The young man immediately ran at me with his sword raised. The veins on his face were bulging as he looked about as red as a tomato.
[Mana Blade].
Before he knew what hit him, his head was rolling on the floor and the dome went dark once more.
“Congratulations; you are now a Jade adventurer!” The referee said to me as the dome receded to reveal the arena. The young man on the opposite side of the field was trembling, but I had more important things to do than pay him any more attention, so I went back to the lobby to let Nisos do his own exam.
***
We did the same routine with the Titanoboas and the rank D monsters, pushing us all the way to the silver ad-rank.
“…Seriously? That’s all it took?” I asked, and the others turned to me.
“Well, we did take down rank B monsters. Reaching gold shouldn’t be too difficult for us, and the two of you should easily make it to platinum.” Nisos shrugged as he looked towards me and Nico.
“Does that mean we can just go back to the Academy and report to instructor Adelphius?” Jezibel said.
“I mean, I don’t see what else we need to do. Unless there’s anything you’d like to do before we go back.” Ati said.
Before I could get a word in, a man slammed open the doors to the guild and yelled at the top of his lungs.
“MONSTER HORDE! MONSTER HORDE AT THE THIRD TAMERYIAN ENTRANCE!”
Alarm bells sounded throughout the guild, which quickly spread to the rest of the town. Soon, a voice amplified by wind magic resounded throughout the guild.
“EMERGENCY QUEST! EMERGENCY QUEST! ALL ABLE-BODIED FIGHTERS ARE REQUESTED TO RUSH TO THE THIRD TAMERYIAN ENTRANCE TO AID IN REPELLING A MONSTER HORDE! EMERGENCY QUEST! EMER…”
I tuned out the announcement as I looked to the rest of the party.
“Do you guys want to go and help out?” I asked.
“Of course. Lady Mett would never approve of a craven champion; my place is at the frontlines against the monsters. Are the rest of you coming?”
I grinned viciously.
“Of course I am! That sounds like a fantastic opportunity to get plenty of experience!”
Before the other three could respond, a system notification appeared before me.
Mission Issued: [Repel the Horde!]
Rank: B
Signs of an approaching monster horde have roused the adventurers to action. Join them in fending off the spawn of the Unfathomable Abyss!
Rewards: Class skill point per hundred monsters slain.
I gasped, and the others looked towards me.
“…Guys, you won’t believe what just happened…”
***
A short while later, we followed the other adventurers to the outpost where the monster horde was expected to come out. To my surprise, I saw two familiar faces at the gates.
“Nahi! Mesi! It’s been a while! How have you been?!”
The jackalman and the owlwoman turned towards me, surprised to see me again.
“…Are you the kid that got out of the dungeon a few months ago?” Mesi asked.
His partner rolled her eyes.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Yeah, Nahi, that’s her alright. And see, didn’t I tell you she was a girl?!”
The two immediately started to bicker again as Nico raised an eyebrow at me.
“You know these guards? And what’s that about you being a girl?”
I hurriedly turned towards the bickering guards to change the subject.
“Nahi, Mesi, I heard there was a monster horde coming here, so me and my friends rushed out of the adventurer’s guild to help. Do you know more about what we should expect?”
The jackalman sighed deeply before answering me.
“Normally monsters can’t get out of the abyss because of the long climb, and we’ve already pulled up the rope ladder. But in a monster horde attack, the Abyss itself changes the vertical wall into an incline that the monsters can run on. This monster horde is going to be a large one, with thousands of monsters from the first layer coming out at once. You should be careful not to overextend or you’ll drown in a sea of claws and fangs.”
“Normally, Nahi and I would be operating the ballistae on the guard towers to handle any big threats and relying on adventurers like you to be killing the regular monsters for us. If you want a piece of advice from me, follow the instructions that the commander issues you – in this case, that would be Nahi. Too many adventurers think themselves invincible, disregard orders, and end up getting themselves killed.” Mesi added to Nahi’s explanation as she shook her head.
***
We waited for about half an hour, and nearly a hundred adventurers had managed to arrive on such a short notice. It seems that no more would arrive before the siege started, judging by the slight trembling beneath our feet and the shifting rocks in the entrance. Mana began to gush out of the changing hole as the walls slowly bent at an angle, changing into a steep incline, then finally into a straight ramp.
A subtle tension spread among the adventurers as each party took a spot on a side of the steel fence, warriors ready to stab through it and plug any weak points as the ranged fighters took position on nearby high ground. I stood alongside Jezibel, Nico, and Ati on top of the Maiden, which I’d used as a sort of platform, earning a few jealous stares from surrounding parties. Beneath us was Nisos, ready to shore up our section of the steel fence like the other warriors.
“Get ready, the horde is almost upon us!” Mesi yelled, and everyone braced themselves as the distant sounds of shrieking monsters got closer and closer.
Ati and Nico nocked an arrow each as Jezibel and I prepared to cast our spells.
The monsters were finally upon us, and they rushed out of the exit in a tidal wave, roars and growls deafening us as they rushed towards us with maddened eyes and foaming mouths!
[Abyssal Hyena Lv. 6]
[Abyssal Bear Lv. 8]
[Abyssal Wolf Lv. 5]
…
[Abyssal Venom Scorpion Lv. 7]
Immediately, a rain of fire and brimstone crashed into the horde, slaughtering hundreds of monsters every second, yet it only seemed to slow them down as they rushed to the fences, eager to rip us apart!
The warriors began stabbing through the fence, killing the first monsters to reach the perimeter set up by the defenders. A fragile equilibrium between the culling of the beasts and their emergence from the Abyss was formed, though it was already beginning to collapse due to all of the monster corpses sheltering the emerging monsters. They were even beginning to form a kind of morbid stairway at the fence, threatening to climb out and escape confinement!
“The line won’t hold; we have to do something!” Jezibel said.
I looked to Nahi, who was desperately operating the ballista and seemed ready to blow the horn that signaled a retreat from the entrance.
Not if I could help it!
I took a deep breath and aimed as deep in the entrance that continued to gush out monsters like a geyser as I could.
A dark ball that seemed slightly larger and much heavier than I remembered formed at the palm of my hand, and the rest of the world faded away as I tried to ensure I didn’t fire the [Black Hole] into a spot that would kill us along with the monsters.
The dark sphere then launched from my hand with horrifying speed, ripping apart monsters and dirt in its way in a horrifying explosion of blood and limbs. It fell right into the center of the entrance and dug deep into it, and for a moment, it felt as if it did nothing.
Then it hit us.
A powerful sucking force pulled away all the monsters outside of the hole back inside, living or not; even many of the warriors outside the fence were forcefully pushed into it and squirmed to push themselves back off. The towers groaned as Nahi and Mesi held on to the ballistae and the ranged fighters dropped to the ground to hold on to anything they could. I immediately transformed into a [Peregrine Falconman] and started pulling on the Maiden to make sure it doesn’t get dragged in, as Jezibel and Ati rushed to hold on to nearby benches while Nico flew to my side to aid me in pulling back the Maiden.
Then, as soon as it arrived, the force stopped, and a deafening explosion sounded inside the tunnel, as a gust of wind whistled through the entrance and carried with it plenty of obsidian rocks and monster limbs!
The tunnel collapsed as a shower of rocks covered what remained of the entrance. A stunned silence echoed, as the shrapnel from the explosion rained hundreds of meters away into the barren wasteland. Everyone looked at me with varying expressions, from shock to awe, but mostly horror. I steeled my face as I tried to continue acting nonchalantly, only to have my jaw drop due to a notification I got.
Mission Completed: [Repel the Horde!]
Rank: B
Signs of an approaching monster horde have roused the adventurers to action. Join them in fending off the spawn of the Unfathomable Abyss!
Rewards: 23 Class skill points.
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