172 Chapter 172: Cruel Choice (1/2)

”I understand.”

Suppressing my exhaustion, I immediately summoned Cygnus. Jumping atop the white, pristine back of the gigantic swan, I waited for Dad to join me before I had him take off. Cygnus flapped his wings and we soared into the air after a slight lurch.

As tired as I was, I still had some reserves to summon a few Constellation spirits and fight for a bit longer. Unfortunately, I probably couldn't use a second Strategic-scale spell, at least not for another day or two. I simply did not have the mana to afford such luxuries.

So no more Antares or Thuban to nuke any monster army. Damn it.

”We've to hurry!” Dad urged me needlessly. I nodded silently, too drained to speak, but urged Cygnus on a little faster. We were flying toward Sakha City as quickly as possible, and Dad craned his neck to look into the distance. His expression turned even more grime than before, and his jaw clenched. ”There's so many of them.”

Despite myself, I glanced below and in the direction Dad was looking in. he was right. There had to be thousands of monsters moving through the forest and toward Sakha City. However, it seemed they had developed some of tactics, or the Dark Church had messed up in their control. The monsters were moving in large, disparate groups rather than being clumped up together in a single mass. That mean that even if I had the ability to nuke them with Scorpio's Antares or Dracon's Thuban, I wouldn't be able to destroy all of them. There would be at least a few separate groups that would escape the blast, and even the smallest of them were sizeable.

Dad also noticed their new movements and he gritted his teeth.

”They're going to hit the city from multiple directions.'

”That can't be good.” I wasn't sure what else to say, so I made quite the pointless remark. Dad didn't seem to be paying attention, though.

”The bastards…the Dark Church really want to destroy this city too. Sakha City is one of the commercial hubs of this country. If they raze it to the ground with monsters, the poor nation's economy would be crippled, and the other cities would be vulnerable to more of these monster attacks. The Dark Church also plans to make use of the surviving monsters to move on from Sakha City and invade the next. It appears that the nearest city, Rejia City, is next on their target.”

Dad was getting all the information from the holographic screen that was beamed from his hacking device. Apparently the administrative workers of the Dark Church had recorded the minutes of the higher-ups' discussion and stored them digitally. Good thing the Dark Church ascribed to the bureaucratic bullshit too, or we wouldn't be able to find out about the attack in time.

”Sakha City doesn't have a standing garrison, and few very mages. They are going to need our help.”

I nodded at Dad's words, even as I tried to conceive of a plan. How could we fight against such overwhelming numbers? Dad probably could, but given the amount of mana I had left, and my inability to use Antares or Thuban over the next day or two until I had fully recovered, I didn't see how I could make a difference. Perhaps I could save several lives here and there, but there was no way I could kill all the monsters.

”Don't worry.” Dad must have seen the concern on my face. ”We just need to save as many lives as we can, and kill as monsters as we can. The government will respond to this threat soon enough and mobilize their military. In the meantime, we will save as many civilians as we can before the real soldiers arrive.”

”So just do our best, huh?” I muttered.

”Of course. Keep the monsters occupied until the military comes. At least they'll be too busy trying to take the city instead of moving on to attack other cities.”

”…and villages.”

Something occurred to me, and I turned my head back. My eyes widened in horror. One of the group of monsters were moving toward the village where Dad and I spent the night yesterday.

Shinra and Guo Hao's village. I still remembered the kindly elderly couple who offered us a night's stay in their house, and how they had just literally sent us off this morning. Their village was standing right in the path of a massive group of monsters.

Even though the village was normally protected by a barrier, the barrier usually worked against only low to mid-level monsters. Each of these groups were led by at least rank C monsters and above. The Elemental-class monsters could tear through the barrier easily and open the way up for the weaker but more numerous monsters to flood into the village.

That was why the cities, even though they possess stronger barriers, were still vulnerable to such invasions. Even without high-ranked monsters, the sheer numbers and mass of low-ranked monsters were enough to overwhelm the enchanted defenses. Throw enough low-ranked monsters at the barrier for long enough, and it would eventually buckle and break.

Thousands of low-ranked monsters acting in concert was more than enough to break the barrier.

”Damn it!”

”What is it?” Dad turned to me.

”The village! Mr. Guo Hao and Mrs. Shinra's village! They are right in the path of one of the monster groups! At this rate, they will be…”

Dad remained silent, but said nothing.

”We have to help them!”

I was about to turn Cygnus around, but Dad reached out and stopped me.

”No. Proceed to Sakha City. Our destination remains unchanged.”

”But…!”

He tightened his grip on my shoulder.