'Oh, did you cast a countermagic spell or something? That's very noble of you.

Alice says happily as she watches me recite the spell.

Apparently, she is unaware of the existence of the 'eye' I created with my wizard eye.
It is obvious that Alice is not using the spell of sense magic, because she herself does not have any magical light in her body, so it makes sense that she would not be able to see the 'eye'.

I move the transparent 'eye' that appears at the same level as my own gaze towards Alice.

The speed of the eye, which moves while floating in the air, is about the same as the speed of a person walking.
In the oppressive air, the eye moves slowly.
It would take more than a minute to reach that wall.

I raise my voice to Alice, hoping to buy some time.

'You called us "young adventurers" earlier, but you must be about the same age. Doesn't that hurt your conscience? Stop this kind of mischief. What you're doing is an unforgivable crime, murder.

I think I may have overacted a bit.
But I chose the words that would hit Alice, the undead researcher, where it counts.

And sure enough, Alice started laughing like a crazy person after hearing my words.

'Ha-ha-ha-ha! Conscience? Misdeed? Crime? That's ridiculous! If you were a mage, you'd understand the beauty of research that pushes the world forward! No, I don't. You're a dropout who had to drop out of school to become an adventurer.

While Alice was giving her lecture, the 'eye' moved closer to her.

'May I? My research is groundbreaking! I'm doing something that no one at the Institute has been able to do because of bioethics and other nonsense! The life of a trashy bottom-feeder is nothing compared to the value of what we elites can achieve! I'm going to show those idiots who don't understand that! I'll show those idiots who don't understand that, that achievement is much more valuable than the lives of those trash!

While Alice was developing her unpleasant theory, the 'eye' finally arrived in front of the wall.
It passed through the entrance and went through to the other side of the wall.

The scene on the other side of the wall made me doubt my eyes for a moment.

To Alice's left and right, hidden behind the 'wall', stood a total of twenty zombies side by side.
Ten on the right, ten on the left.

And what was surprising was that they all had longbows in their hands.
In addition, on their backs, they were carrying quivers containing many arrows.

Normally, zombies and skeletons that a sorcerer can create by casting the spell "create undead" on a corpse cannot handle tools that require complicated operations, such as bows and arrows.

In the first place, the create undead spell itself is a forbidden spell and should not be taught at the academy. .......
Even if you manage to get past that, it is impossible for you to use a bow and arrow.

The same should be true for naturally occurring undead, and as far as I know, there are no examples of undead handling tools with such complex mechanisms in the past.

In other words... what if this army of zombies can actually use the longbow in their hands?
As far as I know, that would be a new 'achievement' that Alice has created in this world that is not mentioned in any of the academy's books.

This is indeed astonishing.
But .......

But in any case, this is what the trap she's setting is all about.
Her choice of this place as a place to experiment with her 'achievements', and her intention to use us as the first and glorious victims, seems to be in line with what we have seen and heard of her so far.

And if that's the case...

I'll move the eye and charge the wall.
And the eye passes through the wall and out the other side.
That's what I thought.

The wizard's eye does not have the ability to pass through walls.
So this wall is an illusion without substance.

There is a medium-level spell called Illusion, which can be used to create such an illusion of a wall.
This is probably due to that spell.

If so, then the enemy's aim is obvious.
By using this vast underground space, which is about a hundred meters in length, the enemy's tactic would be to attack us at a distance where the spell can't reach us but the bow and arrow can, in order to turn us into a one-sided hive.

And indeed, it was a close call.
If we had charged in carelessly, at least the first volley would have hit us cleanly as our defensive magic would not have been able to protect us in time, and there was no way that all of us would have been able to avoid all of the arrows.

Depending on the accuracy of the shooting of the zombies she had prepared, some of them would have been seriously injured by the arrows that pierced their bodies or limbs, and if they were unlucky, some of them would have been killed instantly by the arrows that pierced their heads.
It might have been me, or Satsuki, or Mee, or Cyril.

A longbow is a large bow with a total length as long as a man's body, and the arrows shot from its powerful string have a range of up to 300 meters when shot diagonally upward at a proper angle.

Even in a place like this underground space where a large angle of fire is not possible, a range of about one hundred meters can be expected, and in that case, the range will be equal to the effective range, which is 'the distance at which it is possible to aim and hit'.

It may be possible to shoot at our current position, but the problem is the accuracy of the shot, and above all, the intention is to avoid showing off while we are in a place where we can easily retreat.
It is understandable as a tactic to lure the opponent to an irretrievable place and then try to beehive the opponent who has no way to escape.

Now that we know what's going on, we should take action.
I'll call Satsuki, Mee, and Cyril, share the information, and tell them the plan to take.

And I myself cast two more spells.

One was a countermagic spell.
This is a spell that increases resistance to magic, and if you use it in a crowded area like now, it will have an effect on all your allies.
The effect is only temporary, but it consumes very little magic element, and if you have time to prepare, there is no reason not to use it when dealing with high-ranking sorcerers.

And the other is, of course, 'that spell'.
Judging from Alice's behavior, she doesn't think I can use it.
It seems that my initial trickery has paid off.

On the other hand, Cyril also used the miracle of Blessing, and tried to strengthen it while taking it easy.

Well, now we have prepared as much as we can hope for.
Now it's time for the final battle.