The Novice village was suffering in just the first wave. William looked to his side where three people had already died and cursed under his breath.
It was all because of that fool, Diego. They were fighting only inside the city, forming barricades at the two city gates to keep the swarm of monsters from fully entering.
William used Block to easily repel a Goblin's axe and stabbed it through the chest with a smile. He was getting really good at that.
Beside him, Liora drew a circle in the air with her staff and Mana bolt blasted through the chests of two more goblins.
One of his friends, Darren, retreated back with bloodied daggers. He stared at the growing mass of goblins. "That old fool is going to kill us. Are the bloody mages having a pickin up there?! We're getting swarmed!"
All seven of his allies got together and William used his Iron Brigade Ability to increase their defense, while also watching the battlefield. He saw people being overrun, saw the blood staining the dirt and heard their screams.
His heart started pounding.
William gritted his teeth. "That's enough. We're abandoning this gate."
One of the defenders, an older man, stared at William with wide eyes. He rushed up to the boy and grabbed his shirt collar. "What the hell? No! You aren't going anywhere, if you leave we'll—"
William pushed the man hard. His Strength had risen to a staggering 70 points thanks to his system. He was probably the strongest person in this village. Something that filled William with a shameful amount of pride
The man was flung back like he was hit by a truck. His back slammed into the barricade and the goblins trying to get over grabbed him and began stabbing.
"AAAH! AAH! HELP! SOMEONE—"
William's arrogant smile faded a bit. He turned to Darren, cautiously reading the other boy's face. But his friend was chuckling and shaking his head at the screaming man.
"Keep your hands to yourself, old man."
So William turned to Liora, but she was already walking away. When the rest of the group caught up to her, she said.
"We should have never listened to Diego," she spat.
"The ancient dogs are all just pussies anyway," another of William's friends, Tim, said. "If we fought and created boundaries outside the city we wouldn't be having this problem."
William felt a surge of warmth from their agreement. He had been the only to disagree with Diego then, no one else supported him. But now they saw the errors of their mistakes.
"Let's get to the walls," William said. "I built the fortifications. I can take them down to create a door. And we can attack the monsters from behind."
Everyone was silent for a while, looking away from him as they struggled to find their words.
But Liora had no such worries. "That's a shit idea."
"Oh," William said weakly.
"We'll fortify a high section of the wall and gather some allies."
Darren nodded. "That might help your system," he said placatingly to the deflated William. "We're done listening to Diego and Rin. I'm sure we can get other people to join us with how bad the battle is going."
BOOM!
They all turned and glanced off in the direction of the explosion. It was the front gate they had just left.
"Was that the mages?" Tim asked.
"That was a lot stronger than their normal attacks," Liora murmured.
"You think it's that Red God guy?" Darren joked.
They hadn't seen a hint of the guy before the battle started. All the strongest groups knew each other to an extent after revealing their levels and skills to Diego.
"Yeah, he's probably a mage," William said. Then he turned and began walking towards the western wall. "Let's get moving."
All of them joined him, except for Liora. He turned back to her and saw her muttering some words under her breath. "Ares, Mars… Red God?"
◇◇◇
On the battlements of the strengthened village walls, the mages stared down at the massive explosion, annihilating the goblins below.
They were too busy blocking the spells of the Goblin Mages to even attack the ground horde anymore. So the mass of goblins at the gate had grown unsustainable. And their attacks only killed around four at a time.
"At least 15 goblins died in that attack… not to talk about injuries."
"Who the hell was that?"
The mages looked at each other but none took responsibility. If they could unleash such a powerful attack this whole time why hadn't they?
The goblins answered their question. An unburnt company of goblins turned westward pointing at something coming their way. Speaking in their strange snarling language furiously.
Then a small team of ten goblins separated to attack the single figure.
The mages questioned what they were seeing. A player that arrived late to the Beast Tide? Some strange monster that attacked its kind?
"No player is that strong yet," Someone murmured. "That fireball was… the yield was at least twice ours at level 2."
"Should we fire at it? Kill it while it engages the goblins?" Another said.
But the Mage Captain of the North gate raised a hand. She had a Farsight Skill, which is used to determine targets. "Stand by on that. In the meantime, the Goblins mages are preparing to fire again. And it's right at us."
They prepared their spells while watching the mysterious figure meet the goblins. He pulled out a gleaming cutlass and a jagged dagger. His face was covered by a white cloak and fur hat.
Then he suddenly vanished.
"What?!" they chorused.
Ten goblins suddenly fell to the ground dead. The top of the battlements grew silent.
"He's fast… Agility has to be over 50 at least," the Mage Captain murmured. "I can barely follow him."
"You can even see what he just did," one of the mages asked. All mages sacrificed Agility to pump points into Spirit.
Then the Captain tensed and spun back. One of their mages fell to the ground. Throat slit. And a goblin stood on the battlements with a sly grin.
"Enemy on the wall!" the Captain roared and rushed towards the Goblin Assassin.
"How did it get up?!"
"Crap, it's too fast—Argh."
Two more mages died before the Captain engaged the goblin, but she wasn't strong enough. Blocking slashes was one thing, but each close deflection sounded like a bat hitting a punching bag.
The goblin spun and kicked the captain off the wall.
"AAHHH!"
Her scream was all the mages heard as the Goblin assassin approached them slowly. It threw its knife between its hands and made fun of them in its harsh language. The mages raised their hands to cast a spell, but it was too close. And their bodies trembled; their hands felt like wood as death approached.
They hadn't noticed when their captain's screams stopped and when two people dropped back onto the battlements.
The mages looked up to see their captain in the hands of the white cloaked boy.
His voice made the goblin turn. " Tsk. Already a bit too late."
He dropped their captain then lowered his hood. Red hair spilled from the fur hat. He had eyes bluer than the ocean. The confidence in them was so vivid, especially with how handsome he was.
The Goblin assassin eyed the new enemy with uncertainty. Even it could feel this prey was on a different level.
At that moment, hundreds of meters away from the wall, the Goblin Mages fired their spells.
Balls of flames and great boulders soared through the air, straight at the gate.
The Mage Captain's eyes widened. "We're dead."
But the red haired boy simply grinned at the flying spells. "Looks like they worked really hard for that. Anyway, let's get rid of it."
He raised his hand and everyone on the wall watched him with bated silence. Even the goblin was frozen by anticipation.
Spells exploded into reality. No mana build up. No time spent casting. Just magical elements, each mirroring the ones cast by the Goblin mage, exploded into existence.
Then they soared through the air and intercepted the incoming attacks easily.
The sun was going down, but the light of the explosions was over the world. Illuminating the boy's face, his blue eyes, and that shark-like smile. No one could believe what they were seeing. They were rooted to the spot.
But the Goblins' instincts told it to strike. It surged forward with a snarl, so fast its feet blurred with each step.
The red-haired boy barely spared it a glance. He disappeared. The sharp ring of metal flashed. Then he skidded to a stop in front of the mages.
The Goblin assassin behind him fell. Its head rolling off to another side almost mundanely.
The boy clapped. "Okay everyone, get back to it. I'll try to intercept spells regularly, so just worry about decimating the enemies."
Before they could say a word, he jumped from the wall like it wasn't a fifteen feet drop. They all rushed to the edge to watch him drop into the middle of a team of goblins and start slashing.
"Red hair…" the Mage Captain muttered, body still trembling from the fear of falling. "Red God. Haha. So it wasn't that he didn't come to the meeting. He was still outside hunting."
She clapped her face loudly, jolting the other mages. Then she glared at them. "You heard him! To your positions…. Prepare spells…. Waitttt…. There! FIRE!"