(Gavin)

The second wave is about to reach us, based on the estimates given by Zack and our scouts. According to Zack, the scouts are just familiars like birds, able to fly and watch over things. Someone lost theirs earlier to an attack from a Bounty Beast Ice Slime, a variation I didn't know existed.

I was talking with Peter a little bit ago, and he said the advance team is pulling back, meaning only familiars will be watching Kaelmar. Apparently, the second wave is much larger than the first – which was already beyond the norm for these fights.

It may also be sooner than we expected for the King Monsters to attack. Zack changed his estimate to tomorrow. Including for the Frost Knight King. It seems things sped up.

Now, the four of us are waiting in the fields again. We didn't see Zack at all after we parted before the first wave. It seems he's waiting at the top of the City Walls, resting there as he watches for the Dragon.

There's something no one's saying, and it's worrying me, but Zack would say to ignore it. He's right, though. If we needed to know whatever they're not saying, then they'd have told us.

The fields still have corpses everywhere, but a fair portion of them were destroyed. Even if we can recover Mana to full in under twenty minutes and had at least six hours to prepare for this, they wanted to focus on other things as well. Save mental energy for some stuff. While the corpses might hinder us a little, we'll just need to be careful. Eventually, we won't have the luxury of destroying the corpses or getting them out of our way.

"They're coming," the rest of my team says in unison.

That's disturbing, how all three of them can tell the horde is coming. Is my Perception really that much lower than theirs? I'm pretty sure Luca's is around mine, though. How does he know, too?

A few moments after they say that, the monsters come into view, charging through the forest. There are a lot more of them this time. Last time, their numbers were already smaller, and then reduced heavily by both the teams at the Crater and the traps in the wood. This time, they had far more in number, meaning the teams at the Crater couldn't do as much, and most of the traps were already activated.

According to what I overheard, nearly half of this wave made it past the Crater, and at least thirty percent of the full wave will reach the fields.

"Stay steady," I remind my team as we ready our weapons. "Wait for the signal."

With this wave, due to so many more monsters making it through, a few things were prepared beforehand. An Illusion Wall would have been raised as well to hide us, except apparently, that's been tried in past battles for the Cities, and in each one, at least five different Bounty Beasts destroyed them.

The horde is five hundred yards away. Then four hundred and fifty yards. They're in the fields, just passing by with ease. Four hundred yards. Three hundred and seventy-five.

The traps laid down after the fields were mostly cleared activate. Infernos blaze, monsters freeze in ice, clouds of toxic gas forms, wind shreds, lightning crackles, spikes raise, and more. It's a terrifying sight, but plenty of monsters make it through. Only the first groups of monsters were taken out.

Now they're three hundred and fifty yards away. Three hundred and twenty-five. All Adventurers here wait, staying ready for the fight. The signal hasn't been given yet. Three hundred yards. Two hundred and seventy-five. Two hundred and fifty. Two hundred and twenty-five. Two hundred.

Meteorites hail down on the monsters as storms of lightning strike, reducing their numbers further. More than two dozen Elementalists acted to create that attack wall.

That was also a signal, so many of the Adventurers charge forward, reaching the monsters just as the attacks end. A Meteor or ten would have been cast, but in addition to costing thousands of Mana, its size, density, strength, and everything else relating to it is based on the Intellect, the magical power, of the caster. It can also be destroyed much easier than meteorites, being a much larger target. If destroyed, its shards lose most of the energy that would have caused most of the damage.

My team, among others, continue to wait. Monsters pass the groups that charged to the front. One hundred and seventy-five yards. One hundred and fifty yards. One hundred and twenty-five yards. One hundred yards.

Elementals, massive creatures made up of pure elements, rise up from the ground. Lightning Elementals, Water Elementals, Fire Elementals, Wind Elementals, Ice Elementals, Lava Elementals, Mud Elementals, and more.

The second signal, and my team charges forward as the elementals attack the monsters. They won't last long, but will delay and break up what manages to reach them into much more manageable forces.

A trio of Snow Slimes accompanied by a pair of Water Slimes, all of them Bounty Beasts, is nearby. They're all Level 50, but that's not a problem for us. Braden releases a storm of arrows as Max unleashes Flame Lances. Luca grants me a Blessing of Intellect as I activate Flame Blade.

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While these slimes might be larger than normal slimes, being Bounty Beasts, we've learned how to handle them. Our fight against Su'Numal taught us much. Maybe. In addition, we've practiced new combat moves and techniques, including something Zack taught us during our training in Talorn. A trick he learned from the Fallen Hunters.

Max's attacks impact one of the Snow Slimes, and I jump into the air, landing on a white Barrier. Immediately, I jump off of it, and more of Max's Flame Lances strike into another Snow Slime as the group of them attack the spot I had been, going after the closest target.

Dropping down, I bring my sword down, slicing into the core of the Bounty Beast, landing on another white Barrier. One down, four to go. I jump off the Barrier as arrows from Braden finish off another slime Max's Flame Lances opened up a path to the core of. Two down, three to go.

As I land on the ground, I cast Stone Spikes at the remaining Water Slime, then quickly move out of the way in time for Braden's arrows to strike them, breaking them to pieces inside of the slime. A moment later, Max's Fireballs slam into it, followed by a trio of Flame Lances that open up a path. I charge in and stab it, then get doused in ooze as the slime melts. Shaking that off, I turn quickly at Max's warning.

I Deflect hardened snowballs with my sword as we focus our attention on the last two Snow Slime Bounty Beasts.

"Luca!" I call, moving back as Max and Braden battle those, and our healer soaks me with a Water Jet, blasting off the slime gunk in seconds while simultaneously using Heal on me repeatedly to ensure his 'attack' doesn't kill me. I'm not sure how he's using two Skills at once like that, but it's much appreciated. "Thanks!"

I join the fight again, reactivating Flame Blade. It went out when Luca sprayed me clean, even if time wasn't up. One of the slimes is already at half of its Health, so I attack it. As soon as that one dies, the three of us focus on the final one.

Braden releases as many arrows as he can as I move around to its back, letting them take on that side. Max sends several Flame Lances at it, and I estimate where they'll impact.

"Luca!" I call, then Dash forward.

I jump into the air, then onto a white Barrier, then jump again, springing up and over the slime. Braden's arrows end as I drop between him and the slime. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I Dash forward, piercing the slime's core with my Flame Blade. Immediately, I Dash backwards, just in time to avoid being covered in goop again. It got on my boots, but I can deal with that.

"Everyone good?" I ask, and they nod. "Let's move!"

We move towards another group of monsters, a smaller group of goblins, and attack. This one is much easier to handle than the group of Bounty Beasts we just fought, and it ends quickly, then we're on to another group, doing our best to avoid the stronger things while still supporting others and taking out anything we can.

After almost fifteen minutes, I cannot help but wonder where the signal is. There should be a third signal. It should have been after around ten minutes from the rise of the elementals, and we're now around fifteen.

Just as I'm striking down another bear with Max and Braden, the third signal comes, two dozen Ice Lances spearing into the ground in a line. We're on the wrong side of it, so the team and I retreat, other Adventurers doing the same.

As soon as we're on the City side of the line of Ice Lances, which has been expanded three times with another two dozen each, we give up fighting any monsters by us and just run, Max picking me up as Braden picks Luca up, the two of them the quickest of us.

Only seconds later, we're by the City Walls, and we turn around. Monsters are still flowing past the Ice Lances. If I remember correctly, the two dozen Elementalists casting those are atop the City Walls, so far above us.

Metorites begin to hail down again, taking out monsters on their way to us. The team and I recover a little, but we don't relax, keeping ready in case something draws too close. A few Adventurers cast spell Skills to kill any monsters too close for the guys up top to attack.

The Elementals were destroyed entirely already, but new ones were summoned at some point. These ones are falling, too. Come on. Come on. Come on.

"What's taking them so long?" Another Adventurer mutters, and I glance at him.

A knight I don't recognize, but at least I'm glad to know I'm not the only one wondering this.

As the thickest part of the horde reaches the ice lances, lightning rains down, striking the lances. Immediately, I'm semi-blinded by the result, lightning not just striking each lance from above, but also spreading to the others. The monsters run right into the combined skills, and I know that some of the lances were probably destroyed.

I blink the bright spots out of my vision in time to see more meteorites falling, striking at more monsters. We rejoin the battle, fighting as hard as we can. A few times, we're hit, but Max and I make sure we take any hits that would ordinarily hit Luca or Braden. The two of them combined have under 1,000 Health, while Max and I have more than that each.

It takes an other ten minutes for the battle to wind down, and when the last monster is killed, everyone regroups. The four of us approach Nik and Mama Bear, as do several others.

"What happened with the spells?" Someone asks Mama Bear. "They took too long!"

"Flying monsters," she answers. "We knew they would be coming, and had to deal with them. They decided to show up right as we were preparing to start."

Flying monsters?

"Damn," someone says.

"They were blocking our attacks," she says. "So we had to kill them and drive them off before we could perform the attacks properly – they were tanking them. That was our third attempt at sending the lances down."

"I didn't know they could be joined like that," I say, and she looks at me. "The Ice Lances and Lightning Storms, I mean."

"It's a trick you may one day learn," she smiles, then looks around. "Everyone! Zack estimates the next wave will reach us in five hours! Those who aren't on preparation duty, go home, eat, and get some sleep, but make sure you're ready in four hours! There's no stemming at the Crater anymore, and most of the traps in the forest are used up, so we'll be facing nearly the full brunt of the waves from now on!"

Everyone starts to do their things, and as the four of us leave, Nik calls out to us. He and Mama Bear are giving us concerned looks.

"Are you four doing okay?" Nik asks.

We confirm that we are, other than being a little tired.

"That's understandable," he says. "Head on home and get some sleep. Wash up and eat if you need to. Since you have servants already there, just make sure they know when you're supposed to be ready by, and they'll ensure it. Everyone who doesn't already have that is staying somewhere with one of our servants to ensure this."

"Alright," we say in unison, then we make our way home.