“It’s backbreaking work keeping the fortress safe while we fight off wave after wave. I can’t believe you’d foist all this work on your elders, Finn…”
Noir cast a glance toward the silhouette of Guild HQ in the distance and gave a bitter smile. The events of a few hours earlier played through his mind.
“Noir, I’m leaving to assume command and carry out the defense of Guild HQ. The Twilight Manor is in your hands while I’m gone.”
It was shortly after Finn had left for Guild HQ to share the details of his plan—shortly after the enemy destroyed the city gates and allowed monsters to flood the streets—that Finn returned to the Twilight Manor and spoke to Noir.
“We’re countin’ on ya, Noir!” Loki had said. “We may have paid off the loan on this place, but we can’t let the enemy put a single scratch on me and Riveria’s love castle!”
“Oh, and take care of Loki, too, will you?” Finn had added with a smile.
“That’s an awful lot of work for one man,” Noir had protested. “Plus, given the city’s layout, the northeast of Orario is where the fighting is going to be the thickest!”
Orario sat at the western tip of the continent, while the brackish lake upon which Port Meren sat extended from the west to the southwest of the city. Even without Finn’s strategic genius, Noir could predict where the vast majority of monsters would appear. The Evils could never hope to take direct control of the monsters and strategically guide them to a specific location like a proper army. All the tamers in the world couldn’t make such a feat possible.
The Twilight Manor stood not far from the northeastern gates into the city. For Noir, the duty of protecting it was a poisoned chalice, and he could scarcely believe the prum’s gall in handing it to him.
But the brazenness of Finn’s subsequent response made his previous words seem entirely reasonable by comparison.
“It’s only you I can trust with this. Besides, I’m sure your old-man wisdom can come up with something. Isn’t that how you, Dyne, and Bahra beat sense into us back in the day? What are you worried about?”
Noir still vividly remembered the prum’s grin.
He made short work of a monster that attempted to catch him unawares, then gave a derisive snort.
“You picked a fine day to start respectin’ your elders, young’un! If you ask me, we didn’t beat you hard enough!”
“Finn was just a kid who didn’t know the first thing about the Dungeon back in those days!” said Bahra. “Gareth and Riveria, too!”
“But those kids were strong, and they tore through waves of monsters without even needin’ our help,” added Dyne. “I still remember all the fights we used to have!”
Noir nodded in agreement, then fixed his eyes on some distant spot.
“And now, the fate of this city rests on their shoulders… It’s a weighty burden, to be sure…”
He paused in contemplation, but the enemy would not allow a moment of solace. Seeing the approaching foes, Noir readied his sword. It was a single-edged blade, based on those from the Far East, and its name was Undying Vow.
“I suppose it’s only fair,” he said. “If Finn places his trust in us, then let’s make sure he won’t regret it!”
“Groooooooaaaaghhh!”
The monstrous screams were deafening. The Evils and adventurers all shuddered at those inhuman sounds. The source of these screams, striking fear and awe into friend and foe alike, was a catman who had earned himself the title of the city’s fastest.
“Drop dead, freaks.”
“Gyaaaagh?!”
Allen Fromel was waging a one-man war, making short work of the cultists with one sweep of his silver spear. He reminded people of a capricious kitten…if a kitten could tear its prey to shreds in a single blow. His speed allowed him to hit the enemy from the front or the back before they even knew what was happening, and whether they attempted to flee or fight back, all were trampled beneath the wheels of Vana Freya, the chariot of the gods. The mages on his side didn’t even have chance to cast their spells before Allen’s spear ran the suicide bombers through, and then, once he was already far out of the blast range, a chain of crimson flowers bloomed across the battlefield.
“““Wh-whoooooooaaaaaaahhhh!!”””
The other adventurers couldn’t help but voice their shock. Allen’s high-speed assault didn’t even give the enemy time to detonate their own bombs.
Allen was defending the Amphitheatrum, in eastern Orario. Along with the northern districts, this region was where the majority of enemies were expected to appear. However, right now it was serving as the private hunting grounds of the warrior currently boasting the highest body count in the city.
Many of Freya’s other followers were stationed here, bolstered by adventurers from other familias. They fought to protect the civilians taking refuge within the stronghold. Anyone or anything that approached the walls were swiftly repelled with bolts of fire and lightning, while the warriors created a wall of steel with their axes and blades. As Allen and the other members of Orario’s most prominent familia continued to fight, their allies cheered them on.
Those cheers could be heard far across the city, atop Guild HQ, where a single prum hero smiled and said, “Nicely done.” The efforts of Freya Familia on the east side of the city were steadily raising the coalition’s morale.
However, once the enemy was completely eradicated, a member of Freya Familia shouted across to Allen from the battlements.
“M-Mr. Fromel! You’re straying too far forward! Wh-what about defending the stronghold…?”
“That’s your job. I’m here to run people over. That’s all.”
Allen’s main strength came from his ability to fight alone. Staying too close to his allies would only result in trapping people beneath the wheels of his chariot. Normally, tightening Allen’s leash was Hedin’s job, but as the white elf was otherwise occupied, Allen was free to act as he pleased, and the most useful thing he could do now was disrupt the enemy ranks and sow chaos, plus filling any gaps in the defensive line.