Lorian's memories involuntarily reverted back to circus incident.

20 beasts were enough to instigate massacre and keep several 1-star warriors busy.

However, obviously these beasts had power level close to peak mortal realm, hence they were harder to deal with.

In comparison to that incident, the current situation was different. Most likely the majority of the beasts would be at earlier stages of the mortal realm, else the village would truly be done for...

The villagers had the advantage of having been more or less prepared and aware of the attack and beasts were brainwashed into having little to no intelligence by higher tier monster.

The villagers, who would defend the lines of defense were more numerous than the beasts, but their individual power was lacking. The beasts had high vitality and wouldn't be easy to take down, but villagers had their stock of diluted holy water and could fight the prolonged battles. As long as they aimed for vitals and kept the beasts thrashing outside the spike fence, it would be fine.

The traps were capable of capturing about a fifth of the raiding beasts as a conservative estimate. The rest would have to be dealt with personally. The spike fences also weren't enough to hold some of the bigger and ferocious beasts.

However, the vanguards team would ensure to deal with stronger ones, so they wouldn't break through the lines and make a gap in their formation, where beasts would flow in.

Most important of all, Oculus was the biggest problem. This sneaky instigator of a beast was very troublesome to deal with and had a fair amount of intelligence.

'This is the bigger picture of the situation. Despite it being dangerous, I don't think the villagers have no chance at all.'

Lorian thought and waited to welcome the beast tide, which was getting bigger and bigger in their eyes.

The visual effect of dozens of ferocious beasts approaching for slaughter was stimulating. The faint trembling was issued beneath everyone's feet as the ground quaked. Lorian's blood started pumping faster as his adrenaline was instigated.

- Kill!

The chief roared as he stomped his feet and bent his body to gather the momentum. Next, his arm let go of the spear he was holding, which then tore through the air. The spear lodged itself in the massive beast's skull, which was in the lead. Its robust charge was interrupted as its feet buckled and fell over with its massive body, issuing ground-shaking sounds.

Lorian's eyes flashed as he watched the chief in action.

The path of gaining power was an arduous process. Majority of the people could only reach the peak of the mortal realm if they tried hard enough. At this stage, their constitution would become more sturdy, more immune to weather and illnesses. Their recovery speed would increase by a fold as their whole body and its inner structure would experience step by step upgrade. Their physical strength would almost double and one would look in his fifties in his sixties. Though their longevity wouldn't increase by much, they would keep their bodily functions at peak for a longer period of time. Only agility would experience the smallest increase, about 10% or so. Of course one could utilize their strength for short time bursts, but it couldn't be used constantly. As for flexibility and dexterity, this needed practice.

In short, if a normal human was expected to match 1 normal human in the battlefield, peak mortal realm human was expected to match about 3-5 of them.

Ascending from mortal to star warrior was more complicated. Nobody knows the reason, but there was a strange set of rules one needed to obey in order to rank up. In fact, this rule comes from ancient times and thus wasn't even questioned as it was useless to ponder over it.

For humans to rank up once they reached bottleneck, they would need to personally kill the monster, which was 1 rank higher than them. For example, if mortal at its peak wanted to ascend, they would have to kill 1-star monster. If 1-star warrior wanted to ascend, he had to kill 2-star monster and so on. It doesn't matter the method used, but requirements had to be met.

After killing the chosen monster, the human would automatically learn its skill.

Because of this, the interest in monsters was high and there were many books, which described beasts, their rarity, the locations of where they resided and their trademark skills, which would be transferred to human's knowledge upon elimination.

The old chief should have had his own story, as greenhouse kid wouldn't be able to become a star warrior. The chief's strength was at the peak of 1-star. Lorian didn't know what kind of concept was that and how powerful it was compared to a normal mortal, but he was amazed by chief's power throw. The way his hands glowed weakly for a moment meant, that he was using the skill. The combination of his strength and the skill resulted in an excellent output of power despite his old age.

This power throw served as a motivation to everyone too and they toughened up to deal with the first collision.

- ROAAR!~

Countless beasts stormed over with their bodies of different sizes. There were not many aerial type ones, only about 5 of them. They became the first targets of the archers as they got in range.

Meanwhile, the vanguards took the biggest brunt of the clash, but they held their grounds. Other beasts were scattered and mindlessly charged at spike fences. Their bodies were impaled and blood dyed the ground in an instant, however, this didn't deter them from violently thrashing around.

Lorian's eyes flashed coldly. A thin layer of ice accumulated on the edge of his new sword, the peak level low-grade artifact. Faint crackling sounds of ice were issued in the process as white mist started raising from the sword.

*Pssht!

Lorian mercilessly pierced the eye socket of the hound-like beast, which was skewered on spike fence. The sword pierced its brain and ended its struggles.

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+46 Battle Exp 

*Bang

Another beast collided against Lorian's spike fence, which was overturned. Lorian jumped back in fright. The beast had the massive physique.

- Hold it down!

The thin, cactus-bearded middle-aged man hollered beside him and bravely charged at the huge beast, which was now bleeding from its limbs but was still roaring intimidatingly.

Several men went to confront it.

- Come back!

Someone yelled, but it was too late. The claws of over 4-meters tall beast slashed apart the brave middle-aged man.

- Fuck, archers attack its eyes!

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~

The arrows rained down on the beast.

- Watch out!

Another beast broke through the barrier.

Lorian jabbed the charging tiger-like beast from the side and skewered it on his sword. No blood overflowed as the wounded area was frozen.

The beast fell down as its veins on its neck were cut.

+65 Battle Exp

Lorian didn't stop and jumped on fallen tiger's back, used it as his stepping stone and jumped at massive beast's direction.

Concentrating until his head ached, Lorian concentrated the chilling energy on the tip of the sword as he impaled huge monster's eye with unrivaled momentum.

The sword continued and reached its skull, which was unusually tough. After it barely cracked the skull, the sword's momentum fell. The beast wasn't eliminated in one shot as Lorian planned.

- ROAR!!!

The roar almost made his eardrums bleed. Lorian's face paled as he saw massive claw swatting as his direction, stirring the wind. He awkwardly hung on his sword, which was struck in huge beast's eyes. He would be torn in a matter of seconds. He decisively let go of the sword and fell from 3 meters height, spraining his leg in the process.

Lorian hurriedly withdrew the bottle of holy water and hurriedly sprayed some of it on the wounded area. The pain was soothed somewhat, but it wouldn't heal that fast, especially when the wound was internal, while holy water was only applied externally and would take some time to sip in.

*Swoosh

An arrow nailed the approaching beast on the ground. Lorian's mind shook as he realized that the beast was aiming for his life when he was in the dangerous situation. His gaze landed on Ania who had just saved him. Lorian nodded in gratitude as he scrambled on his feet, limping away from the huge beast, which went in a frenzy.

- GRRRAAAAAGGGHHHH~

The huge beast issued the last howl, before falling down with a deafening thud. Lorian barely managed to dodge its huge body.

He grinned at the sight.

'Coldness sipped in its brain after all.'

+117 Battle Exp

3rd floor of instances has been constructed.

Lorian retrieved his sword while surveying the situation. His mind shook as he saw the sight of carnage. The cries of battle and mourning wails were mashed into different deafening sounds of beasts. The ground was painted red. Several spike fences have been overturned.

More than 10 or so beasts were buried in the pits in the distance, roaring madly, which were of least concern.

The beasts hadn't yet breached the last line of defense, but about 20 or so people have died, while monsters' number didn't seem to decrease despite the fact that many of them were killed. The pressure they brought was just immense. The ones in the front cut somewhat sorry figure as they retreated to middle lines.

- Help!

The shrill cry of a woman came from behind. Most of the people were absorbed in the battle and didn't notice it, but more observant ones were shocked as they realized the sound was coming from behind the last line of defense. Turning around, the villagers saw a dirty middle-aged woman running in their direction. Her brown dress had tints of red. It was unknown who the blood belonged to.

- MY DAUGHTER, WAAAH, THE SOLDIERS HADN'T LEFT! THEY'RE BACK! THEY'VE CAPTURED OUR DAUGHTERS, YOUR WIVES!!!

The middle-aged woman broke down as she yelled incoherently.

Lorian's brain churned as he remembered the killing intent that he felt from the crowd.

'So that's what it was about. They hadn't left and must have guessed my identity as that guy must have revealed it.

Meanwhile, the chief's mind shook as his thoughts turned chaotic.

- THOSE BASTARDS!

He bellowed as he cracked the beast's skull with his eagle claw-like palm. They were backstabbed in such a moment.

'Who are we even protecting then?!'The chief bellowed in his mind.

'I had to know these animals wouldn't let this grudge go, but unexpectedly they...good, good! I'm not the chief if I don't kill you all!

Some people were enraged by the news and were about to leave the battlefield to kill the backstabbing soldiers.

- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! COME BACK!

Chief yelled until his voice turned hoarse. If they don't maintain the formation, the beasts would breakthrough and kill everyone. Then, it will be too late.

Only one man, that woman's husband didn't pay attention to the chief's yell as he wordlessly retreated with terrifying expression. He swung his muscular arms vigorously as his ax hacked through several beasts while he was sprinting back.

The chief was immensely worried, especially about Elise, but he knew the consequences of retreat. There was no going back now.

- But...

Middle-aged men were stopped in their tracks. Their complexions were ugly. Meanwhile, the monsters have broken through several more front lines and were rushing through like mad beasts, seeking carnage, blood, and destruction.

- Krrrrrreeeeee~~

The strange sound was issued as people started bleeding from seven orifices.

Lorian trembled as he saw a huge eyeball materialize in the air, blotting the sky. It had a grotesque body as several thick tentacles grew from its body, which was just one gigantic eye. The tentacles were deep red in color and short. The harm they could bring was limited. The main issue was its eye and its mental attacks! Unexpectedly, it struck when they were at their weakest, in emotional upheaval.

- Aaaah!

People's eyes turned bloodshot.

- What are you, GAAAAH~

Most of the people had their emotions upturned. The Oculus trapped them in their illusions and some people started mercilessly hacking their comrades.

The situation stagnated on the villagers' side while the beasts started massacring more vigorously.

Lorian's expression was ugly. Even with the wolf mask and heightened perception, he couldn't detect the enemy's presence until it revealed itself. Now its shadow was blotting out the sky, staring down with its chilling eye. Just looking at it would cause an immense headache and disorientation.

He barely managed to keep his emotions in check and stabilized his body.

The situation turned extremely unfavorable. Lorian felt a pang of regret attack his heart. If things continued like that, he would have to flee. It was extremely regretful, that this peaceful village would disappear, but staying here would only add one more corpse to the party. There was no meaning to it.

Lorian involuntarily drew his gaze on Annie whose face was pale and tears had stricken corners of her eyes as she frantically shot the arrows from the safe distance, which was also the last line of defense. However, the beasts have already come close. It would also be broken soon.

Lorian took in a deep breath as his eyes turned determined. This was no game. Just because he received quests didn't mean he could complete it. This was real life and death was irreversible. It was better to act sensibly. The soldiers backstabbed at the crucial moment and Oculus used this opportunity well. His power wasn't strong enough to save everyone. However, the situation wasn't yet that hopeless yet. His mind had already formulated the plan.

Though he had no strong emotional attachment to the villagers, he still found it piteous to see them die. As long as there was a faint hope for success, he wouldn't abandon them and lend his strength. Besides, he wanted to push himself to life or death situation in order to become more powerful.

The decision was made.