Dead Man's Harem. Since I can't kill myself, I'll find other ways to be happy.

Chapter 90: Knight Aurora, The Shining Spear of the Empire

Matching the madame, Devon lifted his moonlight steel sword as if it were a staff and began to concentrate his mana in front of him. But again, his mana instantly converted to wind before he could coalesce it any further.

The scrambling gorilla sized howler monkeys who were running parallel to the carriage were screeching and thumping like madness, causing the horses to reel in panic.

"Screw this," Devon muttered. Instead of trying to convert his mana to the fire element, he simply let it manifest as his preferred wind element. A slicing wave of wind element magic shot from his sword towards one of the large monkeys, cutting cleanly into its shoulder and sending it sprawling.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–

Less than a football field of distance behind them, the horned behemoth crashed through the carriages that were beginning to escape, and began barreling down the dirt road that had off-white and barren soil due to the amount of horse hooves trampling over the route over hundreds of years of usage.

"It's coming this way!" Devon shouted in panic. "What do we do?"

The madame tapped her staff patiently onto the floor of the carriage. "Driver, go faster!"

"I told you, I can't! The horses are spooked because of the howlers!"

"Tch," madame Elisa muttered, sending another fireball at a howler monkey, but the pack was dense and knocking them out one by one was a futile effort. "Is that better?"

"You have to do that more than twice, madame!"

Whipping her staff forward, Madame Elisa let loose a barrage of fireballs, conjuring several at a time and shooting them into the horde of fleeing howlers, while the behemoth continued to tear up the road behind them. Dozens of soldiers and their carriages were already sent flying, and the Algorian rebellion seemed like an afterthought in the face of the danger posed by a rampaging calamity-level beast.

Dooo-doo doo duuuuuu–

The sound of trumpets rang through the road from ahead, and a golden clad convoy of war carriages appeared in the distance, each lined up next to another. Elite soldiers emerged from the war carriages, each with the physique and aura of a general.

"It's the fabled Fifth Division~" Madame Elisa chimed happily. "They'll be able to help us out~"

The carriage driver breathed a sigh of relief as well, and even the horses drawing their carriage were visibly soothed by the appearance of the royal army's fifth division, composed of some of the most elite soldiers that humanity had to offer within the empire.

Oddly enough, Devon noticed that just one of the soldiers was not a burly man like the rest of them. An elegant spear wielding woman no older than twenty five wore an embroidered golden feathered crown and was clad in form-fitting armor with a golden-red bosom armored piece that curved out to fit her ample breasts and then curved back inwards to a slim waistline.

If Devon didn't know any better, he'd think that she was a fantasy martial arts cosplayer, but the serious glint of her ornate spear and her fearsome battle aura said otherwise. He constantly had to remind himself that the standards that held up on earth no longer applied in this world, and her existence on an elite squad filled with brawny veterans showed just how powerful she was in combat, despite her elegant and fragile appearance.

The woman signaled to the rest of the company, and they began shifting to the side of the road so that the fleeing carriages, including Devon's, could pass through without harm. But there was the issue of the howler monkeys right next to them…

"That's Knight Aurora, one of the shining spears of the empire~" Madame Elisa explained to Devon. "I've seen her around during magician guild meetings~"

"I see," Devon replied, looking up and down her glamorous armored figure before locking onto her shining, pretty face. "Do you think she has a boyfriend?" he asked in jest.

Suddenly, Devon felt a tug on his ear. "Ow, ow ow–"

"Now is not the time for jokes, my dear student~" the feisty sorceress brunette in her late thirties replied, giving off the aura of a fiery tiger at the sense of another girl enticing Devon. "Now, let us focus on breaking through this barricade~"

"What barricade?" Devon asked, a bit confused. He didn't see any physical impediments up ahead, besides the fifth division that was making way for them.

"You didn't think that the royal army's fifth division would let through so many howler monkeys into civilian territory, did you?"

And so Devon began to prepare for collision, while in the back, the rampaging behemoth began to veer off to the side, chasing a pack of howlers into the forest. Trees were knocked down and uprooted like they were nothing in the face of the sheer size and power of the calamity-level beast.

Devon's adventures continue~ If you would like to read 55 chapters ahead and experience the adventure sooner, advanced chapters are available at patre~on.com/melonball !! > <

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