Slowly, Axel opened his eyes.

And what welcomed him first was… an arrow, flying right at his face.

A fraction of a second was wasted just understanding the situation, leading to his response being delayed. It was too late to dodge now!

"…!"

Just as he was expecting the arrow to hit him squarely, a thin, transparent membrane flashed just inches from his face, causing the projectile to bounce off.

"That was close!" The person who cast the defense, Nina, barked orders. "Rosaria, clarify the current situation! The rest of you, go and back up the defenders! Move!"

"Yes!"

With a simple command, she sent everyone scattering immediately.

Of course, Axel wasn't amused that his "guards" were sent away just like that. But after glancing around, he began to realize that decision was for the best.

The fortress they landed at—the frontline base against the Demon invasion—was currently under siege!

No, it wasn't just that either.

Rather, the fortress was just a stone's throw from being overtaken by monsters!

"Looks like this isn't the time to think about fixing the three broken fortresses just yet," Axel muttered to himself.

[Exactly!]

Navi added.

Actually, Navi had been with him the entire time, chatting periodically. However, Axel was fully ignoring the little penguin. After all, he didn't want the witches to think he was crazy enough to talk to empty air.

However, Navi's next words weren't something he could ignore anymore.

[Right now, the demons have started a full-on offensive on all remaining fortresses. Not only here, but all frontlines are being pushed to the brink~!]

"…!"

Axel gasped in shock.

He had just become in-laws with the witch Queen, and now their world, Witcheria, was about to be overrun by grotesque monsters!

"No way…!" Axel gritted his teeth. "Navi, can you bring me back to where Eve and the others are?"

And… of course, he wanted to escape.

Yes, they'd become in-laws, and yes, the situation in Witcheria was grim. However, it wasn't like he had a holy mission to save everyone. Rather than risking everything to defend this place, retreating to safety was the better choice!

[Yes, of course! Just buy a return scroll~!]

Navi responded quickly.

Hearing his quick reply, Axel checked the shop and bought the scroll, which cost a mere 100,000 Colts. As soon as he withdrew the item, he unfurled the tie, but—

"Huh? It won't come undone…!" he grumbled, struggling to pull at the seemingly flimsy ribbon.

[Well, that's a given.] Navi nodded to himself, like an expert listening to a student's complaint. [You can't unfurl the scroll without setting the target destination first.]

"Then tell me how to set it!"

[That's easy!] Navi continued. [You need to tap the scroll at the specific point you want to return to!]

"…"

Only then did Axel realize…

He was scammed!

"Fuck! So to return, I need to set this return scroll back there, not here!" Axel growled as he threw the scroll to the ground. "You should've told me that earlier!"

[Well, you didn't ask~!]

"S-Sir Axel…?"

Nina, who was with him, started to question him. From her perspective, Axel had begun shouting and getting angry all by himself. It was as if he'd suddenly gone crazy.

"It's nothing, don't mind me," Axel responded grumpily. "More importantly, this situation is bad… Can't we retreat to the castle?"

Of course, his idea was to return to the castle, then use the teleporter to jump back to where Eve and Teruria were.

However, Nina shook her head the next moment.

"Unfortunately, the fortress's mana is being used to reinforce the defenses. And as you can see, no such defenses remain… That means the mana here has dried up. We can't return until it recovers."

"Fuck…"

Axel finally gave up on escaping.

He had no other choice.

If he wanted to return, he first needed to survive this skirmish. And the best way to achieve that, without having to fight himself, was—

"Nina, protect me!" he shouted as he knelt on the ground.

His palm pressed flat against the fortress floor as a window appeared before his eyes.

[

Name: Witcheria Frontline Fortress (Minor) #5931

Repairable: True

Estimated Cost: 100 million Colts

Repair Cost: 50 million Colts

Repair Duration: 15 seconds

]

"Quite cheap," Axel muttered, shocked.

His castle, which was smaller than this fortress, cost him about 500 million Colts alone! In short, his castle could build five of these minor defense fortresses!

Without wasting time, he started the automatic repairs.

"T-This is…!"

The next moment, a massive amount of mana flowed out of Axel's body, wrapping the entire fortress like a winter blanket. Even the monsters stopped for a moment, intimidated by the thick mana he released.

Then, the countdown began.

Fifteen seconds.

The repair started from the outer walls. Broken fragments moved on their own, returning to their original positions as if time itself were reversing. Monsters who didn't move out of the way of the fragments "died" in mysterious ways.

Ten seconds.

The fortified walls were restored, followed by the fortress interior and the weapons atop the walls. Shattered bricks, cracked wood, snapped strings—everything was repaired, slowly but surely.

Five seconds.

"Fuck off…! Death Curse!"

The monsters snapped back to reality, realizing the fortress was being repaired. They quickly identified the source of the mana—Axel—and charged.

Nina intercepted them without hesitation, not allowing a single monster to touch even a strand of Axel's hair. Her curse spread outward, killing the incoming monsters in one sweep. However, her life energy dropped to rock bottom.

Death Curse was an "expensive" spell. Even Teruria, who possessed abundant mana and life energy compared to others her age, would need to expend most of it to cast once.

Nina lacked that reserve. A single use left her on the verge of collapse.

"…Ugh!"

She gritted her teeth and remained standing. Despite her legs shaking like a newborn foal's, she grabbed one of the potion vials Axel had given them and drank it in one gulp.

"…!"

To her surprise, just one mouthful fully restored her life energy instantly.

Not only that—

"My life energy… increased?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Although she'd read the potion's description beforehand, she hadn't truly grasped what that +8 meant. Now, it felt as though her life energy had doubled. She felt invincible!

"With this power…!" She grinned fiercely, sweeping her gaze across the battlefield. "I won't lose to these monsters!"

And then—

"Done!"

Axel's impromptu fortress repair ended.

All the witches realized what had happened, and hope began to bloom in their hearts.

"THE WALLS ARE UP! NOW'S THE CHANCE! PUSH BACK THE GODDAMN MONSTERS!"

Without delay, a loud command echoed across the battlefield.

The shout came from none other than the master of the fortress!

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