“Kahyui!” [Mind Controlled Adventurer]

With an incomprehensible shout, one of the adventurers brandished his sword, and slashed down in a straight line. But I kept running at full speed, reaching up to his chest before he could fully slash down, and landed a blow onto his open side with my fist clad in poison magic.

The man bent into a < shape before falling to the ground and convulsing.

As soon as he fell, two swords had reached for me from behind the now fallen man, but turning on my left heel, I easily avoided them. At the same time, I was able to grab the wrist and arm of the man who came at me from my left. Slightly stooping, I placed his elbow over my shoulder, and broke his posture as I took him from the back. Then as I stretched my legs, I pushed all of my weight onto the man, pushing his dominant arm opposite the direction it normally bent. The pain too great, the man had no choice but to let go of his sword, but I kept going until I clearly felt his bone snap. Then I kicked him toward Sebasu-san and Shiva-san before turning to face the next adventurer.

This one came at me from right in front. He slashed down diagonally, and in response, I stepped forward, and took his arm, taking it all the way to throw him on his back, where I landed the finishing blow.

No more adventurers came after that, but when we reached the circular open space something happened.

“Are they planning on holing up?” [Shiva]

There were scores of undead, but just when we thought they would all come hording out of the fortress, the gate suddenly shut itself tight. And the undead that did get out before the gate closed, only stood there to protect the gate. I also noticed the two wyverns flying in the sky, but that was Rheinbach-sama’s job. And he left with his two ignis dragons as soon as he saw them.

“Leave the skies to me! The rest of the surviving adventurers are in the fortress!!” [Rheinbach]

Like that Rheinbach-sama set off to fight with the wyverns... It’s more like a game of tag though... With the wyverns’ lives on the line.

Anyway, let’s get to work. With this turn of events, the best course of action would be...

“Shiva-san, Sebasu-san.” [Ryouma]

“Right.” [Shiva]

“Please leave it to us.” [Sebasu]

Leaving Shiva-san and Sebasu-san to stand watch, the slimes entered the open area, and spread out into a fan as I ordered them to clear the undead.

Then I used my earth magic to create a pillar of stone as thick as a log, with one end a slightly rounded stake and the other end flat. I attached handles to the center, and fortified the stake part with the construction magic, Hardening, then further reinforced the whole thing with ki.

We’ve already considered that the enemy might try to close the gate and hole up, so we thought up a plan during the meeting. According to Shiva-san, the best response in a scenario like this is none other than a battering ram. This was the best tool we could use considering our lack of man power and time.

“It’s ready!” [Ryouma]

“Good! Do it just like we planned!” [Shvia]

As Shiva-san said that, he stepped forward, and fired off a spell of wind magic toward the area in front of the slimes.

” ‘Storm Cutter’ !” [Shiva]

The raging wind blew countless blades into the surroundings, wreaking havoc upon the undead as they were minced to pieces.Even the fence and the castle walls didn’t come out unscathed. By the time the storm of blades started to settle, over half of the undead were gone.

This was where we came in. We cut down the remaining undead to cut open a path, while Sebasu-san protected our back as he followed from behind. Remiri-neesan also supported us from above, so it didn’t take us long before we finally reached the gate.

Now!!

Having calculated the exact moment when the undead wouldn’t be there to stop me, I overtook Shiva-san, and used all of my strength to ram the battering ram into the gate!

The giant rock of a stake slammed into the gate of the fortress, and the sound of something being crushed filled the area along with the sound of something creaking, yet only a crack at most was left upon the fortress’ gate. But I already knew just one blow wouldn’t be enough.

” ‘Rocket Punch’ !!” [Ryouma]

Gathering magic into a lump, I slammed that great power into the flat part of the battering ram to propel the ram forward. With my shoulder in place of the stand, the stake slammed into the gate a second time, just like an improvised pile bunker.

Again the sound of creaking and crushing resounded as the battering ram pierced the gate. I don’t know whether the hinges were the first to break, but the gate slammed open, and the undead on the other side came flying as the battering ram penetrated into the fortress.

“Good!” [Shiva]

Shiva-san entered as soon as the gate broke open to cut down the undead. And I followed after him along with Sebasu-san, while the slimes split into two groups. One half dealt with the undead outside, while the other half dealt with those inside.

But just as we were approaching the building where the adventurers were...

“Strange...” [Ryouma]

“You think so too?” [Shiva]

“Yes.” [Ryouma]

The slimes were enough to deal with the undead, so it didn’t matter even when they tried to chase us. What’s weird is that the place seemed too quiet. Neither the lich nor the mind controlled adventurers have made an appearance, yet there didn’t seem to be any traps in sight either. Even though we caused such a large ruckus breaking the gate like that...

Not having to face much resistance is great, but on the other hand, it makes it seem more likely for there to be a trap, so we can’t just carelessly enter the building.

Just as I was thinking that—

“GUoON!” [Wyvern]

The death throes of one of the two wyverns resounded high up in the skies. The both of them were roasted well done by the ignis dragons. And apparently the other one couldn’t even so much as scream in its last moments. As the two wyverns fell from the sky, they crashed into the castle walls, tumbling down into the ground as they left a mark upon the walls they sought to protect.

Then it happened...

“!!!” [Ryouma, Shiva, Sebasu]

I was not lax. I was carefully paying attention to all of our surroundings, but at that moment, something still managed to grab my legs. When I looked down, what I saw was the white bone of an arm. The hand of a skeleton was for some reason sprouted from the ground. But that was not all, for there was an uncountable number of undead from within the fortress that – in no time at all – suddenly managed to surround us.

Ugh! Disgusting! Where are they coming from!?

I spat bitterly in my mind, but I didn’t forget to react. Light magic clad around my legs to disperse the skeleton’s arm wrapped around it. Shiva-san and Sebasu-san were also caught by their feet, but they managed to deal with the skeletons easily too.

“He’s on the roof! ‘Light Shot’ !!” [Remiri]

As we looked up, we saw the lich on the rooftop battling with Remiri-neesan.

“Fall back!” [Shiva]

” ‘Water Cutter’ ” [Sebasu]

” ‘Holy Flame Carpet’ ” [Ryouma]

We would only be in danger if we kept this up, and if things turned for the worse, we might even find ourselves caught. So I followed Shiva’s command, and casted my magic along with Sebasu-san, then we all used our respective weapons to cut open a path out through the hordes of undead. I’ve already ordered the slimes beforehand to protect the gate in case of a situation like this, so—

Why!? Did the lich do this too?

When we reached the fortress gate, the gate that should’ve been destroyed was standing there without a scratch, almost as if the time had been wound back.