167.1. Who’s There?

167.1. Who’s There?

An army encroached on Vamont. It came not from another Human country, but from the Motharis Mountain Range. Monsters of all kinds filled this giant horde. I recognized and fought many of them such as the Drakes and the Saeves. But they weren’t all that came.

Silver Rank monsters, Gold Rank monsters, and even Platinum Rank monsters. Monsters of all shapes and sizes. It was as if all of Motharis itself decided to descend from the tall peaks to trample over the weak Humans lying in wait below.

“There has to be tens of thousands of them…”

Daniel spoke, breathless. I glanced over at him, before turning back to the impending army. Both of us have seen this sight before; we had encountered many of them on the way to the Brilsum Ruins Dungeon, when we first sought out a Fairy Temple over a year ago now. They were natural inhabitants of the vast mountain range.

But when we arrived at the Brilsum Ruins, we found a nest of Mindreapers leading the monsters of Motharis, all controlled by an Archdemon by the name of Belzu. There were dozens of Mindreapers then, leading a small army of hundreds. Now, however, their numbers have grown to an exorbitant amount.

It looked like there were more monsters than people in the city. Most of them were smaller, Silver Rank monsters. But there had to be thousands of Gold Ranked monsters mixed amongst them. Maybe even more.

And the Mindreapers that were herding them? Hundreds.

Hundreds of Platinum Ranked threats. Each one, on their own, would be able to bring down a town on the outskirts of Nixa. I was pretty sure a single Mindreaper would be able to do more damage than Lucerna, even if they weren’t nearly as durable as him.

They were coming for Vamont. The city was in lockdown, preparing for a siege. They had archers lining the battlements— those above Level 40 already had their bows drawn, raining fire at the army so far away. But they must have only numbered in the bare hundred. Maybe even less.

“It’s pointless. Vamont will be destroyed.”

Edithe whispered, her hands tightening to balls. I met her gaze.

“So, do we leave?”

My companion narrowed her eyes.

“Leave?”

“Yep. Those are a lot of monsters. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many monsters in my life! We should run away, right?”

“I…”

She hesitated. Daniel clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“No, we can’t just leave Vamont.”

He spoke with finality in his voice.

“We have to help evacuate the city. We can’t just leave these people to die.”

Sure enough, I craned my neck and saw the streets were packed. An evacuation order had been called. Word was spreading of this monster army, and everyone wanted to leave now. City guards were rounding up the terrified citizens with the help of volunteering adventurers.

But there were no orderly lines. A stampede was slowly forming as the march of the monsters drummed closer to Vamont. [Mages] have joined the [Archers] in targeting the monster army from afar, but the monsters were now firing back as well. The wall shook and rumbled with each hit, which struck more fear into the evacuating populace than before.