The sound of cannons, guns, and arrows firing erupted into the battle between the elves and insects at the border of the city. The elves had not suffered any casualties thus far as they had some interesting tactics to prevent themselves from getting overfatigued. It would seem that these elves had learned how to use elemental spells too. What surprised me the most is that these forest elves were actually using guns when they were already using bows and arrows. Guess they understood the beauty in shooting leads quickly rather than having to draw a bow before shooting. Who doesn’t want to see an elf going akimbo style with dual pistols? Wait, are there even any?! I would love to see one in action!

The Elementalist appears to be restless as we watched over the war from a distance. As much as I hate the idea of holding him back, the situation was actually handled rather well. The elves had a good idea of taking turns to reduce each warrior’s fatigue. None of the bugs were able to push into the city thus far. Almost seemed like they were being used as baits instead of a full frontal assault. Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Saruman? Wait a minute, who’s Saruman? Why do I find this so funny when I don’t even remember who he is?

“This— isn’t right. We should be down there helping them. What are we even doing just by sitting here and doing nothing?” questioned the Elementalist as he noticed I was chuckling softly.

“Have patience, young Padawan. The situation is under control, isn’t it? You all have a— rather interesting tactics that we humans could never copy; making full use of your lightweights to fight in turns. A sound tactic, if I say so myself. But our main objective is to hunt for the massive bug,” I explained.

“P— Padawan? Never mind. Aren’t those bugs massive enough? You’re telling me there’s an even bigger one?” he questioned us.

“Oh yeah~ I’ve already taken down one of its massive leg but it is definitely the leader of the swarm. You will know when you see it, or hear it,” shrugged John.

“Hmm, why do I get the feeling that I’m missing something here? What’s the point in sending a small force to attack from the front? Are they just trying to wear us down? The enemy should know what the elves are capable off,” I scratched my head.

“They won’t win in a battle of attrition, that’s for sure. Elves can continue fighting for long durations without tiring ourselves, as we can take turns. If this continues, the enemy will run out of numbers before we suffer any casualties,” answered the Elementalist.

“And I’m sure the enemy is aware of this. That massive bug is not a fool. Not to mention the beast monsters outsmarted us a couple of times when they attacked our city. I remember one time they—” John stopped his sentence and quickly turned his gaze towards the Elementalist.

“They— aren’t going to do that, right?” asked John as he continued staring at the Elementalist with concern.

“Do what exactly? I wasn’t there protecting the City Of Pines. What was their strategy?” I alternated my gaze between both of them.

“I’ll do some inspections. You tell Zen about it,” said the Elementalist as he made his way to the city.

“John, don’t keep me in the dark. I need to know what happened,” I urged him to tell me.

“Okay, the beast monsters used a few tactics against us the last time. Attacking in pairs, sneaking up on adventurers when night arrives or hurling the bodies of fallen adventurers at us. But the worse was—” John was interrupted when we heard loud commotions coming from the city.

From what I can see, the Elementalist was shouting something towards the main force. Not long after, something erupted from below the ground, and the Elementalist struck his dagger against what came out of it. Off goes one of the bug’s heads, but plenty more emerged along with more holes erupting from the ground.

Shit, I never thought they could tunnel through the city without them noticing. Is that— why they used a small amount of their forces to cause all those commotions so that the elves couldn’t hear them tunnelling? What a cunning strategy. But the massive bug is still nowhere to be seen. No matter, we should help out for now until it decides to show itself.

“Let’s go, John. We should help the elves to prevent casualties,” I told him.

“Isn’t our main objective the massive bug? It’s still nowhere to be seen,” questioned John.

“Which is why we should just help what we can since the elves seem to be disoriented by the enemies attacking from all sides. Now that the enemy has shown one of its hands, I doubt it will show another one so soon. Besides, last I recall, it didn’t look as though the massive bug had any healing capabilities unlike demons. It is probably wary of you since your axe is capable of hurting it,” I explained to John and proceeded to head towards the Elementalist.

“Hope you’re right. Don’t wish to be caught off guard once again,” sighed John as he followed after me.

***

Just— how many bugs are there?! We had been fighting for hours, yet their numbers seemed endless. Despite being easier than fighting beast monsters, their numbers more than make up for it. Not to mention killing them requires precision since all of them have thick carapaces.

I shudder to think of the possibility that any of these were previously human or even an elf. It can’t be. There are just too many of them. No, what am I even talking about? There were a huge number of beast monsters who attacked us in both the east and the west. Many humans had already died because of that.

I took a glance around me, we can’t afford to fallback as there’s nowhere else for us to retreat to. This city is all there is for the elves, yet there should be somewhere we can regroup to restrategise ourselves.

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Despite the overwhelming odds, we continued to defend the city. I refrained from using any of my gauntlet’s spells as I knew I needed to use it when I faced the massive bug. Is it time for me to use it? I will need some cover beforehand to prepare myself.

While I was debating with myself, loud howling could be heard all around us that sounded familiar. Flashes of white afterimages flashed around us. Something was moving extremely fast around us, picking off enemies with each flash.

“How’s it going, young one?” asked a familiar voice behind me.

“Took your time, didn’t you? Still not using your fangs, I take it?” I smirked without even turning to look at who was talking to me.

“No reason to, my claws are good enough for insects like these,” he chuckled.

The winged dire wolves had finally joined the fray. They must had been preoccupied with something that delayed them from helping us earlier.

“These insects are brilliant. They knew how to stall us at the forest’s borders to prevent us from helping here. But now that we’re here, we can end this fight quickly,” he sneered.

“Not that easy. We need to find a way to close those tunnels, prevent more from coming through, and eliminate those below the surface. Damn it, I wished my wife were here to seal those tunnels,” I sighed in frustration.

“No point in thinking about what we lack; focus only on what we have and can do. Come, what ideas does that brilliant head of yours conjure?” he spoke wisely.

“Surprised you’re sticking to me rather than the Commander. You would think the Alpha of the pack would serve the Commander instead of me,” I questioned his choice.

“To win a war, I choose the most brilliant and influential one that is capable of turning the tide. You are the one that will win this war for us, which is why I am here. Enough chitchatting. What’s your plan?” he asked once more.

Hmm, I have no bombs that can close them, and just closing them doesn’t do anything since they can just tunnel elsewhere and re-emerge. I need to eliminate all those bugs inside those tunnels and those surrounding it. Think you’re up for the task, Tengu-kaze?

Always ready. Itching to try out that new thing you invented, spoke Byakko telepathically.

“Kuchisabishii-sama, will you allow me to ride you? The plan requires some height for me to achieve,” I asked curiously.

“Hm? Haha!! Can’t resist, can ya? Tell me your plans and consider it a deal!” he laughed loudly.

“Very well, I’ll be roasting all of those bugs if you can get me close to one of those tunnels. Here’s hoping all of them are interconnected together so I don’t need to destroy them individually,” I explained.

“Interesting, do you have bombs that are capable of doing so? You will need a lot of them if you wish to close all of them simultaneously, and from the look of your pouches and not a sniff of gunpowders, you don’t have any bombs with you. How are you planning on roasting all of them then? Colour me intrigued by your proposal,” he grinned.

“Feast your eyes on the impossible then. You don’t need a bomb to create a huge explosion, just a little bit of help from oxygen. Cover me while I do the necessary preparation. It’s a pain to pull this off,” I reached into my back pouch and took out a cloth and the prototype lighter.

I coated Tengu-kaze with a special wax that I formulated with the cloth and lit it on fire with the lighter. This is just a normal fire burning on the blade with the help of the wax. Then I searched for what I need to replicate the fire spell in my hip pouch. There you are, found it. It’s a glass ball with two materials inside, a small fragment of the thunderstone and a chipped fang belonging to a red dragon.

I tossed the ball into the air and smashed it with my flaming blade. The flames immediately extinguished in an instant but the blade started glowing yellow. Yellow sparks began snaking across the surface of the blade as though awaiting for something to ignite it. That’s your cue, Byakko.

Winds began to gather around Tengu-kaze as yellow fires started to emerge from the blade. Not long after, a vortex of pure yellow fire began swirling around Tengu-kaze as a cyclone of fire spun around the blade itself. Now this, is my fire spell. I had always noticed that Lily’s fire spell looked rather reddish when she uses it. Turns out, that was what green dragon uses. Using the fang from red dragon, I can somehow replicate the fire that red dragons use instead which had the intensity to melt boulders. Time to put this into action.

Kuchisabishii-sama’s eyes widen as he saw the flames swirling around my blade and began laughing loudly. It must be amusing for him that I can somehow use fire spell.

“You never seek to amaze me, young one! Your brilliance certainly knows no bounds, possibly even exceeding the elves! For you to crack the code in using elemental spells on your own, I doubt the elves are going to be happy about it; but— that’s for another time. Let’s get to roasting. My back is yours,” he laughed.

I leapt up and mounted him, which gave a completely different experience for me. Dire wolves had broad backs, that’s to say I had to spread my legs further apart. Not to mention Kuchisabishii-sama was the alpha of the entire pack, making him the largest wolf I could ever mount. And the next best thing is—

“You ready? I’m about to take flight,” he announced to me before spreading his wings and taking flight after a short run.

I quickly grabbed onto his furs with my right hand to prevent myself from falling. Woo hoo!~ This is fun! I never thought I had the chance to fly someday!

“Stop having fun and focus!” screamed Kirin and Byakko as they knew how happy I was feeling. Aw c’mon, can’t I have a bit of joy in finally getting a chance to fly? It’s not like any of you have wings. I swore Kirin shocked me out of jealousy after that thought.

“We’re coming in close. You better get ready. Wait— incoming!” warned Kuchisabishii-sama as he avoided the insects that were coming in to attack us.

All the bugs had to do was to fly in close and let their spikes do all the work for them. They didn’t even need to do much as their spikes were both used for offence and defence, which was why melee fighters were having such a hard time fighting against these bugs.

“Damn it, there are too many of them taking flight now. You need to do something since we’re the only ones up in the air now. We had been fighting them on the ground because we knew we would be at a disadvantage due to their superior numbers,” growled Kuchisabishii-sama as he continued avoiding the bugs while slashing a couple of them with his claws.

“I’ll handle it. You just focus on getting me close to a tunnel. The best way to kill bugs is with fire,” I assured him.

I lifted Tengu-kaze above my head and gripped it two-handed. More winds began to spiral around the blade and the surrounding temperatures began to rise. Focus on heating the air around us and keep it focused around the blade. Heat it up, more, more! MORE! Now, let’s get some explosion going.

Tengu-kaze released superheated air, resulting in an explosive expansion that caused a massive shockwave, which was more than enough to obliterate most of the bugs around us. I hope this doesn’t cause a thunderstorm in doing so; we shouldn’t be high enough for it to cause some sort of reaction from Mother Nature.

“That was dangerous, young one! I almost lost control of the flight path!” shouted Kuchisabishii-sama.

“Well, at least the coast is clear now. Get me closer quickly,” I told him.

“We’re almost there. Now’s your chance. Take down those tunnels!” he roared.

“Tell everyone to stay as far away from any tunnels, I’m worried that some of our allies might get hurt,” I told him as I started gathering more winds around Tengu-kaze, oxygen specifically.

“Leave it to me,” he assured me as he howled loudly for everyone to hear.

Seeing that the elves understood what the howl meant, I guess it’s time for me to take action then. I leapt off from Kuchisabishii-sama despite being up in the air. He let out a “Wha—“ as he realised my weight was no longer on him. He tried to pursue after me, but I told him to stop where he was or he might get burned.

Hot gasses could be seen trailing towards Tengu-kaze as the mini flaming vortex got bigger with each second. “Time for a trip, Byakko,” I spoke to my blade before taking aim and throwing it into the middle of the tunnel. A trail of pure yellow flame could be seen before Tengu-kaze vanished into the darkness of the tunnel. The insects who were oblivious to the danger approaching them noticed that I was falling closer to the ground and decided to attack me. So many of them dashed their way towards me after I landed nearby their tunnel as they knew I was some high-value target. I waved at them before a flash of yellow engulfed the entire area.

A massive explosion of flames erupted from the ground, as though numerous high explosives had gone off inside the tunnel. Tengu-kaze must have finally mixed the oxygen with the flames, which resulted in a more lethal explosion. Guess learning Alchemy paid off in some ways. And my hunch was right; they were all interconnected to one another, which made things easier for me. I stood still and admired the scene. I was unharmed as a protective bubble of cold air was swirling around me, keeping me protected. The ground was getting warmer, but nothing life-threatening. A sea of yellow flames was unfolding before me as the bugs burned where they stood. With the intensity of the flames, they would not even feel pain before turning into ashes. They might not even realise that they had died either. I wonder if I’ll be able to create Hellfire that Horrus used on me. That would be insane if that ever happens.

After the last flame died out, I resummoned Tengu-kaze with a snap of my left fingers. How was it, Byakko-sama? Had fun?

“Most definitely, boy. That was rather— intense, even for me. You had outdone yourself in utilising my element in ways that I never thought possible. Even more so than your mother,” he spoke telepathically.

Thanks for the compliment, but we still have work to be done. There are still more bugs for us to kill within the city. Let’s go.