Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 342: Cute

The general attack team advanced steadily under the command of veterans Macao and Wakaba. Nab, Max, Laki, Bisca, Jet, and others each led smaller squads close behind them.

The formation had been arranged so that those with lighter injuries led the frontlines, while the more heavily injured but still mobile members stayed toward the rear.

One mage in front carried a large spellbook, and another in the back hauled a bulging backpack filled to the brim. Essentially, they had emptied out nearly the entire guild inventory for this operation.

When they raided the warehouse, Makarov had looked heartbroken. But Rhodes knew better. Now wasn't the time to be stingy.

This is exactly what consumables are for. It was far better to use them all now and regret it later than to hoard them, only to lose a comrade.

Rhodes quietly hoped the Master would forgive his liberal use of resources once this was all over.

The weather wasn't helping either. There was no wind at all, which meant the clouds of dust stirred up by the collapse of the Walker's legs and its rough landing still hadn't settled.

It was in the midst of this thick haze that Mira, Erza, and Lucy arrived. They had seen a flash of blue light in the distance.

Sure enough, it came from a Blue Sentinel.

Rhodes didn't waste time with small talk. He immediately casted a buff on them.

After a quick exchange of greetings, he turned to Lucy and said, "Lucy, can you summon Virgo?"

"Ah? Yeah!" Lucy quickly took a key from her belt. "Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"

Golden light flickered as a shimmering keyhole appeared in the air, and a magic door swung open. A pink-haired girl in a maid outfit stepped out. She wore white stockings, shackles on her wrists, and a perpetual calm on her face.

Virgo placed a hand over her chest, bowed gracefully, and greeted Lucy with her usual ominous tone.

"Princess, do you wish to punish me?"

Lucy flinched. "Stop saying weird things!"

Rhodes glanced at the shackles on Virgo's wrists, then at the whip hanging on Lucy's waist, and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So that's the kind of summoner you are."

"No, it's not!" Lucy wailed. She suddenly realized that not a single one of her Celestial Spirits seemed normal. In fact, they all fit into Fairy Tail a little too well.

"Mr. Rhodes asked me to summon you" she muttered with a headache.

Virgo bowed again and looked to Rhodes. "My lord. This is our first meeting."

Then she turned to the others. "Lady Erza, greetings. And..." She hesitated for a second.

Lucy quickly filled in, "This is Miss Mira."

"Lady Mira, I'm honored to meet you." Virgo's tone was humble, more like a devoted servant than even Wendy had ever been.

The others smiled kindly and returned the greeting.

Rhodes explained, "I heard you're very skilled with Earth Magic, especially tunneling. I need you to go under that building—"

Virgo tilted her head. "To set a trap?"

"Hmm..." Rhodes paused. "That could work."

"Wait, what do you mean 'that could work'?" Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Did you not have a plan?"

"I did," Rhodes said calmly. "Originally, I wanted Virgo to do as much structural damage as possible. Ideally, she'd tunnel beneath the whole castle and drop the entire thing. But now that I think about it, if we're short on time, a precision trap will do the job just fine."

Because he'd heard that Phantom's base had a second transformation phase and could unleash devastating magic, Rhodes wasn't confident that simply destroying two legs would be enough to halt it.

Better to overdo it than leave anything to chance, especially when a specialist was around.

"Understood. Then, Princess, I'm heading out. Please remember to punish me later," Virgo said, giving Lucy a formal bow before vanishing into the ground with a thunk.

Unlike Rhodes, who swam through the ground in his Krug form, Virgo dug a physical tunnel with precision and speed.

Even after she disappeared, Lucy still mumbled, "Why does she always want to be punished."

But despite her complaints, she was clearly in high spirits. After following Erza and Mira around this whole time, she finally had her own important mission.

Suddenly, Erza's expression darkened. "Something's coming."

The dust was too thick to see clearly, but her senses were sharp.

Rhodes didn't waste time. He opened a public communication channel via Warren's telepathy. "Does anyone have a way to clear the dust?"

"Leave it to me," came Alzack's voice over the channel.

From a small hill overlooking the battlefield, a cluster of specialized bullets shot out one after another. They weren't aimed at enemies—they exploded harmlessly in the air around the Phantom Guild's fortress, stirring up sudden gusts.

In an instant, several compact tornadoes swept across the area. They weren't strong enough to damage the terrain, but they had just enough force to blow away the lingering clouds of dust.

Gun Magic: Hurricane Rounds – Non-Lethal Variant.

"Mission complete," Alzack reported calmly.

"Well done," Rhodes replied.

As the air finally cleared, everyone could see what Erza had sensed earlier.

A massive river of blue-purple was flowing directly toward Phantom's structure.

Only it wasn't a river.

It was a swarm.

Countless Voidmiyes, each about knee-high were crawling, hopping, and swarming in unison, heading straight for the enemy base.

They climbed over debris, chewed through fallen stones, and consumed broken shards of the mechanical legs as they passed, leaving behind nothing but dust and tooth marks.

It looked like a plague of locusts in motion.

Thank goodness the Voidmites were well-disciplined, at least enough not to chew through the ice bridge Gray had made earlier.

But the moment the dust finally settled, it was like someone had flipped a switch. The worms instantly became frenzied, their movements noticeably quicker as if they had just spotted prey.

Lucy bit her finger, eyes wide with alarm. "Ahhh... how scary..."

She had seen them before, back when they were helping everyone retreat, but not in numbers like this.

She nearly called them disgusting, but considering they were summoned by her comrade, she changed it to "scary" out of respect.

There had to be thousands, maybe more. In some twisted way... Mr. Rhodes was terrifying.

The worms didn't need Rhodes' command anymore. The moment they arrived at Phantom's base, the first wave began climbing the supports and started gnawing without hesitation.

Those behind them squeezed in wherever they could, trampling over their own kind if necessary, leaping forward in a relentless surge.

Once they found any patch of untouched wall or exposed framework, they dug in with savage intensity. The rest spread outward, expanding their feeding zone like a rippling tide.

It was like watching water slam into a mound of sand, some of the flow soaked into the top, others split around the sides. But with time, that mound would be reduced to nothing but sludge.

Erza watched the scene unfold and, despite knowing what to expect, couldn't help but marvel aloud. "You told us how effective they were... but seeing it with my own eyes is still incredible."

Rhodes smiled awkwardly. "I just hope you're not... grossed out."

"No," Mira replied gently, trying to reassure him. "If you really look at them closely, they're kind of cute... in their own way."

Erza narrowed her eyes at the swarm, inspecting them for a few seconds longer, then nodded. "I suppose... a little bit."

"Huh?" Lucy also stared. A chill ran down her spine and goosebumps broke out on her arms. She didn't see any cuteness at all.

Rhodes didn't know what to say. Mira was clearly trying to comfort him, but Erza? She might have actually meant it.

As the swarm surged and devoured everything in their path, Erza turned to Rhodes again. "Aren't you going to control their attack path more precisely?"

Rhodes shook his head. "Not really an option. These little guys have pretty low intelligence. I can only give them basic orders, attack, stop, spread out. Anything more complex requires a Voidgrub."

"And even then, there's a delay in execution. They don't always follow through as intended."

They had strength in numbers, but that came at the cost of brains.

Just then, Loke's voice rang out over the mental communication channel: "There are too many enemies! We need to fall back!"

"Go ahead," Rhodes replied calmly. "The first wave of reinforcements is already here."

As he spoke, a deafening crash echoed through the air. It sounded like Elfman had just transformed into his Beast King form and demolished a large section of Phantom's front gate.

The resulting debris buried a chunk of the enemy forces, blocking their route of pursuit.

With that, the feint team could finally catch their breath.

Rhodes asked casually, "How are Natsu and Gray holding up?"

Loke answered with a loud laugh, "Busy!"

A fiery explosion burst from a window on the second floor of Phantom's structure. Since the building had stopped moving, it seemed Natsu was enjoying himself.

Gray didn't say anything, but an ice spear suddenly shot out through a nearby window. He was probably enjoying it too.

Rhodes sighed, amused. "Let's move toward Natsu and Gray. I get the feeling those two are just a step away from getting themselves beat up."

They started walking in that direction, only to hear Natsu's voice suddenly blare through the channel again.

"WOAH! HEY! These jerks set a trap on the upper floor—damn Phantom! Everyone be careful!!".