“Huh?”
“What the hell is happening, Arthur?”
The group was even more confused when they heard Arthur’s yell. It was rare to see that terrified look on his face as it only meant huge trouble was on the way. The boy quickly jumped down to the balcony.
“Thousands of monsters are coming our way from everywhere!” He exclaimed as he opened the door. “The earthquake is their feet stepping on the ground at the same time!” His expression was darker than ever.
“What? Monsters?”
“I saw them! There are so many of them! Finlay, Serko, prepare the aircraft to move now! How long would that take?”
“… Uh, 5 minutes. We need to make sure all the components are working perfectly and then move it to the open area behind the house for takeoff.”
“Shit, 5 minutes… We don’t have enough time.” Arthur clenched his teeth as his mind rushed through the options rather quickly. Judging from the distance, Arthur guessed that the monster would arrive in a minute or so. “We need to hold them off till Finlay and Serko get the plane off.”
“…”
The others were still overwhelmed but what was happening so they didn’t react quickly. However, when the shaking became even more violent, they snapped out of it.
“A monster stampede… You have got to be kidding me.” Danny muttered. He didn’t even need to see the stampede himself to realize how chaotic it must’ve been. Their stomping is sending shockwaves across the entire forest… That was more than enough to realize the disaster that was about to fall on them.
Quickly, the group moved out of the house while the two dwarves rushed to the aircraft to prepare it.
Arthur stood on the edge of the stairs, staring into the forest with a cold expression.
Far away, thousands of creatures rushed through the forest, rendering every area they passed by into a flat wasteland. They were like an unstoppable force of nature, destroying everything in its way. Monsters of all kinds rabidly screeched and stomped everywhere as if they were escaping something.
They didn’t care about anything around them, nor the creatures they were running with. Many fell to the ground and ended up getting stomped into meat paste. Blood and organs flew everywhere. It was a scene straight out of a nightmare and that scene is approaching the group at a rapid pace.
The group stood there, unable to understand what to do. Everything happened abruptly with no time to plan or act.
“What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
“It’s 5 minutes… We need to hold on for 5 minutes somehow.” Arthur replied as he gripped his sword tightly.
“You said there are thousands of them rushing toward us! How can we hold that off?” Emmy asked.
Forget about thousands, Emmy knew that they would have a hard time holding off hundreds of monsters if they rushed them at the same time. There are only four of them after all against an entire army of monsters that rampaged out of control.
“Where did they even come from? And why are they rushing here?”
“It isn’t the time to care about that. We’re facing a huge threat.” Isla replied. “Focus on the fight.”
A minute passed in complete silence as everyone awaited the catastrophe. Calling the atmosphere tense was an understatement. Since none of them had seen a glimpse of the stampede, they were feeling even more on the edge than Arthur.
Eventually, a glimpse of the disaster peeked from behind the trees. A massive cloud of dust and dirt exploded in the air, reaching several dozen meters up in the sky. The sound of the screeches and stomps became the only thing they could hear and the world started shaking continuously.
Trees fell to the ground one after the other, smashing into the army of monsters while they advanced.
“Get ready for battle!” Isla unsheathed her sword as she stepped forward.
Arthur, Danny, Emmy, and Herculia nodded as they grasped their weapons tightly and took formation. Moving away from the house a good distance, they waited for the swarms of monsters.
A few seconds later, like flies, the monsters invaded the open area where the house was built. Monsters of all kinds and appearances appeared in their vision. Seeing the humans in front of them, they grew even more rabid, invading the place instantly.
“Emmy!”
“Already on it!” The sorcerer girl replied as she lifted her staff in the air. instantly, a massive ball of fire formed on the tip of her staff, quickly growing to an unimaginable size.
“Haaah!” With a loud yell, she swung the staff forward, sending the ball of flame flying toward the monsters.
*BOOOOOOOM*
Upon contact, the ball of red flames exploded everywhere, turning the monsters at the front lines into ashes instantly. Then, the residue of the explosion spread everywhere, hitting many unfortunate monsters that came in the way.
However, as big as the explosion was, it didn’t do much. Monsters were still coming from every single place, closing up on them rapidly.
‘This is insane…’ Arthur clenched his teeth as he finally channeled his mana to the full. Then, he rushed forward, stepping into the fray head-on.
Almost instantly, he swung his sword, sending a horrifying slash into the swarms of enemies. He had activated ‘Mortal Slash’ without hesitation.
The sword slash sliced through dozens of monsters in one single move. Arthur received countless notifications in one fell sweep. Along with it, he got some points for stats. But, he couldn’t use Blood Eater.
At the same time, the monsters finally reached him. So, Arthur used every point of agility he had as he vanished like a ghost.
*Swish*
A second later, several monsters were sliced into two pieces before they could even realize it. Falling to the ground, they spat out blood everywhere as they died instantly. But, Arthur didn’t stop there, swinging his sword everywhere at a rapid pace, he formed his bloody claw and used it to attack two different sides at the same time.
Although it was hard to keep up with two sides of the same fight, Arthur’s brain underwent an evolution as he got stronger. He could now multi-task way better than before, focusing on several monsters at once rather than just one.
At the same time, he created many blood arrows around him, sending them everywhere at the same time. Since his speed and strength reached completely new levels, Arthur’s killing machine had become even more horrifying.
Since the monsters were in a frenzy, they didn’t stop to attack Arthur, making it slightly easier to move through their lines. But, at the same time, their chaotic movement and unpredictable actions made predicting what they might do even harder.
So, Arthur kept himself outside of the fray, moving through the front line, chipping down their numbers as fast as he could.
“Guys! Don’t let them move past our line of defense! If they do! We’re done for!!” Arthur yelled as he cut a monster’s head and froze another using a ball of frost flame.
‘We can’t let them move past us! It will be a disaster!’ Looking over his shoulder, his group had already engaged with the enemies.
“Protect the house at all costs!”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3
