All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 252: Hans’s Thirty Seconds

The first burrower crossed beneath the broken stockade while Hans sent every carrying frame toward the western checkpoint.

That crossing narrowed between two drainage banks before joining the field road, giving the village one barrier the monsters could not tunnel around.

"Empty the storehouse," Hans said, pointing the families toward its rear door, "walk until you reach the checkpoint, then keep walking toward the field carts."

The innkeeper’s mother opened the rear exit before anyone argued, moving the children in pairs along the marked shelter rope.

Several parents reached for grain sacks until the ground lifted beneath the eastern wall again.

"Leave them," she said, striking one man’s hand with her counting board, "you cannot carry grain while holding two children."

Garret’s frame went first behind the families, followed by the injured hunters Vella had stabilized near the storehouse.

Hans placed twelve militia shields behind them, keeping the remaining recruits inside the western barrier with Cassie’s party.

"I can kill the three below us," Hajin said, watching the line moving west, "but the Gate keeps sending packs down the ravine."

"Stay on the ravine," Hans said, lifting his spear toward the pulsing portal, "your barrier keeps the next pack above the storehouse."

Hajin looked toward the storehouse before tightening his grip on the chain, accepting the command authority he had given Hans.

One Ring remained around his wrist as he climbed back toward Aegis, leaving the burrowers beneath the village.

Cassie pressed her staff against the ground, tracking each tunnel by the breaks moving through her earth mana.

"One is beneath the east brace," she said, pointing toward the broken wall, "the second turned under the storehouse, but I lost the third."

Hans sent four hunters toward the eastern supports with axes, ignoring the headman’s stare when they reached the repaired beams.

"Those braces hold the whole side," the headman said, keeping his bitten arm against his chest, "pull them and we lose the stockade."

"The burrower is under that side," Hans said, signaling the hunters forward, "drop it before the animal reaches the houses."

The first axe opened a support while two militia workers tied its upper beam to an empty grain cart.

Another lift moved beneath the wall, throwing broken stakes upward as the burrower’s plated head reached the surface.

"Now," Hans said, striking his spear against the inner post, "pull the cart through the gap."

The workers drove the cart downhill, ripping both supports free before the burrower cleared the trench.

Half the eastern stockade fell across its back, pinning the monster beneath beams plus the packed wall it had tried to cross.

Village hunters reached the exposed jaw from both sides, driving short spears into the joints until its movement stopped.

The headman watched the wall settle across the road without asking anyone to save it.

"Second one is under the storehouse," Cassie said, moving her staff toward the western path, "it is following the frames."

Hans pointed Toby toward the old outer bell, where its rope still ran above the shelter route.

"Take the rope west," he said, keeping his voice below the moving families, "ring once after the last child reaches the checkpoint."

Toby cut the lower line, carrying it through both side posts while the bell remained above the abandoned storehouse.

The final families cleared its rear door as the ground split beneath the room where their food had been stacked.

Nobody returned for the grain when the floor dropped, though two men stopped until the innkeeper’s mother shoved them onward.

The second burrower surfaced inside the empty storehouse, filling the room before its jaws broke through the front wall.

Toby reached the western checkpoint, then pulled the extended rope after the last child crossed its barrier.

One bell strike carried through the abandoned village, turning the burrower toward the vibration instead of the evacuation line.

It destroyed the remaining storehouse wall while searching beneath the post, leaving the families moving west without pursuit.

"The third tunnel disappeared," Cassie said, keeping her staff against the path, "it may be deeper than my mana reaches."

Hans limped toward the checkpoint as the rear militia row withdrew behind him, refusing the frame Vella sent back.

"Save that for someone bleeding," he said, keeping his spear above the ground, "my leg can complain after the road clears."

The western barrier held two cart gaps above the drainage ditch, each narrowed by the blocks Hans ordered during his first inspection.

Eighteen recruits formed across the inner crossing while Jonas anchored the center with his axe held beneath his shield arm.

Cassie took the protected space behind him, leaving Toby free to watch the abandoned village from the bell rope.

"The frames need thirty seconds," Hans said, pointing toward the field road, "hold until the last one passes, then split through both gaps."

Vella’s carts waited beyond the checkpoint, taking each injured person before the frames returned for another load.

Garret reached the first wagon as the burrower followed the rear militia row from the village, moving the ground beneath their steps.

"It found us," Cassie said, shifting her staff toward the center, "the tunnel is coming under Jonas."

"Do not move the wall," Hans said, watching the bell worker raise one hand, "the burrower follows whatever runs first."

The recruits held their shields while the ground line reached ten paces from the checkpoint.

At twelve seconds, one miner stepped backward before his partner caught the rear of his coat.

The burrower changed direction toward the movement, forcing Cassie to shift her earth sense across the left gap.

"Left side takes three steps," Hans said, moving beside the bell worker, "center stays where it is."

Six recruits moved together, dragging the tunnel away from Jonas while the final two frames crossed behind them.

The burrower followed their synchronized steps until the left group stopped beside the drainage bank.

Twenty-four seconds passed as its head struck the ground beneath their shield line, lifting every recruit half a foot.

"Both gaps," Hans said, lowering his spear, "move now and leave the center open."

The militia split through the cart openings, abandoning two shields that had caught beneath the rising ground.

The burrower erupted through the empty center, carrying the checkpoint brace across its plated head.

Cassie raised the drainage bank beneath its right side, turning the monster as its weight entered the crossing.

The broken brace caught across both cart gaps, trapping its body above the ditch while Jonas reached the jaw joint.

His axe opened the softer plate before village hunters drove their remaining spears through the wound.

The bell worker called thirty seconds as the burrower collapsed inside the checkpoint without reaching a frame. One recruit had a broken ankle from the first lift, while another left both shields beneath the monster.

Hans sent the empty frame back for the ankle before letting anyone recover weapons from the crossing.

"Move the families another two hundred paces," he said, looking toward the field road, "the checkpoint stays open for Vella’s carts."

The headman took the bell sheet from him, copying the retreat time beside the wall section they had destroyed.

Behind them, the second burrower continued tearing through the empty storehouse while the western road carried every villager away.

Juna reached the field lane above the carts, finding another pack moving through the ridge grass toward the evacuation line.