"Abandon this position and retreat even further down, you say?"
The soldiers present broke into a panicked chatter at Bills’s words.
"B-But if we abandon this spot, we'll surrender the advantage of the slope to the enemy! If that happens, maintaining the front line will be impossible! Is it possible you intend to leave the vanguard behind and only have the rear guard fall back? If that’s the case, we might have enough space to deploy our entire force even on this narrow summit..."
"No, the whole unit retreats with everything they’ve got."
"Wh-What!?"
Freugel was completely at a loss for words.
"W-What do you intend by this!? If we let them through here, the monsters will breach the gate! If that happens, we won't be able to protect anything!"
"Gyahaha! Calm down, old man!"
"Yeah, y’know? If you keep gettin' so worked up, you’re gonna go bald, naze?"
"Y-You lot...!"
The bandits clapped the agitated Freugel on the shoulder.
I recalled the scenery I had observed on my way up.
Hmm, I see. Abandoning this place, huh... I was starting to understand Bills’s plan.
I thought about it for a moment and nodded.
"Understood. Then let’s abandon this position and retreat."
"Wh-Master Lloyd!?"
In response to my words, Freugel wore the most shocked expression he had shown all day.
"Hahahaha! Run, run!"
"Hieeee!"
Driven by the bandits, the Third Squad went sprinting down the mountain slope.
"Ora, ora! If you run with such half-hearted effort, they’re gonna catch you!"
"B-But there are too many trees in the way..."
"Don't go getting soft on me! Run, run!"
Everyone was running with frantic looks on their faces. Man, that looks like a lot of work.
I, however, was using Levitation to keep my body adrift, gliding down while snapping any trees in my path with a Magic Barrier, so I had no problems.
"Lloyd, we’re about to break through the forest!"
Tao, who was even further ahead than me, called out.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK! Right after the densely packed trees were crushed, the view suddenly opened up.
"Ohh, this ravine is much deeper than I thought!"
Beyond the sheer cliff lay a deep valley; it looked like if you fell in, you’d never come back up.
Moreover, the distance was significant—it must have been about thirty meters to the other side of the cliff.
It would be impossible for an ordinary monster to jump across.
And once we crossed the single bridge spanning the gap, there would be no other way across.
Furthermore, I noticed slight traces of mana on this sloping path.
Looking closely, the stones rolling underfoot were smaller only in this specific area, and the trees were thinner, making it look almost like a deliberate road.
This was the result of leveling part of the mountain using Military Magic like Desolation. I didn't know magic that withers the land could be used this way. As expected of Shneider, it was a brilliant strategy.
"I see, if we lure them here, we can wipe out the monsters in one fell swoop... So that's what you meant by withdrawing the entire army! Truly magnificent, Lord Bills!"
"Tch, anyone could've seen this if they'd looked at the site. This Shneider guy, he's too good a catch to just be a prince."
"To think... Lord Shneider was quite the prankster. If that was the case, he should have just told me from the start... Let us cross the bridge immediately."
Freugel looked relieved, but Bills wore a grim expression.
"...It ain't that simple."
"What do you mean?"
"No time to explain! Move it, get everyone across now!"
"Hii! P-Please don't kick me!"
I wondered what he meant. Was there some kind of problem?
While I remained in the dark, the members of the squad began crossing the bridge.
"Hurry, hurry! The monsters are going to catch up!"
"But this bridge is swaying quite a bit!? W-We can't make much progress!"
"Ora, ora! What are you dawdling for!? If you don't move faster, I'll kick you off, gyahaha!"
Under Bills’s direction, the bandits were driving the soldiers forward.
Some were panicking so much they looked like they were about to fall.
"Hey, Bills, why are you rushing them this much? The monsters are still quite far up the mountain. I don't think they'll catch up that easily..."
"We can't stop the monsters in a narrow valley like this. We gotta cross quick and set up our intercept formation."
Bills answered my question with a serious expression.
I thought it was plenty wide enough... but regardless, it seemed he wasn't rushing them just to vent his frustrations.
Alright, I suppose I'll pitch in.
"Hup."
I activated Levitation on all the soldiers who hadn't crossed yet.
"Whoa!? What's this!?"
And then, with everyone in tow, I flew us collectively to the opposite shore.
Both the soldiers who landed and Bills were standing there with their mouths agape.
"...Was that magic just now? Good grief, you're something else."
"Levitation isn't that difficult, so it's no big deal. More importantly, weren't we in a hurry?"
"Oops, that's right. Alright, you lot! Line up at the cliff with your bows and spears!"
Though they exchanged confused glances, the soldiers lined up at the cliff's edge with bows and spears in hand.
They pointed their spears toward the valley and aimed their bows, all of them wearing blank expressions as if wondering what exactly they were supposed to be killing.
"Don't just stand there spacing out. ...They're coming."
A low rumble began to shake the earth.
It was coming from the mountain across the gap.
The monsters were charging down the slope.
"Ohh! what incredible momentum! Hmph, those stupid monsters. They won't be able to stop in time. They can just fall to the bottom of the valley for all I care."
"..."
In contrast to Freugel, who wore a smug smirk, Bills had a stern look on his face.
Was something about to happen?
Rustle. The bushes swayed. Immediately after, a large pig-like monster came flying out.
"Pugiiiiii!"
The pig monster let out a squeal as it fell, followed by one monster after another leaping out and plunging into the depths of the valley.
Furthermore, pointed stones at the bottom were impaling the fallen monsters.
That too was a terrain change caused by Military Magic. This was truly a hunting ground; Shneider's plan had worked perfectly.
"Fuhahaha! Look, the enemy is like trash! This is wonderful, Lord Bills!"
"Whatever, just don't let your guard down."
"Hahaha, Lord Bills is such a worrywart. Even if we do nothing and just watch, they'll—"
Freugel's face froze mid-sentence.
What emerged from the thicket was a giant eagle monster.
"Kwaaaaa!"
"H-Hurry, shoot it! Shoot it down!"
In a panic, he had them ready their bows and fire arrows at the eagle monster.
Despite taking the arrows, the eagle monster charged forward without flinching, making the soldiers shrink back in fear.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
With half spirit and half desperation, a thrust spear pierced the eagle's torso.
The soldiers looked relieved as they watched the eagle monster fall weakly.
"Hey, hey, this ain't over yet, you idiots. Look ahead, ahead."
It wasn't just bird-type monsters.
Tiger and lion monsters were leaping lightly across the valley.
Wolf monsters were jumping across using small rock outcroppings as footholds.
Ape monsters were climbing up from the valley walls.
"F-Fire! Fire!"
The soldiers, while panicking, fired arrows and thrust spears repeatedly at the monsters that had broken through.
Since the formation had been established in time, they were kept busy, but no monsters managed to breach their line.
So this was the reason he had been rushing them so much.
The types of monsters were diverse, meaning many of them had ways to overcome the valley.
"Release magic into the valley! They'll use the fallen monsters as footholds to cross!"
Saias ordered the Mage Soldiers to fire Fireballs.
However, the number of monsters was too great; they hadn't reached the point of burning them all away.
"Ren, can you synthesize a medicine that makes fire burn more easily?"
"Consider it done."
As Ren of the Poison Moth held her hand over the valley, a sweet scent began to drift.
It slowly descended... and the moment it made contact with the flames, it began to burn explosively.
She had likely created high-concentration alcohol; the flames roared at the bottom of the valley, incinerating the monsters.
Tao was handling the monsters that managed to slip past the arrows and spears.
"Heh, it's like walking a tightrope, but we're managing somehow. Work those muscles, boys."
"Ngaaaa! Lord Bills, please help us too!"
Bills laughed as he watched Freugel running around in circles.
It certainly seemed like we could wipe out the monsters at this rate.
"Master Lloyd, why do you look a little disappointed?"
"Th-That's not true!"
It was true that if it ended like this, I wouldn't get to see Saias's Bloodline Magic, and I did feel a tiny bit disappointed. Just a tiny, tiny bit.
"Hm, a strange monster has fallen into the valley."
Immediately after Jiriel spoke, a heavy thump shook the ground beneath our feet.
Looking down, violent steam was rising from the bottom of the valley.
Oh? What's happening?
When I looked at the center with See-through, a pure white rabbit was there.
"That's a Snow Rabbit! A high-level monster clad in intense cold!"
"...This is bad. That isn't a monster you can defeat with ordinary flame magic. On the contrary, the flames we worked so hard for are being extinguished!"
Hmm, so it's performing a Nature Transformation on its mana to turn it into cold.
Moreover, to produce cold powerful enough to snuff out those flames—what an amazing monster.
I wanted to capture it and see just how much cold it could produce... but I suppose now wasn't the time for that.
Besides—
"A Snow Rabbit, eh. You lot, get back. Ordinary attacks won't work on that thing."
Saias removed his black leather gloves and stepped forward.
"I will finish it."
In his hand, mana unlike anything I had felt from Saias before was swirling.
Ohh, it looked like he was finally getting serious. It seemed I would finally get to see his Bloodline Magic.