Chapter 37: Night Raid

Alarms rang through the silent night, breaking the peace that lulled the city. Jadenbale woke from his bed with a start. Despite partying all night, Shadowstep hadn’t forgotten to post a night watch. It was rare, but night monster raids had happened in the past. The last time it happened was ten years ago.

“What the heck? Who is the ass that rang the bell? Can’t they take care of it themselves?” soldiers groaned.

“It came from the gate! Ready your arms!”

“It’s a night stampede! Hurry! Wake all mages too!”

The peaceful night turned chaotic in the blink of an eye as soldiers ran about in their barracks, rushing to their armor and spears.

“Go to the gate! Hurry! They need reinforcements!”

“What happened?” Jadenbale rushed to the gate only for the situation to answer for itself. Explosions from bombs broke the silence of the city. Civilians opened their windows, looking toward the gate as a crimson glow overwrote the dark night.

“Arghh!!”

“Die! DIE!!”

Dread and desperation filled the air as soldiers wrestled with monsters that climbed the gate. Black spiders as large as cows crawled up the wall, their mandibles clacking with an eerie rhythm. Green blood splattered from an abdomen when a brave soldier stabbed one with his broken spear.

His brave effort was merely a drop in the bucket. Through the dark night, countless more came.

“Get everyone! Even those that are off duty. This is an emergency! Use everything! All the bombs and magic tools!” Jadenbale ordered. “You, go to the barracks and fetch more oil and tar! Burn those critters!”

BOOM!

A plume of flame erupted on the ground. Another explosion followed suit. Then another. And another. Jadenbale twitched his eyebrow. Those firebombs the soldiers threw cost at least ten gold apiece. But they worked wonders. The bombs created a wall of fire, blocking the monsters’ advance and giving the soldiers their much-needed respite.

The spiders clacked their mandibles. One caught a soldier’s arm in its mouth, rallying its kin. They came from the deepest darkness of the woods. They hungered for human flesh.

“DIEE!!!” Soldiers answered with a cry of their own. For them, this was just Wednesday. Fear no evil. Fear no monsters. They were soldiers of Shadowstep, and they would not cower.

Reinforcements trickled in—guards, knights that were off duty, and even mercenaries rallied at the town square.

Count Shadowstep entered his office after a soldier rushed to his manor, still in his nightwear: a black shirt and comfy trousers.

“Hm? Are you nuts? You want to wake up my daughter this late at night? Do you have no shame?”

“Milord, Sir Jadenbale declared a state of emergency. He wishes to have all the mages and soldiers he can get. That also includes Alicia.”

“...Is it that dire? Didn’t we just win against a stampede this afternoon?”

“Sir, we estimate double the number of monsters compared to this afternoon. The monsters we have seen are spider-types. They are as tough as the black orcs from this afternoon. Casualties might be imminent. We could also suffer heavy losses since this is a night raid, and the traps such as boiling tar and pitfalls have not been set.”

“That’s all the more reason not to send my daughter! What if something happens?” Count Shadowstep said. His attempt to prevent his daughter from going to the battlefield was in vain as Eli barged into the room. Unlike a certain maid who was still sleeping, Eli was sensitive to her surrounding. Let alone an explosion, even the sound of clanking metal could wake her up from her slumber.

“Father! Are we under attack?” Elidranthia rushed to his office. The smell of blood—the smell of war—had woken her up. She realized something had gone terribly wrong when an explosion from the gate reached her ears.

“It’s not your business, my child. Let the knights handle this. Once the fight is over, you can treat them tomorrow.”

“I want to help! We can do something, right?”

“No. It is too dangerous. You can stay here. We can handle this. Elana, send John to fetch the bombs from the barracks. We also have Dragon Fire—send Alicia to fill it with mana.”

“Father… it’s not fair! How could you let Alicia work but not me?” Eli pleaded with him.

“... Alright, you can stay in the town square and help the wounded. That’s final. You are not a full-fledged mage, yet. We will not risk a mage in an emergency, understand? Don’t go off on your own. Alicia will also fill the magic tool in the town square.” Count Shadowstep regretted mentioning Alicia’s name. Realizing his hypocrisy, he relented, allowing Elidranthia to help—albeit only in the safer town square.

“Yes, Father.” Eli nodded. “Elana, help me change and wake Alicia. We need her.”

Elidranthia moved fast toward the square. Another thunderous explosion rang from the wall. Soldiers and even clerks could be seen bringing boxes and pots filled with supplies such as arrows, spears, and bombs toward the wall.

“Lady Elidranthia, please follow me.” John guided her toward a corner of the town square while carrying Alicia on his back. Soldiers who had lost their limbs were being treated with bandages. After delivering her, he left for another corner where military magic tools were being recharged.

Eli needed no further prompting. She dashed toward an unconscious soldier whose legs had been chewed by monsters. Green light flowed from her hand toward the mangled limbs. The bleeding slowed to a trickle, then to a stop. She then moved to another patient before a militia spotted her and called her out.

“Healer mages! Thank God! Come here! This patient is a priority!” A militia with a torch, who had seen the green light, approached her. Eli didn’t correct him. This was an emergency; she wouldn’t flaunt her titles when people’s lives were at stake.

“Stop his bleeding here and here before moving to another.”

“Eh? We are not going to fully heal him?”

“There are others who need your magic, just stop the bleeding. We need to save as many as we can,” the experienced knight who worked as a field medic said. He then pointed toward several other patients. Eli glanced at the three knights he pointed. One had half of his body missing. Another had three holes in his stomach, the result of being stabbed by a spider’s legs, while the other had lost his arm up to the shoulder. “You can also ignore that guy and that guy. Their wounds are too severe—it would take too much mana. Their injuries are too deep.”

“I am a level 6! I can save everyone! We will start with the worst one!” Eli declared. The medic then realized his slight.

“Ah. I am sorry, Lady Elidranthia—” The knights, who had forgotten who Eli was, tried to correct his language, but Eli was having none of it.

“No need for titles now. Let’s go! I can work with only one patient at a time. You need to help me keep the others from bleeding out while I help this one. Hurry!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Jadenbale had declared an emergency, so even civilians were recruited as nurses and for logistics. None complained. They knew they would become the monsters’ food if the knights failed, so even if they had to work in the dead of night, they worked—transporting supplies to the frontline or even dragging injured soldiers to the medical tent.

“Hm… yawn... What’s with the ruckus this late at night… Papa?” Alicia, still half asleep, was put on another corner of the town square where various boxes were lined up.

“Alicia. Please fill this up! We need them to fight monsters.” John said. A militia then handed her a box filled with firebombs. Many magic tools for war were drained of their magic for safekeeping, leaving only some active. But now that there was an emergency, Alicia and the other mages were gathered here to activate them. War had changed. In times of emergency and real danger, mages did not stand beside knights anymore. They stood behind them, supplying them with tools. This way, wars could be won without sacrificing the mages, and mages could be utilized to their fullest.

“Alicia, fill this please. This one is fire affinity, this one is wind affinity.” John shook her awake. Her yawning and nightgown in this chaotic night were like night and day. She moved sluggishly toward the red jewel on top of the flamethrower and charged it.

“Hmm..? What happened?” Alicia yawned again as she finished filling up the flamethrower, which was then carried away by three muscular militia. Despite her being half sleepy, she still did her duty faster than a level 4 mage beside her. It was not until another explosion at the gate that she fully awoke to the grave situation around her.

“Alicia, this one, please. Please fill these reserve firebombs.” John handed her a grenade.

“Done. Next.” Alicia roused the mana inside her body. Now that she knew this was important, she did her best. Two dozen firebombs were finished charging in fifteen minutes, which were then taken by a knight to the gate with his horse.

“John! That’s enough. We are done. There are no more monsters.” A messenger came forth an hour later, bringing the good news. The citizens cheered, their hands raised to the sky as they shouted their victory.

“Good work, Alicia.”

“Yay!! We won!”

“Alicia, if it doesn’t bother you, do you still have mana to spare? Could you fill the nearest fountain?” A knight came to John, asking Alicia to fill the fountain. Nurses and the militia had been draining it by the bucket to help with the wounded.

“Yes! Of course! Leave it to me!” Alicia dashed toward the fountain and filled it up.

Jadenbale breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the monsters were slain at the gate. He then ordered the militia to carry the wounded knights and posted replacements. A flare gun was fired toward the forest to ensure no more monsters were waiting inside. After ensuring no more monsters were present, Jadenbale and the other captains began planning the aftermath of the battle.

“Everyone needs to stay awake tonight. Half of you need to patrol the city. Make sure those monsters did not circle the city and attack us from the back. In the morning, we will send half of the knights to a neighboring village. This stampede was bigger than expected,” Jadenbale said. The other captains sighed, but none complained.

“What about casualties? Get the knights posted in hospitals to collect their names. We need to reward their family and bury them properly.” Jadenbale sighed. His eyes closed for a moment, praying for Goddess Sistielle to welcome the fallen soldiers into heaven. However, his prayers were wasted, because the soldiers reported that no knights had died in the battle.

“None so far, Sir,” a soldier reported.

“None? Even Jack? He had his body torn in two!”

“The knights posted there said there was an outstanding medic present.”

“I see. We are truly blessed,” Jadenbale said. There can only be one such medic in Shadowstep. “Time to report to that medic’s father then.”

“Yes, sir!”

Jadenbale looked at the field. No monsters, no carcasses. Only blood and several gray stones littered the cobblestone wall. If there was one thing he was grateful for, it was that he never had to clean up the field, as monsters left nothing but rocks after they perished.