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Instructed by Christia to subdue the smaller one of the duo controlling the Stampede, the Scarlet Devil Squad headed straight to where they were — atop the Elder Bone Tortoise.

Along the way, monsters crowded their field of vision, but their ranks were promptly scattered by Rook’s Mount Golem Eidolon. Additionally, with a simultaneous attack by high-level Black Mages led by Alma wielding the Black Staff, the monsters in the vicinity were completely overwhelmed.

“WOO-HOO, AWESOME! That felt GREAT! Those monsters just went BOOM BOOM BOOM!!”

“……”

As Alma rambled ecstatically about the barrage of attacks she and the Black Mages had unleashed, Weiss flew toward the Elder Bone Tortoise under the effect of >. A muscular close-range Attacker approached Weiss’ side.

“You know, things have been going a little TOO well…”

“…Yeah, maybe.”

Indeed, the attack executed by the Black Mages earlier left no room for escape, and the monsters were helpless, being either burned or crushed by the meteors raining down from above. While such a scene would not be out of place during a typical Stampede, this time there was a difference that changed everything — the presence of the Orbis Church, and their ability to control monsters.

However, the formation of monsters seemed too monotonous for someone directing them. Considering they had been subjected to surprise attacks from above and below before this, Weiss could not help but question why the monsters were being taken care of so easily. Considering that the Orbis Church had operated in Dungeon City, they should have understood that it was foolish to directly challenge Explorers — yet, for whatever reason, they chose to do so anyway.

[…Maybe an exchange of blows would give us some answers.]

As Weiss pondered, he observed the Elder Bone Tortoise being relentlessly pummeled by the increasingly heated Mount Golem. Then, a figure descended from above the Tortoise, heading towards them.

“Everyone, spread out. Alma, intercept.”

As Weiss readied himself for combat, Alma chuckled before unleashing her fire-based skill, >, towards the figure. However, despite being airborne, the figure dodged the flaming lance as gracefully as a butterfly.

“Oh, I know you. You’re Weiss!”

“……”

Meena, wrapped from head to toe in bandages, landed on the ground and addressed Weiss cheerfully. Then, with a tear of the bandages revealing her unblemished, charming face, the members of the Scarlet Devil Squad looked uniformly surprised.

“She actually looks human…”

“And she’s just as small as I’ve heard.”

“Don’t be fooled by appearances,” Weiss warned, “Remember, Leon lost an arm to her ambush. Everyone, be prepared to provide support.”

Weiss gripped his war hammer with his right hand and engaged >, instantly enveloping it in a crimson aura. Then, without hesitation, he aimed at Meena’s head and swung.

“C’mon, let’s talk!” Meena said as she sprouted multiple arthropod appendages from her back, intertwining them to catch the war hammer.

“……” Weiss remained silent, swinging the crimson-induced war hammer sideways to fend off the appendages.

“Monster…” Alma could not help but mutter as she witnessed the bizarre sight.

“Huh?” Meena turned her head sharply to stare at Alma — and then, she attempted to advance towards Alma by plunging her arthropod appendages sideways into the ground. However, Weiss’ war hammer seized Meena’s abdomen as she tried to move.

Twisting the war hammer as if to wrench up her abdomen, Weiss slammed it down onto the ground. Stepping on Meena’s face as she gasped for breath like a goldfish, Weiss withdrew a short sword from the Magic Bag strapped to his waist with his left hand.

“Ouch!! Stop! It hurts!”

“……”

Weiss attempted to thrust the red short sword into Meena’s abdomen, but it was repelled as if what it was trying to pierce was steel. Confirming once again that cutting was not effective, Weiss attempted to strike with the war hammer again, but then he felt a powerful force from underfoot, so he backed off.

Meena, pushing Weiss aside with her blackened hand, drove her arthropod appendages into the ground to elevate her small body.

“Gah…! Why!? Why would you do that–“

Then, crossbow bolts, all enchanted with crimson auras, flew one after another into Meena’s mouth as she attempted to speak again. Weiss, expressionless, kept shooting with his crossbow, then moved in to attack Meena with his war hammer as she staggered.

Gripping the handle firmly with both hands this time, he exerted all his strength to bust through Meena’s carapace. Being accustomed to fighting Shell Crabs with their hard shells, Weiss handled it with ease. The war hammer, imbued with the power of >, rang with impact as it made a crack in the black carapace on Meena’s right hand.

Meena, weak to fire-elemental attacks and with a hard carapace, was ill-suited to intense blunt force. Indeed, Weiss’s merciless blow, which could be considered Meena’s natural enemy, caused her to cry out in agony, tears streaming down her face. Then, suddenly turning her back on Weiss, she ran off.

“Stop it!! You’re hurting me!!”

[…She acts as if she’s an actual child,] Weiss thought to himself while holding onto his war hammer and pursuing Meena, who by now showed no intention of fighting.

Meena, in a state of apparent confusion, ran as if fleeing from a murderer, and members of the Scarlet Devil Squad started to hesitate as well.

“Help me! Look at him! He’s the real monster! Much more than me! I just want to save my mom! Please, stop!”

“W-Weiss?” Cecilia said, observing Meena crying and screaming, “It kinda looks like she’s surrendering…”

“……” Weiss remained silent with his war hammer in hand.

Certainly, Meena was showing no intent to engage in combat. But due to his past experience of losing all his comrades to monsters, Weiss remained unyielding even towards the weakened Meena.

“Do monsters spare humans if they surrender?”

“Ah…”

“The answer is the same for me.”

With that declaration, Weiss brought down his war hammer onto Meena’s dazed face. Then, as Meena fell onto her back, Weiss repeatedly swung down onto her limbs until they were completely crushed beyond recognition. Each blow of the war hammer resonated like striking steel, causing Meena’s body to jerk in reflex. Gradually, her screams faded away, and her body ceased its convulsions.

Having thoroughly destroyed Meena’s limbs as if driving precise stakes into an insectoid monster, Weiss wiped his cheek, stained with a mixture of red and green fluids, with his sleeve.

“…She’s still alive. Whether to kill her or not, I’ll leave that judgment to Christia.”

“S-should I heal her?”

“No, don’t. It doesn’t matter if she dies on her own. I’ll deliver her to Christia — The rest of you, go support Golden Tune,” instructed Weiss, crudely carrying Meena, who now looked more like a limbless doll.

Then, suddenly, from the direction of the Royal Capital behind Weiss, a sound resembling a large explosion echoed.

▽▽

In the Royal Capital, many people had distanced themselves from the situation down south, acting out their daily routines to avoid witnessing the abnormal. Some were curious enough to venture south to witness the Stampede, but compared to the Dungeon City incident, they were significantly fewer in number.

The destruction of the Houses Kantjelucia and Babenberg’s Shields had stirred up the anxieties of the citizens, leaving them preoccupied. Although the King’s unscheduled public appearance and declaration managed to maintain some semblance of calm among the populace, few dared to venture outside.

“It’s been nothing but trouble lately.”

“But we should be safe, right? Those two households are working together for once and all.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

Observing the streets, practically deserted and much lonelier than usual, those managing the stalls felt their unease growing. Only the sound of the cooking from the stalls — notably quieter than usual still — echoed emptily through the air.

“What the…”

Suddenly, one of the men engaged in small talk widened his eyes and froze in place. The surrounding men looked at him with puzzled expressions. Immediately after, a man suddenly floated into the air.

“W-waaahhh!? What the hell is this!?”

A monster was lifting a man’s shirt with its beak, holding him aloft. It was a Cockatrice, a monster known for petrifying those who met its gaze, with the body of a reptile and the head of a bird.

In addition to the Cockatrice, various winged monsters such as Griffins and Wyverns suddenly appeared in the streets, plunging the area into panic.

Griffins targeted houses, breaking windows as if to hunt for insects to snack on, while bipedal Orcs equipped with gear ran in formations, driving the people away. Centipede-like monsters, Camisil, coiled around buildings as if using them as host trees, causing the stone structures to collapse under their weight.

The sound of buildings collapsing echoed throughout the Royal Capital, accompanied by the roaring of monsters. The commotion spread rapidly throughout the city, and the everyday life at the heart of the Capital crumbled and vanished.

Those who had lived peacefully within the Royal Capital were now trembling in fear, unable to make rational judgments in the face of monsters they had never seen before. They peered out from windows and doors, and the next thing they knew, they were flooding out of buildings as if being herded, oblivious to the non-aggressive behavior of the monsters. Although some buildings collapsed, those particular ones were still under construction and uninhabited, resulting in only minor injuries and no casualties.

However, faced with the threat of monsters baring their fangs and chasing them, the citizens had no choice but to flee in terror, heading south, away from the monsters.

“Monsters…!”

As people began to arrive near the southern Shield, the nobles who had sensed the disturbance within the Royal Capital spotted the monsters chasing the citizens. When they were about to use their magic, the Tanks of the Labyrinth Conquerors stepped forward.

“>!”

“There’s so many of them! Where the hell have they even been hiding!?”

The tanks diverted the aggro of the monsters chasing the citizens, and scattering their formations to ensure minimal casualties among the populace. However, with the sheer number of monsters, some were still left chasing after the breathlessly running civilians.

Then, just as the people were growing exhausted, Brooklyn, floating in the air with her own Shield, appeared before them. And when she aimed her hand at the crazed Cockatrice chasing after the people…

“>!!”

From behind, a Birdkin girl with blue-feathered wings delivered a powerful kick to the bird head of the Cockatrice, just in time to prevent it from attacking a child.

“It’s all right now!”

With her blue hair bouncing as she ran, she swiftly scooped up the child and darted away. Arrows, launched with the force of a cannon, accurately struck the monsters’ vital points, while two bulky Cynokin, one blue and the other black, used > to draw the attention of the surrounding monsters.

“And there we go…”

“Miss Hannah! That was too reckless!”

“Ah, the kid’s a little hurt! Healing, please!”

Behind them, a Channeler in black robes clasped her hands together, casting the > on the child that Hannah had carried.

“M-my mom’s still…”

“It’s okay! I’ll go help her!”

Responding immediately to the child’s voice, Hannah vigorously flapped her wings and flew toward the monsters. In addition to the five members of Absolute Helix, members of the Labyrinth Conquerors and Ealdred Crow continued to arrive, gradually pushing back the monsters that had emerged from within the Royal Capital.

“Everyone, get inside the Shield!”

Members of the Labyrinth Conquerors guided the fleeing citizens toward the perimeter of Shields newly generated by Houses Kantjelucia and Babenberg. Watching the Explorers relentlessly annihilating the monsters, the citizens wore expressions of both awe and astonishment.

“Incredible! It’s as if the monsters aren’t even a challenge!”

“Look! Over there! The monsters are fighting each other!”

“So many dead monsters…! Like, it must be over nine thousand!”

Unable to do anything but watch the battles of the Explorers from within the Shields, the citizens, who had barely escaped the monsters moments ago, were now captivated by the spectacle before them.

“……”

Observing both the battles of the explorers and the behavior of the citizens with an impassive expression, Brooklyn continued to construct Shields methodically. Meanwhile, Master Babenberg marveled inwardly at Brooklyn’s swift Shield construction, providing support by erecting Shields around the Mount Golem fighting outside.

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