As the nights came and went, Auron did not have any dreams or visions of the past. Auron felt as if he was lost in the strict repetition. He was beginning to have very mixed feelings about sleep. Never truly knowing if he should be expecting nightmares or pleasant memories of his parents. Mentally it was draining, but he was currently in the best physical condition of his life. The family meals and exercise every day were beginning to show on his body. He was still lean, but he now doubted anyone would think he was sick or unhealthy.
Unfortunately, his improved look had a negative effect. Apparently, Gregory was holding back earlier in the month with his "loving" back slaps. Auron winced as he felt a bruise forming from one of the hits he took earlier, this one brought on by a joke that made Gregory double over with laughter. He knew the man was only excited to have him around, but Auron sure did wish he could activate his wind barrier to negate some of the injuries. He wouldn't need healing in terms of hp, the slaps causing more mental pain than actual damage.
As the two walked to the barracks to begin the morning, Auron decided to ask him what the harvest festival was. "She told you about the festival... Gregory paused as he became lost in thought. Continuing forward, he resumed speaking.
"I still am surprised none of your memories have come back, but I guess it does vary case to case." Gregory talked without looking back as they continued their fast-paced trot. "You will have to wait and see. Once a month we have the festival and it is the best time a guy can have off the battlefield, well I suppose the second best." Gregory nudged Auron playfully after making what he assumed was a sex joke. The man had loosened up considerably after his berserker episode. It seemed as if before it happened, he was worried he would drive Auron away, or lose control and hurt him. Now that it had come and gone with Auron still around, the man had let down his remaining barriers.
Auron had kept his own walls up slightly, even with how close he was growing to the family. In the weeks that had passed, he still kept Zander a secret. Several times considering telling them everything, he was talked down by Zander each night. The omission kept Auron at a distance from the family that just compounded on his feelings of loneliness from missing his own mother.
Before reaching the barracks, Gregory stopped. Auron almost ran into the man, but with the slight increases in his stats, his reaction time had reached a point where it could counteract his clumsy disposition.
The massive man turned to Auron and had an odd look on his face. Seeming shy for the first time, he produced a small package out from under his arm.
"Auron, take out your dagger," He spoke softly. The tone of his voice worried Auron as he took the treasured family weapon out and handed it to Gregory's outstretched hand.
"This weapon has been in my family for generations. I am sorry, but I can not allow you to keep it," The guild leader seemed to be chewing on each word before letting it out.
"That is... unless you would like to become a part of my family," Gregory paused and looked into Auron's eyes. Sliding the dagger into his own belt, he continued. "I was going to wait until after the festival to ask, but you deserve some time to think on it." He gently clasped Auron on the shoulder while handing him the package.
"This gift is yours, regardless of what you choose. Even without our name, you are always welcome in our home as family, but I do hope you agree. A proper Rogue needs proper daggers," As he completed his speech, he twisted his feet and turned quickly. Auron could have sworn that he spotted a tear in the human behemoth's eyes.
As Gregory popped his head in to shout and wake the other recruits, Auron opened the package. A chamois sack tied with a leather clasp sat inside. Auron realized he could attach the bag to his belt if he wanted. Inside the sack were two beautifully crafted daggers, each with their own sheath that he could put on his belt as well. Tying them and the bag to his belt, Auron made a quick sprint back toward the house. The daggers and pouch held well. The extra pouch was also handy. Auron had learned in training that there were monsters that had the ability to disrupt magic. His current ring and magical bags may not always work.
Turning back and running back toward Gregory, he noticed he was not even winded. Endurance did not seem to be a listed stat, but all of the running had improved Auron's overall fitness considerably. It seemed physical training could be a fine stop-gap until he found a yellow gemstone.
When he reached the guild leader, he and the guards were snickering a little at his expense.
"If you do not want to be an adventurer, you will do lovely as a messenger boy," Gregory joked, which elicited even more laughter from the guards. "I had those specially made, I have a friend who is a blacksmith on the edge of the kingdom." His tone turning a bit more serious. "Dual wielding is something I will have you taught next month. I am going to hire someone to teach you everything you need to know. He has a problem with booze, but he is an excellent teacher." Gregory's eyes lit up with humor again.
Auron remembered his dream and had a good idea who the blacksmith was.
"I do not know how to thank you or repay your kindness, Gregory..." Auron began, but Gregory interrupted him.
"Just think on my offer Auron. If you are interested, we can talk after the festival, and I can explain the details,"
As Gregory finished speaking, everyone came out of the square building and lined up. Auron gave him a quick nod and a smile.
Turning to face the recruits, Gregory sounded out loudly. "Now you all have improved slightly in the few weeks we have trained you, but we are not done yet. One more week of training, and you will each then shadow a squad and learn how we operate in dungeons. Anyone who has not reached level ten will be given a subsequent week to do so. You are all close enough, so that should not be an issue." Gregory clapped his hands together. In the distance, animals shrieked at the loud noise echoing over the area. Running to the front of the young men and women, he began the jog toward the guildhall.
As they all began to march in unison, the kingdom bells started to sing, signaling an imminent attack. A wave of nervous energy spread through the new warriors like wildfire.
"Looks like we have a change in plans. You know the drill recruits, let's go clean up some monsters," As he picked up the pace and they met with more guild members on the way, they all followed.
The first time they went out of the gates to take on monsters, Auron was extremely nervous. He lacked the use of his wind magic, grenades, and summoning bracelet. He only really had stealth and dagger skills. Luckily Gregory planned these raids out with the weakness of the recruits in mind. Each recruit would be sent out with five veteran adventurers, and allowed to fight after the Guards on the wall had eliminated a good portion of the monsters. Over the course of three weeks, they had not had a single death. Every two or three days, there were attacks, and the guards allowed them to take all of the risks, while they fired from the wall. The last attack had not been for a few days longer than usual, so everyone was getting nervous.
After going out multiple times in the past few weeks, and the monsters focusing their attack on the kingdom, Auron's nervousness was a ghost of the feeling he had the first time.
Ten squads lined up on the inside of the walls near the exit. Each contained a rookie in the center, the pearl hidden within its shell. One by one, the groups went through the portal gate, leading over the protective rift separating the kingdom from its walls. They collected into an area large enough to hold an army. Standing before the metal gate leading to the jungle, the silence was deafening.
Before the gate began grinding open, Gregory did his usual speech containing information about the monsters' color types. "We are looking at Blue and Red today. These beasts have the ability to interrupt magic, so do not rely on your abilities or magic." Marcus, the leader of Auron's squad, interjected with a raise of his arm and nod from the leader.
"You just had a lesson on that recently, the answer to all of your problems this fight will be the steel in your hands. They will go down with a stab or smash just as easily. Keep that in mind while you fight," Their teacher finished speaking, and drew his mace. Gregory sild his massive sword off of his back, and the others mirrored this with their own various weapons.
Their first time out, Gregory explained that most monsters summoned outside of a dungeon had the primary color of blue, arcane magic. These monsters changed based on their secondary color. The most dangerous being purple. Auron had only heard stories of the horrors that occurred when those types attacked. The long pause since the last time they were seen indicated it was likely they were due for an appearance.
As his friendship with Leon grew, he had opened up about the rain of explosive material thrown over the wall by the creatures. Leon was blessed with retaining some of the mana, but the scar ripped across his face, and his father losing a limb were no blessings.
Auron pushed the gory thoughts to the back of his mind and pulled out his daggers, his adrenaline was fueled by the sight of his guild standing strong together. Steel and magic clenched in each member's hands and wrapped around their bodies.
Warning. Dual equip not learned. Attack efficiency lowered. Stat debuff while equipping.
Auron instantly felt sluggish and uncoordinated as he read the message and put one of the daggers back. In his excitement, he forgot about his lack of dual-wielding ability.
As soon as it was tucked away, the debuff lifted. Hyping himself up, he spun his new dagger around to get used to the weight. All around him, the other squads were moving slightly to keep their blood pumping.
The gates opened slowly to reveal a bloody scene. Auron looked out at the giant creatures approaching the walls. Their broad blue bodies almost looked like fish, but two sets of legs underneath them led him to dismiss that thought. Dangerous looking fangs struck out of detached jaws. These beings had a nasty bite. Auron's attention then darted to the antennae-like protrusion hanging from the creatures' foreheads as his inspection activated. Standing 1.5 meters tall, and several meters wide. These monsters seemed to waddle on their four legs. Their mouths gaped open in no attempt to hide their rows of deadly sharp teeth.
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Monster data: Level 7
Colors Blue/Red. These creatures can interrupt the flow of mana in a person's body using dangling lights from their heads. As their name suggests, found on land or water, the angler lives among others of its kind, but they rarely work in tandem. If spawned land, they seek the nearest body of water to contaminate it and make it their home.
Danger approximation: Mid
In the months prior, Auron learned his inspect skill was another ability he had that would typically take months in a dungeon, or something people would have to pay months to be around the giant Ruby held by the Akhult noble house. Now knowing its use, he would share the information with Gregory. The leader likely knew the knowledge, but he wanted the young rogue to work on the magic, and passing information to his party.
"We have to stop them from reaching the lake! They will contaminate our water supply. Something is up here too, they should not be attacking together like this." Auron shouts this all to Gregory as the teams march forward. Of the hundreds of monsters, many of them were already looking like pincushions before the gates opened. Twenty to thirty arrows were needed to fell just one fish-like beast.
Gregory hefted his sword up to point forward. His deep voice roared out. "Charge!"
Along with his team, he led the charge to cut the monsters off.
The guild members raised their voices in unison with the man, and they raced a path along the wall toward the lake. From his protected position in the middle of a group of Veteran adventurers, Auron observed everything he could. The battle formation of the Berserker Knight team was different than the other squads.
Most squads had a tank that would keep the attention of the monsters they fought, either through magical abilities such as Lure/Taunt a combination of Purple and white Auron had run into briefly in his first dungeon, Red/Black which could pull attacks to their shields another type Auron was familiar with, or various other methods Auron had not seen yet. He even noted that random insults seemed to work on monsters, and there was even a skill related to it.
The rest of the teams usually consisted of a member who had a connection to yellow mana increasing their speed, bursting attacks to help the tank, someone with a link to Purple to either mess with the minds of the monsters or enhance their own bodies.
In the back row, most Guild squads had some sort of ranger or Archer attacking from a safe distance, and a survivalist or variant was found in each party.
The survivalists confused Auron initially because he expected there to be a healer in each party, but Gregory explained that healers had been rare for over a decade. Survivalists carried potions for stamina, mana, and health if they could get their hands on them. Watching the guild leaders squad, Auron smiled at their stark difference.
Gregory summoned a mist of purple mana. With his free hand, he ripped it out of the air in front of him and put it to his nose. He inhaled the substance breathing it into his lungs and skin.
As he grew in size and strength, his party lagged behind him as he bounded forward. His body and muscles tripled in bulk as he wildly swung his greatsword and hit the wall of monsters like a wrecking ball.
The creatures, the men firing from the wall, and all squads froze for a moment as the man began laughing. "Hahaha. Finally, a worthwhile fight!" he screamed as he swung the flat side of his great-sword like a bat and knocked one of the massive creatures up higher than the mighty trees on the edge of the jungle.
Summoning his familiar Theseus, the small white flying squirrel clung to Gregory's shoulder. Glowing a soft white, the monsters coming anywhere near Gregory lifted slightly off the ground, along with suspending the beasts, and setting them up to be launched, the white magic also seemed to nearly double Gregory's movement speed.
One of the creatures then leaped forward. Opening its terrifying mouth, it prepared to swallow the mad Guild-leader whole.
Spinning with his sword's momentum, he moved it in an arc upward and brought it down on the floating creature splitting it in half. The battle then began in full.
Auron watched as Gregory's team caught up to him. Wisely they stayed out of the range of his carelessly dancing sword, but close enough that the Deven's brothers could assist with potions or arrows as needed. Rodney took most of the blows for their group with his round shield, while Thatch lived up to his class of Sting warrior from his right and left side, sending out a flurry of blows with his two short swords his arms taking on a yellow glow. He was so fast that he occasionally tossed up one sword to send out small blades hung across his chest. Hitting a monster in its eye with a projectile, he deftly grabbed his falling sword before it hit the ground and cut off the antenna of another.
Commands from his group leader Marcus, the Gravity warrior instructor who loved making them run laps, snapped his attention to their own group.
Marcus fought with two gauntlets that had large plate-like scales along them. He wore light armor, and it took a ridiculous amount of damage to take him down. By the end of a fight, he was usually covered in his own blood hence the name Blood tank.
The gravity aspect of his name Auron was very used to as he observed the man tapping any creature that came in his range, its weight doubling with every touch. The ranger in their group positioned directly behind Auron then fired arrows at the afflicted creature's legs, making them topple. On Auron's left and right were both large men who wielded twin hammers and a sword and shield respectively. Their Survivalist stayed behind the whole group, ready to run in and give them potions if needed. In place of green healing potions, the woman used black medicines. They increased your health for a short duration, bringing a person further away from zero while keeping the same damage percentage. Not an overly effective method, but it saved lives usually.
As the group methodically took down creatures, they would part, and allow Auron to use his dagger to inflict a finishing blow. After a few weeks of this process, the group ran the method smoothly.
All ten groups, with their various classes and abilities, worked in a similar manner. Dispatching the creatures quickly, they did not even give them a chance to activate their magic at the beginning of the battle. Auron was glad for this because when they did, things became much more complicated. They were quickly moved along the line Gregory was carving toward the front of the Creatures running toward the water when one of the monsters began to glow a bright blue spotted with red from its antenna.
Debuff: Magical abilities will not activate for 30 seconds. Connection to abilities will cost twice the mana and will have half of the power output for the remainder of the battle.
When Gregory was hit by this debuff something, odd happened. He stopped swinging around his sword like a club and started masterfully wielding it. Slicing enemies with distinct precision, the man moved with a well-crafted form. It was clear his strength was lessened without his magic though, as he did not generate the same level of force with his swings. Several swipes were needed to dispatch a single foe.
Although their progress was slowed by the Debuff, the seasoned fighters had no problems finishing the low-level creatures with their weapons. Marcus, with his considerable health pool, switched from tapping and slowing the creatures to solely blocking them anytime they launched themselves at a part member teeth first. Throwing his armored fists into the fish monster's mouths, he would hold them until they were riddled with arrows, their health low enough for a dagger stab from Auron to take them out.
All of the groups were progressing smoothly when the beings stopped advancing toward the water. Around half of them were dead at this point arrows raining down with perfect accuracy, dispatching one or two every minute. Auron knew it would only be a little while until they were all defeated until an explosion went off at the rear of their assault and sent a feeling of ice through his veins.
The rear group of adventurers and their recruit were left in pieces by the explosion. Before Auron was allowed to even process what happened, a large clump of slime hit their Survivalist in the chest. Fear crept into the woman's eyes as she looked at her team.
The despair was replaced by determination as she ripped off her bandoleer, and ran forward. Her quick decision planted her deep into the monsters' group at their side, away from the wall.
An explosion rocked Auron from his feet moments later, and he knew there was no way anything near the blast survived. Monster and human blood raining down confirmed his fear.
The explosion cleared a line of sight toward the jungle and Auron's eyes lit up red.
Monster data: lvl 20. Colors Blue/Purple.
These creatures concentrate mana into their hands and form a gel-like explosive. Their powerful arms allow them to throw these great distances. Their single eye causes a loss of depth perception making their projectiles have little to no accuracy.
Danger approximation: Immense.
"Shit," Auron swore as he contemplated summoning Zander. Looking along the treeline, he saw another set of eyes glowing back at him. These eyes he recognized from his dreamlike vision of the city.
Monster data: lvl 15. Colors Blue/Black. Fiends are of the most dangerous of monsters. These creatures have gained some intelligence, but refuse to repent. They revel in bloodshed and murder. With their increased mental aptitude, they gain the ability to command monsters.
Danger approximation: Beyond determination.
They were pulled into a trap. This entire battled had been planed by that fiend.
"Gregory! A fiend is commanding the monsters," Auron screamed, hoping that Gregory would hear him over the battle's sounds.
Reluctantly the Guild leader stopped swinging his sword. He seemed to be enjoying the ability to fight without his frenzied state claiming his mind. Realizing that there had been casualties snapped him out of that immediately.
"Retreat!" He screamed over the explosions, now all concentrated over the walls.
The alarm bells changed their tones as the Cyclops began heaving blobs of explosive energy over the walls. Auron could make out screams from the marketplace as explosions rang out slowly after. Sobbing men, women, and children reached their ears.
As the nine remaining groups moved as one back toward the fortifications, Auron noticed that the groups with Sylvia and Leon were closest to the gate on their way back. He was pleased that they would reach safety first.
Their movement caught the attention of the cyclops. Explosions ripped through the ground behind the front groups as they ran. Three of the squads were then thrown past the steel gates knocked to the ground. Leon, Sylvia, and the Peryton noble were among the newbies separated from the larger gathering.
Auron watched on in horror as the Land anglers swarmed on the battered groups. His first friends were in danger. Tossing aside Zander's warning, Auron called on him to help. His call went unanswered. Zander sent back a wave of emotion that brought on nausea. He was afraid of something.
At that moment, the reagent Queen and 3 other ornately armored people marched out as the gates to the kingdom opened. The attacks on the inner territory had not gone unnoticed.