Luna had been staring at Mash. Well, everyone around him had been staring as he was the only one who didn’t glow with the light of a new year. So, it was a somewhat natural motion for them all to look at Mash for an explanation of what was happening. He didn’t have one though as the situation was just as strange for him. From what Mash had been a part of recently, he expected something to happen to him, or maybe somewhere nearby. Although an attack on the capital seemed impossible. Even as Alex appeared beside Luna with her blade drawn, Mash still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Even as another horn followed the first, it still boggled his mind. The king was here, and so was a decent chunk of the kingdom’s strongest fighters.

Arthur moved soon after Alex, heading towards a raised dais at the end of the concert hall. It was where the music had been coming from, and his brother’s voice easily reached every ear.

“All those at level sixty will do one of two things. Those with high mobility skills will focus on getting civilians into the predesignated bunkers within the city. Their runes should be alighted by now, so you will have no problem identifying them. The others will clear the streets of anything that bypasses the walls. Those at my rank will be expected to approach the walls and deal with the enemy directly.”

Arthur didn’t say anything else before vanishing. It could have just been extremely fast movement, but Mash guessed that someone else had teleported him. Mash’s friends moved quickly. After a quick discussion, Jill teleported into the streets to grab people from houses. Luke went to do as Arthur had commanded, and Red went with him. Luna and the princesses were going to be escorted to the castle. Finally, Mash would take to the skies and get involved where he could.

Mash stepped into a balcony, before changing to his cat form, and letting wooden armor cover his body. He launched into the air, stopping when he was high enough to see what was happening. With his speed, it only took a few seconds, but the moment dragged on as he heard the noises from below. Once at the top, Mash could see what was happening in the city. There were a few skirmishes in the streets and a few fires. He couldn’t see what the monsters in the city were exactly, but they looked like more mutated creatures. They reminded him of the transformed people from the dungeon. The walls. on the other hand, were definitely being attacked by demons, and there were clearly some powerhouses among the monsters.

The variety of the demons was fascinating, as he saw all kinds of magical effects that were marred by darkness. Black flames burned along the walls, and black lightning lanced across the sky. Several fights were taking place in the air as well. However, the people in the kingdom were all glowing with the light of the new year, so the contrast in the battle was truly impressive. The lack of glow Mash was emitting, made him think it was due to how inhuman he had become. There were all kinds of demons, and he saw what looked like an army of the demons he had fought earlier engaging the walls. Those were likely as strong as a weak bronze ranker.

“Hello, Mash it is prince Logain, from the tournament. I do not believe we had a proper introduction, but that can wait. How much mana do you have? I want to send you to reinforce and strengthen the walls.”

It sounded like the voice was right beside his ear, and Mash remembered the man was a sound mage. The plan was good, and if he had persist, it would work too. However, he wasn’t a defender anymore and would do better at countering the army directly.

“I have unlimited mana so long as I am fighting, I will be better at holding a specific section of the walls. If you saw my fight in the arena, I can easily make something several times as large given enough time.”

Mash made sure to get out what he figured was the most important information, though he didn’t get an immediate reply. Mash was worried for a second and tried saying something else.

“Where is the king and what about people over level two hundred? The kingdom must have some.”

The prince responded after a few seconds, and Mash was glad to receive some instruction. It felt pretty awful to just look about the battle without doing anything. Mash could see large formations of ice near the front of the city, and he assumed that was where his brother was fighting. Mash wondered why he didn’t spread his ice further and guessed that he had a range limit associated with his unlimited mana, even if it was large.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about what you said. Head to the east entrance of town. It is the biggest density and the weakest monsters; I think that is your best scenario. As for the high-level combatants, they are fighting in another space.”

Mash followed the man’s instructions moving towards the east. He grew wooden wings over the ones he had gotten from the transformation and changed his form midflight to the treant form. He didn’t stop there letting his draconic imitation start. With the combination, he was able to grow in size quickly, and by the time he made it to the gates, he would be enormous. Big enough that just landing would be dangerous. The prince continued to speak to him during the move.

“God doesn’t allow people over level one fifty to fight one another. They are moved to another space where they can fight. The king is similarly in a fight with someone of that caliber. Ultimately, it is their fights that will decide the battle, the rest of us just need to keep the damage to a minimum. Wow, you really can get big huh…. Well, good luck.”

The prince stopped speaking to him, and Mash didn’t bother responding. he saw the battle beneath him, saw demons that resembled the one from before. However, that was not the only demon he saw. They all looked sickly, but the skin tones varied across the creatures. His landing was not soft, and he was certain that it would feel like an earthquake to everyone around him. he was as big as a castle, and he landed like a falling boulder. His impact alone had killed enough demons to earn him a level.

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He was accosted with black flames and lightning, and even ice and other magic. Many of them caused a little pain, but none were close enough to actually reach his real body and soul. Their magic barely did anything without being able to affect his soul. The creatures were still strong physically though, and many started climbing him and tearing off chunks of wood. They were as big as bugs to him now, but there was more to his plan than brute force. Imitations of Priscilla started pouring out of his body. He couldn’t switch to another imitation, but he could still make copies of Priscilla.

There was also the added benefit of his new form too. The imitations of Priscilla were able to absorb mana from the ground and air, growing bigger and being able to cast lightning of their own. Plus, Mash was able to give most of the control of them to Priscilla, and mainly focused on swinging his enormous hands to crush the army before him. He grabbed handfuls of the creatures chomping down on them with his large maw. Each handful was enough to grant him some stats, and he wondered how good his permanent gains would end up like.

His hunt skill had activated a while ago, but he paid it no mind. This fight would only end when the last demon was killed. Mash was able to see hundreds of imitations of Priscilla pour out of him, every swing of his hand and tail sending more across the battlefield. They fell like rain among the demon’s forces and caused havoc as they grew and swarmed the army. They were going beyond just that and would be spreading across the entire battlefield. It seemed like Priscilla was determined to give him as many benefits as possible, and many of the imitations just ate demon corpses.

The fight was easy, almost comically so at this point. That was until a fireball that was half as big as he was crashed into his side, and the explosion was big enough that it managed to move his body. Although that had killed dozens of demons as well. Turning his head, Mash saw three figures flying towards him. Their skin was black as night, ironically matching well with the scales on his imitation.

It seemed like he had finally been noticed by someone strong, and considering all the bonuses he had, these demons were probably a rank above him. Knowing how high his stats were, he wasn’t scared of the three. The opposite in fact, as killing them would hopefully mean that he could reach his next advancement. He had been gaining levels, having felt the rush of it several times already. Depending on how many demons were present, and how long the fight lasted, Mash might be able to jump ranks immediately. If Luke was stealing souls, he might already be there, though Mash didn’t think he would. Hopefully, none of the level one hundred creatures had gotten past the walls.

______________________________________________________________________________

Jill’s P.O.V

Jill was bored since her job was a simple one. Although it was important, as she needed to grab people and teleport them into bunkers, that was not what bored her. It was the few fights she had been in. Several times she had run into monsters that resembled those from the dungeon in the orphanage, but the mutated beings were far too slow and incapable to land any hits. She hoped things would be different for the demons, but again she had avoided all of their attacks easily. Even a group of three demons had been nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Since most of her teleports didn’t require mana, she had no concerns about that either.

She had gained some hope when a demon attacked her out of invisibility. It had had pure black skin and was shrouded in some kind of cloak. Even without being able to see it, she had been able to dodge all of its attacks easily. It was like playing with an excited animal, and she had no problem dodging. The demon had tried various things, and from its speed, she guessed that it was over level 100. That didn’t make the fight much harder, only made it take much longer. She had to prod that thing with her javelin hundreds of times before it finally died. She had taken out both of its eyes multiple times in the fight. It had taken a while, but she managed to beat it without getting so much as a scratch.

She let out a small sigh, as she teleported into a nearby building and killed a mutated rat thing that was scratching at a door. She had seen it through one of the windows and assumed that there were people inside. The creature was weak, and she bet that even the people inside could have killed it. How could so many people not even attempt to fight?

It felt awkward teleporting inside or kicking the door open. The last time she did it, the people inside had attacked her. She went with a much more conservative option and knocked on the door, speaking as gently as she could.

“Hello, I am an adventurer sent to help people evacuate.”

“How do we know you’re not lying?”

Jill considered the question, a little surprised to even hear it. She couldn’t help but reply snidely, only regretting the decision afterward. They did not deserve to receive her sass now.

“Why would a monster knock on your door?”

However, the remark had gotten them to move. She heard movement before the door opened slightly. The man who opened it, let out a small shriek before throwing a punch at her. It was slow and weak enough that she caught it easily. She just raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out why he had tried to hit her.

“I’m s-s-sorry, I saw the eyes and reacted.”

The man stumbled through his apology, and Jill remembered that her eyes were different now. Was she like Mash now, destined to strike fear in all that looked at her? The thought vanished as the door opened more fully. There were two kids inside and a lady who Jill assumed was their mother. The three of them were looking at her with more awe than fear. That was the reaction she was expecting, as her transformation had made her more beautiful if anything. The eyes that looked like the night sky were a bit strange, but not in a bad way.

A quick glance around the room told her of the situation. The beds had been lifted and used to block a window in the room. She saw another that had been pressed against the door until moments ago. A basic preparation and one that would be completely useless against any real threat. She had grown strong so quickly, that seeing a scene like this made her wonder why so many people remained weak. It was not her primary concern though, and she just told them what to do.

“Don’t resist my magic, I am going to teleport you to a city bunker.”

They all nodded eagerly, the prospect of safety making them obedient. In a second, they were gone, sent to a bunker she had seen on her way. Well, that was another family saved. It was time to try and find an enemy worth fighting, but she highly doubted it. She teleported to the roof of a building she could see from the window, just in time to see an enormous wooden dragon fire a beam of lightning from its mouth. Mash was going to get ahead again, wasn’t he? Well, she would try to keep up, there had to be more of those black demons. The last one had given her two levels, and she was eager to find more.