After receiving Aqua's treatment, the mohawk-headed thug stared at his completely restored ear in disbelief. Then, without a word of protest, he obediently pulled out one hundred thousand eris to pay the healing fee, clearly not daring to even entertain the thought of stiffing them.
After all, after witnessing Yūdō's earlier "lesson," the mohawk guy had completely lost his nerve. He had no way of knowing whether the seemingly weaker Kazuma and Aqua in front of him were actually the same kind of people as the shop clerk before—types who pretended to be harmless while hiding terrifying strength.
No… that had to be the case.
Otherwise, how could an ordinary Arch-Priest possibly possess such absurdly powerful healing magic?
The mohawk thug felt like he'd been lied to by all the rumors he'd heard outside. Wasn't Axel supposed to be a beginner town?
Then could someone please explain to him why every single person he ran into here was such an outrageous monster…?
Aqua and Kazuma had set up their stall right next to Wiz's magic shop. On one hand, it made attracting customers easier; on the other, it let them shamelessly siphon off foot traffic.
Besides offering healing services, Aqua also sold other items—such as a "bootleg" version of Blessing of Water, and a so-called "dragon egg" she had recently purchased at an exorbitant price.
Naturally, neither the Blessing of Water nor the dragon egg had sold.
After all, Aqua's "Blessing of Water" was literally bathwater she brewed on the spot, poured into bottles right after soaking. As for the so-called dragon egg, she had slapped a price tag of one billion eris on it.
Not to mention the fact that the "dragon egg" was actually just a chicken egg she'd been scammed into buying—even if it really were a dragon egg, there was no way it'd sell for that much.
That said, Kazuma's mind worked fast. Even though Aqua hadn't sold a single item, the healing service alone had brought them in a small fortune.
In fact, every time an adventurer entered Yūdō's shop these days, the two of them would crouch near the doorway, praying fervently that the poor fool wouldn't know better and would go provoke that walking calamity named Yūdō—because that meant more injured customers and more money for them.
As time passed, more and more adventurers gathered in Axel. Even at night, massive rumbling sounds could still be heard from outside the town.
The arrival of large numbers of adventurers did nothing to change the mobile fortress's route, nor did it slow the pace of the colossal steel structure in the slightest.
After all, a mobile fortress was a strategic weapon on the scale of an entire city. Otherwise, it wouldn't have earned the name fortress.
To begin with, its thick metal exterior alone could withstand all kinds of physical attacks. Even more troublesome was the fact that its armor wasn't made of ordinary metal—it was anti-magic plating, capable of canceling out and weakening magical power.
A spell that should have hit with full force would often be reduced to less than thirty percent of its original power upon striking the mobile fortress.
As for warriors, thieves, and similar classes, their attacks against the towering structure were little more than scratches—if that—and they often ended up being mercilessly trampled instead.
After wave after wave of failed assaults, the high-level adventurers who had rushed to Axel had finally given up on the idea of destroying the mobile fortress outright.
It was simply too difficult. Even without anyone controlling it, the gigantic war machine itself was an insurmountable stronghold.
Of course, that didn't mean the adventurers were willing to give up so easily. The mobile fortress might be powerful, but its magical energy supply was still finite.
As long as they could drain its power source completely, they would still be able to fulfill the royal commission.
After some discussion, the adventurers decided to work together to exhaust the fortress's energy. As for the final proof of completion—the core power unit of the mobile fortress—that would be claimed by whoever managed it. The reward of one hundred million eris would then be used to compensate the others, since everyone had contributed to stopping the fortress.
And so, over the course of two days, large numbers of high-level adventurers launched near-continuous attacks against the mobile fortress. Whenever their supplies ran dry, they retreated back to Axel to resupply.
Even so, the mobile fortress maintained its original speed and, by the second day, had reached the gates of Axel.
"Damn it! Is this thing's magic source some kind of perpetual engine or what?!We've been attacking it nonstop for a full day and night, and we still can't drain its energy!And who the hell designed this cursed anti-magic armor anyway?!"
From initial confidence to frustration and helplessness—it took only a single day and night.
There was no way they wouldn't feel bitter. After all, most of the adventurers gathered here had come specifically for the royal commission.
They had staked everything they owned for a chance at noble status and territory, throwing themselves into this mission to stop the mobile fortress.
But reality was cruel. While the reward offered by the royal family was undeniably tempting, it was clearly not something that could be obtained so easily.
After a full day and night of fighting, the adventurers' stamina and magical reserves were nearly depleted. Meanwhile, aside from some superficial scars on its armor, the mobile fortress was practically untouched.
Axel was now right in front of it. If their relentless assaults hadn't managed to stop it before, there was no way they could halt it over this final stretch.
They had originally agreed that if one person ultimately claimed the fortress core, the one hundred million eris reward would be shared to compensate the others. But at this rate, forget noble titles or compensation—Axel itself was about to be destroyed. That meant the commission would fail entirely, and all their efforts would amount to nothing.
Fortunately, in preparation for such an emergency, the civilians of Axel had already evacuated to safer areas. Even if the mobile fortress destroyed the town, casualties should be minimal.
But what no one had expected was this—
When the mobile fortress—the Destroyer—arrived before Axel's walls, it suddenly came to a halt.
At first, seeing it stop, the surrounding adventurers lit up with joy. They thought they had finally drained its energy supply.
Just as they were about to rush forward to claim the final spoils, the massive fortress moved again.
Up until now, the mobile fortress had done nothing but advance forward. Despite being attacked from all sides, it had never once retaliated, leading many adventurers to believe it had already lost its offensive capabilities.
But now, as it stopped before Axel's walls, its massive body shifted—and a gigantic cannon barrel emerged.
Worse still, the barrel rapidly began gathering magical elements from the surrounding air. In just a few seconds, a compressed magic shell several meters in diameter had fully formed.
"Hey, hey, hey—wasn't this thing supposed to have lost its attack systems?!Then what the hell is this?!"
"Compressing magic of that scale in an instant… I guess that's what you'd expect from a strategic weapon like a mobile fortress."
"Is now really the time to be impressed?!The people of Axel may have evacuated, but we're still here!We thought it would just keep lumbering forward, but this thing is a weapon through and through!If that magic shell explodes, everything around here will be wiped out instantly—and we won't survive it!"
The moment they saw the massive magic shell forming, panic spread through the adventurers.
They had stayed so close because the fortress hadn't shown any offensive behavior and had only moved at a constant speed.
But now it was attacking—and at a scale they couldn't possibly evade.
"A mobile fortress is a fortress-class strategic weapon.Its sudden attack was likely triggered by Axel's city walls activating its siege protocol.That said, it's pointless to discuss that now.Everyone, use whatever life-saving measures you have!At this distance, unless you can use Teleportation, no one's getting away!"
Among the adventurers was someone with a scholar's background who quickly analyzed the situation.
His explanation was met with bitter laughter and ridicule. What good was hindsight now? And defending against an attack from a strategic-class mobile fortress was never going to be easy. This weapon had been designed specifically to conquer cities.
The massive magic shell—several meters in radius—was fired.
In front of the adventurers stood only a few fragile earthen walls formed by magic, defenses that couldn't even compare to Axel's city walls. There was no way such protection could stop the fortress's attack.
"Pride of the heavens, walls forged of steel.Dragon's stride, lion's roar, tiger's howl, wolf's charge—Sever heaven and earth before collapse.Bakudō Number Eighty-One: Dankū!"
The compressed magic shell surged forward. The adventurers before the walls were certain they were about to die—
But just before it reached them, the shell struck something invisible, as if colliding with a transparent wall, and detonated at a distance.
The invisible barrier shattered like glass under the violent explosion. Yet, because it absorbed much of the impact, the damage was drastically reduced. Though the adventurers' earthen walls were still obliterated by the residual shockwave, the people behind them survived the attack unharmed.
"Even a fully chanted Bakudō Number Eighty-One couldn't block it completely…That power exceeded my expectations."
At Axel's gate, two figures slowly walked out from the city.
And the adventurers recognized them immediately. Over the past two days, these two had been very familiar faces—after all, they'd been some of their best customers, bringing them plenty of business.
"Aren't they the shop owner and clerk from that magic item store?Was that defensive spell just now… cast by them?"