-The Longest Night(3)-

Unlike the mummies, Shogun Skeletons instantly attacked Kenshin after their emergence. They didn’t attack erratically, rather their attacks follow a disciplined pattern. Some of the skeletons formed a formation around him and started closing in.

It was the most frightening thing about these monster.

In past, many hunters had lost their lives to them. It’s always recommended to form a party with at least 10 members in order to survive on the fifth floor. But Kenshin had no fears towards these monsters.

Right now he was strong enough to cope up with them even though the whole army attacks at the same time. Not in the mood to waste time, Kenshin attacked immediately. In the background, he could see that a large number of zombies were heading towards the opening of the gate. Leading them was the mummy with the golden rod. His two zombies were also busy with another huge hoard of zombies.

“Shit!” although he screamed in frustration, he made no move to stop them. In fact, he was unable to stop them as he had his hands tied with these shogun skeletons. Leaving them to Suguro and other hunters, he concentrated on the most dangerous of the bunch.

…

Outside of the dungeon, there was a huge commotion. The gate of the shopping center, inside which the dungeon happens to be at, was surrounded by a huge number of military vehicles and tanks. It was the first line of defense. Next to that were stood various people wearing armor and holding weapons like swords or axes. They are the hunters that Suguro managed to call on the short notice. There are many who had refused to come, but still, the number exceeded 1000.

The atmosphere was very heavy. It will be the first time for everyone to face a ‘Dungeon Break’. In records, the last time it had ever happened was twenty years ago. That time it had caused a huge damage to the human population, killing millions in the process. When such an event was to happen again, how could they not be worried?

The military soldiers, who comprised of the third line of defense were all placed in strategic locations, holding the varying type of weapons.

Amidst such a tense atmosphere, two people, more specifically two women were engaged in a heated discussion.

“You sure he was nothing to you?” the one who asked this question was one of those two women. She had a short height and auburn hair. Her face was very delicate, similar to that of a middle schooler. She had green eyes that were screaming mischievousness. Finally, in her hands was a massive red colored ax.

“It’s like I said. We are only friends!” the one replied was none other than Maria. Holding a phone in her hand, she was anxiously calling someone.

“But Your face and action tell otherwise!” the young woman argued, there was a cunning smile on her face.

“Even now you are anxiously calling his number, right!?” she continued.

“I am simply calling him because he’s very powerful and would be a huge help to us in curbing this tragedy” Maria argued, but there was a tiny blush on her face.

“Is he handsome?”

“Yes-ah! I mean no!” Maria had a slip of tongue.

“See! You just admitted yourself. Before this, you would always give an uninterested answer. Admit it that you are falling for him! You haven’t stopped talking about him from the moment you came back. I have even heard you muttering his name in sleep”

“I did no such thing!” Maria screamed in frustration. It was really sad. For her, a mature woman with a child to be teased by someone half as young as her.

The conversation and actions of these two women had attracted the attention of many male hunters nearby, who would pose from time to time to get their attention. In the end, they were spectacularly ignored by these two women.

Beeepppp!!!!

Suddenly a loud siren sounded attracting the attention of these two women. It was the indication that the monsters had come out of the gate.

Maria squinted her eyes and noticed a huge number of zombies coming their way.

“The monster, they are here! It’s really a dungeon break!” a hunter shouted out after being frightened by the appearance of the monsters outside.

“They are all zombies! They are from the first floor, don’t tell me that the monsters from other floors will also appear!”

“It looks like so!”

Suddenly the voice of Suguro was heard through a megaphone.

“Hunters! The monsters were finally here. I will not waste time in useless speech, but I only say this, Mito is our home. We can’t allow these monsters to defile our home. Please cooperate with everyone in pushing back this tragedy. Your private affairs, please leave them for today. Kill as many of these monsters as today.” After his short speech was over, the front line defense comprising of tanks and launchers started attacking the zombies.

Boom! Boom!

The tanks and launchers carved a bloody path among the zombies, allowing even more zombies to come out of their hiding. While this was going on, not a single hunter dared to go front as the threat tanks possess to them was very high. Even with their superpowers, they were only, at most, five times stronger than regular humans.

These tanks and launchers could punch a hole in a wall made of steel.

While the tanks were showing with endless attacks, all the long rage skill users started their volley. Maria was amongst them. She especially targetted the place with the most zombies before sending an explosion ring their way. As it was an AoE type skill, it was fit for this type of situations.

Gradually due to the combined effort of military and hunters, all the zombies were slain within five minutes.

“Yehahh!!” the hunters began to celebrate after finding this.

“Hunters, good job everyone. But it was still early to celebrate. These are only the appetizers, the main course has yet to come. Be prepared!” Suguro spoke again with a loudspeaker.

Not long after that skeletons and zombies appeared again. This time, their numbers were double of the last time. Everyone’s scalps tingled after seeing this. It was simply horrifying to see this many monsters coming again.

Again the tanks started to fire, followed by the long range hunters. But unlike zombies, skeletons were very fast. While the zombies took the attacks head-on, the skeletons remained behind to protect themselves. After the volley was over, they ran towards the human encirclement.

Nobody noticed this weird pattern, except a select few. Those who noticed it suddenly paled in fright.

It was a clear indication that an intelligent monster was amongst them. The tanks continued their firing while the magic users periodically used their magic to wipe out the skeletons. Even with this much firing, the undead who were not the least bit afraid of death, continued unobstructed.

Now it was time for all the melee skill users to shine. Swords, maces, spikes, hunters with various types of weapons engaged with the skeletons. The scene was so surreal that, if one has to see it from a helicopter view, they would have found it strangely resembles one of the old school horror movies.

…

“Yah!”

“You damn skeletons! Taste my sword”

“Here!”

Shouting various strange sounding words, the hunters began slaughtering the monsters exiting from the old shopping mall. Gradually the number of skeletons reduced to the point that it can be countable.

Several minutes later, due to the combined effort of military and hunters, the second wave was also averted without a single casualty.

Now Suguro was suspicious.

Why do only these first and second-floor monsters come out!? What happened to other floor monsters? According to Kenshin, the protective bubbles of the teleportation gates had disappeared from all the floors, but only these first and second-floor monsters are appearing.

What’s happening here?

“Is it because of him?” Suguro muttered slowly. That would explain why Kenshin still hadn’t come out of the dungeon. It turns out, the first line of defense was actually not them. It was a lone hunter who was fighting inside the dungeon all this time.

A deep sense of respect arouses in his heart. It was his first time respecting someone so many years younger than him.

“I will not disappoint you!” Suguro vowed in his heart.