329 Episode 322 Team Sophie ② Satoshi (1)




 Moving west from the floating island, what lay beyond was a desert area lit by the morning sun.
 The light yellowish sand stretched on forever, and something oddly purple could be seen snaking heavily on the sand.

Hm? Good morning ....... Huh? Sophie, you've been awake?

 Notice Merle sees Sophie standing in front of the window provided in front of the cockpit.
 The Tam Tam Tam "Mode Eagle" consumes Merle's magical power.
 Periodic magic recovery is done by Spirit A's summons, but the three of us had been sleeping in this room together in case something went wrong.

 The Spirit A summoner had told them that they could sleep on the night shift, as Spirit A's summoner would do that, but Sophie had woken up early and was looking out the window, watching the scenery.

 Merle didn't notice, but Formal is also awake. Today, too, he is quietly standing by, looking out the side window.

"No, Merle. I just got up, too. But look at you.

"Huh? What's that? There's purple slime or something in the desert.

Perhaps it is the end of the oasis. I have heard that there is a city built on the oasis here in the Mukharino desert.

"Huh?

 A pillar of light ran straight west from the center of the continent with the Allies.
 And its terminus was a city built into an oasis among the desert dotted with cities.

 I don't know its original color, but even from a distance the city was decaying and the lake in the oasis was polluted.

 As Sophie watched, she remembered Allen's words.
 Why did the same thing that happened in our church city, Theomenia, happen in another country and I didn't know about it?
 I don't know the other two, but I understand why the land where the Western Pillar of Light was born didn't ask for help.

 Particularly at the edge of the western face of the Confederacy, there is a vast desert.
 It is not an uninhabitable environment.
 There are oases scattered throughout the great desert, and where there is plenty of underground water, people have built cities and lived.

 The cities in this vast desert known as the Mukharino Desert are run by a system of states called city-states.
 Each city-state is independent with minimal interference, although they make certain agreements on trade.
 The distance between the city-states is quite large due to the sprawling desert, unlike in nature-rich countries such as Elmar and Latash kingdoms.

 In a normal country, one city or village would be located within a few days' walk, but in the Muharino desert, city-states are scattered over a distance of more than 10 days on foot.

 Sophie and her friends gaze at a large oasis, one of the most famous city-states in the area.
 But once you leave the city of the oasis, you are forever in the desert.
 Since there are magical beasts in this world, even if you run away with food and water, you will be attacked by the magical beasts that live in the desert sooner or later.

 If the monsters and pagans appeared like in the church city of Theomenia, there would be nowhere to run.
 I don't know how many tens or hundreds of thousands of people were here, but the people would have had nowhere to run, and they would have fallen prey to the monster beasts that had taken their place, or they would have become pagans themselves.

It's a terrible thing to do.

 Sophie can't find any more words to say.
 She trembles with rage as she imagines how much people must have suffered.
 It's not that they didn't ask for help.
 They didn't have time to ask, she thinks as she looks out over the big city next to the decaying oasis.

Sophie, I don't know what to do. Didn't Allen say that the city with the pillar of light was the last place to go?

Of course.

 This strategy gives top priority to the salvation of the city and village first.
 That's why, before they parted, Allen said before the companions parted, it would be better to finish the salvation since the pillar of light may have a demon god as well as the Church City of Theomenia.

Dear Mr. Sophiarone. I think we should go back to the village first. It's not too far from here.

Of course.

"Hometown?

 Merle was the only one who didn't know where Folmar had told him to go next.

Yes, I will talk to you on the way, and I would like you to go.

"Yeah. Okay. Lead the way.

 Merle turns and changes direction while checking his position on the map tablet.
 Under Sophie's direction, he goes to his destination.

 For hours, they traveled through the empty desert.

Oh, there's a big city! It's a tree, right?

 Merle discovers a large structure.
 Guided by Sophie, he arrived at the huge outer wall that surrounds the city.
 The city is protected by an outer wall several times larger than that of the Church City of Theomenia.

 Even more conspicuous was the huge tree in the center of the city.
 It was several hundred meters high, and even the huge outer wall looked small at first.

It is. But still, it seems that the battle has already begun.

"Yeah. What's that? There's something weird clinging to the outside wall.

 The window at the front of the Tam Tam "Mode Eagle" has the function of a magnifying glass.
 The front window of the Tam Tam Tam "Mode Eagle" has a magnifying glass function. We saw something wriggling and sticking to the outside wall, so we zoomed in to see what it was, and it was something like a hexenbiest.

 The upper half of the body is a human dressed in clothing that looks like something a desert dweller would love, and the lower half is a scorpion two sizes larger than the human part.
 They are trying to climb the outer wall or gather at the big gate, perhaps the main gate, and are pounding frantically with the tip of their tails.

That must be what the pagans look like around here.

 Sophie assumes that the transformed monster-human hybrid is a pagan figure adapted to the desert.
 And it seems to have taken advantage of the scorpion's lower body shape to cross the desert and attack this city.



 The huge hull seems to be wide enough for a soldier to ride on.
 There seems to be a wizard as well, and fireballs are born from the hull, burning the wriggling evildoers and shooting arrows in return.
 Not only evildoers, but also large monsters such as snakes and lizards that look like they belong in the desert.
 I don't know how long they've been fighting, but it seems like the battle is close.

"Dear Mr. Sofiarone, we're going to help you fight.

"Yes, Merle. Can you get a little closer. We'll save the village!

"Yeah. . okay!

 The course of action was decided to fight to protect the city.
 They were about a kilometer away from the city, but they were trying to get closer.

 They kept moving forward like guns, getting closer to 800 meters, then 500 meters, then 300 meters.

If they got any closer, they might be attacked. Merle. Pause.

 He stopped 300 meters from the city, but could see that the soldiers on the outer wall were buzzing.
 Some of them have already taken aim with their bows, so I stop Tam-Tam in mid-air.

'Yeah. Sophie and the others are going down, right?

Yes. Master Allen put one Grimm on the ground for me.

 A bird B summoner is waiting at the boarding gate out of Tam-Tam.
 When you and Sophie climb aboard, leaving Merle behind, the boarding gate at the bottom of the tom-tom is slowly opening.

"Okay, I'll go first. Wink wink.

 The summoned beast of Spirit A, who was accompanying me, let out an eerie laugh and took the lead in the battle.

Yes, thank you. Then let's go with a flourish!

 The spirit A summoner nodded, grabbed the mallet and fell to the ground with a fluffy grip.
 And then he swung his mallet down on the sand of the desert.

''Earthbound curse!

 The impact creates circular ripples in the sand.

"'Waaaaaaaaaah!

"("?"?)

 Ghosts and skeletons emerge from the sand, blocking the movements of pagans and demonic beasts, to the horror of the soldiers on the outer wall.

 Many of Allen's summons have limitations when it comes to too strong abilities.
 The number of skills and awakenings of full abilities is low, even if you rise in rank.

 The Spirit A summoner's Awakening Skill "Earth Binding Spell" is an ability that blocks the enemy's movement.
 The length of time it can be blocked depends on the rank of the hexenbiest.

 A hexenbiest with rank S is nearly ineffective.
 A hexenbiest with rank A blocks the enemy's movement for about 10 seconds.
 A hexenbiest with rank B blocks their movements for about ten minutes.
 A hexenbiest of rank C or lower will block their movements for about an hour.

 It works regardless of the strain, but it won't work on floating monsters.
 As long as they are attached to a wall or tree, they will be affected within a one-kilometer radius.
 The cool time is one day.

Here we go. I'm coming with you!

 Merle can mount four small Vulcan guns on the grimoire.
 While in tam-tam (mode eagle), aim the muzzle of the gun at the hexenbiest and scatter them so that they do not destroy the hull.

 The hexenbiest that started to move after about 10 seconds in the strategy before the fight is considered to be an A-ranked hexenbiest.
 They came together to spawn twice and activate the king's table, bringing the total number of summonses to over 1000, with the summonses of Bug A, the parent hatch, and the child hatch.

 Since we were divided into three teams, the forces were dispersed, so we decided to use only those monsters that could be used.

 Within an hour or so, we've eliminated all the evildoers and monsters that were holed up in front of the outer wall.

 The soldiers on top of the outer wall were clearly wary, but seeing that they were not aiming at you and continued to fight, they knew that help was on the way.
 During the battle, there were several arrows flying in, but they were negligible in power.

Then let's go. Merle.

"Yes.

 Merle puts Tam-Tam in the grimoire and comes to the main gate of the city with Sophie, accompanied by Folmar.

 The main gates are unresponsive.

 But Sophie seems to wait silently for the main gates to open.
 Then a few minutes pass.

 A soldier comes out of the service entrance next to the huge gate.
 He's wearing armor, but he's taken off his head helmet.
 He has gray hair, long ears, and brown skin.
 The man, who looks to be in his late teens or so, speaks to Sophie and the others.

This is Favrase, home of the dark elves. Thank you for your help. But this is a village cut off from the outside world. I'm sorry, but it's against the law to get in. I'm sorry. ...... Huh? What about you?

 It seems that while waiting it was decided that it was no good to enter.
 But the dark elf soldier could not finish.
 It was as if he stared into Sophie's golden eyes as if he was being sucked in.