After Iraira went outside, Nerina had asked the lord and the knights to start evacuating the city's residents while the adventurers sealed the gate.

They would evacuate the residents through the opposite gate while Iraira bought them time. There were monsters roaming outside, those that had spilled out from the dungeon and scattered, but there was a good chance they could escape if the adventurers and remaining knights provided an escort.

Nerina instructed the adventurers, who had finished sealing the gate, to go escort the residents.

"Got it! But is it okay to leave Iraira out there?"

"I'll handle her. Go quickly! Don't waste the time Iraira bought for you! The knights alone can't protect the residents from the monsters! You're our only hope!"

The adventurers were essentially kicked out the door by Nerina to escort the residents.

"I've already received word from the neighboring town that their knights are on their way here! If you can escape to where you can meet them, you should be okay. Coney, I'm counting on you!" (Coney was the deputy guildmaster.)

And when she heard about the second wave from the knights who remained on watch, Nerina, alone, crossed the city walls using flight magic.

Nerina had once been an adventurer. She had been a talented magic user, having traveled the world with Iraira and going into dungeons. She was much older than Iraira, but her magic wasn't too weak yet. She knew magic didn't work on Catochrists, but she could probably still do something to help, like using her earth magic to block their path.

If the Catochrists attacked the fleeing residents, they wouldn't be able to escape. She had to buy them some time, hold the Catochrists off.

(Why...did you come...Return...Protect the city's residents...Evacuate the city...)

"It's okay. I've told Coney everything, including the future plans. She's a capable person, she'll be a good guildmaster."

"Escape...You'll die...you know?"

"I won't let you go alone, my dear friend."

Nerina felt responsible for not being able to protect the city as the guildmaster.

Looking back, she had made quite a few bad decisions in her life.

She had been the one who had sent Iraira's son to his death. There was no way she could make up for it. She had even thought about dying to apologize, but Iraira hadn't blamed her. She had blamed herself, and she had become obsessed with conquering the dungeon. Nerina had supported her wholeheartedly.

Nerina knew Iraira was looking for a place to die. Iraira was her best friend, someone she'd sworn to live and die with. Ending her life with her younger best friend wouldn't be so bad, Nerina thought, resigned.

The legion of Catochrists was approaching. Nerina raised her staff and cast a spell to create an earth wall. The ground swelled up, creating a wall to encircle the Catochrists.

Catochrists, despite their chicken-like appearance and wings, can't fly. If they were blocked by a wall, they wouldn't be able to get over it, even if the sky was open.

But the Catochrists immediately began pecking at the wall. It was being chipped away rapidly. It wouldn't last long.

The first wall was simply meant to buy time, to gather the mana for another, thicker wall.

Nerina channeled all her remaining mana into creating a wall dozens of meters thick and tall, enclosing the Catochrists.

She had exhausted her mana and collapsed to her knees. But this wall was thick enough to hold them off for a while, at least. The evacuation should be complete by then...

...But the Catochrists' power was beyond imagination.

The pack of Catochrists breathed their petrifying gas at the earth wall simultaneously. The wall was quickly turning to pumice under the combined attack of dozens of petrifying breaths, cracking and crumbling under the force of the gas.

...It was all over.

Iraira couldn't move.

Nerina had run out of mana.

It turned out that magic couldn't even hold the Catochrists off, let alone hurt them. The last earth wall had been reinforced with all the mana she could muster. But it had become porous under the Catochrists' breath. Nerina's attempt to buy time had been almost entirely unsuccessful. The evacuation probably hadn't finished yet, in this short amount of time.

She had sealed the gate, but seeing that attack, it was obvious that the walls would crumble just as easily.

How many people would escape if the Catochrists rushed into the city and chased after the fleeing residents...?

The worst possible outcome, complete annihilation, flashed through Iraira's and Nerina's minds.

...

But at that moment, a mysterious figure in a gleaming silver mask stood before the pack of Catochrists.

Next Episode

The mysterious silver masked man takes action!

Stay tuned!