Mob MC 312.1

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Chapter 312.2. The Floating Castle Gate Defense Battle

-???'s POV-

A thick beam of light scorched through the space, burning the grass, turning it into glass, and carving grooves into the ground. It struck the statue of the first emperor that had been placed in front of the gate, melting it with superheated heat, leaving no trace behind.

"Ah! The statue of the first emperor is gone!"

The tank operator screamed, and Arachne attempted to stand up, but it staggered and fell to the ground once again. Then, Arachne's iron legs were cleanly severed into pieces, leaving nothing but clean-cut sections.

"Well, my apologies for that."

[Slashing Iron Residual Light]

With a faint glimmer of threads in the air, the thread manipulator muttered.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

[Petrifying Breath]

Once again, the chicken exhaled its breath.

"Ah! There are damages to the vehicle..."

And somehow, it had managed to sneak into the gaps in the armor and petrify the tank crew inside.

"This is bad! Take down that fumbling Cockatrice over there! Gah!"

The captain of the Royal Guards ordered other members to take down the running chicken, but he got struck down mid-sentence, as he was blindsided and knocked to the ground.

One of the black-robed figures closed the distance and struck with the stone pommel of an axe in their hand instantly. 

More chickens quickly appeared and pecked at the fallen captain. Soon, the captain's body turned into stone, joining the ranks of the statues.

"When did this one show up?!"

"I'll be the new captain... Adah...."

"Hey, stop pecking at me!"

The Royal Guards attempted to reform their formation, but nearly twenty chickens suddenly emerged from the bushes, launching a surprise attack.

"Cook! Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

With rapid, arrow-like movements, the chickens darted around and quickly pecked at the guards. The Royal Guards who got pecked by the unusual roosters turned into stone one after another.

Those who tried to regroup and break free from the roosters got brutally beaten by robed people wielding axes.

When they gathered magical power to resist, arrows flew in, and the Royal Guards who attempted to turn around found themselves entangled by invisible threads.

In this way, the Royal Guards got swarmed by the roosters.

Ultimately, the approximately 200 guards did not last 10 minutes before they were all petrified, standing alongside each other as statues.

"Hmm... They are quite fragile. It's rather impressive to see how weak they are."

"Well, yes. Perhaps it's a testament to how strong we've become."

"Still, this level of weakness is unacceptable. It's because they've focused too much on training and haven't seen actual combat."

"You're quite harsh, aren't you?"

"Actually, that person raised too many chickens."

With his axe returned to his waist, the man shrugged in disbelief. 

The thread manipulator attempted a half-hearted defense, but the axe men didn't take it seriously. The archer pets the head of the rooster.

[Captain Euno, can we go back to sleep? It's nighttime, and I'm sleepy.]

[No, we can't. We have to wait here until we receive orders to return from Her Excellency, Sheena.]

[With Ant-san and the Cockatrice flock, it seems like we can defend just fine, though, right?]

[Yashibu says the same.]

[No.]

The black-robed individuals communicated their thoughts through telepathy. Among the Nine Spirits, it was the three of them: Captain Euno, Thread Manipulator Yashibu, and Archer Sheena. In case someone revealed their identities. The 3 were chosen to defend the gate.

The others involved in the defense included Ant-san, Freya, a flock of Cockatrices, and human-like earth golems created by Euno to match the numbers.

Everyone appeared as Nidhogg, the evil organization, wasn't concerned about adding a few more sins to their list.

As they watched the defeated Royal Guards, Yashibu and Sheena laughed while scratching their cheeks.

[To cure petrification, we need recovery magic, right?]

[The Royal Castle will need to pay a hefty sum to heal the fallen guards... The Emperor is going to have a tough time for a while.]

Thinking about the future, Euno smiled wryly. The Emperor would probably have been better off if the Royal Guards died instead. There were so many of them. A single Saint couldn't heal them all.

"It seems like we have more incoming."

"Yes, our mission is to defend this place. It's unfortunate for them, but there's no other choice."

As Yashibu had said, they sensed numerous people approaching from the passage. Judging by the size of their mana, they might put up a decent fight.

"...I wonder why the Emperor isn't coming? If he did, the situation would still be salvageable. Sigh... Oh well, huff, huff."

Sheena voiced her curiosity while continuously firing arrows into the passage with machine gun-like speed. Each shot was followed by screams and triumphant cock-a-doodle-doo sounds.

"He's likely underestimating the situation. He probably thinks it's not much of a threat. He may want to stay at the dueling ground between noble houses. The chance to meddle would only come after the duel, and he won't have many such opportunities."

"The Emperor made a wrong choice..."

"That's right. Her Excellency is now... Hmm?"

Vrooom.

Just as Euno was about to respond to Sheena, a massive explosion occurred in the wall of the Floating Castle. 

Fragments of the wall rained down to the ground, and consecutive explosions echoed through the area.

"It seems that even in the Floating Castle, unexpected things are happening."

Watching the obvious signs of a large-scale battle, Euno and the others looked up at the sky with concern.

"Waooon."

They heard a fearsome wolf's roar that sent shivers down one's spine from the Floating Castle.