And then there was another unit ― a very small one ― which seemed to be flanking the city. Were they planning to scale the walls, or was this a feint?
In any case, the enemy had already launched the second wave of their attack. From now on, it would not be a one-sided struggle, but a mutual struggle of savage bloodshed.
However, that was not where the problem lay. After all, they had been waiting a long time for this, though they could not take joy in the fact that the time had come at last.
What angered the militiamen was the advance of the left and right wings. Their foremost units were composed of many different species. While they lacked a sense of unity, they had two things in common.
One was that they were all carrying assault ladders.
In other words, their unit was meant to scale the walls and break into the city. That also implied that they were Neia’s objective.
The other thing was that they had human children bound to their bodies.
Some of them were crying and wailing, while others hung limp. All of them were naked, and all of them were alive.
Neia bit her lip hard.
But at the same time, Neia’s heart was surprisingly calm.
From her darkened nook in the walls, she watched the demihuman tide pressing down on them. Neia then slid an arrow out of her quiver and began to draw her bow.
Even if the enemy pioneers had entered her shooting range, she had to hold on.
It was still too early.
She took several deep breaths, focused herself, then turned as fast as she could and drew her bowstring taut.
She had only a moment to aim, and there was only one point where she could aim.
―Here!
She released her arrow.
Her unhesitating shot pierced the human shield ― the chest of a child ― and the demihuman behind it.
Perhaps even that powerful shot would have been hard-pressed to bring down something with the toughness of an Ogre. However, the demihuman she had just hit did not seem to possess such unreasonable vitality.
Neia paid no heed to the demihuman she had downed and drew another arrow.
She had killed a person, the child bound in front of the demihuman.
Her hands would not stop shaking. Her vision turned black, and her heart trembled.
Though she knew this would happen and had prepared herself for it, this was how she had reacted.
She reached for the hilt of her sword by force of habit, but her fingers touched the bowstring instead.
It was as though her bow was chiding her, telling her that now was not the time for that sort of thing.
A faint lamp lighted up in Neia’s frozen heart. It spread like wildfire, and dispersed the chill winds blowing through her soul.
She stopped shaking, and her vision no longer felt narrowed. What filled her heart were the words of the person who embodied an unshakable justice.
Ahh, to think it would have such a great effect.
Neia reconfirmed that what the Sorcerer King said had been correct.
The demihuman pioneers that Neia had attacked were visibly slowing down. That was because they had been shaken to discover that their human shields were not effective.
Therefore, she shouted.
Neia opened her eyes, and shouted at the staring militiamen.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and throw your stones down! We can’t save those hostages!”
indeed. Neia and the others could not save the hostages. And then, they had already seen what the enemy would do to hostages that had lost their value. Therefore, what could they do?
She fired another arrow to speed the demihumans on their way to the afterlife.
Neia used her practiced vision and saw that her shot had pierced a boy through his forehead. She did not know if it was because she had been aiming for an Armatt or because the boy’s skull had lessened the impact, but this arrow had not been immediately fatal. However, the enemy’s front line was in chaos. That was only to be expected. Both humans and demihumans would slow their pace when things did not proceed as planned.
However, all she could see of the enemy lines stretched from one edge of her vision to the other.
Neia had only had an effect on the region where she had shot. Everywhere else, things were continuing as though nothing had happened. It looked like a small dent in a long, long line.
“Hurry up and throw the stones!”
Neia shouted at them again.
If they did not throw their stones, everything Neia had done would have been for nothing. That was something even more unforgivable than taking the lives of people ― children who had futures ahead of them.
The enemy was attacking on the left, right, and center at the same time. A head-on clash with an enemy that outnumbered them several times to one result in them being crushed under the sheer weight of numbers. However, if even one of the enemy elements slowed down, it would relieve the pressure on them.
If the enemy reached the walls, they would climb up while using the children as shields. If they managed to make it up the walls, the militiamen would not be able to resist the demihumans. What she had to do now was see how much fighting strength she could shave off the enemy before they arrived.
It’s very difficult for militiamen to kill children. Therefore, there has to be someone who’s willing to set an example, even if they get their hands dirty!
Neia fixed her eyes on a paladin in the distance.
You should have realized that when you took the prison camps and this city! You ought to have known that the Sorcerer King was right! You ought to know that you can’t do anything else! And you certainly ought to know that it’s pointless to obsess over lives you can’t save! What you should be doing is devoting all your strength to save the people you can save!
Neia fired another arrow.
Just like before, her shot killed a girl and the demihuman to which she had been tied.
“Hurry―”
“―Uooooohhhh!”
A shout echoed all around Neia as a stone flew. It seemed to sweep away the anxiety in her heart.
The thrown stone hit the demihumans, who were still hesitating. While it was a long way from being fatal, it would seem that it had done some damage.
“Hey, you guys! Hurry up and attack the demihumans! Give up on the kids they’re holding hostage!”
Neia recognized the militiaman who was shouting.
He was the father of the boy that the Sorcerer King had killed when they had liberated the first prison camp.
Neia was surprised to find him here.
“If they get past us, the women and children will suffer worse than they did before we saved them! If you still love your children, then throw those rocks as hard as you can!”
His voice seemed to banish all their doubts, and it was shortly followed by a volley of several rocks. While they flew on weird paths and there was no telling where they were aimed at, the fact was that they had been hurled out.
By the time Neia drew her bow again, a hail of stones descended on the demihumans. Many of those stones hit the front-running demihumans, the ones using children as meatshields. Rather, it would be more accurate to say that they hit the children tied to those demihumans, than the demihumans themselves.
The children cried and wailed in a heart-rending way. Even so, the rocks smashed mercilessly down on those pitiful children. They were the most tragic sacrifice of all, caught between the savagery of both sides.
Neia prioritized aiming for those children.
She did that to liberate them from their pain and torment as soon as possible.
This was a sign of respect for the few which had to be sacrificed to help the many.