*Bluuuuurp~

When the sun rose, the deep sound of horn reverberated throughout the village.

Men and women, young and old, everyone gathered in the village center.

The old chief stood in front of the century-old oak tree, facing the crowd, which increased in number as villagers gathered. Elise and Lorian stood behind the chief. Lorian's face was covered by the wolf mask. He wore a new set of clothes and appeared carefree, calm and mysterious with hands crossed behind his back.

The villagers took curious glances at him from time to time as they didn't recognize him, but nobody commented. The fact that ancestral horn was blown meant that something important was happening and chief would clear their doubts soon.

Lorian was a bit bored as chief started his never-ending awe-inspiring speech. He vividly drew the whole situation to the villagers and riled them up so they would fight against the beast tide.

Village folk is more simple by nature and the chief wasn't an inexperienced leader. He easily convinced everyone in following him. By the end of the long 1-hour speech, he introduced Lorian as a hunter who would help them in overcoming the beast tide. In short, he was introduced as trustworthy, yet second rate character, which was probably true, because he wasn't that powerful.

Some bold villagers asked about his mask, but he refused to take it off, but this didn't cause any dissatisfaction. The villagers received him as strange, but interesting fellow. Lorian couldn't easily acquire their trust, but he didn't care about that.

Nothing else, which was noteworthy happened, except for the killing intent he felt from a certain individual in the crowd. However, this feeling quickly vanished and couldn't locate him. He was quite confused. He didn't offend anybody, right?

'At most I'll be more vigilant.'

Lorian thought to himself.

After the gathering ended, the village became very active.

The 150 or so abled man starting working and sweating. The spiked fences were being constructed, pitfalls were being dug and covered. Dozens of men were sent to chop the trees to bring more materials. Some people went to the extent of demolishing their houses to support the traps and barricades that were being built.

Lorian didn't shy away from the work and actively helped them. His white shirt was stained with sweat by afternoon. The simple village guys quickly got cozy with him and accepted him, because of his diligence.

Old blacksmith didn't have too much time to forge weapons and crafted simple spears to equip everyone. Some talented youngsters were proficient in archery and were reading their bows. Some old adventurers grabbed their rusty swords and started sharpening them. The women did the chores, made delicious meals and supported them from behind. There were also some women who helped men in physical labor and did even better than others.

All in all, everyone worked hard and while everybody seemed in a cheerful mood, it seemed a bit forced. After all, nobody knew when the beasts would strike.

- Lorian, please don't embarrass us. We've made our guest work for a whole day. This old man is dying of shame.

The middle-aged man stared at hardworking Lorian awkwardly.

- Don't say that, uncle Tom I'm still young and have a lot of energy.

Though he said that, his hands were already trembling from overexertion. There were some new small cuts carved on his palms.

There were too many people, so he couldn't remember everyone's names so he called them uncles and aunties. However, Uncle Tom was the one who kept him the company most of the time for a whole day, so he remembered him.

- Old bag is right. Go, go, we don't need you here anymore. Leave us, old people here and get along with youngsters.

Auntie Rose waved him off in pretend-cold tone. Though her name was Rose, she was anything, but beautiful. Her arms were as thick as his thighs and she did 3 men's work.

- Alright then.

Lorian smiled under the mask. He really needed to rest as his performance was dropping.

- Hohoho, young man, you don't have a lover yet, right?

Auntie Rose laughed exaggeratedly.

Lorian grunted as he had a bad feeling about this.

- N, no.

- That's great. I'll introduce you to my niece, she's a sweet girl, you'll see.

- Ah right, till tomorrow.

Lorian hurriedly ran off from devious auntie Rose's schemes.

He walked around aimlessly for a while until catching something interesting. There were a small, artificial archery training grounds set near the edge of the village, which was surrounded by fences. Several trees had round boards attached to it, which was divided into circle areas. This was for practicing hitting targets with a bow.

Young, 17-year-old girl with short hair was lightly panting as she aimed at the target with trembling hands. She should have been practicing for a while now. Her aim was off, but she still hit the edge of the board. Lorian admired her skills. If she was in top condition, her accuracy shouldn't be bad.

- Oh, it's the hunter.

The girl giggled as she noticed his presence.

- You're good at that.

Lorian said as he approached. The girl blushed, then smiled and said.

- I wonder whether mister hunter knows archery?

Lorian felt awkward but shook his head.

The girl laughed in response as she held her stomach.

- What kind of hunter doesn't know archery? Hahaha...want to try?

She kindly offered the bow.

- Sure, why not?

Lorian took the wooden bow in hands.

- That's not how it works silly, here, let me help you.

The girl supported him in grasping the bow right, then explained her insights excitedly.

- Like that?

Lorian asked while sweating. His hands were stained as he's been corrected for his posture multiple times and was tired before he even shot once.

- Perfect, now aim and shoot.

The short haired girl laughed as she cheered.

*Whoosh.

...

- That was terrible.

...

- Hahahahaha~

They both laughed. Lorian felt relaxed and comfortable.

- What's your name, little girl?

- I'm not a little girl! And you, you only just remember to ask my name, humph.

The girl pouted.

- I'm Lorian, nice to meet you.

The girl was pretending to be angry, but when she heard Lorian introducing himself, she also smiled and shook his hand.

- Ania, my name is Ania.

- It's a nice name.

- Right? *Giggle

* * *

The day ended. The villagers had a huge feast over a bonfire. Lorian was even forced to dance, but wasn't able to and was laughed at. Fortunately, Ania saved the day and danced with him while teaching some basic moves. Lorian only had to follow her directing.

Lorian was still embarrassed to remember that. He wasn't as sociable as he pretended to be. In fact, he was more of an introverted type.

Even now, he was lying on his bed. His expression was dazed. Who knew what he was thinking about?

Closing his eyes, Lorian entered the instances. This time, he chose the hard mode once again.

Out of 9 wolves, this time he managed to kill 6 before going down. This time, he was clever and plunged the dagger into his heart before being eaten alive. He wouldn't feel pain either way, but he preferred to not experience his flesh being eaten and blood drank.

After allocating all the Exp, his warrior progression bar reached 1,465/10,000 mark.

Lorian unwrapped the paper, which was written by the old chief. There was a list of monsters that appeared in the last wave. Lorian took out a booklet from his inventory, where detailed information of monsters was written and read it before going to sleep.

The following day everyone woke up early. The last wave happened just 2 days ago and it was expected, that they had at least 1 more day. Unfortunately, things didn't go their way.

Suddenly chief, who was watching at villagers working, paled. He bent down and put his ear on the ground. His face turned even paler and gloomy.

- They are coming! We've only got less than half an hour.

He informed everyone.

The atmosphere turned tense.

Taking a deep breath, Lorian couldn't help but take a glance at everyone's expressions. Worry, fear, resoluteness was what he saw in their eyes...

- Haha, don't be afraid everyone. We fight for the right cause, for our families, for our children's future. What do we have to fear? If our blood can save our loved ones, blood shall we spill. We, can not afford to lose, WE CAN ONLY WIN!

Uncle tom held his huge hammer up as he roared. Instantly, the morale shot up to the maximum.

*Krrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee~

Distant, chilling voice interrupted everyone's heroic thoughts.

Old chief walked forward as he said.

- It's the Oculus, the one who controls the tide. It feeds on negative emotions and turns one's fears into inner demons and illusions. The monsters are bewitched, so their intelligence is low, however, we had less time to prepare than needed. Our pitfalls won't be enough to win this battle. Vanguards, follow me, archers, support us from the rear. Hide behind the spike fences and retreat to another spike fence behind if the pressure becomes unbearable. May God bless us all!

As he finished his speech, first traces of rushing monsters appeared in the vicinity, from the forest in front of them.

- Those who fear can leave, as if your mind isn't strong enough, you will only burden us.

Some people's eyes flashed and faces changed, but nobody left. They have long made their decision.

The beast wave was approaching and was getting bigger in their sight. The ground was trembling from the incessant stomping. When the beasts got in range, the chief bellowed.

- Archers, fire!

30 or so people drew the arrows and shot.

- Get in positions. Prepare for the first collision!

The chief yelled as he stood behind the spiked fence in front. 4 burly middle-aged men followed him and stood by his side.

- ROAR!

Lorian also hid behind the spiked fence and waited for the prey to arrive.

There were about 100 beasts charging in total, but due to their varying sizes and the spread out formation, they left the illusion of being superior in numbers.

Old chief grumbled in his heart. The previous wave had only about 30 or so monsters. The numbers more than tripled this time. Seems the Oculus was going all out to destroy the village.

Suddenly, a system notification rang in Lorian's ears, surprising him.

Quests unlocked Optional quests available.

Quest 1: Prevent the village from being destroyed.

Reward: 300 General Exp

Quest 2: Kill as many monsters, as possible.

Receive 10 bonus Battle Exp for each kill.

Receive extra 200 General Exp for killing more than 10 monsters.

Quest 3: Save the villagers

Receive 1 General Exp for every villager alive.

Current count: 874/874

Quest 4: Kill the Oculus

Reward: 500 battle Exp, 1 bronze chest