"What's the situation! Calling me so suddenly."

A middle-aged man in his 40s strode over to the sentry post of a group of 6 soldiers clad in light metal armor. He had a very grumpy expression on his face, which made his white bearded face and eagle eyes even more intimidating.

Usually the soldiers would stutter in their words when talking to this man, but this time they were much more disciplined.

As he passed by them, the soldiers saluted with vigor and pressed the spears they were holding on to their chest. It seemed that this man held some semblance of authority in this place.

He briefly inspected the work station of these 6 other men, and then on to their facial expressions.

They were sweating buckets, with desperate looks on their face.

The first soldier who came forward was stumbling his words, as he could barely contain himself. Noticing this, the man held out a hand for him to stop talking to catch his breath first.

Thanking him with a nod, the soldier gulped down a mouthful of saliva and exhaled a large amount of air from within his body. It seemed as if the report was going to be pretty hard one to take.

Peeking occasionally at the man's face, the soldier attempted to give a general outline of the situation at hand. One that wouldn't shock the man the most. He was choosing his words carefully here, since everyone knew about his temper if something was reported incorrectly or exaggerated.

"...Captain Renora, please don't panic when I say this, but..."

At this vague statement, the man who was addressed as Captain Renora by the soldiers snorted in ridicule. He couldn't believe this was the standard of soldiers the Luna Empire had entrusted its city walls to. More importantly, he was the one who raised them, so he felt responsible that the soldiers were showing these sides of fragility in front of their direct superior.

In the first place, he was called over here by one of his subordinates who acted as a messenger. It seemed as if there was something of top priority that needed attention. Since Renora was out with his daughter shopping and had to be interrupted halfway, he was visibly not in a good mood. He wasn't in his formal attire as well, and had just came over in his casual tunic attire.

Irritated at the soldier's apprehensive words, he stormed his way closer to the edge of the sentry post. That way, he would gain a clearer view of things. More than that, Renora was a man who actively sought to understand things on his own. It was probably a conditioned reflex that he had done so to get to the point quickly, rather than an actual distaste in the mannerisms of these soldiers beneath him.

Action spoke louder than words.

"What is there to panic about. I've lived for over 50 years, there's nothing to be af...raid... of...

..."

"... ...Captain?"

"... Tha... that is... My eyes aren't deceiving me right?! ...Dear god. Are those... Blueskin Crawlers?! That... many too! Is this the work of a Devil, no... the Demon King?! This must be it... I had thought that their recent movements had been too quiet already, so they were amassing such a disgustingly powerful army..."

Renora was shocked speechless for a brief moment. Approaching the city walls of Hiomi, where more than 13,000 people resided in, was a flood of blue-colored monsters called the Blueskin Crawler. In the distance, there were a few individually larger ones that he could not recognize, but it was safe to say that they were just as dangerous judging from their sizes.

He estimated that there was probably around 3,000 of them as he used his sharp eyes to sweep the vicinity. This was most likely one of the more catastrophic events the Empire had ever been in, second only to the Dark Hour incident 1 year ago.

Was there a connection? Renora thought to himself. The increasing frequencies of major disasters like these were possibly a sign that the end of the world was approaching. Perhaps the Goddesses of this world had already left them to die. Still, he kept these thoughts in his heart only because someone could brand him as a heretic if they heard this. He himself would have also hoped that this was not the case. After all, what would everyone do if the Goddesses left them? This world was built upon the concepts of higher entities protecting their current way of life.

Blueskin Crawlers were reptillian monsters resembling giant toads with oddly shaped vertebrates on its back; It was in the Level 30s range. Individually, they were already a Rank A monster. Even if they mobilize the entire army personnel of 2,000 stationed in this city and enlist the help of the Adventurer's Guild branch in Hiomi, there was no guarantee that they would be able to minimize the amount of casualties incurred, let alone survive this onslaught. Not to mention that their most powerful adventurer in the country had been reported to have taken on some kind of personal quest into the dense Shmizula forest, so there was no chance of making use of that overwhelming amount of war potential for this battle.

To put it into perspective, a average normal conscripted and trained soldier in this world was Level 5. And it would be already pretty impressive if they could master two or three skills, disregarding their skill levels.

An average seasoned adventurer in the C to B ranks would be Level 10 and had double or triple the amount of skills a soldier would have.

Beyond Level 20, they would be the A ranks.

As seen in White's case, a level up increased base stats by quite an amount, so level differences would consequently result in the disparity in combat ability. A Blueskin Crawler was capable of using Rank 3 abilities, with skill levels to its appropriate amount for its level. It was unknown how some monsters had learnt to level up their skills since monsters used to only have abilities at only Level 1, but it was already widely acknowledged that there had already been changes in the monster ecology. Perhaps the mutations held some influence in their ability to level up their skills.

Renora grimaced, as he opened his mouth again.

"...Contact the Adventurer's Guild, and Duke Hagan. Order the ones in charge of the evacuation process to move the civilians along the escape route at once-"

"Captain..."

Seeing the soldiers' faces around him, he quickly came to an understanding. They had probably already done so, and if their spirits were this low, then...

"We're surrounded, huh... Then the Duke?"

"He said he would be escaping using the tamed wyvern of his private squad, and that he expects that we handle this situation alone as the responsibility as the commander in charge of this city..."

"...Fuck...!!!"

Kicking the wall in irritation, Renora's insides were blazing with desperation just like these guys around him. He knew how powerful a Blueskin Crawler was, as it was the first breed of monsters to have mutated around this city 2 years ago.

This city, his home. And these nobles would just lay back and watch it burn up in flames when things turned sour.

...

He was reminded of his daughter back in the streets. She must have been shaken when he was told by the foot soldiers in the city to evacuate. But he knew he had a rational and understanding daughter, she would definitely comply and escape without causing trouble to his father.

Calming himself down a little, Renora managed to readjust his mental state again. Just to be sure, he asked the soldiers.

"...And my daughter?"

This time, another squad of soldiers appeared behind him and explained.

"Don't worry about it, I have specifically sent a personal unit over to protect Captain's daughter since a while ago already."

Thinking that her daughter had done exactly what he had thought she would do, Renora heaved a sigh of relief. He wouldn't know what to do if something happened to his precious child. A flame of determination was lit inside of his heart.

...That's right... we have to prepare... I have to live up to her expectations after all.

Seeing that the soldiers assigned under him were slowly gathering around him and waiting for his response, he smiled bravely and prepared a speech. This was the time he had to prove his worth as a captain of the Silver Eagle. His knight order was not as established as the one before it since this group of members were only formed last year to replace the knight order that went missing in the Shmizula Forest a long time ago. Despite that, he had formed a close camaraderie with his underlings. Rather than mindless subordinates, they were his close friends. A part of his small family that extended beyond the precious existence of his daughter.

"I am, this country's soldier."

The soldiers around Renora raised their heads up to look at him attentively.

"Our purpose, is to protect the country and its citizens. Now is not the time to falter, my men. Remember this day not as the day you're sent to a meaningless death, but the day where you unworthy bastards' names will be engraved in gold on your memorial graves as the heroes who stopped at nothing to protect this city!"

"UOOOOHHHH!!!"

"Our home!"

"UOOOOHHHH!!!"

"Are you ready to die, bastards?!"

"YEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"I can't hear you, you goons! Where is your pride as a knight of the Order of the Silver Eagle?!"

"URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Renora smiled. He felt like he had raised some fine men during the course of just under a year.

Even though it was an unreasonable and selfish request to ask of them, he knew all of them were extreme patriots to the Empire. Some of them had relationships and families just like him, but they seemed to all have some kind of invisible determination hidden underneath their faces. They knew they were the only hope their loved ones could place onto for their survival. So they complied without question, roaring with vigor despite knowing that a large number of them... no, all of them were about to face the image of death.

There was not much time left till the monsters would reach the walls.

"Very good, men. Saddle up and gather at the gates. Fute, come with me. We'll head over to the Adventurer's Guild."

"...Captain, you knew? I was about to tell you that." Another soldier said with a wry smile.

Renora understood what his subordinate had meant, and grinned.

"Well, how many times do you think I had encountered this situation with those obstinate old fools there? Well, I'll be right back.

...Let's go men, move out. The fate of this city lies on our shoulders."