Chapter 93: Time to Go All Out

Tsutomu had cast <<Barrier>> around the Guild's squad from the moment the energy blast had started tearing through the city barriers. This protected his group from the shockwaves of the city barrier's destructions, as well as any resulting debris flying at them. The group's position being far enough away from the impact zone also meant that the overall shock was not too great.

Still, the energy blast's sheer power had scared Tsutomu half to death. He had contemplated escaping with his life, but in the end, could not bring himself to abandon his friends; instead, he had cast <<Barrier>> as many times as he could, downing his Blue Potions in the process. If it had not been for the nobility's city barrier, everyone surely would have died right then.

Everyone inside of Tsutomu's <<Barriers>> was bewildered by the blast's impact and those outside who got sent flying, and could only look on helplessly as all hell broke loose around them.

Once the wind died down and the dust started to clear, Tsutomu disengaged his <<Barriers>>.

"It-it got busted through..."

Amy pointed at the gaping hole in the barrier, her hand trembling. Others were also greatly shocked by what had just happened, their eyes widened and their bodies petrified.

"Everyone, cast <<Fly>> and get into the air. The Devourer Dragon might attack again," Tsutomu spoke up as he looked at the Devourer Dragon through the hole. The monster was not moving, suffering from the recoil of its previous attack.

The idea was to have those who could control <<Fly>> self-declare as such, and have the White Mages and Channelers cast the buff onto them. The <<Fly>> spell's effect lasted a full day, so its duration was nothing to worry about.

Everyone seemed too shocked to act, however. Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Tsutomu took out a megaphone and held it to his mouth.

"GARM! WAKE UP!"

"Ngh-!"

Garm, shouted at with a megaphone just next to his ear, quickly held his thick dog ears. Likewise, the other Guild Staff were forced back to their senses by Tsutomu's amplified voice. Camille had briefly been shaking like a puppy, just as she had before the first Fire Dragon battle, but this time, she managed to quickly snap out of it.

"The Devourer Dragon should still be able to move! Those who can fly, get into the air! And carry those who can't move to the back lines!"

All the Guild Staff were still breathing erratically in fear of the Devourer Dragon and the destroyed barrier, but they were at least operational enough to nod to Tsutomu's instructions. They took a few deep breaths and flew up, and at the same time, the Devourer Dragon, which had been standing still as if it were dead, began to become active again.

The Devourer Dragon's magic sac had exhausted its magical energy on the previous attack, leaving none for the monster itself to use to move its body. Even though there were still some Magic Stones left in its body, even those had most of their energy depleted. By now, the Dragon's survival instinct was holding it back from drawing any more energy from what remained, knowing that it would die if it did not stop now.

But on the other hand, the magic sac being empty made the Devourer Dragon hungry... and its desire to eat ultimately took priority over its survival.

The Devourer Dragon squeezed what little Magic Stone energy it had sustaining its life, opting to feed its magic sac instead. It was practically the same as chewing on its own heart to drink its own blood, which meant that the Dragon would expire soon enough.

Through eating itself to keep moving, the Dragon found itself dominated by a magnitude of hunger it had never experienced before. It was only twitching around now, but it was apparent that it would start walking sooner or later.

"Heads up! The Devourer Dragon is moving! It's not done yet! Everyone, retreat immediately! Those who can't fly, run as fast as you can for now!"

Tsutomu shouted through his megaphone to direct the Explorers and soldiers, but many were too shocked by the barrier's breach to move.

[Come on, don't waste your time, guys!]

Tsutomu flew nearer to them and tried shouting again, and this time they snapped to their senses and started flying away. He also called out to Diniel and the Deputy Guild Master, who were positioned near the houses closest to the breached barrier, and carried them over to the rear lines.

"Those who can move, help the others up and have them retreat! Hurry, before the Devourer Dragon moves again!"

The Guild staff, as well as the others who were active now, started helping those who still could not move, carrying them while flying away. The fastest among the group was Leon, determined to save all his Clan members even at the cost of his life.

Then Tsutomu proceeded to look for Ealdred Crow's location. Fortunately, he quickly found them, as they were near the fallen Fire Dragon and Queen Spider.

"Rook! Rook!"

Startled by Tsutomu's call, Rook waved to him while gathering up the people nearby.

"O-oh, Tsutomu? Do you need something?"

"Where's the Shell Crab's summoner? I'll be carrying out the plan we talked about earlier!"

"That guy? ...Doesn't look like he's around here, at least. I did see him being blown pretty far away, though..."

"Please look for him! It's top priority! I'll do all I can to evacuate everyone!"

"Y-yeah, got it!"

Before this battle, Tsutomu had purchased Magic Stones from the Dwarf at the Magic Stone Exchange, and equipped them onto the Shell Crab. Whenever the Shell Crab wanted to reinforce its shell with ore, it would secrete a white, adhesive substance from its mouth to do so. Knowing that, it had been easy to coat its body with Magic Stones.

Without its associated Summoner, however, the Shell Crab Eidolon would not move. In the worst case, the Queen Spider would do as a replacement... but it was almost dead, its abdomen impaled by a piece of a collapsed building. No other substitute would work, either.

Tsutomu had Rook hurry to find the Summoner, while he continued to call out to the others through his megaphone, focusing on rescuing the heavily injured on the front lines.

The various organizations' leaders also headed the efforts in evacuating the front lines. The Guild, led by Camille, flew out the wounded. On the Security Team's side, Bruno carried six unconscious combatants at one time. Melchor tended to the three seriously injured members of House Babenberg.

Leon had already transported a dozen or so of his Clan members far away, and Rook had rounded up nearby Clan members to fly around in search of the Shell Crab's Summoner. Weiss was busy evacuating Alma and her Healer partner, who had fallen unconscious.

As the band's skills expired, everyone felt a little more weight added onto their bodies. The Shell Crab's Summoner was nowhere to be found, and more than half of the defending force still was not up and moving.

The Devourer Dragon, on the other hand, was now fully on the move, crawling forward with its arms. In fact, the arms were the only parts that were mostly uninjured. Even though they were small compared to its legs that one would question the need for them, they were strong enough for the Dragon to lift itself with.

The contents of the monster's magic sac had been emptied with the previous attack, and having eaten its own Magic Stone, the Devourer Dragon was in a true state of starvation. Now it's only thought was of satiating its hunger. Despite its exposed red flesh, grotesque injuries, and barely functional breathing, its roar was still that of a predator. To those who stood against it, the sight of the Devourer Dragon approaching them was terror itself.

"AHHHHHH!!"

"HELP!!"

The Dragon's roar sent most people into a state of panic and chaos — and the fear, robbing one of their ability to make decisions. The Explorer Tsutomu was carrying began to freak out, disrupting his control over his flying. They shook their arms and legs, as if they were drowning in mid-air.

The same thing happened to many others as well, with some failing to retain their posture, crashing onto the ground and breaking their legs. Those who had been stuck standing around were further overwhelmed by fear, and those who could use <<Fly>> hurried to get higher into the air.

"Calm down! Keep calm and evacuate! The Devourer Dragon isn't that fast! Stop flying! You'll make it on foot just fine!"

The Devourer Dragon was moving beyond its physical limitations, so its crawling speed was not particularly alarming. Tsutomu's attempts to get that across fell to deaf ears, however, as the panicking combatants continued to cast <<Fly>> and subsequently crashed due to losing control. Their VIT ratings were C or above, so crashing would not result in major injuries, but many could still be rendered immobile from the pain of bruises and broken bones.

"<<Heal>>! <<Heal>>!"

Tsutomu started healing those who had crashed while he himself stayed airborne. Normally they would be carried to medical-professioned White Mages to be treated properly, but there was no time for that now. Those with broken bones took slightly longer to heal, but they eventually were able to run again.

"Don't fly! Just run! It's easier that way!"

Tsutomu kept shouting through his megaphone as he healed, while the Devourer Dragon was moving faster toward the breached barrier. By this time, practically no one was standing around in shock anymore, but many of the injured were still stuck on the front lines. The latter were crawling away in fear of the Devourer Dragon, crying out for help all the while.

Growing more and more impatient, Tsutomu looked around to see who needed healing, and saw that he clearly would not be able to help them all by himself, considering how much Blue Potion was left and how long it would take the Devourer Dragon to reach the barrier. He was ready to ask for help from a certain annoying fox girl just about now.

Then, at one point while he hurried to heal as many people as fast as he could, he suddenly caught sight of a certain staff stuck in a pile of rubble.

It was none other than the Black Staff, the very one that Tsutomu had brought along into this world — sticking straight up as if it wanted to be found.

[Man, just when I need you!]

Tsutomu walked over to the rubble pile and immediately pulled the staff out.

Increased support skill effect, duration, range, and frequency; increased healing magnitude and range; decreased mental energy consumption; enlarged mental energy pool and automatic restoration; shortened casting times — this Black Staff, fully upgraded and fully slotted with Treasure Tools, was everything a White Mage could ask for.

The moment Tsutomu touched the staff, its embedded Treasure Tools glowed, as if it was happy to be back in his hands.

"<<All Heal>>."

Tsutomu raised the Black Staff and cast a wide-area healing spell, spreading a green energy aura all around him. He had to hurry to control its range, so that it would heal all of those within the city barrier's perimeter.

Those touched by the green aura found that their injuries were rapidly restored, and they were able to move again. The Black Staff's boost to healing power and range, combined with Tutomu's knowledge, enabled him to get almost everyone moving soon enough.

If the spell's range was too large, it could heal the Devourer Dragon as well, and if it was too small, it would not cover everyone who needed it. Tsutomu was able to achieve the balance with his near-perfect control over his skills. After taking a sip of Blue Potion, he proceeded to cast another one,

"<<Haste>>."

This time, he restored the AGI boost that the combatants had lost, making escape easier. His mental energy quickly drained, Tsutomu held his aching head and chugged another Blue Potion, then tucked the empty vial into his belt. Then he picked up his megaphone and shouted,

"Just run like hell and don't look back! Fly only if your legs aren't working! I won't be healing you if you crash again!"

Despite saying that, Tsutomu still would shoot people a <<Heal>> whenever he saw them crash from losing control of their flight. Thanks to the Black Staff's boost, even a weak shot could heal well enough.

And then it was time to heal the few who were still injured. Green energy bullets flew all from Tsutomu, accurately landing on everyone and healing their wounds and broken bones.

Once Tsutomu confirmed that everyone he could see had evacuated from the front lines, he cast <<Barrier>> to close up the gaping hole in the city barrier.

"<<Barrier>>, <<Barrier>>, <<Barrier>>."

All the while, he chugged down some Blue Potions to keep his energy up. Although the barrier may or may not be easily destroyed again, it could at least buy some time. Thanks to the Black Staff's glowing Treasure Tools, he could cast the spell quickly and repeatedly without draining himself completely dry.

As Tsutomu did his thing, after some point, several people flew up to him. They were the Guild's Tank units, led by none other than Garm. Other Guild staff were coming up behind them as well.

Garm made eye contact with Tsutomu.

"We'll lure it away. Can you support us?"

"...You all look like you're ready to die out there."

"We ARE ready to, if we have to. There are people we must protect," Garm declared without showing a hint of fear. The other Tanks behind him were the same.

Family, lovers, friends, comrades — everyone had at least someone in Dungeon City they would like to keep safe.

Just a moment later, Tsutomu caught sight of the Guild staff flying toward him — and he turned back to Garm, looking relieved.

"No need to be rash, people. The Devourer Dragon is moving because of its desperate need for energy, so it probably isn't operating based on aggro — your <<Combat Cry>> wouldn't have any effect on it. We should link up with Ealdred Crow and-"

"Then I'll fly up to its mouth and bait it."

"Now stop right there," Tsutomu interrupted and poked Garm's face with the Black Staff, startling the latter with the cold touch of its bejeweled tip. "You know that I'd never let you do anything that reckless, right?"

"But if you're correct, then it should be driven by its appetite... So it's going to..."

"Yes. This is just my guess, but it's likely heading to where it could find Magic Stones. That's why I think it'll stop at the center of Dungeon City."

In Live Dungeon, the Devourer Dragon would ignore aggro to eat the respawning small monsters whenever they popped up, and from what Tsutomu directly saw of this world's version of it, it had clearly not been looking at the Explorers. It was likely aiming for the Magic Stone Vault, located in the center of the City.

It most likely would not pay any attention to the Explorers until its hunger was satisfied. As such, it would be relatively safe for the Attackers to simply go on an all-out attack... though the Devourer Dragon would still lay waste to the city in its path to the Vault.

"That doesn't sound good! I'll immediately get to it and-"

"Listen to me."

"Nwoh-"

As Garm was about to rush toward the Devourer Dragon, Tsutomu grabbed his tail out of pure reflex. Sometime after the Fire Dragon battles, Tsutomu had learned that it was 'not so nice' to touch the tails of Beastkins. As such, he had avoided doing so before, but now it was in the heat of the moment... and a perfect opportunity.

"First of all, let's think about doing what we can actually do. Look over there."

"Hmm?"

Tsutomu let go of the Garm's bushy tail and pointed to where the Fire Dragon and Shell Crab were. Several members of Ealdred Crow were riding on the Eidolons' backs, and were heading toward them.