When I went to the warehouse of the mansion to check on Damian and the others' work, Grandpa Ratata's grandson was there.
He'd been hauling in wooden crates and had even brought a change of clothes, since Grandpa Ratata had been working around the clock.
What Grandpa Ratata pulled out of one of the crates appeared to be a weapon called a katana.
"It's finally done!"
Monica looked thrilled, but the old man's grandson had a thoroughly exhausted look on his face.
"You order me to make a weapon in the middle of this chaos, and... you know, nobody told me that each one has a million steps involved? What do you mean, 'polishing'!"
The reason he looked so worn out was that, with the army of Monsters on the verge of appearing, the craftsmen were already swamped with preparations.
Yet he'd still received orders to forge a new weapon, and the young dwarf grandson had struggled through it alone to completion.
I felt a pang of guilt, but when I looked into the crate, there were five slightly different blades inside. Grandpa Ratata was already examining one of them.
"May I take a look?"
"It's fine. They're your weapons. You'll probably need some adjustments too, so use my grandson for that."
The young man's shoulders slumped.
"How am I supposed to adjust weapons I've never even seen before..."
Grandpa Ratata sheathed the blade and set it back in the crate. He reached for another one, picking up the katanas one after another to inspect them.
"The saber hilt was a good choice, but... this isn't quite right, is it?"
When the old man tilted his head in confusion, Monica—who had been gazing at the katana with delight—turned just her face toward me.
"That's how it's supposed to look."
"No, but that clearly looks like..."
Since Grandpa Ratata was bewildered, I picked up one of the blades and drew it from its scabbard. It had a graceful curve, and the edge bore a beautiful hamon pattern.
Just looking at it was enough to feel drawn in, but the hilt was that of a saber meant for single-handed use. When I gripped it, I could feel how unwieldy it was.
I tried slashing, thrusting, and assuming various stances, and the result was—I marched back to the warehouse and punched Monica in the head. Her golden twin tails swayed.
"Your whole approach is wrong! 'Similar' my foot—this is completely different! And besides, this thing is definitely meant to be wielded with both hands!"
Monica clutched her head with both hands.
"It's fine. It looks cool."
I grabbed one of her twin tails and yanked it in the opposite direction.
"Wait! You're going to rip out my precious twin tails! My precious hair! Stop! But if you want it that badly, it grows back fast so I can give it to you, Chicken—"
Was she resisting, or was she enjoying this?
I handed the katana to the young man.
"What would you like? Shall I shorten it a bit more?"
"No, I'll keep it as is. Either way, I'm planning to submit a different request, so could you prioritize that instead?"
"Huh? Nobody told me about any request..."
The young man glanced at Grandpa Ratata, but Grandpa Ratata had already finished inspecting the last katana.
"I'm busy, so you take the commission. Look, doing jobs is how you grow. Your future father-in-law is busy too, so do your best."
The young man's shoulders slumped once more.
On Grandpa Ratata's workbench sat several mechanical arms designed from the upper arm down, modeled after a woman's arms. The legs, from the thigh down, were propped against the warehouse wall.
They had a feminine contour—clearly crafted with serious dedication.
"How are these coming along?"
As I leaned over the desk to check, Grandpa Ratata nodded.
"If Damian's boy finishes the main body, all that's left is assembly. I've been working on the armor too, but I'm torn—should the wings be realistic bird wings, or mechanical ones?"
You could tell him not to fuss over such details, but he seemed genuinely troubled by it.
"As long as it's ready in two weeks, I suppose he can take his time worrying."
Then, Grandpa Ratata looked at me.
"What's this? Monsters are coming in two weeks? Are you sure you should be staying here, kid?"
I scratched my head.
According to Rauno's information, Monsters had already been pouring out of the Dungeon one after another. Since it had deepened so much, the numbers were expected to reach several hundred thousand no matter what.
The adventurers of Baim had also gone out on reconnaissance, and it was expected that the majority of the Monsters would be heading for Baim rather than the neighboring country.
"We're making progress on the transport as well. Work on the other end is going smoothly. As for manpower... rather than from Baim, we've borrowed as many hands as we could get from Zayin and Rolfis."
This time, Clara had contributed quite a bit to the transport and the expansion of the fort.
She'd used her knowledge to propose the optimal fort design. Using that as a basis, I'd arranged the funding and gathered the necessary tools and materials.
All that remained was to leave it to the craftsmen.
Just then, Damian emerged from a partitioned-off section of the warehouse, wearing his white coat. Beside him was Maid Automaton Number One, looking inexplicably cheerful.
"Oh? You're back already?"
"I've got business here."
Damian took off his glasses and wiped the lenses.
"Things are going well on my end. I think we'll do the activation at the fort, but it's going to be down to the wire."
"It'll actually work properly, right?"
Automaton.
Unlike Monika and the others, Damian had said these were even more primitive. However, they were also Automatons specialized for combat.
Grandpa Ratata...
"They can move, sure, but the real question is how much performance you can get out of them. With Golems, it all depends on the person operating them. Even if they move on their own, you have to wonder how effective they'll actually be."
Damian put on his glasses.
"I'll handle things on this end, so don't worry. Testing performance in actual combat is kind of exciting, isn't it! So, what brings you back this time?"
I let out a sigh.
"...Picking up the firearms. I need to collect ammunition and such from Vera."
Vera had wanted to come to Redant Fortress too, but Fidel flat-out refused to allow it.
The Trace family couldn't spare their precious crew members either, so the firearms would have to be taught over there.
I wanted to procure as many bows, arrows, and crossbows as possible, but Baim was already hoarding them, so even with money, they couldn't be bought.
"I heard you really riled up that Fidel kid? Are you suicidal? That kid is a Baim merchant too. If he wanted to, he could send thugs your way."
Grandpa Ratata looked worried, but I just shrugged.
"I'm pushing right up to the line, but it'll be fine. Besides, he's not the type to launch an attack at a time like this."
When he heard I was going to the fortress, he was quite pleased at first. Thanks to getting him to promise support, and since the Trace family was backing it, several other merchant houses also agreed to help out.
I picked up one of the katanas from the ones laid out on the desk.
"...I'll be borrowing just one."
Grandpa Ratata smiled.
"That one's already yours."
Monika had been resetting her twin tails, and when I took the katana and fastened it to my waist, she raised both hands excitedly.
"Hey, Chicken, you look so cool!"
I pinched her cheek in annoyance.
Riding on May in her Kirin form, I gazed down at the ground from high above in the sky.
The cave where the Dungeon had been located had widened its entrance, and Monsters were pouring out in droves. An unbroken stream of them. The nearby village had already been burned to the ground.
From my vantage point high above, I couldn't see clearly, but this wasn't the work of Monsters.
It felt like they'd been culled by human hands.
Clinging to my back, her body tied to mine with rope, was Shannon. She was trembling violently, and had put on an extra jacket because of the altitude.
"Cold?"
When I asked, Shannon turned toward me.
"I'm scared! How can you be okay at this height?! Don't forget — right now I can only see because I'm linked to your line of sight!"
Shannon, tears welling in her eyes, was sharing the visual information I was receiving.
The reason I'd brought her along was that I needed Shannon's eyes for scouting. My Skills — on the three-dimensional map produced by Fifth Generation Dimension, the ground was stained red with information gathered by Sixth Generation Search.
I couldn't count them all, but this was definitely not a matter of tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands of Monsters had exited the Dungeon and were steadily multiplying.
May was practically vibrating with excitement, looking ready to charge in at any moment.
"...There aren't any allies around here, but I called out, so they should show up before long. But is it really okay to just leave this as-is?"
Below us, Monsters swarmed in a writhing mass. Their eerie voices carried all the way up to the sky, and I could make out Griffons among them.
Not just Orcs and Ogres — I could see Land Dragons too.
They still hadn't noticed us, but there were plenty of Monsters flying through the air as well.
The most terrifying thing about a Dungeon going berserk was that the Monster army never retreated. Most of them would storm a human city, raze it to the ground, and then scatter into the surrounding countryside.
If no one ever set foot in a Dungeon, even a berserk one would stay small in scale. But when someone meddled and triggered a rampage, the Dungeon could field an army of hundreds of thousands.
And that many Monsters, ceaselessly advancing on a major city, would leave nothing but ruin in their wake.
"What a nightmare. ...May."
When I gripped the Jewel in my left hand, it transformed into the Silver Bow. The moment I shifted my body, Shannon clung even tighter to my back.
From high in the sky, I drew the bow and created arrows of light. As each one took shape from a vague glow into a clearly defined arrow, I activated my Skill.
"Select—"
Using the Second Generation's Skill, I locked onto the Monsters below.
I wanted to take out the troublesome ones first. The targets weren't the Land Dragons. They were the Griffons.
And all the other flying Monsters.
The ones far away were barely visible as tiny dots, but I focused on the flying ones among them and released my arrows of light.
Then I kicked May's belly to reposition her mid-flight while drawing again.
Five arrows of light shot out and struck the Griffons soaring through the air. Immediately after, the Monsters on the ground grew more active, and those on the surface began taking to the sky as well.
One hundred, two hundred, five hundred—.
The flying Monsters multiplied one after another, swarming around until they spotted us. Now being pursued, we immediately broke into a full retreat.
I loosed more arrows and brought down another five or so, sending Griffons and Hippogriffs tumbling to the ground.
Shannon saw the approaching Monsters and screamed.
"They're chasing us! What are you doing?!"
May still wasn't moving fast enough.
"We should've blown them away more spectacularly."
I kept firing arrows of light at the pursuing Monsters, picking them off one after another. At May's speed through the sky, the Monsters couldn't keep up.
But there was one exception—.
"Oh great, a nasty one showed up."
At May's words, I turned back to check.
A bird-like Monster with a black body and a long, yellow beak was closing in on us at tremendous speed.
The outstretched wings bore red markings that looked just like eyes. As I stared at those hypnotic eyes, Shannon pinched my cheek.
"Hey, what the—!"
I clutched my cheek, and Shannon let go of her right hand.
Shannon looked at me, eyes brimming with tears.
"You were getting drawn in, you idiot!"
I didn't understand what she meant by "drawn in," but May explained.
"That's the kind of Monster it is. I forgot what humans used to call them, but if you're not careful, it'll paralyze you."
Then the Third Generation offered me some advice.
*"Never seen this one before. A rare species, maybe? Well, putting that aside… Lyle, my Skills aren't only useful for interfering with the opponent, you know."*
Hearing the Third Generation's words, I belatedly remembered to activate a Skill—Mind.
Mind was a Skill that caused mental interference, but it could also be used to defend against mental attacks like these.
I steadied my breath, drew my bow with all my strength, and loosed an arrow at the Monster that was rapidly closing the distance.
The creature dove sharply to evade, but the light arrow pursued without slowing.
"Fast."
"That's what makes it so troublesome. Even a Kirin—a young one, at least—could get eaten."
The moment May said that, I fired another arrow. The Monster tried to dodge the homing arrow in midair, weaving through the sky—but the light arrow found its mark.
The light arrow vanished without connecting.
"It dodged before it could hit? This thing really is a pain."
Third, then fourth—I kept firing arrows as the Monster frantically dodged one after another in the sky. Then, having shaken off the barrage, it lunged straight toward us.
It was larger than May, and its talons looked razor-sharp. The black claws with purple tips gave off a distinctly venomous impression.
"Oh, it's highly toxic, so be careful. Humans can die just from touching the liquid."
Hearing May's advice, Shannon clung to me and screamed.
"Then why did you bring me along?!"
I had intended for her to at least try scouting, but Shannon burst into tears and became useless.
I heard Mireia's sigh, and a slight chill ran down my spine.
*'Honestly. How can someone with the power of those eyes be this hopeless... She's cute, but she needs quite a bit of training, or maybe a lot.'*
Hearing that, the Fifth Generation muttered softly.
*'I think Shannon is better off as she is.'*
He said that.
(You guys, worry about me a bit more too!)
Annoyed, I took a deep breath and drew my bow. I steadied my breathing, then glared at the Monster from atop May's back as she accelerated.
"...UpDown."
Using the Fourth Generation's Skill, May's Speed increased even further. In contrast, the Monster's movements suddenly became sluggish.
However, it was trying to shake off the Skill's interference.
"This one's strong."
Thinking what an absurd Monster it was, I fired an arrow infused with magic power.
When the Monster tried to dodge immediately, the arrow burst mid-air and split into dozens of homing arrows that pursued it.
Surrounded and with no escape, dozens of arrows pierced the Monster and exploded in mid-air.
The shattered remains of the Monster fell to the ground.
Wiping away sweat, I searched for any signs of other Monsters of the same type. There didn't seem to be any, but I thought a truly unpleasant creature had shown up.
Then I looked back at Shannon, who was clinging to my back. The line had gone slack partway through, so I turned around to see what was going on...
"This idiot passed out while still holding onto my clothes."
Looking at Shannon with her eyes rolled back, I let out a sigh.