Micchi Versus the New World - Chapter 108

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Chapter 108

I fought my way towards the guild hall, beating the living shit out of every demon until the streets were littered with them. They weren't going to stop coming unless the monoliths were destroyed or retreated, otherwise we were stuck fighting forever. Right now, fires were breaking out all over Cynderace, and at this rate, there wasn't going to be a city by morning.

"Chieftain!" Thelesia and Hurai shouted to me from the hall's roof, still waving the flag.

"If there's any time to put your magic to work, it's now, Thelesia! I want it at full blast. Everywhere. As far as you can get it!" I called back.

The enchanted threads began to glow. Just like how the spires were emitting a magical healing wave before they were destroyed, now the flag was doing the same. I felt a boost of strength flowing through me. Similar to Kain's dragon class buffs, Thelesia was amplifying that using the flag.

In exchange, she was probably putting out a whole lot of magic and wouldn't last too long.

The door into the guild hall was broken and had fallen flat inside. Demons, Amarinthian soldiers, and Ririko's glamor guards alike in cahoots with Sultan Yusef were lying in a pile on the ground. I was right to hold people back. For some reason, they wanted to get into the guildl.

"Why the fuck for?" I wondered aloud.

Was it the primordial lifecrystal?

A lot of the guild members were worse for wear. Seemed they really put up a battle here.

"By the gods, Micchi!" Frey popped her head out from the counter. "We heard an explosion from the spires, then demons started attacking, and now we're fighting people from other kingdoms?"

"Sultan Yusef and Ririko fucked us, that's what," I said.

"What about Yui? Is she alright?" the worried beastling asked.

I hesitated to answer. "I don't know… Anya went to check on 'em."

Frey chewed on her lower lip.

"I'm going to the Arcane Ward then. You're worried about Loraine, right? I'll show you where they're hiding first." She led me to Bogart's workshop. A large number of scared civilians were hiding inside, sweating from the intense heat even with the forge off.

"You're a damn welcome sight," Bogart said. She was holding and comforting the dryad, Daisy, potted into a ceramic vase.

"Well, you won't wanna go outside just yet." I searched the room for Loraine and found her sitting upright against Kawa, being tended to by a healer.

"Sorry, Boss. Loraine must have been drugged. No amount of healing will wake her up. Either we let it run its course or we find an apothecary," the healer explained.

I only came by to check if Loraine was okay. Now that I knew, I could go back outside to fuck up more demons with that peace of mind.

"I'm heading out, so you stay here to protect Loraine and these people," I told Kawa.

The elemental wolf nodded and licked my hand.

As I turned to leave, stem-like roots wrapped around my waist. Daisy was tugging me back into the room.

"This little sapling's been asking about you. Won't say why though," Bogart said.

The dryad used her vines to pull both the primordial lifecrystal and Sacchan's splintered pieces in a bucket. I had originally put them here, thinking it was the best place to be kept, and I turned out to be right. If I left it in Mildred's place, she wouldn't have been there to guard it.

"What's up, Daisy? You want me to hold it?" I opened my hand for her to give me the crystal, then she used many smaller vines to pick up each piece of Sacchan. Magical energies flowed into my body, and likewise from me into the crystal. My hand got really hot, so hot that I wanted to let go of it.

I couldn't believe my eyes. The stems and vines constricted on themselves, thickening into something like a bat with Sacchan's splinters embedded into them and with the primordial lifecrystal inside. It wasn't perfect. It looked like I was holding a tree root in my hand, but I could at least use this as a weapon.

"Amazing…" Bogart gasped. "I didn't even know she could do that."

It's got to have something to do with the crystal.

Maybe it was better in my hands than just sitting down here collecting dust. This way, the demons wouldn't have any reason to attack the guild hall.

"Good shit, Daisy. I'll break some legs with it." I grinned.

"M-Micchi!" Naka, who had been hiding in the crowds, shot up to her feet. "I'll come with you. I can fight!"

"Alright, then. Let's go."

About twenty guild members followed me out of the building. The other ten were too hurt to fight anymore. Outside, two dozen Rolling Plains orcs had gathered at the foot of the steps. Dressed in simple leathers because standard-issued Cynderace equipment didn't fit, most of them looked to have already had a go with demons. This was only a fraction of them, so the rest must be fighting with Rugal outside the city gates.

There were maybe fifty people in total. A ragtag mix of orcs, guild members, and city guards, watching me from below like they were expecting a motivational speech. I wasn't Kain. I got nothing good to say, but I did have one thing.

"A bunch of punks fucking up our city!" I shouted to them. "Follow me if you wanna fuck 'em right back!"

Cheering, everyone raised their weapons and fists into the air. Even Naka, who was normally too timid, brought her giant sword out of the pendant to join in.

I led the charge through the main street, cutting through the demons like butter. Thelesia's speed boost buff, amplified by the flag, turned us into an unstoppable and stampeding battering ram. It wasn't until we crossed the city gates did anyone realize how fierce the fighting was.

"Oraa! Fuck them in the asses!" I dove headfirst into the thick of it, slamming Sacchan down and knocking every demon away with the shockwave.

Like the time Yui invaded the city while on the demon's side, Rugal's forces were using the same tactics. Mages on the battlements rained destructive spells on enemies and healing magic on allies. Grunts on the ground formed a defensive line around the gates, but they were quickly getting overwhelmed.

Unlike last time, however, there weren't enough of us to hold them back. We were losing ground and getting pushed closer to the walls. There were more monoliths than before, and demons poured out of them like a broken faucet.

"What happened at the spires?" Rugal rode up to me with Pino and asked. "Weren't you with Prince Kain and the others at the banquet?"

"We were attacked by Amarinth and Mou'nan from the inside. Gotta stop these demons or the city's gonna get overrun," I explained.

"About that… Some of our own have proven themselves cowards," the commander growled.

"Normally, we would punish deserters, but there's nothing we can do in the middle of battle!" Pino cried.

Sitting by the gate at Thane's feet who was posing as a statue were maybe a hundred Cynderace soldiers. Many of them were the same ones I beat the shit out of during training sessions at the barracks. They were in the fetal position, rocking back and forth, scared out of their minds about fighting demons.

"I'll get them into gear," I said, stomping over to them.

"It's over… our city is doomed…"

"The demons have won…"

"There's nothing left…"

When I ignited my new weapon in their faces, they were startled to see me.

"Get back in there, or I'm throwing every single one of you into the monoliths myself!" I yelled.

"Y-You don't scare us anymore than the demons!" one said.

"Yeah! If they're going to kill us all, what can be worse than that?" another added.

I put my bat away and picked both of them up, then chucked them into the enemy's frontline where they were instantly mobbed.

"Who's next?" I asked.

"T-To battle!" They picked up their swords and shields to rejoin Rugal's defensive line.

"You, too, Thane! It's time to make yourself useful!" I shouted.

"As you command." The titan construct, who had been waiting on my orders, shook off dust as it began to move towards battle.

"That wasn't a statue?!" Pino watched in utter surprise as Thane cleaved through wave after wave of demons.

Even with our forces bolstered, it wasn't going to do jack shit until we stopped the leakage. Maybe now was a good time to test just how strong this new weapon Daisy made for me was. I charged into the fray again, knocking away every demon in my path until I came to stop in front of a monolith.

A giant demon was just now stepping out of it.

"Who dares—"

"Get the hell back in there." I smashed Sacchan into his shin, causing him to drop down onto his hands and knees, then shoved him back through the gateway by the face.

Gripping the bat with both hands, an intense flame ignited along the shaft, almost divine in magic. My new elementalist subclass resonated with the primordial lifecrystal within, empowering both of us like a two-way street. A single swing unleashed a cataclysmic amount of energy that shattered the monolith and destroyed everything behind it, leaving behind an enormous trench.

"Well, shit. Would ya look at that?"

One by one, I broke each monolith and cut off the demons' reinforcements. With their numbers cut from the root, we were able to fight them back. The two soldiers that I threw into the horde even managed to survive and only came away with some broken bones.

Cynderace was still standing at the end of the night, but Ririko was nowhere to be seen. She must have escaped along with the sultan. The Amarinthian and Mou'nan soldiers who came with them were being rounded up for interrogation later.

While leaving Rugal and Pino to deal with the stragglers, I went to check on the others at the Arcane Ward. The top of each spire was destroyed, and with it, their ability to detect demons. The injured were still being brought out and laid on makeshift cots, tended to with healing magic.

Anya carried out from the tower an unconscious Yui on her back. Kaoru sat by Yonnu and Theo, lying underneath a tree alongside other injured, who looked just as roughed up.

Kain walked up to me, carrying a knocked out Mildred in his arms. "When I called for a summit, I never could have imagined two members of the UKD would ever betray the pact. I've… failed as a prince to protect my people. I don't know what to do anymore…"

"You know exactly what to do," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's time to go to war."