While Aster was fighting Notker under the barrier.

Hector was starting to feel dizzy.

"Put down the quivers! Archers! Even if it's late, pull the bowstring all the way!"

While shouting at the soldiers on the wall, checking the condition of the knights, filling Aster's void, and at the same time keeping an eye on when Manggot would come.

And also the situation of the confrontation between Aster and Notker.

It would be nice to have one more body, but even one more wouldn't be enough.

'Aster! Look at the situation! Something's strange!'

Hector moved more diligently than anyone else, encouraging the soldiers, but he himself was overwhelmed by a huge sense of anxiety.

'The quality of the monsters is low. Monsters that are weak for outside monsters are constantly coming.'

If he didn't know the situation of this barrier, Hector's thoughts might seem like good news, but

The outside monsters always attacked the barrier in the same way.

As time passed, the level of monsters attacking the barrier increased.

This was to deplete the human's ranged means first, as the higher-level monsters wouldn't take damage from arrows or catapults.

So the fact that so many low-level monsters were still coming meant that there would be that many more high-level monsters.

'We might run out of arrows if we're not careful.'

Of course, there were also magicians stationed at the Tyburn barrier. However, their magic wasn't being used yet. It was only used occasionally to wipe out large groups, but it was still too early to give it their all.

This was something that both humans and monsters knew.

Right now, it looked like the monsters were dying, but it was only natural that humans had the advantage in this engagement, and the real war hadn't started yet.

Kkiaaaak!

Birds that screamed like they were crying flew over the wall, and each time, the wall became crowded.

Those that were difficult to hit with arrows and out of reach of swords were easiest to target when they approached to attack humans. And that meant that if they failed, the life of one soldier would disappear just like that.

The increasing number of these monstrous birds was a signal that the monsters were 'upgrading'.

The next ones flying in, there were at least ten of them.

Crunch.

Hector gritted his teeth.

His right hand unfolded, and mana gathered in it.

[This hand will become a spear that strikes down like a torrent.]

[The spear will reach the enemy and aim for the next.]

Kwarurung!

Hector's hand stretched out, and in an instant, a crackling lightning bolt flew towards the monstrous birds and pierced them.

The lightning spread around, burning the air before disappearing, and more than ten monstrous birds died at once and fell onto the battlefield.

"Hoo, hoo... I didn't want to use this magic."

Hector wrapped his trembling right hand after using the magic.

His father, Ludwig's specialty magic, 'Chain Lightning'.

Since Ludwig was originally talented in lightning magic, his son, Hector, also had some talent in magic.

Of course, unlike Ludwig, it required chanting and had a slow casting speed, and its power was also inferior to Ludwig's, but considering that he wasn't a magician in the first place, it was a great magic.

"Captain! Are you alright!"

"Yeah. I'm just a little dizzy."

The reason Hector didn't use this magic was because of mana consumption. Of course, there was also the fact that he didn't want to acknowledge Ludwig, whom he didn't even want to recognize as his father, but he wasn't stupid enough to hesitate to use it in war just because of that.

Hector, who was a warrior from the beginning, didn't have a lot of absolute mana. The aura that warriors used was definitely the same substance as mana, but the way they were used was completely different.

If the fuel tank was important to a magician, the engine was important to a warrior. If a magician used the stored mana all at once, a warrior accelerated the circulation speed of the aura.

"But with this, the 'birds' will be scared and watch the situation for a while..."

Hector said that and looked at the battlefield.

His mouth stopped just like that.

The battlefield was still full of only low-level monsters. They were still foolishly throwing themselves at the barrier. As if dying in front of it was their role.

Compared to the human side where arrows, magic, and catapults were flying, the monsters' attack methods were truly simple.

Monsters, even those with high intelligence, usually didn't use siege weapons. This was for two main reasons.

The first was that monsters couldn't form alliances like humans. It was the nature of the individual. The more intelligent a monster was, the more individualistic it became, and it wasn't easy for such individuals to gather and create siege weapons.

They needed materials, knowledge, and technology, and above all, the group had to be maintained in that place to create them.

And the second reason was.

"...What is that."

Monsters from the abyss that surpassed the outside monsters.

When they appeared, siege weapons became worthless.

Sss-

Swoosh-

From afar on the battlefield, a huge group walked.

They didn't scream like other monsters. The sound of their next step led by their massive bodies was too faint.

They approached quietly.

"...Mi...!"

Of course, Hector wasn't the only one who saw it.

When someone's mouth opened, Hector hesitated whether he should stop them, but.

"It's a Minotaur!!!!"

He realized it was meaningless.

Everyone on the wall momentarily looked up and saw the distance.

They saw the faces of cows on the necks of the giants, and they couldn't make any expression.

"Huh, huh...!"

Hector was a strong man with excellent senses. He felt the power of the Minotaur in the distance as if it had reached right in front of him.

...Even one of the dozens of monsters lurking in that group, Hector couldn't leave a single scratch on.

Naturally, his gaze turned beyond the barrier.

"Aster!!!"

Hector shouted. He didn't know what meaning it had. Aster would have noticed the appearance of that group too. But he had to shout. Otherwise, his heart wouldn't calm down.

"......."

Aster just silently watched the Minotaur approaching from afar.

Notker, who was confronting him, was also surprised.

"A Minotaur...?"

For such a monster to charge already.

Even Manggot didn't know where or how the monsters would break the barrier. They were just trying to use that power.

Notker's head spun quickly for a moment.

'If I stay here and fight this guy, I'm dead.'

Facing a Minotaur was more reckless than facing the Zodiac. It might be possible for a magician, but it was unthinkable for him, a warrior.

"Aster! We'll postpone the fight! It would be good for you to take shelter inside the barrier too!"

Notker left those words and ran away from Aster. Those words weren't exactly for Aster's sake, but rather, he just said what Aster should do.

But Aster.

"...Somehow."

He muttered something incomprehensible and just watched the Minotaur on the battlefield.

"That monster, I think that's why Frondier said that."

——A few days ago.

Frondier had told Aster his deployment location in advance.

At that time, Aster nodded without much thought.

Tyburn was a harsh area, but there was no place that wasn't. Besides, Aster naturally had to go to the most difficult place. Aster himself knew that better than anyone.

But.

"...I'm sorry."

Frondier said.

His hand pointing at the map trembled.

Aster was surprised because he had never even thought that Frondier would be scared of something.

"What are you sorry for? I was expecting it anyway."

At first, Aster thought it was because he had sent him to Tyburn, but.

"I'm sorry. No matter how much I racked my brain, this was the best I could do."

"......?"

Frondier's trembling hand soon clenched into a fist, but the trembling still didn't stop.

He clenched his fist so tightly that drops of blood fell from between them.

"Hey, hey."

"This was as far as I could go. Even after using all kinds of methods and doing all sorts of dirty things in the name of efficiency."

"......What?"

"Even knowing that, knowing that I've never gone beyond this, I have no choice but to send you here."

Frondier muttered incomprehensible words.

"You're an Aster Evans that I don't know."

"So, what are you talking about?"

"That's why I had no choice but to place a terrible expectation on you."

Aster tilted his head.

He still didn't understand what he was saying, but he knew one thing.

This wasn't something Frondier was saying to Aster. Frondier was muttering something like atonement or repentance that came down from somewhere.

"...Aster."

"Why?"

"Show me that the past me was just incompetent."

...And now.

Aster didn't understand what Frondier was saying back then, and he still didn't understand it at all now, but.

At this moment, facing the Minotaur, for some reason, Frondier's words echoed in his ears.

"That guy really can see the future or something."

—This was as far as I could go.

—I've never gone beyond this.

Recalling Frondier's voice, Aster muttered in a low voice.

"So this is, this moment right now is what Frondier predicted."

——My grave.

The Minotaur finally spotted Aster as he exhaled deeply.

And the bull.

The bull, with the eyes of a bull, looked at him.