Chapter 398 (2/2)

「It's the enemy army, so isn't that obvious? They came to steal my city and a.s.sets.」

When Claire yells in partial desperation, Balbano goes ”hmm” as if he is thinking.

His fellow dwarves have gathered behind him as well without anyone noticing.

「Then are they some kind of monster?」

「They're even nastier than monsters. Monsters will simply eat a few people and leave after they're satisfied, whereas these things will rob my a.s.sets until nothing is left.」

「Horrible……」

One of the miners mutters and then the dwarves softly pound their fists on their palms.

「Well, if they're the same as monsters, we just have to drive them off.」

Claire raises her voice when Balbano speaks in an irresponsible tone.

「If I could do so, I would have done it already! I don't need heavy drinkers with short legs like you to tell me……」

Balbano shouts out without letting her finish.

「Hey dwarves! We're using the Urgan!」

「「「「Right!」」」」

The dwarves run off at a surprising speed given their short legs.

「Urgan? Aah, that hunk of―― I mean, the giant cannon, right? The one that can't change direction and lacks―― I mean, is hard to use.」

「There is nothing to criticize regarding its power, but I don't believe a blast from a huge block of iron will do anything to 3000 soldiers.」

「A group of bandits might be frightened and run away, but this is an army……」

Claire, Laurie and an oppressed male worker say with pessimistic faces.

The Urgan is an enormous cannon dozens of times bigger than the regular large-sized cannons currently being used, however its overwhelming size and weight keeps it from being movable, plus its complicated structure prevents anybody besides the dwarves from being able to fire it. Thus everybody considered it to be a useless piece of junk.

「Eeei, stop yapping. Don't keep going on repet.i.tively and just watch.」

The dwarves move their short arms and legs and climb onto the cannon that looks more like a building. Not long after, Balbano raises his arm.

「Urgan, activate! Right turn 140 degrees! Aim upwards 23 degrees and 5 minutes north.」

Sounds of metal grinding against each other can be heard as gears turn, and steam rises as the Urgan slowly rotates.

The barrel of the cannon also slowly raises up.

「It moved……?」

「Yeah! Everytime I came to the city, I did some work on it!」

「Again, you did something unnecessary…… instead of doing that, you should be working more on jobs that make me money……」

Laurie ignores the complaining Claire and asks.

「This will certainly allow you to aim at the enemy, but won't shooting a single cannon simply anger them?」

A sh.e.l.l from a cannon is an effective weapon on offense.

One from a cannon the size of Urgan might even be capable of shattering an impregnable fortress in one hit.

However, it is currently being used in a defensive situation and the opponent is a group of cavalry instead of a stone wall.

No matter how large the cannonball is, 10 might be killed at best, leading to the cannon being pretty much meaningless.

「A special sh.e.l.l was also made. It took an entire week to make.」

「Yes, yes. You like playing around with these things instead of doing my work, I get it.」

Claire is getting somewhat fed up and curses.

Balbano just smiles, telling her to wait and see.

「We're using the bombsh.e.l.l!」

「「「Right!」」」

The dwarves load a big sh.e.l.l into the receptacle on the side of the cannon and uses the power of gears to pull it inside the cannon.

「Put in the fuse, distance is 4000―― fire!」

「Gya!!」

There was an abnormally loud explosion which sent dust flying and vibrations traveling through the ground.

Miners fall on their a.s.ses and prost.i.tutes ready to run away tumble to the ground, revealing their suggestive underwear.

Claire screams and covers her ears.

A few seconds later, light bursts on the hill where the enemy is camped and a huge cloud of dirt erupts.

It wasn't what one would expect from an average cannonball at all.

Another few seconds later, the stomach-rumbling boom rang out again.

「What was that just now!!? What happened!?」

「Casualties to the Third Division Cavalry Unit …… wait, where is the Third Division!?」

「The Third Division is not here! The entire squad was blown away!」

「I heard the sound, did they fire a cannon?」

「That can't be, a huge chunk was taken out of the ground. Was a big barrel of gunpowder buried under there!?」

Nearly a hundred cavalry who were about to attack at a moment's notice literally disappeared, causing panic within the South Yuguria army.

As a result, some started to do anything they could to get away from the hill and some started to dig holes in the ground to uncover what they believed to be the cause of the explosion.

「Haeh?」

Claire, who had been talking poorly of the dwarves all this time, stared in blank amazement with her jaw hanging open.

「Next, load the incendiary bombsh.e.l.l. Fire!」

Aided by gears, it didn't take longer than ten seconds for the next round to be fired.

「There's the roar of a cannon. It's coming!」

「It might be another explosion. Everyone, take cover――」

South Yuguria cavalry dismount from their horses and lower themselves to the ground.

As they antic.i.p.ated, another explosion occurred.

What they didn't expect was for the explosion to be smaller than the first one, however in exchange for the decreased blast radius, a fierce fire was spread everywhere by the force of the explosion.

In the face of flames crawling on the ground, keeping their bodies low proved to be a useless act.

More soldiers and horses were wiped out than before.

「We crushed this and that mineral and mixed it with the thing you call gunpowder.」

Balbano proudly declares as he watches the pillar of fire extending close to 100 meters into the sky.

Aside from the dwarves, everybody who saw what happened was dumbfounded and their mouths were gaping.

「The sh.e.l.l burst and then…… started burning……?」

Laurie's notebook falls with a plop to the ground.

Written on it was ”Help wanted in mine. Inexperienced people welcome, pay raises available depending on effort. An at-home kind of workplace”

「We're going to ma.s.sacred at this rate!」

「Whatever, just charge! Close the distance!」

「Don't worry about formation, take whoever you can and go. Stop that cannon!」

South Yuguria soldiers jump back on their horses and descend the hill in a scattered mess.

As advertised by their name, the light cavalry instantly reached the city.

「They're here! They're here! Hey, do something about it quickly! If you do, I'll give you money or my body or anything you want!」

Claire grabs and shakes Balbano by the shoulders.

「Calm yourself. I don't want money or your body. Next…… we'll use this. It's a painstaking piece of work I made myself. I think it's a waste to shoot it.」

「Who cares, just shoot it already! If I'm no good, then I'll offer Laurie's body!」

「Claire-sama! I don't want to be embraced by anyone other than my love……」

Balbano ignores both the frantic Claire and fidgeting Laurie and shouts.

「Load the cl.u.s.ter bomb. Distance is…… 1500…… fire!」

Urgan roared with another blast from its barrel.

The sh.e.l.l flew parallel to the ground at the enemy cavalry running toward Lintbloom, then it exploded over their heads.

「Eh, it burst in midair?」

「It's a failure!? Stubby legs! Worthless! Beard face!」

It was by no means a failure.

When the sh.e.l.l exploded in the air, the ground beneath was showered like there was a torrential downpour.

「Gyaa!」「Kuge!」「Hiih!」

That bomb sprayed small fragments of debris over a wide area, each piece launching at the incoming South Yuguria cavalry with a violent force.

Many of the enemy soldiers tumbled to the ground so quickly that it almost seemed like a joke.

South Yuguria soldiers stop charging when they saw the unbelievable sight.

「This is the last one! A precious metal was used to make this masterpiece too. Super heavy piercing sh.e.l.l, fire!」

A heavier boom than all the ones that came before it resounded and the black sh.e.l.l was launched.

Unlike the others, this sh.e.l.l moved so slow that its course could be seen by the naked eye.

「A special alloy was heavily used. It weighs a few dozens of times more than the previous one.」

The black sh.e.l.l gently floats and drops down on the enemy.

「It's a sh.e.l.l that uses its weight to bury deep into the ground and sends the enemy flying from underneath when it explodes.」

The projectile falls right in the center of the enemies.

The huge thud could be heard as it hits the ground, but there was no critical explosion sound.

「Hm?」

It happened right when Balbano made a curious expression.

There was a small explosion and the ground barely shakes.

「You call that fart an explosion?」

「How strange, I made sure to pack it full of explosives.」

It was right when Balbano tilted his head.

The ground shook again. This time it was more evident and powerful than before.

Following that, the sounds of cracking, like rocks splitting apart, can be heard.

Balbano and the dwarves turn paler.

As if the earlier confidence did not exist, their short legs carry them all over in a panic.

「Not good, that area had a thin layer of bedrock!?」

「This is bad! Did it blast right through!?」

「It might have blasted a hole connecting to the abyss!」

Claire tilts her head in confusion.

「Abyss?」

「Under the world we live in, there is an endless hole of infinite darkness. It is a pitch-black realm where grotesque monsters dwell―― which is normally sealed off by cave-ins when the tunnels are connected, but if a hole is created in an open s.p.a.ce like this……」

The surface of the ground in the middle of the enemy dents and sinks down. The diameter of the hole is about 10 meters.

Enemies fall into that bottomless pit.

Since the casualties themselves were nothing more than a couple soldiers dropping into the chasm, the enemy didn't seem very concerned.

「A hole? Everyone, stay away.」

「We suffered minimal losses. It's nothing compared to the ones before.」

「Just don't clump together. Another one of those sh.e.l.ls might come……」

As the enemy tries to reorganize themselves, the inhabitants of the hole appear.

And then h.e.l.l emerges.

「Eh? What, a spider?」

Without a sound, a giant spider 3 meters tall crawls out from the hole.

Before the soldiers could comprehend what that thing was, the creature grabs the leg of a soldier and jabs a long, slender tubular mouth right into his head through the helmet.

「Fueh? Hakyukyu…… kuhi?」

Slurping sounds like a dirty fruit juice being sucked forcefully through a straw can be heard as the soldier's eyes are dislodged in different directions.

The soldier makes incoherent sounds and flails his arms and legs, but eventually becomes limp.

By the time the nearby soldiers realized what was going on, the poor soldier's body was turned into something resembling that of a dried fish and snapped into two pieces.

「……that thing sucked out his brain?」

「You're kidding…… more of those things are coming out!?」

A seemingly never-ending line of those bizarre spiders climbed out.

「Uwaaah!!」

A centipede several meters long chases after a soldier trying to escape on horseback.

With twice the speed of a horse running at full throttle, there was no way he could outrun it.

The centipede coiled around the cavalry and awful screaming and neighing followed soon after.

Ensuring its prey won't get away by wrapping its body around multiple times, the centipede proceeds to use its curved sickle-like pincers to tear off the horse's legs, then sever the soldier's limbs and head, before swallowing them whole.

「b.a.s.t.a.r.d!」

A fellow soldier attempts to stab the centipede with a spear, only for that spear to break when it collides with the creature's hard exoskeleton.

The moment the man retracts his body in mute astonishment, a worm the size of a human arm attaches itself to the man's back.

「Higuh!」

The worm slides itself down to the waistband of his pants and enters, squirming its way inside the soldier's body through the a.n.u.s using the slippery mucus all over its body.

「Stop! Geboh!」

Despite the man's struggling, the worm continues to invade into the intestines. A strange bulge emerges within his stomach and something inside writhes around like his organs were a separate living organism.

「Hey, hang in there!」

Another fellow soldier cuts off the part of the worm still sticking out of the man's body, but that doesn't stop the part of the worm that already got inside.

「Gubobh!」

Eventually, the man vomits blood probably from his insides getting eaten.

Altogether, the man's screams stop and the worm stops moving, creating an eerie silence.

「…… hey.」

It happened as soon as the companion approached the man timidly.

「Geh.」

With a pop, tentacles burst out from the man's eyes, ears, nose, mouth, instantly killing him.

「Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!!」

The morale of the South Yuguria soldiers was crushed after seeing a disastrous scene unlike that of a battlefield, which led to everybody abandoning their weapons and starting to run.

All 3000 soldiers scattered in all directions begging for help, leaving not a single soul heading toward Lintbloom.

However, hundreds of spiders, centipedes, worms, and other unimaginable insects spilled out from the hole to predate on the South Yuguria soldiers.

A man gets punctured in the head, neck, chest and stomach by four different spiders and dries up instantly.

A centipede drags the upper half of a horse and the lower half of a man back into the hole.

A worm enters through the genitals of a woman, who convulses greatly as the creature slithers up and out of her mouth.

「How terrible……」

「This is a nightmare…… no, it's literally h.e.l.l.」

In no more than a few minutes, the tumultuous noise settled down and the monstrous creatures slunk back into the hole where they came from.

Remaining on the ground were countless blood stains and a tiny amount of human fragments, not a single South Yuguria soldier.

Lastly, two frogs peeked their heads out stealthily and after darting their tongues out, pulled in an arm back into their mouths.

「W-what are you all doing!!? Seal the hole!! If those things overflow outside, the world will end, much less the city!!」

「Everyone, bring whatever you can to fill the hole! Bury it before those things show up again!」

The first one to stand back up is Claire, who coordinates the dwarves and the humans to plug the hole.

Fortunately, the part connecting to the abyss is as narrow as the opening of the hole and the fissure could be blocked without letting those abnormalities out.

「Fuui…… it's over……」

「We're safe……」

The dwarves' special hardening agent was used to fortify the seal and everyone helped to cave in the tunnel with the surrounding rocks.

「The Urgan is banned, never to be used again. The barrel will also be sealed.」

「Umu, it's a shame, but I have no objections.」

Claire sighs and sits down on top of Balbano who is lying face down.

「Let us also send word to Rafen. ”The enemy has been defeated” …… should be sufficient.」

「I don't have the energy to write anything more complicated, so that's fine.」

Laurie also exhales wearily and plops herself on top of Balbano's back.

「「I'm exhausted……」」

And so, Lintbloom was successfully defended.

<hr>

Protagonist: Aegir Hardlett. 25 years old. Summer.

Status: Goldonia Kingdom Margrave. Great Feudal Lord of Eastern Area. Mountain Legend. Friend of the Dwarves. Friend of the King of Aless. Dragon Slayer Hero.

Elf Mediator. s.e.x King of White City.

Family:

Nonna (legal wife), Carla (going to battle), Mel (welcoming), Miti (welcoming), Maria (welcoming), Catherine (welcoming)

Brynhildr (vampire), Gretel (welcoming), Melissa (naked in public), Kuu (welcoming), Ruu (welcoming)

Mireille (going to battle), Pipi (touched down), Casie (missing), Rita (head maid), Yoguri (playwright), Leah (injured)

Marceline (welcoming), Daughters - Stephanie (welcoming), Bridget (welcoming), Felicie (welcoming)

Natia (rich), Sofia (welcoming), Sekrit (off on her own)

Sebastian (butler), Dorothea (capital mansion supervisor), Claudia (victory), Clara (given up)

Celestina (welcoming), Monica (welcoming), Adela (continuing decoy)

Subordinates:

Celia (adjutant), Myla (commander), Marta (attendant), Irijina (commander), Peticheri (intelligence), Luna (commander), Ruby (commander), Gido (fighting hard), Polte (temporary adjutant)

Leopolt (staff officer), Tristan (staff officer)

Claire & Laurie (total exhaustion), Lilian (relaxing), Kroll (fighting hard), Alma (servant)

Rafen Defense:

Adolph (liberated), Jim (adjutant), Suzy (useless), Solana (useless)

Felteris (fatigued), Alice (fatigued)

Non-humans:

Lammy (planting), Alraune (potted plant), Mirumi (having a meal), Balbano (moving)

Pet:

Pochi (touched down), Messerschmitt (worthless dog), Schwartz (mating)

Citizens: 220,000 (uncertain in wartime)

Major Cities – Rafen: 40,000. Lintbloom: 7000. Special Cultivation District: 14,000.

Rafen Defense Force:

Escort: 130 men ⇒ 130 men

Security: 140 men ⇒ 150 men

Guards: 450 men ⇒ 460 men

Evacuating soldiers: 250 men ⇒ 270 men

Volunteer Soldiers: 7500 men ⇒ 8000 men

Mountain Nation: 5000

Aless Soldiers: 3990 men

Alraune: 1

Mermaids: 900

Pochi: 1

Harpies: 26 ⇒ 30 + 4 eggs

Frontal Warfront: 23 450 men

Infantry: 14 000, Cavalry: 1500, Archers: 1500, Bow Cavalry: 6000, Cannoneers: 450

Cannons: 60, Large Cannons: 30, Dwarven Cannons: 16, Field Artillery: 20, Chariots: 50

Capital: 14 000 men

Aless Soldiers: 10 000 men

a.s.sets: 170 000 gold

s.e.xual Partners: 782, children who have been born: 68 + 565 + ???

<hr>

<hr>