Vineyard village, it has been 5 hours since the beast horde started. Due to the early warning, many of the villagers in Laire village were able to safely evacuate and take shelter in Vineyard village which was slightly bigger and more secure.
As the beast horde was getting closer to Vineyard village, the adults had bravely decided to fight back instead of heading to Bloom village which was an hour hike away.
The adults agreed to put all the children in bunkers to keep them safe. Although Maryline and Elijah were apprehensive at first, once they saw their parent's tired and anxious eyes they stopped arguing over the matter. They were tasked with protecting the kids if something went wrong.
Solomon had voluntarily reinforced the bunker using some odd metal technique that no one had heard of. After entering the bunkers, the kids sat quietly. No one looked happy, and no one dared to make any loud sounds.
It did not take long for the battle to start outside. Luckily, Vineyard village had a few strong men and their chief was also high level E earth magician. To make things better, the detectives that Laire village hired were both level D in their talents, the best that the village could find.
To buy such expensive detectives would have already been past The chief's budget but there were plenty of people willing to dig into their pockets to help find Don.
As the battle went on, there would be times when they would hear screaming coming from above. At times there even heard people bagging on the door, screaming to be let in. sometimes the bagging was from things other than humans.
Maryline was constantly at the edge of her seat. She had already been forcefully locked down by her brother and the rest of the kids when she had tried to open the door after hearing someone call for help. Even though she knew that she was not strong enough, she still wanted to help them.
Maryline only stopped struggling once she heard the sound of a monster. The person started to scream even more violently before finally quieting down.
Elijah worriedly gazed at his anxious looking sister. He hesitated for a while before whispering to her.
"Hey Mar... are you ok?" Maryline stared at him.
"Yeah I am fine... it's just that" Elijah turned to her.
"It's just that what?"
"Well...That guy... he probably died...didn't he."
"..." Elijah did not know what to say. Of course he knew that the person was most likely dead but he did not want to say it out loud. He thought that if he said it out loud then all of this would feel real. He still wanted to pretend like this was a nightmare. Maryline understood the conflict in Elijah's eyes and decided to take it as a yes.
"I guess that's a yes..."
"... Mar... it's not your fault. So don't go letting this weigh you down."
"Maybe I could not have saved this person...but what about Don?"
"Mar you can't put the blame on yourself"
"Why can't I? I was the last person that saw him... I saw him leaving and did not even ask him where he was going in. I always tell him about how I can beat up a hundred monsters. What if he went out there by himself?" Maryline put her head below her knee as she said this. Elijah sighed and patted her head.
"Don't put too much blame on yourself, ok? Beside you weren't the only one spouting baseless stuff. I tried everything to try and get Don to go outside and get some sunlight. Even if we said some stuff, it would not make sense for Don to all of a sudden have an interest in fighting monsters especially since he does not even have an interest in learning anything fighting related at all. The detectives said it himself, "Even though it is the most likely scenario, there is no evidence that could have led to him going to the forest without anyone."" Maryline nodded her head slowly but still found it difficult to keep a calm face.
"I know that it does not make any sense but... what else could have happened to him Elijah? It's already been 4 days!" Elijah shushed Maryline as she became too livid. He then sighed as he saw his sister.
"Truly too gullible..." He mumbled low enough so that no one but Maryline could hear him.
"What do you mean!? I am not gullible."
"shhh Stop yelling Mar. You'll draw the monsters to us." Mar closed her mouth with her hands as she looked at the reinforced steel that separated them from the monsters. Elijah sighed as he continued with his statement.
"I've been thinking and thinking and this is the only thing that makes sense. Now hear me out, ok?" Maryline nodded with her hands still on her mouth.
"Good. So here is my thought...I think those adventurers may have a hand in Don's disappearance...no I think they were the reason why he disappeared."
"WHAT!" Maryline exclaimed in shock and disbelief.
"SHHH" Elijah repeated in a more annoyed tone. Maryline put her hand on her mouth again as she realized she had overreacted.
"Think about it, Don had been looking at them suspiciously from the beginning. I have never seen Don openly look at others that way before. He said there was something odd about them and he was going to investigate and once he did, he disappeared."
"But what would they have to hide?" Maryline asked quietly.
"This."
"What? Why would they hide the fact that there was going to be a beast horde? They are adventurers. they would want to protect us from a beast horde. Besides they were strong enough to defeat a C level monster." Maryline said, reluctant to believe that adventurers could do such a thing.
"I doubt they actually could beat a C level monster. Don't you know you need at least a full party of level D and C adventurers to do that right? How many did they have? And why were they in such a hurry? Many people love to stay here. Even if they don't like the place, they will still stay for a at least a week with our cheap prices. Also the way that the soldiers sometimes acted when they thought no one was looking was really weird. None of it makes any sense.
I did not pay any attention to it in the beginning since every adventurer has their secrets. looking back, if you add the fact that they know a beast horde is coming and they are too scared to face it then it all makes sense. Don must have found out something so they decided to keep him quiet. Disgusting... they are disgrace to all adventurers everywhere." Elijah face went dark when he thought about it. He had only started to put the pieces together after the first day of searching for Don. Sadly, he had no evidence and Viscount Bart was too well known.
No one would dare to say anything even if it was true. who would care about one village boy when facing the grandson of one of the founders of Vernia city." While Elijah was saying this, Maryline's face change many times. First she could not imagine it, then she became shocked then angry then even more angry.
As soon as Elijah finished his explanation, Maryline could not believe how easily she was fooled by stories and cool armor. She wanted to scream because of how upset she was. She wanted to cry out to her little brother and say she was sorry for giving them gift and waving goodbye to them and wishing them a safe trip.
At this moment, she promised herself never to become like those adventurers who act like heroes but are nothing but cowards. In the future, she wanted to become a brave adventurer that only tells the truth and is full of courage.
She also promised herself that she would never be so easily tricked again.
As Maryline was thinking about this, A massive roar was made from above ground. The children who had finally started to relax, tightened their muscles again as they huddled together.
At this moment, above ground Solomon had just taken down a small team of level E monsters and was not slowing down. Many people who had only seen him as the lazy Blacksmith were now seeing him in a new light.
Using his prized hammer, he had already saved countless people from unnecessary injuries. Dr. Stone was very thankful of this since he is the only healer in the whole battle field. He had already taken a restoration pill to restore his mana and he rather not be forced to take another one of those expensive pills.
Even though Dr. Stone was trying his best, he could not heal everyone. He did not have enough Mana to do such a thing so he had decided early on to focus on the big players. These players were Teacher Zen, Solomon, Chief Mayweather, Chief Pop and the 2 detectives.
Even if some people in the future may hold this to heart, he knew that this was the only way to save as many people as he could.
As the battle went on, although they were not completely getting destroyed, the villagers were losing more people than they were saving. Alfred, Betty and many of the other adults that were handing out swords and armor in the beginning due to their low levels were now forced to fight due to the struggle.
Many of the adults were close to their limit when they felt it. A chill in their backs as if tiny crawlers were trying to enter every pore in their body. All the monsters froze in fear as well once they felt the chill.
In the distance, was a 30-foot tiger striped tarantula. By the looks of it, there were scars and wounds from a recent battle. It seemed to have been walking a distance away from the rest of the group and there was a reason for that. As soon as the beast arrived, the other beasts froze in fright at the mere aura of it.
At that instant everyone stopped. They gave up. It was not because they did not want to try but it was because there was no point. They had already been struggling to survive the mountains of monsters coming their way and even then, they had lost thousands of good citizens. They were already dipping into being at the disadvantage and now a monsters comes in who was a level higher at least. A monster who can freeze the other beasts into submission in seconds.
There was no point. Solomon started to laugh. First it was just a small chuckle but soon he bellowing so loud that even those hiding in the corner could hear him. It was as if he was laughing to the heavens saying that he could not fall so easily.
Before anyone could comprehended his odd behavior, He started to run in the direction of the 30 foot Tarantula.
"Honey! Don't go!" His wife, Maple screamed. If she had not gotten badly injured by Stealthy beast, she would have chased after him.
Only a few people close to Solomon tried to chase after him. No one else dared to stop him as Solomon got closer to his target. The huge Tarantula had been standing in the same spot like an unmovable boulder. Right as Solomon was about to attack he noticed that the air around the Tarantula was strange. He quickly backed away as he noticed the ground around the tarantula was drying up and dying.
"Could it be that this creature has a poison variant?!" Solomon exclaimed out loud. Although the villagers could not hear him from a far, when they saw him stop, they knew something was wrong.
Suddenly the towering Tarantula, with all its glory, started to collapses. As the beast fell, countless villagers ran towards the scene. They had already forgotten about the beasts that they were fighting who were still frozen in fear even as the spider had died.
As the Spider fell, Solomon could finally see what was behind it. It was a boy with grey wings and a face that shined like gold. He quickly turned away from his face, fearing that he would become blinded by the weird energy it gave off.
Suddenly he turned back to the odd winged boy. He made sure to avoid looking at his face as he Marveled in disbelief. Before he could even say it himself, Teacher Zen who had finally caught up to him said it first.
"AEGIS!" Solomon Looked to his right to see Teacher Zen. He then looked back as he saw the astounded faces of his fellow villagers. He then quickly turned back towards the creature only to see him spread his arms out and release a warm aura.
At first Solomon was on his guard but as soon as he felt his body warm up and new scars close up, he realized that Aegis was healing them. If they had not yet gone to the afterlife, the villagers would feel a sudden warmth surround them like a summer breeze.
While in a state of serenity, Solomon could not understand his luck, right when he was going to finally go all out, he spots the rarely seen Aegis that was thought to have gone extinct over 3 thousand years ago.
When the villagers, finally stepped out of their daze, the beasts had been trapped in strange golden webs and they felt rejuvenated. The Aegis had disappeared and the kids had somehow left the bunker and were trying to find their parents.
Although some beasts who had gone a different direction had created more havoc, many people were saved that day in the outskirts of Vernia city. Even so, almost 10 thousand people died in total from the 3 villages alone. out of the 10 thousands, 800 of them were children mostly from the bloom village. 3 thousand of them were the elderly. Although many died, those who survive did not have even a bit of injury.
In the future this would be known as the Battle of the Tri-Aegis. How with hope and some kind of odd luck, a small village survived complete annihilation and had rediscovered the 'extinct' Aegis.
Although right now, the villagers were mourning their lost, they knew they would have to pick themselves up and grow stronger because of this. Even if they lived in the seclusion, they knew enough about how the world works. If they can't get up now, they will only continue to be stepped on by others.
2 days after the Battle of the Tri-Aegis, Don was discovered close to the edge of Bloom village.