“Everyone, pack only the bare minimum and get out quickly! Hurry up!!”
“Alright, alright, move calmly. We have enough carriages.”
Thanks to Howard’s direct contact, we learned about the monster wave and immediately went into emergency mode in Irene Land. First, we began evacuating all residents to safe towns and cities.
The population of Irene Land was about 120,000. With all the carriages and teleportation magic circles in the city, we could manage to evacuate everyone in about two days. Of course, only living beings could be evacuated.
The “Monster Wave” was a state-level disaster that destroyed everything, and our city, which became the primary target, would likely be unrecognizable after the onslaught.
From the top of Irene Tower, I watched the evacuation and the city below.
“I thought Yuren would immediately fight using that golem,” I said.
At that moment, I heard Sylvia’s voice behind me. Turning around, I saw Sylvia in light clothing, ready for evacuation, and I replied.
“What do you take me for?”
“Didn’t you want to?”
“…A little.”
Sylvia approached me with an exasperated expression.
“You… ran a simulation, didn’t you?”
“Yeah… I used Galaxy Craft to run a simulation, but the output was insufficient to block it.”
I would have loved to sweep away the “Monster Wave” with Alterion No. 27. But no matter how powerful the Magic Armor Knight is, it was still impossible to stop a natural disaster.
The number of monsters heading for Irene Land was about 10,000, with a few dragon-class monsters among them. A simulation showed that if I fought them head-on with Alterion No. 27 in the Northern Plain, I could take down 3,120 monsters before being shot down. This was actually a surprising achievement.
The “Monster Wave” was most powerful right after it started, when the monsters clustered together.
Therefore, the Imperial Army planned to deploy troops after the first town or city was destroyed, when the monsters began to split up. In fact, the plan informed by the Commander’s Department stated they would be mobilizing not only the Southern Army but also the Eastern Army to counter the “Monster Wave” starting about a week later.
Managing to fend off 30% of the monster wave on my own was a testament to the power of Alterion No. 27. However, due to insufficient magical power, it eventually fell, and I couldn’t save the city.
So, there was only one task left. As the administrator of the Irene School and the land’s steward, my best option was to quickly evacuate the residents. If the people survived, the city could be revived. No, I would revive it.
Thus, I watched everyone’s escape, hoping that there would never again be a disaster like my hometown that is forgotten.
*
At that moment, not far from Irene Land, about 20 kilometers away in the forest.
Those following Gold were hiding there, avoiding the monster wave, preparing to grab loot after the attacks began. The tent where Gold and other leaders like Ober were gathered was displaying surveillance footage from numerous summoned beasts, showing the evacuation lines of residents.
Just then, a reconnaissance team that had gone to Irene Land entered the tent, reporting in.
“The evacuation of the residents is proceeding smoothly. At this rate, it looks like everyone will be evacuated before the monster wave arrives.”
“Those lucky bastards, detecting the monster wave before they formed a group.”
Usually, it was difficult to detect a monster wave until the monsters banded together. No matter how early, it was limits to detect it a day in advance. But managing to detect it three days early and starting the evacuation… Gold felt a headache coming on due to the unexpected situation.
“This must be Howard’s doing. There was a team that worked on such research back in his days as the headmaster of the Magus Society. He must have whispered it to that cat girl.”
Gold’s companion, Einhardt, gritted his teeth at the memory of the cat beastman “Sora,” who had insulted him.
“Ober, what should we do?”
“If we leave it as it is, everyone will escape.”
If we continued like this, nothing would remain in Irene Land. Destroying an empty town without people or treasures would yield no revenge or reward, so Gold changed plans.
“There’s no choice, raise the output of the ‘Apocalypse.’”
“Th-that’s okay?”
“If we raise the output any further, our location might be discovered.”
Gold looked at the pyramid-shaped magical tool, “Apocalypse,” behind him. The magic tool that caused monster waves stimulated the monsters in a certain radius to generate a monster wave. Currently, it was used at the lowest output level to make it seem like a natural monster wave. If he increased the output, the monsters would grow wilder and rush to the city faster. However, raising the output beyond that would risk detection due to unnatural magical energy levels.
But if he didn’t act, they would be unable to take revenge or loot, leaving Gold no choice.
“Who’s gonna care about one strange magical reaction when monsters are rampaging around! Just do as I say!”
Under Gold’s command, his subordinate managing “Apocalypse” reluctantly increased the output.
The pyramid-shaped magical tool began to emit ominous purple energy, spreading malignant magic.
*
“They said the monsters will arrive a day earlier!?”
The next day, I felt like I would lose my mind when I heard the news. Sora, who received the information from Howard, said with a trembling voice.
“Y-yeah… apparently, the monsters’ speed increased suddenly… if it goes on like this, they’ll arrive by tomorrow afternoon.”
Upon reviewing the information relayed by Howard, I sent a summoned beast to confirm it. And the information proved true.
If this continued, by around 4 PM tomorrow, a wave of monsters would cover the city, with about 10,000 residents still needing to evacuate.
A sense of despair hung in the conference room. We couldn’t abandon the residents who believed in and moved to this place, but if we didn’t, everyone might be in danger.
When no one could muster the courage to speak, my Master finally opened his mouth.
“I will hold them back. My disciples.”
“You, Master!?”
All eyes turned to my Master. He spoke with utmost seriousness.
“If I give it my all, I can hold the monsters for an hour. In that time, take all the residents and evacuate.”
“But Master!”
“Ah! It’s an order from your Master!!”
I had heard that before the peaceful days of Irene, my Master had achieved numerous military exploits during the Millennium War. If he exerted himself, it was indeed possible to hold the monsters for around an hour.
However, that would be a sacrifice with no retreat.
Since hearing of the monster wave, I had simulated every possible outcome. Deploying Alterion, having Alterion and my Master fight together, even scenarios where we all fought—every one of them resulted in failure.
If we faced them head-on, we couldn’t stop the monster wave, and we would be exterminated. In such a situation, it meant that my Master fighting alone would ultimately mean self-sacrifice.
I couldn’t accept that choice, no matter how much I wanted to.
I gathered my courage and suggested an uncertain alternative that I had considered.
“There’s one more way.”
Everyone looked at me.
“I say we use Alterion.”
“Alterion?”
“But Yuren, you said the output is insufficient.”
We had all received the shared simulations regarding Alterion. It seemed they were all accepting the plan to sacrifice themselves for time, just like my Master. I finally voiced the plan I had only thought about.
“If we lack output, can’t we just increase it?”
“Yuren, you can’t be serious…”
“Yeah…”
I turned my gaze to the red stone installed in the center of our laboratory, which could be considered our school’s treasure. That stone was our last hope.
“Let’s attach the Dragon Heart Stone to Alterion.”
*
There were several reasons we hadn’t used the Dragon Heart Stone in the magic route so far.
The first reason was its extreme rarity. The Dragon Heart Stone was one of only three treasures in the Empire, and using something that consumes materials in the magic route was akin to making a car run on billions of dollars’ worth of vodka.
The second reason was its overwhelming power. Specifically, while it would surely produce tremendous output, there were no records of how powerful it truly was, so we had never dared to attempt it. Would it double, triple, or go up a hundredfold? No one could be sure.
But now was not the time to consider such things. The monsters were approaching us without any qualms.
So, it was time for us to resist with all the means at our disposal.
“Come on! Move quickly!!”
“Bring the Dragon Heart Stone over here!”
Once the plan was decided, work began immediately on Alterion No. 27 in the maintenance warehouse, pulling an all-nighter due to the urgency.
The people working hard were the adult priests of the Irene School, like Jiren. The minor priests and those with families had either already escaped from Irene Land or were waiting in line to evacuate. Karen had even taken the young priests away first.
But there was one person who could have escaped but chose to stay here.
“Hey, Tetric, aren’t you evacuating?”
That was Tetric, who had expertise in golem technology. Showcasing his ever-growing afro, he spoke.
“Oh, how can I run away when my dream is here?”
“Your dream?”
Tetric gazed at Alterion with eyes shining purer than mine, saying, “I’ve always dreamed of this. The dream of my golem saving the world. And right now, that dream is about to be realized.”
“But if you stay here, you might die.”
Yes, our situation was no joke. It was literally a life-or-death moment.
But Tetric continued to shine with those ardent eyes.
“It’s better to not see my dream realized than run away.”
He reminded me of my younger self. The version of me who burned with dreams and fantasies, lacking everything in my childhood.
Then he politely bowed to me and said,
“Thank you for fulfilling my dream, Yuren.”
I couldn’t speak the gratitude out loud, but in my heart, I sent my thanks.
Thanks to you, I am also realizing my dream. Thank you, Tetric.
Outside the Irene Land, even as the evacuation of residents and the operation of Alterion were ongoing, monstrous forms appeared over the horizon.
“Oh my…”
“Is that… the Monster Wave…”
The sight of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of monsters roaring as they charged sent shivers down the spines of the guards.
The wave of monsters was approaching the Sage’s city.
