All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 242: Loccy Holds

Loccy brought the hammer down before the barrier cart cleared the final block, crushing its front axle into the road channel. The men pushing behind it stumbled into the frame as one pale-gold Wing opened from her back, covering the cart gap without touching either escape route.

Her second strike folded the first shield against its owner, sending him backward through the men crowding behind his horse.

The captain shouted from beyond the wreck, forcing four crossbowmen toward the ridge while the remaining riders pushed into the other side of the channel.

"Left gap stays open," Hajin said, pointing toward the clinic route, "anyone standing there moves behind Cassie’s wall."

Cassie drove her staff into the road, raising a waist-high earth barrier where the recruits could lower their spears without blocking the retreat.

Loccy twisted the hammer free from the axle, then struck beneath the next horse instead of meeting its rider’s shield. The road dropped under one foreleg, throwing the rider across the broken cart while the horse rolled away from the opening.

She shifted toward it before seeing the clinic gap behind her, stopping the follow-up that would have closed the civilian route.

"Stay inside the blocks," Hans said, striking his spear against the wall, "make the next fool come where you can reach him."

Three mercenaries dismounted beyond the wreck, climbing over their own cart while two others dragged the fallen rider out of Loccy’s range.

Loccy let him cross the damaged axle, then hooked her hammer behind his shield and pulled him into the opening.

"Push him through," she said, planting one foot against the shield, "I need the road clear before the next horse reaches it."

A bolt crossed above Loccy’s Wing, cutting through a guard’s side as he leaned over the wall to cover her.

Elise reached him from the clinic route as a second volley struck the wall, keeping her body below the wagon line.

"He cannot wait for the clinic," Elise said, pressing both hands around the shaft, "the blood keeps coming around it."

Vella stood twenty paces away behind her violet barrier, holding the treatment lane while three injured workers crowded the ground around her.

The ridge shooters changed their angle toward the clinic, forcing her to widen the barrier instead of crossing the open road.

"Hajin," she said, looking over the wounded men, "take my hand through the bond, then keep the bolt where it is."

He dropped beside the guard, placing one palm over Elise’s hands while Assimilation reached for Vella across the treatment lane.

Golden mana answered through the bond, entering his arm with the same warmth he had once pushed into a canteen.

Vella guided the flow from across the road, forcing his first rush away from the damaged lung before it sealed around the bolt.

"Less," she said, raising two fingers behind the barrier, "hold the bleeding first, I will fix the rest when he reaches me."

Hajin reduced the pressure until the magic stopped fighting his hand, letting it spread around the torn vessels beneath the guard’s ribs.

The blood slowed against Elise’s fingers, though the man still struggled for each breath with the shaft left inside him.

"Move him now," he said, keeping his palm against the wound, "Sable takes his shoulders, Elise keeps that bolt from shifting."

They lifted together, carrying the guard through the clinic gap while Hajin walked beside them to maintain Vella’s healing.

Loccy glanced toward the movement when another bolt struck her Wing, opening the channel for two shieldmen rushing through the wreck.

"Leave them," Jonas said, slamming his axe head into the first shield, "hit the one coming through."

She turned before the second man passed her, catching his shield edge with both hands on the hammer shaft.

The first shieldman recovered beside Jonas, swinging a short blade over the earth barrier toward Cassie’s staff arm.

Cassie pulled the barrier upward beneath his feet, lifting him into Toby’s white flash before Jonas struck him back through the gap.

"You wanted the road," Loccy said, looking past the wreck toward the captain, "come get through it yourself."

The captain answered by sending every remaining dismounted rider toward the opening while his reserve finally turned away from the convoy.

"The six at the rear are leaving," Hans said, pointing beyond the mine bend, "do not chase while their crossbows own the ridge."

Hajin carried the wounded guard behind Vella’s barrier, releasing the bond only after her hand replaced his over the wound.

"You kept him alive," she said, checking the seal around the vessels, "but you nearly closed the lung around that bolt."

"Complain after you pull it out," he said, rising from the treatment lane, "I need the northern road."

"Go," Vella said, tightening the barrier as another volley struck, "I have him now, keep the next bolt out of your ribs."

Loccy’s Wing had lost its clean shape near the tip, while both arms shook whenever she lifted the hammer above her shoulder.

"They keep saving each other," Loccy said, wiping blood from her mouth, "I can jump the cart before the captain reaches the bend."

"Hold the opening," Hajin said, watching the ridge shooters pack their crossbows, "we have prisoners, so leave their captain."

Their final volley targeted both escape gaps, but Elise’s light barrier covered the clinic route while Sable guarded the other side. Loccy struck the road between the surviving shieldmen, splitting their footing without dropping the blocks supporting the wall.

The remaining mercenaries abandoned the cart after that, mounting behind the bend before their captain followed the reserve north.

Loccy kept her hammer raised until the last crossbowman left the ridge, refusing to spend strength on men outside the choke point.

Her Wing vanished once Hans lowered his spear, causing her knees to buckle against the barrier she had protected.

"Did the road stay open?" Loccy asked, looking toward the clinic gap, ignoring the blood running from her split lip.

"Three wounded went through while you held it," Elise said, returning from Vella’s lane, "nobody had to climb your wall."

Marrick started counting captured weapons before Hans stopped him, pointing toward four horses missing from the visible retreat.

Juna came through the northern gap carrying Toma’s empty water bucket, its handle cut instead of broken by the road.

"The riders never went near the mine," she said, putting the bucket before Hajin, "their tracks kept every guard looking east."

He took Juna’s cut map strip, turning it over to find the shelter marks plus the drainage route Ash had exposed during the drill.

"Where is the cart?" Hajin asked, looking toward the path Toma should have taken before the first bell.

"Past the northern grate," Juna said, pointing beyond the wall, "four men reached him before Loccy struck their cart."

Behind them, the eastern bell worker began calling the shelter counts again as Toma’s wife waited beside Lana without moving.