Walking back into town with Seth, the team made their way back to the courthouse. Seth made sure to wear his trenchcoat and kabuki mask so that everyone would know who he was. People stopped and stared as he walked through and the guards were more than happy to let the savior of the town through the security checkpoint.

When they reached the courthouse, they went inside and walked over to a box hanging on the wall. A button inside sounded the bells of the courthouse for the entire town to hear over a PA system. The mayor ran out at hearing the bells and went white when he saw Seth standing with the travelers.

"What is the meaning of this? Why have you sounded the alarm?" Jeffery asked.

"It's for everyone's good," was all Derek said in reply.

Heading back outside, the party stood in front of the courthouse entrance as people from all over town came to see what was happening.

"Is there a fire?"

"Are there more monsters?"

"We haven't seen anything,"

"Is that the masked avenger?"

"We'll be alright as long as he's here,"

Cries came from the people as they all gathered to understand what was happening. The bells died down a few moments later and the group addressed the people.

"Listen, we are here to tell you that you cannot continue like you have been. There is a very real danger now that threatens each of your lives. You need to stop pretending like everything is normal and begin working together to fight off the monsters that are appearing." Derek said.

"But we have the masked avenger! We don't need anyone else!" Someone from the crowd yelled.

"Yes, why would they need anyone else when the masked avenger could save them? They can go about their daily lives as they always have, safe in the knowledge that they will be fine so long as he is here to save us." Jeffery said exiting the building behind them.

Removing his mask, Seth showed everyone his face so they would know who the masked avenger was.

"Seth?!"

"What the hell?!"

Cries rang out as many of them recognized who it was that had been saving them and now stood before them.

"Yes! I have been the one fighting to save each of you. But I can't do it forever, nor can I do it alone." Seth said to the crowd.

Silence reigned as he paused.

"You all are more capable than you realize. And there is a bigger threat than the monsters that are appearing here that needs to be dealt with." Seth continued. "Monsters are going to continue to appear here no matter how many times I fight them. And eventually, I will not be able to save you. But that can change! You can get stronger and fight as well!"

"But we aren't fighters! We are just regular people!" Came a cry from the crowd.

"So are soldiers! But they go to other countries to put their lives on the line to keep you safe from danger!" Derek called back. "All you need is training and preparation. That's all the military has. You can learn to defend yourself as well."

"And you will have to. Because I am going to the Grand Canyon to help deal with the threat that is targeting the entire planet. Many more lives are at stake than just those here." Seth said.

"You really are just going to abandon these poor innocent people to traipse off to a big hole in the ground because you think you can help more people? What happens if you die there? Then you didn't help anyone and you doomed this town too." Jeffery said walking up next to his son.

"I have to try. And by leaving it will force you and everyone else in this town to learn more than just to depend on me all the time." Seth said looking angrily at his father.

"I forbid it! You cannot just leave and hope everything is fine here! We have worked hard to have some semblance of normalcy in our daily lives and I will not allow you to undo all that I have done to attain that!" Jeffery said.

"You don't get to make that call, dad. I'm not some child that you can just order around anymore." Seth retorted.

"You!" Jeffery said turning on the party. "This is all your fault! You came here to take away the only chance our poor defenseless town has of defending itself! You are to blame for the deaths that will come!"

"We didn't even know Seth was here. We really were just passing through. But the people of this town are blindly walking into a situation that will end up killing not only your son but each one of them as well." Derek replied.

Gasps rang out through the crowd.

"You selfish bastard. You hide behind this mask of pretentiousness and pretend to care about these people. If you really cared about them, then you would be helping to prepare them to defend themselves, not coddling them into a false sense of security about what will happen!" Derek continued. "If you have even a single shred of care for these people, then you would be putting yourself on the frontline as an example to the others to learn to be better and work together, not throw your son at monsters that will one day end up killing him!"

Everyone was silent at this.

"Seth is strong. He won't be killed." Jeffery said.

"He is one man against an entire world of creatures that are now slowly throwing themselves at mankind. Eventually, there will be something he can't beat and it will kill him. Then it will march on this town and if it can kill Seth, what chance do you think you or anyone else in this town will stand?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Jeffery didn't have a reply for that. He looked at Derek with complete and utter rage.

"I will not let you destroy everything I have worked so hard to build here. This is my town, and I will have order!" Jeffery said, starting in a low growl and ending with yelling.

"You will get everyone here killed, Father," Seth said.

"How can you say that? After all I've done for you!" Jeffery said to his son.

"Because it's true. You had good intentions with trying to make people feel safe, but it's the wrong method. They need to get stronger and work together. It's the only way they stand a chance of survival." Seth said.

"Are you people really going to let this bunch of vagabonds come in here and take the life we have worked for?" Jeffery yelled at the crowd as they looked at each other in confusion.

Just as he yelled this, a terrible shrieking sound came from the west side of town. A man in tactical gear came running around the corner of a street, eyes wide in terror.

"A MONSTER! ITS COMING! HELP ME!!!!" The man screamed as he stumbled over his feet and fell.

From behind him came a giant six-legged creature with the head of an anglerfish and the body of a beetle. It had a long protrusion from its forehead that first stuck straight up, then curved back down in front of its mouth as though it could use it to lure prey into its waiting jaws.

"What the fuck is that?!" Yelled James.

Tom used Inspect on the creature

Dangler

This creature is normally an ambush predator found at the bottom of large lakes. It does come on land to feed when it cannot find a sustainable source of food and uses its long legs to chase prey. Beware its laser shot that can be fired from the lure on its head.

HP: 4026/4280

MP: 1000/1000

SP: 5680/5680

Level: 39

Attack: Bite, Laser Shot

"Holy shit," was all Tom could manage to say.

"Get these people out of here!" Derek cried as he took his shield and mace out of his inventory.

Seth equipped his katana and James pulled out his guns while Kiera pulled out her rifle. Tom equipped his greatsword but wasn't sure how much help it was going to be in this fight. Standing about two-and-a-half stories tall, the Dangler was a huge monster.

"Let's go! We have to hold it off!" Derek yelled.

Everyone jumped into action as the sound of automatic gunfire sounded in the distance. Cring out in rage at being attacked, the monster turned a little too quickly and smashed its beetle-like shell into the corner of a building, demolishing it as it turned.

"Kiera, Get to a place you can get shots off and fire at its face. James, you do the same with those peashooters. Tom, you Seth, and I will go after it directly." Derek ordered.

"How do we kill something that big?!" Tom asked beginning to get frantic.

"Use your fucking spells, Tom!" Derek yelled.

"Oh, right," Tom said sheepishly.

Darting off to stop the monster from advancing they came up from behind it as Kiera found a place to set up and began to fire. Shots rang off of its shell as James tried, without any success, to penetrate the hard chitin. When Kiera fired, however, it punched a hold in the hard shell and purple blood began to leak out of the hole.

Howling in pain, the creature roared its anger out and turned to find out what had dared to cause it pain. Seeing people running toward it, the Dangler roared and charged to meet them. Tom cast his fear at the creature, but it appeared to be unaffected as it continued to move toward them.

"Fear isn't working!" Tom yelled.

"Then fireball it or something! Don't just stop!" Derek yelled back as they moved to try to flank the monster to pull its attention.

Tom cast Eldritch Blast at it and the green fire hit it square in the face. The monster paused for just a moment and recoiled slightly from the strike. When it opened its eyes again a shot rang out and its left eye shut suddenly as a bullet hit it. It roared as a greenish fluid began to leak from its eyelids where Kiera's shot hit it.

"What exactly are you going to do with just that mace? James called to Derek.

Ignoring him, Derek ran up to the creature and shouted "Divine Strike!" as his mace began to glow with white light. Swinging it with all his might, the blow crushed the hard shell of the creature's leg and sent it flying back into the next leg behind it. Wobbling from the loss of two legs on that side, the Dangler began to fall to the side.

"Oh, that's what you are going to do," James said.

Seth had run to the top of a building and jumped out with his katana in hand. As he fell, he swung down and severed one of the creature's legs causing ichor to flow freely from the wound into a purple puddle on the ground. He ran around to the front of the creature to try to attack again but found himself staring at the glowing lure as it fired off a laser.

The beam struck him and sent him flying into the building the creature had just smashed part of.

"SETH!!!!" Derek cried out in panic and ran over to the building to see if he was still alive.

The creature began to stand back up still having two legs on its right side to lift its body with. Tom was there though, using the cleave skill with his greatsword in a wide horizontal strike. The strike cut through the bottom portion of the leg and the beast began to wobble again without two full legs. It managed to keep its balance at the last moment though as it pressed the cut-off leg down and then began to try to limp forward.

Clearly, in pain from trying to use the leg, the anger of the monster reached a new height as it whirled on Tom. Rolling out of the way to avoid the pointed end of a leg, Tom dodged repeatedly, trying not to get crushed.

Suddenly, two of the legs on the left side of the beast were cut off at about the same place as the one Tom had attacked by a greataxe, causing the beast to fall on its right side.

"Come on you motherfucker! Face me instead! Your sister was a cunt and your father sucked the biggest cocks he could find!" Came a yell from the other side of the creature that Tom immediately knew was Kevin.

The cavalry had arrived. Jay appeared on top of the creature. How he had gotten up there Tom couldn't say, but he saw the man running along its back toward its head. Vines reached out of the ground and covered the body of the beast to try to hold it down, but as it struggled the vines began to break.

Sliding down its face, Jay yelled as he swung his ninjato at the lure on its head, cutting through a thinner part above the base. The creature howled in rage and pain as its lure dropped to the ground and the light it emitted went out.

"No more laser for you fugly!" Jay yelled as he turned and drove his ninjato into the beast's head and began to drag it slowly along its face carving open its skin.

People began to climb up its side and hack away at the Dangler's face. Tom saw Bobby, Graham, Austin, and Kedron all stabbing or chopping at the creature to try to cause as much damage as possible.

The creature began to shake its head violently to try to knock off its attackers and managed to throw off Graham and Bobby, who had not had a good hold on it. Austin and Kedron had swords embedded in its face and managed to hold on just barely until the shaking stopped.

Scrabbling at the ground, the creature tried to stand again, breaking the vines that were holding it down. As it began to throw its body back and forth, the remaining people on its face fell to the ground rolling to get away from the thrashing beast.

Tom ran at the creature and managed to jump onto its face as it weakly tried to get to its feet. With a battle cry, he thrust his sword into the remaining eye and was rewarded with a scream of pain as his sword popped the eyeball and went all the way to his elbows inside. The eyelids closed so fast he couldn't pull out in time and he was pulled along for a ride as they clamped onto his arms.

Falling forward the creature slammed its face into the ground causing its jaws to clamp shut mid-way through its scream. The eyelids released just enough pressure that Tom was able to pull his arms and his sword out of the eye and he almost fell off the creature's face. Steadying himself, he moved to the middle of its head between its eyes, raised the greatsword above his head, and activated cleave again as he brought it down on where he thought its brain would be.

He was rewarded with the skin practically peeling away and a sickening crunching sound as the sword smashed through the bone and into the creature's brain. With a flick of his wrists to swirl the goodies inside around the Dangler spasmed one last time and then fell still on the ground.