The main attack team is led by the veterans Macao and Wakaba, followed by small teams led by Nabu, Marcus, Laki, Bigda, Mickey, and others.
In general, we arranged people with lighter injuries at the front and those with heavier injuries but still able to move at the back.
The ones at the front carried a magic book, while those at the back had bulging backpacks—this time, we've basically taken out all the guild's inventory.
Macao felt distressed while we moved things out of the warehouse, but Rhode knew this was not the time to worry about such things.
Consumables are meant to be used at times like this. Better to use them all and be sorry later than miss the opportunity or lose a comrade because of saving a few magic crystals.
Hmm... Rhode hoped the President would forgive his extravagant actions afterwards.
The weather today was so-so, mainly because there wasn't much wind, making the dust kicked up by the mechanical leg collapse and the Ghost landing disperse too slowly.
Mira, Erza, and Lucy found their way by following a streak of blue light.
Sure enough, it was the Cyan Engraved Golem.
Without a word, Rhode first cast a Crown of Insight on Mira, then summoned a second golem and also added one each for Erza and Lucy.
After greeting each other, Rhode didn't bother with anything else and asked, "Lucy, can you summon Balrog?"
"Huh? Yes!" Lucy fished out a key from her waist, "Open the door of the Virgo Constellation, Balrog!"
Golden light formed a keyhole, a phantom door flickered, and a pink-haired girl in a maid outfit, wearing white stockings and shackles on her wrists, appeared.
Balrog placed her right hand on her chest, bowed slightly to Lucy, and started with explosive words:
"Princess, will you train me?"
Lucy retorted, "Who would do such a thing!"
Rhode glanced at the shackles on Balrog's hands, then at the whip on Lucy's waist, and feigned a sudden realization, "Oh~ So Lucy has such a hobby."
"I do not!" Lucy found it difficult to find a serious one among her Star Spirits; unexpectedly, they all suited Fairy Tail well.
She said with some headache, "Mr. Rhode has something to ask you."
"Lord Rhode, nice to meet you." Balrog politely greeted them, "Lady Erza, good day, and also..."
Lucy introduced, "This is Miss Mira."
"Lady Mira, nice to meet you." The honorifics Balrog used seemed more humble compared to what Wendy usually used, as if she fully assumed the role of a maid.
The group smiled and greeted her.
Rhode said, "I've heard from comrades that you are very skilled with Earth Magic, especially digging, so I'd like to ask you to go inside that building."
Balrog tilted her head and asked curiously, "To make a trap?"
"Hmm..." Rhode pondered and nodded, "That works too."
"What do you mean by 'that works too'?" Lucy couldn't help but ask, "Haven't you figured it out yourself?"
Rhode said, "Originally, I wanted her to cause as much destruction as possible, ideally hollowing out all diggable areas. Bringing down the entire castle would be great. Now that I think about it, if there's not enough time, using it as a trap isn't bad either."
Having heard that the Ghost's building can transform into a second stage with powerful destructive magic, Rhode wasn't sure if just destroying two legs would stop it.
Just to be safe, causing more destruction would be reassuring, and they just had a professional available.
"Understood, then Princess, I'm off. Please punish me later." Balrog bid farewell to Lucy, turned her body with a swoosh, and burrowed underground.
Her digging was different from Rhode's swimming style in Stone Beetle form; she genuinely made a hole.
Though her figure was no longer visible, Lucy was still complaining, "Why must there always be punishment..."
However, she was in a pretty good mood because, after following Erza and Mira for so long, she finally had a task of her own.
Erza frowned, "Something is approaching."
The dust was too thick to see clearly.
Rhode thought about it and asked directly in the 'public channel': "Can anyone disperse this dust?"
"Leave it to me," came Alzack's voice.
From the nearby small hill, a dozen bullets flew in succession, landing around the Ghost.
Several tornadoes immediately rose up nearby, not particularly powerful, but strong enough to blow away the surrounding dust.
Gun Bullet Magic: Hurricane Bullet - Non-Attack Lightweight Version.
"Mission accomplished."
"Well done."
As the dust cleared, the group finally saw what Erza had been referring to.
It was a dense blue-purple 'river,' relentlessly 'flowing' forward, revealing upon closer inspection that it was composed of insects just a bit taller than a person's knee.
The Void Worms gathered together, bouncing and jumping toward the Ghost's building.
When encountering obstructive stones or building materials fallen from the mechanical leg, they simply gnawed them away.
Like a locust swarm passing through.
When they came, they fortunately didn't munch away the ice path that Gray made, thanks to the restraint of the three Void Nest Insects, thankfully.
The moment the dust cleared, they seemed to get excited at the sight of prey, and their movement speed seemed to increase.
Lucy bit her finger, "Eek~~~ So scary!"
Though she had seen them once while assisting the group in retreat, the number was nowhere near as large as it was now.
She initially wanted to say they were gross, but considering these were allied summons, she opted for scary instead.
And with such numbers, there must be thousands, right? In a way, Mr. Rhode is pretty scary.
As soon as the worms arrived, without needing Rhode's command, the leading ones enthusiastically climbed onto the Ghost's foundation, chomping away.
The ones lagging behind struggled to squeeze into vacant spots, jumping forward on their companions' bodies if they couldn't fit, and started gnawing once they found an opening.
The ones further back took similar actions, with some spreading to both sides.
Like a swift current encountering a slightly protruding sandbank, with some rushing on top to soak the upper sand, while others branched out, moistening the surrounding sand.
Given enough time, the sandbank will eventually erode and diminish.
Erza exclaimed in surprise, "Although I heard about their abilities, seeing it firsthand is still astounding."
Rhode smiled wryly, "It's a relief you don't find them disgusting."
"Not at all." Mira comforted, "In fact, if you look closely, they're kind of cute in a unique way."
Erza stared for a while and nodded, "If you put it that way, they do have a certain charm."
"..." Lucy also stared for a while, only to feel goosebumps on her arms, unable to see any cuteness in them.
Rhode didn't know what to say. He felt Mira was comforting him, while Erza genuinely found some charm in the worms.
Seeing the worms flowing and gnawing randomly, Erza asked, "Won't you plan the destruction route a bit?"
Rhode shook his head, "Impossible to plan, these guys' intelligence is too low. I can only command them to attack and stop. Anything even slightly more complex needs the queen insect to give orders.
And even with orders, unforeseen situations or delays might occur, not guaranteeing full execution."
More numbers mean lower intelligence.
Loki's voice suddenly broke in, "Too many enemies, we need to withdraw!"
Rhode replied, "Withdraw at will; the first wave of reinforcements has arrived."
They heard a loud bang, seemingly Elfman transforming into Beast King, having smashed a large section of the Ghost's gate tower.
Many enemies were buried underneath, temporarily blocking the pursuit path.
The decoy team's trio could relax a bit.
Rhode casually asked, "How are Natsu and Gray doing?"
"They're busy! Hahaha!"
A flash of fire appeared from a second-floor window of a building, as the building came to a halt, Natsu seemed to be enjoying the fight.
Gray didn't reply, but an Ice Spear shot out from the window, suggesting he was having fun too.
Rhode pondered a bit, saying, "Let's move towards Natsu and Gray. I just have a feeling these two are not far from getting a beating."
They hadn't taken many steps when Natsu's voice suddenly rang out, "Wow! Dammit, they even dug traps upstairs, those damned Ghosts, everyone be careful!"
Uh...