"Leave." Furland solemnly declared as he looked at Benjamin
"But, your highness."
"I will not repeat myself."
Benjamin stood up from his luxurious councilman chair and left the room with an angry look, not forgetting to glare at David and Lucius.
"Is there anyone else who will desecrate this room?" Furland asked
The council was silent.
Furland walked past the group and looked at David.
David noticed the expression in Furland's eyes change from serious to happy, only for them to turn serious again as if it were an illusion.
David wondered how he'd get to the throne, which was 6 meters off of the ground.
With his mouth agape, David saw that Furland made an ice staircase to the throne.
"Ice magic?! I've never even heard of that!" David thought
Reaching his throne, the staircase disappeared as if it was never there.
"According to the standard procedure, let us review the situation again and revote."
As Lucius explained the situation again, David noticed that Furland's eyes were becoming wider as if they were filling with hope as he heard.
"Understood. Now let us revote. Right for he lives and left for his death."
David noticed that the overlord did not vote himself.
The votes were now three in favor of his life, and they were the same people.
As David began to celebrate internally, he heard an explosion.
Not only him, but the whole council was surprised by the sudden shock.
The explosion was nearby; moments later, a knight entered the council room.
"My apologies for interrupting the sacred council meeting. We are under attack, my lords!"
The lords each had their reactions but showed a hint of surprise.
"Who would dare attack the lord's district!" The Overlord yelled
"I don't know, my lord, but the explosion wasn't of fire; it was dark…"
David felt like he had a similar experience to what the knight had described but couldn't pinpoint it.
"This council is now dismissed until the situation is resolved. Everyone go where you need to be for your subordinates!" The Overlord ordered.
David saw all the Lords quickly leave through hidden doors behind their seats.
The only one left was Lucius.
He looked down at them and released a sigh directly from his soul.
"I don't know whether this is a blessing or a curse, but it seems the Dark Legion wants you more than we thought…"
David watched Lucius jump from his councilman chair and head to the door.
"Follow now. We have enemies to defeat."
-
The grand city of Elderglow was covered in a dense black fog.
The mages could not look through the fog, even while enhancing their vision with mana.
Surrounding the city were many monsters.
The monsters ranged from F-A tiers.
As the regular citizens panicked, many brave souls came forward and reached the city's border walls.
Suddenly, a piercing white light appeared from the city's highest peak.
Standing atop the council castle was Rebecca.
"Fifth Holy Light"
Her holy light was strong enough to remove the mana fog from the entire city temporarily.
"Now, my people! Evacuate to the shelters! Knights, man the walls!"
One of her subordinates amplified her voice enough to be heard by everyone in the city of Elderglow.
Going down the platform from the Lord's district to the residential district were the Salamanders, including David and Lucius.
They rushed to the city's walls like the rest of the knights and mages.
After reaching the top of the walls, David finally saw the source of the commotion.
Monsters.
Everywhere.
There were at least a hundred monsters.
Each monster was of a different species but shared one similarity.
They were all covered in a dark mist.
David felt as though he had seen that mist before.
As David tried to assess the situation, the fear-filled voices of those around him entered his ears.
"How are we to survive this?"
"Let's run."
"Oh god, please save us."
The fear began to seep into David when he saw an unsure expression on Ray's face.
He wasn't the only one disheartened by Ray's expression as Jess began to shake.
"Ray… Is this winnable?" Jess asked
"Probably… but not without major losses."
Ray's expression was nothing like David had seen before.
Rather than the jovial and happy expression he would have, he was stone-faced and serious,
"If all the councilmen and we Salamanders fight, couldn't we win?" Cassie asked
"That would usually be the case, but I'm seeing a few A-class monsters in there…" Ray replied
"If it were just one A-class monster or two, I'd be able to handle it alone, but this is ridiculous…"
Suddenly, everyone within the city of Elderglow heard a voice in their heads.
"I am the venerable lord, Benjamin Lydian. Know that this invasion is due to your Overlord's ignorance. My lord will never allow the existence of the boy named "David." If you turn him over to me, these monsters will not attack!"
Everyone in the Salamander party looked back at David instinctually.
It filled him with terror as if he was about to be torn apart.
He felt a hand on his back.
Seeing the expression on Lucius's face relieved him.
"Then attack us, you fool. Someone as useless as you wouldn't stand a chance against the magic city of Elderglow!" Lucius shouted.
"Fine then." The voice replied
What followed was a chorus of roars from the many monsters ahead.
David tried inspecting the monsters individually, but he received the same message each time.
[Inspection Failed]
"Why isn't inspect working Lucia?"
[The reason the skill: Inspect is currently not working is due to the disparity in your skill level and the inspection target. Even if you inspected, you would not survive.]
David understood how much trouble each monster was.
The thought of running away crossed his mind, but he noticed the stares the remaining soldiers had.
They would turn him in.
He must stay by the Salamanders.
Most of the Salamanders, now temporarily including Lucius and David, jumped off the wall onto the ground ahead.
David was embarrassed about being caught by Jess.
They held a formation with Rey and Brad in front, Jess and Lucius behind them, and David in the back, with Cassie still on the wall.
As they moved forward, the first enemy was upon them.
"C-class Tiger type!" Ray shouted
The rest of the salamanders knew what to do from Ray's call out.
The monstrous Tiger charged toward Ray, only to be met with Brad's shield.
Having been stopped, the tiger was vulnerable to the income strike from Ray.
Left decapitated, the tiger monster fell to the ground.
The Salamander party continued, even stepping over the corpse.
"We have no time to collect the core for now," Lucius told David.
Even David knew about the monster cores and how they were power sources for civilization.
Others could also absorb them to gain more power, although a small amount.
As they continued, they left many monster corpses in their wake.
What faced them next was a monster like no other.
"An A-class bear type…"
"Stay behind me and support!" Ray said
Everyone affirmed.
As Ray and the Salamanders were focused on the A-rank monster, they could not notice the group of five C-rank monsters.
David felt a strong sense of dread and instinctually turned around.
He saw five monsters, all covered in green skin, standing three meters tall.
They all had clubs.
Even David could recognize these monsters due to their presence in stories and being commonly hunted monsters by adventures.
[New Side Quest: Defeat the five Ogres to receive five level-ups!]
David was surprised by the new quest but didn't have enough time to ask Lucia about it.
Only Lucius had noticed the Ogres, as the others were too busy with the A-class monster.
"Boy, stand back! I'll hold them off."
David did as he was told, but this time, he felt unsure.
David began to question himself.
"Hadn't I awakened an amazing power? Isn't my power why this is happening? Then why do I just sit back and stay away from the fighting?!"
David became resolved.
[Available Skills: Inspect (lvl MAX), Thunderstep (lvl 1), Lightning Bolt (lvl 1)]
"With only two skills I can use in battle and a limited mana pool, I don't know how much help I can be, but I must at least defeat one!"
As Lucius was paralyzing the Ogres to focus on one at a time, he felt a familiar energy surge past him.
David had shot a lightning bolt at the Ogre Lucius was fighting.
The damage was subpar, but it allowed Lucius to finish the Ogre.
"Thank you, boy, let's continue this pattern!"
Continuing the same process with another Ogre, Lucius paralyzed the other three Ogres again, allowing the next target to move.
This time, he pulled two shortswords out of his portal bag and three one back to David.
The sword was a shiny silver with blue runes engraved onto the hilt, reaching the beginning of the blade.
Lucius knew that David's mana pool wouldn't last long enough for the rest of the Ogres, and due to his overuse of paralysis, he was in a similar boat.
They had enough magic for one more, but the others would no longer be paralyzed once that Ogre died.
Suddenly, two of the three paralyzed Ogres were shot through the head by arrows.
Since the arrows likely came from Cassie, the two didn't bat an eye and focused on their remaining enemies.
Shooting the moving Ogre with his final lightning bolt simultaneously with Lucius ended its life.
[C-class Monster Defeated: 50 exp awarded!]
[Exp: 51/100]
Feeling weak from overusing his magic, David could only charge at the paralyzed Ogre with Lucius.
Lucius stabbed at its neck, and David stabbed at its heart.
[Side Quest Completed!]
[Five Level Ups Rewarded!]
[Skill level up: Lightning Bolt (lvl 2)]
[Name: David ???]
[Level: 6]
[Exp 51/100]
[Hp 100/100]
[Mana 1/5]
[Strength 5]
[Agility 5]
[Stamina 6]
[Intelligence 5]
[Element: Lightning]
[Assignable Points available (15)]