Chapter 578 – The Investigation Team’s Defensive Battle

What Tauro and his companions saw after arriving by [Teleportation] was an army far larger than they had imagined.

“…Three thousand—no, there are at least five thousand of them.”

From the shade of the trees, Ankh, a former mercenary, estimated the enemy’s numbers almost perfectly at a glance.

“The investigation expedition should be beyond that encirclement… I’ll take a quick look with [Teleportation].”

As soon as Tauro said that, he vanished and reappeared on the steep slope of a rocky hill overlooking the battlefield.

“…They’ve built defensive walls and are holding out. Against this many enemies, it’s impressive they’ve lasted for the past few days…”

Just as Tauro was admiring their resilience, one section of the defensive wall collapsed in the distance.

Soon afterward, another section was destroyed. Monsters began pouring through the two breaches, and the battle inside rapidly turned into a chaotic melee.

“This is bad!”

Realizing there was no time to spare, Tauro used [Teleportation] to enter the expedition’s defensive perimeter. He immediately brought two Rock-series puppets out of [Magic Storage] and positioned one in front of each breach to stop the monster army from flooding inside.

Then he returned for the others.

“Tauro! Something happened over there, didn’t it? Are they alright!?”

Aeris had noticed the sudden change in the enemy formation and realized the expedition was in danger.

“Two sections of the wall collapsed and things got critical, so I left two Rock units there. Ragune, can you repair the walls?”

“Leave it to me!”

Ragune grabbed Tauro’s hand, and the two vanished with [Teleportation].

Tauro returned shortly afterward.

“I’ve left Ragune with the expedition’s defenders. Aeris, Zion, can you help there too? There are a lot of wounded.”

“Understood!”

“Got it!”

Aeris and Zion each took one of Tauro’s hands and disappeared with him.

After another short while, Tauro returned to Ankh alone.

“What about me?” Ankh asked.

“I need you to tell me where to position the Rock units so they can do the most damage to the enemy army.”

Tauro spread a simple map of the area on the ground, apparently borrowed from the expedition.

“…Let’s see. The expedition is holding the square inside these defensive walls, and the mysterious army is surrounding roughly half of it. In that case, put two Rock units on the uphill mountain path and two on the downhill path. Then place the remaining eight like this.”

Using small stones to represent the Rock-series puppets, Ankh arranged their positions on the map.

“You’re not completely surrounding the enemy?” Tauro asked. Even without much knowledge of military tactics, he could see the deliberate gap in the formation.

“Right. If you surround them completely, they’ll know they have nowhere to run and fight desperately, even launching suicidal counterattacks. Leave them an escape route on purpose, and once they start retreating their formation will collapse. Then pursue them relentlessly. Your Rock series never gets tired, so they’re perfect for it.”

Ankh grinned and swept the stones across the map to demonstrate the pursuit.

“Got it. We’ll use your plan.”

Tauro vanished with [Teleportation].

He reappeared at each position Ankh had indicated, brought a Rock-series puppet out of [Magic Storage], and then teleported to the next position.

It took only a few minutes to deploy them all.

Meanwhile, the mysterious army was struggling against the two Rock units that had suddenly appeared at the expedition’s makeshift fortress.

“Damn it! What are those stone things!? They’re scattering our monster units! …There’s no choice. It’s a waste to use them here, but have the mage corps from the main force attack! Use earth magic to destroy the ground beneath those things, immobilize them, and then finish them off!”

As the commander issued his orders, a series of thunderous impacts erupted from several places behind him.

“What’s happening!?”

Before a subordinate could answer, screams rose from the troops to the rear. When the commander turned, he saw many more of the same enormous stone puppets.

The Rock units opened with shockwaves that blasted apart the densely packed ranks. Then, with inexhaustible stamina and enormous stone arms, they plunged into the formation—smashing soldiers aside, seizing them, and hurling them through the air.

“W-why are there so many!? Weren’t they with the investigation expedition!? A [Puppeteer] capable of controlling even one giant stone puppet would be a major military asset, but there are more than ten of them!?”

The commander stood stunned by the devastation until a subordinate’s report snapped him back to his senses.

“Twelve of those giant stone puppets are advancing while forming an encirclement! Someone must be controlling them, but there’s so much chaos that we can’t locate the operator! Their strength is overwhelming—we can’t stop them! I recommend withdrawing, regrouping, and preparing countermeasures!”

At that moment, battle cries erupted from the front. The investigation expedition had begun a counterattack, and spells started raining down on the mysterious army.

“Grr… They’ve recovered!? I thought they didn’t have enough strength left for this…”

The commander muttered in confusion, wondering whether he had misjudged the expedition.

He had not.

Tauro had simply distributed his magic-restoration potions generously among the defenders as an emergency measure.

Even so, the commander found some reassurance in one thing: the monster forces on the front line showed no fear, even when facing the giant Rock-series puppets.

If those monsters could keep the expedition pinned down long enough—

But then the cloudy sky above suddenly turned pitch-black.

“Thunder God’s Wrath!”

Standing atop the expedition’s defensive wall, Aeris raised her ebony staff toward the heavens and completed her spell.

Thunder roared in answer.

Bolts of lightning poured from the black clouds and tore through the monsters on the front line, scorching their bodies black.

Even the monsters, supposedly incapable of fear, hesitated before the overwhelming magic. Their assault on the expedition’s fortress faltered, and they began to retreat.

It seemed that even they could recognize genuine danger.

“Damn it! Break through the weakest point of the encirclement and retreat! The operation has failed! Send word to headquarters—cancel all further operations!”

Seeing the monster forces lose their momentum, the commander accepted defeat and gave the order to withdraw.

“And you, General?” one of his subordinates asked.

“If those stone puppets pursue the main force, our losses will be enormous. I’ll take the monster troops and hold off the pursuit myself. The rest is up to you…!”

Prepared to die, the commander began a fighting retreat.

Meanwhile—

“…The enemy’s in complete chaos. They’ve started retreating… Whew… Controlling this many puppets is rough. Without Seth here, I can only give them simple commands…”

Tauro muttered while leaning against Ankh for support.

Then his strength gave out, and he sank to the ground.