A loud boom echoed, causing the ground to rumble.
"W-Why is it so cold!?" one of the nuns exclaimed.
"Ugh, it's freezing. Should we seek shelter in one of the houses?" one of the other nuns suggested.
"No! We need to keep moving!" Galadriel—who was at the front—shouted.
At this very moment there were monsters rampaging to their right. Although it wasn't visible, they could hear roars and explosions.
The inner wall already fell.
Luckily for them the main road to the gate was blocked by debris so they took a separate path. The main road had a lot of visibility so they would've been seen by a lot of monsters.
They were near the southeast wall at this moment.
As long as they followed the walls then they would be safe. Of course, Galadriel told them that it was dangerous to go directly to the wall since it was possible for monsters to be there as well.
The path they were taking was devoid of any life or monsters for that matter.
This allowed them to breathe easily even while half the city was in chaos.
The good thing about the monsters rampaging in the city was that they stuck to a critical path. Most of them stuck together while the minority wandered off for whatever reason.
"Is everyone doing alright? We're a large group so we have to move faster to cover more ground," Galadriel asked that because the normal folk obviously didn't have a lot of stamina.
"Most of the older people of the group—including myself—are running out of breath," an old man answered her question.
He was the pastor of the church and the Head Nun's brother.
Galadriel cursed inwardly.
They only managed to move a few hundred meters. That was only in a span of an hour. Considering the size of the group that was good ground to cover in such a short amount of time.
However, that was only because they ran most of the way.
Galadriel stopped which prompted the group to stop as well. She could hear audible wheezing and coughing coming from the group.
"I've been wondering this for a while now but where are your knights? Why would they leave all of you exposed to danger like this?" Galadriel asked.
"Most of them only come around during the night, miss Galadriel," The Head Nun answered, "The church doesn't need much protection during the day due to our high walls and many locks. Most of the knights are volunteers so they have their own hours as well."
"So it's safe to say they aren't in the city at the moment. They must've left the city during all the chaos."
"Seems so."
Klimp began speaking as he looked at everyone.
"It's going to be difficult to protect all of you if you don't move along with us. Sorry to say this but adventurers prioritize those who would push forward and not waste everyone's chance at life, especially during level 4 threats."
It seemed that he was acting more like the leader than Galadriel ever did.
"What are you trying to say, Klimp?" Evla asked him and she quietly took out her wand from her hip-pocket, "Should we leave these people?"
"I think it's best if we split into two or maybe three groups. Considering the fact that we're six adventurers, two teams might be for the best. Everyone should decide now which team they want to be on. I will naturally be in a team with our leader while Elva joins me," Klimp pointed at Evla and Galadriel, "The rest of you three will be in the other group."
"Got it."
"Affirmative."
"Mm."
The three of them nodded and agreed.
Klimp turned to look at Galadriel, "We'll continue walking along the wall towards the border gate while the others cut a path through the shopping district. I think that place should have a wider road than the street we're walking on now."
"What about the monsters!? You're basically telling us to divide our strength!" Bethany exclaimed, "We're grateful for the six of you protecting us but splitting up is a bad idea during this situation. We're starving and exhausted. What if one group succumbs or is attacked by stray monsters?"
"Quiet," Klimp glared at Bethany, "All of you are a liability. You should be grateful we're even willing to help you when others wouldn't. We're risking our lives here and will probably not be paid for it."
"You're only helping us because this is the only quest you've gotten in a while, right? I heard about the rule of the Adventurer Guild: any party or adventurer unable to complete a quest regardless of rank will either be demoted or suspended for a period of time from using their license." Bethany walked up to Klimp and glared at him, "If you want us to mark this quest completed at the Guild once everything is over then you should consider listening to what we have to say as well."
"You little arrogant bitch!" Klimp slapped Bethany across the face.
Bethany gave a cry as she flew back.
"You jerk!" Sylar went towards Bethany and screamed at Klimp.
"Know your place, little girl," Klimp turned around and began walking away.
Evla hurried after him.
The group was silently standing around Bethany and looking at her with pitying eyes. They walked past her and walked behind Klimp. The rest walked after the other three.
'What was she talking about?' Galadriel thought as she looked at Bethany who was rubbing her cheek.
That was a rule that Galadriel didn't even know about. The reason she was so desperate to finish this quest was because she was heavy in debt. She had been going to loan sharks for years now to satiate her spending habits.
She was unaware that she could've lost her license if she failed to complete the quest. Well, technically their original quest was to clear the water systems but that quest was changed to escorting these people to the capital city.
Either way, if they managed to complete the quest then they would be in the safe zone for a while.
One might ask why they wouldn't just take an easy quest like an F or E-rank quest. As B-rankers they could only take quests one rank above or below their own rank.
This was a rule implemented by the Guild to avoid giving adventurers easy ways to increase their rank. An adventurer's rank is increased by measuring their contribution to the Guild and the amount of quests they complete. That was why all quests had ranks.
But considering their below average overall power, it was difficult to even complete a B-rank quest.
It was a miracle how they could reach that far by doing odd-jobs these past five years together.
"We should keep moving," Galadriel went towards the two who were on the ground.
Bethany nodded slowly and took Sylar's hand to help her stand up.
"We can slow down our pace but only for ten minutes at a time. Okay?"
"Thank you, miss Galadriel."
A shadow suddenly came over them when they were about to walk. The sun was fairly high so there were a lot of shadows belonging to the buildings.
However, the one that came over them had an odd shape.
Galadriel, Sylar and Bethany turned their heads to look up.
A large ground dragon was looking down at them as its skin was slowly regaining its natural color.
The skin of ground dragons had the ability to reflect any form of light, causing a strange wavelength to engulf its body to hide from predators or prey. The light is diverted from its body, making it appear as if the object or creature isn't there. In laymen's terms they could become invisible.
They could stay still for hours on end stalking their prey.
Considering their numbers it was probably careful and assumed that they could overwhelm it together.
Problem was that the average ground dragon was at least B-rank. Depending on the environment, their diet and genes, ground dragons could become powerful enough to even fight against wild dragons—their winged cousins.
The dragon's maw opened up wide as it raised its head.
A deafening screeching sound bombarded Galadriel's eardrums, causing her to almost fall down.
It was using a racial skill called [Confusion Roar]. As its name suggested, the volume at which the dragon roars causes their eardrums to rupture, causing the inside of their brain cells to vibrate at an alarming rate and then lead to complete brain damage depending on the distance or prey and predator.
Galadriel and the other two were lucky that the monster was standing above them. The direction the wind was blowing was carrying the sound away, lessening their burden.
"We need to run!"
There was no way Galadriel could fight such a thing. Not with the equipment or the skills that she had.
Sylar and Bethany didn't even hesitate as they ran ahead of Galadriel.
Galadriel followed after them without looking back.
It stopped roaring. They heard the buildings crack behind them. A thump resounded as it jumped down from the buildings onto the ground.
Ground dragons were known as the fastest ground monsters since they had strong legs. Humans with their short two legs wouldn't be able to outrun such a beast.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" seeing that the dragon was catching up to them, Bethany screamed in horror while tears ran down her eyes.
Galadriel felt the same way. She was only 18 years old and had her entire life ahead of her.
She wanted to find a suitable husband, have children and live in a nice home. It was something any person with a dangerous job as an adventurer would want. Some die during their time as one while others retire after fulfilling their goals as an adventurer.
1 out of 10 newbies die on their first quest. Galadriel was lucky to be part of the 9 that survived their first time hunting monsters.
No, maybe it was because she had done odd-jobs most of her career that she was able to survive? Some quests were hard to complete but there were few times when their lives were in actual danger.
'Where the hell is Klimp and the others? How did they move ahead of us this fast?' Galadriel thought as they turned a sharp right. The wall was now visible to their left. It was very high but Galadriel could see people on the wall.
'Could it be that… they killed everyone and ran away…?' her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly felt a massive presence up ahead to their right. No, it was better to say that it was an overwhelming presence.
Every experienced fighter would be able to feel this bloodlust.
"Huh? Why is it stopping?" Sylar suddenly said.
Galadriel and Bethany looked back when they heard what Sylar said.
The dragon seemed to be backing up as its head was lowered to the ground.
Galadriel recognized that behavior.
It was an action of submissiveness that reptiles shared in common with each other. Even their larger cousins, Dragons had this behavior when meeting a monster stronger than themselves.
But what could possibly threaten a B-rank monster if not for that wave? The wave was on the other side of the city so there was no way that the ground dragon was acting like this because of the monster wave.
Then what?
Galadriel's question was answered when a big round blue thing looked around one of the buildings directly at them.
Its skin had the texture of a jellyfish. Galadriel wasn't sure if that was the head or the tail of a monster but she could definitely feel its eyes on them.
An opening suddenly appeared on that blue thing revealing… teeth?
A loud screech, much louder than the ground dragon's, assaulted their ears.
The ground dragon immediately turned invisible as it ran away while bumping into multiple buildings.
Galadriel, Bethany and Sylar backed further away as the monster fully revealed itself.
It had the body of a bird with wings. But its body was completely hairless, giving it the characteristics of a mole rat. It didn't even have eyes, only tiny holes in its large head that was being supported by a twig-like neck.
What was even more disgusting was how its body was transparent(which as why she compared it as having similar skin to a jellyfish). They could see all its organs, veins and even its stomach contents.
Galadriel noticed something floating in the monster's stomach sack.
"I-Isn't that…" Bethany spoke as she pointed towards its stomach.
She didn't even have to finish because Galadriel already noticed whose disfigured body was drifting inside the monster's belly. His body was mangled up, probably from being chewed, but his head was intact.
"Klimp…"
It seems that the monster had encountered their group. Seeing as how only Klimp was in its belly the others probably escaped or it hadn't finished eating the others before being interrupted.
The monster suddenly moved forward. It flapped its featherless wings as a sign of aggression as it hit its jaws together, giving off sounds similar to pots being dropped on the hard floor.
It was definitely challenging them. No, playing with them was a more appropriate term.
'Where is the other group…?'
They went deeper into the city's shopping district so what were the chances that they also encountered a monster or maybe several monsters?
Splitting up was a bad idea to begin with. Had she known that the monsters were wandering around the city then she would have protested against Klimp.
Some leader she was.
It was too late now.
But…
Galadriel unsheathed her sword and faced the monster that was slowly moving towards them.
"Get out of here!"
"B-But… you can't face it alone!"
"Yeah, let's leave together! That thing scared off a monster even bigger than itself so it must be more dangerous!"
Bethany and Sylar exclaimed respectively.
If the monster killed Galadriel then it will go after them. The two of them were civilians who didn't know how to fight so it was better if they left while Galadriel distracted it.
Galadriel looked at the girls, "Go towards that outpost right there." She pointed towards the wall where countless magic spells were being shot from.
The adventurers were already initiating their attack against the monster wave. Seeing as how the sounds were so loud, they were definitely close.
"This monster is playing games with us so I think you can walk past it." Galadriel had met many monsters like this back in her day as a porter for other parties. Though she wasn't the best at fighting solo, she was a good observer who learned by watching others.
The monster stalked its prey until they're exhausted before going for the kill. It would even hit the prey occasionally and back off to play with them.
The monster didn't even look at Bethany and Sylar who were circling around it as Galadriel was backing up. It just kept moving with her, slow and steady.
The two of them hurriedly ran past the monster after hearing Galadriel's command.
"Come on! You want a taste of me!?" Galadriel activated her aura.
It was a measly amount but it helped in boosting her physical abilities a little.
The monster was still walking at the same pace.
'Tch. It really is a sadistic bastard of a monster. Look at me, being complacent while I'm standing in front of something that could kill me in an instant.'
Should I run, after all? Thought Galadriel to herself.
Due to its size it might not be able to catch her if she ran between tight spaces. But considering how even a ground dragon ran away from it, it was probably strong enough to knock down any amount of buildings to get its prey.
Plus, Galadriel could be crushed as well.
Thus, she decided to stand her ground.
"Take this Aura Blast, you bastard—"
Galadriel was about to through every ounce of her power into an aura blast but she heard a whisper saying "[Speed of Sound]".
The buildings beside her rumbled violently and the windows shattered completely. Even some structures fell apart when a powerful gust of wind swept from behind her.
She swore she could see a guy with silver hair for a moment when she looked to her right.
Startled by the chaos ensuing around her, she covered up her head and crouched, thinking it was another monster.
"—How many times am I going to have to save people?"
She suddenly heard a young man's voice, followed by a thick scent of cologne that permeated into her nose. It wasn't suffocating but smelled quite pleasant.
"Are you okay?"
'Who…'
Galadriel looked up but her eyes were almost blinded by the sun. She squinted and was able to see what the young man looked like.
"Y-You're…" Galadriel gasped, "N-N-Nova!?"
"You know me?" the young man smiled wryly as he scratched his head.
Know him? His portrait was on every Guild quest billboard in the empire. On it stood [Rookie Adventurer of the Year].
Many idolized him after hearing the tale of how he stood on equal grounds with a wild dragon and fought demons, saving a village in the process.
He had S-rank power and was considered the strongest rookie ever to join the Guild. Not one SS-ranker could say that they could do the same things he did.
Galadriel was one of his many admirers.
"U-U-Uhm! T-The monster!"
Galadriel pointed behind him but…
"Monster? Oh, that thing from before? I killed it. I thought I might use one of the skills I learned but I ended up damaging this street more just for one monster."
Galadriel's mouth gaped when she saw that the monster's body that had no head. It was motionlessly standing there, unmoving. Considerable damage was done to the street as well.
"Are all of you alright?" Nova looked over Galadriel.
"Yes, sir Nova." answered the Head Nun.
Galadriel turned around when she heard footsteps. She noticed the same group she left earlier was heading in this direction.
"Huh? Where are my three companions?" she couldn't spot her three party members who accompanied the group.
◇◇◇
"They abandoned you!?" Galadriel exclaimed after hearing what the Head Nun told her.
Her three party members apparently left the group without warning. They headed straight for the border wall in order to get to the gate.
Arnold stood by and listened to what they were talking about.
'What a bunch of scumbags. How can they abandon people they offered to protect?'
If the Guild found out about this then the party would be heavily punished, not just the three of them. Judging by what Galadriel was saying, their party was probably in a tight spot so they had to split up.
He couldn't blame them since moving as such a large group wasn't the best idea.
"Dammit… At this rate I might lose my license because of those traitors!" Galadriel fell onto her knees.
Arnold looked towards the wall, "They haven't reached the wall yet so they were probably killed or are hiding from monsters that they encountered."
"Huh? How does sir Nova know?"
"The magicians haven't stopped throwing spells onto the city ever since earlier. There are quite a lot of sensory-type mages up there who are tasked with finding people. If they found someone then they would've stopped already."
"…!" Galadriel's eyes widened as if she realized something, "Those girls!"
"Hm? What girls?"
"T-There were two girls who were with me earlier. I told them to head towards the gate to safety."
"Oh, them? I saw them running along the wall towards the gate. Some adventurers picked them up before any monsters managed to attack them."
Galadriel sighed in relief, "Thank goodness…"
The barrage of spells halted for a few minutes before Arnold encountered the monster he killed earlier. That was a sign that they found people so it was highly likely that the girls were those people. It couldn't have been Galadriel's companions since they were heading straight towards a horde of monsters unknowingly. They were definitely dead.
'The biggest concern right now…' Arnold looked towards the outer wall.
'We need to move before those titan monsters make it here.'
Titan was a title given to monsters that were taller than any kingdom wall or building. They were like giants, only mutated forms of monsters one could find in the mountains or monster zones.
The point of the plan that the Guild came up with was to drive the smaller monsters towards the southeast walls, attack them using pincer formation and handling the bigger monsters using the Magic Guild's spells.
Arnold suddenly felt a warm feeling spread in his body as the surroundings was covered in blue mana. He could smell something similar to petrichor.
"Huh? I'm not… tired anymore?" Galadriel said in confusion when she stood up.
'Hm?' Arnold wasn't feeling particularly fatigued since he had been using Sword Intent to fight. His aura reserves were still at full capacity. Unlike aura, Sword Intent was a spiritual power so it didn't come from his physical body.
"Was that healing magic?"
"But who can use healing magic of this scale?"
The group were also confused as their complexions improved. They were pale when Arnold found them and looked very hungry.
Regarding the magic, it was probably a high tier divine skill that only few could use ever since healing magic became a sub-category magic.
Unlike arcane magic, healing magic was more of a skill which only priests had. It wasn't divinity since it used mana but most healing spells some people could use were similar to divine spells taught in temples.
'Something is moving in my pocket.'
It seems that Ceru was able to feel that skill as well.
'That was probably Admeera, the Guild Master of the Raven Magic Guild.'
She was a major character during certain parts of the storyline and was even part of the Hero Party due to her powerful healing magic that could even restore limbs.
Although not known to many, she had a class known as [God's Divine Daughter]. It was a legendary class that gave her the ability to learn all forms of healing spells.
No learnt spell could be used on such a wide scale so she probably used a level 20 skill at the very least.
Class-exclusive skills were rare for people of this world. Skills could only go as high as level 50 even if you were a level 100 healer.
Even level 10 skills were uncommon among ordinary mages and warriors. Only people like the Elite Mages, Great Nobles and Testaments had such skills.
Marcus von Berkley had one skill called [Manifest Lightning] which allowed him to control lightning called down from the sky. Unlike conjured lighting, lightning from the sky was much more powerful due to the mana that the world had.
His skill was also level 20, one of the highest Arnold had ever heard of.
The highest he had seen in action thus far was a level 10 skill called [Avatar Angel], which was the skill that Lancelot used.
"All of you can safely go towards the border gate," Arnold began speaking, "After seeing that there were civilians here, the adventurers came down to the wall to begin searching for any more that may show up. The adventurers who scattered throughout the city will also be on the lookout. You will be in good hands even if you don't hurry to the gate. But make sure to leave the empire once you get to the capital. If we don't stop the monster wave here then the other cities will fall next."
"Thank you for saving us, sir Nova," the Head Nun bowed, the others did the same, "It's a tragedy that all those people were lost but I'm glad that all the children is alive. As for my brother... well, I should hold a memorial service in his honor when everything calms down..." muttered the Head Nun.
'Huh, I just noticed that most of them are children. Wait, so they're the people from the orphanage I was looking for?'
Arnold sighed in relief.
"Take care of yourselves."
"Can I come with you?" Galadriel approached Arnold when the group began moving.
"How high is your rank?" he didn't outright deny her.
Seeing as how she was wearing fairly good equipment, she was probably strong. Not by his standards but among adventurers at least.
"Uhm, I'm a B-class adventurer."
"…" Arnold scratched his head, "I guess you can join the pincer group then."
"Pincer group?"
"We're chasing the monsters towards the southeast gate using those barrage of spells. That will startle the monsters since their path is cut off. They'll run into a trap."
Once the monsters are backed into a corner then the high rankers will step in.
While all this was happening then Arnold would take down several A-class monsters. This was because they would offer the most XP and bringing their heads to the Guild Master would earn him a promotion.
Things were already looking good since everyone now saw how strong Elora was but he wanted more.
"Are you still up to the task? We'll be between those monsters," he pointed at the smaller monsters that were causing havoc in the city. They were standing on a building so it was easy to see everything from here, "And those monsters."
"What the…" Galadriel's eyes widened when she saw the Titan-sized monsters marching behind the smaller ones.
There were three in total.
Two Frost Giants and a Hydra.
Each of those monsters could pose a threat to this entire subjugation.
That was why they had to kill the smaller ones first before attempting to kill the bigger ones.
If even one of them were SS-class then Arnold would be forced to use his demon lord power with full armor. Still, regardless of their level, Arnold wanted that sweet XP.
"T-Those things are going to destroy everything…"
"You're right but they aren't invincible. Even a dragon lord can be killed if you attack it enough. Most of our fighters are stationed at the border gate. More will arrive in due time. For now we have to handle the smaller monsters. Take into account that smaller doesn't mean these monsters are weak. That thing I killed earlier was an A-class monster."
Galadriel gulped hard, "S-So there are others like that thing…"
"Yes, but don't think all of them are the same in terms of strength just because they are a certain rank. Rank is associated with a monster's level so it's not a solid estimate of its combat power. You're going to have to handle monsters on your own even if I'm with you."
"Uhm, right…"
Galadriel was probably uncertain of her choice to join him now.
Well, she wasn't running away so that was a good thing.
"Let's go."