If Arx Norr fall, the demon race will use it as base to attack Rifst and it is a perfect location for just that. At the same time, by also taking the tower there will be less magic stone yield which will further weaken the kingdom. If not for the Suvaard forest and the guild’s neutral stance then the demons might have tried to conquer Arx Norr long ago. However, things have changed.

The guild master had said that he sent a messenger to the capital but no matter how fast the messenger could reach the capital it will still take time to prepare soldiers and then even longer for the soldiers to reach Arx Norr. No matter how you look at it three days is impossible and even a week would be a miracle. However be it deliberate or not, the adventurers averted their mind from that fact to better focus on the situation at hand. They never actually counted on reinforcements.

After the assembly involving B rank adventurers and above has concluded, the assembly hall was then used to gather C to E rank adventurers. The one addressing them was not the guild master who already began the preparation to defend Arx Norr. The content of what was told this time differ as in it mainly focused on asking for assistance in evacuating the citizens out of Arx Norr and to be the last line of defense. Of course the adventurers were also told that everything is voluntary and not mandatory. In the end, unexpectedly enough majority chose to stay and help. Perhaps since they heard that the high rank adventurers and the heroes have decided to fight.

All that left is to construct makeshift battle stations and to formulate battle plans. The first assembly participants are currently doing it, to make plans with high probability of success and one with least amount of casualty which is the most difficult of all.

Liz whose role has been decided since the very start is not taking part in the battle plan formulation. Her role is not to stand at the frontlines but she was to hold the last line of defense. To protect the civilians who could not leave Arx Norr to evacuate, the elderly, the sick, and the ones still recuperating from the injuries caused by the dragon head fall. There are also orphans without anyone willing to take care among those that cannot evacuate.

As it was the first aerial raid involving wyverns and dragons in the history of this war, there is barely if any safe place within the town. Then somebody suggested to clean up the tower until at least the second floor to house those that cannot evacuate then to guard the gate. That way there will be less corner to worry about as it is the gigantic tower on one side. The risk is that once the defense has been breached, the refugees will not have anywhere to run as further above there are only demon beasts. This also eliminates any possibility to later abandon the battle when the situation calls for it as it would not be possible to prepare a route to fall back and out of Arx Norr as the tower is located right in the middle of the town. However the plan was adopted as it was judged to be their best bet. There is just not enough manpower to station more people at the guild building to make it so that the enemies think it is their last line of defense in the battle that is to come. If they were to do so, once the enemies realized that there are people in the tower then those people would just be sitting ducks.

The first day concluded and the second day thus began with long line of people evacuating Arx Norr escorted by E to C rank adventurers who chose to also flee Arx Norr. Due to the sheer number of evacuees many who did not choose to flee also had to be escort as well so there are only 9 E ranker, 16 D ranker, and 34 C ranker left to hold the last line of defense. Among them are members of Kaldor’s party except Randall. Randall hesitated whether to stay or leave and return to his family but the rest of his team convinced him to return home to see his wife and young daughter. Him having lost an arm was also a factor.

Some civilians also decided not to evacuate and wish to help with the battle preparations. Many weapon and armor shops chose to lend the adventurers their best merchandise during the battle or to do maintenance for free if the adventurers prefer to use their own equipment. One pair of bald craftsman and his daughter are known to have incited this movement. Once the battle starts however, along with guild non-combatants like medical staff and receptionists, they are to standby within the tower’s first floor to help in any way they could. The big rooms which actually are dead ends in the first floor’s labyrinth will be used as medical ward to treat the injured then the second floor as where the refugees will stay with all 9 E ranker and 5 D ranker as guards in case some demon beasts respawn early.

Only 34 C ranker and 11 D ranker left to be stationed at the post. With only a small number to be protecting the last line of defense the guild thus decided to add some guild staff capable to fight into the rank. One of them is Martlea. And then there is the promising young mage, Liz.

Liz resolved to not hold back even if the enemy is of the same race as she is and to go all out and if the situation calls for it she will use short chanting, basically exposing herself. She will think how to deal with it later.

The frontlines will be under direct command of the guild master, once known as one of those on par with demon general in his prime. There are 5 S rank parties consisted of 13 S ranker and 24 A ranker, 12 A rank parties consisted of 79 A ranker, then there are 27 B rank parties consisted of 149 B ranker. Guild staff and official capable of battle including the guild master himself amount to 20. Last but not least are four heroes each accompanied by 5 elite imperial knights and magicians.

For human to fight airborne enemies there are basically only two viable methods which are, simply said, to shoot them with arrows and magic or to force them to land somehow. Among them there are 32 magicians and 25 archers. To balance things up the guild prepared a small number of old and makeshift catapults and ballistas. Cannons would be more ideal but there is simply no way to make cannons with little time they have. The strategy they will opt is to have the magicians, archer, and siege weapons to shoot down as many enemies as possible. As persistently trying to kill the enemies with just magic or arrows will just be a waste of mana and arrows so finishing blow will be left to the close range fighters.

A difficult decision was made to have the first stage of battle to start within the town and to utilize the buildings as protection. The adventurer guild building will surely be targeted according to the guild master so the battle stations are located surrounding the building but at a distance as the last line of defense, the tower’s entrance is not too far from the adventurer guild itself. The heroes’ party will serve as separate guerilla units as they have their own long range attacker; magicians and archers. They are to become decoy and confuse the enemies by moving around the town.

The whole preparation was rushed and it was just barely completed after two days. Thus as dawn of the fourth day came, a tense, silent atmosphere engulfed the town. There are exceptions but most wyverns and dragons are diurnal creatures so if they are going to attack it would be happening soon.

“Yusa, are you sure you won’t be guarding the refugee inside the tower instead of here?”

On top of the roof of a building near the tower’s gate was Liz, Yusa, Martlea and several magicians in charge of barraging enemy with long distance magic attack and shoot them down. Liz asked Yusa who nervously looked at the horizon for any sign of the impending battle.

“N, no way I’m leaving Lizzy’s side… I, I’m going to protect you! This is also the rear so the enemies shouldn’t get here too easily right?”

“According to the guild master there are more than 1000 of wyvern and dragon riders as advance party which will be followed by twice as many foot soldiers while there are just slightly above 350 of us… I’d say we’re at a clear disadvantage here. And have I said that they can fly ignoring any obstacles?”

Yusa scratched her head strongly with both hands.

“Aaargh! Why do you have to lower my spirit further by saying such a thing, Miss Martlea?”

“Ah, sorry, what I wanted to say was for you to not lower your guard.”

Liz noticed that Martlea who looked so calm was actually just as nervous as everyone around but as leader of the rear guard she tried hard to stay as composed as she could.

Kaldor stayed with the ground team to attack enemies that the magicians or archers had shot down while Lloyd is with archer groups on different building in the vicinity.

While it might be possible to injure or even kill wyverns with arrows the same might not be applicable to dragons, even low rank dragons’ scales are just as hard as steel. Therefore if a dragon comes then it will be the magician team’s role to bring it down. Even so, killing a dragon with just C and D rank adventurers is close to impossible. Martlea honestly thought that if by any chance a dragon reaches here and by the time she and Liz are already out of commission then there is simply no chance for them anymore.

“I, I know… I’ll open the paper Lloyd gave me and Kaldor now. He said it will surely raise our motivation.”

Yusa reached into the pouch strapped onto her waist and took out a piece of folded paper.

Liz and Yusa who also got curious peeked to look at the content as Yusa unfolded the paper to read it.

“Let’s see… ‘Imagine what Erik will do to you if you let something happen to Liz.’…”

Liz and Martlea just looked blankly at the paper while Yusa, seemingly imagining something clenched her fists strongly, crushing the paper.

“Lizzy, just stay behind me when anything happens. Got it?”

There is no slightest trace of nervousness can be felt from Yusa right now. She’s as determined as she could possibly be with a rare serious look from her eyes.

“As much as I don’t want to believe it, I have to agree that that man is more dangerous than a dragon…”

Martlea sighed before she made a wry smile. Maybe the reason was different to that of Yusa but she also lost any trace of being nervous.

“W, was that really words of motivation? Is Erik that scary?”

Liz on the other hand looked like she wanted to deny it but she couldn’t think of anything to say. To other people Erik might really be scary was what she thought.

“By the way, I’ve never thought that Miss Martlea will be one of our fighting force… I could only see you as those officials working on complicated documents.”

Yusa might have started this talk as a distraction from her own nervousness but what she said was her honest thought.

“Well, my specialty is wind magic and I think I’m quite good myself. Perhaps you thought that way simply because I’ve never shown it to most people.”

“Well you look reliable, that’s for sure.”

There was also the guild master’s order to keep it confidential but now is not the time for that.

At that moment a high pitched, long whistling sound was heard. Signaling that enemies have been sighted. Everyone immediately shifted to their battle stance and raised their respective weapons. Just like what Martlea had said. The enemies can fly so the rear guard is also at risk to be attacked at any given time during the whole ordeal.

The battle is starting.

***

Countless overlapping sounds of flapping wings can be heard as the figures of the species regarded as among the most dangerous known beasts are being illuminated by morning sunlight from the opposite direction they are coming. They are still at a considerable distance but with their speed and unhindered by any sort of obstacles, the enemies will reach here within a fifth of an hour bell.

“Let them enter the town for a bit and wait for my signal to start attacking!”

The guild master, now in his time-worn but reliable set of battle gears shouted with a voice to the adventurers. A metallic jade colored lance in his right hand and golden tower shield made of uarum and learis alloy in his left. His full plate armor gleams similarly with his shield as they are made of the same material. Behind him are two S rank parties with a total of 12 men and 5 guild staff, magicians. The guild master is the spearhead of the whole fighting force. While having a leader stands at the frontmost is very risky, for example when he falls in battle then morale will also plummet. That being said, the opposite is also true. Having one who might be the strongest here leading in front of them has raised their spirit considerably.

When some wyvern riders entered the vicinity of the town from the west and southwest, the guild master waited until they entered the range of the siege weapons and he finally issued the order.

“FIRE THE BALLISTAS AND CATAPULTS!”

Makeshift as they are the siege weapons will not be able to see much use. The delicate parts will break after only a handful of shots. However that is fine since when the enemies get close enough magic and arrows will serve better.

Perhaps because they are just newly formed units and lacking training, the wyverns aren’t flying in any particular formation. The ballistas and big chunks of rock hit many wyverns that were flying in a cluster bringing down their riders along. The adventurers drew first blood and that slightly raised their morale.

As the guild master has predicted, the battle starts at the south west and that is where most adventurers are stationed. As the tower gate is facing south east the adventurers stationed at the northeast would not even see any enemy yet but there is no guarantee that the enemies will not circle the tower and get to the other side.

Not all the wyverns shot down by their siege weapons would die with just that however they are to be dealt later as focusing on the swiftly approaching enemy is the obvious course of action.

Without minding their fallen comrades the wyvern riders kept their full speed and finally managed to get the adventurers in range of their own magic or arrows and soon, breath attack of their mounts. Arrows are especially more effective when shot from above than it is the other way around. The real battle finally ensues and casualties are now coming from both sides.

With their short chanting the demons activates their magics faster and often times greater force than that of humans. To counter that the humans alternate two or three teams of magicians to unleash magic consecutively.

Using his lance as if holding something as light as a twig the guild master attacked the fallen wyverns and their riders one by one followed by the S rank parties closely. The riders who are still relatively fine of course fought back but the adventurers utilized the timing when the enemies are still recovering from the shock of their fall to efficiently mow down their number.

Like this, even though outnumbered the adventurers seemingly gained the upper hand.

As most of the wyvern riders entered the town vicinity the heroes’ teams came out from their hiding place in the houses and attacked from the rear, disorienting the enemies. When they have more than what they can handle they are to retreat, hide and resume their attack as they see fit.

“Lady Katja. It is our turn. Let us commence our attack.”

“I, I know…”

Even though her hand trembled, Katja readied her bow alongside another archer from her team and a mage ready to unleash a fire magic.

(Aside from their horns aren’t the demons look just like us? There is no way I can shoot them!)

Katja wanted to lower her arms and flee but the expectant look showered by her knight companions held her hands in place.

(I, I know… let’s just shoot the wyverns…)

Her bow and arrows were made by the best of the best among imperial craftsmen. Designed to increase the speed and penetrating force of the arrows with the help of wind magic engraved to both the bow and arrows themselves. Each arrow fitted with a tiny magic stone at the base of its tip is as expensive as a relatively good sword. Shooting an arrow is similar to throwing a sword a normal adventurer might use for years.

Perhaps it was her talent, perhaps it was the effect of being a hero and having good equipment, the arrow she let loose pierced the wyvern in the eye which squirmed wildly from the shock and fell to the ground. The other archer and the mage combined their attack to bring another wyvern down.

“Ooh, as expected of lady Katja. To accurately shoot a flying wyvern’s eye from this distance and angle. Rouwen, Lerio! It is our turn now!”

The knight praised Katja and brought two other knights with him to attack the fallen wyvern and its rider. Unknown to the knights, Katja closed her eyes when they cut the head of the rider who was pinned under his own wyvern.

Stanley Goldberg was especially adept at close quarter combat so he chose a pair of spiked knuckles as his weapons. For that reason, he counted on the two magicians in his team to shoot down the wyverns.

“Here I go!”

The demon who fell with his wyvern was quick enough to recover from the fall and as he saw the man with big build charging at him he used flame arrows at his enemy.

“Lietus sagias!”

“Useless struggle!”

The knuckles are imbued with small scale non-elemental barrier magic covering only the fists but that enabled Stanley to strike the flame arrows and get close unhindered. Dodging a tail sweep of the wyvern that just woke up Stanley got on its back and punched the demon in the face while his knights companion focused their attack on the wyvern.

Stanley who is not confident in his capability on issuing order felt that the knights who moved in accordance to his actions without being told anything are reliable comrades. He never noticed that one of the knights was always looking at him with observant eyes.

“Reyhardt, try to shoot the rider with your arrow! Hugh and I will barrage the wyvern with flame arrows right when your arrow hit! Myrna, you hold the activation of your earth magic and release it when the wyvern falls. Luke and Salma will join me in dealing the finishing blow!”

“””””Yes, sir Kazuya!”””””

The next sequence of events unfolded just as what Kazuya’s orders followed by the knights exclamation of admiration as they finished their enemy. With the exception of one knight who looked at Kazuya as if appraising him.

“We shouldn’t stay here for long. We are not yet strong enough for a full frontal battle with them! Let’s use the buildings to hide ourselves and move to different point to resume our attack!”

Like that Kazuya’s team moved efficiently, attacking and then retreating before attacking again.

“S, stop! Please, stop! Aargh!”

“Khukhukhu… give me a reason to stop then…”

At the furthest of the enemies’ rear was Rafael’s team.

Three dead wyverns and three riders two dead and one is alive, barely.

Four elite imperial knights shuddered when they looked at the exchange between a hero and a demon. Another knight who looked too young to even be one was instead, watching silently with a hint of faint smile forming on his lips.

Rafael the hero was sitting on two stacked bloody corpses of demons with a hand fiddling with a black curved dagger moving it back and forth into the abdomen of a demon crying in pain and begging for mercy.

The demon’s legs were bent to where they should not be with Rafael's feet kicking lightly on them.

“I… Argggh… beg… you… just… kill Gahhh… me… already…”

“Is this the mouth that kept spewing nonsense at me?”

Rafael unsheathed a spiky prong shaped weapon and stabbed it through the left cheek and out the right of the demon.

“Hhffraahhhhhh!!!”

“How could I enjoy this if I kill you just like that? I am finally in a world where doing this won’t bring me to prison now… entertain me some more will you?”

“Hhhhffhhhhhhhhh!!!”

The demon cried and cried but no one there will save him. Most of his fellow demons have proceeded further through the battlefield. There is no hope and death is his only salvation but Rafael will not allow that to happen so soon.

“The candidate for our leader has been decided then…”

The young childlike knight muttered that in low voice which was drowned under the muffled sound of the demon’s hopeless wails of agony.

***

The side with casualties is not only the demons’. A large number of casualties within the rank of adventurers has impeded their momentum and it seemed that the tide of battle will soon shift against them as there are still more than twice their own number on the demon's’ side. As the tension of the battle reached its peak the adventurers saw it.

Three large sized dragons, each at height and length not inferior to the vast three storied adventurer guild building, slowly descended in front of the adventurers imposingly.

“It seems we have underestimated the adventurers on this side. Who would have thought that they could reduce our number by a fifth in this short period of time?”

A tall demon man in lavish set of crimson colored armor stood on the back of the slightly bigger dragon. Releasing the reins he pulled out his weapon, a battle axe which length is just as much as his own height and raised it with one hand.

“I am Alurio Darc Velnard, general of Yurgard Plateau! I hereby declare the complete annihilation of human adventurer guild! Anyone who is brave enough, come at me, I will handle you personally!”