[Arius POV]
RUMMBLEE!!! ROARR!
"EVERYONE, GET TO THE S.T.A.!!!!"
Hearing a distant roar and constant rumbling of the ground, along with the cry from Master Doherty, I don't know what to do but follow the crowd. Emma grabs hold of my hands and starts moving outside. As you would expect with an unknown emergency situation, there was chaos everywhere. The townsfolk were scrambling to get off the streets and back to their homes.
BOOOM!! Shhhhhhh
Hearing another boom in the distance, I turn to look in its direction. However, what catches my attention is the sight of a giant white rock in the sky coming toward us.
"What is happening? We're all dead."
Seeing my life flash before my eyes as the giant rock approaches with its target set on the town. Suddenly I see something magical happen, a web of red appears all over the town, creating a barrier. Given how thin the webbing was, the giant rock would just fly right through it. But on impact, I feel a blast of air gush in all directions. Keeping my eyes on the rock, my eyes widen as I see the rock simply dissolve and break into much smaller pieces.
"Arius, why are you just standing there in a daze?"
"Sister Emma, did you not see the giant boulder and the web?"
"Of course I did! Still, I'm confident that Sir Earnest would just take care of it and he did. So don't worry too much about that, we got to get to the S.T.A."
As Emma started to pull me along, I quickly began running too. We tried our best to weave through the crowds of screaming people.
"How strong is Sir Earnest?"
"I don't know but Master Doherty once said that even if he reunited his old adventurer team they would still lose to Sir Earnest."
"Wait... Master was an adventurer?"
"Yeah, he said he was a gold-ranked adventurer back in the day, but I don't know if that's true."
After a few minutes of running along the road, we leave the edge of town and see the depot up ahead. As we approached it, I started to slow down. But I felt a tug that almost made me face plant into the ground.
"Emma, the depot is right here."
"We're not going to the depot, there will be no one in there."
"What...."
"We got to get to the S.T.A., giant rocks don't just fall out of the sky you know. Especially- WATCH OUT!!"
Shhh BOOOM!
Seeing another rock hit the area where I just was, I land on my butt while taking deep breaths to calm my heart. If Emma didn't react fast enough and pulled me out of the way, I would have become a pancake.
"Where did that come from?!"
"That's not the only one, look at the sky."
Looking into the sky further down the road, I see the constant rain of boulders hitting anything and everything. There were many things floating in the air, things that looked like the pillars that were in the S.T.A. It was like the end of the world.
"What's doing this?"
"Don't know, we'll see it once we get to the S.T.A. Luckily, I always have a spare blade on me."
Taking her eye off the apocalyptic events happening, Sister Emma starts taking off her shoes. Her shoes looked weird, the bottom was extremely thick and wide. Gripping the shoe and the bottom, with a pull, the two parts come apart. Doing the same with the other shoe, she takes the two extra pieces and with superfast hands starts transforming the two pieces into a short sword with a long chain and ball attached to it.
"It's been a while…"
Grasping the chain in her right hand, she begins to spin the ball at the end of the chain. Then with a perfectly timed release, the ball goes flying with blistering speed, impacting one of the nearby falling boulders.
Bang!!
"…not to bad."
With a bang, the boulder explodes on impact, raining down countless pebbles and rocks. pulling a small dagger from her back, Emma throws it to the ground in front of me.
"Take that. It is always useful to have a weapon on you."
"I thought that chain sword thing is your backup weapon."
"That tiny toothpick isn't a weapon. A true weapon is something that requires more skill, it's the manifestation of the user's character and power. A non-engraved toothpick can't be considered a weapon or else a stone that you pick up will be considered one too."
"O-k, thanks I guess."
I respond in a confused tone. I don't understand, isn't anything a weapon as long as you want to use it? Who knows? Maybe I'll understand it on another day. Pulling out the dagger, I grasp it in my hand. It was a simple design straight, sharp, light, it was a simple dagger, nothing more nothing less.
"Arius, let's hurry up!"
Now that we were fully armed, we start to run once again toward the S.T.A., toward the floating pillars in the sky. Running up the hill, I see a large group with many people who I knew. Mr.Doherty, Sir Earnest, Stella and a lot of guards. In great contrast with the mood and expressions in the morning, everyone looked tense, nervous, and serious
"Master, we're here. There was a little bit of turbulence on the way here."
"Emma, why did you bring Arius here? This is no place for the weak."
"Why so harsh? He can stay in the backline."
"You don't understand, just look."
Master Doherty points for us to look beyond the peak of the hill and into the valley. We slowly walk up and just peaking our heads over we see what has become of the S.T.A. Dark red veins flowing through the ground, giant holes everywhere, monsters roaming the area. Worst of all, the hole where the S.T.A. was located was no more. In its place, a giant rock monster moving and trying to make its way out.
ROAARR!!
With a giant scream of rage and anger, its arms smash into the ground lifting giant clumps of rocks and chucking them in random directions. Truly something terrible.
Running back to the group, Emma's cheekiness and my enthusiasm were no more. Adding to the collective tension, nerves and fear, although that was only me and Lorraine.
"So what are we going to do?"
Asking a question that everyone had in mind but didn't have the answer for. I feel like that dealing with that giant is too much for our group, the giant was just too big and strong.
...
"We'll have to kill it."
After a long wait of silence, Sir Earnest breaks the negative atmosphere with only a few words. Not waiting for anyone to question him, he continues speaking.
"The giant stone golem in the middle is a mutated 1-star gold rank. Based on the performance yesterday, mutated monsters here hit above their level in at least one attribute. If it's the same as the stone monsters then it should be defence. Thankfully, it grabbed our attention before its legs could exit the portal. We'll use its immobile nature to our advantage. Doherty and I will hit the golem while the rest will kill all the other stray monsters around. Krast, you watch out to make sure to star boulders fly towards the town. That's about it-"
"HEY, WAIT!!"
Tock Tock Tock Tock Tock
Hearing the sound of horses and a wagon, we all turn back to see Big Brother Jaque on the wagon full of weapons and items.
"I got all our spares. I hope it is enough."
Even while bandaged up, we see his smirk through it all.
"Crababy, you've always been a lucky star. Suit up, everyone."
The group quickly gathers around the wagon quickly taking weapons, items and potions that we will need. Soon we were all ready to fight once more.
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Hourglass News
September 20, 15 UE
Following the incident of one envoy returning dead after a mission gone wrong, we at Hourglass News have interviewed one of the higher in the Adventurer guild. Through the interview, they disclosed that it is linked to the increasingly appearing mutated S.T.A.s that appeared all over the continent only a few months ago. They have also disclosed that the council will review what is going on and will make more news public as well as more measured to ensure the stability of the country.
Stay tuned for that news from the council
....
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