Mount Casablanca
The next night, Ultear calculated the distance where she and Kagura wouldn't be seen by the watchtowers.
She arranged with Erza to attack together once the hourglass ran out.
Without needing to say more, she trusted Erza completely.
Erza took the hourglass, switched into her Black Wing Armor, and flew off.
"Get ready, Kagura."
The sand in the hourglass has ran out.
Kagura and Ultear began moving forward in a low crouch. However, the guards were too alert and spotted them anyway.
Alarm bells rang, followed by three loud shouts: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
At the same time, Erza had already knocked out two guards in one watchtower, but the other tower saw it and sounded the alarm too.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
Against a large group of enemies, the Heaven's Wheel Armor was the best choice.
Two of Erza's magic swords flew toward the other watchtower, taking out two more sentries.
By now, enemy Mages had gathered around Erza, launching long-range spells at her.
Erza raised her right hand, and over a dozen magic swords appeared behind her in a circle.
"Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword."
The swords shot past her, piercing through the group of Mages.
Dust clouds filled the air, leaving only three or four enemies standing.
"Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword."
Erza flew directly at the last few mages who were panic-casting in front of them. With quick slashes of her twin swords, she defeated them instantly.
But soon, more enemies arrived from the left and right sides.
She looked into the distance—the battle had started down there too.
...
After being spotted, Kagura and Ultear stopped sneaking.
Kagura stomped her foot and sprinted forward. Her sword, Archenemy, slashed repeatedly, cutting through the magic attacks aimed at her.
Behind her, Ultear constantly created Ice Shields above and around Kagura to protect her. They pushed through the heavy fire until they reached the outer wall.
"Archenemy: Strong Form."
Kagura activated her gravity magic. She swung Archenemy without drawing it, using just the sheath to blast a section of the wall into rubble.
"Follow me," Kagura said, jumping through the hole.
Ultear followed close behind.
"Flash Forward."
Now inside, Ultear didn't need to focus only on defense.
She used her Arc of Time, instantly creating over a dozen crystal orbs that shone with bright light.
The orbs shot beams at the enemies.
Kagura stepped forward to fight the armed Mages, striking them with Archenemy.
The sword's vibration was so strong it either shattered the enemies' weapons or made their hands shake so hard they dropped them.
The two pushed forward nonstop toward the center of the camp.
Meanwhile, Erza had already fought her way to the middle.
The leader was an Earth-element Mage who kept firing long-range attacks.
Erza, having switched into her Clear Heart Clothing, cut through every spell. Once she got close, she ended him instantly with a single slash.
As the leader fell, Kagura and Ultear arrived.
"Seems you were faster, Erza," Ultear said, entering the main hall with her crystal orb floating nearby.
"The rear was closer. It's done," Erza replied calmly, not bragging, just stating facts.
Raizel teleported in with a flash. "The outer wall has collapsed. Did he run out of magic power to keep it up?"
"Tie him up for questioning," Erza said as she bound the leader.
Raizel sat on the hall chair. "I'll keep watch here. You three go tie up the survivors."
The three nodded and went out to clean up the mess.
...
The Earth Mage was tough and woke up quickly.
"Who are you people? Why do you have this much magic power at your age?"
The mage felt like he had wasted his life—a man in his thirties defeated instantly by kids.
"Fairy Tail," Raizel showed him the Guild Mark on his left hand.
"Now it's my turn to ask—how did you build that wall?" Raizel was curious.
He had never liked the small fence around his own house but was too lazy to fix it.
"It's a magic I learned, but it has a weakness—the caster can't leave the center."
"That's useless," Raizel said.
That kind of magic wasn't worth learning.
"Why give up being a proper Mage? You're strong enough, so why become bandits?"
The man lowered his head with a bitter smile. "I wasn't strong enough. I failed missions often. This was the only way to make money quickly."
"We knew we were weak, so we took our defenses seriously."
He wasn't lying.
Their defense was good.
The Council's army couldn't break through because they got rained on by attacks from the high walls. Anyone without strong defense or speed would lose.
Raizel asked another question. "How did you all get together?"
The intel said these were mages who ran away from several legal guilds.
"We used to drink together and complain about life. One day we drank too much and robbed someone on Casablanca Mountain. After tasting the easy money, we couldn't stop."
Raizel nodded.
"Too bad, robbery is wrong. Save the story for the Council."
Basically, they were frustrated losers who got drunk, made a mistake, and decided to keep doing it rather than fix it.
While they talked, the girls had tied up the rest of the bandits and brought them to the hall.
They handed the bandits over to the Council branch in Casablanca Town.
Even late at night, the Council had people on duty.
They finished the mission and got their reward—4 million Jewel.
Since Erza beat the leader, she took 1.6 million, while Ultear and Kagura each got 1.2 million.
The group rested at the inn that night.
After washing up, they sat around the table.
Ultear said, "The next mission is in Blue Iris Village. A herd of wild boars is attacking the crops. The leader boar is really big and has thick skin, but it's nothing special otherwise. Just be careful not to damage houses or crops."
...
"Isn't this more than just 'really big'?"
Raizel watched as Erza and Kagura struggled in battle, while Ultear handled the smaller boars.
This wild boar felt bigger than an elephant to Raizel.
It was twice as tall as Gildarts—probably over five meters high.
It had two huge tusks that could even block Erza's Demon Blade Benizakura.
Its body was covered in black bristles coated in hard mud, creating armor.
Even Kagura's Archenemy wasn't doing much damage.
"Kagura, use full power on the gravity field," Raizel called out.
Against giant monsters, gravity magic was super effective.
Just as the Wild Boar King prepared to charge, Kagura's gravity field suddenly got heavier. Unable to support its own massive weight, the Boar King crashed sideways onto the ground.
Taking the chance, Erza stepped forward fast.
Her Demon Blade Benizakura sliced across the boar's belly.
Actually, the gravity was already crushing the Boar King's insides.
Erza just sped up the process.
Erza prepared to cut off the tusks as trophies, though she didn't want the rest of the body.
Ultear finished off the herd and joined them.
While Erza harvested the tusks, Raizel turned to Kagura.
"When fighting huge, heavy monsters in the future, gravity is your best friend. Unless they have crazy high magic power or immunity, the bigger they are, the harder they fall."
"Understood," Kagura nodded.