The Battle of Setia (Middle)
But Brian's attention was drawn to Capella's form for only a brief moment—because dust, visible even to the naked eye, was rising from the western forest.
Then, a massive swarm of Wolgarms surged forward like a black tide.
The top-tier mercenaries, including Brian, instantly understood what was happening and made a decision.
Even if over half of the city's combat strength had gathered here, even with the aid of the defensive magic formation on the city walls, they couldn't possibly hold off a Sin Archbishop leading that many beasts.
In the next moment, all the mercenaries confident in their own strength left the wall.
They knew that to hold the line, they had to eliminate one threat before the beasts arrived.
And compared to Capella—who couldn't be killed even when decapitated—the beast tamer, who controlled the monsters, was without a doubt the top priority.
The heavy ballista bolts fired from the city wall passed over Brian and successfully forced Capella away from the beast tamer.
But Capella's dragon tail once again grew thicker and longer, the black whip-like shadow sweeping across the charging mercenaries.
Brian slid to avoid it—the wind pressure from the tail distorted the skin on his face—and he saw several familiar figures' torsos flying through the air.
Then, in the very next instant, a sense of danger surged from ahead. As he looked up, Brian saw a mouth full of sharp teeth.
Death, however, didn't come for Brian as he expected.
The spearman who leapt over the dragon tail from above thrust his spear straight through the Wolgarms King's snout.
Then Brian's blade severed its neck.
Having narrowly escaped death, Brian quickly got back on his feet to assess the situation.
Two mercenaries had already reached the beast tamer.
Even Lord Roswaal, the strongest magician, had once been knocked unconscious by a punch from Marcos—so for a child-like beast tamer to face two mercenaries at close range should have meant certain death.
That's how it should have been.
But the woman running on the left suddenly slashed open the stomach of the man beside her, then grabbed Meili and began fleeing forward at high speed.
—Fleeing!?
By the time Brian realized something was wrong, his Divine Protection was already screaming in alarm—but it was already too late.
"The battle is decided. You fools with your inferior minds must be thinking that, right? Naïve, far too naïve. Yes, it's decided—because I have won."
At some point, Capella had transformed into a massive black dragon and declared her victory.
Then, from her mouth, she spewed forth black dragon fire—aimed not only at the mercenaries and the beasts, but also at the civilians who hadn't made it into the city yet.
It even included her own daughter.
A wall of black flames spread sideways, an attack capable of wiping out everyone who had left the protection of the city's magic barrier.
—Ah! She actually used her own daughter as bait.
Brian understood everything in that moment, but he was powerless to stop it.
Though his Divine Protection was powerful, it had its weaknesses—and this kind of inescapable, wide-range attack was one of them.
"Shuma!"
With a girl's shout, a thick ice wall several meters tall suddenly appeared between the mercenaries and the black flames.
Everyone was momentarily stunned, but these were the elite mercenaries.
In the next second, they sprang into action. Those outside the ice wall ran toward it, throwing nearby civilians over it. Those inside tried their best to catch them.
The flames, which were designed for area destruction rather than precision, were easily blocked by the ice wall.
The black dragon noticed this and began inhaling again. If it were allowed to breathe fire once more, everyone there would end up as charred corpses.
"Hahahahaha!"
The demon girl laughed madly as she smashed her weapon against the dragon's neck, again and again.
Most of the mercenaries quickly moved out from behind the ice wall and charged toward the black dragon.
Brian stayed behind the wall.
His sword couldn't do much damage to a dragon tens of meters long—but people were another story.
He launched four consecutive Iaijutsu strikes at Meili, who had been taken behind the ice wall. The woman who had brought her there parried with her curved blade.
"So you're the Bowel Hunter? I thought you were just a bloodthirsty killer—never expected this side of you."
Although Brian deeply respected the Bowel Hunter's choice to risk her life to save a comrade, he was a mercenary—a bandit.
In a life-or-death battle, his blade didn't hesitate as it continued its arc toward Meili.
Clang clang clang clang clang~~
"Sorry—we're not knights. Just mercenaries."
Brian spoke to the Bowel Hunter, who was now covered in wounds and had stopped breathing.
He understood her strength—if she were allowed to move freely, even among their group, several people would surely have died.
But they were mercenaries—they weren't arrogant enough to ignore a vulnerable enemy, nor naïve enough to show mercy to a woman or child.
And they certainly weren't foolish enough to fight one-on-one.
Brian assessed the battlefield.
As expected, the second wave of beasts pouring out of the forest had fallen into chaos.
The right side of the city wall hadn't launched any more attacks—probably facing some trouble.
He also noticed that a few fewer mercenaries were headed to support the demon girl in the distance, but she, as the main attacker, was still holding her ground.
As expected of the strongest demi-human race?
Brian, guided by his Divine Protection, reflexively rolled to the side.
The two people who had been beside him moments ago collapsed. The Bowel Hunter had stood up again and launched another attack.
"Go support the others."
Now freed from the chain named Meili, the Bowel Hunter's true power as a top-tier assassin was fully unleashed.
The group ambush no longer worked. Instead, they had already lost two comrades.
Seeing that her killing intent was focused primarily on him, Brian decisively gave the order and gripped his katana tightly.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
Watching the battle unfold through binoculars from a tall building, Subaru cursed.
Events were gradually slipping beyond his expectations.
The biggest problem wasn't any tactic—it was the blue giant currently battling Winston on the right side of the wall.
"Why is Eight Hands(Kurgan) here!? Wasn't he supposed to be dead!?"
Subaru shouted in disbelief.
Given Lust's body modification abilities, he had instinctively thought this "Eight Hands(Kurgan)" was an imposter.
But Lust had been stalled—so the one fighting Winston must be the real thing.
The only comfort Subaru could take was that the mercenaries were stronger than he had expected, and that the Bowel Hunter's attitude toward the beast tamer had played in their favor.
From his bird's-eye view, Subaru understood clearly: If the Bowel Hunter hadn't risked herself to save Meili, the current battle would be several times more dangerous.
After all, she was originally supposed to storm the wall alongside Eight Hands(Kurgan).
That Brian could actually go one-on-one against a revived Bowel Hunter was also beyond Subaru's expectations, though he was clearly at a disadvantage.