Though it was dark, with Lex's improved eyesight, it was easy for him to see their actions clearly. They were trained warriors, of that there was no doubt, and they had excellent teamwork as well.
They were much stronger than the monsters assaulting them, but there was strength in numbers as well. Moreover, the monsters born of darkness had no set pattern, and so it was difficult to come up with a fixed strategy to face them. Some attacked from afar, and some slithered right at them.
Lex watched silently as they slowly made their way towards the tavern. A few times, he noticed that some monsters were able to sneak up on them and managed to land a few hits. They were mostly unharmed, but that was solely due to their armor, which seemed to have some kind of enchantments.
He mentally added a few spotlights to the top of the tavern and lit up the entire street. He didn't want to put the light directly on the two warriors as that might attract unnecessary attention. Now, instead, with the entire street lit up, it was easier for them to view the monsters.
𝓵𝙞𝙗𝙧𝙚𝒂𝙙.𝓬𝒐𝒎
Calmly he walked down to the main hall and awaited the two warriors' arrival. He was looking forward to any new information they could provide.
A few minutes later the warriors arrived at the front of the tavern, and noticed that as soon as any monster approached the building they would automatically explode. They were hesitant, and even afraid, to approach the tavern out of concern that the same may happen to them, but they had no choice.
Originally things should not have been so bad, but the town's guard had been overrun when they let fear interfere with their duty, and less than a third of them remained. They needed to understand more about this building throwing light into the air.
Such an action not only assured them that this building had a large supply of spirit stones or some other form of energy to carelessly waste, but whatever defensive formation they had in place was still functioning.
The truth was that the town had multiple contingency safe zones and secondary defensive formations in place in the event that the main formation shut down or broke. But when the anomaly with the main formation occurred, it suppressed all other formations within the city. This seemed to be the only one still working. And how could it not? 300 million MP for a formation that only covered a small region and only had the function of manipulating space made it far beyond anything local formations could compete against.
Finally they took a risk and stepped in, and were greatly relieved when nothing happened. Still they did not let down their guard as they stepped in, but not even in their wildest dreams would they have been prepared for what awaited them.
While outside the temperature was well below freezing, a warm cozy breeze blew from the tavern door, accompanied by music and the sound of laughter. A waitress was carrying a tray full of steaming soup across the hall, some of the sailors were playing a dice game while others were playing cards.
A bartender was casually wiping a glass clean while standing ready at his station, awaiting a guest to come with an order.
"Welcome guests," said Lex, when he noticed the men stood frozen at the entrance. "Come in, don't let all the warm air out."
Lex's voice woke the men from their reverie, but also alerted all the guests of the new arrivals. They paused whatever they were doing and turned towards the door. The music stopped, and the room seemed to reach a standstill.
The two men walked in, their gazes fixed on Lex, analyzing the man. Lex was also checking up on them and only retained the most important point - they were in the Golden Core realm.
"Do you happen to know what is happening outside?" Lex asked, his voice as calm and soothing as always. But the two men did not perceive it as so. To them, it sounded like he was completely ignorant of what was going on, and was relying on some kind of backing to keep him safe. They scanned the tavern with their spirit sense to see if they could detect anyone else that was actually a threat.
"We're with the city guard," said one of the men gruffly. "Under orders of the mayor, we're here to investigate the source of light. Give us some food and water, and stop wasting all your spirit stones on useless lights, and stop wasting all this food needlessly. Everyone here will take up arms and obey my orders. As of now, this building is being commandeered as a military checkpoint and you're all conscripted. Promptly prepare everything and in the meantime..."
The man's eyes wandered to Nami, who had been serving soup and just as he was about to say what was on his mind, the man's body shot out of the tavern like a rocket from a bazooka.
His body smashed through dozens of monsters like the strongest artillery fire and even through the front wall of the building on the opposite street. Lex had no idea if the man was alive or dead, and he frankly didn't care.
Lex was more than happy waiting for him to finish before correcting him that the tavern would do no such thing, but the moment he turned his eyes onto Nami, Lex's patience evaporated.
In all fairness, it was entirely possible that he was not about to make an uncouth demand towards Lex's staff, but just the look in his eyes was enough to turn Lex off. Were this the Inn, Lex would have been bound by the system's rules and been unable to do anything until the man actually broke some rules. At the tavern, though, things were a lot more flexible and Lex could do as he pleased.
In this case, what pleased Lex was to manipulate the space around the man and hurl him out of the building like yesterday's trash.
"Please excuse that disturbance," Lex said, with a polite smile towards his guests, before turning back to the other man who had frozen still of his own accord. He still could not understand what had happened, and so did not dare to do anything rash.
"As I asked your companion earlier, do you happen to know what's going on with the town?"
The man did not think too much and obediently began answering.
"Something has gone wrong with the town's array. Instead of keeping the town lit and secure, it's actively suppressing all light formations within and instead of keeping monsters out, has trapped everyone within the town itself. We suspect sabotage, but haven't been able to investigate yet.
"The mayor is trying to rally all the town guards before he begins scouring the town looking for survivors, but because of the suppressed formations, there's no good place to gather everyone. That's when the light from your building appeared, and he tasked us with investigating it. Whether we respond or not, he will be coming here with the gathered soldiers soon enough."
To the warriors disappointment, Lex did not seem bothered by the news of the mayor's arrival, as if he wasn't threatened in any way whatsoever.
"That's great news," said Lex. "I'm glad to see that the mayor is prioritizing the safety of his citizens. The formation's malfunction, though, is troubling news. I have no proof, but my gut tells me this may have something to do with the serial killer on the loose. Do you by chance happen to know the travel paths of any nearby Sol birds? How long can we expect this darkness to last?"
The man grit his teeth and answered truthfully. "It's really hard to predict. Unless the Noel family learns of our plight and makes a move personally, the darkness should last anywhere between one to three months. Unfortunately, all communication with the outside has also been suspended."
Lex nodded as he started making plans. It was best to prepare for the worst case scenario.
*****
The serial killer was frowning hard as he killed another monster. The citizens in the town were dying way too quickly, and most of them to the monsters. This was not satisfying to him. He needed to make a few changes to make the game more fun. Yes, it needed to be even more fun.
He manipulated the formation and created 6 safe zones in the town, where other protective formations weren't suppressed. He needed the people to live. They were supposed to fear him, and die by his hands. The monsters and the darkness were only accompanying characters to his performance. He had to make sure everything was just right.
"System, list down all high value targets in the area. I have to make sure they don't accidentally die.
"Several high value targets are gathered at the beacon of life, and are safe from monster attacks."
"How lucky," he said with a chuckle.
"Now that you've completed your task, do you want to take some time to rest and eat, or will you be returning to finish your report?" asked Lex to the remaining warrior.
The warrior trembled upon hearing the question. Fear of the unknown was the most common thing, and what kind of danger the tavern represented was more or less unknown to the man. He only knew that it was enough to crush him. But, at the same time, returning now, on his own, would present him with a great danger as well.
Eventually he grit his teeth and decided to return to the mayor while the option was still available. He did not dare to hope that the tavern owner would actually provide him with food and rest.
As for going back and checking on his partner? Even if he had survived crashing through hordes of monsters and a building, possibly more than one building actually, he would most likely have been besieged by monsters by now. Even if, by some miracle, he had survived the monster attacks, he would be heavily wounded and his movement impaired. He would be a burden on the return journey, not an asset.
Not wanting to waste another moment, the man quickly departed. His former partner launching out of the building had distracted the nearby monsters sufficiently for him to begin his escape with ease.
Lex shrugged. It wasn't like he intended to punish this man as well, and so long as he paid, Lex would have let him rest.
The carefully built environment of harmony in the tavern had been disrupted by the arrival of the two men. The news they shared wasn't what everyone had been hoping for.
There was a problem with the town formation, and there was no communication with the outside. It would take months before the light returned. By then, the number of monsters would be much greater, and some of them may even be nearing the peak of the foundation realm.
When it came to monsters, their strength grew quickly in the beginning but would eventually slow down. Most never surpassed the golden core realm, if they reached it at all. But their threat did not lie in their strength, but their numbers.
Lex wasn't too bothered by the news, because he more or less was expecting only bad news. So far, everything was still within the range where he could survive with just the tavern.
"I know some of you may be concerned about the duration," Lex addressed his guests. "But don't worry, whether it's months or years, the one thing the tavern will not be short of is supplies and food. You also don't need to worry about the lights turning off in here. The greatest challenge for you is to find something to entertain yourself with."
Lex's last sentence ended as a joke, and visibly relaxed everyone, but deep down, he meant it. Trapped in a building with nothing to do for a long time would slowly drive everyone insane.
At the same time, this experience gave Lex a new perspective on the Pro Bono function of the Inn. Across the many worlds, how many people would be in similar situations where they were completely trapped and needed aid? He understood that charity was not the purpose of the system, but suddenly he had a new appreciation for the feature. Maybe the system wasn't so bad. Maybe.
Two more days passed without anyone else arriving at the tavern. From the rooftop, Lex was able to see a few portions of the town where lights had appeared, which reassured him. He even shared the news with the guests.
This meant that at least some people had found some kind of solution, and there were other survivors in the town. Moreover, if someone had found a way to turn on the light formations in those few areas, there was a chance that soon they would be able to fix the town's formation. Unbeknownst to Lex, there areas had lights because the killer eased up the formation in those areas.
He allowed the strong warriors and soldiers in the town to lead survivors into those zones, so that all his targets would accumulate in a few areas. Currently, he was picking apart one of the newly created safe zones, killing one survivor every hour. Of course, he was doing it personally instead of using monsters or the formations. How else was he to enjoy it as much as possible?
While things had slowed down considerably at the tavern, back at the Inn, things were climaxing. The final 10 of the Lady Cosmos had been selected. At any given time, there were 13 million guests at the Inn to enjoy the show.
While not all of these guests were staying at the Inn, they would more or less still spend some MP. Still, even 1 MP at a time, Lex had managed to accumulate 7.8 billion MP more, bringing his total to 10 billion more or less.
Actually, it was 10,057,007,000 MP. Lex took the opportunity to create a request in the Guild room for pure energy crystals and put down a deposit of 57,007,000 MP. He would use this to test the waters and see if absorbing energy from within the Inn would help his energy accumulation. If it was... despite Lex's earlier plans, he might speed up his return.
After all, things were just too unpredictable at the tavern right now, and he did not want to spend months and possibly years trapped, unable to do anything.
But while he had a lot of free time, Lex was not free for he had to constantly manipulate the formation to kill monsters. This was not feasible as he would never have the time to sleep or rest.
As such he ended up spending 0.3% of his accumulated energy to add the Security room feature to the tavern as well. He temporarily made Rick incharge of security via the security room, and gave him control over the formation as well. This way, while Lex wasn't managing the security himself, Rick would do it.
With that done, he spent a good deal of time cultivating, and when he got tired he would watch the Lady Cosmos show.
Surprisingly, of the top 10, only 2 were actually humans! One was Hailey, the farmer from X-142 that Harry had grown fond of, and the other was Alissa, the YouTuber from Earth.
The favorite to win at the moment was a fair, followed closely by a slime. As surprising as it was for Lex to learn that slimes could be female, he was even more surprised to learn that this particular slime would manipulate its shape to form a very seductive humanoid figure. Moreover, it could manipulate the color of its slime to give itself the appearance of a woman in beautiful clothing. Its latest figure was that of an elf that it had seen at the Inn, which managed to steal a decent bit of the votes from Earth.
There was also a Fox beast from Nibiru which, after undergrowning an evolution in its bloodline due to the growth of the planet itself, could shapeshift into a human appearance.
The remaining five contestants were from a race Lex wasn't familiar with called Echos. They were not humanoid at all, but their cuteness level was astonishing! They were like cuddly teddy bears with eyes that could melt ice and a laugh that could fill one with glee.
The next stage of the competition would be an intense one, for it was not on stage or in a stadium. Instead, in the floating city above the village, the remaining girls would have to live for 5 days unaided. Moreover, lucky viewers, and some wealthy ones who paid for the opportunity, would be living in the city alongside them.
The final judgment would actually be influenced by votes of the viewers in the city, and the girls would have to convince them to gain their vote. This would be a live test of not only their charisma and social skills, but of their ingenuity and survival skills. This was because, other than a house to live in, the girls would not be provided with anything else.
Of course, during this portion, the girls would be provided with security to ensure something untoward did not happen. Moreover, it had to be ensured that the girls would not buy votes using some kind of shady deals or offers, and that only their ability to convince fans would be at play.
Lex was watching the slime have a jovial conversation with a group of ladies over coffee, regaling them with tales of its life, when Rick came to alert him of something.
From the rooftop, he has seen an entire group of people approach the tavern, slowly and steadily fighting against the hordes. In the lead of that group was Mario Ricci, the Goatfather.
Lex was not at all surprised that Mario was unhurt. After all, he was much too strong for monsters of this level to overwhelm him. But when he reached his rooftop and saw the size of his party, he was extremely surprised.
It was much too small. Only around 10 people were following him. All of whom were excellent fighters on their own as well. Clearly they would have survived even without Mario as long as the rest were together. But their small numbers and, most of all, slow and steady speed told Lex something was going on
That's when Lex noticed that Mario's son, Elio, was not with the group. He did not jump to conclusions, but he kept the thought in mind.
Despite how near they were, the group did not get impatient at all, and continued on their pace. It took nearly an hour before they finally reached the tavern.
Like the previous two warriors, the group was hit hard by how contrasting the environment within the tavern was. But unlike the first group, they did not become overly arrogant once they reached this establishment filled with civilians. Thugs like them had a deeper understanding of the way of the world. In the killing field that Babylon had now become, only disgustingly overwhelming strength would allow one to live in such comfort.
Lex had prepared food for everyone already, and at the sight of the steaming bowls of soup being laid down for them, these rough and tumble men gave Lex a lok filled with sheer appreciation and gratitude, and sat down to savor their first meal in days!
Mario, however, did not go towards the food and instead sat himself down at the bar, his deep set eyes gazing out into the distance. He ordered hard liquor with nothing but a gesture and downed the glass like a parched man chugging water.
"Your party is smaller than I would have expected," said Lex as he approached the man. Men like Mario did not need consolation or words to ease them. Instead, treating them softly or carefully might actually offend them.
In such a case, it was best to just be upfront with them about what you were curious about.
"It was that damn killer," Mario said, his voice hoarse. He downed another glass and began to pour one more drink for himself.
"He shepherded us like cattle towards the light, only to pick us off one by one. Even I couldn't catch him. He has clever ways to hide in the shadows, and of making people disappear, only for their corpses to reappear a short while later."
"Do you think he had something to do with the light formation failing?"
"He shouldn't. While he is very tricky and clever, he is not strong enough. The formation is heavily guarded. It would take at least a nascent cultivator to break through all of its defenses, and if he were that strong, he wouldn't be picking off the weak like that. He would be aiming for me. Instead, what he's been doing is not targeting me, but targeting people right in front of me. There's a small but significant difference."
Lex did not need to ask to know what the difference was. One meant that the killer was strong enough to challenge Mario, while the other meant the killer knew he couldn't take on Mario himself, but was skilled or crazy enough to antagonize him.
Lex asked him if he knew the situation in the rest of the city, which Mario did not. He had stuck close to his own turf until it became obvious that the killer would pick them off one by one unless they left.
One thing that caught Lex's curiosity was that the killer somehow had a way to not be targeted by the monsters in the dark. While everyone else was fighting for their lives, the killer was sailing through the darkness like a ship in calm waters.
Mario did not say much else, but the addition of new guests quickly caught everyone's attention. With not much else to do, they talked and exchanged stories, and quickly a new fear began to spread between those staying at the tavern - that Mario and his gang had led the killer right to them. But nothing of the sort happened. The tavern was as safe as always.
While Big Ben and Betty were just glad to be alive and safe, the triplets along with the bakers had many minor panic attacks. They all had family out in the dark, but they knew there was nothing they could do to search for them.
The small spark of stimulation provided with the addition of new guests soon waned as the days returned to their previous monotony. Lex had somehow produced more mattresses and bedding, and opened up the hidden chamber underneath the bar so the tavern wouldn't get even more crowded.
Seven more days passed like that and, just as everyone - the kids especially - were about to lose their minds, another group was spotted heading towards the tavern.
This group was much larger than Mario's, but when they arrived, they were also in much worse shape. This group had been led by one of the nobles and the parents of one of the 'extra staff' Lex had helping at the tavern.
Unsurprisingly, their story was very similar to Mario's. They were surviving, barely, in one of the safe zones that had developed around the town, until one day when the killer appeared and started killing them off one by one.
It was out of sheer desperation that they ventured out into the dark, but the giant beacon of light was not their first destination. It was like they had been forced by the killer to come this way, for when they head in any other direction, the murders would increase.
𝓁𝘪𝑏𝑟ℯ𝒶𝑑.𝑐ℴ𝘮
Lex received this news with surprising calm. It made sense. He had been feeling something was slowly building from the moment the lights failed.
Four days later, another man appeared. He walked through the darkness alone, the monsters dying around him. He was another noble, and he had been unable to save a single person. It was mostly the monsters that killed everyone he had tried to protect, and the few survivors had been picked off by the killer. The next day, the remaining three nobles arrived as well, once again alone.
By now the tavern building was jam-packed, even with the secret storage downstairs. The mood was grim. It seemed like they were the last survivors in the town, for no one knew what was happening with the mayor and town guards.
Even with nearly a 100 people packed into the tavern building, it felt like the loneliest place in the world. They lived on a small island of safety, surrounded by a hungry abyss.
At least, that was until Dino and Betty started getting creative with their foods, and started asking everyone what their favorite was. With the endless supply of ingredients that Rick somehow always provided them with, the mealtimes at the tavern became the most anticipated times of the day.
People would place bets, and play guessing games as to what would be the meals of the day. The music never stopped playing, and Lex provided an infinite variety of board game ideas for everyone to entertain themselves.
It really did feel like there was a festival going on inside. This was because one day Lex had an epiphany. If everyone's mood was being disrupted artificially by some means, could he not do the same?
He purchased a formation that blocked any outside interference in emotions, and another that slightly eased the mind.
That was all that was needed, for the numerous children inside immediately became joyful, and entertained all the guests. They created their own plays and put on their own performances.
Deep down, no one forgot that they were in a desperate situation. But at the same time, they could do nothing about it, so they chose to indulge in whatever joys they could claim.
Unbeknownst to them, for the last three days, the killer had been outside the tavern, hiding from the spotlight that lit up the street. He had been watching.
His plan to lure all the high value targets in one place was a success. What he did not expect, however, was that his system would fail to provide a safe way to infiltrate the tavern. So, for the last few days, he had been using his X-ray sight to carefully observe the tavern and its inhabitants.
There were too many peculiar things going on in there that could not be explained, so the killer didn't really try. His entire focus was on finding a way to infiltrate.
In the end, when he could not find a way on his own, he had to rely on one of the quest rewards he had been saving up to kill the mayor.
"System, prepare the Death Bubble. Target the highest value person in that building."
Suddenly, Lex, who was busy cultivating in his room, disappeared.