Sounds of laughter echoed across the river as the kids played tag in the water. They were not aware that a hundred meters below them, countless Dark-Scaled Crocodiles had started to raise their heads to look in their direction.

A lone individual swamp up. Its eyes locked on a young girl who was floating in the water. Its tail swayed back and forth behind it, boosting its speed. Its huge mouth gaped open and its razor sharp teeth glistened in the murky depths.

Fifty meters… forty… twenty.... ten…

Its cold-blooded eyes showed no mercy as it went in for the kill. It was about to bite the unsuspecting child when a five meter long, ice lance, pierced through the water and penetrated its wide-open mouth.

The Dark-Scaled Crocodile let out a cry as its body squirmed under the surface of the river.

"Everyone get out of the river! There are monsters hiding in the depths!" William shouted. "Hurry!"

If not for the fact that the surface of the river beside the girl had been stained with blood, no one would have believed him. The young girl screamed in fear as she swam towards the land. Several of the children also backed away in fright as they watched the river's water start to churn.

Suddenly, a giant gaping mouth broke the river's surface. It was a crocodile that was over ten meters long. And its eyes locked on the children with predatory lust.

"Centennial Dark-Scaled Crocodile!" one of the adults gasped in shock. "Quickly! Evacuate the river now!"

The Centennial Beast opened its mouth wide and shot out a concentrated cannonball of water. The hairs on the back of William's neck stood on end as he felt the feeling of impending death fall upon him.

"Icewall!"

William created five Icewalls in front of him, creating five layers of protection. He wanted to cast more but there was not enough time to do it. The waterball instantly broke the first two ice walls, and pushed through the third with ease.

The boy only had enough time to brace himself for the impact as all five layers broke down in front of him.

"Meeeeh!"

Ella faced the waterball with its horns and neutralized it upon impact. Even so, the blast still sent her and William flying away for a few meters.

If the five Ice Walls hadn't reduced the power of that waterball, Ella might have already been blasted into pieces.

A trail of blood streamed down the corner of William's lips as he slowly stood up from the ground. Ella positioned herself in front of William in order to protect him from other surprise attacks.

It was at that moment when hundreds of heads bobbed up the river's surface. The young boy and the goat watched in horror when they saw that there were ten Centennial Dark-Scaled Crocodiles in the horde of crocodiles.

Theo, who rushed to check on William's condition, looked at the monsters in fright.

"F-Fortunately, there is no Millennial Beast among them," Theo stuttered. "If there were, we would really be in big trouble."

William's body stiffened when he heard Theo's comment. He wanted to slap his good friend and shout "Don't raise death flags, you damn fool!"

There were two types of people that William hated the most when facing a battle of life and death. They were Crow-Mouthed People (those who raised Death Flags) and Pig Teammates.

Right now, William was looking at one of those people.

Before William could even smack his friend's head for raising a death flag, another presence made itself known. A crocodile with a golden head that was at least five meters in length poked out of the water.

Its blood-red eyes glanced in William's direction and the boy felt his legs weaken.

"By the Goddess! Millennial Beast Golden-Scaled Crocodile!" Barbatos uttered in disbelief.

He had heard the warning bells from the watch tower and knew that an emergency situation had taken place. James, Mordred, and some of the fighters in Lont had left the town in order to do a reconnaissance mission.

Right now, there were only a few master's left in Lont and he was one of them.

"Dammit!" Barbatos ran towards the river as he held the hammer in his hand.

He needed to buy time for the other defenders to arrive and ensure that none of the kids would die in this skirmish.

"Theo, run!" William grabbed Theo's robe and dragged him away. "Take the kids back to the town."

"What about you?" Theo asked. "Are you going to fight? There's no chance of winning!"

"I'll only help to hold them off." William glanced at the crocodiles who were now making their way towards the land. "Enough talk! Go!"

William mounted Ella's back as the two of them charged towards the front lines.

"System, I need your help."

"For example I advanced my Ice Mage to Ice Wizard, is it still possible for me to open the other Advance Job Classes like the Elemental Lord, Battle Mage, Magic Swordsman, Arcane Ranger, and Cryo Lancer?"

"Good," William said with a serious expression. "I want to advance to Ice Wizard. Can you make it happen?"

"Please do."

----

-- You had successfully ascended to Ice Wizard

-- A wizard who had dedicated his life to learn the secrets of Ice Magic

-- Ice Magic effectiveness increased by 30%

-- Host has learned skill: Glacial Wave

(10 Mana Points)

-- Causes an explosion of ice around the user, pushing enemies around away and freezing them for a short period of time.

-----

William breathed heavily as he tried to calm his senses. Advancing to the next job wasn't part of his plan, but the situation called for it. Among all the job classes in his arsenal, only his Shepherd and Ice Mage Job Classes had sufficient levels to make a difference.

A Centennial Dark-Scaled Crocodile fired a concentrated waterball in William's direction. The boy raised his hand and created six layers of Ice Wall to block the attack. Just like last time, all six Ice Walls shattered.

However, the attack was completely mitigated this time around. When William had changed his Job Class to Ice Wizard, his Ice Magic received a boost in its effectiveness.

Blue Mist shrouded Ella and William as he cast Ice Armor on both of them. He also bestowed Ice Armors to Barbatos and the ten other adults who were keeping the crocodiles at bay.

"This is hopeless," Barbatos grimaced as he sent a crocodile flying with his hammer. "These bastards have high resistance to physical attacks. We need mages!"

"Ice Spike!"

"Glacial Lance!"

"Cone of Cold!"

William's attack passed through the battlefield freezing the crocodiles in its path. Although it was effective, it was only a drop in the bucket. The hundreds of Crocodiles advanced without a care in the world.

As for the leaders of the Horde, the Centennial and Millennial Beasts were very intelligent creatures.

Seeing that there was only one mage in the battlefield, they decided to focus all their attention on William, while the low-tiered Dark-Scaled Crocodiles attacked Barbatos and the others.