Within the forest northeast of Krochi village, on the south side of the river which split the forest into two, Keith and a number of adventurers were forming a line against a distant incoming wildfire. Embers from the north side of the river definitely had managed to cross, spreading the wildfire to the south side. Thus, they were now preparing to make a fire line.

“Hmmph!”

Keith stomped the ground beneath him, and all trees and bushes within a wide rectangular area in front of him were forcefully pushed forward by one meter, leaving nothing other than plain dirt on the ground. A number of adventurers who practiced Earth Weave did the same, albeit their casting time was slower and the area they covered with every cast was smaller.

“Faster! The wildfire ain’t gonna wait for you!” Keith commanded while moving to a different spot and repeating his feat. Meanwhile, some other adventurers sprinkled water on the completed fire line parts and also all the adventurers themselves in order to cool them off.

Their work had a number of hindrances in the form of calamity beast attacks. So far they only had encountered quad apes in small groups which they could easily handle, but they still ended up wasting time and energy in a situation where every second counted.

Nevertheless, Keith continued his work at another spot, and then he looked at Elana who now covered her face with a mask and goggles. “How’s the situation?” He asked.

“There are more ape beasts approaching from that direction.” Elana replied while pointing forward. “I count five.”

“Tch! Another waste of time.” Keith angrily gritted his teeth as he spoke.

“I shall take care of them if you allow me.” Elana said, pulling her gun out.

Keith took a quick look at Elana’s gun before replying. “Alright. Be careful and come back here as soon as you can.”

“Understood.” Elana said, and then she went ahead toward the direction she had previously pointed and disappeared from sight into the sea of trees.

Keith continued his work in constructing the fire line along with other Earth Weave users for only a single minute before a familiar voice called from behind, surprising him a bit.

“Hey, Keith.” Sedhoust said, putting one hand on Keith’s shoulder.

“Whoa! Don’t surprise me like that!” Keith said.

Sedhoust shrugged while replying. “I thought you could sense anyone coming from afar?”

“Only if they touch the ground! Look at you!” Keith said while gesturing toward Sedhoust’s feet. “You’re floating! With Gravity Weave while at it!”

“Heh, yeah.” Sedhoust chuckled. “Anyway, where is Elana?”

“Went ahead to take care of some apes.” Keith replied while pushing away another set of trees.

Sedhoust frowned and folded his arms. “Alone?”

“Yea, why?” Keith asked back as he stomped and pushed another patch of shrubbery. “She’s proven herself capable already.”

“Yes, but the beasts in this forest aren’t normal.” Sedhoust said. “None of the ghirdys I saw behaved like a leader either. There must be an even higher beast. A beast with enough intelligence to give specific orders.”

“You got a point.” Keith said. “But right now stopping the wildfire takes priority.” He continued while pushing a different patch of land. “The wildfire you started, mind you.”

“There was no other choice, Keith.” Sedhoust said, putting his hands on his hip. “Otherwise the adventurer team you sent here would have met their early demise.”

Keith stopped and sighed. “Right, everybody sucks here. Anyway, she’s coming back. Go talk to her if that’s what you came here for.”

Sedhoust nodded, and Elana came back as Keith had said, although it took Sedhoust a few seconds to recognize her through the goggles and mask she wore. She immediately noticed Sedhoust’s presence, and for a very brief moment Sedhoust felt an indifferent gaze coming from her.

“Targets eliminated.” Elana said to Keith before turning her head to Sedhoust. “Is there something you need from me?”

“Well, yes.” Sedhoust nodded while Keith resumed his work. “I’d like you to tell me what exactly that metal bird was, if you can.”

“Well,” Elana folded her arms and lowered her head a bit before looking straight at Sedhoust again. “I can at least tell you that I can see things from very far away thanks to it.”

“So it sees things from up there,” Sedhoust said while pointing up. “And simultaneously sends the information to you?” He pointed to Elana as he continued.

“Yes.” Elana nodded.

“Are you sure it is purely technology with no magic involved?” Sedhoust asked.

“There is no such thing as magic in our homeland.” Elana said. “So yes. No magic involved.”

“Still, that does not explain the feeling of dread I had when I looked at it.” Sedhoust said, lowering his head with a slight frown.

“Humans have a tendency to fear the unknown, so in my opinion that was a normal reaction.” Elana said.

“I guess that makes sense.” Sedhoust said before looking around. Keith and other Earth Weave users seemed to have finished their work in making a fire line which stretched from the depth of the forest all the way to the river edge. At the same time, Water Weave users drenched the fire line with their spells. The result was essentially the same as what the Enforcer team had previously done on the north side but on a greater scale.

“Are you going to do a backfire?” Elana asked while glancing around with her hands on her hip.

“What? I’ve never heard of that.” Keith said. “Care to explain quickly?”

“Basically you start a fire over there and let it spread to the oncoming wildfire.” Elana said while pointing at the other side of the fire line.

“Oh, I see.” Sedhoust said. “The wildfire will not come close to the fire line if the trees here have already been burned.”

“Preemptively burning the fuel, eh?” Keith said with his arms folded. “While it makes sense it doesn’t feel right for me.”

“I merely asked whether you would do it.” Elana shrugged. “You make the decision, still.”

“T’was never planned to begin with, so no.” Keith shook his head. “Now we leave this fire line as it is and hope for the best.” He continued while giving other adventurers a signal to retreat.

“Understood.” Elana said. “What about the village and the people?”

“We’ll have them move.” Keith said as he and other adventurers began walking back toward Krochi Village. “The forest’s definitely infested. Can’t have anyone live close to it unprotected.”

Elana also began walking, closely following Keith while Sedhoust also followed. “Will they agree to move that easily?” She asked.

“Who’s to say they’re gonna move far?” Keith asked with a grin, to which Elana just squinted and tilted her head. “You’ll see for yourself soon.” He continued.

Some time later, Keith along with Sedhoust and Elana were standing on an empty patch of land just a stone’s throw distance southeast of Krochi Village. The land was nothing more than a flat plain of grass and dirt, yet to be disturbed by human civilization.

“Here should be good.” Keith said, folding his arms with a confident grin on his face. “Is the area clear?”

“Yes.” Elana said. “Looking forward to whatever you are going to do.”

Sedhoust, still floating, chimed in. “I am willing to wager that you are going to like it.”

“Alright! Here goes!” Keith said as his right fist met his left palm in a pretty loud clapping sound. His towering figure then took a low, firmly rooted stance followed by repeatedly punching the ground beneath him, the impact of each punch being gradually heavier than the previous.

Cracks formed on the ground, advancing forward from the trio and spread over the land ahead. More and more cracks joined the fray, raising plenty of dust and dirt to obstruct visions of the naked eye. Sedhoust covered his nose and mouth with his left hand while Elana stood unfazed under the protection of her goggles and mask.

“Ha!”

Keith roared as he rose and held his arms up high, immediately followed by rumbling noises from beyond the dust cloud. Despite the vision obstruction, it wasn’t hard for anyone present to tell that a massive structure rose from the ground. Elana seemed to be nodding slightly at the spectacle, but she hardly showed her awe.

Half a minute later the rumbling noises stopped, and Sedhoust waved his right hand forward. A rather strong wind gust blew forward and drove away all the dust cloud within seconds. It was then, that the result of Keith’s work came into vision.

Standing tall in front of the trio was a massive fort made of stone covering about the same area as the cluster of houses in the village. The entrance of the fort was an opening as large as a standard double door facing west. From the look of it, the fort was sturdy and fortified enough to withstand many kinds of things including beast attacks.

“And that’s that!” Keith put both hands on his hip with a prideful and satisfied grin on his face, putting aside the pain and stiffness he felt on his fingers. The instant fort spell had taken quite a toll on him and put him into the first stage of weavesickness.

“Well,” Elana began speaking. “While I expected that, seeing it for real up close still impressed me.”

Sedhoust turned his head to Elana. “I honestly expected your reaction to be... more.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Elana shrugged. “But suppressing emotion is basically required in my line of work.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sedhoust asked. “Some of your fellow soldiers I saw showed plenty of emotion.”

“I am their captain. I must not show weakness.” Elana said. “And I would appreciate it if you don’t pry further into the way I do things.”

Sedhoust let out a barely audible sigh before replying. “As you wish, but let me say one thing. Showing emotion is not a sign of weakness.”

“Sadly not all people perceive it that way.” Elana said.

Sedhoust nodded. “I am fully aware of that. Just like yours, Vierra’s line of work and mine require us to suppress our emotion as well.” He said, stopping briefly to take a breath. “My point is, we are not among those people, so feel free to be less reserved around us.”

“I shall consider it. Thank you.” Elana said without changing her tone. “Nevertheless, I assume that you plan to have the villagers move to this fort?” She continued while turning her head to Keith.

Keith replied immediately. “For sure! It’s right next to the village so they still can continue their daily work like before! I’ll also station adventurers to stand guard while other adventurers go on an extermination quest.”

“Speaking of extermination quest,” Elana said. “Are you sure that infested areas appear rarely?”

“Yes! I told you that it appears once every half year on average, didn’t I?” Keith said. “Everything’s documented in the guild!”

“My experience tells me otherwise.” Elana said, turning her head toward the forest. The smokes rising up seemed to have lessened by now, implying that the wildfire was beginning to die out. “Two in the span of one week, and I was involved in discovering both of them in one way or another.”

Keith was about to put his hand on Elana’s shoulder as a gesture of reassurance, but he halted, remembering that she was a foreigner who possibly would get the wrong idea. Instead, he folded his arms and spoke. “I’d say it was just coincidence.”

“Hmm...” Elana lowered her head and folded her arms. “Once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is pattern.” She then turned her head to Keith once more. “If this happens the third time, I must have become a factor in play somehow.”

Sedhoust replied before Keith could. “I would actually concur with your line of thought, but what do you possibly have which can cause this to happen? As far as I can see, you and all your men are human beings just like us.”

“Rather than what we have, it could be something we don’t have.” Elana said. “None of us can use magic. Maybe the beasts were attracted to us who don’t have magic power, thinking that we were easy targets?”

Keith shook his head. “No way. Calamity beasts don’t differentiate, especially common ones. Sedhoust and I can stand next to a harmless villager and they would attack us all the same.”

“We should stop at that for now.” Sedhoust said. “We don’t have enough information to properly address that yet.”

“Yes.” Elana nodded. “It is more important to take care of the matter at hand first before thinking about uncertain things.”

With that conclusion, the discussion ended and Keith went to arrange his plans with other adventurers before going home.

***

Days went by, and Keith didn’t miss a day reading reports regarding Krochi Village, specifically the status of the extermination quest and the condition of the fort he had magically built. Thanks to the unique RV belonging to Elana’s group, it was possible to receive an up to date report on a daily basis without straining resources. Keith was thankful and had been paying her handsomely for it.

It was nearly the evening, five days after the day he had built the fort. Keith’s job as a guildmaster was about to be over for the day, and he was about to stand up from his work desk when he suddenly heard the window being knocked. He looked back with a full expectation on who the visitor was, and he was right on the money.

Keith then stood up, walked to the window, and opened it wide for the visitor who was none other than Sedhoust to float into the room.

“How’s the situation?” Sedhoust asked as his feet gently touched the floor and Keith closed the window.

“Putting it in one word: Strange.” Keith said as he sat back down behind his desk while Sedhoust took a seat across it. “They still haven’t found the leader yet.”

“Even with the help of Elana’s sky eye?” Sedhoust asked while glancing over the latest report he took from Keith’s desk.

Keith leaned back before replying. “Made quite a fuss over it when she showed me the first time, so she’s possibly holding back on using it now.”

“I see. Pity, but I get the reason.” Sedhoust said without taking his eyes off the report paper in his hands. “Wait, I just noticed. The Enforcer team stayed there?”

“Yeah, told ‘em to go ahead on their journey but Juliana decided otherwise.” Keith shrugged. “Saying that protecting people was more important than her own mental health.”

“I sure hope she won’t end up breaking herself.” Sedhoust said with a sigh.

“Me too, friend. Me too.” Keith said.

“Hmm...” Sedhoust murmured, taking a closer look at the report. “Not only that they haven’t found the leader, the kill count is awfully low.”

“Yep. Strange, isn’t it?” Keith said. “The beasts hid themselves well. Too well, in fact. We’ve already had casualties from ambushes.”

“Tch..!” Sedhoust clicked his tongue with his face clearly displaying anger.

“Ease your mind, man.” Keith said. “You can’t always be anywhere to help everyone.”

“I know, and it’s inappropriate for me to say this, but...” Sedhoust said before going into a brief silence. “I hope none of the casualties are Elana’s men.”

“Don’t worry, they’re fine so far according to the latest report.” Keith said with a slight grin. “The one you’re holding, by the way.”

“Speaking of them, remind me how many people she brought with her there?” Sedhoust asked as he put down the report back on Keith’s desk.

“The doctor and medics from back then, and the three in darker suits on top of that.” Keith replied. “She said that her team’s going to stay put in the fort and defend it.”

“How do you get a report on a daily basis like this?” Sedhoust asked. “Did you mobilize an RV?”

“Elana’s RV, actually.” Keith replied. “Much faster than ours, and more efficient with fuel while at it.”

Sedhoust’s eyes widened for a moment. “Really? What fuel does it use?”

“Prepare to be surprised.” Keith said with a playful grin. “Same as ours.”

“...What?” Sedhoust asked with a facial expression which clearly showed that he didn’t fully believe it.

Keith, still grinning, stood up as he spoke. “Seems you now have something else to study, eh? Anyway, it’s time to change. Wanna head downstairs too?”

“Uh, yeah. I intended to have dinner here in the first place.” Sedhoust said. “Oh, right. There’s one more thing I must tell you.”

“Hmm? What?” Keith asked as he walked to his wardrobe.

“My parents are coming.” Sedhoust said as he turned his chair away, knowing that Keith was about to change into his chef clothes.

“Duke and Duchess Grasmord are coming, eh?” Keith said. “Guess I need to have everything prepared.”

“And you know who will come as well in that case.” Sedhoust said.

“Time for another attempt at family reunion, then.” Keith said with a grin as he shut the wardrobe, having changed to his chef outfit.

“Yeah.” Sedhoust said before standing up. “Emphasis on attempt.”

The two old friends then walked together out of the office. There were problems waiting to be solved, but one wouldn’t be able to fight on an empty stomach.

***

Morning arrived once again, and Elana walked out of her tent after having a quick shut eye. The nanomachines had helped in tweaking her metabolism in order to maximize sleep efficiency, but consecutive days of bare minimum sleep still had put a burden on her body and mind. Regardless, Elana stretched her body briefly and did a quick morning exercise.

As Elana moved her muscles around, she glanced at her surroundings. The fort Keith had magically built within seconds was actually just four thick walls forming a square with an elevated watchtower on each corner. The space in the middle of the square was nothing more than a wholly flat, bare patch of dirt people can use for any purpose, which for the time being was mostly to lay tents. A simple but effective structure for defense.

The sky had been cloudy for the last couple days, but there had been no rain at all despite the gloomy sky. In fact, the cloud seemed to grow darker and more massive as time passed, and thus heavy rainfall happening was merely a question of when.

“Good morning, Captain.” A voice called through the nanom link.

Without stopping her exercise, Elana replied. “Good morning, Valeria. Anything major to report?”

“Nothing, Captain.” Valeria replied. “Relatively peaceful, but no progress either.”

Elana let out a sigh as she finished her morning exercise, then she went upstairs to the top of the wall, and then the watchtower where Valeria had been standing guard all night with her sniper rifle at the ready.

“You may rest now, Valeria.” Elana said.

Valeria shook her head. “I still can go on for a bit more, Captain.”

“Alright, then.” Elana said with a small smile on her face. “We can talk for a bit before you rest.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Valeria said without taking her focus off the forest ahead.

Elana leaned forward to the edge of the watchtower, resting her arms on the chest-tall stone wall acting as the tower’s fence. Most of the adventurers were still asleep in the tents along with the villagers, leaving only the ones on night guard duty roaming about around the fort and the village.

“Are you alright, Valeria?” Elana asked. “How do you feel?”

Valeria paused briefly before giving an answer. “...I’m alright, Captain. Why do you ask?”

“Are you sure?” Elana asked while looking at Valeria with a kind smile.

Once again, Valeria didn’t give an immediate response, being silent for a few seconds before letting out a small sigh. “Please don’t worry about me, Captain.”

“Worried about Theo?” Elana asked, and Valeria’s cheeks visibly turned red.

“T-There’s nothing between us, Captain!” Valeria frantically replied. “We’re just... companions. Yes! Companions in arms!”

“He should be safe in the city with the others.” Elana said. “Is there something you know that I don’t?”

“No, Captain.” Valeria denied. “I’m just worried that this mission may turn south and... I’m sorry. Please forget I said anything.”

“No, I get your worries.” Elana replied. “And that is why we must always put our utmost effort to stay alive.”

“Of course, Captain.” Valeria said before pausing again. “But the adventurers aren’t faring well so far, and it might be our turn next.”

Elana gazed forward and went silent for a second before replying. “Worse comes to worst, we will flee with the buggy.”

“And abandon the people?” Valeria asked with audible disbelief.

Elana was not fazed by the tone of Valeria’s question, asking back in response. “Did you forget our primary objective, Phantom Squad Leader, Sergeant Valeria Percival?”

“N-No, Captain!” Valeria said startlingly. “Our primary objective is to.. survive.”

“Correct. And I hope you always keep that in mind.” Elana said. “Are we clear?”

“Affirmative, Captain.” Valeria said. Right after that, someone familiar climbed the watchtower and greeted from behind.

“Morning! What’s with the gloomy atmosphere we have here?” The man, a member of Phantom Squad, said before saluting Elana. “Hadi Martinus, reporting in!”

“Lively as always, huh?” Valeria said with a reserved smile on her face. “So much for our squad name.”

Elana gave Valeria a pat on the back. “Squad name represents role, not attitude. Now go back and rest. You’re dismissed.”

“Affirmative, Captain.” Valeria said as she folded her sniper rifle while Hadi pulled his out.

After Valeria retired into the squad’s tent below, Elana turned her head to Hadi and asked. “Hadi, remind me on the power assessment of the squad’s sniper rifles against the monsters.”

“Affirmative, ma’am!” Hadi responded before continuing. “Against the small four-armed apes, our state of the art sniper rifle is confirmed overkill. In the case of rocky gorillas, a single shot is still fully capable of piercing through the hardest part of their body. The humanoid monster called ghirdys by the locals was agile enough to present notable difficulties in our aim, but a direct hit to the head still killed it.”

Elana nodded before speaking her remark. “Good to know that our weaponry still means something against the monsters. How many have the squad slain so far?”

“Yes, ma’am! So far the Phantom Squad has slain six apes, two gorillas, and one ghirdys!”

“Not many, but we are defending the fort after all, not venturing into the forest to hunt for them.” Elana said. “Keep up the good work.”

“Yes, ma’am! And thank you, ma’am!” Hadi responded.

Suddenly, someone spoke through the nanom link in an audibly annoyed tone. “Hadi, can you just... pipe down? You’re so noisy I could hear you all the way from here.”

Elana recognized the voice and turned her head to the watchtower at a different corner of the fort, where the last of the surviving Phantom Squad members was stationed. “Sorry about that, Joshua. I was the one who asked him.”

Joshua, still focused on keeping watch ahead, replied. “It wasn’t your fault, Captain. Hadi’s just too loud.”

“Regardless, I hope you two still can get along.” Elana said. “Especially at times like this.”

“No worries, ma’am!” Hadi said with a grin. “We’re always buddies!”

“Buddies in hell...” Joshua said. “Anyway, focus!”

Elana then left the two snipers, went to a spot on the rampart wall facing the forest, and continued watching over the infested forest through the surveillance of the Probe Drone as groups of adventurers began hunting for the leader of monsters. Morale was overall low due to the fact that they still haven’t found the leader yet after days. On top of that, having casualties had pushed the morale down even further.

Why is the Probe Drone failing me when it didn’t before?

The question came up in Elana’s mind some hours later, seeing the fact that the hunt today had been going the same as the previous. Elana had been scanning the infested and burned up forest over and over, but all the results she had were just more monsters with no sign of any leader-looking one.

“Hey.” Suddenly someone greeted from behind. Elana didn’t flinch since she knew him.

“Good day, Kurt.” Elana greeted back without looking at him. “How was it?”

“Still nothing.” Kurt said. “Anyway, here. Your lunch.” He continued, handing a wooden bowl he had been holding in his right hand to Elana. His left hand held another bowl, most likely his own.

“Thank you.” Elana said as she received the bowl. The food it contained was little more than plain rice gruel with sprinkles of cut vegetables and dried meat. A wooden spoon was naturally included with the bowl.

“Have a good meal. Both of us.” Kurt said as he began eating his own serving.

Elana helped herself with the dish rather slowly, which tasted as plain as it looked. After a few spoonfuls of it, she sighed and spoke to Kurt. “Kurt, I must apologize.”

“Hmm? For what?” Kurt asked, turning his head to Elana with a confused look and a bit of rice gruel staining the side of his mouth.

“For being not much use.” Elana replied. “It has been days, and I still haven't found the leader.”

“Oh, take it easy.” Kurt said as he resumed eating. “Your role this time is to defend the fort, and you’ve been doing well so far. Your squad even got a ghirdys!”

“Yes, but I have this ability to see faraway things and it proved its use back then.” Elana said. “However, for some reason it has been failing me this time.”

“Yeah, that ability of yours is amazing and it was thanks to it that we quickly found the leader of the centipedes back then. Didn’t I tell you that I had expected that quest to last at least three days?” Kurt asked with a smile on his face. “Anyway, it’s not your fault in the slightest. Our enemy is just sneaky enough to elude even your ability.”

“Do you have any idea what kind of beast we are facing?” Elana asked right before she put the last of her rice gruel into her mouth and returned the bowl to Kurt.

Kurt, having also finished his meal, replied as he received Elana’s bowl and stacked it with his. “Ana told me that it could be a flying type, but I still don’t think so.”

“Because of type mismatch.” Elana said with a little nod. “But is it possible that the leader is a beast that can lead other beasts of a different type?”

“If that’s really the case, we’re in grave danger.” Kurt said while gazing at the forest ahead with a completely serious look on his face. “In all known records, a beast with that ability is at least within daunting threat level.”

“Daunting...” Elana lowered her head and put her hand over her chin. “What were the classifications again... low, basic, intermediate, advanced, formidable, daunting, disaster, and calamity, wasn’t it? So, third highest?”

“Correct.” Kurt nodded. “The obsidian golem we fought belonged to formidable threat level by the way, and it’s among the weakest of formidable beasts.”

“The weakest? That massive thing?” Elana asked in visible disbelief.

Kurt turned his head to Elana before replying. “Not literally weakest. Automaton type has the best raw physical attributes among all types but they are dumb.”

“Oh, right. Sedhoust told me something similar back then.” Elana said.

Kurt nodded. “In any case, if the leader turns out to be a daunting level beast, we’ll have to call for help.”

“Granted there aren’t as many adventurers here, but is daunting level really that dangerous?” Elana asked.

Once again, Kurt nodded. “Despite our sapphire rank, my team is still not that much better than a platinum rank team in practice yet. Platinum and below adventurers are just small critters to daunting beasts.”

Hearing Kurt’s explanation, Elana had an uneasy feeling creeping up her spine and began worrying about the lives of her men and herself. However, Kurt quickly spoke again in a more cheerful tone.

“But don’t worry! No daunting beast has appeared for years! Infested areas appearing in the kingdom normally only have up to advanced level beasts, with formidable on rare occasions.” Kurt said, trying to look reassuring. “Anyway, time to go hunting again! Lunch time’s over after all!”

Elana smiled a little while looking at Kurt. “Good luck, Kurt. Never let your guard down.”

“Of course.”

Kurt left Elana and jumped down to the fort ground, probably returning the bowls before going to hunt. Hadi and Joshua were still standing guard atop their respective watchtower, and Elana once again began scanning over the mostly burned forest ahead through the Probe Drone. After days of no result, she had almost no expectation on the result.

Drip!

Elana noticed a drop of water hitting the stone wall fence in front of her, followed by more in an increasing frequency. Elana then looked to the sky and sighed.

“So it finally rains.” Elana muttered to herself as the drizzle gradually grew more intense by the second.

Beep! Beep!

Suddenly, Elana heard a notification from the Probe Drone. She immediately looked at the interface projected in her vision and saw, to her horror, that multiple groups of monsters had appeared far in the depths of the forest. Their numbers in total could easily reach hundreds, and the company of monsters consisted of not only apes and gorillas, but also multiple ghirdys. The sudden emergence of monsters in such a massive number was completely illogical, as if they had appeared out of thin air, and Elana’s reaction to the spectacle was only a single word coming out from her mouth.

“Impossible...”

However, the fact was clearly presented in her vision, and those monsters were all advancing in unison straight towards the fort she was standing on. She had to act on the information pronto, and she did exactly that.

Elana jumped down from the wall and dashed with all her might to the middle of the fort ground, where a large bell had been installed on a wooden post. She grabbed the rope under the bell and shook it fiercely.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As the bell’s ringing noise echoed throughout the fort, multiple people, villagers and adventurers alike, instantly directed their attention to Elana. More people leaped out of their tents and some panicked villagers even had a pitchfork brandished while doing so.

Kurt’s teammate, Leon, was the first to approach Elana with a worried expression. “What happened? Did you see something?” He asked.

Needless to say, what Elana was about to say in answer to that question would be bad news to everyone involved, and a defensive battle would be inevitable.

***