(Luca)

Lord Zack wasn't here when we woke up. The last few days, he's been really anxious about something. We all know he hasn't been sleeping well, either – even less so than normal. Max says that Lord Zack seemed pretty relaxed after getting a massage. I'm not sure when that happened, but Max says Lord Zack got it at the Dark Temple from one of the Dark Knights.

Massages are nice. They loosen up my muscles after a lot of training. I have to get Aurum to do them, though, because Max is way too hyper to do them properly. I'm waiting on Kit relaxing before asking our own servant to do them for me. He'd probably give better massages than Max. Max has a tendency to go really fast, and that doesn't relax me or my muscles at all.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it only makes the problem worse.

Maybe Lord Zack is getting another massage in the hopes of relaxing more? Hm. If everything is correct, the first wave is occurring today, maybe even as I sit here and eat breakfast.

"Luca?" Gavin approaches, looking sleepy. "Why are you putting strawberries on crackers and cheese with some of that dip Zack makes for the fruit?"

"Because it's delicious," I take a bite and eat it. "Very."

"Don't talk with food in your mouth," Gavin looks past me to where Kit's sleeping. "He's still asleep?"

I nod. I didn't want to wake him up for breakfast. Aurum's up, though. Maybe he could make us breakfast? No one cooks as good as Lord Zack, though. His food is the best.

Max charges down the stairs wearing his pants and one boot.

"Luca!" Max exclaims. "You see Max's right boot?"

"No."

I hid it under the bed. Max is a dolt. He should have looked there.

"Check under the bed," Braden rejoins us, having finished his morning run. "Luca slipped it under there before he came downstairs."

Spoilsport.

"Luca!" Max wails, then charges back upstairs.

I look over at Kit, who has now woken up and is making his way to the kitchen. I guess he's making breakfast, after all. Oh, well. I can always fit two breakfasts in me. And if Lord Zack came and made breakfast, I'd fit a third in me, too. Somewhere. I think.

Maybe I should leave room?

Nah. I'll manage. Plus, the odds of Lord Zack making breakfast with the battle here is pretty much nonexistent.

Kit makes us a decent breakfast. I'd rate it just-below Max's breakfasts. Max tells me that Kit knew I was awake, but wasn't aware I was wanting breakfast. He thought this was just a pre-breakfast snack for me.

As we're finishing up breakfast, Lord Zack returns, wearing armor I've never seen him in before. Is this the special armor Sir Nik said was made for Lord Zack special for the fight against the Dragon?

It looks awesome. And terrifying. But mostly awesome. And mostly terrifying.

"Finish up," Lord Zack commands. "Then gear up. The first wave hit early this morning, and it's larger than normal. Quite so. While our forces at the Crater were able to defeat most of them, a fair few are passing through the forest as well. We estimate around ten percent of the total wave will reach the fields here. Our scouts are watching, and everything is moving straight towards us, which means they aren't gathering up and waiting for reinforcements. The Shadow of Life has plenty of monsters to throw at us, so he'll just keep doing that until we're worn out."

"Is everything okay?" Gavin asks. "You aren't normally gone for breakfast."

"I already ate," Lord Zack responds. "And no, everything isn't alright. The Shadow of Life has taken extra measures to ensure his victory here. I just got out of a meeting regarding this."

"What be wrong?" Max asks with a frown.

"A fourth King Monster has been added to the mix," Lord Zack answers. "A Frost Knight, which is a Special Monster. It's basically a suit of armor with ice magics and a frosty aura and sword."

"It'll be easier than the Flame Slime King, right?" Gavin asks.

"Maybe," Braden answers. "Except it's a Special Monster, Zack said."

"What does that matter?" Gavin asks. "Shouldn't an animated suit of armor be easier than a giant mass of ooze?"

Gavin really is the idiot of the group. Max's deeper frown says he's already understood, and I know Braden does. Brandon's probably reinforced a lot of stuff to him. Knowledge about monsters.

"Special Monsters," Lord Zack explains. "Are more powerful than ordinary monsters. No one even knew King Monsters of them existed. There's a chance it may be as tough or tougher than the Flame Slime King simply because it's a Special Monster."

That's troubling. No one knew they even existed? I guess it makes sense, since they're Special Monsters. Ultimate Monsters don't have Kings, from what I heard. Or maybe they do?

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"This managed to evade your sight?" Braden asks.

"My sight isn't all-encompassing," Lord Zack shakes his head. "It can be tricked or delayed by adding in a random factor and free will. The Shadow of Life may not have even thought about adding in another King Monster until last night. Based on what I could see, the other three will wait for it to join them before they move forward. It should be at least two days before it reaches them, we think. It's followed by a horde of its own monsters. Another million or so things to kill."

Fuck.

"Yeah," Lord Zack gives me an amused look. "That's right, Luca. So everyone, get ready, you're going to the fields for some combat. The monsters should be sparse enough you probably won't be surrounded on all sides, and there will be dozens of other teams and plenty of solo fighters as well. This will be just a minor skirmish."

Lord Zack's eyes turn violet, and he touches his tunic, sending it into his Inventory before taking on his Eidolon Form, with its wings, tail, horns, and awesome appearance. His skin isn't crimson like before, but it has an otherworldly flawlessness to it with this form. His great, feathery, black wings specked with gold are tucked against his sides, black horns protruding from his head. His eyes remain violet, even though they're normally his usual blue in this form.

"Hurry up," Lord Zack says.

We quickly finish preparing, then we follow him to the West Gate, where a few other Adventurers are waiting, more visible through it, already out in the fields.

"Good luck," Lord Zack says. "I'll be atop the Walls, keeping an eye on things just in case the Dragon shows up early."

He stretches out his wings, then soars all the way up, disappearing from sight as he moves to the top of the wall to watch things. I turn my attention back to the team.

"Let's kill these beasties," Max puts his fist forward. "And make the baddies pay!"

We put our fists forward, bumping them together, then make our way outside. Max and Gavin draw their swords, I ready my staff, and Braden readies his bow.

"Focus on weaker things," Braden says. "There are stronger Adventurers around who will handle the Elites and Bounty Beasts that show up. It will take us too long to fight those, especially if other monsters attack."

"We won't be able to avoid that sometimes," Gavin adds. "So don't panic. Stay as close together as possible, but remember: everyone here is fighting together. If you get separated from us, join up with someone else. Always make sure to be near a priest."

"Great Normar be on healing duty," Max adds. "So not worry too hard if you not around a priest for a little bit. Also, if you die, worry little. Great Normar be an Angel and able use Resurrection like Boss. Body will be retrieved if possible, and Great Normar will fix you up after the fight ends."

I'd rather not die here.

"I forgot Zack isn't the only Ascended," Gavin admits. "Nik has, too, right?"

"Sir Nik has," I nod. "He can take on Demon Form as well."

Flapping of wings catches my attention, and I turn to look at it. Normar lands beside us. He's wearing a pair of white and blue pants with silver and gold trim, white boots with silver and gold laces, and a white vest with silver trim and blue markings. In his right hand, he's gripping a white staff with black caps on the end, though I can't find a seam between the two colors, but that could be because of the contrast between the two. He has a pair of feathery white wings that he's tucking against his back, his eyes ringed with silver, a pair of golden horns protruding from his head.

"What the-" Gavin begins, then cuts off. "Hello, Normar."

Normar dips his head, then places a hand on my shoulder.

"Good luck," he tells me. "Zack told me I should show you my Angel Form before the battle begins, so that you have something to look forward to."

This is what an angel looks like? Interesting. Lord Zack never did tell or show us what his Angel Form looks like.

Normar then walks off, and I stretch a little, before turning to face the forest.

"They come," Braden, Max, and I say in unison.

"You three are disturbing," Gavin mutters, and we prepare for the fight.

A moment later, goblins, kobolds, large rats, slimes, wolves, bears, and something that looks like a large spider mixed with a scorpion come into view, charging out of the woods. The ones that can are holding weapons.

The four of us wait, as do most of the Adventurers. A few charge into the fight, attacking from the start and picking out their targets. The Bounty Beasts are attacked by two or three teams in all, the scorpider thingy is attacked by another five teams.

Picking out our targets, the four of us move to a group of Level 15 Goblin Knights. Gavin and Max attack with their swords while Braden releases his arrows. These monsters aren't even worth Max using his magic yet, and the fight is over in under a minute. We move on to another group of weaker monsters, finishing that fight in under a minute as well.

Then we're attacked by a Level 25 bear. We've never fought bears before. I mean, there was that one time, but that was in my dream, and the bear was breathing fire and speaking in rhymes, and Lord Zack just snapped it out of existence. So yeah, that doesn't count.

Before Gavin and Max can attack it, Braden has filled it with arrows. I thought those things had high Endurance?

Oh, right. Braden's attacks have high Intellect behind their power. The bear stumbles back, but it doesn't seem to be out of the fight, so Gavin and Max charge forward. I grant them both a Blessing of Strength, and they duck under its front claws and cut through its hind legs in unison. Perfect.

As the bear goes down, Braden hits it with more arrows, and I bash a goblin over the head with my staff, then stab it with my Noruva Knife. Easy-peasy. Oh, it's still alive. I hit it with an Ice Lance.

Overkill, but it worked.

I refocus on my team, who have finished off the bear and are regrouping with me.

"Nice job with the goblin," Gavin says, then we move on to another group of monsters, this one coming up behind a team attacking a Bounty Beast.

By the time the wave of monsters ends, the fields are littered with corpses, and we're a little tired. Not much, though – Zack's training camps have been even more hellish than this. But this is only the beginning.

"Zack says the next wave will be here in about seven hours," a voice says, and I look to find Sir Nik standing there. "Rest up until then, and good job with the fighting, you four did well."

"What about the corpses?" Gavin asks. "Won't they get in our way as they build up?"

"If we left them," Sir Nik answers. "Some of the Elementalists are going to burn them. We'll do what we can to minimize an impact to our fighting ability between waves."

"Zack told us," Gavin says. "That there's a fourth King Monster joining the fight. Is that true?"

I guess we're all hoping a little it's false.

"It is," Sir Nik answers. "Thankfully, we have at least two days before we need to worry about it, that should give us a better chance at developing a strategy to handle it."

"Damn," Braden mutters.

"We'll manage," Sir Nik says. "We had a meeting this morning among those who are targeting the King Monsters when they arrive to discuss a new plan. You four won't even be affected by the attack. Now go home and get some rest, and be ready for a fight in six hours."