Koto looks at me, almost pleadingly, "There are two ways this could go. One is that you kill all the monsters outside, or..." She doesn't finish her statement because, from what I could tell, it doesn't seem to be pleasant.

Sighing, I asked her, "Have you decided what you wanted to do about the situation?"

"Other than those two options I had thought of, there isn't anything else I could think of."

Pushing my fingers into my head and rubbing my temples, I looked for everyone else in my group. Gibnic was looking over something that he brought. Strauvana wasn't around, either, as was Muiress, and Xelyphe was around the others from this settlement, healing those who needed it.

Wanting to consider the issue further, I paced around the room. Monsters were outside, and there wasn't any way we could clear out so many in a short time or even ensure that everyone else stayed alive, let alone our little group of five. Continuing to rub my temples, I looked around the room. If only there were a way that we could manage to conquer the settlement without dealing with the fallout of the monsters destroying everything.

Not long after that thought, a notification appeared.

- A Helping Hand (Update)

Due to an offer of assistance, Koto has called upon your aid. After the auction is over, you have the option to assist Koto in tiering up her settlement in the settlement trial.

Due to the late call for aid, Koto cannot maintain their settlement. The monsters from the Tier-up Trial have taken over the settlement, and now, as a last-ditch effort, Koto seeks some form of aid or asylum. Your following actions will determine what assistance is provided. Will you aid the last remnants of this settlement and lead them to a more forgiving home, or will you abandon them and lead your party home?

Tasks:

Assist Koto's settlement to either seek asylum or aid in escaping their settlement: 0/1

Or

Abandon Koto's settlement to the monsters: 0/1

Rewards:

???

Or

1 X Small Chest of Wealth, 1 X Random Wooden Resource Box

Failure:

Death of your entire party

Or

Nothing -

With the update to the quest I received during the auction, I looked at it more in-depth before deciding to gather everyone from my party to discuss the options.

Gathering everyone upstairs isn't hard, as they were mostly up there anyway. Sharing my quest screen with them, I kick off the discussion.

"I don't know how to feel about this. My first thought was to leave because there was no way we would be able to help in this situation. Look outside; if this is something that could have happened to our settlement, then I am glad we were able to get that token at the auction." Most people nod, and Xelyphe's face looks troubled, but I can think of why, being that she was a doctor before being summoned.

"Second, the way that we were called upon makes this hard to stomach because it was almost forced upon me, and due to you being in my party, it was thrust upon all of you as well. It is only fitting that I include everyone in this decision. The last thing I was thinking is that I don't want to see the rest of these people slaughtered. I know it is counterintuitive, but I feel it would be worth our while to help these people."

With that, I wait to see what everyone else says about being here.

"What was the purpose of us coming out here?" Strauvana asked.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"It was to learn how to work better as a team and increase Drake's levels." Muiress provides.

"That's right. There is something that makes me curious. Gibnic, have you been able to look at the formations well enough?" she asks.

"I have. They are pretty interesting. Of all the formations I have worked with, these are some of the most curious."

"Why?"

"Oh, it's because of how they were developed. When the formation master created this specific formation, they could have gone one of two routes. Either the overall damage reduction or they could have protected while allowing a hole to be attacked through or to attack through. It is quite fascinating. It allows for creating a natural choke point or creating a safer haven for those less militant in personality. Now, while the person creating the formation could choose one of the options, from what I could see, there was a hidden third option for this formation. That allowed the person who set up the formation to select the type they wanted."

He is about to continue describing the formation's setup when he is stopped. "What do you mean there were options for the formation? Is it possible to adjust the formation while it is active?" Strauvana asks.

"Well, as I said, there were three options, and when they created this specific formation, I could determine that it was indeed the third hidden option that was selected for this particular setup, which is quite fascinating in and of itself."

We don't want him to go off on too much of a tangent, so we press for the answer to the second question.

"Oh, okay; as for whether we can adjust the formation set up to the other form available, while I want to say yes, there is a catch. During the time that the formation is being swapped, there is a sort of refresh time. During that time, the entire manor will be vulnerable to attacks. So, for this to proceed smoothly, we must defend it from all the monsters outside. The doors are nice and durable, but they won't hold for as long as we need the formation to swap and refresh. The same goes for the walls and windows. We will need to clear out portions of the monsters or get them to focus on specific parts so they don't overwhelm us." He finishes.

"So there is our option to help everyone. We create a choke point and force the monsters to come through that point. I know we have done something similar to this in the past, but with just the five of us, we will have a hard time preventing the monsters from coming through the walls. Especially with the ants out there."

"I should be able to focus the monsters in one general direction, but I will need to focus a lot on keeping myself safe." Xelyphe offers up.

"That wouldn't be bad as long we can keep the monsters from swarming you. We should ask our 'Hosts' if they could help us clear the monsters as well." Muiress suggests lacking any enthusiasm for what we are doing.

Since everyone seems to be planning to reset the formation, I left our little meeting to talk with Koto.

"So we have a couple of options. We can either reset the formation and leave a gap, giving us the option to clear out some of the monsters and maybe even clear them, though with how many there are. We don't think we can clear them all before retreating."

"Is there any other way?" She asks again, tears streaks running down her face.

"There is one other option, but it is only for my group. We can leave, but you won't have any help now. If you had called on your favor earlier, we could have prevented this, but the system deems it appropriate that we aren't harmed because of someone else's mistakes. So my settlement won't be penalized for your mistake." I have very little empathy.

"You will stay and at least try to help us, right?" She asks, her tone once again pleadingly.

"We have, as a group, decided to help you with your problem for as long as we can; if there is another option, it will have to come as we are working, but for right now, it is either aiding you or, as PUN stated, providing you asylum. I don't know how we could provide you with asylum, considering we are on a different planet, but that was technically one of our options."

Nodding her head like a chicken, she agrees with our plan of resetting the formation. "What do we need to do?" She asks me.

"Get your people away from the doors is a good first step; we don't want them to accidentally be attacked by a monster as they come through them. The other thing is to get them up to the second floor. Until the reset is complete, we can fire out of the upper windows. Hopefully, we can provide some form of chaos in the middle of the packs to prevent them from bursting through the first opportunity they get."

Nodding, she directs her people, all 20 left of the initial unknown number. Everyone who is ranged capable upstairs, Xelyphe, Gibnic, and I stay downstairs with Koto. "What do you need to change the formation from its current form?" I asked Gibnic.

"Just the formation controller, which I would presume is in the hands of Koto." He answers, and it doesn't take long for her to pull out a small orb. On the orb is a bunch of symbols that I can't make heads or tails of. Handing it off to Gibnic, Koto looks at me. "I know I can't do much, but if we succeed in surviving, I will-"

Before she could even finish that statement, I cut her off: "Don't say anything else. I don't need you jinxing this whole situation. Take care of your people and direct them as best you can. Hopefully, you will be able to get through this together, but I will not be putting my life or the lives of those in my group on the line to make sure that we clear things. Do you understand?"

Nodding her head in as much thanks as possible, she quickly goes to organize her people. With just the three of us down on the main floor, I look at Gibnic: "How long do you think it will take to change and reset the formation?"

"If everything goes correctly, we are looking at 12 to 15 minutes before everything is said and done. If things don't go well, we could be looking at upwards of 40 minutes, " he said after some thought.

"What would make the time take longer?" I asked, knowing that the moment we started, we wouldn't have time to talk while we were in the middle of the fight.

"If anything gets near me, it could cause me to make mistakes, or if there are many monsters near the controller. While we can use the control, we can only do so from this first floor from the feel of it, so the best way to make sure we are going to be ok is to make sure that I don't have to worry about something coming to attack me for a little while, while I set up the formation that we want."

"So, the plan is to keep you safe and uninterrupted?"

"Correct."

"Alright, whenever you are ready, let's get this show on the road." I declare loud enough that everyone in the building can hear me.