Yurika's surprise attack had been a success.
Since she was a magician, it was easy for her to sneak up on the Forthorthe soldiers without being noticed. Her attack was splendid as well, as she knocked three soldiers unconscious with her first attack.
“Kya! Kya! Kya!”
The problems came after that.
The enemy spread out after being attacked, meaning the only ones she had managed to defeat were those first three soldiers. However, those three still had seven more companions, and after Yurika's attack, they began their counter attack and beams rained down on Yurika.
“Save― Save me, Satomi-san!! Nooooo~~!!”
The weapons the coup d'état army was using were far more powerful than the weapons on Earth. And due to their high numbers, they unleashed an offensive that went against common sense. Under such an intense counter attack, Yurika hurriedly retreated.
Fortunately, thanks to the three underground people providing covering fire, Yurika was able to dive into a trench before all of her defensive spells were broken through.
“I-I thought I would die...”
Still lying down in the trench, Yurika let out a sigh of relief. Out of the five layers of defensive spells she had cast beforehand, only one remained. If the trench had been a little further she might have been killed.
“Yurika-sama, the enemy is falling back”
“R-Really?!”
Hearing the good news from one of the underground people, Yurika stuck her face up from the trench. And like she had been told, she saw the enemy falling back, taking the three unconscious soldiers with them.
“I hope they just leave like this...”
“The chance of that would be quite low”
“I thought so...”
Tears formed in Yurika's eyes as she grabbed her cane. She was desperately suppressing her urge to run away in fear.
Yurika had heard that there would be 50 soldiers at most, so there was no way they would retreat after losing only three.
“And it looks like their teamwork is excellent...”
On top of that, the enemies didn't push forward; instead, after driving Yurika away they fell back with their unconscious companions. That proved how cautious they were and how much they trusted each other. It wouldn't be hard to imagine that their next attack would be far more dangerous.
“...Yurika fight, Yurika fight! Yurika fight!!”
Yurika encouraged herself and cast spells in preparation for the next attack. She was unbearably scared, and if she could she would have run away. But if she escaped, her precious friends would be hurt, or maybe even die. The thought that she might wake up all alone in room 106 tomorrow scared her most of all. She would rather stand her ground and fight here than let that happen.
“Yurika-sama, the enemy is coming!”
“This time we'll use everything we've got! After that we'll fall back to the next trench!”
Mustering up her courage, Yurika gave directions to her three subordinates. One year ago, Yurika had strongly wished she was the only occupant of room 106, but now she desperately worked to avoid it.
“This is Yurika!! Kiriha-san, can you hear me?! The surprise attack was a success and three people have been defeated!! From here we'll be fighting for real!!”
After shouting into her microphone, Yurika pointed the tip of her cane towards the approaching enemy soldiers and started her incantation.
“Poison Cloud, Effective Area Maximize!”
Yurika cast a spell that created a large poisonous cloud. Though the poison wasn't fatal, it was very effective for weakening several people. Yurika wasn't a big fan of this spell because she felt it wasn't very magical-girl-like, but she absolutely needed it for this battle. She had to stop the soldiers here no matter what, by using any means necessary.