I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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Monsters that arrived earlier than I expected.

However, it wasn’t something we couldn’t stop at all.

Thanks to the multiple trainings we had prepared for this day, and prioritizing the defense tower and defensive weapons, we were able to hold out for a long time.

“Light the signal fire!”

In short, it was a battle against time.

As long as we could hold out until the reinforcements from the capital arrived, we could stop the horde of monsters without major damage.

‘We must hold them back!’

But if this place fell, the nearby village and the city just 15 minutes away would be reduced to rubble.

The scale of the damage would grow exponentially.

Thus, Dagran began to mobilize all available forces for a desperate struggle.

Oil, fire, crossbows, boulders, traps, explosives.

We poured everything we could into the fight.

As a result, even with tens of thousands of monsters pouring in, we were able to stop every single one of them without exception.

No monster could breach the walls he had built.

“Kurururuk… Kruk…”

But that was only for a moment.

When the darkest creature of the shadow forest, the ‘Ekaian,’ emerged, the tide of battle turned rapidly.

Moreover, it was one of the mutated beings combined with evil spirits.

The worst monster born from a demon’s experiment had finally arrived.

-Swooosh!

It spat out acid.

Its reach was easily over 10 meters.

“Kraaargh! Gaaah!!!”

However, the real horror of that monster wasn’t just its acidic spit.

Infectious.

The parasites in the acidic liquid burrowed into the flesh of the victims, turning them into zombies.

Thus, those infected would be completely overtaken by the parasites and become highly aggressive within three minutes.

They would bite and wound their fellow kin to spread the parasites that had bred within them.

“Ugh!!! W-why!!”

This type of mutation was unprecedented, so chaos quickly ensued within the walls.

While treating a dwarf who had been splashed with acid, the patient suddenly attacked the paramedic, prompting the medic to lash out at other soldiers, and within moments, the parasites began to spread.

“Retreat!”

Consequently, the walls could only be breached.

Those trained in mana may have known what to do, but ordinary people couldn’t stop the parasites from burrowing into their bodies.

“I have to go!”

Meanwhile, Reyna, who had been resting at a nearby lodging, got up.

It was because terrible screams reached her ears.

“You can’t! Y-you must remain calm, my Lord…”

However, her servants stopped her.

Reyna was four months pregnant.

Dagran, who valued Reyna and their child above all, insisted that she should rest at the lodging.

He vowed he would resolve this crisis himself.

“But… the screams outside…”

Thus, Reyna was left helpless.

She worried for the child in her womb, yet she also worried desperately about her husband, who was fighting outside, unable to make a hasty decision.

In the midst of this, Dagran made a grave decision.

He decided to kill the infected soldiers.

To suppress this situation, sacrifices had to be made.

“To those infected… Shoot them with flamethrowers.”

Thus, Dagran retreated to the second defense line and commanded the soldiers to shoot the infected charging alongside the monsters.

Among them were friends with whom he had shared drinks, and cherished subordinates.

Though it shattered his heart, the disaster that would occur if this place fell was painfully obvious, and with tears in his eyes, he had no choice but to kill them.

“Kieeeeeee!”

But hell was just beginning.

The mutated Ekaian, born from a demon’s experiment, began gathering the infected to retrieve the parasites.

Then, as the backs of the infected were crushed, heaps of parasites began to erupt and enter Ekaian’s sticky mouth.

The more it absorbed, the larger Ekaian grew, and it began spewing even more terrifying acid.

It was acid of a completely different caliber from before.

“…It looks like I should prepare for death.”

The worst mutation born from a demon.

To prevent that calamity, he had no choice but to risk his life.

As time passed, the infected grew in numbers, and with each new infected person, that monster would only become stronger, so he had to ensure he killed it, even if it cost him his life.

“Gather all the explosives.”

Thus, Dagran devised a plan.

He planned to bury tons of gunpowder and lure the monster into that spot to detonate it.

Even though that explosion would likely cause collapse and many casualties in the nearby area, it was the only way.

“Issue the evacuation order. And retreat all forces to the third defense line.”

Thus, Dagran, resolved to face death, withdrew all troops to the third defense line.

He then gave a brief but powerful speech lasting just over two minutes.

If they let the monsters through, there would be unimaginable casualties due to parasite transmission, and the repercussions could extend to our wives and children, so he urged them to bury their bones in this place, prepared for death.

“I shall obey.”

“I’ll go out with a bang.”

“Heh… to end my life with a grand explosion, how romantic.”

And all the dwarves’ eyes gleamed as they joined Dagran’s resolve.

Dagran emerged as the next King of the Dwarves.

Most dwarves respected him for crafting the ‘Holy Sword.’

Thus, they began to prepare for a desperate struggle with fiery hearts.

“Damn it, this is a total mess.”

However, Croto, Aguwa, and Arjien were not among them.

They had no intention of burying their bones here.

“Evacuate all women and children!”

At that moment, Dagran issued the evacuation order.

They had prepared a safe route to evacuate through the underground tunnel in case of such an emergency.

As soon as Croto heard Dagran’s evacuation order, he rushed over to him, begging to be included in the evacuation line.

He insisted he was a citizen of the Empire, after all.

“…Aren’t you knights?”

But Dagran had no intention of letting them go.

He couldn’t send those disgusting people away with his wife.

There was a possibility that they, holding a grudge against his wife, could harm his pregnant spouse.

“What the hell!! I’m a knight of the Empire!! Why the hell am I supposed to protect your kingdom!?”

“…You swore that when you came here. It is your duty to protect us. Fight until the end.”

“…”

But Dagran firmly denied them until the end.

He even warned that if they disobeyed his orders, they could be imprisoned under dwarven law.

If they were locked up, it would be the end for them, so Croto and his friends decided to act like they were following Dagran’s orders for the time being.

“Enemies incoming!”

Thus, after that brief speech ended.

Monsters began to pour in through the breached second defense line.

Soldiers followed Dagran’s command; some defended the line while others stacked explosives and prepared to activate the magic circle.

“Evacuation order has been issued! Everyone evacuate!”

And at that moment.

An evacuation order was given to the civilians.

A soldier rushed to inform them to evacuate through the underground passage.

“W-what about Dagran? Where’s my husband?”

However, to Reyna, it was a thunderclap of bad news.

It was a dire situation where an evacuation order had to be issued, yet her husband was nowhere to be seen.

The soldier, struggling to hold back tears, replied.

“Lord Dagran… has chosen to remain here.”

“…What?”

She couldn’t accept it.

Reyna grabbed her Holy Sword off its rack and hurriedly ran outside.

Her attendants hurried after her, trying to stop her, but it was in vain.

“N-no… Dagran… My Dagran… I can’t live without you—Ugh!”

At that moment, her morning sickness hit her.

She vomited onto the snowy ground.

Her gaze fell upon her belly.

Four months pregnant.

Her stomach was already somewhat round.

“My Lady! Please! It’s impossible for you to fight with that body!”

Tears streamed down her face.

Reyna looked at the defenses where cries of anguish erupted.

She wished she could run to that place right away, yet she carried a child within her.

At that moment, a soldier, with a shaking face, spoke.

“Lady Reyna. Please protect the evacuation line! Most of them are women! Lord Dagran… asked for it. He asked you to be their knight, not his.”

The soldier said that while handing her a letter.

It was filled with Dagran’s hurried handwriting.

Words of apology, love, and the hope that she would survive and be happy were written within.

“Ugh… Ughhh… Uuuuh…”

Reyna broke down sobbing.

Holding the crumpled letter, she pressed her chest hard.

But that was only for a moment; she soon gathered herself.

Rising to her feet, she quietly murmured.

“I can’t disgrace my husband’s honor…”

The reason Dagran had become a shell of his former self over many years.

It was because he bore the stigma of being a liar.

She wouldn’t risk her husband’s noble cause for her own greed.

And at that moment.

Dagran gave the order to detonate.

He had drawn Ekaian towards the center of the explosives.

“Activate the magic circle!”

…

But nothing happened.

The explosives were all there, yet no explosion occurred.

It was due to Croto’s group.

Taking advantage of the chaos, they killed the dwarves assigned to activate the magic circle and scattered the components.

“Damn it! Get out of here, fast!”

Thus, Croto and his group began to flee while Dagran’s forces were thrown into confusion.

They shamelessly blocked the exit from behind so they wouldn’t be pursued.

“The magic circle! Activate it…!”

Meanwhile, monsters surged like a tide.

At the same time, Ekaian began absorbing the parasites from the infected, growing even larger.

Thus, Dagran had no choice but to choose a contingency plan.

With the magic circle not functioning, he resorted to hurling bombs lit at its fuse.

BOOM!!!!

A massive chain reaction of explosions erupted.

However, compared to the explosion that would have been triggered by the magic circle, it was meager.

The ground did not collapse, and the area barely trembled; only a part of the third defense line crumbled.

“Keeeeee!”

Thus, Ekaian was still alive.

The operation to blow up that monster along with everything else had failed.

“Protect your families…! Protect your families!”

The defense line was breached.

Monsters were rushing towards families.

Dagran and the other surviving dwarves ran with all their might toward the underground passage.

However, at that moment, it was Croto’s group that had reached the underground passage first.

While Reyna was gathering the refugees together, they had sprinted ahead, killed the guards, and opened the passage’s doors.

“Close it! Close it fast, damn it!”

Then they smashed the control device outside that allowed the doors to be opened and entered the underground passage.

Using the control device inside the passage, they closed the doors shut.

Before the refugees even had a chance to escape, they had occupied the underground tunnel.

“Damn it! Croto! It’s blocked here!”

Yet, there was one problem.

This underground tunnel had been made with several entrances, dividing sections.

In other words, Croto’s group had become completely trapped front and back.

Even if they opened the door and went outside, they would just encounter swarms of monsters, leaving them with no options.

“Lady Reyna! The exit!”

And just then, Reyna happened to arrive.

She confirmed the shattered entrance control and the corpse of the fallen guard, and she ground her teeth in frustration.

She had guessed who could have done this.

“You filthy bastards!”

A red aura began to rise from her body.

Pure hatred and rage.

Those who should have been guarding the defenses had killed the guards and brazenly hidden here.

They had sullied the noble sacrifice of her husband.

“Kreeee!”

But the situation did not allow for punishing them.

Monsters were beginning to break into this area after breaching the defenses.

“Fiore!”

“Olbar!”

However, it wasn’t only monsters.

The surviving troops were also joining in the fight to protect their families.

And Dagran was among them.

“Dagran!”