Chapter 96: Into the Fire

With fifteen women falling right on top of him, Axel literally couldn’t move. Although he could feel soft things pressed against the unarmored parts of his body, he wasn’t able to really enjoy the sensation.

“H-Heavy…!”

Fifteen people—that’s roughly 750 kg of weight sitting on top of his body! If not for his accessories boosting his defense and endurance, he’d already be flattened into a pancake!

“W-Where are you touching?!”

“T-This is a man’s body…”

“Kyaah! T-This…! This is inappropriate, Sir Axel~!”

Although their reactions varied, a few voices sounded more excited than anything else. Axel couldn’t really focus on listening, though, as he was already running out of air.

“EVERYONE! MOVE!”

Only when Nina shouted from somewhere within the pile did the witches begin to untangle themselves. One after another, they moved aside, freeing those stuck even deeper. And when it was finally down to the last few, they realized why Nina’s voice had sounded irritated.

“…”

Her face was plastered against Axel’s crotch.

As soon as she realized she could move, she quickly jumped away, hiding her flushed face.

“F-Finally…” Axel sighed, now able to breathe normally. “But to think there’s a pitfall like this when using scrolls… Next time, let’s use them one after another instead of all at the same time.”

As he sat up, he noticed that one last witch with blonde hair, Mimika, was still latched onto his body. Her trembling pale yellow eyes and his brown eyes locked in a stare-off, before—

“Ahem!”

Rosaria, her captain, noticed the mesmerized witch and pulled her away. “Pardon my subordinate for acting like this, Sir Axel.” She quickly apologized, pulling Mimika’s head down to bow as well.

“Well, no harm done, so it’s fine.”

Axel shrugged.

“Anyway, I’ll begin repairs. You girls decide how to move, whether to protect me or help push back the demons invading.”

Despite the “lucky” event he encountered, it was still business as usual.

After touching the ground, he realized that the cost of repair was the same. Thus, he didn’t hesitate much longer and started it.

Fifteen seconds wasn’t long, so it finished quickly.

However, their next batch of scrolls hadn’t arrived yet, so they had to spend some time helping the fortress push back the demon wave.

“R-Reporting, Sir Axel! Princess Nina!”

Right then, along with a flash of light, a witch arrived. In her arms, she carried sixteen return scrolls. Axel saw her and nodded.

“Good work. Everyone, let’s move to the next fortress!”

“Yes!”

Learning from their previous mistake, they all teleported one by one, making sure to move aside as soon as they arrived. Then, once they’d settled, Axel would fix the fortress while everyone else did what they thought they should.

Sometimes, they arrived at a fortress with the next batch of teleportation scrolls already waiting ahead of them, making their movements even smoother with no wasted time.

This continued until Axel repaired all 120 frontline fortresses that were under siege.

“Phew… At last, it’s done…”

As soon as the repair of the last one was over, Axel fell onto his bum and let out a long sigh.

Ten hours—that was how long it took to finish repairing all the fortresses. As for his expenses, the repair costs alone reached 6 billion Colts combined, while the mana potion costs, if valued at market price, were about 90 billion Colts.

In short, Axel spent almost 100 billion to “help” the witches!

“…I’d be in the red if the Queen Mother doesn’t pay me back for this,” he muttered to himself.

“Don’t worry, Sir Axel.”

Nina, who was nearby, answered his self-talk.

“Your contributions to saving the frontline—saving Witcheria in the process—are definitely not going to be unappreciated. Expect a fitting reward when we return.”

“Well, I’ll hold onto that promise then.”

With a shrug, Axel grabbed the last batch of return scrolls, one set to get them back to the first fortress they’d visited.

However, as soon as they arrived—

“What? What’s going on?!”

They found all the witches on high alert, watching over the walls with pale faces, unmoving. Curious, they also walked toward the nearest wall, climbed on top of it, and checked.

“Holy… Mother of God…”

And regretted the decision.

Around the fortress, surrounding it in all directions, were demons. Small demons that were basically cannon fodder, medium-sized demons posing a minor threat, and then… giant demons that posed a significant danger.

He could see some witches braving through the situation, casting their curses, but none seemed to work on the current batch of enemies.

“Damn…” he cursed. “Do they all have Substitute Dolls or something?!”

About 10,000 monsters were surrounding them at once. And with the witches’ curses ineffective, it was only a matter of time before the fortress fell.

“Retreat!” Axel growled.

“In this situation, we can only lessen the damage! We should retreat now!”

With ten hours having passed, the mana in the fortress’s Magic Stone should be enough to power the teleporter. Of course, all the witches were aware of this, but… none of them moved.

“Hey?!”

“Sorry, Sir Axel.” Rosaria turned to him, her expression serious. “Please take Princess Ethernina back to the castle. We… need to defend this fortress, no matter how desperate the situation is.”

“I understand. Let’s go!”

Without listening to Rosaria’s words until the end, Axel grabbed Nina’s hand and pulled her away. Thankfully, he still remembered the location of the teleporter, as it was the same spot they landed at when they first arrived.

There, Henrietta, the Duchess, was already waiting.

“The Teleportation Circle is ready. Please get in,” she urged.

“A-Auntie should also come with us…” Nina said, her voice trembling, even forgetting to address her formally.

After all, she was still family.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” Henrietta replied, smiling wryly as she patted Nina over her pointy hat. “I need to stay and command the troops. Without me, the fortress will quickly fall into chaos.”

“That…”

“Enough drama, activate the circle!” Axel snapped.

He wasn’t here to put his life on the line to save witches. He came to fix fortresses, not fight a demon army. His priority was simple: return to the castle and leave this place.

Henrietta was flabbergasted, but assumed Axel was simply rushing to get Princess Nina to safety. “Alright. Step in—I’ll activate it now.”

As soon as the two stepped into the glowing formation on the floor—

“…!”

A loud, grating sound echoed, like nails scraping across a chalkboard. The next moment, the formation shattered into countless fragments.

“…What the fuck?”

Axel cursed.

The teleportation circle was destroyed—no, obliterated.

In short, they now had no way of returning.

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