Thanks to Axel's help, the witches' offensive gained momentum.

Within moments, all the monsters inside were cleaned up.

With the walls repaired, the monsters had to break through them again before they could land their attacks. On the other hand, the witches could fire their curses from atop the walls without issue, killing swathes of monsters in one go.

"If you've run out of life energy, come here and drink these potions! Remember, only one sip! One potion can last you ten sips, meaning ten refills of your life energy!"

Nina, who had discovered how effective the Greater Mana Potions were, began distributing her share to the others. She made sure to remind them not to be wasteful like her, who had drunk half a bottle just to recover her meager mana.

Of course, there was a drawback to this.

Since they didn't drink the full vial, the duration of their "buff" would only match the fraction of the potion they drank.

For Nina, who drank half a vial, her buff would last 32 hours instead of 64. If they drank a sip—roughly a tenth of a vial—then their buff would only last about 6 hours.

However, thanks to her initiative, the other witches who received Axel's potions also distributed theirs, repeating the same reminders as Nina. Before long, most of the witches had regained enough energy to fight once again.

Axel watched as the monsters were pushed farther and farther back, until they could no longer come close to the fortress.

"You must be the backup her majesty told us about."

"Huh?"

Axel heard a voice behind him and turned around. There, he saw another witch—one clearly different from the others. She exuded a certain presence, making Axel gulp.

Sharp eyes, rosy red lips, and generous assets. Furthermore, she looked strikingly similar to Queen Wisteria herself!

"No, I don't think that's us," Axel replied immediately. "Our task isn't to help you, but to recover the fortresses further north. Helping out here was just a coincidence… a forced event."

"Oh, really?" The woman gasped. "Then… you must be Axel, right? I see…"

"…?"

He was curious how she knew his name, however—

"Ah, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself," she continued, not letting Axel interject. "I'm Henrietta Hallbach, Duchess and Witch of Purity. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir Axel."

"Duchess…" Axel recalled what that rank meant and asked, "So you're Queen Wisteria's sister?"

"Yes, I am."

"I see…"

"…."

And that was that.

He wasn't particularly interested in their connections.

Rather, there was something else on his mind. "Right, I repaired the fortress, so does that mean we can teleport back to the castle now?" he asked.

"What?"

Henrietta looked confused, but still replied seriously.

"Unfortunately, it will take about six hours for the Magic Stone powering the fortress to recover its mana. Until then, other than walking, there's no way to leave this place."

"…."

Axel could only sigh.

His luck was terrible today.

If he waited six hours, the other fortresses would likely have fallen already. That would put the capital city—where the queen's castle stood—in grave danger.

Axel quickly calculated the gains and losses and came to a conclusion.

"We'll abandon the fortresses that are worse off than this one, and reinforce the rest," he said. "That should delay the demons' advance significantly."

Hearing this, Henrietta smiled and nodded.

"Then that means we will help all the fortresses, correct? Our fortress is actually in the worst condition, since most of our forces were sent to assist the ones attacked earlier."

"…Wait, really?"

Axel felt like he'd been tricked again!

He'd assumed all fortresses were under siege equally, based on Navi's words. But it seemed the demons' offensive was staggered—or rather, staged!

After realizing this, something clicked. "Then their plan was…"

"I'm afraid so," Henrietta nodded, not needing Axel to finish. "The demons intended to destroy this fortress first, then use the breach to wipe out the entire frontline through a series of pincer attacks."

"…."

This wasn't a random attack—it was a calculated one.

And whoever planned it wasn't just cruel, but a brilliant strategist as well!

Still, Axel wasn't one to lose a battle of wits.

"Let's send reinforcements to each fortress," Axel said. "Resources—mana potions, in particular. You have return scrolls set to each fortress for emergency communication or something, right? We'll use all of them."

Axel's plan was simple.

Using the return scrolls, a few witches would deliver potions to each fortress while setting new return points. Then they'd come back. Meanwhile, Axel and Nina's party would go around repairing damaged fortresses, preventing further invasions.

It was a solid plan, though not without risk.

"If the fortress a witch jumps into has already fallen, their life would be in danger. So please take one of these accessories each."

He took out large baskets of potions—hundreds of them—as well as several dozen accessories.

The accessories provided boost to defense and endurance, allowing the witches to survive a single hit even if ambushed. This ensured they could retreat even in dire situations.

After leaving the bare minimum of defenders on the walls, the remaining witches each grabbed a scroll, a stack of new, unset scrolls, a basket of potions, and an accessory to equip.

"I-I feel power rising within me…!"

Naturally, they began to clamor after putting on Axel's accessories.

"Alright, alright. Amazing, amazing," Axel said flatly, before snappily clapping his hands. "Now go do your tasks. We're running out of time!"

His words were true, so the witches followed his orders without question.

Activating their return scrolls, they vanished in a grand flash of light from their combined use. Silence followed as everyone waited patiently for their return.

Then, about three minutes later—

"I'm back!"

One of the witches reappeared, carrying nothing but a bundle of return scrolls.

"I've set the coordinates on these. You can go now!"

"Good." Axel nodded, taking the scrolls before handing them to Nina and the others. "Then it's time to fix these fortresses one by one!"

At the same time, they unfurled the scrolls and activated them—

"BUFU!"

Only for Axel to end up squashed beneath a soft wall of meat.

The coordinates were set exactly the same, causing them all to teleport into a single pile!

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