The next day, the shadows of political tension from the Mayor's dinner banquet seemed to have vanished, blown away by the wind.
The sun shone brightly through the wooden window slits of a fairly crowded tavern in the corner of Wealden City. At one of the tables, Alphonse, Arcus, and Vrischil were having their lunch.
Arcus tossed a deflated leather pouch onto the wooden table with a soft thud. He spread his arms in a dramatic flair.
"Our money is gone, Alphonse," Arcus complained, leaning back in his chair. "What are we going to do today? How about we head to the Adventurer's Guild and pick up some hunting missions to earn some cash?"
Alphonse did not answer immediately. He cut the roasted meat on his plate with calm and precise knife movements.
"Executing Iron-Tier missions that yield only a few copper coins is a waste of time and energy," Alphonse rejected with the efficiency of a planner. "I can produce Magic Scrolls now. Selling our homemade magic scrolls to the black market or directly to merchants is far more profitable and efficient."
Hearing that plan, Arcus snorted softly and rolled his eyes.
"Boring," he complained while crossing his arms over his chest. "There's no blood, no tension, and certainly... it provides absolutely none of the combat entertainment I crave."
Vrischil, who had been silently sipping her water, completely ignored Arcus's whining. she set down his wooden glass and stared at Alphonse with a sharp emerald gaze.
"Isn't it time we started making our move, Alphonse?" Vrischil asked in a serious tone.
"Several days have passed since our arrival in this world. The other Players are beginning to make their moves after grasping the situation of this world."
Alphonse set his knife down. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then looked at his two friends in turn.
"You are right, Vrischil," Alphonse said calmly. "Our observation period is over. It is time we build our own kingdom."
Hearing the word 'kingdom', Arcus's eyes instantly sparkled. He leaned forward.
"Building a kingdom, huh?" Arcus smirked enthusiastically. "So, what is the plan? Are we going to find an empty territory and build it from scratch... or should we just invade this Paxora Kingdom and take over its throne?"
Alphonse had just opened his mouth to answer that barbaric question. "No, we will—"
DONG!
DONG!
DONG!
The chime of a giant bell suddenly tore through the air. The deafening sound echoed consecutively, sweeping across every corner of Wealden from the direction of the eastern gates.
The tavern, previously calm and filled with light chatter, instantly erupted into chaos.
Wooden chairs were knocked backward. Plates and glasses fell scattered, shattering into pieces on the floor. Civilians screamed hysterically, their faces deathly pale. They pushed each other, running out of the tavern doors to seek shelter in their homes or the nearest safe places.
Alphonse stood up. Without needing a cue, Arcus and Vrischil immediately followed behind him. They stepped out of the tavern.
The streets of Wealden had turned into a sea of panicked humans.
Amidst the flow of civilians running helter-skelter in the opposite direction, lines of iron-armored city guards and dozens of adventurers sprinted fast toward the eastern gates with weapons drawn.
A group of adventurers ran past Alphonse's position. One of them cursed loudly while drawing his sword.
"I told you something was strange with that forest lately!" the adventurer shouted to his comrade. "No wonder the animals and monsters vanished from the outer zones! I never expected them to gather and form a wave to attack the city. Is there something controlling them?!"
Hearing snippets of information from those panicked shouts, Alphonse's brain worked fast. He calculated the various probabilities of profit and risk from this sudden chaos.
"A monster wave, huh," Alphonse murmured, his golden gaze narrowing sharply toward the east.
Arcus gripped the handle of his bow tightly. His blood boiled after days of holding back. "Are we going to help this city, Alphonse?"
"Let us survey the situation from above first," Alphonse decided coldly, not wanting to move recklessly without adequate battlefield intelligence. He turned to Vrischil. "Make us invisible."
Without wasting a single second, Vrischil used [Tier S - Perfect Concealment].
The air around the three of them rippled softly for a moment. Their figures faded perfectly into nothingness, blending entirely with the space in the middle of the chaotic street.
Utilizing that invisible state, Alphonse immediately cast [Tier B - Fly].
Arcus and Vrischil followed behind him. They shot upwards, defying gravity, leaving the streets of Wealden noisy with screams and the chiming bell. The three of them flew high, piercing the thin clouds, taking the highest tactical vantage point to observe the battlefield.
From the sky above Wealden, Alphonse finally saw the true horror threatening the city.
A pitch-black wave crawled out from the border line of the Eastern Forest. Thousands of monsters crushed the trees in their path, marching fearlessly toward the city's defensive walls.
Arcus focused his vision. A dim blue light ignited in his eyes as he used his ability.
"A massive number of monsters crawling down there," Arcus reported after scanning from a long distance. "I see a horde of Goblins on the front lines, Dire Wolves, Hobgoblins, packs of Orcs, and... around twenty Ogres. Their total forces hover around one thousand five hundred monsters."
However, amidst that report, Arcus narrowed his eyes sharper. There was a lethal anomaly that caught his attention.
"Wait... Alphonse. Look at the very back of their formation," Arcus pointed.
Far at the rear line of the monster army, a highly terrifying entity walked slowly.
Its height reached five meters, towering above the other monsters. The creature's form resembled a Gargoyle, with a body anatomy formed from a fusion of muscular human flesh and pitch-black obsidian stone texture. A pair of stone wings resembling dragon wings folded sturdily on its back. Its head was adorned by a natural crown made of an arrangement of sharp, jagged stone horns.
Between the cracks of its obsidian muscles, dark purple energy pulsed and radiated outward like poisonous magma ready to explode.
The creature stepped heavily, one hand dragging a giant stone sword across the ground, cleaving the earth and leaving a long trench trail every time it stepped forward.
From behind the veil of thin clouds, Arcus narrowed his eyes. The dim blue light glowed again in his irises as he observed the form of the boss monster towering at the rear line of the army.
"It seems that creature is native to this world, Alphonse," Arcus reported, his tone shifting from tense to slightly dismissive. "I do not recall a monster variant like that in the game. All I remember are ordinary stone Gargoyles."
Arcus tilted his head, measuring the density of the energy flow radiating from the creature's obsidian muscles. Arcus clicked his tongue in boredom.
"Its power is probably only equivalent to Level 50," he complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tch, so weak. I thought there would be a tough opponent who could finally entertain me today."
Hearing Arcus's never-fading arrogance, Alphonse turned and looked at Arcus calmly.
"Calm down, Arcus," the leader said in a flat tone. "In your eyes, that creature is indeed weak. But to the denizens of Wealden City, that giant Gargoyle is likely the strongest and deadliest monster that has ever threatened their lives."
Vrischil, who hovered silently beside them, looked straight at the Wealden defensive walls encircling the city.
"What is your plan, Alphonse?" Vrischil asked, her brain beginning to arrange scenarios. "If left unchecked, this city could be leveled to the ground."
"But," the Elf continued, "I do not believe Wealden lacks trump cards to defend itself. Considering there is a Magic Tower faction here, they must at least be hiding magic cannons or a city barrier. Look down there, lines of troops have gathered atop the walls. It seems they have a defense plan."
However, before Alphonse could answer, Arcus interrupted Vrischil's analysis by pointing toward the forest.
In the distance, the Giant Gargoyle suddenly halted its heavy steps.
The Gargoyle monster raised its giant stone sword high, challenging the sky. A hoarse roar that vibrated the air split the heavens, issuing a command that triggered the thousands of monsters before it to sprint toward the city walls.
Right after issuing that attack command, an anomaly occurred.
The purple energy that had pulsed wildly within the Gargoyle's muscle cracks dimmed drastically until it extinguished completely.
The giant creature froze, folded its dragon wings tight, and literally transformed into a block of stone statue blending with the darkness behind the shadows of the trees.
Alphonse furrowed his brow behind his monocle. His gaze turned sharp. Did that monster intentionally hide its presence to ambush when they drop their guard later? he thought, realizing the monsters of this world possessed tactical intelligence.
However, the true surprise came from the human side.
Suddenly, the Wealden gates were pulled wide open.
Instead of defending using geographical advantage, hundreds of adventurers swarmed out from the protection of the city walls with weapons drawn, running to meet thousands of monsters on the open plain.
Alphonse stared at the sight below with a face of disbelief.
"Oi... you have got to be kidding me," Alphonse muttered, letting out a rough sigh. "What kind of foolishness are they committing down there?"
[Moments Earlier - Wealden Eastern Gates]
The atmosphere behind the city walls was struck by organized panic. At the very front lines, near the gate-pulling mechanism, Lorien Caldwell and the adventurer members of The Gilded Falcons stood alongside other adventurer party leaders.
Amidst that crowd, Guild Master Thorne stood with a pale, sweating face.
Beside him was Captain Cedric—a stern man in silver armor with a claw scar on his neck, who had only days ago replaced his late father's position as captain of the Wealden city guards.
"What is the defense plan, Captain?" Lorien demanded without preamble.
Captain Cedric unrolled his parchment map and answered firmly.
"We will utilize standard defensive tactics. All troops and adventurers will defend behind the Wealden walls. We will use this high ground so our archers and mages can bombard the enemy from above safely, while the infantry holds the gates if they manage to close in."
"What is the number of incoming enemies?" Lorien asked, his eyes narrowing with calculation.
Cedric provided the latest report from his scouting troops.
"Around one thousand Goblins, two hundred Dire Wolf-riding Hobgoblins, dozens of armored Orcs, and twenty Ogres."
The man did not mention the Obsidian Commander. The Wealden scout troops moving on the ground had failed to detect the presence of the giant Gargoyle Arcus had spotted from the air.
Hearing the breakdown of those numbers, a faint smile began to form in Lorien's mind.
Merely a horde of low and mid-tier wild monsters, Lorien monologued inwardly, his brain spinning to weave a stratagem amidst the crisis. The two hundred Wealden adventurers gathered here are more than enough to slaughter those enemies on the open field.
The noble's dark ambition was ignited.
If he successfully led this slaughter on the front lines without hiding behind walls, the kill count and participation would become a massive achievement. It would be more than enough to elevate The Gilded Falcons party to the Mithril Tier.
With a Mithril title, Lorien would possess the legitimacy and independent power to protect Aeliana from the grasp of the Magic Tower, without needing to rely on his family name that often demeaned him. Furthermore, it would serve as highly potent political capital to compete and eliminate his older brothers in the succession war for the Duke Caldwell seat in the capital.
This opportunity was far too valuable to pass up just to hide behind stone.
Lorien took a step forward, opposing Captain Cedric's tactics openly.
"Your tactics are too cowardly, Captain Cedric. Let us adventurers handle this wave outside the walls. If we defend inside and allow the Ogres to batter the defenses, the city walls will sustain severe damage that will only cost repair fees that choke the Wealden citizens' taxes."
Cedric vehemently rejected that insane idea. "That is far too dangerous, Lorien! Fighting on an open plain against a monster wave is suicide. And you have no right to represent the lives of all the adventurers here!"
However, Lorien ignored the captain entirely.
He turned around, staring at the sea of adventurers behind him. With his aristocratic charisma, Lorien began to incite their greed.
"Listen to me, brother adventurers!" Lorien exclaimed, his voice echoing. "The incoming enemies are merely hordes of Goblins and Orcs! We have many strong adventurers here. Why must we hide like rats? My party and I will bear the greatest risk by standing at the very front lines to hold off the Ogres!"
Four Gold-Rank adventurer captains immediately realized the fatal danger of that incitement. They stepped forward pushing through, glaring at Lorien with hard faces.
"Shut your mouth, Lorien! This is madness!" snapped one fierce-faced captain, pointing right at the noble. "Leaving the protection of the city walls when a monster wave attacks. You are herding these people toward a ridiculous death!"
Another captain shouldering a greatsword chimed in with a heavy, echoing voice. "Do not let your ego blind your common sense! These walls were built for a reason. We will not throw away our troops' lives on an open plain merely to chase your titles and gold coins!"
But Lorien already had control over the masses. He turned and glared at Thorne with a threatening gaze.
"All loot and Monster Cores fall into the hands of whoever manages to kill them on the battlefield, correct?" Lorien pressed. "And you will record participation outside these walls as full promotion merit points, correct, Guild Master?"
Under the pressure of the Caldwell reputation and the stares of hundreds of adventurers awaiting certainty, Thorne, whose neck was flooded with cold sweat, could only swallow hard and nod in agreement. "Y-yes... Guild rules still apply."
Hearing absolute guarantees regarding wealth and accelerated rank promotions, sanity evaporated from the adventurers' minds.
Hundreds of adventurers cheered joyously, blinded entirely by greed and the promise of glory. They drew their swords, axes, and magic staves, then surged forward pressing against the city guard lines. They forced the main gate mechanism to be opened that very second.
Amidst that chaos, Captain Cedric screamed until the veins in his neck bulged.
"Halt! Hold your steps, you fools! Return to your original positions and adhere to defensive formations this instant!" Captain Cedric commanded with a booming voice.
However, his voice was drowned out by the roaring enthusiasm of hundreds of adventurers swarming out the gates.