Chapter 44: Run, My Home Garden!

Elisabeth was watching the battle unfold from atop the city’s defensive walls.

“Thanks to our weapons and potions, we’ve managed to hold on… for now. But how long can this last…?”

Only about a fifth of the monsters had been defeated so far.

And soon, they would face an even denser wave of enemies than before.

Could their defenses truly withstand it?

“And more importantly…”

Her gaze shifted toward the rear of the stampeding horde.

Three creatures stood out there, their auras unmistakably different from the surrounding monsters—far stronger and far more dangerous.

There was Battle Leo, a monstrous lion; Blood Elephant, a colossal, terrifying elephant; and Kill Scorpion, a deadly scorpion.

Each one of them was classified as an A-rank threat, marked as extremely dangerous.

“Can our soldiers even take them down on their own…? If only a party of advanced adventurers were here…”

The city’s troops were strong as a group; their average combat power was high, and they excelled in coordinated battles.

Adventurers, by contrast, were unpredictable. Their individual combat strength varied wildly—many would fail the city’s recruitment trials, but some were terrifyingly formidable.

Against monsters with this level of raw power, Elisabeth knew they would desperately need the aid of skilled adventurers.

Then, without warning, one of the creatures she had been watching—Battle Leo—changed its behavior.

It shoved aside the monsters ahead of it and surged forward with unstoppable force.

“Watch out! That one is unlike the others!”

“Oooohhhh!”

The soldiers braced themselves, willing to fight to the death.

But Battle Leo shattered their resolve with horrifying ease.

With a single swing of its massive arms, soldiers were sent flying through the air.

Those caught in its teeth—though they wore mithril armor—found themselves instantly crushed.

The carefully maintained defensive formation, the one they had clung to so desperately, finally collapsed under the assault of a single, monstrous being.

And then, Blood Elephant charged.

It didn’t stop at trampling soldiers; it plowed toward the western gate with terrifying speed.

Even the adventurers’ attempts to intercept it were futile against a beast over four meters tall.

“ZUGOOOOOOON!”

With a thunderous crash, the Blood Elephant slammed into the western gate.

The heavily fortified doors held, just barely, but the impact dented them significantly in a single blow.

“PAOOOOOOON!”

“ZUGON! ZUGON! ZUGON!”

As if it bore a personal grudge against the gates, the Blood Elephant continued ramming them, roaring with relentless fury.

“My lord! It’s too dangerous! You must escape at once!”

“N-no… I cannot! I have a duty to protect this city!”

From atop the trembling walls, Elisabeth’s small frame bounced as she shouted with all her might.

It seemed inevitable that the monsters would breach the city’s defenses and flood the streets.

◇ ◇ ◇

This was bad.

What had started as a favorable battle had slowly turned into a losing fight. The city’s troops were now in disarray, their formation utterly shattered.

“If this continues, the monsters will break into the city…”

The western gate, clearly battered by the elephant’s charges, was visibly warped even from a distance.

The monsters continued ramming it, each impact resounding like rolling thunder.

If the gate were to fall, hordes of monsters would storm the city.

The citizens had fled to shelters like churches, but there was no guarantee of safety.

This was my hometown.

To watch it being torn apart by monsters, powerless to do anything… it was unbearable.

“No… there has to be a way…!”

I dismounted from the golem and, alongside the fidgety Milk, teleported to the secondary home garden.

Almost as if reading my thoughts, a familiar voice echoed in my mind.

〈Move the garden?〉

“Yes, please!”

Immediately, the vast secondary home garden began to move as a single, enormous unit.

“Full speed!”

At my command, it surged forward. The sudden acceleration threw me to the ground.

“Nyaa!?”

Milk yelped in surprise as we careened forward, trees snapping beneath us and rocks flying aside in our path. At this speed, we were probably faster than horses.

I scrambled to my feet, climbing onto the mega-golem’s back to get a better view of the walls ahead.

The city’s fortifications loomed closer, and the western gate came into view.

It was half-destroyed, the soldiers barely holding the monsters at bay.

“Hurry!”

〈Maximum speed〉

“Don’t just say that—go faster!”

〈Maximum speed〉

Panicked, I urged the garden onward. The soldiers noticed our advance.

“Hey! What is that!?”

“A wall!? A moving wall!?”

“Run for your lives!!!”

I shouted at the panicked soldiers, though they couldn’t see me—I had concealed myself.

“Evacuate! Evacuate now!”

“Ooooooh!”

They seemed to understand and fled in a rush.

All that remained were the monstrous horde.

Without slowing down, I barreled straight into them.

“Let’s turn this into a real wall!”

At my command, the five-meter-tall garden wall expanded, transforming into a ten-meter-tall fortress.

“Go! Go! GO!!!”

“Grrruuuaaaah!?”

ZUDOOOOOOOOON!

With a cataclysmic crash and deafening roar, my mobile garden wall collided head-on with the monstrous horde, shaking the very earth itself.