“You stay here and escort the villagers; I’ll rush to the Erdu and back them up.” Anbu said, but I shook my head.

“You’re not going anywhere; I am the one going to reinforce the port town. You won’t get there in time and we can’t leave the caravan alone.”

“You’re still a rank C creature, level 100 creature. With some generous spending of mana, I can rush to the town and still provide strong backup.”

“Yeah, but I can evolve and advance at any time! I can do that the moment I get there, and if I judge it to be necessary.”

Before we could argue further, Inbusha and Delondra approached us.

“There is no need for either of you to stay with us.” Delondra said.

“She’s right; the city is in sight, and we’re now capable of defending ourselves. We’re strong enough to get there on our own. Both of you should go and help Erdu’s people.” Inbusha said gesturing to the villagers.

The villagers stood around us, some cheering, while others were bowing in gratitude. However, all of them stood confidently with their weapons, demonstrating confidence in their own strength. The strength that pushed them to survive the waves of monsters.

Anbu and I looked to each other for a moment, then nodded to the village leaders.

“We’ll take you up on that offer. Thank you for your courage and tenacity.” Anbu said, head bowed low.

“Let’s go, Anbu. We need to get there as quickly as possible.” I said, transforming into my base draconic form.

Anbu raised his head and climbed onto the saddle before I took off west to wild cheers and celebrations.

***

As we flew towards the port town, the distant monsters grew bigger and bigger, until my draconic eyes could make out their shapes. I activated appraisal to see what we were dealing with, and to my surprise, it worked.

[Abyssal Eagle Lv. 13]

[Abyssal Pteranodon Lv. 12]

[Appraisal Lv. 9] has leveled up to [Appraisal Lv. 10]!

[Abyssal Owl Lv. 4]

[Abyssal Argentavis Lv. 16]

…

The monsters were a collection of rank F through C monsters; nothing too dangerous with the exception of their obscene numbers. Appraisal’s level up, as I’d suspected, now allows me to see the rarities of appraisal targets’ ranks and classes as opposed to their progression compared to mine.

The port town came into view, and with it, the sea as well.

As expected, the surface was filled with much of the same – rank F through C amphibious monsters.

What wasn’t expected, however, was that the population of the town wasn’t evacuating. Instead, they were fortifying the town to the teeth, with layers of labyrinthian walls surrounding the town.

Strangely, the walls don’t actually appear to enclose the town, but instead seem to keep winding around it over and over, with many people located on top of it installing all sorts of weapons and heavy objects.

“Please don’t tell me that they’re doing what I think they are…” I said, feeling dread and a creeping headache coming.

“…For better or worse, it seems like they’ve decided to reinforce the town and fight instead of retreating. Interesting choice, but I am not sure how much better it is than simply evacuating.” Anbu answered, as I began to speed up at the cost of more mana just to get there as quickly as possible.

***

I landed near what seemed to be the forward base, where people were rushing in and out like the workers of a beehive. My descent alarmed a couple of people, though they refrained from attacking when Anbu yelled at them not to shoot.

Two men came out of the building – the Ionian fat man and the Tameryian nobleman.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Welcome back, kid! We could use all the help we could get!” the fat man said, though he began rubbing his chin.

“Say, when did you tame a dragon? Isn’t this going to start another celestial war or something?” he asked.

“Who’re you calling ‘tamed,’ you walking sack of diabetes?!” I said, transforming back into Nisos’s Polymorphic Enhancer species.

The man raised his hands in appeasement.

“My bad, my bad, I didn’t mean to offend! But it is reassuring to have a mighty dragon by our side!”

He then started laughing, and the nobleman next to him sighed.

“Please excuse the words of this buffoon. They were said in ignorance, not malice.”

“Who’re you calling a buffoon, you pretentious snob?!”

Before the two could start bickering again, I interrupted them with a question.

“Why are you people fortifying the town instead of running away? Even we can’t fight a massive horde of monsters.”

“We don’t have the logistical capability of organizing an entire town’s evacuation to the city; at least not before the horde descends on us. Even if it seems suicidal, our odds at holding a fortified town are better than a desperate, mad dash to the city.” The nobleman answered.

“Well, it’s not as hopeless as you think; we might be able to do the same thing with the townspeople as we did with the villagers.” Anbu said encouragingly.

“Hmm? What’d you lot manage to pull off?” the Ionian man said with a hint of interest.

***

“Turn the common folk into fighters themselves…” the nobleman muttered to himself.

“Hahahahahaha! That’s an interesting strategy! Let’s do it!” the Ionian grinned.

“Interesting… A strategy like this one would never be implemented by a nation as hierarchical as Tamery. It may even border on blasphemy.” The nobleman said, deep in thought.

“What, don’t tell me you’re opposed to it! Bah, blasted fools, the lot of you are!” the Ionian said with disgust.

He shook his head and smiled with chagrin.

“Far from it – It seems like this novel strategy will be our best bet at surviving the coming storm. I am also in favor.”

The Ionian seemed surprised, but then started grinning.

“Well, what do you know, you do have something in your noggin’ besides your ripping off peoples’ hard-earned money and planning your next scheme!”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment, simpleton?”

The two started bickering again, leaving both me and Anbu speechless. Did these two get along well or not, damn it?!

“Excuse me, but we still haven’t gotten your names.” Anbu asked politely.

The two turned to us to answer.

“My name is Theos of Syrakyooz, the future champion of the city!” he said proudly.

The nobleman shook his head at Theos.

“My name is Asseth of House Heri. Although I am not yet the head of my house, I am its heir, so you may refer to me as Lord Heri.”

“Oh please, stop trying to impress these kids. Aren’t you even a little embarrassed, Ass?”

“Do not call me by that name!”

***

By the time we managed to get the two to stop bickering, we finally began to work on reinforcing the town as best we could.

The town’s population was roughly twenty thousand people, and it was a half-circle centered around the port. The townsfolk abandoned the port, and Theos had raised walls in a half circle around the area they’d decided to defend.

With me present, I was able to siphon mana from the townsfolk into Theos, getting him to commit to projects that were too mana intensive.

First, he reinforced the ground and the walls with strengthened earth mana in order to ensure that no monster would dig through them and strike us from behind. After that, he raised a few earth towers for archers to shoot from – the ones wielding the bows would largely be civilians, but hopefully, they’ll be gaining classes and evolutions mid-way through the fight.

The bows were being created by Lord Heri, who was in possession of the Atypical – Wood attribute. With my presence, we were able to have him create a large stockpile of wooden bows and arrows, while the townsfolk scavenged all they could for bow strings.

After making nearly ten thousand bows and hundreds of thousands of arrows, which was only possible thanks to the obscene mana generated by an entire town’s worth of people, he began summoning rank D wooden golems on the towers and the walls, where they would protect the townsfolk and attack from range.

However, even the town’s entire population did not have enough mana to create more than a few dozen of the golems, especially not after spending so much mana on the weapons.

As the entire town was suffering from mild mana depletion, the monster horde was getting close to the town, nearly blocking out the sun with their sheer numbers. The men and women on the walls were nervous, both for their lives and those of the children and elderly hiding in the reinforced bunker.

“How many of these monsters are there, and how long until the siege starts?” I asked.

“My [Field Commander] skill is telling me that we’re facing about 150,000 monsters, and they’re going to be upon us in nearly a minute and forty-three seconds.” Lord Heri said grimly.

Suddenly, a notification appeared in front of my eyes.

Mission Completed: [Escort the Villagers!]

Rank: C

The lives of an entire village rest upon your shoulders, as they race against time to reach safety. Whether they live to see another day’s sun rise depends on your efforts!

Rewards: Title – [Protector of the Meek]

Accept Rewards?

Surprised at the sudden completion, I accepted, only to be surprised once again.

Mission Issued: [Siege of Erdu!]

Rank: A

The port town of Erdu is under siege by an army of flying and amphibious monsters. Hold the line no matter the cost, or twenty thousand people will perish!

Rewards: Dependent on contribution.

“Kiara, did you get anything useful from your mission?” Anbu asked.

I appraised my new title, and it certainly did not disappoint, though it definitely made things much more complicated.

[Protector of the Meek]

No matter the place, those who prey on the weak exist. Fortunately for them, you are the stalwart shield. So long as you hold, they will remain unharmed.

When protecting creatures without combat abilities, draw all aggressive intent towards them to yourself.

“…Who knows?” I said, though my answer only raised more questions for the Kengiran.