"Good. The battle's progressing within expectations."

Axel muttered in relief, seeing that Arianne's team was doing quite well.

However, one thing he hadn't anticipated was the loss of personnel. In that short moment, all eight bandits he sent forward died helplessly.

"Not giving them the armor really fucked them up, huh..." he lamented.

Of course, it's not that he was being a penny pincher... though there's that too.

The main reason is that the armor he bought ran out of stock. Although he could choose a different manufacturer with a different set of default buffs, it wasn't worth the price in Axel's eyes—eyes that, even now, underestimated the value of his own products.

You can only imagine how overpriced those armors were if even he was thinking they're way too expensive.

After a brief moment, he shrugged casually. "...Well, they're bandits anyway. And there's more of them left. Nothing to bother about."

All the sides were doing well enough.

The Goatmen who went around were easily taken down by the ballista bolts flying across. It was so brutal that the monsters couldn't even attempt to block them at all.

Beatrix, leading the Eastern Edge, was having it the easiest.

After all, their enemies were mostly zombies only. The monsters couldn't reach their position without being put under the heavy fire of Maria's northern front and Cherry's southern front.

"The enemy's still marching forward! Don't let your guards down!"

Axel commanded once more before assessing Arianne's group.

The four of them rearranged their formation, keeping it tighter. Although it allowed monsters to slip past them, nothing could go beyond the ballistas' and the crossbows' ranges. In short, they were still doing well enough.

And with the monsters other than Goatmen being burdened by curses, their battle was particularly easy. The Goblins were scary, but with blind and slow, they were no different from zombies anymore.

It was almost like they were simply cutting down scarecrows!

The battle continued without much suspense.

Apart from the initial loss of eight bandits, no further casualties were incurred.

Soon enough, the zombies were cleared completely. Now, only the western front had the most enemies remaining, with the other sides facing about a dozen or so left over.

Roughly 500 Goblins, 250 Goatmen, and...

"The last boss finally came out, huh?"

At long last, the devil made an appearance.

With each step causing the earth to shake, it entered the area lit by the LED lights.

The devil looked like the Goatmen, but about five times the size and ten times the eeriness. It had pure black fur, almost blending into the night. Eyes as red as burning coal, with pitch-black vertical pupils glowing ominously in the darkness.

Axel and the devil looked at each other, locked in a stare-off.

"..."

But more than fear, Axel was puzzled.

The first fireball from before was launched by this big guy. But after that, it no longer launched another attack.

'Did it run out of mana? A boss? No way...' Axel gritted his teeth.

If it had kept on harassing them with fireballs or even tried to hit Arianne and the others down below, then the casualties or injured would've been greater. But it didn't. This told Axel one possibility.

"This fucker is looking down on us..."

It was as if the devil was telling them, "Even without cheap tricks, I'll win!" or something. This pushed Axel's buttons, making his head heat up in anger... but he smiled fiercely, his thoughts remaining as cold as usual.

"Alright, Beatrix, Maria, Cherry. Time to start the third phase!"

"ROGER!"

The third phase.

It's the phase after those sides cleared up their enemies.

Those manning the ballista would change to crossbows and attack from on top of the walls, while the rest would go down the wall, wielding their swords, and clean up any stragglers.

This was a plan that they saved for last, and initiating it or not depended on the performance of Arianne and the other three. If Arianne's group struggled, they would move to phase 4 directly instead of phase 3.

But now, knowing that their armors were of amazing quality, there's nothing to fear.

Instead, this was the perfect moment to let the girls try and swing their swords in a real battle situation—gaining experience and confidence as knights.

Beatrix's group of four split into two, with each pair going in separate directions. Along the way, they slashed at any zombies that remained before regrouping with Maria and Cherry's team.

This way, each side had five Valkyrie Knights marching, clearing the edges of the monster formation slowly but surely.

Slowly, they thinned the number of enemies.

When they reached halfway through the remaining, Axel finally commanded:

"Arianne! Time for the final phase!"

"Roger!"

In that moment, she quickly stepped back, rushing along with the other three and reaching just below the walls. Then, she picked up something that was resting at the bottom of the wall... a decorated, solid-steel heater shield.

The other three didn't copy Arianne's sword-and-shield format. Instead, they sheathed their swords and grabbed the tower shields set aside.

Final phase... it was the boss battle!

While Beatrix, Maria, and Cherry's teams were wiping out the remaining mobs, Arianne's team would face off against the devil!

"Curse of Slow, Curse of Blindness...!" Teruria provided backup, but quickly frowned. "As expected, curses don't work on the devil!" she exclaimed with trepidation.

"Don't worry, that's within expectations."

Axel patted Teruria's head over her witch hat and smiled.

"But with the enemy looking down on us, our victory is as much as promised already."

"RAAAAAGH!"

Arianne charged forward, not holding back at all.

She even used body strengthening, raising her abilities even further! "YOU'RE IN THE WAY!" she shouted, and slashed at the monsters that were standing between her and the devil.

Of course, with how she was rushing forward rashly, she was bound to get surrounded. That's where the three with tower shields came into play.

"Go, Captain!"

"We'll hold them off!"

"You shall not pass!"

Using the large shields and their strength that was buffed by their accessories, the three pushed back the monsters trying to hit Arianne from the back. They created a small circle of influence where no monsters were allowed to pass!

"I'LL MAKE IT QUICK!"

With the path cleared, Arianne didn't hesitate. She rushed toward the devil fearlessly!

"Grrrr..."

The enemy, despite looking down on them, still didn't like getting approached.

It quickly created a large fireball above its palm before throwing it toward Arianne. The large ball of flame flew as fast as a bullet, hitting the target squarely.

"Arianne...!" Axel shouted, worried.

But the next moment, a shadow cut through the flames and swung her blade down the devil's leg—a cut that sliced through, opening a flesh wound that spurted black particles.

"This... is for my friends and subordinates you killed!" Arianne growled.

Vengeance strike!

The devil roared in pain.

After all, never in its entire life had it ever been injured.

But attacking "just" its leg... that was the only mistake Arianne made. A mistake that led to a tragedy that nobody expected.

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