A swarm of Giant Soul Butterfly was drawing near.
“Captain, we have sighted the target swarm!”
“Good. Begin the attack after all of them enter range. Do not jump the gun.”
“Understood!”
At present, the defense forces of the Forest Kingdom of Levresta were pulling the front line back and reorganizing their units.
Soul Butterfly were monsters, but they were not a species that actively attacked humans.
Because of that, rebuilding the front line could be done while taking comparatively more time.
“Targets are fourteen. They are moving in a tight group. Most likely a reproductive group centered on a female individual.”
“If so, we need to leave the queen until the end. Tell the archers—the queen is the main dish.”
“Understood!”
Even as the commander conveyed the policy, the Soul Butterfly closed the distance.
Their aim was likely the hot spot in this city.
The mana outflow was large, and the area was wide.
Precisely because it was such a place, it had developed as the central city of this region.
To Soul Butterfly, it would be an ideal egg-laying site.
“The leading individual has entered the engagement zone—most likely the queen.”
“Good, they’re grouped up... Think we can manage it?”
And then the last one came within range.
“Aim, good! Distance, good! Begin the attack!”
“Begin the attack!”
Visually, it was a gigantic bow laid sideways.
In other words, a ballista.
The archer carefully set their aim and pulled the trigger.
With the sound of the string snapping, a projectile bolt thicker than an arm was launched.
They had no way of knowing, but that shape—like a pencil-shaped projectile with stabilizing fins—closely resembled a shell called an Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot round.
The accelerated projectile, following the effects of the engraved magic formulas, flew toward the rearmost Soul Butterfly while making slight course adjustments.
Its speed was almost the same as sound.
An initial-velocity increase formula and a sure-hit formula applied to the ballista itself, a range-enhancement formula held by the projectile. And a penetrating formula applied by the archer and support personnel.
No one person had enough power to shoot down a Soul Butterfly, but by bundling these together, they were using it as a defensive weapon.
The projectile bolt, flying at subsonic speed, deviated from the aim slightly—yet still struck the torso of the Soul Butterfly with more than enough power to be fatal.
An explosion.
Compressed air released inside blew away the Soul Butterfly’s abdomen.
“Hit! Fatal!”
“Winch up, begin!”
“Winch up! Begin!”
The wind-magic users positioned there blasted a powerful jet into the windmill of the winching machine connected to the ballista. With a roaring sound, the windmill began spinning, and with that rotational force, it wound the string back up with a tight, grating strain.
“Winch up, complete!”
“Next round, load! Complete!”
“Aim, good! Distance, good! Begin the attack!”
And scenes like that were repeating everywhere around the city.
Defensive ballista were large and heavy, not something that could be carried and used.
To begin with, each shot required multiple spellcasters, and continuous operation at the team level had drawbacks.
However, for city defense, it was different.
They could fix them to defensive strongpoints and operate multiple firing teams on rotation.
Because it was a hot spot, mana recovered quickly, and above all, they could prepare abundant mana recovery medicine.
Even as magical tools, because mana density was high, operating efficiency was high, and magic stone consumption was also slower.
The lure-and-annihilate operation against Soul Butterfly was proceeding smoothly.
At defensive strongpoints across the region, swarms were being subjugated with similar methods.
*****
“Downward Gale: Downburst!”
With the shout of the caster in the sky, a powerful downdraft formed.
Several Giant Soul Butterfly caught in it lost their balance and, as if being sucked in, crashed into the ground.
“Nice work! Nnngh!!”
A man charged in toward one of the Soul Butterfly slammed into the ground.
What he poured in was ultra-compressed rare magic. Centered on the point where his fist struck, a fierce pressure erupted, twisting inward.
With crackling sounds, the Soul Butterfly’s torso caved in.
“First one!”
Beside him, a woman holding a rapier drove the tip into the head of another individual.
“Flash-Flame: Pierce Burn!”
A flash ran from the blade tip, scattering high-temperature flames inside.
With its brain and central nervous system seared through, the Soul Butterfly died instantly. Its fragile neck carbonized in an instant, and with the shock of pulling the rapier free, its head tumbled and rolled on the ground.
“Two!”
The third one was handled by a man with a round shield about one meter in diameter.
“......”
Without a word, the man further swelled his huge body and slammed into the Soul Butterfly.
A tremendous impact sound.
Just how much force was packed into it?
With that charge alone, the Soul Butterfly died. Its body bent and snapped, its legs tore off and flew, and on top of that, its neck also rolled away.
“Rending Gale Slash: Whirlwind!”
The last one was an individual that escaped the downdraft. By the fierce tornado released by the caster above, it was torn apart at the joints and scattered into the sky, as if it had been sliced to pieces.
“Alright!! That’s it for today! Alyusia, get down here!”
The man who slaughtered a giant monster with his own fists shouted.
Hearing that, the wind mage controlled their wind magic and began descending.
“Today’s results make thirteen! That’s enough, right!”
“After this, we scout around here, and if we find another swarm, we come back to report.”
“Haa, I’m tired... It’s still better because we can rest in Karak City, but if it’s like this every day, my mana won’t hold up...”
This party had been hired by the defense forces as precious mobile personnel capable of subjugating Soul Butterfly swarms.
The lure-and-annihilate operation at Karak City was going well, but inevitably, individuals that strayed from it—or small swarms—would appear.
The role of hunting down those strays was assigned to the mobile personnel.
“Mana recovery dishes get prioritized to us, so it’s fine, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but those aren’t bad, but they’re kind of bland...”
“Hah-hah-hah! Being able to eat at all is better than nothing! Farther east, they say there isn’t even that kind of leeway—they just hand you mana recovery medicine!”
“Ugh... That stuff’s so bitter it’s not even drinkable...”
Chattering noisily, the group started their patrol as-is.
It looked ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) harmonious, but they did not neglect aerial vigilance.
Though, with the thickly overgrown trees blocking things, visibility was not very good.
Even so, their role was being fulfilled sufficiently.
They could subjugate more than ten Soul Butterfly with a single party. As mobile personnel, they were outstanding.
*****
“Now then, the situation on the northern front line and eastern front line seems better than expected.”
“That’s thanks to those girls. We’ve been able to allocate more personnel and supplies than we assumed.”
“And it seems we’ve been able to import equipment and food too. For a while, we won’t be able to hold our heads up, eh.”
“A new type of bow, and a huge quantity of arrows. And if we ask, they say even ballista bolts came out. What do you think?”
“At the very least, it means they can operate something equivalent to the weapons we’re using, without any inferiority.”
“Judging by that golem, it’s far beyond that.”
“That thing’s an outrageous piece of work. It reminded me of the Sorcerer Kingdom I heard about from my granddad.”
“Granddad—so, the Elders’ Council Le Elphia before the one before this one? How many years ago are we talking?”
“Who knows. I can’t say whether it was five hundred years ago, or a thousand...”
“But is that a golem? I’ve also heard that on a faraway continent, there’s a civilization that develops with machines without using sorcery.”
“That’s nonsense. The envoy is just exaggerating when they talk. Besides, what they rode in was an ordinary sailing ship.”
“Well, you know. Speaking of machine civilizations, I haven’t seen it lately, but didn’t something called Lepuitari pop up just the other day?”
“A paddle steamer, huh. If you’re going across the sea with that, it’s reassuring. They didn’t seem as skilled as we are at wind magic.”
“We, too, have been away from conflict for a long time. Dealing with an ambitious country—hasn’t it become quite difficult again?”
“If it’s that Tiariada kid, he’ll probably handle it fairly well.”
“And the dispatch to the United Kingdom of Aphrasia was originally about securing fire magic stones, right? But he went and dragged in something much more outrageous. Ho-ho-ho.”
“It’s good and bad. Well, that’s fine. It’s been rolling in a good direction. More importantly...”
“Over that way, it’s that religious state, huh.”
“That’s a lost cause. It reminds me of that Goddess Church State from back then.”
“Hoh. The one we wiped out at the root, back in the day?”
“There’s nothing more troublesome than blind religious fanatics. Still, it looks like that girl is reaching toward it, though...”
“What, really. Are they still connected with Lepuitari?”
“Only the minimum. Only the minimum. Our birds fly well, you see.”
