After everything was set, the sun was already hanging by the horizon. Axel didn't think it'd take that long to place down walls and add defensive weapons, but it still ate up most of his daytime.
But more than that, he was worried about one thing.
"The items from WitchyGura still haven't arrived..."
It had been hours, but none of the materials or the disposed Substitute Dolls had been sent over to him yet. Of course, he wasn't afraid of a scam, as he still hadn't paid for the items anyway; still, he was curious as to the cause of the delay.
"Maybe they're still gathering everything from remote places?" he pondered. "But well, not like I could do anything even if I knew the reason. I guess all I could do is wait patiently."
As the finishing touches on the wall defenses, Axel placed one weapon rack filled with wooden spears near each corner for melee use. Then, he added two floodlights facing outward, allowing the defenders to have no blind spots from the darkness of the night.
He even added a few more along the edges, making sure that there were no dark spots that could become a breaching point for the monsters at all.
With that done, Axel checked his balance and felt shocked.
"I spent over 6 million Colts in one go..."
The walls were one thing, but the most expensive item he bought definitely was the crank-reloading ballista. Each of those had cost him a full 1 million Colts. Considering its advanced mechanical design, it wasn't too far-fetched, though.
Right now, Axel barely has 2 million left. And it's not because he had other secret expenses, no. It was because the money he got from the auction was "taxed" by the system shop, taking a 15% cut from the final bid price.
It was still a lot, but thinking about his future expenses for the materials from Witcheria, he'd basically be running close to zero by then.
After the wall defenses were set, everyone had their early dinner and chatted until the sun began to truly set beyond the horizon.
By then, the girls were already in their positions, standing on each wall's corner and manning the large ballistae. To be specific, Eve was standing on the northeastern edge, followed by Maria, Beatrix, and Cherry in a clockwise manner.
Arianne stood near Eve, holding the sword Axel gave her.
Axel himself stood opposite Eve, beside Beatrix, holding his crossbow tight.
Unlike their first night, none of the girls were afraid anymore. They all stared ahead firmly, waiting for the light to disappear, welcoming the darkness of night.
"They're here..." Axel whispered shortly after.
From beyond the floodlight's range, figures began appearing.
They mysteriously rose from under the ground, as if that's where they belonged. It was Axel's first time seeing the zombies actually spawn, so it was quite educational for him. Still, this didn't explain why they came out of the ground when this place wasn't even a graveyard or anything.
'This game-like mechanic is the only thing that's breaking the reality of this situation...' he thought.
"Let them come close until the marked line!" Axel pushed idle thoughts aside and raised his voice.
With how quiet the night was, his voice could be heard on all four corners easily, letting the girls respond to his commands quickly.
"Don't rush! Draw them in... a little more...!" he continued, before raising his arm, bringing it down, and shouting, "FIRE!"
His voice was quickly drowned by the sound of the bowstrings cutting through the air. Then, shortly after, the sound of large bolts cutting through the air and impaling a few zombies before getting stuck into the ground with a boom.
With the angle, distance, and timing perfect, with just one bolt, they killed dozens of zombies instantly!
"Good! Reload and fire as soon as you're ready!"
Axel shouted as he aimed his crossbow forward before pulling the trigger. Along with a light recoil, a bolt flew forward... and missed his target by a few feet. Still, it landed on a zombie beside his target, so his shot wasn't wasted.
"..."
Axel's expression was firm, pretending as if his target was on point. He then reloaded the crossbow using its lever arm, loaded another bolt, and fired another shot.
The time between shots for the crossbow, without rushing, was roughly eight seconds. For the ballista, it took the girls twenty seconds to arm the bowstring and load another bolt before firing.
With that, technically, their pace was slower compared to simply stabbing the enemies.
However, unlike stabbing with spears, firing a ballista was a lot safer. After all, they didn't need to stand close to the zombies at all. Slower clearing speed in exchange for greater safety—it wasn't a bad trade-off.
"Giant Zombie incoming!"
Then, Arianne's voice cut through the darkness, alerting Axel and the girls. "Coming from the northern side!" she added.
Axel quickly turned around and, even with the distance, confirmed Arianne's words. There it was, walking forward like a hooligan with nothing to fear, twice as tall as the others around it—the Giant Zombie!
"Calm down!" Axel shouted. "First, Eve and Cherry, fire at the Giant Zombie with the ballista! Let's see if it can survive a volley...!"
"G-Got it!""Yes, Sir Axel!"
Arianne was already raring to rush forward, but this time, they had a plan.
First, they had to see if the weapons were enough to handle the Giant Zombie. After all, if Arianne needed to rush in whenever a Giant Zombie approached, then they'd be checkmated if two or more appeared at the same time!
Eve and Cherry carefully turned their ballista over, aiming slowly before pulling the trigger.
With a slight delay between the two, one-meter-long wooden bolts flew toward the Giant Zombie... and although one missed and hit smaller zombies instead, the other hit it right in the center of its chest!
"OooOOH!"
The Giant Zombie groaned loudly as it fell forward... and melted away.
Everyone stared at the spot and paused, shocked beyond words.
After all, they didn't expect that one shot from the ballista was enough to kill it!
"G-Good job, you two!" Axel quickly snapped back to his senses and gave further commands. "Continue shooting at the remaining zombies! Don't let them get too close to the walls!"
"Yes!"
Unlike their uncertain voices earlier, this time their replies were lively.
Seeing that the weapons they were controlling were strong enough to kill a Giant Zombie was more than enough to make them feel elated!
Time passed, and soon, most of the zombies were cleared.
The only ones remaining were those that slipped beyond the ballista's range, which was right beside the walls. Thankfully, there was no fear of them breaking the walls. No matter how long they scratched against it, they wouldn't be able to break rock-solid walls, after all.
"...I'm off for cleanup."
Unlike Axel, who was using the wooden spears to poke at the zombies below—the same with the other girls—Arianne, instead, bravely jumped down the walls.
With a sword in her grasp, she cleaved zombies in half, slaying dozens of them in one swing. Her figure was like a war general standing alone in the battlefield, fending off enemies!
And soon enough, in just half an hour, all the zombies present were eliminated.