As Ryan admired the result of his work, his attention was drawn from the simulation environment by a sequence of hurried knocks on his workshop door.
"In between!"
As soon as he gave the command, Dylan opened the door with an anxious face.
"Sir, we have a problem," he said, hurriedly.
"What happened?!" Ryan responded quickly.
"There was a beast attack in the mine, we don't know how many there are, just that they arrived suddenly." Dylan told.
"Damn it! They never came this close to the fortress." Ryan cursed at the sudden onslaught.
Usually the beasts wouldn't come this close to the fortress unless they rallied under the command of a rank 2 beast.
Thinking about the possibility of the presence of a rank 2 beast, Ryan's heart raced. Although there were guards protecting the mine, there were only ten apprentice warriors.
After the death of his father, in addition to the soldiers who died in the attack, a part of the soldiers chose to leave. Leaving only sixty warriors in the fortress, so ten warriors was the most Ryan could deploy to protect the mine without compromising the security of the fortress.
"Call Uncle Alfred and gather twenty soldiers, we'll go to the mine immediately." Ryan instructed.
Dylan nodded, before running to carry out orders.
Looking down at the rifle on the table, Ryan earned a determined look before picking it up and strapping it to his back. Not forgetting to grab your sword before leaving the workshop.
...
By the time Ryan arrived at the city's south gate, his soldiers were already on top of their horses, while Alfred and Dylan waited at the front.
Climbing onto his horse, Ryan commanded, "Open the gate!"
The gate opened allowing Ryan and his soldiers to exit the fortress, riding quickly towards the mine.
As they rode Ryan prayed that the soldiers would hold out until reinforcements arrived, or all the people working in the mine would be killed.
Luckily, the mine had a rudimentary defense system in case of beast attacks.
...
Meanwhile, in the mine. A group of beasts gathered at the entrance to the mine trying to break down the iron gates that closed the entrance.
Their numbers were around forty beasts, each of which had a grotesque appearance. Some looked like mutated animals and others were large insects with elongated legs.
Behind the doors, some soldiers were blocking the doors with the help of mine workers.
"Quick, bring more stuff to the barricade!!" a soldier shouted, pushing an iron cart to block the entrance to the gate.
He looked anxiously at the people inside the tunnel, there were about 150 men working in the mine. But none of them were warriors, apart from the five soldiers left under his command.
The attack came suddenly, so they didn't have much time to think. He and his men held the crossbows for a brief moment before they all entered the tunnel and closed the gate.
But he still lost four soldiers to the beasts.
"Sir! The gate won't last long!" a young soldier shouted to the commander.
"We need to hold out until reinforcements arrive!" the commander yelled back.
Even with such an answer, not even the man believed that they would resist until reinforcements arrived. He was just an intermediate apprentice warrior, once the beasts broke through the gate they would come in like an unstoppable tide.
And he saw the amount of beasts outside the mine, even if reinforcements arrived they wouldn't be able to save them right away.
*BAM*
One of the beasts slammed into the gate, causing it to bend and the barricade to sway.
"Damn it!" the young soldier cursed with a sad smile. "Looks like we're not getting out of this, Dad," he said to the commander.
As if it were a joke of fate, the commander was actually his father. He always dreamed of being a warrior, he was hardworking, but he didn't have much talent.
After failing to become a knight, he chose to become a guard at the mine his father protected.
"Don't say that boy! Lord Ryan will soon arrive with reinforcements!" his father replied with a confident smile, holding his son's shoulder.
Seeing his father's confident gaze, the young soldier nodded.
...
Outside Ryan and his men were finally able to see the mine. Outside the mine they spotted the group of beasts.
Even though they were at a great disadvantage they understood that they had to fight, some of the soldiers even had a family member inside the mine.
Quickly approaching the mine, Ryan pulled out his sword and yelled, "Attack!!"
Hearing the command, the soldiers roared, drawing their swords. Dylan continuously shot arrows while Alfred readied his sword.
The beasts heard the soldiers roar and then a part of the group headed for Ryan and his men.
In a matter of seconds, the small army slammed into the beasts.
Ryan swung his sword from his horse, slicing off the head of an insect-shaped beast. His sword was bathed in a faint bluish aura, causing it to easily pierce the skin of a normal beast.
The energy that bathed the sword was called aura, the most powerful weapon of an aura warrior.
Within seconds, the battlefield became chaotic.
The soldiers couldn't stay on their horses for long after being surrounded by the beasts.
Descending from the horses they engaged in close combat.
Dylan shot arrow after arrow while Alfred protected him. Ryan, on the other hand, cut one beast after another, acting as the main containment of the group.
Soon, Ryan realized that while he was managing to hold his own against the onslaught of the beasts, they had only managed to take down a few of them.
Some of his men began to be outnumbered and injured. Seeing this, Ryan was getting anxious and about to play his trump card.
At that moment, he heard Dylan scream.
"Sir! In that direction!"
Looking in the direction where Dylan pointed, Ryan spotted a large insect-like beast. Despite looking like the others, she was evidently larger.
Because of the chaos of the battle, Ryan hadn't been able to spot her before.
Having the ability to control other beasts, she was sure to be a rank 2 beast.
Seeing his target Ryan stopped hesitating and pulled the gun from his back.
The distance between them and the monster was something like 20 meters, but the firing line was clear.
Aiming at the monster Ryan squeezed the trigger hard.
And what followed were rumblings, like thunder in a storm.