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Dear readers, Refulgent here, if you're reading this on an aggregator site, this chapter may contain errors or broken reference links. Please visit FourSlimes dot com to read the properly edited version and show the translator your support.

Chapter 1 – 18

East Gate Side & South Gate Side

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－－－－East Gate Side－－－－

It was a terrible situation. The zombies were acting too quickly. I had planned on attacking when the zombies were bunched up together, by having Tenma use area of effect magic to inflict some major damage, but now…

Even worse was that whoever was controlling the zombies seemed think only of strategy.

“Merlin-sama, the zombies have started to move again. There are around 3,000 of them if you count the survivors from before.”

Again they've increased, this really is annoying. If they're showing up all at once like this, we can at least be efficient with mana.

“I will cast Fire Storm three times. Ignore the ones who are severely damaged and instead, focus your arrows on those that came out relatively unscathed.”

I shot my Firestorm at the group of zombies while I spoke. Only around 1,000 were killed, however.

(I don't like this at all, there's still more than 6 hours until sunrise)

The zombies kept on attacking, paying no mind to the fact that 1,000 others had just died in front of them.

The number of zombies who manage to reach the wall has increased. Although I still have plenty of mana, my physical stamina seems to be waning first.

“Watch where you're shooting, the smoke could obscure our vision!”

This time I shot 10 Air Bullets in rapid fire while giving orders. The mana levels of the remaining mages here could be getting dangerously low.

“Mages, give your hands a small break and down some mana potions!”

When the other magic had stopped, I shot a few Wind Cutters out. The wind released seemed to help disperse the smoke, but the number of zombies changed very little.

“We'll leave the small zombies to the golems! Concentrate your arrows on the medium and large sized zombies to rack up more damage quickly!”

There were many smaller zombies, who seemed comparatively fast and reached the wall quickly. They could easily be taken out with just the splash damage from other magical attacks or a single blow from the golems. Medium sized zombies and above couldn't be taken down as easily, save for direct damage to their head.

“The number of medium and large sized zombies has increased considerably.”

Just as Merlin said, back at the start you would only occasionally see a medium among the small zombies. Now it feels like there around 4 medium or large size to every 6 small zombies. Although, it somehow feels like the total number hasn't increased or decreased, it's always stayed around 3,000 of them slowly lumbering toward us.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

Just then, from the North Gate a large pillar of fire rose up and filled the surrounding area with light.

“Was that an attack from the enemy!?”

“What was that?!”

“Is the north gate safe?!”

One after the other, the voices yelled out. It was clear that some of them were only newly acquainted with their enemy.

“Calm down! The pillar of fire must be one of Tenma magic attacks!”

I explained to those around me, but the uproar wouldn't quiet down.

“Merlin-sama, even though you've told me that Tenma can use high level magic, I've never even heard of that spell!”

One of the mages said quite loudly.

“It's definitely Tenma. Tenma's magic has already surpa.s.sed Celia's. Based on his talents alone, he is starting to rival even me. Furthermore, he's gone as far as creating original magic at such a young age. That was probably one of them.” Merlin explained.

Everyone was only half convinced by words alone, but according to the messenger, Tenma had just annihilated around 4,000 zombies gathered at the North Gate and was on his way over to the West Gate. Upon hearing this news, a great cry of joy swept over them.

－－－－South Gate Side－－－－

A zombie horde 7,000 strong had gathered 400 or 500 meters in front of the South Gate.

“What are the zombies even doing?!”

As Ricardo asked, Celia glared at the zombies shambling out of the forest.

“They've mostly been standing without moving much. Isn't it creepy?”

She answered with a difficult expression on her face.

“They're zombies, so of course they're creepy.”

Ricardo replied lightheartedly, but Celia looked serious.

“Not like that, I meant creepy as in this way of moving is really suspect. They're standing there staring into s.p.a.ce, like they're waiting for something.” She replied.

There was certainly a considerable number of zombies coming from the forest, but it appeared they were deliberately choosing to keep their distance.

“What do you think they're thinking?”

“I dunno, but if it's guys like that, it's gotta be something terrible, right?”

As I was speaking, the sound of rapid-fire magic being cast rose from the East Gate and I saw flame.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

“The East Gate is being invaded at the same time!”

Ricardo prepared himself for the worst, but the zombies didn't move at all, rather anti-climatically.

“This really is strange.” He said in agreement with Celia.

“Celia, is your mana okay?”

“Yeah, I drank some mana potions earlier so I'm almost full.”

While they spoke, the zombies suddenly started to slowly advance forward.

“Seriously, what are these zombies thinking?”

“Yeah, why didn't they go to the east gate at the same time? This is exactly why I think it's really strange.”

Despite the strangeness, the two of them started to take action.

“Mages, form a horizontal line. On my signal, shoot them with Fireb.a.l.l.s. The warrior group is to be on standby.”

Ricardo barked out his orders. When the zombies reached around 200m away,

“FIIIRE!”

Ricardo finally gave his signal. Accordingly, all the mages unleashed their magic.

“Keep on going, this time aiming a little further forward. Now, FIRE!”

Ricardo gave them the signal five times. They succeeded in taking down close to 2,000 zombies.

“It would be nice if it was over, just as simple as this.” Ricardo muttered.

Hearing this, Celia replied,

“It would be, wouldn't it? But that's not the case.” and cut off herself off abruptly.

The zombies advanced onward, stepping over the bodies of their former teammates.

“Lets go! Same as before, FIRE!”

As usual, the zombies packed closely together and shambled on toward the gate.

Fire off magic, burn the zombies to the ground, take a break and drink potions. Repeating this cycle over and over and over again. About halfway to finis.h.i.+ng off 10,000 zombies, a messenger reached Ricardo.

“What!? Hordes of zombies both north and west?!”

This sudden counter attack came after they had been repeating the same things for so long that their senses had dulled.

There is no way that normal zombies would use a battle strategy at all. For this reason, people were largely confused.

“Tell the mages and warriors on standby to immediately aid the west and north gates!”

Ricardo immediately gave out an order, but the messenger from the North reported that Tenma was headed that way already. The mages on standby had been told to head west, according to Merlin's orders. Once Ricardo heard all this, he changed his original plan.

“Only Warriors head north! All mages on standby to the west!”

The standby group immediately moved after Ricardo's order.

“Celia, can the Mages here go as well?”

Hearing this, Celia replied

“It's not possible, the zombies seem to have planned for this. They're coming even faster now.”

The zombies had been densely packed up before, but they've somehow made s.p.a.ce while advancing now.

“Were they just acting before?”

“It's unbelievable, but I think they were. It was done deliberately, using a tactic like this to surround us. Is this the first time in all of history this has happened?”

He said in a joking manner, yet with a serious face.

“I'm worried about how much Tenma can take of this…”

Ricardo let his worry slip out. Celia answered in an unworried voice,

“I think he'll be fine. Because that kid has better magic than me now, and has come up with a number of original types of attack magic.”

Puzzled, Ricardo asked,

“How do you know?”

“He's tried to hide it but sometimes he would use odd and very powerful magic. Bullet type magic was one of them. He seems to come up with solutions and improvements that we would never have come up with ourselves.”

In truth, Tenma had worked out bullet type magic based on his memories of handguns from the previous world, and then taught Celia and the others about it. He had merely taken his knowledge from the previous world and applied it via magic, but Celia saw it and mistook it as a totally original magic invented by him. The truth was known only to Tenma himself and the G.o.ds, so just letting it be called original was probably safe.

“It's just that, I'm sure he doesn't have much experience, so I'm worried.”

Ricardo thought that as of late, Celia had stopped being so overprotective of Tenma on the one hand, while on the other hand she wanted to know Tenma better, and was a little bit jealous.

“If that's the case, lets take out these zombies quickly and go and support Tenma!”

“Okay, I'll make that my goal.”

Celia replied while firing off a Fire Storm. A large pillar of fire rose up from the North Gate.

“Hey, Celia, could that be Tenma's magic?”

For a moment, the zombies had suddenly stopped, along with those defending the south gate.

“Probably, but I wonder…”

She answered with a mildly tense expression.

“Wha, Celia! The zombies stopped moving again. Attack with magic now!”

Celia launched 5 Fire Storms in quick succession. The other mages continued to shoot ball type spells nonstop.

For some reason, the zombies who had stopped moving seemed to have delayed reactions and fell one by one against the magical onslaught. It had to have been over 3,000 of them.

“Yeah! I got a lot of really good hits in there!”

Most of the zombies that had advanced close the gate were dead, leaving a gaping wide clear area. At the same time, another fire pillar rose from the West Gate. A magic spell of that size must have done quite a lot of damage.

Ricardo's group started to wonder if they would survive if it continued on like this.

A moment later, from within the forest, a dark beam shot out.

[Author's Note]

The first chapter will soon be over.

I hadn't planned on making it this long at first, but before I noticed it's made it to 20 chapters.

The heroine still hasn't had an opening to appear in yet…… How should I do this……

Anyways, please look forward to reading chapter 2!

Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I'd love to hear from you directly~

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