An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

Narcisse gave clear instructions while firing continuously at a speed so fast that it was difficult to see.

Nine arrows were fired in a flash, each aimed at Airem, Lelye, and Godel with uncanny precision. It was like magic. The archers in the army also coordinated with Narciss and began to fire.

At the same time, the knights who were not targeted by the arrows attacked Narcissus.

"Hey, brothers, hurry up! We can't let the enemy get in the way of Narcissus and the others, even if we die!"

The old man of the native tribe gave orders in a voice as loud as thunder. Although he was old, he was not weak at all. Although he was short in height, his muscles bulged powerfully, swollen as if they were about to burst.

He was Hao Bax, the thousand-man commander of the Infantry Regiment's Heavy Shield Corps, known as the "Iron Wall." Upon receiving his command, the orc warriors of the Heavy Shield Corps instantly shifted formation, with adjacent shieldmen overlapping their tower shields.

Those were no longer just individual shields, but a wall made up of hundreds of shields.

As expected, aiming was impossible in the thick fog, but the knights unleashed hundreds of "Sky-Soaring Flashes" simultaneously, a storm of light slashes that resembled a scattershot attack, but all were blocked by the shields.

The sudden attack of the federal soldiers was met by the assembled orc warriors.

Protected by the improvised fortress, the Narcissian team fired freely, but were annihilated by Aram's white flames and shot down by Leleye's arrows. Golder, using the White Wolf's acrobatic speed, swung his lance to deflect the arrows. He was pelted with hundreds of arrows, yet not a single one struck him. This strength was extraordinary.

That being said, it was also true that he was forced to focus on avoiding the situation. Godel's expression twisted in anger as he roared:

"Detlef! What are you doing? Kill that beast!"

He had thought he could finally fulfill his lifelong wish as a warrior, but suddenly someone intervened. While Detelf wasn't completely frightened, he didn't know how to react. Hearing Godel's urging, Detelf sighed.

Bathed in the morning-glowing drizzle, woven through the mist and rain, Shim's injuries healed in the blink of an eye. Detelf watched him recover and assumed a stance, shouldering his greatsword.

"…Sorry, this is also war."

"Never mind, this is war."

Hearing Shim's response, Detloff gave a wry smile. Ah, as expected... Orcs are more like 'humans'. But he could only think such things in his heart; speaking them out loud would inevitably lead to being labeled a heretic.

Then, helplessly, he prepared to step forward with all his might—

Then he saw a flash of light across the top of the fog and stopped.

Shim also looked up at the sky, while Godel and the others smiled with ecstasy, thinking, "It's finally here!"

Then there was a deafening crash.

Narciss and the others stopped firing unconsciously, and the other orc warriors froze. Shim lost his composure and shouted:

"No way! Is this an air raid!?"

Even as he spoke, the explosions continued. The orcs' excellent hearing allowed them to determine the impact location based on the direction of the sound and the vibrations in the atmosphere. This meant the artillery fire was concentrated near the tree.

"How could it be possible... that the attack came from outside the barrier's range!? Such a long-range attack..."

Judging by the flashes in the sky, it was definitely not the Beastlight Knights' Holy Dragon troops charging directly into the trees and launching a bombardment from directly above. However, launching an attack from within the thick fog would make it difficult to aim, and concentrating the impact points would be impossible. The impacts would likely be more scattered around the edge of the treeline or on the battlefield plain.

The reason why the enemy can snipe deep into the forest is simply because they can launch ultra-long-range attacks from outside the fog barrier.

Wide-area annihilation magic is fine, but the only attacks capable of bombarding from several kilometers away are probably Mulu's Holy Bow and Holy Dragon King Aedra's "Roar"...

They were the key to the fight against Meredith, and she was unlikely to allow them to launch such an attack.

So what is this...

While Shim and the other warriors were trembling and confused, Godel and his men happily took advantage of the opportunity to launch an attack.

Let’s go back a little in time.

While the forces on the ground engaged in their respective battles, Meredith focused on the battle in the sky. Her opponent, as usual, was Ros, who was directly engaged, protected by Mulu and Adra, along with the White Light Knights and the Holy Dragon Corps.

(…The members are slightly different, with a few captain-level personnel missing, replaced by the general White Light Knights and Holy Dragon troops doubled.)

Although most of his energy was spent on the fierce battle with Rouse, Meredith still analyzed the situation calmly.

To evade the knights' indiscriminate attacks accompanying their massive offensive, she, like Bart and the others, requested that the fog barrier be dispelled into a spherical shape. Therefore, there was no need to use "Holy Flame" to dispel the dense fog. To be honest, Leleille's bow and arrows were only of a second-rate Mulu quality, so her combat power was truly unnecessary.

That being said, it was true that there was a sense of foreboding. After Meredith and Rouse bounced off each other, an arrow shot out at perfect timing like a laser, and Meredith used gravity magic to knock it down.

"Oh my! The number of knights has doubled. Ko-Mi is so popular, it's really hard work! Knights, don't just chase after Ko-Mi just because she's so cute♡"

Just like that, she swung her skirt to provoke the knights, with a smug smile on her face.

As expected, veins popped up on the foreheads of several knights, and they cursed, "How dare you be so arrogant!" and "You can only be so proud now."

"Only now? What do you mean? Do you have any countermeasures against me?"

"You've revealed your flaw."

Just then, as if seizing a gap in Meredith's consciousness caused by her thoughts, Rouse appeared on her right side. Meredith cried out anxiously, "Oh no—" and, just like two weeks ago, her ribs were shattered and she was sent flying.

At this moment, arrows flew in overwhelming force, the magic arrows fired from the holy bow raining down on Meredith from the sky like a torrential rain. Perhaps they figured that this would be harder to dodge than being completely struck down by gravity magic.

Furthermore, two hundred holy dragons simultaneously unleashed "Dragon's Roar (Breath)", blocking Meredith's retreat. The aurora, ten meters in diameter, at the center was the breath of the Holy Dragon King Adra.

"Don't underestimate the beautiful girl—'Ze Huo'!!"

The two gravity balls constantly floating around couldn't dodge or defend against it. So, it would be better to immediately unleash a massive gravity vortex to devour the aurora.

Due to the overwhelming energy, Absolute Disaster was on the verge of breaking... but it managed to hold on. Then, taking advantage of the gap in the Death Ray's hold, she landed on the ground, using her gravity sphere to block the incoming arrows and the massive breath.

Seeing Ross chasing after her from the corner of her vision, Meredith quickly turned around, activated her communication earrings, and called her reliable sister.

"Sister Mei!"

"I know! Xiao Mi!"

Thousands of magic arrows and hundreds of breaths blazed indiscriminately, a single-strike aurora borealis lurking behind them. Three hundred White Light Knights stood by, surrounding the spherical Sky Arena shrouded in thick fog. If Meredi approached the edge, they would launch a powerful attack, preventing her from escaping into the fog.

Under the intense threat, Miledi flew alone at high speed, dodging attacks and delaying time.

Then, the mist and rain gently enveloped the injured body, and the morning glow brought the miracle of regeneration. Mei'er's support was still as perfect as usual.

But Mei'er said in a tone that was almost like a cry:

"Xiao Mi! Try not to get hurt! Big Onee is very busy right now!"

"What's the battle situation like now!?"

The ones who answered in Mei's place were Natsu, who was monitoring the entire battlefield from the "hole", and Lutilis beside him.

"We are being suppressed. The battlefield has expanded to several kilometers from north to south. The enemy is almost entirely composed of dead soldiers."

"The dead soldiers...what happened to them..."

"The number of injured here is increasing, and there's no spare capacity to retreat. Now, more and more people are unable to return to the rescue area, onee-sama."

"No wonder Mei-nee is screaming—Ouch!?"

Now, Ross was constantly under the spell of healing magic, his body radiating. Mireddy narrowly dodged his powerful attack and the simultaneous "Soul Charge," using a wide-area gravity field to suppress the surrounding area. The "Soul Charge" slightly disrupted Mireddy's magic power, causing communication to become intermittent. She reestablished communication and simultaneously unleashed "Sky Flash: Thousand Wings" in all directions.

Meredy unleashed a move synonymous with his own side. Although each strike was small, its power was almost identical, and it could be delivered simultaneously to a thousand people. Seeing this unique skill, the knights couldn't help but wonder if they had seen it wrong, and at the same time, they felt angry and excited.

Meredi slipped through the slightly chaotic gaps in the attacks and escaped from the barrage of bullets.

"Mi Mi, I'm going to pull the front line back."

"The sea of ​​trees will be severely damaged, right? Regenerating the sea of ​​trees will consume a huge amount of magic power, right?"

"Now that we have Onee-sama, it's annoying to let the enemy build a stronghold in the sea of ​​trees, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"...I understand. Anyway, what we need to do is still the same! One more person is better, just hold these guys back as long as possible—"

"You're too lax."

“Eh—”

It was Ross. Meredith didn't relax, she kept her eyes on Ross. In fact, Ross was a little further away, staring at them.

But... the sound came from behind.

Meredith was horrified and looked back, and in an instant, she was hit hard in the chest.

What she saw was the moment when the translucent Ross slapped her.

『──「Purification」! 』

「!?」

Meredith heard Natsu and Lutilis shouting something, but she couldn't tell if the voices were right next to her or far away. Not just her hearing, but all her senses were hazy, and she had already fallen into a trance.

Even in that state, the only thing that was clear was—

(Me, me?)

Meredith saw herself in her vision, and she was now looking down at her from behind.

She didn't understand why, but she knew her body was motionless, defenseless. Anxiety surged, and Meredith desperately tried to move, but the gravity magic was ruthlessly broken, and Meredith's body began to fall.

"Finally caught you."

Unconsciously, the translucent Ross disappeared, and was replaced by the real Ross, which emitted chains of light to bind Meredith's body. At the same time, dark chains bound another Meredith, yes, the translucent Meredith.

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Seeing her hands, body, and feet emitting a faint sky-like glow and becoming transparent, Meredith almost fell into panic.

"What did you do—"

"I pulled your soul out."

Ross held two chains of opposite shining colors in one hand, panting as he spoke concisely.

Soul magic "Purification" - it is magic that forcibly extracts the soul from the target's body.

In other words, Ross used the soul magic "Apparition" to separate his spirit from his body, used his body as bait, approached Meredith in spirit form, and then perfectly hit her with his killer move.

"I've never seen you use a move like that before!"

"I finally mastered it yesterday. Do you think I've been having fun for the past half month?"

Hearing what Ross said, Mireddy gritted her teeth in regret and really wanted to scold herself for being stupid.

What stung her most was the look in Ross's eyes. There was an unconcealed disappointment in them. She had boasted so much, saying she would give him hope, that Ross Byrne would regain his free will, and yet the result was such a disgrace!

While I could argue that I could still contend with the Church's strongest forces in a one-on-many situation, and even gradually became familiar with their movements, coupled with the unusual circumstances on today's battlefield, I let my guard down. I had many reasons, but none of them could serve as excuses. The enemy had perfectly exploited my slightest flaw!

Meredith desperately tried to return to her body, but the dark night chains—perhaps also a soul-binding spell from soul magic—pretty much prevented her from moving.

In the field of vision, one can see Mulu and others and the White Light Knights approaching with cheers.

"You're going to take me—"

Before he could even utter the word "how", Royce looked towards the south and said in a tone lacking in intonation:

"It's over. So-called 'free will'...is nothing more than an additional sacrifice."

Although Mireddy wanted to refute, the despair that came from the south made her speechless.

A massive hole was blasted through the thick fog, piercing the atmosphere. Passing over Meredy and the others was a swarm of fiery balls, burning with azure flames, like a gigantic meteor shower. Each one was over ten meters in diameter. It was the advanced fire-attribute attack magic, "Sky."

However, that wasn't just any ordinary "Sky." Because Meredith was a master of magic, she knew it at first sight. Those "Sky" spells contained the power of dozens of rounds, simultaneously channeled over extremely long distances by the highest-level wind magic, making them a complex spell of exceptional difficulty.

Then, what kind of existence uses this kind of magic spell that is specifically designed to strengthen armies and destroy cities?

"Empire...Grandar Empire!"

Because it was her motherland, she knew it. Because she was the heiress to an earldom that held a prominent position in a great magical nation, she couldn't possibly not know it.

"The remaining liberators are protecting the Queen, right? If it were you, even if the forest was completely burned down, you would be able to protect the Queen."

"! ...So that's what's going on! Xiaonai! Defend yourself quickly!"

Because it was the spirit of Meredith that made the sound, and the earrings on her body were not activated, the sound could not be transmitted.

Then, a loud bang was heard on the battlefield, and a fierce impact was transmitted.

Then, the thick fog above the height where Meredi and the others were seemed to explode and dispersed in an instant.

"Gu! Ugh, Meredy! Are you alright!? Answer me now! The enemy is to the south! Do you hear me!?"

A voice emanated from the cave entrance. Apparently, Natsu, following Meredith's wishes, had successfully blocked the first wave of attacks by utilizing the barrier that blocked space. Lutilis had likely lifted the fog to allow Meredith to see the enemy more clearly.

After the thick fog dissipated, a group of troops could be seen in the distant south.

A fleet of over a hundred airships, three in length and in a horizontal formation, were flying towards them. The emblem of the Grandat Empire was painted on the sails of their main masts, as if to flaunt the might of a great nation.

A huge magic circle appeared on their sails, and then the sails of all the ships began to emit brilliant light. That was the strategic-level compound magic that the great magic country was proud of.

"Miledi!? Have you been caught?! What's wrong with you?!"

Natsu, who barely managed to block the first wave of attacks, finally discovered Meredith's condition through the "hole".

"Xiao Nai! Leave me alone, defend the capital!"