Jujutsushi Wa Yuusha Ni Narenai

Chapter 124.1 - Goma's Fortress-Capture Battle 2

2 a.m.

The Gomas whose life cycle resembled that of humans, everyone save for the soldiers in charge of the night watch, had already entered the dreamland.

Therefore, even if the bow-equipped Govu stationed in the watchtower saw the glittering flame from afar, it was already too late. Because THAT had already leaped from the jungle, running towards the tents faster than Raptor in a straight line.

The moment Govu asked its comrade "What's that?" as it strained its eyes to see the identity of THAT, GOU! It saw THAT spewing blazing flames.

「NBA, GUONGAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The scream that notified the others about the night raid echoed in the surrounding. The soldiers stationed in the fortress were jolted awake and ran towards the intruder at once. But… the night raid was akin to calamity, it was already spewing scorching red hot flames, turning the settlement into hellish scenery.

「GOOO, EN-CHAN!」

Riding on top of Engard, Reina pointed her finger forward, sending forth the flame tornado in the direction she pointed at. Engard's mouth spewed a never-ending blazing tornado.

「VEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Rather than burning the tent made of filthy clothes, the fiery breath was blowing it away, sending the lives inside that tent straight to oblivion. The Gomas who found out this, their supposed calm night already flipped upside-down into a scorching hell, were screaming in panic. However… their screams lasted but for a few seconds before their body was engulfed by the blazing hot flame.

Engard's breath had sent them straight to oblivion before they could even feel pain.

The miserable ones were the Gomas that got rolled up in the burning tent, baked alive, suffering painful, long, and agonizing death instead of a quick and painless one from Engard's breath.

The village had suddenly awakened from its slumber. It was in the middle of the night and yet, the blazing flame was bright enough to illuminate the surrounding. In addition to the illumination, the smell of scorched flesh assailed our noses too.

In short, all hell broke loose. Even if they're laid on top of another, every Goma in the tent was family. The father screamed to tell his family to escape from the burning tent, the mother was running while holding on to her child.

「BURN, BURN! BUUUUUUUUUURN!」

The blazing flame that spreading around along with the night wind had become even stronger than before, roasting even those who had evacuated to safety a while before. The demonic hands of the flame kept reaching towards those that had evacuated as if to not let even a single one alive.

「GUVEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「NBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The scream of the victims resounded from all directions along with the scattering flame. Regardless of whether they're male or female, adult or child, the entire family had been roasted alive by the inferno. And because it wasn't the flame from Engard's breath but the flame that spread naturally along with the wind, they're baked alive and died in agony.

「NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOO, I'VE ENOUGH OF THIS! BURN, BURN EVERYTHING, EN-CHAN!」

In contrast to the situation, Reina's cute voice resounded amidst the agonizing, blazing hell. And that became the signal for the flame to spread even further.

With Reina on its back, Engard had already sprinted towards the area that had yet to become a sea of flame, and then, it fired a scorching fireball toward it. Its superb aim had turned the safe area into another sea of flame within the next moment.

Those fireballs were heading towards the flocks of Gomas trying to running away. The warrior-like male was wielding its weapon while the female was hugging on to the round, baby-like Goma. The younglings were carrying their old parents on their back. Every single one of them was cruelly, and equally blasted away by the fireballs, and died. Reina continued her massacre after she saw her previous target had already reduced cinder.

「Uh~m, it is becoming a little bit too ho~t, wate~r.」

Reina who patting Engard on the base of its neck to stop it from its rampage then took out her canteen from her bag, unscrewed its lid, and used it as a cup to drink the water.

「GEBA, BUBERA!」

「GEBAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Maybe because they saw Engard had stopped moving, that moment, the Gomas raised a valiant roar from the other side of the scorching hell and fired countless arrows toward Reina.

Even if their arrows were that of low qualities with a low hit rate, it shouldn't be a problem if so many of them were fired at once. The other party was only composed of a human and an animal. The Goma warriors fired their arrow like there was no tomorrow.

「A~h, the water, has already turned a bit wa~rm,」

In the face of the countless arrows that rained down incessantly towards her, Reina could still mutter those words with a carefree voice―― however, not even one of those arrows touched her.

Those arrows were blown away by the flame tornado. Or rather, it was blocked by incandescence defense magic. The dome-shaped flame barrier that formed with Engard at its center was thin like a film, to the point that Reina's figure could be seen from outside of the barrier, it burned everything it touched to ashes. The crude arrows made from branches and stones would never be able to penetrate this barrier.

Reina's gesture looked like she was sneering at the Gomas, or not, she might’ve not even put them in her eyes and just taking her time on Engard's back while drinking water from her canteen.

「Ah, there's more of them now, kill them all, En-chan!」

Giant fireballs plunged into the throngs of Goma archers amid Engard's bestial roar. That one strike had annihilated the entire squad. It was a merciless slaughter.

「Hey, can we go back now?」

Reina raised such a question after she had completed her task, turning the settlement into a sea of flame. The one who replied to her wasn't Engard, but sharp cries from the sky.

Ramudein swooped down from the sky above Reina along with a flash of purple lightning that split the dark night.

「Eh, something strong has come out?」

Despite their high intelligence, sacred beasts couldn't speak in human language. But as the spiritualist, Reina may be able to understand what they said in their language. She might have some sort of telepathy that allowed her to know that the sacred beast, which should be akin to monster by common sense, wasn’t hostile to Reina.

「I see, then we'll leave after taking care of that gu~y.」

Reina replied with a sulking face to Ramudein who asked with cries.

「I mean, Momokawa-kun is always so mean towards me.」

Seeing its master dissatisfaction, Ramudein didn't say anything.

「A~ah, I want to meet Yuu-kun… I've enough of this already.」

Seeing that, both Ramudein and Engard were raising adorable cries to comfort their master.

To these faithful servants of Reina, the only thing that mattered was her wellbeing, they didn't care about anything outside of her.

===

「――Great, let's go everyone, it's our turn!」

I confirmed that the fire was already big enough for it to be visible from far away. I gave a "LET'S GO!" sign. As expected of Engard's terrifying firepower, it turned the settlement into a blazing sea of fire in an instant. Things would get far easier if only I'd those sacred beasts, we had no need for this roundabout method and just strike right through the tower. This plan to turn the settlement into a sea of fire was far too easy for Engard.

「'Kay, 『Aqua Mist』!」

Shimokawa was fired up seeing such good omen, and as the trigger to start our operation went all out with his spell. Thus, we went towards the fortress, all fired up than ever. Since the tower was surrounded by the settlements, we wouldn't be able to enter it without passing by the settlement first.

Reina had already turned a third of the settlement into a sea of fire. At this pace, it wouldn't take long for her to burn the entire settlement. Meanwhile, we're going to make full use of the uproar to subjugate their boss. I could still hear the scream of those little ugly Gomas despite being at quite the distance from that location.

It felt like seeing a purification flame in the middle of purging an evil being. Though their number was so more like catching a big haul of filth when cleaning with disinfectant almost made me scream, I ended up imagining ourselves in their position. We entered from the side that had yet to be set ablaze.

Inside of the dark night, Yamajun used his 『Lux Elemental』 as makeshift illumination for us, it was kinda like walking during the dawn.

「ORAA, GET OUT OF MY WAY!」

Yamada sent forth a strike accompanied by a bold voice filled with anger toward the Goma who suddenly appeared inside the mist.

We were right in the middle of crossing Goma's settlement which had yet to become a sea of flame. But of course, the information about the other side of the settlement was rife in this settlement too. Despite the numerous Gomas moving around with luggage in their hands, none of them noticed us inside this mist.

Even though some of them entered 『Aqua Mist』's range, the extreme panic caused by Reina had only intensified by the mysterious mist that robbed them of their vision. Even though we're right before them, the Gomas who entered the mist weren't a part of the fighting power, just a normal Goma without any kind of weapon in their hands.

Both Yamada and Ueda were walking side-by-side with Shimokawa, beating the Goma who blocked our way as we advanced even further inside. Some poor Gomas came from the sides every once in a while, but they're being taken care of by Rem. Basically, I'd nothing to do right now. At most, I just let Raptor Rem kick away the baby Goma who rolled in the middle of the road.

「Momokawa! We've arrived on the wall!」

Finally, we had arrived at the wooden fortress surrounding the tower. Upon a closer look, it was a really tall building. A swordsman or warrior could be able to jump over the fortress with their enhanced physical abilities but such a feat was impossible for a normal human.

「Yosh, Blackhair Bind!」

As we’d planned before, I created a ladder with black hair rope. After I learnt 『Spiderweb Twine』, I could fire the knitted form of black hair right off the bat. At my current level of mastery, I could fire 5m long knitted black hair without any problem.

「Great, it's ready! Yamada-kun, take the lead!」

「OOH!」

Vanguard was the most dangerous role, but it was safe to entrust that role to a heavy warrior whose strong point was its defence. His resilience would at least guarantee a landing point for us.

「Landing point is clear!」

Yamada-kun shouted at us after he crushed one, or maybe two Gomas. Ueda, Shimokawa, Nakai, and Yamajun followed next. This phase ended up fairly quick since everyone was accustomed to it thanks to our drill back in the jungle tower. That drill ended up saving a lot of our time, huh.

「Okay everyone, I'm gonna pull the ladder.」

I, who climbed last, then started the preparation of pulling up Raptor Rem. I mean, additional manpower was better than nothing. Or should I say that she possessed precious war potential with her sharp claws and fangs? Since her height was just a little bit bigger than a human, there was no problem even if she entered the tower.

「One, two, THREE!」

Along with my countdown, everyone was pulling the black hair rope that I had entwined around Raptor Rem's body. On the other hand, I was just watching from the side. Hey, I'm working hard in controlling my black hair you know?

「KYOAAAAAAAAAA!」

With the power of five men+Rem the 1st, even if Raptor Rem with her mini T-rex form weighing over a hundred kilos, pulling her up was a simple matter. On the other hand, Raptor Rem was clawing with her hind limbs as if doing a vertical run on the wall―― Safe travels, Rem.

After climbing over the wall, Raptor Rem jumped down to the other side of the wall as it was. Her tough hind legs prevented any damage even if she fell from this height. And then, I descended with black hair rope on Raptor Rem's back.

「Shimokawa-kun, which is the direction to the tower?」

「This way! it seems our distraction plan is a success, at this rate, we can easily sneak into the tower!」

Great, now let's rush into the tower at onc―― we were stopped by a thunderous roar.

「~~~~~!??」

I knew it was a roar, but it still made my ears ring despite coming from far away.

「Kuh… What the hell is that roar… Mist!」

Our field of vision that should've covered with white mist was cleared in that instant. I could see just fine since the settlement had already become a blazing hell. That was the first scene we saw upon entering the fortress.

And then, we knew what was to happen the next moment.

「I see, that guy is 『Gogma』 huh.」