Volume 9 Chapter 10 (1/2)

Avalon's attacking force led by Procell had broken through the [Pig] Demon Lord's dungeon.

At first, they encountered no resistance of any kind and that led to decent progress. However, as soon as they stepped foot in the [Transfer Labyrinth] room, they were split up into smaller groups.

The land forces led by Kuina and was composed of the Mythological Foxes and Abyss Howls made one group.

The golems led by Rorono, Rorono herself, Tindalos, and Procell made up another.

The other-dimension unit led by Ruhe and was composed of the Ocean Singers and the rest of the Abyss Howls were one more group.

And then, there was the sniper corps led by Aura and was composed of the High Elves.

Each group was transported via Transfer to a different point.

”Well, this is worrisome, isn't it?”

Aura whispered so while cold sweat flowed down her face.

Through the tablet computer that Rorono made, Aura was able to view in real time certain gathered and shared information such as which group was being attacked.

As far as she could tell, the main body of the enemy force was the one sent to them.

The sniper corps was extremely strong. They could one-sidedly take down enemies using their high-power, ultra-long-distance attacks. As such, the role Procell had given them was to take down enemy elites as well as aerial enemies.

They were masters at their roles.

That said, they still had weaknesses.

One major weakness was they were rather poor at exterminating a large number of enemies. Their wind was useful, but lacked power. And while their beloved anti-materiel rifles boasted great power, it wasn't great for rapid-firing and thus it didn't have much mass extermination capabilities. The limited number of ammunitions the elves could carry didn't help either.

And then, perhaps worst of all, they were in a labyrinth. That meant the elves lost the advantage of range.

”It can't be just coincidence that the largest force is sent to us, can it? It seems the enemy knows us more than we assumed. And, yup, while facing these pests, the others seem to be facing just enough of the enemy to be slowed down from reuniting with us. We're in quite a pinch, I must say.”

However, this wasn't the time for complaints.

”Everyone, retreat up to the passageway we were in earlier! Fire at them while falling back. And don't forget to use wind barrier either!”

Aura gave such a command to the High Elves.

Like that, half of the High Elves fired their anti-materiel rifles while the other half constructed barriers of wind.

As for the orcs, the ones in the vanguard have started their charge, while the ones in the back attacked with magic, arrows, and even thrown rocks.

There were many races categorized as orcs, and each one had a deadly role fulfill in this army. To name a few, there were Orc Warriors, Orc Mages, Orc Archers, and Orc Kings fulfilling the roles of frontline soldiers, magic users, bow users, and leaders, respectively.

If the sniper corps was to clash head on with this large and organized army, they would be crushed.

”Everyone, their attacks are coming! Ready yourselves!”

”””Yes!!”””

A downpour of arrows, spells, and rocks were coming down on the elves.

However, thanks to the wind barrier made by the High Elves, those projectiles were brushed aside.

It was true that their wind lacked power, but it made up for it via defense and utility.

In this world, most long-range projectile attacks were rather weak from being deflected by laterally applied forces. Considering some magic spell attacks—like the staple fireball—had little to no weight, the elves' wind could even bounce it back.

As for why Aura ordered a retreat to the passageways, it was so that they didn't have to fight in the open space where it was disadvantageous for them.

Given the enemy forces' large numbers, it would have been easy for the elves to be surrounded.

By retreating to the narrow passageway, she had limited the direction the enemies could come from to one.

Now, I wonder how long we can hold our position.

Like that, Aura and the High Elves fired their guns.

Because they were separated from the golems that served as supply trains, all the bullets they had were the ones they carried in their person. Once that was gone, they wouldn't be able to get any more.

It was just impossible for their stock of bullets to ever be enough for the horde they were facing.

Despite knowing that, Aura still did her best.

She was even killing three lined-up enemy monsters using only a single bullet, her excellent sniping skills, and the support of her wind magic.

Even so, the enemies were not deterred. Not paying any mind to the corpses of their allies, they forged ever onward.

”Everyone, keep on falling back! Because we're in a [Transfer Labyrinth], it will be hard for the enemies to flank us! So, keep falling back!”

The path that the elves had traveled so far was a direct one. It twisted and turned, but it didn't split. As such, the enemies couldn't take the rear.

And, even though the enemies were still advancing, the narrow passageway had slowed their advance to a few monsters at a time. Additionally, since there was less space to cover in the passageway, the elves' wind barriers were denser.

It was a tense situation, but by taking advantage of the anti-materiel rifles' power, the elves had been whittling down the orcs' numbers.

Truly, retreating there was a good move for them.

That said, being in the narrow passageway was also advantageous for the orcs.

Because the entrance to the dungeon room was gone and the only way out was through the designated exit point, the passageway was essentially one-way. If the elves continued to fall back as they were doing, they would inevitably reach a dead end.

Thinking it was only a matter of time before their larger numbers drive the elves to that literal dead end, the orcs vulgarly smiled.

”Aura-sama, we don't have bullets left!”

”Our wind barriers are also reaching its limit!”

The High Elves shouted so, panic clear in their voice.

In exchange for taking down over a hundred orcs, the elves' bullets as well as magic power were near exhaustion.

Aura had foreseen this and thus decided beforehand to conserve her own magic power.

”Don't worry, everyone… Thanks to all your efforts, my preparations are now complete. Sorry it took so long, but it's now time to unleash my special technique.”