ground as the spell finally ended. "They're weak. I'll be saving my mana for targets with higher difficulty ratings."

"Sheesh," Cerabrate warily glanced at Amrel. "We could've grilled them for some info first, Ams. Didn't have to waste mana either—"

"Shut the fuck up," she snarled at the Holy Lord. "Let's move on."

"The demihumans deserve no quarter," Casilda nodded in agreement even while she gazed at Cerabrate with deep disappointment in her eyes. "Their words can only be filled with lies and deceit."

"I mean, something is still better than nothing. Which is, uh, what we're operating off right now?" Alvarin stalked around the slaughterhouse, taking in every detail with a grim expression. "You know, I think most of the people are gonna be held away from this part of town."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Cerabrate groaned in disgust as he tried to wipe off the blood—human blood—staining his once pristine boots. "This place is one hell of a… place."

"How eloquent," Amrel gritted her teeth. "Now, can we please get a move on?"

"Alright, alright," Cerabrate stepped out of the broken doorway and looked into the distance. "Huh, guess Al is getting that five gold."

"Angels?" Casilda squinted and followed Cerabrate's line of sight. "These look different from the ones at Fort Adelemus."

"Yeah, no shit," Cerabrate rolled his eyes, strangely annoyed at the appearance of the angels. "Let's just go and link up with them."

"There they are!" a detachment of beastmen warriors rounded the corner. "Damn humans snuck in over here!"

"『Greater Magic Weapon』, 『Shield』, 『Protection from Arrows』,『Haste』," Cerabrate's sword glowed even brighter as the arcane enchantments took hold, while the rest of the party felt their senses sharpen beyond ordinary limits. "Don't play around this time."

"Who needs to be serious with chumps like these guys?" Cerabrate laughed, vanishing in a burst of speed only to reappear in front of the beastmen—their front line already cut apart before Amrel could even blink. "Let's show these demis to not fuck with humans!"

"We're gonna get surrounded!" Alvarin nervously yelled at their leader, his eyes flicking from another group of beastmen warriors coming from the side to the one in front of them. "We gotta push through!"

"『Shield of Faith』!" Casilda shoved Alvarin and Amrel behind her shield, just in time to deflect a salvo of arrows. "『Bane』!"

A pulse of fear spread throughout some of the beastmen, causing them to falter in their steps. Unfortunately, some of them managed to push through the magically-induced terror, growling in anger as they closed the distance between them and the adventurer team.

"『Lightning』! Cerabrate!" Amrel shouted at her leader, firing a bolt of supercharged arcana into the small horde to their right. "Stop fucking around!"

"I'm not really that good at dealing with crowds, you know?!" the Holy Lord shouted back. "『Flow Acceleration』!"

Cerabrate gritted his teeth and braced himself for the wave of fatigue that came with using that Martial Art as he became little more than a blur, instantly cutting down the rest of the beastmen blocking their way forward. "Front's clear! Let's go!"

"Damn angels are getting stalled," Alvarin grunted, bending backwards to dodge a swing that would have bisected him. In one smooth motion, he notched another arrow and shot a hole into the attacker's chest. "All the real tough guys are gonna be up front."

"『Gust of Wind』," a stream of wind blasted the beastmen back. The adventurers took the chance to break free from the bloody tangle of close combat. Once they were far enough, Amrel directed the tip of her staff at the crowd. "『Maximize Widen Magic - Lightning Burst』!"

The nearest demihumans instantly died, their bodies fried by the blue arcs, while the ones further away from the Air Elementalist crumpled to the ground with moans of pain, their bodies charred and twitching from the residual electricity.

"Good going, Ams!" Cerabrate clapped her shoulder, a hint of relief in his voice. "Think you can do that a few more times?"

"Fat chance," Amrel gasped for breath as they continued running towards the angels. "Be lucky—with one more time."

"Alvarin," Casilda clutched her pendant, her fatigue visibly fading with the glow of the magic item. "Anyone tailing us?"

"Just one—" the ranger took a quick glance behind and loosed another arrow into the distance. "Zero now."

"You all figure we got time to do some rescuing?" Cerabrate grimly looked at the buildings around them. "Running into that huge group up ahead now would be bad."

"No," Casilda shook her head. "Our best chance is to link up with our unknown allies. With the entire city on high alert, we need to finish this fast."

"Sh-Shit," Amrel flopped against the side of a wall and slid down to the ground. Running sucked. And her 『Shield』ran out too. Great. "Hit me with a restore, fuck."

"『Lesser Restoration』," Casilda gently laid a hand on Amrel's shoulder. A golden light enveloped her; the spellcaster felt the worst of her exhaustion melt away and got back up onto her feet with the aid of the cleric. "Thanks Cas."

"No need," a loud boom sounded from the front. "The gate over there has fallen."

"Not going to be a city to save at this rate," Amrel grumbled as she greedily gulped from a waterskin. "Think that answers our question about whether those angels are the ones from Adelemus."

"Theocracy then," Casilda wiped the blood and gore off her mace with a tattered towel she must have picked up earlier. "They're being oddly helpful. Do you think they're the same group from before?"

"They've got good taste," Cerabrate smirked, crossing his arms and stroking his chin. "But I'm not about to lose out on Her Majesty's affections!"

"Holy shit," Amrel smacked the Holy Lord upside the head with her staff. "Please shut up."

"Hey, how about we just leave?" Alvarin nervously shifted from one foot to the other. "Maybe just leave this whole thing to the Theocracy?"

"No," Amrel forcefully replied. "You saw what they did here, and you still want to run away?"

"Well, some of us don't want to throw our lives down a ditch, Ams! What happened to being careful, huh?!"

"You know what?" Amrel glared at the ranger. "I think you're a craven bastard."

"Oh, fuck you," Alvarin snorted. "Easy for you to say when you've had everything given to you since birth—"

"Alright!" Cerabrate stepped in between the two. "Both of you two, calm down!"

"This is your damn fault in the first place," Amrel resisted the urge to kick him between the legs. "We could've gone and gotten back-up first, but nooo, we had to hurry and attack this place without telling anybody."

"Yeah," Alvarin nodded in agreement. "Fuck you too, man."

"O-Okay," Cerabrate coughed into his fist. "Anyways! You bring up good points, Al. But we gotta see this through. With the Theocracy already hitting them, we can slam the damn demis from behind and grind them down."

"We're gonna die," Alvarin closed his eyes and clapped his hands together in prayer. "We're so gonna die."

"Hey, don't worry about it!" Cerabrate confidently pounded his chestplate. "We're Crystal Tear; we eat demis like this for breakfast."

"But you pissed yourself in front of that tiger beastman lord before," Casilda tilted her head. "Endless Slaughter, remember?"

"T-There's no way they got someone like that here," Cerabrate sobered at the mention of the fearsome berserker. "If they do, we'll run away the moment we see them. Promise."

"Fine," Alvarin spat on the ground. "Let's fucking do this then, yeah?"

"Awesome!" Cerabrate slapped a hand onto the ranger's and Amrel's shoulder. "Now you two apologize, and we can get going."

"... Sorry," Amrel forced the apology out from behind pursed lips. "My words were uncalled for."

"Don't worry about it," Alvarin fell in line behind Cerabrate. "You're on edge. I get it."

"We'll fix this, Lady Asturias," Casilda patted her back. "Let's focus on the enemy ahead of us first before worrying about anything else."

Amrel grudgingly trudged forward, the sounds of fighting growing louder the closer they approached.

"Tighten the lines!" a beastman lord roared and smacked an Archangel Flame out of the air with an orichalcum flail. "Where are my damn rangers?!"

Cerabrate held a finger up to his lips before sneaking up behind the Lord, silently stacking Martial Arts as he did. The rest of his team hid behind pieces of rubble and waited. "『Rapturous—"

"Where the hell did you rats come from?!" the beastman lord spun around and raised its flail with a hateful scowl on its face. "No matter. You'll die—hrk?!"

Before they could crush Cerabrate into a pulp, Alvarin fired an arrow through the demihuman's arm, forcing them to abort their attack.

"—Flash』!" Cerabrate's sword shined like a second sun unto the battle-torn streets. The Holy Lord swung, Thunderous Rapture biting deep into the demihuman lord's shoulder.

But the beastman did not die. "Tr-Treachery!" It fearsomely rumbled and slammed a fist into Cerabrate's shield, knocking the adventurer backwards. "Filthy humans with no honor!"

Blood poured out from the surely fatal wound. In spite of this, the beastman stomped towards Cerabrate with the gait of one who hadn't just sustained a grievous injury. "『Grand Power Strike』!"

"『Invulnerable Fortress』!" Cerabrate yelled and withstood the mighty attack, the ground where he was standing cracking from the impact. "Cas! Help me out in the front here—" he parried the head of the flail. "Ams, Al. Light this fucker up!"

"『Summon Monster Third』," a large black bear with a hide reminiscent of the starry night sky was called into existence and rushed the lion-headed beastman lord alongside the cleric. "『Ability Boost』, 『Greater Ability Boost』."

"Pitiful!" the lord raged as it crushed the summoned bear with a single sweep of its flail. Cerabrate took advantage of the opening, his holy sword flashing with light as he swung it multiple times in a split second, the blade overpowering the defensive enchantments of the beastman's armor. Several shallow lacerations opened up on the demihuman's abdomen, speeding up the rate at which it would bleed out.

"He's almost down!" Casilda got knocked into—and through—the wall of a house, her shield the only thing that prevented her from dying instantly. "Ams, blast him with whatever you got left!"

"『Maximize Magic - Razor Wind』!" the empowered Second-Tier spell ripped even deeper into the lord's open wounds. The lord turned around and took a step towards Amrel, only to be halted by a pair of arrows that curved around in different directions and pierced its ankles. "『Magic Arrow』!"

Four arcane arrows formed around the Elementalist and flew out at the same time, pummeling the beastman lord. "I'm out of mana!"

The other three members of Crystal Tear encircled the fallen lord as a few nearby beastmen were finally able to tear themselves away from the meat-grinder in the front to support their endangered leader.

"Ams, get behind!" Cerabrate yanked Amrel out of the way of a leaping demihuman. The spellcaster bit back a scream, her arm dislocated by the sudden movement. "Fuck! Is that lord dead yet?!"

"Almost," Casilda grunted and blocked another blow from the struggling beastman, her entire body trembling despite the weakened strike. "『Instant Counter』." The cleric supernaturally regained their balance, sweat pouring down her face from the exertion. "『Inflict Serious Wounds』."

The beastman lord tried to duck out of reach from her hand, but failed. With one last shuddering breath, it crumpled to the ruined road, dead.

A few seconds after, the beastmen lines began crumbling without a leader to bolster them. Archangel Flames and Angel Guardians flooded their disoriented ranks, slaughtering demihumans left and right with mechanical ease.

"See?" Cerabrate tiredly grinned as his sword ripped apart another demihuman. "Not so bad—ugh—after all!"

"No way that was the last lord," Amrel growled and beat a beastman over the head with her staff. "It's great that we killed it and all, but now we're stuck in this horde—" a spasm of agony ran through her dislocated and overused arm. "Someone fix this damn arm!"

"Got it," Alvarin grabbed her arm and popped it back into its socket. "Don't think we got the mana to spare on healing, sorry."

"It's fine," Amrel pulled out a scroll from her Bag of Holding. "『Glitterdust』." The scroll burned up into ashes before creating a cloud of golden particles that blinded all the beastmen in the area. "Didn't get a chance to restock, shit."

"It's good enough," even Alvarin was tiring now, the pause between fired shots increasing the longer the battle went on. "Got another one of those?"

"Yup. 『Glitterdust』," another golden cloud covered a group of beastmen assailing the Holy Lord and cleric. "That was the last one though."

"You know what's weird?" Alvarin dipped into his reserves of enchanted arrows. "The Theocracy attacking this city in the first place. Sounds pretty suicidal to me."

"Maybe they knew we were coming. 『Protection from Arrows』," a salvo of arrows bounced off Amrel and another scroll was used up. "『Flaming Sphere』. That was my last scroll."

"Fall back!" Cerabrate slammed a beastman away with his shield. "We're going to get caught in the crossfire!"

"This is getting worse and worse," Amrel manipulated the flaming ball of fire to move to the forefront of the group, the flaming vanguard forcing stray demihumans out of the way. "Casilda, take the rear!"

"Already there," the cleric spat out a glob of blood, temporarily blinding the demihuman attacking her before bashing its skull in with her mace. "How far are we falling back?"

"Here," Cerabrate slammed the pommel of his sword into a door, breaking into little more than splinters and sawdust. "Let's—woah!"

A huge broadsword nearly split the Holy Lord in half from head to toe. "That useless Valaaka was unable to even deal with a few pieces of trash?"

"Shit," Cerabrate finally looked afraid for the first time since the beginning of this misbegotten raid. "You guys get out of here. I'll be right behind."

"『Showdown Declaration』!" the titanic Bear Orthrous released a mighty roar that compelled all the exhausted members of Crystal Tear to rush towards it instead of fleeing. "Hmph! None of you rats are getting away!"

"Fuck!" it was all Cerabrate could do to prevent the massive broadsword from killing his comrades. "Take this bastard!『Rapturous—oomph!"

The beastman grabbed the Holy Lord and tossed him across the room. "Trash should know its place. You face Balak—"

And then the ceiling broke, revealing a skeletal angel with four hands nailed to the hilt of a giant sword even larger than the beastman's. The blade that had suddenly appeared continued its arc, effortlessly splitting the powerful Orthrous in two. Viscera splattered over the other three members of Crystal Tear, their legs giving out as the effect of the beastman's Martial Art was ended by its death.

"Holy shit," Alvarin muttered in awe. "I'm going to the temples after this."

"This angel didn't appear in Adelemus," Casilda lowered her head in reverence. Or exhaustion. Probably exhaustion. "We are saved."

"Forget the bath," Amrel slurred before she crumpled face-first onto the ground. "Get me a bed."