Traveler from Type-Moon, Demon Lord Rimuru! 44

They did not take a single step forward, waiting for the order for an all-out attack, but they would show no mercy to any Dead Apostle that sought them out.

In this city that was akin to hell, Rimuru stood with utter indifference atop the Duke of Cornwall's mansion, gazing from afar at the flickering shadows within this region that was half-city, half-town under the night sky.

Suddenly, amidst the dark red radiance, a beam of light like the morning dawn tore through the hellish landscape; the dazzling and holy light acted like a signal, instantly dispelling the gloom across the entire area.

Seeing this, Rimuru was slightly taken aback: "It's here?"

"Then..." He lowered his head and chuckled softly. When he raised his eyes again, the entire sky had been shrouded in thick fog: "Dead Apostles, get ready to welcome our guests."

In an instant, the sound of doors shattering and windows bursting erupted, accompanied by endless, fanatical roars. The scent of humans instantly ignited their "enthusiasm," causing the mages who had just stepped into the borders of Cornwall to shudder in horror.

Cornwall was a small coastal town in the southwest of England—and at this very moment, on the seaside, as the mages and Executors circled around to land from the sea, the first things that met their eyes were scarlet eyes and crazed expressions covering the mountains and plains. They were not Dead Apostles, merely lower-level Ghouls, but even so, this hellish scene caused several mages to retreat a few steps, muttering: "What... exactly happened here..."

However, before the words could leave his lips, the frenzied Ghouls roared and charged, gnashing their teeth like zombies toward their necks.

In the rush, that mage seemed to have been scared witless—watching helplessly as a Ghoul lunged for him!

Boom!

A wave of clear water surged past, forming a sturdy barrier that enveloped the group, while the rampaging water transformed into a giant dragon, humming as it completely shredded the few Ghouls that had charged to the front.

"Lord Anasa, while I respect a family that has dedicated its life to academic research, I believe it is necessary to maintain enough combat instinct for self-preservation, don't you think?"

Beneath the water curtain, Rimuru's golden eyes glowed with a mysterious luster, softly calling the young mage back to his senses. The man's face flushed red, and he hurriedly thanked him.

Rimuru said nothing more to this. Although Anasa was a family head, he was actually just a student who had graduated two years ago and had only recently inherited his position. Rimuru had already given the necessary warnings; if a family head couldn't even handle Ghouls... then dying was simply unavoidable, wasn't it?

Thinking of this, Rimuru glanced at the mages who were already spreading out rapidly to clear the Dead Apostles from the coast, and the corners of his mouth curled slightly. At the same time, in the jungle above the coast, more and more Ghouls began to gather, slowly baring their fangs.

Atop the highest mansion, the White Knight Rimuru closed his eyes slightly, earnestly covering Cornwall with his perception. Cornwall was a mountain plain of less than four thousand square kilometers, so Rimuru could easily cover it entirely.

"Even if the conversion rate of the 530,000 population is less than one percent, five hundred thousand living corpses are not something ordinary mages can break through in a short time. The human vanguard will likely be torn to shreds, right?"

"Are we not going to make a move?" Altrouge asked, looking coldly at the firelight and wailing in the distance, raising her eyes.

Hearing this, Rimuru smiled and said softly: "You are the Great Demon King, Your Highness. Only the hero who reaches your feet is worthy of your intervention."

Altrouge nodded noncommittally, watching the figure who seemed to be orchestrating the battle from above, a flicker of emotion crossing her red eyes.

The first round of the Mage Association and The Church's offensive was even weaker than Rimuru had imagined. Perhaps it was because the Mage Association lacked the strong execution power of The Church, leading mages to be more accustomed to fighting on their own compared to the discipline of The Church. Even though the Mage Association had done its best to mobilize those who were free or recall the Lords and family heads who were busy with other tasks, the first-rate mages who arrived were still scattered.

As for the cooperation between the two sides, it made Rimuru feel ridiculous. As a former member of the Twelve Lords, he had naturally taken command of the naval forces due to his influence, but once they stepped onto the shore, only a few mages were willing to obey his orders; most of the Executors acted on their own initiative instead.

But this was fine.

Rimuru narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking... if you court death yourselves, you can't blame me.

In the night, amidst the complex mountainous terrain of Cornwall, a mature woman with an orange side-ponytail and an orange trench coat stepped onto this land. She casually stepped on the brake, tilted her head to toss her hair, took off her glasses and tucked them into her coat pocket. As her long legs stepped onto the ground, the roaring motorcycle slowly cut its engine.

"Group operations aren't really my thing, old men." Aozaki Touko took a deep breath; the scent of blood in the air made her frown slightly—at the same time, a slightly aged voice rang in her ear again.

"According to the plan, during the frontal feint, you need to find out if the White Winged Duke has reached a cooperation with the White Knight, and if any other Ancestors have lurked into the Cornwall region..."

Due to the unique nature of Aozaki Touko's immortality, the Mage Association was hesitant about her Sealing Designation status, but ultimately accepted the decision for her to act as a scout for the first wave of intelligence gathering.

For mage warfare, intelligence was of vital importance, as it determined whether a mage could face the enemy with sufficient preparation.

As mentioned before, mages were good at positional warfare, but that did not mean they were unskilled at attacking.

A well-prepared mage and an unprepared mage were two completely different professions!

The battle in Cornwall concerned the face and dignity of the Mage Association. For this reason, the Mage Association spared no expense to mobilize all available Lords and paid a great deal of benefits, which was why Rimuru had arrived at the scene immediately.

There was no helping it; they paid... far too much.

Not only that, but as the supreme Puppeteer, Aozaki Touko's appearance fee was not low, and it could even... cancel her Sealing Designation.

"Got it, got it." Aozaki Touko raised her head impatiently. Just as she was about to speak, a massive shadow struck with a boom!

Aozaki Touko rolled to the side to dodge the attack, and a giant fist of earth smashed into her motorcycle, triggering a violent explosion!

Boom!

Seeing this, Aozaki Touko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, suddenly saying: "It seems you'll have to reimburse me for the motorcycle."

"This voice, have you encountered the enemy?"

"Yeah, things are... looking a bit bad." Aozaki Aoko flexed her wrists, looked up at the giant earth puppet, and then at the plump figure under the moonlight, before suddenly curling her lips and licking her lower lip in a seductive manner: "Hey, old man, I can give you a piece of intelligence right now."

"What is it?"

"Is my motorcycle being reimbursed?"

"...Aozaki Touko!!"

"Tch." Hearing this, Aozaki Touko finally raised her face with cold pride and looked at the other party: "Looks like I hit the jackpot?"

"You wouldn't be wrong to say that." Van-Fem chuckled happily, saying softly: "Allow me to introduce myself. I am one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, the Puppeteer Van-Fem."

"Puppeteer..." Aozaki Touko raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "Did you come here specifically for me?"

"You could say that." Van-Fem smiled lightly: "After all, this was the White Knight's arrangement. As an ally, one must listen."

"Tch."

At the same time, one of the feinting units: a squad of Church Executors.

A roar and the sound of flames blossomed in the corner, the scorching light and fire destroying and consuming the entire three-story building, annihilating the several Dead Apostles and Ghouls inside along with it.

Outside, Kotomine Kirei, who had been watching all this with an expressionless face, suddenly reacted, turning his head to look at the sky.

There, a massive shadow obscured the moonlight, quietly descending amidst endless darkness and gloom. The next moment, it was as if only endless darkness remained in his field of vision; his hands and feet had all vanished from before his eyes.

Relying on his senses, he lifted his hands with indifference and attempted to cast a few magecraft spells, but he felt neither light nor sound.

Silence and darkness seemed to be everything in this world.

This is... Kotomine Kirei lowered his eyes slightly, suddenly recalling information from a top-secret file...

Reality Marble: Nevermore?!

Suddenly, a sharp aura struck him. As the sense of danger and cold sweat soaked his entire body, he forcibly lunged to the side. He felt himself scrape against a sharp stone, tearing his skin, while a faint scent of blood wafted from behind him. At that moment, he seemed to hear the screams of his companions--

An illusion?

No!

It was indeed him. Kotomine Kirei's pupils constricted slightly--the legendary... Black Winged Duke!!

Chapter 060: The Combat Style of Mages - Territory Creation!

Above the sea, the water shimmered, the dark red moonlight making the fish restless, while the sea breeze carried waves of salty air mixed with the stench of blood.

A hideous Ghoul roared, baring its claws as it lunged at a priest who was clenching his fists. The next moment, the priest suddenly turned around, and with a loud boom, the creature's entire body was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing into the pack of Ghouls and shattering several of its own kind.

The luster of Reinforcement Magecraft flowed over the priest's body, but before he could catch his breath, a group of Ghouls swarmed him again, drowning him in a new round of carnage.

Rimuru stayed quietly within the water curtain, watching these Executors who were cutting through enemies like a one-man army, and couldn't help but let out a cold laugh: "They really are brave, these Church people, but it's far too inelegant."

With the support of high-level Reinforcement Magecraft, the physical bodies of ordinary people can indeed rival Servants, just like the Caster class, and the Executors who focus on individual combat power and the Church nuns who specialize in support are all well-versed in reinforcement-type spells--but!

No matter how proficient you are in Reinforcement Magecraft, you are ultimately just one person.

Watching the Executors, who had reached the halfway point only to be blocked by the dense, sea-like tactics of the Dead Apostles, finally turn their heads in difficulty, intending to ask for help, Rimuru chuckled: "Are you ready?"

"Almost." Hearing this, the mages who had been staying behind Rimuru's water barrier stopped their movements and nodded in unison--although they were a maritime combat unit, excluding the large number of Executors, there were only four or five mages present, including Rimuru.

Aside from the fact that most top-tier mages required more preparation and hadn't arrived yet, it was also because, unless they were jointly casting large-scale offensive or Reality Marble-type magecraft, mages were more adept at setting up individual formations.

Just as there were often only one or two mages accompanying ancient battlefields, mages mostly served to support warriors in combat; however, this did not mean that mages were unskilled at fighting on their own.

On the contrary, a well-prepared mage is the true... weapon of the battlefield!

"In that case, let's begin." Seeing that the mages behind him were ready, Rimuru lifted his head slightly and raised a hand, causing the endless seawater to suddenly form a massive tsunami along with the ocean behind him: "I will scatter them first; you quickly deploy your territories."

"Let these brutes who only know how to charge witness the combat style of a mage... and tell them."

"Who is the true master of war!"

The next moment, the tsunami crashed down with a roar, sweeping the entire beach clean of Ghouls. As only a few roaring corpses remained, the mages behind Rimuru instantly scattered a small amount of mithril as a medium. The spiritrons in the air began to shift and expand rapidly, and with a bang, a void formed by magical energy twisted space, causing endless steel wires to rain down from the sky.

Territory deployed. Behind Rimuru, the young mage he had saved revealed a look of determination, instantly stimulating his Magic Circuits. As his eyes flashed with silver light, magical energy began to spread, and countless steel wires began to slowly bend and fold automatically--Steel Life Imbuement: Reinforced Familiar.

Hundreds of steel avian creatures began to fly into the sky, scattering to attack while sharing every visual feed with all the mages and Rimuru. On the beach, endless sand also began to slowly form human shapes, meeting the rapidly replenishing Ghouls head-on and beginning the slaughter!

Rimuru glanced behind him; that was a branch family head from the house of Inorai, the old woman who excelled in using sand.

At the same time, mechanical traps began to shift, the terrain began to distort, and magical energy turrets began to be erected--

One by one, magnificent and fully-charged territories were rapidly established, quickly clearing a path sufficient for everyone to advance. The moment it was cleared, an invisible barrier was quickly cast from the air, cutting off the means for other Ghouls to rush in.

After Rimuru nodded to the sand-using mage, another massive surge of magical energy erupted. The magic circle formed within his Crest flowed into the sea along with the water currents, and in an instant, hundreds of transparent water clones were formed, rushing toward the endless sea of Ghouls!

For a time, on the vast coastline, transparent and sandy-yellow soldiers clashed with the hideous, roaring monsters. Despite it being a skirmish of less than ten people, it completely filled the entire battlefield, as if it had become a war of ten thousand!

But this is one of the abilities of a mage: one person as a crowd, capable of holding off a legion!

Dead Apostles can create Ghouls without limit to arm themselves, and mages can similarly use group familiar magecraft like Bone Soldiers to contend with them!

And in Type-Moon, whether you specialize in necromancy, summoning, or imbuing life into alchemical creatures, everything belongs to... the Department of Spiritual Evocation of the mages!

And with soldiers, the next step is reinforcement!

Seeing this scene, the Executors finally set aside their previous prejudices. A priest-like Executor was the first to stop his advance, the cross on his neck suddenly emitting a holy light: Baptism Sacrament: Group Reinforcement!

The mages behind Rimuru also began to use the territory's bonuses to start releasing magical energy amplification!

In an instant, waves of magical imprints once again boosted the combat power of the familiars, and they began to push forward in a crushing, layered advance.

"Looks like the effect is good." Suddenly, a voice from the Clock Tower reached Rimuru's ears. However, the person responsible for contacting Rimuru was Liddell, who was still working overtime to produce potions as the primary logistics personnel.

"It's alright. The enemy's Dead Apostles haven't made a move yet; it's normal to crush low-level combat fodder like Ghouls," Rimuru said softly: "It's a pity there wasn't enough time to prepare a magical energy furnace for this operation, otherwise the entire territory could have been expanded three times over."

"...Feinting unit, you need to keep your positioning in mind, okay? Once Anasa's familiars have gathered enough intelligence, you can retreat. Don't go too deep."

"When will the follow-up troops arrive? I need to be prepared," Rimuru asked suddenly. This preparation, naturally, was done in the identity of the White Knight.

"Hmm..." Rimuru's question made Liddell tilt her head slightly in thought. She quickly sold out the arrangements of the Church and the Mage Association, saying: "The Church has already begun a frontal assault. As for the Mage Association, it's estimated to be tomorrow at dawn. The entire Department of Spiritual Evocation, including Yufilis, is working overtime just like me--they need to prepare a massive amount of troops to deal with the Ghouls and living corpses."

"Hmm... understood." Although terrifying existences like Yufilis could summon thousands of troops with a single thought just like Rimuru, the consumption of magical energy was also extremely terrifying. Therefore, preparing the corresponding mediums and territories in advance, or even renting magical energy furnaces, were all very necessary choices.

But these things, clearly, required time to both manufacture and deploy.

And compared to the Mage Association, which required days of preparation just to fight a battle, the Church's style was quite likable.

Speed is the essence of war, my friend!

Slap some reinforcement magecraft on yourself, and just get to work!

They don't care about the foot soldiers; the Executors are just a bunch of killers, and their specialty is decapitation strikes!

If the war between the Mage's Association and the Dead Apostles is more like two armies clashing, then the actions of The Church are more like those of special forces... carrying out assassinations and raids from time to time before or during the main engagement!

Thinking about it this way, Rimuru had a clear idea in his mind.

"But since it's special operations, it must be the kind of covert mission where dying for nothing is the norm... then I can't be blamed for what happens."

"Lord Rimuru, the enemy has started to retreat."

Just then, a young mage responsible for reconnaissance suddenly pulled Rimuru back from his thoughts, causing him to pause slightly: "Retreating?"

"Yes, it seems the Dead Apostle in charge of command realized they couldn't win and started to consolidate their forces."

"I see..."

How interesting. His subordinates actually knew how to consolidate their forces—thinking of this, Rimuru smiled faintly: "Up until now, not a single Dead Apostle has shown their face, right?"

"Indeed, though it is true that a large number of Dead Apostles are lurking within the city; our other Church units can confirm this." Hearing this, a lead priest suddenly spoke: "It's very strange. It's as if the enemy is deliberately enticing us to walk right in."

"Currently, there is no trace of the Princess of the Black or the White Knight, nor are there any signs of the White Winged Duke's forces." The young mage, connected to the vision of hundreds of familiars, said with a hint of fatigue: "But according to reports, it can be confirmed that the Puppeteer and the Black Winged Duke, both among the Dead Apostle Ancestors, have appeared, which means the enemy has no intention of abandoning this city..."

"My opinion is to continue pushing deeper." The priest said softly: "For the glory of the Lord."

"..."

At this point, everyone couldn't help but look toward that dark city of the night. The Ghouls were shrinking their defensive lines under their suppression, but there, under the pitch-black night, Cornwall seemed to have opened the deep, gaping maw of an abyss—waiting for them to approach, wanting to swallow them in one bite.

Cold sweat had completely soaked Kotomine Kirei's back, but after death had brushed past him, it did not pursue relentlessly. The endless darkness lasted for only about three seconds. As he dodged that killing intent, the darkness dissipated, leaving behind only the corpses of his companions scattered about, now completely silent, and a few others who, like him, had either dodged or were strong enough to withstand it, slowly standing up from the ruins.

The goal of the Mage's Association was ultimately just to reclaim the territory of Cornwall and turn it back into their own domain. Therefore, if the Dead Apostles couldn't win and simply abandoned this land to flee, the Mage's Association wouldn't bother chasing them down. After all, unlike The Church, which could utilize the cohesive power of faith, the mages were more than eighty percent egoists; trying to mobilize them without rewards or benefits was simply out of the question!!