Next morning:

Arthur: You're going with us, Aiko?

Aiko: We are going to help you on the mountains! A search party should be as thick as possible on the ground, right?

Arthur: I don't want to be rude, but you would just slow our pace down

Yuka Sonobe: I know you guys are strong, but there's no chance any of you could run faster than a horse, right?

Hajime: Who said we're gonna run?

Together, we summoned our vehicles. Hajime summoned Brise, his own armored truck, while I summoned an anti-gravity battle tank. Aiko and the students were understandbly astonished by the vehicles.

Aiko: I didn't expect you two to have a tank in your disposal.

Arthur: Thanks to Ancient Magic. (Not like I need them to build a tank)

Hajime: We know we couldn't change your mind, so all of you, please either hop on my truck or his tank.

Underway to the mountains:

Hajime: So Shimizu has been lost these days?

Aiko: And we have no idea where he might be. I really hope he's in trouble or anything.

Hajime: I hope he's okay.

Aiko: If you say so....After all, you and Arthur has surivived through horrible odds and came back.

Hajime: Don't forget that I'm not sticking around.

Arthur: *On comms* What if Shimizu was tempted by the demons.

Hajime: How did you hear us? Oh wait, I forgot to turn the radio off.

Aiko: There's no way he would join the demons! They kill humans, remember?

Arthur: Don't forget what I said last night.

Aiko: If he really did betray everyone..then....then....I afraid I don't know what should I do.

Arthur: It's just a possibility at this point. (You will find out soon, Aiko).

Hajime: We've reach the mountains. But first, we need to narrow down the searching area.

Aiko: Should we split out?

Arthur: There's no need. Hajime, release the birds.

Aiko: Birds?

Hajime: They are bird-shaped human-seeking automatons that I made. I called them Ornis. They use gravity stones to fly and induction stones to think. They also have peering stones that make I see what they see.

Aiko: Where did your right eye go?

Arthur: I gouged it out.

Aiko: Pardon me?

Arthur: You heard correctly. I gouged his eye out by surgery, then I implanted the bionic eye he made for himself. Boy wants a better eye.

Hajime: Oh? What do we have here?

Yue: You already have a clue?

Hajime: Looks like busted armor and scorched weapons. We should check that area.

The party quickly headed to the site where the spotted gear lay. We collect all the wargear and went on for further inspect. After a while, Yue spotted a large crater with some tracks. Tracks made by large footprints.

Yue: If I have to guess, these footprints were made by a large four-legged creature.

Yuka Sonobe: There are recent stories about monsters lurking this area. Do you think it could be one of them that made this crater?

Hajime: Only way to find out is to go further.

Arthur: I will release some heat-seeking drones.

To search for whatever has caused the crater and potentially killing people on that spot. We decided to move further into the mountains until we reach a waterfall where Hajime's Ornis sense a presence.

Hajime: I'm sensing someone's presence nearby. Probably a human. The Ornis said that it's there. But that's where the waterfall is. Could the Ornis be wrong.

Arthur: My drones said that a human heat signature is behind the waterfall. He's still living.

Yue: [Fissuring Blade - Wind Blow]

Aiko's Squad: Whoa...

The waterfall was split in two, revealing a small cavern. Upon entering, we spot a man deep inside. Still alive, but injured.

Arthur: [Heal]

Man: Who's.....healing me?

Hajime: Hey man. Are you Will Cudeta?

Will Cudeta: You know me? I mean, yeah! That's me, Will Cudeta.

Arthur: Good. We were sent by the Guildmaster himself to rescue you. I'm Arthur Godfrey, that white hair boy next to me is Hajime Nagumo. Now we shall get out of here.

Outside:

Will Cudeta: The monsters wouldn't stop coming no matter how hard we fought. We were surrounded. And then it showed up.

Arthur: "It"?

Will Cudeta: It's a black dragon.

Hajime: A black dragon, huh. (I wonder I could take it down physically)

Will Cudeta: I don't deserve this! I don't deserve to live! Why should I get to live when everyone else is slaughtered?

Arthur: *slaps Will Cudeta* Compose yourself this instant! There's no shame in being the survivor. That's our engraved instinct. In fact, you should be glad that you, so move on, and keep fighting. Wanting to die after everyone else helped you survive is an insult to the fallen. Do you understant

Will Cudeta: I-I'm sorry. i shouldn't have been pessimistic like that.

Hajime: We finally found the missing person. Let's head back.

Arthur: No. Not yet

Hajime: Lemme guess. Something's coming?

Arthur: Drones report large flying heat signature. It's the dragon.

Will Cudeta: THERE IT IS! ITS THE DRAGON!.

Arthur: Yue, Shea. Escort Arthur into my tank. Its armor can protect him. Hajime, ready to fight.

Hajime: Roger!

The dragon dived in to bite Hajime, who dodge it with little effort, causing the dragon to face-planted itself on the ground. Frustrated, it breathed out a torrent of purple fire, Hajime summoned a tower shield in respond.

Hajime: *pushing against the fire* This thing is no ordinary dragon! 

Arthur:  [High explosive shell loaded.....Aiming....FIRE!]

A HE shell struck squarely at the dragon's left wing. It lost balance then tumbled on the ground, its face showing clear signs of infuration. Now the dragon has switched its focus at me. 

Will Cudeta: Will this weird metal wagon protect us?

Arthur: Rest assured. This thing could take the blasts like nothing

Arthur: Yue, focus on protecting Aiko and the students. Hajime, show it the fruits of your training.

Yue/Hajime: On it!

Yue quickly casted a protective barrier around Aiko and her students. The black dragon charged a blast and aimed towards my tank, this time it fired a spiral of magical fire. I switched the cannon into energy-firing mode, the cannon then opened fire, its red energy beam clashing with the flame spiral. Hajime, meanwhile has flash-stepped beneath its head, giving the dragon a crippling uppercut, my energy beam hit its torso seconds after. The dragon howled in pain after receiving such devastating blows, but it still want to fight. It tried to stand upright, then get knocked out by a hammer swing from Shea. I climbed out of my tank to examine the dragon.

Arthur: The dragon is under mind control.

Hajime: Any way to break the control?

Arthur: The spotlight is yours.

Hajime: Very well. Hey Yue, let me tell you a story. It is said dragons are so heavily armored that they can't be harmed even when sleeping, and the only way to harm them is to strike the unprotected part *grabs a pile driver

 Arthur: (Aw shit. I made a mistake)

Hajime: TAKE IT IN THE ASS AND DIE! 

Arthur: (Oooh. That hurts!)

Everyone else was horrified at what Hajime was about to do. The girls even reached their hands to their backside. Hajime stabbed the pile driver right into the dragon's....well...."weak point". Things get awfully worse when the dragon turns out to be female, a female dragonmen no less. And she moaned. Very loudly. She begged Hajime to removed the pile driver, in exchange she would tell everything. To everyone's dismay, Hajime refused, pushing the pile driver even deeper.

Arthur: Alright Hajime, enough S&M for today. Let's remove the pile driver.

Hajime: Tsk. Fine

The dragon: Thank you, good sir. I was almost out of mana, and if.

Arthur: Okay, we don't talk about it. Now tell me everything you know.

The dragon: I was manipulated and used as a horrible villain's tool. He's the one who told me to kill that young man and his companion.

Arthur: Keep going.

The dragon: I left my village to investigate rumors about travelers who came from another world. But halfway during the journey, I tired and paused for a rest then dozed off on a mountain ledge. While I slumbered, a man in dark robes somehow stumbled across my resting place and cast a mind control spell while I was at my weakest for an entire day. He was an expert in his wicked craft. The spell was too strong for me to resist.

Arthur: That was very informative. Thank you for your cooperation.

Will Cudeta: What if she made up the entire thing to save herself.

Yue: The dragonmen are a noble and honest race. She just put her pride on the line. Besides, I know how a liar's eye looks like

Arthur: I did sense mind control magic earlier. I can confirm was not lying. 

The dragon: To think there's still someone who understand the ways of dragonmen.....

Yue: I am the last vampire. 300 years ago, I read and heard stories about your race.

Arthur: I know dragonmen are honorable beings, but that doesn't mean you are gonna get away with this, young girl.

The dragon: I know I took innocent lives, and I won't beg for forgiveness. If you tell me to do anything to atone for my sins, I will do it.

Arthur: What do you think, Will?

Will: She wasn't acting on her own will at that time, so I won't prosecute her. 

Arthur: You heard the boy, girl.

The dragon: I thank you for your mercy. You have my gratitude.

The dragon: My mana has finally drained out.

 Upon saying that, the black dragon reverted into her human form - a beautiful, voluptuous woman wearing a black kimono.

 "That white-haired man....He showed me no mercy. Never have I experienced this. You spared me, and I'm still in discomfort. A humiliating pain courses through me, and yet it caused such a sweet sensation!"

Hajime: I...created a masochist. I fucked up, did I.

Arthur: Yes. You reap what you sow, so deal with it.

Hajime: Well, ain't that wonderful. You done moaning there, dragon girl? Introduce yourself

Tio Klarus: Oh, my sincerest apologies. I belonged to the Klarus clan. My name is Tio Klarus. Let's chat.

Timepskip:

Aiko: An army of monsters are marching towards Ur?

Tio: The man in dark robe intends to use these creatures to attack the town. His army number at least a few thousands, I fear.

Atsushi Tamai: What? How do we stop them?

Arthur: Screw a few thousands, my drones count as mush as one hundred thousand of them.

Aiko: Have you double-checked? That many monsters aiming at one town?

Arthur: Let me do a presence scan.......Yep. It's true.

Hajime: My drones also spot as many of that numbers. In two days' time, they will reach the town.

Aiko: Then we have to get back as soon as we can! We could evacute the people and maybe call for help.

Will: Maybe Arthur and Hajime could do something about it....

Arthur: My only priority is to escort you. But given the size of the army, if nothing is done, then Fuhren would probably fall. So I guess kill them all is the only choice I have.

Hajime: My priority is the same, but lucky for you, I haven't lost my compassion

Tio: I could help informing the townspeople, but I need a day of rest to fully recover. Unfortunately Hajime took so much out of me that I can barely move.

Arthur: I will give you energy *gives some energy to Tio*. Is that enough? I don't want to drag a masochist.

Tio: My mana is fully recovered. I can move be myself now.

Arthur: Good.

Next morning, the process of evacuation and fortification began. Women and children were sent to other towns by boats while men stay behind. Hajime transmuted two lines of walls to block the town's entrance route while we dug a moat beneath it. At evening, all preparations was done. 

At about 5 a.m in the morning, while Hajime was greasing his guns on the inner wall, Yuka Sonobe climbed next to him.

Yuka Sonobe: Do you have a second, Hajime?

Hajime: What's up, Sonobe?

Yuka Sonobe: You might not remember, but....I want to thank you for saving my life back in the 65th Floor, Hajime.

Hajime: It's no biggie. I just did what I should do. And try not to die better this time, Sonobe.

Yuka Sonobe: Thanks for that *leaves*

Arthur: What's the situation of our armaments, Hajime?

Hajime: I've just lowered the fire rate of the Metzelei 30mm Gatling cannon to 8000 rounds per minute and developing proximity fuzes. What about your progress.

Arthur: Just done building a mech. Can't wait to bring it into combat.

Hajime: That sounds cool.

Arthur: I'll go down. Bye. And don't even think of making us abuse you, Tio.

Tio: May I have a trifling request.

Hajime: Go on. It better not be a masochistic one.

Tio: I just want to join your party afterwe vanquish the monster army.

Arthur: If you prove yourself worthy in battle, we will consider it.

*One minute later*

Hajime: Do you think your training could win against her masochism?

Arthur: I honestly don't know.

From afar, the rumbling footsteps and growling sounds of the monster army could be heard. Minutes later, the first line of monsters seen approaching. The battle to decide the town's fate has begun

Hajime: There they are. Alright. Time to put on a show.

Shea: What do you mean?

Hajime: I'm going to put a little speech. See if I could boost Aiko-sensei's reputation and make these people love her.

Yue: The more importance she's seen, the more influence she'll have on this world.

Shea: I get it. And since you're her student, she could use that to help you.

Hajime: Exactly.

Hajime turned to face the scared citizens of Ur, and gave them a rousing speech in the name of the "Goddess of Fertility Aiko". Morale among people improved drastically, excpet for Aiko. She turned red as a tomato. He even proclaimed us as her faithful bodyguards, her swords and shields.

Hajime: Bear witness the power of the Goddess's blade, one that is blessed by the Lady herself!

The first shot of the entire battle was fired. Hajime's Schlagen tore through scores of wyverns, invigorating the citizens even further.

Yue: They didn't stand a chance.

Shea: I'm ready to go!

And what about Tio? She's busy ogling at the mana storage ring Hajime gave to her, but nonetheless willing to show off her might in battle. A few moments later, Hajime sent a hail of autocannon shells at the monster army, ripping them into bits while Shea and Yue were hammering the monsters with proximity-fuzed missiles and gravity magic orbs. Tio, while still showing her perversion, showed that she's no joke as well by creating a raging fire tornado that incinerates anything sucked into it. But powerful as they may be, mana and ammunition aren't infinite, and when facing an army of 100,000 , they could, and will run low. This is when I jump in.

Hajime: Crap. I run out of ammo.

Tio: It seems this is where I must stop...

Yue: I only have a few more shots.

Arthur: *telepathy* Fret not my friends, you have me, remember?

Hajime: Is this telephathy? Arthur, where are you right now.

Arthur: In front of you.

Hajime: Wha....There's only monsters here.

Just as Hajime finished speaking, a ten-meter tall mecha landed in front of him. Hajime's inner otaku almost surfaced, but he kept his calm demeanor. 

Arthur: Now I'm in front of you.

Yue/Shea: That looks so cool!

Arthur: Yue. Tio, Do you have any mana left?

Yue/Tio: Only enough for a few shots left.

Arthur: Well then. My time to shine

A gigantic magic circle appeared above where I stood. It shines a bright golden hue, illuminating the sky above. The four of them felt immense amounts of mana flowing inside their body. Not only that, but their stats have also increased. And Hajime's ammo was refilled as well.

Tio: This is.....I have never seen a kind of magic like this before.

Arthur: This is an army support spell. It will only end when I die, run out of mana or deactivate it. Your specialization is greatly buffed as well. I learned this from a friend, who's also it's creator, and modify it a bit. I think he called it [Army of the Demon King].

Tio: You and him must be quite powerful. (Tio didn't hear the second half. It was too small)

Arthur: Oh, this is just a taste of my power. Now show 'em what we got!

The entire party: Right!

Arthur: The high-ranked monsters are the only ones being brainwashed. Seek out the leader while I hold off the mooks.

 Yue and Tio remained on the walls, bombarding the enemies to oblivion. Hajime and Shea carved their path through the monsters, killing high-ranking ones with me following behind, annilhilating the mooks by both heavy and light weaponry, no holds barred. Within an hour, the army was wiped out this world. The man in dark robes attempted to escape on his steed, but he was knocked out by Hajime. Only then did I deactivate my magic. The culprit was dragged into the town by Hajime, his masked removed. Aiko took a look a his face, and, in shock, recognized him as Yukitoshi Shimizu. A mad and demented Shimizu.

Aiko: Shimizu, why did you do all this?

Shimizu: I just want to show everybody in this world how good I am

Aiko: What? That makes no sense! All this just makes you look evil, Shimizu! Why would you think we would be impressed?

Arthur: Not us. The demons.

Shimizu: I went north to prove I could capture a monsters. That's when I met the demons. They understood exactly what I'm capable of! So I made a contract with them.

Aiko: A contract?

Shimizu: They said I have to murder you! They cannot leave the Goddess of Plenty to her own devices, and she would end up being more a nuisance than the so-called "Heroes". Which means if I kill you, the demons would hail me as their hero.

Arthur: The demons here must have a real talent in recruiting humans with fucked-up mentality. Sorry Aiko, but he's beyond saving.

Shimizu: And how the hell this still went wrong? I have 100 thousand troops! *looks at Hajime* How the hell did you have such powerful weapons? Tell me, what kind of monster are you?

Aiko: He's just a human. But, Shimizu.....

Shimizu: Are you trying to convince me to change sides again? To hell with that! The demons treat me better than the humans, why should I leave them?

Aiko: No....what I want to say is you are a human and my student. But Sir Arthur once said: "Sometimes humans can be monsters themselves.". At first, I do not want to believe this, but now I have seen you, all I want to say it: I may be soft, but I am not naïve. And I guess he's right. Humans really can be monsters, after all. 

Everybody barring Hajime's party and Will did not expect the two last sentences. They all knew Aiko cares very deeply for a student and very protective of them, so it came as surprise when they saw Aiko was capable of casting away one of her students. 

What Aiko felt right now was neither anger, nor spite, nor hatred, but a rather a bit of remorse.

Shimizu: huh? What? What nonsense are you saying?

Aiko: I'm sorry, but, *turns away* You are beyond saving, Shimizu. Arthur, Hajime, do what you want with him.

Shimizu was shot dead by Hajime. Only when his body was brought of sight did Aiko turned her face.