A day had after Ellie informed the Elven Generals and Allen's friends of the strategy for the siege against the Demon King's army in Fortress LaPolca the siege began.
As Allen had predicted, the Demon King's army encircled Fortress LaPolca.
The fortress was surrounded by sheer mountains, making it a natural fortress that was difficult to get around, was completely surrounded.
Allen and his friends had spent three days trying to sweep away the Demon King's army south of the Fortress LaPolca and avoid a pincer attack, but they were rendered useless by the Demon King's forceful attack on the terrain.
The Demon King's army began their movement at dawn.
They started slowly advancing towards the outer wall of Fortress LaPolca.
As the magical beasts of the Demon King's army closed the distance to the outer walls on all four sides, the elven soldiers climbed the outer walls to confirm the signal from their General to attack.
On the east side of the outer wall of Fortress LaPolca
The east and west outer walls were not designed to be defended, so unlike the north and south outer walls, soldiers couldn't be placed there.
Still, the elves couldn't just let it be, so they still formed up ranks on the wall.
A young elf looked anxiously around the fortress as the horrible looking Insect-type magical beasts approached, scurrying about.
"Concentrate on the battle. This is your country, and this is your fight, is it not?"
Then, a harsh voice came down from far above at the attitude of the soldiers.
It forced the young soldier to pay attention to the inside of the fortress instead of the outside of the outer wall.
(Well, I can't say I didn't understand their concern.)
"Yes."
The young soldier looked up in the direction of the voice and saw a Dragon, whose face alone was several meters long.
The B-rank Dragon's Commander Dora-Dora was on the outer wall, which was as tall as the Fortress LaPolca's wall itself.
And the soldier B-rank Dragons were lined up on the outer wall as well.
Thanks to that, the situation around the outer wall was very different.
The Commander was so huge that the Insect-type magical beasts larger than elves literally looked like a insects compared at him.
(Now, Dora-Dora, the magical beasts here are the type that climb on top of the outer wall to attack. Make sure you burn them down so they can't get over.)
As they were about to touch the outer wall, Allen gave instructions to the Commander Dora-Dora to burn them down.
"Oh, soldiers! Let's burn them down!"
""Oh!""
B-rank Dragons used their special skills [Fire Breath] all at once.
The scent of burning magical beasts rose to the top of the outer wall.
<Command> and [Militarization] had increased their status, so the power of their special skills had been greatly improved.
That was the signal to attack.
The elven soldiers also shot their arrows at once.
"I don't want simple attacks! Use your skills!!"
""Ha!""
While there were elven Generals and Commanders present, Commander Dora-Dora continued to give orders to elven soldiers.
(When you become a Commander or a Soldier, your personality remains the same, but your behavioral patterns are modified to be more like a Commander's or a Soldier's.)
While Allen was analyzing the behavior of his summons, the stag-like magical beasts began to spread their wings that were tucked inside their exoskeletons.
Thousands of Insect-type magical beasts began to fly through the sky at once.
"Shoot! Don't let them in."
""Ha!""
In the siege, there was only one way for the elven army to lose.
And that was, if they lost any one of the exterior walls, east, west, north or south.
Then, hundreds of thousands of magical beasts would pour into the area, and the fortress would surely fall.
That's how the Northernmost Fortress of Rosenheim, boasting an outer wall twice as tall as Fortress LaPolca, fell.
Once the magical beasts got inside the fortress, the outer wall would be useless.
The elven Generals hurried to give instructions.
If the enemy were in the air, they would lose the height advantage of the outer wall, so he instructed his soldiers to strike them down as fast as possible.
(Dora-Dora, use [Fires of Wrath].)
"What? You worms want to line up at my height? Know your place!"
Allen instructed the Commander Dora-Dora to use his awakening skill [Fires of Wrath].
Commander Dora-Dora concentrated all the light from around him to swallow into his mouth.
Then, just as the area seemed to darken for a moment, he spat out a ray of flame from his mouth.
The thousands of magical beasts in the sky above disappeared in an instant due to the high heat, leaving no corpses behind.
And the magical beasts that crawled along the mountain surface, groaning, were also reduced to ashes.
Still unable to kill the power of the flames, the bedrock of the mountainside began to melt like lava.
"Oh! How powerful."
A soldier gasped at the sheer force of the attack, as the stench of burning magical beasts and vaporized parts of the rock drifted through the air.
"What are you doing? We must defend this wall to the death!"
""Yes!""
(Hmmm, that's good. I'm sure the east side will be fine. Commander Dora-Dora used his awakening skill early on, but if they fly into the sky and attack again, I can let another Commander use his awakening skill.)
For awakening skills with a cool time of one day, the timing of their use was important.
Allen leaned his attention to the west wall.
There was a battle going on there that was too different from the east wall.
Squeak Squeak!
Sizzle, Sizzle, Sizzle!
B-rank Insect's Commander Alipon had reached 10 meters in length. He was outside the outer wall, accompanied by soldier Alipons.
They formed a circular formation outside the outer wall, with the Child Alipons at the front to fight.
"Don't let they die! Protect them at all costs!"
""Ha!""
On top of the outer wall, there were many Recovery Magic users and Archers.
They were there to protect Alipons, who were fighting directly against the magical beasts in melee combat.
(The recovery team will focus on healing Alipons and the magical beasts will attack Alipons who have willingly left the walls protection first.)
Unlike the eastern wall, which was defended by B-rank Dragons that could breathe fire and kick around magical beasts, the western wall was being defended by of B-rank Insects doing their best.
Under Allen's strategy, the elven recovery team would cast range Recovery Magic alternately on B-rank Insects and the Child Alipons. When everyone's mana was exhausted, one [Blessing of Heaven] would be used to restore everyone's mana.
With that method of recovery, they could keep B-rank Insects alive for a very long time while consuming the least number of [Blessing of Heaven]s possible.
10 B-rank Insects had used their awakening skill [Spawn] twice, and 2,000 Child Alipons were born.
Not only the Commander and Soldier Alipons, the magical beasts were having troubles defeating Child Alipons as well.
(A Soldier Alipon's Child Alipon has 2750 [Endurance]. There was no way they were going to be defeated by half-hearted attacks.)
The stats of the Child Alipon depended on the stats of their parent Alipon.
[Militarization] had greatly increased the [Endurance] of Child Alipons.
They were even stronger with the help of the Fish buffs and the elves' Support magic.
Allen analyzed that the Childe Alipons' [Endurance] was higher than the [Attack] of the magical beasts they were fighting against, making it impossible for their attacks to get through.
Alipons and Child Alipons that were not at the front line were sprinkling [Formic Acid] like a shower.
Their special skill [Formic Acid] dissolved the exoskeleton that protected the Insect-type magical beasts.
Even Alipons and Child Alipons who didn't have as much [Attack] as a Beast or a Dragon summon could defeat magical beasts who had their [Endurance] severely lowered.
The Child Alipons in the forefront chewed up the softened magical beast with their large jaws.
The elves also shot arrows, prioritizing the magical beasts that were swarming the Alipons fighting outside the outer wall. They also had their [Endurance] lowered and since the elves were attacking while using their skills, piles of corpses were starting to form.
(Hmmm, unlike Dora-Dora, they don't turn the magical beasts into ashes. If we fight in one place too much, will we end up with a small mountain as big as an outer wall? That will make it easier to collect magic stones and other things later on. Should we move them along the outer wall little by little?)
Allen thought about changing his strategy slightly, but the western wall seemed to be fine.
Alipons could produce 100 Child Alipons per day, so the number wouldn't be reduced if the magical beasts were unable to defeat 100 Child Alipons per day.
At the current rate, the number of Child Alipons seemed to be increasing instead of decreasing.
(The west and east walls are looking good. Hmm, time to go?)
Allen checked the position of the sun at the edge of summon's gaze.
The battle against the Demon King's army began at sunrise, and the sun was already climbing to its highest point.
It seemed that about eight hours had passed since the battle began.
"It's about time. Keep up the fight and start moving!"
""Ha!""
On the Commander's orders, the elven soldiers began to slowly descend from one of the stairs on the outer wall while continuing to fight.
Then, from the stairs on the other side of the outer wall, new soldiers trickled up and slowly filled the positions of the soldiers coming down.
Thus, the soldiers who had fought for eight hours were gone from the top of the outer wall, and the same number of new soldiers filled the top of the outer wall, continuing the battle as before.
(They hadn't practiced, but they could pull it off.)
Allen was convinced by the elves' discipline.
The siege of Fortress LaPolca continued as the new elven soldiers who had taken over fought on the outer walls.
