But every single rumor couldn’t prepare Fraser for the real horde.

Do you know the moment when anyone would tell you an exciting story about heroes, wars or maybe even the tale of some people that either did good or bad?

One might feel excited and even want to be in the stories, but if one would see the reality, then no one would like to be there.

When Fraser reached the end of the gigantic flytrap, he wondered whether or not the flytrap was a single entity.

The size could definitively fit in a small patch of forest.

But when he looked up and saw into the distance, everything in his mind went blank.

Like a frozen statue, Fraser glanced into the distance.

Only after a couple of moments could Fraser process what was before his eyes.

A seemingly black horizon. A small stripe of black could be seen in the distance.

When Fraser entered the howling abyss for the first time, he could see a forest that still had mist lingering around it and a couple of water ponds.

At that time he only had one servant, One. It was also the time where Magus Sept spoke about the different outpost that ventured into the howling abyss and would retreat towards their outpost because of the impending horde.

When he slaughtered a pack of armored deer, he wanted to continue to explore the howling abyss. However, he stopped as he wanted to proceed when he had enough servants.

But the howling abyss from the past looked way different than the howling abyss looked right now. Everything that Fraser once associated with the howling abyss disappeared. No forest, no water ponds and no mist that gave it a magical vibe.

Instead, the only thing that remained in Fraser's eyesight was a green sea.

The grass danced in the wind like water would.

After staring at the black line for a while, Fraser actually processed the reality.

‘It can’t be… Is the black line the horde? But then that would mean….’

With a horrified glance, Fraser stared at the black line. The horde resulted in a black line that could be seen in the far distance.

Now, what would happen once the horde collapses into the defensive line? It would be like trying to stop the ocean wave with a single pebble.

‘No, even if the horde looks so imposing, the Magi will be stronger. After all the horde is an event that occurs every century.’

With that thought, Fraser retreated behind the flytrap, next to Magus Sept, and began to close his eyes in order to be at optimal state when the horde arrived.

When the horde neared, Fraser could immediately hear it.

Screams, howls, roars and many other animal sounds echoed in the surrounding.

It wasn’t long before Fraser could see the first few beasts rushing towards them.

With red eyes, one of the beasts charged towards the only female Magus. But the defensive preparation from the female Magus seemed to suffice. As if entering a dead zone, the beast dropped onto the ground, never able to stand again.

In order to get a better overview from the battle, Fraser commanded his eight servants to move forward while relaying their impressions to him.

So it was no wonder that Fraser sat next to the chair of Magus Sept.

Like a commander receiving multiple battle reports, Fraser received the information from his servants.

The flytrap from Magus Sept survived with ease. It devoured the members of the horde that dared to step into its boundaries. Thus it got sufficient nutrients to grow at an unimaginable speed.

As if sensing the danger from the flytrap, the horde split and tried to avoid the flytrap. However, sometimes there were still a few beasts dumb enough to run towards the flytrap. They were mercilessly devoured.

The same thing happened with the chimeras the white-robed youth Magus summoned and the earth knights which the middle-aged Magus summoned.

Though there was one territory that the horde tried to avoid but couldn’t. It was the territory of the female Magus. The beasts that died without a reason would soon start to stand up once more, the only difference compared to their living counterparts was the fact that they would try to drag more beasts into the territory and would continue their capturing duty until they got shredded to bits.

They looked like mindless, controlled zombie voodoo dolls.

After the first wave arrived, Fraser could understand why the other six Magi choose the territory on the side. It was not because they were lazy or cowards.

Instead, it was the simple reason of being too weak.

Fraser could see that the Magus who raised the stone fortress had problems and needed to rise higher and more durable castle walls in order to allow his apprentices to cast their spells.

The other Magi probably had similar problems, with the exception of the four Magi in the middle.

After the short impact with the horde, Fraser immediately commanded his eight servants to return to him.

Fraser thought that he would be able to help or even gain some benefits from helping, but reality shook his head and denied it with a simple reason:

He was too weak.

When Fraser saw how the flytrap of Magus Sept crushed and held the countless number of beasts at bay with ease, he now knew that he still had a long way to go before being able to grab a few benefits for himself.

Like a wave, the horde clashed against the different defensive measures of the Magi.

Even if all of the defensive measurements seemed to be mighty and impressive, there was clearly a difference in power.

While the flytrap of Magus Sept seemingly easily devoured every single beast coming too it, it also held the wave at bay with its vines.

Compared to that, the stone fortress seemed too weak. Fraser could even see how some beast managed to get into the fortress and injured a couple of apprentices.

Then the Magus had to raise another stone fortress, this time the Magus probably realized the weaknesses and it took three castings to raise a bigger and mightier stone fortress out of the ground.

After that event, Fraser didn’t witness any other battle as he, along with his eight servants, walked back towards the outpost.

Although he could see that Emium and Vira, the two parties in Magus Sept inner circle, moved into the flytrap and tried to gather some benefits, Fraser didn’t do anything.

The choice that Fraser made was completely obvious, the monster wave crashed into the defensive measurements of the Magi and the defensive line seemed to be like the only shining ember in a room full of darkness.

There were a few options that Fraser could do in order to gather a few benefits, but the problem was that he never experienced anything like a monster tide. The best thing Fraser could do right now was to wait.

‘Normally People are afraid to lose the chance to get benefits, but I remember Magus Sept saying that our return to the howling abyss academy might get postponed. Since normally the term for Magus Sept would be a three year period and a single year already passed, then the horde duration would be at least 2 years.’

Turning his head one last time to look at the seemingly endless number of beasts charging towards the outpost, Fraser could only think of one thing:

‘I hope that the horde would at least dimish down in numbers or else the howling abyss would be a really scary place.’