Project GB is an official initiative by Re:Library.

“…Hmmm, so this crosses over the limit.”

The girl wearing a black gothic lolita dress spoke with a monotone voice as a translucent window in front of her displayed an error.
She had an almost unbelievable number of bugs at her disposal, but she could not simply use all of them for one big onslaught.

Such numbers came with various restrictions.
For one, there was a limit to how many bugs she could deploy at once.
Then there was a certain cooldown before she could launch another wave.
And she could not send all of them to attack the same location one time after another.

*…But those are just the rules I have to play by. After all, any game needs proper rules. And it is my duty as their Lord to abide by the rules when controlling my bugs.*

“That’s all well and good, crushing them with sheer numbers right away would be too boring anyway.”

*Then again, I already have the upper hand in this game, so abusing that power would be too barbaric.*

*So I’ll just stick to these limits and torment them as best I can. I’m already itching to see those people desperate to resist their fate.*
*And if somehow they manage to endure through it all…then I myself shall use all my power to give them a very warm reception.*

*Ahh…this is so fun. Now writhe, struggle, and suffer for me…*

“Come already, before I get too bored and do something, Miss Spirit of the Night.”

*Heheh, heheheh.*

…That lone girl’s chuckling voice echoed through the forest in the darkness of the night.

◇◇◇

…Time passed in the blink of an eye after the encounter with Aery in the forest, and it was already the next Sunday.
By then, they still had not been able to hit the limit of participants, but got over 90% there.
Crim and those players had spent the days leading up to the weekend focused on getting ready for the Legion Raid.
Now…it was time to see the fruits of their labor.

*”Sorleon from the left flank here, everything is in place.”*
*”Shao from the right flank here, ready whenever you are.”*
*”Suzaku from the rear area here, no problems here either.”*

Reports came in from the leaders of every group. The players had split into four groups for every cardinal direction, and their leaders verified that everyone was ready.

The most powerful group, the Nord Glacier’s Northern Empire led by Sorleon, was stationed to the left of the village.
On the right side was Shao’s Blueline Republic.
And in the center was the one who jumpstarted everything, Crim and the Lua Cheia United Kingdoms.

The space between those three Unions had been filled by all the other players that joined them, after evaluating their skills to ensure a balanced spread.

Meanwhile…the event description mentioned that the enemy would mainly attack from the north, with Floria being on the south.

But they were not naive enough to leave their rear unprotected, so most of the elf archers and those of lower levels were stationed behind, led by another notable player and long-time gamer Suzaku.

They were mostly there as insurance in case a rear attack came, and would try to buy time until someone from the most numerous Northern Empire came to assist them.

With everyone in place and after confirming their line of communications was working…Crim pressed the button to begin the Legion Raid.

*”Alright everyone, I’ll deploy the great barrier to protect Floria and its surroundings. Good luck.”*

After Florite, the queen, announced that, streaks of light spread out from Floria connecting with the older Harunia Trees, taking the form of a magic circle from which a glowing blue barrier emerged.

At the same time, a countdown appeared in everyone’s peripheral vision, showing the time remaining before the first wave of enemies.

…This fight, with all three major Unions taking part, was the most numerous army in the game so far, with the exception of R’lyeh’s Cthulhu boss fight where anyone could join freely.

There were still a lot of things that could go wrong, but at least they had done everything they could to be prepared.

Crim also believed that there would be many flying enemies, so she gave Jade the ridiculous task of making a large number of GUNgnir bullets in a short time.

They had scouted the forest together with everyone else to have a good idea of the terrain layout and everyone’s positions. The bugs they encountered in those excursions also gave them a good idea of the type of enemies they would fight.

The whole fight would play out like a tower defense game. The most important part was for everyone to defend their assigned positions and to not chase kills mindlessly, Crim had made sure to drill that into everybody to avoid a messy situation like grade schoolers in sports events.

She had done everything she could to be ready.
Still, that was not enough to fully ease a strange ominous feeling that had taken over Crim.
And then…the countdown reached 0.

“… It’s quiet.”
“Yes…but I don’t like this silence.”

The whole forest fell dead silent.
As Crim commented on it, behind her Frey also agreed. And right after that…

*”Master, tell everyone to ready their anti-air attacks!”*
“Hm, Setsuna? Why…”
*”Just do it, there’s no time to explain!”*

Together with Setsuna’s flustered voice, the first wave of enemies came into view, high up in the sky.
Lycoris was the first one to see them, her face going pale as she took hold of her rifle.
Crim was also startled for a moment, before snapping out of it to grab GUNgnir and opening the raid chat.

…They were enemies they had seen while scouting.

They looked like wasps with black and red stripes, except that they were around one meter long, and their abdomen was oddly large while letting out an orange glow.
Those wasps…just like their appearance suggested, were called Bomb Wasps.

Their enlarged abdomens were chock full of explosives, at the cost of most agility and defense. But since they exploded when defeated, it was tricky to get rid of them without harming the surroundings.

The first wave…an enormous swarm of Bomb Wasps that stretched as far as they could see.

“Everyone, ready anti-air attacks! Don’t let even one of those wasps cross to the rear! Just one could spell our doom!!”

As the players became bewildered by what they saw, Crim desperately tried to give them orders.

At the same time, she aimed at the wasp that had gotten the closest and pulled GUNgnir’s trigger. The bullet flew straight to hit its mark, causing a huge explosion which spread to the nearby wasps, creating a large cloud of smoke.

“Damn Aery, she’s not holding any punches..!”

Seeing those explosions made Crim grumble to herself. The first enemy wave had enough power to wipe out all players if not handled correctly.
And so, with literally an explosive start, the defense of Weisswald began its chaotic start…