Chapter 29

August 11th, 4:18 PM. Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture. Two days have passed since the Self-Defense Forces had acted to stop the monsters coming from the Kanto region.

The current battle was raging in Kakamigahara. In regards to Aichi Prefecture, the Ground Self-Defense Forces in each of the cities of Ichinomiya, Inazawa and Nagoya had formed defense lines, and the General Staff Headquarters had been placed in the 10th Division's Garrison situated in Moriyama.

This was the final line of defense.

Sakamoto was standing on top of the newly constructed defense wall.

"How many days until we fall?"

"We still have regular bullets, however the team that was equipped with Magic Steel weapons was annihilated. And the few Magic Steel bullets that we had are already gone."

No matter how many regular bullets there were, they couldn't change the overall situation...

After the The Calamity and the appearance of the monsters the Self-Defense Forces had dispatched countless armoured vehicles, war machines and fighter jets to intercept the enemy.

And even though they were able to lower their numbers at first, the monsters just kept popping up out of the ground making everything up until now seem like it had been useless, and instead of achieving results, they just wasted bullets.

If they had taken better care of their resources, this defense line might have been able to hold for a bit more... However those were all just false hopes.

"We were able to evacuate Gifu and Aichi's refugees towards Kansai... However if we retreat and follow them, the monsters will just burst through the wall and come flooding in."

"Are we all... gonna die in vain... We can't slow them down nor intercept them..."

After I had found out that Sakuragi had the Appraisal skill I had her follow me. Using her ability to see Classes and Levels, we were able to form a strike team.

With the help of that we were able to pick people with high levels and the Knight or Fighter Classes and handed them Magic Steel weapons.

At first it showed good results. The team would charge in wielding the Magic Steel weapons, while the other soldiers would support them from behind with guns.

However... the enemy was too numerous so after the first day they had completely exhausted their strength and started dying one by one. On the other hand the monsters didn't need to sleep, and could attack non stop.

The Self-Defense Force had fought for 3 days straight without rest or sleep... Today was the limit...

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Osaka, Temporary Prime Minister's Official Residence...

"Prime Minister... Gifu and Aichi won't last. We must start the evacuation preparations...!"

"And where should we evacuate to... There's no where in Japan left to run to!"

"The casualties in Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia are pretty low, so we could evacuate there for the time being."

"Leaving behind the citizens and running away with only the politicians... What future is there in that...? How are we supposed to explain it to the citizens?"

The Prime Minister Tada Toshiki was filled with hopelessness while listening to the Chief Cabinet Secretary's reports.

"We cannot have every single Japanese perish here, please make your decision!"

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"Push them back...!! Hold the line!!!"

"No good! We're getting broken through!!"

The defense wall and the barricades would last long... All of the soldiers knew that they were already done for.

However they still couldn't stop praying that all their efforts up until now would be rewarded...

"Heavy Thunder!!"

In that moment, the sky roared...

A light so strong that one couldn't even open one's eyes, covered the surroundings.

At the same time countless lightnings fell from the skies to strike the monsters! The monsters who were just fighting the Self-Defense Forces started falling to the ground one by one. The strange thing was that even though so many lightnings had fallen from the sky, not even one of them had hit the Self-Defense Forces.

"What happened!?"

Several thousand monsters had fallen dead before the defense wall. After looking up at the sky, the soldiers realized that something was floating there.

"What's that...?" A flying monster?"

"No... that's..."

Numerous soldiers who were standing on top of the defense wall pointed their guns towards the sky. Sakamoto stopped all of them with his sign.

"Wait! That's..."

It looked like a person... If one looked closely he would see that there were two people flying in the air.

"It can't be..."

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'Heavy Thunder is a wide area annihilation magic. Due to striking several enemies at once it's fire power isn't that high. I can't kill monsters of the Middle or higher with only one strike... For now I guess I should leave him in a safe place...'

"Shimizu! I'm letting you down."

I lowered Shimizu to a place on the defense wall that looked relatively safe.

After lowering him, the soldiers on top of the defense wall looked at me with their eye wide open.

"I'm sorry but I'm leaving him in your care!"

"Yea...sure..."

I once again headed to the skies and started firing magic at the remaining High Ranked monsters!

"Combination Magic Blazing Thunder!"

The monsters were struck by fierce lightning and in the next moment began burning.

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"Shimizu!!"

I began running from where I was standing and screamed at Shimizu.

"Oh! You're still alive huh... I brought him just like I promised!!"

"You..."

Shimizu was sitting on the ground his right leg missing. He didn't seem wounded but his clothes were covered in blood.

"You... you paid such a price to keep our promise..."

"Don't sweat the small stuff! I'll have you repay me big time you know!"

"Of course, I'm only afraid that I won't be able to repay you even if I spend my whole life..."

Both of them looked towards the sky.

"So he's the one huh..."

"Yea, it's better than even my wildest dreams."

"Sakuragi! Can you use Appraisal on him?"

I asked Sakuragi who was standing close to me to use Appraisal on the man flying in the sky.

"Roger!"

After Sakuragi used her Appraisal...

"I got it! He's a Level 88 Great Magician."

'Great Magician... Haven't heard of that one before. Even though we have a lot of people in the Self-Defense Forces we don't have anyone with that Class or with that high of a Level.'

"If it's him then..."

I could finally cling onto the string of hope that I was way too scared to grab onto before.