knights and magic Lightnovel

ch7

A physical phenomenon forms out of thin air with a screech, and flies towards the 'Staccato Lizard'. The spell 'Aero Ripper' slices through the Staccato Lizard's neck, killing it before it can scream.
"A lizard is heading this way! Vanguard, ready your shields!"
The group follows the clear command of the lady, students lightly equipped with wands and bows retreat to the rear, replaced by students in heavy armor. They form a row and a wall with their shields to fend off the swarming Demon beasts. The beasts that survived the onslaught of magic and arrows pounce on the student in the front row with a fierce collision. The students used their shields to repel the claws and fangs of the Demon beast, and counter attack with their swords, taking down a large number of beasts.
But the Demon beast use their superior numbers to bypass the iron wall defense and to their back. The lightly armored students on stand by, behind the vanguards will attack when they see any beast slip past their defenses. No Demon beast will make it through this formation.
The middle school students who split into groups when they entered Cloquet's Forest gathered and formed into a single unit, positioning themselves into a formation that focuses on defense. The surge of Demon beasts charged at them from the depths of the forest. The students took on the waves of Demon beasts courageously.
They put down one Demon beast after another, but the torrent of Demon beasts is just on the tip of the iceberg. Some beasts slipped through the defense of the edge of the formation, and file towards the forest entrance.
"If this goes on, the first year at the forest entrance will be attacked...! We have to warn them!"
The female student in command realised the danger and wants to warn the group behind them, but they have another impending crisis.
"Watch out! A Macehead Ogre is coming at us!"
The student who saw the Ogre screams. They were warding off small sized enemies like Staccato Lizards and Saber Cats, which is manageable despite their troubling numbers. But Macehead Ogre is a different ball game. Similar to its name, Macehead Ogre is a three metre tall giant ape with a head full of short and thick horns. It requires the teamwork of several students to fight on par with just one of them. They can't take on this enemy while engaging the horde of small Demon beasts.
"...! Second file! Aim for the ape's leg! It will be bad if they draw near!"
Several staff sticks out from the student acting as the defensive wall, casting all sorts of spells. They used fire, wind and lightning magic to battle the Demon beasts.
We need to turn back time a few hours to understand why the situation is so dire.

Morning, the middle school students from the higher grades headed into Cloquet's Forest in teams with high spirits. They kept their guard up, advancing deep into the forest with no resistance and realised that something was wrong. Normally, they would have met with several Demon beast attacks this deep into the forest, but there had been nothing so far. There was no news of the Demon beast disappearing from Cloquet's Forest.
The groups hesitantly loiter around the forest, attempting to reach other teams for news. But all of the groups reported the absence of Demon beast encounters, with no signs of cats or lizards. Finding no trace of the things that should be there is an abnormal sign, so the crowd decides to report back to the teachers after a short discussion.
As they were preparing to leave, the Demon beasts started to emerge from left and right. It is a bit of a hassle, but they still raise their arms to destroy the Demon beasts.
1, 2― 5― 10―
When the Demon beasts numbered in the dozens, everyone’s expression changed. Seeing the state the forest is in, they understood that this is another abnormal event, differing from the one they experienced just now.
But thankfully, they were all gathered so they have the strength in numbers, a silver lining of this gloomy situation. With their years of experience in Knighthood combat training, the students formed ranks with a formation made for large groups. This is the result of the students who aspire to join an Order of Knights, displaying the fruits of their hard work. And thus, their group clashes head on with the swarm of Demon beasts and this brings us to the present situation.
This is the tenth Macehead Ogre they have defeated.
The tactics of prioritising ranged attack is working. They judged that staying put will wear them down, so they retreated towards the forest entrance slowly.
It was fortunate that the Student Council President, Stefania Serrati, is present. When they split into team activities, she assigned the task and suitable equipment to each group. It was the same for their combined formations; everyone has their role to play. Although they are a pick-up group, things are going well. The problem is the lack of a commander. It is great just following their given task, but if they don't act when there is an opportunity, they will miss the chance to take advantage of a situation and waste their resources.
Under these circumstances, no one objects when the Student Council President, who is in her senior year step up as the commander. She has the nominal title as well as the grades, and was trusted by everyone. Even if this is a pick-up group cobbled together on a whim, her instructions were clear and led the group through difficult situation well. Their retreat was orderly and casualties was low, but―
... This is bad. The number of Demon beasts is a problem, but why are they so adamant about charging us... How much longer can we hold them?
Stefania appeared calm when she commands, but she was frantic inside. They still have a lot of stamina and mana, but they will be overwhelmed if this keeps up.
We didn't intercept all the Demon beasts. I hope the children behind us are safe...!
The situation is deteriorating, but they still fought on.