Bandy's PoV

The villagers are dropping like flies, and the xp is for shit, but I have to say I am having a blast… I clear out the last of the hobgoblins I was dealing with but there are still plenty more where they came from. Ed has his hands full with a couple dozen crimson kobolds, so I decide to give him a hand next.

I rush through the street calling out to Ed, he braces himself just as I arrive and I vault over him using his spikes as steps, and come crashing down into the center of the group of crimson kobolds. I eviscerate them one after another swinging my Shima style short-swords around with enough precision that it drops one of the crimson kobolds with every slice.

Within a few minutes the intruders are all but cleared out from the area. The townsfolk are quite wary of Ed, but with blubbering faces they thank me for saving their lives.

“If you are going to be this useless, go find a hole to hide in with the children!” –I spit out at the townsfolk that are making idiots of themselves, while Ed steps forward.-

Ed: “They are doing their best, baking bread and hunting rabbits is hardly good practice for fighting monsters.” –He says while wiping some of the crimson kobold’s blood from one of my cheeks.-

“If this is their best, then they need to stay out of the way!”

Townsperson: “These are our homes, and our businesses, we can’t just abandon them!”

Ed: “They are just things. It is better them then abandoning your lives. Mayor Scylla is calling for everyone to fall back towards the Mage’s Guild.”

“Look at you, trying to sound all strong and wise, but we both know who the boss is.” –I say while grabbing and squeezing Ed’s crotch. He is wearing thick leather armor, but with my strength he still grunts uncomfortably and I stretch up to bite his lower lip.-

He fights the urge to kiss me, and fails…Twice… But finally pulls himself away long enough to say. “Now is hardly the time, we need to regroup with the others.”

“Fine, but it’s your loss.” –I say grabbing one of the spikes on his shoulder, while placing one of my feet on one at his hip. I swing around him standing on several of his spikes.- “Onward!” –I say pointing over his shoulder.-

Ed: “I’m not a horse, you can’t just ride me where ever you want!”

“That’s funny, I didn’t hear you complaining about me riding you last night.”

Ed: “Let’s just find the others…”

Poppy’s PoV

“Are you alright?” –Nyxia says as she tries to help one of the townsfolk to their feet, but they look at her with just as much fear as they did the attacking lizardmen that we just defeated.- “I’m sorry…” –She says a bit discouraged as she slithers back a few feet away from the townsperson.-

I then step forward and help the townsperson to their feet. “Don’t worry, Nyxia is a good person, we are all just here to help. Mayor Scylla is pulling everyone back towards the Mage’s Guild, so you should head that direction, and tell anyone else you come across as well.”

The townsperson runs off looking back over his shoulder, and Nyxia weakly waves at him as he goes.

“I’m sorry, this isn’t the way we wanted to introduce you to Tobes, and with the circumstances everyone is on edge.”

Nyxia: “I know, it’s not their fault. That’s why I want to help though, so they can see that I am the same as them, even if I am a little bipedally challenged.”

I nod and then call out to Isi, and he drops out of the sky landing next to us. I then ask him. “Did you see the others?

Isi: “Lynx, Reti, and Orino, are about two streets over leading a group of people towards the Mage’s Guild, but they are being perused, so they might need our help.”

“Alright, you fly right to them, and Nyxia and I will catch up.”

Isi nods and takes back to the air, Nyxia and I then set off towards the others.

Belinda’s PoV

“Everyone to the Mage’s Guild! Scylla is waiting inside with more instructions!” –I call out to the large group of people that just arrived. I then pat Katie on the shoulder and say. – “Good job getting them all here safely, but where is Bandy and the Lizard beastkin?”

Katie: “We got separated right before we ran into all these people, and we figured getting them to safety should be our priority.”

Chase: “And I am not too sure the separation wasn’t intentional… They have been sneaking off together a lot the last few days.”

Katie: “Edmund has already caught up to me in levels, so it didn’t hurt from them to have a bit of fun. It has kept Bandy happy and off everyone’s back, but I am sure they know the seriousness of what is going on, and it was only accidental that they got split up this time.”

Chase: “We’ll see…”

Charlotte: “Well, my magic is fully spent, so if we are going to go back out there to look for them, I am going to have to at least rest for a bit beforehand.

Chase: “I’m running pretty low myself… Damnit Bandy, why do you always have to pull stuff like this!?”

Belinda: “It’s alright, [Communication] and teleportation may be blocked, but transferring still works, so if they get in over their heads they can always transfer to safety.”

Katie: “She challenged Two-Twelve, so I don’t know if she knows the meaning of being in over her head… She has Ed with her though, and he might not be as strong as she is, but I’m sure he can at least keep her safe from herself.”

Belinda: “Two-Twelve has his hands full, but if nothing else we can have him keep an eye out for them just in case they run into trouble.”

Charlotte: “Thank you…”

As the group heads into the Mage’s Guild, Doug exits it making his way over to me and asks. “Have you seen Quinn around lately?”

“I thought he was helping you inside?”

Doug: “He wasn’t happy about taking orders from me, and stormed off, but I just had a chance to look for him and couldn’t find him anywhere in the Mage’s Guild, so I wanted to make sure he didn’t go out.”

“He was trying to show off to Sofia last night, but her and Bell went out a little bit ago to help, and I know for a fact that Quinn wasn’t with them, but we have been busy and can’t watch everything at once…”

Zoey: “They were heading over by our houses weren’t they?”

“Two-Twelve said there were some people taking refuge in the city hall building, so we sent them to go bring them here.”

Zoey: “Then if he snuck out trying to follow them, then he is most likely on that side of town as well… In that case Roxy and I will go look for him!”

“Are you sure? I can just have Two-Twelve look for him.”

Zoey: “Like you said, Boss is busy. Besides I want to swing by the house and make sure it is still standing…”

“Last I heard the fires were pretty far from our houses, but the dwarves, Lilah, and Lila are on that side of town holding of a horde of monsters that started entering from back behind the dwarves’ homes, and if the dwarves’ homes go, then there is nothing stopping the fires from reaching our houses.

Zoey: “Then we need to hurry!”

Roxy: “I’m touched that you are worried about the house…”

Zoey: “We can replace that junk! But do you know how much of my food we left behind?!”

Roxy sighs and says. “I should have known… Don’t worry Belinda, we will go and try to find Quinn, send anyone we might find back here, and then if we have time we will check on the house…”

Zoey: “Or we could just transfer there!”

Roxy: “Did you not just hear the part about helping the townsfolk and looking for Quinn!?” –Roxy says dragging Zoey away.-

Doug watches them leave and then asks. “How is the rest of Tobes faring?”

“Not good to be honest… The newer sections of town are sturdier, but the older sections, are practically non-existent anymore. Everything west of my inn to everything south of Denova’s district is gone… It might be only a small section of Tobes now, but that is all Tobes used to be… All of the original residents have been displaced, the Mage’s Guild is almost filled to capacity and that still leaves half of Tobes’s residents unaccounted for…”

Doug: “What about the university?”

“That’s all part of Ceres’s dungeon, so fire or no fire it will remain standing, but the forest is on fire on that side of town preventing everyone from fleeing towards the capital, and I am pretty sure even if you got through the fire there would be monsters there to stop you.

Doug: “What about Dyson, or Ceres, any word from them?”

“Not since [Communication] became blocked. After we lost contact we were hoping they would come right away to aid us, but so far nothing… I hope they didn’t get attacked as well.”

Two-Twelve’s PoV

For all the countless times our lives have been on the line in an effort to protect the dungeon none have made me feel as this attack on Tobes. Tobes may be my secondary dungeon, but it isn’t even that fact that is making me angry, it is the loss of all these townspeople to the monsters.

We have gone through so much effort to not only make the beastkin be treated like everyone else, but the demi-human races as well. We were making so much progress… but even with all the effort we put forward so far, it stands on the brink of collapsing with this attack.

As far as the dungeon is considered our losses so far have been quite minimal, we have lost 2 dwarves, and a handful of the demi-humans, but that is pretty much it. The town on the other hand has seen better days.

I won’t say the buildings were shabby, but until Tobes actually started having actual builders move in, most of the buildings from the first few expansions in Tobes were all done by amateur adventurers looking to make some gold.

Even our home wasn’t immune to the spread of fire. Luckily Bell and Sofia managed to arrive in time to save some of the townsfolk that had taken refuge in the City Hall building before the fire had spread that far, and even though the building was made from stone leaving it impervious to the fire. It will still take a lot of work to make it useable again. Given the fact it is still salvageable makes it better off than any other building in the area I am afraid.

We built most of the buildings in Tobes out of wood due to it being readily available, but if we make it through this attack, we should really consider rebuilding Tobes in stone. I can summon various types of ore, so perhaps we can find a way to produce stone to help rebuild Tobes as well. However I guess I should focus on making it through these attacks first.

“Leveret, you transfer down to Lilah and the group she is with and tell them to start falling back towards the Mage’s Guild as well. I think all the townsfolk in that area has already evacuated, and the fires are getting to close for comfort.”

Leveret: “Yes sir!” –He says transferring from the room.-

“Lily, I want you to transfer down to the groups down there in the market area, and tell them to try to hold the position a while longer. I am going to try to send them some more help.”

Lily: “Understood, Master!” –She says transferring as well.-

“Levi, I want you to transfer to Belinda and catch her up on all that is going on, and tell her if any of the groups have begun to recover to send them towards the market area. Losing your home is detrimental enough, but some of the merchants were unable to remove their goods like Denova did, and their shops are not only their homes, but for some there entire livelihood and ability to feed their families rest in those goods.”

Levi: “Got it!” –He says leaving as well.-

Even with help they won’t be able to hold the market for long, because fighting the spread of the fire is harder than fighting off the monsters… The market is currently being held by several of the xp gathering groups.

Lilah, Lila, and a handful of the dwarves are in the area of town where all the dwarves’ houses are. I sent Leveret to pull them back because the fire that took our home, is threatening to cut them completely off from the rest of Tobes.

The rest of our monsters are either trying to protect the area surrounding the Mage’s Guild, or trying to clear a path past the university just in case we have to evacuate the townsfolk from Tobes completely. There is also Roxy and Zoey who are looking for Quinn.

He seems to have disappeared a few hours ago, and even though I have kept an eye out for him there is so much going on I haven’t located him on any of the screens so far… If we weren’t losing so much of the town to the fires I might be able to dedicate more rescores to finding him… What is taking Dyson and Ceres so long to return?

Quinn PoV

I can’t believe them! I am older than all three of them and have gone through more schooling then all of them combined, and yet they treat me like a child acting as if I don’t know what I am talking about. Monsters are pouring out of the damn forest, so of course it is the dungeon!

Once I prove that these monsters are coming from the dungeon there will be no choice but to destroy it, and since I was the only one willing to acknowledge the truth I will see to it that father allows me to claim the crystal, and that will really show them all!

I proved to them all yesterday that I can fight, but they still insist on treating me like I am just getting in their way. I am not hiding because I couldn't kill these monsters, I am hiding because I have a plan, and there is no use fighting all these small fry…

I will just sit here and bid my time until they have passed by and I will find where these monsters are coming from.

Bandy’s PoV

The Mage’s Guild is crawling with people, but I finally manage to find a semi-private stairwell and pin Ed to the wall, pun intended, while shoving my tongue down his throat and unfastening the front of his trousers.

As Ed raises me up I hook one of my knees around on of the spikes on his hips pulling myself close, I hear someone clear their throat loudly.

“Unless you plan on joining in, we’re busy!”

Charlotte: “We just got word that everyone that is able, is to gather at the market to defend that area. Chase and I both have recovered enough of our magic that he volunteered us to take part.”

“Well then good luck.” –I say then bite Ed’s lower lip.-

Charlotte: “All of us!”

I sigh and say. “Fine! We’ll be there in five minutes!”

Charlotte: “Chase said now!”

I unhook my knee from the spike on Ed’s hip and hop down. I then confront Charlotte. “Last time I checked I was still the leader of this group, who died and put you and Chase in charge.”

Charlotte: “With you and Edmund disappearing all the time, someone had to pick up the slack!”

“Maybe if you let Chase stick it to ya once in a while, you wouldn’t be such a bitch!”

Ed: “That’s enough Bandy!” –He says while refastening his trousers.- “This is far more important, and besides 5 minutes isn’t nearly enough time…”

“Yea, keep telling yourself that… Fine…” –I make sure no one is watching and reequip my armor before storming out of stairwell, and back into Mage’s Guild.-

Poppy’s PoV

“Nyxia, no!”

Nyxia: “Don’t worry I’m not going to hurt him!” –She says while constricting one of the townsfolk in her tail.- “You clearly saw us taking out those lizardmen who are attacking the town, so why did you think it would be a good idea to try to stab me in the back!?”

The townsperson struggles against Nyxia as he say. “How was I supposed to know?! We have seen the lizardmen go to the university, but we have never seen a monster like you before!”

Nyxia: “I’m a demi-human, and I’m not one to care if someone calls me a monster, but all of Master’s lizardmen have blueish scales! These ones all had green and red scales!”

“Nyxia!”

Nyxia releases the man while saying. “Now get out of here, and if you can’t tell the difference between the ones attacking Tobes and the ones defending it, then just go back to the Mage’s guild!”

The man scampers to his sword grabbing it before running off towards the Mage’s Guild.

“That wasn’t good, not only will attacking that human hurt the relations between the demi-humans and the humans, but you also said the lizardmen’s Master. If they were to find out the Lizardmen actually come from the dungeon, they could find out about Master as well, and we can’t have that.”

Nyxia: “I’m sorry about the Master part, but what was I supposed to let him stab me in the back?”

“Of course not, but you didn’t have to wrap him up in your tail either. Everyone is on edge, and it was just a mistake. Most of the normal townsfolk don’t even know what a lamia is much less ever seen one before.”

Nyxia: “It is bad enough we have been fighting all morning, and every time we think we are just about to see the end of the battle there is a new wave of monsters attacking a different part of town, but now I have to make sure I don’t get attacked by the townspeople as well?”

“You’re right we have been at this all day, maybe we should go back to the Mage’s guild and rest for a little bit.”

Nyxia: “No, because then they will just think I am spying on them. Let’s just get this over with so we can get back to our training…”

Lynx: “We should head to the market area, I think everyone is gathering to make sure that area doesn’t fall.”

“Isi, I’m not good with all these side streets on the best of times, so can you fly up and find us the quickest path?”

Isi: “Of course.” –He says taking flight.-

“What about you three, are you still good to go?”

Reti: “Trying to put out that fire earlier really drained a lot of my magic, but as we don’t push it too hard, I should be ok.”

Orino: “I’m all out of magic myself, but magic isn’t required for most of my skills, so I’m good.”

Lynx just nods and we set out following Isi’s directions through town.

Belinda’s PoV

Bandy doesn’t look too happy as their group heads out of the Mage’s Guild heading for the market area, I guess that is the last group heading that way. I am glad to see how much thought Two-Twelve is putting into not only stopping the attack, but helping the townsfolk as well.

Although I would have liked for him to at least put a little more effort into saving our home… When Roxy and Zoey stopped by saying they didn’t find Quinn, they said the house was on fire as well. I guess if it was the only building standing after the fire went though, it would be pretty suspicious though.

I would like to go help defend the market as well, but we have already had a few monsters find their way to the Mage’s Guild, so we have to maintain guard, because saving the markets won’t do any good if we lose all the townsfolk in the process.

After watching Bandy’s group disappear down the street Lylah comes out of the Mage’s guild, and heads my way with a confused look on her face.

Lylah: “There was a large group of mages that were supposed to be guarding the Mage’s Guild. Do you know what happened to them?”

“There are quite a few mages that were hired by Denova to go guard her warehouses. We were going to stop them, but Denova has just as many people working for her as there is in all of the market combined, so if she were to lose all her goods it would be just as bad if not worse than losing the market district…”

Lylah: “How long ago did they leave?” –She says worriedly.-

“About 20 minutes ago, why?... Oh, I see. Your boyfriend was among them, wasn’t he?”

Lylah: “How did you…?!” –She says before stopping herself and looking embarrassed.-

“It’s alright. Two-Twelve and I are happy you are finding a life in addition to the dungeon, but there isn’t any rush ok…?” –I quickly look around to see who is still guarding the Mage’s Guild.- “Kit and Suzie’s group is still here, take them to the dungeon core room and find out where your boyfriend went and go give them a hand.”

Lylah: “I couldn’t… We are already shorthanded here as it is.”

“It will be alright, if the intruders attack here, there are still plenty of people inside that are capable of fighting if they have to.”

Lylah: “Thank you…”

“Of course, but please promise me that you will take it a bit slower… I know it isn’t fair, but considering your position there are a lot of factors to consider.”

Lylah nods and then runs over to Kit and Suzie’s group, after a few moments of talking they gather their things and set off into town, which I assume is so they can transfer without being seen by all the people guarding the Mage’s Guild.

Two-Twelve’s PoV

It looks like our desire to protect the market district has been noticed by the enemy. We have started to receive waves of monsters in not only shorter distance apart, but also stronger as well. We have a few groups scattered here and there, but for the most part everyone has been split between the market district and the Mage’s Guild.

Lylah came to me a little bit ago, and together with Kit’s group, went to help some mages defend Denova’s warehouses. I would hate to give Denova preferential treatment, but when Lylah told me why Belinda is sending them to help and it makes a lot of sense. If things don’t become any more difficult at the market district I will start sending some of the other groups to help them as they become available.

The attack last night only lasted a few hours, but this one has been going on for half a day already. If the failed cores sent that many monsters any considerable distance they would have been seen by somebody, so I can only assume they are either being summoned directly outside of town, or being teleported to those locations.

Summoning monsters outside of a dungeon like that is a worrying thought, but I don’t know what is worse, that, or having enough magic to summon monsters almost non-stop for half a day. Either way I have Azami, Moss, and the twins are searching the forest trying to find where the monsters are coming from, or how they are getting here.

No matter how much we have looked for him through the screen, Quinn has still somehow managed to remain out of sight. Even with Roxy and Zoey’s tracking skills they haven’t been able to locate him. Maybe the failed cores kidnapped him for some reason?

I don’t know what purpose they would actually want him for though. It would be almost the worst possible person to take if it was for some sort of leverage. He is Belinda’s brother, and I am sure she would be upset if something happened to him, but we can’t put so many resources on just him…

With how reckless he was fighting yesterday evening he could already be dead for all we know. If he shows up on one of the screens I will send someone after him, but until then I send Lily down to have Roxy and Zoey meet up with Lylah to guard Denova’s warehouses.

After a while passes things have yet to improve any. The monsters have started to rank up past starting monsters. Goblins are fading away and being replaced with orcs, the kobolds are being completely phased out, and the other types of monsters are becoming more specialized.

So far we have managed to hold the market district, Denova’s warehouses, and the Mage’s Guild, but it won’t be long before we won’t be able to hold the three separate locations.

All of the townsfolk are completely unable to fight now, and even quite a few of the adventurers, leaving only my monsters, and the groups that enter the dungeon multiple times a week. We need Dyson and Ceres to return…

I could use the justicar teleport to get to them and ask for help, but then we would have no way to return. At least the monsters have stayed out of the actual dungeon. I know it does us no good, but I send a message to them telling them to hurry up…

Quinn’s Pov

What is it with these monsters?! There is no way the adventurers and mages of Tobes are going to try fighting monsters like these are they? Tobes is truly done for now. The only thing I can do now is get out of here and tell father what has happened… I might be the only living person left in Tobes…

I have made it all the way to the dwarven part of town, but there are so many orcs around here I can’t move from this burned out building! One of the orcs almost sees me so I take a step back and floor breaks under my feet causing me to tumble.

I tumbled down into some sort of basement, but I made a lot of noise in the process so I quickly get to my feet and look to the head of the stairs. After a few moments it doesn’t seem like the orcs are coming after me, so I begin to look around.

My eyes have started to adjust to the dark basement of the building and I realize it isn’t a basement at all but large stone corridor under Tobes… Did I just stumble into the dungeon?! I don’t have anything to light my way, but there are plenty of things around to make a makeshift torch.

I pick up what looks to be some kind of large torture device and a piece of cloth on a table. I wrap the cloth around the end of the torture device, and light it by using my sword and some flint I had in my pocket.

I guess Sofia was right, I said it was pointless to carry around flint when the dungeon well lit, but I guess that only applies to the sections it wants us to know about… As the small embers hit the cloth it lights very easily, almost as if it was soaked in lantern oil or something.

With more light I can start to see my surroundings a bit more, and I am indeed standing in a large corridor but there are tables and chairs against the walls along with large kegs. It is almost like a hidden tavern under the dwarves’ homes.

When it comes to dwarves I could easily see them having their own tavern, and even possibly having it underground, but the walls are clearly like that of the dungeon, and why would it be hidden? Are the dwarves working with the dungeon as well?!

I suddenly hear the sound of one of the chairs behind me squeak and I quickly turn to see a small hairy monster right behind me! I don’t panic mind you… but I employ a strategic retreat heading down the corridor a ways to get a bit of distance from the monster so I can plan my counter attack!

… How far did I go? I have gone deep enough into the corridor that I can no longer see the light from the stairs that brought me down here or the small hairy monster. I ran past several doors up until now, but as long as I keep going straight I can’t possibly get lost, right…?

And that is when I see it… it’s the biggest, hairiest, ugliest monster I have ever seen in my life. It must be some kind of demon because it has large horns growing out of its head, and a large axe in which the head of it is almost the same size as me.

I quickly dart for one of the doors off of the corridor and slam the door behind me… inside the room there is a large shelf of some kind next to the door so I slide it in front of the door and then have a look at the room…

The room is not very big, but it has a large forge against the far wall with several weapon and armor racks loaded with gear… It’s true! The dwarves are making weapons for the dungeon! I quickly turn back towards the door to make sure the demon can’t get through and that’s when I hear a voice behind me…

“What are you doing down here…?”