Fled Without Realizing I Had Prevented the Apocalypse

“Phew…”
The girl, now grown into an adult, exhaled the cool air that entered her mouth while looking beyond the castle walls.
Grooooowl-!
The uninvited guests who came with the cold winter let out a huge roar as if demanding to be let inside the castle right away.
The number of red-eyed beings glaring at the castle while wielding rusty greatswords and wearing loose armor seemed to be at least forty thousand.
Even a rough estimate would put the barbarians at over twenty thousand.
In contrast, the soldiers remaining inside the castle numbered only about two thousand.
Although citizens who originally lived in the castle voluntarily enlisted, their number didn’t even reach one thousand.
A difference of nearly tenfold.
Even though sieges are more difficult than defenses, such a large difference in manpower can never be reduced.
Moreover, the original owner of this castle, the lord, had already fled with his personal guard, so it could be said that this was essentially an unwinnable battle.
It wouldn’t be strange if everyone in this castle was facing death.
Nevertheless.
“Damn barbarian bastards, where do you think you’re coming down to this castle!”
“Just come. I’ll take your necks.”
“Back in my day, I took the heads of twenty barbarians…!”
What is it that keeps their will from breaking?
“Princess.”
In front of the girl who was pondering this question, a knight in battle armor knelt down.

In his hand was a flag bearing the emblem of the Kingdom of Raziel, not the flag representing the ruling family of this castle.
Considering that the knight before her eyes was a knight following the castle lord’s family, this was essentially an act of betrayal.
If this war ends, it wouldn’t be strange if this knight’s head were to be cut off by the castle lord’s family.
Yet, the eyes inside the helmet were burning even more fiercely than when she first saw them.
As if that passion was contagious, all the knights on the castle walls were kneeling and looking at her.
Everyone looks at the girl with the same eyes.
Why doesn’t the emotion of those who have been given their death day fade, but burn even more fiercely?
And why does that flame grow to fill the sky?
“Everyone is ready.”
The knight announced that everyone was prepared, but the girl still hadn’t confirmed if she herself was ready.
She still didn’t understand why she wasn’t leaving the battlefield where she felt she would be defeated.
As a girl who had entered the ranks of superhumans, she could safely escape the battlefield without being caught by the barbarians’ hands.
Everything was incomprehensible.
But.
“I will start.”
The girl didn’t run away.
She just nocked an arrow to her bowstring, as she always had.
Even the girl herself didn’t know why.
Only that she didn’t want to extinguish that flame.
The girl stood on the castle wall.

“A castle wall…”

I stared blankly at the castle wall that suddenly appeared before me.
On the surface, it looks like an ordinary castle wall, but if you pour a little magic power into your eyes, you can confirm that the energy of an Outer God is flowing from within.
It’s because it was created with the scepter containing the Outer God’s energy in the first place.
I don’t know exactly what wish the princess made for such a wall to be erected, but she’s drawn out a rather troublesome object.
In essence, she’s created good cover for a long-range shooter in what was originally an empty plain.
Whoosh.
Boom-!
Even when I swung my fist infused with magic power, the wall didn’t even get scratched, let alone break.
Instead, only my hand tingles.
“If it were a wall that could be broken so easily, I wouldn’t have erected it in the first place.”
At the same time, the princess’s voice comes from above.
I looked up.
Whizz-!
Then a rain of arrows pours down.
Despite not containing any magic power, the speed of these arrows is fierce.

Each shot is comparable to the kick she delivered earlier.
I can’t block those.
I immediately distanced myself from the wall.
I could probably knock down one or two with my fists, but it’s impossible to knock down so many arrows.
Thud thud thud.
Arrows stick into the entire path I avoided.

It seems at least a hundred arrows were shot.
Considering the status of a divine archer in their prime, it wouldn’t be too difficult to shoot that many arrows in one breath.
Originally, such ordinary arrows are used to reduce the number of people on the battlefield rather than to catch superhumans.
But the fact that she’s deliberately shooting such arrows suggests that her power isn’t completely…
Ping-!
Boom-!!
It doesn’t seem that way.
An invisible arrow that grazed my cheek as it flew by.

Unlike the arrows shot earlier, this arrow made purely of magic power struck behind me, causing a huge explosion.
A single arrow turns flat ground into a deep crater.
I frowned as I watched the fragments flying in all directions.
“Magic arrow?”
An arrow made of magic power.
Unlike conventionally shot arrows, these arrows are created with magic power formed within the user’s body, so their power and speed surpass normal bounds, but the technique required is beyond imagination.
That’s because it’s not just a matter of creating an arrow with magic power, but maintaining that form while shooting and flying.
Moreover, the magic consumption is also enormous, so even in the game, it’s known as a fairly high-tier skill…
“She’s shooting those like that?”
I looked at the princess again while avoiding another magic arrow that flew towards me.
Standing on the castle wall, shooting arrows full of magic power at me, the princess shows no signs of fatigue.

The sight of the princess alternately shooting normal arrows and magic arrows is like a cannon firing unlimited shells from a fixed position.

Of course, the power is on a different level.
Anyway.
Even for a superhuman, there’s a limit to magic power.
Moreover, it’s impossible to shoot such a technique endlessly.
I can easily withstand the magic arrows and normal arrows being shot, so if I stay like this, eventually the princess herself will make her decisive move…
‘Time isn’t on my side.’
The time Lieutenant Melen and Sergeant Lucas can hold out is less than the time it would take for her to use up all her magic power and make her decisive move.
Moreover, since the number of Contaminants has increased even more after the princess created this wall, the time given has probably decreased even further.
If those two die and the Contaminants swarm towards me, it’s not a level I can withstand in my current state.
The princess seems to know this too, as she’s just throwing check shots at me and dragging out time.
As I was knocking away her magic arrows, I pondered for a moment before making a decision.
“Huff.”
I inhale and exhale. Repeating this breathing, my body heats up. I pour magic power into it and heat up my feet.
At the same time, I take a posture to stretch out immediately, lightly stomp on the ground, and then.
Bang-!
I jumped into the air, stepping on the arrow the princess had shot.
The arrows, which look much slower than before due to the magic power I’ve poured into my entire body for a moment.
Stepping on and stretching out just before the arrows with magic power and substance explode, I ran and.
“Got it.”

I safely reached the castle wall.

“Got it.”
The princess looked down at her mentor who said so.
She was flustered by the unbelievable skill.
Stepping on her shower of arrows in the blink of an eye, flying through the air and climbing up the castle wall.
Is that really an ability that humans can display?
Even while thinking so, she can’t deny it because there’s someone who really displayed it right before her eyes.
“Indeed…”

After surviving the destruction with the power of the scepter and falling in the southern part of the Empire, the first thing she confirmed was information about Kyle Amillan.
The rumors about her mentor and Sword Demon proved that his reputation hadn’t dulled at all compared to when he was the Sword Demon, so she prepared thoroughly.
However, despite that, the Sword Demon displays skills that surpass her imagination.
But.

“That technique, it seems you’ll need a recovery period.”

He displayed an unimaginable skill by momentarily exploding all the senses in his body, but such power couldn’t be achieved without any risk.
If it could, he would have maintained that state continuously.
In fact, after climbing up the castle wall, Kyle is still roughly exhaling to maintain his original breathing.

He might be able to maintain his original state while taking a close position against an archer even in that state, but…
“It seems difficult to match the timing.”
The princess’s gaze turns to the two people holding back the Contaminants.
They seemed to be barely holding on even before, but now that the Contaminants have joined in earnest, they’re gradually being pushed back.
They will probably collapse before her mentor fully recovers his condition.

It’s a futile fight.
It’s merely postponing death.
They probably know that fact too.
Nevertheless, flames of hope are rising in their eyes.
Just like what she saw on that castle wall.
Why is that?
Why are they making such expressions?
If they’re destined to die anyway, wouldn’t it be better not to struggle like that?
The survivor of the fallen kingdom, Arlea de Raziel, thought so as she nocked an arrow to her bowstring.
In any case, it’s over if she just buys time.
If she just buys time, the horde of Contaminants will overwhelm her mentor before her eyes.
“…is what you’re thinking, right?”
“…?”
At Kyle’s sudden statement that seemed to peek into her mind, the princess momentarily trembled.
And as if not to miss that split second, Kyle approached her at an unbelievable speed and struck down the scepter in her hand.
The scepter falls weakly below the castle wall.
She looked at that scepter for a moment before opening her mouth.
“Why?”
“……”
“Why are you struggling so much? The scepter can’t be destroyed anyway, and it’s a fight that won’t end unless you kill me. It’s a losing battle. So why are they struggling like that?”

Although the castle wall that was being maintained will disappear because the scepter was struck down, the Contaminants won’t disappear as well.

They will continue to dig into this place as long as the scepter exists, and she was confident she could hold out during that time.
Her mentor should know this fact as well.
Yet why are they holding on so desperately?
To the princess’s question, Kyle smiled and said,
“Who said it’s a losing battle?”
“Just looking at the current situation, it’s obvious…”
“That’s the thinking of those who have let their guard down, and being in a losing battle means you’re still alive.”
Woooooah-!
As Kyle’s words end, cheers erupt from all directions.
The ground shakes, and magic power surges from all around.
What’s visible beyond the horizon are reinforcements bearing the Empire’s emblem.
Mercenary guilds, the Imperial Knights, flags integrating nearby noble families, and even superhumans.
The army mobilized to catch the Contaminants charges towards them.
Watching this scene, Kyle muttered.
“And if you’re alive, you haven’t lost yet.”
At Kyle’s words, the princess blankly watched the army being swept away.
She even forgot that the bow in her hand was lightly shaking her body.

That winter, the girl’s army lost two thousand five hundred lives.
The castle was taken, and the civilians who barely survived became refugees.
However, the girl who remained in the castle until the end, helping citizens retreat and taking eight thousand barbarian lives, was given the title of Divine Archer.
It was the occasion when the First Princess of the Kingdom of Raziel began to make herself known to the world in earnest.