Tsubaki, who already became a Dragon Horse, is wearing her complete armor today. Merilda-san and her party shrunk away from the intensity of it.
The three parties squabbled and poked fun at Lyle-san as they got on the carriage.
「Let’s go, Tsubaki!」
『Burururu!!』
Tsubaki began pulling away from the adventurers gathering by the south gate at explosive speeds.
When the carriage started moving, I called Kaede out of the Subspace. Kaede immediately got on Tsubaki’s back.
Inside the carriage at that time, all members of 『Crimson Rose』 were frozen stiff in surprise at the spacious living room.
「W-what is this?」
「Merilda! The interior of the carriage is amazing!」
「More than that, it barely shakes.」
「Uwaa! It’s a soft sofa!」
The members of 『Crimson Rose』 were surprised and excited. After all, aside from His Majesty, Margrave Volton, Earl Rockford, and Papeck-san, no one else has this carriage.
It was then that Heath-san asked what we would do when we arrive on-site.
「Okay, let’s drop the carriage topic. Have you guys thought of a strategy?」
「Not really. First we’ll just scatter them with magic from inside the running carriage, and then Tsubaki will plunge in. After that, I’ll leave Tsubaki and the carriage to Marnie and Kaede, expecting them to annihilate indiscriminately.」
「Hm, that certainly can’t be called a strategy.」
「Heath, I think what the kid’s saying isn’t wrong. We don’t have a speck of coordination, so isn’t it better for each party to crush a group of monsters?」
Heath-san’s and my party are acquaintances, but we’ve never coordinated and fought together. And not even an hour has passed since we met Merilda-san’s party. In this situation, we shouldn’t be expecting things like coordination. That being the case, Merilda says that it would be better for each party to fight as a unit.
「…… you have a point.」
「「Here you go, we’ve brewed some tea.」」
Maria and Marnie brewed and distributed tea to everyone.
「Even the teacups are somewhat high class.」
「It’s something we made ourselves, so it isn’t anything much.」
「Eh?! You made your own teacups?」
Huh? Our party is fairly famous for artisanry being our main profession in Volton though.
「Merilda, you might not know this, but Takumi-kun is originally an Alchemist. Sophia-san is Takumi-kun’s guard, and apparently Maria-chan and the others are both artisans and adventurers.
Hearing that, all of the 『Crimson Rose』 looked surprised for the nth time today.
「W-well, even so, they’re among the top parties in Volton, right?」
「Yeah, that’s for sure. We guarantee it.」
「A-ah, then it’s fine.」
Merilda-san drank her tea to compose herself.
A little bit over 2 hours have passed since leaving Volton, the walls of Wedgefort became visible. And surrounding it were monsters, monsters, and monsters. What’s fortunate is that there were few flying type monsters.
Arrows rain incessantly from the top of the halls, attacking the monsters, but it was like pouring water on hot stones. Even so, there wasn’t even a single crack on Wedgefort’s walls.
「Sally-san [1], it’s about time we deal a preemptive strike.」
「……roger.」
I called out to Sally, the Crimson Rose’s mage, so we could deal a preemptive strike.
Sophia, Maria, Laeva, and myself, the four of us began our preparations for a large-scale annihilation magic.
「Thunder God’s Hammer, Thor’s Hammer!」
「Tornado!」
「Firestorm!」
「Fox Fire Dance!」
「……Firestorm」
A rain of thunder, a winding maelstrom of blades of wind, a fiery vortex that engulfs, masses of fox fires[2] scattered, hitting the swarm of monsters as far as the eye can see.
When the Firestorm and Tornado united, the fire and blades of wind blew violently. There, countless bolts of lightning pierced the ground and ran along it.
The combination magic resulted in a large-scale annihilation magic trampling down the monsters.
「Go! Tsubaki!」
Tsubaki sped up and plunged into the monsters.
Doga! Baakyaan!!
Tsubaki hooked them to her horn, crushed them underfoot, and sent them flying with a ram.
Kaede’s threads danced freely, mangling the monsters.
When Tsubaki did a U-turn, the members of the 『Lion’s Fang』 and 『Crimson Rose』 jumped out. We followed after them and charged at the monsters.
We wielded the three magic spears. In the space opened from monsters scattering, Titan jumped out from the Subspace. His large shield smashed monsters flying, and the mace he wielded crushed monsters’ heads.
Lion’s Fang and Crimson Rose already took their respective places and were each crushing monsters.
Sophia changed from her spear to Ranma’s Round Shield and Sacred Sword Amaterasu and entered the melee.
Maria wielded her flame spear 【Explode】 and supported Sophia. Every time Explode was swung, the surrounding monsters burned.
Laeva did a rapid-fire cast of Fox Fires from the carriage’s coachman seat.
I took out the Ice Spear 【Ice Bringer】, using it to mow down enemies and crush enemies with its butt end.
Entrusting myself to the Presence Detection, Insight, and Evasion skills, and while also using the Stealth skill, I avoided attacks and sent them to their deaths. I was supported by the skills Body Control, Taijutsu, and Spear Handling.
Unnoticed, I had Ice Bringer in one hand, and invoked 『Decomposition』 with my other hand and struck monsters with it.
I was getting a grasp of the locations and situations Sophia and Maria, Laeva and Marnie, Tsubaki and Kaede were in as I swung the Absolute Sword Tsukuyomi and Ice Bringer.
「(Just what are those?!)」
Merilda received a shock when she saw 『Wings of Norn』. 『Crimson Rose』 is a B rank party, 『Wings of Norn』 is a C rank party. She had no doubt that that the ones with the higher rank were themselves. That was, until this fight began………….
First, the Ryuuma fires out a breath, its horn pierces, and it kicks monsters around. Riding on its back is an Archenie who mangles monsters with its threads.
It was like a comical scene.
A 3 meter tall metal golem appeared from who knows where and started rampaging. It wasn’t a typical golem that moved simply, but was trampling down monsters with Shield Technique and Bludgeon Technique.
And the pièce de résistance was Iruma, Sophia, and Maria’s fighting capabilities. She knew that those movements were highly skilled martial arts. And the weapons they wield are not at all common and gave off a sense of intimidation.
Merilda decided to give up thinking and just face monsters. She could think about it as much as she wants later, after all.
***
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