The Aegis sub-master, Matsu, was there, but there was no sight of the guild master, Shirokado.
“We need healers over here!”
“Bring potions!”
“Carry the weakest to the inn!”
Fort Sandras was in an uproar. Meanwhile, Matsu walked over to a quiet spot and sat down, cradling her sword in trembling arms. She looked toward the town gate.
“They will come…and kill us all…,” Matsu mumbled.
Misaki looked up first at Alan, and then at Wataru.
“There are at least six large dots. And more than a thousand others, every one of them heading our way.”
Large enemy markers meant boss monsters. Even a single boss monster could start an invasion, and they were dealing with six. An army of over a thousand monsters had been unleashed when the protective barrier created by the spirit’s Prayer was broken.
A great crowd gathered by the town gates. There were members, old and new, of Crest, Twilight Adventurers, Yamata, and Aegis, as well as unaffiliated players who were capable fighters.
“We’re here to discuss a strategy to stop a large monster invasion!” Alba boomed, silencing the crowd. He stuck his greatsword into the ground in front of him. His face was very grave. “We will stop this invasion here, at Fort Sandras.”
His proposal didn’t go unchallenged.
“Sorry, but…Allistras is protected by a magical barrier. Isn’t it wiser to retreat, gather up fighters from the towns we pass by, and focus our forces there? If it turns out we can’t defeat those monsters, at least we’ll be safe in Allistras…”
“Hold on, hold on! Do we even have the luxury of time to be standing around here discussing tactics?!”
There were more shouts indicating general unrest. Wataru recognized that the concern about time was valid, and he walked over to Misaki.
“Can you estimate when the monsters will reach the town?” he asked her.
“Just a moment…”
Misaki compared the location of the massive monster group on her map with where they’d been when she first saw them and did some calculations in her head.
“If they keep moving at the same pace, they will get here in two hours.”
The anxious members of the crowd breathed a sigh of relief, finding some comfort in the knowledge that they still had some time to prepare. However, Misaki wasn’t finished.
“But there’s also a vanguard,” she said a little louder. “They’re all flying monsters. They will reach us in fifteen to twenty minutes.”
The news that some monsters were flying straight at them and would get there quickly made many members of the crowd lose heart again.
Byakuren, representing Twilight Adventurers, took over.
“We don’t have much time, and we certainly cannot risk trying to walk back to Allistras. It’s likely that we’d be quickly overtaken by the monsters, and heavy losses would be unavoidable if we had to fight while retreating. We would also be putting players in the other towns in danger, and don’t forget that noncombatants live in the previous areas.”
The crowd began to quiet down.
The next speaker was Flamme.
“Fort Sandras is better equipped to repel a monster invasion than even Allistras. We’ve just put in a request with—”
“Good news, everyone. Our fat king’s gonna help out for a change,” someone said apathetically.
Hiiiiive and his guild members descended into the crowd. He waved a piece of paper in the air.
“You’re not joking, are you?” asked Alba.
“I’m not. Why don’t you check for yourself?”
Hiiiiive handed Alba the piece of paper—or rather, the parchment—bearing the king’s seal.
Grand Quest
Request: Stop the Monster Invasion
From: King Tyrone
Time Limit: None
Participants: No Restriction
Details: A swarm of monsters from the Cerou Underground Labyrinth is threatening to attack the town. Take up arms and defend Fort Sandras. The king shall support you with the fort’s many armaments.
It was an official request from the king, triggering a Grand Quest. The crowd grew agitated; the soldiers headed out of the town gates with their weapons at the ready, while the civilians took shelter.
After the mechanical soldiers walked out in neat ranks, the players resumed their strategy meeting.
“The mechanical soldiers are only around level thirty, while the monsters we’ll be dealing with are at least level forty. Don’t expect the soldiers to be much help,” Alba said, visibly worried. His gaze followed the mechanical dragons soaring through the sky. “I’m sorry,” he added to Hiiiiive and his guild. “I’ve insulted you, assuming you brought this danger upon us all.”
“No offense taken. Besides, we kind of did bring this on…,” replied Hiiiiive.
“So. Tactics?” Alan prompted them to get on with it, losing patience.
“Misaki can see that the enemies from Cerou are marching on Fort Sandras in a straight line,” said Flamme. “Which means that, thankfully, we will only be facing attacks from one direction. We should take out all the flying vanguards before the rest of the monster troop has a chance to join them.”
Byakuren gave a slight nod. “The fortress armaments will be the first line of attack. We’ll position ourselves behind the mechanical soldiers and soldier NPCs and kill any monsters that survive their attacks.”
Flamme showed everyone a map with markers designating each guild’s position. Since they couldn’t quite count on perfect coordination between the guilds, the strategy was simple—everyone would attack the monsters closest to them.
“We’re now going to distribute stat and EXP buff foods!”
With the distribution of supplies, all present started feeling ready for battle.
Foods that boosted stats would be extremely helpful during the upcoming fight, as would anything that increased experience points.
Makoto scanned the crowd of fighters, biting into a chunk of meat on the bone—a defense-boosting food item.
This should be very different from the other invasion…
His guild had barely survived their desperate battle with the Goblin King and its mob. This battle, though, would take place at the front lines, where all fighters were among the top players, unafraid to risk their life. Only a handful had beaten a hasty retreat to Allistras.
“Best of luck, everyone!” Wataru shouted.
Slowly, he began to walk toward the gate leading out of the town. His guild followed him.
“You’re fighting, too?” Hiiiiive asked Misaki.
When he saw her face, his eyes widened in mild surprise.
“You’re scared?” he said.
“Of course I’m scared…”
The first invasion, which had threatened to destroy Allistras, had been a big turning point for Misaki, who had not known peace since. That time, they’d prevailed thanks to help from a miraculously strong hero, but she knew better than to count on something similar happening again.
“I don’t know how I’ll bear the sight of other players dying in front of my eyes…”
A little smile appeared on Hiiiiive’s lips. “Ah. As long as you’re not scared to fight, it’s all good.”
“I’m scared to fight, too!”
“Really? I’d say nobody here is. You can see player locations on your minimap, right? You should know that the cowards have packed themselves like sardines into every available inn.”
Misaki didn’t reply. She did know that very few people had fled the town, but there were so many who were hiding in the inns. Even the brave frontline fighters had a certain degree of risk tolerance, and for many of them, battling an army of monsters of unknown strength, type, and number was well outside their comfort zone.
Alan stood next to Misaki and Hiiiiive.
“We’ll see what happens, I guess,” he said, cracking his neck.
“I wish I could be as stoic… You’ve gained six levels?” Misaki asked him.
“Ah, yeah. We killed the spirit, got some levels from it, and accidentally started a monster invasion. We made this mess, so we’ve gotta clean it up.”
Yamata members headed to the town gate, too.
Misaki strengthened her grip on her Silver Bow, willing herself to be brave, and she rushed to the battlefield.
Magic soldiers stood in formation, while mechanical dragons patrolled the sky. Fort Sandras’s gigantic cannons swiveled around until they were aimed toward the Cerou Underground Labyrinth.
“Honestly, I never expected the king to lift a finger for us…,” said Flamme.
“It may be a scripted event triggered by the first clearing of Cerou,” replied Wataru.
Behind the magic soldiers, Crest members were lining up.
“So this invasion was scripted, too?” Flamme said. “If it was caused by the spirit’s defeat, and defeating the spirit was necessary to progress through Cerou, it was guaranteed to happen… It’s absurd how everything is stacked against us in this world.”
She looked into the distance, furrowing her brow. The hand she was using to hold her dagger was shaking from indignation rather than fear.
Nobody knew how much of a difference the fort’s armaments might make. In Allistras, the players had help from the NPCs, but their frenetic attempts to fight back hadn’t amounted to much. Sandras, however, was ruled by an army, and its military assets were worlds apart from anything in Allistras.
“At last, the gizmos get put to use instead of being part of the scenery,” said Hiiiiive.
“That’s great. Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to win the battle for us, though,” replied Alan.
The two men laughed mockingly, aware that the chances of victory were hopelessly slim.
Hiiiiive looked toward the Cerou Underground Labyrinth, petting his summon, Gem Dragon Kleinod.
“We win this, or we all die. Simple.”
Fort Sandras had been fortified with various mechanical weapons following the angels’ destruction of Ciola Tower when the tower was still being built. The angels deemed these weapons not to be a threat, so it was anyone’s guess whether they’d be effective at all.
There were 719 players supported by about 150 regular soldiers, roughly 500 mechanical soldiers, and 3 mechanical dragons. The fort was equipped with mortars, magical cannons, and lasers. That was everything at Fort Sandras’s beck and call.