Lyra thought she was prepared for anything, but when a loud explosion was heard, she hurried outside and saw that thing... Immediately, she felt her legs turn to jelly.

Throughout her life, Lyra had never seen a monster before. Starlight Manor, where she lived, was close to the capital, and the possibility of encountering a monster was almost non-existent. All she knew about them came from the stories she heard from other maids.

So, she never expected it to be this terrifying.

"Are you okay?" Aurora asked, appearing behind her.

"Miss!" Lyra said, snapped out of her dread.

Aurora looked at the monster that had been halted by a magic barrier. Its sharp, gigantic teeth were biting on the barrier, and cracks were starting to appear on the glass-like dome.

"So, it's actually happening," Aurora said, her tone still surprisingly composed. Lyra couldn't help but stare at her in disbelief, wondering how her master could remain so calm despite the piercing screams echoing in every direction.

"What should we do, miss?" Lyra asked in a panic.

"Can you go and meet the people that my father hired?" Aurora said. "Tell them it's time. Their job is to defeat these monsters and the group of rebels behind it."

Lyra gulped, looking at the monster. She was frozen with an overwhelming sense of terror. Forget using her legs for walking or running; she felt like she was going to fall to the ground if she didn't consciously hold onto her leg to keep standing.

"It's fine if you can't," Aurora said.

No, miss," Lyra said, her face pale. "I will do it."

Aurora looked at her and nodded. "Okay, but remember to keep yourself safe first," she said. "That's the priority."

"Yes, miss," Lyra said.

She took a deep breath, pushed herself to focus, and then started running towards the gate. She glanced back a bit at her master. Aurora was still standing there, looking at the monster. But a moment later, Aurora started to walk.

Where is she going? Lyra thought. But she held that question in her mind. First, she needed to do what Aurora had told her to do.

Even in the town, panic had spread all around. Buildings were burning and destroyed, while people ran, screamed, and cried. A little further from where she stood, Lyra saw another gigantic monster laying waste to everything in its path. It was the same type of monster as the previous one, with a snail-like appearance, a green shell, and hundreds of teeth.

She gulped. If this was the second monster, how many of these things exist?

There was no time to think about that. Lyra's gaze moved to the large inn where the hired group was staying, and she noticed a familiar face outside. It was Aran, an old man who was a representative of the group that the Viscount had hired. At that moment, he was busy helping a woman who had been buried by a collapsed building.

Lyra recognized Aran because she had been there when the recruiting had taken place. It had been on Aurora's orders, of course.

Lyra called out, "Mr. Aran!"

The old man shifted his gaze to her. "You're... the maid from the Starlight family," he said, recognized her

Lyra nodded, her breaths heavy. "Yes, I have a message from my master."

"Sorry, but this isn't the right time for that," Aran said as he turned his attention back to the woman he had been helping, who was thanking him.

"This is connected!" Lyra insisted. "My master said the time has come. Your job is finally here."

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Aran looked stunned. "What? Do you mean...?"

Lyra nodded. "Please tell everyone," she said. "Your job is to defeat those monsters and the rebels behind them."

"What the--?" A young man with spiky hair suddenly appeared behind Lyra, making the maid jump. "Do you mean we hired him to deal with this mess?"

"I just told you what my master told me," Lyra replied, trying to avoid saying anything unnecessary.

"I can't believe it," the man, Dwan, said. "So the Viscount foresaw this event? I was expecting something big, but not like this."

Aran laughed. "I'm fine with this," the old man said as he cracked his knuckles. "After all, I won't just sit down when something like this happens. Having a job that's exactly what I want to do just makes things easier. Anyway, miss maid, I got the message. You should go to a safe place now."

Lyra nodded, relieved.

"What about you?" Aran asked his young friend. "Are you guys going to follow the order?"

Dwan smiled. "Do you need to ask?" he said, unsheathing his sword. "Fighting monsters was my main job anyway."

"It's a big one," Aran said, looking at the monster.

"What the heck, old man?" Dwan said. "Do you think I'll get scared just because it's big?"

Aran laughed. Dwan laughed too before they both ran toward the monster.

***

"Aurora!" Ruby said, running towards the blue-haired girl. "Where are you going? We need to evacuate!"

"I'm fine," Aurora replied. "You go first."

"What are you talking about?" Ruby asked.

"I'm Nova's target," Aurora explained. "I can't be where a lot of people gather."

"What the--" Ruby interrupted. "You're planning to sacrifice yourself?"

"No," Aurora shook her head. "But I need to deal with Nova myself."

"I won't let you!" Ruby grabbed Aurora's hand, stopping her from walking.

Aurora sighed. "Fine, you can come with me. But I won't go back," she said.

Ruby nodded.

As they walked in the opposite direction of the panicked crowd, a huge cracking sound echoed from the direction of the monster. The magic barrier had been destroyed and the gigantic snail monster had entered the academy.

Students screamed even louder, running in panic.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" some screamed in terror.

"Help! Mommy!" a large young man cried out.

"Everyone, calm down!" the teacher yelled. "Don't push each other. Go to the evacuation area!"

While everyone else was running and panicking, Aurora and Ruby moved slowly, hiding behind a wall.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Ruby whispered.

Aurora didn't reply, instead, she moved into the shadows, getting further away from the crowd. Ruby followed behind.

"I should have forced Rita to come back," Ruby murmured to herself, but her words were loud enough for Aurora to hear.

"You didn't call another knight?" Aurora asked.

"You didn't specify that it would happen so soon," Ruby said. "I thought there was still time."

"Sorry, but I didn't know it would really happen," Aurora replied.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to blame you anyway," Ruby said.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud sound. The snail, with its super sharp teeth, started eating the academy building. They could see a few teachers trying to stop it, throwing magic attacks, but neither water, fire, sharp wind, nor even huge pieces of earth hitting it had any effect.

That's already bad enough, but to make matters worse, a group of people dressed in black suddenly appeared and attacked the teachers with swords and magic.

"Those are the rebels," Aurora added. "Nova should be showing up soon."

Ruby nodded and asked, "Will you help them?"

Aurora shook her head. "No, we'll wait and see what happens."

The two of them then hid behind some nearby bushes, watching intently while trying to remain as quiet as possible.

As the battle raged on, more teachers and academy staff emerged to aid their colleagues in the fight against the rebels. Spells of all kinds were hurled back and forth, wreaking havoc on the surroundings by destroying buildings, setting trees ablaze, and cutting through walls and floors.

In an attempt to stop the colossal snail, some of the teachers conjured up earth walls, but the monster effortlessly demolished them. It seemed that nothing could stand in its way.

A snail-like monster was supposed to be a soft creature, but after consuming a lot of magic crystals, even its skin had become stronger. Aurora noticed that the only weakness of the monster was its speed, which had not improved even after it had become that big.

Ruby gripped Aurora's clothes tightly, her hands trembling with fear. Aurora noticed this and understood her reaction was normal. Aurora was frightened too. While Aurora had expected something like this to happen, experiencing it firsthand was a different matter altogether.

The monstrous creature continued its rampage, obliterating everything in its path like an unstoppable force of nature. It moved slowly, devouring everything in its way. Fortunately, the monster wasn't moving directly towards Aurora and Ruby.

The teachers' voices could be heard in the background, screaming for someone to stop the creature. "Stop it! Someone do something! Stop that thing!" they shouted in desperation.

If they could combine their magic, they might be able to stop the monster, but the rebels had forced them to split into two teams: one to deal with the rebels, and one to deal with the monster. Obviously, this strategy was not very effective.

Aurora and Ruby slowly moved closer to the intense battle between the academy staff and the rebels. They hid behind the remains of a destroyed building, but even there, they were not completely safe. The fight was intense, with fireballs flying in all directions, some of which even hit the wall near them, almost burning them.

"Ow, that's hot!" Ruby murmured in fear. "Isn't this dangerous? Aren't we too close?" she asked Aurora, her voice shaking.

"I can't help it, I still can't see Nova anywhere!" Aurora replied, her concern evident in her voice.

"Are you sure she'll appear here?" Ruby asked, sounding uncertain.

Not really, Aurora thought to herself, but where else would she appear?

Suddenly, Ruby pulled at Aurora's clothes. "Hey, Aurora," she said, "isn't that Prince Casper over there?"

Aurora immediately shifted her gaze to where Ruby was pointing. Sure enough, there was a blonde young man hiding behind a wall, just like them. Even though from their position, his figure was clear as day.

"What's he doing here?" Aurora wondered to herself, feeling a mix of confusion and surprise.

"Doesn't he know his position?" Ruby said. "He's the last person who should be this close to a monster attack."

"Well, we're doing the same thing, so we don't really have the right to complain," Aurora replied.

"I know, but..." Ruby trailed off.

Aurora looked back at the ongoing fight between the academy staff and the rebels. Nova didn't seem like she was going to appear anytime soon. Meanwhile, the monster was slowly moving farther away from them.

Aurora's gaze shifted back to the prince, who had started to move and was now hiding behind a destroyed faculty office.

"Let's follow him," Aurora whispered.

"Huh? Why?" Ruby asked, sounding confused. "Aren't we trying to find Nova?"

"I know," Aurora said, "but I have a feeling that we need to follow him. Nova doesn't seem like she's going to appear here anyway."

"If you say so," Ruby said. "It should be better than staying here, at least."

The ongoing fight between the academy staff and the rebels continued, with each side creating earth walls to protect their respective groups. Despite this, magic projectiles were flying all over the place.

Aurora nodded, and the two of them immediately started to follow the prince's footsteps.

***