"Good morning, boys," the Gate greets us.

"Good morning," I respond. "How do things look outside today?"

The storm lasted through the night, but ended the morning after it began. That was two days ago, and we haven't been outside since. Cam and I spent the last couple of days helping the townsfolk do some repairs caused by the wind in the storm, since we felt that was a little more important and a few extra pairs of hands would get things done faster.

I'm pretty sure Liam helped, though it wasn't anywhere near where Cam and I were, so I can't say for sure what he was doing the repairs. Now that the town's mostly fixed back up, we're heading out, though since it's been a few days and we just had a storm, I want to know how things look first.

"There is a Swarm," the Gate answers.

"A Swarm?" I'm unfamiliar with the term. "What is that?"

"A Swarm is a Swarm," the Gate answers.

That's not helpful.

"What does that mean?" Liam asks.

"It means," I turn around. "That we go and ask the Elder Hunter. It'll be problematic if he's referring to a swarm of insects out there."

We enter the Elder Hunter's shop and find her sitting in her usual spot, a bowl of steaming oatmeal in front of her, a few berries in a dish beside it. As we step up to her table, she picks up a few berries and drops them into the oatmeal, then scoops them out along with some oatmeal using her spoon, eating them.

"Welcome," she says after swallowing. "I had expected you to be leaving through the Gate."

"The Gate mentioned that there's a Swarm," I tell her. "And he usually doesn't tell us when there's a bunch of bugs out there, so I was hoping you could tell me what a Swarm is, and if we can deal with it or if we should."

"A Swarm?" She asks. "That's a once-in-thirty-years event for an area, so it's not surprising you haven't encountered one before. Now that I think about it, it has been around thirty years since the last Swarm here."

"So what is it?" I ask. "Is it bad?"

"In its own way," she adds a few more berries, scoops them and some more oatmeal out, and eats it, swallowing before speaking again. "A Swarm occurs when there's an unnatural spawn rate. Let's say there's normally five hundred hares in a square-mile area right now due to the mating season. In a swarm, that could be anywhere from two to fifty times that. It can result from any monster, and around sixty percent of them tend to be included in the Swarm. It lasts anywhere from two weeks to three months.

"Many monsters," she continues. "Also become much more aggressive in it, so you'll see more monsters reaching higher Tiers as they devour their brethren and other monsters, and even non-aggressive monsters like Tier One hares, squirrels, and deer will attack just for you passing by.

"Because of this," she informs us. "They will grow in Tier much more quickly than normal as they eat each other, and because of the increased spawn rate, more will appear to take the place of those slain."

This sounds like something we should send for help for. My brother and his team should be reaching the next town in a few days, and we could potentially have a message waiting for them when they arrive. I'm sure they'd come back out to help us as soon as they receive word of this. They've no doubt dealt with Swarms before, too, since they travel a lot.

"This is going to be a problem for us, isn't it?" I ask. "It's going to result in the formation of monsters we can't handle."

"Hm," she thinks for a few minutes, doing another berry-scoop-eat thing twice before nodding slightly. "You and Cam should be able to handle things, as long as you bring Liam back in the mornings during them and take care of another area in the afternoon. One benefit to a Swarm is that you'll be able to gain at least one Level, and Cam might even gain two, even if it only lasts for two weeks. If it lasts the full three months some of the longer ones do, you'll both gain at least five to seven Levels. Even Liam will gain a few Levels in just two weeks, and might reach Level 10 if it lasts for three months."

Power Leveling, in a way. I know that some Hunters will power Level by 'helping' in a fight against a monster several Tiers above what they can handle as much more capable Hunters fight it, then gain a little bit more experience towards their next Level from that.

One downside to it is that they don't have time to adjust to their new level of strength and sacred power, which can cause issues. They won't be as experienced at using more strength or sacred power anymore, which can hurt them or their allies. Leveling too quickly can also make one physically ill, so Cam and I will need to watch out for that if this does last for too long, especially for Liam. Based on what the Elder Hunter said, he's the most likely to be affected by the negative, since he'd be the one gaining the most Levels.

"And if we don't take care of a different area every day?" I ask the Elder Hunter.

"It depends on how long it lasts," she answers. "Two weeks? You'll find yourselves with a few Tier Fives to deal with. Maybe a Tier Six or two in the worst-case scenario. Three months? Well, there's a good chance a Star-Level monster might form if you leave too big of an area untouched. If it drags on too long and you two don't feel you can keep up with it, just inform me, and I'll send a message to send some help. It's best we don't do that too early, or we might end up with a lot of Hunters out here looking just to Level quickly, and those sorts will cause problems for the town."

"Okay," I say. "Is there any way to know early how long it might last?"

"Luckily," she nods. "The greater the increase of monsters, the longer it will be. If you cannot take a step without stepping on a hare or rabbit once you leave the town, it'll probably last three months. If there are a ton of hares and rabbits around, but still plenty of walking space, then it will most likely only last two, maybe three weeks."

"Thank you," I tell her. "Have a good day, and enjoy your breakfast."

"You enjoy your day as well," she tells me.

Cam, Liam, and I leave and make our way back to the Gate, showing our brands before he opens the gate. There really are a lot of monsters out there. Not enough to prevent us from walking around without stepping on them, but definitely the more-than-one-every-thirty-square-yards for hares and squirrels each that is the norm. At least five times as many hares and squirrels, minimum.

There are also plenty outside of the Gate, including some just beyond it.

I hold out a hand, then send out a lightning discharge field that spans the width of the tunnel through the wall and stretches another twenty feet past it. The force of the attack sends hares and squirrels flying backwards as the lightning itself cooks them.

"Good luck," the Gate says, despite being split in half.

"That was awesome," Liam says.

"It looks like," I say as we walk through the gate and out into the field between the hills. "It won't be lasting three months for us. We'll find out for sure from the Elder Hunter once we tell her how dense they are, but I'm hoping maybe three or four weeks at most."

"Same here," Cam nods.

"I don't think I could hunt every day with this many," Liam says.

The Gate closes behind us, then we get to work on cleaning up the fields and hills around town. Liam stays near us, using his spear to stab at any hares or squirrels that draw too close. Cam takes care of monsters in the distance, raining fire and lightning upon the hares, squirrels, and deer that are more than thirty or forty feet away, adding some range to the battle.

Meanwhile, I attack everything between their ranges, sticking mostly to wind and fire, though using lightning discharges from time to time. The monsters really are aggressive, and some will see us from a distance, then charge towards us to attack.

While no birds seem to be affected by the swarm, none attacking us and their numbers normal, the deer to appear to be affected, their numbers greater as well. Because these are a bunch of weak Tier One monsters, they're rather easy for Cam and I to handle, even if Liam needs to rest his arms after around ten minutes of fighting, unable to hit consistently anymore.

That doesn't mean we can just leave them, though. As the Elder Hunter said, something like this is prime for creating stronger monsters. I've spotted a few times where a hare or squirrel was eating something's heart. It's already begun where they're boosting themselves and getting stronger.

And these are just the weak ones. There are stronger, more predatory beasts around, too, especially in the forest, the mud fields, and other places. We forgot to ask the range on this, so I'll make sure to ask the Elder Hunter once we return.

If the range is too far, then Cam and I will need to do what we can, but send for help after a bit. That, or spend a few months cleaning up the rest. Once the spawn rate returns to normal, that shouldn't be too difficult.

When I run low on sacred power, I pull a spear out of the ground and start attacking with it, slicing and slashing through every monster that comes at us as I recover. Cam starts to rest a few minutes after that to recover his own sacred power.

Unlike Liam, the two of us are used to expending stamina and energy constantly in a fight, and since we're using low-level spells for this, we don't need to rest mentally as much. Once the two of us head to take care of some of the more difficult monsters, however, we'll need to rest more often.

Cam rejoins the fight after ten minutes of rest, and Liam rejoins a few minutes after that. I take my rest now that they're both fighting again, even though I've recovered all of my sacred power.

I lead us through a small loop across the fields and hills through the morning, rejoining the battle once I'm recovered enough. The loop ensures we clear out an open space in front of the Gate, though I can tell there are things already spawning again.

We've never seen the spawns before, but with this Swarm, I'm able to. The hares and squirrels are rising up out of the ground, in bubbles of some mud-like substance that bursts into shadows, leaving behind the monster.

It's strange, to be sure, and I can tell Liam finds it creepy. We press on, though, taking rests when necessary, with Cam or me always fighting at once. Even if we clear out an area, we doubt we'd be able to stay there and just rest, with the way even hares and squirrels are attacking unprovoked.

Come lunchtime, we finish the loop I brought us through and approach the Gate, killing the few squirrels and hares that spawned here.

"Welcome back," he tells us. "Today is the first day of the Swarm. Be mindful of that."

"Thank you," I tell him as he opens.

We enter and make our way to the Elder Hunter's shop, where I tell her the density.

"Yes," she nods. "You are correct in your assumption. It will last around a month. Be careful in your hunts."

"We will," I tell her. "Thank you."

Liam gets appraised, though he hasn't gained a new Level yet. It's mostly so he doesn't have to return here for his appraisal later. I'm sure we'll soon wipe out her stores of money with the large number of monsters we'll be fighting, even though she receives a shipment of it with every merchant group to replenish what she's sent.

"Do you know how far out this Swarm extends?" I ask the Elder Hunter.

"No," she answers. "Though it can extend anywhere from three miles to ten."

Our normal range is around five miles at most, as it's as far as we can walk in a day with the terrain and be able to turn back around and still return home by dinner while still hunting monsters or collecting resources for the townsfolk.

"Okay," I tell her. "We'll try to assess the full range, though if it extends further out than we can safely travel, Cam and I might do a few camps to handle things after it ends."

"Good luck," she tells me.

"Have a good day," I tell her, then the three of us leave and walk to my house for lunch.

"Cam and I are heading back out," I tell Liam. "We're going to head somewhere else and deal with more monsters, okay?"

"Okay," he says. "Good luck, and stay safe."

"We'll do our best," I tell him.

Cam and I leave, heading back outside of town. I summon a spear from the ground, spending a little more time on the spell to make it tougher, and Cam gives me a curious look at that.

"So that I don't have to summon it up again," I tell him. "Before we get to where we're going. I'll revert to my usual fighting style once we get there."

"Should we head to the mud fields first?" He asks. "Since it's a closer area?"

"Yeah," I answer. "We can see how much it'll take us to deal with them, the hares and squirrels aren't as heavy around them normally, so we should be fine resting up outside of the mud fields, too."

"Okay."

We walk to the mud fields, slaying monsters on our way and taking turns resting. The number of monsters do lighten up as we draw closer to the mud fields, but it's always been lighter for some reason. Neither of us have questioned it, since it's really only the plains and fields in front of town or an area like the mud fields where there are constant amounts of monsters around.

When we arrive at the mud fields, we find it a bloody, muddy battlefield. There are dozens of mudhounds just attacking each other, dozens of mudhares finding themselves food for the mudhounds, several snails of greater size, several snakes slithering through the mud before striking out at monsters, and more.

"By the powers that be," Cam grunts. "I forgot that the mudfields were naturally full of monsters. This is… wow."

"Yeah," I say. "It's pretty brutal, and look – there are more spawning, too."

"There are a few Tier Threes," he comments. "Nothing stronger yet. In the fields, the toughest things were Tier Two, and those weren't common."

"The fields weren't as populated as here," I say. "And not as full of natural predators as this place. I suppose we can expect something like this anywhere we go that's like this. We'll need to check on one or two of them every day, minimum. I'm sure it'll take a week or so for them to reach Tier Five, even with this level of viciousness, but still."

Even if they reached Tier Three in the however many hours since this began, every Tier still takes longer to reach. And as they grow stronger, so does their competition, making it more difficult for them to eat the stronger hearts, and the weaker ones become less of a boost with every Tier.

With many monsters going for strength, that will decrease the number of prey around as well, even with the abnormal spawn rate. That works in our favor, as it does still put a natural limit on how powerful things are and how quickly they will become more powerful.

Strategically speaking, it would be best if Cam and I cleared up several of these places over the next week, then returned and did them in order again. The stronger monsters will likely be Tier Four or Tier Five, but we'll have both likely gained a Level. If not, we'll still have both gotten stronger in scared power.

Then once that is done, we can move on to an area we did not hunt and start taking care of the Tier Four and Tier Five monsters there. It is unlikely anything would become Tier Six inside of two months.

Unless, of course, we have the worst-case scenario the Elder Hunter spoke of and we come across a Tier Six. The chances of that happening are only high if something was already Tier Five, though. Right now, everything we were hoping to bring to Tier Five to fight was Tier Four.

There's always the possibility one manages to consume enough to reach Tier Six inside of a month, but Cam and I will plan our route to cover most of those areas in this first week of hunting. All, if possible.

We can do the planning when we return home tonight, though he's probably thinking about it right now.

"Are you ready?" I ask Cam.

"I am," he answers.

"Lightning works best here," I remind him. "Though use fire as well."

"I will," he nods. "I'll back you up, as always."

"Thank you," I say, then step forward.

Holding out a hand, I pull out as much water from the mud as I can. I bring it close to me, then turn it into dozens of needles of ice, which I then launch at the monsters as I step onto the mostly-dried earth. Several of the snails get to work on the earth, doing their best to wet it back into mud, and Cam attacks them with bolts of fire.

Drawing out more water from more of the mud, I repeat my previous attack, protecting myself from several mudhounds which chose to attack me. A snake that was caught in the dried earth hisses at me, and I send an icicle its way before turning more of the water in the mud into a spear, keeping it contaminated with some of the mud. So rather than a white-and-clear spear, it's that with a bit of brown to it.

I cast my lightning body spell, then begin attacking at the monsters drawing close, my lightning traveling along the spear and into them, eliciting yelps from some and stunning others.

At the same time, I throw fireballs at various enemies, and Cam keeps up his support, attacking any monsters that come into my blind spot. Normally, I'm able to keep track of all monsters around me, but there are simply too many here for that, so I'm grateful for Cam's presence.

As I fight, I have to switch to just using the spear, which holds up better than I expected, to recover sacred power. Twice, I have to do that before the battle ends, then, I return to Cam. Monsters are spawning again already, but we took care of everything that was there. They'll resume their slaughter once it starts becoming too packed for comfort.

Because the strongest were Tier Three monsters, the battle wasn't difficult for me. Even without strategy hunting, that is where my strength and sacred power puts me at being able to handle alone or with only one fellow Hunter helping. If there were as many Tier Fours there as there were Tier Threes, the might battle might have been a fair bit more taxing.

Hopefully, we don't have to face too many Tier Fours before we gain another Level or two. That's likely all I'll need to be able to use my sacred weapon long enough in an area like this with a swarm of Tier Fours.

"Are you okay?" Cam asks as he immediately gets to healing a gash on my left arm. "I didn't see this one happen."

"I'm fine," I tell him, only now noticing the injury myself. "Ow."

"Sit down," he pulls on my arm so that I'll sit as he does. "Let's rest a bit. Even if we're used to fighting, that still went a lot longer than you're used to."

"It did," I look at the mud fields. "It's strange. Even with the increased aggression, they won't just come over and attack us, even though we're only fifteen feet away from the edge of the mud fields."

A mudhound which spawned after I stepped out is at the edge of the mud fields, watching us, but it's not attacking. As Cam heals my arm, I watch the mudhound, which turns and leaves. If we had attacked it, it would have come over to us, but not before then.

"Who knows?" Cam asks as I turn my head to look at him heal a scrape on my right knee. "Monsters are mysterious creatures."

"That, they are," I turn my attention back to the mud fields. "It's already turning back to mud, too."

"Yeah," he says. "It always does, doesn't it? That can't be helped, though. Not with a river flowing into it."

"Right," I say. "I'm sure you thought of something I thought of, too, Cam."

"You mean about areas with naturally high concentrations of monsters, like here?" He asks, and I nod. "Yeah, I did. I also thought about the monsters were were leaving so they'd hit Tier Five at some point. I can think of ten that were at Tier Four. We should visit their areas as well as areas that have dense populations already, and take care of them first."

"I agree with that," I tell him. "There are a few we can reach within an hour of here. Let's head to where Sammy is, she should be easy to kill, since there aren't many monsters in that area naturally."

Which means there won't be many monsters above Tier One or Tier Two. Sammy is a goat that lounges on some boulders on a cliff nearby, with not much else around her. Even with the swarm, there won't be much more present than normal, and we could clear them all out in just a few minutes, then take on Sammy.

"Sounds like a plan," Cam tells me.

"Alright," I say. "Let's rest up a few more minutes, then get going."

After ten minutes, we feel ready enough to move out, so we stand and make our way to Sammy, passing by a small grove of trees where we're attacked by a herd of twenty deer that we dispatch with wind and fire, but other than that, not much of note happens in the trip. We do still kill monsters on the way, but only the deer were really notable.

When we reach Sammy, she's standing on her boulders, with several carcasses around her. The goat herself is five feet to her shoulders, with grey fur streaked with brown, her curled horns a dark brown color. An extra pair of straight horns protrude from the top of her head, beside the curled horns and being her ears. As with most monsters that have gained a Tier, she probably has either two tails or a split tail.

The Tier Five goat takes one look at us and belches.

"Looks like Sammy took care of the monsters," I tell Cam, who nods. "Water magic works best on her, since she's a gaia goat, even if she doesn't have the stone armor the gaia wolf had."

"I'll leave the fighting to you," he tells me. "And focus on healing."

Sammy lets out a bleat, then slams a hoof into the rocks, indicating she is about to jump and charge. I hold up both hands and release two torrents of water at her, pushing her back a little bit. Since I'm already muddy, and I know Cam won't mind it, I use the spell to convert the ground from earth to mud, then pass the hold of the spell to Cam so he can continue the conversion. This should make it more difficult for Sammy to charge at us.

She seems to sense this, as after taking just one look at the muddying area, she raises up both front hooves and slams them onto her boulder. A stone rises up in the mud, large enough for her to jump on.

Wonderful.

But workable.

I let Sammy jump into the air, then I release several slashes of high-pressure water at the stone, splitting it into pieces. Sammy bleats at me as she lands, unable to avoid another slash of water I sent her way. Because of the broken stone, she stumbles, one of her hooves catching in one of the gaps, and the slash of water slams into her, cutting into her leg and side. I release several more as she pulls her hoof free and hops off the stone, one of my attacks catching her in the hindquarters.

Keeping up the attack, I don't let Sammy have a moment of rest to pull up another stone, and the mud makes it impossible for her to charge at me, sucking at her hooves with every step she attempts to take.

I hear the sound of fireballs hitting something behind me, so assume Cam is temporarily occupied watching my back. At least the muddying spell finished already.

Releasing high-pressure burst of water one after another, I push Sammy back towards the boulders, then get an idea. Her fur is dirty from dirt in general and blood from monsters she ate before we arrive. While I've washed some of it off, there's plenty of contaminants there.

Snapping, I release a small bolt of lightning at her, the crack of thunder filling the air as my spell flashes forward, striking the goat in the stomach as she reared back to summon another stone. Sammy convulses for a few seconds, and I take advantage of her momentary paralysis to strike at her with several more bolts of lightning, the contaminated water on her fur serving to spread the shocks to deal more damage to her.

Once I'm sure she's not getting back up for a few minutes, I slowly work my way forward, still cautious of her. Because she's Tier Five, it's possible she's recovered a little faster than expected.

At the edge of the boulders, I manifest my sacred weapon and charge it with the power of water. The white marks on the shaft and the silver marks on the head turn a deep blue the moment the element fills the weapon, showing that it's active.

Sammy starts to scramble back to her hooves, confirming that she recovered much more quickly than she would have before.

It's too late, though, as I'm right in front of her. I thrust the spear forward, a trail of water following it even with it being just a thrust. My spear pierces her right in her ribs, and Sammy lets out a pained bleat. Not wanting to leave her in pain too long, I pull out my spear, and once she drops down, I thrust it forward again, piercing her heart and ending her life.

Already heavily-drained of sacred power from the muddying spell and increasing the power of my water spells enough to affect her, I release my spear, then look at Cam.

"Alright," I tell him. "I think that's enough for today. We'll be reaching the Gate close to sundown now, with how long it takes to get there from here and factoring in monster attacks."

"Let's head back," he agrees. "I feel exhausted from fighting so much more than normal, and you look exhausted."

"I'm exhausted," I confirm. "A hot bath will be very welcome. And a hot meal."

"I'll cook something up for us and Liam while you take a bath," he tells me. "I'll let Ma and Pa know that I'll probably be at your place more, to make it easier on you and Liam during this Swarm."

"Thanks," I walk back towards him. "Let's go."