Torose fortress.

Mirai and dozens of our men fought against the enemies pouring into the wall.

Meanwhile, I ran to the next four people climbing up.

The first person was taken by surprise when I stabbed him with my sword and my momentum carried my body into his for a powerful tackle that sent him flying.

The second person swung a sword down at me, which I met with an upward swing, actually breaking his sword in the process as my blade continued moving up and cutting his face.

The third person was in defense, so I first cut his shield along with his right hand, then broke his left hand with a hit from my shield, and then sent him flying with a kick.

The fourth person tripped on a corpse at his feet as he climbed up, so I grabbed him by the head and held him out in front of me.

"Gue! Gya! Ogh! Gabh!"

Several dull thuds transmitted from his body to me.

Apparently crossbows were aimed at me and this guy took all the hits.

The crossbowmen became shaken from not being able to finish me off and hitting their ally instead.

"Alright, come at me for revenge."

I threw the dead body at the crossbowmen.

The man’s body flew beautifully into their ranks, crushing two soldiers as it landed.

Three remaining soldiers looked like they’re about to run away……

"Gya!" "Gyu!" "Gyo!"

Before they could do so, daggers flew into an eye, the side of the head, and neck respectively.

Mirai nodded contently……

"No, not good!"

I started running and then swept my longsword right in front of Mirai’s face.

"Hiih!"

I could hear three short clinks from my sword knocking away the knives aimed at Celia.

"Tch!"

How could they do that to my cute Mirai?

follow the source from where they were thrown and find a man who wasn’t even 150 cm tall.

"I’m impressed that you could see through the expertise of the seasoned knife master, Monyet!"

The little man was slender and hopping erratically almost like a monkey.

"Hmph, how arrogant of some street performer to boast about throwing―― gueh!"

One of his ally soldiers got stabbed with a knife and died before he could finish badmouthing the short man.

"Strength means everything on the battlefield! It doesn’t matter if I’m a street performer if I kill the enemy!"

"That’s absolutely right. Let’s go."

I ignored the small man’s reaction and swung my sword.

"Heh, I’m not going to fight head-on against a big lug like you! I’ll put some distance between us――"

My swing hit air. I hit him again chase after him.

"Too slow!" He jeered and dodged my attacks.

Damn, it's annoying.

Mirai ran to his side and attacked using kodachi but her blades were kicked away by his quick feets.

She chased and made several attacks while I attacked from the other side.

"Hahahaha. Two against one? But you guys can't catch me!"

I was indeed too slow for him but the light and quick legs of Mirai was left in the dust.

Mirai stopped attacking. She seemed to decide using ninja skills. 

"Teleportation."

She disappeared and reappeared behind Monyet, slashing his back.

"Urrrgg!" Like a feather, he floated away and landed after a somersault.

"...This girl.....you can fight and perform magic." She called Mirai while touching his back. She somehow cut him but the wound was light. 

Mirai disappeared again. He glanced left and right immediately. Mirai reappeared at his left side and slashed but he dodged to the right. After he landed again, Mirai disappeared. When she appeared behind him, without looking back, he leaped forward before she could do anything.

Again, she teleported several more times but her attacks were in vain.

Finally, she teleported right before his face but this time he smirked. 

Oh, no!

"Mirai! He knows...back away!" I barked as hard as I could.

Mirai dodged backward but his blade already hit her left arm.

"Iyaa!"

I caught the fallen girl and swung my sword to chase him away.

"Hehehe. Your magic was insanely useful but you need 40 seconds before you could disappear again. And you cannot move your body while disappearing at the same time."

This stupid looking guy could study Mirai's teleportation magic after several attempts.

And his reflex was good although not as good as Myla or Sekrit. And his instinct was quite insane. 

Mirai clapped her palms together and made a sign, to launch her another skill. 

"Shadow binding.."

Two black silhouettes stretched from her own shadow towards Monyet but....

"What?" He dodged away.

But her shadow stretched further and chased after him.

He ran away but the shadow kept turning left and right, stretching after him.

After several minutes, her shadow failed to catch the fast man. The shadow finally disappeared and she was breathing really hard.

"Shadow binding" consumed far more magic power than "teleportation". 

"Hoi. Hoi. Hoi. What a scary little girl..... But it seems it's too much for you."

Monyet no longer smirked. His face showed that he had become really cautious, unlike in the beginning.

He felt threatened but it didn't change the fact that catching him was impossible.

We heard footsteps from the stairs. 

After a while, Monyet furrowed his eyebrows when staring at something behind us.

"I killed too many men at the other side but I saw your place was getting really bad, girl."

It's Sekrit. Mirai seemed annoyed.

Glancing at Mirai, Sekrit became serious,

"Little Mirai, you were totally lost. Meaning that your instant movement and shadow thing were useless against the monkey guy."

She pondered for a while as Monyet retreated two steps and stared at the tall girl. 

"Monkey guy. You must be nimble, fast. Mmm, good reaction, and very good sense. That's why, her skill didn't work against you."

When she said that, the short guy instinctively retreated a step.

"Here I come!"

Sekrit launched herself at him but her consecutive attacks didn't reach him. She kept chasing for 2 or 3 minutes but he was still faster. However, unlike against us, he seemed struggling.

After over 5 minutes, they jumped away from each other. 

Sekrit made him worked really hard but he was still quicker than him. 

"Sekrit.."

"Don't worry, I have a way to kill him."

"Tall girl, what are you talking about? You didn't even catch my shadow just now."

Sekrit told us, "This monkey guy is as fast as Clementine and more nimble than her."

"What? Was there a girl that can catch me? Clemen..." 

Before he finished his sentence, Mirai disappeared. He was shocked and jumped away. 

Sekrit already dashed to his left.

Mirai appeared before him with her back against his front. 

He predicted Mirai would teleport to his back, that's why he jumped to the further back. 

He slashed her back but she blocked it using kodachi but he was stronger than her.

Mirai was again thrown away.

However, that gave enough time for Sekrit to reach him.

"Die!"

She swung her sword but he quickly dodged to his right. 

As if already knowing he would dodge, she immediately ran in straight line after him.

"Your skill is above me, it's stupid fight head in against you..I’ll put some distance between us!"

When he skillfully flipped backward in the air to separate, Sekrit threw a handful of gravel and pebbles at him with her left hand.

She grabbed it when he was blabbering on incessantly.

There’s a bunch of it lying around since the wall got damaged after all.

"Ukiiーーー!?"

Unluckily for him, his head was turned toward her during the last flip and her scattering of pebbles hit him in the face.

Blood trickled from his nose and a tooth chipped.

"Kikiiーー! How cowardlyー!"

"Mu?"

She was about to deliver the finishing blow and then his own hand slipped from the wall.

What’s with this guy?

"Alright, one more step!"

"Shit! Don’t let them take the stairs, defend it with your life!"

The enemy closed in on the staircase descending to the city.

That was much more important than the monkey man.

I jumped into the ball of allies and enemies.

"Get down if you’re on my side."

Lowering my hips, I held my longsword back before unleashing I full-powered sweep.

"Wah!"

"Hiih!"

"Eh?"

"Is this my leg?"

"The world flipped upside down?"

Somehow, our allies managed to successfully duck to avoid getting sliced, whereas the eight enemies weren’t so lucky and they were cut in half at the waist.

"What are you doing? Push back."

I rested the bloody sword on my shoulder.

In response, the soldiers ran off either screaming or cheering.

I heard one of them yell “I’m going to get killed!”.

"I’m your commander, I’m not going to kill you."

We fended off their invasion into the city for now, however, with the continued piling of sandbags, two or three more routes for the enemy to climb meant more of them would swarm us.

"Should we retreat into the city?"

Leonheardt and Myla were quick to respond as usual, and I could see a simple barricade already set up within the city as well as the rearguard infantry and the cavalry waiting on standby on the main road.

Even if the enemy charged in, it wouldn’t be easy to bring down the city.

"No…… I think we should hold out here. Allowing the city to be invaded will dramatically decrease our morale."

Mirai objected. It pleased me to see her maturing.

"Alright. Let’s stay for a little longer."

When I prepared my longsword again, a messenger shouted.

"All troops, turn your shields toward the city and take defensive positions!"

"Haah?"

"What is he saying?"