Aeon and the others woke up in the middle of the night hearing the continuous sound of the emergency bell ringing. They left the room and headed down the lobby to meet up with the others. The place was already lit and the innkeeper was looking around in confusion. Dan stood near the door carrying Merell together with Samuel.
When they were finally complete, they left the inn together. Immediately, they headed directly east, towards the direction where they entered the town from.
The streets were already packed with people running around, probably hunters that would also assist in defending the town. The group followed the stream of people, but after some time, they realized that the others weren't heading east. They immediately stopped and started eyeing the people in confusion.
Several people bumped into them, forcing all of them to jump on top of a nearby roof. They couldn't see much because it was quite dark, but they could at least tell where the people were going. They appeared to be heading directly south.
"Is the town really under attack or is there a party somewhere?" Samuel asked sarcastically.
"Are the beasts coming from the south? That doesn't make sense," Korona said, ignoring Samuel's question completely.
Then, they heard the sounds of explosions coming from the south. When the group saw the colorful lights emitted by several spells reflected on the night sky, they all cocked an eyebrow.
They looked east and saw that there were absolutely no signs of fighting there. Ultimately, they decided to head south. They sent Levi to check on the eastern part of the town alone.
Just when they started moving, Dan split from the group. He went towards the center of the small town and climbed all the way to the top of the watchtower. He opened the door of the room with a large bell and entered. There, he saw a young man huddled up in a corner, praying. It didn't seem like he noticed Dan enter at all.
"Hey, kid!" Dan said, addressing the person.
"Eeeek!" the young man shrieked, startled by Dan's voice. He started trembling and buried himself deeper into the corner of the room. "Please, Sir. I don't have any money on me. If you want some money, you can steal from my boss. I won't tell."
Dan's lip twitched. Dan walked into the light of the moon and said, "Do I look like a thief to you?"
"Ahh! Sorry. I'm sorry. I thought you were a bandit taking advantage of the chaos," the young man said while shaking his hands in front of him.
Dan sighed. He thought about how harsh the environment that the kid must have grown up in for him to mistaken any person as a bandit. He gently laid down Merell in front of the person. "What's your name?"
The kid looked at the unconscious person in front of him with confusion. Subconsciously, he replied, "Jude?"
"Jude? Okay," Dan nodded and fumbled through his pockets, "can you please look after my friend? I willing to pay you handsomely."
He took out his hand from his pockets and showed Jude a few gold coins. Dan handed all of them over to him. The coins clinked as they dropped on the young man's palm.
Jude stared at the coins dumbly.
Before he knew it, Dan was already gone.
….
Aeon and the others continued running along with the other people. Earlier, they had been jumping from one roof to another in order to avoid the traffic. But when Suri broke a roof and fell inside a random house, they decided to travel through the streets, instead.
Aeon was still giggling from the accident.
After a few minutes, Aeon said, "We're almost there."
The others nodded. They prepared themselves for the war they were about to participate. Before they engaged with the enemies, they all agreed to assess the situation first, so they would know where they are needed.
Like any other town, Melrand had its own walls surrounding it. They climbed on top of the wall and looked over the battlefield, just outside the town. When they saw the scene, they shook their heads and clicked their tongues because the situation looked extremely bad.
There were also mages amongst the hunters. Unfortunately, they didn't all belong to the same group. Their spells were thrown whenever they were ready. There was absolutely no coordination between them. Because of this, there were several openings that the beasts were able to exploit causing many to die. And now, even as they observed the situation, people fell.
Aeon ground his teeth. He temporarily activated his Tenro to take in as much information as he could from the scene.
After a few seconds, he turned towards the group and started giving some instructions.
"Suri head towards the rightmost side. There are quite a few Remorans there, but not many people to defend them."
Suri nodded.
"Korona and Samuel, you take the middle. They need to fortify the defenses there because that's where the beasts are more concentrated. You two can do that best."
The two nodded.
"Selena. You and I will head to the left. There are still tons of monsters at the back, but not many people defending the front. I'll need you to attack the back. I'll take care of the front."
Selena nodded.
"Go! Levi and Dan will know what to do when they arrive. If you encounter danger, do your best to stay alive," Aeon said with resolution.
The group split up and went to their designated areas.
Things weren't really looking optimistic for the town. They didn't have enough manpower to defend it by themselves.
There are reasons why hunters could only enter the outskirts of the forest. They were far behind where the students camp. Moreover, they had limited mages within their groups. Most of these mages weren't even learned. They only knew basic spells, that's why they turned to hunting as a profession.
But something was strange about the beasts attacking Melrand Town. They numbered about 300 to 400, but most of them were average-sized beasts, fairly close to being large ones.
Moreover, they didn't seem to come from Grey Forest.
If they did, they should've come from the east.
Aeon sighed and silently hoped that their intervention would be enough to save the town.
….
Korona and Samuel were the first ones to arrive in their designated area because it was the one closest to where the group planned. The two cut through the crowd like a sharp knife, earning several curses along the way.
In no time, they reached the front where about 20 Serans fought to hold off the beasts. Behind them were eight Remorans casting a spell of their own.
Just when they stepped forward, a Seran was stabbed on the center of his chest by a beast with a sharp tail. The person was lifted up into the air, already limp, and was cast to the side. Korona and Samuel cringed from the scene.
Samuel approached the nearest Remoran who had just finished casting a spell and was currently resting. He patted the person's back with his gauntlet and said, "Call your guys over. They won't be able to hold off for too long if they continue with what they are doing."
The Remoran immediately turned around, thinking that an expert arrived. But when he saw the two young people staring at him, he immediately fumed with anger. "Why the fuck are you two bothering me?! Can't you see we're in a bad situation?!"
Samuel didn't care about him screaming, though. He needed the Serans to cooperate if he and Korona were to put up walls as their primary defense.
"Call the Serans over. We're here to help," Samuel calmly said.
"Bah!" the Remoran yelled and spat on Samuel's chest. He immediately went back to cast another spell as if he had done nothing wrong.
Samuel's face darkened. He reached forward with the intention of grabbing the man by the neck, but he was immediately stopped by Korona.
With a gentle breeze, the dripping saliva on his armor froze and broke into fine pieces.
"That's enough. Let's just help the people in the front. Follow my lead," Korona said. Without waiting for Samuel's confirmation, she ran towards the Serans.
Samuel's eyebrows furrowed, but he ultimately complied with Korona's instruction.
Korona stayed behind the Serans but she was way closer than the other Remorans. Samuel overtook her and he pounced at the beasts in front of them. He pulverized the heads of several beasts as he vented up his anger. Several Serans stared at Samuel in shock, their morale raised as they fought with much fervor on the battlefield as well.
Despite all these, the beasts steadily pushed them backward with sheer numbers. They found themselves having a lesser area to maneuver on as time went by. At that rate, they would be forced to enter the town. If it did reach that point, the beasts would be able to use the cramped area to their advantage. After all, spells that covered wide areas were less effective placed where there are obstacles such as the buildings.
Samuel started to panic. Are they going to fail? Many times, he looked over at Korona to see what she had been planning. Since they entered the battlefield, the only thing Korona had been doing is erecting Ice Walls.
Suddenly, Korona said, "this should be enough!"
Samuel gritted his teeth. What is enough?! They were having trouble. What was she on about!
It had already been a few seconds since Korona said anything. Don't they have a counterattack plan or something? Samuel wanted to question Korona's sanity, but after a few moments, he realized that they weren't having trouble fighting anymore. Samuel looked towards the Ice Walls that stood firmly.
Then, he realized.
They weren't randomly placed at all! The walls were placed in such a way that the beasts that pushed further in would be divided into groups, instead of streaming in like a raging waterfall. The walls became a structured obstacle that rendered their numbers almost useless. Moreover, they were directed according to their current arrangement.
Where there were more Serans, Korona allowed more beasts to head there way.
Where there were little, Korona limited the number of beasts that could break through.
The beasts, being beasts, paid little to no attention to the walls. It didn't cause them any deaths, so none of them took the time to take them down.
Little did they know that it was slowly causing them their demise.
From time to time, Korona would also take down a few of her Ice Walls if the Serans shifted their positions.
She was adjusting according to the Seran's movements!
Korona had actually been controlling the flow of the battle since earlier.
Samuel marveled at her brilliance.
….